In case anyone out there is still getting these messages, I would like to try again to get this chapter founded. Every time a group gets together to found it we make some progress in planning , but the effort eventually falls apart. There are at least 140 people who have expressed interest in joining the chapter, so we do have a big enough base of people to form the chapter. However, what we need is three people willing to contribute a significant amount of their spare time, a bit of money, and become the founding board of the organization. If you are willing to seriously commit to the formation of the chapter please contact me at arctic.gnome@gmail.com and we'll set up a meeting. I believe that we have the support to get this thing off the ground! -Jeffery Nichols, "Arctic Gnome"
I'm not in Canada, so I can't really participate in this, but I do sincerely hope that this request is heard and other volunteers work to get this chapter started. As always, I'll be on hand as a representative of the chapcom to answer any questions and provide any help that's needed.
I will mention, and this is strictly speculative right now, that there are opportunities for support in terms of personnel and possibly funding for chapters (or pre-chapter groups) that are active and mature. Don't take this as a promise, because it might not be. However, if you guys get some momentum and find that money is holding you back, there might be some help available.
Also, I know that the idea of sub-national chapters was not embraced last time, however the first sub-national chapter has recently been approved (WM New York), so that's a possibility too. If the organizers in Canada find that distance and other factors are too big a barrier to the creation of a Canada-national chapter, creating sub-national chapters might be a "Plan B".
I do hope this call to action is answered. Please let me know if you need any help.
--Andrew Whitworth
On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 8:41 PM, Jeffery Nichols arctic.gnome@gmail.com wrote:
In case anyone out there is still getting these messages, I would like to try again to get this chapter founded. Every time a group gets together to found it we make some progress in planning , but the effort eventually falls apart. There are at least 140 people who have expressed interest in joining the chapter, so we do have a big enough base of people to form the chapter. However, what we need is three people willing to contribute a significant amount of their spare time, a bit of money, and become the founding board of the organization. If you are willing to seriously commit to the formation of the chapter please contact me at arctic.gnome@gmail.com and we'll set up a meeting. I believe that we have the support to get this thing off the ground! -Jeffery Nichols, "Arctic Gnome"
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Thanks, Andrew!
I think having both a national group and provincial groups makes sense. The current bylaws allow regional wings within WMC to deal with local issues, and those wings have representation on the board. Alternatively, if a region thinks that it would be better to incorporate on their own, I hope WMC can work in harmony with them. However, I think it would be useful to have a country-wide chapter to organize large-scale initiatives and to make sure that every Canadian has a chance to join and that every Canadian wanting to donate to WMF can get a tax receipt.
-Jeffery Nichols, "Arctic Gnome"
On 4-Feb-09, at 10:38 PM, Andrew Whitworth wrote:
I'm not in Canada, so I can't really participate in this, but I do sincerely hope that this request is heard and other volunteers work to get this chapter started. As always, I'll be on hand as a representative of the chapcom to answer any questions and provide any help that's needed.
I will mention, and this is strictly speculative right now, that there are opportunities for support in terms of personnel and possibly funding for chapters (or pre-chapter groups) that are active and mature. Don't take this as a promise, because it might not be. However, if you guys get some momentum and find that money is holding you back, there might be some help available.
Also, I know that the idea of sub-national chapters was not embraced last time, however the first sub-national chapter has recently been approved (WM New York), so that's a possibility too. If the organizers in Canada find that distance and other factors are too big a barrier to the creation of a Canada-national chapter, creating sub-national chapters might be a "Plan B".
I do hope this call to action is answered. Please let me know if you need any help.
--Andrew Whitworth
On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 8:41 PM, Jeffery Nichols <arctic.gnome@gmail.com
wrote: In case anyone out there is still getting these messages, I would like to try again to get this chapter founded. Every time a group gets together to found it we make some progress in planning , but the effort eventually falls apart. There are at least 140 people who have expressed interest in joining the chapter, so we do have a big enough base of people to form the chapter. However, what we need is three people willing to contribute a significant amount of their spare time, a bit of money, and become the founding board of the organization. If you are willing to seriously commit to the formation of the chapter please contact me at arctic.gnome@gmail.com and we'll set up a meeting. I believe that we have the support to get this thing off the ground! -Jeffery Nichols, "Arctic Gnome"
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
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Hi Jeffery,and thanks for pushing that again. I know there are a lot of people on this list who have been motovated and demotivated in turn, for reasons that are not always clear; so a push is a good thing.
On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 03:27, Jeffery Nichols arctic.gnome@gmail.com wrote:
I think having both a national group and provincial groups makes sense. The current bylaws allow regional wings within WMC to deal with local issues, and those wings have representation on the board. Alternatively, if a region thinks that it would be better to incorporate on their own, I hope WMC can work in harmony with them. However, I think it would be useful to have a country-wide chapter to organize large-scale initiatives and to make sure that every Canadian has a chance to join and that every Canadian wanting to donate to WMF can get a tax receipt.
Just for the record, while in theory sub-national chapters and national chapters don't exclude each other, in practice, I believe that unless a Real Damn Good Reason (TM) is given to have both from the start, they actually do in terms of recognition by the Wikimedia Foundation as "official chapter". As such, I would urge you and anyone here to consider the right course in advance.
Here are the scenarii I can imagine, please keep in mind that I do not know Canadian Law, so there might be things that make absolutely no sense.
SCENARIO 1 - Creation of X sub-national chapters (Wikimedia Ontario, Wikimedia Québec, Wikimedia BC for example), this requires active communities in each of these provinces to support the making of a local chapter. By default, their territory will probably be defined by the geographical reach of the province, although this can be amended following needs.
SCENARIO 2 - Creation of a Wikimedia Canada (national entity) with input from people from diverse provinces to start with. This would mean that people are scattered across the territory and decide on a national entity. - This scenario may allow for sub-national "sections" of the national chapter to grow organically from the people who first joined.
SCENARIO 2.5 - Creation of a Wikimedia Canada (national entity) starting with a group of people in one province (For example, the Ottawa Wikimedians create Wikimedia Canada) but aiming at covering the whole territory. -The difference with the previous is that a group of people in one place decide to give the start to a national endeavour, rather than have people scattered across the country do so. - The critical point here is to make sure that the bylaws and the demeanour of the founding members allows for other people to join in the mid/longer term - This scenario alose allows for sub-national sections.
I called it 2.5 because I am not sure that it is that different from Scenario 2. The thing I want to point out here is that the start of a national chapter does not require input from every single province, but could well be carried by a local group to start with and then allow for the legal form to be there for others to join at their convenience.
Cheers,
Delphine (also member of the chapters committee)
On Wed, Feb 4, 2009 at 9:27 PM, Jeffery Nichols arctic.gnome@gmail.com wrote:
I think having both a national group and provincial groups makes sense. The current bylaws allow regional wings within WMC to deal with local issues, and those wings have representation on the board.
Every time the issue is brought up, people express this same sentiment. It seems Canadians have a stronger sense of national unity then I had anticipated. This is good. Once you have a national chapter, it's up to you to decide how you organize yourselves internally. It does make good sense to have regional "sections" or "wings" or "committees" so people can stay connected with other local members, but at the same time be part of something bigger.
It makes me happy to see that so many different organizers have the same vision for how this chapter should work. Kudos.
Alternatively, if a region thinks that it would be better to incorporate on their own, I hope WMC can work in harmony with them.
I would be hesitant to think along these lines for a number of reasons. Whatever you do first is going to create organizational momentum that will be difficult to overcome for other groups. If you see enough differences and problems to warrant the eventual creation of a second chapter in Canada, then maybe you shouldn't create a national chapter first. If you start small you can grow over time. However, if you start large it will be hard to shrink later because you will have members in areas that you cede to the second chapter. Follow your instincts here, if you think you can accommodate everybody through regional autonomy and delegation, then create a national chapter. If you can't, create a sub-national one.
--Andrew Whitworth
I'm in Toronto, can probably gank us some meeting space at George Brown (which, if we plan carefully, could include videoconferencing to other parts of the country, which would help avoid the alienation).
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/5 Techman224 techman224@yahoo.ca:
Finally we are starting Wikimedia Canada. Hope it works out.
Techman224
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
I'm in Toronto too.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 2:04 AM, roux wikiroux@gmail.com wrote:
I'm in Toronto, can probably gank us some meeting space at George Brown (which, if we plan carefully, could include videoconferencing to other parts of the country, which would help avoid the alienation).
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/5 Techman224 techman224@yahoo.ca:
Finally we are starting Wikimedia Canada. Hope it works out.
Techman224
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Can we get some proposed meeting places with possible dates in March?
2009/2/6 Gary King garyking@gmail.com
I'm in Toronto too.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 2:04 AM, roux wikiroux@gmail.com wrote:
I'm in Toronto, can probably gank us some meeting space at George Brown (which, if we plan carefully, could include videoconferencing to other parts of the country, which would help avoid the alienation).
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/5 Techman224 techman224@yahoo.ca:
Finally we are starting Wikimedia Canada. Hope it works out.
Techman224
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- Gary King
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Sure, I'll see what I can find at school. Is it fair to say I should be aiming for evenings and/or weekends?
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/6 Alan Walker fastalan@gmail.com:
Can we get some proposed meeting places with possible dates in March?
2009/2/6 Gary King garyking@gmail.com
I'm in Toronto too.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 2:04 AM, roux wikiroux@gmail.com wrote:
I'm in Toronto, can probably gank us some meeting space at George Brown (which, if we plan carefully, could include videoconferencing to other parts of the country, which would help avoid the alienation).
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/5 Techman224 techman224@yahoo.ca:
Finally we are starting Wikimedia Canada. Hope it works out.
Techman224
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- Gary King
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- View Alan Walker's profile on LinkedIn [http://www.linkedin.com/in/walker1]
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
I would prefer a weekend meeting around 2 pm on a Saturday.
2009/2/7 roux wikiroux@gmail.com
Sure, I'll see what I can find at school. Is it fair to say I should be aiming for evenings and/or weekends?
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/6 Alan Walker fastalan@gmail.com:
Can we get some proposed meeting places with possible dates in March?
2009/2/6 Gary King garyking@gmail.com
I'm in Toronto too.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 2:04 AM, roux wikiroux@gmail.com wrote:
I'm in Toronto, can probably gank us some meeting space at George Brown (which, if we plan carefully, could include videoconferencing to other parts of the country, which would help avoid the alienation).
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/5 Techman224 techman224@yahoo.ca:
Finally we are starting Wikimedia Canada. Hope it works out.
Techman224
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- Gary King
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- View Alan Walker's profile on LinkedIn [http://www.linkedin.com/in/walker1]
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Okay, I'll see what I can get on a weekend. Is everyone okay with getting down to the King/Jarvis region of Toronto? I will see, but can make ZERO guarantees, about videoconferencing. When are we looking at, early March?
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/7 Alan Walker fastalan@gmail.com:
I would prefer a weekend meeting around 2 pm on a Saturday.
2009/2/7 roux wikiroux@gmail.com
Sure, I'll see what I can find at school. Is it fair to say I should be aiming for evenings and/or weekends?
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/6 Alan Walker fastalan@gmail.com:
Can we get some proposed meeting places with possible dates in March?
2009/2/6 Gary King garyking@gmail.com
I'm in Toronto too.
On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 2:04 AM, roux wikiroux@gmail.com wrote:
I'm in Toronto, can probably gank us some meeting space at George Brown (which, if we plan carefully, could include videoconferencing to other parts of the country, which would help avoid the alienation).
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
2009/2/5 Techman224 techman224@yahoo.ca:
Finally we are starting Wikimedia Canada. Hope it works out.
Techman224
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- Gary King
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- View Alan Walker's profile on LinkedIn [http://www.linkedin.com/in/walker1]
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
-- View Alan Walker's profile on LinkedIn [http://www.linkedin.com/in/walker1]
Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
King and Jarvis is right near Union Station and definitely works for me. Early March sounds good as well.
2009/2/8 roux wikiroux@gmail.com
Okay, I'll see what I can get on a weekend. Is everyone okay with getting down to the King/Jarvis region of Toronto? I will see, but can make ZERO guarantees, about videoconferencing. When are we looking at, early March?
enwiki: [[User:Roux]] • wikiroux@gmail.com
While I also am not in Canada, I wish you best of luck in your endeavor!
________________________________ From: Jeffery Nichols arctic.gnome@gmail.com To: wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Wednesday, February 4, 2009 5:41:18 PM Subject: [Wikimedia-Canada] Wikimedia Canada board needed
In case anyone out there is still getting these messages, I would like to try again to get this chapter founded. Every time a group gets together to found it we make some progress in planning , but the effort eventually falls apart. There are at least 140 people who have expressed interest in joining the chapter, so we do have a big enough base of people to form the chapter. However, what we need is three people willing to contribute a significant amount of their spare time, a bit of money, and become the founding board of the organization. If you are willing to seriously commit to the formation of the chapter please contact me at arctic.gnome@gmail.com and we'll set up a meeting. I believe that we have the support to get this thing off the ground! -Jeffery Nichols, "Arctic Gnome"
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-ca mailing list Wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ca
wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org