Hi all,
I've put this on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Cascadia_Wikimedians#Drafting_programs…
I'm hoping that people will comment so that we can get a sense about the
priorities of our group. The Board can use the comments to finalize a
program plan and an associated budget. The budget will be developed to
support the program plan.
I'm still working in the background about the "infrastructure" budget for
issues like insurance, but even these will benefit greatly by being
informed by a program plan.
One important note is that the plan will likely be adjusted and adapted as
our capabilities and opportunities change. My thinking is that the Board
can do this via quarterly review meetings with community input.
Please share your comments!
Pine
*This is an Encyclopedia* <https://www.wikipedia.org/>
*One gateway to the wide garden of knowledge, where lies The deep rock of
our past, in which we must delve The well of our future,The clear water we
must leave untainted for those who come after us,The fertile earth, in
which truth may grow in bright places, tended by many hands,And the broad
fall of sunshine, warming our first steps toward knowing how much we do not
know.*
*—Catherine Munro*
Following up on the semi-annual community data science workshops at UW:
would there be interest in having our user group support periodic one-day
events for people to gather for workshops to teach data science skills,
teach Wikimedia skills, and present data science and/or open source
projects? I am thinking that this might be fun, and would nicely interface
with existing groups and interests at UW and in the Seattle area. These
might be one-day workshops that we hold quarterly. If there is interest, we
could add this to our projects that we're considering supporting in our
annual plan.
What do others think?
Pine
*This is an Encyclopedia* <https://www.wikipedia.org/>
*One gateway to the wide garden of knowledge, where lies The deep rock of
our past, in which we must delve The well of our future,The clear water we
must leave untainted for those who come after us,The fertile earth, in
which truth may grow in bright places, tended by many hands,And the broad
fall of sunshine, warming our first steps toward knowing how much we do not
know.*
*—Catherine Munro*
Hi Cascadians and Alex,
I sent a reminder to the Seattle TA3M coordinators to ask them if they'd
sent an invitation to their members to fill out the form for the December
15 event yet. I'm starting to get a little concerned because about 2.5
weeks away from the event and we still need to get the speakers lined up
and the logistics finalized. I am hoping that the TA3M coordinators will
send an announcement soon.
I'm planning on driving to the event with the food. I'm planning to get a
variety of pizzas and some single-use tableware.
I have a question about the budget, and I'd like to get Alex's and the
group's input about this. I was thinking rather optimistically that we
might be able to get all of the food and supplies for about $150 total,
with TA3M paying half and with us/me (via a GAC grant that we will
retroactively apply for, after we have $500 worth of grants to request)
paying the other half. However, having called around to a few pizza places,
I think we could easily exceed that amount if we actually have 50 people
sign up. In any case, I want to make sure that GAC will be ok with us
expanding the budget. I will keep copies of the receipts. Alex, is this ok?
I am avoiding the high-end pizzas that cost $30 each, but even so the math
goes something like this:
* $22 per pizza
* Each pizza serves about 4 people
* So if we have 50 people we will need about 12 pizzas
* 12 * $22 = $264
* Plus tableware, estimate at $1 per person x 50 people = $50
* $264 + $50 = $314
That's a significantly higher amount than I was anticipating, and I will
make efforts to keep the costs down, but I want to make sure that if I
submit a grant request to GAC for $314 that GAC would pay, since spending
$314 out of my own pocket and getting only a partial or no reimbursement
from GAC would be a big deal.
Another option would be to combine this $314 possible budget with expenses
that we know that we're likely to need anyway, like $100 or so for a
registered agent for one year, the $50 cost of registering ourselves with
the State, and the cost of getting a P.O. box (price varies depending on
size and location). Would the group be ok with me combining a $314 food
budget request (maximum) with some of these other expenses that we know
we're likely going to need anyway, so that I can submit a grant request
that's over the $500 minimum for a GAC request? Alex, would that be ok with
you? By saying yes, people would be trusting me to handle money and
receipts on behalf of the group, at least until we have a designated bank
account; I want to make sure that people are comfortable with this. The
assurances that I can offer is that the grant request will be publicly
documented, the actual amount spent and the amount returned to WMF will be
documented, WMF can see copies of receipts if it wants them, other board
members can see copies of receipts if they want to see them, and WMF
already knows how to find me because of my internship; if something goes
wrong then Alex can call Anasuya, and after Anasuya makes a phone call or
two, there might be some people with uniforms and badges knocking on my
door. (: But it's important that people feel comfortable with this idea,
and unfortunately we have only 2.5 weeks between now and the event to make
some decisions and hopefully get GAC to approve a request (I'm not sure if
they approve requests in 2.5 weeks; if they don't then we may need to
consider other options like WMDC).
Thanks, and I'm sorry if anyone feels rushed, including Alex and GAC.
Pine
*This is an Encyclopedia* <https://www.wikipedia.org/>
*One gateway to the wide garden of knowledge, where lies The deep rock of
our past, in which we must delve The well of our future,The clear water we
must leave untainted for those who come after us,The fertile earth, in
which truth may grow in bright places, tended by many hands,And the broad
fall of sunshine, warming our first steps toward knowing how much we do not
know.*
*—Catherine Munro*
Hi WALRUS members,
In Cascadia we are in very early discussions about hosting a future
Wikiconference USA. Who can we speak with from the NYC conference team
about how you organized, staffed, and funded the conference?
Thanks,
Pine
Hi Cascadians,
I've drafted a form here for registration for the December event with TA3M.
Does it look ok to you? If so, please fill out the form. I've forwarded the
link to TA3M as well to ask them for comments prior to distributing the
link to their users.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18n6zddEPldPtpvw0yU2NnF3x4kRLJlCfxcwbzjGHff…
Thanks!
Pine
*This is an Encyclopedia* <https://www.wikipedia.org/>
*One gateway to the wide garden of knowledge, where lies The deep rock of
our past, in which we must delve The well of our future,The clear water we
must leave untainted for those who come after us,The fertile earth, in
which truth may grow in bright places, tended by many hands,And the broad
fall of sunshine, warming our first steps toward knowing how much we do not
know.*
*—Catherine Munro*
Hello Cascadians!
I've been talking to Pine for the last couple of days about training some
of you in the best practices of workshop facilitation. We've been
discussing several options for this, including coming to you all, having
some of you come to DC for one of our formal sessions, or attending
sessions at WikiConf USA. Who would be interested and what format do you
think would work for you?
Best,
Emily Temple-Wood
Vice President, Wikimedia District of Columbia
Cascadians,
I hope you are enjoying the holiday today.
December will soon be here, and with it our holiday party. Because of the
delays of our User Group application we are significantly behind the
timeline that I anticipated when I first discussed the possibility of a
holiday party with TA3M. I'd like to suggest that I personally make a
request to GAC for about $50-$75 for food and non-alcoholic beverage
expenses for the party, because I want to make sure that GAC has time to
process this request before the party happens. Please let me know if there
are any concerns. If not I will submit a request to GAC soon.
Thanks,
Pine
Would there be interest in doing outreach at WSU to librarians, students,
etc? If there will be a UW edit-a-thon around the January through March
timeframe, perhaps we can have a similar event at WSU with a similar plan?
Another Believer, as an experienced edit-a-thon and outreach person, it
would be great to hear your ideas along with Christine's. I'm hoping that
Christine would agree to be the lead organizer for a WSU event. Any
thoughts? Christine, what sounds good to you?
Pine
*This is an Encyclopedia* <https://www.wikipedia.org/>
*One gateway to the wide garden of knowledge, where lies The deep rock of
our past, in which we must delve The well of our future,The clear water we
must leave untainted for those who come after us,The fertile earth, in
which truth may grow in bright places, tended by many hands,And the broad
fall of sunshine, warming our first steps toward knowing how much we do not
know.*
*—Catherine Munro*