I have received an email from Affcom. I'm waiting for their permission to
post it to Meta for us to review and discuss as a group. As you might
expect they have some questions for us but I feel good about the direction
of the conversation. (:
Pine
Hail Cascadians,
You probably know about https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cascadia
Our contact at TA3M Seattle is assembling a list of FOSS organizations in the Seattle area. If you know of FOSS, GLAM, or other organizations in our region which would have common interests with Wikimedia Cascadia, please add them to the Cascadia page on Meta. This will help us to think about where we can do outreach.
One idea I am currently thinking seriously about is how to have a Wikimedian in Residence position made available at the Gates Foundation, if they are willing to host one. I think that will be easier to do once we are officially a user group or thematic organization.
Does anyone have thoughts to share about us becoming a recognized user group or thematic organization? I think this would benefit us because we would be allowed to use the Wikimedia trademarks and would provide easier access to other organizations like the Gates Foundation, other FOSS organizations, events which are only for journalists, and other opportunities. I am *not* proposing that we become a chapter because we are too small at this time. That might come later. For now, I think being an officially recognized Wikimedia user group would serve our needs well.
Pine
Hi all,
One thing I have been thinking about is if it would make sense to base a
number of programs that we have in various stages of development in
Wikimedia Cascadia instead of developing and running them as an individual.
For example, personally I am involved with Cameras for Commons
Photographers, which is currently in development as a grants program in
IdeaLab. Someone needs someone to run it if WMF funds it. Other chapters
apparently have similar programs. Would people be open to the idea of
running this as a local, or global, program out of Wikimedia Cascadia?
Another project that I have in mind is transforming the presentation that I
have been drafting into a series of well-polished instructional videos
about Wikipedia that could be posted on Commons for use by professors or
researchers. I am currently thinking about requesting a WMF grant to make
this happen, but I think it would be great to develop and run the program
through Wikimedia Cascadia so there are more people involved. For example,
I think it would be great to have a diversity of presenters for different
modules, and we have some good diversity of highly skilled Wikimedians here
in Cascadia who I hope would be interested in participating.
Another Seattle Wikimedian, and I forget exactly who proposed this,
suggested that we could use our Wikimedia affiliation to get a greater
level of access to areas that are interesting to photograph for Commons,
for example underground tours of Seattle where we might be able to get
press-level access.
Last but not least, I hear that we have some existing GLAM and cultural
outreach projects in the Portland area, and I think it would be great to
see if affiliating those projects more directly with Cascadia and the
Wikimedia brand would be beneficial. For example, we might be able to get
support for micro-grants for bus fares to enable more people to attend our
events.
Thoughts about programs? Obviously we are very early in our development as
an organization but I would love to hear ideas for projects or feedback
about the ones mentioned already.
Thanks,
Pine
Hi Portland Wikimedians,
As a part of the AffCom applications process and just so we can meet in
person, I'd like to visit you. Wiki Loves Pride is on June 21st but I'm not
sure I can go that weekend, and July 6 I'm planning to attend Wicnik in
Seattle. After July 6, what would be a good day for a meet and greet? I'd
especially like to participate in an edit-a-thon or outreach event so I can
experience Portland's activities firsthand (:
Thanks,
Pine
Hi Blibbet,
Are there open slots for presentations at your June meeting? I am working on a Wikimedia presentation and might be able to present a portion of it, and save the remainder for a future meeting. I think the last I heard is that J-Mo is planning to present his introduction to editing in July.
Also, please note that the annual Seattle Wikipedia picnic, called Wicnik, is tentatively scheduled for July 5 or 6 at the Arboretum. TA3M members who want to join the picnic are welcome.
Pine
Hi all,
I would like to propose Thursday, June 12 for our next meetup at Cafe Allegro from 6-9 PM approximately. Does that work for those who would like to come?
Also, I would like to invite our two new Individual Engagement Grant grantees from the University of Washington to join us. Mssemantics is researching Women and Wikipedia and will be a guest lecturer with J-Mo at UW classes. Libcub has a master's degree in library and information sciences and is researching the category system on English Wikipedia. Both are Ph.D. candidates in the Information School. I am hoping they can join us and we can cross-pollinate some ideas.
We can also discuss our ongoing efforts to form the Cascadia Wikimedians user group.
And we must discuss Wicnik! The current proposal is to have Wicnik on June 5 or 6 at the Arboretum.
Please post to the list about your availability for June 12 or contact me off-list if you have other suggestions.
Pine