Welcome to the US affiliates, North Carolina Triangle. (:
If you have not already done so, please join the Wikimedians Active in
Local Regions of the United States (affectionately known as WALRUS) mailing
list at https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaus-l
I would like to talk with you via Hangout sometime about your group's
activities so that we can share our experience of effective practices.
Please contact me off-list when it's convenient for you.
Cheers,
Pine
Cascadia Wikimedians User Group
On May 27, 2015 2:17 PM, "Carlos M. Colina" <maorx(a)wikimedia.org.ve> wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> On behalf of the Affiliations Committee, I am honored to announce the
> recognition [1] of a new User Group in the United States - the North
> Carolina Triangle Wikipedians. As their name implies, they are mostly
> active in the region known as the Research Triangle, or simply "The
> Triangle". They have already organized activities in the region, especially
> at Duke and UNC related to MediaWiki, edit-a-thons and the Education
> Program. We'll see more of that in the near future :-)
>
> So please, let's welcome the newest member of the family of affiliates!
> Congrats!
>
> Regards,
> Carlos
>
> 1:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/North_Ca…
> --
> "*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
> junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
> Carlos M. Colina
> Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve
> <http://wikimedia.org.ve>
> Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
> Phone: +972-52-4869915
> Twitter: @maor_x
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
Congrats (: We liked your presentation at the Community Data Science
Workshop, and it's great to see you join Community Tech.
Pine
On May 25, 2015 12:39 PM, "Bryan Davis" <bd808(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> I'm excited to announce that Frances Hocutt has been hired as a Software
> Engineer on the Community Tech team starting 2015-05-26.
>
> She has gotten a good start on getting things done by writing a great
> introduction blurb for me to forward on:
>
> Frances is looking forward to starting on a [new team doing cool but
> unspecified stuff]. Frances has been with the WMF for most of the last
> year, first as an OPW intern and then as a developer for Community
> Resources. Frances has primarily worked in the MediaWiki API ecosystem: she
> wrote the standard for API client libraries, evaluated a number of them,
> and developed wiki bots to support this Inspire campaign and the Co-op
> mentorship project on English Wikipedia. She also has contributed patches
> and product management to Wikimetrics. Before starting work in F/OSS,
> Frances worked as a medicinal chemist, studied organic chemistry and
> materials science, and founded a hackerspace. She moved to the Bay Area in
> January. She enjoys giving talks, mentoring new programmers, and practicing
> various fiber arts.
>
> Frances can be found as fhocutt on IRC, Fhocutt as a volunteer, and Fhocutt
> (WMF) officially.
>
>
> --
> Bryan Davis Wikimedia Foundation <bd808(a)wikimedia.org>
> [[m:User:BDavis_(WMF)]] Sr Software Engineer Boise, ID USA
> irc: bd808 v:415.839.6885 x6855
> _______________________________________________
> Wikitech-l mailing list
> Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Forwarding the email below with permission. Program leaders might want to
look at the "further resources" sections in particular, on
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/News/Pre-conference_works…
.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Maria Cruz <mcruz(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, May 21, 2015 at 7:16 AM
Subject: [Wmcon15] What happened at pre-conference sessions?
To: WMCON15 Mailing List <wmcon15(a)wikimedia.de>
Hi all,
It was really nice to meet so many of you at WMCON last week! =)
As facilitators of sessions in the pre conference agenda, we wanted to
share with the conference audience at large what happened in the sessions
that took place on Wednesday May 13, and Thursday May 14, co-hosted by WMDE
and Learning and Evaluation team at WMF.
Both days focused on evaluation and program design and the main goal was to
give participants tools and resources to better think through Wikimedia
programs and what we want to achieve with these awesome activities. One of
the most common topics of conversation was how to make better use of
volunteer time and avoid burnout, a common concern across communities.
We worked together to better understand how to use a Logic Model as an
evaluation tool, and work in groups to create some examples. We reviewed
data sources and tools best suited to capture program outcomes. On
Thursday, sessions focused on how to design an annual proposal and SMART
plan, program toolkits and storytelling toolkit, effective question design
for surveys, and Wikimetrics training.
You can find all participants' input and the presentations shared on the
event page on Meta [1].
We want to thank every person who took part. We were excited to hear how
many were keen on taking back to local communities the tools and resources
shared.
And also: don't be a stranger! If you want to receive Learning and
Evaluation announcements, subscribe to our email list and follow our
profiles [2] =)
Remember we are here to help. Don't forget to have fun and be creative in
evaluating and telling your program story!
Happy editing,
*María Cruz * \\ Community Coordinator, PE&D Team \\ Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc.
mcruz(a)wikimedia.org | : @marianarra_ <https://twitter.com/marianarra_>
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/News/Pre-conference_works…
[2] Email list: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ped
Twitter: @WikiEval
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/programevaluation/
Hello,
I got notices about these two Seattle lectures and thought that I would
share that these kinds of talks are out there for people who are interested.
This is from a nonprofit mailing list that leans to the big corporate side
of things, but as we have been talking about liability, I thought others
might be interested to know that nonprofit orgs in Seattle often wonder
about these things.
yours,
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Washington Nonprofits <info(a)washingtonnonprofits.org>
Date: Thu, May 21, 2015 at 9:26 AM
Subject: 2 Upcoming Legal Trainings: Advocacy & Lobbying - Liability Issues
To:xxx
Two Upcoming Legal Trainings:
Advocacy & Lobbying - Liability
We are pleased to share information about these nonprofit trainings in
your area offered by our nonprofit support organization partner, Wayfind.
Advocacy and Lobbying: What Your Nonprofit Needs To Know
*Tuesday, June 2, 2015 *
12:00-2:00pm
2100 Building
2100 24th Avenue South
Seattle, WA
This seminar will examine the rules and requirements around advocacy and
lobbying by nonprofit tax-exempt organizations in Washington State. There
are many misconceptions about whether and to what extent nonprofits can
egage in lobbying and advocacy. Nonprofits can do some advocacy, but there
are limitations and specific rules regarding the type and amount of
adovcacy that nonprofit tax-exempt organizations can do. We will explore
the Washington State law registration requirements and the Federal tax law
restrictions on tax-exempt organizations that do advocacy and lobbying.
Local experts will talk about best practices on managing nonprofit advocacy
work.
*ABOUT THE SPEAKERS*
Elaine Rose, Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest, Sheila Anderson, Campion
Advocacy Fund and Stand For Your Mission and Robin Kosky, Building Changes.
Our speakers are lawyers and nonprofit leaders who have experience in
advocacy and lobbying in nonprofit settings.
*COST*
$30 nonprofit leaders or staff, $100 General Admission/Attorneys with CLE
credit, $80 for Wayfind Volunteer Attorneys with CLE credit
Snacks and coffee, tea and water will be served. Bring your own lunch.
2.75 CLE Credit (approval pending)
Register here
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=430999&uid=365…>
*Thank you to the Campion Foundation for sponsoring this training!*
------------------------------
Can We Be Sued? Liability Issues for Nonprofits
*Tuesday, June 16, 2015*
12:00-2:00pm
2100 Building
2100 24th Avenue South
Seattle, WA
This seminar is for attorneys and nonprofit leaders to learn about what
their risk of being sued as a board member or nonprofit organization. All
nonprofit board members should understand what their liability exposure is
and how minimize it. The question of what type of insurance should a
nonprofit have will be addressed. Topics covered will include common
liability risks of nonprofits, high risk activities, liability waivers,
Directors and Officers insurance and other types of insurance.
*ABOUT THE SPEAKER*
Peter J. Smith is a partner at the Apex Law Group, LLP where he has a
diverse general business law practice advising nonprofit and for-profit
organizations on corporate governance, finance, and risk management.
Peter’s practice focuses on entrepreneurs and organizations aiming to make
a social impact. John Policar joined Sprague Israel Giles in 1995 and is a
Vice President and shareholder. Along with heading up the Commercial Lines
Department, he manages a large commercial book of business with a strong
focus on the nonprofit community.
*COST*
$30 nonprofit leaders or staff, $100 General Admission/Attorneys with CLE
credit, $80 for Wayfind Volunteer Attorneys with CLE credit
Snacks and coffee, tea and water will be served. Bring your own lunch.
2.75 CLE Credit (approval pending)
Register here
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431000&uid=365…>
------------------------------
For more information about this event or Wayfind, please visit their website
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431001&uid=365…>
or
email contact(a)wayfindlegal.org.
------------------------------
WASHINGTON NONPROFITS
Washington Nonprofits, Washington's state association for nonprofit
organizations, is a membership-based organization that builds a strong,
collaborative network of nonprofits serving Washington communities through
education, advocacy, and capacity building. It is a member of the National
Council of Nonprofits. Join us today!
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431002&uid=365…>
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431003&uid=365…>
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431004&uid=365…>
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431005&uid=365…>
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431006&uid=365…>
------------------------------
Washington Nonprofits
120 State Avenue #303, Olympia, WA 98501
(855) 299-2922 | info(a)washingtonnonprofits.org |
www.washingtonnonprofits.org
<http://www.washingtonnonprofits.org/dsp_emailhandler.cfm?eid=431008&uid=365…>
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------------------------------
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--
Lane Rasberry
user:bluerasberry on Wikipedia
206.801.0814
lane(a)bluerasberry.com
Hi Cascadians,
Here are some of the developments at WMCON:
We discussed volunteer burnout, and how affiliates can prevent it among our
volunteers. Some of us have raised this subject with WMF as needing their
attention as well. I am told by Community Advocacy that they are working on
this issue, as well as civility.
We discussed the need for better and easier tools to evaluate the impacts
of programs.
We asked for a learning pattern about how to increase affiliates' human
resources capacity
We discussed the recruitment and retention of students, professors and high
school teachers in Wikipedia education programs.
We discussed how to use data and storytelling in written communications
like grant reports, blog posts, social media, and press releases.
We discussed how we can recruit good quality board members, and keep boards
functioning well with low drama and an atmosphere of public service.
We discussed government and WMF bureaucracy and how they affect affiliates.
We learned some of the finer points about Wikidata.
We talked about how projects can fail in good and not-so-good ways.
Learning from failure is good; doing pilot projects with managed risk is
good.
We talked about storytelling, which would be applicable to various kinds of
grantmaking reports as well as press releases and outreach efforts.
Storytelling can include numbers, and narrative context for those numbers.
We learned that for editor retention, the projects with the highest rate of
3-month retention appear to be writing contests. Photo events like Wiki
Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth engage many more people, but the
activity of those users appears to be low outside of photo events; it may
be possible to engage such high numbers of photo event participants that a
reasonable number, even if a small percentage, of contributors would remain
active throughout the year.
We discussed communications with the press. WMF Communications is
developing resources for affiliates to assist with this. Also, Dorothy said
that she'd be willing to consult with us about press releases and other
tools that we can use to recruit for our events.
We are discussing the creation of a new mailing list for thematic
organizations and user groups, and/or expanding the existing Chapters email
list so that it is open to board members of thematic organizations and user
groups.
The Wikimedia Affiliates Network page on Meta (
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network) appears to be
an abandoned draft. Some of its ideas appear to be similar to ideas that
got support at the conference, such as affiliates networking and supporting
each other. I created a logo for the Wikimedia Affiliates Network, by
modifying a logo that User:Sonia created awhile back. People may modify the
WAN page in accordance with discussions at WMCON.
Community Resources, formerly known as Grantmaking, is considering
providing more support for user groups
Community Resources and the FDC are considering a new grantmaking track for
annual plans that are too complex for GAC but fall below the current
bright-line thresholds for APG applications
Community Resources is planning to have a community consultation about
grantmaking processes later this year.
WikiAmericans have discussed ways in which we can collaborate this year.
These include:
* National campaigns for themed events, e.g. Wiki Loves Pride, Art &
Feminism
* Peer reviews of each other's grants
* Share media contacts on a private list with designated people at each
affiliate. Particularly noteworthy: BBC, NPR, PBS, C-SPAN, WMF
communications staff for the blog, etc
* GLAM-Wiki US Consortioum Coordinator, to be hired by WMUS-DC but will
have a national scope
* Camera and accessories loans and insurance
* Press credentials
* Public policy coordination
* Creation of a mailing list for US board members and officers
* Language preservation programs for Native American languages
Particular suggestions and ideas for Cascadia Wikimdians that were
discussed at the conference or came to mind:
* Expand our human resources capacity by using press releases and other
tools to recruit new participants
* Expand our human resources capacity by hosting editing contests, because
those have a relatively high 3-month persistence rate for new contributors
* Expand our human resources capacity by creating new partnerships, such as
with education and GLAM organizations.
* Expand our human resources capacity by holding events on a regular basis
at the same location
* Document our outcomes more holistically and with greater detail. This
includes individual outcomes achieved by Cascadia members.
* Document the in-kind support and benefits from partnerships that we
receive, such as through UW and OHSU. Bringing resources into the movement
is viewed favorably by WMF, including shared and partnership resources.
* For dealing with our current challenges regarding WMF's present
unwillingness to fund staff time, and our position that we need part-time
staff in order to sustain and grow, we have at least 3 options:
:* Continue to negotiate with WMF
:* Distribute work among more officers, volunteers, and board members
(though this may conflict with the concept of the board as a governing
group rather than a working group)
:* Recruit more people to volunteer. See ideas above. There were a number
of suggestions at the conference regarding how to increase human resources
capacity, although many of those have questionable long-term sustainability
and stability.
:* Expand our financial capacity through outside funding
:* Crowdfund for specific stories, events, or projects
Many photos and some of the presentations for the conference are available
on Meta in the category
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_Conference_2015.
The "official" notes from conference sessions will hopefully be available
by early next month, after they have been reviewed by presenters for
quality assurance.
Let's discuss our potential next steps when we meet on Monday.
Cheers,
Pine
Hi Darian,
Welcome to Wikimedia. I'd like to invite you to subscribe to the Cascadia
Wikimedians email list; we're the regional affiliate for Oregon, Washington
State, and British Columbia. Signup is at
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-cascadia
I'm cc'ing my colleague Another Believer who is in Portland. I hope that
the two of you can find time to meet.
Cheers,
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-cascadia>
Pine
On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 3:27 PM, Brion Vibber <bvibber(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Welcome aboard!
>
> -- brion
>
> On Tuesday, May 19, 2015, Chris Steipp <csteipp(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'd like to introduce Darian Anthony Patrick, our new Application
> Security
> > Engineer for the foundation! Darian joins me as a member of the newly
> > formed Security Team. He comes from Aspect Security, where he provided
> > code/architecture reviews and pen testing to large national and
> > international financial institutions. Darian will be working remotely
> from
> > Portland, OR. You can find him on irc as dapatrick. Darian will focus on
> > maintaining and improving the security of MediaWiki and other software at
> > the WMF.
> >
> > In his own words,
> >
> > “I’m super excited to join the organization, and I look forward to
> > working with you all.”
> >
> > Welcome Darian!
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Wikitech-l mailing list
> Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
>
Hi all,
* We piloted VisualEditor training at the most recent edit-a-thon that we
held at UW. The feedback from the librarians was positive. I'll work on
turning the training into a video format soon, possibly during my travel to
the Wikimedia Conference. I am considering producing a PDF version first
because that is easier to do, and a video version second.
* The UW librarians are interested in continuing to partner with us. More
info about that during the next few weeks.
* We received feedback from WMF about the current version of our proposed
annual plan on Meta. At this point, WMF is willing to fund portions but not
all of our plan. Our Board is in the process of scheduling a meeting to
discuss our next steps.
* You may remember that Monika mentioned on this list (
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-cascadia/2015-March/000492.…)
her grant proposal for an Inspire campaign project "Full Circle Gap
Protocol: Addressing the ‘Unknown Unknowns". WMF has awarded funding for
this project. Congratulations, Monika. (:
* We will have our regular social meetup at Cafe Allegro on May 26th this
month, later than usual. At this meetup, I plan to share what I learned at
the Wikimedia Conference and any potential new partnerships or initiatives.
We can also discuss our plans for the remainder of this year, including
potential future events at the UW libraries. I hope to see many of you on
the 26th. (:
Pine