Hello Raphael,
Let me attempt to answer your questions with some of the facts I know regarding this. So with the selection process Sandister sent this message to the WhatsApp since most of our members are and active after we had worked on our eligibility requirements.
*Happy New Year To Everyone*
*Before anything else, Wikipedia turns 17 on January 15, 2018. There are no special activities planned, it's just for your information.This year the key theme will be local relevance – activities that are relevant to our Ghanaian context, and relevant to our user group and relevant to our contributors – with the underlying principle of working within capacity – the capacity we have.*
*It's going to be a fulfilling year.*
*Schedules*
*It is hard to give any schedules because our activities are planned around when grants are approved and when they arrive.*
*Due to late report writing and and lateness in returning unspent grant money back to the group on the part of the Wiki Loves Monuments 2017 team, we will have to wait to start anything this year.When WMF gives the green light, I'll let you know. Activity guide*
*I am putting together a guide for our work this year which will include everything from pending events, WiR, upcoming travels, our annual and by laws meeting meeting etc to help us all stay on the same page.Wikimedia also nudged us towards Wikidata and Wikipedia New Readers – we need to do more towards these.*
*Travels*
*Please take note of the deadlines: Indaba: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2018 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2018*
*WMCON 2018: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018Wikimania 2018: https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania*
After this message was sent Sadat and Georgina were the only once who expressed interest in wanting to represent the group. The selection was made based on their interest and the criteria that has been stipulated by the WMCON.
So actually it should be Sadat and Georgina representing us so I don't know why Georgina's name hasn't yet been put on there.
And with the mailing being our official communication, you can attest to the fact that, it's been dormant for a lot of months now and that the WhatsApp platform is much more active and reaches every member.
This are some of the things I know or privy to and not the official position of the group. I expect you to get an official group position soon on your concern.
Best, Justice.
On Jan 18, 2018 2:46 AM, "Raphael Berchie" rberchie@gmail.com wrote:
Hello everyone happy new year and a belated Wiki birthday to us all. So I chanced on this https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_ 2018/Participants%27_List and realized Sadat is the one representing us at this year’s WMConn. Congrats to him I have no shred of doubt that he will fully represent us and I have no problem about his eligibility and competence. My problem however is mode of selection. Was it decided us a community or it was an individual’s decision because as far as I am concerned the mailing list is the official place for having such discussions and I have seen no such discussions here.
Again in previous years we have had consultatative talks and we have all known who was representing us so what changed this year?
Lastly as a Usergroup we were allocated two slots for participation. How come it is only one person.
I need some answers.
Regards
And with the mailing being our official communication, you can attest to
the fact that, it's been dormant for a lot of months now and that the WhatsApp platform is much more active and reaches every member.
This might not be the right thread to chip this in, and as much as I hate to bring this up, WHY is the un-official so-called WhatsApp platform, which was neither created for us as a UserGroup by the WMF, in *any* way "much more active" than the mailing list?
Why do I feel that is an intentional, deliberate approach to make that scenario come through?
What happened to sending emails, via an email, using email?
Whatever communications that happened within the WhatsApp group, now *no one* not part of the group can, *in no* way can verify. However, every communication on the mailing list, one can and will be able to verify. Every communication is archived for future reference.
you can attest to the fact that...
Yes, I can, because that's how it seems to have been schemed to go. The mailing list has *always* worked. Not sure why it's lost interest over time.
Seriously, I find the WhatsApp group to be a distraction, considering those of us not part of the group can't know anything anymore, in terms of ongoing discussions. And we don't expect Asaf or Alex or Katherine to join *a* whatsapp group just to get informed on our activities.
On Thu, Jan 18, 2018 at 7:15 AM, Justice Okai-Allotey <owulakpakpo@gmail.com
wrote:
Hello Raphael,
Let me attempt to answer your questions with some of the facts I know regarding this. So with the selection process Sandister sent this message to the WhatsApp since most of our members are and active after we had worked on our eligibility requirements.
*Happy New Year To Everyone*
*Before anything else, Wikipedia turns 17 on January 15, 2018. There are no special activities planned, it's just for your information.This year the key theme will be local relevance – activities that are relevant to our Ghanaian context, and relevant to our user group and relevant to our contributors – with the underlying principle of working within capacity – the capacity we have.*
*It's going to be a fulfilling year.*
*Schedules*
*It is hard to give any schedules because our activities are planned around when grants are approved and when they arrive.*
*Due to late report writing and and lateness in returning unspent grant money back to the group on the part of the Wiki Loves Monuments 2017 team, we will have to wait to start anything this year.When WMF gives the green light, I'll let you know. Activity guide*
*I am putting together a guide for our work this year which will include everything from pending events, WiR, upcoming travels, our annual and by laws meeting meeting etc to help us all stay on the same page.Wikimedia also nudged us towards Wikidata and Wikipedia New Readers – we need to do more towards these.*
*Travels*
*Please take note of the deadlines: Indaba: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2018 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2018*
*WMCON 2018: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018Wikimania 2018: https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania*
After this message was sent Sadat and Georgina were the only once who expressed interest in wanting to represent the group. The selection was made based on their interest and the criteria that has been stipulated by the WMCON.
So actually it should be Sadat and Georgina representing us so I don't know why Georgina's name hasn't yet been put on there.
And with the mailing being our official communication, you can attest to the fact that, it's been dormant for a lot of months now and that the WhatsApp platform is much more active and reaches every member.
This are some of the things I know or privy to and not the official position of the group. I expect you to get an official group position soon on your concern.
Best, Justice.
On Jan 18, 2018 2:46 AM, "Raphael Berchie" rberchie@gmail.com wrote:
Hello everyone happy new year and a belated Wiki birthday to us all. So I chanced on this https://meta.wikimedia.or g/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018/Participants%27_List and realized Sadat is the one representing us at this year’s WMConn. Congrats to him I have no shred of doubt that he will fully represent us and I have no problem about his eligibility and competence. My problem however is mode of selection. Was it decided us a community or it was an individual’s decision because as far as I am concerned the mailing list is the official place for having such discussions and I have seen no such discussions here.
Again in previous years we have had consultatative talks and we have all known who was representing us so what changed this year?
Lastly as a Usergroup we were allocated two slots for participation. How come it is only one person.
I need some answers.
Regards
*Raphael Berchie* Co Founder Open Foundation, West Africa, Wikimedian https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Ghana,Open Advocate, Climate Change Activist,Blogger http://rberchie.blogspot.com/ P.O Box CT 10469 Cantoments Accra Ghana +233243882047 Twitter@berchie4gh https://twitter.com/berchie4gh Facebook https://www.facebook.com/berchie Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphael-berchie-32705822?trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile
Wikimedia-GH mailing list Wikimedia-GH@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-gh
Wikimedia-GH mailing list Wikimedia-GH@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-gh
Greetings Everyone and Happy New Year!
I find some statements here quite questionable. Please spare me sometime.
Mailing list being dormant is questionable! What made it so? And how do we intend to improve that?
In previous times all communication channels such as (WhatsApp and Mailing list) had all information disseminated accordingly whether it was active "or with no response from users". So what changed?
I was on travel with our team member Stella Agbley to represent our country in the just ended WikiDivCon during the renewal of membership for 2018.
Unfortunately, I saw the application form late and it had been closed. So as a follow up I reached out to Justice a week or two after and he said " The one working on it will re-open". After no feedback for some months, I asked again lastweek and I'm now told it will be announced on the Mailing List.
So my question is when? Since our focus is more on the "Active WhatsApp Group" but not the mailing list. Please can you enlighten me?
Finally, speaking of WikiData as I have just seen in Justice's post from Sandister. Yes! we need to learn more and do more as it is of high interest to me. What is our plan of action?
Congratulations Georgina!! Go spread the word,learn and impact( check on me small wai..lol). Sadat congratulations to you too.
Best Regards, Joy
On 18 Jan 2018 07:16, "Justice Okai-Allotey" owulakpakpo@gmail.com wrote:
Hello Raphael,
Let me attempt to answer your questions with some of the facts I know regarding this. So with the selection process Sandister sent this message to the WhatsApp since most of our members are and active after we had worked on our eligibility requirements.
*Happy New Year To Everyone*
*Before anything else, Wikipedia turns 17 on January 15, 2018. There are no special activities planned, it's just for your information.This year the key theme will be local relevance – activities that are relevant to our Ghanaian context, and relevant to our user group and relevant to our contributors – with the underlying principle of working within capacity – the capacity we have.*
*It's going to be a fulfilling year.*
*Schedules*
*It is hard to give any schedules because our activities are planned around when grants are approved and when they arrive.*
*Due to late report writing and and lateness in returning unspent grant money back to the group on the part of the Wiki Loves Monuments 2017 team, we will have to wait to start anything this year.When WMF gives the green light, I'll let you know. Activity guide*
*I am putting together a guide for our work this year which will include everything from pending events, WiR, upcoming travels, our annual and by laws meeting meeting etc to help us all stay on the same page.Wikimedia also nudged us towards Wikidata and Wikipedia New Readers – we need to do more towards these.*
*Travels*
*Please take note of the deadlines: Indaba: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2018 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2018*
*WMCON 2018: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2018Wikimania 2018: https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania*
After this message was sent Sadat and Georgina were the only once who expressed interest in wanting to represent the group. The selection was made based on their interest and the criteria that has been stipulated by the WMCON.
So actually it should be Sadat and Georgina representing us so I don't know why Georgina's name hasn't yet been put on there.
And with the mailing being our official communication, you can attest to the fact that, it's been dormant for a lot of months now and that the WhatsApp platform is much more active and reaches every member.
This are some of the things I know or privy to and not the official position of the group. I expect you to get an official group position soon on your concern.
Best, Justice.
On Jan 18, 2018 2:46 AM, "Raphael Berchie" rberchie@gmail.com wrote:
Hello everyone happy new year and a belated Wiki birthday to us all. So I chanced on this https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_20 18/Participants%27_List and realized Sadat is the one representing us at this year’s WMConn. Congrats to him I have no shred of doubt that he will fully represent us and I have no problem about his eligibility and competence. My problem however is mode of selection. Was it decided us a community or it was an individual’s decision because as far as I am concerned the mailing list is the official place for having such discussions and I have seen no such discussions here.
Again in previous years we have had consultatative talks and we have all known who was representing us so what changed this year?
Lastly as a Usergroup we were allocated two slots for participation. How come it is only one person.
I need some answers.
Regards
wikimedia-gh@lists.wikimedia.org