2008/5/1, daniwo59@aol.com daniwo59@aol.com:
What is the objective of this chapter? Is it to solicit tax-free donations in the US? The WMF is already doing that with a professional, dedicated staff. Is it to negotiate with local institutions over the release of content? Again, the WMF is in the same country and is better equipped to do this. Is it to provide a membership organization that will assume responsibility for content? I doubt it. Is it to organize meetups and other social events? If so, then why go to the trouble of incorporating just to have a realtime beer with your online friends? Is it just to have a say in determining the chapter seats? Seems like a lot of trouble for that.
While I do not oppose a US chapter or even a series of local chapters, it would seem prudent to determine first what the purpose of the chapter is.
Danny
Hi Danny,
as you undoubtely know, the Wikimedia Movement is always struggling with limited resources. And those are not only money, as you might think. Volunteer effords and enthusiasm, and heck, even titles (president, board member) are limited. A more local organization could approach more local institutions, such as the local college, high school, organize workshops, conferences, do local PR, talk to the local press. It will be even easier to send presidents and board members to conferences and interviews (President of Wikimedia Philadelphia still sounds much better and interesting then "Wikipedia volunteer" for interviewers, conference attendees and small sponsors). A big network of chapters might actually has a nice added value.
Theoretically, yes, this could be done by the WMF staff, But it would cost a lot of staff time, and I always beleive that if volunteers can do the job, let them do it. So please don't just say there is no added value, there certainly might be. But yes, I agree there will be a cost too (time, money, communication) and the individuals who are thinking of starting up chapters just have to think about it really well if it is worth it for them.
-- Lodewijk