would you be so kind to tell us a reason why
1. the indian chapter does not receive 500000 dollars to hire 2 persons, to pay the internet and telephone cost of 150 volunteers and to pay prices for 50 writing and photo shooting competitions around many universities in india? the first price could again be free internet and phone for one year.
2. the indian chapter does not set up an advisory board to include people with other desired experiences than wikimedia?
but instead a trust was set up ... making some volunteers unhappy, and leading to differences in opinion even amongst chapter executives.
if we assume the goal is to win contributors, I am wondering how somebody who is paid, writes blogs, tweeds, mails and maybe discussion pages is able to convince somebody else to write wikipedia in his free time. I am lacking a good english word here, but maybe one could say it is not authentic?
setting up an independent trust besides the chapter and giving it 20 times as much money is not perceived peaceful by everybody.
the goal of the wiki movement is to make love, and peace and .... wikipedia, at least imo.
rupert On Nov 14, 2011 7:15 PM, "CherianTinu Abraham" tinucherian@gmail.com wrote:
The following comments are my personal view and not necessarily of an Executive Member of the Wikimedia India Chapter.
Having said that I must politely disagree with some of the views of Anirudh, my fellow Executive Member and Salmaan ( Theo) , a member of Wikimedia India chapter. But I do respect their personal views , but I guess we agree to disagree.
The news of the formation of Wikimedia India Program Trust wasn't anything new to the chapter EC as it was mentioned in last two Chapter - Foundation Co-ordination meetings, if I remember correctly. And Sunil Abraham , Director of Centre of Internet & Society ( CIS) is a patron of Wikimedia movement in India and chapter in India, not to forget that CIS have been sharing their office space for the chapter and Wikimeetups in Bangalore, or all the help CIS was doing for boot strapping the chapter.
When it comes to "paid contractors/staff ", I don't see a difference between Theo[1] or Hisham, except that Hisham is working for a longer term. So what? Not every work can be done as a volunteer. As far as I understand, the foundation is also committed to support the chapters and community alike.
The way I see is India is a land of immense potential for the Wikimedia Movement. IMHO, There is enough space of 10 chapters and Wikimedia offices to co-exist and work together in India. When there are more than enough work to do, I don't understand why this hue and cry.
There is only one who could diminish the importance of the chapter, the chapter itself. The road ahead for us is not easy but there are tons of things to do. We have our advantages but limitations too. Our current bank balance [2] is not more than a night's tariff at a decent hotel. The board members does the clerical work of receiving membership applications to posting individual snail mail letters of acceptance of membership. In spite of all these, we do this for the passion and love for the movement. It does come at the sacrifice of our own professional/career growths or the wonderful time we would otherwise have spend with our family and friends. But we are proud to Wikipedians/Wikimedians! And we love what we are doing.
Foundation-Community-Chapter-India Trust...Yea, it is complicated and the model may or may not be the best.. But that is the reality. Let us all work together for the movement.
Regards Tinu Cherian
References
- http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_contractors
- http://wiki.wikimedia.in/images/0/06/WMIN-AnnualReport2010-11.pdf
On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 8:39 PM, Anirudh Bhati anirudhsbh@gmail.com wrote:
My personal opinion, and I only speak for myself and not the Chapter or
the
Foundation (I wouldn't dare!).
On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 4:11 PM, Lodewijk <lodewijk@effeietsanders.org
wrote:
Hi,
thanks a lot all for exmplaining the differences. I would be very much interested to know more about the ''relationship'' between the trust
and
Wikimedia India. You seem to suggest that trustees get appointed by (or
on
the advice of - not sure of the legal wording) the WMF - but will
Wikimedia
India be involved in that too? Since they are the chapter in that
country I
could imagine them to have a say in it.
Nope. Up until now WMIN has not received any say either with the India Education Programs design and implementation or the structuring of the Wikimedia India Program Trust. And given that not many people are going
to
talk about it, I don't think much will change in the future.
How closely will this trust and the chapter work together? You mention
that
there is communication etc - but is cooperation likely to become the default or the exception?
From my own experience and from what I have heard from a fellow Pune community member, the general community and the Chapter body have been excluded and ignored by WMF consultants from the very beginning. In
fact,
the Chapter representatives were only invited to attend meetings when
Frank
Schlenburg and Annie Lin were in town.
And how will it work with regards of who will be the primary point of contact in India for institutions who want to partner with Wikimedia?
Will
they have to approach one of the two or whichever they like (and if
they
dont get the answer they like, can they just approach the other?). Will
the
chapter and the trust be competing with each other or collaborating?
I think there is already a lot of confusion with regard to the two
entities
operating out of India. Going by the media, news reporters are already very confused by the existence of two Wikimedia bodies and I personally
get
a lot of queries every week asking me to clarify on the location of Wikimedia offices. With its paid consultants, the local WMF consultants have done a good job of making their presence felt (especially in Western India), and more and more journalists are interested in hearing from WMF (the "international organization") than WMIN.
The initial idea, if I understood it correctly, was to establish another non-profit body within India, for a period of three to five years to execute specific (and large-scale) programmes. As of now, the WIPT (Wikimedia India Program Office) can pretty much do anything it wants
with
the Wikimedia brand - partner with institutions, raise money locally,
have
paid employees and bypass community. This is what I foresee happening: WMIN will be involved in community-building and small-scale projects
which
support volunteers and the WIPT will partner with large institutions in India (who are understandably looking to club with international organizations), get a lot of media coverage and acquire the big grants (since WMIN is not a professional body). WMIN and WIPT will
theoretically
compete for funding within India, much of which will be allocated to
WIPT,
given that it is professionalized (and because we never had a chance) and in WMF's good graces. This is how WMIN has been made redundant
(something
that I have been saying for a long, long time).
The most important difference, something many are uncomfortable talking about, is in the distribution of money. The WIPT in India will have
access
to *significantly *more WMF funding than WMIN (significant meaning *real significant*). Around the time when discussions about the India Office began, Barry came to India and assured us that the WIPT will only be here for a period of 3-5 years. I am hopeful that the Foundation will stick
to
its words, and with time we will all learn that small volunteer-driven projects have a larger impact than costly, ill-designed, large-scale programmes run by hired consultants who hire consultants with no relevant background (with a couple of exceptions).
Thanks for helping me seeing the situation more clearly,
No, thank you for asking the right questions.
Lodewijk
anirudh
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