On 9/26/06, effe iets anders effeietsanders@gmail.com wrote:
I think it is very important that the group of people knows what they start with, and that they are motivated, and really see the advantages and want to do it themselves.
True. What I think is essential in this process is showcasing what chapters _already_ do. This can be a way to generate genuine interest beyond the "It would be cool" effect. For instance, Frank sent a report about the "Wikipedia in schools" training project of the German chapter; Michael described the Swiss Wikipedia Day; the Dutch chapter also recently organized a conference. There was Wikipedia Academy in Göttingen, the 5 year Wikipedia exhibit, and the digitization project initiated by the German chapter. And so on, and so forth.
Do we have a page describing these use cases, one to two paragraphs each, with pictures? If not, is someone willing to volunteer to coordinate this? (CCing Elisabeth Bauer, who has done amazing work on promotion materials.)
I agree with what TOR said regarding additional preconditions for my proposal. I hope to have a telconf with Delphine soon to get a better picture of the chapter situation.
I also agree with you that IRC (or real-life) meetings can be an excellent way to have honest discussions about the future direction of a wiki community. Effe, if you are interested in running/organizing such meetings, can you contact me privately and we'll try to work out the details.