Hi all,
This thread has brought up several points of interest to Wikimedia India.
First let me take this opportunity to thank the Foundation Grants team for
all the help for our bootstrapping work, be it Legal consultant or
Documentation for FCRA etc. We have been interacting regularly with India
programs, it was limited to sharing of the plan and progress on each
other's initiatives and some collaboration, as Hisham and myself are on
the advisory board of Wiki Conference India 2011.
Responses to specific feedback from Hisham is given in line.
On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 7:00 PM, Hisham <hmundol(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
hisham
On Nov 11, 2011, at 2:41 PM, Lodewijk wrote:
Hi,
I'm taking the liberty of speaking for both the Trust and the Chapter in
some of my response here - so India Chapter, please do correct me if I'm
not accurately reflecting your position anywhere.
While the chapter has opened the relationship discussion from the beginning
of our first meeting with Barry and Hisham, we are yet to clearly define
the focus areas of each despite several face to face meetings or conference
calls. Chapter and Foundation have been functioning independently so far
and it is important that we define the role and responsibility of each
clearly with a good understanding the strengths and limitations of each. We
think all the stakeholders have a right to the clarity.
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.
We (the Trust) will be preparing a trustee selection plan that will
outline this.
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?
I think the Trust and the Chapter both bring unique strengths (as outlined
by Gautam) which I see as complimentary. I would think that cooperation is
the default - and this is something that we (Chapter & Trust) will actively
work towards. The points I made in my earlier note about communication are
an important first step in that - but not the only step. The joint
initiative that we (Chapter & Trust) are working at identifying and working
together on is another step. I am sure there will be others.
While Chapter has so far been occupied in trying to operationalize itself,
it did offer to get involved in the foundation activities that could impact
the Chapter like recruitment of staff for example. Foundation has not
signaled its willingness due to its own reasons. We are hoping that it will
change as we continue to engage.
Chapter is keenly interested in identifying programs that can be done
jointly leveraging the strengths of each and this is scheduled for
discussion in the upcoming face to face meeting during Wiki Conference.
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 different situations will require different approaches - often
times determined by the requirements or circumstances of the partnering
institution. If I can illustrate, the partnership point of contact for
something like the WikiConference is the Chapter. For something else, it
might well be the Trust.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, there is so much to be done - including
just on partnerships alone - that there will be very little case or cause
for competition.
If as you illustrate, someone does not get the answer they want from
either the Chapter or the Trust, we (Chapter & Trust) will make sure we
communicate with each other so that both of us are fully in the know and
can act appropriately.
Chapter came to know about the name of the trust through this email only,
while we
have been hearing of the trust formation for quite some time. We
have concern with the naming of the trust. As Wikimedia India is authorized
for use by chapter as per Chapter agrement, naming the trust with the same
prefix is a sure way of causing more confusion to all stakeholders. We
would like suggest to use the prefix "Wikimedia Foundation".
In summary, while the objectives of Wikimedia India and Wikimedia
Foundation India programs are common, we really need to define the
relationship to a sufficient level of clarity and continue to iterate the
same based on experiences.
Thanks
Arjuna Rao Chavala
President, Wikimedia India