(Apologies if it was mentioned on this list before; I couldn't find a thread about this.)
Over a month ago, an equipment exchange forum has been started on Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Equipment_exchange, aiming to be a place where "media contributors (...) can request, donate, sell, or barter equipment for the production of free content, including camera equipment, computer equipment, art supplies, and software."
I think it might be worth sharing this idea with the general public; please forward it to your local mailing lists if you feel it's worth the attention of your community. Congratulations to Derrick Coetzee (Dcoetzee) for coming up with this wonderful idea, and many thanks for his generosity towards another Wikimedia contributor (details on the page linked above).
On 5 September 2012 16:50, Tomasz W. Kozłowski odder.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
Over a month ago, an equipment exchange forum has been started on Wikimedia Commons at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Equipment_exchange, aiming to be a place where "media contributors (...) can request, donate, sell, or barter equipment for the production of free content, including camera equipment, computer equipment, art supplies, and software."
I recently raised this Commons page as an idea for Wikimedia UK to support modest costs of international postage for items of obvious benefit (and of reasonable quality) to the open knowledge projects. This could be an interesting and relatively simple way for inter-chapter collaboration to work at the small scale. See https://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2013_Activity_Plan/Ideas#International_Camera_Exchange for the UK proposal. I would encourage representatives from other Chapters to make a comment on that ideas page, if you can imagine this being a practical thing to get working.
Cheers, Fae
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org