Good idea. Where i see this as beneficial would be in several areas. This might end up including the West Coast
Whereever we stage events, the visas are going to be a nightmare. California has several dozen consulates and INS offices. A Wikimedia California would have the boots on the ground to get Consular Officers to help us with visas. Even if we still have to submit a stack of paper, it will be a lot more coordinated than worrying about someone being denied at the border.
Also museums often bar public members from photographing their collections. A organization would have the ability to get these museums to open their doors.
----- Original Message ---- From: Kul Takanao Wadhwa kwadhwa@wikimedia.org Cc: wikimedia-sf@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 1:49:10 PM Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-SF] California Chapter
We should probably have a discussion with Mike (general counsel) to figure out the best legal structure for this depending what we want to accomplish as a US "chapter."
--Kul
Head of Business Development Wikimedia Foundation
phoebe ayers wrote:
I think the answer is, as Brion said, "it's hard." It has been really difficult to organize US-based chapters so far because of our particular legal structures. Therefore a better question to ask is "If we had one, what would the chapter be doing, and can we do those things anyway?" Because we are in the US and therefore money can be handled directly by the Foundation, having the structure of a chapter may not actually provide much benefit. That does not stop us however from getting together and doing stuff, like the current chapters do now.
-- phoebe
On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:30 PM, Geoffrey Plourde geo.plrd@yahoo.com wrote:
Several meetups have already occurred, I am curious as to whther or not people are interested in making a chapter.
----- Original Message ---- From: Brion Vibber brion@wikimedia.org To: wikimedia-sf@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 12:27:25 PM Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-SF] California Chapter
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Geoffrey Plourde wrote:
San Francisco Wikipedians (Sanfranpedians?);
I am looking into starting Wikimedia California. Would anyone here be interested?
I think we have yet to figure out firmly what the mission or legal structure for chapters in the US would be... :)
For other countries, a big part of it is to establish a local legal structure that can accept tax-free donations -- something the Wikimedia Foundation itself handles here the US.
But that structure can also be a useful way to organize local activities, outreach, conferences and meetups as well as other online and offline activity by Wikipedians other Wikimedians. Since the Wikimedia Foundation decided not to become a membership-based organization, concentrating on the high-level hosting and PR, there's a bit of a vacuum still on how individuals can get involved and organized.
Rather than starting by saying "let's start a chapter", I might suggest picking some particular event to organize, such as a California or west coast-based Wikimedia user conference, and then we can see what kind of organization can and should grow up around the community that builds it.
I should also stress that such an event should be a community-organized, community-oriented affair. Make the Wikimedia Foundation a guest, not an organizer or a funder... :)
- -- brion vibber (brion @ wikimedia.org)
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.8 (Darwin) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
iEYEARECAAYFAkfxOx0ACgkQwRnhpk1wk46s/wCgrQ3aEwT4seBU3FcEWqMmKM3K zKwAn0y3gefGLI1RwjVrxhMH4ziv03lx =5ODM -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf
OMG, Sweet deal for Yahoo! users/friends: Get A Month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. W00t _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf
Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf
____________________________________________________________________________________ OMG, Sweet deal for Yahoo! users/friends:Get A Month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. W00t http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text2.com