-----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-----