Forwarding an email that bounced on the list (non-member).
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nkansah Rexford <nkansahrexford(a)gmail.com>
Date: 26 August 2014 17:04
Subject: Translation for Interviews taken at Wikimania
To: wikimediaindia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Hi,
My name is Rexford, a Wikipedian in Residence at Africa Centre in Cape
Town. At the recently ended Wikimania conference in London, I interviewed
three Indians. I remember the name of Savyl but do not have any contact
with her.
May you please help me get in touch with Savyl, if she's on the Wikimedia
india mailing list? Or perhaps anyone from India who attended the
conference this year?
I will really appreciate your support.
Thanks.
--
+Rexford <http://google.com/+Nkansahrexford> | Africa Center
<http://africacenter.net> | WiR
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedian_in_Residence> | WikiAfrica
<http://wikiafrica.net> | User:Nkansahrexford
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Nkansahrexford>
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.nethttp://twitter.com/hpnadighttp://flickr.com/hpnadig
Hey,
I have been noting declining contributions across Indian Wikipedias for the
last few months.
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/telugu-wikipe…
triggered to write this mail.
This is my view on what's happening:
1. Most of the Indian Wikipedias have crossed 10 years. Many of the active
and first generation contributors are burnt out, taking a leave or have
left for good. If you are not creative, intentional and consistent in your
efforts to replenish and nurture the next generation, you will see a
declining trend.
2. Malayalam Wikipedia which once had 30 contributors who made 100+ edits a
month registered only 10 such editors in May 2014. The last time they had
activity this low was during May 2011. At the same time, their Wiki Source
is registering a phenomenal growth. So, some resources could be split
between projects too. This is a good reason to not start too many projects.
Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource should be good enough unless you have a
huge community.
3. Focus on offline projects like events, celebrations. While they are
good, over doing can stress few active contributors. In my experience,
every time after organizing some offline event, there is too much burn out
and people return after months.
4. Things that plague all global Wikipedias - archaic editor, social media
distractions, increasing use of tablets / smart phones.
Future will be quite challenging :)
Ravi
To the remaining EC members,
This is with reference to recent changes in the chapter.
1. As Viswa pointed out in the MoA, membership runs during the fiscal year,
ie April to March. Thereafter, a 3 month grace period is given to reinstate
membership. It is noted that Nikita Belavate did not renew her membership
as on 1st of July, hence ceasing to be a member of the chapter. This was
the first EC member lost. Sowmyan notified the EC of this in the first week
of July itself.
2. On 27th August, Pranav and Moksh resigned from the EC. This was the
second and third EC member loss out of seven.
3. An EC meeting was held on 31st August. Certain resolutions were passed
regarding coopting a new member and appointing new office bearers etc.
However a non EC member, Nikita, who ceased to be an EC member as of 1st
July due to non renewal of membership was allowed to participate by the
Chair, thus making both the meetings and resolutions illegal, null and void.
4. I resigned on the 3rd of September, making it the loss of EC member
number 4. As per the MoA, Article VII, 1c, the board needs to have a
minimum quorum of 4 members to function, hence with only 3 EC members left
(Jayanta, Karthik, Karthik), no meeting can be held and no resolution can
be passed.
5. Since the chapter is now in a limbo, I suggest that the three EC members
now contact the Registrar of Societies, Government of Karnataka and ask
them to appoint an administrator to conduct the Annual General Meeting and
elections As Soon As Possible and run the organisation in the interim.
6. WMF employees, please take note that the Chapter EC is in minority and
cannot take any decision at the moment.
P.S: I understand a few days after the renewal of membership, Nikita put in
a fresh application for membership. However, it was not put up to the EC
prior to my leaving. Since the EC is now in minority, it cannot approve
hers or any other new applications until elections are held. If an
administrator is appointed by the Registrar of Societies, the administrator
would have the power to approve new applications.
--
Regards,
Srikanth Ramakrishnan,
What goes around, may not necessarily come around, it may simply bounce
back.
Ab tak Chappan!
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Rsrikanth05/Project_56
Please sign this petition for Volvo buses in Coimbatore:
https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/the-transport-minister-tamil-nadu-in…
I am forwarding this update from the board below, in case this was
overlooked. It seems relevant to the Indian community. It's sad to learn
that Bishakha will not be seeking re-appointment to the board at the end of
the year. The board, the community and the movement at large was always
better for having her in it.
I want to thank her for a lot of things, but I'm not sure if this is the
right time or if I'll be online at the right time. In any case, I want to
say I'm so grateful for her years of service and perseverance through many
contentious topics. I'm the first to admit that we've certainly had our
share of disagreements, and passionate debates over the year, but we also
shared more than a few good laughs in person. I still remember when
Bishakha was trying to tell me the correct pronunciation of "Entschuldigen
sie bitte" over dinner, I'm sure my pronunciation didn't improve but she
tried patiently and resiliently for more than an hour. Our disagreements
stemmed mostly from relatively professional topics related to the board and
the direction things were going, and I'm probably at fault for a lot of
negativity during those times - I'm sorry about that Bishakha. She joined
the board at a difficult time when the foundation was expanding and going
through a lot of big changes, there weren't a lot of female Indian members
around the board or the community back then but she always represented the
Indian community with a smile, grace and resilience and tried to be as
inclusive as possible along the way. I have nothing but the highest opinion
of her personally, she was always warm and good-natured in all our personal
interactions. I'm sure I'm not the only one in the Indian community who
feels the same.
Thanks for all the hard-work Bishakha. You will be missed, Ma'am.
Warm regards
Theo
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jan-Bart de Vreede <jdevreede(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2014 at 6:54 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Board Meeting Update
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hello Everyone
While the minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting will arrive in due time
I wanted to update you on some internal matters at this point because there
have been some changes in the board composition.
Ana Toni joined our board last year but unfortunately the time demands
placed upon a Wikimedia Board member were not compatible with her other
commitments. This has given the board something to think about. We aim to
be a board that is able to incorporate outside expertise to increase our
effectiveness and possible candidates are often not able to commit the time
which we currently require.. In the coming period we want to have a look at
the time which is demanded of a board member (especially our in person
meetings which require a lot of travel) and look at which activities we
need to perform as a board. We want to thank Ana for her contributions. The
insights gained from her position as Chair of Greenpeace International were
especially useful to us as a board. We are sad to see her go, but we hope
to keep her in “our space”.
Bishakha Datta joined our board in March 2010 and has indicated to us that
she is not available for re-appointment after her term runs out in December
of this year. We will take the time to properly thank her for her great
contributions when her term formally ends in December.
While these things are part of of the normal turnover of the composition of
the board (and are also an opportunity to attract new fields of expertise
as needed) there is a matter of board stability during the first year of
the tenure of our new Executive Director. In response to Lila's request for
stability the board has decided the following:
1) Alice Wiegand was appointed to finish out Ana's term ending December
2014. We also appointed Alice to carry out the subsequent term ending
December 2016.
2) Last year at Wikimania I was appointed to the board for a two year
period, but I tendered my resignation effective the end of this year. At
the Board's request I reconsidered that resignation, and will serve out the
rest of my original two year term ending December 2015.
This does mean we will start the search process for a new board member for
the appointed seat that Bishakha will vacate at the end of this year. And
hopefully we will be able to also identify potential candidates to fill the
seats of both Stuart West and me, which will become vacant at the end of
2015.
Secondly we have appointed the two officer positions as follows for the
coming fiscal year
Chair - Jan-Bart de Vreede
Vice-Chair - Patricio Lorente
The foundation has a great opportunity to grow under the guidance of our
new Executive Director and realize our ambitions. The board is looking
forward to a year of supporting Lila and providing direction for our
strategic goals.
Jan-Bart de Vreede
Chair
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation
PS: All the relevant resolutions will be published on meta in the coming
days
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Dear all,
It's with a heavy heart that I would like to announce my resignation from
as the President and Executive Committee of the Wikimedia India Chapter
with immediate effect. With this, my respect for all of your contributions
to the Movement has only increased, knowing about all the sweat and blood
that goes into the creation of the community that defines the Movement as
we know it, today.
The reasons for my silence on the public list are for the same reasons that
I am quitting today. They are personal. As a Person grows, the
responsibility also grows and a point comes where the personal becomes more
important than the public.
I've had a hard time balancing work, life and my interests. In the
balancing act, it is my family that has missed out the most, especially now
that I have become a father of a 3 month old girl. The demands on me have
grown and I find that I can no longer contribute usefully to the Movement
or that someone else can do more justice to the role.
I thank you all for your love, help and support. I hope to keep
contributing to the Movement when I can.
--
Moksh Juneja
Wikimedia India
FYI
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Viswanathan Prabhakaran <viswaprabha(a)wikimedia.in>
> Date: 8 September 2014 23:23:58 IST
> To: wikiml-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, Manoj Karingamadathil <manojkmohanme03107(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [Wikiml-l] Fwd: Wiki Loves Earth winners in India
> Reply-To: viswaprabha(a)wikimedia.in, Malayalam Wikimedia Project Mailing list <wikiml-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Mykola Kozlenko <mycola-k(a)ukr.net>
> Date: Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 4:00 AM
> Subject: Wiki Loves Earth winners in India
> To: karthikndr(a)wikimedia.in, jayanta(a)wikimedia.in, arkrishna(a)wikimedia.in, viswaprabha(a)wikimedia.in, nikita.sb(a)wikimedia.in
>
>
> Dear Board members of Wikimedia India,
>
> I am a member of Wiki Loves Earth international team, and I am contacting you concerning the winners of Wiki Loves Earth in India.
>
> The issue is that we are going to submit all national winners of Wiki Loves Earth to the international jury pretty soon (approximately 10-15 September), and we still have no information about winners from India (winners from other countries can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2014/Finalists ). At the moment India is the only country without any activity: among countries without list of winners there the Netherlands already have a list of winners but just don't want to publish it, while Ghana already has an active jury and will have their top-10 photos in just a few days.
>
> Unfortunately, both organisers of WLE in India ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2014_in_India ) seem to be inactive at the moment, and Clockery (main organiser) seems to be a 14-year old girl who is busy at school and who can use only her mother's computer, thus we are not sure she had really contacted anyone to form the Indian jury.
>
> Could you please do any of the following:
> * try to reach any of local organisers (Clockery or Manojk) and help them reaching jury members and organising top 10 selection. I do not know if you have any contacts of these users however - they have not responded to our emails, and I am not sure they are more active on their home wikis...
> * find some people to form an Indian jury yourselves and submit top-10 Indian photos for the international contest. Given that India is already very late, you can form a jury of virtually anyone who can evaluate quality of pictures (even a group of chapter members would be fine)
> * if you are lacking jury members - we may try to find some people to help you (e.g. we can ask some Commons administrators or active photographers who are not participating in the international jury). But please write us as soon as possible if you will need some additional people for the Indian jury.
>
> In any case we hope that you will be able to submit winners pretty soon (you have just 526 photos, not that great deal) - in at most a week, until 15 September - otherwise we may have to proceed without Indian images, which will mean Indians will not be able to be in the international top.
>
> Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
>
> Best regards,
> Mykola Kozlenko (User:NickK)
> WLE International / Wikimedia Ukraine
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikiml-l is the mailing list for Malayalam Wikimedia Projects
> email: Wikiml-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Website: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikiml-l
>
> To stop receiving messages from Wikiml-l please visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/options/wikiml-l
Dear all,
>From some of the discussions, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the
sanctity of the respective forums has to be maintained under all
circumstances. Using a public mailing lists to sort out details that
should be discussed within the Board or within the EC is deplorable. Look
at all the successful movements around the world and you will find that the
simple reason for their success is discipline of thought, word and action.
Leading a movement such as the free knowledge movement called Wikipedia
constrained by the challenges of a pluralistic culture requires a ton of
maturity. There are also challenges of working with a team or teams that
comes with diverse experiences and view points and I can assure you that
getting frustrated and quitting or using a public forum to wash dirty linen
is not the way forward. Discipline, patience and perseverance are the
keys. The free knowledge movement provides us with an opportunity to not
only refine society but also ourselves as human beings. Please use this
opportunity wisely.
With fraternal greetings from the Free Software Movement in India
Vikram Vincent
On 13 September 2014 12:01, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <rsrikanth05(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Thank you Viswa, for clarifying.
> As per what you asked me to refer to to, the bylaws, page states that
> membership has to be renewed within the first three months of the fiscal
> year, which is (if you were unaware) April, May, June. As per Sowmyan's
> mail to the EC in July, Nikita had not sent in either the form or the
> money. In the case of Karthik and me, the money was sent, on his request
> for both of us prior to the deadline from my bank account via NEFT. All you
> need to do is check the bank records.
> As for the CoI policy, I had started the draft using the WMF policy as a
> base. None of you contributed to it. There was a resolution passed to
> accept this draft as well as a resolution to post minutes of meetings on
> the public wiki. Due to technical glitches, this never happened, and you
> were given the task of coordinating to get it running properly.
> Regards,
> On 13-Sep-2014 9:25 am, "Srikanth Ramakrishnan" <rsrikanth05(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Viswa,
>> Before accusing me of holding back your mails please do remember that I
>> was never an admin of this list. It has always been Hari and Anirudh.
>> On 13-Sep-2014 2:10 am, "ViswaPrabha (വിശ്വപ്രഭ)" <viswaprabha(a)gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Srikanth,
>>>
>>> Please read the bye-laws once again and always quote from the bye-law in
>>> exact verbatim.
>>> For your convenience, here is a copy of the MoA:
>>> http://wiki.wikimedia.in/images/2/20/ChapterRegDocsEnglish.pdf
>>>
>>> I shall even direct you to the exact location for this particular clause:
>>> It is at Article V, Section 2 (on page 8th of the whole 18 page PDF
>>> volume).
>>>
>>> Also, please be careful so that such uneducated and precisely planned
>>> doubts does not hit back at cases of your own (as well as Karthik's)
>>> membership validity and cessation, if not for any previous instances.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks and regards,
>>> Viswam
>>>
>>> PS. BTW, why is it that my mails are not being transmitted through this
>>> list? How do I know how long this may have been happening? Being one of the
>>> administrators, you may have a clue. ;)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 12:29 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <
>>> srik.ramk(a)wikimedia.in> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Viswa, I have read the bylaws. If a member does not renew before the
>>>> grace period, in this case 30th of June, it becomes a new application. 10th
>>>> July is not exactly within the grace period is it?
>>>> On 12-Sep-2014 11:42 pm, "ViswaPrabha (വിശ്വപ്രഭ)" <
>>>> viswaprabha(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I am resending ( rather, re-attempting to send) an important reply
>>>>> mail that was sent to this mail list 10 hours back from my Wikimedia.in
>>>>> ID, for your kind reading. *To my great shock, I realize now that,
>>>>> strangely that mail never reached our mail-list!*
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>>>> From: Viswanathan Prabhakaran <viswaprabha(a)wikimedia.in>
>>>>> Date: Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 12:42 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WMIN shutdown ?
>>>>> To: Wikimedia India Community list <
>>>>> wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear Srikanth and other readers,
>>>>>
>>>>> On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 11:17 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <
>>>>> rsrikanth05(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Viswa,
>>>>>> Prior to the departure of several EC members, resolution had been
>>>>>> passed to accept the draft Coi policy that was done by me with Karthik's
>>>>>> help. Please ensure that it is implemented.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> A new draft is being prepared, (stemmed from your draft, thank you,
>>>>> Srikanth), incorporating additional details conforming to international
>>>>> standards for non-profit organizations. Within a day or two, this draft
>>>>> will be presented in the chapter Wiki for review, discussion and
>>>>> suggestions by any members (and even interested community members and other
>>>>> stakeholders).
>>>>>
>>>>> The draft will be retrieved back to the EC and will be finally vetted
>>>>> and approved as a standard core document during the upcoming Board Meeting
>>>>> on 20,21 September 2014 at Bangalore.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, you mentioned a board meeting in September. Does this indicate
>>>>>> the AGM or just the four core EC members.
>>>>>>
>>>>> The board meeting on 20,21 at Bangalore is a board meeting. It will
>>>>> take up and decide on the matter of AGM / Elections in such a way as to
>>>>> conduct the same at the earliest possible date, as early as the stipulated
>>>>> timelines and documentation requirements (mainly completion of Audit Report
>>>>> and Annual Report) will allow. It will also review and decide on the voting
>>>>> eligibility requirements of all chapter members who are members of the
>>>>> chapter. Further, it will decide on several administrative policies, of
>>>>> which, a major one will be the feasibility of enlistment of all members
>>>>> (with bare minimum personal data) on the chapter wiki. Some of these
>>>>> decisions will be acted upon immediately after the meeting.
>>>>>
>>>>> The EC is also seriously corroborating on the feasibility of
>>>>> publishing every minutes and resolutions passed during its business except
>>>>> for the ones require confidential privacy.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the meanwhile, we also intend to invite suggestions for
>>>>> modifications and improvements in the bye-laws and other documents via
>>>>> discussions on the member wiki. Such suggestions, will be finely filtered
>>>>> and drafted, presented and voted upon during the AGM and will be passed if
>>>>> approved by a two third majority.
>>>>>
>>>>> I say four because Nikita had not renewed her membership as of the
>>>>>> first of July 2014 thus ceasing to be a member of the chapter let alone an
>>>>>> EC member.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You may kindly refer to the Bye-law regarding the norms on cessation
>>>>> and reinstatement of membership.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thank you,
>>>>> Viswanathan Prabhakaran
>>>>> Treasurer
>>>>> Wikimedia Chapter
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Please look into these matters.
>>>>>> On 11-Sep-2014 2:16 am, "ViswaPrabha (വിശ്വപ്രഭ)" <
>>>>>> viswaprabha(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Dear all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The newly restructured EC has held a telecon tonight (September
>>>>>>> 10th). We have decided to meet in person at Bangalore on 20,21 & 22
>>>>>>> September 2014 with a large number of tasks in hand.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Due to several reasons, principally among them, a delay in the
>>>>>>> completion of Financial Audit Reports, we are forced to postpone the AGM
>>>>>>> and Elections by a few weeks, following the recommendation of our legal and
>>>>>>> financial consultants.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The above board meeting, to be held in Bangalore, will corroborate
>>>>>>> and decide on the earliest possible date to conduct the AGM and General
>>>>>>> Elections considering all formal timeline constraints. We will also meet-up
>>>>>>> with the Election Committee, our legal and financial consultants and other
>>>>>>> concerned agencies.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We are also about to present a few drafts at the Chapters wiki and
>>>>>>> invite amendments, modifications and improvements in our constitutional and
>>>>>>> policy documents. This will include a 'Conflict of Interest' policy, a
>>>>>>> basic framework on the formation of an Advisory committee, simplification
>>>>>>> of membership application processes, grant process, publication of
>>>>>>> necessary Membership data without compromising the privacy concerns etc.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> We will be releasing more detailed info along these lines within a
>>>>>>> few days. Till then, Please standby.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thank you
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Viswanathan Prabhakaran
>>>>>>> Treasurer
>>>>>>> Wikimedia India Chapter
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Thu, Sep 11, 2014 at 1:44 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar <
>>>>>>> sudhanwa.com(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 11:34 AM, Anivar Aravind
>>>>>>>> <anivar.aravind(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>> > On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 10:31 AM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> >>
>>>>>>>> >> I am also surprised to see no reply. Arjuna, do you have any
>>>>>>>> further
>>>>>>>> >> information?
>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>> >
>>>>>>>> > Update on Election commitee process on WMIN Elections is here
>>>>>>>> > http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Talk:Elections2014
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Any further updates?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>>> -Sudhanwa
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
Hi,
I had sent following mail to the WMIN members list about 10 days back.
As there was no reply for 5 days, I sent the same again adding
individual ids of EC members.
There is not a single line of reply to the mail. Not even any
acknowledgment of receiving the mail.
I am wondering if my email id is blacklisted by EC members or there is
no one in the current EC who is nominated/interested in responding OR
WMIN is completely shutdown.
If any list members have any idea about the current status of WMIN,
please let others know.
Regards
-Sudhanwa
Here is the mail I sent to members list 10 days back.
Dear WMIN members,
There are no updates of any kind from the EC in the last few months.
What is the current status of Sowmyan? Is he still there or really gone?
There are not even membership renewal reminders now. Assuming that
Sowmyan is not there, where the forms are to be sent?
What is the status of the grants-earlier ones and the new ones applied for..
What are the current projects happening in/through WMIN?
What is the current membership renewal status? What is the current count?
WMIN website is not updated for quite some time. Who is looking into
those activities?
Can someone from the EC enlighten the members please.
Thanks and regards
-- Sudhanwa
~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
web: www.sudhanwa.com blog: www.sudhanwa.in
Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more.
Hello,
There will be a Wikipedia/Wikisource/Wikimedia stall at the Maker Party
Chennai (http://makerpartychennai.in/) tomorrow (Spe14, 2014). I will be
there. Please take some time out to visit. Let us catch up.
Thanks and regards,
Pavanaja