On Dec 11, 2011, at 11:07 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan wrote:
Thank you for your explanation for the explanation Arjuna, but I still
have a question. What feedback are you looking for?
On 11/12/2011, Arjuna Rao Chavala <
arjunaraoc@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Srikanth R,
Please allow me to share my view.
On Sat, Dec 10, 2011 at 11:39 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan <
parakara.ghoda@gmail.com> wrote:
Hisham, I don't understand why the Executive Committee offer to be
informed 48 HOURS in advance of the community. Isn't Wikipedia a
community based system? If the chapter or trust is everything then
what is the community sitting here to do? I know I sound rude, but I
fail to understand why some people get prior preference.
Srikanth R: It is indeed a community-based system and it is the community that is "everything"!, and yes, everyone is equal. My thinking when I had volunteered the advance notice idea was a combination of continuing to build stronger communication with the Chapter, facilitating better co-ordination with the Chapter , professional courtesy to the Chapter as well as to get their advice and counsel in case we were not on the right track. The idea of 48 hours was just to give some time to look and reflect and feedback. In any case, the information would be shared with the community at large after the 48 hours - and it would hopefully be better that way. As a community member, you should hopefully have better thought out and better communicated initiatives through this.
Especially
after I spend an entire day talking to newcomers telling them that
everyone in Wiki is equal.
Thank you taking time out for this session!
I am some times puzzled by assumption that people have about Wikipedia
policies for individuals related to editing a wiki page online apply
equally to real world Wikimedia organisations with accountabilties to
various stakeholders including Government. I am also concerned about the
assumed separation between community and chapter based on some recent mails
to the India list.
Let me elaborate my thoughts on this.
Chapter members including EC members are part of community and serve
Community and the movement. It is just the level and structure of
engagement of a person that determines whether he/she is part of Chapter.
If a person reads Wikipedia, he/she is member of community. If a person
contributes to Wikipedia, he/she is part of smaller subset of
communitycalled editors. If a person would like to promote Wikipedia
in real world,
he could do as an individual or become a member of chapter, leverage the
benefits of the legal entity called "Wikimedia chapter", get affiliated
with SIGs and contribute.
Chapter IRC is open for everyone. Even membership is open for every Indian
aged above 18. So I would request everyone to treat Chapter as a subset of
community with more focus on growing the movement in real world.
Completely agree with Arjun.
Coming to your specific question about the plan for sharing public
communications in advance, here is my view. As I understand, Trust is an
independent legal entity contributing to Wikimedia movement in India. So
the coordination calls are a mechanism to share plans and issues so that
the overall effectiveness can be improved. Advance notice for any public
communication was agreed so that each entity could provide the other
feedback if any, if such communication were to attribute some things to the
other or lead to confusion in the stakeholders. It is mutual. I am sorry
the minutes did not reflect the same, though it was discussed and agreed.
Srikanth R: As clarified by Arjun, the Chapter will also be sharing information to India Programs - and I'll be happy to give my feedback to them on anything they send. It'll help in co-ordination and make sure that the action (of India Programs or India Chapter) is appropriate and is appropriately communicated.
Hope the above helps. I request Hisham to share his view as well.