On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Theo10011 <de10011(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Bence Damokos
<bdamokos(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
In light of recent recommendations to set up an SIG instead of autonomous
groups, I was wondering if there is any available documentation on the
process and benefits of doing so?
I was looking at
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair, the
only page I could find on the topic on the Wikimedia India wiki, but that
did not seem to explain the process and nature of SIGs. (Also, I haven't
seen them defined in Wikimedia India's bylaws.)
What did I miss?
As I seem to recall, SIG roles weren't really fleshed out in terms of real
world implications. Majority of the chapter board that was working on it
resigned or left after their respective terms.
This new initiative to create user groups within India is being led by WMF
staff from my perspective.
I don't think it should be looked at in that way. I think the main idea is
to empower volunteers (and while many many are self-empowered, labels and
affiliation can still provide the final push) regardless of their location.
This is not about a top down imposition (or even if it was, the costs are
minimal, and the benefits could be big if the empowerment happens).
The Indian SIG model could be a way to achieve the same goal, perhaps in
parallel, but as long as the process and requirements are not publicly
defined they might not be serving their purpose and it is difficult to
expect people excited by the idea of of the empowerment that comes from
affiliation to choose the (process-wise) undefined SIG model. That is why I
was wondering where the process and requirements are defined; what would a
regular Joe need to do to set up a SIG?
Best regards,
Bence