On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 8:08 PM, Quim Gil <qgil(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Can you describe this Chapter SIG route / model, or
point to a URL
explaining it? The only thing I could find is
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_**and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_**chair<ht…
nothing about process or even group activities can be found there.
In the meantime, let me add a bit more to Noopur's argument and my
previous reply.
The main motivation of MediaWiki groups is unsurprisingly
http://mediawiki.org - the open source software and its community around.
They can be created in Ahmedabad, San Francisco, Mexico City, Berlin or
wherever, but they share common needs, common activities, common materials
and so on.
It seems it's creation is being facilitated by staff members rather than
anyone doing the actual work. I don't know if that's a way of circumventing
other entities and creating a direct relationship model or just because we
need more things carrying Wikimedia or Mediawiki names and risk further
exposure.
MediaWiki Groups were born at
mediawiki.org because they were needed to
bring this open source community to the physical space. In a formal sense
they are just wiki pages with registered users signing up for them. No
non-profit creation, no formal membership... The whole identity is based
purely on activities organized.
Could you provide some URL to point to how this idea of groups came upon
for India. I only saw the staff leading the way for this instead of this
coming about organically.
It was a coincidence that the Wikimedia movement was
about to approve the
User Groups while MediaWiki Groups were defined. We discussed with the
AffCom and we fine tuned the MediaWiki Groups requirements and process in
order to make them Wikimedia User Groups as well.
Wikimedia Movement approved User groups? hmm I must have missed that. From
my cursory search, I couldn't find the idea of of Mediawiki Groups
predating User Groups, which still aren't very fleshed out.
Then Harsh, Yuvi and also Sucheta showed up proposing a MediaWiki Group
India. At the end we decided that MediaWiki Groups need to be strictly
local, and that MediaWiki activities at a national level should be better
organized with the chapters, since they have already the infrastructure for
that. Then Harsh evolved the proposal to MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad, Sucheta
is already trying to gather critical mass for a MediaWiki Group Kolkata,
etc.
That's it. You can still argue that such organizations could be handled a
part of Wikimedia India SIGs, and that their promoters wouldn't be required
to be chapter members. I don't even disagree with the idea, but in the
right sequence of events: the motivation of these groups is mediawiki.organd therefore
good alignment and coordination within the MediaWiki
community is what matters most. I have no doubt that strong MediaWiki
Groups will contribute to the strength of the Wikimedia community and their
related chapters.
I don't understand the pressing need to formalize their affiliation? The
development can go on without groups, committees. I recall the staff
organizing several hackathons and meetings in India in relation to this.
Was there some aspect of that collaboration being held back by an informal
relation model?
Regards
Theo