On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Theo10011 <de10011@gmail.com> wrote:

On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Bence Damokos <bdamokos@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?