On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Hisham <hisham(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
On Mar 7, 2012, at 1:11 PM, Anirudh Bhati wrote:
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 12:42 PM, Hisham <hisham(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Nothing is conducted solely by India Program - and hence I said
"supported." Everything is conducted by the community - sometimes under
the aegis of the Chapter and sometimes independently. The support that we
have provided varies - from getting the actual event fixed up to providing
presentation material to interested community members to participating in
these events.
Can this be clearly specified in the report? That is more helpful than
simply "supported". For instance, when you say "Supported the community
to get a venue in Guwahati University", it would help us understand more if
you could tell us how.
Please refer this
mail<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2012-January/…
Thanks for the link, Hisham. Can you please have you staff include a
summary along with the appropriate links? Thanks.
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 12:45 PM, CherianTinu Abraham
<
tinucherian(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Pranav,
In India, it is extremely difficult to hairline separate who has done
which event. - Chapter, Community and WMF India Programs.
I agree it's not possible to do that, but it is entirely possible to list
out the work done in specific. This enhances our accountability and
transparency towards the community.
Let us take the case of the Trichy event, the
request came to a community
member Rsrikanth to the chapter. Nitika was actively involved along with me
and Naveen. The chapter signed the MoU and supplied some goodies. Nitika
was actively involved in coaching Sohan, a chapter member and Rsrikanth.
One must not also forget that both Hisham & Nitika are also chapter
members.
Fact: Nitika is a paid employee of the WMF India Programs and is not a
chapter/community volunteer.
Anyone who contributes - in whatever manner - is a community member. All
of us in the India Program team have the freedom to do whatever we want to
in our free time. fyi: all of us contribute in our personal, voluntary
capacity as well as work for the movement in our official capacity. fyi:
it's not part of the job description.
Yes, no one has disputed community membership. But when an employee/paid
contractor edits during work hours or within the purview of their
contractual agreement with the Foundation, that is paid and not volunteer
work. This is not something I enjoy pointing out over and over again, but
perhaps you should try and see where I am coming from.
Another event in Chennai (Jaya eng college) ,
where Subha led, his travel
expenses was reimbursed by the Chapter, Subha is a Chapter SIG Chair .. The
event is supported by Hisham & Nitika too. Subha is also an India Programs
executive.
Fact: Subhashish, former volunteer, and now paid consultant with India
Programs.
Much water has flown beneath this bridge, but I am disappointed with the
suggestion that someone becomes a "former" volunteer just because they join
the India Program team. See earlier point.
I think you will find that I have clarified myself above, if you care to
read. Even then, a paid consultant spending their free time doing
volunteer work can still not be equated with a regular volunteer
contributor. This is not a condemnation, but a statement of fact.
I actively organize Bangalore Meetups and support several others ..
Should I be worrying whether I am doing as a chapter member, board member
or a community member?
By a matter of principle, chapter and community volunteers are just...
volunteers. Paid consultants are hired to executive specific programs, and
hence the results of their work and reports should be presented with
clarity. Simply "supporting" something does not clarify the extent of
their involvement.
The work that we are doing is actually supporting communities. The
healthiest way of us doing our jobs is to work closely (and in most cases,
individually with community members) and help them in various ways - and
make sure that the individual community members are front and centre of the
initiative - as is right. As in the mail I shared earlier on Guwahati, or
indeed in the "Nature of Support column on this
page<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Outr…eb>,
we document them and share them through wider channels. In other cases,
they are discussed on village pumps or individual talk pages or on chats or
whatever manner that the respective community member feels most comfortable
- and we leave it at that. A lot of our community members do not have the
experience and confidence to engage publicly or take initiatives. We will
continue to work quietly with them.
The purpose behind my monthly newsletter is to try and document a varied
list of the things we do - not from the point of view of documenting every
last detail - but to provide a summary and useful links.
I have been hearing this for a while. Let me remind you that every member
of the community has the right to make you accountable for the work you
claim you do. So there is no point if you are going to prepare half-done
summaries and post them as a historical record of your work on meta. Please
remember that I am asking for detailed reports, not saying that you have
not done what you claim. Thanks.
_______________________________________________
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l