Are we still stuck in this question? It kept me thinking the whole day
yesterday.
On 01/03/2013 04:35 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan wrote:
However, you still haven't answered my question on
what benefit a User
Group has over Chapter SIG.
Summarizing, the answer could be:
- The Wikimedia movement is organized around projects with high levels
of autonomy e.g. MediaWiki or Wikimedia India. For an Indian group
focused in MediaWiki it makes sense to align first with MediaWiki, then
with Wikimedia India.
- MediaWiki Groups are official for the Wikimedia movement and the
MediaWiki community, and all the discussion and documentation is public.
Wikimedia India Chapter SIGs are still not official, they have been
discussed internally, they apply to India only.
- MediaWiki Groups are open source user groups, a type of casual
organization with plenty of references in India and the World. They are
all about Getting Things Done. Aspects like membership or planning get
resolved with edits in a wiki page. Affiliation to Wikimedia India or
any other organization is not required.
But the point that keeps me thinking is why the first response from
Wikimedia India chapter to a new group of volunteers seems to be
inquiring and resisting more than congratulating and embracing. When the
AffCom said they wanted to check with the national chapter I thought it
was a polite move and a way to make sure than nothing was wrong locally
in Ahmedabad / Gujarat. I didn't expect a full questioning of MediaWiki
Groups - or Wikimedia User Groups for that matter.
Since these groups are new, maybe the problem is caused simply by a
misunderstanding? Let me clarify some points, just in case:
Wikimedia User Groups are official and well defined at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_User_Groups
MediaWiki Groups are a category of WUG, also official
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups
MediaWiki Groups are almost ad-hoc associations, without any legal
identity and basically zero bureaucracy once the group is accepted.
While the WUG pages don't make any explicit reference to their
relationship with chapters, MediaWiki Groups do have explicit
requirements for collaboration with chapters.
From
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups :
"You know you need a group when (...) You want to obtain funding from
the Wikimedia Foundation or a Wikimedia chapter."
"Local MediaWiki groups collaborate with Wikimedia chapters"
"MediaWiki groups can request support from the Wikimedia Foundation and
chapters in various forms:"
"If cash is needed then the default funding sources are Wikimedia
chapters and Funds Dissemination Committee."
For all these reasons I really don't see what is the problem. In fact
the question posed above could be reverted: has Wikimedia India
considered the benefits of adopting the already formalized Wikimedia
User Groups and MediaWiki Groups instead of trying to define an Indian
specific type of SIG?
But going back to MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad, I hope we get to an
agreement sooner than later so Harsh and other MediaWiki promoters in
India get out of this uncomfortable position and focus on their local
activities.
--
Quim Gil
Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil