Dear All:

We have instituted a monthly call between the India Chapter and the Wikimedia Foundation.  Members of the Chapter EC, Hisham and Asaf Bartov (who heads up Global South Relationships at the Foundation) will participate in this call.  The objective of the call is to share information and improve collaboration between the Chapter and the Foundation on various Wikimedia projects of relevance to India.  We had the first one on Aug 24, 2011, and here's a quick update.

Chapter Update

• 30 persons attended the workshop on Copyright and Open Licensing conducted on 30th July 2011 in Bangalore, which was well received. http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Events/Copyright_and_Open_Licensing_SeminarPlan
• Plan to conduct 1st WikiAcademy with the Department of Public Libraries, Karnataka for their senior Library professionals on 12 Sep 2011.
• Membership currently stands at ~80
• Participation from community on some projects but the response is below expectations. Chapter hopes that the response will improve as more activities are taken up by Chapter in the near future.
• AGM will be conducted on September 24 2011.  Elections process  for EC vacancies has been initiated.
• Process for applying for FCRA prior permission has been actioned with necessary steps being taken with local banks, consultants and the WMF. The bank account required for FCRA is ready. The draft of letter from WMF will be finalized in a week by Chapter Accountant and Advisor (another prerequisite) and then FCRA application will be submitted. 3-4 months are required for approval by Home Ministry, Government of India.

Foundation Update

• Education Program is doing well from a numbers perspective - with more than 1000 students involved.  However, there is a great deal of effort required to continue to support and enable and motivate these students.   Additional Campus Ambassadors are being selected from the participating institutions.  Hisham requested that everyone reach out and be encouraging to the Campus Ambassadors, students and teachers.
• 2 new staff members selected; Nitika has joined & Shiju will be joining by October
• Initial conversations were being sought with leading mobile companies to explore Wikipedia on mobile
• Independent public trust to be set up hopefully by next week, followed by FCRA prior permission and other approvals required for tax exemption, etc.

Collaboration on future projects

Some requests from colleges to participate in campus ambassador like program  were received by the chapter and Hisham. Hisham said that till the ongoing program is stable, he will not be able to roll it to other cities. He suggested  that colleges can get  started by forming  student clubs and Foundation staff are providing necessary information and assistance for the same. He also requested Chapter EC to extend their support for the same.

Chapter seeks active involvement in the elections and looks to grow its membership base and expand it's reach in encouraging the use and contributions to the Wikimedia movement in India.

Thank you.

Best,

Gautam

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