Hi Wikimedians,
Executive Committee has been working on several fronts to
quickly operationalising the chapter. I am glad to share with you the
highlights of the same.
Membership
- Individual: We have opened Individual Membership of the
chapter last month. I am glad to report that we have received over 30
applications as of last week. As already announced, Ashwin Baindur was
the first to sign up with conventional payment(Cheque payable at par at
Bangalore) and Pranav Curumsey was the first one to sign up using
NEFT/online transfer mode. We have reviewed the filled in membership
forms and made minor updates to the form. The Revised Form
is updated on Wiki. The membership cards and receipts are under
process for the applications received as of May 31 and are expected to
be sent within a week.
- Institutional: We are ready to accept Institutional Membership applications now. I request all community members to help enroll Institutional members as well.
If you have more questions, please do check out the Membership-FAQ page. You can also contact any of the chapter EC members or on chapter's email address: chapter@wikimedia.in
Wikipedia Chapter Brochure Design Contest
- We invite you to design a brochure for Wikimedia chapter in
English and native languages and are happy to announce a contest for the
same. The rules and regulations are as follows
- Contest open to all Wikimedians either individuals or team of upto 3 wikimedians.
- Name of the contributors to the winning entry will be credited on the brochure
- The design has to reflect the language diversity of India and have pictures or graphics representing India
- A sample design is available to provide rough guidance and also for use as interim brochure.
- A print ready file with good quality/resolution should be made available
- The design should be easy to extend to other Indian
languages, by substituting few pictures and textual content. A sample
design for a native language should also be made available.
- The original file should be released as per CC-BY-SA 3.0 license terms
City and Language SIG subcommittee
- We are forming City and Language Special Interest Group subcommittee of the chapter and invite all Wikimedians to participate in them. The guidelines are as follows:
- A chair person of each SIG (City/Langauge) can only represent either a city or a language
- Self nomination with recommendation by others or nominations
of others and acceptance by such nominated individuals are allowed.
- Chairs of such subcommittees will interface with one EC member charged with City/Language SIG
- All such Chairpersons are required to apply for membership of the Chapter at the earliest.
- As we just started membership drive, the process is now open
for community. In future, the process may be restricted to members
only.
Projects
EC would like to call for active community participation in prioritising projects for 2011-12. The initial list of projects for this year
is available and organised into three categories namely Outreach,
Quality improvement and improve access to wiki projects. Please feel
free to add to this and share your ideas. Please check the details and
indicate your interest in participating in them on the respective
pages.
Chapter would like to extend all the help for any Wiki outreach
events happening across India through the participation of EC members,
members and community volunteers. Please do share with us news of any
such events 2 to 3 weeks in advance.
Volunteers for Website and Wiki Administration
Chapter has restructured its digital resources to provide members
only wiki and also streamline access management. As part of this all
users on wikimedia.in community wiki need email confirmation for
editing. Those from community who become members, can be given seamless
access to members wiki, without need for a separate login.
Chapter also proposes to run a website to serve static
information, support blogs and also provide better support for
html/javascript requirements.
Chapter is seeking volunteers to help design/administer wiki
and website. People interested in these positions can send their
profile giving details of their past experience to
chapter@wikimedia.in, with subject line "Application for volunteer
position for Wiki/website design/administration" by 21 June 2011.
AGM Plans
- AGM is scheduled for 17 Sep 2011 and will happen in Bangalore.
India Wiki Conference
- EC has deliberated and come up with a framework for running India Wiki Conference
with engagement of all stakeholders on a sustainable basis. We invite
you to review the same and submit proposals for this year's conference
in two weeks (before 21 June 2010). Chapter will evaluate the proposals
and decide on the City by 30 June 2011) Additional details on Chapter
support and engagement with Organising Committee are being worked out.
Donations
- Chapter is working on priority actions like appointing
consultant to process FEMA approvals to receive funds in foreign
currency from Wikimedia Foundation, printing of brochures and
providing support for Wikimedia events. As receipt of funds from
Foundation for local spending could take 4-5 months, we require
financial help in the form of donations from community, members and
philanthropists to increase activity levels of the Chapter. Please
donate whatever amount you can. The donation form
is available. If the donation is through NEFT/Online transfer, you
can email the scanned image of your donation form to
chapter@wikimedia.in. A receipt will be sent to you once the donation
is processed. For more information, please check FAQ-Donations page.
Changes in EC
BalaSundaraRaman Lakshmanan submitted his resignation from EC citing
personal reasons. EC deliberated and decided to accept the same. EC
thanks him for his contribution towards registration and
operationalisation of the chapter till date and would like him to
continue the support to Wikimedia movement in future.
Thanks for your attention and looking forward to your active
engagement with Chapter. Please do share your feedback on Wiki or
through email to chapter@wikimedia.in.
Yours sincerely
Arjuna Rao Chavala
President, Bangalore
7 June 2011