Having a new Delhi chapter could just be dropping a match in a haystack - for a spate of new regional chapters all over India. All I see this creating is politics and mayhem. It would be like the BCCI - 30+ state level associations making up the national society. Something that we can avoid and cut out the red tape/politics involved.
Further, I understand where the Delhi Community is coming from - what has the chapter done for us thus far? How have they involved us? OK, they have been a little slow, however note that the chapter registration was completed just 5 months ago. My two bits worth on this situation:
1. Our Involvement with the chapter: Membership. They have just opened up membership recently, a very good way of getting involved is applying for it. The fees have been kept low at Rs.100/- annually but if you feel thats too much for you to spare contact the Chapter and Im sure they can sort something out, it should not be a stumbling block.
2. The chapter is not doing much: If you feel that way question the Executive Committee (EC). If you are still not happy with their response then take up the matter at the AGM later this year.
3. We want something more locally: Lets be fair, it is not practically possible for the EC members to do local groundwork everywhere in this large country of ours. It would be difficult for them even if they were all paid full time employees. As things stand, the EC is made up of honorary members who have put in much hard work to get things to this level. However, let us remember they also have their own commitments to look into, their own families to feed. Maybe the chapter can appoint regional committees made up of people from the region they represent to take up local functioning in the area (Delhi in this case). This committee could directly report to the EC. This way we could keep everyone happy - and stop the chapter from disintegrating.
Hope this helps avert a mess.
Kind Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe
Its not a politics Game, its all about to give opportunities to all Indian Communities, North Indian Community has not grown so far and reason behind this is lack of Awareness of Wikimedia Foundation.Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
Regards mayur
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM, wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com wrote:
Having a new Delhi chapter could just be dropping a match in a haystack - for a spate of new regional chapters all over India. All I see this creating is politics and mayhem. It would be like the BCCI - 30+ state level associations making up the national society. Something that we can avoid and cut out the red tape/politics involved.
Further, I understand where the Delhi Community is coming from - what has the chapter done for us thus far? How have they involved us? OK, they have been a little slow, however note that the chapter registration was completed just 5 months ago. My two bits worth on this situation:
- Our Involvement with the chapter: Membership. They have just opened up
membership recently, a very good way of getting involved is applying for it. The fees have been kept low at Rs.100/- annually but if you feel thats too much for you to spare contact the Chapter and Im sure they can sort something out, it should not be a stumbling block.
- The chapter is not doing much: If you feel that way question the
Executive Committee (EC). If you are still not happy with their response then take up the matter at the AGM later this year.
- We want something more locally: Lets be fair, it is not practically
possible for the EC members to do local groundwork everywhere in this large country of ours. It would be difficult for them even if they were all paid full time employees. As things stand, the EC is made up of honorary members who have put in much hard work to get things to this level. However, let us remember they also have their own commitments to look into, their own families to feed. Maybe the chapter can appoint regional committees made up of people from the region they represent to take up local functioning in the area (Delhi in this case). This committee could directly report to the EC. This way we could keep everyone happy - and stop the chapter from disintegrating.
Hope this helps avert a mess.
Kind Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Having been to a couple of meet ups when I was studying in Bangalore and now being based out of Delhi, I cannot help but notice how petty this discussion is becoming. Wikipedia being a free and open community, I don't see why encouraging more activity in Delhi should be a problem at all. Let us not bicker over juvenile politics and such. What I suggest is that enthusiastic pioneers who wish to establish a Delhi chapter come up with a plan and ideas about what they wish to do once it is started and running. Also, the last time we had a Delhi meet up, more than half of them were salesmen from their companies, out there to promote their brands. That doesn't mean we stop having meet ups, but we find a more serious base, get regular people actively involved, have a meeting agenda and then talk about a chapter. What do you say? Cheers Noopur
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 11:52 AM, mayur mayurdce@gmail.com wrote:
Its not a politics Game, its all about to give opportunities to all Indian Communities, North Indian Community has not grown so far and reason behind this is lack of Awareness of Wikimedia Foundation.Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
Regards mayur
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM, wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com wrote:
Having a new Delhi chapter could just be dropping a match in a haystack - for a spate of new regional chapters all over India. All I see this creating is politics and mayhem. It would be like the BCCI - 30+ state level associations making up the national society. Something that we can avoid and cut out the red tape/politics involved.
Further, I understand where the Delhi Community is coming from - what has the chapter done for us thus far? How have they involved us? OK, they have been a little slow, however note that the chapter registration was completed just 5 months ago. My two bits worth on this situation:
- Our Involvement with the chapter: Membership. They have just opened up
membership recently, a very good way of getting involved is applying for it. The fees have been kept low at Rs.100/- annually but if you feel thats too much for you to spare contact the Chapter and Im sure they can sort something out, it should not be a stumbling block.
- The chapter is not doing much: If you feel that way question the
Executive Committee (EC). If you are still not happy with their response then take up the matter at the AGM later this year.
- We want something more locally: Lets be fair, it is not practically
possible for the EC members to do local groundwork everywhere in this large country of ours. It would be difficult for them even if they were all paid full time employees. As things stand, the EC is made up of honorary members who have put in much hard work to get things to this level. However, let us remember they also have their own commitments to look into, their own families to feed. Maybe the chapter can appoint regional committees made up of people from the region they represent to take up local functioning in the area (Delhi in this case). This committee could directly report to the EC. This way we could keep everyone happy - and stop the chapter from disintegrating.
Hope this helps avert a mess.
Kind Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Dear Mayur,
Just want to interrupt you, Chapter's focus is for all the languages. I myself being from Odisha has seen the impartial support from chapter for outreach.
If you feel there is greater need of awareness do it by meetups and you and Vibhi being active members could carry this ahead.
Do you really need a chapter for conducting Meetups or making people aware of Wikipedia, it will happen through community activism.
And chapter being operational 5 months back can't do some magic for the newly developing Wikipedias, it's a matetr of time.
If the south Indian Wikis have grown up in a greater way that's because of awareness created by respective Wikipedians. We need active and enthusiastic people to create awareness and contribution, not some governing body.
So, creating awareness and outreach programs should be the first task instead of dividing the movement by this North-South conflict.
Kind regards Subha
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: mayur mayurdce@gmail.com Date: 6 June 2011 11:52 Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Delhi Chapter (User:AroundTheGlobe) To: Wikimedia India Community list wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Its not a politics Game, its all about to give opportunities to all Indian Communities, North Indian Community has not grown so far and reason behind this is lack of Awareness of Wikimedia Foundation.Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
Regards mayur
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM, wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com wrote:
Having a new Delhi chapter could just be dropping a match in a haystack - for a spate of new regional chapters all over India. All I see this creating is politics and mayhem. It would be like the BCCI - 30+ state level associations making up the national society. Something that we can avoid and cut out the red tape/politics involved.
Further, I understand where the Delhi Community is coming from - what has the chapter done for us thus far? How have they involved us? OK, they have been a little slow, however note that the chapter registration was completed just 5 months ago. My two bits worth on this situation:
- Our Involvement with the chapter: Membership. They have just opened up
membership recently, a very good way of getting involved is applying for it. The fees have been kept low at Rs.100/- annually but if you feel thats too much for you to spare contact the Chapter and Im sure they can sort something out, it should not be a stumbling block.
- The chapter is not doing much: If you feel that way question the
Executive Committee (EC). If you are still not happy with their response then take up the matter at the AGM later this year.
- We want something more locally: Lets be fair, it is not practically
possible for the EC members to do local groundwork everywhere in this large country of ours. It would be difficult for them even if they were all paid full time employees. As things stand, the EC is made up of honorary members who have put in much hard work to get things to this level. However, let us remember they also have their own commitments to look into, their own families to feed. Maybe the chapter can appoint regional committees made up of people from the region they represent to take up local functioning in the area (Delhi in this case). This committee could directly report to the EC. This way we could keep everyone happy - and stop the chapter from disintegrating.
Hope this helps avert a mess.
Kind Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
_______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 11:52 AM, mayur mayurdce@gmail.com wrote:
Its not a politics Game, its all about to give opportunities to all Indian Communities, North Indian Community has not grown so far and reason behind this is lack of Awareness of Wikimedia Foundation.Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
There are a couple of disturbing bits in this thread. And, in fact this whole theme of discussion. The first thing that jumps out is, this statement "Foundation Activities are Totally Focussed Towards South India". This does not have citations or, supporting arguments. And, it does appear to be more of a personal (or, perhaps a small group) opinion.
Till date, I have not read anything from the India chapter that makes it extremely difficult to build up participant numbers in any region of the country. Being a nascent organization and, generally finding its feet, it would be pulled in different directions and, the members will have different things on their plate. However, if there are indeed proven circumstances where the organization/chapter in India has been a hindrance towards regional activities, this isn't the best way to go about discussing this.
Starting off or, re-activating a chapter/activity doesn't necessarily require a regional body. I'd request to put priority to the former task than consider the latter the bottleneck to it. There are means and there are ends. A regional chapter/organization, at this point, is neither the means, nor the end.
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 11:52 AM, mayur mayurdce@gmail.com wrote:
Its not a politics Game, its all about to give opportunities to all Indian Communities, North Indian Community has not grown so far and reason behind this is lack of Awareness of Wikimedia Foundation.Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
Regards mayur
Dear Mayur,
From what I have seen and experienced over the last year, most of the
offline and online growth in India has been initiated and propelled by the wikipedian community.
Until September 2010, regular meetups were held only in Bangalore and an annual Malayalam meetup was held in Kerala. Now meetups are regularly held also in Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata - and meetups have begun in Chennai, Hyderabad, Orissa and other places. Similarly, wiki workshops and academies are being held in different locations around the country - and other activities are being planned. All these are community-led events.
A chapter is a formal legal entity - please see the press kit at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Press_kit for more information about the community, the chapter and the Foundation in India.
Given your interest in stimulating activities in north India, I would urge you and other community members equally interested to meet up as a first step.
It would be fantastic if this conversation could help stimulate interested wikipedians in Delhi and north India to meet up and plan further. Good luck and I hope it happens!
Bishakha
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Bishakha Datta bishakhadatta@gmail.comwrote:
On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 11:52 AM, mayur mayurdce@gmail.com wrote:
Its not a politics Game, its all about to give opportunities to all Indian Communities, North Indian Community has not grown so far and reason behind this is lack of Awareness of Wikimedia Foundation.Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
Regards mayur
Dear Mayur,
From what I have seen and experienced over the last year, most of the offline and online growth in India has been initiated and propelled by the wikipedian community.
Until September 2010, regular meetups were held only in Bangalore and an annual Malayalam meetup was held in Kerala. Now meetups are regularly held also in Pune, Mumbai and Kolkata - and meetups have begun in Chennai, Hyderabad, Orissa and other places. Similarly, wiki workshops and academies are being held in different locations around the country - and other activities are being planned. All these are community-led events.
A chapter is a formal legal entity - please see the press kit at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Press_kit for more information about the community, the chapter and the Foundation in India.
Given your interest in stimulating activities in north India, I would urge you and other community members equally interested to meet up as a first step.
It would be fantastic if this conversation could help stimulate interested wikipedians in Delhi and north India to meet up and plan further. Good luck and I hope it happens!
Bishakha
Just realized my last two sentences could be misread/misinterpereted: just to clarify - it would be great if interested wikipedians in Delhi/North India could meet and make plans to build these communities. To me, this seems to be the critical first step, more than plans to start a sub-national chapter. Community activism is what seems to be needed.
Hi Mayur,
Not Only Chapter But also Foundation Activities are Totally Focused towards
South India.WE are not Blaming the chapter for this but A New Chapter in New Delhi will make more Opportunity to grow Wikimedia movement in the Biggest Educational City of India which has been completely Ignored by the Foundation and the India Chapter as well.
Can you provide evidence / examples for this?
The chapter has just started with no significant program yet and needs more time before it's activities could be analysed. So, saying the chapter is biased towards south is not acceptable.
One reason that the foundation chose to have it's in office is to balance it's presence in North India.
And the biggest program of the foundation till date is the campus ambassadors program which is based in Pune. This can be thought as Central or Western India but definitely not South India.
I understand that a backing of an organisation and local presence could be of some help. But, please note that having an organisation is not the only way to promote Wikimedia projects. In fact, much time could be lost in organisational bureaucratic things which could be used for real Wikimedia project development. Many of the Indic and global Wikimedia projects have shown good growth purely based on individual / volunteer contribution in their own capacity.
I am interested to know the problems faced by North Indian Wikimedia communities and what all could be addressed without the involvement of foundation / chapter and what steps have been taken so far regarding this.
Thanks,
ravi
wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org