Anyone doing this or up to calling them and getting a WMUK board
member in there? This is the sort of thing I mean by the name coming
in useful :-)
- d.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: pfctdayelise <brianna.laugher(a)gmail.com>
Date: 2008/10/31
Subject: Open Everything London: Speakers Confirmed
To: David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com>
I guess WMUK will have people attending?
cheers
Brianna
Sent to you by pfctdayelise via Google Reader:
Open Everything London: Speakers Confirmed
via Open Knowledge Foundation Weblog by Jonathan Gray on 30/10/08
We're pleased to announce that the main speakers for Open Everything
London (on next Thursday 6th November) have now been confirmed:
Glyn Moody
"… a technology writer. He is best known for his book Rebel Code:
Linux and the Open Source Revolution (2001). It describes the
evolution and significance of the free software and open source
movements with many interviews of all the notable hackers."
Charles Leadbeater
"… a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has advised
companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation
strategy and drawn on that experience in writing his latest book
We-think: the power of mass creativity, which charts the rise of mass,
participative approaches to innovation from science and open source
software, to computer games and political campaigning."
Rufus Pollock
Director at the Open Knowledge Foundation, and an economist at
Cambridge University focusing on innovation and IP, with particular
attention to open models of innovation.
The day will include speed geeks, lightning talks, discussions, open
space for breakout sessions and lunch. Other speakers, presenters,
facilitators and organisations who have confirmed include:
Helen King, Principal Advisor, Shuttleworth Foundation
Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation + Visiting Professor at
University College, London, the London School of Economics and
University of Melbourne + Chair of Involve
Tom Steinberg, Founder and Director of mySociety
Charles Armstrong, Founder of Circus Foundation + CEO of Trampoline Systems
Kennisland
One World
Social Innovation Camp
Maslaha
Brave New Collaboration
NESTA
Think Public
If you'd like to participate, be sure to book your place ASAP! Details
are as follows:
When: Thursday 6th November, 0900-1730 and then drinks afterwards…
Where: The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8EH (map)
Wiki: http://openeverything.wik.is/London
Cost: £15 donation for venue, lunch and refreshments.
Register: Book your place!
From the website:
On 6 November 2008, London will host an Open Everything event, a
global conversation about the art, science and spirit of 'open'. The
conversation will cover, well, everything. Qualifier: the 'thing' in
question is built using openness, participation and self-organisation.
There are people coming to talk about open technology, media,
education, workplace design, philanthropy, public policy and even
politics. These people want to tell you what they're doing and find
out what you're up to. And they'd like to have lunch with you.
If you're interested in 'open', it'd be great to see you there!
Share This
Things you can do from here:
Subscribe to Open Knowledge Foundation Weblog using Google Reader
Get started using Google Reader to easily keep up with all your favorite sites
We didn't have a formal meeting on 27th October, so there won't be any
minutes, but the board did meet in person and were able to sign all
the necessary forms to form the new organisation, Wiki UK Ltd. This
means that the forms are ready to go to Companies House and another
stage on the timeline
[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/Timeline] is
complete.
The next board meeting will be on IRC, and will be held on Tuesday 4th
November at 20:30.
Best Wishes
Mickey
Hi all,
We're hosting three open knowledge events in London this November that
may be of interest to people on this list:
* Workshop on Finding and Re-using Public Information
- Saturday 1st November 2008, London Knowledge Lab
- http://okfn.org/wiki/PublicInformation
* Open Everything London
- Thursday 6th November 2008, The Roundhouse
- http://openeverything.wik.is/London
* Workshop on Finding and Re-using Open Scientific Resources
- Saturday 8th November 2008, London Knowledge Lab
- http://okfn.org/wiki/OpenScience/Workshop
If you plan to attend a workshop, please add your name to the wiki. If
you plan to come to Open Everything London it might be advisable to book
a ticket as there is limited space.
More details on the events below.
Please circulate as appropriate!
Warm regards,
Jonathan Gray
The Open Knowledge Foundation
---
Open Everything London
======================
On 6 November 2008, London will host an Open Everything event, a global
conversation about the art, science and spirit of 'open'. The
conversation will cover, well, everything. Qualifier: the 'thing' in
question is built using openness, participation and self-organisation.
There are people coming to talk about open technology, media, education,
workplace design, philanthropy, public policy and even politics. These
people want to tell you what they're doing and find out what you're up
to. And they'd like to have lunch with you.
## Details
* When: Thursday 6th November, 0900-1730 and then drinks afterwards!
* Where: The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8EH
* Wiki: http://openeverything.wik.is/London
* Cost: £15 donation for venue, lunch and refreshments.
* Register: Book your place!
## Speakers
* Glyn Moody
- "...a technology writer. He is best known for his book Rebel Code:
Linux and the Open Source Revolution (2001). It describes the evolution
and significance of the free software and open source movements with
many interviews of all the notable hackers."
* Charles Leadbeater
- "... a leading authority on innovation and creativity. He has
advised companies, cities and governments around the world on innovation
strategy and drawn on that experience in writing his latest book
We-think: the power of mass creativity, which charts the rise of mass,
participative approaches to innovation from science and open source
software, to computer games and political campaigning."
* Rufus Pollock
- Director at the Open Knowledge Foundation, and an economist at
Cambridge University focusing on innovation and IP, with particular
attention to open models of innovation.
The day will include speed geeks, lightning talks, discussions, open
space for breakout sessions and lunch. Other speakers, presenters,
facilitators and organisations who have confirmed include:
* Helen King, Principal Advisor, Shuttleworth Foundation
* Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation + Visiting Professor
at University College, London, the London School of Economics and
University of Melbourne + Chair of Involve
* Tom Steinberg, Founder and Director of mySociety
* Charles Armstrong, Founder of Circus Foundation + CEO of Trampoline
Systems
* Kennisland
* One World
* Social Innovation Camp
* Maslaha
* Brave New Collaboration
* NESTA
* Think Public
---
Workshop on Finding and Re-using Public Information
===================================================
* When: Saturday 1st November 2008, 1030-1600.
* Where: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald Street, London, WC1N 3QS.
* Wiki: http://okfn.org/wiki/PublicInformation
* Participation: Attendance is free. If you are planning to come along
please add your name to the list below, or email us.
The UK Government produces and distributes a vast amount of documents
and datasets - from national statistics to environmental information,
from socio-economic data to legal material. Recent technologies allow
this information to be explored, built upon and made accessible in new
ways - whether through visual representation, semantic interlinking, or
through social media applications.
This informal, hands-on workshop will bring government information
experts together with those who are interested in finding and re-using
government information. In addition to focused discussions about legal
and technological aspects of re-use, government information assets will
be documented and tagged on CKAN, a registry of knowledge resources.
This workshop is presented by The Open Knowledge Foundation, the Office
of Public Sector Information (OPSI), the Power of Information (POI)
Taskforce and mySociety. It is kindly hosted by the London Knowledge Lab.
---
Workshop on Finding and Re-using Open Scientific Resources
==========================================================
* When: Saturday 8th November 2008, 1100-1600
* Where: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald Street, London, WC1N 3QS.
* Wiki page: http://okfn.org/wiki/OpenScience/Workshop
* Participation: Attendance is free. If you are planning to come along
please add your name to the list below, or email us.
This informal, hands-on workshop will focus on finding and re-using open
scientific resources - including open and public domain data, open
access journal articles, and open educational materials. We will look at
existing tools for discovering open material, metadata standards for
relevant material in different domains, and how researchers go about
looking for the material they need.
In addition to focused discussions about legal and technological aspects
of re-use, open scientific resources will be documented and tagged on
CKAN, a registry of knowledge resources.
Thanks for putting up these draft rules on meta, Mike - I think they're a great basis to start work on and are good for drawing out the key issues we need to discuss.
I wanted to suggest a few changes on different topics and though it might be useful to fork off into different threads to cover the different areas.
First - age.
The draft rules say:
> Guarantor Membership is open to all ... that are over the age of 16
> Details required on the Application Form ... Date of Birth (required) ... If under 18, then signature of parent or guardian (required if under 18)
I posted a message on this list about some previous research I had done into under 18 members. (http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediauk-l/2008-October/002883.html) In essence it says that if a person under 18 became a guarantor member and the company went under it would be unable to claim the £1 from that person as the contract would be "voidable" - hence why a counter-signature is needed.
I would like to propose three changes, the first similar to Tom Dalton's comment:
First, remove the limit of 16. I think if someone under 16 wants to join I'm not sure why we should prevent them and I don't see the advantage in restricting membership like this.
Second, rather than requiring the counter-signature of a parent, I suggest we just require a counter-signature of someone over 18. I don't think it needs to be a parent - it's only £1 and as long as someone is happy to cough up that should be fine.
Finally, if the first change is adopted, I don't see the need to ask for a date of birth. Of course this is needed for directors but otherwise I think it is unnecessary. It would also be better from a child protection point of view meaning that someone who gained access to the membership lists wouldn't be able to immediately identify minors. It would also help guard against ID fraud given that they often need dates of birth.
Andrew
The articles already specify:
2.3(a) The Directors may only refuse an application for
membership if, acting reasonably and properly, they consider it to be
in the best interests of the charity to refuse the application.
This strikes me as fairly broad but also means the Board will need a good reason to reject an applicant.
My reading of these draft rules are that they would further restrict
the Board's discretion on these matters. Is this the intention? I
certainly agree that the membership form should explicitly require an
applicant to state that they support the charity's Object and wont
bring it into disrepute but I'm not sure it's a good idea to restrict
the Board like this.
The draft then goes on to say:
"Invalid reasons for rejecting membership include behaviour, activity or inactivity on the Wikipedia Foundation websites"
What if, say a repeat sock-puppet or vandal applied to join the
charity? Would their membership help us achieve our Object or would it
hinder us? What if they had disrupted, say, discussions on these meta
pages or the email list? Both these examples could be legitimate
reasons for refusing membership. Restricting the Board as proposed
could end up causing real problems for a Board that wanted to bar a
disruptive applicant but found they couldn't.
Andrew
Hi all,
Just wanted to respond quickly to the comments some others made:
Yes, we could opt not to have a company secretary thanks to the new provisions of the Companies Act 2006 but we would still have to arrange for someone to do the tasks so we have decided to have one nonetheless. Personally I think this provision is most useful for sole-director companies which previously had to appoint a company secretary and they weren't allowed to do this themselves.
"The Company Secretary is the person legal responsible / goes to court in the dock for the actions of a company when an identifiable human is required - and is the one sent to prison,"
The good news - for me that is - is that this is completely untrue!! Company Secretaries in fact have very little legal liability as they generally just do what they are told by the directors. They are criminally liable for certain defaults committed by the company - for instance failing to file accounts on time - but in practice things like this tend to be dealt with by fining the company instead and are limited in scope to mainly administrative matters.
The bad news, I'm afraid, is that the directors, by contrast, ARE responsible for a fairly long list of duties, which in our case will cover pretty much everything the company does. They are in charge of the company - not the secretary - and they would be the ones going to jail in the highly unlikely instance it came to that. There would be no drawing lots involved either - liability would be joint and several in these cases which means they could come after any one of us they chose! Indeed, Companies House say on their website they prosecuted 1,600 directors last year for failing to file accounts.
Hope that clarifies!
regards,
> I assume that this depends on some other parameters. I received a
> letter threatening court action earlier in 2008 saying that I was
> liable for a missing annual return (not the accounts) yet I was not
> the Company Secretary.
Was that sent to you personally or did you just happen to be the
registered office of the company? I would expect something like that
to be sent to the company rather than an individual board member (I
think the board can be held individually liable for being delinquent
in filing, but only under certain circumstances).
Regarding the minutes:
> Review of draft MoA&AoA from informal advice
> AT reported informal advice on the draft MoA and AoA. This was
generally positive, with one concern expressed about the
> possibility of
nominal conflicts of interest arising if a director worked in a junior
role with a large organisation. The board
> agreed to amend the MoA [2] to prevent this situation arising.
> ACTION: MP to inform ChapCom of change to MoA.
I think this should be "TH reported informal advice..." but the action was for "AT to inform ChapCom"
I've also put some brief formal minutes online for Monday's formation meeting - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK_v2.0/Board_meetings/2008-10-27 - which I hope is ok.
Regards,
Andrew
Just to update everyone on the progress with the company formation. I got the Form 12 sworn in front of a JP this afternoon and put all the forms and documents in the post this evening. Companies House say they take between eight and ten working days from when they receive the forms which means we should hopefully hear back around Friday 14th November.
By then we hope to have approved the membership rules and settled on a bank so we can move straight on to admitting members and opening an account.
I'll keep you informed should I hear anything more.
Regards,
Andrew
2008/10/29 Gordon Joly <gordon.joly(a)pobox.com>:
>>
>> >
>>> Andrew Turvey
>>> Secretary
>> > Wikimedia UK (proposed)
>>>
>
> Will the company have a formal "Company Secretary"? I though the
> Companies Act 2006 meant that the post was optional?
>
>
> "2. A private company will no longer be required to have a company secretary"
>
> http://www.bytestart.co.uk/content/19/19_1/companies-act-guide.shtml
>
> I assume that Wiki UK Ltd is a private company....
It's optional, but recommended. I think the plan is to have one.