2008/7/21 Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com>:
> Also what level of support can we expect from you and the rest of the board
> in a Wikimania bid (Oxford or elsewhere)? WM UK obviously stand to benefit
> substantially were we successful (donations, media attention etc.) but for
> this to happen we certainly need all the help we could get.
I suspect the thing WMUK can mostly offer at present is the name and
any magic pixie dust powers that might be perceived to have - the
address, "supported by," etc. Which is pretty good really. And a line
to WMF. (The Wikimania judges are, I'm afraid, utterly incorruptible,
but if you need the WMF being fluffy in an appropriately
nonfavouritist way it's feasible to some extent. I think.)
- d.
----- Original Message ----
From: Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com>
To: wikimedia(a)alisonwheeler.com; wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Sent: Monday, 21 July, 2008 10:29:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK - situation
> Involvement -- active on multiple wikis, sysop on at least one en project.
> Turned up at a meeting where I was talking, and where it just
> happened I mentioned no treasurer, and a bunch of us - Sue, him, me, david -
> got talking. His background is a qualified chartered accountant, board
> level as finance director, senior financial employee for more than one
> PLC, etc.
Sounds good. Pity he hasn't been successful, though... I would like
his on site identity to be public knowledge, but I acknowledge it's
not your place to do that.
Maybe at some future time. Right now there's work to do, I'm on this list as a finance person, not an editor. I won't be a heavy contributor to this list, I'd like to say little that's off-topic, and focus on the treasurer's role. The acid test and first thing is to sort the bank and company out. If we meet socially at a meet-up later on, and get to know each other, then let's chat for sure.
-- Paul Sinclair
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Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Given that it's taken over 2 years so far and I see no reason to think
>>> any progress has been made towards getting a bank account, I consider
>>> that unacceptable. You are taking advantage of the fact that you can't
>>> accept new members to get away with not giving interested parties the
>>> say they deserve in the running of the chapter.
>>>
>> That statement's fabulously on crack, and you're all set to be drafted.
>>
>
> Drafted? I'm not familiar with that word in this context.
>
>
Let me elucidate: "If you think you can do a better job, then you're
welcome to it."
-a
Alison asked me to sign up, so here I am.
There's a lot of history to the role, and I'm signing up to the list when some of them are under discussion.
It might be good if someone brings me up to date where we've got to in the discussion. It would let me be more involved.
Yours,
-- P.
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>5. Q: "Can someone here give me the short rundown on Paul's business
>background and/or ties to the Wikipedia community?"
>Paul has had a longtime connection with Wikipedia and the Wikimedia
>community and has the requisite documentation and experience for the job.
Could you be a tad more specific?
At the meeting in London on 15 January 2006, the nominees to be the
first Directors were selected. They officially became Directors on
the founding of Wiki Educational Resources Limited ("WER") on 14
February 2006. This Board will seek to get WER registered as a
charity. At the first Annual General Meeting, which was held on June
23, 2007, all directors stood down and sought re-election. The
present Board is listed below. If you wish to be involved in helping
us get registered charity status, please let us know - there's plenty
to be done and you don't need to be a director or member to help!
Extract from http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK
Gordo
--
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In-Reply-To: <fbad4e140807180238m74a1b49bwb38441631ca0c690(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Yeah. I pointed out that WMUK sometimes has the image of being a
> black monolith that remains silent. Whereas, like most volunteer
> enterprises, it doesn't really exist except as a virtual construct
> made of what people do.
>
> It does have one important asset: the trademark licence from WMF.
>
> James F. spoke at length of the hair-tearing nightmare of even
> getting
> a goddamn bank account for an intended charity in the UK, given the
> marvellous new banking regulations designed to make sure we're not
> money-laundering.
>
> In essence, WMUK is most useful at present as an idea that opens
> doors. Alison certainly finds that "Chair, Wikimedia UK" gets her
> in a lot more places than "Alison Wheeler, random volunteer editor."
>
> So the question is: what doors would being able to say "from
> Wikimedia UK" open for Wikimania hopefuls?
As a relative late arriver, I did pick up some negative vibes about what
people thought of Wikimedia UK's pace of achieving things. My instinct
which I put to the other two editors left at the end is that it would be
better if we continued to meet as a social group on a regular basis, began
to form friendships and then as a group of mates could then meet
separately to get things organised towards a WIkimania for 2010 or 2011.
I have, in the past, been on the committees of two science fiction
conventions, though fatigue means that I don't want to do more than
consult for this. Wikimania looks to be of the scale of a medium-size
British con. It also attracts a similar demographic (though obviously more
international) and is, like them, volunteer-run.
http://conrunner.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page is a wiki that I've
just discovered on running cons.
http://www.smof.com/conrunner/index2.htm is the archive of a conrunning
fanzine that existed into the mid-90s and shouldn't be entirely dated.
Peter
2008/7/15 Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com>:
> See this old version of the page for details of the playhouse's charges:
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimania_2010/Bids/UK/Oxford&o…
> (base rate of £2200 a day).
>
>
>
> I also got a quote from the Sheldonian last year and they said: "I do not
> know the exact rate for 2009 - the rate now is £260 for the first hour and
> £170 for subsequent hours. This rate increases by around 3% in September."
>
>
>
> So not too expensive I guess. But it's not exactly comfortable...
>
>
>
> Tom
What technical facilities do these venues offer? WiFi? Projection? PA
System? As a techie, I tend to worry about these things ;)
--
~ Paul Williams
On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 8:12 PM, Tom Holden <thomas.holden(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Just got another reply from the Lord Mayor who has apparently been given the
> following advice from the leader of the council:
>
> "I agree that it is a good thing to support, but I'm afraid that it probably
> falls outside the rules on reductions in room hire costs.
Who makes up the rules?
Try asking them to consider making a special case where they waive the rules.
Theresa
--
http://theresaknott.googlepages.com/homehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Theresa_knott
> I'm also going to send off a "will you sponsor us" e-mail to a contact I
> have at Torchbox, an Oxfordshire web-design for charities company. They
> sponsor the Oxford Geek Nights events so I'm optimistic they'll be
> persuadable to sponsor this.
I've just contacted 3 Oxfordshire coach companies about sponsoring us
with free or discounted transport between Oxford and London airports,
I'll let you know what I hear back.
> What are people's thoughts on recruiting additional people to help with the
> bid? I could easily fire off a few e-mails to student mailing lists I'm on
> and would probably get some response. Do you have strong "if they don't care
> enough about wikis to be on this mailing list..." or "too many cooks"
> thoughts?
If you know anyone active on a Wikimedia project that is based in the
UK and isn't on this mailing list, by all means contact them - this
list isn't very well publicised, so there are lots of people that
aren't on it that could be very useful. I'm not sure if there's much
point emailing student mailing lists unless you know there are lots of
Wikimedians on them.