Hi all,
I'm delighted to announce that formal registration for WikiConference UK 2011 on the 16th April in Bristol is now open! WikiConference UK 2011 is the first large conference for Wikimedians in the UK. The conference will incorporate both presentations and talks about Wikipedia/Wikimedia, as well as Wikimedia UK's Annual General Meeting. It is free to attend, and will be lots of fun. It will be held on Saturday 16 April 2011 in Bristol, at the Watershed Media Centre.
Please register, for free, at:
http://wikiconferenceuk2011.eventbrite.com/
We've also opened the talk proposal submission system - please suggest your talks on either Wikimedia's content, or about current or potential Wikimedia UK activities, at:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_UK_2011/Talk_Submissions
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thanks,
Mike Peel
On behalf of the WMUK board
Please find forwarded below the message that was sent to all the
members of Wikimedia UK this morning.
If you're not a member of the chapter yet and would like to get
involved in the AGM, it's not too late. The easiest way is through the
online application form at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Membership
If you are a member but haven't received the message below please let
me know as we may have an error in your records.
Regards,
Andrew Turvey
Chair & Company Secretary, Wikimedia UK
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Andrew Turvey <andrewrturvey(a)googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 24, 2011 at 7:25 AM
Subject: Wikimedia UK Annual Conference & AGM
To: office(a)wikimedia.org.uk
Bcc: [memberslist]
Dear Member,
Thank you for being a member of Wikimedia UK - the movement promoting
and supporting Wikipedia, its sister projects and open content here in
the UK. We are now over two years old. We have made a real impact in
the last year, hosting a major GLAM-WIKI conference, celebrations
around the 10th Anniversary of Wikipedia and, last month, BRIS-WIKI -
a conference about Wikipedia in Bristol.
This year has also seen significant growth in Wikimedia UK: our income
has topped £500,000, our membership is now close to 200 and we
employed our first member of staff. Next year we have many exciting
plans, but we need you to be involved to make that happen!
Our Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting will be held on
Saturday 16th April at the The Watershed Media Centre, Bristol. There
will be a full programme of events starting at 9:30am and finishing at
5:00pm, including speakers, panel discussions and the business of the
AGM itself at 1pm. Please come along to hear what we have achieved and
help us plan our activities for the future.
The address of the venue is:
Watershed Media Centre
1 Canon's Rd, Harbourside
Bristol, BS1 5TX
Bristol is easy to get to via car, bus, train or airplane. Directions
to the venue can be found on Watershed's website at
http://www.watershed.co.uk/info/access.php. For National Express buses
to Bristol, see their website at
http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/destinations/england/south-west/bristo….
Hotel options if you plan to stay over are shown on our main wiki page
at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_UK_2011#Getting_to_the_conferen…
If you need financial support to attend the conference, please contact
User:Mike Peel via the wiki page.
So that we can plan for the right number of people, if you are
attending, it would help us if you could register for the event via
EventBrite at http://wikiconferenceuk2011.eventbrite.com/
AGM
The official AGM will run from 1pm to 3pm and cover the annual report,
election of a new Board of Trustees and five official motions listed
below. Would you like to stand as a member of the board?
Next year is set to be another big and exciting year of growth for
Wikimedia UK: we plan to recruit several more members of staff so we
can scale up our activities, enable more activity by volunteers and
professionalise the chapter. Our own developer, events organiser, a
full time office manager and a chapter manager pulling everything
together will no doubt transform Wikimedia UK. This is an exciting
time to be part of the board of trustees and there will be a real
opportunity to make a difference and influence the future direction of
the chapter.
We expect that being a board member will take up at least three hours
per week. We expect that the Board will meet once every four to six
weeks, with one meeting in person every three months. We also hope
that directors take
a lead in chapter projects outside meetings. However, there is no
requirement to dedicate a certain amount of time to the chapter or to
have any particular skills - just disclose what you can bring to the
table and let the members decide!
Board members legally act as the chapter's Directors and Trustees. The
eligibility criteria and duties are set out at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board#Duties - please check that you are
eligible and accept these duties before putting yourself forward for
election. If you have any questions you are welcome to contact me,
another board member or take your own legal advice.
To nominate yourself as a candidate, simply email
tellers(a)wikimedia.org.uk by 23:59 on Saturday 2nd April with the
following:
* a statement that you would like to nominate yourself to serve as
a director and trustee of Wikimedia UK and you fulfill the legal
criteria for appointment
* Full name
* any previous names
* date of birth
* business occupation
* the names of any other UK companies which you have been director
of in the last five years
During the election only your name will be made public. If you are
successful these other details will be filed with Companies House as a
public record. You will also be required to file your usual
residential address with the Company Secretary, but this will be kept
confidential.
You may also enclose a candidate statement of up to 500 words if you
wish. This will be sent out with the ballot paper to the voters and
published on the Wikimedia UK wiki. Alternatively, you may send this
separately to the Tellers before the 2nd April. The Tellers will
confirm receipt and acceptance of the nomination. The list of validly
approved candidates will be sent to all members within a week of the
close of nominations on the 2nd April. Candidates can withdraw their
nomination any time before the results of the election are announced.
Resolutions
Following the election of the board, the AGM will discuss five formal
motions as follows:
1. A motion to increase the term of Board members from one to two years
2. A motion to set membership fees
3. A motion to appoint board members
4. A motion to approve the annual accounts
5. A motion to appoint auditors
More details of these motions is given below and on the AGM wiki page
above. If you would like to propose any amendments please get in touch
by emailing chair(a)wikimedia.org.uk to discuss.
Please vote on these motions by forwarding this email to
"tellers(a)wikimedia.org.uk" and putting "Yes" or "No" against each of
the motions above. You may also vote in person at the AGM and you may
change your vote at any time. Email votes must be received by 2pm on
Friday 15th April. By forwarding this email with your instructions to
the tellers you are agreeing to appoint the tellers as your proxy and
they will cast your vote on your behalf. The wording of the proxy
declaration is as follows:
"I, the above named member, of the above email address, being a member
of Wikimedia UK, hereby appoint James Farrar ("the Teller") as my
proxy to vote in my name on my behalf at the general meeting of the
charity to be held on 16th April 2011 and at any adjournment thereof
according to my instruction above. Unless otherwise instructed, the
proxy may vote as they think fit where consistent with my instruction
or abstain."
Alternatively you have a right to appoint someone else as your proxy
to attend the meeting and vote on your behalf. Please use the same
wording as above and email it to tellers(a)wikimedia.org.uk.
We look forward to seeing you on 16th!
Regards,
Company Secretary
Wikimedia UK
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited.
Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England
and Wales, Registered No. 6741827.
The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL,
United Kingdom.
Details of Resolutions
1. A motion to increase the term of Board members from one to two years
This motion is a Special Resolution and therefore requires a 75%
majority to pass
Whereas Article 16 currently states that:
"16.1 Providing that one or more valid nominations for Directors
are received, all the Directors shall retire from office at each
Annual General Meeting "
"16.2 If a Director is required to retire at an Annual General
Meeting by a provision of these articles the retirement shall take
effect upon the conclusion of the meeting.";
Believing the resultant uncertainty around the election each year
disrupts the effectiveness of the Board's planning, and interim
functionality;
Believing that longer terms for the Directors would produce a positive
impact in improved stability of the Board;
Resolves to replace Article 16 with the following:
16.1 Providing that one or more valid nominations for Directors
are received, Directors shall retire from office at the second Annual
General Meeting since their last appointment, unless by the close of
the meeting the members have failed to elect sufficient Directors to
hold a quorate meeting of the Directors.
16.2 At the first Annual General Meeting following the adoption of
this article, fifty percent of directors shall retire from office. If
the number of directors is not a multiple of two, the number of
retiring directors shall be fifty percent plus a half.
16.3 The directors who are to resign under Article 16.2 at the
first AGM following from the adoption of this Article shall be
determined as the directors who obtained the fewest votes at their
election.
16.4 If a Director is appointed to fill a vacancy under Article
17.4, they shall retire from office at the subsequent Annual General
Meeting
16.5 If a Director is required to retire at an Annual General
Meeting by a provision of these articles the retirement shall take
effect upon the conclusion of the meeting.
This resolution has been put forward by Mike Peel, and has been
seconded by Thomas Dalton.
2. A motion to set membership fees
Whereas, the Membership Rules require the membership fees to be
reviewed by each AGM.
This meeting resolves by Ordinary Resolution to maintain the
membership fees unchanged for Individual Members at £5 per year and
for all Member Organisations at £100 per year.
3. A motion to appoint board members
Whereas, the Board of Trustees have all resigned effective at the end
of this meeting, as required by the Articles of Association. Whereas,
the Election Rules require an election of board members at this
meeting.
This meeting resolves by Ordinary Resolution to hold an election in
accordance with the Election Rules and then appoint the elected
candidates as members of the Board of Trustees for the next year.
4. A motion to approve the annual accounts
Whereas the Financial Accounts for the periods ended 31 January 2010
and 31 January 2011 have been previously approved by the directors,
This meeting resolved to adopt these accounts.
5. A motion to appoint auditors
Whereas Messrs UHY Hacker Young of 22 The Ropewalk Nottingham have
been appointed by the directors as auditors of the company,
This Meeting resolves to reappoint them as auditors until the
conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting.
** END **
Hi all,
You might be interested in Manuel Schneider's summary of the Chapters Meeting last weekend, which I attended on behalf of Wikimedia UK. All of the documentation is publicly visible on meta, so if you're interested in any topic please take a look at the meta page and comment on the corresponding talk page.
Thanks,
Mike
Begin forwarded message:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Chapters Meeting Report (english version)
> Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:34:20 +0200
> From: Manuel Schneider <manuel.schneider(a)wikimedia.ch>
> Organization: Wikimedia CH
> To: Mailing list for Wikimedia CH <wikimediach-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> Dear all,
>
> last weekend the annual Chapters Meeting took place in Berlin. Each year
> two representatives of each Wikimedia chapter meet there. During the
> meeting South Africa was recognized as the first african chapter.
> Wikimedia CH and Austria have been represented by Manuel Schneider and
> Kurt Kulac. With this report we'd like to share our experiences with the
> Wikimedia community. Additionally all sessions have been logged and
> published on Meta:
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation
>
> A short TV report on the meeting for ARD Tagesschau (in german) can be
> viewed online:
> http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/sendungsbeitrag101886_res-.html
>
> == Current State of the Chapters ==
> Traditionally each chapter meeting starts with a three minute report of
> each chapter about their current state: Members, budget, past and future
> projects, good and bad experiences.
>
> Most of the "State of the Chapter" presentations have been linked on Meta:
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Schedule#State_of_…
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Schedule#State_of_…
>
> * WMCH: http://wikimedia.ch/State_of_the_Chapter_2011
> * WMAT:
> http://mitglieder.wikimedia.at/Archiv/2011-03-26_State_of_the_Chapter
>
> == Fundraising Summit ==
> There will be again a Fundraising Summit for all chapters participating
> in the Wikimedia Fundraiser by the end of the year. This year's summit
> will be organised in June by Wikimedia Österreich.
>
> * http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2011/Fundraising_Summit
>
> == Movement Roles ==
> There are the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Chapters as branches of
> the Foundation, but there are also other entities and organisations
> withing the Wikiverse. While the relationship between Foundation and
> chapters has been settled by the chapters agreement there are many open
> questions in how to handle other organisations which are not chapters.
>
> A "Movement Roles Working Group" has been set up a year ago that is
> researching this topic. Recently surveys have been sent out to chapter
> people (I have forwarded them to the respective boards) and a public
> survey is planned to be published soon.
>
> All members and inhabitants of the Wikiverse are urged to participate in
> this process, to shape the roles of chapters, foundation and their own.
>
> * http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles_project
> * http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles_project/New_group_models
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles_project/Sue_Gardner%27s_input…
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Move…
>
> == Collaborations with Galeries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAMs) ==
> The other chapters have presented their experiences with talking to
> GLAMs. In many countries discussions and talks happen and GLAMs are
> willing to cooperate, but a there is little visible output.
>
> The Wiki Loves Monuments project interacts here, aiming to be a
> pan-european project to define, list and illustrate all monuments
> throughout Europe. Ideas are currently being discussed, WMAT started
> talking to the administration bodies taking care of monuments, lists
> need to be digitized and unified. A photo competition and reimbursement
> of travel costs should foster the communities will to take good pictures
> of all monuments. WMNL has been able to get sitenotices up to attract
> more people for the project. Other ideas are to provide extensive
> amounts of swag, such as sticker, pins, T-Shirts etc.
>
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Work…
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/GLAM…
>
> == Hiring Employees ==
> Many chapters - as Wikimedia Austria and Switzerland - have been
> thinking about hiring employees or to outsource work to paid people.
> Many projects are time-intensive and participating at the Wikimedia
> Fundraiser is hard to be handled on a volunteer basis due to the high
> amount of donations which need to be booked correctly, thanked and reported.
>
> Several times statements like "Wikimedia chapters are no fan clubs" have
> been made. Conclusion: Wikimedia chapters are primarily administrative
> organisations which enable volunteers to do their work better and
> "enable others to be fan-clubs". With the needed professionalisation of
> the chapters their boards change from executive to overseeing
> committees. Along with this it is important to transfer (seed) the
> enthusiasm by the board members into the director / manager of the
> chapters office.
>
> A few chapters have already stepped forward by applying different
> strategies:
>
> * WMDE: "Management Approach" - They hired an employee that can manage
> himself and is looking for new tasks and implemented them on his own.
> This is important as management and monitoring of employees - which is
> also a big effort - can be minimised. A good manager can also fund
> himself by finding new opportunities and is able to find new employees
> to support him as the work load increases, a scalable solution.
>
> A manager writes proposals which the board will review and decide. By
> that the board actually gets more power as it can act strategically
> rather than ad-hoc under pressure of daily tasks.
>
> * WMPL: "Outsourcing" - legally neccessary tasks have been outsourced
> early. Problem: different people for different tasks which do not know
> each other and do not act strategically. WMPL: "...in the end we had an
> accountant, but nobody had time to bring her the receipts so she could
> do her work."
>
> New approach: Hire someone who can do different things on his own and
> have him sit in the WMPL office.
>
> * Office space: Rent offices teogether with other "lime-minded
> organisations", such as the parlamentarian group digital sustainability,
> Free Software Foundation Europe, Swiss Unix Usergroup, Creative Commons...
>
> * Job profiles: Look at what the other chapters have done, for instance
> the "office manager" of WMUK who has handled the fundraiser.
>
> * If you develop your organisation then get a "manager type" of employee.
> * If you only need a service center for your administrative tasks then
> outsource it.
>
> * Selection of emplyees: It is helpful if the employee is a Wikimedian
> but this is not the qualification you are looking for. If you have to
> choose between a manager which is not a Wikimedian and a Wikimedian
> which is not a manager, choose the manager (Pavel, WMDE).
>
> * Managing remotely is extremely hard. It takes longer to find out if
> something goes into the wrong direction (Thierry, WMFR). A manager will
> also manage itself.
>
> * An employee should have one or at max two bosses and not the board as
> a boss. Otherwise it takes too longe to make management decision.
>
> * At least a weekly Skype meeting is recommended, the verbal contact is
> very important rather than writing e-mails.
>
> * Application process (WMFR):
> ** received 40 applications, two filters: eight left. These eight
> applicants have been interviewed by eight people from the board and
> involved members.
> ** a Wikimedian has the advantage that you already know him and how he
> works. But be careful with "super members", there is the risk of leading
> into demotivation and problems. It is sometimes better to employ someone
> from the outside.
>
> Invitation by Pavel (WMDE): "We have gained a lot of experience. Just
> come a week to Berlin and look how I deal with it."
>
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Prof…
>
> == openZIM (Wikipedia Offline) ==
> The ZIM libraries have been recently included into the book printing
> funtion - now everyone can easily create ZIM files from the Wikis.
>
> To make the code and the work on it more visible it should be
> transferred to svn.wikimedia.org. Each commit is sent to IRC and
> mailinglist, also many developers have a copy of that repository so the
> hurdle to look into the code and work with it is much lower.
>
> == Internal Organisation / Roles within the Chapters ==
> Several sessions dealt with the tasks withing the chapters or the
> motivation of members. We agreed on the following types of members:
> * proactive (they initiate things and do work on their own)
> * active (they are active when being asked)
> * inactive
> * counter-active (trolls)
>
> The goal is to convert inactive members to active members and active to
> proactive. Trolls are part of the ecosystem and sometimes have a
> corrective function. In doubt when there is to much hassle nobody should
> hesitate to exclude them from the chapter.
>
> * Each organisation needs to fill in four functions - of which a single
> person can at max. fill in three:
> ** Production (get things done)
> ** Administration (organisation)
> ** Innovation (new ideas, development)
> ** Integration (people person)
>
> * Convert members to active members:
> ** often it helps to contact people directly and personally - often
> nobody responds on mailinglists
> ** keep a list of tasks in your chapters wiki to give interested people
> a hint where they can start working on. Ask on your members on the
> mailinglist to sign up for these tasks.
>
> * Each board should consist of the following positions:
> ** people person, social integrator
> ** secretary / administrator
> ** contact person for the community - must have a good standing inside
> the Wikimedia projects before becoming a board member
>
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Volu…
>
> == Communication ==
> Different chapters communicate in different ways. The suggested monthly
> report is provided by a small number of chapters only (WMCH: No report
> since a long time). There has been a lot of discussion on the effort
> needed in writing those reports and the possibility to re-use them. Many
> chapters write blog posts, others communicate on Twitter or Facebook,
> usually in their own language. Other chapters have no benefit from that
> and can't learn from each other or simply know what is going on in the
> Wikiverse.
>
> The following solution was agreed on:
> * each chapter should have a blog and post there regularly
> ** messages for other chapters should be tagged with "chapter"
> ** all chapter blogs should be aggregate by two Wikimedia planets:
> *** there are already Wikimedia planets for different languages
> *** a new Wikimedia planet for chapters (all languages) should be created
> ** link your blogs with social networks to make your posts to appear there:
> *** Twitter
> *** Facebook
>
> * publish interesting news also on the Wikimedia SignPost
>
> * monthly newsletter to the members
> ** newsletter can be prepared publicly on the chapters wiki, so everyone
> can contribute his or her project
> ** one person writes a summary of what is going on at Wikimedia
>
> * print hand outs or even bulletings when you have conferences or assemblies
> ** handouts should always be available
> ** get an ISSN for bulletins to make your publications more visible
>
> * a template for the chapters report should hold the minimal information
> needed by the Wikimedia Foundation
> ** this template will be published on Meta
> ** the state of the chapter presentations will have the minimal
> information, they should go directly to the chapters pages on Meta so
> they are updated once a year
>
> * format for chapter reports:
> ** Revenues
> ** Expenses
> ** Activities
> ** Members
>
> *
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Documentation/Inte…
>
> == Group Photo ==
> *
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Conference_2011_group_phot…
>
> That's it with the summary of the chapters meeting. All members are
> invited to participate in the processes and discussions on Meta.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
> Manuel
> --
> Regards
> Manuel Schneider
>
> Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens
> Wikimedia CH - Association for the advancement of free knowledge
> www.wikimedia.ch
Hi guys,
I hope everyone is well.
I have been speaking to the 'prosumer' press. Webuser and .net magazine are
both keen to work with us on features.
Webuser would like to feature Wikipedia in its 'secret tips for your
favourite website feature'. And, .net magazine would like to work with us to
produce a tutorial. The deputy editor of .net magazine, is open to
suggestions for the tutorial.
I'd like to work with the volunteers on content for Webuser feature and
ideas for .net feature. The Wikipedian's will of course be credited to the
journalist and hopefully within the piece - although that will be down to
the individual journalist.
It would be good to put this together over the next two weeks. We will start
off with Wikipedia sites because it is what the journalists know then we
will pitch features about Wikimedia commons etc at a later date.
Does anyone have time to help me with this? All help would be much
appreciated.
Thanks,
Gem
[image:
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=6ad56b18a2&view=att&th=12efda46d69024…]<http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Derby_Backstage_Pass>Late
News - we have added an extra speaker to Wikimedia UK's Backstage
Pass<http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Derby_Backstage_Pass>event on April
9th as today we saw QRWP codes work for the first time. Can
you make sure you have signed up or contacted me or the museum if you are
attending as there are about 12 places left.
*Guest Speaker*
Terence Eden will be talking about QRWP codes. These are like QR codes
accept that the information is automatically supplied in your language
without using translation facilities. You will have not seen this done
elsewhere before. This will be the first demonstration. Borrow or steal a
smart phone and make sure you can read a normal QR
Code<http://en.wikimedia.org/wiki/Quick_Response_Code>before you get
there.
This is amazing! and is in addition to the stores that contain 100,000 items
that will be available, cultural speed dating and the opening up an entire
mothballed museum.
Roger
Hi all,
The Guardian Education Supplement's planning on writing an article on the use of Wikipedia in academia, and they're looking for Wikimedians who are also UK-based academics that they can talk to (and also academics that have an aversion to Wikipedia). If you think you'd fit the bill, or know someone that might, please could you get in touch asap? They need to talk to someone today ideally...
Thanks,
Mike
Hi all,
The second event at Cancer Research UK will take place in London this Monday (the 28th March) between 10am and 4.30pm. At this event, we'll be introducing CRUK to editing Wikipedia, and helping them check and expand Wikipedia's content on cancer and cancer research. For background info on this, please see:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cancer_Research_UK_Academy
We're after volunteers to help with this event in three ways:
1) Coming to the event at CRUK and giving hands-on help and support to attendees as they make their first edits
2) Following the contributors and their edits online, and lending a hand, during the event
3) Helping CRUK in the future as they make edits after the event
Can anyone help? If you're able to come to the event in London, we can cover your travel costs, and we'll also pay for your lunch. Please get in touch with me offlist if you're able to help.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi all,
Earlier this month, the Wikimedia Foundation ran a small 'Wikipedia in Education' summit in Berlin, which Cormac Lawler attended on behalf of Wikimedia UK. You can find his extensive report on the WMUK wiki:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_in_Education_summit_March_2011_report
Please feel free to ask him questions about the summit, and the discussions that talk place at it, on the talk page. ;-)
Thanks,
Mike
If anyone on this list has recently been talking to the Science Museum and/or National Railway Museum regarding Wiki stuff, could they possibly get in touch? Thanks!
Chris
At the "Board Interest Day" a couple of weeks ago I was struck by the number of people saying Wikimedia UK needed to communicate what it's doing better.
To try to understand what communications tools we currently have, I've set up a table on uk.wikimedia.orghttp://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Newsletter/Audiences
If you're able to help fill in the blanks please do. :-)
Chris(The Land)
