On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 12:35 PM, Peter Cohen <
peterc@cix.compulink.co.uk> wrote:
In-Reply-To: <fbad4e140807180238m74a1b49bwb38441631ca0c690@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