On 28 June 2013 17:58, Simon Knight <sjgknight(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Charles – yes, trying to imagine a sort of Venn diagram of volunteers (of
various sorts), members and other supporters is an interesting exercise I
think. The microgrant attraction doesn’t have to be a benefit we’d
anticipate all members using though, but it might be a draw for a
particular sort of volunteer (whether that’s the sort of volunteer the
movement is interested in, and that sort of motivation is ok I guess are
separate issues). That’s why I don’t think trying to classify the sorts
of activities people might be engaged in depending on their differing
statuses within the organisation is going to help here. I’m struggling to
think about how to make this distinction but at the moment the page is
closer to describing how people see their relationship to the organisation
(members – want to show support for…, might be interested in internals of
Wikimedia. Volunteers – might be interested in particular projects, or
whatever), what people actually do is less focus than the area or support
they want to express…if that makes sense. ****
Technically it's called a "stakeholder analysis", as I learned from
Fae a
while back. And the office has done one in the past. I think the issue here
is the non-activist potential joiners. NB that calling them all volunteers
is a bit like missing the point.
I think we need to come back to the fact that WMUK is a membership
organisation. And get beyond the fact that this is constitutional, plumbed
into the charity. Nearly five years in on WMUK Mk II and the shoe is
starting to pinch on what that means. This whole discussion is clearly
overdue, but now we have a definite structure (Board and staff and
volunteers).
I think it is a bit much to ask the _members_ to define what they feel
about it all, as things stand. Whatever the membership page on the UK Wiki
may imply, this list is not "for members" (a point you made) or even "for
WMUK". Meetups are not members-only. Basically the niche for members'
discussion is still the AGM.
Charles