On 14 March 2014 13:43, Chris McKenna <cmckenna(a)sucs.org> wrote:
I have no in-principle objections to this (on-wiki
reporting of long-term
loans of equipment) as long as:
(a) "Long-term" is defined.
I suggest that "long-term" does not mean taking kit to coordinate
events such as WMUK trainers helping at editathons or giving
presentations.
It means loans of more than a week to help content creation,
potentially for months or years to support a project. A volunteer
borrowing a camera for a six weeks while they travel abroad, so they
can take better photos for Commons, or an established regular
Wikipedia editor who is saving to buy a new laptop as their old one
was broken, and would like a loaner for 3 months, or an established
volunteer who had their house flooded and could benefit from borrowing
a wifi-box until their broadband is restored, are all reasonable
examples and in every case the outcome in terms of volunteer
contributions during or after the loan can be measured and reported
(to help with future justifications for loan equipment to be purchased
by the charity).
In many of these cases (the forecast-able ones) it would be preferable
to see a proposal on-wiki that can be discussed in advance by
volunteers rather than the decision for significant long term loans
only being made by employees during unrecorded discussions.
(b) There is no requirement to breach anonymity (+ c
& d)
What matters for Wikimedia projects is the account name doing the
editing. I would prefer the account doing the content creation to be
the one named on any long term loan and associated project(s). Records
needed to ensure equipment is insured by the charity is a private
matter and I don't see that compromising anonymity, in fact I don't
think Wikimedia UK ever had a problem with that distinction even
before we had offices and employees.
In regard to security or safety, pragmatic common sense can prevail on
recording where the kit might be. I cannot imagine these concerns
would be a justification for the complete secrecy that exists at the
moment over existing long term loans.
Fae
--
faewik(a)gmail.com
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae