On 14 March 2014 11:17, Katie Chan katie.chan@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
Hi all,
I can confirm that no Wikimedia UK equipment has gone missing. All of Wikimedia UK's laptops and cameras are either currently with the office, or
... Thanks for these clarifications against Leutha's question. In the past I recall that a laptop was accidentally broken and I believe a borrowed camera did go missing a couple of years ago, but I think this was not an asset of the charity. It is nice to know officially that no equipment has ever been stolen or is now missing and that no attendee at a wikimeet or a charity supported event has ever reported their kit or mobile phones going missing or stolen. With these facts it does appear that Jimmy's correspondent was probably trolling for some reason.
The office operates an internal record of the chapter's volunteer equipment both for tracking who has what and for how long, but also to enable us produce appropriate reporting for the Board of Trustees and FDC.
I have no idea why long term loans should be in secret. If someone wishes to borrow a camera or a laptop for a project that helps create content for Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, the charity should encourage an *open and transparent* proposal and report on the project as one funded/supported by the charity. This is a good thing and we should celebrate it.
If it turns out that long term secret loans over the last couple of years are mostly to employees (outside of their defined role) or the friends and family of employees, it could damage the reputation of the charity if questioned on how it manages its assets to ensure that there are no inappropriate benefits, and how it maintains its commitment for transparency. In comparison, when the WMF has provided money and equipment to worthy projects that lacked funds (many laptops have been given out over the years), as far as I am aware, this has never been done in secret, even if the justification was that the potential contributors were not rich enough to purchase their own kit.
Please openly report long term loans on the charity's wiki. For example, I see no reason why my long term loan of a Macmini should not be a matter of public record, and I am prepared to report on related content creation - doing otherwise is likely to fall in conflict with the proposed changes to the Terms of Use of Wikimedia Foundation websites. It would be unwise and potentially misleading to give volunteers or employees with long term free loans of equipment the impression that they would not be obliged to declare that their editing/contributions were directly supported and effectively sponsored by the charity.
Fae