On 6/23/05, Angela beesley@gmail.com wrote:
I could be wrong, but I vaguely recall reading something that "England only" (or probably England-and-Wales) was being looked at, as it potentially simplified matters from a legal standpoint.
Yeah, the current Plan is to incorporate under England-and-Wales law, but we'll be for the whole of the UK.
UK is the working name for the chapter at the moment, though this does unfortunately exclude Ireland, which might not be large enough to get its own chapter yet, so I think there is still room for changes to be made to incorporate them.
This was discussed at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK. The suggestion of using "WISE" (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England) was made at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_UK
Angela.
I think it would be nice to incorporate Ireland into this chapter, but obviously the name and the legal framework will be the problem. I'd still like to see the efforts to focus on smaller languages be extended to Irish Gaelic, which is in big trouble as a spoken language. It'd be really nice to see pan-British Isles collaboration on scholarship and general education in smaller languages, learning lessons from the resounding success in Wales, for example. Even though there's now a dedicated TV channel in Irish and it's a compulsory subject throughout school, there's a big need to promote its actual use and make it a community-based initiative. This, you understand, is coming from someone who suffers from non-Irish-speaking-Irishperson guilt, so I'd be happy to help out with this.
Cormac / Cormaggio
I think it would be nice to incorporate Ireland into this chapter, but obviously the name and the legal framework will be the problem. I'd still like to see the efforts to focus on smaller languages be extended to Irish Gaelic, which is in big trouble as a spoken language. It'd be really nice to see pan-British Isles collaboration on scholarship and general education in smaller languages, learning lessons from the resounding success in Wales, for example. Even though there's now a dedicated TV channel in Irish and it's a compulsory subject throughout school, there's a big need to promote its actual use and make it a community-based initiative. This, you understand, is coming from someone who suffers from non-Irish-speaking-Irishperson guilt, so I'd be happy to help out with this.
I completely agree that Wikimedia UK would better be "Wikimedia UK and Ireland". But it is important to remember that we are still trying to find out whether we will even serve the entire UK or just England and Wales. We have to still ensure our bylaws and conduct are compatable with Scottish law, let alone the charity law of an entirely different nation state.
The celtic languages of the British Isles, as a group, would be far better served under a single body. Effort to promote minority languages serves all, and Irish Gaelic and Ulster Scots language gain the benefit of that many extra people working for them. Having a unified body would also overcome the "Northern Ireland problem", I fear other solutions will garner support among either nationalists or unionists.
Does anyone know our legal position on this?
Oldak.
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org