Indeed. We've never had more than 250 members, not all of whom edit, though of course most do. As part of their role the board have to try to judge what the non-member community would like rather than just the members or those posting here & on the WMUK site. And as this list shows (how many members does it have?), the community actively interested in WMUK & irl activities generally is a smallish group - when an informal census was done it came to about 80, which seems about right - who are often over-stretched. This is one of WMUK's biggest problems, which we haven't had much success improving in the last two years. I'm not sure how much the membership en masse want to "lead" frankly, let alone the community.
John
A "member-led" organisation - imagine that? In simple terms, an organisation that trusts the 5,000-strong UK Wikimedia community more than a handful of people who currently sit on the board.
I see this as a confusion of the legal situation. I understand the aspiration, of course.
Board - a dozen, or so..........
Membership - several hundred
Community - several thousand
The board and the membership (since WMUK is company limited by guarantee) have a legal footing. The wider community does not. Wouldn't it be nice if all 5,000 joined the current membership?
Gordo
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End of Wikimediauk-l Digest, Vol 92, Issue 9
This is a great debate to have. On the 23rd at the five year planning evenhttp://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Looking_at_the_next_five_years_%E2%80%93_a_day_workshop_on_the_future_of_Wikimedia_UKt there will be lots of tie to reflect on this and make proposals. Hope you have all signed up.
Jon
PS Katherine* has* been doing member development work. For instance, a member's monthly enewsletter. Let me know if you have not been getting it.
On 7 March 2013 12:28, John Byrne john@bodkinprints.co.uk wrote:
Indeed. We've never had more than 250 members, not all of whom edit, though of course most do. As part of their role the board have to try to judge what the non-member community would like rather than just the members or those posting here & on the WMUK site. And as this list shows (how many members does it have?), the community actively interested in WMUK & irl activities generally is a smallish group - when an informal census was done it came to about 80, which seems about right - who are often over-stretched. This is one of WMUK's biggest problems, which we haven't had much success improving in the last two years. I'm not sure how much the membership en masse want to "lead" frankly, let alone the community.
John
A "member-led" organisation - imagine that? In simple terms, an organisation that trusts the 5,000-strong UK Wikimedia community more than a handful of people who currently sit on the board.
I see this as a confusion of the legal situation. I understand the aspiration, of course.
Board - a dozen, or so..........
Membership - several hundred
Community - several thousand
The board and the membership (since WMUK is company limited by guarantee) have a legal footing. The wider community does not. Wouldn't it be nice if all 5,000 joined the current membership?
Gordo
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End of Wikimediauk-l Digest, Vol 92, Issue 9
______________________________**_________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-lhttp://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
On 7 March 2013 12:34, Jon Davies jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
PS Katherine has been doing member development work. For instance, a member's monthly enewsletter. Let me know if you have not been getting it.
Indeed, although that relates to existing members not new members, so isn't really relevant to this discussion. I recall a pretty detailed paper she wrote about getting new members, but I haven't seen anything from it implemented yet.
Some things that I am aware of that are happening to help build the membership base include taking membership forms to events, donor communication which attempts to turn donors into members, our programming work lends itself to recruiting members, too. As we continue to implement our programme I fully expect that our membership will steadily grow alongside it.
As always though, we welcome bright ideas and suggestions on how we could do better.
How did those posting on this list become members initially? We might be able to learn from this.
Stevie
On 7 March 2013 12:42, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
On 7 March 2013 12:34, Jon Davies jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
PS Katherine has been doing member development work. For instance, a member's monthly enewsletter. Let me know if you have not been getting
it.
Indeed, although that relates to existing members not new members, so isn't really relevant to this discussion. I recall a pretty detailed paper she wrote about getting new members, but I haven't seen anything from it implemented yet.
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
On a slightly related note, I have just involved with new registered charity (unincorporated). At the first monthly meeting, there was question ...."what happened to the old friends group". It was quite clear that year working on application to Charity Commission and the ramifications had passed by some of the group. The group has a lease with the local authority, and that agreement will soon be handed from the "friends...." (community group) to the "Friends...." a registered charity.
The reason I bring this example up is what sense of identity do the 5,000 actually have?
5,000-strong UK Wikimedia community
Is that not just 5,000 wikimedians? If they were a community, they would know something about their own group, surely?
And the London wikimeet still hovers at under 20, methinks..... (next wikimeet is Sunday March 10th!).
But watch this space!?!??!?! Wikimania in London in 2014 plans to attract 2,000 per day, for 5 days, that is 10,000 people in total attending events at the Barbican.....now that is outreach!
Gordo
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org