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 based in Wales as part of the 'Living Paths!' project. The Wikimedia UK office has also never received any complaint about personal properties being stolen as a result of attending a Wikimedia UK organised event. Were such a complaint to be received, it will be treated seriously and we will assist the police in any investigation they may conduct.
Whether we are talking about a community organised event such as the London Meetup, or a Wikimedia UK organised event, I would encourage participants to exercise care for their belongings just as they would anywhere else.
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.
Regards,
Katie
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
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. (b) There is no requirement to breach anonymity (e.g. recording against username OR realname, as preferred by the volunteer, not necessarily both), (c) People borrowing the equipment are informed that it will be recorded publically in advance. (d) The recording does not endanger the safety/security of the volunteer and/or equipment.
For example I borrowed a laptop for the train-the-trainers event at the beginning of February (as mine was broken) and also transported another laptop for the use of a second volunteer. I spent a few days with my family en-route back from the training and used one of the laptops for purposes including (but not limited to) Wikipedia and Commons editing during that time. The other was with me but not used. Does this count as long-term?
Regarding the security aspect, I took I think it was four WMUK laptops (and my own) up to Newcastle for the editathon at the Mining Institute in November. If it was publicly known that I was carrying five laptops then there is a (admittedly small) chance that I could have been targetted by someone with criminal intent. In this case reporting the details after the event would not have the same security implications, and for a 2-day event the delay would not be very significant. This might not be the case for all scenarios though - e.g. someone borrowing a DSLR for a fornight to take photos of remote parts of the Western Isles.
Chris
On Fri, 14 Mar 2014, Fæ wrote:
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
Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
---- Chris McKenna
cmckenna@sucs.org www.sucs.org/~cmckenna
The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart
Antoine de Saint Exupery
On 14 March 2014 13:43, Chris McKenna cmckenna@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
, On 14 March 2014 13:43, Chris McKenna cmckenna@sucs.org wrote:
I have no in-principle objections to this (on-wiki reporting of long-term loans of equipment)
I have no problem with it being known that I have WMUK's Zoom-1 digital audio recorder; it's implicit in the microgrant application[1] that it would be with me long-term.
It't been very useful though the number of recordings are lower than I had hoped[2]. I intend to address that over the coming months.
[1] https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Microgrants/Recorder_for_voice_intro_project
[2] Theatres, sports clubs and the like have been less cooperative than anticipated. Most individuals approached have been cooperative.
On 14 March 2014 11:17, Katie Chan katie.chan@wikimedia.org.uk wrote: ...
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 based in Wales as part of the 'Living Paths!' project.
I see that "John4545" has claimed to have information from a WMUK employee that directly contradicts Katie's statement, so I think it reasonable to conclude that this is an anonymous troll on a drama creation spree or someone who has half the facts.
Fae
On 14 March 2014 15:39, Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
On 14 March 2014 11:17, Katie Chan katie.chan@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
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 based in Wales as part of the 'Living Paths!' project.
I see that "John4545" has claimed to have information from a WMUK employee that directly contradicts Katie's statement, so I think it reasonable to conclude that this is an anonymous troll on a drama creation spree or someone who has half the facts.
Well done on feeding it, though.
- d.
On 14 March 2014 15:48, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote: ...
Well done on feeding it, though.
Don't worry, I keep a couple of cookies in reserve for latecomers.
Fae
wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org