Hallo,
I was just looking at meta, and while the page on the South African
chapter has a list of names of people who are interested in the chapter,
my feeling is that it is incomplete. For instance, many of our
colleagues who attended the chapter meeting in August in Joburg are not
on that list. In other cases, I went to look at Northern Sotho Wikipedia
after Ian brought it up - or any number of other South African language
Wikipedias, and there are several users listed there (many of who appear
to reside in South Africa) who are similarly not reflected.
Under the circumstances, would it be a good idea to carry out some mild
online outreach in parallel to chapter startup efforts?
- For community members in the free software/ free knowledge space who
are not yet registered Wikipedians, could someone volunteer to help
start this up, so that they are signed on, hopefully to continue
editing, and so that their interest in the chapter is reflected on meta?
- For community members who are active Wikipedians but are not yet
signed on to the chapter effort, would it make sense to compile a
longlist and put it up on meta? (As potentially interested in the
chapter). And for someone to contact these Wikipedians, to see what the
chapter can do to interest them?
The reason I suggest this is that, given the Indian experience, three
things seem to happen that are worth taking into account: (1) Not all
Wikipedians are automatically interested in or aware of chapter efforts,
(2) Not all Wikipedians or potential Wikipedians get to know about
organised chapter efforts, and (3) For free software/ free culture
allies, often all it takes is just some help to complete the first step
of registering in order to become more familiar with the process of
editing and for participating in the process generally.
Some kind of outreach would seem in order, and this might be the ideal
time to do it.
Enjoy the summer! (As Bangalore becomes more grey and cold, progressing
towards winter)
Achal
Hi there
Thanks to those of you who have responded on the list about the proposed
legal vehicle for the SA Chapter.
Consensus shows that the vehicle will be a Section 21 Company.
Within the next couple of days I will put together a draft outline of a
constitution for everyone to look over as well as a basic outline of what
will be required for the Section 21.
Have a good weekend.
Cheers
Kerryn
* * * *
KERRYN MCKAY
director, The African Commons Project
email me at: kerryn(a)africancommons.org
phone me: +2711 486 0211, cell: +27 82 334 6165,
skype me: kerrynmac
Hi all,
I've sketched out another option for the proposed T-shirt. Check out
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_South_Africa/T-shirt_competition
to see them.
I'm serious about needing the artistic among you to submit ideas and
designs. I would be willing to wear my updated proposal, but it's
still a few km short of awesome.
Any ideas for clever soundbites for the shirt? How about:
* "We don't know everything, that's why we need YOU!"
* "Wikipedia: for when you'd rather be a smartass than a dumbass"
(yes, I know it's a Wikimedia shirt, not a Wikipedia one...)
* "!ke e: ǀxarra ǁke"
--
David Richfield
e^(πi)+1=0
Hi everyone
Tobias Schonwetter, as mentioned in an email last week, has put together a
really helpful document about what type of legal vehicle should be used for
the proposed SA Chapter. This document, which I've attached here, outlines
the considerations taken in drafting this opinion. Tobias (with the support
of Chetty Law) suggest that we go with a Section 21 company.
Thank you so much to Tobias for this document; it is really helpful and
outlines very clearly the issues for everyone. Please note that Tobias
alludes to the 'financial services sector' in the document, as within the
discussion during the kickoff workshop, it was mentioned by myself and
Achal that we had had an indication of initial interest from this sector
about the Chapter.
Please can we all consider the attached document. I would like to suggest
that its open for discussion and debate until *Thursday, 2nd September*,
following which a final decision will be taken about the legal vehicle.
So if you have concerns or opinions, please voice them between now and
Thurs.
Regards
Kerryn
* * * *
KERRYN MCKAY
director, The African Commons Project
email me at: kerryn(a)africancommons.org
phone me: +2711 486 0211, cell: +27 82 334 6165,
skype me: kerrynmac