[Foundation-l] Board resolutions (chapters)

[Andrew Whitworth]

On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk at googlemail.com> wrote:
> * Of the organizations Lars mentioned, only ISOC has "chapters". I still
> find it not clear about whether the national organizations are independent
> or merely national agencies of the center (as it is the case with
> Greenpeace).

IEEE uses the term "Sections", to basically describe the same
construct. However, IEEE sections are arranged in a way that even we
might find strange: They have several chapters in the US alone, and
one chapter that covers all of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The reasons
for this are the number and distribution of electrical engineers.

> * It is also irrelevant whether individuals choose to be member in a chapter
> that does not belong to the nation state they live in, like nationals of
> France living abroad (as Florence has explained well), or Belgians who go to
> the Dutch chapter as long as they don't have own of their own.

Some chapters do stipulate in their bylaws that to become a member you
must "live or work" in the chapter's geographic area. I don't know how
common it is amongst our existing chapters, but I have seen it on more
then one occasion.

> * If the Wikimedians in the USA did not manage to create a national chapter,
> it is not my fault. Why can't there be a Wikimedia US? I don't know the
> reason: Large and ethnically diverse countries have WM chapters, other
> movements have US chapters...

Organizers decide what is best for themselves. If organizers in the
USA think it's better to create community-oriented groups, that is
their prerogative. It is not you who decides if there will be a
Wikimedia US, and it is not me who decides it either: The organizers
decide that, and they have decided to pursue locally-based chapters
instead of a nationally-based one. There is no "fault" because there
is no problem.

> * "Sub national chapters" in the US states make WMF the default Wikimedia
> US, dealing with American institutions and personalities in a way usually a
> chapter would. American Wikimedians have no reason to take effort for a WMUS
> if they see this and that they can have US states chapters.

This is perhaps a factor, but then how do you explain situations like
Canada and India where organizers have tried unsuccessfully to create
a national chapter and are now pursuing sub-national ones instead?

> * The world is divided into countries, like it or not, and this has
> consequences for us.

And countries are divided into states and provinces and
municipalities, like it or not, and this has consequences for us.

--Andrew Whitworth