Hi,
it seems the list moderator never approved this message (sent twice), so re-sending.
Lodewijk Gelauff
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org Date: 2010/11/28 Subject: Wikimedia Canada To: wikimedia-ca@lists.wikimedia.org Cc: Chapters Committee list chaptercommittee-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Dear all,
(sending this to the mailing list, hoping to make sure that way to reach all relevant people) I understood from Barry Newstead that James Heilman have been in touch with him about Wikimedia Canada. As chapcom, we have had some communication with several people (on a few occasions) from Canada in the past about creating a Canadian chapter, but somehow contact was lost and the discussion went into nothing.
To me, it is unclear what the current status is exactly. I would appreciate it if you could give us an overview of the what the situation is. The last thing I heard was that there was a discussion whether to found under the old or new laws, both having advantages and disadvantages. You will of course understand that chapcom will not take a position in such discussion, and that that has to be resolved internally.
Most likely you are already aware of a lot of the following information, but I will send it in any case, just to make sure all information is put together.
Wikimedia Chapters are local organizations striving for the same goals as the Wikimedia Foundation - supporting creation and dissimination of free knowledge and content. Generally speaking, a Wikimedia organisation in any country should definitely involve members of the local Wikimedia communities – the membership shouldn't be exclusive to Wikimedians, yet the local Wikimedia communities should be able to feel a sense of ownership towards the nascent chapter in their country.
As the people are the glue that hold together and propel a chapter to sustainable activity, I would urge you to try to gather more local supporters - especially Wikimedians among them - for the idea of the local chapter and to set up a central planning page on Meta Wiki[1] and list yourselves on the list of chapters in discussion[2]. This meta planning page and setting up a mailing list could help you in gathering the people - as well as organising local meetups or seminars. Once the venues for discussion are set up, you could probably have more luck soliciting input by approaching the active editors on the various Wikipedias and motivating them towards taking a more active local role in the Wikimedia mission. I see you have already made a very good start with this, but to have a viable chapter, you might want to try and gather more people to become active members.
You can find a lot of information about the approval process on metawiki[3], where we tried to outline every step. Let me know if you have any questions or need help finding the relevant venues to contact local Wikipedians (e.g. the mentioned Village Pumps, sitenotices, etc.). Please keep me updated on the progress you are making and how things are going. We are especially interested in knowing who and how many people are involved, and what your ideas are for forming a chapter. If you would like to brainstorm, give or take suggestions or be in contact for any other thing, please do email me.
Good luck and please do stay in touch,
Best regards,
Lodewijk Gelauff
chapters committee
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Countryname [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Step-by-step_chapter_creation_guide