National chapters (was Re: [Foundation-l] UK Wikimedia Foundation notes)

[Daniel Mayer]

--- David Gerard <fun at thingy.apana.org.au> wrote:
> > Yes, I think that having chapters in countries in the EU is worthwhile for
> > two reasons - firstly, it helps with donations by providing a tax-relieved
> > method of donating (at least, in some countries), and secondly, it helps
> > foster a sense of community and belonging in the members.
> 
> Thirdly, tax deductions. Fourthly, tax deductions ;-)

Having robust datacenters around the world - each supported by the national
chapter in the nation it is in - also helps to ensure uninterrupted service and
longterm viability of what we are doing. That would make us practically immune
to technical *and* legal issues that would otherwise really set us back if we
had all our eggs in one basket (well, at least until a world government is
established - but the Vulcans won't be landing in Montana for at least a
hundred years :). 

So while having all the live master databases in Florida makes great sense now,
I'd like to see us have the capability - if needed for whatever reason - to
turn another datacenter into the the live master. That will almost certainly
have to be done for short periods in the future for technical failures and
major upgrades but may conceivably happen due to legal issues (if the
foundation were to lose a lawsuit and had to surrender its assets, for
example). Same goes for every chapter. 

Similarly protecting our trademarks and domains (which are also assets and 
worth much more money than all our servers combined) is a more difficult issue
that I'd not like to go into much now (a completely separate trust may be
needed to act as an owner for that; we need to ask lawyers about this). 
 
> > Currently just France and Germany have chapters set up, but we are looking
> > at setting one up for the UK soon-ish. Eventually we may want to form a
> > Wikimedia Europe organisation to liase and so on at a larger level, but 
> > for now this will suffice.

Just leave out the word 'foundation' from the UK chapter name, and I'll be
happy (it would be needlessly confusing). 'Wikimedia UK' sounds like a great
name to me. :) 

I recently registered wikimedia.us for a future Wikimedia U.S. (or Wikimedia
USA) chapter and saw that the .org.uk was available - now it is not. I hope
somebody we know and who likes us registered it... 

> > One this that you may want to look out for is what exactly you can do
> > whilst retaining the special tax status - for example, a UK chapter will
> > not be able to merely blindly collect money for the main Foundation, but
> > instead have charitable aims in and of itself (which might in practice not
> > make a great deal of difference, of course - collecting money for
> > international Internet-based education and learning projects vs.
> > collecting money for the Wikimedia Foundation).

I envision four major core areas that national chapters would be well-suited to
tackle: 

1) Supporting a local datacenter (just a squid farm first, but later a full
datacenter with database slaves receiving updates from the live master in
Florida but fully capable of becoming their own master if needed for whatever
reason). 

2) Directing social energy into improving Wikimedia projects. A club system
would be set-up under each chapter where a club would cover a metro area. Club 
members and different clubs would periodically gather and have WikiJam sessions
at libraries, museums, national parks, universities, places of historical
interest, etc. 

Imagine a small army of Wikimedians with digital cameras and PDAs descending
into one of these places to extract each available bit of information.
Impromptu WikiJams to cover events in the club's metro area would be very
useful for Wikinews. I think the fun we have from collaborating online will
also manifest itself as we gather data together in the real world. 

3) Distribution and popularization of Wikimedia projects within that nation. 

4) Also important would be helping the Wikimedia Foundation gather the
resources and help it needs to further the goal of bringing free knowledge to
the world. National chapters would be better-suited to work with their nation's
governments and large companies to help make this happen. 

This would allow the Wikimedia Foundation to concentrate on international
issues and coordination - esp getting free content in the hands of people who
do not have access to the Internet. Under this system, grants (including those
from and through chapters - see point 4) will likely one day supplant direct
donations as the major source of funding for the Wikimedia Foundation since
most donation money from readers will go to national chapters (yes, including
Wikimedia U.S.). 

This bottom up approach appeals to be greatly. 

-- mav

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