[Foundation-l] Draft charter of the Wikimedia Chapters Association

[Chris Keating]

> So a group of chapters, reacting against a perceived effort to centralize
> the movement, create a brand new central body with an extensive (and
> apparently, expensive) bureaucracy? Are there really a lot of people that
> think this is a good idea?


Yes, there are lots of people that think this is a good idea.

Currently, there are 3 things not happening, which are causing us problems:

1) There's not really anyone to help chapters develop. If you have a group
of Wikipedians who want to set up a chapter,  there are lots of challenges
but not many resources to help you do it. The resources there are are quite
informal. And once you're going, there's not a great deal of help in offer
to help you grow and get more active.

2) Equally, there isn't really a very good way of assessing chapters'
performance. There is an element of formal regulation in that if a Chapter
doesn't stick to the Chapter Agreement is could be de-chaptered. And for
chapters with a strong membership base and good links to the project
communities, there is a very important role for oversight by
members/communities. But apart from the tripwire of the Chapter Agreement,
and the important but fairly uneven scrutiny of different memberships,
there isn't really a mechanism for review and feedback - which is actually
part of the same problem as 1).

3) Finally, there are problems of communication between the Wikimedia
Foundation and the Chapters.There is no good mechanism for sounding
Chapters' views corporately.  When the Foundation asks "What do chapters
think about X"? they find that half-a-dozen people will argue at length on
an email list, without necessarily being representative of anyone, and
probably without proposing anything useful. Communication fragments, gets
heated, and becomes unproductive quickly.

If we can find solutions to these three problems, it will be well worth the
investment. Obviously setting up a new body is not guaranteed to succeed,
and there are lots of details to be worked out, many of them important -
but it is worth doing.

Chris
(Wikimedia UK board, speaking personally)