[Wikimedia-l] Board vote on narrowing focus

[Ocaasi Ocaasi]

I take the need for more organized and constructive movement in the U.S. as a given.  It's shocking to me that we have *two* chapters in all of the country.  There's much important work to be done with GLAM, with the Education Program, partnerships with universities, non-profits, libraries and museums, and with general outreach.  Which is why I was so surprised by the resistance to the idea of creating a US Federation that would have made forming local/regional U.S. chapters extremely easy.  For some reason it was seen as a power grab or an unneeded layer of bureaucracy, but from my perspective it was just the right step to bootstrap tens and tens of active U.S. organizations.  While the WMF is 'narrowing focus' and spinning off more and more responsibilities to affiliated groups, the opportunity to advance the U.S. towards working on the many needed areas of improvement should not be missed. --Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi)