[Wikimedia-l] Chapters Dialogue

[Delphine Ménard]

Hi Thomas,

On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 8:40 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:

> How does this project relate to the project Seb was running a couple
> of years ago that sounded very similar?

I'm not sure it is similar at all. The project run with a few chapters
by Sebastian & Anna was specifically aimed at assisting chapters in
their strategic development. This is not what we're trying to do here
at all, at least definitely not in this first phase. The project
"Chapters Dialogue" aims at exactly what it says, ie. make sure that
Chapters are talking to each other, but also to all relevant
stakeholders (Communities, other Wikimedia organisations, WMF,
committees, relevant third parties). To be very honest, the "project"
as such is not exactly defined for the longer run, but we hope that
everyone interested will help shape it, because although Wikimedia
Deutschland has the will and the means to kickstart it today, we don't
intend to be "running" it all by ourselves, if that makes sense. The
first step we're looking at, which we believe has been a bit
overlooked so far, is the gathering of information in a more
structured way than just on-wiki on a thousand different meta pages or
on different mailing lists etc. in order to present the relevant
stakeholders with a very far reaching "State of the chapters" (by far
reaching, I mean more detailled than the 3 min presentation we do at
the chapters conference), destined to give us all a solid foundation
for further work.

>
> How does this project relate to the work of the WCA?

When we (at length and in a heated manner) discussed the WCA within
the board of Wikimedia Deutschland, we came to the conclusion that we
were more than ever dedicated to the idea that chapters "development"
is a key component to how the Wikimedia movement develops
sustainability and fosters diversity. We were maybe lesson the same
page when it came to how exactly this can be achieved, and whether the
WCA progress was actually going in that direction. The WCA "reboot"
(the London meeting) was, at least in my view, a step in the right
direction. The WCA (of which, for the record, Wikimedia Deutschland is
quite an active member ;)) intends to focus on "doing", and that is a
good thing. So of course "Chapters Dialogue" intends to work hand in
hand with the WCA, providing insight where it can (a chapters survey
for example, will tremendously help with crafting Peer Review and
activities along those lines), offer tools where they are needed,
seeking input from its members and interested observers...

Hope that helps.


Delphine

--
Delphine Ménard
Vice-president
Wikimedia Deutschland

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