[Wikimedia-l] Looking back at the London Conference

[Fae]

On 19 February 2013 23:47, James Alexander <jamesofur at gmail.com> wrote:
...
> Groups should grow naturally, they should incorporate only when necessary
> and get staff only when necessary, trying to push them before they are
> ready only makes things worse.  We have been having a long standing habit
> within the meta movement to rush towards organizations and staff long
> before it's necessary, pissing away money and good will.
>
> James

I don't disagree with the sentiment. I recall the WMUK strategy
weekend when the chapter board and staff all stood in the room to
indicate how important to the new charity fundraising was. I was the
Chair at the time, and I think I annoyed almost everyone there by
being the only one standing in the middle of the room, and saying that
I could do everything in our mission with a bag of crisps and money
for a coffee, while almost everyone else was putting fundraising as
the highest importance.

Money is not in our mission statement or our values. It's a burden and
a governance nightmare. I already have a track record of doing good
things relying on *other people's* money, it does not have to be in my
bank account in order to have institutions and others eventually agree
that:
* archives should be on a fully free license
* governments should support open knowledge for selfish reasons
* everyone should consider becoming immortal by releasing the
copyright on their creations in their wills
* publishers should stop worrying about being gatekeepers and become
knowledge facilitators
* academics should help their careers by sharing early rather than hoarding
* knowledge institutions should really mean their mission for the
public good, and make it happen in the real world

To change everything, all we need is time, perhaps a life-time, an
off-peak train ticket and maybe a cheap sandwich. With a bit of money
we can do a little more, but you know, it's not the most important
thing, what matters is the vision we have to share and not being let
down too many times by the hierarchy we have chosen to create.

Now, if you want it faster than folks like me, on our own, liberating
knowledge and having enormous fun talking to one person at a time and
evangelizing the bejesus out of them, we might need to talk about
using some donated money in smart ways and we might need to have
something more reliable and consistent than wacky volunteers like me
who tend to burn out all too quickly and all too often.

Cheers,
Fae
-- 
Ashley Van Haeften (Fae) faewik at gmail.com
Chapters Association Council Chair http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WCA
Guide to email tags: http://j.mp/mfae