I do know the Equipment exchange page, yes. I do not consider it an effective vehicle for this program. Reviewing it now, I stand by it that a dedicated space on Meta with an explicit form gathering the information we need is a better fit.
Also, the program is about laptops at the moment, and is based on depreciated office laptops. We don't have much photography gear in the office, and aren't likely to have such gear to donate.
Cheers,
A.
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 10:14 AM Michael Maggs Michael@maggs.name wrote:
Thank you Asaf. Did you know that there is already a Commons page for Community donations?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Equipment_exchange
It would be worth linking your new Meta page to the existing one.
Michael
Asaf Bartov mailto:abartov@wikimedia.org 17 March 2017 at 6:06 am Dear Wikimedians,
The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce a small new program
called
the Hardware Donation Program. In a word, it is a program designed to donate depreciated (but fully working) hardware from the WMF office to community members who would put it to good use.
The program, including instructions on how to apply, is described on
Meta,
here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hardware_donation_program
Please read the information carefully. I especially encourage you to pay attention to the program's design considerations, which determine most of the decisions we'll be making.
We currently have approximately 20 laptops ready to be donated. Applications are welcome.
The upcoming Wikimedia Conference in Berlin (in about two weeks) would be an excellent opportunity to deliver some of those laptops in person to approved applications, so if you think you might be interested, I'd encourage you to apply as soon as possible.
Please also help spread the word about this program, by forwarding this e-mail to other Wikimedia lists you're on, and posting the link to the program page on village pumps and *community* (not public) social media channels or other communication forms you use.
Special thanks to User:Anntinomy from Wikimedia Ukraine, who had the idea of asking about possible donation of older machines from WMF, and
inspired
this program.
Mini-FAQ:
Q: Why are you doing this? A: WMF's Office IT determines a lifetime for work machines, and regularly replaces older machines. This creates a stock of older, working machines, that are available for donation. We can donate them locally to San Francisco charities, but figure that if we can find low-cost ways to deliver them to our own community members, that's so much better.
Q: Am I eligible? A: Read the fine program documentation.
Q: If I'm eligible, am I guaranteed a donated laptop? A: no.
Q: Once these 20 laptops are donated, will there be others? A: yes, eventually.
Q: How can you ensure people would use the machines for Wikimedia purposes? A: We can't. We'll be making a good-effort assessment of the likelihood
of
Wikimedia use, and make a decision to donate (or not) the equipment. Once donated, the equipment no longer belongs to WMF. We encourage, but can't enforce, reporting on impact achieved using the equipment.
Q: I need a few laptops for my event in two weeks! Can I get them through this program? A: No. Read the fine program documentation.
Q: I'm really happy about this! A: So are we! :)
Q: I'm really angry about this! A: So it goes.
Q: I have more questions! A: Hit 'Reply'. :)
Cheers,
Asaf _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
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