Re: [Wikimedia Brasil] Fwd: Is Wikimedia Brasil a chapter?

Pessoal, Vejam abaixo a mensagem que o Thomas Dalton compartilhou com os demais capítulos (comigo em cópia). Alguém se habilita a estabelecer contato com eles? Abraços, Thomas ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:56:50 +0000 Subject: Is Wikimedia Brasil a chapter? To: "Local Chapters, board and officers coordination (closed subscription)" <internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Cc: thomasdesouzabuckup <thomasdesouzabuckup(a)gmail.com> Is Wikimedia Brasil a chapter? As things stand, that is a question with no answer since we have never actually decided (we've been rather putting it off, since it isn't an easy decision). It is on the list of chapters on meta [1], but more by default than concious choice (it was added to the list when it was still expected to become a conventional chapter, if memory serves, and just hasn't been removed). This question came up a couple of days ago in respect of the ongoing vote to decide on a process to select people for the chapter seats on the WMF board (incidentally - we're just one chapter short of a majority supporting now, so if your chapter hasn't voted yet, please do! I'd like to send it off to the WMF board for approval ASAP). I listed the chapters yet to vote and didn't list Brazil and I was asked privately if that was intentional. It was. I didn't include them because I can't see how than can participate. They don't have the necessary governance structure, as far as I know. There is no way for them to reach a collective decision (except perhaps by consensus, which seems impractical in the limited time available). Also, they cannot actually participate in the process should it be accepted, since we agreed the list of nominees would be confidential and restricted to chapter board members, which WMBR doesn't have any of. So, for purely practical reasons, WMBR cannot participate in inter-chapter decision making, which is a problem if it is a chapter. The official requirements for chapters [2] includes: "The chapter must have a legal structure/corporation that is legally independent from the Wikimedia Foundation." WMBR does not satisfy that requirement. Clearly, we must either relax that requirement or cease to consider WMBR a chapter. There are arguments in favour of both options, but my preference is to not consider WMBR a chapter. Without a legal structure, they are just incapable of doing a large number of things I consider part of the normal existence of a chapter. They cannot fundraise. They cannot enter into a trademark agreement with the WMF. They cannot effectively speak with any kind of official voice. While a great deal of useful work can be done without being able to do those things, I don't think the work of a chapter can. It has been suggested numerous times before without anything being done, but I think we should create a new kind of structure for informal groups of Wikimedians, of which WMBR could be the first. These could be groups in a country that doesn't have or want a chapter or groups that don't have an obvious geographic association. What relationship this new structure should have with the proposed WikiPods (which, incidentally, need a better name!), I don't know, but there probably will be a relationship of some kind. We need to have a thorough discussion about what role these groups should play and what should be required of them (for example, should they be required to designate a leader or committee of leaders in order to facilitate coordination with the rest of the WM movement? should they be required to maintain a list of members? etc.). I'm not sure what forum these discussions (regarding WMBR specifically and the concept of informal groups generally) should take place in. I think internal-l is probably suitable for the WMBR discussion (I have CC'ed Thomas de Souza Buckup from WMBR since none of them seem to be on internal-l - perhaps some of them should be, whatever form WMBR ends up taking), but the more general discussion probably needs broader discussion, but let's start here and at least work out what the questions are that need to be answered. Everyone, please give your views. Tom/Tango 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters#Existing_chapters 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requirements_for_future_chapters -- Enviado do meu celular Thomas de Souza Buckup thomasdesouzabuckup(a)gmail.com +55 11 3477-2834 +55 11 9213-3931 - ... -... _______________________________________________ WikimediaBR-l mailing list WikimediaBR-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediabr-l