[Wikimediaindia-l] WMF, India Office and Chapter - Update

[Gautam John]

Dear All:

We have instituted a monthly call between the India Chapter and the
Wikimedia Foundation.  Members of the Chapter EC, Hisham and Asaf Bartov
(who heads up Global South Relationships at the Foundation) will participate
in this call.  The objective of the call is to share information and improve
collaboration between the Chapter and the Foundation on various Wikimedia
projects of relevance to India.  We had the first one on Aug 24, 2011, and
here's a quick update.

*Chapter Update*

   - 30 persons attended the workshop on Copyright and Open Licensing
   conducted on 30th July 2011 in Bangalore, which was well received.
   http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Events/Copyright_and_Open_Licensing_SeminarPlan
   - Plan to conduct 1st WikiAcademy with the Department of Public
   Libraries, Karnataka for their senior Library professionals on 12 Sep 2011.
   - Membership currently stands at ~80
   - Participation from community on some projects but the response is below
   expectations. Chapter hopes that the response will improve as more
   activities are taken up by Chapter in the near future.
   - AGM will be conducted on September 24 2011.  Elections process  for EC
   vacancies has been initiated.
   - Process for applying for FCRA prior permission has been actioned with
   necessary steps being taken with local banks, consultants and the WMF. The
   bank account required for FCRA is ready. The draft of letter from WMF will
   be finalized in a week by Chapter Accountant and Advisor (another
   prerequisite) and then FCRA application will be submitted. 3-4 months are
   required for approval by Home Ministry, Government of India.

*Foundation Update*

   - Education Program is doing well from a numbers perspective - with more
   than 1000 students involved.  However, there is a great deal of effort
   required to continue to support and enable and motivate these students.
   Additional Campus Ambassadors are being selected from the participating
   institutions.  Hisham requested that everyone reach out and be encouraging
   to the Campus Ambassadors, students and teachers.
   - 2 new staff members selected; Nitika has joined & Shiju will be joining
   by October
   - Initial conversations were being sought with leading mobile companies
   to explore Wikipedia on mobile
   - Independent public trust to be set up hopefully by next week, followed
   by FCRA prior permission and other approvals required for tax exemption,
   etc.

*Collaboration on future projects*

Some requests from colleges to participate in campus ambassador like program
 were received by the chapter and Hisham. Hisham said that till the ongoing
program is stable, he will not be able to roll it to other cities. He
suggested  that colleges can get  started by forming  student clubs and
Foundation staff are providing necessary information and assistance for the
same. He also requested Chapter EC to extend their support for the same.

Chapter seeks active involvement in the elections and looks to grow its
membership base and expand it's reach in encouraging the use
and contributions to the Wikimedia movement in India.

Thank you.

Best,

Gautam
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