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

[Naveen Francis]

Hi Gautham,

Expression of interest by colleges is in English or other Indic languages ?

Naveen Francis
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On 26 August 2011 10:37, Gautam John <gautam at prathambooks.org> wrote:

> 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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>
>
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