Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Supplementing WMUK with a Social Enterprise

Hi all, The GibraltapeidA issue has raised a number of concerns which have led to a number of members spending time on the matter, and indeed staff time will have to spent on clarifying the issues involved as well. While GibraltapeidA has been the occasion of this discussion, and could well benefit materially from any clarity which results from this mental labour, they would not be the sole beneficiary. Indeed, the situation arises from a situation in which WMUK finds itself involved, before having an opportunity for proper consideration. Several months ago I raised with Jon Davies the idea of setting up a trading arm on a co-operative model, primarily with a view to allowing Wikimedians to provide training on a paid basis. This could include Mediawiki coding in general above and beyond immediate Wikimedia sites. This issues - and I suspect there will be more - reinforces my view that some sort of trading arm would be useful. Certainly amongst the first wave Wikimedians, Wikipedia had not become a household name and the prospects of applying skills gained through editing was unlikely to be a significant concern. That situation has changed. Paid editing on Wikipedia is one thing, but the situation on sister projects can be quite different: e.g. making material available on Wikisource. I feel we are at a turning point, and we need to find away of looking at the overall situation above and beyond the circumstances of GibraltapeidA. Perhaps the Board could consider: 1) Organising an effective discussion of what role Board members should play amongst the whole membership. 2) Linked to this could be the establishment of a social enterprise through which Wikimedians could gain paid work in an open and moderated way - including revenue generation for WMUK. 3) Development of a framework to take matters forward, which, in my view, should include balloting the membership about any limitations above and beyond the legal minimum which they might consider appropriate for board members. I realise this is quite a daunting amount of work, but I see it as an inevitable consequence of the success of Wikipedia. This I see as one of the key social challenges which the Wikimedia movement faces as we move into the second decade. all the best Fabian Tompsett (User:Leutha) _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org