Wikimedia Chapters Association/Meetings/2013-16a

Purpose

Report on current actions and future plans. Reach consensus on some issues that arose on the previous meeting, e.g. executive committee.

Schedule

Date/Time

• Sunday, April 21st, 08:00 AM UTC (is 10am local time)

Agenda

1. Introduction
2. Task list of the previous meeting
   1. Chapters Exchange
   2. Chapters Manual
   3. Peer Review
3. Help on funding, how to make that practical
4. Further activities
   1. WCA Journal
   2. Wikimedia HK
   3. Your ideas...
5. Resolutions (will most likely be deferred to online meetings)
   1. Resolution on Executive Committee
   2. Resolution on opening up for thematic organizations
   3. Resolution on temporary substitution of council members
6. Wrap up

Draft proposals see talk page.

Dial-in

N/A

Whiteboard

http://etherpad.wikimedia.org/wmconf2013-wca

Attendees (very incomplete list)
Real life Markus Glaser (WMDE) Kirill Lokshin (WMUS-DC) David Richfield (WMZA) Brest (wmmk) Goran Obradovic (WMRS) Patrick WMCH Gabriel Thullen (WMCH) Richard Knipel (WMNYC) Santiago Navarro (WMES)	On Etherpad Markus Glaser (WMDE) Kirill Lokshin (WMUS-DC) David "Slashme" Richfield (WMZA) Brest (wmmk) Goran (WMRS) Patrick WMCH Gabriel Thullen (WMCH) Richard Knipel (WMNYC)

Minutes

Introduction

Markus Glaser, the chairman, has to leave after 15 minutes. Ziko will replace him.

Task list of the previous meeting

Chapters Exchange

That's a page on Meta(http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Chapters%27_Exchange ) where we want all entities to put up what they want and can offer.

Needs to be monitored: Charles volunteered to lead this. He will rearrange the page as he sees fit.

Please share the burden! Charles is responsible, and he will informally work in the name of the WCA, but it's our task to get this going: we need volunteers to help out.

We'll put the names of the action team somewhere on meta, and we will get a report from the action team in future meetings.

If you wish to participate in that, think about it: if you can dedicate some time and/or ideas, approach Charles and offer your help.

If some entity is seeking advice, we need our whole network to say where they can get this. We have a strong network that can come up with ideas.

Chapters Manual

It's a manual of best practices. Kept as a page on Meta (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WCA_Chapters_Manual we can all edit!

Ziko is willing to lead this, unless someone else wants to take the burden off him.

Need to know what the questions are that we need answered.

There is a leaflet (at the desk) with infos.

We can use info from the mailing list to populate the manual, to keep it from being lost.

Peer Review

The exchange page has a few offers of Peer Exchange. The WMF is very keen to see progress on peer review. Want to have a workshop in Hong Kong, so we want about 5 strong peer reviews before then. We have about 6 people who claimed to be confident to do peer reviews, so please put your names up. This should take only about 2 days of volunteer time per review.

Have published an induction process on [1]. Would like all chapters to adopt that as a matter of principle, so that if the chapter is challenged on competence, they can point to that training.

Shared training event would be cheaper. Should be about €200-300. Travel expenses are reasonable: one or two members could get trained.

Andrii (WMUA): Want to share experience on wikiexpeditions, Wiki Loves Earth, music projects etc. I found a proposition from LGBT Wikimedia which looked strange to me. What do they popularise?

Fæ (LGBT thematic org): we have very little data on what editors face when they make their sexual orientation public while editing on topics like transsexuality. It's an i

ssue for them.

Help on funding, how to make that practical

What can the movement mean for you when you're dealing with the WMF/FDC, etc.?

More likely to go to the WCA when you have problems, because they're groups like you.

Asaf: Would like you to come to the WMF to discuss funding, but recognize that you would want to talk to people in your position. The non-FDC grant programs are based on dialogue: you're not expected to craft a perfect proposal the first time around. Instructions are in several languages, and they say that you are encouraged to share draft proposals beforehand.

In FDC, your proposal should not change after submission, so help will be more useful.

[2] is the landing page for grants programs, which summarises what the programs do; when you can apply, etc., and has links to instructions.

There is some time for dialogue in the FDC, but after the cut-off date, it can't be changed.

Eligibility for FDC: Only given to incorporated, recognized groups. Only given to groups that have had two successful, executed, grant applications that you have reported on.

Karthik (WMIN): Our chapter is a charity, but not tax exempt. Will this risk the application?

Answer: it may affect the grant - might lead to partial funding for example.

Raul (WMEE): By the time that people find out whether they're getting money, it might be too late to go for external sources of funding.

Answer: True, it's not easy to do planning in uncertain circumstances.

Josh (WMPH): In Phillipines, one of the reasons we didn't apply for FDC funding, we found the process inflexible.

Answer: the FDC gives you unrestricted funding based on your plan, and you can change how you spend it according to circumstances. So if you need to change how you use the money, no problem, just report it and explain reasons.

Further activities

WCA Journal

This is to make one place to find info on what's going on in the WCA.

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Journal draft, need some template and formatting to make it fun, and obviously we need to choose content in terms of interest, impact and easiness to fill

Wikimania HK

Chapters could have a lounge with booths in HK for ideas exchange.

Your ideas..

We will need to change the name to include thematic organisations, perhaps not usergroups because their relationship to the WMF is different.

Goran (WMRS): When we started planning WCA, the motive was to have a body to represent chapters in talks with foundation. Are we still planning to do that, or is it not on the agenda any more.

Answer: Not clear that this will happen any more: WCA started during the funding debate, but since then the requirement has changed.

Temporary substitution of council members: We need half the council members to vote, or it's invalid. Sometimes the council members might not be available. We want continuity, so the members need to make the time to be there as much as possible.

Karthik (WMIN): Time zone problems mean that bad timekeeping causes problems.

Manuel: phone conferences need to be in a reasonable time zone, but no problem with email vote that are open a week or more.

Lorenzo (WMIT): We need a generic e-mail address which will always be the same to contact council members.

Answer: Should it be public or not? You cannot prohibit that people send private e-mails to another. Need one communication channel, and standardized way to connect to a chapter.

Discussion about mailing lists, if closed or not closed. We don't want the WMF to listen. Watchlist on Meta: You can get e-mails when something changes on your watchlist.

Michal (WMPL): In a couple of weeks we will try to deliver something for HK: a press kit for the movement with infographics, etc. How large are the chapters? and other questions. They are already somewhere on Meta, we try to collect the data.

Michal: Delivery of case studies for knowledge sharing as requested on Thursday: This will require all of us to take our local documents and translate them and provide them on the meta page. Required to give case studies for grant committees.

Ziko: As said by Frank Schulenburg: WMF will be more serious about evaluation. Important to know whether we had success; what can we learn, etc. FDC will take that into consideration. Evaluation is very important for the movement and your own chapter in future.

Ziko: Who is going to HK? Answer: many of us. It's very worthwhile if you can go.