Wikimedia Philippines/bcl/Bikol Community visit by the WMPH President

This report covers the visit of WMPH President Johnny Alegre to the Bikol Community in December 2014.

L-R: WMPH President Johnny Alegre, Frank Peñones, WMPH Trustee Jojit Ballesteros, Bikol Wikipedia Administrator Irvin Sto. Tomas, and Bikol Community Coordinator Bong de la Torre

Contact information

This report is prepared by Jojit Ballesteros (User:Jojit fb). You may contact him at jojit at wikimedia dot org dot ph for any questions regarding this activity report.

Purpose

The main purpose of the visit is to meet with the Bikol Community, a recognized Philippine Wikimedia Community. The community will discuss with the Wikimedia Philippines (WMPH) President, Johnny Alegre, their envisioned plans and proposed projects, as well as express concerns with WMPH.

Background

The Bikol Community through Dindin Davila contacted the President and requested for a visit. After continued communications, the meeting was set for December 21, 2014. Johnny Alegre tasked Jojit Ballesteros to assist him with the meeting and prepare a budget request.

List of planned activities

• December 20, 2014 – Johnny and Jojit will board a bus (10 hours) for Naga City
• December 21, 2014 – Meeting with the Bikol Community (with lunch)
• December 22, 2014 – Johnny and Jojit will return to Manila by plane

Budget

No.	Item description	Quantity and unit	Cost per unit (in PHP)	Budgeted total (in PHP)	Notes
1	Transportation	—	—	11,500	Johnny and Jojit's transportation expenses.
1.1	Bus fare from Manila to Naga	2	750	1,500
1.2	Airfare from Naga to Manila	2	5,000	10,000
2	Accommodation	2 rooms and 2 nights	1,200	4,800	Johnny and Jojit's combined accommodation expense.
3	Meals	—	—	3,450
3.1	Lunch	15	150	2,250	For the Bikol Community, Jojit and Johnny.
3.2	Breakfast	2	200	400	For Johnny and Jojit
3.3	Dinner	2	400	800	For Johnny and Jojit

Total amount requested from Wikimedia Philippines

Php 19,750

Actual activities

On December 20, 2014, Johnny Alegre and Jojit Ballesteros rode a bus in Pasay City going to Naga City, Camarines Sur. They arrived at the Villa Caceres Hotel in Naga City at around 9:30 pm. At around 10:30 pm, Edwin "Bong" de la Torre and Irvin Sto. Tomas went to the hotel and officially welcomed Johnny and Jojit. They shared dinner in the coffee shop of the hotel.

In the morning of December 21, 2014, Johnny and Jojit went to the Central Bicol State University of Agriculture in Pili, Camarines Sur, where the 4th Saringsing Writers' Workshop was being held. Most of the Bikol Community members were attendees of the said event. The WMPH lunch meeting with the Bikol Community was started at around 12:00 pm and ended around 1:10 pm during the break of the said workshop. Lunch was served courtesy of the organizers of the workshop. At around 2:00 pm, Johnny and Jojit returned to Villa Caceres Hotel.

In the evening, Johnny, Jojit and the Bikol Community members resumed talks at dinner in a nearby restaurant of the Villa Caceres Hotel. Dindin Davila, who had arranged for the meeting, was unable to attend these lunch and dinner meetings due to flight delays from Manila where she holds office. Johnny and Jojit had the opportunity to meet her the following day, December 22, 2014, at the Naga Airport prior to Johnny and Jojit's return to Manila.

Minutes of the meeting

Present

• WMPH
  • Johnny Alegre
  • Jojit Ballesteros
• Bikol Community
  • Rommel Alanis
  • Froy Beraña
  • Edwin "Bong" de la Torre
  • Jusan Misolas
  • Frank Peñones
  • Irvin Sto. Tomas

Not present

• Bernardo Miguel "Buboy" Aguay – He was an attendee at the workshop and met briefly with Johnny and Jojit at the close of the Bikol Community meeting.
• Dindin Daliva – She was met by Johnny and Jojit prior to returning to Manila.
• Gil Gregorio – He was unable to attend the meeting because he had a road accident.
• Ramon Olaño – He was unable to attend the meeting because his daughter got married.
• Noel Regachuelo – He was only able to attend the dinner meeting.

Agenda

1. Designated Coordinator and Vice-Coordinator of the Bikol Community
2. Honorary members of the Bikol Community
3. Philippine Wikimedia Communities Convention
4. Quarterly Thematic Edit-a-thon
5. Wikipedia Editing brochure
6. Membership Suspension Resolution (of Irvin Sto Tomas) by the WMPH

Discussions

1. Designated Coordinator and Vice-Coordinator of the Bikol Community
   1. By the consensus of the Bikol Community, it was concluded that Edwin "Bong" de la Torre shall serve as Coordinator of the Bikol Community for WMPH, and Digna Ruth "Dindin" Daliva shall be the Vice-Coordinator.
2. Honorary members of the Bikol Community
   1. Johnny Alegre and Joel Encinas were conferred as honorary members of the Bikol Community because not only they have Bicolano lineage but also they have contributed to the welfare of the Bikol Community.
3. Philippine Wikimedia Communities Convention
   1. Johnny Alegre broached a Philippine Wikimedia Convention that can converge the Bikol Community and other WMPH-approved communities, and even communities in incubation.
   2. The main purpose of the Convention is to gather communities and to further the mandate of WMPH through forums and discussions. It will be an assembly of language communities given representation in a larger WMPH organization.
   3. Venues could be rotated in the respective bases of operation of each community. For example, a convention would be held in Naga City one year; and the following year, it would be in Angeles City.
4. Quarterly Thematic Edit-a-thon
   1. The Bikol Community proposed a Quarterly Thematic Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, intended to sustain their participants’ areas of interests. For example, one edit-a-thon will focus on the Rinconada Bikol language. (Rinconada Bikol Wikipedia is still in its Incubator stage, meaning, it does not have its own wiki domain. Having an edit-a-thon for the Rinconada Bikol Wikipedia will potentially help in taking out the said language version of Wikipedia from the Incubator to the live wiki domain [i.e. bto.wikipedia.org]).
   2. Other edit-a-thons may focus on other themes. For example, for the Christmas season, the proposed thematic edit-a-thon will focus on Yuletide-related articles.
   3. It was suggested that edit-a-thons will be held in schools or universities that have computers with reliable internet connections. One of the suggested venues is the Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges campus.
   4. The foreseen Estimated Budget for each edit-a-thon is Php 7,000, which covers lunch and snacks for the Bikol Community participants. Held quarterly, the four edit-a-thons for 2015 will be Php 28,000.
   5. A formal proposal for the proposed edit-a-thons will be submitted by the Bikol Community to the WMPH Board for their approval.
5. Wikipedia Editing brochure
   1. It was proposed to make a Wikipedia Editing brochure similar to the "Editing Wikipedia" brochure (formerly titled as "Welcome to Wikipedia") made by Wikimedia Foundation (WMF).
   2. The proposed brochure was suggested to be more appealing to the youth and especially children. Thus, it was suggested that the brochure would be illustrated, similar to comics, instead of the conventional text and graphics style of the Wikipedia editing brochure issued by the WMF.
   3. Noel Regachuelo, a known comicbook artist and member of the Bikol Community, was suggested to be the one who will illustrate the proposed Wikipedia Editing brochure.
   4. (During the dinner meeting, Noel was asked if he can do a comics-style illustration of the Wikipedia Editing brochure. He agreed to it but he said that the production cost will be around Php 15,000 excluding the cost of reproducing [mass printing] the material. He also agreed that his work will be released under CC-BY-SA, which is a free license.)
   5. A formal proposal for the proposed Wikipedia Editing brochure will be submitted by the Bikol Community to the WMPH Board for their approval.
6. Membership Suspension Resolution (of Irvin Sto Tomas) by the WMPH
   1. The WMPH Board which voted for Irvin Sto Tomas' suspension amended their resolution after Jojit Ballesteros questioned some of its clauses.
   2. The pertinent Amended Resolution that was done in June 2014 had not yet been uploaded to the WMPH website.
   3. Irvin Sto. Tomas respectfully requested that the said Amended Resolution be uploaded to the WMPH website.

See also

• The activity report with actual expenses at the official website of Wikimedia Philippines