Hey all :)
I would love to see a New England chapter or some other group formed. I've
backed off from doing it because of my staff ties but I think there are a
lot of benefits (though it does take some time). Sj gave a
great explanation of the process and there is a nice step by step process
at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Step-by-step_chapter_creation_guide too.
The biggest first step is gathering people and figuring out bylaws though
there are a lot of examples we can look at especially the WMnyc chapter
(which is the only approved chapter in the US so far though DC is organized
and getting very close).
Another thing to think about is the exact structure we want (and if a
chapter is going to help us). NYC and DC have had a lot of interaction with
people up in Boston in the past and there has been some discussion of
wanting to try and see what would be best. Ideas floated have been trying to
merge into one east coast chapter, having a bunch of local chapters with a
US (or east coast) based council to work together etc. The council that Aude
was talking about I think is the best organized at the moment and can
probably help the most.
If you use IRC at all there is a channel on the freenode network (where all
the Wikimedia/Wikipedia channels are) called #Wikimedia-northeast where a
lot of NYC/DC/Boston wikimedian's hang out. The guys really involved with
the NYC and DC (Aude and James Hare from DC and Pharos/Richard from NYC for
example) could be huge since they're already going through the process (and
in the case of nyc actually got recognition) . I know there is a
WikimediaUS mailing list as well (I think it's WikimediaUS-l but Aude or Sj
probably knows better I still haven't joined for some odd reason).
For reference and idea's I was getting some examples together:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City#Chapter_infrastructu…
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City#Chapter_infrastructure>
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City/Bylaws
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_New_York_City/Bylaws>
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_District_of_Columbia
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_District_of_Columbia>
On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 7:55 PM, Baruch Stone <baruchstone(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I would very much enjoy to attend a Sunday meeting. In
fact Sunday is
the only day I have free. I will forward this to the BU professor whom I
am CAing for.
What would be involved in formalizing a Wikimedia New England chapter?
Baruch
On 3/22/11 7:16 PM, Samuel Klein wrote:
Let's invite the local Ambassadors to join us
next meeting. We can
invite some of the profs involved as well. The Tufts profs outside of
public policy who were interested may also want to come.
I think we're leaning towards Sunday April 10 -- Mr. Lees, correct me
if I'm wrong. We could reserve a classroom and bring food there, for
easier discussion.
On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 4:40 PM, Baruch Stone<baruchstone(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> As for me, I have been editing Wikipedia for *several* years. I have two
> Good Articles to my credit and have experience in new page patrolling,
> anti-vandalism, copy editing and other areas.
>
> I would like to create a formal Boston/New England Wikimedia Chapter and
> would be happy to do a bit of the legwork in getting it off the ground.
Who
is
interested?
This sounds like a good idea to me. I am happy to support the process
and can offer general feedback, as I am currently an observer on the
Chapters Committee. You might take a look at the bylaws and focus of
other chapters and pending chapters (NYC and Canada come to mind;
Brasil and Australia discussions may also be of interest) for
reference.
Active meetup groups and chapters around the US have been talking
recently of forming a national council -- to help regional chapters
grow, and to address questions of whether to form a national group and
how to support work in sparser regions of the country without a
thriving metro or big universities to make organizing events easy.
We should discuss who's interested in participating at our next
meeting.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_United_States_Chapters_Council#WAL…
Sam.
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James Alexander
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