While I really don't want to know or study the details, in general, the
less (danged German) bureaucraZy the better...
I will NOT register my Toaster with the government, EVER, I don't care
if the Germans do...
(Per conversation at last wikidc meetup.)
On 4/20/2012 12:17 AM, Kirill Lokshin wrote:
Hello everyone,
Looking at the various discussions surrounding the Berlin Agreement --
and particularly in anticipation of the first meetings of the
Wikimedia Chapters Association, where future plans for chapters in the
US might become a point of contention -- I think it may be beneficial
for us to more formally adopt and promulgate a shared vision for the
future of US-based chapters at our in-person meeting at Wikimania.
Having said that, I think that trying to come up with something as
detailed as the Berlin Agreement -- establishing a formal
organization, adopting a detailed charter, and so forth -- would be
premature for us; most of our regional groups haven't gone down the
path of formally incorporating and becoming official chapters, and
there's little value to creating a formal infrastructure until that
happens.
Instead, I'd like to propose that we put together an agreement in
principle to outline a shared vision for the development of US
chapters. The agreement would essentially outline three key goals:
(1) Creating a network of regional Wikimedia chapters across the
United States;
(2) Building collaboration among the regional Wikimedia chapters in
the US; and
(3) At some point in the future, forming an association of Wikimedia
chapters in the US.
By signing the agreement, the signatories would simply indicate their
support of these goals. The agreement could therefore be signed on an
individual basis -- i.e. each of the attendees at our July meeting
could sign on their own behalf -- rather than only by chapters or
other regional groups (which would sharply limit the number of
potential signatures, and significantly increase the complexity of the
entire exercise).
Would something along these lines be of interest to the participants here?
Cheers,
Kirill
--
Kirill Lokshin
Secretary |Wikimedia District of Columbia
http://wikimediadc.org <http://wikimediadc.org/>| @wikimediadc