[Sorry all for the long email.]
James, apologies for the schizoid use of names. I'm Oliver.
Colm, I'm very much behind the kind of ideas you've put forward. Like James
though, I would be skeptical that a Wikimedia Ireland would be a sudden source
of funding. A corporate body certainly is more capable of winning funding (and
we should keep our eyes open for opportunities to get cash should we form an
Irish chapter); but passion and hard graft, I imagine, is the way forward. Like
James, I also think the benefit of a Wikimedia Ireland is the credibility and
group co-ordination and support that it would provide.
Conor: "A good publicity tool would be a competition involving music,
photography and/or art. All entries could be released under CC license and the
winners promoted on the Irish Wikimedia website."
With respect to promoting free licenses, I think ideas like this is are good.
Releasing a CD or coffee-table book of free media would further build on it and
could help promote creative work in Ireland (as well as being a possible source
of funding for the work of an Irish chapter). [See the second part of this email
for something else in relation to this.]
With respect to Wikipedia, a "competition" is maybe not the best approach. We
don't for example have any right to say that the "winner" would appear on any
article above an entry from a "runner-up". Pulling the local angle might be
good. We could organise a drive through local newspapers to capture an
appropriate "static_image" element for every town and village in Ireland for use
in the Infobox_Place_Ireland template on the en/ga.wiki. Geograph.ie (which I
suspect has failed in Ireland for lack of grass-roots support) is maybe an
effort we could tie in with, or try to emulate.
I would see a Wikimedia Ireland as being capable of credibly approaching
organisations like orchestras to record samples of instruments, such as uilleann
pipes, harps and bouzouki, or language departments to collect phrases said in
different dialects of Irish for use in articles.
---
Conor, James, Jodi and others -
Conor: "Wikimedia doesn't seem to have much in the way of music storage -
discuss?"
No, it doesn't. This is likely because the goal of the Wikimedia Foundation is
"to collect and develop educational content". For that reason, I think this kind
of thing would probably be 'ultra vires' for a Wikimedia Ireland. But work in
promoting Wikimedia projects and tools in schools would be "in".
Don't get me wrong though, I am fully behind ideas like this. I'm delighted
yourself and James brought up the topic of OSS, CC and related matters.
Coincidentally, over the last few weeks I have been putting thought into how to
organise people interested in these topics in Ireland.
The ideas that I have been playing with related to how to get people in Ireland
interested in OSS development and evangelism, Creative Commons, wiki-ery, hacker
culture, etc. to get in contact with each other. In particular, I have been
thinking about how to create a shared/collaborative space with the eventual idea
of enabling folk in Ireland to find and collaborate on projects, to co-ordinate
efforts, share ideas and to establish a "community" out of individuals. And also
to promote these kinds of ideas/philosophies (both in community and in
business).
(As with a possible Wikimedia Ireland, a corporate personality for such a group
might not be a bad idea either. Though, I would be more on for something closer
to the philosophical roots of this kind of culture, such as a co-op, rather than
an Ltd. company for example.)
The ideas I've been mulling over would be to draw interested people (and their
capabilities) together rather than form a hierarchical body of any sort or
dictate the direction of this movement in any way.
Maybe, I'm wrong but I can't find any group particularly dedicated to these
kinds of topics. James, I see you're lead on Audacity. Do you know of any Irish
OSS evangelism/collaboration group, for example? Jodi, I get the impression from
references you've made into these topics too?
Like I said, I think this kind of thing is outside of the remit of Wikimedia. If
you are interested in developing a network such as this in Ireland, get in touch
with me. I've a spare server with a suitable (I think) domain name left over
from a idea I didn't follow through with. I'd be happy to give the three of you
(Conor, James and Jodi) FTP and DB access; and to set-up a mailing list, if you
think there are more that would be interested in communicating over these kinds
of broad "hacker", OSS, CC culture, collaboration, evangelism and development
etc. in Ireland.
Regards,
Oliver
2010/9/4 Conor Wao <conorwao(a)gmail.com>
Hi all,
>
>sorry I won't be able to make it due to prior commitments but I am
>still very keen on being part of the project. Since I won't be at the
>meeting, I would like to mention a few things in the hope of starting
>some discussions.
>
>My main interests are to encourage more educators to use Wikimedia
>tools and to help people to release more music/media into the commons.
>I would like to achieve this by getting funding to put on
>demonstrations which would include information on how to find, use and
>remix CC licensed music and showcasing the open-source software one
>could use to do this. I have many years' experience with the Fedora
>operating system coupled with Planet CCRMA's multimedia software
>patch.
>
>I am interested in using Wikimedia to help introduce open, shared
>resources to educators. I would also like funding to do demonstrations
>for, and have meetings with, teachers. I am interested in raising
>awareness of evolution by natural selection in Irish classrooms and
>would also like to encourage content generation in relation to this.
>
>Irish language projects would be important for an Irish Wikimedia so
>that should be discussed.
>
>A good publicity tool would be a competition involving music,
>photography and/or art. All entries could be released under CC license
>and the winners promoted on the Irish Wikimedia website. Wikimedia
>doesn't seem to have much in the way of music storage - discuss?
>
>I hope this can help start some discussions and begin to focus on
>finding some goals that this project will have.
>
>Looking forward to hearing from you,
>
>Conor.
>
It seems that the links got scrubbed, so lets try again:
Just to confirm that I have access for the group to the maritime museum on
September 25.
This is the
building, >> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mariners%27_Church.JPG < As
there are only two tall spires in Dún Laoghaire, you are sure too find it
On Google Maps: see here >>
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?num=1&t=h&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117952125…
<<(It was a church, so look for the cruciform shape)
The Kingston "Minotel" is to the east (right), on that map; the DART
rail-service is north-west
- hope to see you all - ClemMcGann.
Just to confirm that I have access for the group to the maritime museum on
September 25.
This is the building, As there are only two tall spires in Dún Laoghaire, you
are sure too find it
On Google Maps: see here (It was a church, so look for the cruciform shape)
The Kingston "Minotel" is to the right, on that map - hope to see you all -
ClemMcGann
Jay,
I got your address from Mike Peel of Wikimedia UK. I'm writing in connection
with a discussion on-going to establish a Wikimedia chapter in Ireland.
We have set a date for a meet-up (the 25th of this month) with the possibility
of an Irish chapter on the table. Ahead of this, we plan to issue a press
release to advertise the meet-up and the possible discussion around the
establishment of an Irish chapter to the largest possible audience.
Mike suggested that you may be able to advise on this and supply us with with
some information about use of Wikimedia projects in Ireland (number of active
editors, page hits, etc.). Both the en.wiki and the ga.wiki are of interest; and
both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (though possibly as separate
data sets). Is there any advice you would offer on the content of such a
release? I would also appreciate it if yourself, someone else, the Wikimedia
Foundation, Jimbo, the Board of Trustees, etc. could supply us with some
statements on the possible establishment of a Irish chapter, Irish Wikimedians,
Wikimedia in Ireland, etc. that we could use in a press release of this kind.
Finally, for the purposes of emailing the press, our colleagues in the UK have
graciously offered to register wikimedia.ie in trust for us. (The .ie domain
overlaps with .uk in Northern Ireland and an unincorporated association would
likely be unable to register it owing to rules around the registration of .ie
domain names.) Is the foundation OK with this? Or would it be possible to use a
wikimedia.org email address until such time as we can register our own? Mike has
advised us that this is likely a question more suited to Mike Godwin. If so,
could you forward this question to him?
I have CC'ed the Wikimedia Ireland mailing list but included your email address
as a BCC as you may not want it in the public domain.
Kind regards and many thanks in advance,
Oliver Moran
I'm going on indefinite wikibreak as of very shortly, so I won't be able to
act as any contact etc. for the time being. I do wonder if we are going off
half-cocked — what do we hope to achieve by media attention at this early
stage?
S
Hey all -
In the spirit of Wikipedia, I'm going to be bold and say let's meet up on the
25th of September. So...
* 1:45pm - Meet in lobby of the Kingston Hotel, Dún Laoghaire.
* 2:00pm - Lunch in the Kingston Hotel.
* 3:30pm - Private tour of National Maritime Museum of Ireland, courtesy of
Clem McGann.
Clem has been in touch by email and agreed to make the necessary reservations,
etc.
I'll be in the lobby of the Kingston Hotel to meet people. If you're unsure of
who I am, ask at reception for the Wikipedia meet-up. I'll have identified
myself to them.
If you can't find the Kingston Hotel, Clem will wait at the steeple of the
Mariners' Church (the National Maritime Museum), which is close by but visible
from around the town. If you meet him there, Clem will bring you along to the
hotel. Watch out though, Dún Laoghaire also has the steeple of St. Michael's
church. However, St. Michael's can be distinguished from the Mariners' Church
because the main body of the St. Michael's burnt down in the 1960s.
Dún Laoghaire has easy connections to Dublin city centre by bus and DART as well
as mainline rail so it should be reasonably accessible to all. Clem, when you
get back, could you forward suggestions for car parking?
Hope as many as possible can make it,
Oliver Moran
User:Rannpháirtí anaithnid
