Wikimedia UK Board meeting Wednesday 18th August 2009, 8:30pm BST at #wikimedia-uk-board
Present: Michael Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Zeyi He (ZH); Joseph Seddon (JS); Paul Williams (PW); Steve Virgin (SV)
Apologies: Tom Holden (TH);
The minutes of the meeting dated 5 August was approved.
The following actions were carried forward:
1. AT to draft an email to the WMF formalising the agreement to use Wikimedia Foundation trademarks in members-only merchandising and to look into where we could produce merchandise.
2. MP to draft templates for the six press scenarios identified at Media relations#Media response.
3. MP to work with SV to do mini press releases, no more than one per month, advertising spikes in traffic per WP:POPULAR related to particular news events.
4. JS to get a copy of the WMF's press release contact list in the UK.
5. MP agreed to add the HMRC letter appendices as attachments to section C of the Charity Commission application
6. JS agreed to look into CRB checks for directors and Schools Project volunteers - their transferability, who to approach for them and how much they will cost.
7. PW will develop a proposal for buying a computer for the Schools Project with, potentially, peripherals such as a projector, screen, printer etc.
8. JS to draft an email for the Open Knowledge Foundation mailing list, to recruit new members.
9. AT to arrange printing of the business cards
10. AT will reply to the charity sponsorship request as proposed.
11. MP to investigate moving our wiki at http://uk.wikimedia.org to http://www.wikimedia.org.uk subject to technical feasibility re Single User Logins and hosting, with gb.wikimedia.org as a potential alternative. Bug Report
12. Once this has been completed, MP to follow up with Wikimedia Ukraine regarding the "uk." website conflict.
13. AT to investigate NCVO and other charity support groups for guidance on setting up procedures
14. AT agreed to investigate getting paid legal advice on charitable status, using the Foundation's offer to fund.
15. JS to start drafting child protection policies.
16. PW, MP to deliver newsletter.
MP has established his relationship with the Communcations Committee is "either be as mailing list subscriber, or representative of Wikimedia UK". Therefore, for the purposes of the conflicts of interest policy, it was agreed he would not be treated as a Foundation committee member.
The Secretary's Report was noted.
There was no Treasurer's Report. However, TH had sent a previous email regarding a membership application that had been received.
The board went in camera for a discussion
Member number 29 confirmed by a majority decision subject to cheque clearing. TH will respond to the member and update the Register of Members.
ACTION: TH
The Chair's Report was noted. MP also mentioned that he had received an offer of a free ticket to the "C&binet" conference on 26-28 October - a "not-for-profit network, created by the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport to link the international creative and commercial communities to grow the global creative economy" SV and AT had both volunteered to attend. It was agreed that AT would attend and MP would ask for a second ticket for SV if possible.
ACTION: MP
The board discussed having an in-person board meeting around the "Pictures in Public" symposium on 10-11 September in Oxford which MP and TH will be attending. The London Wikimeet is also that weekend on the Sunday morning, so we could like it with that. JS, SV, ZH and PW could not confirm if they could attend. MP agreed to email round suggested dates and locations to see what people could make.
ACTION: MP
No report was available. It was agreed to discuss with the initiatives discussion later in the meeting.
JS gave a verbal report; he hadn't found anywhere where he could get free CRB checks. It was estimated they will cost around £500 (£38 for ~13 people) and it was agreed we should ask the Foundation to reallocate some of the existing schools budget to cover this. At the same time the budget for a computer would be extended to cover other ancillary hardware.
JS has also prepared a blog post on the joint 2010 WMUK/OKCON Conference.
JS has had some discussions on a future Wikimania in Manchester and has been told that continent rotation "is considered the most minor criterion", opening the door to a Wikimania 2011 bid.
SV gave a verbal report. He has been approached by a school in Wrexham which is interested in working with us. SV will forward to PW who will follow up as part of the Schools Project.
ACTION: SV
Steve Bowbrick has met with some senior BBC managers to discuss collaboration; SV will chase him to get an update on how it went. Progress on this has been slow, and we are unsure of timetables or outcomes at the moment.
ACTION: SV
PW had nothing to report on this.
AT gave an update and a summary of the current situation: there are three things that need finalising - the conflicts of interest policy, section D of the Charity Commission application and the child protection policy. The last item is waiting for the example policies that AT has ordered from NCVO. Given that the application can't be sent off until this is complete, it was agreed to hold off on discussions until the next meeting. AT will chase the NCVO for an eta.
ACTION: AT
In the meantime, AT is continuing to look for paid legal advice to assist with the application.
The Board discussed the milestone listed on the initiatives timeline to "establish a plan for each initiative including timetable, aim and outline costing" by the end of August. It was agreed that this would still be done, except for the Workplace Learning Lunches where it might not be possible to complete before mid September.
As noted above, SV will follow up with SB regardng progress with the BBC. The milestone above may be delayed until mid September.
JS agreed to follow up with his contacts at the BBC Digital Reolution and click and get them in touch with SB and SV.
ACTION: JS
PW hopes to start talking to schools at the start of September when they return from holidays, with most progress made after the half term 23rd October and the first visits possibly in the second half term. JS may be able to arrange a visit to his college earlier. PW will start discussion on the schools email list after the meeting regarding the project plan and arrange to get a timetable and budget approved by the end of August
ACTION: PW
There was a discussion on whether the initiative should restrict to just London or cover the whole of Britain. AT mentioned that Wikipedia Loves Art project had 15 museums, but over half the images were generated from the 6 clustered in New York. The Dutch Wiki Loves Art had 43 museums around the country, but generated fewer images than Wikipedia Loves Art. MP suggested we have clusters of museums in several locations. MP will start a discussion on the mailing list and defer a decision depending on the response from museums. MP will also pencil in a timetable and budget by the end of August.
ACTION: MP
MP mentioned that the blog is now up and running. A Twitter account has also been set up - it was agreed any board member is encouraged to make appropriate twitter posts without need for prior approval. AT, JS agreed to email round draft blog posts for approval.
ACTION: AT, JS
MP and SV agreed to work on a press release for the 5 million media files on Commons milestone.
ACTION: MP, SV
MP and JS may be meeting with the V&A in London on Friday to discuss Britain Loves Wikipedia and GLAM-WIKI-UK respectively. It was agreed JS could claim travel out of the content access funds.
The next meeting was agreed for Tuesday 1st September, 8:30pm.