ELECTION OF DIRECTORS
This message contains the following information pertaining to the
election of Directors of Wiki UK Limited (Wikimedia UK):
(1) Statement of Persons Nominated
(2) Electoral Procedure
(3) Questions to candidates
(4) Candidate Statements
(5) Ballot Paper for absentee voting
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(1) Statement of Persons Nominated
At the close of nominations, the following individuals stood validly
nominated for election as Directors of Wiki UK Limited:
Thomas Michael Dalton
Brian McNeil
Michael Peel
Joseph Seddon
Andrew Rowan Turvey
Stephen Charles (Steve) Virgin
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(2) Electoral Procedure
The Directors are elected under the approval voting system - for each
candidate, you should write "YES" or "NO" by his name on the ballot
paper.
Candidates will be ranked by the number of "YES" votes they receive. A
ballot paper on which the space by a candidate's name is left blank
shall be treated as though it were a "NO" vote.
The top three candidates will be elected as directors irrespective of
the number of "YES" votes they receive. In addition, other candidates
may be elected, provided that they receive a majority of "YES" votes.
All candidates are over 18; therefore, the provisions made in the
Election Rules for candidates under 18 do not apply.
To vote, please email the completed ballot paper below to
April 2010. Alternatively, ballot papers will be available at the AGM,
and members present will be entitled to supersede any electronic vote
they may have cast in advance of the meeting with a paper vote cast at
the meeting.
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(3) Questions to Candidates
Any questions Members may wish to ask candidates before they cast their
vote can be recorded on the Wikimedia UK wiki:
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(4) Candidate Statements
Each candidate's date of birth, occupation, former names and UK company
directorships in the last five years is kept on file and will be made
public only if they are elected.
Thomas Dalton
I am Head of Fundraising of Wikimedia UK and, following the
resignation of a trustee, was co-opted onto the board. I ran our
recent fundraiser, which was very successful, raising around £50,000
for us (and a similar amount for the Wikimedia Foundation). As a board
member I have, among other things, been responsible for organising a
global fundraising summit that will be held in the UK in May. I have
been active on the English Wikipedia since 2002 in various capacities.
I was recently invited to visit the Wikimedia Foundation office in San
Francisco, where I met with many of the staff. I also attended a
meeting of all chapters in Berlin last year and am in regular contact
with many people in other chapters. I feel my strong working
relationship with many at the Foundation and other chapters will be
very useful for Wikimedia UK. My vision for the chapter is that the
board (and staff) will facilitate members conducting all kinds of
outreach and content sharing activities and I hope to achieve that by
helping the chapter sort out the infrastructure, finances, staff and
other behind-the-scenes things so that members can work on various
initiatives.
Brian McNeil
No candidate statement submitted.
Michael Peel
I have been involved with WMUK since it was rebooted in 2008, serving
first as Membership Secretary and then as Chair. My involvement has
included talking to the press (I look after the WMUK phone), responding
to email queries; assisting technically with the fundraiser (and the
website as a whole); running Britain Loves Wikipedia and talking to
cultural institutions (including national museums and organizations such
as the MLA and CollectionsTrust). I have represented the chapter at the
Chapters Meeting in 2009, and (at the time of writing) will shortly be
attending the 2010 meeting. I also attended the Multimedia Usability
meeting in November 2009.
Over the last year, we have sown a lot of seeds, and nurtured the first
green shoots, which have led to events like Britain Loves Wikipedia
(working with 20 museums nationwide) and the first UK content
partnership. A lot more seeds should start growing over the next year,
and I would like to help bring them to fruition. I would like to focus
more on leading individual tasks rather than leadership of the chapter
as a whole, hence I would prefer not to be chair again for the coming
year. I would like to see the growth of in-person events throughout the
UK over the coming year, building up a geographically distributed core
of participants, with the aim of producing freely-licensed content. In
addition, I would like to continue liaising with organizations to forge
content partnerships.
In terms of a direction for the organization of the chapter, I would
like to focus on professionalization - hiring an office administrator
and technical developers. It has become very apparent over the last year
that there is a lot that can be done, but rarely enough volunteer time
to make it happen and to do it successfully. Professionalization will
greatly ease this, and make the chapter a lot more streamlined and
capable.
I have been active on Wikipedia for over 5 years (my first edit was in
March 2005), during which time I've made around 15,000 edits (although
my edit rate has dropped off considerably since being involved with
Wikimedia UK). I'm also active on the Commons, where I have made over
3500 edits and uploaded over 650 images of my own creation. I have also
made over 2000 edits on Wikisource. In real life, I'm employed as a
postdoctoral researcher at Jodrell Bank (part of the University of
Manchester).
Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions you might have (on my talk
page, on irc (nick mpeel) or anywhere else you see me around).
Joseph Seddon
My name is Joseph Seddon and I have been involved within the Wikimedia
projects since November 2006 and a director of Wikimedia UK since April
2009. Outside the chapter I am currently in my second year of an
undergraduate Masters degree in Exploration and Resource Geology at
Cardiff University. On the wikimedia projects my main area of activity
has been on the English Wikipedia and I am a former mediator,
arbitratation clerk and administrator. These roles I recently gave up so
that I could focus my time on the chapter.
I have very specific roles that I see myself undertaking over the next
year. The first of these is the organisation of conference to bring
together Wikimedia and the Cultural sector within the UK. Work has
already begun for and being part of this years new board will greatly
assist me in bringing this fantastic opportunity together.
Secondly, I want to strengthen our working relationship with free
knowledge organisations such as the open knowledge foundation, creative
commons uk, icommons and other free culture and software organisations.
These groups have been active in the uk for many years and are
successful in thier operation and we have so much to learn and gain from
them. The contacts, skills and experience that they bring in the
technology, culture and education sectors are invaluable in our work to
bring the sum of all human knowledge to the UK and internationally.
Finally I want to encourage the growth of the chapter professionally.
Employing professionals to the chapters increases our efficiency and
impact many times over compared to being run by volunteers. It frees up
volunteer time and means we can do more.
With my knowledge and understanding of our communites and an increasing
understanding of the sectors we will work closely with I feel that being
part of the new board will be a huge positive to our ever growing
chapter.
Andrew Turvey
I have been on the board for the last two years and would like to stand
for a third and final term to see through the things I have been working
on, in particular our application to the Charity Commission.
I have found the board a very enjoyable and enriching experience, even
if sometimes frustrating and time consuming. Sadly I'm not able to
devote as much time as I'd like to Wikimedia given the recent changes in
my life, but I'm sure that one board meeting per month plus the various
commitments outside the board will be achievable.
Next year will see some important developments with Wikimedia UK -
continued growth in membership, activities and income; employing our
first staff member and, hopefully, a successful conclusion to our
charity application. It would be a privilege to be part of this!
Steve Virgin
It has been a privilege to serve during the last year and it has proved
both challenging and highly rewarding. Challenging because as a Board we
have had to work hard to raise the profile of both the Chapter and the
range of projects that Wikimedia UK promote and support. However,
although it has been time consuming and the Board had to operate on
tight budgets right up until the Fundraiser last winter, this problem is
now resolved and the Wikimedia UK chapter has a healthy bank balance
which will allow the new Board to push the development of the Chapter
further forward.
Fortunately, the rewards are plenty and the warm reception that Board
members get when they talk about our projects are such that it makes me
optimistic about the coming year. My discussions have led to a recent
internal BBC Future Media Team proposal to set up a project to channel
image donations to Wikimedia Commons. They have led to nearly concluded
discussions with ARKIVE/WildScreen about the likelihood of a large
content donation of data, images, video and audio archive from its
endangered animals and species database. There are on-going talks with
one of the oldest Theatres in Britain (Bristol Old Vic) about securing
a content donation to Wikimedia Commons.
I have worked with the Board on making contacts with the business
community. Only last week on behalf of the Board, I persuaded HP in
Bristol to donate its high-tech campus facilities to Wikimedia UK for
free for a global Wikimedia Foundation Fund Raising Conference that is
due to take place mid-May. And in the south-west, where I am based, I
have made close contact with many schools, businesses, local councils,
community-based local partnerships that are trying to help marginalised
people in the city and universities. They have all looked very
favourably on the Wikimedia UK chapter and I would expect the new Board
to be able to build on these relationships in the coming months.
I have spoken on behalf of the Chapter, both with fellow Board members
and alone. The most recent occasion was in March at a Bristol City
Council led event called 'Green, Open & Social' at which I asked for
both the business community and the public sector bodies to consider
content donations and ways of engaging with us through joining the
Chapter. On all occasions I have been grateful to have had the advice
of fellow Wikimedia Board members who have helped me rise up the
Wikimedia UK learning curve. As someone with press experience I also
feel I have made a contribution to the Board in providing it with
contact database information, and expertise in editing and sharpening
the statements that we have made to the media.
I'd love to be given the chance by the Wikimedia UK community to carry
on building on the work of the last twelve months as a Board member as I
passionately believe in our projects and our goals.
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(5) Ballot Paper
If you wish to cast your vote before the AGM, please send the following
April 2010.
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WIKI UK LIMITED (WIKIMEDIA UK)
ELECTION OF DIRECTORS
Name:
Membership number:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ballot Paper
Write "YES" or "NO" beside name of each candidate.
Thomas Dalton [ ]
Brian McNeil [ ]
Michael Peel [ ]
Joseph Seddon [ ]
Andrew Turvey [ ]
Steve Virgin [ ]
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As ever, any questions about the elections should be directed to
James Farrar
Teller, Wikimedia UK