Hi folks -
I know things have been quiet on this list from the Foundation side over the past few
months, and we know all too well that there's not much time between now and the magic
date: January 15, 2011!
Supporting Wikipedia 10th anniversary planning has largely fallen into the global
development/communications section of the Wikimedia Foundation. Of course nothing will be
possible without lots of broad support from our thousands of global volunteers and our
chapters, as well as other partners (new and old!) and sponsors to help kick things off in
style, for Wikipedia's 10th year.
Right now there are a couple of major considerations here at the Foundation, and I thought
I'd start by sharing those major sections. Some areas need a lot more input from the
community than others, but in all cases we want to share everything that's being
planned (our ideas, your ideas, strategies, practices etc) so we can openly collaborate
and try innovative ideas.
I see these as the three major areas of planning for Wiki 10 - leading up to, and during
the year starting Jan 15:
1. Global celebrations
(chapters and volunteer groups around the world hosting events, parties, and local
festivities)
2. A 'free' birthday celebration in San Francisco
(A Foundation-driven party on January 15, probably open to the public and acting as a
central focus for festivities here in the Bay area)
3. On-wiki festivities and celebrations
(Any number of great ideas to mark the 10th anniversary, on en:wp or other wikis - which
may include tie-ins with the upcoming annual fundraiser)
We'll have more to say about each of these areas early next week, and hopefully
we'll add more areas or fill those sections out soon. I'd like to use this list
as a central planning space, but I'm sure there will also be on-wiki discussions
taking place.
The Foundation also has a small budget to provide reasonable grants to chapters or other
volunteer groups around the world to support celebrations. The conditions for receiving
those grants won't be too complicated, and we hope to get that process underway soon.
Although the Foundation is largely focussed on hosting a party and helping to support
activities, we want to help coordinate a central on-wiki space where all activities from
chapters, project reps etc can be shared so we can create a global 'at a glance'
page with all planned activities.
We also plan to post our plans for a local party in the next week or two, so you can see
how we're pulling the pieces together, what partners we're talking to, and
generally share our information so you have a party template to use (if you're looking
for one :)
I'm glad to see some other discussions underway on the list already - hopefully we can
start adding more. Please share more of your ideas and we'll get started with the
planning.
Thanks!
jay
--
Jay Walsh
Head of Communications
WikimediaFoundation.org
blog.wikimedia.org
+1 (415) 839 6885 x 609, @jansonw