2009 chapters meeting
Introduction
On April 3-5 2009 there will be a meeting of all the Wikimedia chapters in Berlin. Information about the meeting is available at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2009 .
Thanks to the generosity of some of the other Wikimedia chapters, both Brianna Laugher and Liam Wyatt will be attending and participating for Wikimedia Australia. As it is a big investment of our time and others' money we are keen to give and get the most from the meeting possible.
Our introduction/preparation notes for the other chapters is here - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2009/Preparation/Wikimedia_Australia .
--Brianna (pfctdayelise) 02:13, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
Brianna's notes
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2009/Schedule
State of the chapters
Attended w/Liam; see supplied notes at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2009/Preparation
Selected notes:
- WMBR - not incorporated, don't want to manage financials - see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Chapter_Report_2008 for more explanation of what they're doing
- WMDE - 450 members, office, ~10 staff (not all FT)
- 2009 budget 940k EUR (projected)
- Offer scholarships for student to access scientific literature
- "Wikipedia machte Schule" - WP goes to school
- WMCH - hold AGMs in different cities. Headache: different languages (4 official langs, currently their ctte has no single common language!)
- WMFR -140 members. release 5-10 press releases a year.
- Received 50k EUR from the 2008 WMF fundraising agreement - revenue is 93% donations (rest is membership)
- '2009 the year of the image'
- 4 streams - ** v good
- Planning: increase to 250 members, 1st hire
- WMID - 25 members (since Mar 2009) - http://wikimedia.or.id/
- good r'ship w/govt - given space for metings
- appointed as affiliate institution for CC
- got a famous actor as "goodwill ambassador" - helped w/press conf
- WMIL - participating w/Israeli OLPC - preloaded static he.wp (90k articles)
- WMIT - budget ~30k EUR (provisional) - mainly royalties from it.wp DVD
- WMNYC - no membership? planning - classes in libraries - north American conf
- WMPL - v active - v pretty slides! organising 'Free education conference in Polish parliament
- WMRU - 12 members - preparing a 3rd annual conf?!
Relationships between chapters
- Delphine asked me to speak briefly at the start of this, and I summarised my ideas presented at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pfctdayelise/Chapters_communication - basically the slow progress in the chapter-selected WMF Board seats, of the chapters actually figuring out a process and following it, was a catalyst for me to think that we could benefit from some kind of "chapters association" or organisation.
- We lack a clear common vision (of relations b/n chapters)
Communication & marketing
with Catrin (WMDE) & Guillaume
- PR: advertising without advertising
- Press as colleagues - give them a good story.
- Follow up bad press - find out why.
- give compliments after a fair/positive story
- Invite journos to meetings "press meeting"? to introduce yourself - invite them for coffee... good for freelancers
- Find a pro-bono PR agency???????
- Fairs and shows - e.g. youth fair
- PR activity plan for the year - coordinate with other chapters?
- Sandy had a Google Docs spreadsheet set up with contacts - perhaps still exists?
- **chapter website - "press book"/press clippings
Todo ideas:
- investigate shared (amongst chapters) web-calendar. calagator? http://code.google.com/p/calagator/
- suggest WMF to organise "press trip"? (journo + chapter person travel to SFO?)
- Video press release before fundraiser? testimonials, celebrities?
- coordinate PR - **Wikipedia user survey - need to get news from Jay a bit earlier?
Public outreach
- Aim: encourage (increase) & broaden participation, raising understanding
- Wikipedia user survey - 130k respondents, 87% editors male (subject to official announcement)
- Currently educational materials mostly focus on tech issues (syntax). should also say "this is where we need help"
- invite, welcome people
- WMF - July 2009 - March 2010 - "Bookshelf" of outreach material - creating templates e.g. (brainstorming)
- 'Best practices' series for chapters
- guide for uploading
- screencasts
- education - handbook for teachers, academics, companies
- general Wikimedia philosophy
- Cases (case studies)
- slide templates
- CommonCraft's "Wikis in plain English" --> "Categories in plain English"/"Templates in plain English" ?
- WP comic!!
- Frank to run a regular survey of chapters? (find out what they are doing/need help with?)
- Extra days for workshops before/after wikimania?
Trademark policy & chapter agreements
Attended w/Liam
- Lots of info about the purpose of TMs
- WP TMs - puzzle globe, 'WikipediA', Wikipedia (the word)
- Why centralise TM management? one reason is to avoid conflicting business arrangements
- Prior to 2007, WMF staff undervalued WM TMs
- principles for partnerships:
- avoid exclusive licensing
- license in order to promote free culture (e.g. let a new audience read/edit)
So, changes:
- "Chapters will always be able to do what they have traditionally done" (e.g. merch)
- Mission focused projects that require TM licensing will have such licensing reviewed by WMF for consistency with overall strategy
- New draft chapter agreement, but want feedback before releasing it
- Possible option - not yet decided - "affiliate marks" which won't require review or approval by WMF (the "Second Life" model) (suggestion - WP puzzle piece)
- wikimedia marks will stay the same (WMAU logo)
Q&A:
- should be 1 month or less turnaround after approaching WMF with a proposition
- new chapter agreement - launched in maybe 2 weeks (20th April?)
Development of chapters and relationships with WMF
Attended w/Liam
WMF board is planning to undertake strategic planning over 1 year. Sue will be facilitating. Cttes etc will be set up. So there will be some process for chapters involvement in this, as well as "unaffiliated volunteers" of course. Likely themes - "Reach" "Participation" "Quality".