Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Fw: [Wikimedia-l] Free Camera
Has anyone thought of asking R Loganathan of the Tamil Community? He is an excellent photographer, who travels to take photographs of places that don't have any on the Commons. On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Sheel Sindhu Manohar tuxophi...@gmail.comwrote: I would really like to have as i lost my previous one :( On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 11:49 PM, Pradeep Mohandas prad2...@yahoo.comwrote: Hi, Interesting offer. Apologies for cross posting and top posting. Pradeep -- * From: * Victor Grigas vgri...@wikimedia.org; * To: * wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org; Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org; * Subject: * [Wikimedia-l] Free Camera * Sent: * Wed, Jan 2, 2013 6:17:58 PM Hi everyone, I have a used point-and-shoot Canon Powershot SD1000 - 7.1 megapixel camera with a case and an American power supply charger. I would like it to go to a good home - preferably to a Wikipedian in a remote place who would be interested in supplying photos of things in an underrepresented region. Please let me know if this could be of use to anyone. Thanks! -- *Victor Grigas* Storyteller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Knv6D6Thi0 Wikimedia Foundation vgri...@wikimedia.org +1 (415) 839-6885 x 6773 149 New Montgomery Street 6th floor San Francisco, CA 94105 https://donate.wikimedia.org/ ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- -* *Sheel Sindhu Manohar ( शील सिंधु मनोहर ) http://ssmanohar.in *www.jmilug.org * - ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Srikanth Ramakrishnan Member of the Executive Committee Wikimedia Chapter [India] ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Noopur, Thank you for your response, However, you still haven't answered my question on what benefit a User Group has over Chapter SIG. The Chapter was set up to help promote and streamline Wikimedia related activities in India. We have been asked by affcom and your response would greatly help us understand why direct affiliation is really necessary. It is more important to see what the long term benefits of this would be rather than to just create it because the option exists. -- On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 5:46 PM, Noopur noopur.ra...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Srikanth, Just weighing in since I also happen to be supporting this process. Perhaps a little background is necessary to know why MediaWiki groups have been started as an initiative. Also copying Quim since he might be able to shed more light on this issue. As I understand from the proposal page, this is a part of the new direction taken by the Foundation since the narrowed focus... It was suggested that more impetus be given to help build and support technical volunteer groups just like all cities and countries have their Wikipedia, Commons and other communities of interested volunteers. I am also witness to an IRC conversation where possibilities of setting up local groups versus national were considered. As the highlighted in the discussion, I believe that it would be best for volunteers to work in local proximal groups (like MediaWiki group - Ahmedabad for instance) also with a language focus possibly (like several gadgets have been added to Gujarati Wikipedia as a run up to the group and so on). I believe the MediaWiki India mailing list which hopes to link up communities across the country is up and running now. As far as I understand forming specific interest groups doesn't require a formal identity or does not encroach upon other parallel entities' activities or privileges. Just trying to fill the gaps since you might not have the background on MediaWiki groups conversations. Maybe Quim can correct me if I a mistaken. Best, Noopur On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 5:24 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Hi Harsh, I have a few questions. Was there any specific reason to go for a Separate MW Group? Is it due to legal/trademark issues or funding? I'm sure that those two could be sorted if it were taken up by the Chapter similar to an SIG model. On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 3:08 PM, Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com wrote: *Dear friends, This is to inform you all about the creation of the first MediaWiki group in India. For the past several days, I’ve been speaking to Quim Gil, Sumana and Yuvi Panda. I was informed about the setting up of local groups in different countries for technical contributors. With encouragement from all of them and with help from Noopur I submitted a proposal for the formation of MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad. This proposal has been endorsed by 7 people so far. For those who might be interested in setting up similar groups, I think a Wikitech mailing list for India is being set up and personally, I would be happy to help you write a proposal for your community. I think it’s a great idea because with the help of this technical group we intend to make good technical infrastructure and editing environment for Gujarati Wikipedia easier to contribute to. I have already ported HotCat and Popups(on the way) on Gujarati Wikipedia. Please have a look at the areas we want to collaborate on: Areas of collaboration: - Localize Gadgets for Gujarati Wikipedia and Wikisource - Create New Gadgets and extensions - Bug solving for Gujarati Wikipedia and WikiSource and also other MediaWiki related Bug solving for all Indian languages - Translate into Gujarati Language, i.e http://translatewiki.net/ - Wikidata You can read the proposal here: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups/Proposals/Ahmedabad Your endorsements, improvements and feedback are welcome at the wiki page. Thank you! Harsh Kothari PS: see also http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups/Proposals * --- Harsh Kothari Research Fellow, Physical Research Laboratory(PRL). Ahmedabad. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Srikanth Ramakrishnan Member of the Executive Committee Wikimedia Chapter [India] ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Noopur Raval Student Arts and Aesthetics Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Ph: 9650567690 ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
The same question could be asked of any collective with a Wikipedia related goal. However, it could also be asked if in the Wikiverse (which supremely thrives on the value of collaborative work), it is inappropriate or redundant to form new collaboratives (like MediaWiki group or other specific focus groups) that are outside the purview of chapters or the Foundation for that matter. My hunch is that the formation of such any formal/informal group of this nature is welcome as long as it does not enter into trademark conflicts with existing entities. However, it beats me why there would be a need to consolidate a new collective within a chapter if there is no apparent need indicated by the group itself. I am just wondering whether the ideal approach would be to propose the nature of support that the chapter can extend in stead of wondering why the group has not been merged or started by/within chapter members. This would probably also mislead enthusiastic Indian Wikipedians who are not chapter members to understand that they must streamline all their activities with existing formal entities. Best, Noopur On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 6:05 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Noopur, Thank you for your response, However, you still haven't answered my question on what benefit a User Group has over Chapter SIG. The Chapter was set up to help promote and streamline Wikimedia related activities in India. We have been asked by affcom and your response would greatly help us understand why direct affiliation is really necessary. It is more important to see what the long term benefits of this would be rather than to just create it because the option exists. -- On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 5:46 PM, Noopur noopur.ra...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Srikanth, Just weighing in since I also happen to be supporting this process. Perhaps a little background is necessary to know why MediaWiki groups have been started as an initiative. Also copying Quim since he might be able to shed more light on this issue. As I understand from the proposal page, this is a part of the new direction taken by the Foundation since the narrowed focus... It was suggested that more impetus be given to help build and support technical volunteer groups just like all cities and countries have their Wikipedia, Commons and other communities of interested volunteers. I am also witness to an IRC conversation where possibilities of setting up local groups versus national were considered. As the highlighted in the discussion, I believe that it would be best for volunteers to work in local proximal groups (like MediaWiki group - Ahmedabad for instance) also with a language focus possibly (like several gadgets have been added to Gujarati Wikipedia as a run up to the group and so on). I believe the MediaWiki India mailing list which hopes to link up communities across the country is up and running now. As far as I understand forming specific interest groups doesn't require a formal identity or does not encroach upon other parallel entities' activities or privileges. Just trying to fill the gaps since you might not have the background on MediaWiki groups conversations. Maybe Quim can correct me if I a mistaken. Best, Noopur On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 5:24 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Hi Harsh, I have a few questions. Was there any specific reason to go for a Separate MW Group? Is it due to legal/trademark issues or funding? I'm sure that those two could be sorted if it were taken up by the Chapter similar to an SIG model. On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 3:08 PM, Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com wrote: *Dear friends, This is to inform you all about the creation of the first MediaWiki group in India. For the past several days, I’ve been speaking to Quim Gil, Sumana and Yuvi Panda. I was informed about the setting up of local groups in different countries for technical contributors. With encouragement from all of them and with help from Noopur I submitted a proposal for the formation of MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad. This proposal has been endorsed by 7 people so far. For those who might be interested in setting up similar groups, I think a Wikitech mailing list for India is being set up and personally, I would be happy to help you write a proposal for your community. I think it’s a great idea because with the help of this technical group we intend to make good technical infrastructure and editing environment for Gujarati Wikipedia easier to contribute to. I have already ported HotCat and Popups(on the way) on Gujarati Wikipedia. Please have a look at the areas we want to collaborate on: Areas of collaboration: - Localize Gadgets for Gujarati Wikipedia and Wikisource - Create New Gadgets and extensions - Bug solving for Gujarati Wikipedia and WikiSource and also other MediaWiki related Bug solving for all Indian languages - Translate
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Hi, I never mentioned anything about being part of the chapter. The chapter was set up to promote the movement in India and it has done so even in cases where a person/participant was NOT a part of the chapter.. I merely asked what benefit the Group recieves by taking the User Group route over the Chapter SIG route. Harsh, What are your thoughts on the Chapter-SIG model. On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 6:25 PM, Noopur noopur.ra...@gmail.com wrote: The same question could be asked of any collective with a Wikipedia related goal. However, it could also be asked if in the Wikiverse (which supremely thrives on the value of collaborative work), it is inappropriate or redundant to form new collaboratives (like MediaWiki group or other specific focus groups) that are outside the purview of chapters or the Foundation for that matter. My hunch is that the formation of such any formal/informal group of this nature is welcome as long as it does not enter into trademark conflicts with existing entities. However, it beats me why there would be a need to consolidate a new collective within a chapter if there is no apparent need indicated by the group itself. I am just wondering whether the ideal approach would be to propose the nature of support that the chapter can extend in stead of wondering why the group has not been merged or started by/within chapter members. This would probably also mislead enthusiastic Indian Wikipedians who are not chapter members to understand that they must streamline all their activities with existing formal entities. Best, Noopur On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 6:05 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Noopur, Thank you for your response, However, you still haven't answered my question on what benefit a User Group has over Chapter SIG. The Chapter was set up to help promote and streamline Wikimedia related activities in India. We have been asked by affcom and your response would greatly help us understand why direct affiliation is really necessary. It is more important to see what the long term benefits of this would be rather than to just create it because the option exists. -- On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 5:46 PM, Noopur noopur.ra...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Srikanth, Just weighing in since I also happen to be supporting this process. Perhaps a little background is necessary to know why MediaWiki groups have been started as an initiative. Also copying Quim since he might be able to shed more light on this issue. As I understand from the proposal page, this is a part of the new direction taken by the Foundation since the narrowed focus... It was suggested that more impetus be given to help build and support technical volunteer groups just like all cities and countries have their Wikipedia, Commons and other communities of interested volunteers. I am also witness to an IRC conversation where possibilities of setting up local groups versus national were considered. As the highlighted in the discussion, I believe that it would be best for volunteers to work in local proximal groups (like MediaWiki group - Ahmedabad for instance) also with a language focus possibly (like several gadgets have been added to Gujarati Wikipedia as a run up to the group and so on). I believe the MediaWiki India mailing list which hopes to link up communities across the country is up and running now. As far as I understand forming specific interest groups doesn't require a formal identity or does not encroach upon other parallel entities' activities or privileges. Just trying to fill the gaps since you might not have the background on MediaWiki groups conversations. Maybe Quim can correct me if I a mistaken. Best, Noopur On Sat, Dec 29, 2012 at 5:24 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Hi Harsh, I have a few questions. Was there any specific reason to go for a Separate MW Group? Is it due to legal/trademark issues or funding? I'm sure that those two could be sorted if it were taken up by the Chapter similar to an SIG model. On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 3:08 PM, Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com wrote: *Dear friends, This is to inform you all about the creation of the first MediaWiki group in India. For the past several days, I’ve been speaking to Quim Gil, Sumana and Yuvi Panda. I was informed about the setting up of local groups in different countries for technical contributors. With encouragement from all of them and with help from Noopur I submitted a proposal for the formation of MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad. This proposal has been endorsed by 7 people so far. For those who might be interested in setting up similar groups, I think a Wikitech mailing list for India is being set up and personally, I would be happy to help you write a proposal for your community. I think it’s a great idea because with the help of this technical group we intend to make good technical infrastructure and editing
[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: [MediaWiki-India] Small MediaWiki Hackathone (Remote)
Hi all, We are doing a small MediaWiki hackathon at 8 pm today. Harsh Kothari will be conducting the hackathon, whereby he will be teaching the participants some basics of MediaWiki and the ways to contribute to it. Interested folks, see you at 8 pm :-) -- Forwarded message -- From: Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 2:43 AM Subject: [MediaWiki-India] Small MediaWiki Hackathone (Remote) To: mediawiki-in...@lists.wikimedia.org Hi All Pratik Lahoti (User:BPositive) want to learn some basics of MediaWiki and UserScripts, Gadget. So I will going to teach him and also will show how all things are working. So If any one is interested can join on Skype or Hangout or GTalk. Time will be announce by Pratik. Most probably between 7 to 11 :) Happy Coding Best Harsh --- Harsh Kothari Research Fellow, Physical Research Laboratory(PRL). Ahmedabad. ___ MediaWiki-India mailing list mediawiki-in...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-india -- Warm Regards, *Pratik Lahoti* User:BPositive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BPositive ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] How to set up a SIG?
Hi all, In light of recent recommendations to set up an SIG instead of autonomous groups, I was wondering if there is any available documentation on the process and benefits of doing so? I was looking at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair, the only page I could find on the topic on the Wikimedia India wiki, but that did not seem to explain the process and nature of SIGs. (Also, I haven't seen them defined in Wikimedia India's bylaws.) What did I miss? Thanks for your help, Best regards, Bence ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 6:25 PM, Noopur noopur.ra...@gmail.com wrote: The same question could be asked of any collective with a Wikipedia related goal. However, it could also be asked if in the Wikiverse (which supremely thrives on the value of collaborative work), it is inappropriate or redundant to form new collaboratives (like MediaWiki group or other specific focus groups) that are outside the purview of chapters or the Foundation for that matter. My hunch is that the formation of such any formal/informal group of this nature is welcome as long as it does not enter into trademark conflicts with existing entities. However, it beats me why there would be a need to consolidate a new collective within a chapter if there is no apparent need indicated by the group itself. Errr...this seems at odd what I have been following. If I were to summarize what you are stating above, is that it's inappropriate and redundant to form Mediawiki groups and other focused groups. You opinion is, as long as it doesn't include trademark usage, who cares? which by the way would be hard to justify since to have any sort of formal affiliation would have to carry Wikimedia or Mediawiki in their title, and show their relationship to have any legitimacy, which preserves the essence of representation of a global brand, and through that, exposure to the existing entities using the trademark , but I digress. I am just wondering whether the ideal approach would be to propose the nature of support that the chapter can extend in stead of wondering why the group has not been merged or started by/within chapter members. This would probably also mislead enthusiastic Indian Wikipedians who are not chapter members to understand that they must streamline all their activities with existing formal entities. Regards Theo BTW will you be Cc'ing Quim on every response? :P ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Truly said Quim and Noopur. The idea and motivation behind mediawiki group is to encourage open source activities, particularly about MediaWiki. At the same time, it also brings to gather people who are working and can work in this perspective. So every wikimedian should welcome this . Regards, Samkit On 03-Jan-13 8:08 PM, Quim Gil wrote: Hi, On 01/03/2013 05:11 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan wrote: Hi, I never mentioned anything about being part of the chapter. The chapter was set up to promote the movement in India and it has done so even in cases where a person/participant was NOT a part of the chapter.. I merely asked what benefit the Group recieves by taking the User Group route over the Chapter SIG route. Harsh, What are your thoughts on the Chapter-SIG model. Can you describe this Chapter SIG route / model, or point to a URL explaining it? The only thing I could find is http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair but nothing about process or even group activities can be found there. In the meantime, let me add a bit more to Noopur's argument and my previous reply. The main motivation of MediaWiki groups is unsurprisingly http://mediawiki.org - the open source software and its community around. They can be created in Ahmedabad, San Francisco, Mexico City, Berlin or wherever, but they share common needs, common activities, common materials and so on. MediaWiki Groups were born at mediawiki.org because they were needed to bring this open source community to the physical space. In a formal sense they are just wiki pages with registered users signing up for them. No non-profit creation, no formal membership... The whole identity is based purely on activities organized. It was a coincidence that the Wikimedia movement was about to approve the User Groups while MediaWiki Groups were defined. We discussed with the AffCom and we fine tuned the MediaWiki Groups requirements and process in order to make them Wikimedia User Groups as well. Then Harsh, Yuvi and also Sucheta showed up proposing a MediaWiki Group India. At the end we decided that MediaWiki Groups need to be strictly local, and that MediaWiki activities at a national level should be better organized with the chapters, since they have already the infrastructure for that. Then Harsh evolved the proposal to MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad, Sucheta is already trying to gather critical mass for a MediaWiki Group Kolkata, etc. That's it. You can still argue that such organizations could be handled a part of Wikimedia India SIGs, and that their promoters wouldn't be required to be chapter members. I don't even disagree with the idea, but in the right sequence of events: the motivation of these groups is mediawiki.org and therefore good alignment and coordination within the MediaWiki community is what matters most. I have no doubt that strong MediaWiki Groups will contribute to the strength of the Wikimedia community and their related chapters. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] How to set up a SIG?
Hi Bence, The SIG process is currently located on the Members Wiki of the Chapter, which is accessible only to Members. I think it's high time it is made public so I shall port it to the Public Wiki. While the Chapter does support volunteers of all kinds, the SIG chair has to be a member. This is for the following reasons: 1. The SIG Chair gets a Wikimedia.in email address. 2. The SIG Chair will be representing the Chapter. 3. As per legal obligations, the SIG Chair signs a Code of Conduct with the Chapter. Apart from this, the Chapter is open to supporting all volunteers. Regards, On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:21 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all, In light of recent recommendations to set up an SIG instead of autonomous groups, I was wondering if there is any available documentation on the process and benefits of doing so? I was looking at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair, the only page I could find on the topic on the Wikimedia India wiki, but that did not seem to explain the process and nature of SIGs. (Also, I haven't seen them defined in Wikimedia India's bylaws.) What did I miss? As I seem to recall, SIG roles weren't really fleshed out in terms of real world implications. Majority of the chapter board that was working on it resigned or left after their respective terms. This new initiative to create user groups within India is being led by WMF staff from my perspective. I don't think it should be looked at in that way. I think the main idea is to empower volunteers (and while many many are self-empowered, labels and affiliation can still provide the final push) regardless of their location. This is not about a top down imposition (or even if it was, the costs are minimal, and the benefits could be big if the empowerment happens). The Indian SIG model could be a way to achieve the same goal, perhaps in parallel, but as long as the process and requirements are not publicly defined they might not be serving their purpose and it is difficult to expect people excited by the idea of of the empowerment that comes from affiliation to choose the (process-wise) undefined SIG model. That is why I was wondering where the process and requirements are defined; what would a regular Joe need to do to set up a SIG? Best regards, Bence ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Srikanth Ramakrishnan Member of the Executive Committee Wikimedia Chapter [India] ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 8:21 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Could you provide some URL to point to how this idea of groups came upon for India. I only saw the staff leading the way for this instead of this coming about organically. This happened on IRC over a few hours, between me, quim and harsh. Most of the conversation was quim convincing me that a mediawiki-india list would be a much better Idea than a MediaWiki India User Group (which he succeeded in), and Harsh volunteering to start the Ahmedabad one. The logging bot has been wonky, so no logs. As for 'why User Groups, why not a SIG' - the User Group idea is neither unique nor novel - it is a very well understood concept. Linux User Groups, Python User Groups, Ruby User Groups, Java User Groups, etc abound on per-city levels. This is just another user group for a piece of open source software. MediaWiki does not run just Wikipedia, but is also (IIRC) the most popular software used for standalone wikis. Plenty of projects that use MediaWiki have nothing to do with the Wikimedia movement (An experiment with using Semantic MediaWiki for Public Transit routing a bunch of us tried a few years ago, the w3c wiki (w3.org/wiki), lots of internal company's documentation wikis, lots of open source software wikis, etc). And 'why formalize their affiliation'? IIRC you need to go through the process to obtain the right to use 'MediaWiki' in your group's title. That is all (from my perspective, at least). -- Yuvi Panda T http://yuvi.in/blog ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Hi Yuvi On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:37 PM, Yuvi Panda yuvipa...@gmail.com wrote: This happened on IRC over a few hours, between me, quim and harsh. Most of the conversation was quim convincing me that a mediawiki-india list would be a much better Idea than a MediaWiki India User Group (which he succeeded in), and Harsh volunteering to start the Ahmedabad one. The logging bot has been wonky, so no logs. So, to summarize again, Quim, a staff member, and you, a contractor/staff member had a discussion with harsh - I don't know harsh so please forgo any mistaken assumption on my part, had a discussion on IRC, and between the three, it was decided, if a group would be a better option to a list. Unfortunately, there are no logs to even prove the above discussion, which would brig me to reiterate what I said earlier, now confirmed with the explanation above. For the time being, I stand by what I said. As for 'why User Groups, why not a SIG' - the User Group idea is neither unique nor novel - it is a very well understood concept. Linux User Groups, Python User Groups, Ruby User Groups, Java User Groups, etc abound on per-city levels. This is just another user group for a piece of open source software. MediaWiki does not run just Wikipedia, but is also (IIRC) the most popular software used for standalone wikis. Plenty of projects that use MediaWiki have nothing to do with the Wikimedia movement (An experiment with using Semantic MediaWiki for Public Transit routing a bunch of us tried a few years ago, the w3c wiki (w3.org/wiki), lots of internal company's documentation wikis, lots of open source software wikis, etc). Hmm I have no idea about these user groups, or what levels of formalization they do have, so I'll take your word for it. What I do know is the concept of Wikimedia User groups is a new territory for us, the first group using this approach is being led by the staff, as I said earlier. Second, MediaWiki *is* independent and might have nothing to do with Wikimedia. But then again, why are we on a list of Wikimedia asking Wikipedians to join or create the said group? To the extent of my knowledge, Mediawiki is a platform, a piece of software, in terms of real world implications it has no existence. Which would then lead the discussion back in to the circle, that went on the tech list about a MediaWiki foundation and an independent identity, because clearly that's the problem we have right now - shortage of committees, and groups and organizations to conflate a bunch of stuff rather than the actual work they are supposed to do. The simplest question is what would this achieve? Let's say there is a group or a list, what then? would the work materialize that so far has not? or would we be left with dead organizations in a year or two that will continue to carry the Wikimedia or Mediawiki name till someone realizes the exposure of proliferating these. I can point you to 2 dozen dead lists with no activities, in order to get wider participation they forward important announcements to the major lists like this, so, if you end up forwarding to the India list most of the times, what is the separate list achieving. It's the same people, perhaps more so on the older lists. And 'why formalize their affiliation'? IIRC you need to go through the process to obtain the right to use 'MediaWiki' in your group's title. That is all (from my perspective, at least). Actually, the discussion about demarcating the rights to use a term is still ongoing. Thematic organizations are being discussed on Meta and if they should use Wikimedia or even Wiki in their name, I suppose some extension would apply to Mediawiki as well. I hope I don't need to point out that the 2 words are the same in both organizations, 'Media' and 'Wiki'. Regards Theo ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Hi Theo, I will reply your questions in detail later. I just want to make sure that anybody engaging in this discussion has read https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups and understands what a MediaWiki Group is. The motivations, process, etc is also explained there. If there is something there you don't understand or you think it's wrong let's discuss. About the proposals, check https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups/Proposals Yes, those of us being MediaWiki community members with full time dedication (aka WMF employees) are currently pushing many of the first proposals. It makes sense: we can dedicate more time and we are anyway leading other MediaWiki activities that would benefit from such groups. Then again MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad is NOT one of these cases. Harsh is a pure MediaWiki volunteer. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups/Proposals/M%C3%A9xico is another example of a proposal pushed entirely by volunteers with no connection to the WMF. In their case Wikimedia Mexico explicitly supports the creation of the group. -- Quim Gil Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] How to set up a SIG?
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:21 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: Hi all, In light of recent recommendations to set up an SIG instead of autonomous groups, I was wondering if there is any available documentation on the process and benefits of doing so? I was looking at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair, the only page I could find on the topic on the Wikimedia India wiki, but that did not seem to explain the process and nature of SIGs. (Also, I haven't seen them defined in Wikimedia India's bylaws.) What did I miss? As I seem to recall, SIG roles weren't really fleshed out in terms of real world implications. Majority of the chapter board that was working on it resigned or left after their respective terms. This new initiative to create user groups within India is being led by WMF staff from my perspective. I don't think it should be looked at in that way. I think the main idea is to empower volunteers (and while many many are self-empowered, labels and affiliation can still provide the final push) regardless of their location. This is not about a top down imposition (or even if it was, the costs are minimal, and the benefits could be big if the empowerment happens). The Indian SIG model could be a way to achieve the same goal, perhaps in parallel, but as long as the process and requirements are not publicly defined they might not be serving their purpose and it is difficult to expect people excited by the idea of of the empowerment that comes from affiliation to choose the (process-wise) undefined SIG model. That is why I was wondering where the process and requirements are defined; what would a regular Joe need to do to set up a SIG? You seem to know more about the SIG model than us. :P I dont understand the point of the original question now. You are going by what can be or should have been, I was providing what had happened. It's all to empower volunteers, sure, but the rest of your intentions may or may not be shared by the board members who thought of the concept. I don't know so I can only speak from my assumption. It can be reformulated too but that depends on the current chapter board. In my opinion, this nebulous mix of SIG, user groups, chapters and other entities is going to get more complicated as we go along, and would likely result in turf-wars rather than anything productive but anyway, I have been travelling so I might have missed some of the developments, I'll try and follow up later. Regards Theo ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Theo, I am not sure where this discussion is going to. Srikanth had specific questions on why the MediaWiki user group and why not a technical SIG instead. At least that's what I gather from his mail. However you seem to be asking why a MediaWiki user group at all. For this you will need to rewind to previous mailing list threads where community members, oblivious to any possibility of such MediaWiki groups had expressed the desire to have some kind of a technical collaborative. In fact on this thread itself, I remember a response on the chapter list informing people whom this could interest. The mailing list objections don't quite make sense to me. Nor do the arguments about dead groups. That is the nature of volunteer communities perhaps. People were informed about this proposal on all lists precisely due to te absence of an existing tech list. I personally don't see why there needs to be any justification to start a collaborative group as long as it is not pulling on precious resources. If enthusiastic volunteers of Ahmedabad wish to call themselves MediaWiki group Ahmedabad and have already localized gadgets and think that formalizing would attract more like minded local users, I don't see any harm. Did you see the mini hackathon post and the announcement for all interested members to have a chat with Sumana? Did you also see sucheta and pratik's initiatives in the same vein? Wouldn't it be unfair to term this as an absolute staff initiative and undermine their effort? Best, Noopur On Jan 3, 2013, at 10:07 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Yuvi On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:37 PM, Yuvi Panda yuvipa...@gmail.com wrote: This happened on IRC over a few hours, between me, quim and harsh. Most of the conversation was quim convincing me that a mediawiki-india list would be a much better Idea than a MediaWiki India User Group (which he succeeded in), and Harsh volunteering to start the Ahmedabad one. The logging bot has been wonky, so no logs. So, to summarize again, Quim, a staff member, and you, a contractor/staff member had a discussion with harsh - I don't know harsh so please forgo any mistaken assumption on my part, had a discussion on IRC, and between the three, it was decided, if a group would be a better option to a list. Unfortunately, there are no logs to even prove the above discussion, which would brig me to reiterate what I said earlier, now confirmed with the explanation above. For the time being, I stand by what I said. As for 'why User Groups, why not a SIG' - the User Group idea is neither unique nor novel - it is a very well understood concept. Linux User Groups, Python User Groups, Ruby User Groups, Java User Groups, etc abound on per-city levels. This is just another user group for a piece of open source software. MediaWiki does not run just Wikipedia, but is also (IIRC) the most popular software used for standalone wikis. Plenty of projects that use MediaWiki have nothing to do with the Wikimedia movement (An experiment with using Semantic MediaWiki for Public Transit routing a bunch of us tried a few years ago, the w3c wiki (w3.org/wiki), lots of internal company's documentation wikis, lots of open source software wikis, etc). Hmm I have no idea about these user groups, or what levels of formalization they do have, so I'll take your word for it. What I do know is the concept of Wikimedia User groups is a new territory for us, the first group using this approach is being led by the staff, as I said earlier. Second, MediaWiki *is* independent and might have nothing to do with Wikimedia. But then again, why are we on a list of Wikimedia asking Wikipedians to join or create the said group? To the extent of my knowledge, Mediawiki is a platform, a piece of software, in terms of real world implications it has no existence. Which would then lead the discussion back in to the circle, that went on the tech list about a MediaWiki foundation and an independent identity, because clearly that's the problem we have right now - shortage of committees, and groups and organizations to conflate a bunch of stuff rather than the actual work they are supposed to do. The simplest question is what would this achieve? Let's say there is a group or a list, what then? would the work materialize that so far has not? or would we be left with dead organizations in a year or two that will continue to carry the Wikimedia or Mediawiki name till someone realizes the exposure of proliferating these. I can point you to 2 dozen dead lists with no activities, in order to get wider participation they forward important announcements to the major lists like this, so, if you end up forwarding to the India list most of the times, what is the separate list achieving. It's the same people, perhaps more so on the older lists. And 'why formalize their affiliation'? IIRC you need to go
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
hi, Frankly, I don't thing there should be any objections on the formation of any groups whether by the Chapter or by individual members in the community or by Staff. This just provides people with a variety of options to join and participate. The groups formed with reference to the Chapter or under WMF need to be formed under procedures laid down under each. If the chapter wishes to form the group, it can do so. If an individual wants to start a MediaWiki group can be left to the individual and the processes (once finalised, if it is not?) are followed. I guess the choice of choosing which group an individual wants to be belong to can be decided best by the individual. Eventually, either all the groups will die out or people will join the more active groups. just my two cents worth, Pradeep ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [MediaWiki-India] Small MediaWiki Hackathone (Remote)
Hi all, Hi all, We are doing a small MediaWiki hackathon at 8 pm today. Harsh Kothari will be conducting the hackathon, whereby he will be teaching the participants some basics of MediaWiki and the ways to contribute to it. Interested folks, see you at 8 pm :-) -- Forwarded message -- From: Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 2:43 AM Subject: [MediaWiki-India] Small MediaWiki Hackathone (Remote) To: mediawiki-in...@lists.wikimedia.org Hi All Pratik Lahoti (User:BPositive) want to learn some basics of MediaWiki and UserScripts, Gadget. So I will going to teach him and also will show how all things are working. So If any one is interested can join on Skype or Hangout or GTalk. Time will be announce by Pratik. Most probably between 7 to 11 :) Happy Coding Best Harsh --- Harsh Kothari Research Fellow, Physical Research Laboratory(PRL). Ahmedabad. ___ MediaWiki-India mailing list mediawiki-in...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-india -- Warm Regards, *Pratik Lahoti* User:BPositive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BPositive Unfortunately, we could not have a G+ hangout/Skype/TeamViewer as there were connectivity problems at my end. However, the hackathon started at 9 pm and we chose Google Docs for interaction purpose and spoke over the phone as well whenever needed. Harsh taught me how to make UserScripts using the API Sandbox. We made a userscript to calculate the edit count of the user. He also informed me about the JS console, the Resource loader, MediaWIki API, grab data from query etc. We finished this in about 80 minutes time. It was a nice experience and I made my first UserScript that can calculate user’s editcount. If anyone wants to get started with MediaWiki or have any doubt, they can contact either Harsh or me. Thank you Harsh for your time! :-) -- Warm Regards, *Pratik Lahoti* User:BPositive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BPositive *Speak less, work more* ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] How to set up a SIG?
Thanks Srikanth, looking forward to it! Best regards, Bence On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 5:02 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Hi Bence, The SIG process is currently located on the Members Wiki of the Chapter, which is accessible only to Members. I think it's high time it is made public so I shall port it to the Public Wiki. While the Chapter does support volunteers of all kinds, the SIG chair has to be a member. This is for the following reasons: 1. The SIG Chair gets a Wikimedia.in email address. 2. The SIG Chair will be representing the Chapter. 3. As per legal obligations, the SIG Chair signs a Code of Conduct with the Chapter. Apart from this, the Chapter is open to supporting all volunteers. Regards, On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 9:21 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 7:45 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.comwrote: Hi all, In light of recent recommendations to set up an SIG instead of autonomous groups, I was wondering if there is any available documentation on the process and benefits of doing so? I was looking at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_SIG_subcommittee_chair, the only page I could find on the topic on the Wikimedia India wiki, but that did not seem to explain the process and nature of SIGs. (Also, I haven't seen them defined in Wikimedia India's bylaws.) What did I miss? As I seem to recall, SIG roles weren't really fleshed out in terms of real world implications. Majority of the chapter board that was working on it resigned or left after their respective terms. This new initiative to create user groups within India is being led by WMF staff from my perspective. I don't think it should be looked at in that way. I think the main idea is to empower volunteers (and while many many are self-empowered, labels and affiliation can still provide the final push) regardless of their location. This is not about a top down imposition (or even if it was, the costs are minimal, and the benefits could be big if the empowerment happens). The Indian SIG model could be a way to achieve the same goal, perhaps in parallel, but as long as the process and requirements are not publicly defined they might not be serving their purpose and it is difficult to expect people excited by the idea of of the empowerment that comes from affiliation to choose the (process-wise) undefined SIG model. That is why I was wondering where the process and requirements are defined; what would a regular Joe need to do to set up a SIG? Best regards, Bence ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Srikanth Ramakrishnan Member of the Executive Committee Wikimedia Chapter [India] ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] What will I achieve as Programme Director A2K
Hi Nee Davis, I would like to seek clarification for the following: 1. Wiki-Panchayat is unnecessary. // Rationale: Keep four crabs in a box and each one will ensure that no one will escape. Where there is a community there is bound to be a dispute. Objective: Instituting a community based conflict resolution body, especially to avoid edit wars. To be modelled on our good old Panchayt system. // First of all, I do not like the crab metaphor at all. The Wiki community is a lot more collaborative and productive one assuming good faith. Edit war is a minor problem which I hope every community is already addressing adequately. If not, there are successful models to emulate from English Wikipedia. 2. QJS can be seen as micromanaging. Earlier this year, there was an attempt by some members of the Tamil Wikipedia to do strategic planning for Tamil Wikipedia. But, concerns about micromanaging were raised and the effort was dropped later. I am afraid that QJS may receive a similar response. 3. Many of your plans assume presence of enough core contributors within the state being able to spend ample time on offline activities. This is a chicken and egg problem. How would you address that? 4. Any word of technology partnerships / endeavours regarding Indic languages / Indic language Wikipedias? 5. //1) MOUs with Universities/Research Institutions; 2) Institute 5 Fellowships (quarterly) for Young Researcher in Residency Programme (YRRP) in each focussed language area with 15 new articles and 100 edits in respective language Wikipedia and 100 new key words as deliverables. 3) Faculty Engagement Programme (FEP), 2 in each language for six-month duration, whereby a faculty is provided support to mentor and manage at least 5 Young Researchers on an Indian topic; 4) Wiki-Young Researchers Workshop// How will it be different from the India education program and how would you avoid known pit falls? 6. //5 WCL to mentor at least 5 GWLs = A base of 150 leaders (i.e. 150 potential editors); 2) Each WCL to organize 1 Perspective Building Programme (PBP) every week (avg 15 new members per event) = 750 PBPs; 3) Each WCL to organize 1 Wiki-Outreach and Orientation event every month (avg 10 new members per event) = 300 Wiki-Orientations to reach 3000 members (may result in 150 editors).// The numbers are both ambitious and scary at the same time. I understand that a role like yours would need to analyse progress based on numbers. But, I would like to see the progress described in a qualitative way. Thanks, Ravi ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [MediaWiki-India] Small MediaWiki Hackathone (Remote)
Pratik, Harsh. Good to see the little brainstorming session. Perhaps, we could have more of them every now and then. Even I'm interested. Keep up the good work. Oh, and could you share the code with me? I want to check my edit count. On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 10:49 PM, Pratik Lahoti pr4tiklah...@gmail.comwrote: Hi all, Hi all, We are doing a small MediaWiki hackathon at 8 pm today. Harsh Kothari will be conducting the hackathon, whereby he will be teaching the participants some basics of MediaWiki and the ways to contribute to it. Interested folks, see you at 8 pm :-) -- Forwarded message -- From: Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com Date: Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 2:43 AM Subject: [MediaWiki-India] Small MediaWiki Hackathone (Remote) To: mediawiki-in...@lists.wikimedia.org Hi All Pratik Lahoti (User:BPositive) want to learn some basics of MediaWiki and UserScripts, Gadget. So I will going to teach him and also will show how all things are working. So If any one is interested can join on Skype or Hangout or GTalk. Time will be announce by Pratik. Most probably between 7 to 11 :) Happy Coding Best Harsh --- Harsh Kothari Research Fellow, Physical Research Laboratory(PRL). Ahmedabad. ___ MediaWiki-India mailing list mediawiki-in...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-india -- Warm Regards, *Pratik Lahoti* User:BPositive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BPositive Unfortunately, we could not have a G+ hangout/Skype/TeamViewer as there were connectivity problems at my end. However, the hackathon started at 9 pm and we chose Google Docs for interaction purpose and spoke over the phone as well whenever needed. Harsh taught me how to make UserScripts using the API Sandbox. We made a userscript to calculate the edit count of the user. He also informed me about the JS console, the Resource loader, MediaWIki API, grab data from query etc. We finished this in about 80 minutes time. It was a nice experience and I made my first UserScript that can calculate user’s editcount. If anyone wants to get started with MediaWiki or have any doubt, they can contact either Harsh or me. Thank you Harsh for your time! :-) -- Warm Regards, *Pratik Lahoti* User:BPositive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:BPositive *Speak less, work more* ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Srikanth Ramakrishnan Member of the Executive Committee Wikimedia Chapter [India] ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary
Thank you for posting this, Sudhanwa. It was an absolute pleasure serving through my term with the WMIN EC. I wish the new board best of luck with their efforts towards promoting Wikimedia in India and supporting the communities of volunteers. Kind Regards, Anirudh On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 12:36 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com wrote: Dear Wikipedians, The Wikimedia India Chapter was registered with the Karnataka Registrar of societies on 3 January 2011. We celebrate our second anniversary today :) Initially, the Chapter Executive Committee consisted of seven founder members. Over time, six of these founder members departed from the board after each of them made significant and invaluable contributions. The Executive Committee now bids goodbye to the seventh founder member, Anirudh Singh Bhati. The Executive Committee expresses its deep gratitude towards Anirudh for his wonderful contributions that have helped build the chapter. He becomes the first person to complete an entire term on the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India. We wish him well in all his future ambitions and hope he remains connected to the movement in some form. The Executive Committee has unanimously resolved to fill the vacancy created by Anirudh’s departure by co-opting Bala Jeyaraman. Bala is a distinguished Wikipedian who has been active on English and Tamil Wikipedia’s, being an administrator on the latter and was one of the organisers of the recently held Tamil Wiki Photo Contest. He will hold office until the next general body meeting which would need to approve his appointment. Another important step being taken by the chapter is our first fundraising appeal, which will be announced shortly. A lot of people may ask why the chapter needs a fundraiser when it has access to WMF funding. The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) and would need to rely on grants, spending of which is restricted by the WMF. Since formation, the chapter has relied heavily on the Executive Committee to take on the burden of running the show. In an ideal world, the EC would like to take on the role of guiding the chapter rather than actually be responsible for operations after two years of incorporation, which should be best done by professionals rather than volunteers in their spare time. The chapter has hired an employee (Sowmyan Trimurti, our Executive Manager) as well as plans to lease its own office premises in Bangalore. For this, we will soon be sharing a plan and will request the community for suggestions on the plan. We will also need the help of those volunteers who are in a position to support us. It could be a small individual donation or in the form of a corporate donation from an institution. A small token of support from you could go a long way in helping us achieving our goals of furthering the movement in India. Apart from this, we encourage the community at large to engage with the chapter and request our support wherever necessary without hesitation for community activities. The chapter has been formed for the benefit of the community and we will always try our best to live up to the community’s expectations. Warm regards, -Sudhanwa Jogalekar President, WMIN !~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! www.wikimedia.in -- ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary
Thank you Sudhanwa. I hope I will do justice to the role and keep up the good work of my predecessors. regards Bala On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:51 PM, Anirudh Bhati anirudh...@gmail.com wrote: Thank you for posting this, Sudhanwa. It was an absolute pleasure serving through my term with the WMIN EC. I wish the new board best of luck with their efforts towards promoting Wikimedia in India and supporting the communities of volunteers. Kind Regards, Anirudh On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 12:36 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com wrote: Dear Wikipedians, The Wikimedia India Chapter was registered with the Karnataka Registrar of societies on 3 January 2011. We celebrate our second anniversary today :) Initially, the Chapter Executive Committee consisted of seven founder members. Over time, six of these founder members departed from the board after each of them made significant and invaluable contributions. The Executive Committee now bids goodbye to the seventh founder member, Anirudh Singh Bhati. The Executive Committee expresses its deep gratitude towards Anirudh for his wonderful contributions that have helped build the chapter. He becomes the first person to complete an entire term on the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India. We wish him well in all his future ambitions and hope he remains connected to the movement in some form. The Executive Committee has unanimously resolved to fill the vacancy created by Anirudh’s departure by co-opting Bala Jeyaraman. Bala is a distinguished Wikipedian who has been active on English and Tamil Wikipedia’s, being an administrator on the latter and was one of the organisers of the recently held Tamil Wiki Photo Contest. He will hold office until the next general body meeting which would need to approve his appointment. Another important step being taken by the chapter is our first fundraising appeal, which will be announced shortly. A lot of people may ask why the chapter needs a fundraiser when it has access to WMF funding. The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) and would need to rely on grants, spending of which is restricted by the WMF. Since formation, the chapter has relied heavily on the Executive Committee to take on the burden of running the show. In an ideal world, the EC would like to take on the role of guiding the chapter rather than actually be responsible for operations after two years of incorporation, which should be best done by professionals rather than volunteers in their spare time. The chapter has hired an employee (Sowmyan Trimurti, our Executive Manager) as well as plans to lease its own office premises in Bangalore. For this, we will soon be sharing a plan and will request the community for suggestions on the plan. We will also need the help of those volunteers who are in a position to support us. It could be a small individual donation or in the form of a corporate donation from an institution. A small token of support from you could go a long way in helping us achieving our goals of furthering the movement in India. Apart from this, we encourage the community at large to engage with the chapter and request our support wherever necessary without hesitation for community activities. The chapter has been formed for the benefit of the community and we will always try our best to live up to the community’s expectations. Warm regards, -Sudhanwa Jogalekar President, WMIN !~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! www.wikimedia.in -- ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary
Hi Sudhanwa, Thanks for the update. I too thank Anirudh for his contributions and wish him well. I congratulate Bala on joining the EC and wish the all new EC(meaning non founder member EC) all the best in nurturing Chapter. Cheers Arjuna 2013/1/3 Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com Dear Wikipedians, The Wikimedia India Chapter was registered with the Karnataka Registrar of societies on 3 January 2011. We celebrate our second anniversary today :) Initially, the Chapter Executive Committee consisted of seven founder members. Over time, six of these founder members departed from the board after each of them made significant and invaluable contributions. The Executive Committee now bids goodbye to the seventh founder member, Anirudh Singh Bhati. The Executive Committee expresses its deep gratitude towards Anirudh for his wonderful contributions that have helped build the chapter. He becomes the first person to complete an entire term on the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India. We wish him well in all his future ambitions and hope he remains connected to the movement in some form. The Executive Committee has unanimously resolved to fill the vacancy created by Anirudh’s departure by co-opting Bala Jeyaraman. Bala is a distinguished Wikipedian who has been active on English and Tamil Wikipedia’s, being an administrator on the latter and was one of the organisers of the recently held Tamil Wiki Photo Contest. He will hold office until the next general body meeting which would need to approve his appointment. Another important step being taken by the chapter is our first fundraising appeal, which will be announced shortly. A lot of people may ask why the chapter needs a fundraiser when it has access to WMF funding. The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) and would need to rely on grants, spending of which is restricted by the WMF. Since formation, the chapter has relied heavily on the Executive Committee to take on the burden of running the show. In an ideal world, the EC would like to take on the role of guiding the chapter rather than actually be responsible for operations after two years of incorporation, which should be best done by professionals rather than volunteers in their spare time. The chapter has hired an employee (Sowmyan Trimurti, our Executive Manager) as well as plans to lease its own office premises in Bangalore. For this, we will soon be sharing a plan and will request the community for suggestions on the plan. We will also need the help of those volunteers who are in a position to support us. It could be a small individual donation or in the form of a corporate donation from an institution. A small token of support from you could go a long way in helping us achieving our goals of furthering the movement in India. Apart from this, we encourage the community at large to engage with the chapter and request our support wherever necessary without hesitation for community activities. The chapter has been formed for the benefit of the community and we will always try our best to live up to the community’s expectations. Warm regards, -Sudhanwa Jogalekar President, WMIN !~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! www.wikimedia.in -- ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary
Thank you for your contributions to the chapter, Anirudh. And welcome Bala. I'm sure you'll add tremendous value to the EC. :) - Sundar That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted. - George Boole, quoted in Iverson's Turing Award Lecture From: Arjuna Rao Chavala arjunar...@gmail.com To: wmin-memb...@googlegroups.com Cc: Discussion list on Indian language projects of Wikimedia. wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org; Wikimedia India EC wikimedia-in-e...@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 4:56 AM Subject: Re: [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary Hi Sudhanwa, Thanks for the update. I too thank Anirudh for his contributions and wish him well. I congratulate Bala on joining the EC and wish the all new EC(meaning non founder member EC) all the best in nurturing Chapter. Cheers Arjuna 2013/1/3 Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com Dear Wikipedians, The Wikimedia India Chapter was registered with the Karnataka Registrar of societies on 3 January 2011. We celebrate our second anniversary today :) Initially, the Chapter Executive Committee consisted of seven founder members. Over time, six of these founder members departed from the board after each of them made significant and invaluable contributions. The Executive Committee now bids goodbye to the seventh founder member, Anirudh Singh Bhati. The Executive Committee expresses its deep gratitude towards Anirudh for his wonderful contributions that have helped build the chapter. He becomes the first person to complete an entire term on the Executive Committee of Wikimedia India. We wish him well in all his future ambitions and hope he remains connected to the movement in some form. The Executive Committee has unanimously resolved to fill the vacancy created by Anirudh’s departure by co-opting Bala Jeyaraman. Bala is a distinguished Wikipedian who has been active on English and Tamil Wikipedia’s, being an administrator on the latter and was one of the organisers of the recently held Tamil Wiki Photo Contest. He will hold office until the next general body meeting which would need to approve his appointment. Another important step being taken by the chapter is our first fundraising appeal, which will be announced shortly. A lot of people may ask why the chapter needs a fundraiser when it has access to WMF funding. The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) and would need to rely on grants, spending of which is restricted by the WMF. Since formation, the chapter has relied heavily on the Executive Committee to take on the burden of running the show. In an ideal world, the EC would like to take on the role of guiding the chapter rather than actually be responsible for operations after two years of incorporation, which should be best done by professionals rather than volunteers in their spare time. The chapter has hired an employee (Sowmyan Trimurti, our Executive Manager) as well as plans to lease its own office premises in Bangalore. For this, we will soon be sharing a plan and will request the community for suggestions on the plan. We will also need the help of those volunteers who are in a position to support us. It could be a small individual donation or in the form of a corporate donation from an institution. A small token of support from you could go a long way in helping us achieving our goals of furthering the movement in India. Apart from this, we encourage the community at large to engage with the chapter and request our support wherever necessary without hesitation for community activities. The chapter has been formed for the benefit of the community and we will always try our best to live up to the community’s expectations. Warm regards, -Sudhanwa Jogalekar President, WMIN !~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! www.wikimedia.in -- -- ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
