On 01/12/2009, at 11:50 AM, Gnangarra wrote: > Having a meetup page for WM-au organised events is fine but it should not be > seen or promoted as a replacement to/of Wikipedia meetups organised by local > editors
I'm fine with Wikimedia Australia co-ordinating and mediating some meet-ups, so long as: * There is an appropriate mixture of "working" meetings where we have structured discussion, "social" meet-ups where the locals get together and have a chat, and "outreach" meetups where we are primarily aiming to meet up with local folks from other organisations. This is one thing I've noticed with chapter-organised meet-ups compared to community-organised meet-ups they tend to be more "serious". There is immense value in simple regular social gatherings of local community members. * There is not undue influence being exerted, and the community is free to do its own organisation of meet-ups in the same space. That is, if the Wikimedia Australia site is to become an organising point for meet-ups, then WMAU should not have a monopoly on meet-ups arranged there. One thing I like that I've found with the London meet-ups is that they have a set place and time (the second Sunday of each month, in the Penderel's Oak in Holborn). It might be nice to arrange something similar for the larger (or indeed smaller) Australian cities. Of course, attendance at every meet-up is not compulsory, but it makes meet-ups predictable and regular, rather than the "when Privatemusings feels like arranging one" system we have going right now (at least in Sydney). -- Andrew Garrett agarr...@wikimedia.org.au http://werdn.us/ _______________________________________________ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
