Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-IN-PUN] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary
On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:06 PM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com wrote: The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) I may have missed out on a previous explanation of this - what is the reason for the ineligibility ? -- sankarshan mukhopadhyay https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan ___ 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] [Wikimedia-IN-PUN] Wikimedia India Chapter Anniversary
The period for clearance of permission to receive funds from abroad in the form of donation or grant (as against earnings) is unknowable, but has been getting extensive over the past few years since the rule was instituted. Afaik, there is no obvious reason why it should take long or be considered doubtful. -- Vickram Fool On The Hill The cameras were all around. We've got you taped; you're in the play. Here's your I.D. (Ideal for identifying one and all.) Invest your life in the memory bank; ours the interest and we thank you. Jethro Tull: A Passion Play (1973) On Jan 7, 2013 2:44 PM, sankarshan foss.mailingli...@gmail.com wrote: On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:06 PM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com wrote: The answer is, we are still ineligible for FDC (we hope to be eligible for the second round of funding in 2013) I may have missed out on a previous explanation of this - what is the reason for the ineligibility ? -- sankarshan mukhopadhyay https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan ___ 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] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad
Dear Harsh, I understand that it can be sometimes frustrating to be answering a bunch of questions from other Wikipedians (including, perhaps me) however it serves a purpose. You have suggested the formation, on this list, of a new entity. There are two things worth congragulating you here. One, that you are willing to take a lead on the formation of an entity. Second, that you have announced it on this list. However, this act of creating a new entity comes along with it the responsoibility of answering questions and concerns other members of the community may have. This helps people who want to join in decide and understand what they are getting into. It also makes things simpler for the teams and groups following your lead. Being a pioneer requires effort because change is resisted. Alternatives will be suggested and the group must stand the test of why another entity may not do the work that this group does. Do engage with the community here. It may be frustrating and take your time in the beginning but I believe it would be worthwhile in the long run. This has been my experience. Pradeep Mohandas How Pradeep uses email? - http://goo.gl/6v1I9 From: Arun Ramarathnam arunra...@gmail.com To: Wikimedia India Community list wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Sunday, 6 January 2013 6:06 PM Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group Ahmedabad Dear Harsh, First of all thanks to you and the volunteers in Ahmendabad who are keen to contribute to Mediawiki. it is evident from your contributions to Gujarati (around Mediawiki) that you and others are very interested to do your bit. Please continue to do this with the passion and the enthusiasm some of you have show already. On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 12:34 AM, Harsh Kothari harshkothari...@gmail.com wrote: Next is I don't want to get involved in this type of discussion. I just want to contribute and code. This is probably the best we can do, since the rest of Ahmedabad group members are also more interested in coding than in formal discussions like this one. We silently help growing the MediaWiki community across India. That is what matters. As a far these formal discussions go they are essential to sort out and bring clarity to the emerging models proposed by the foundation. There are matters of scope of multiple entities at play, overlapping turfs, trademark licensing, membership, continuity of activities and funding that are involved. Building volunteer groups is best done without the need for a registered entity as they come with the burden of maintaining and ensuring compliance to the regulatory authorities. The focus while bootstrapping these ought to be (as you right said) on building the volunteer pool. Let the chapter and the WMF sort out the larger model while you folks keep the focus on the technical work that you are passionate about. I am sure the chapter or the WMF would be happen to support if you were to need any help. Dear All, For now, it is unclear to me what treating the Ahmedabad Mediawiki user group as a formal wikimedia user group actually means? Does that mean it would be non-incorporated entity and have trademark reuse rights (from the chapter?). It suppose it would need to depend on funding as needed from the chapter or WMF. Can someone clarify? Is there any other aspect that I may be missing? To chime in on the observations made earlier on the thread...I for for one also believes... India has been a test bed to test out models without thinking through the ramifications enough. The creation of India programs (first intended as a temporary office, then a formal entity, subsequently wound up (which came as a huge shock to many) and handed over to CIS (now A2K). I do think some of these moves ought to have happened with more chapter involvement. If for one don't understand how first a focused Boots-on-the-ground initiative is launched and subsequently there is a move to a narrowed focused model (a complete change in approach). This move has surely impacted the dynamics at the ground in India immensely. We have lost some truly good wikipedians who have moved on in disillusionment. I care for the movement and do believe that strengthening chapters to be the custodians of the movement in respective countries is the way to go forward. In my view, all movement entities should focus on assisting chapters to be successful who in term focus on supporting the community and local outreach. If there isn't belief in chapters, better to scrap them than run parallel entities (I am not referring to the Ahmedabad initiative here). What is sad is in the midst of this complexity of organisational entities, we perhaps risk losing truly enthusiastic volunteers whose only interest is in contributing to the movement. Catalysing and supporting volunteer enthusiasm and interest ought to be our
[Wikimediaindia-l] Gnunify 2013 - CFP open
Hi, Gnunify 2013 ( v11 ) is announced. Cfp is open (there does not seem to be a closing date, but better to register talks early). Date: 15th, 16th and 17th Feb 2013 Venue: Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR),Pune. Tracks include. System Admin (Networking, security etc) Web Techologies Mobile Techonoligies Cloud Computing Scientific Computing System Programmin FOSS - Generic Topics Current Trends You have to register as user and then submit talk/workshop. http://www.gnunify.in/user/register (try forgot password with mail id, if you registered last year). -- -* *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
[Wikimediaindia-l] MediaWiki / User Groups in India (was Re: Proposal for India's First MediaWiki Group v Ahmedabad)
Thank you Arun for moving this discussion to more generic terms. I am answering to your questions below. Pradeep, I agree that this discussion needs to go on until we reach to an agreement satisfying all parties. But looking at the thread there is little to nothing specific to Ahmedabad here. One could even say that it is not even restricted to India since this type of situation will happen wherever there is a national chapter and some contributors willing to create a Wikimedia User Group or a MediaWiki Group. I have renamed the thread and you might even consider moving the discussion to wikimedia-l in order to gather opinions from other chapters and contributors elsewhere. On 01/07/2013 05:20 AM, Pradeep Mohandas wrote: However, this act of creating a new entity comes along with it the responsoibility of answering questions and concerns other members of the community may have. For what is worth Harsh has been answering promptly to any requests about the Ahmedabad proposal coming from myself (as promoter of MediaWiki Groups), the Affiliations Committee and the Wikimedia India chapter in the direct contacts with Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Asking Harsh or the Ahmedabad volunteers to answer the generic questions in this thread is like asking Belgium to come up with answers about the problem of Global Warming. Or something. :) *From:* Arun Ramarathnam arunra...@gmail.com For now, it is unclear to me what treating the Ahmedabad Mediawiki user group as a formal wikimedia user group actually means? I tried to answer questions like the ones you are asking at http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2013-January/009126.html . I'll try harder now. :) Maybe the simplest way to explain local MediaWiki Groups is that they are like Wikipedia Meetups, but focusing on MediaWiki instead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup Local MediaWiki groups collaborate with Wikimedia chapters, See also Wikipedia meetups and other local communities related with Wikimedia, free software, free culture... https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups#Local_groups No more, no less. Does that mean it would be non-incorporated entity Indeed. MediaWiki Groups are not meant to be incorporated. Maybe this should be put clearly in our documentation to avoid confusion. and have trademark reuse rights (from the chapter?). No. The only right you get as MediaWiki Group Something is to use MediaWiki Group Something in your activities and materials. For anything else you need to ask the chapter or the WMF just like anybody else. MediaWiki groups can request support from the Wikimedia Foundation and chapters in various forms: Advice on the use of Wikimedia / Wikipedia / MediaWiki logos and trademarks in your activities. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups#Support_from_the_Wikimedia_Foundation_and_chapters It suppose it would need to depend on funding as needed from the chapter or WMF. Being a MediaWiki Group doesn't grant you any funding. You need to find your own resources or ask the chapter / Funds Dissemination Committe, WMF... again just like anybody else. https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups#Budget_requests India has been a test bed to test out models without thinking through About the several mentions of the WMF experimenting in India with new models. I can't speak about the past since I wasn't here. But I can assure you that the WMF has no specific plans or intentions regarding MediaWiki Groups in India. If some the first proposals are coming from India is because there are people here with an interest in organizing MediaWiki activities locally. India is a computer science powerhouse and there is a history of MediaWiki / Wikimedia tech activities. That explains, not any undisclosed WMF plan. Yuvi Panda might have a @wikimedia.org address at work but his interest is personal. Harsh and the Ahmedabad promoters don't have any ties with the WMF that I'm aware of. If someone would have started in Germany, Australia or wherever we would be now supporting them just in the same way. We are supporting MediaWiki Group Ciudad de México just in the same way, only without lengthy discussions because there nobody seems to see a problem in this kind of groups. If you still think there is a WMF agenda behind MediaWiki Groups in India please speak up, otherwise we will just accumulate a silent layer of misunderstanding. I care for the movement and do believe that strengthening chapters to be the custodians of the movement in respective countries is the way to go forward. In my view, all movement entities should focus on assisting chapters to be successful who in term focus on supporting the community and local outreach. If there isn't belief in chapters, better to scrap them than run parallel entities (I am not referring to the Ahmedabad initiative here). I wish someone would explain how a MediaWiki Group (or a Wikimedia User Group)
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] How to set up a SIG?
Bence, The details on joining the SIG is now Public at : http://wiki.wikimedia.in/City_and_Language_Special_Interest_Group_Chair To nominate yourself OR someone and to vote you need to be a member of the Chapter. Becoming a member is pretty easy. It costs INR 100 to join and requires a single form to be filled and sent across. Details on joining the chapter, including the form is available at http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Join_us SIGs can not only be created for cities and languages but also for other special projects like GLAM, MediaWiki and Commons. There is a nomination page for the position of a GLAM SIG already on right now. I hope this clears it up. Please let me know if anything else needs clarification. Cheers, Happy Editing, Srikanth. On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 11:15 PM, Bence Damokos bdamo...@gmail.com wrote: 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 -- 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] How to set up a SIG?
On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Becoming a member is pretty easy. It costs INR 100 to join and requires a single form to be filled and sent across. Actually, it isn't. As Bence is not an Indian citizen over 18 or an Indian institution, he cannot be a member. Cheers! -- Siebrand ___ 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] Gnunify 2013 - CFP open
Great! Tanks for information. On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 10:33 PM, Sheel Sindhu Manohar tuxophi...@gmail.comwrote: Hi, Gnunify 2013 ( v11 ) is announced. Cfp is open (there does not seem to be a closing date, but better to register talks early). Date: 15th, 16th and 17th Feb 2013 Venue: Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research (SICSR),Pune. Tracks include. System Admin (Networking, security etc) Web Techologies Mobile Techonoligies Cloud Computing Scientific Computing System Programmin FOSS - Generic Topics Current Trends You have to register as user and then submit talk/workshop. http://www.gnunify.in/user/register (try forgot password with mail id, if you registered last year). -- -* *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 ___ 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 Tue, Jan 8, 2013 at 1:26 AM, Siebrand Mazeland (WMF) smazel...@wikimedia.org wrote: On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Becoming a member is pretty easy. It costs INR 100 to join and requires a single form to be filled and sent across. Actually, it isn't. As Bence is not an Indian citizen over 18 or an Indian institution, he cannot be a member. I don't see Srikanth suggesting that anywhere. He's merely referring to the conditions that one needs to qualify to be an SIG chair or an individual eligible to have a say in the decision. Cheers, Anirudh ___ 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] How to set up a SIG?
Due to legal restrictions only an Indian citizen can become a member of the Chapter. When I mentioned it is easy to become a member, I meant for Indian citizens. On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 11:56 PM, Siebrand Mazeland (WMF) smazel...@wikimedia.org wrote: On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 6:45 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan srik.r...@wikimedia.in wrote: Becoming a member is pretty easy. It costs INR 100 to join and requires a single form to be filled and sent across. Actually, it isn't. As Bence is not an Indian citizen over 18 or an Indian institution, he cannot be a member. Cheers! -- Siebrand ___ 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
