I just wanted to share the Cascadia Meetup for WikiConference USA: http://wikiconferenceusa.org/wiki/Cascadia_Meetup
Who else from the region will be attending? It would be nice if we could find a time to meet and discuss Wikimedia activity in the Cascadia region. Pine, et al., please feel free to contribute to this page if you wish to show support for a user group, or if you have ideas for group discussion. Jason On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 5:00 AM, Lane Rasberry <[email protected]>wrote: > Pine, > > I started a list of other organizations which are friendly to Wikipedia > and a list of venues which people can use to host events. > < > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Cascadia#Meetups_by_other_friendly_organizations > > > > About getting official status as a Wikimedia Foundation partner - the only > requirement is to have three people agree to be a local contact. In other > groups sometimes these local contacts have not been active Wikipedians, and > the major responsibility is being dependable as a point of contact if > something arises. For example, some organization in Seattle may contact a > general Wikipedia forum asking for a referral, and the local group would be > expected to at least refer them to whatever resources are at hand or tell > them that no help is available. > > There is an upcoming WikiConference in New York City next week. Several > people from Seattle and Portland accepted scholarships to attend, and I > will be asking them to meet each other and start the "user group" when they > are here. If that sits for a while and we get a few more people interested, > perhaps leading to having 8-12 Wikipedians regularly attending the monthly > meetups in Seattle and Portland, then we could apply for community > organizer funds especially if we can get a partner organization to also > match the funding and do staff supervision. If it comes to pass that other > people in the region would benefit from having travel expenses and hostel > lodging funded to attend Wikimedia events then that is available for people > who regularly contribute to Wikimedia projects, and meeting other people in > person does make for more efficient partnerships. > > Something else about getting official chapter status - in the last month > our own Cindy (user:Cindamuse) from Kennewick had just joined the Wikimedia > Affiliations committee, which is the group that issues official recognition > to local community groups and grants them licenses to use the > Wikipedia/Wikimedia names and logos. She would have continued to be an > awesome supporter and organizer for us but on the night she arrived at a > conference she met the other Wikipedians there then died in the night > unexpectedly of a long-standing health problem. Cindy had wanted Wikipedia > outreach to the major universities in the area and women's engagement > programs developed. It is a horrible loss for our family and a big loss for > our regional Wikimedia community, but it does show that some people had > been planning what you propose, Pine. > > In the example you gave, we might be able to ask the Gates Foundation to > hire a Wikipedia community organizer to help manage local events and > coordinate projects with research organizations in the area and beyond. > Here is the grant request which led to the Wikimedia Foundation paying > Consumer Reports, who after the grant period have kept me as their > Wikipedian. > < > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Consumer_Reports/Wikipedian_in_Residence > > > > I pitched Gates Foundation staff many times when I was in Seattle and a > bit over the last couple of years. Things have changed since then, but I > still think it would be in their interest to promote Wikipedia. For anyone > who wants to get an in to the confluence where biomedical research meets > the public, there are lots of opportunities in Seattle to attend public > presentations by any organization one can find, but I might recommend > attending this June 3 meetup by Northwest Association of Biomedical > Researchers. > < > https://www.nwabr.org/events-programs/community-events/community-conversation-series > > > All the people at this meetup are looking for new ideas for their > organization. > > > > > On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 3:19 AM, ENWP Pine <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Hail Cascadians, >> >> You probably know about <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cascadia.> >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cascadia >> >> Our contact at TA3M Seattle is assembling a list of FOSS organizations in >> the Seattle area. If you know of FOSS, GLAM, or other organizations in our >> region which would have common interests with Wikimedia Cascadia, please >> add them to the Cascadia page on Meta. This will help us to think about >> where we can do outreach. >> >> One idea I am currently thinking seriously about is how to have a >> Wikimedian in Residence position made available at the Gates Foundation, if >> they are willing to host one. I think that will be easier to do once we are >> officially a user group or thematic organization. >> >> Does anyone have thoughts to share about us becoming a recognized user >> group or thematic organization? I think this would benefit us because we >> would be allowed to use the Wikimedia trademarks and would provide easier >> access to other organizations like the Gates Foundation, other FOSS >> organizations, events which are only for journalists, and other >> opportunities. I am *not* proposing that we become a chapter because we are >> too small at this time. That might come later. For now, I think being an >> officially recognized Wikimedia user group would serve our needs well. >> >> Pine >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-Cascadia mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-cascadia >> >> > > > -- > Lane Rasberry > user:bluerasberry on Wikipedia > 206.801.0814 > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-Cascadia mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-cascadia > >
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