I wonder if it would make sense to solicit 3rd party laptop donations for this program? E.g. some businesses may be happy to donate their old laptops to Wikipedia volunteers... I am not sure how big of an overhead it would be, but if WMF is already doing it, 20 vs 200 might not be a significant difference (?) .
On Fri, Mar 17, 2017 at 1:14 PM Michael Maggs <mich...@maggs.name> wrote: > Thank you Asaf. Did you know that there is already a Commons page for > Community donations? > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Equipment_exchange > > It would be worth linking your new Meta page to the existing one. > > Michael > > > Asaf Bartov <mailto:abar...@wikimedia.org> > > 17 March 2017 at 6:06 am > > Dear Wikimedians, > > > > The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce a small new program > called > > the Hardware Donation Program. In a word, it is a program designed to > > donate depreciated (but fully working) hardware from the WMF office to > > community members who would put it to good use. > > > > The program, including instructions on how to apply, is described on > Meta, > > here: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hardware_donation_program > > > > Please read the information carefully. I especially encourage you to pay > > attention to the program's design considerations, which determine most of > > the decisions we'll be making. > > > > We currently have approximately 20 laptops ready to be donated. > > Applications are welcome. > > > > The upcoming Wikimedia Conference in Berlin (in about two weeks) would be > > an excellent opportunity to deliver some of those laptops in person to > > approved applications, so if you think you might be interested, I'd > > encourage you to apply as soon as possible. > > > > Please also help spread the word about this program, by forwarding this > > e-mail to other Wikimedia lists you're on, and posting the link to the > > program page on village pumps and *community* (not public) social media > > channels or other communication forms you use. > > > > Special thanks to User:Anntinomy from Wikimedia Ukraine, who had the idea > > of asking about possible donation of older machines from WMF, and > inspired > > this program. > > > > Mini-FAQ: > > > > Q: Why are you doing this? > > A: WMF's Office IT determines a lifetime for work machines, and regularly > > replaces older machines. This creates a stock of older, working machines, > > that are available for donation. We can donate them locally to San > > Francisco charities, but figure that if we can find low-cost ways to > > deliver them to our own community members, that's so much better. > > > > Q: Am I eligible? > > A: Read the fine program documentation. > > > > Q: If I'm eligible, am I guaranteed a donated laptop? > > A: no. > > > > Q: Once these 20 laptops are donated, will there be others? > > A: yes, eventually. > > > > Q: How can you ensure people would use the machines for Wikimedia > > purposes? > > A: We can't. We'll be making a good-effort assessment of the likelihood > of > > Wikimedia use, and make a decision to donate (or not) the equipment. Once > > donated, the equipment no longer belongs to WMF. We encourage, but can't > > enforce, reporting on impact achieved using the equipment. > > > > Q: I need a few laptops for my event in two weeks! Can I get them through > > this program? > > A: No. Read the fine program documentation. > > > > Q: I'm really happy about this! > > A: So are we! :) > > > > Q: I'm really angry about this! > > A: So it goes. > > > > Q: I have more questions! > > A: Hit 'Reply'. :) > > > > Cheers, > > > > Asaf > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
