Well, there's stuff going on. My little "Wikipedia in the Classroom" project has been boiling away pretty nicely (I really ought to update the page on the chapter site about that.), but it's mainly foundation-building stuff that'll let us pull of bigger things in the future.
And as for grants, again, the outlay for my project has been about $20 so far, which included my petrol to drive to the venues and to purchase some mints to hand out. You don't need a big fat grant to pull off something worthwhile. Cheers, Craig From: wikimediaau-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:wikimediaau-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of private musings Sent: Wednesday, 5 May 2010 7:30 PM To: Wikimedia-au Subject: Re: [Wikimediaau-l] grants application this year? 'Grant applications are serious, not something that you submit just to engage with a process and there needs to be a properly thought through application with an idea of who, what, when, where and how the proposed project will be run' - totally agree with this- and agree that it's a large stretch to try and get anything completed before the deadline - whether or not it's worth trying is a different question, I guess :-) 'I'd rather see us take the time to discuss possible ideas properly and get the details of any proposed projects members want to run nutted out as carefully as possible before submitting applications' - totally agree with this too - again, it does seem unlikely to be able to get this all done ahead of the deadline - I guess I wish discussions and activity had kicked off earlier - though that's largely down to us as a membership - hopefully we can get the ball rolling anyways ahead of future grant applications etc. 'Jimmy recently describing PM as a troll and calling for him to be globally banned' - this is not accurate - Jimbo never called me a troll, nor did he call for me to be globally banned - please take greater care in raising comments about me personally as oppose to my posts.... however; 'PM is really not an appropriate person to lead the chapter in requests to the WMF for not-insignificant amounts of money' - sure ;-) - as I mentioned I'd rather just try and help / chivvy / expedite existing efforts - my concern is to make sure that something happens - I'm concerned that we're heading for a pretty poor report card for the first half of 2010, and would like to help avoid that :-) cheers, Peter, PM. On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 6:56 PM, Sarah Ewart <sarahew...@gmail.com> wrote: To be entirely frank, I would have to agree that given both the long term and recent "controversies" throughout WMF universe which culminated in Jimmy recently describing PM as a troll and calling for him to be globally banned, PM is really not an appropriate person to lead the chapter in requests to the WMF for not-insignificant amounts of money. However, I don't have a problem with him suggesting potential projects and then seeing how others feel about them and whether they gel with other projects people are currently involved in. I attended the session on grants at the chapters meeting in Berlin (my notes are up on the wiki here- http://www.wikimedia.org.au//wiki/2010_chapters_meeting/Sarahs_notes#Working _group:_Volunteers <http://www.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/2010_chapters_meeting/Sarahs_notes#Working _group:_Volunteers> ) and we discussed the final date for grant applications and Eric made it clear that while May 15 is listed as the deadline, it's more like a preferred date. If applications are in by then they'll be processed more quickly, but we're welcome to submit applications after that date. Last year we had to pay back a grant a chapter member requested for an outreach conference they wanted to run because it fell through and didn't end up going ahead. Paying back the funds was a real headache for the committee (especially for Brian as the then-treasurer) and it took a considerable amount of time to resolve with the foundation. I don't want to see this happen again so I'd oppose any moves to rush through any ill-considered applications just to get them in before May 15 or that seem more orientated on getting money for the sake of it or for the simple stated purpose of engaging with the grant process. Grant applications are serious, not something that you submit just to engage with a process and there needs to be a properly thought through application with an idea of who, what, when, where and how the proposed project will be run. If we have to pay back another grant, it's going to reflect very poorly on the chapter so this isn't something that should just be slapped together at the last minute. I'd rather see us take the time to discuss possible ideas properly and get the details of any proposed projects members want to run nutted out as carefully as possible before submitting applications. On 5/5/10, Andrew <orderinchao...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > > I'll be straight up and state I'm not going to support this, for a variety > of reasons. > > Firstly, I don't think our chapter is capable of producing a grant > application to the standard WMF require for such a big area (education) in > 10 days that addresses all the things WMF expect us to address. > > Secondly, this appears to be trying to reinvent the wheel. Craig's project > up in Brisbane is already making significant advances, at least three other > chapter members have made contacts with (or have been contacted by) > educational departments and representative associations, and completed > resources already in use in schools exist in other languages from other > chapters - I'm presently trying to secure translations of these on behalf of > the chapter. Without any attempt to coordinate the various approaches, we're > not only less effective but also give the outward appearance of being > disorganised to the various educational bodies involved. > > Thirdly, given your recent conflict with, among other people, Jimbo Wales > and various concerns about past occasions when you have undertaken chapter > work (in particular the Dictionary of Sydney episode), I do not think you > personally should be making any outward representation of our chapter and, > if the grant were to be approved, I think someone else should lead it. > > kindest regards > Andrew > > On 5 May 2010 11:46, private musings <thepmacco...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> G'day all, >> >> does the chapter have any grants proposals heading in this year? >> >> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Index >> >> Do we have any structure for creating / supporting a chapter grant like >> this? >> >> I have a few ideas and opportunities - for wiki use in education, >> hopefully >> in partnership with nsw dep. of ed. - if I write something up in the next >> week or so, I suppose we could discuss it on our wiki, and forward it to >> the >> grants page linked above for consideration if appropriate? >> >> I think it's important for a functioning healthy chapter to try to engage >> with processes like this, so if you too have any ideas or opportunities, >> please do pipe up, and let's work on them on the wiki, and get them going >> :-) >> >> cheers, >> >> Peter, >> PM. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimediaau-l mailing list >> Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l >> >> > _______________________________________________ Wikimediaau-l mailing list Wikimediaau-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaau-l
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