Hi all, I think it is perhaps part of their rhetorical stance that the WMF is happy to be seen as "withdrawing support" from a new organisation which did not require their support.
The WMF may well be happy with its role as a central organisation with power radiating out to the chapters it recognises, and clearly an effective WCA would constitute a rival structure which would create a more federative power structure running parallel to their own, and also parallel to the more distributed networks which exist within the Wikimediasphere. Andrew's question has another aspect: has the WMF's action damaged the Foundation's relation with the chapter? Indeed, we can expect a range of opinions, but the underlying question is do we wish to rely on a centralised network of power based on the WMF, or would we prefer this to be tempered by a federated power linking the chapters in an essentially bi-cameral structure. I think this has serious consequences for the Wikimedia community, even if these may not come to a head for some time. In this context, I am disappointed that the WMF seem to have acted by fiat, and I do not think we should respond with undue deference to them. As the Chapters function within different judicial zones in a context of the globalisation of the knowledge economy, and their organisation runs in a parallel but quite distinct to the organisation of the Wikimedia projects themselves - which are based on language rather than geography, I feel there is a lot to consider. In light of this, I see the decision of the WCA to move forward and develop its own infra-structure as something which can only be beneficial. all the best Fabian (User:Leutha) > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 23:08:44 +0000 > From: Andrew Turvey <[email protected]> > To: UK Wikimedia mailing list <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] WMF withdraws support from WCA > Message-ID: > <CADvxJeF0EbeCC4wF__rZXxjs3kfxfPRnD3YqRhma=pmq+u9...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > That's an interesting way of putting it! However, now that the WMF has > come > out against, is there any way that the WCA can fulfill its stated aims? > Furthermore, if WMUK continues to support the WCA, will this damage the > chapter's relationship with the Foundation? > On Feb 6, 2013 9:12 PM, "Thomas Dalton" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> On 6 February 2013 21:07, Andrew Turvey <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > I see the Foundation has withdrawn their support for the Wikimedia >> Chapters >> > Association, the cross-chapters partnership that WMUK backed. >> >> To be honest, it never really offered any support in the first >> place... they said they liked the idea, but that's as far as it got. >> They haven't withdrawn their support, they've said they aren't going >> to be giving any support - subtly different! >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia UK mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >> WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org >> > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediauk-l/attachments/20130206/84fca52c/attachment-0001.html> > > ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
