Wikipedia:Wikimedia DC

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Please visit the main page on Meta at m:Wikimedia DC

This will be the working page for the creation of a Wikimedia Foundation chapter for the DC Metro area. Please consider joining the working group for the WMF DC chapter. Since we have a very active and very community oriented DC/MD/VA area group of Wikipedians, it only makes sense to develop it as a chapter, especially given the recent changes to the Board of Trustees structure, giving chapters more of a vote. Hopefully we will be either the first or the second officially recognized US Chapter (WMF Pennsylvania is pending as well), and hopefully our efforts will benefit WMF Penn as well. Remember, it's a working group, and this is a wiki, so feel free to offer changes, make bold changes to the group, and discuss on the talk page!


Contents

[edit] Members

[edit] Working team members

Please sign here if you are interested in joining the working team to help develop the chapter.

[edit] Non-working-team members

Not interested in working on the setup and development of the chapter, but still want to be a part of the membership? Maybe you want to join once it's completed? That's okay! Please sign your name below to indicate that you would be interested in joining the chapter. (Note: if you are intending to help the working team, please sign above instead. It is assumed that people developing the chapter will become members upon its creation.)

[edit] Upcoming meetings

Wikimeetup DC: 4, Saturday May 17 2008 5 PM — until it ends, at Pizzeria Uno in Union Station (Metro: Red line).

[edit] Scope of chapter

The chapter will cover the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. Please view the Wikipedia article for a list of locations covered. The area, broadly speaking, covers all of the District of Columbia and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. See maps for details. Note: see discussion below and on talk page.

A general map of the counties that are a part of the area, based on the 1990 Census.
A general map of the counties that are a part of the area, based on the 1990 Census.
The official OMB-designated Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area, based on the 2000 Census.
The official OMB-designated Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia, DC-MD-VA-WV Combined Statistical Area, based on the 2000 Census.


[edit] Mission of the chapter

From the m:Local chapter FAQ:

Chapters exist to further the goals of Wikimedia. They do so by engaging in a wide range of activities, which includes but is not limited to the following:

  • Promoting the Wikimedia projects so that new and different people join them or use them (academics, scientists, college students, schools, libraries etc.)
  • Investigating and negotiating partnerships on a moral or financial basis to support the Wikimedia projects.
  • Helping outside organisations use Wikimedia content, possibly for their own benefit (eg. help publishers of local history Wikireaders, of a Wikipedia DVD in a given language)
  • Organizing local and national events and initiatives (eg. participate in trade shows, set up Wikipedia parties, give lectures etc.)
  • Taking care of PR and lobbying in a given country, give the press an interlocutor in their own language and culture.
  • Enabling (where applicable) tax-deductible donations in the country they are based in.
  • Promoting Free Content and wiki culture in their respective territory.

The DC chapter would be uniquely situated to support many of these goals. Being located in the capital region of the United States, it can be at the forefront of PR, lobbying, free content promotion, and partnership efforts. There are a lot of donation dollars within the Baltimore-Washington area, especially inside the beltway, and the DC chapter would be well suited to helping the WMF's efforts within the DC region. The DC area is home to dozens of governmental organizations and museums, many of which have large amounts of useful content readily available under a free license (Public domain- US Gov't). As well, the area's Wikimedians are active and highly community based, and a chapter would provide an organized structure within which they could focus their activities.

[edit] Steps in chapter development process

From m:Step-by-step chapter creation guide

[edit] Gather the people

We're currently in this step. Please help reach out to all DC area Wikimedians, as well as those from other areas with chapter experience, to help get this thing started. We can also discuss this at the Wikimeetup DC 4 on May 17th. The Chapters FAQ suggests getting between 10 and 20 members for creation, but obviously more people provide for a more robust chapter. This chapter should aim for at least 20 members, with more to develop over time.

[edit] Write the bylaws

The WMF recommends that a lawyer or at the very least someone with legal experience assist in writing the bylaws. If you are a lawyer or know of one who may be willing to assist (preferably without asking too much money, in which case we may want to wait a bit so the WMF pays for them), please leave a note on the talk page.

[edit] Submit bylaws to chapters committee for approval

[edit] Register with authorities

This step, for a US chapter, involves incorporating the chapter as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It also involves registration of trademarks, and any agreements between the Wikimedia Foundation and the chapter.

[edit] Get some money

[edit] Go!

[edit] Issues and concerns

Please read m:Local chapter FAQ first, as it may resolve your questions.

Please note the issue or concern here, but all discussion should be done on the talk page. When a solution has been reached, please make a note here of the decision.

[edit] Scope

The DC metro area is big, one of the biggest in the US. So the question is, how far out do we extend it? It would be simplest to extend it to all of Virginia, Maryland, DC, and West Virginia. Problem is, there are people in the southern areas of Virginia and West Virginia, who aren't really DC accessible. So, should we attempt to include them under the scope? Or can we specifically target parts of northern virginia, and northeast West Virginia? The benefit of specific targetting is that it allows for the eventual creation of a Virginia chapter, or for example in the north, a Pennsylvania or Delaware chapter that wouldn't be competing with the DC area chapter. On the other hand, there's no guarantee such chapters will exist, or that they couldn't be better served by being part of the DC area chapter anyway. It's significantly easier to just say "the entire state". So what to do? Discuss!

[edit] Bylaws