890:"Unlike user groups, chapters and thorgs are eligible for annual operating grants"âSomeone has commented to me that the first phrase is incorrect. I'm trying to locate information on Meta about the differences in funding opportunities for user groups vs chapters/thorgs, but it's surprisingly difficult (and I think FDC grant eligibility changed in the recent restructuring). What led me down the possibly wrong path was the appearance of "chapter" and "chapter agreement" at the top of the 2016â17
271:, they enjoy fewer privileges than chapters and thorgs do. Unlike user groups, chapters and thorgs are eligible for annual operating grants, which can involve significant amounts of donors' money; this may explain the strong attraction by some affiliates to the relatively expensive model followed by some European chapters, which involves paid staff and "bricks and mortar" city offices. Chapters and thorgs have the privilege of nominating two of the 10 WMF trustees, whereas user groups do not.
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849:. Other than that, since expectations are not higher, accountability is not higher. I would like to see higher accountability requirements. The ones proposed above are fine, but I regret that there are no plans to apply these rules to existing chapters. I wish that they could apply to all chapters, and not just new chapters, and I wish that these rules could be in place in time to de-commission inactive chapters before the
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263:); these are less specific, involving general big-picture expectations for mission alignment, geographical focus, legal incorporation, governance, a minimum of 20 active contributors, and "capacity". In effect, the new criteria will create a two-tiered system of standards and accountability, in which there are substantially lower standards for existing chapters and thorgs than for newly recognised chapters and thorgs.
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for chapter/thorg status, which were not open to scrutiny in the past, would be handled transparently in the future. We inquired whether the proposed two-tiered system of new and existing chapters constituted an attempt to avoid objections by existing chapters/thorgs. We asked whether AffCom is sufficiently independent from chapters/thorgs to exercise the types of judgment indicated in
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contacted the chair of AffCom, on 29 August, inviting response to a number of questions raised by the announcement. He declined to comment by copy-deadline, citing a need to confer with his AffCom colleagues. Our questions built on those raised on the list: We asked whether evaluation of applications
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Experience proves that 'trying to get in touch' and 'trying to put together a plan' is a very lengthy process, and takes months, if not years. ... You do have to draw the line somewhere though, and at some point get 'harsh' and have hard deadlines. An appeal process would mean having someone at the
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that âif any chapter's status is in doubt as a result of the new criteria, then the chapter can be given 6 months to rise to the occasion. If chapters still do not meet the new criteria after that time, it seems to me that they should be re-classified as user groups until they re-apply for chapter
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contains the heartwarming story of
Armenian children teaching their parents how to edit. Said one parent, "I was worrying that my son spent hours in front of the laptop. But now, seeing the important work he is doing by creating and sharing free knowledge, Iâm more understanding. I'm so proud of
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which chapters fall short of the new criteria, adding: âI think we should at least get a sense for that, and those chapters should be notified and be put on the path to meeting standards or losing their status." Colina suggested that losing status would be a rare last resort: "in those cases the
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Chapters and thematic organisations are expected to set specific goals and targets for programs, projects, and events before executing them; to measure the results of programs, projects, and events against those targets; and to report on those results to the
Wikimedia Foundation and the wider
176:, comprising 12 voting members, most of them with strong connections to an affiliate, and ten non-voting "advisers". These advisers enable the WMF to monitor and exercise a degree of control over AffCom; they include two board liaisons, three staff liaisons, and three staff observers.
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Chapters and thematic organisations are expected to engage in programmatic partnerships with external groups and organisations (for example, cultural, academic, or government institutions, and so on) to promote the
Wikimedia movement and to add and improve content on Wikimedia
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email list have challenged the announcement on several fronts, ranging from the unclear duration of the âtrial periodâ to the suitability of a two-tiered system in which existing chapters and thorgs will be treated differently from new ones. While AffComâs chair,
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to Pine's suggestion of "a common baseline throughout the world" that he found it âdivisive, discriminatory, patronizing, to say the least. Every chapter's situation is different, so being absolutely quantitative would be unfair and damaging to the movement".
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Chris
Keating, formerly of the Wikimedia UK board, endorsed âa method of inactive chapters to be de-recognised â just as it is also useful for User Groups working towards chapter status to know what they are meant to be working towards." Keating pointed to
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The
Foundation's volunteer Affiliations Committee, created by the Board of Trustees 10 years ago, advises the Board on the approval of new WMF affiliatesâchapters, thematic organisations, and user groups. AffCom's membership is large: currently there are
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Chapters and thematic organisations are expected to plan and conduct a variety of different programs and events; to balance online and offline projects; to strive for continuous activity; and to conduct programs and events at least once every two
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AffCom still grappling with WMF Board's criteria for new chapters: The Boardâs two-year moratorium on new chapters and thematic organisations has expired; presentation of new criteria is reigniting smoldering controversies and introducing new
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at the time, as it changed the rules and effectively put new chapter/thorg applications on hold until
February 2016. According to AffCom's schedule, some of the user groups since established have now become eligible to apply. AffCom first
665:. The Silesian language (or a dialect, depending on the source) is spoken by more than 500,000 people and is used mostly in the Silesia region of Poland. The Silesian Knowledge (XXG) is the largest encyclopedia created in that language. (
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Q: Is it even possible to hold older chapters/thorgs to the higher standards? I was under the impression that the previous processes did not allow for any mechanism to hold chapters accountable, nevermind decomissioning
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The number of user groups has grown from nine to 64 since the Boardâs 2014 decision. User groups are a simpler, less formal, and more flexible form of affiliation. Despite the official position that user groups are
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other end of the line. More often than not, this is not the case. I think it's important that we know to 'terminate', because dormant entities often prevent new people from rekindling motivation and starting anew.
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Asaf Bartov, a WMF staff liaison to AffCom, pointed to a relatively new process "being followed, right now, to review the status of inactive and non-compliant chapters, at long last." Bartov suggested that perhaps
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endorsed MĂ©nard's post, while suggesting that "immediate termination is for 'serious and urgent cases' only and that there is a more partnering process for less serious cases."
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that the top Google search prediction for "Why does
Knowledge (XXG)..." is "Why does Knowledge (XXG) lie", while other top searches question its financial solicitations.
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498:: The Wikimedia Foundation has appointed four members to the Funds Dissemination Committee: Garfield Byrd, Anne Clin, Bishakha Datta, Candelaria Laspeñas. See
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I'm pretty sure that you mixed the admins up. Oshwah's the software engineer, not
Vanmonde. I've fixed it, but if I shouldn't have edited it, you can revert.
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in 2019. That vote is the one power that goes to all chapters, even those chapters operated by single users who almost never log in to
Wikimedia projects.
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The only requirement for chapters is to make a brief annual report to the WMF. The report only needs to be about three sentences long and can be seen at
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reveals that promotions are increasingly infrequent, with 2016 likely to see 12 new administrators â continuing a steady decline begun in 2008.
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205:. Previously, any group of Wikimedians had been able to apply to move straight to chapter/thorg status. The 2014 decision proved
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AffCom may reach out to them to help fix the issue, stimulate the organization of activities, fix governance issues, ...".
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that the Board of
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has details on CollectArt, an effort to get museum visitors to upload their photos to Wikimedia Commons, and a
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between BibliothÚque et Archives nationales du Québec and Wikisourcers to upload and proofread a book a day.
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the proposition that holding existing affiliates to solid expectations would be too harsh:
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These new criteria reflect the next development in a process set in motion by a 2014
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status and are accepted by AffCom as meeting the new criteria." The AffCom chair
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508:: The English Knowledge (XXG) has two new administrators, both veteran editors:
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the criteria by which such applications would be evaluated at its July meeting.
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editorial board and AffComâwas not involved in preparing or writing this story.
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awaits comment from AffCom on these and other issues that we put to the chair.
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that the bar is set "super high" for those organizations without paid staff;
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questions over whether criteria should be qualitative or quantitative;
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the issue of creating two tiers of chapters/thorgs: existing and new.
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416:"a huge shortage of support for user groups and smaller chapters."
194:("thorgs"), instructing AffCom to take these criteria into account.
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Ben Creasy, a former non-voting member of the WMF Audit Committee,
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AffCom still grappling with WMF Board's criteria for new chapters
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proposes a new user permission for patrolling new articles, and
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317:: âthe criteria should also apply to existing chaptersâ and "
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Nevertheless, several Wikimedians expanded on Pineâs theme:
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to review existing chapters' eligibility for paid expenses.
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about the vagueness of the new requirements, and perceived
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On 19 August, the WMF's Affilliations Committee ("AffCom")
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561:: WikiProject Women in Red announced an article drive on
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The announcement prompted an extensive discussion on the
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Protocol for noncompliant Wikimedia movement affiliates
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note via Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska, Wikimedia Poland
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On the other side were claims that the new criteria
815:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try
575:: Two site-wide requests for comment are underway:
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651:Silesian Knowledge (XXG) reaches 5000 articles
408:"focusing on how to bring down chapters", and
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321:chapters should be evaluated routinely". He
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269:"equal players in the Wikimedia movement"
18:Knowledge (XXG):Knowledge (XXG) Signpost
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585:Inspire Campaign to address harassment
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459:Editorial note: In keeping with the
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867:12:10, 7 September 2016 (UTC)
837:22:32, 6 September 2016 (UTC)
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443:Organisational best practices
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349:a somewhat tougher approach
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643:Wikimedia in Education
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921:What do you think of
892:eligibility checklist
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500:our previous coverage
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927:Share your feedback.
804:from this article's
496:New FDC appointments
353:Wikimedia Conference
207:highly controversial
684:Wikimedia blog post
424:questions to AffCom
232:Wikimedia movement.
795:Discuss this story
755:WikiProject report
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706:"News and notes" â
563:women philosophers
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46:â Back to Contents
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880:ThePlatypusofDoom
819:purging the cache
770:Technology report
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653:: On 6 July, the
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441:, in WMFâs
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294:a complaint
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641:September
608:20 August
595:at Commons
469:Signpostâs
461:Signpost's
422:Signpost's
261:items 4â9)
203:user group
174:22 members
84:Share this
79:Contribute
22:2016-09-06
954:Subscribe
806:talk page
624:published
465:Rosiestep
437:, in the
361:this link
328:responded
323:suggested
239:projects.
212:discussed
184:announced
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949:Newsroom
944:Archives
696:Previous
573:Two RFCs
535:observed
447:Signpost
430:Signpost
319:existing
188:chapters
126:LinkedIn
106:Facebook
20: |
904:(talk)
532:@Faewik
300:queries
225:months.
116:Twitter
883:(talk)
863:(talk)
639:: The
514:Oshwah
136:Reddit
96:E-mail
939:About
827:them.
647:him!"
518:chart
340:asked
315:wrote
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