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Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/November 2008

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The 10th New York City Meetup event was held on Sunday, November 16, 2008 in the Columbia University area. This was the fifth of the meetups with a session dedicated to discussing meta:Wikimedia New York City issues.

Topics on the agenda included a review of our recent Wikis Take Manhattan event, planning for our upcoming "Wikipedia Loves Art!" event at the Brooklyn Museum, discussions on strategy and incorporation as a non-profit, and presentations and roundtable discussions among our local Wikimedians.

What, Where, When, and How?

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There was one public meeting in the afternoon at Columbia University in Pupin Hall, where we took further steps to organize the Wikimedia New York City local chapter, and provide a salon-style forum for discussion of Wikipedia and Wikimedia issues.

Additionally, there were optional post-meeting social activities at a local restaurant.

Main public meeting to discuss Wikipedia issues and chapter formation:

  • 1402 Pupin Hall, Columbia University, located at the north end of the campus. Enter the campus at 116th Street and then turn left (north) past the huge domed building. Take the elevator to the 13th floor and then walk up one flight of stairs. Meeting to be held in the library at the east end of the hall from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM.

Optional post-meeting meetup

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  • Meetup at Columbia, and then walk together to The Symposium, a Greek restaurant. After the restaurant, we can return to Pupin Hall for an observing session with the telescopes on the roof weather permitting. 5:00 PM onwards.

Late arrival info and transportation

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If you plan on arriving late, and are concerned about not finding your way to the group, you can drop your mobile phone number ahead of time at Special:Emailuser/Pharos.

Nearby subway stations:

Agenda

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Bring your own ideas!

  • Follow-up on ideas raised in the June 2008 (see video) and September 2008 meeting minutes
    • Roles and duties of interim interim board members (and how everyone else can help too)
    • Why incorporation will probably be held off until chapters committee approval
  • Chapter business
    • Michael Snow on Chapters business from board meeting and Sub-national chapters Q&A from the recent Wikimedia Foundation meeting
      • Metropolitan-based chapters (like us) will be accepted
      • Sub-national chapters working group: Kat (User:Mindspillage) from the board, Andrew (User:Whiteknight) from the chapters committee, and Erik (User:Eloquence) from the staff
        • It would be great if we could invite one or more members of the working group to come to the meeting
          • Kat is in fact coming. :-)
    • Finalizing and approving meta:Wikimedia New York City/Bylaws (necessary to submit to chapters committee)
      • The more-or-less final version is up there now, so have a look.
    • Remy and James from the Software Freedom Law Center will join the conversation on forming a non-profit; the center may be able to give us some legal assistance
    • Burgeoning "sister chapter" relationship with meta:Wikimedia Australia, maybe establish regular Skype meetings
    • Time and place of next meeting? Maybe we might consider monthly meetings in alternating locations (and on different days of the week), like Berlin.
    • Projects
      • Review of Fall 2008 Wikis Take Manhattan (see video)
      • "Wikipedia Loves Art!!" at Brooklyn Museum planned for February 2009, an art photo scavenger hunt, a follow-on event in the vein of Wikis Take Manhattan (and possibly at other museums on The Commons on Flickr)
      • Initial planning for 2009 Wikis Take Manhattan
      • Educating the public about Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects (so far we've focused on content creation projects, but public education is just as important, and something that folks have raised in the past)
      • Other projects, see the meta:Wikimedia New York City#Projects (recently updated)
      • Possibility of "Wiki-Conference New York": A one-day regional scale Wikimedia conference for 100-200 people, to be planned for the summer
      • —Presentation by Mitchazenia over what our focus will be on when we start projects between High & Elementary School, as well as projects. Examples of questions are: 1) How do we start? 2) Who should really devote their time to it? and 3) What type of effect does this have on a school district? 4) What levels should be our progress?
      • —
        • Other suggestions for projects?
  • Speakers and roundtable discussions
    • My Thoughts on RFA-essay authored and read by User:Shapiros10. Discussion immediately following reading. Sam Blab 20:09, 13 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]
    • Remy and James from the Software Freedom Law Center and Fred from Creative Commons on the GFDL 1.3 license, newly modified to deal with Wikimedia's coming copyright changes
    • Maybe a roundtable discussion looking back on Wikipedia and the election?
    • Question-and-discussion session with non-Wikimedians who have been invited to the meeting
    • What is the the ideal number of articles for a complete Wikipedia to have? Is there a limit?
    • Why does Wikipedia have such a higher profile than the other Wikimedia projects? How can we raise the profile of thew others?
    • —
    • —
Meeting Signup List - Likely, Possible, and Regrets

Likely attendees

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Possible attendees

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Regrets

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Report on the Meet-up

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Attendees of record

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Wikipedians/Wikimedians, from the sign-up sheet. May be incomplete.
Other guests
  • Two of our younger members were accompanied by their chauffeurs.

Chapter formation

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In lieu of approving bylaws at the meeting or delegating the task to a committee, it was decided that the task should be completed on-wiki, with a deadline of 2 weeks to complete the process. Please read the proposed bylaws, and comment on them before the process ends on December 1.

Kat on Subnational chapters

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Kat, who is a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board and on the special working group on subnational chapters, introduced us to some of the procedures our chapter-in-formation should go thorough, and said she would follow up on forwarding relevant documents to the mailing list. We also discussed some of the other areas where possible subnational activity has been brewing, like Boston, Philadelphia, DC, and Oregon, though our group is probably furthest along at this point.

Wikis Take Manhattan and Wikipedia Loves Art

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There was a review of Wikis Take Manhattan, and a general consensus that improvements for next time (Spring or Fall 2009) should include a greater focus on quality images. Wikipedia Loves Art, at the Brooklyn Museum and possibly the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums, is scheduled for February 2009, and Shelley from the Brooklyn Museum will be a guest at our next meetup in January.

Shapiros10 on RfA and ageism

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Shapiros10 presented a view on Wikipedia:Requests for adminship and ageism in regard to younger editors nominated to become administrators, prompting a lively discussion on incessant problems with misbehaving adult admins, and whether there might be a few duties that younger administrators perhaps should leave to their elder mop-pushers.

Mitchazenia on educational projects

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Mitchazenia presented on the prospects for chapter work with high schools and colleges in our region, particularly in terms of Wikipedia:WikiReader-type projects, as well as Wikipedia:School and university projects. He also discussed how different types of schools might fit differently into any scheme. Group discussion also turned to the finding of which individuals and institutions might be most receptive to such outreach efforts.

Audio

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Audio of the second part of the Meetup, which took place after the mid-point break, in which editors made presentations, can be found here. Enjoy.

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