Wikimedia United States Chapters Council
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The Wikimedia United States Chapters Council is a framework to organize the founding of a strong group of Wikimedia chapters in the United States, and to promote cooperation among them.
These chapters, unlike existing chapters in other nations, may be founded on a metropolitan and regional-scale level, because of the unique issues of uneven population density throughout the country, and the relative unimportance of state boundary lines.
Wikimedia New York City is the first approved local chapter in the United States.
Wiki-Conference New York at NYU in July 2009 will be the first live venue at which this framework can be developed among aspirant US chapter organizers.
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[edit] Metropolitan level operations
United States chapters may be founded on the level of metropolitan areas, which are informally defined urban areas surrounding major cities. It may be practical to extend the regions of operation significantly beyond the Census definition of the metropolitan area, since many parts of the United States are not in any metropolitan area.
Existing efforts have focused on the participation of those engaging in Wikipedia Meetup events, which is a good way to get started organizing, and it may be helpful for regions of operation to be roughly congruent with the area for which travel to such events is convenient.
It may be helpful to look at C. Etzel Pearcy's 1973 redrawn map of the United States (explanation) of "natural" borders centered on major concentrations of population.
In areas where the major concentrations of population are not too divergent from state boundary lines (or where population is not dense at all, as especially in the rural West), it may be most beneficial to simply define chapters on a state-level basis.
The regions of operation of chapters will not be strictly defined, but people may participate in whatever chapter (or chapters) it is convenient or preferable to them to attend the meetings of.
- See also: User:Kelly Martin/US regions
[edit] Function of the council
The function of the council will be to promote the founding of new chapters, and to maintain a forum for communication among the different chapters.
This might include the organization of community-based nationwide efforts such as the in the example of Wikipedia Loves Art, but on a more regular basis it would also involve joint activities among neighboring chapters in the organization of larger events, and if there is more than one chapter in a state, the coordination of state-level promotional activities.
[edit] Regional-scale of US chapters
Wikimedia New York City was originally planned only for the New York metropolitan area, but was expanded to cover parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (including an organized group in Philadelphia) and Connecticut (including an organized group in Hartford).
Discussion has also been mooted of extending north toward Boston, and south toward DC into a decentralized "Wikimedia East Coast" that would function as one legal entity.
Similarly, other chapters may also emerge in metropolitan areas in other parts of the country, to also organically grow into regional-scale chapters.
In the future, when 2 or 3 such regional-scale chapters are firmly established, they may themselves consider a grand merger into a viable national "Wikimedia US" that would have a solid foundational basis.
[edit] Communities showing potential for new chapters
The communities showing the greatest potential for new chapters are those that have successfully organized multiple Wikipedia Meetup events in the past, or have shown the potential to do so.
- Northeast
- (in Wikimedia New York City)
- New York City
- Philadelphia
- Connecticut
- Washington, DC
- Boston
- (in Wikimedia New York City)
- West Coast
- Southern California
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Oregon
- South
- Texas
- Tennessee
- Florida
- Midwest
- Chicago
- Minneapolis
- Ohio
[edit] 2009 Wiki-Conference New York
Wiki-Conference New York at NYU in July 2009 will be a live venue at which this framework can be developed among aspirant US chapter organizers.
All chapters-interested folks in the US are invited to attend and represent their region. We hope to be joined by some like-minded friends pursuing their own efforts in Canada, as well as by Free Culture groups from across New England, who have their own experience with national and local chapters to share.
