Wikimedia District of Columbia/Q&A

Who are the people behind this application?[edit]

How many?[edit]

We have seven people who will take the lead on the application process and serve as an interim Board of Directors:

Proposed interim board:

Additional Wikimedians who are actively involved in the chapter formation process include User:Djembayz and User:Jyothis.

Any active (on local or international level) Wiki[pm]edians?[edit]

User:Kirill Lokshin is a long-time coordinator of the Military History WikiProject on the English Wikipedia and has acted as a member of the Arbitration Committee on English Wikipedia since 2006.

User:Mindspillage is a long time contributor to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. She is a community member of the Board of Trustees for the Wikimedia Foundation, and a major speaker and advocate in the greater DC free culture community.

User:Missvain is a coordinator of the Wikipedia Saves Public Art project on English Wikipedia and is the first Wikipedian in Residence with the Smithsonian, working at the Archives of American Art.

User:Sadads is a leader in the Wikipedia Ambassador prorgram, serving on the Steering Committee and coordinating the devlopment of such a program in the UK during Spring 2011.

User:Swatjester is a long time Wikimedian who has supported several major Wikimedia/Wikipedia events in the DC area and worked for the Foundation as a Community Associate.

User:Aude has been a Wikipedian since 2004, organized DC meetups since 2007, attended Wikimania 2007, 2008, 2009 (and 2011), Berlin Hackathon 2009, and other events. She is a GLAM ambassador in DC, coordinating outreach initiatives with the Smithsonian, National Archives, and other local institutions. She also helps foster collaboration with Wikimedia NYC.

User:Harej has been an English Wikipedia editor since 2004 and administrator since 2006, and is the lead organizer for Wikimania 2012.

Other United States and DC area Wikimedians who frequently participate in DC activities include

User:Pharos, long time coordinator of Wikimedia NYC activities.
User:Newyorkbrad, member of English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee since 2008 and active NYC Wikimedian.
User:Ragesoss, Pittsburgh area Wikipedian, longtime editor of Wikipedia Signpost and member of the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative team.
User:John Broughton, author of Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, involved in DC area GLAM activities.
User:^demon, core MediaWiki developer, involved in Wikimania 2012 planning
User:BD2412, Wikimedian since 2005, 282,637 enwiki edits, involved with Smithsonian outreach
User:Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Wikimedian since 2006, 296,036 enwiki edits, involved in Wikimania 2012 planning

Active in which communities if any?[edit]

Most of us are involved in the English Wikipedia, though Jyothis works on the Malayalam Wikipedia, and we have people who speak other languages and edit or dabble some in other language projects. (e.g. Arabic, German, Spanish ...).

As well, Aude, Jyothis, and Swatjester are admins on meta-wiki, and some of us (Aude, Pharos, Ragesoss) are active on Wikimedia Commons, as admins. Some of us do technical development on MediaWiki (^demon) and develop toolserver tools and/or bots (Harej, Aude).

We're also involved in outreach projects (outreach-wiki), including Missvain, Sadads, and Aude.

We're also involved with or have good connections like-minded organizations in DC and internationally, such as Creative Commons, OpenStreetMap, CrisisCommons, etc., the DC tech scene and with GLAM institutions, and thus well-positioned to do local outreach to help advance Wikimedia's mission.

Could you give a short overview of the time path of the founding up to now[edit]

January 9, 2010 - DC Meetup #9, featuring a tour at the Library of Congress, drew approximately 60 attendees; established the wikimedia dc mailing list
June 26, 2010 - First meeting with Smithsonian representatives broaching the idea of GLAM-wiki collaboration in DC and discussion amongst the community on how best to interact with the GLAMs.
January 22, 2011 - WikiXDC draws a conference group of nearly 100; local Wikipedians decide to launch a bid for Wikimania 2012 and lead the chapter formation process
Spring 2011 - Development of Wikimania bid and continued conversation with GLAMs engages increasingly more local Wikimedians with regular meetings and meetups
April 2011 - Announcement that Wikimania 2012 will be held in DC and Wikimania core team and other volunteers seek incorporation as a non-profit.

Have there been any activities/meetings etc. of this group of people?[edit]

The first DC meetup was in May 2005, and we've held 15 meetups since then, including 5 in 2010 and 3 so far in 2011. Our next meetup is May 7.

Meetups have included a tour of the Library of Congress, ~60 attendees (Jan 2010), meeting with the Smithsonian (June 2010), and WikiXDC (~100 attendees, Jan 2011) at the National Archives.

In the past year or so, we have been very active in outreach to local cultural institutions, now with two Wikipedians-in-Residence (National Archives & Smithsonian), speak at conferences and events, locally including Ignite Smithsonian and the Museum Computer Network (MCN) conference. Other Smithsonian outreach activities include Wikipedia Loves Art (Feb 2009) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and we held a workshop at the Smithsonian (Aug 2010).

Other local activities include involvement in the Wikipedia Academy, held July 2009 at NIH (led by WMF), and local Wikimedias participating in the Wikimedia Public Policy Initiative, as campus ambassadors.

This above listed group as well as others have been meeting frequently to plan the successful Wikimania bid and have been discussion organizational issues in the course of those meetings. The results of our discussion will be circulated prior to the May 7 meetup.

What kind of activities are planned for the future in the chapter?[edit]

We bid successfully to host Wikimania 2012 in DC, at Georgetown University, next summer.

Possible activities for this summer and fall include Wikipedia Takes Baltimore (photo/scavenger hunt) and Wikipedia workshops at local libraries.

We will continue GLAM outreach at the Smithsonian and National Archives (both with Wikipedians in Residence this summer), as well as new collaborations with the Library of Congress and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. There likely will be additional institutions interested (e.g. National Building Museum) in such collaboration, and the chapter can help support this. And through Wikipedia Takes Baltimore, we would be working with Baltimore Heritage. In the Fall, we may organize a GLAM-Wiki DC conference or symposium, to bring Wikimedians and GLAM-sector people together.

We also plan to collaborate with other U.S.-based Wikimedia chapters and meetup groups, when it makes sense (e.g. participate in Wiki Conference NYC). Additionally, we would like to support Campus Ambassadors throughout the greater DC area and support the continued expansion of that program at universities in the region.

Do you have an overview of how many Wikimedians would like to join the chapter when founded?[edit]

Our wikimedia-dc mailing list has ~70 subscribers and the meetup invite list includes 169 Wikipedians. Events such such as meetups and WikiXDC draw from an additional much larger community of Wikipedians and other interested persons, who learn about events through other means including geonotices, social media, and word-of-mouth. We would expect at least half, if not 2/3rds, of the subscribers to join as well as a sizable number of people interested in the cause but who haven't actively participated in the events yet. Collaborations led by the two new Wikipedians in Residence and events such as Wikimania DC 2012 should also increase active participation in local events, we expect to get increased return from membership through those events.

Have the bylaws been reviewed by a lawyer/specialist?[edit]

We have two attorneys (Swatjester and Racepacket) involved in the process, helping draft and review the bylaws, and Mindspillage (law school grad) is also willing to review them. Racepacket has successfully incorporated and obtained non-profit determination letters for other groups in the past.