Meetings/2009-07-07
Wikimedia UK Board meeting Tuesday 7th July 2009, 8:30pm BST at #wikimedia-uk-board
Present: Michael Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Joseph Seddon (JS); Paul Williams (PW)
Apologies: Steve Virgin (SV); Tom Holden (TH); Zeyi He (ZH) for late arrival
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Note: Please mark your actions with one of the following:
* {{done}} if you have completed what was agreed * {{doing}} if you have started doing what was agreed but haven't finished * {{cf}} if you have not yet done what was agreed but will do in the future * {{not done}} if you have not done what was agreed and will not now do it In addition please mark {{discuss}} if the board needs to discuss the action and add it to the agenda of the next meeting. |
Minutes of the previous meetings
The minutes of the meeting dated 23 June were approved.
The following actions have been carried forward:
1. JS to send the tokens of our appreciation to the retiring Directors, tellers and external speakers.
ACTION: JS 
Done
2. PW will arrange the production of business cards for Wikimedia UK officials.
ACTION: PW 
Carried forward
3. TD agreed to contact the gazette on behalf of WMUK to solicit a pro-bono lawyer
ACTION: TD Carried forward
4. The cost to attend the Online Information 2009 (1-3 Dec, London) conference is £400/day/person (£400 for the 3 days for registered charities). JS will confirm whether speakers have to pay this fee. In the event that speakers do have to pay the fee, SV will look into getting a slot in a fringe event instead.
ACTION: JS; SV Carried forward
5. AT to thank the pro-bono lawyer for his offer of help, explain the Board has decided to respond to HMRC ASAP; if this is not successful we may then seek legal advice so would be grateful for assistance then if it's still available and would they be prepared to advise us on the chapters agreement.
ACTION: AT 
Cancelled
6. AT to submit expenses AGM claim .
ACTION: AT Carried forward
7. PW agreed to finalise the design, contact interested members to see what cards they want and organise the printing.
ACTION: PW Carried forward
8. PW agreed to draft an email to the WMF formalising the agreement to use Wikimedia Foundation trademarks in members-only merchandising and to look into where we could produce merchandise.
ACTION: PW Carried forward
Matters arising
Press response templates
It was agreed that the six scenarios identified at Media relations#Media response would be sufficient for now. MP agreed to draft these templates.
ACTION: MP Carried forward
Pro bono lawyers
It was decided that we would approach potential pro-bono lawyers once the chapter agreement and the charity application were at a stage where we needed specific advice, rather than seeking to engage a general "on-call" lawyer.
.uk project domain names
Board members were concerned that if the chapter owned domains like wikipedia.org.uk they could attract liability to the chapter for project content and make it subject to UK libel laws. However, it was acknowledged that it could be a good source of traffic and hence revenue if it is used to redirect to en.wikipedia.org via a portal. It was agreed that MP would contact Wikimedia Deutschland to ask them how much revenue they get from their redirect from wikipedia.de and we will reconsider when this is known.
ACTION: MP 
Doing...
Reports
Secretary's Report
The report here was noted.
AT informed that he had not heard anything back from HMRC and isn't sure if it will take another 8 weeks for our letter to be processed.
JS volunteered to help Wikimedia Indonesia with their proofreading request - AT will put them in touch.
ACTION: AT Done JS
Treasurer's Report
This was unavailable so it was agreed the next meeting would have a report to cover four weeks.
Chair's Report
The report here was noted.
MP agreed to look into whether it would be possible to have a Wikimedia UK speaker at the Science Online London conference.
Conferences Report
The report here was noted.
The Board discussed whether we could combine the planned Wikimedia UK 2010 Conference with the Open Knowledge Foundation's annual conference. JS will continue to investigate.
Corporate Relations Report
No report was available but SV has kept the Board informed through emails of his activities with the BBC, a survey on Wikipedia use and Richard Stirling at the government's "Digital Engagement Team".
MP agreed to ask SV for a report at the next meeting to cover four weeks.
ACTION: MP Done
Volunteers Report
PW gave a verbal update on the work planned for the following week:
- Chase up / finalise business card design and order
- Develop membership drive further and begin "the push"
- Develop and distribute the July newsletter
MP and PW agreed to finalise the newsletter by Tuesday 14th July for distribution by the end of the following day.
ACTION: PW, MP Done
Charity Commission application
Per the Secretary's Report above, AT has discussed the chapter's situation with the Charity Commission over the phone. Their advice is we should apply to them within a reasonable time of receiving the £5,000 donation. The application form contains some wordy sections - particularly Section C, explaining how our objectives and activities are carried out for the public benefit and Section D, working with vulnerable people (in our case, children).
It was agreed that we will need to fill in section D, given our plans for the Schools project.
PW agreed to draft section D, MP agreed to draft section C and AT agreed to draft the rest of the form. PW, MP and AT all agreed to have a draft ready for discussion for the next meeting.
ACTION: PW Not done, MP Done, AT Done - see Charity Commission application
ZH joined the meeting
Initiatives
As per the agreed timeline, the Board has agreed to adopt three initiatives by the 15th July for completion by March 2010. The Wikimedia Foundation grant will fund the School Project, London Loves Wikipedia and a content access project. If these three initiatives are not completed by 1 June 2010 then funds may have to be returned.
It was agreed that the School Project would be adopted as the first initiative, with a target of doing at least 6 presentations by March 2010. It was agreed that PW would lead. PW agreed to develop a plan for this initiative on the wiki.
ACTION: PW Doing...
It was agreed that London Loves Wikipedia would be adopted as the second initiative. AT is able to support but not lead. MP will contact supporters to solicit people interested in participating, and will stand in as lead if no one else comes forward.
ACTION: MP Done
PW left the meeting
It was agreed that the Workplace Learning Lunches initiative at the BBC would be tentatively adopted as the third objective, to be confirmed following discussions with Steve.
Content access projects will be considered as a fourth initiative, which may not be completed before March 2010.
As previously agreed, the commitment from the board to complete these three initiatives by March 2010 does not mean that the chapter should not pursue other initiatives as and when they arise.
Next meeting
It was agreed the next meeting would be on Tuesday 21st July, 8:30 pm (BST) in #wikimedia-uk-board. Topics of discussion will include progress on each of these three initiatives and the Charity application.