Meetings/2009-12-29
Wikimedia UK Board meeting Tuesday 29th December 2009, 8:30pm BST on Skype
Present: Mike Peel (MP) (Chair); Andrew Turvey (AT) (minutes); Tom Holden (TH); Joseph Seddon (JS); Tom Dalton (TD); Paul Williams (PW) (part)
Apologies: Zeyi He (ZH); Steve Virgin (SV)
Resignation
PW had offered his resignation by email prior to the board meeting for personal reasons. He would like to resign both as board member and as the schools project leader and this was accepted. The board thanked him for his help with various things over the last nine months and hoped that he would continue to support chapter activities.
PW left the meeting
MP agreed to write an email to the WMUK list informing our supporters of the resignation and inviting people to put themselves forward for co-option to the board. MP will redirect paul.williams@wikimedia.org.uk to himself, remove paul from board@wikimedia.org.uk and redirect volunteers@wikimedia.org.uk to JS. He will approach a steward to remove PW's bureaucrat role (but retain his admin role) on uk.wikimedia.org and remove access to board.wikimedia.org.uk.
ACTION: MP 
Done
AT will register his resignation with Companies House, inform the Charities Commission, and request that his access to internal-l, chapters-l, the chapters wiki and the internal wiki be removed.
ACTION: AT Done
Minutes of the previous meetings
The minutes of the meeting on 17 November were approved as revised. The minutes of the last meeting were also approved.
Reports
Fundraising
The Fundraising report was noted.
Treasurers
The Treasurer's Report was noted with one action carried forward.
Sixteen membership applications were approved. One application was referred back because it didn't contain the name and surname, only an email address. TH will process these applications
ACTION: TH
Secretary
The report was noted. Seven actions were carried forward.
Chair
The Chair's report was noted.
In light of MP's investigation on child protection checks, it was agreed that these would no longer be required. The schools project would be asked to ensure they don't visit the same school more frequently than they are allowed to without being checked. The Child Protection Policy would still be implemented as good practice, which AT will amend with regard to CRB checks as applicable. AT will contact the Charity Commission to update them.
ACTION: AT
It was agreed to put the signing of the Fundraising Agreement on hold given that it is almost over and there remain legal issues.
Travel to the MLA and CollectionsTrust for JS and MP were approved out of the "content access" budget.
The Public Domain Day press release was approved in principle, subject to checking the copyright claims, adding a mention of public domain benefits and a headline. AT and MP will liase and send out on 29 December.
ACTION: AT, MP Done
The Mary Rose Trust donation press release was also approved in principle. It was agreed MP can send out the final text after sending it out to all board members with 24 hours notice.
ACTION: MP Done
Five other actions were carried forward.
Conferences
The report was noted. Two actions were carried forward and one cancelled.
The alternative logo was approved in principle, with "United Kingdom" replaced by "UK".
It was agreed that the meeting in early February would focus on the AGM and Conference.
JS asked what we want to achieve when we pay for people to go to conferences. It was suggested this shoudl be promoting open educational content through networking, giving presentations, encouraging participation and increasing our own knowledge.
Corporate
The report was noted. The board thought the Somali schools project was a good idea although it may stand better as a project on its own rather than as part of the schools project. Costs may include travel for project supporters. MP will feed back to SV.
ACTION: MP
The Board were concerned that the "Manifesto for Bristol" may come under "campaigning" and hence impact on our charity status application and the Chapter Agreement. MP will ask SV for more ideas for what we could get from this initiative in terms of support for our activities and funding.
Initiatives
Britain Loves Wikipedia
There was a discussion on various issues including advertising and entry costs. The budget, for advertising and travel costs, of £953.16 plus matching funds from the MLA will be discussed at MP's meeting with them on 8th January.
MP, JS and AT agreed to discuss it further offline as a working group.
Schools project
JS agreed to lead the schools project. AT has received one invitation in the post which needs following up.
JS will contact Wikipedia for Schools to see if they need any help with their latest version. He will also contact DCMS and SV's MP contact to see if they can help distribute copies to schools.
ACTION: JS
GLAM WIKI
The earliest this can now be done has now slipped to August 2010. It's mainly dependent on persuading a museum to offer to host, which MP will raise with the MLA at their meeting on 8th Jan.
ACTION: MP
JS and MP will do a timeline and budget after the meeting.
ACTION: JS/MP
Bioblitz
There was a discussion on Bioblitz. Looking at other countries' sites, it seems to be better suited as a website than a wiki.
It was agreed that the final content produced must be educational in itself and open content, in order for WMUK to be able to support it. Alternatively we can contribute by making participants aware of the resources available on Wikipedia / Wikispecies.
MP will reconsider the proposal.
AOB
JS mentioned the drafting error in the Chapter Agreement. AT has circulated an email to the WMF setting out our interpretation of the agreement to clear up any uncertainty and this was approved for AT to send.
ACTION: AT
Next meeting
The next meeting was agreed for Tuesday 12 January, 8:30 to 10:30 on Skype.