Meetings/2010 AGM/Ballot Instructions
Edited at 00:50 BST 19/4/2010 - Brian McNeil has withdrawn
WIKI UK LTD (WIKIMEDIA UK)
ELECTION OF DIRECTORS
This message contains the following information pertaining to the election of Directors of Wiki UK Limited (Wikimedia UK):
Statement of Persons Nominated
At the close of nominations, the following individuals stood validly nominated for election as Directors of Wiki UK Limited:
Thomas Michael Dalton
Brian McNeil - withdrawn
Michael Peel
Joseph Seddon
Andrew Rowan Turvey
Stephen Charles (Steve) Virgin
Electoral Procedure
The Directors are elected under the approval voting system - for each candidate, you should write "YES" or "NO" by his name on the ballot paper.
Candidates will be ranked by the number of "YES" votes they receive. A ballot paper on which the space by a candidate's name is left blank shall be treated as though it were a "NO" vote.
The top three candidates will be elected as directors irrespective of the number of "YES" votes they receive. In addition, other candidates may be elected, provided that they receive a majority of "YES" votes.
All candidates are over 18; therefore, the provisions made in the Election Rules for candidates under 18 do not apply.
To vote, please email the completed ballot paper below to tellers@wikimedia.org.uk before 09:00 BST (08:00 UTC) on Saturday 24th April 2010. Alternatively, ballot papers will be available at the AGM, and members present will be entitled to supersede any electronic vote they may have cast in advance of the meeting with a paper vote cast at the meeting.
Questions to Candidates
Any questions Members may wish to ask candidates before they cast their vote can be recorded on the Wikimedia UK wiki: http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2010_AGM/Candidate_questions
Candidate Statements
Each candidate's date of birth, occupation, former names and UK company directorships in the last five years is kept on file and will be made public only if they are elected.
Thomas Dalton
I am Head of Fundraising of Wikimedia UK and, following the resignation of a trustee, was co-opted onto the board. I ran our recent fundraiser, which was very successful, raising around £50,000 for us (and a similar amount for the Wikimedia Foundation). As a board member I have, among other things, been responsible for organising a global fundraising summit that will be held in the UK in May. I have been active on the English Wikipedia since 2002 in various capacities. I was recently invited to visit the Wikimedia Foundation office in San Francisco, where I met with many of the staff. I also attended a meeting of all chapters in Berlin last year and am in regular contact with many people in other chapters. I feel my strong working relationship with many at the Foundation and other chapters will be very useful for Wikimedia UK. My vision for the chapter is that the board (and staff) will facilitate members conducting all kinds of outreach and content sharing activities and I hope to achieve that by helping the chapter sort out the infrastructure, finances, staff and other behind-the-scenes things so that members can work on various initiatives.
Brian McNeil - withdrawn
Michael Peel
I have been involved with WMUK since it was rebooted in 2008, serving first as Membership Secretary and then as Chair. My involvement has included talking to the press (I look after the WMUK phone), responding to email queries; assisting technically with the fundraiser (and the website as a whole); running Britain Loves Wikipedia and talking to cultural institutions (including national museums and organizations such as the MLA and CollectionsTrust). I have represented the chapter at the Chapters Meeting in 2009, and (at the time of writing) will shortly be attending the 2010 meeting. I also attended the Multimedia Usability meeting in November 2009.
Over the last year, we have sown a lot of seeds, and nurtured the first green shoots, which have led to events like Britain Loves Wikipedia (working with 20 museums nationwide) and the first UK content partnership. A lot more seeds should start growing over the next year, and I would like to help bring them to fruition. I would like to focus more on leading individual tasks rather than leadership of the chapter as a whole, hence I would prefer not to be chair again for the coming year. I would like to see the growth of in-person events throughout the UK over the coming year, building up a geographically distributed core of participants, with the aim of producing freely-licensed content. In addition, I would like to continue liaising with organizations to forge content partnerships.
In terms of a direction for the organization of the chapter, I would like to focus on professionalization - hiring an office administrator and technical developers. It has become very apparent over the last year that there is a lot that can be done, but rarely enough volunteer time to make it happen and to do it successfully. Professionalization will greatly ease this, and make the chapter a lot more streamlined and capable.
I have been active on Wikipedia for over 5 years (my first edit was in March 2005), during which time I've made around 15,000 edits (although my edit rate has dropped off considerably since being involved with Wikimedia UK). I'm also active on the Commons, where I have made over 3500 edits and uploaded over 650 images of my own creation. I have also made over 2000 edits on Wikisource. In real life, I'm employed as a postdoctoral researcher at Jodrell Bank (part of the University of Manchester).
Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions you might have (on my talk page, on irc (nick mpeel) or anywhere else you see me around).
Joseph Seddon
My name is Joseph Seddon and I have been involved within the Wikimedia projects since November 2006 and a director of Wikimedia UK since April 2009. Outside the chapter I am currently in my second year of an undergraduate Masters degree in Exploration and Resource Geology at Cardiff University. On the wikimedia projects my main area of activity has been on the English Wikipedia and I am a former mediator, arbitratation clerk and administrator. These roles I recently gave up so that I could focus my time on the chapter.
I have very specific roles that I see myself undertaking over the next year. The first of these is the organisation of conference to bring together Wikimedia and the Cultural sector within the UK. Work has already begun for and being part of this years new board will greatly assist me in bringing this fantastic opportunity together.
Secondly, I want to strengthen our working relationship with free knowledge organisations such as the open knowledge foundation, creative commons uk, icommons and other free culture and software organisations. These groups have been active in the uk for many years and are successful in thier operation and we have so much to learn and gain from them. The contacts, skills and experience that they bring in the technology, culture and education sectors are invaluable in our work to bring the sum of all human knowledge to the UK and internationally.
Finally I want to encourage the growth of the chapter professionally. Employing professionals to the chapters increases our efficiency and impact many times over compared to being run by volunteers. It frees up volunteer time and means we can do more.
With my knowledge and understanding of our communites and an increasing understanding of the sectors we will work closely with I feel that being part of the new board will be a huge positive to our ever growing chapter.
Andrew Turvey
I have been on the board for the last two years and would like to stand for a third and final term to see through the things I have been working on, in particular our application to the Charity Commission.
I have found the board a very enjoyable and enriching experience, even if sometimes frustrating and time consuming. Sadly I'm not able to devote as much time as I'd like to Wikimedia given the recent changes in my life, but I'm sure that one board meeting per month plus the various commitments outside the board will be achievable.
Next year will see some important developments with Wikimedia UK - continued growth in membership, activities and income; employing our first staff member and, hopefully, a successful conclusion to our charity application. It would be a privilege to be part of this!
Steve Virgin
It has been a privilege to serve during the last year and it has proved both challenging and highly rewarding. Challenging because as a Board we have had to work hard to raise the profile of both the Chapter and the range of projects that Wikimedia UK promote and support. However, although it has been time consuming and the Board had to operate on tight budgets right up until the Fundraiser last winter, this problem is now resolved and the Wikimedia UK chapter has a healthy bank balance which will allow the new Board to push the development of the Chapter further forward.
Fortunately, the rewards are plenty and the warm reception that Board members get when they talk about our projects are such that it makes me optimistic about the coming year. My discussions have led to a recent internal BBC Future Media Team proposal to set up a project to channel image donations to Wikimedia Commons. They have led to nearly concluded discussions with ARKIVE/WildScreen about the likelihood of a large content donation of data, images, video and audio archive from its endangered animals and species database. There are on-going talks with one of the oldest Theatres in Britain (Bristol Old Vic) about securing a content donation to Wikimedia Commons.
I have worked with the Board on making contacts with the business community. Only last week on behalf of the Board, I persuaded HP in Bristol to donate its high-tech campus facilities to Wikimedia UK for free for a global Wikimedia Foundation Fund Raising Conference that is due to take place mid-May. And in the south-west, where I am based, I have made close contact with many schools, businesses, local councils, community-based local partnerships that are trying to help marginalised people in the city and universities. They have all looked very favourably on the Wikimedia UK chapter and I would expect the new Board to be able to build on these relationships in the coming months.
I have spoken on behalf of the Chapter, both with fellow Board members and alone. The most recent occasion was in March at a Bristol City Council led event called 'Green, Open & Social' at which I asked for both the business community and the public sector bodies to consider content donations and ways of engaging with us through joining the Chapter. On all occasions I have been grateful to have had the advice of fellow Wikimedia Board members who have helped me rise up the Wikimedia UK learning curve. As someone with press experience I also feel I have made a contribution to the Board in providing it with contact database information, and expertise in editing and sharpening the statements that we have made to the media.
I'd love to be given the chance by the Wikimedia UK community to carry on building on the work of the last twelve months as a Board member as I passionately believe in our projects and our goals.
Ballot Paper
If you wish to cast your vote before the AGM, please send the following ballot paper to tellers@wikimedia.org.uk before 09:00 BST on Saturday 24 April 2010.
WIKI UK LIMITED (WIKIMEDIA UK) ELECTION OF DIRECTORS
Name: Membership number:
Ballot Paper
Write "YES" or "NO" beside name of each candidate.
Thomas Dalton [ ]
Michael Peel [ ]
Joseph Seddon [ ]
Andrew Turvey [ ]
Steve Virgin [ ]
As ever, any questions about the elections should be directed to tellers@wikimedia.org.uk.
James Farrar
Teller, Wikimedia UK