Virtual office hours/Office hours 20-02-2013
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<poem style="font-family:monospace,Courier;background:#F2F2F2"> [17:30] <RichardN> Hello everyone and welcome to the Wikimedia UK office hours session. Keep in mind that the IRC log will be uploaded to the UK wiki after the session has concluded (probably tomorrow). [17:30] <Stevie> Hello everyone :) [17:30] <Stevie> Hope you all have that, um, Wednesday feeling. [17:31] <Stevie> So, we've been busy in the WMUK office. Lots going on at the moment, not least recruitment. [17:31] * tommorris greets Wikimedia UK folk from the comfort of his Venetian hotel room. [17:31] <Stevie> * is jealous and would like to be in Venice [17:32] <+tommorris> It's cold. [17:32] <Stevie> So, we have interviews this week for three roles within the office. Volunteer Support Organiser interviews were today. [17:32] <Stevie> We have interviews for the GLAM Organiser tomorrow [17:33] <Stevie> And on Friday we have interviews for the Education Organiser role. [17:33] <Stevie> It's freezing in London too, Tom! [17:34] <Stevie> So, does anyone have anything they would like to talk about? [17:35] <WereSpielChqrs> Do we think that the proposed EGM will be quorate? [17:35] <Stevie> Apart from the weather? [17:35] <Stevie> I hope so! [17:35] <Stevie> I haven't seen the numbers WSC but I can certainly get an idea for you [17:36] <Stevie> Richard N, have you been involved in the EGM work? [17:38] <Stevie> Quorate is 10% of the membership, is that right? [17:38] <RichardN> I haven't no, [17:39] <Stevie> I've just taken a quick look at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/EGM_2013#Attendees [17:39] <Stevie> So far there are seven people registered [17:40] <Stevie> I'm not certain of current membership numbers - I'd need to check with Katherine - but if we work on the assumption that we need 25 people, based on a membership of 250 then it's possible [17:40] <Stevie> We can certainly do a better job of promoting the EGM among the membership [17:40] <WereSpielChqrs> yes, I was the sixth. We need several times that, especially if you need to allow for dropouts [17:41] <Stevie> Sure [17:41] <Stevie> Is my working assumption of 10% of members correct? [17:41] <RichardN> The reason it's after GLAM WIKI is so that we're more likely to get enough numbers. [17:41] <+tommorris> can we not just have electronic voting at some point? [17:42] <+tommorris> it seems slightly absurd that for an organisation that's tied to Wikipedia, the world's free ONLINE encyclopedia, that we still need to congregate in a pub or whatever to vote [17:42] <+Fae> Stevie: I updated the membership numbers on the website to around 280 today, based on information from Mike. [17:42] <Stevie> I can't speak for the Tellers but I'll certainly raise electronic voting with Richard S. Personally I'd be in favour of it, even though I'm a non-voting member [17:42] <+Fae> 10%=28 [17:43] <WereSpielChqrs> it is 10% http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Association/Mark_up#Quorum_at_general_meetings [17:43] <Stevie> Great. Thanks Fae for that figure [17:44] <Stevie> Thanks WSC for that too [17:44] <Stevie> I'd be quite confident that we could get 28 members but I can't say it will definitely happen [17:45] <Stevie> I think it's quite important to settle on exactly what people will be voting on and share with the membership. We can then make more sure-footed progress [17:45] <+Fae> Perhaps someone can advise on proxy voting, and how that can deliver the 10% we need. ;-) [17:46] <+Fae> ... Particularly if we run a virtual room as part of the meeting. [17:47] <Stevie> Fae, that's a useful idea. How would a virtual room work in terms of confirming that those present are members? [17:48] <+Fae> No idea. But I bet there's nothing to stop it working if we try hard enough. [17:48] <WereSpielChqrs> If this was something simple that everyone agreed was important then getting a quorum would be easy. We did it for the changes needed to get registered charitable status. I think this EGM is about something complex and not such an obvious priority to many members. [17:49] <Stevie> How do our members in the room feel about this issue? [17:51] <+Fae> We only need to wrangle 14 people in the room (half that are already registered) and another 14 to vote by proxy and we are done. As the only trustee here, I guess it's to me to point out that this is critical to demonstrate the charity is getting on with the Governance recommendations. Without this EGM, it is hard to see how much we can load into the AGM, particularly as the EGM changes the... [17:51] <+Fae> ...structure of the AGM! o_O [17:53] <Stevie> As Richard N helpfully pointed out too, the fact that the EGM is tagged on to GLAM-WIKI may help bring more people in who are there already. [17:54] * tommorris will have a read of the proposal and contemplate whether to attend and vote. [17:54] * tommorris just needs to find some time for bureaucratic reading. [17:54] <WereSpielChqrs> Yes it is important, but complex and the importance might need selling to people in order to be quorate. Our last EGM was piggybacked onto a successful London Metup. [17:55] * Fae Is glad he proposed scheduling in parallel to GLAMwiki. [17:55] <Stevie> I've dropped a line to Richard S (in his capacity as Teller) to ask about proxy and electronic voting. If he replies before we finish I'll share here, if not I'll update people tomorrow [17:57] <+Fae> Have we separated out what the resolutions will be for the EGM? I think it's all a bit draft still, perhapshttps://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Governance_Review/Implementation_motions is what there is to read right now, unless someone has been working on this whilst I was distracted? [17:59] <Stevie> Seems the last time it was worked on was 10 February [17:59] <+Fae> Maybe we should create an EGM page and outline what the agenda for it looks like? The last thing I read about it was the 30 minutes might be enough time... [18:01] <Stevie> OK, while we're mulling that over, is there any other topic people would like to discuss? [18:02] <Stevie> Are there things you think staff should be doing more, or less, of? [18:03] <Stevie> Things you think we could perhaps do differently? [18:04] <WereSpielChqrs> I like the idea of getting some kit, but have we missed anything? http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2013_Activity_Plan/Volunteer_equipment [18:05] <+tommorris> the mobile broadband - would it get enough use to justify £15.99 a month? I've got one that you can pay for it daily. £2 a day or something like that [18:06] <RichardN> They're all good suggestions, I think Fae and Tom Morton had some comments on the MiFi [18:06] <+tommorris> some second hand GPS devices might be useful for getting geotagged photos and for OSMery. pretty much any Garmin handheld GPS can have OSM UK put on there [18:07] <RichardN> Many new phones have gps, could that be used? [18:07] <+tommorris> sure, but the phone GPS tends to suck compared to standalone [18:07] <+tommorris> like, my handheld GPS gets <4m accuracy while my phone gets 25m accuracy [18:07] <RichardN> True, my own phone can be variable [18:08] <WereSpielChqrs> I added the Moblile broadband suggestion, if people can think of cheaper and better ways to fix that problem then please remember its a wiki:) [18:08] <+Fae> I have a spare GPS by bluetooth pocket size gadget - never use it - usb powered, happy to loan it for events for nowt. [18:08] <Stevie> I thought Rock drum's suggestions for photo / video kit were good [18:08] <+tommorris> plus the handheld GPSes are built like brick shithouses. you can drop 'em and they'll keep on working. [18:08] <Stevie> Certainly seem capable of producing high quality images and footage [18:09] <Stevie> Tom, how much would a handheld GPS cost? [18:09] * tommorris should probably upload some geotagged photos of Burano, the Venetian island where the houses are painted in lurid colours. Wandering around it is like staring at a gay pride flag through a kaleidoscope after dropping acid. [18:10] <+tommorris> Stevie: I paid about £150 for mine, but you can get the older models for a lot less on eBay etc. and they run on AA batteries. [18:11] <+tommorris> see https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Garmin [18:15] <Stevie> So what other interesting things have been happening? [18:16] <WereSpielChqrs> Is anyone here involved in our bid for Wikimania 2014? [18:17] <Stevie> I've helped a little and I know a bit about it [18:17] <Stevie> Not tons, but a bit! I might be able to help [18:18] <WereSpielChqrs> There is only a few days to go before close of nominations, and currently it is a straight fight between London and Arushahttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/Arusha [18:19] <Stevie> Yes. It would have been better for everyone I think if the other bids remained [18:20] <RichardN> What do people here think of the London bid? [18:21] * James_F isn't going to comment. :-) [18:21] * tommorris is tempted to copyedit the Arusha bid. [18:21] <WereSpielChqrs> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London [18:25] <WereSpielChqrs> I'm, not convinced about combining it with a huge outreach event. [18:25] <Stevie> What reservations do you have WSC? [18:27] <WereSpielChqrs> Well Wikimania is a very inward focussed event where the presenters can usually assume substantial Wiki knowledge from their audience. If you combine it with an outreach event you may have to gear your preentations to a different audience [18:27] <Stevie> As I understand it the outreach stream, while in the same building, is actually quite separate [18:28] <RichardN> Stevie took the words out of my mouth, my understanding was that the two groups will have events tailored to them [18:29] <Stevie> In many ways it's a fantastic opportunity to bring in people with a casual, passing interest and get them editing and contributing [18:29] <WereSpielChqrs> Plus I sense a lack of overlap betwen the bid team and the rest of the community, no one here seems to be involved and I don't think anyone at the last London meetup was either. [18:29] <Stevie> As I understand it, the London bid will be able to meet the needs of both groups [18:30] <WereSpielChqrs> Sorry, no one apart from staff. [18:31] <Stevie> A quick look at this page - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London/The_Team - shows that Rock drum, Harry, Tom Morris and thehelpfulone have all been involved on some level [18:32] <Stevie> Saad Choudri, too [18:32] == Superglue [~chatzilla@wikipedia/deskana] has joined #wikimedia-uk [18:33] == Superglue has changed nick to SuctionCups [18:34] <Stevie> Has anyone wanted to be involved in the Wikimania bid but hasn't felt able to join in for any reason? If so, please do let me know and I can certainly fix that and would be very glad to do so [18:36] <Stevie> OK, it's about a quarter to teatime [18:36] <Stevie> Are there any other topics people would like to raise (or continue with the Wikimania chat)? I can stick around for a bit [18:39] <Stevie> Anyone? [18:40] <Stevie> OK, let's wrap up then. Thanks very much to everyone who joined it, I hope this was useful. [18:41] <SuctionCups> Looks like I missed it. The logs are posted, right? [18:41] <RichardN> Right, I will save the IRC log there and upload it to the UK wiki tomorrow. Have a good evening everyone. Feel free to hang around the channel, the staff are often logged in during work hours. And I hope you'll be here for the new office hours IRC. [18:41] <Stevie> We'll make the logs available tomorrow. In the meantime, if anyone has any topic they'd like to raise away from this chat, do always feel free to email me directly - stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk [18:42] <SuctionCups> Oh no, no questions, I was just curious what sort of things are talked about. [18:42] <Stevie> Bye for now! [18:42] <RichardN> Yes SuctionCups, they will be. We're looking to make IRC office hours a regular event, on the third Wednesday of each month. </poem>