WikiConference UK 2012/Elections/Questions/Christopher Allen

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Answers

I am going to answer 2/ and 4/................and 1/ 2/ again, 7/ and 8/. The rest are following, are being conceived.

1. Can't think of any in particular that are a bit boring to state. Stuffy Accountant, but wait, my wife and I run a mobile skittle alley at fetes and shows, got some land with lakes we are allowing to go back to nature (as it should be) and we are contemplating a saffron farm. Is that OK?

2. I believe that I can make a significant contribution to this chapter and the larger entity.:Of course knowledge is power and it empowers people to enable them to achieve their goals, whatever they may be. This organisation is in a unique position to activate this for many millions, its importance cannot be overstated. To be in a position to execute and deliver this promise is the holy grail, obviously I must put myself forward. Compared to my candidates both above and below I am a relatively simple soul but you may find me a useful donk. Unfortunately or fortunately! I have not edited any Wiki subjects yet, am not blessed with academic literacy to the extent we experience on this page but if you will allow me an analogy, if you have been or are an aquarist you have to regularly change the old water with FRESH to keep it healthy. I hope to refresh. I have been looking into the structure of Wikimedia Foundation USA, who of course founded the whole concept originating from Jimmy Wales, as follows:

   Three seats elected directly by the Wikimedia community
   Two seats to be selected by the Wikimedia chapters
   One Board-appointed "community founder" seat (reserved for Jimmy Wales)
   Four Board-appointed "specific expertise" seats 

Therefore sourcing from outside Wiki is 40%, 4 of the 10 board members. And in this case would mean 3 Bold textat the AGM this Saturday.

3/ Now I dont know anything about this but all I can suggest on a lateral thinking exercise is that maybe Wikimedia should sponsor breakfast schools so that under nourished children are better able to assimilate knowledge in the instruction process.

4. The UK chapter should aim for a doubling of income every year, meaning in year 5 £16 million, which enables it to deliver on its promise and enormous potential by putting words into practice. I am keen to see this develop into a position of influence both nationally and in the global context. I am after negotiating an agreement with Google and Paypal to encourage charitable contributions to the cause via their significant influence and credentials.

Having time to consider I think we need to persuade well known figures/personalities to climb on board to act as honorary members to arms of the chapter e.g. David Attenborough, Brian Cox, Joanna Lumley, Prince Charles (not necessarily in that order) and many more.

This would inspire contribution from the public.

5/ & 6/ I glean from this as basically the same question.

It is always open to danger this public position. Such as things are. You have to prepare yourself for controversy and politically activated responses and that red tape. All I can say is you stand and fight if its negative and conquer and reap if its positive, but you aim to win.

7. Oh yes, 77.100.19.115, these were made clear by Wikimedia UK in their initial invite email.

Duties

Board members have certain legal duties and responsibilities, which include:

To act only within the powers given to them by the Articles of Association

To act in good faith and with integrity to promote the success of the chapter in achieving its purposes, with regard, where necessary to long term effects and the interests of employees, the community, the environment, relations with suppliers and customers, standards of business conduct and fair acting between members of the chapter

To use the chapter's resources reasonably and only for the promotion of its purposes

To exercise independent judgement and reasonable care, skill and diligence and consider getting external professional advice on all matters where there may be material risk to the chapter, or where the board members may be in breach of their duties

To avoid conflicts of interest, declare them where necessary in accordance with applicable law and not to accept benefits from third parties where these may give rise to a conflict of interest

To avoid undertaking activities that might place the chapter's assets or reputation at undue risk, ensure that the chapter remains solvent.

In addition, the chapter's Board members are personally required to ensure that the chapter complies with its other legal duties such as those arising from being an employer and its reporting obligations to Companies House and the tax authorities.

To be eligible to act as a Board member, a person must be: [2]

A member of the chapter, or nominated by a member

16 years old or over

prepared to publicly disclose their real name, date of birth, and the names of any other companies they are the director of. Note that residential addresses are no longer disclosable.

not an undischarged bankrupt, a person whose estate has been "sequestrated", who has made an undischarged arrangement with creditors or has granted a trust deed in favour of their creditors

not disqualified from acting as a company director or removed as a charity trustee by the Charity Commission, the High Court or the Court of Session (Scotland)

not convicted of any offence involving deception or dishonesty which is not a "spent" conviction - even if it was not in the UK

I believe these are fairly self-explanatory!

8. Money, that is what volunteers need to make it happen. See my answer to 4/.

With all the enthusiasm and good intentions in the world unfortunately you still need this to pay expenses/costs of those involved to get their "job" done. PERIOD.

9/ & 10/

Questions from the same source appearing to encourage positions from in house ranks.

See my final answer in 2/ above. The best choice comes from the widest selection and after that the successful candidates will hopefully flourish in the environment they are suited to and become part of the whole.

Just copying from 2/ above to avoid scrolling up the page:

"Unfortunately or fortunately! I have not edited any Wiki subjects yet, am not blessed with academic literacy to the extent we experience on this page but if you will allow me an analogy, if you have been or are an aquarist you have to regularly change the old water with FRESH to keep it healthy. I hope to refresh. I have been looking into the structure of Wikimedia Foundation USA, who of course founded the whole concept originating from Jimmy Wales, as follows:

   Three seats elected directly by the Wikimedia community
   Two seats to be selected by the Wikimedia chapters
   One Board-appointed "community founder" seat (reserved for Jimmy Wales)
   Four Board-appointed "specific expertise" seats 

Therefore sourcing from outside Wiki is 40%, 4 of the 10 board members.And in this case would mean 3 Bold textat the AGM this Saturday."

Be careful about introverted subjective appointments, you don't want any inbreeding do you? for goodness sake...in this FREE AND OPEN WORLD, please advise?

11/ to 14/

Questions with the same concern, a degree of censorship evident in the implication. The trouble with sanitation is it opens you up to more infection, makes you soft, you know what I mean?

Sorry, its a NO, that's how FREE and OPEN operates otherwise why not have a witch hunt and the inquisition and back pedal to the good old bad old days?

Maybe we should all pack our bags and join the Illuminati.

15/ So what would a high turnout be? 60%?? I believe it is about 15% or so in this case. Hopefully we can do better than this in a few days time. It is clear that a higher turnout and vote % has got to be the preferred scenario but as others suggest it has not affected quality in this case! But, as the organisation has already grown at an accelerated rate the existing customs and structure will obviously need review and a more appropriate setup should be deployed. One of the big problems with success is it can grow at an exponential rate and needs to be managed very carefully to avoid instability.