Billabong

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::I agree with John's response. I'd just add that my own discussions with other committee members have suggested a considerable willingness to communicate more with membership, primarily through the members list and (where we want to really open it up or advertise events) the wikimediaau-l list. It was my feeling that we didn't do enough of this last term and I look forward to that changing in this term. This is not to say it would be limited to these avenues, the committee will obviously decide in due course what we are capable of in this respect once we have settled in. I'm asking around the committees I deal with and am on for ideas and I know others are doing similar. [[User:Orderinchaos|Orderinchaos]] 20:19, 21 September 2010 (EST)
::I agree with John's response. I'd just add that my own discussions with other committee members have suggested a considerable willingness to communicate more with membership, primarily through the members list and (where we want to really open it up or advertise events) the wikimediaau-l list. It was my feeling that we didn't do enough of this last term and I look forward to that changing in this term. This is not to say it would be limited to these avenues, the committee will obviously decide in due course what we are capable of in this respect once we have settled in. I'm asking around the committees I deal with and am on for ideas and I know others are doing similar. [[User:Orderinchaos|Orderinchaos]] 20:19, 21 September 2010 (EST)
=== An afterthought ===
My challenge to members - Think of something we can do (i.e. is small and narrow enough that we can actually achieve it) this year - that is, in the next 100 days - in every state in Australia, and put it forward as an idea. Both our committee and our membership are now genuinely spread right across the country so this is doable. If it needs a bit of help from the committee, let us know (even email me personally if you wish). If it needs an amount of money not exceeding $100, apply for a [[small grant]].
That will plant at least six seeds in local communities - people will be more likely to join us if they see us and see our worth. And it will be genuinely member driven so will engage membership which is one of our key goals for this term. Also, if you can get people on board to assist you and they decide they want to stay on, that makes it that much easier to organise a local event or put a stand up at a conference or whatever in that city next time. [[User:Orderinchaos|Orderinchaos]] 20:35, 21 September 2010 (EST)

Revision as of 10:35, 21 September 2010

Billabong
Billabong

Welcome to the Billabong. This is a discussion page for this wiki.

Other places you can communicate with members:



Welcome!

That's it. :) --Pfctdayelise 05:02, 18 November 2008 (UTC)

Hello to all. I certainly like the name of this "discussion place". :) — E 07:50, 19 November 2008 (UTC)
I thought if I put "Billabong" in the menu it wouldn't be very obvious what it was for.
Hm, really need to take the FlaggedRevs off this page ASAP... :) --Brianna (pfctdayelise) 01:16, 20 November 2008 (UTC)
As long as we don't go the same way as the poor swagman and commit hara-kiri by jumnping into our billabong! :D Sarah 12:02, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Pages we need to create or work on

IRC - explaining how to use it, common software, common (basic) commands, relevant rooms. possibly install a MediaWiki IRC extension. --Brianna (pfctdayelise) 23:54, 24 November 2008 (UTC)

DoneE 06:02, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Merry Christmas 09 :-)

Just thought I'd say a very merry christmas to anyone passing through the billabong :-) Privatemusings 03:31, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

chapter governance

I saw this post on the UK mailing list, and I sort of felt that it raised some questions in relation to how we do things down here - I recently asked about how an 'official chapter position' might be formed, and andrew responded that the official chapter position would be determined by the committee... obviously some sort of structured discussion space (or the more open behaviours of the UK committee?) would offer greater transparency, and I see them as quite desirable - what do you think?

Also - merry christmas to everyone, I'm sort of throwing this rock in the pond and running, 'cos I'll be off-wiki until the new year now, so season's greetings and festive merriness and all that to one and all, and maybe see you for Wikipedia Day in January :-) Privatemusings 16:23, 21 December 2009 (EST)

how to interact with wikipedia tutorials

I wonder if anyone else feels that there may be mileage in WMAU volunteers sticking their hands up to offer tutorial / advice / presentations to people who may want to know more about how to best interact with wikipedia / wmf in general - particularly in regard to contributing to 'their' article / their company's article etc. etc. - I have vague recollections that such schemes have been active elsewhere... I'll see if I can find out where, and whether or not there's any materials available, but in short I think it might be a really effective form of outreach - thoughts? Privatemusings 14:09, 14 September 2010 (EST)

mailing list question

our 'announce' mailing list states 'This is a very low-traffic list only for notification to members of official Wikimedia Australia meetings, as required by our Rules of Incorporation.' - but I don't think it's being used as such? Further, fwiw, I think the archives are currently public (there's only 1 message though!) - perhaps this is a mistake too? Maybe there's some cleanup required. cheers, Privatemusings 14:10, 15 September 2010 (EST)

monthly IRC availability for committee members?

I've occasionally found the tumbleweed bouncing across the WMAU plain when trying to begin conversations / see what's happening - I hope there might be support for a regular, monthly IRC 'meeting' that any members could attend - even if we kick off with only 2 or 3 folk in the channel, making sure such a meeting happens is, I feel, bound to be a good thing :-) thoughts? Privatemusings 13:24, 17 September 2010 (EST)

before I forget....

I just wanted to note a couple of things following the AGM before I forget / get distracted. I'm generally fairly forward looking, and like to focus on the possibilities in the future, but feel some chapter introspection may be necessary before we can really get off the grid. I have had the opportunity to speak with various chapter members, and ex-members, in various ways over the recent days / weeks and very much feel that the comments I make here represent not just my take on things, but some broadly held feelings.

For whatever reason, the chapter is in some ways on its knees, we have had trouble retaining our inaugural pres. as a financial member, and various very 'wiki dedicated' folk have also allowed their memberships to lapse. At heart, I believe, this is because the chapter doesn't really actually do anything at the moment. For whatever reasons, communication has been poor, and the only events / opportunities thus far organised for the membership have come through Liam's work alone. I suspect Liam would have followed his path regardless of the chapter involvement, or to put it another way, the success of 'his' programmes is solely to his credit, and not really the 'chapter'.

I feel we, and in particular the committee members, who should aim for leadership roles, need to be more communicative, more positive in discussion, and we may need to set some specific goals, and perhaps responsibilities / targets as to how we're going to achieve them. Putting my best foot forward, here's a few ideas;

  • Regular public meetings - I believe the committee has been far too insular, and would welcome public committee IRC meetings where 'lurkers' are welcome. At the very least, each committee member should flick the public mailing list an email once a month, even just a few lines, detailing any activities or updates. If there are none, I don't believe the membership would bite your head off, but to simply have radio silence for really the vast majority of the time is way below par.
  • Halve membership fees, and streamline the joining process. I don't believe we're really fundraising through membership fees, and as such would like to lower the bar to encourage people to remain engaged. The committee should look at the processes involved in membership application to ensure that communication is strong, and the process is clear. I'd like to encourage existing members to be able to 'join up' friends, colleagues, people they bump into at meetups etc. and a process should be clarified for how this is achieved. Those interested in building the chapter should consider our current membership levels somewhat of a failure, I believe we should have over 100 members within 12 months.
  • Use of this wiki - In my view, wikis live, breathe, or die based on participation - it should be a priority to ensure absolutely all possible discussion occurs over here (some will be necessarily private, but I suspect an awful lot needn't be).

Thas' all for now... my dinner's ready :-) cheers, Privatemusings 19:36, 20 September 2010 (EST)

oh, and further to my last point, I hope we can open this wiki to allow registrations by anyone, and try out various configurations of open editing generally - I'm sure we can find a balance which aids engagement and participation, and manages any nuisance effectively. I would also hope that some (many?) chapter decisions could be made through discussion and consensus of financial members here on this wiki as oppose to in camera by the committee - I think that'd be a step forward too :-)
Above all, please give the above some thought, and consider whether or not you can support these changes, if you find that you disagree in some detail, please give some thought to changes you would support, or directions you'd prefer we take - I think it's important at this point to acknowledge that some changes are going to be necessary for us to flourish. Privatemusings 09:15, 21 September 2010 (EST)
Point scoring on how our membership expanded and contracted is not helpful. That said, I do intend for our membership to be trending back towards 100 members within the next six months.
In regards to your three points, they have been discussed many times before, without obvious consensus. These discussions have happened on both the public and private lists, and within the committee. I won't bog down the committee in the first few weeks by attempting to resolve what has previously been elusive to the previous two presidents.
The immediate focus for the committee will be issues which have a direct bearing on the fundraiser, and on our ability to use those funds effectively. There are systems to be set up and tested; processes which need to be formalised and streamlined. Our small grants program is not going to be sufficient. We all need to make better use of the official wiki, and to do this we need to have guidelines about what is appropriate use of the official wiki. We also need to make better use of the private members list as a sounding board, where the discussion can meander along without concerns about the 'public face' of it. I would appreciate it if members would use the private members list in the first instance, rather than the official wiki (inc. the Billabong), until such time as the new committee has settled in. If a proposal has traction on the private members list, it can land on the official wiki with some hope of going somewhere.
Finally, I'd like us to focus our efforts before the fundraiser on new and existing projects which are feasible and demonstrate our potential. We need to get some more runs on the board. We can do some naval gazing after that. John Vandenberg 10:21, 21 September 2010 (EST)
runs on the board sounds good... and I'm glad to hear you're gunning for a trend towards 100 :-) The response 'we've discussed this many times before' can only really be countered by 'well nothing's happened, and we could be in better shape' - it also came up in conversation recently that it's easy to feel you get your head rather bitten off when suggesting things in a WMAU context, I'm sure we all want a friendly, supportive environment :-) - ps. you can tell when I feel I've scored a point by the silly dance which follows, I'll practice my 'caterpillar' for when I feel it's earned..... cheers, Privatemusings 10:53, 21 September 2010 (EST)
I agree with John's response. I'd just add that my own discussions with other committee members have suggested a considerable willingness to communicate more with membership, primarily through the members list and (where we want to really open it up or advertise events) the wikimediaau-l list. It was my feeling that we didn't do enough of this last term and I look forward to that changing in this term. This is not to say it would be limited to these avenues, the committee will obviously decide in due course what we are capable of in this respect once we have settled in. I'm asking around the committees I deal with and am on for ideas and I know others are doing similar. Orderinchaos 20:19, 21 September 2010 (EST)

An afterthought

My challenge to members - Think of something we can do (i.e. is small and narrow enough that we can actually achieve it) this year - that is, in the next 100 days - in every state in Australia, and put it forward as an idea. Both our committee and our membership are now genuinely spread right across the country so this is doable. If it needs a bit of help from the committee, let us know (even email me personally if you wish). If it needs an amount of money not exceeding $100, apply for a small grant.

That will plant at least six seeds in local communities - people will be more likely to join us if they see us and see our worth. And it will be genuinely member driven so will engage membership which is one of our key goals for this term. Also, if you can get people on board to assist you and they decide they want to stay on, that makes it that much easier to organise a local event or put a stand up at a conference or whatever in that city next time. Orderinchaos 20:35, 21 September 2010 (EST)

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