Meeting:Committee (2012-04-15)

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The meeting commenced at 16:00 hours (AEDST) [Log: 4:03 PM] on #wmau-comm. The meeting linked to the Agenda.

Attendance

  • Attendance: John (Chair), Charles, Craig, Graham, Laura
  • Apologies: Anne (Minutes)

Minutes

Motion: That the Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 18 March 2012 be accepted.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Graham
  • Support: Charles, Laura, Craig

Carried without dissent

Reports

Membership Report

Since the last committee meeting we have received one application for membership. John also informed the meeting that there have been four requests for an account on the public wiki over the last thirty days. One of those new accounts has been created for an existing financial member, JJ Harrison.

Membership Renewals strategy

The Committee discussed and outlined a strategy for handling membership renewals because the end of the financial year 30 June 2012 marks the end of the current paid membership year. Clause 4(12) of the Rules of Association states that the annual subscription is payable in advance on or before 1 July in each year. Discussion highlighted the current year's reduction in membership fees; whether to offer half price membership for the timely renewal of annual subscriptions for the period 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013; the optimum time to send the initial reminders that fees are due, and a subsequent helpful and clear follow up reminder to members who have not responded.

The perceived significance of reducing the membership fees was to encourage payment before 30 June. It was pointed out that a further reduction in the fees would result in a low concession fee of $5.00. A better option canvassed other than reduced fees is offering two years of membership for the cost of one year of membership. Also discussed was the means by which members are notified of the renewal of fees. Preference was given to sending members, by post, an invoice advising a due date for payment which is on or before the 1st July. The Committee favoured the timely sending of emails to members by the Secretary regarding renewal of membership, and following up with an invoice posted to those who have not paid membership fees.

Life membership membership was discussed and would require a change to WMAU's Rules, to Appendix 4 (as stated in Clause 4(12)) which states inter alia the 'Annual subscription fee - As defined by the committee from time to time.' and noting the wording could be extended to include life memberships.

Incoming Correspondence Report

The Chair advised that there has been no incoming correspondence over the last month and that all incoming correspondence via 'contact@' is being directed to the President.

Department of Further Education, Employment Science and Technology, South Australia and their 'ForwardIT' site

Craig received a letter from the South Australian government, concerning the use of Wikipedia screenshots in an article titled 'advanced how to create a wikipedia article'.

http://www.forwardit.sa.gov.au/home/basics/searching/advanced_how_to_create_a_wikiepedia_article

Craig informed the meeting about the Wikipedia screenshots in the article, and the website's advice that under a provision of the Copyright Act, the Wikimedia Foundation still must be informed; and further advised about the site's seeming relicencing of Wikipedia material (including the Wikipedia "globe" logo) as CC BY-NC-ND. John questioned the seeming lack of a citation relating to the content of the article.

Finance Report

Craig informed the meeting on the ongoing status of the Audit and that the ledger and banking documentation are nearing completion and onforwarding to the Auditor. Paperwork will be sent to the former Public Officer for execution regarding the BAS statement and contact details.

Public Officer

The Chair read into the meeting the Agenda item on the Public Officer Report.

Anne advised that when recently speaking with Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) they advised of impending changes to the roles of Public Officer and Secretary of incorporated organisations in Victoria. Wikimedia Australia is incorporated in Victoria.

The Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH) in consultation with CAV have produced guidelines on the changes, and advise that the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Vic) (the AI Act) '...is being changed to merge the roles of public officer and secretary. The new laws are expected to start on 1 July 2012, and when they do the public officer will automatically be called the secretary under the AI Act. To give effect to these changes means the two positions of secretary and public officer [present status] will be held by one person undertaking both roles [post 1 July 2012]. Up to the present and until 1 July 2012 the position of secretary of an incorporated association registered in Victoria has had the requirement that the person reside in Victoria. This will change from 1 July 2012 as follows, the 'new laws will also remove the requirement for the public officer/secretary to be a resident of Victoria, and replace it with the broader requirements that they be a resident of Australia. This means that a person appointed as secretary after 1 July 2012 can be a resident of any State or Territory in Australia.'

Technology Report

Domain name

The domain wikimedia.org.au has been re-registered for two years. Domain name registrant for wikimedia.org.au has changed from Angela to John.

Email aliases

Financial members who had "fname@wikimedia.org.au" email addresses have been migrated to email aliases of the form "first.last@wikimedia.org.au". Old aliases will continue to work.

The email alias steven.zhang@wikimedia.org.au has been added for Steven Zhang per committee approval at the last meeting.

contact@wikimedia.org.au

The committee discussed how to manage emails sent to contact@wikimedia.org.au, due to incoming correspondence emails being lost as reported in the Technology Report for March. It was suggested that we could automatically forward contact@ to comm@, without any moderation. Spam levels for contact@ were estimated to be four to five emails per day.

The email alias 'contact@' has been changed to send emails to John Vandenberg.

New Version of CiviCRM

The new version of CiviCRM to be installed has a correspondence module; installation will take place in due course.

WMAU Program activity

Wikimedia Conference 2012, Berlin

Craig gave a report on the formation of the Wikimedia Chapters Association (WCA), which was the primary debate held at the Chapters Conference in Berlin, and that it was well received after much vigorous debate by Chapter representatives. As representatives of Wikimedia Australia and authorised by the WMAU Resolution:Chapters Council, both Craig and Anne signed the WCA Berlin Agreement, a two part agreement drawn up to declare an intention by Chapters to join the Association and also pledge support during the interim steps of its creation. A four member interim committee with equal power was appointed to ready the Wikimedia Chapters Association's inaugural meeting at the Wikimania Conference in July 2012 and those appointed are: Damian Finol (WM Venezuela/Chapters Committee), Frieda Brioschi (WM Italy), Craig Franklin (WM Australia) and Tomer Ashur (WM Israel). The Chair took this opportunity to congratulate Craig on the appointment to the interim committee of the Wikimedia Chapters Association.

The inaugural meeting of the Association's Council is scheduled to take place in Washing DC in July 2012 at the Wikimania Conference, and WMAU will need to appoint a delegate. It was proposed that Council delegates will not be appointed for a fixed term thereby allowing Chapters to appoint a delegate on any basis or term that suits the Chapter. The model cited at the Chapters Conference is the 'UN' model where delegates function as 'ambassadors' rather than the 'EU' model where delegates function as 'parliamentarians'. At this stage it is envisioned there will only be one formal meeting of the Association each year to coincide with the Wikimania Conference.

John advised that the appointment of a delegate to Council will be presented to WMAU members for discussion. Further discussion favoured WMAU adopting a one year term for delegates; another focusing on the idea of continuity included the option of open appointments of WMAU delegates in the role until reappointment or a new appointment is made. Discussion also recognised the expense of travelling and combined attendance at an international event and WMAU delegate to WCA. A delegate will need to be appointed to represent WMAU at Wikimania in July.

The Committee discussed the need to include a fixed budget allocation for the internal costs arising and including the membership cost of the Association.

Motion: That Wikimedia Australia hereby joins the Wikimedia Chapters Association and that the question of a continued membership of the Wikimedia Chapters Association by Wikimedia Australia is to be tabled at the 2013 Annual General Meeting for a vote. In the interim Wikimedia Australia allocates a maximum of $AUD10,000 for related activities and expenditure required as a consequence of joining.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Graham
  • Support: Laura, Charles, Craig.

Carried without dissent [Log: 4.56]

Wikimania Conference 2012, Washington DC

John sought clarification on the announcement of successful scholarship recipients for the Wikimania Conference and an update on accommodation and airfares. Committee are to be briefed when the winners are announced later in the week and Charles and Graham both volunteered to do the follow up.

WMAU Grants

Grant Applications Received

A grant application has been received from JJ Harrison for two Pelagic boat trips on 22 April and 27 May 2012 respectively. Costs are anticipated at $130 per trip.

Motion: That the Committee accepts JJ Harrison's grant request for up to $130 per trip for two Pelagic boat trips to take place on 22nd April and 27 May 2012. Funds will be reimbursed upon presentation of receipts.

  • Moved: Craig
  • Seconded: Graham
  • Support: John, Laura, Charles

Carried without dissent [Log: 05:07]

Grant Reports Received

John introduced the Reports that have been received by Grant recipients Robert Myers and User:Juttavd and placed on the public wiki at the following links:

http://www.wikimedia.org.au//wiki/User:Bidgee/Small_grant_report

http://www.wikimedia.org.au//wiki/User:Juttavd/AdaCamp_report

Discussion highlighted the importance of Reports being sent to the Committee by the recipients of Grants and that successful Grant applicants be made aware that they submit their Reports to the Committee. This is required to verify that incoming Reports can be cross referenced to an awarded Grant. The practice is not intended to vet the acceptance or otherwise of Reports but merely to verify that Grant reports match up with the Grant awarded prior to a Report being published on the public wiki. The discussion confirmed that incoming Reports should be published as soon as they have been verified.

Payments

No payments to report.

Proposals

2012 Languages conference

John informed the committee on an update of the 2012 Languages Conference, referring to the thread on comm email earlier in April; and informing the Committee that he will be overseas for several months from June.

The updated structure of the Languages Conference will see the establishment of a smaller conference than originally planned. Feedback from the language sessions at the Wikimedia Conference, and combined with the planned language sessions at Wikimania in July this year, indicate a requirement to establish implementation sessions to capitalise on recent sessions. The Languages Conference in Indonesia will be well placed and considered good timing for delivering workshops, collaborations and practical sessions, and it will be supported by the Wikimedia Indonesian team. John will be liaising with Indonesian Universities.

WMID are able to secure facilities at low cost, and it is estimated that funding should be in the vicinity of $30,000 made up of $10,000 for hiring and catering costs and $20,000 travel and accommodation for key participants from Indonesia and Australia who would not otherwise be funded.

Motion: That WMAU allocates $AU30,000 to the 2012 Languages Conference. $AU10,000 to be restricted to conference expenses such as catering and the hire of venue. $AU20,000 to be reserved for travel and accommodation for participants. Scholarship applications will be approved by the WMAU Committee.

  • Moved: John
  • Seconded: Craig
  • Support: Graham, Charles, Laura

Carried without dissent [Log: 05:21]

Joint Project, WMAU and Wikimedia Estonia

Craig informed the Committee that he has been in consultation with Wikimedia Estonia regarding a collaboration between our two Chapters and the Estonian community living in Australia, in the form of a jointly run competition to develop mutually interesting content consisting of either (a) content about Australia written on the Estonian or Voro Wikipedias; or (b) content about joint Estonian-Australian topics written anywhere. The benefits gained from capacity-building would be very rewarding. We would hope to liaise with the Estonian Australian Society (http://www.eesti.org.au/) and the Cultural Attache at the Embassy to secure additional partners.

There may also be interest in the Paralympics and discussions are in progress.

The cost of prizes such as educational materials would be reasonable and expenses would be in the vicinity of $500. Craig will in due course advise the Committee further on this project.

WikiWomensCamp

Craig outlined the current status of airfares for WWC, advising that follow ups are in place with banks regarding money transfers; a payment is ready for approval and sent out this week; and more details are required on a payment for one applicant. If there are any outstanding requests for payment they should be sent in as soon as possible. Receipts are required on all reimbursements.

Meeting closed at 17:34 hours

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