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Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/May 2009

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The 13th New York City Meetup event was held on Sunday May 17, 2009 in the Columbia University area. This was the eighth of the meetups with a session dedicated to discussing meta:Wikimedia New York City issues.

What, Where, When, and How?

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There was one public meeting in the afternoon at Columbia University, where we took further steps to organize the Wikimedia New York City local chapter, and provided a salon-style forum for discussion of Wikipedia and Wikimedia issues.

Additionally, there was an optional post-meeting dinner at the Symposium restaurant.

Main public meeting (to discuss Wikipedia issues and Wikimedia NYC chapter issues):

  • 1402 Pupin Hall, Columbia University. Enter the Columbia campus at 116th Street and Broadway. Pupin Hall is located in the Northwest corner of the campus, next to the large building under construction. Take the elevator to the 13th floor and then walk up one flight of stairs. Meeting to be held in the library at the east end of the hall. 2:30 PM - 5:00PM

Optional post-meeting meetup

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  • Meetup at Columbia, and then walk together to The Symposium, a Greek restaurant. After dinner, we can return to Pupin Hall for an observing session with the telescopes on the roof, weather permitting. 5:00 PM onwards.

Late arrival info and Transportation

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If you plan on arriving late, and are concerned about not finding your way to the group, you can drop your mobile phone number ahead of time at Special:Emailuser/Pharos (e-mail will not be able to be checked during the actual meetup time; leave requests ahead of time).

Nearby subway stations:

Agenda

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Bring your own ideas!

  • Chapter business
    • Membership process for Wikimedia NYC (we're currently sending in the first of our incorporation filings)
    • Planning for the "Wiki-Conference New York" large-scale regional meetup for ~100 people at NYU this summer (in association with our 3rd annual WikNYC Picnic)
    • Grants! What we've applied for from the Wikimedia Foundation
    • Mechanics of regional cooperation inside the chapter area (Hartford and Philadelphia) as well as possible expansion (DC and Boston)
    • Setting a summer date for Wikipedia Takes the Subway 2
    • Setting up more of Wikis Take Manhattan 3, as well as events planned in Philadelphia and Hartford
    • Nascent "Open Education League" of New York, that Wikimedia NYC can hopefully be a partner in (we may have some guests from this group also, and a roundtable discussion)
    • Working with local institutions to improve the quality of Wikipedia articles
    • The slightly delayed Wikipedia at the Library classes at the NYPL
    • Fundraising and merchandise issues
    • Draft of the new standard Chapter Agreement proposed by the WMF
  • Speakers and roundtable discussions
    • David Shankbone on establishing a Wikimedia New York City Photography Corps. for events - discussion of interest; obtaining NYPD press passes (to get beyond crowd barriers) and working with the New York Press club
    • User:Ed Poor suggested a discussion on neutrality vs. bias. -- Ssilvers (talk) 18:36, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • I don't really think there will time for this, but I though it would be interesting to discuss this idea: Have the processes that worked well when WP was small, scaled up to work well for the humongous size it is now? — Becksguy (talk) 19:47, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Interested Wikipedians

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Meeting Signup List - Likely, Possible, and Regrets

Likely attendees

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I have a friend coming into town and, though I will be there are the beginning, I'm going to have to leave early to meet him into my apartment. -->David Shankbone 13:16, 15 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Possible attendees

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Regrets

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Report

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Attendees of record

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Wikipedians/Wikimedians, from the sign-up sheet.

Chapter formation

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Our Treasurer User:MBisanz has sent in the first of our filings with the New York State Education department. Once they give the go ahead, he will be able to file our Certificate of Incorporation with the NYS Secretary of State's office to establish us as as a NYS not for profit corporation. This could take a few weeks. Next steps will be establishing a membership system, and then holding elections. We will also apply for tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3), which will give donors the ability to deduct contributions to us, which will help us to do fundraising.

Chapters meeting

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User:Daniel Case and User:Pharos gave a report on their rendezvous with our 21 fellow chapters at the Chapters meeting in Berlin.

It was decided to support the mandate of the interchapter 'Chapter Agreement Committee' in the furtherance of their discussions with the Wikimedia Foundation. The purpose of the committee is to create a standard agreement between chapters and the foundation that will describe what the powers of the chapters are in terms of activities, fundraising and other matters.

Wiki-Conference New York

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The 1st 'Wiki-Conference New York' will be held at NYU, and we will invite a broad participation from across the region and North America generally. Our very provisional date under current discussion is the weekend of July 25-26.

It was decided that the 3rd annual 'WikNYC Picnic', to be held the same weekend as the conference, would return this year to Central Park.

We will look into getting accommodation for out-of-town conference participants at NYU dorm facilities.

User:Becksguy, User:DGG, User:Gosgood, User:Pharos and User:Ran agreed to join a committee to organize the event. There was discussion about forming a Standing Planning Committee of chapter members who would spearhead planning for periodic events like this.

Becksguy on adjusting to growth

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User:Becksguy led a wide-ranging discussion exploring the various ways processes that worked well when Wikipedia was small are having difficulty scaling up to work well for the humongous size it is now.

Wikivoices audio

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Episode 42

Wikipedia growth and Articles for Deletion @ Wikimedia NYC

Date and time

17 May 2009

Length: 24m 37s

Topics discussed in this episode

  • Dealing with growth
    • Articles for Deletion
    • Jury systems

Participants