WIKI SOCIETY of WASHINGTON, DC INC. Board of Directors Meeting
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WIKI SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON, DC INC. Board of Directors Meeting February 15, 2015 Wikimedia District of Columbia, 1730 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC Board Members Present: James Hare [President] Emily Temple-Wood [Vice President] Kirill Lokshin [Secretary] Peter Meyer [Treasurer] Trisha Melikian John Sadowski Diane Shaw The meeting was called to order by Mr. Hare at 2:28 PM. 1. A motion by Mr. Hare to approve the Minutes of the December 14 meeting of the Board of Directors in the form previously distributed was seconded and passed without dissent. 2. Mr. Hare submitted a written report on behalf of the Executive Committee, which was entered into the Minutes: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Wikimedia DC is beginning to enter its most active season for edit-a-thons. Plans for our more complex programs later in the year are also coming together, and we have developed several proposals that will streamline our organizational structure. We are breaking ground with partnerships, expanding our reach through new programs and awarding a record number of grants. This rapid growth is very exciting, but raises certain potential risks for the organization that the Board of Directors should consider. PROGRAMS Events: We partnered with the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore for the ArtBytes Hackathon from February 6–8, focusing on the intersection of technology and the arts. We promoted Wikidata as a platform for storing and sharing structured data on the museum's collection. Our first edit-a-thon with Professor Andrew Lih’s COMM 535 class at American Page !1 of !18 University was on February 10 at the National Museum of American History, focusing on Japanese-American history during World War II. We held dinner meetups on December 14 and January 31, and WikiSalons on December 18, January 14, and February 11. Planned Events: Wikimedia DC is supporting the Wiki Loves Small Museums workshop at the Small Museum Association Conference on February 15. The goal of Wiki Loves Small Museums is to reach out to small museums and to encourage them to digitize photographs for upload to Wikimedia Commons. The program is supported by a grant from Wikimedia DC to pay for volunteer support. We have several upcoming edit-a-thons. The University of Maryland has invited Wikimedia DC to participate in the “WikiTurgy” edit-a-thon on February 17. We are also hosting two Black History Month events: the first with Howard University on February 24, and a “first edit” event with NPR on February 19. For Women’s History Month, the third annual Women in the Arts edit-a-thon will be held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts on March 8, and the third “She Blinded Me with Science” edit-a-thon will be held with the Smithsonian Institution Archives on March 27. We will host a WikiSalon on March 11 and dinner meetups on February 28 and March 28. Summer of Monuments: We finally finished reviewing over 10,000 submissions from the contest, reducing the list down to 807 finalists. These 807 finalists are under review by the jury, and the top 10 should be determined by the end of February. An analysis of the outcome of Summer of Monuments is underway; preliminary findings suggest that the program was effective in improving coverage of certain Southern states. Cultural Partnerships Program: James Hare will be meeting with the GLAM-Wiki US Consortium during their meeting at the National Archives on March 21–22. The Wikimedia DC cultural partnerships program will focus on empowering the Consortium and other volunteers to engage in outreach work. The new cultural partnerships coordinator should be on-boarded by July 1, three months behind schedule. Wikipedia Space: Page !2 of !18 Andrew Lih was awarded a grant from the Knight Foundation to develop a portable Wikipedia exhibit called “Wikipedia Space,” which will be based in the Innovation Hub of the National Archives. We look forward to collaborating with him on this project. WikiConference USA: Wikimedia DC is partnering with the Wiki Education Foundation to host WikiConference USA 2015 in Washington, DC from July 31 to August 2. The Wiki Education Foundation is organizing a planning meeting on March 14 at the Dupont Circle Hotel. Under an agreement negotiated by James Hare and Wiki Education Foundation Executive Director Frank Schulenburg, Wikimedia DC will be responsible for assembling the program and awarding scholarships, while the Wiki Education Foundation will manage logistics, press outreach, fundraising, and finance. Diversity Conference: We are currently planning to host the Wikimedia Diversity Conference in Mexico City, adjunct to Wikimania 2015. The conference will be planned as a “pre-pre-conference” that will leverage the Wikimania Scholarship Program while ensuring that participants will be able to participate in the other parts of Wikimania as well. Grant funding will cover the extra cost of hotel room-nights for participants and extra conference space; we will be coordinating with Wikimedia Foundation Conference Coordinator Ellie Young. Trainings: Our second annual workshop facilitator training is currently scheduled for the last weekend in May. This year’s training will be explicitly focused on increasing the participation of women, and we plan on applying as part of the Wikimedia Foundation’s Inspire campaign. The second GLAM Boot Camp is scheduled for June and will be funded as part of our cultural partnerships program. The workshop will be supported by the National Archives and Records Administration. Grantmaking: Wikimedia DC awarded grants totaling $2,012.41 to Brett Gibbs, Monika Sengul-Jones, Mary Mark Ockerbloom, and Effie Kapsalis. These grants were awarded to jumpstart the Cascadia Wikimedians User Group; host the “I Love To You” Critical Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon at the University of Washington; host a photo scanning and uploading workshop at the Small Museum Association Conference in Ocean City, MD; and to host the third annual “She Blinded Me With Science” edit-a-thon at the Smithsonian Page !3 of !18 Institution Archives. A grant application from the University of North Carolina was received and is under consideration. A grant application from Abhishek Suryawanshi will serve as the basis for an event planned directly by Wikimedia DC. The grant awarded to Andrew Pearson for the Hawaii Edit-a-Thon was canceled at the request of the grantee. ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Governance: A new Safe Space Policy has been drafted for consideration by the Board. The new policy, which is based on the existing Friendly Space Policy, promotes the adoption of our safe space policies by partner organizations and empowers Wikimedia DC to effectively prohibit individuals who pose a threat to the safety and well-being of our participants and volunteers from participating in our programs. A proposed streamlining of the advisory committee structure will change the focus of the program committees from program planning to outreach, re-designate the Public Policy Committee as a program committee, establish a new National Outreach Committee, and eliminate the Technical Infrastructure and Grants Committees. Also proposed for the Board’s consideration are a streamlined grantmaking process that makes use of the program committees’ talents and insights and a streamlined quarterly reporting process that reduces the Board’s workload. Membership: Wikimedia DC membership has decreased to 73 members, 43 of whom have opted for automatic renewal. Renewal by members who have not signed up for an automatic renewal option remains virtually non-existent, as does recruitment of new members. More active recruitment will likely be necessary to effect the significant expansion in membership that is contemplated by the emerging strategic plan. Staff: Benjamin Lees, Kunal Mehta, and Kim Schoonover have been appointed as volunteer system administrators with root access. Katie Filbert and Chad Horohoe had their root access to our server disabled due to inactivity. Strategy: Page !4 of !18 We received a copy of our report from TCC Group regarding organizational effectiveness, and will be reviewing it as part of our strategic planning process. James Hare met with Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Lila Tretikov regarding the relationship between the two organizations, including opportunities to partner on policy initiatives. FINANCES The Audit Committee met on January 18 to review Wikimedia DC’s accounting records, and is in the process of completing the outstanding financial audits for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 fiscal years. Peter Meyer is currently finalizing Wikimedia DC’s reports to the Wikimedia Foundation regarding the Projects 2014 and the WikiConference USA grants from last year; the submission of these reports will complete the last open action items we have with regard to the PEG program, and will allow the release of funding for our 2015 grants. As of February 14, 2015, Wikimedia DC had $18,322.57 in liquid financial accounts. Fundraising: Wikimedia DC has a pending grant application with the Wikimedia Foundation which will fund some of our routine programs. Our current target is to submit the workshop facilitator training and diversity conference grant proposals by the end of February and the grant proposal concerning the cultural partnerships program by the end of March. 3. The draft Safe Space Policy was discussed and amended. A motion by Mr. Hare to adopt the policy, as amended, in replacement of the Friendly Space Policy was seconded and passed without dissent, and the policy was entered into the Minutes: ARTICLE I - PURPOSE AND SCOPE 1. Purpose. The purpose of this Safe Space Policy ("Policy") is to ensure that the events and programs operated by Wikimedia District of Columbia ("Wikimedia DC") are free of harassment and other unwelcome behavior. 2. Scope. This Policy applies to all events where Wikimedia DC has both authority and reasonable means to implement the provisions of this Policy. It further applies to all programs operated by Wikimedia DC and all spaces, whether physical or virtual, under Wikimedia DC control.