Wikimedia Macau

Just saw a note on Meta, but it looks like things are moving forward in Macau. Chapcom hasn't heard anything from them yet, but if things are progressing so quickly, I'm sure we'll be hearing from them soon.

Global Chapters Updates

Some assorted mini-updates:

1. We've received some communication from a new group in Macedonia who appear to be well on their way to forming a new chapter. I'll post more updates about this group as I get them.
2. Good progress is being made in India. Sue Gardner has made the formation of an Indian chapter a major priority, and has been putting a lot of time and energy into it's creation. Advisory board member Achal Prabhala has gotten involved as a serious facilitator for the new group, and has been doing amazing work getting the ball rolling. Hopefully we have more news to report on this in the coming weeks.
3. Wikimedia Indonesia is growing and is going public soon with a press conference. I'll get more details about this soon.
4. A few other groups have been in contact with the chapcom, but it's too early for me to talk about any of them yet. Suffice it to say that we could have a pretty good year in terms of adding new chapters if even half of the communications we've received turn into something real.
   

Philadelphia Committee Meeting Recap

Last night was the seventh Philadelphia meetup. The word "meetup" is actually a misnomer because it wasn't the normal social meet-and-eat get together that the previous Philly meetups had been. The name for these kinds of events will probably be "Philadelphia Committee Meetings" in the future, and the word "meetup" can stay reserved for the informal social gatherings that so many of us have come to enjoy.

Last night we had a small group, just 5 Wikimedians for the bulk of the meeting and only 4 at the dinner portion. Despite small numbers, we were very productive and managed to lay out a general gameplan for the future. The goal seems to be that we want to hold some kind of major event every 2-3 months, and punctuate those with more regular but smaller events as well (meetups, Wiki Acadamies, etc).

Our first event is going to be a local take on the popular "Wikis Take Manhattan" that WM-NYC has done. Our version, Wikis Take Philadelphia, is tenatively scheduled for May 16th. We're still in early planning stages, but we are hoping to be able to plan an awesome event in the next two months. We're looking for volunteers to help execute it, teams to participate in it, and friends to help get the word out. I'll post more details about the event as we do more planning.

We're also looking for other activity opportunities, and like-minded organizations in the city that we can parner with to execute bigger events. If you know any people or groups that fit this bill, I would love to hear from you!

Philadelphia Meetup

This weekend, there will be a meetup in Philadelphia for interested Wikimedians. Details are located at Wikipedia. The meetup will start on March 15th at 3PM at Drexel University.

This isn't just a normal meetup, it's the first meetup of Philadelphia Wikimedians as part of the new Wikimedia New York chapter. The Philadelphia area is part of the NYC chapter, and there is the potential for us to create our own regional committee to get Philadelphians involved in the chapter's activities. This is quite a cool opportunity, and I look forward to seeing a lot of our local friends attend.

In other chapters news, there has been some scattered talk about a Mexico chapter forming, and a few communications have even come in to the Chapcom. If you are from Mexico and know anything about this effort or have any thoughts about it, I would love to hear from you. Send me an email or leave a comment here on this blog with any information.

Chapcom Blogging, and News

The issue of creating and maintaining a blog has been mentioned to the Chapcom, and some of the members there seem pretty agreeable to the idea. I don't know if it's going to happen, but it would be a great way to open the committee up to outside inspection and increase communication bandwidth between us and the rest of Wikimedia.

Some other committee members have mentioned that I could share some news on this blog, so long as I make it clear what information is my personal opinions and which is supported by the entire committee. To start off this new found freedom, Here is a (partial) list of countries and groups that myself or the Chapcom has heard from recently. If you live in one of these areas, please send me a message to let me know about it. Also, if you're working on creating a new chapter, but aren't listed here, send a message to me or to the Chapcom to let us know about you.

1. Catalan language region (portions of Spain, France, Italy and Andorra). I've talked about this group before, and will likely have more to say about them in the future.
2. Mexico
3. Canada
4. India

I've heard rumors about a few other groups existing, but no firm confirmations of that. If you are working to create a new chapter and your group is not listed here, please contact me or the Chapcom ASAP! Seriously, you want us to get involved as early as possible so we can help, support, and guide you.