Wikipedia:Meetup/Boston3

Meetups from April 2005 to December 2005, in reverse chronological order... (should be unreversed?) Current and more recent meetups include Wiki Wednesdays and plans for Wikimania 2006.

(Mania) Wed 12/21, 7 pm EST

 * Location: La Luna Caffe, 403 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 617-576-3400
 * on the MIT side of Central Square, close to Toscanini's, across from the fire station
 * soups, salads, sandwichs, warm beverages, gelato, spotty wifi
 * We discussed some program planning stuff and logo/graphic issues

Mon 12/12, 7 pm EST

 * An unknown # > 4 were at Tosci's at different times. 3 connected successfully, chatted about general Wikipedia things: John Seigenthaler's controversial entry, new policies regarding anonymous contributors, recent press about Wikipedia, Wikimania
 * Good food was found nearby at Luna; proposal made to move there in future. Ice cream was cold, but ohhh so good.
 * Research with local academics discussed.
 * Public readings from Uncyclopedia were roundly enjoyed. (I recommend this to break the ice at any Meetup, though not needed for that purpose here)

(Mania) Wed 11/23 4-6 pm EST, IRC at 5pm EST

 * speakers, topics, etc.
 * location: Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Baker House, Harvard Law School, 1587 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA
 * We'll meet at Baker House at 4 pm and be there until 6 pm.
 * There's been some discussion about the location. The meeting has been confirmed to be at the Berkman Center.
 * IRC with the greater Wikimania community at 5 pm
 * IRC channel: freenode.net, #wikimania

Wikimania IRC Chat, Sat 11/19 16:00 UTC

 * more info
 * channel: freenode.net, #wikimania
 * 11 am EST
 * Several of us locals are planning to gather somewhere.
 * O'Natural's at 187 Elm Street in Davis Square, Somerville, with food, beverages, space, and open wireless, is where some of us will gather before 11 am.
 * Three of us are here. The Wikipedia Meetup Group's sign is on the table. One of us is logging the chat for mysekurity as requested.
 * The next potential IRC meeting date and time are Saturday, December 3, at 22:00 UTC or 17:00 EST or 5 pm (or 4 pm if you're sj)

Monday, November 14

 * Time: 7:30 pm
 * Place: Toscanini's, 899 Main Street (east of Central Square), Cambridge, MA 02139, (617) 491-5877  *with open wireless!*
 * Contact: Sj (you can also call sj or bs, #s below)

Agenda

 * ice cream
 * Wikimania stuff
 * No one 'in the know' on Wikimania attended the meeting, so we couldn't talk much about what needs to be done, where we are in the planning, etc.
 * Can we get some clarification as to our schedule? When are our meetings?
 * Is this Wikipedia group going to morph to focus on Wikimania in Boston, Summer 2006, or are we still going to deal with general wiki things and another group is working on the conference? What's going on?
 * The organization of the wikis is a problem. People are having problems figuring out where to go on the wikis and what which meetings are for.
 * Saturday (11/19) Wikimania planning IRC meeting, 1600 UTC (11 am EST?)
 * Is there some place with open wireless or Internet access we could gather?
 * Notes from the 11/5 IRC meeting
 * Program issues
 * committees to work on programs
 * Maybe get some of the librarian groups to help w/ this
 * screen proposals and papers (maybe 300 total)
 * suggest and wrangle speakers
 * Tracks:
 * First of all, there's confusion about whether the conference is only going to be stuff about Wikimedia projects or whether it'll be wikis in general.
 * We have no idea whether there are actual tracks or whether tracks have yet to be decided. Here are ones we talked about proposing.
 * Science
 * Library stuff
 * Information science
 * Medicine
 * Education
 * JT's paper
 * wikis in business
 * Design issues
 * mascot
 * graphic
 * links from bloggers
 * Software
 * Marketing
 * Travel
 * The bravery it takes to play our own CD of a solo instrument performance in your work environment.
 * Cefn flew in from Britain and dropped by to see what's going on in our group.
 * Should he fly back for Wikimania?
 * Yes!!
 * What would help us is to know what's needed right now, what kinds of things need to happen, maybe something like a timeline or a program planning map.
 * It's difficult for us to meet to talk about Wikimania when no one who knows what's happening with the planning is at the meeting.
 * If politics are an issue, how can we smooth the gap?
 * How can we involve the international community in this?
 * We adjorned at 9:20 pm

Planning to come

 * Other: Carl Blesius, Sasha Wait, Caryn Anderson, Jeff Keller, Cefn Hoile
 * sj will not be at the meeting.
 * j will pretend to lead.

Thursday October 27
The Berkman Thursday Blog says y'all are expected for our regular meeting [as opposed to the separate session last week.]
 * Time: 7:00 pm
 * Place: Berkman Center, in Baker House @ Harvard Law School.
 * Contact: Sj (you can also call sj or bs, #s below)

Agenda
facilitation: wiki and blog cross-pollination across city lines

Planning to come

 * +randy.f +
 * Other: Mal, Amanda, crschmidt, j, michael, garyd., erica

Thursday October 20

 * Time: 8:15pm
 * Place: Berkman Center, in Baker House @ Harvard Law School.
 * Agenda: Boston Wikimania updates; brainstorming about international travel; meeting with law school groups.
 * Contact: Sj (you can also call sj or bs, #s below)

Agenda

 * Student group interest and coordinationlitating


 * Local Women in Technology group, non-profit meetups, and technobabes. Diversity of backgrounds.
 * Involvement with local international groups, foundations, societies. Getting help for travellers.
 * Support for better international networking, sponsorship
 * Housing : MIT and Lesley updates
 * Visa waiver countries, other visa issues : how hard is it? how to speed up / aid the process?  examples from south am., asia, africa.
 * Working at a local university : much easier? Info from int'l relations desk.

Planning to come
+sj +

Thursday October 13

 * Time: 8pm
 * Place: MIT Campus, 2-139 (that's building 2, ground floor, Rm 139)
 * Agenda: Boston Wikimania brainstorming; meeting with groups around campus.
 * Contact: Stevenj (you can also call sj or bs, #s below)

Agenda

 * Student group interest and coordination
 * Local Women in Technology group, non-profit meetups, and technobabes
 * Involvement with local education groups (Boston primary-school tech projects; three-continent science fair collaboration [via Stonehill]; project NTC)
 * Support for better international networking, and for bringing attendees from far away : global orgs in town
 * Housing : MIT - dorms available.
 * Visa waiver countries : worth listing all 24 from the state dept site.
 * Working at a local university : much easier. Schools can write, one to another.  Just prepare early!
 * OSI translation sources.
 * Shekhar -> contacts w/ persian & arabic translations of lists of work

A room full of chalk

 * Ilya, Sj, Stevenj
 * Niyogi, teadams, branimir, shekhar
 * 2 european guests, who sent names via email but had to run (ilya's friends)
 * mako, brett, mysekurity

Monday October 10

 * Time: 8 pm
 * Place: Toscanini's Ice Cream, Central Sq.
 * Agenda: add to the list below, or call 617x529/42/66 (sj)

Details: Good ice cream experiments. follow-up on last week; more on freeing content.

Regular meeting. Someone from HU Libraries? Post-dinner. Pushed back thanks to an MIT conflict @ 7:30.

Agenda

 * Something fizzy; Tosci's again?
 * Mania 2006 update (and Thurs meeting)
 * Wikis and Berkman : lecture series Thursdays, third of each month? Implementers, researchers, other?
 * Related cool events around Boston
 * Freeing content : finding orphaned works and open databases.

Ice cream eaters

 * Sj, mako, mika
 * j, deborah
 * aaronsw, shekhar
 * 3 gnome devs from the uk
 * stevenj, chr.
 * tracy, gregor
 * chris

Monday September 26

 * Time: 7:30 pm
 * Place: Tosci's in Central, 899 Main Street, Cambridge   617-491-5877
 * Agenda: add to the list below
 * Contact: SJ (617x529/42/66)

Details: sj is meeting some folks at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square at 1350 Massachusetts Avenue at 7 pm, then going to Toscanini's in Central Square.

Regular meeting. Irregular guests : one from the Museum of Science, another from jwales' hometown.

Agenda

 * Ice cream. Wiki flavor choices? What is the right way to edit someone else's ice cream cone?  In a cup?
 * Wikimania and Berkman
 * This week at Berkman, at MIT, and in Waltham...
 * Fall events in Boston. The Charles boat races!
 * Report on the Arlington town wiki(s)
 * Do we want to meet on Oct. 10th, the Columbus Day federal holiday? That's our next 'regularly scheduled' meeting.

In attendance

 * Saurabh Asthara, Bill, a Brace, Bruce McH, Dan Keshet, Dave E, Deborah Elizabeth Finn, (Emma M), j, Jeremy T, Karen R, Mysekurity, Paul August, Sj, Aaron Swartz, Zak (~17)

Follow up notes: Yes, we're planning to meet on the 10th. Jimmy Wales didn't make it; plane arrived too late. Lisa M. from the MofS had a sick kid to care for as well. Special guest stars Zak and Aaron were supplemented by DanKeshet, newly returned to Boston, and Dave E. We had some great conversations. Oh, yeah, and the ice cream was fab... best in the world, they say. Emma M. helped make the amazing ice cream we ate; bearing the scars of slaving over a hot ice-cream stove (mm-mmm) what a gem! --j. and sj

Monday September 12
Time: TBD Place: TBA Agenda: add to the list below Contact: SJ (617x529/42/66)

Here's the deal: we thought we could have a regular meeting at 7 p at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square (that's the one that's in the square, not the one closer to Central Square), but SJ realized he has to be at a [wiki-related city council] meeting around 7 pm, so he can't be at the Meetup. When his meeting is over at 9, we're meeting at his house in Arlington. Call for directions : 617 529 4266.

Agenda

 * someone said something about ice cream and blondies...
 * report on the Arlington town wiki and SeattleWiki
 * jwales visit during the next meetup; gathering a crowd.