Wikipedia talk:Meetup/NYC/Archive 3

Wikipedia15
Hi, all, I've heard a lot of people speaking at the unconference today and sometimes they've given their real name, sometimes their editor name, it's usually been said once, if at all, and quite quickly. It would be great if you could take the sign-up list for the day and add everyone's name that didn't sign up in advance. I'd like to touch base with a few people and it would be nice to have an up-to-date attendee list. Thanks for considering this. Liz Read! Talk! 20:13, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Where are the 360 degree pix / videos ? Wwwhatsup (talk) 04:31, 18 January 2016 (UTC)

And, while it's interesting to see photos of the sandwiches, did any of the group photos turn out okay? The photographer seemed too close to the group to get everyone in the frame. Liz Read! Talk! 01:12, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
 * It does seem odd that there's always quite a lot of photography at these events but only a handful seem to find their way to Commons. Is there another venue people use? &mdash;  Rhododendrites talk  \\ 22:12, 1 February 2016 (UTC)


 * For EVERY event I put a link to the Commons that people can use to upload photos, but not many people (a) probably notice it's there and (b) use the category / categories. There's no organized initiative or place beyond the Commons as far as I know. I too would be interested in seeing the pics as well.... -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 22:16, 1 February 2016 (UTC)
 * ("Commander Dan") is the one with the 3600&deg; pictures and a lot of other photos from this year and last. Could any of you comment through the link below at Wikipedia_talk:Meetup/NYC about how we should categorize events here and at Commons? If we are going to ask him to upload his photos, then perhaps it would be good to decide on a category where we can tell people to put their photos, and from where we can sort them.  Blue Rasberry   (talk)  20:36, 2 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I don't have any brilliant solutions but I'd look at what other active groups and chapters like the UK, German or Australian group do with their meetup photos. Liz  Read! Talk!</b> 22:15, 2 February 2016 (UTC)


 * -- To address your initial question about tracking down users, I think the general consensus is that it is encouraged that editors sign up on the event's page -- that way everyone interested can try and reach out via their Talk pages and use the email function within Wikipedia. I am the Secretary of Wikimedia New York City and can tell you that we are keeping track of attendees from both the on-wiki sign-in and the paper sign-in sheet but the paper sign-in information is not publicly available, as I am sure you understand from a privacy concern that all of that personal data should not be out there.
 * Also, please note that everyone here is a volunteer, and if you see something like the meetup photos needing to be researched and/or organized, please definitely feel free to be BOLD and contribute any organizational efforts. :-) Talking about it here on the Talk page is a great start but as you say, there's a need for improvement here so please if you enjoy this stuff and want to help, join in and help!!! All the best -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 13:29, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
 * As I said, I don't have any brilliant solutions and I also don't have a camera, so I was just raising some questions. That's how I'm helping right now. I also didn't realize that a sign-in sheet was considered private information. I thought people were just putting down their username. Liz  <sup style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><b style="color:#006400;">Read!</b> <b style="color:#006400;">Talk!</b> 20:57, 4 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Hi Liz, apologies if that wasn't as friendly as I intended it to be. I agree this is a problem -- what you describe has totally happened to me at numerous events. It's very frustrating. The sign-in itself isn't necessarily private, but it seems like it would be weird to circulate the sign-in sheet out of context, doesn't it? People put down user names and email addresses. But yeah. If you have any ideas, would love to hear more ideas for making things better. I am a huge fan of name tags with sharpies (so old folk like me can read the info)! :-) -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 23:57, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

What do you think of coming up with a succinct bit of text for a small print-out (quarter-page-size or even something like a business card) that could be handed directly to anyone taking pictures. It would include a call to action to upload the photos, a suggestion for a category to put them in, and a link to an upload page. Coming up with a particular category beforehand might justify the IRL equivalent of "templating the regulars" :) Don't know how much of a difference it would make but I wonder how many people take pictures and just don't think to upload them to Commons. I know I've seen a link on the meetup pages, but it's easy to get lost on those pages. &mdash; <span style="font-family:monospace, monospace;"> Rhododendrites <sup style="font-size:80%;">talk  \\ 23:01, 4 February 2016 (UTC)


 * That would be great -- as well as having some flyers up too -- and mentioning it at the meetings. Do you want to create materials that we could print and have available? It sounds like you have a great idea of what this should be! -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 23:57, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

Requests for photos
There are regularly international requests for photos in New York. Perhaps there should be some board where WM NYC can invite and store these. For now - I know I have seen other requests. I am not sure how other regional Wikipedia groups manage requests. Perhaps this should be part of the chapter interface?  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  21:52, 11 February 2016 (UTC)
 * requests photos of Pelham Bay Bridge in NYC
 * request photos of Tree of 40 Fruit in Syracuse
 * We could get involved in this, but aren't these kinds of request more appropriate to WikiProject New York City?
 * See Category:Wikipedia requested photographs in New York and The main problem is that nobody pays any attention to these.  Smallbones( smalltalk ) 02:28, 12 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Same for Commons:Commons:Picture requests. One problem is, there are too many ways to make a request. Someone ought to put in the hours of thought needed for proper organization and consolidation of such requests. Not me. Jim.henderson (talk) 22:32, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
 * There was a Toolserver tool which listed geotagged articles without JPEG or requesting images. Then WMF decided to kill Toolserver.  — Dispenser 20:50, 19 February 2016 (UTC)
 * I was bicycling and photographing a few miles from Pelham Bay yesterday and could have gone there. Alas, the Commons:Commons:Unvisited app has stopped working, and didn't show this kind of request when it was working, so I forgot about it. Pictures could easily be collected if there were one phone app showing a local map of talk page requests and the blank spaces of list articles, combined with some sort of optional semi-automated upload process. I don't expect it this year or next. Jim.henderson (talk) 13:28, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Chance missed. But do you know wikishootme?--Kopiersperre (talk) 14:32, 28 February 2016 (UTC)
 * Wow . I'm pretty sure I shot pictures myself of the majority shown within 1 km of me, except the ones that haven't existed for many years. Also I noticed that it links to the Wikidata item, which does not link to the article, but these are small points. Perhaps our industrious and imaginative coder friend Magnus Manske will refine it some more, for example with a drag map to choose center points when planning a trip. What it most lacks is a mobile version, so when I fail to follow my plan and find myself biking through an unexpected place, I can seek unexpected targets. But if I study it more, I am confident of finding good uses.
 * Because Wikidata is missing pictures at many items the tool doesn't recognize them. But this will improve over time, especially with this game.--Kopiersperre (talk) 16:41, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Who creates/delivers the talk page messages to people on the invite list?
I just received a mass message regarding the upcoming Black Life Matters edit-a-thon. It occurs to me I'm not quite sure what the process is for creating and sending out these sorts of messages. Practically speaking, I was hoping to either include the Interference Archive ArtAndFeminism event in the message that I'm sure will be sent out regarding the MoMA event, or otherwise to create a separate message. What are the rules/conventions and who are the people to talk to? Pinging as a likely suspect :) &mdash; <span style="font-family:monospace, monospace;"> Rhododendrites  <sup style="font-size:80%;">talk  \\ 22:11, 1 February 2016 (UTC)


 * -- yep that would be .... I was collecting them here on the Admin page -- Invites. We should probably try to set up a schedule of when these are done and how, etc. I would like to have an archive of them but I've been slacking a bit....; however, if they are in the Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC namespace I will be able to find them and collect them for reference and possible reuse, etc. - Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 22:14, 1 February 2016 (UTC)


 * Just received the mass message for the MoMA event and was reminded that I still don't know what the process is for doing so. MoMA is, of course, the main event but it seems like it would make sense to at least have a brief mention/link at the bottom of that notice for the four+ other NYC events? (1 2 3 4). Trying to figure out a process through which to make that suggestion/request is what I intended above. &mdash; <span style="font-family:monospace, monospace;"> Rhododendrites <sup style="font-size:80%;">talk  \\ 22:23, 2 March 2016 (UTC)

Wikimedia Foundation board elections - our chapter's role
I would encourage folks to look at the nominations of potential Wikimedia Foundation board members that our chapter will have a say in, and read over and participate in questions to the candidates. There are two seats to be filled, with ten candidates to fill them, and we will decide our chapter's votes at the upcoming April 13 WikiWednesday. Once we make a decision, we will be able to rank our chapter's overall choices through optional preferential voting, to be counted alongside the choices of the ~40 other chapters eligible to participate in this election.--Pharos (talk) 15:27, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

North African priority
Who are the North African "priority" artist subjects for the edit-a-thon? czar 00:28, 26 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Kader Attia, Ali Cherri, and Zineb Sedira are all red-linked artists with North African ties featured in the exhibition. Iman Issa was started recently by one of the Guggenheim interns.  You can see a rather wider list at WikiProject Missing encyclopedic articles/Art of the Middle East.--Pharos (talk) 16:56, 27 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Since I put this together yesterday, might as well share:
 * Egyptian artists: Iman Issa, Susan Hefuna, Hassan Khan (artist)
 * French Algerian: Kader Attia, Zineb Sedira
 * Tunisian: Nadia Kaabi-Linke
 * I'd be interested in doing a contemporary African art edit-a-thon, if the Guggenheim wants to partner with the National Museum of African Art czar  21:02, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

, is the Gugg planning to release images with the edit-a-thon? It'd be nice to have some shots for Draft:Nadia Kaabi-Linke czar  17:35, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * They can't release images of artworks (which are copyrighted by the artists), but in a few cases they have portrait photographs of artists that have been taken by Guggenheim staff photographers, and we can do a search for these later.--Pharos (talk) 17:43, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

MediaWiki Conference @ NYU - Wed-Fri - discounted tickets for chapter members
Beyond the WikiWednesday community learning night, there is a whole conference going on at NYU focused on MediaWiki during the days of Wednesday-Friday this week: EMWCon Spring 2016.

In talking to the organizers, we've made a deal so any of our chapter members can attend the regular conference at $10/day, which is a steep discount from the regular price. This does not include their fancy restaurant outing on Thursday night (which would be extra), and of course the WikiWednesday night event is free to everyone.

But if you are available during the workday on any of the days from Wednesday-Friday this week, and are even a little interested in the tech infrastructure of MediaWiki, this conference could be for you. Please write to me asap if you'd like to attend during the day on Wednesday, Thursday, and/or Friday.--Pharos (talk) 19:34, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

Fixers' Collective symbiosis with WikiWednesday tonight
FYI, if you have broken stuff, or like to fix other people's broken stuff: http://www.fixerscollective.org/--Pharos (talk) 15:52, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

180,000 historical images from the New York Public Library
Please see the post on Commons announcing the NYPL donation.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  13:52, 12 July 2016 (UTC)

Great circle
The circle of chairs doesn't work well with 40 people in that room. If we get over 30 again we'll have to make rows facing the podium or something. Not that it prevented enjoyment and learning, but. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:27, 20 August 2016 (UTC)

Election officers
There is some confusion about the upcoming election.

The general election selects members of the board. Members of the chapter can participate in this election. After that election, perhaps weeks or months in the future, there will be an appointment among the board for named officer positions including "president", "secretary", and so on. In September 2016 there will be an annual meeting of Wikimedia NYC and a general election of officers of the board. The appointment of officers is not scheduled, but it is certain that it will not happen at the annual meeting.

At present, there is not awareness or recognition of in the chapter of officers have no particular power from their position. The by-laws may give some power, but right now, the board operates by consensus and officer positions are distinguished for having more responsibility without getting privileges. At most, the president and treasurer have easier access to bank account records than other officers and the general public, but I am not aware of any secret unpublished chapter information held by any board member or any privilege that any board member gets.

I am also not aware of privileges to board members that are withheld from the general public, other than some sensitive data like access to account passwords and back-end administrative access. In general, the WM NYC board has been a small community organization which operates by consensus. From my perspective, consensus in this community usually follows the wiki-tradition of encouraging people to start their own wiki-projects and seek to collaborate with others so long as others are not disrupted. No board appointment is required for that.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  15:22, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Not included
The following have not been included: It is not clear to me that these meetups actually took place. A message to User:UtherSRG could not confirm that they took place, either.--Pharos 19:02, 5 November 2007 (UTC)
 * "NYC2": no date given
 * "NYC3": June 12, 2006

January 13, 2008

 * First 3 messages copied from talk page discussions.

I have reserved the astronomy library (Rm 1402) in Pupin Hall for Sunday, January 13. The building isn't open to the public until 2 pm, so maybe we should consider moving the meeting back until 2:30 pm. What do you think? ScienceApologist 17:57, 6 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, it seems reasonable to me to move it forward to 2:30. You've reserved it for 2 hours, right? I also have a couple of other questions: What is the seating capacity of the room? And, what are your thoughts on a post-meetup activity in the general area?


 * I think having a post-meetup worked somewhat well for us on Saturday: separating the event into an "official" chapter portion at the library, and a post-meetup at the museum which was more socializing and general Wikipedia/Wikimedia chat (FWIW, almost noone came to the pre-meetup). This way those not interested in the chapter (e.g. some out-of-towners) could join us later, and we could still have time for the socializing activities generally expected at meetups. I think specifically setting aside the "official" chapter portion in a somewhat sterile environment is what helped keep things there on-topic to the chapter agenda.


 * And, thanks for your very much for your help and initiative on this. It is a very valuable thing to be able to have the next meeting already mostly scheduled at this stage.--Pharos 18:18, 6 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I scheduled the room from 2 pm to 5 pm. It can comfortably seat up to about 30 people in its current configuration and, if need be, we can rearrange the place to seat up to 100. Even if we go past 5 pm, that shouldn't be a problem as there are not going to be any other events in that room on Sunday night. As for other things to do, you might check out the Columbia University visitor's guide. There are plenty of restaurants in the area, some particularly good ones on Amsterdam Avenue. If it is a clear night, we can go up onto the roof of Pupin and take a look through telescopes. It'll be a bit cold and there's about a 50% chance that it will be too cloudy to see anything, but that's always a fun event. ScienceApologist 18:25, 6 November 2007 (UTC)


 * The telescopes on the roof certainly sound like a fantastic idea, or at least something I know that I would enjoy. I also have a couple of other questions/concerns: you need a photo ID to get in, right? — we will have to remember to mention this prominently on the meetup page.  And, we will have to set a definite time and place for the post-meetup (at Columbia or at a restaurant? and at what time?).  Also, how late will the roof be open (we might want to wait till it gets fully dark out, or at least as fully dark as Manhattan gets)?--Pharos 03:11, 7 November 2007 (UTC)


 * There is no photo ID required for entry: the building is open to the public at that time. I have access to the roof, but the building itself may be locked in the evening so if we are going to do an observing session it will have to directly through me after any post-meeting get-together. ScienceApologist 17:01, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Purpose of this talk page
It is my intention that this talk page be used a jumping-off point for discussions of future meetups before they have their own articles created.--Pharos 02:32, 7 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Actually, it probably makes more sense to raise such issues on the talk page of the previous meetup; i.e. at Wikipedia talk:Meetup/NYC.--Pharos (talk) 00:33, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Headline
Wow, been a long time since anyone commented. Tonight I was trying to show our visiting friend user:DanTD how to look up the address of tonight's meeting on a smartphone. It did not go well, partly because of my old eyes and partly because the page, with header, treats tonight's and future meetings roughly equally. Instead, the immediately coming meetup should be on top of all else, in a different color or big font, and with date, time and address. Jim.henderson (talk) 02:52, 17 September 2015 (UTC)
 * The fact that I don't really have a smart phone myself, didn't help either. In the meantime I've got to try post some gallery pictures quickly, since I'm doing my work from a library computer right now. -User:DanTD (talk) 14:12, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Apparently need explicit guidelines for this?
I have to ask about your revert with edit summary "we try to keep the box small -- plus these other events are not really WM NYC events". What constitutes "WM NYC events"? I assumed that Wikipedia event in NYC = relevant to WM NYC. If not, shouldn't Interference Archive be removed, too? As well as all of the virtual edit-a-thons (including the duplicate link the revert restored)? What constitutes "small"? &mdash; <span style="font-family:monospace, monospace;"> Rhododendrites <sup style="font-size:80%;">talk  \\ 23:14, 2 March 2016 (UTC)


 * Hey there There are some NYC events where WM NYC is not proctoring or involved in any way -- like the mom event which is Parsons profs and is at a private home. So I think the idea is that the events that are listed are those where WM NYC is directly supporting. We assist remotely with events in Charlotte and New Orleans and Nebraska and those don't even go up in the header box. Also: We've had problems where the box just gets crazy massive and is in the way during editathons. I don't mean to discourage admining this stuff but these A+F events are already fully listed over on their event page too, so it starts to seem like overkill. I have been re-tweeting the other A+F events in an effort to support the A+F initiative but they are not our events really.... Not sure if I'm making any sense at this point. Am a bit fried. Maybe on Saturday we could talk this through as a loose group of WM NYC folks in person? -- Erika aka BrillLyle (talk) 23:22, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I guess I'm still unclear as to how an event becomes "official". If someone from WMNYC shows up at the mom event, does it become official? Would that member need to be a co-organizer? Is there a WMNYC board meeting to determine which are official? Is there a document that's signed? From the perspective of someone who attends the occasional meeting and primarily knows what's happening from the meetup pages, it seems a bit arbitrary. So with the Interference Archive event, I'm a co-organizer. I am sort of connected to WM NYC, but that's the extent of it as far as I know. My presumption therefore is that it's not "official", and therefore that the event should be omitted from WM NYC communications/social media (like the header, the usertalk messages, etc.). If that presumption is correct, what would I have had to do differently to make it official? &mdash; <span style="font-family:monospace, monospace;"> Rhododendrites <sup style="font-size:80%;">talk  \\ 23:33, 2 March 2016 (UTC)
 * I think we can accommodate any events that want to be affiliated here, taking into account size, whether it is public or not, and what we can practically fit into the box. I'm going to try to squeeze in the various other A+F events in the NY area.--Pharos (talk) 02:04, 4 March 2016 (UTC)

Removal of officer election section
I removed a section about officer elections from the meetup page.

I did this to prevent confusing anyone who might think that this election will appoint officers. It will not. The officer appoint is not scheduled yet. If anyone wishes to talk about their intent to volunteer for an officer appointment as part of their campaign platform in this election, then they might. Right now, no campaign statements have been solicited. In the past, the officer election has been a casual affair that included 20-second political speeches from the candidates and nothing more complicated than that.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  15:22, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

WMUS-NY Election 2016 Summary by Lane
This September 2016 meetup will be the annual meeting for Wikimedia New York City and include an election of board members. The election is a casual event. The only published rules for it are in the by-laws of the organization. The election in 2015 is documented on the meeting page for that annual meeting, in case anyone wants to see a past example. While some responsibilities and powers are described for board positions in the by-laws, the custom in the chapter's own organization style is that board activities happen by consensus and take input from anyone in the community. There is no great recognition of anyone on the board having particular power, and to date, the management of the organization has been a casual affair that includes significant influence from both chapter members and the general public. Still, having a board which can come to agreement with itself is a useful way to recognize input from all community stakeholders, and anyone who feels like they can contribute is welcome to stand for election regardless of their background or experience. To stand for election please sign below. Attending the upcoming meeting is useful, as this in-person meeting is the only venue in which candidate statements will be heard. Anyone candidate who is not able to attend in person may send a proxy to read their statement on their behalf. Wikimedia NYC has a local base, and the best candidates will be those who will participate in local conversations. Thanks. As the election coordinator, I will be overseeing the election, trying to maintain a neutral process, and trying to keep the event simple and accessible.  Blue Rasberry  (talk)  16:49, 24 August 2016 (UTC)