Wikimedia Ísland

Wikimedia Ísland (official English name Wikimedia Iceland) is a planned Wikimedia Chapter to be established by Wikimedians in Iceland to further the goals of free knowledge and Wikimedia projects in Iceland and in the Icelandic language. The chapter has been in discussion phase for several years but the efforts to establish the chapter were revisited in early 2013 and the idea is to establish the chapter formally in that year since it is the 10 year anniversary of the Icelandic version of Wikipedia.

The preparations are mainly done at is.Wikipedia but the essential things copied here and translated. The wiki-chat is on this discussion page.

List of participants

Original list. However, copied here verbatim:

• Áki G. Karlsson --Akigka (spjall) 10. maí 2013 kl. 13:45 (UTC)
• Bjarki Sigursveinsson --Bjarki (spjall) 18. janúar 2013 kl. 17:32 (UTC)
• Bjartur Thorlacius — ræða v. SvartMan (framlög) hinn 6. maí 2013 kl. 16:12 (UTC)
• Bragi Halldórsson (Bragi H)
• Hrafn H. Malmquist --Jabbi (spjall) 6. mars 2012 kl. 13:36 (UTC)
• Salvör Gissurardóttir
• Svavar Kjarrval (Svavar Kjarrval (spjall) 18. janúar 2013 kl. 17:36 (UTC))
• Stefán Örvar Sigmundsson (spjall) 6. maí 2013 kl. 16:16 (UTC)
• --Friðrik Bragi Dýrfjörð 6. maí 2013 kl. 16:20 (UTC)
• Ian Watson
• Jóhann Heiðar Árnason (spjall) 11. maí 2013 kl. 20:59 (UTC)
• Jóhannes Birgir Jensson --Stalfur (spjall) 10. maí 2013 kl. 02:03 (UTC)
• Jóna Þórunn Ragnarsdóttir — Jóna Þórunn 10. maí 2013 kl. 08:27 (UTC)
• Smári McCarthy (spjall) 10. maí 2013 kl. 09:24 (UTC)
• Tryggvib (spjall) 11. maí 2013 kl. 17:01 (UTC)
• Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason (spjall) 11. maí 2013 kl. 18:39 (UTC)
• Max Naylor — Maxí (spjall) 12. maí 2013 kl. 09:35 (UTC)
• Vésteinn Valgarðsson — Vésteinn (spjall) 14. maí 2013 kl. 20:34 (UTC)
• Magnús Óskar Ingvarsson - Mói (spjall) 21. maí 2013 kl. 13:55 (UTC)
• Helga Kristín Guðlaugsdóttir 29. maí 2013
• Baldur Blöndal — ~ バルドゥル (spjall)

Meatspace meetings and meet-ups

• 2013-02-03 - Meet-up (location: Glætan)
• 2013-02-17 - Preparation meeting for the foundation of Wikimedia Ísland and other matters (location: Glætan)
• 2013-04-04 - Preparation meeting for the foundation of Wikimedia Ísland (location: Glætan)
• 2013-05-12 - Preparation meeting for the foundation of Wikimedia Ísland (location: Mánagata 8, Reykjavík)

Electronic communication

• Icelandic Wikipedia mailing list
• The Facebook group ‚Vinir Wikipediu‘ (Friends of Wikipedia)

Bylaws

• Icelandic version
• English version

Projects/Tasks which Wikimedia Ísland can undertake

Possible projects are, for example (add to the list):

Funding

The chapter should have an easier time than individuals raising funds for promotions, publications and so on for the Wikimedia projects. This applies to receiving grants from public agencies, schools, corporations and individuals, and also fundraising from abroad through Wikimedia which allocates grants towards the chapters.

Have something to say about usage of domains and other rights associated with the projects

For example: wikimedia.is and wikipedia.is (both are registered trademarks of the WMF). The registration is valid in Iceland, and as an licensee of the trademarks, Wikimedia Ísland should have rights to these domains.

Advertising and presentations

Representatives of the chapter are able to have presentations of the Wikimedia wiki projects on many occasions. For example in universities, grammar schools, elementaries and in conferences. There can also be publications of the chapter's works in many forms.

Members could announce themselves as representatives of the chapter

When requesting content to be freed, like from government agencies or from individuals, it could be better to be representing Wikimedia instead of as individuals. The Ministry of Education pays, for example, for Britannica and it would be much easier to convince them to stop that via official means.

Official co-operation with educational agencies

It is possible to get some deals with educational agencies regarding privileges, like places to hold meetings, have work sessions or anything else we can think of. The chapter could have Wikimedia courses or introductory classes in co-operation with said educational agencies. It can also attain co-operation regarding enhancing articles so they reflect on current knowledge and have a broad scope.

Get things done as a team

Sometimes we have to face the fact that we don't have the information or the data we need to make articles as good as we want. As a community we are in a better position to work as a team and simply get things done. Like taking photographs for articles, which otherwise wouldn't be available under a commons compatible license, or be in contact with the public sector. The aforementioned is of course possible to do individually but could be done more efficiently in a team.

Communication with the public sector

The communication could be in the form of submitting formal briefs regarding parliamentary matters in Althing but also on the administrative level, especially when the interests of the Wikimedia projects are on the line. The public sector is going to distribute more data than before, according to a project plan but these projects should be executed in co-operation with someone who guards the interests of the Wikimedia projects. It is more likely that such a co-operation can be attained if Wikimedia Ísland is a registered entity rather than an unofficial community.

International Communication

The community could encourage more communication between people interested in Wikimedia in Iceland and people with the same interests in other countries. Bonds with other chapters could also be formed.