Critical issues presentations/Offline work without a chapter

From Wikimania 2016 • Esino Lario, Italy
Submission no. 23
Title of the submission

Offline work without a chapter

Author of the submission
  • Andrei Cipu
Country of origin

Romania

Topics

other, Outreach

Keywords
  • offline
  • WLM
  • chapter
Abstract

In the last 5 years, the increase in the number of chapters has provided our projects with increased credibility, making it considerably easier for wikimedians from all around the planet to engage cultural institutions and government authorities in order to obtain free materials that can be used in our projects. Having an NGO back up your work also offers financial benefits in most countries, which is also an important factor given the scarce resource at our disposal.

However, for different reasons, there are still some countries without a functioning chapter - perhaps they have just a user group or not even that. This does not mean that Wikimedians in those countries are not involved in offline activities designed to increase visibility of open content. From social media pages to photo contests and Wikipedia workshops to large content donations, volunteers in these countries play an important role in the development of their respective projects.

I would like to present the experience of organizing the Wiki Loves Monuments in Romania for four years running: I will explain how I used a financial sponsor for any donations and how I engaged like-minded organizations into offering administrative, moral and practical support to our project. I will also mention the collaborations that failed due to the lack of an official seal of "Wikipedia Romania".

Result

Not accepted