Nyhetsbrev/Nummer 7, 2009/english

Newsletter from Wikimedia Sverige, May 2009

Annual General Meeting

Since the last news letter Wikimedia Sverige have had its annual meeting. It was held at the Royal Library and was better attended than the previous ones: we started with two movies and in the meeting there was also an exciting discussion on how the chapter shall act in copyright questions. On the same day Svenska Dagbladet ("the Swedish daily paper") had a debate article written by a few board members and it was very well received. Se http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/artikel_2593783.svd. The chair for the meeting was Karl Sigfrid, member of parliament especially interested in copyright questions. See http://sigfrid.wordpress.com/ for his blog.

The minutes are available in Swedish here: http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6tesprotokoll/%C3%85rsm%C3%B6tesprotokoll_2009-03-14

The chapter chose new accountants and nominating committee but the board was not changed.

Copyright

In order to get more free pictures we have visited Stockholms Stadmuseum, Spårvägsmuseet, Arbetarrörelsens Arkiv and Bibliotek och Västernorrlands museum. We have received strong reactions but are still positive. For example, recently the Municipal Commisioner for Culture in Stockholm made a very promising statement, see http://madeleinesjostedt.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/stockholms-stad-kraver-ny-upphovsrattslagstiftning/ . They acknowledge that our visit raised this issue for the politicians.

Seminars

Lately we have given a number of seminars: for the public in Skellefteå (Anna Bauer), for the Swedish Tourism Journalists Association, (Einar Spetz) and at an IT fair in Umeå (Lennart Guldbrandsson).

Tech

Micke Nordin and David Öhlin has, as an assignment from II-stiftelsen written a book about MediaWiki which also covers the basics in wiki editing. It is one of the first in the world. Shortly, the chapter will create a tech committee. For more information, email mediawiki-svlists.wikimedia.org.

Activity of members

To spread the activities throughout all of Sweden Wikimedia Sverige installed a new function, Local Ombudsmen. These locals will be the hubs in the arranged events whether they are wiki meet-ups or lessons about Wikipedia. So far most Local Ombudsmen are north of Stockholm. We have seen significant positive effects from the ombudsmen already, including a very well attended wiki meet-up in Skellefteå.

Also brand new is a supporting project where those who have ideas on improving Wikipedia and have the drive to make them come true but no money can get financial support from Wikimedia Sverige. For more information contact the board (styrelsenwikimedia.se).

We have seen several wiki meet-ups, even in new places, like Skellefteå and Nässjö.

Planning of upcoming events

We have started to plan Wikipedia Academy 2010 in Stockholm November 16-17. Around the same time FSCONS will take place. Please suggest speakers to styrelsenwikimedia.se.

This fall we will participate in the Gothenburg International Book Fair. We are looking for people for our booth during these four days. More information on this soon.

We will also repeat the news item that Wikipedia will be a university course at Mittuniversitetet. For more information, see http://www.miun.se/Mittuniversitetet/Nyheter/Press/Pressmeddelanden/Mittuniversitet-forst-ut-med-universitetskurs-om-Wikipedia-/