Meetings/2009-07-21/Agenda/Chair's Report

Activities

1. Attended the launch of BBC Digital Revolution at the BBC in London on 10 July 2009 on behalf of the chapter
2. Will be participating in a Science Online London panel session on 22 August 2009, entitled "Citizen science - How the Web enables anyone to be a scientist", but also focusing on communication of science.
3. Have been introduced to the head of The Public Catalogue Foundation, and will likely be invited to a symposium on "Pictures in Public – Digital Connections between Collections, Researchers and the Public" in Oxford in September (along with potentially Tom?)

Blog

Via email I suggested the creation of a WMUK blog. The pros/cons that I can think of are below; please feel free to add comments

Pros:

1. Useful for releasing smallish items of news that are possibly bigger than just a post to a mailing list, but smaller than a press release (e.g. the Twitter survey results, WMF grant, etc.)
2. Great for getting user feedback (everyone knows how to leave a comment on a blog)
3. Additional line of communication in addition to mailing list/wiki/newsletter, easily to subscribe to and for others to find
4. Easy to tie into other means of communication - e.g. Twitter

Cons:

1. Needs to be kept up to date
2. Another job to do (but can be distributed to all board members)
3. Content needs to be appropriate, timely and informative - not easy

Useful facts:

1. Blogs are currently used by The WMF (also technical), WMFR and WMDE (any more?)