2012 Annual Report/Draft

Chief Executive report

This has been an amazing 12 months for Wikimedia UK and I am so pleased to have played a small part in it. To become your Chief Executive was quite an experience in itself. Although I had been editing pages in a modest way I really didn't have a sense of how much went on behind the pages but after five interviews, including a sort of 'X factor' visit to the London Wikimeet, all had become clear.

So we now have a UK base with staff, coffee and most crucially space for visitors and volunteers. Our building is accessible 24/7 and we have already held several great volunteer events. We have a core staff of four (insert names and photos). Each of us are there to help the community and deliver our very ambitious programme of events and activities. I hope all of us will be familiar faces soon and that we can take some of the administrative burden off the shoulders of the volunteers who have done such an amazing job. This annual report looks back at the achievements of the past twelve months but also forward to what we hope to achieve. Much credit must be given to the trustees and volunteers who made so much happen so fast! 2012 will be a year for Volunteers, trustees and staff together. I can't wait to write next year's report.

Evaluation Ting Chen / Jimmy/ Sue Gardner/

Dear WMUK board,

Last September you invited me to visit your board meeting in Derby. It was very insightful for me to see on which topics you are working on, how you are working on them, and the interactions inside of your board and between your board and your visitors. Both I and the WMF are very grateful for your invitation, your hospitality and your openness.

We talked about a lot of important issues there. Some of them, like the charity status, you have already achieved inside of the last year. Other topics, like the planning and development of the chapter, is on a good way and progressing. I am especially happy to see that you have successfully got your first employees, which is changing the chapter into a more professionally organized company. Unforgotten for me is the session where you planned for the future, the potential, all the things you can do, the volunteers you can organize. For me it is one of the most impressive sessions I ever attended on a chapter's board meeting, because it reminds me again why we have chapters, why chapters are important for the WMF: they organize volunteers, provide help, gather ideas and do really cool things. And one of the most cool things I ever saw is the QR codes in the meeting venue, the Derby Museum. It is innovative, it is useful and helpful, and it is a really magnificent thing.

For me chapters are brothers and sisters. And the UK chapter is one of the most promising shooting stars of the last year. Disputes among brothers and sisters can be the most painful disputes. We had a lot to dispute in the last year, and we will continue these disputes in this year, and maybe also in the coming years. But nevertheless we are brothers and sisters, we share the same vision, in our deepest belief, we also share the same goal. And this is why we need to keep talking with each other, in good faith to each other's motivation, and try hard to understand each other's points of view.

I want to once again congratulate you for your achievements, and thank you for the wonderful things you did in the past year, and look forward to see what you will do in the coming years.

With love and honest respect Ting Chen

Roger Bamkin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Victuallers/wikipedia

Highlights in the press - Mike Peel and Steve Virgin

Our biggest news story this year, by a mile, was the global blackout of the English Wikipedia on 18 January 2012 to protest against the proposed SOPA and PIPA legislation in the US. The UK media coverage we received was staggering. The BBC, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Mirror and Daily Mail all ran multiple news stories covering the blackout as it was planned, implemented, and the consequences seen. The BBC covered the story on many of its national and local radio stations, as well as on key TV programs. Every other major UK media organisation ran at least one story on the topic. Thanks and congratulations are due to the key people that helped respond to this overwhelming coverage, particularly David Gerard, Jon Davies, Steve Virgin and Jimmy Wales.

Two other key stories in the last few months of this year has been Monmouthpedia and QRPedia, with both projects seeing wide media coverage, particularly in local media. Other memorable topics that the media covered this year included:

• Cancer Research UK training
• Wikipedia and global injunctions
• Wikipedia revealing the ending to The Mousetrap
• Wikipedia wanting more Women contributors
• PR companies editing Wikipedia
• Wikimedia UK gaining charity status, and the annual fundraiser
• Stories about vandalism in various Wikipedia articles

GLAM Activities - Fae

From Liam Wyatt.

When I started at the British Museum as their volunteer Wikipedian in Residence in mid-2009 I had high hopes that the London Wikipedia community would get involved and be inspired - little did I know just how inspired they would be! Now, less than three years later, it is fair to say that Wikimedia UK has caught "GLAM fever" and has a portfolio full of successfully completed as well as ongoing projects. It is no insult to the other members of the global Wikimedia community to say that the UK is is arguably the most active and successful of the Wikimedia Chapters in GLAM-Wikimedia partnerships.

Over the last year, the UK has been innovating in a number of ways. The QRPedia system, developed initially for Derby Museum, has now been integrated into the permanent display labels of a number of international museums and has received international press and industry attention for being the "probably the coolest QR thingy ever made".[1] The British Library's call for a Wikipedian in Residence is the first time that competitive public funding has been successfully obtained for Wikipedia work, helping to demonstrate the great public value Wikimedia projects bring. In another world-first, MonmouthpediA is proof that councils can seamlessly integrate their programs for preserving physical heritage, improving online presence, promoting tourism and providing public access to technology for their towns and cities. Furthermore, these major projects have not distracted from running regular editing and behind-the-scenes tour events up and down the country which help develop Wikimedia community cohesion and build awareness of the GLAM sector, the Chapter and Wikimedia generally.

In the coming one-to-three year period I look forward to Wikimedia UK building on their solid foundation in a number of ways. I would like to see: more successful pilot projects turned in to long-term relationships; the professionalisation of Chapter volunteer support services to help build capacity; projects aimed specifically at the non-English languages and regions of the UK; and partnerships with national heritage groups.

Fundraiser - Chris Keating

We raised some money

Stevie to create text from:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1reOr-ZOZYFMtsEm5oIR4UG5ftHc27k5Ze6t7hfMNphE/edit

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlqyXSQdAbSvdFpPZ2lhVFVvX3A2aEhZOXJuTGpveVE#gid=0