Wikimedia Nederland/Activity

Short presentation of the chapter (relevant figures, facts etc.)

Wikimedia Nederland is the Dutch Wikimedia chapter with a member-based organization (association), founded in the spring of 2006. Currently we have around 90 members. The highest authority is the General Assembly,the board is elected annually by the Assembly. During the 2007 conference the number of members roughly doubled from ~35 to ~75. Wikimedia Nederland supports a few active working groups / committees, which are mainly working on the annual conference, outreach, workshops and free media. The turnover of 2007 was € ~17k.

What has been done so far

See for more information: 2006 and 2007 (Dutch)

• In 2006 and 2007 the Wikimedia Conferentie Nederland was organized
• Wikimedia has been represented in the Dutch press several times
• Presentations have been given to various companies and institutions
• Contacts have been made with various institutions
• A set of photographs of the current Dutch cabinet has been released under GFDL by the government on the request of Wikimedia Nederlands
• The Wikiportret campaign has been launched
• Workshops have been organized for the community
• A 'vision meeting' has been organized to get input from our members on what our main goals and vision should be

Plans for the future

See for more information: This Dutch page.

• Political lobbying during the revision of Dutch copyright laws.
• Continuation with attempts to make collections of useful media free.
• Continuation with PR activities such as Wikiportret.
• A search for potential like minded partners in the Netherlands who want to help work on the same mission.
• The organisation of more trainings for the Wikimedia communities.
• Improving and professionalizing the annual conference.
• Making a successful bid for Wikimania 2010.

Best success

The success of the Wikimedia Conferentie Nederland in 2007, with an increased audience of 115 (2006: 45) and a good rating amongst the visitors ( 7.6/10 ). This was also financially a success.

Worst headache

Recruiting active volunteers proves to be very difficult. There are few (very) active members, and the initiatives for new projects usually have to come from the Wikimedia Nederland board while we, as the board, would very much like to see initiatives initiated or organized by our members.

Another problem is the attitude of the Dutch (Wikipedia) community against some of our activities, mainly details. For example, there was some disagreement over the placement and design of a template on biographies on Wikipedia NL linking to the Wikiportret project. A similiar problem occured With the 2007 conference when there was a disagreement about sponsors being mentioned on the conference website. The relation, although improving steadily, between the community and the association could be called the worst headache. This might also have an impact on the number of active volunteers that arise directly from the WP community.