[dot] KDE and Wikimedia Collaborate

[Dot Stories]

URL: http://dot.kde.org/1207303599/

From: Sebastian Kuegler <sebas at kde.org>
Dept: free-software+free-knowledge=free-culture
Date: Friday 04/Apr/2008, @03:06

KDE and Wikimedia Collaborate
=============================

   KDE e.V [http://ev.kde.org] and  Wikimedia Deutschland
[http://www.wikimedia.de] have opened a shared  office
[http://kde.org/announcements/kde-and-wikimedia-collaborate.php] in
Frankfurt, Germany and have hired a joint employee for administration.
As two charitable organisations that share similar cultural goals and
organisational challenges, they  hope that working out of the same space
will strengthen and expand their links to  the Free Culture community,
as well as allowing them to share resources, experience  and
infrastructure.

     "We believe that the combination of Free Software and Free Content
is not only  beneficial," remarked Sebastian Kügler, a KDE e.V. board
member, "but the  next logical step towards a mature, organised Free
Culture community." Kügler  explains the idea behind opening the shared
office, "Being able to tap into the  expertise of an organisation in a
different field, but with very similar goals  and principles, provides
us with an opportunity to grow and gain experience that  I hope to see
more often, both within our projects and those of our peers."

     Kügler added that the shared office space is not the only
organisational  improvement under way for the KDE e.V.  The founding of
the office in Frankfurt  coincides with the hiring of an administrative
assistant, the e.V.'s first employee.   "This will help the KDE e.V.
become more efficient in our work of supporting  the KDE community. 
With eight developer meetings and presence at many events  already
planned for 2008, a dedicated administrative assistant enables an even 
faster growth of the K Desktop Environment."

     Wikimedia Deutschland (the German Wikimedia chapter), which
established its office  originally in October 2006, is also happy to be
able to expand its activities  together with KDE. "Back then, we were
the first national section of the  Wikimedia Foundation to open its own
office. Before that, we were a purely  voluntary-driven organisation.
Opening an office was new and unchartered territory  for us", says Arne
Klempert, Wikimedia Deutschland's executive secretary.  "We're now glad
to share the experiences we've made during that first period  with KDE
e.V. That said, due to the collaboration with KDE it is also much easier
 for us to extend our office and activities. Both organisations can
share a lot of  resources this way, resources that both would have had
to carry individually if  we weren't collaborating."

     The new address is on the KDE e.V. website
[http://ev.kde.org/contact.php].  A big welcome to Claudia Rauch
[http://blog.wikimedia.de/2008/03/04/verstarkung-fur-die-geschaftsstelle/],
our new administrator.