Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Reports/July & early August Community Conversations Monthly Report
Feedback by Working Group area[edit]
Advocacy[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Morocco Strategy Salon | 13 participants in Mohammedia, Morocco on 13 July, 2019 | Marketing/Branding
Policy/Legal
Capacity Building (for advocacy)
Partnerships (for advocacy)
Recruitment/choice of advocates
|
| Venezuela Strategy Salon | 32 participants, split between two events held at the Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas on 25 July, 2019 | GENERAL COMMENTS
The discussion was divided into two parts, the first part focused on discussing the challenges of accessing Wikipedia in the country, and the other segment was used to discuss the capabilities and tools needed to try to solve the challenges presented. The history of Wikipedia activities in the country was presented, by Oscar Costero of Wikimedia Venezuela, including the editions and workshops of editions that have been held regularly since 2015, and photography competitions and other informal meetings. P1 - In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk? P2 - What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above? In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk?:
What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above?
|
Capacity Building[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh Strategy Salon | Meeting of 14 participants plus 5 organizers in Rajshahi, Bangladesh on 20 July, 2019 |
|
| ESEAP Strategy Summit | 31 participants from across ESEAP region | Recruit more organizers
Organizations act as catalyzing agents to bring new members to our communities, and increase in retaining editors. Support (programming and structural) should be provided to train and recruit organizers Community growth Our recommendation is to plan and execute a multi-pronged approach to expand our Wiki communities. For longterm: Wikimedians at large (mobile experience wikimedians vs. static ones),e.g. Wiki blitz, non-editors pair up with editors to edit/improve one article. A short achievement event vs. longer editathons. Organize more competitions, e.g. WLM, WLE, Wiki club, meet ups. |
| Morocco Strategy Salon | 13 participants in Mohammedia, Morocco on 13 July, 2019 | WMF should encourage sending experts/foreign Wikimedians to countries in need of a given capacity or inversely sending a Wikimedian to be trained in a partner organisation (case of Wikimedia Deutschland: Visiting Wikimedian) Advertising capacities of each Wikimedian in terms of languages/technical skills. Create a worldwide database showing capacities known by every Wikimedian (who wish to share them) so that they can be shared with each other. Online tutorials sponsored by the WMF. There should be more guides and tutorials (not in Meta) teaching the users about WMF and its different departments and governance. WMF should hire experts in different regions and organize regular workshops and trainings in these regions depending on the specific needs of the community. WMF can survey community members before hiring these experts to target the needed areas. WMF should consider buying MOOCs/ involving MOOC creators in building capacity. WMF should buy MOOCs in different capacities (management, organisation) and grant access to community members interested in them. Is learning how to edit (for people external to the movement) a capacity that the movement should include in capacity building strategy? Do all community members need capacity building? Some trainings are very specific (and might be expensive to provide). How to decide on who should take them? And who makes this decision? Suggestion: WMF asks groups to choose members to be trained in different capacities. (under the condition that the groups fulfill local democracy requirements). Admins should be trained in soft skills and communication/pedagogy WMF should allocate financial resources for affiliates to organize events with experts/pay professors to reinforce capacities. WMF research department should provide a statistical map of Wikimedia projects users/viewers around the world in order to target those who are in lack of capacity in order to support them and identify the reasons behind this lack (whether technical, political, etc.) Creation of a list of the top topics and areas of interests (most viewed articles) of each linguistic version of Wikipedia (or by country) in order to enhance the quality of the content as well as the expertise needed to write about it. In terms of leadership within affiliated groups (mainly UG), adopting the rotating system for positions (e.g. president, project leader, communication manager) would be beneficial to evaluate the performance of everyone in matters of strengths and weaknesses in order to improve the management of the group, and work on the weak points.
In order to diversify the offer in terms of content (especially Wikipedia), WMF should produce videos explaining/defining some articles (following the example of audio articles). |
| UK Strategy Salon | 12 volunteers who met on 13, July 2019 in Bristol, UK | What structures, processes, and behaviours will enable Wikimedia to include all voices - including current contributors and emerging audiences - in our decision making?It was suggested that Wiki needed to do more independent research in order to understand its communities, as we currently do very little of this compared to other global online platforms. There may be some situations where the community to not buy into the mission - or where the mission seems less relevant. The movement needs a multi strand locally sensitive approach. Local solutions would need ‘boots on the ground’ - people working closely as part of local communities to understand their needs. Also need to train and support key people in the community in order to build capacity and skills. The issue of traditional knowledge and oral history came up - and the need to understand different cultures and provide relevent solutions for recording knowledge. It was acknowledged that there are multiple channels of communication for contributors and potential contributors, but the question is how to reconcile these? With or without ‘establishment’ dominance? The idea of a voting system for all users was suggested. To whom and how should movement roles and structures be accountable?“Readers should be the answer, but it’s not what the editor community is thinking...” There was a strong feeling amongst one of the two groups discussing this question that the movement is accountable to Wikimedia’s readers - and that we should also consider our accountability to potential readers who are not yet accessing the projects. There was a discussion about how to be accountable to new readers - all the people that will be coming in online in the next few years - but concern that existing communities won’t necesarily be able to provide the right sort of tools and knowledge...“but how do we know what’s useful to these people?” There was a discussion about ownership versus stewardship. Editors are discouraged to be gatekeepers, but stewardship is encouraged, and there’s a fine line between the two. The outcome is that editors don’t want to let new people in. This means there will be a resistance to any potential shifts in who we’re meant to be accountable to. Editors are also accountable to each other, and should perhaps also be accountable to new editors (described by the group as a duty of care). There was a more philosophical discussion about what is a role within the Wikimedia movement? The discussion focused mainly on the roles that individuals can have within Wikipedia e.g. election committee: wmf, arbcom: en.wp editors. There was a related discussion on safety. There was soem agreement that WMF should have more capacity to implement safety measures. But they also need to explain why they’re doing what they’re doing - communication is essential. Provocation: Do we need the Foundation? What’s its role? What even is the Foundation? (rhetorical?) If chapters are responsible to Foundation, are the Foundation responsible to chapters? As editors can we see the wood for the trees? How do you measure the impact of an article? Wikipedia as a whole? (yes, to at least some degree as we're 5th most popular website) article feedback tool was not a success. Some topics easier to determine than others (treatment of diarrhoea vs what constitutes murder) The other group discussing this question at first posed other questions in response, including: Is donation a measure of accountability? After much debate it was agreed by this group (representing roughly half the participants of the Salon) that the stakeholders are everybody involved in the projects. But should we (the movement) be accountable to the entire readership? This group felt that the answer to this question was ‘probably’ (unlike the other group, for whom there was a very strong feeling that the movement is ultimately accountable to readers). There was a discussion about the potential for setting up an independent accountability council or panel, similar to Facebook, but overall it was felt that this approach wouldn’t work for Wikimedia. What are the capacity building needs of global movement stakeholders and their organisations?We need to decentralize and de-westernise the movement and invest in local leaders and schemes. We discussed the question of whether we should pay trainers and community leaders, and there was quite a lot of support for this. Several people pointed out that often they can be the only unpaid person in a room, with many event participants taking part as part of their jobs, and therefore being paid for their time. Of course this situation might be quite specific to the UK, and/or to other chapters or affiliates who do a lot of work with institutions. We need to focus on training trainers such as community leaders or teacher trainers (we need to think about the impact when we priorities resources) Diversification is key. We need to get people from minorities in on discussions and increase confidence in the global mission. Decolonisation is also important in encouraging more diverse participation. How should conflict management and resolution be structured across the movement?What conflict? We assume this means harassment and similar, but is that divorced from content (article writing on wp)? Psychic Artificial intelligences - the Foundation has poor record of software development (Flow), so the group weren’t sure they would be able to come up with good tech solutions for improving the culture on wiki. There was lots of debate about how much the foundation should intervene. Perhaps with better procedures they wouldn't need to? It was felt that the transparency on Wiki can actually be very damaging when it comes to disciplinary cases. Arbcom and other areas of community need more training on dealing with conflict. We could hire content moderators like the Wiki Edu Foundation or develop better software for spotting potential cases of conflict or bullying. We could provide a live chat option for editors who feel they need support in a conflict situation. We need to remember that smaller communities might need different solutions. For example on CY wiki there are only two active admins. How can we insure editors in all languages feel supported should they encounter conflict or bullying? Overall comments and questions about the strategy processWill change be accepted or strategy recommendations deleted/ignored? WMF more likely to accept than en.wp (editor strikes, will WMF stand firm of admins resign? cf Jimmy's keynote speech at Wikimania London; US investment bank bailouts) What will the change management process be? Is anyone thinking about the pain of implementing change for the editors, and taking in the risks of losing people? What if we pull away from implementation once the reactions are too strong? Strategy - what will be the change process and how can it be implemented through the editor communities? Is the RnR working group only looking at organised parts of the movement? If so, then where does that leave editing communities? En.wp community is perceived to be set in its ways and reluctant to change, with pushback for anything that doesn't appear in a traditional encyclopaedia. |
| Nigeria User Group Strategy Salon | 16 participants who met at FUNAAB University in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria on 17 July 2019 | • How do we make capacity building inclusive and equitable? First before we build capacity, there should be proper communication to the recipients: In-terms of understanding the potentials, ability and what we need.
The need to also understanding what the limiting factors are, which include our unique challenges as a country.
Ability of the Wikimedia Foundation to communicate the bigger picture to us so everybody run with it.
• Which stakeholders should be a part of capacity building efforts, and how? The usergroup Nigeria should be well equip so they can go on and train more others.
Another stakeholder is tertiary schools:
Wikimedia Foundation should do more to raise the level of awareness in tertiary institutions so students can be engage easily and hence build the needed to capacity.
• What tools and methods work best locally, regionally and internationally? Setting up hubs and fan clubs in various states of Nigeria and especially Universities and other tertiary institutions.
Regionally
Making sure occasionally representatives of Wikimedia Foundation comes to Nigeria to train and empower contributors on how well to do more.
Intentionally
More travelling and exposure opportunities should be giving to Nigerians been the most populous African nation and also mainly because of the diversity.
• How do we grow the available tools beyond training, identifying innovative and effective formats? Where contributors are are made to go through training after which they become a fellow. Having badges and certificate to show you have a through knowledge about contributing to the Wikimedia projects. • What processes or systems will support effective capacity building? Partnership with tertiary institutions Partnership with organizations that will encourage language advocacy. |
| French community meetup | 4 people who met in Lyon, France on 28 July 2019. The conversation was organized and facilitated by the French Strategy Liaison. | Learning
|
| Egypt Wikimedians User Group and Wikimedia España | 34 participants between two events; one in Granada, Spain on 22 June, 2019 and one in Cairo, Egypt on 23 July, 2019 | CROSS POSTED FRM DIVERSITY
|
| Venezuela Strategy Salon | 32 participants, split between two events held at the Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas on 25 July, 2019 | GENERAL COMMENTSThe discussion was divided into two parts, the first part focused on discussing the challenges of accessing Wikipedia in the country, and the other segment was used to discuss the capabilities and tools needed to try to solve the challenges presented. The history of Wikipedia activities in the country was presented, by Oscar Costero of Wikimedia Venezuela, including the editions and workshops of editions that have been held regularly since 2015, and photography competitions and other informal meetings. The most important point of the talk was the absence of volunteers to carry out awareness and training activities in the country, the consensus is that the conditions are not given so that all people can dedicate volunteer time to activities of this type, and Only a small portion of the population can cope with this complicated economic context. In this sense, the possibility of remunerating the time of the volunteers was proposed, as do other social organizations in the country, and also to look for possible volunteers in other spaces outside the computer world. The censorship of Wikipedia represented another meeting point among those attending the talk, leaving aside the political issue, the consensus was that the action was arbitrary and was triggered by an ignorance of how Wikipedia's policies and conventions work. The need to have a coherent communication strategy to explain to the population the main Wikipedia policies and to make testimonials of volunteers who spend their time improving the encyclopedia was discussed, so that the weight of Wikipedia returning to be subject to an attack is less in the future. Finally, they insisted on continuing strategy discussions and including voices that were not at the table, including indigenous communities. The next steps were also discussed in relation to training workshops and other initiatives for free knowledge such as virtual classrooms and online contests, both in programming for the next six months by the hand of the civil association. Main questions that guided the discussion: P1 - In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk?
P2 - What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above? A greater communication effort is needed to explain the principles of the encyclopedia, specifically the neutral point of view, the consensus and the verifiability of the information.
Censorship, unlike detracting credibility from the encyclopedia, Placed Wikipedia as a fundamental web page from an informational and educational point of view.
It is necessary to protect the anonymity of volunteers who edit on controversial issues, they are now adrift and do not have support when any of them is involved in a problem with the authorities.
It is necessary to enable the possibility of editing through the TOR Network and VPNs without major restrictions on Wikimedia projects, during the blocking to Wikipedia it was almost impossible to edit due to the various restrictions designed for puppet abuse, that aren't adapted to countries like ours who need access through these tools.
If the possibility of doing physical activities is very risky, distance activities can be carried out, with necessary security controls.
Right now no volunteer has shown any fear to edit Wikipedia due to the aforementioned problems, but there was a consensus to be more cautious when leaving data or information on Wikipedia that could identify them in their real lives or their jobs.
If there is still possible to go to media advertising, should attempt to show the reality of how Wikipedia works, always focusing on the difference between the publishing community and the volunteers who live in the civil association.
Testimonies about how Wikipedia has improved the lives of different people from different parts of the country could make a difference when the projects suffer attacks by the government, feeling that a blockade affects the entire population and not only To a group of people. Most people are too worried about their own subsistance, so any activity of this type (unpaid and that may take time away from work activities) is not so attractive It is necessary to think about the possibility of remunerating volunteers for activities that in the past were carried out ad-honorem, such as training in Wikipedia and the administration activities of a civil association. So that volunteers do not feel they are on an island, it is vital to build bridges with associations or groups that are doing related activities, so that connections that bring benefits and common alliances can be achieved. Not only tools are needed to keep volunteers motivated, but to make them see the true gain of contributing to Wikipedia, which is to provide the possibility that access to all kinds of knowledge is free. The volunteers that make Wikimedia Venezuela possible, right know are planning to leave the country or have already left, so training new volunteers to form leadership positions within the organization becomes more complicated as the months go by. There is a need that the community in the diaspora can support the training of new volunteers and provide them with tools to continue giving workshops in the country. There is another problem related with failures in the country's infrastructure, especially access to the Internet and electricity, so financing efforts have to be associated to alleviate these failures and adapt when doing trainings Another objective should be to make tutorial videos, not only for editing, but also for how to dictate and organize activities, so that they can be retaken by other volunteers in the future. The clear and unrestricted support of the global and regional movement is needed to move forward the country's activities, right now there is a feeling that the volunteers are alone in the face of the blockades and censures applied by the government. |
| Tchad User Group | 15 participants who met on 6 July, 2019 in Chad | (ENGLISH VERSION FORTHCOMING) Pourquoi trouvez-vous ce sujet intéressant ? Il est important car le mouvement Wikimedia a du mal à conserver les talents. Sans ces talents, les contenus Wikimedia perdront en terme de qualité, et donc de crédibilité. Quels outils fonctionnent au mieux aux niveaux local, régional et international? Il est suggéré d'avoir une approche beaucoup lié au contexte de chaque pays vue que le nombre des utilisateurs des projets les projets wikimedia varie en chaque pays. Au niveau local, determiner le niveau d'utilisation des projets wikimedia et mobiliser des nouveau contributeurs. Creer des évenements comme WikiIndaba à l'échelle nationale pour que les contributeurs d'un même pays puisse mieux coordonner leurs activités et partager d'expériences. Au niveau régional, renforcer les événements comme Wikindaba pour l'Afrique genre pour l'Afrique de l'ouest, Afrique centrale etc., pour permettre d'aider les contributeurs des pays les moins avancés de se développer. Au niveau international: faire venir les grands sommets dans les pays à fortes disparités sur le mouvement pour les impliquer d'avance sur l'idée première qui est la libération et la diffusion de la connaissance libres. Comment développer les outils disponibles au- delà de la formation, en identifiant des formats innovants et efficaces ? Discuter de manière inclusive sur comment procéder avec ce qui existe déjà et comment innover pour combler les lacunes. |
| GLAM Macedonia Strategy Salon | 20 participants met in Skopje, Macedonia on 27 July, 2019 | 1. How to include new members, so that it can be done fairly (for instance, in relations to the existing members)?
The majority of the participants, that is the working groups, agreed that new members and volunteers can be included by larger public presentation of the organization’s activities, giving special attention to Wiki Camps and Clubs. In other words, the general public should be informed, via media and social networks, about the plans and activities of the organisation so they may be involved in some of the projects. Besides that, the participants pointed out the need for inviting new members and collaboration with other organizations so the word can be spread more effectively. Furthermore, the participants enlisted the need for creative projects in order to get the young population’s attention and future possible involvement. At the end, the participants proposed creating a ranking list of success during certain (editing) activities in order to motivate the volunteers competitive spirit and appreciate the volunteering efforts. 2. What target groups should be part of our organisation, and how to include them? After the analysis of the discussion results and their written answers, the general opinion of the participants was that the young population should be undoubtedly among the most important target groups. In particular, the participants emphasized the importance of the students (university, high school and middle school students) and their engagement in the projects. They are a potential for spreading out the visions and the goals of the Wikimedia Movement and that potential can be used for the further development of Wikimedia projects. Additionally, a strong positive attitude could be noted towards educators, teachers and professors. They are also considered as a crucial elements or contributors for the developments of the Wikimedia movement, particularly in regions where Wikimedia movement is not strongly present in the social existence of the country. The participants also confirmed that the collaboration with the public institutions and the volunteers of different areas, such as Amateur clubs (sports, arts, etc) can be quite beneficiary for our organization and the movement, but also for the other third parties. Finally, the participants of the strategy salon noted that there is a need for deeper collaboration with the marginalized social groups in the country and they see a potential for mutual benefit. 3. How to be diverse and how to include various groups of people (diversity by geography, intellect, sex, age, nationality)? Diversity is the key component of the movement’s success. This is something that was seen as true by almost all Strategy Salon participants. There were huge number of proposals about the manner of diversifying the organization and the movement itself. Among the most elaborated ideas regarding this issue were the need for organizing seminars and meetings for sharing ideas and knowledge, more camps and media coverage of the events and activities, detailed elaboration of Wikipedia and how to use Wikipedia in everyday life, training sessions and projects with specific target groups. 4. What groups of people we could, but we didn’t include in our organisation? As this question was tightly connected to the previous one, the participants here exemplified their ideas presented in the previous question. Since the young population was referred to in the questions above, the participants here expressed their expectations to see projects involving retired elderly people. This target group is not sufficiently involved in the social activities of Macedonia, but the potential is great. Moreover, the participants expressed their will to collaborate with marginalized target groups. LGBT community and the representatives of the small ethnic communities in Macedonia. |
| Côte d'Ivoire Strategy Salon | 25 participants met in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire on 27 July, 2019 | Two main questions have guided reflexions : Q1 – In order to make Wikimedia the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, what are the capacities we, as Wikimedians, need to develop? Q2 – What (new or modified) structures and resources of the movement do Wikimedians need in order to mutually reinforce their capacities ?
The discussion lasted about half an hour, after which the two groups gave the following answers to the questions. Information retrieval (reliable, true information) and quote more sources;
Be sensible to contexts;
Develop partnerships with authorities;
Mobilize people to encourage engagement in local communities;
Professional communication about the movement's activities to increase visibility and credibility;
Contribute to Wikimedia projects;
Proactivity and availability;
Knowledge and experience sharing with others.
For the second question, about the structures and resources which are necessary for capacity building, the ideas were:
create regional and local branches of the Wikimedia Foundation in order to bring it closer to communities and improve support to affiliates;
create more Wiki Clubs at the local level (groups related to a national organization) who will grow awareness among the local populations who don't have direct access to Wikimedia ressources through ICT and the Internet;
create national conventions (large events) to which all national, regional and local entities would participate;
create a Moodle online space in order to centralize and facilitate the management of wiki resources;
have people from the Foundation visit every year to better supervise local communities;
have online platforms for communication which would be regularly updated and animated;
have a minimum of paid staff in local communities. |
| French community at large | Online consultations led by French Strategy Liaison, including on wiki discussions (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Meta), Twitter, and 1:1 targeted outreach | The WMF and the Chapters should conceive serious training programs for motivated volunteers Encourage mentoring programs The WMF should communicate better (for example with videos) to allow the circulation of information and knowledge inside the movement (for example about how Wikimania works) |
Community Health[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| ESEAP Strategy Summit | 31 participants from across ESEAP region | For 2030: To establish local trust and safety team within each affiliate to enforce friendly space policy and set an action plan to deal with harassment in local communities in a timely and efficient manner. Establish a fundamental and universal Code of Conduct - written as a global policy and adaptable according to local contexts. Set up mentorship programs for both new members in communities and for new affiliates. So that newcomers know how, know who and know why, so they can learn quick and be part of the community quick (retention). Older affiliates in the region to help new affiliates establish, how to run, how to apply for something, help them to grow, how to operate. This is done by encouraging internal and regional partnerships. This would lead to more friendly atmosphere in the domain of editing, without tensions between experienced and new editors. Establish guidelines for personal data collection, usage, access and protection with a controlled centralized platform to collect user data instead of out of the box interface. |
| Morocco Strategy Salon | 13 participants in Mohammedia, Morocco on 13 July, 2019 | There should be a “safe space” for new users so that admins see that they are new and they behave with them in a more welcoming way.
there should be guidelines for a special treatment of new contributors by admins.
There should be regular check-up about admins and community should have the ability to revoke their status, the same way the vote for them being administrators. “ |
| Tanzania Strategy Salon | 32 community members in Buni Innovation Hub, Tanzania on 6 July, 2019 | QN 01: How can structures create, support and reinforce universally acceptable behaviour across our communities?One example is the English Wikipedia, which in some cases isn't much friendly (too strictly) for new users especially when they do some mistakes during contribution due to lack of enough contributing knowledge. What should be done is that project administrators should try to be more humble to contributors not only pinpointing their mistakes but also to help them know how to rectify them. The participants otherwise responded to this question by categorizing their answers into the following key categories. a.CREATE
Safe spaceː
Wikimedia projects platforms should ensure that it is an online space (forum) which is free of conflict, harassment, bias, stalking threatening to ideas or contribution made by an individual user. This will enable contributors not to be afraid to contribute, create or edit information as safe space respect diversity (ethnic, religious, gender orientation differences).
Quality contentː
Wikimedia projects users/contributors should create, modify or contribute content with high quality and relevant to the society in terms of its grammatical structures to ensure the readers get the desired content concepts.
Authentic content (truth)ː
The content has to be original work, researched and cited from reliable sources.
Awarenessː
More efforts should be done to ensure community members are oriented on the existence and usefulness of the Wikimedia projects. This can be achieved by doing more inclusive editathons and workshops and training. In line with this, more education should be given to users on the sense of ownership of the content they contribute in Wikimedia projects such as more knowledge should be given on Creative Commons licences to help contributors to understand under what conditions they want to contribute their content to Wikimedia projects.
Transparency and accountability:
Decision making should be more inclusive to Wikimedia projects volunteers/contributors especially when it comes to who makes decisions regarding various matters by which Wikimedia communities may be affected in one way or the other.
Tolerance culture:
Both Wikimedia projects staff (including Wikimedia projects Administrators) and the volunteers community must be tolerant and assume good faith in the situations of hot moments (misunderstandings) in various discussions that aim to improve Wikimedia projects. This will help to reach a peaceful resolution.
b.SUPPORTThere should be more support on provision of knowledge to Wikimedia projects users/ contributors through talks, salons, training, conferences and workshops. Also the participants suggested that there should be some kind of appreciation, and recognition to active Wikimedia projects volunteers/contributors. |
| Egypt Wikimedians User Group and Wikimedia España | 34 participants between two events; one in Granada, Spain on 22 June, 2019 and one in Cairo, Egypt on 23 July, 2019 | (CROSS POSTED FROM DIVERSITY)Safe space environment, policies and decision-making processesWMF has to find a representative or a connection point in the Arabic Region to facilitate creating a friendly space to empower the decision making process.
North Africa should be represented in order to contribute and provide ways to promote a safe environment, provide an interactive platform.
Simple and easy policies without any complexities, including society standards and the way to apply them as fast as possible.
The legal representation of WMF should be exist in Egypt, Arab countries and North Africa to facilitate the partnership between other organizations and WMF and attract the volunteers.
Keep the volunteers updated with all latest news through sending continuously emails to them.
WMF should delegate a representative or responsible who assumes all issues related to security and safe environment. In the other hand, WMF itself must contact the security agencies in each country and clarify their targets before they start any activity or initiative to establish and run these projects normally and to be a common realized and known for the foreign authorities.
Authorized delegation and entity in each country or in each region to make decisions and care about political issues.
Give more attention to the content itself as well as translation and create a platform for documented resources as references for the created content.
Put serious safeguards to protect Wikipedia editors as long as their projects and contributions don’t violate Wikipedia rules and laws of State. Variety in resources and appreciate the value of participants regardless their ideology as long as they are neutral and trustful. A representative should be existing for all legal permissions. Legal barriers and lack of volunteering concept decrease from volunteers capacities to attract new editors. So, WMF should find new method to spread volunteering culture. So they should accredit this concept widely. Accreditation of volunteering culture and spread volunteering awareness among youth. We can help in decreasing the gap and removing obstacles within publish the idea of volunteering in the communities. Allow the intervention of Politics and Religion to give freely their opinions in case of not harming the interests of people or State. So, we should go through changing the laws. Existing an official and authorized representative for each country to facilitate the legal issues and help on financing the projects. Contiunos and regular meeting for official representatives of contries to get partnerships with official institutions in each country to provide financial aid for service and research projects within universities or ministries of High Education to get a legal entity and high representation. Using social networking platforms to exchange the ideas in light of restrictions on gatherings or conferences. |
| Venezuela Strategy Salon | 32 participants, split between two events held at the Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas on 25 July, 2019 | GENERAL COMMENTSThe discussion was divided into two parts, the first part focused on discussing the challenges of accessing Wikipedia in the country, and the other segment was used to discuss the capabilities and tools needed to try to solve the challenges presented. The history of Wikipedia activities in the country was presented, by Oscar Costero of Wikimedia Venezuela, including the editions and workshops of editions that have been held regularly since 2015, and photography competitions and other informal meetings. The most important point of the talk was the absence of volunteers to carry out awareness and training activities in the country, the consensus is that the conditions are not given so that all people can dedicate volunteer time to activities of this type, and Only a small portion of the population can cope with this complicated economic context. In this sense, the possibility of remunerating the time of the volunteers was proposed, as do other social organizations in the country, and also to look for possible volunteers in other spaces outside the computer world. The censorship of Wikipedia represented another meeting point among those attending the talk, leaving aside the political issue, the consensus was that the action was arbitrary and was triggered by an ignorance of how Wikipedia's policies and conventions work. The need to have a coherent communication strategy to explain to the population the main Wikipedia policies and to make testimonials of volunteers who spend their time improving the encyclopedia was discussed, so that the weight of Wikipedia returning to be subject to an attack is less in the future. Finally, they insisted on continuing strategy discussions and including voices that were not at the table, including indigenous communities. The next steps were also discussed in relation to training workshops and other initiatives for free knowledge such as virtual classrooms and online contests, both in programming for the next six months by the hand of the civil association. Main questions that guided the discussion: P1 - In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk?
P2 - What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above? A greater communication effort is needed to explain the principles of the encyclopedia, specifically the neutral point of view, the consensus and the verifiability of the information.
Censorship, unlike detracting credibility from the encyclopedia, Placed Wikipedia as a fundamental web page from an informational and educational point of view.
It is necessary to protect the anonymity of volunteers who edit on controversial issues, they are now adrift and do not have support when any of them is involved in a problem with the authorities.
It is necessary to enable the possibility of editing through the TOR Network and VPNs without major restrictions on Wikimedia projects, during the blocking to Wikipedia it was almost impossible to edit due to the various restrictions designed for puppet abuse, that aren't adapted to countries like ours who need access through these tools.
If the possibility of doing physical activities is very risky, distance activities can be carried out, with necessary security controls.
Right now no volunteer has shown any fear to edit Wikipedia due to the aforementioned problems, but there was a consensus to be more cautious when leaving data or information on Wikipedia that could identify them in their real lives or their jobs.
If there is still possible to go to media advertising, should attempt to show the reality of how Wikipedia works, always focusing on the difference between the publishing community and the volunteers who live in the civil association.
Testimonies about how Wikipedia has improved the lives of different people from different parts of the country could make a difference when the projects suffer attacks by the government, feeling that a blockade affects the entire population and not only To a group of people. Most people are too worried about their own subsistance, so any activity of this type (unpaid and that may take time away from work activities) is not so attractive It is necessary to think about the possibility of remunerating volunteers for activities that in the past were carried out ad-honorem, such as training in Wikipedia and the administration activities of a civil association. So that volunteers do not feel they are on an island, it is vital to build bridges with associations or groups that are doing related activities, so that connections that bring benefits and common alliances can be achieved. Not only tools are needed to keep volunteers motivated, but to make them see the true gain of contributing to Wikipedia, which is to provide the possibility that access to all kinds of knowledge is free. The volunteers that make Wikimedia Venezuela possible, right know are planning to leave the country or have already left, so training new volunteers to form leadership positions within the organization becomes more complicated as the months go by. There is a need that the community in the diaspora can support the training of new volunteers and provide them with tools to continue giving workshops in the country. There is another problem related with failures in the country's infrastructure, especially access to the Internet and electricity, so financing efforts have to be associated to alleviate these failures and adapt when doing trainings Another objective should be to make tutorial videos, not only for editing, but also for how to dictate and organize activities, so that they can be retaken by other volunteers in the future. The clear and unrestricted support of the global and regional movement is needed to move forward the country's activities, right now there is a feeling that the volunteers are alone in the face of the blockades and censures applied by the government. |
| French community at large | Online consultations led by French Strategy Liaison, including on wiki discussions (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Meta), Twitter, and 1:1 targeted outreach | Tools
We should not follow the wrong indicators (for example, counting rude words in one's messages says nothing of who is harassing whom). We tend to block the person saying “fucking nazi” instead of the person saying nazi thing with polite words.
We should use statistical tools to prevent bullying from escaping radars : detect coordinated raids in votes or RfC (requests for comments), or statistic anomalies in processes (for example the Gender Gap measure)
Wikimedia platform should contain more tools fostering positive interactions (it doesn't prevent negative ones, but it balances the feeling)
The WMF should create events like “wikicontests” or “wikiloves”, but with a collaborative functioning (these events are a good way to create peer-recognition and positive interactions, but if they are only competitive they can also create frustration and renuncement)
The Friendly Space Policy should be written with more precision, so as to leave as little room as possible for interpretation and ambiguity
Online behavior rules should be clarified
currently, rules are vague and never implemented
the WMF should give clear instructions about their implementation
Create a forum for underaged contributors to adapt content and tone because discussions are sometimes harsh or inadapted (?); or (other opinion) just make the regular village pump less harsh
On Wikipedia, protect by default biographies of minors to avoid vandalism The Friendly Space Policy should be better highlighted at events like Wikimania (for example by reminding main points during the opening session)
IRL events should be planned including the specific needs of autistic people
A volunteer with autism has written an essay to give advice about this issue, it could be summarized and turned into a guide for event organizers
The WMF should make sure that every IRL Wikimedia event is as safe as possible
Awareness needs to increase among allies, but since allies are often very clumsy, we need to support non-mixed events
Stay aware of what can happen outside Wikimedia spaces, where people can be more vulnerable The Wikimedia movement should do educational work inside the community;
Train people in key positions : Stewards, Bureaucrats, Oversights, Check-Users, Arbitrators (so they are not indifferent, or even complicit, of bullying)
These training need to be duly funded
Users should be confident in reporting bullying and be assured that it will be acknowledged as such and addressed
Train volunteers
Concentrate on prevention because it is more compatible with community management, as it avoids too much interference from the WMF and T&S. Trust and Safety is a good thing but:
we should reinforce our « Terms of service »
Trust&Safety should be more strict with sexist, racist, transphobic discourses.
Chapters should publicly support T&S's decision to “enforce basic standards of decency”
T&S should have more transparent procedures (while still protecting victims)
procedure needs to allow each stakeholder to express their view
the proportionnality of sanctions should be better explained, so that both the person who is sanctionned and the community understand the decision
opacity and lack of communication tends to create confusing situations, which impacts the community's trust in T&S's impartiality
T&S should inform concerned Chapters whenever a procedure concerning one of their members is initiated
The movement should form an special team to handle such issues
it could be an intermediary between T&S (necessary but too opaque) and community organs (transparent but inefficient)
it would allow more communication between the WMF and communities
this body should comprise people who are qualified and well identified by the community
it could be a semi-professionalization of stewards (or a special group of admins)
these people would have access to T&S files and would decide of what is the appropriate community feedback
The Wikimedia movement could draw inspiration from the Burning Man Festival, which has a “Fluffer Team” dedicated to the volunteers' well being: during the festival, they go around distributing food and drinks, prevent people from over-engaging if they detect burnout risks... The rest of the year, they send thank-you postcards from everyone. Our movement could have a similar team, dedicated not to punishing bad behavior, but supporting good feelings and caring for people.
Staff could be responsible for checking in about physical and moral health of the most enaged volunteers in order to avoid burnout, reveal issues, etc.
Support
hire professional mediators from outside the movement so they have a neutral approach to conflicts
hire psychologists (including specialized in online and offline traumas) to support victims (so they are not alone while wainting for a decision)
offer legal aid to people who are threatened of trial
better support communities who face regular targeting: women, POCs, LGBTQI, disabled people, and – often forgotten: administrators. The Wikimedia movement should find more ways to show recognition of the work of volunteers (for example, WM Sweden invited a volunteer to a minister reception)
This could avoid moral burnouts and compensate negative interactions or overinvestment The Chapters should better inform volunteers and members about the actions and events they organize, inviting them explicitly and in advance (some people feel left aside, disregarded) Documents about community health created by the WMF (for example « Allyship skills » and « Keeping events safe ») should be systematically distributed to affiliates and translated into a maximum of languages |
Diversity[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| ESEAP Strategy Summit | 31 participants from across ESEAP region | Affiliates and local groups should invest a minimum of 25% of their time and resources on mentoring and developing new Wikimedians in terms of induction and retention to create a positive and happy experience for Wikimedians. This concern came out of the realization that offline outreach programs rarely retain editors but users who discovered our projects (Wikipedia, Wikisource, Commons, etc.) and tried to edit themselves usually stays. However, we did not invest enough to mentor this type of users. Wikimedia Foundation should prioritize developing mobile editing tools, newbie information package or resources (on movement structure, systems, governance, projects, etc.) and a more personalized editing interface. Mobile editing tools because most of the users in our region are online with their mobile phones not their laptops but the editing tools are not adequate enough to support a good mobile editing experience.
Newbie information package because a lot of newbies are left to discover the jungle of Wikipedia and its sister projects by themselves, without any help or knowing where to find any help. Providing useful resources for newbies can improve their experience and also introduce them to the structure and governance of the movement. |
| Ghana Strategy Salon | 11 participants who met on 20 July, 2019 at the Impact Hub in Accra, Ghana | Can we establish that every community must have a code of conduct which provides for inclusion of diversity? How does a commitment to diversity also manifest itself in the governance structures of our movement’s organizations, in our public relations, and social media representation?
Yes, it was agreed that code of conduct should be established to make room for more diverse groups which in one way or the other can’t participate due the fear of others. It is however recommended that these code of conduct must be subjective to the laws of the territories they fall within. For example LGBT is not allowed in Ghana hence shouldn’t be exhibited in public if you are one since all other laws are subjective to the constitution of Ghana. How do we increase awareness in low awareness regions, in order to ensure adequate representation, both inlevel of volunteer participation and amount of time? We considered the northern sector of Ghana and universities in Ghana to low awareness regions. This is due to most activities revolving around Accra. Collaborating and engaging with existing institutions (schools, government & private sector) for increased participation and awareness creation. It was also agreed that for us to have a fair and non-discriminatory movement we need to promote non-abusive content to and related to these regions both in country and globally, allowing their freedom of access to information and expression. Providing platforms and tools that these regions can easily relate to and connect with in terms of access to information and contribution is important. Example: A space or location where they have access to both hardware, software and internet access as an enabler to their participation. As volunteering is essentially a role for the privileged, should Wikimedia Foundation start giving monetary incentives and honorarium for people who volunteer a huge amount of their time to movement activities? As a developing country where most people strive for basic needs, volunteering is not a common practice as compared to outside the continent. Volunteers should expect nothing but however be given honorarium and rewards for their efforts. This can also serve as mode of motivation and creating awareness. |
| Nigeria User Group Strategy Salon | 16 participants who met at FUNAAB University in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria on 17 July 2019 | • Can we establish that every community must have a code of conduct which provides for inclusion of diversity? How does a commitment to diversity also manifest itself in the governance structures of our movement’s organizations, in our public relations, and social media representation? Yes, every community differs with structure so they should be code of conduct: Nigeria as a country frowns at LGBT community with jail imprisonment so its important to have code of conduct in Nigeria that will differ from other countries that support LGBT.
If there isn't a code of conduct and LGBT contents for instance are constantly contributed to by the Nigerian volunteers; the government could see it as a sabotage and clamp down on the editors and the Wikimedia community in Nigeria.
The public relations shouldn't be just people known by the community but also marginal and minor communities as well.
• What effective measures should be taken for the future so our greater community can use languages other than English in order to make decisions, eliminating the requirement for a mastery of English as part of our decision-making community? With this, more awareness will be raised about various indigenous languages with project executed in that area.
Support technology tools that support language advocacy:
For instance, supporting the production of keyboards that is primary designed to write only Yoruba.
Technology advances like Yoruba voice interpreter.
Target Tertiary institution to train them on ho to use local language Wikipedia.
• As volunteering is essentially a role for the privileged, should Wikimedia Foundation start giving monetary incentives and honorarium for people who volunteer a huge amount of their time to movement activities? For people in Nigeria`with low cost of living and expensive or low quality Internets; preference should be given to volunteers who commit huge time with monetary incentives. |
| French community meetup | 4 people who met in Lyon, France on 28 July 2019. The conversation was organized and facilitated by the French Strategy Liaison. | Partnerships (for diversity)
The WMF and Chapters should have partnerships with cultural institutions representing minor cultures
In these cultures where communities are small, we cannot expect a critical number of wikimedians, so Wikimedia projects should be presented to them as a general tool to promote, share and preserve their local culture (examples : Kanak people, French overseas territories...)
These cultures often have little means at their disposal, so they would probably be happy to be offered ready-to-use tools allowing them to easily promote their culture and heritage.
Roles and responsibilities (for diversity)
The development of emerging communities should be dealt with at the level of Chapters or linguistic associations (example : WikiFranca) because they are closer to local cultural issues
International languages (French, English...) should not stifle local languages. Linguistic associations like WikiFranca should be used to support « languages in contact » (for example African languages like Menka, Wolof...) Communication tools used by the WMF and the Chapters (official channels, MOOCs, etc.) should be thought of as an opportunity to banalize non-hegemonic use of languages On the francophonic Wikipedia, French from France, which is very normative, tends to marginalize communities who speak and write another form of French (Africans, Quebecois...) Using various types of French (people with various accents, using various local variations...) in communications could banalize diversity |
| Tanzania Strategy Salon | 32 community members in Buni Innovation Hub, Tanzania on 6 July, 2019 | Wikimedia Foundation and its affiliates to come up with alternatives of how to represent the content in Wikimedia projects, especially Wikipedia that seem to have a limited number of documented and reliable referencing sources to some important left behind topics such as content about Women and natural things (eg. monuments, forests, rivers and sports). |
| Egypt Wikimedians User Group and Wikimedia España | 34 participants between two events; one in Granada, Spain on 22 June, 2019 and one in Cairo, Egypt on 23 July, 2019 | OVERALL SUMMARY
In the Diversity section, We discussed gaps for the minorities and the underrepresented groups within the scope of racism, language and sexism. We tried to discuss solutions to increase awareness and put outcomes for safe space policies, environment and decision making processes. We try to avoid the legal and social barriers that the Arabic communities face normally, the lack of technology is always present in our discussion. Also, paid contributions are an important topic that is privilege nowadays
Diversity, mainly, is based on different cultures, religious backgrounds, customs, traditions and language. It leads to recognition of the legitimacy of all cultures in community and gives the opportunity to achieve equality and freedoms among all cultures within society such as laws. Diversity
In order for represented groups directly or systematically to participate, these groups can be sensitized by sending their delegates or representatives to be an effective part of the strategy. Give them equal opportunity in community without regard to excellence.They should be presented according to specific rules and conditions, with respecting the public, the readers and their culture. They should also send to volunteers and editors officially to participate and to be part of the community.
WMF should encourage writing about their famous figures in each field but without being overshadowed.
Facilitate communication between representatives of groups and those responsible for writing about them at WMF. This can be done through classification of WMF editors and their interests, or making a channel between these and editors.
Creating groups and platforms that include various and different ideas to spread awareness among all classes of people.
Provide social networking platforms among all groups.
Specific platforms for minorities to integrate them in the big community.
Providing the required legal permissions to provide security for these groups.
We should study the knowledge that the minority will present, their targets and ideas to give them financial aid to showcase their points. They may participate also virtually via videos.We can write about them neutrality using free, reliable and notable resources.
WMF should develop the language of communities in large geographical areas; support small languages represented in all projects through capacity building, financial aid and technical advices.
WMF has to publish regular statistics and guidelines for content diversity to showcase of its development, run initiatives to decrease the gender and language gap and ask editors to make more efforts towards unlisted elements to focus more on them.
Diversity requires the participation of all parties and it doesn’t matter if they are a minority or have a background different from the common ones such as Shiites or LGBT or minority linguistic and ethnic minority. So, marginalized communities need special attention.
WMF blog should be available in different languages to publish free knowledge widely
WMF should respect employment field to be spread equally for different regions, not only be focused on Europe or America in particular. They also should respect language and geography.
WMF should hire professional translators to help volunteers at any time.
WMF should know the which volunteers who are really working on the strategic plan, and which work only in front of screens for prestige.
Every community and every language must have a code of conduct which provides for inclusion of diversity, but, it’s shouldn’t be in contradiction with a universal code of conduct provided by WMF.
WMF should hire specialists for regions to cohabit and empower them in their context to be able to proceed with their strategic cultural, experience and knowledge.
WMF/affiliates should send their representatives to support small groups and teams to transfer community experience to them.
WMF should have regional offices which will help in capacity building in the whole world.
WMF should allocate different ways to diversify so that volunteers do not fall under the law and exposure to imprisonment a result of voluntary unpaid activities.
WMF should establish contests and projects organized, developed and directed by some categories which faced racism like women and minorities countries. North Africa should be represented in order to contribute and provide ways to promote a safe environment, provide an interactive platform.
Simple and easy policies without any complexities, including society standards and the way to apply them as fast as possible.
The legal representation of WMF should be exist in Egypt, Arab countries and North Africa to facilitate the partnership between other organizations and WMF and attract the volunteers.
Keep the volunteers updated with all latest news through sending continuously emails to them.
WMF should delegate a representative or responsible who assumes all issues related to security and safe environment. In the other hand, WMF itself must contact the security agencies in each country and clarify their targets before they start any activity or initiative to establish and run these projects normally and to be a common realized and known for the foreign authorities.
Authorized delegation and entity in each country or in each region to make decisions and care about political issues.
Give more attention to the content itself as well as translation and create a platform for documented resources as references for the created content.
Put serious safeguards to protect Wikipedia editors as long as their projects and contributions don’t violate Wikipedia rules and laws of State. Variety in resources and appreciate the value of participants regardless their ideology as long as they are neutral and trustful.
A representative should be existing for all legal permissions.
Legal barriers and lack of volunteering concept decrease from volunteers capacities to attract new editors. So, WMF should find new method to spread volunteering culture. So they should accredit this concept widely.
Accreditation of volunteering culture and spread volunteering awareness among youth. We can help in decreasing the gap and removing obstacles within publish the idea of volunteering in the communities.
Allow the intervention of Politics and Religion to give freely their opinions in case of not harming the interests of people or State. So, we should go through changing the laws.
Existing an official and authorized representative for each country to facilitate the legal issues and help on financing the projects.
Contiunos and regular meeting for official representatives of contries to get partnerships with official institutions in each country to provide financial aid for service and research projects within universities or ministries of High Education to get a legal entity and high representation.
Using social networking platforms to exchange the ideas in light of restrictions on gatherings or conferences. Provide poor countries with internet connection and raise the awareness of individiuales and communities to believe on spread free knowledge. Giving sufficient financial aid for poor countries to celebrate conferences and projects to publish free knowledge and to serve the Wikipedian Community. Financial aid through supportive scholarships to increase people’s skills and partnership, technical support through investing in connecting internet to more people Providing a representative in each local area Providing continuous meetings to gather the volunteers Going through feedbacks. We can use the offline version of Wikipedia (Kiwix). WMF can offer the knowledge via electronic form without internet connection. They should develop the offline application between whiles. Make easy using Wikipedia Mobile Application. Existing official entities from WMF which provide updated posts and books. Provide Wikiclubs with free internet connection. Establish new initiatives to encourage them to join Wikimedia projects and facilitate their login without internet. Paid contributionMotivation is a helping factor that attracts people who are interested. Also, this point will attract many experts in different fields. Financial aid is a helping factor in developing countries Symbolic motivation is recommended “certificates , pins , giveaways” but I don’t recommend financial aid for volunteering job, because it will not be volunteering anymore. If the job will be funded, We recommend to classify and make KPIs for those who will be funded. We encourage having paid contributions but, We should announce this contribution and avoid doing it secretly. We agree in making paid contributions, but we have to put rules for whom We should paid for. We suggest that WMF puts specifics tasks for specific period and who completes them successfully should be recompensed in a fair way. Some people saw that giving money or financial aid to volunteers isn't a good idea. They argue that loses volunteering works will lose its essential. They added volunteering tasks in Arab World isn't well defined and doesn't reflect the complete framework and may not respect the rights and time of volunteers. |
| Venezuela Strategy Salon | 32 participants, split between two events held at the Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas on 25 July, 2019 | GENERAL COMMENTSThe discussion was divided into two parts, the first part focused on discussing the challenges of accessing Wikipedia in the country, and the other segment was used to discuss the capabilities and tools needed to try to solve the challenges presented. The history of Wikipedia activities in the country was presented, by Oscar Costero of Wikimedia Venezuela, including the editions and workshops of editions that have been held regularly since 2015, and photography competitions and other informal meetings. The most important point of the talk was the absence of volunteers to carry out awareness and training activities in the country, the consensus is that the conditions are not given so that all people can dedicate volunteer time to activities of this type, and Only a small portion of the population can cope with this complicated economic context. In this sense, the possibility of remunerating the time of the volunteers was proposed, as do other social organizations in the country, and also to look for possible volunteers in other spaces outside the computer world. The censorship of Wikipedia represented another meeting point among those attending the talk, leaving aside the political issue, the consensus was that the action was arbitrary and was triggered by an ignorance of how Wikipedia's policies and conventions work. The need to have a coherent communication strategy to explain to the population the main Wikipedia policies and to make testimonials of volunteers who spend their time improving the encyclopedia was discussed, so that the weight of Wikipedia returning to be subject to an attack is less in the future. Finally, they insisted on continuing strategy discussions and including voices that were not at the table, including indigenous communities. The next steps were also discussed in relation to training workshops and other initiatives for free knowledge such as virtual classrooms and online contests, both in programming for the next six months by the hand of the civil association. Main questions that guided the discussion: P1 - In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk?
P2 - What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above? A greater communication effort is needed to explain the principles of the encyclopedia, specifically the neutral point of view, the consensus and the verifiability of the information.
Censorship, unlike detracting credibility from the encyclopedia, Placed Wikipedia as a fundamental web page from an informational and educational point of view.
It is necessary to protect the anonymity of volunteers who edit on controversial issues, they are now adrift and do not have support when any of them is involved in a problem with the authorities.
It is necessary to enable the possibility of editing through the TOR Network and VPNs without major restrictions on Wikimedia projects, during the blocking to Wikipedia it was almost impossible to edit due to the various restrictions designed for puppet abuse, that aren't adapted to countries like ours who need access through these tools.
If the possibility of doing physical activities is very risky, distance activities can be carried out, with necessary security controls.
Right now no volunteer has shown any fear to edit Wikipedia due to the aforementioned problems, but there was a consensus to be more cautious when leaving data or information on Wikipedia that could identify them in their real lives or their jobs.
If there is still possible to go to media advertising, should attempt to show the reality of how Wikipedia works, always focusing on the difference between the publishing community and the volunteers who live in the civil association.
Testimonies about how Wikipedia has improved the lives of different people from different parts of the country could make a difference when the projects suffer attacks by the government, feeling that a blockade affects the entire population and not only To a group of people. Most people are too worried about their own subsistance, so any activity of this type (unpaid and that may take time away from work activities) is not so attractive It is necessary to think about the possibility of remunerating volunteers for activities that in the past were carried out ad-honorem, such as training in Wikipedia and the administration activities of a civil association. So that volunteers do not feel they are on an island, it is vital to build bridges with associations or groups that are doing related activities, so that connections that bring benefits and common alliances can be achieved. Not only tools are needed to keep volunteers motivated, but to make them see the true gain of contributing to Wikipedia, which is to provide the possibility that access to all kinds of knowledge is free. The volunteers that make Wikimedia Venezuela possible, right know are planning to leave the country or have already left, so training new volunteers to form leadership positions within the organization becomes more complicated as the months go by. There is a need that the community in the diaspora can support the training of new volunteers and provide them with tools to continue giving workshops in the country. There is another problem related with failures in the country's infrastructure, especially access to the Internet and electricity, so financing efforts have to be associated to alleviate these failures and adapt when doing trainings Another objective should be to make tutorial videos, not only for editing, but also for how to dictate and organize activities, so that they can be retaken by other volunteers in the future. The clear and unrestricted support of the global and regional movement is needed to move forward the country's activities, right now there is a feeling that the volunteers are alone in the face of the blockades and censures applied by the government. |
| Tchad User Group | 15 participants who met on 6 July, 2019 in Chad | (ENGLISH VERSION FORTHCOMING) Pourquoi trouvez-vous ce sujet intéressant ? La participation aux projets wikimedia ne reflète pas la diversité des sociétés. La participation au niveau mondial est innégale tout comme dans la repartion des ressources , ce qui peut avoir un effet important sur les personnes qui participent au renforcement des capacités. Comment rendre le renforcement des capacités inclusif et équitable ? Faire du tourisme interne pour la découverte et la valorisation des patrimoines culturels dans le pays tout en formant les communautés locales à documenter leurs régions sur les projets wikimedia. Quelles parties prenantes doivent participer aux efforts de renforcement des capacités et comment Des rapports de complémentarité et d'implication de tous les membres du groupe sont nécessaires et organiser des sessions de mises à niveau, des minorités comme les femmes, les personnes handicapés et les jeunes. |
| French community at large | Online consultations led by French Strategy Liaison, including on wiki discussions (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Meta), Twitter, and 1:1 targeted outreach | Meta pages and IRL events should be translated in as many languages as possible
-Systematic use of English creates a social barrier
The WMF and Chapters should do partnerships to support the production of quality sources on minorized topics, or help make such existing sources more accessible
-these sources could be universitary or journalistic work
-production of sources should be supported in particular in emerging countries
-oral sources should be integrated into Wikimedia projects
The WMF should consider funding minorized people. It would be legitimate in the global South and for queer people, for example. -currently, many people are discouraged by the “hermetical” aspect of the Wikimedia community, which has a big “nerdy” biais
-more intuitive and open tools would foster the participation of more diverse people Online, marginalized people have to face a lot of obstacles that take time and energy, while the already face obstacles IRL (for example, going through a gender transition is already a challenge) |
Partnerships[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| ESEAP Strategy Summit | 31 participants from across ESEAP region | External approaches to partnershipsFrameworks that encourage WMF to use its global positioning and influence to leverage partnerships that can have regional and local impact, especially in emerging communities. For examples: Corporate Social Responsibility in relevant and overlapping domains. E.g. WMF and Kodak partner to catalogue collections of magazines .
Local example from Indonesia .
WMF chapters in established countries to connect their diplomatic missions with affiliates and communities in emerging settings, on a regular basis or around events, such as those increasing content and contribution.
E.g. Wikimedia Deutschland and Goethe institute in Indonesia.
Sweden and French chapters with their diplomatic missions and cultural institutions (e.g. Alliance Française) and Wikimedia groups in emerging communities.
Multilateral organizations.
WMF and UNESCO around cultural and educational domains .
WMF and UNICEF and UNWOMEN on addressing the gender gap in content and contribution .
E.g. Swedish embassy supporting community in Indonesia to increase Javanese women in art Wiki
Media organizations.
Can also collaborate with Advocacy working group.
Internal approaches to partnershipsTo establish structures that facilitate free exchange of partnership models, expertise and opportunities at regional and global levels that widely exist within the movement. Focus on models of partnership with local/regional values and impact with: Better awareness of context and better transferability of knowledge / capacity. Good UX/UI - beyond Meta. Relevance. Assumptions: communities to upload and be willing to share their experiences and expertise, digitally and where possible in person (e.g. by using rapid grants to visit another country in the region and help in establishing relevant partnerships). Collaboration opportunities for the partnerships working group on this central hub with: product & technology working group, capacity building working group, and by extension, resource allocation and roles & responsibilities working groups. What will change: strengthening systems to share capacity regionally, and partnership mechanisms and models in the spirit of regional collaboration. Also applies to capacity building, R&R, community health. Identifying NGOs that can leverage their networks, experience and connections at a local level that supports local affiliates. WMF to set up offline thematic associations that bring many voices together beyond conferences and can build and enhance partnerships more easily (e.g. education is already happening). An enduring internal partnership also, beyond conferences. |
| Ghana Strategy Salon | 11 participants who met on 20 July, 2019 at the Impact Hub in Accra, Ghana | What is the best way to collaborate among each other and with our partners?
There must be a mutual agreement between ourselves and other partners. This should be based on our shared goals and open understanding with no hidden benefits. We should also do well to involve the partners at every stage of our activities. Ideas for future partnerships? Partnerships shouldn’t always be a big one. Partnership can be among affiliates for exchange of cultures and capacity building. Say an administrator from a well established chapter or community could build the capacity of interested persons from other groups within the movement. Partnerships with institutions can sometimes be difficult. It is recommended that knowing a network or staff which has been trained or understands our principles is one working solution. An example is our Wikipedia Education Program program and partnership at GIMPA made possible by a staff was once part of the WEP during his Masters studies. What is needed in order to have more partners? Evaluating existing and past partnerships for what we did right or wrong. Making sure locals are made aware of status or progress of partnerships that are led directly from or by the Wikimedia Foundation. An example raised was the termination of Wikipedia Zero program without local user group’s knowledge and partners prior knowledge. Is there any need to work more with corporations and companies (profit organisations)? If YES, what are the challenges regarding that? We had a mixed decision on collaborations with for profit organizations as this could sometimes lead to the unforeseen. If the partnership is in line with the aims and mission of the Wikimedia movement we should. The purpose and goal of the collaborations should also be clearly stated. What can be done differently so we can more successful? Maintaining good track record and past successful activities was one pillar suggested for. Also having a good working relations with governments and related institutions. Partnerships should not only be monetary or goods. We can always find something in common to us and the partner. Example: Wikimedia Ghana User Groups partnership with Impact Hub Accra which allows us to use the space some of our meet-ups for free. |
| Morocco Strategy Salon | 13 participants in Mohammedia, Morocco on 13 July, 2019 | WMF should have a clear strategy for collaborating with universities and partner with them. WMF can offer for example a standard template/guide about how to start a partnership with a university, because currently, everything is done separately and independently by different affiliates, which is a lot of repeated work. WMF can take responsibility of such partnerships, as even universities are sometimes partner with each other, and WMF can be considered as a “university” in this regard. In “unfriendly” environments, where members have difficulties to have a legal status, it is better to have an affiliation ID provided by the WMF allowing the User Group leaders/volunteers to act on-site and simplifying the processes for establishing partnerships/advocating. |
| Egypt Wikimedians User Group and Wikimedia España | 34 participants between two events; one in Granada, Spain on 22 June, 2019 and one in Cairo, Egypt on 23 July, 2019 | OVERALL SUMMARY
WMF should be an effective organizer of influential partnerships, coalitions and collective actions based on a shared vision of open knowledge and the “big openness” movement.
WMF have to enable individuals and organizations working on partnerships to get the support they need to realize potential for diverse, sustainable, effective and effective partnerships.
WMF should work together with open cultural organizations, NGOs, governments, and technology companies to establish permanent and lasting partnerships and relations with cultural and educational institutions and the work of the wiki club / camp or to follow Armenia's leading experience.
Provide a lot of resources to move forward.
Finding an Arab team capable of entering into partnerships, with powers or dimension of the institution's legal aid.
PARTICIPANT REFLECTIONS
Important partnerships in the strategic direction
Partnership with companies/ agencies interested on translation for learning and spread languages.
Partnership with schools, public and foreign universities, embassies and Institutions of civil society to get a legal entity and representation.
Companies and institutions of free knowledge.
Partnership with local institutions which provides legal and financial aid.
Whom and whyWMF should establish partnership with scientific institutions, non-profit organization and digital libraries.
WMF can establish partnership with authorized international institutions to facilitate any obstacles. In addition, with universities to teach students and educators how to edit Wikipedia and go through its basics to attract many volunteers.
Translation offices to review articles on Wikipedia.
Websites and Centers which offer regular courses for volunteers to develop their languages and capacities as a personal motivation.
Publishing House for translation and writing on Wikipedia; the idea is dealing with them to enrich the editing content on Wikipedia, not focusing on Translation offices, because they are specialized in specific fields but, Publishing House has multiples and wide fields.
Universities to get training for students and volunteers.
Establish partnership with whom State’s laws allow them to make it without any security restrictions.
WMF may make outsourcing to many institutions, Publishing House or Translation offices to benefit from the volunteers and increase the digital content. In this context, partnership with Translation offices will increase interpreter skills contributing to initiative.
WMF should understand the challenges that other institutions have faced to establish new partnerships like social or legal points. How to get financial recourses and approved entity.
How to overcome difficulties they faced and methods they took to facilitate the task. We have to learn from embassies, organizations and international institutions.
WMF should talk to other institutions to learn from them to share experiences within dealing with institutions, know their rules, attract more volunteers and overcome any obstacles.
Partnerships typesWikipedia Education Program
Art+Feminism
WikiGap with Swedish Embassies and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
United Nations
WMF should go through the same organization with the same target. Good planning and management.
Weakness points:Weakness of volunteer’s continuity with the lack of support.
No available channels to send financial aid.
Lack of fund or grants. WMF should provide instant certificates which affirm user’s contributions on Wikimedia projects to be a proof of his volunteering digital role. |
| Venezuela Strategy Salon | 32 participants, split between two events held at the Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas on 25 July, 2019 | GENERAL COMMENTSThe discussion was divided into two parts, the first part focused on discussing the challenges of accessing Wikipedia in the country, and the other segment was used to discuss the capabilities and tools needed to try to solve the challenges presented. The history of Wikipedia activities in the country was presented, by Oscar Costero of Wikimedia Venezuela, including the editions and workshops of editions that have been held regularly since 2015, and photography competitions and other informal meetings. The most important point of the talk was the absence of volunteers to carry out awareness and training activities in the country, the consensus is that the conditions are not given so that all people can dedicate volunteer time to activities of this type, and Only a small portion of the population can cope with this complicated economic context. In this sense, the possibility of remunerating the time of the volunteers was proposed, as do other social organizations in the country, and also to look for possible volunteers in other spaces outside the computer world. The censorship of Wikipedia represented another meeting point among those attending the talk, leaving aside the political issue, the consensus was that the action was arbitrary and was triggered by an ignorance of how Wikipedia's policies and conventions work. The need to have a coherent communication strategy to explain to the population the main Wikipedia policies and to make testimonials of volunteers who spend their time improving the encyclopedia was discussed, so that the weight of Wikipedia returning to be subject to an attack is less in the future. Finally, they insisted on continuing strategy discussions and including voices that were not at the table, including indigenous communities. The next steps were also discussed in relation to training workshops and other initiatives for free knowledge such as virtual classrooms and online contests, both in programming for the next six months by the hand of the civil association. Main questions that guided the discussion: P1 - In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk?
P2 - What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above? A greater communication effort is needed to explain the principles of the encyclopedia, specifically the neutral point of view, the consensus and the verifiability of the information.
Censorship, unlike detracting credibility from the encyclopedia, Placed Wikipedia as a fundamental web page from an informational and educational point of view.
It is necessary to protect the anonymity of volunteers who edit on controversial issues, they are now adrift and do not have support when any of them is involved in a problem with the authorities.
It is necessary to enable the possibility of editing through the TOR Network and VPNs without major restrictions on Wikimedia projects, during the blocking to Wikipedia it was almost impossible to edit due to the various restrictions designed for puppet abuse, that aren't adapted to countries like ours who need access through these tools.
If the possibility of doing physical activities is very risky, distance activities can be carried out, with necessary security controls.
Right now no volunteer has shown any fear to edit Wikipedia due to the aforementioned problems, but there was a consensus to be more cautious when leaving data or information on Wikipedia that could identify them in their real lives or their jobs.
If there is still possible to go to media advertising, should attempt to show the reality of how Wikipedia works, always focusing on the difference between the publishing community and the volunteers who live in the civil association.
Testimonies about how Wikipedia has improved the lives of different people from different parts of the country could make a difference when the projects suffer attacks by the government, feeling that a blockade affects the entire population and not only To a group of people. Most people are too worried about their own subsistance, so any activity of this type (unpaid and that may take time away from work activities) is not so attractive It is necessary to think about the possibility of remunerating volunteers for activities that in the past were carried out ad-honorem, such as training in Wikipedia and the administration activities of a civil association. So that volunteers do not feel they are on an island, it is vital to build bridges with associations or groups that are doing related activities, so that connections that bring benefits and common alliances can be achieved. Not only tools are needed to keep volunteers motivated, but to make them see the true gain of contributing to Wikipedia, which is to provide the possibility that access to all kinds of knowledge is free. The volunteers that make Wikimedia Venezuela possible, right know are planning to leave the country or have already left, so training new volunteers to form leadership positions within the organization becomes more complicated as the months go by. There is a need that the community in the diaspora can support the training of new volunteers and provide them with tools to continue giving workshops in the country. There is another problem related with failures in the country's infrastructure, especially access to the Internet and electricity, so financing efforts have to be associated to alleviate these failures and adapt when doing trainings Another objective should be to make tutorial videos, not only for editing, but also for how to dictate and organize activities, so that they can be retaken by other volunteers in the future. The clear and unrestricted support of the global and regional movement is needed to move forward the country's activities, right now there is a feeling that the volunteers are alone in the face of the blockades and censures applied by the government. |
| GLAM Macedonia Strategy Salon | 20 participants met in Skopje, Macedonia on 27 July, 2019 | 1. What is the best way to collaborate among each other and with our partners?
The answers and the ideas that were shared between the participants of the Salon regarding this topic were varied. Among the most exemplified ideas shared by the participants was the need of increase of usage of the modern IT technology to reach GLAM Members and interested non-member activists. In addition to that, the emphasise was also given to mutual respect and appreciation of the volunteers’ efforts and engagement. With the help of workshops, meetings and seminars, the future expansion of the organisation and the movement itself is expected. A good PR and media coverage of the projects and activities will result with better establishment of the movement in the social life of the country. Involvement of the young population for these purposes was seen as one of the key factors for success. 2. Ideas for future partnerships? This was one of the most elaborated topic among the participants. There were various different proposals for future new collaboration with new partners and expansion of the existing collaborations with current GLAM Macedonia partners. The participants’ proposals included collaboration with schools and universities, museums, archives, local government, the communities of the small ethnic minorities in Macedonia and deeper collaboration with other NGOs. An excellent proposal for collaboration was given during the Salon, that is, Kulart expressed willingness to start partnership with GLAM Macedonia. 3.What is needed in order to have more partners? Without doubt, the most elaborated idea regarding this topic of discussion or question was the need for larger media coverage of the organization and the movement. The participants expressed their view on this issue and they stated that the general Macedonian public should be better informed about the vision and goals of the Wikimedia Movement and the organization’s activities. Furthermore, they emphasised the need for more printed and electronic materials and also larger number of volunteers, i.e. human resources. 4. Is there any need to work more with corporations and companies (profit organisations)? If YES, what are the challenges regarding that? Regarding this question, the participant’s answers were more homogeneous in comparison to the previous ones. Almost half of the participants stated that there is no need of collaboration with companies and profit-oriented organizations. However, the second half of the participants noted that there is such need, especially in terms of sponsorship for organising meeting, workshops and bigger projects like Wiki Camps or Wiki Clubs. 5. What can be done differently so we can more successful? As it was the case with the previous answers, again the participants emphasised the need for bigger media coverage of the projects and ideas of the Movement. Moreover, the participants proposed forming special groups of activists that would be working on specific topics. Additionally, it was stated that there is a need for more training and workshops and acknowledgement of the effort of the students. The transparency was also placed high among the movement’s priorities. |
| Arabic language community | in-person lunch meet up in Morocco led by the Arabic Strategy Liaison | Affiliates can be encouraged to seek partnerships with chosen partners at specific events.
Example: Partnership with photograph association for the Wiki Loves event.
There should be a central database with names of partners and contact people available for the affiliates/community to browse in order to contact them
The database can be ordered per country/area.
Community members should be included in the process (as we feel that it is mostly WMF that conducts the partnership work currently) In Morocco, the User Group never had any contact with the local operators when the Wikipedia Zero was launched (operation done by WMF). After the some problems happened (vandalism from some users), the user group was not involved with the partners to give their input and the service was closed. |
Product & Technology[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| French community meetup | 4 people who met in Lyon, France on 28 July 2019. The conversation was organized and facilitated by the French Strategy Liaison. | Small projects
« Current situation : « small projects » (for example the Wiktionary) are often left behind in software development. The current « wishlist » system systematically favors Wikipedia because it mecanically gets more votes. The sister projects find themselves lagging behind in terms of ergonomy and development. And yet, some simple developments can greatly improve the contributors' experience. Example : a very simple « translation assistant » module was added to the French Wiktionary, and it was so easy to use that it drastically increased the number of contributions and favored the entry of new people into the project. Make a separate wishlist for each Wikimedia project (so that Wikipedia doesn't crush everything else) Appoint developers dedicated to each project These developers could be in charge of tracking and sharing new tools and improvements throughout the various linguistic versions (currently, they each tend to create their own tools, modules and templates on their own, without sharing good practices and tips, when communication would be beneficial to everyone. Example : the translation assistant is only available in the French version) Produce better technical documentation about MediaWiki softwares (or, if it already exists, make it more accessible) to allow appropriation by other developers Ergonomy and gamification The WMF should focus, among other things, on ergonomic improvements to make platforms more user-friendly The idea that « ergonomy is futile » (very present in the Wikimedia community) should be fought Better ergonomy allow more people to participate, in a more efficient manner, so it drastically improves the projects' content The Wikimedia projects should get inspiration from gamification (while being careful that it is designed so that it can do no harm to the projects) and develop more mobile apps: this would boost small contributions and banalize occasional contribution by non-expert users (#Diversity) For example, different types of small contributions could be gamified (classify databases, write captions for images, add bibliographical references to Wikidata...) Easy actions should be made easily accessible |
| Venezuela Strategy Salon | 32 participants, split between two events held at the Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas on 25 July, 2019 | GENERAL COMMENTSThe discussion was divided into two parts, the first part focused on discussing the challenges of accessing Wikipedia in the country, and the other segment was used to discuss the capabilities and tools needed to try to solve the challenges presented. The history of Wikipedia activities in the country was presented, by Oscar Costero of Wikimedia Venezuela, including the editions and workshops of editions that have been held regularly since 2015, and photography competitions and other informal meetings. The most important point of the talk was the absence of volunteers to carry out awareness and training activities in the country, the consensus is that the conditions are not given so that all people can dedicate volunteer time to activities of this type, and Only a small portion of the population can cope with this complicated economic context. In this sense, the possibility of remunerating the time of the volunteers was proposed, as do other social organizations in the country, and also to look for possible volunteers in other spaces outside the computer world. The censorship of Wikipedia represented another meeting point among those attending the talk, leaving aside the political issue, the consensus was that the action was arbitrary and was triggered by an ignorance of how Wikipedia's policies and conventions work. The need to have a coherent communication strategy to explain to the population the main Wikipedia policies and to make testimonials of volunteers who spend their time improving the encyclopedia was discussed, so that the weight of Wikipedia returning to be subject to an attack is less in the future. Finally, they insisted on continuing strategy discussions and including voices that were not at the table, including indigenous communities. The next steps were also discussed in relation to training workshops and other initiatives for free knowledge such as virtual classrooms and online contests, both in programming for the next six months by the hand of the civil association. Main questions that guided the discussion: P1 - In the political context of the country, and the censorship of which Wikipedia was subject earlier this year, what activities can be carried out around free knowledge and the edition of Wikimedia platforms? Does editing Wikipedia put us at risk?
P2 - What tools or skills do volunteers in Venezuela need to overcome the various obstacles that arise when editing on Wikipedia and carrying out the activities described above? A greater communication effort is needed to explain the principles of the encyclopedia, specifically the neutral point of view, the consensus and the verifiability of the information.
Censorship, unlike detracting credibility from the encyclopedia, Placed Wikipedia as a fundamental web page from an informational and educational point of view.
It is necessary to protect the anonymity of volunteers who edit on controversial issues, they are now adrift and do not have support when any of them is involved in a problem with the authorities.
It is necessary to enable the possibility of editing through the TOR Network and VPNs without major restrictions on Wikimedia projects, during the blocking to Wikipedia it was almost impossible to edit due to the various restrictions designed for puppet abuse, that aren't adapted to countries like ours who need access through these tools.
If the possibility of doing physical activities is very risky, distance activities can be carried out, with necessary security controls.
Right now no volunteer has shown any fear to edit Wikipedia due to the aforementioned problems, but there was a consensus to be more cautious when leaving data or information on Wikipedia that could identify them in their real lives or their jobs.
If there is still possible to go to media advertising, should attempt to show the reality of how Wikipedia works, always focusing on the difference between the publishing community and the volunteers who live in the civil association.
Testimonies about how Wikipedia has improved the lives of different people from different parts of the country could make a difference when the projects suffer attacks by the government, feeling that a blockade affects the entire population and not only To a group of people. Most people are too worried about their own subsistance, so any activity of this type (unpaid and that may take time away from work activities) is not so attractive It is necessary to think about the possibility of remunerating volunteers for activities that in the past were carried out ad-honorem, such as training in Wikipedia and the administration activities of a civil association. So that volunteers do not feel they are on an island, it is vital to build bridges with associations or groups that are doing related activities, so that connections that bring benefits and common alliances can be achieved. Not only tools are needed to keep volunteers motivated, but to make them see the true gain of contributing to Wikipedia, which is to provide the possibility that access to all kinds of knowledge is free. The volunteers that make Wikimedia Venezuela possible, right know are planning to leave the country or have already left, so training new volunteers to form leadership positions within the organization becomes more complicated as the months go by. There is a need that the community in the diaspora can support the training of new volunteers and provide them with tools to continue giving workshops in the country. There is another problem related with failures in the country's infrastructure, especially access to the Internet and electricity, so financing efforts have to be associated to alleviate these failures and adapt when doing trainings Another objective should be to make tutorial videos, not only for editing, but also for how to dictate and organize activities, so that they can be retaken by other volunteers in the future. The clear and unrestricted support of the global and regional movement is needed to move forward the country's activities, right now there is a feeling that the volunteers are alone in the face of the blockades and censures applied by the government. |
| French community at large | Online consultations led by French Strategy Liaison, including on wiki discussions (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Meta), Twitter, and 1:1 targeted outreach | The WMF should revise how the Wishlist for technical improvements work because:
currently, vote pages are hardly accessible (all in English / old interface only in wikicode / very little communication about it towards community) some technical needs that would be useful to a majority of users are dismissed because most of the voters belong to a minority of expert users who don't care about ergonomy The WMF should modernize its softwares by specifically asking feedback from non-expert users, otherwise there will always be a bias because people who spontaneously give feedback about these topics are usually already expert users The WMF should simplify tools (for example Wikidata integration) because their complexity can frighten off new users |
Resource Allocation[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Tanzania Strategy Salon | 32 community members in Buni Innovation Hub, Tanzania on 6 July, 2019 | Qn 1: .Who should be the recipients of resources? How do we determine the boundaries, who or what is included?The recipients of resources should be individual volunteer or group of volunteers on the following conditions;
Recipient should be an active member and regular volunteer who contribute to Wikimedia projects, Should have a cover referees/trusted supporters for endorsements and there should be a high level of transparency and accountability to the recipients.
QN 2: The Strategic Direction prioritizes “communities who have been left out …” Who are they? Who should we reach out to and on what principle?Concerning who are the communities who have been left out the discussions came out with the mention of People with disabilities, People who don't have information concerning wikimedia projects as sources of free and reliable knowledge, People who don't have access to digital devices and Children with reasonable ages to consume Wikimedia projects educational content. Also on the aspect of Who should we reach the participants responded that its basically everyone should be reached because information is important to every one and every one of us should participate to reach them.On the matter of What principles should be used the participants concluded that there should be Knowledge equity as per strategic direction and there should be a customized content for specific group. e.g children. Responding to the Who it was observed that both individual Wikimedians, Wikimedian groups and Affiliates .Coming to the determination of boundaries key response to this was that individuals should be an active user/contributor of Wikimedia projects, should have a cover referee, should be someone able to maintain transparency and accountability as well as good communication skills to make others understand what they have to do. On the matter of who should be included was seen that both Wikimedian Groups and other active non-Wikimedian groups having similar vision and mission of promoting an open knowledge advocacy.
QN 04: Who are we accountable to and how do we organize accountability? This includes both users and recipients. Users refers to all individuals who create, edit or publishing the content and recipients refers to all individuals who use or read from the published Wikimedia projects content.
b. Knowledge
Ensuring knowledge provided is authentic and has quality to a recipient and has been carefully researched.
c. Wikimedia Foundation'ːShould continue to manage and improve their projects platforms, assisting in ways to maintain these platforms and making awareness to people about the importance of free knowledge via its projects and even cooperating with non Wikimedia projects for the same purpose. |
| Tchad User Group | 15 participants who met on 6 July, 2019 in Chad | (ENGLISH VERSION FORTHCOMING) Pourquoi trouvez-vous ce sujet intéressant ? Parce que les activités de renforcement des capacités devront être soutenus par des ressources humaines et financières. Il faut que des ressources dédiées soient allouées au fil du temps pour garantir que les activités soient correctement planifiés. Quelles ressources sont nécessaires pour renforcer les capacités Il faut de l'implication dans les projets modèles validés par la fondation comme Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth,...)ceci les permettra de se former et d'avoir pour chaque projet plus de matériels, à se trouver un local etc. Il faut aussi des ressources humaines locales capables de former des communautés dans des régions, des province pour représenter plus de diversité. Quels impacts les ressources allouées devraient-elles créer dans nos communautés? Rendre les communautés capables de lever des fonds à leur niveau et ne pas être totalement dépendantes de la Wikimedia Fondation |
| Arabic language community | Input from 1:1 community interviews | WMF should hire people from different regions
WMF can’t rely on volunteers to implement long term offline work in the whole regions of the world.
Volunteer model makes dependency on one person, if this person has other commitments, then the projects die later. |
| Arabic language community | Strategy lunch in Morocco hosted by Arabic Strategy Liaison | It is important to provide spaces (offices) for affiliates to encourage their development. WMF should make sure that affiliates have allocated spaces (or help to rent them).
Having an own space makes the affiliate independent from any partnership or dependency towards others (to use their space). |
| French community at large | Online consultations led by French Strategy Liaison, including on wiki discussions (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Meta), Twitter, and 1:1 targeted outreach | Grants conditions of allocation should take into account the level of experience and engagement of the contributor, but evaluation needs to be adapted to the context, for example for young communities. Resource allocation decision-making should be decentralized towards more regional or linguistic entities (for example: WikiFranca) because they understand better local issues. For long term projects (example: fill the gender gap), the grant system should anticipate regular budgets and support the grantees in making the project last (having to apply for grants every year makes people feel insecure) The Wikimedia movement should create a way to inform wikimedians that they have access to funding and about how to ask for it. -In a twitter survey asking “Obtaining resources from Chapters or the WMF is -easy, -complicated, -possible?? I had no idea”, 33% of people chose the last option (and 33% chose each of the other options)
-We could create a mentoring program so that volunteer “elders” help new people to understand grant processes and have confidence in stepping in (it appears that external encouragement (peer-advice) is a strong facilitating factor)
-Automatic messages could be sent to active contributors to inform them (just as we get “thank you for your 1000th edit”); or, for wikimedians who are more active online, they could be nominated by peers
The WMF should follow up with grantees' level of satisfaction to find out if the experience was positive for them -Accessible in various languages -More simple procedures -Give money in advance (and not reimburse after) because some people can't afford advancing money Grants application forms should be tested with various audiences (including newcomers and autistic people) to check if they are understandable for everyone (example: open-ended or ambiguous questions can provoque stress in autistic people; the Wikimania grant application form contained many unexplained terms that only insiders can understand, for example, there was no summary to explain what “learning days” are). |
Revenue Streams[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Egypt Wikimedians User Group and Wikimedia España | 34 participants between two events; one in Granada, Spain on 22 June, 2019 and one in Cairo, Egypt on 23 July, 2019 | CROSS POSTED FROM DIVERSITYPaid contribution:Motivation is a helping factor that attracts people who are interested. Also, this point will attract many experts in different fields.
Financial aid is a helping factor in developing countries Symbolic motivation is recommended “certificates , pins , giveaways” but I don’t recommend financial aid for volunteering job, because it will not be volunteering anymore. If the job will be funded, We recommend to classify and make KPIs for those who will be funded. We encourage having paid contributions but, We should announce this contribution and avoid doing it secretly. We agree in making paid contributions, but we have to put rules for whom We should paid for. We suggest that WMF puts specifics tasks for specific period and who completes them successfully should be recompensed in a fair way. Some people saw that giving money or financial aid to volunteers isn't a good idea. They argue that loses volunteering works will lose its essential. They added volunteering tasks in Arab World isn't well defined and doesn't reflect the complete framework and may not respect the rights and time of volunteers. |
Roles and Responsibilities[edit]
| Source | Context | Content |
|---|---|---|
| Guinea Strategy Salon | 14 community participants ath the Universite Kofi Annan de Guinee in Conakry, Guinea on 23 June 2019 | • What governance and organizational structures do we need to support the delivery of the strategic direction, particularly knowledge equity? The creation of User Groups allows groups who have shown they are active to progress towards becoming a Chapter with more means. Structures of governance need to come closer to African countries because the encyclopedic content is very weak there, despite the 15 years of existence of Wikipedia. The African continent is set as priority in the Wikimedia Foundation's propositions, but it only has 1 chapter among 40 in the world. We thus need the Foundation to support the creation of more chapters in Africa. • How do we ensure that our governance and operational structures can adapt to social, technological and political change? As User Group, we need to understand the way in which other structures of the Wikimedia Movement have been able to grow, understand the positive aspects and improve the negative ones, listen to different voices about what type of structure is best, in order to choose what is most appropriate in our context. We thus need to be provided experience sharing and good practices from other Wikimedia entities. We need to teach young people the spirit of knowledge sharing. For this, we have to go through universities, institutions and governments, and build partnerships along the movement's principles. Our priority is to sensibilize more people in these more intellectual fields. As says the proverbs: “If means have an end, the project ends”. • How and to whom should movement roles and structures be accountable? We approve of current functioning: • people doing projects write reports to the governance structures that finance them • the Foundation and Chapters publish activity reports and share them through appropriate emailing lists for user groups, chapters and thematic areas. • Which responsibilities are better placed at a global, regional, local or thematic level; which should be centralized and which decentralized? We must prefer a contextual approach because the penetration of the encyclopedia is not at the same level everywhere. So: At a local level We have to raise the level of interest and participation through more sensibilization. People who have just discovered contribution cannot be trained at the same level as an active contributor. “Many people here in Guinea use Wikipedia without realizing that they too could have the privilege to contribute to it and improve it.” At the regional level In Africa, we need structures like WikiIndaba to be reinforced to that we can share more experience between user group and chapter. This could help lesser advanced groups to progress and discover new tendancies. At the international level Needs / propositions: • More transparency about decision processes (criteria, etc). • Linguistic freedom (on Meta and offline), for example to apply and attend Wikimania • Decentralization of existing ressources • Have big summits come to countries where the encyclopedia suffers most inequalities in order to include them furter in the movement and help promote our primary value which is liberation and diffusion of free knowledge. • Create more swinging events (like Wikimania) which happen in different countries • Create headquarters for User Groups • Help the creation of more chapters, more structures • Platforms management • How might we integrate the Wikimedia Movement with the greater free knowledge ecosystem? • Enrich articles to retain more readers and contributors; existing articles should be sufficiently furnished so as to become sources and references • Organize training sessions, raise awareness About the knowledge ecosystem (not always “free”), in Guinea we partner with an information website which produces articles about women, and with start-ups involved in technological innovation. • How should conflict management and resolution be structured across the movement? Administrators and patrollers on the encyclopedia, who are in charge with judging the credibility of information, should be closer to the facts. This means accessing such positions should be easier or more open ; or we should specifically ask contributors of each country (maybe appointed people acting like points of contacts) to participate in discussions when the subject concerns their country. This would help conflict resolution to be more inclusive and participatory. For example, information about Guinea should be verified by natives, which means belonging to a chapter, or at least being trained or even employed for the cause. The articles would end up being more qualitative. Native people should also be consulted about admissibility criteria of articles. • How can we be strategic about ensuring relevance as we scale while still supporting the existing editing community? This answer is connected to the previous one. We have to promote free knowledge and exchange about our work, so that Wikipedia and sister projects' reputation remains high in the heart of our readers and editors. We (as editors) have to be persistent and consistent. |
| Morocco Strategy Salon | 13 participants in Mohammedia, Morocco on 13 July, 2019 | WMF should address more surveys to all community members to evaluate the performance of their local affiliate and confirm that it is well governed.
Currently surveys are sent to some members of the affiliates who will naturally judge their work positively. Representativity of different continents within the Board of Trustees WMF should clarify election tools and how the choice of members is done. Why do chapters vote more than user groups? And why many User groups are not allowed to become Chapters? In terms of leadership within affiliated groups (mainly User Groups), adopting the rotating system for positions (e.g. president, project leader, communication manager) would be beneficial to evaluate the performance of everyone in matters of strengths and weaknesses in order to improve the management of the group, and work on the points to improve. |
| UK Strategy Salon | 12 volunteers who met on 13, July 2019 in Bristol, UK | What structures, processes, and behaviours will enable Wikimedia to include all voices - including current contributors and emerging audiences - in our decision making?It was suggested that Wiki needed to do more independent research in order to understand its communities, as we currently do very little of this compared to other global online platforms. There may be some situations where the community to not buy into the mission - or where the mission seems less relevant. The movement needs a multi strand locally sensitive approach. Local solutions would need ‘boots on the ground’ - people working closely as part of local communities to understand their needs. Also need to train and support key people in the community in order to build capacity and skills. The issue of traditional knowledge and oral history came up - and the need to understand different cultures and provide relevent solutions for recording knowledge. It was acknowledged that there are multiple channels of communication for contributors and potential contributors, but the question is how to reconcile these? With or without ‘establishment’ dominance? The idea of a voting system for all users was suggested. To whom and how should movement roles and structures be accountable?“Readers should be the answer, but it’s not what the editor community is thinking...” There was a strong feeling amongst one of the two groups discussing this question that the movement is accountable to Wikimedia’s readers - and that we should also consider our accountability to potential readers who are not yet accessing the projects. There was a discussion about how to be accountable to new readers - all the people that will be coming in online in the next few years - but concern that existing communities won’t necesarily be able to provide the right sort of tools and knowledge...“but how do we know what’s useful to these people?” There was a discussion about ownership versus stewardship. Editors are discouraged to be gatekeepers, but stewardship is encouraged, and there’s a fine line between the two. The outcome is that editors don’t want to let new people in. This means there will be a resistance to any potential shifts in who we’re meant to be accountable to. Editors are also accountable to each other, and should perhaps also be accountable to new editors (described by the group as a duty of care). There was a more philosophical discussion about what is a role within the Wikimedia movement? The discussion focused mainly on the roles that individuals can have within Wikipedia e.g. election committee: wmf, arbcom: en.wp editors. There was a related discussion on safety. There was soem agreement that WMF should have more capacity to implement safety measures. But they also need to explain why they’re doing what they’re doing - communication is essential. Provocation: Do we need the Foundation? What’s its role? What even is the Foundation? (rhetorical?) If chapters are responsible to Foundation, are the Foundation responsible to chapters? As editors can we see the wood for the trees? How do you measure the impact of an article? Wikipedia as a whole? (yes, to at least some degree as we're 5th most popular website) article feedback tool was not a success. Some topics easier to determine than others (treatment of diarrhoea vs what constitutes murder) The other group discussing this question at first posed other questions in response, including: Is donation a measure of accountability? After much debate it was agreed by this group (representing roughly half the participants of the Salon) that the stakeholders are everybody involved in the projects. But should we (the movement) be accountable to the entire readership? This group felt that the answer to this question was ‘probably’ (unlike the other group, for whom there was a very strong feeling that the movement is ultimately accountable to readers). There was a discussion about the potential for setting up an independent accountability council or panel, similar to Facebook, but overall it was felt that this approach wouldn’t work for Wikimedia. What are the capacity building needs of global movement stakeholders and their organisations?We need to decentralize and de-westernise the movement and invest in local leaders and schemes. We discussed the question of whether we should pay trainers and community leaders, and there was quite a lot of support for this. Several people pointed out that often they can be the only unpaid person in a room, with many event participants taking part as part of their jobs, and therefore being paid for their time. Of course this situation might be quite specific to the UK, and/or to other chapters or affiliates who do a lot of work with institutions. We need to focus on training trainers such as community leaders or teacher trainers (we need to think about the impact when we priorities resources) Diversification is key. We need to get people from minorities in on discussions and increase confidence in the global mission. Decolonisation is also important in encouraging more diverse participation. How should conflict management and resolution be structured across the movement?What conflict? We assume this means harassment and similar, but is that divorced from content (article writing on wp)? Psychic Artificial intelligences - the Foundation has poor record of software development (Flow), so the group weren’t sure they would be able to come up with good tech solutions for improving the culture on wiki. There was lots of debate about how much the foundation should intervene. Perhaps with better procedures they wouldn't need to? It was felt that the transparency on Wiki can actually be very damaging when it comes to disciplinary cases. Arbcom and other areas of community need more training on dealing with conflict. We could hire content moderators like the Wiki Edu Foundation or develop better software for spotting potential cases of conflict or bullying. We could provide a live chat option for editors who feel they need support in a conflict situation. We need to remember that smaller communities might need different solutions. For example on CY wiki there are only two active admins. How can we insure editors in all languages feel supported should they encounter conflict or bullying? Overall comments and questions about the strategy processWill change be accepted or strategy recommendations deleted/ignored? WMF more likely to accept than en.wp (editor strikes, will WMF stand firm of admins resign? cf Jimmy's keynote speech at Wikimania London; US investment bank bailouts) What will the change management process be? Is anyone thinking about the pain of implementing change for the editors, and taking in the risks of losing people? What if we pull away from implementation once the reactions are too strong? Strategy - what will be the change process and how can it be implemented through the editor communities? Is the RnR working group only looking at organised parts of the movement? If so, then where does that leave editing communities? En.wp community is perceived to be set in its ways and reluctant to change, with pushback for anything that doesn't appear in a traditional encyclopaedia. |