Talk:Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana

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User group for Military Historians[edit]

Greetings,

"Military history" is one of the most important subjects when speak of sum of all human knowledge. To support contributors interested in the area over various language Wikipedias, we intend to form a user group. It also provides a platform to share the best practices between military historians, and various military related projects on Wikipedias. An initial discussion was has been done between the coordinators and members of WikiProject Military History on English Wikipedia. Now this discussion has been taken to Meta-Wiki. Contributors intrested in the area of military history are requested to share their feedback and give suggestions at Talk:Discussion to incubate a user group for Wikipedia Military Historians. Please spread the message to your members and Wikimedia volunteers within your scope.

Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 06:59, 23 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello and happy new year Krishna Chaitanya Velaga. We will spread the message in our social networks, thanks.

Kind regards

Setsile.

Inviting you to participate in the women editing contest "The women you have never met"[edit]

Dear Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana !

Hope this message finds you all well :) On behalf of Iberocoop network I want to invite you to be part of the women editing contest we are organizing along with many other chapters and user groups in the movement. You are doing an excellent work on your local context and we will be so pleased to have you on board. In this very early stage, we are asking the organizations to add their interest in the following meta page Hope to see you there soon! Hugs----Anna Torres (WMAR) --Anna Torres (WMAR) (talk) 15:31, 25 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Join us on The AfroCine Project[edit]

Greetings!

This is to introduce you to a new Wikimedia project called The AfroCine Project. This new project is dedicated to improving the coverage of the history, works, people, places, events, etc, that are associated with the cinema, theatre and arts of Africa, African countries, the Caribbean, and the diaspora. If you would love to be part of this (or you're already active in this area), by coordinating local programmes around African cinema (independently or otherwise) in your community or local Wikipedia, kindly list your username or organization as a participant on the meta project page here.

Furthermore, In the months of October and November, we are organizing a global contest and edit-a-thon tagged: The Months of African Cinema. If you would love to join this exciting event, also list your username as a participant on the English Wikipedia page. If you would love to lead this contest (or any other relevant program) for a non-English Wikipedia community, please feel free to translate the English Wikiproject page to your local language Wikipedia, or you can create one from scratch!

If you have any questions, complaints, suggestions, etc., please reach out to me personally on my talkpage or the project talkpage! Cheers!--Jamie Tubers (talk) 20:50, 5 September 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to the Months of African Cinema![edit]

Greetings!

The AfroCine Project welcomes you to October, the first out of the two months which has been dedicated to improving contents that centre around the cinema of Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.

This is a global online edit-a-thon, which is happening in at least 5 language editions of Wikipedia (en, he, es, it, bn) and Wikidata. Join us in this exciting venture, by helping to create or expand articles which are connected to this scope.

On English Wikipedia, we would be recognizing Users who are able to achieve the following:

  • Overall winner (1st, 2nd, 3rd places)
  • Country Winners
  • Diversity winner
  • High quality contributors
  • Gender-gap fillers
  • Page improvers
  • Wikidata Translators

For further information about the contest, the recognition categories and how to participate, please visit the contest page here.

If you'd love to organize this contest for your local wiki or organize in-person events centred around this project, or you need further information about the AfroCine Project, please leave a message on the project talkpage. See you around :).--Jamie Tubers (talk) 22:50, 03 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Learning Quarterly: November 2018[edit]

L&E Newsletter / Volume 5 / Issue 17 / November 2018
 Learning Quarterly

Stay tuned
blogs, events
& more!

2018 Affiliations Committee call for candidates[edit]

This is an update from the Wikimedia Affiliations Committee.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee can include up to fifteen members, roughly half of whom are selected every twelve months for staggered two-year terms. Those joining the committee during the current process will serve a two-year term ending in December 2020.

Key skills

Being a part of the Affiliations Committee requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our members, including the following key skills and experience:

- Willingness to process applications through a set, perhaps bureaucratic process.
- Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
- Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly two-hour voice/video meeting.
- International orientation.
- Fluency in English.
- Ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
- Strong understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
- Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus.
- Skills in other languages are a major plus.
- Experience with or in an active affiliate is a major plus.
- Strong track record of effective collaboration (such as evidenced skills at facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and so forth) are a major plus.
- Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2018 member selection process will include a public review and comment period. All applications received by the committee will be posted on Meta at Affiliations Committee/Candidates/December 2018, and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

At the end of the public comment period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee who are not seeking re-election, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made by mid-January 2019, with new members expected to join later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please post your application on the nomination page and send an email announcing your application to affcom@lists.wikimedia.org by 31 December 2018. Your application must include the following information:

- Your full name and Wikimedia username
- A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee.
- Answers to the following three questions:

  1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
  2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
  3. What do you feel you will bring to the committee that makes you a uniquely qualified candidate?


If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

Best regards,
Kirill Lokshin
Chair, Affiliations Committee

Posted by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, 06:25, 17 December 2018 (UTC)

New Affiliations Committee appointments[edit]

AffCom is excited to share with you the news that the Wikimedia Foundation Board has unanimously approved the changes to the Bylaws during the last Board meeting on January 30, 2019.

This change allows the participation of User Groups in the Affiliate-selected Board seats (ASBS) 2019 process.

To read the Board's announcement, please click here

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:45, 21 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Help us make Wikipedia talk pages more accessible to more participants[edit]

Hello!

Our team at the Wikimedia Foundation is working on a project to improve the ease-of-use and productivity of wiki talk pages. As an affiliate, I can imagine you’ve run into challenges explaining talk pages to first-time participants, or it is an consultation that would interest your members.

We want all contributors to be able to talk to each other on the wikis – to ask questions, to resolve differences, to organize projects and to make decisions. Communication is essential for the depth and quality of our content, and the health of our communities.

We're currently leading a global consultation on how to improve talk pages, and we're looking for groups that can discuss and report on their experiences using (or helping other people to use) wiki talk pages. We'd like to invite you to participate, with the user groups that you belong to. You can learn more about the consultation at Mediawiki.org and if you're interested in hosting a group discussion (on-wiki or off-wiki), you can sign up at the participant sign-up group.

If you’d like to participate or if you have any questions, please contact us and let us know. The more people participate from many horizons, the better the outcome will be.

Thank you! Trizek (WMF) 15:29, 8 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Call for complementary facilitators and more to get the ASBS 2019 process started![edit]

Hi everyone, hope all is fine with you!

The next weeks will be intense, as affiliates figure out their participation in the process that will soon select 2 people for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Since new Bylaws established that the user groups are for the first time going to be involved in such process, a lot more support than before is certainly going to be necessary, among other things, for big and healthy conversations on the topic. Hence, please encourage members of your group to become a complementary facilitator, or sign up yourself! You can add yourself to the list on Meta or reply to me to flag availability. One person from the facilitators group should soon be selected to liaise with the Foundation Board’s Chair, María Sefidari, on behalf of all affiliates, and it may be wise to also find a deputy for them.

Finally, if you can think of any huge obstacles that would prevent your group from participating to the process (for instance, a language barrier, or lack of good decision-making mechanisms, etc.), please reach out to me directly: it is really important that we hear about them as early as possible. Thank you! Elitre (WMF) 15:23, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Update on the Affiliate-selected Board seats 2019 process[edit]

Hi all,

The Election Facilitators met on Friday, April 5. We finalized the resolution, which is now frozen. The Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation will be asked to approve the resolution.

We have made two small changes to be more inclusive. We extended the date for compliance with AffCom reporting and being in good standing to May 7 to allow time for as many Affiliates as possible to be current with these requirements. The Election Facilitators adjusted the language in case a quorum is not met during the election.

On the talk page of the resolution one issue was raised. The issue looks like to be about a possible candidate. Affiliates will have ample time to discuss the merits of candidates during nomination time, screening time, and they can cast their votes on candidates. The Election Facilitators didn't see the necessity for this change, and left the resolution on this point unchanged.

The Election Facilitators will be Abhinav Srivastava, Lane Rasberry, Jeffrey Keefer, Ad Huikeshoven, Neal McBurnett and Alessandro Marchetti. We will welcome more volunteers to assist us in this process, to reach out to the diversity in language and gender in our communities, and do so in an advisory role.

The nomination period opens on April 15. We are going to prepare nomination pages on Meta. You can expect a call for nominations. There is a draft call, including a candidates' profile section with non-binding guidelines about experience and characteristics for nominees. You are welcome to add your insights, or discuss on the talk page.

Erica Litrenta (WMF staff) supports us in this process. She will reach out to all affiliates through mail and other channels to make sure we are up to date with (user)name and contact details of your primary contact.

On behalf of the Election Facilitators, Ad Huikeshoven 10:52, 6 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Notification of User Group Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting[edit]

Greetings, @Mompati Dikunwane:

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia User Groups are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta, and linked on the meta Reports page.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

Annual reporting is due no later than 4 months following the end of an organization's fiscal year. As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s ‘’’2018 annual activities’’’ reporting became past due in ’’’December’’’. Please be sure to:

  1. Post your ‘’’2018 annual reporting’’’ to the meta Reports page as soon as possible to return to compliance with your User Group’s agreement.
  2. Check that your group's page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and
  3. Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Best regards, DNdubane (WMF) (talk) 16:05, 12 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Update about the Affiliate-selected Board seats process 2019[edit]

Hello everyone!

  • The Resolution has been approved by the Board of Trustees;
  • Nominations phase is now open, from April 15 00:00 UTC to April 30 23:59 UTC. See the Call for Candidates and Nominations pages;
    • Community members may ask questions of the candidates;
  • Your main representative has just received an email to confirm that they are indeed the primary contact and will perform official actions on behalf of your group (such as endorsing candidates and then voting). Some groups also need to verify their eligibility status in due time, as explained in the email;
  • New content is available to spread awareness around the process - the infographic on this page has clickable links and can be translated, and a primer is available, that we hope will be particularly helpful to those new to such a process;
  • Finally, you are welcome to help with translations! Pick one page from the ASBS category and, in the next couple of weeks, please consider translating profiles of the candidates in particular.

Thanks for your attention! The Facilitators for ASBS 2019, 07:33, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

Will your group participate to the ASBS process 2019?[edit]

Hi

Sorry for the unusual ping, but I need you to be aware that as of now, the red X in the reporting column of Reports means that this group may not be able to cast a vote for the selection of the next 2 Board members next month. Please read the above messages for more information. Please let me know if you need further assistance. Best, Elitre (WMF) (talk) 10:13, 23 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Affiliate-selected Board seats 2019 process: your representative[edit]

Hello. The name of the only person who will vote on behalf of this group to select the next two Board members is now at m:Affiliate-selected Board seats/2019/Eligible entities. Please contact me directly as soon as possible if you need any kind of corrections there. There's only a few hours left to endorse candidates, and only the official voter can do that. I would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that you can make a difference with the necessary translations.

Appreciate your attention and your support so far! Thank you! Elitre (WMF) and Facilitators of ASBS 2019, 12:15, 29 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Introducing Wikimedia Space: A platform for movement news and organizations[edit]

Hi Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana,
I’m writing to let you know that the Community Engagement department [1]at the Wikimedia Foundation is launching a new platform, Wikimedia Space. Here, you will find stories for and by contributors to the Wikimedia movement, and a space for discussions of different topics.

We know that finding information about Wikimedia activities and processes is very complicated, which makes the learning curve to enter our movement and be successful afterwards, really steep. By centralizing community stories and conversations in one shared space, we believe we are facilitating access and discoverability of topics across the movement, improving, in turn, connections among Wikimedians.

As an affiliated organization to the Wikimedia Foundation, we hope that you can share this platform with your local community, and we count on you to encourage them to add their voices. If you’d like to contribute stories, and overall, participate in the discussion section, please read our blogging guidelines and our code of conduct and join the conversation. Find more information about the project on its page on Meta.

Looking forward to seeing you at Wikimedia Space,
María Cruz, Communications and Outreach Manager, Wikimedia Foundation.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 17:53, 25 June 2019 (UTC) [reply]

References
  1. ↑ View the department's page on Meta-Wiki.

AfroCine: Join the Months of African Cinema this October![edit]

Greetings!

After a successful first iteration of the Months of African Cinema last year, we are happy to announce that it will be happening again this year, starting from October 1! In the 2018 edition of the contest, about 600 Wikipedia articles were created in at least 8 languages. There were also contributions to Wikidata and Wikimedia commons, which brought the total number of wikimedia pages created during the contest to over 1,000. About 9 in-person events were also organised for the edit-a-thon in different parts of the world.

The contest is organized by a Wikimedia project called The AfroCine Project, which is dedicated to improving the coverage of the history, works, people, places, and events, that are associated with the cinema, theatre and arts of Africa, African countries, the Caribbean, and the diaspora.

If you would love to join this exciting event, please list your username as a participant on the English Wikipedia contest page. If you would love to lead this contest for your country or community, please list your name in the coordinators' page here. The rapid grants team would be accepting proposals throughout October and November, in case you'd need funds to run local edit-a-thons or some other activities related to this event. Upon listing your name on the coordinators' page, you'd be contacted to talk about the resources you'd need to run the event in your community. You can also contact me directly for any clarifications.

Finally, We also need volunteers to handle some aspects of the AfroCine project. These aspects include:

  1. Community Liaison: This role essentially involves closely engaging with local communities to support their activities within the scope of Afrocine.
  2. Communications: This involves the communications aspects of the project. Sharing relevant information on mailing lists and social media would be the responsibility of this person.
  3. MAC Jury: This role involves joining the jury of Months of African Cinema contest. We need as many people as we can get 🙂.
  4. Tools: Going forward, we would need relevant tools to better track the metrics and also analyse the general impact of these events. We are calling for Wikimedia volunteers who can navigate wikimedia tools that can be useful for the project.

If you would love to help with any of these roles, or some other roles that have not been mentioned, please contact me directly or on: samoye_(_AT_)hotmail.com

If you have further questions, complaints, suggestions, etc., please reach out to me personally or right here or the project talkpages.

Thank you!--Jamie Tubers (talk) 17:10, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Introducing Wikimedia Diary: A memory book (notebook) for all[edit]

Wikimedia Diary
Hello Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana, I wanna share you about Wikimedia Diary, a public memory book (notebook) in which Wikimedians from all over the world are free to write any worth noting event/activities/experiences by them or community in this Wiki world. It is a more casual place to write about what one is up to.

As we all know, a diary is a book in which diarist keeps a daily record of events and experiences. Likewise, the basic idea of Wikimedia Diary is that we do many activities here in wiki world which we are proud of, but unfortunately it became only the history anytime. So, It is meant to record those activities on the happened date with a signature (~~~~) which is worth noting, and letting fellow Wikimedians know about what inspirational you've did. It would motivate users from all around the world to keep on cool activities and publish a note. I hope you share your activities with all of us on the page, and please let your friends know about Wikimedia Diary. Also, your feedback is welcome on the discussion page. Thank you!
Kind regards,
Tulsi Bhagat, Initiator of Wikimedia Diary, Wikimedia movement communications group.
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:09, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2019 Affiliations Committee call for candidates[edit]

The Affiliations Committee (AffCom) – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of fourteen members, selected every twelve months for staggered two-year terms. Those joining the committee during the current process will serve a two-year term ending in December 2021.

AffCom continues to closely monitor the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy process that was initiated in 2016. While the affiliation models continue to be discussed as part of the broader strategy discussion, as no decisions have been made to change the current affiliation models yet, AffCom will continue to work in the same manner with regard to affiliate recognitions and intervention support for affiliates with issues of non-compliance in 2020. Specifically, AffCom will continue to process applications for user group and chapter/thematic organization creation, while we await the strategy next steps and begin to prepare for a smooth transition of the committee and affiliates ecosystem to any changing movement structures and systems in 2021.

Being a part of the Affiliations Committee requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our members.

Required and Recommended Skills for Affiliations Committee Members[edit]

Across all committee members there are additional relevant skills as well as requirements which help to support the committee and its sustainability which include both required and relevant general skills

Required Skills[edit]

  • Fluency in English
  • Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings.
  • Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.
  • Strong track record of effective collaboration
  • International orientation

Relevant Skills[edit]

  • Skills in other languages are a major plus.
  • Public Communications (English writing and speaking skills)
  • Strong understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
  • Documentation practices
  • Interviewing experience
  • Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus
  • Experience with, or in, an active affiliate is a major plus.
  • Teamwork
    • Focusing on shared goals instead of disagreements
    • Focusing on the conflict at hand and not past ones
    • Ensuring each member of the team has a clearly defined role, which can help reduce disagreements over areas of responsibility
    • Project and people management to coordinate different parties on a shared plan and seeing it through to completion.
  • Problem-Solving
    • Ability to evaluate various solutions
    • Ability to consider multiple interests and points of view
    • Willingness to revisit unresolved issues
    • The capacity to recognize and respond to important matters
    • The ability to seek compromise and avoid punishing
  • Ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.

Given the expectations for maintaining course in 2020 and preparing for potential 2021 transitions, it is important that we are also clear about two different skill sets critical to committee support at this time. The first skillset is oriented to understanding affiliate dynamics and organizational development patterns to successfully process affiliate applications for recognition; the other is oriented to conflict prevention and intervention support for affiliates in conflict.

Affiliate Recognitions Relevant Skills[edit]

  • Administration
    • Willingness to process applications through a set, perhaps bureaucratic process.
    • Attention to detail
  • Monitoring & Strategic Development
    • Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
  • Organizational Awareness
    • Understanding of and community building and organizational development
    • Understanding of group dynamics
    • Awareness of the affiliates ecosystem and models

Conflict Prevention & Intervention Relevant Skills[edit]

  • Communication
    • Active listening
    • Reading nonverbal cues
    • Knowing when to interrupt and when to stay quiet
    • Being culturally sensitive at the same time remaining clear and concise when explaining a concept or opinion
  • Stress Management
    • Patience
    • Positivity
    • Ability to inject a dose of humor to dilute anger and frustration when needed
    • Taking well-timed breaks that can bring calm in the midst of flared tempers
    • Ability to manage stress while remaining alert and calm
  • Emotional Intelligence
    • Being emotionally aware,
    • Ability to control emotions and behaviors,
    • Ability to practice empathy,
    • Impartiality,
    • Don’t take anything personally,
    • Being aware of and respectful of differences.
  • Facilitation skills
    • Meeting facilitation experience
    • Peer or community mediation training
    • Peer or community mediation experience

Do you have any of these skill sets and an interest to support movement affiliates?

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process[edit]

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2019 member selection process will include a public review and comment period. We invite you to share with us you applications, specifying your focus area you’re interested in. All applications received by the committee will be posted on Meta, and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

At the end of the public comment period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee who are not seeking re-election, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made by mid-January 2020, with new members expected to join later that month.

How to apply[edit]

If you are interested in joining the committee, please post your application on the nomination page and send an email announcing your application to AffCom(_AT_)lists.wikimedia.org by 10 January 2020. Your application must include the following information:

  • Your full name and Wikimedia username
  • A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee.
  • Answers to the following questions:
  1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
  2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
  3. What do you feel you will bring to the committee that makes you uniquely qualified?
  4. Which subcommittee are you most interested in serving on: Recognitions OR Conflict Prevention & Intervention?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!


On behalf of the committee,

Camelia Boban, AffCom member

Notification of User Group Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting[edit]

Greetings @Mompati Dikunwane: & @Setsile:,

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia User Groups are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s 2018-2019 annual reporting became past due in December 2019. Please be sure to :

  1. Post your 2018-2019 annual reporting to the meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal as soon as possible to return to compliance with your user group agreement.
  2. Check that your group’s page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and
  3. Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Best regards,
DNdubane (WMF) (talk) 20:08, 5 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Call for candidates - June 2020[edit]

Hi everyone,

The Affiliations Committee (AffCom) – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing and sustaining Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is seeking new members!

The main role of the AffCom is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of five to fifteen members, selected at least once every year, to serve two-year terms. As the committee must hold mid-year elections to replenish its members at this time, those joining the committee during the current process will serve a slightly extended term from July 2020 through December 2022.

AffCom continues to closely monitor the Wikimedia 2030 Strategy process initiated in 2016. While the affiliation models continue to be discussed as part of the broader strategy discussion, as no decisions have been made to change the current affiliation models yet, AffCom continues to work in the same manner with regard to affiliate recognitions and intervention support for affiliates with issues of non-compliance in 2020. AffCom continues to process applications for user group and chapter/thematic organization creation, while we await the strategy next steps and begin to prepare for a smooth transition of the committee and affiliates ecosystem to any changing movement structures and systems in 2021.

Being a part of the AffCom requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a mix of different skill sets in our members.

Click here for further details.

James Heilman on behalf of AffCom

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:18, 13 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Affiliations Committee elections announcement June 2020[edit]

Hi everyone,

This is a friendly reminder that the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing and sustaining Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is seeking new members! The deadline to post your application on the nomination page is 30 June 2020.

  • Application process: Considering the anticipated changes following the Strategy recommendations, we had a limited scope to introduce changes in the process. We have made a small but impactful addition to the application process by introducing the Self Assessment survey form which will help the committee know more about your engagement as endorsements are not consistently shared, may not be representative, and often do not speak to the specific skills needed.
  • Selection process: No change; see: Membership.

If you have any questions, please contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to answer questions about our work if this helps people decide to apply. Please distribute this announcement among your networks. Good luck to all the candidates!

On behalf of the committee,

--Rosiestep (talk) 00:49, 19 June 2020 (UTC) via MassMessaging[reply]

June 21 All-Affiliates Brand Meeting[edit]

All Wikimedia affiliates are invited to join an urgent All-Affiliates Brand Meeting in two sessions on Sunday June 21, regarding the most recent developments.--Pharos (talk) 20:00, 19 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation to participate in Wiki Loves Earth 2020[edit]

Dear colleagues,

The 8th year in a row the Wiki Loves Earth international photo contest is gathering pictures of nature heritage sites from different parts of the world! Our aims are raising public awareness about protected areas and creating the biggest database of free photos of them. Since 2013, WLE collected 585k free photos of natural heritage sites, with around 130k being used in the wikiprojects.

This year the contest is taking place between May and July, and have received over 48K photos so far! During this tough time it's important to make an impact online. By digging through photo archives and taking part in WLE our participants can help Wikipedia while staying safe. We have 32 participating countries for now and looking forward to welcoming more. Exactly Botswana can become a part of the WLE family!

How to join Wiki Loves Earth 2020?

  1. Assemble a team of volunteers devoted to organizing WLE in your country (see our guide https://w.wiki/KYAtoget an understanding of what this job entails)
  2. Declare your participation by adding your country to the list at https://w.wiki/KYH.
  3. Create a list of nature heritage objects in your region/country (if you do not have one). Find out more about it here — https://w.wiki/LQ4.
  4. Decide on dates of your contest. Please consider how much time you need to prepare and what is the best time in your country. You are free to decide when exactly to hold your contest within the international timeframe.
  5. Create your local landing page, start working on promotion and gathering pictures of nature heritage sites of your country!

You can learn more about how to organize a contest in the guide — https://w.wiki/KYA.

Important: due to the spread of COVID-19, there are restrictions for offline public events. Please find our advice on how to handle the situation — https://w.wiki/KiE.

If you need assistance from the international team to get WLE 2020 started in your country, please don't hesitate to write to us at wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua.

Stay safe!

Best regards, Anastasiia Petrova, Project Manager for International Wiki Loves Earth 2020 on behalf of the international organizing team

Feedback on movement names[edit]

There are a lot of conversations happening about the future of our movement names. We hope that you are part of these discussions and that your community is represented.

Since 16 June, the Foundation Brand Team has been running a survey in 7 languages about 3 naming options. There are also community members sharing concerns about renaming in a Community Open Letter.

You should have received a separate affiliate survey via email. If you have not, feel free to email brandproject(_AT_)wikimedia.org.

Our goal in this call for feedback is to hear from across the community, so we encourage you to participate in the survey, the open letter, or both. The survey will go through 7 July in all timezones. Input from the survey and discussions will be analyzed and published on Meta-Wiki.

Thanks for thinking about the future of the movement --The Brand Project team, 13:37, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Note: The survey is conducted via a third-party service, which may subject it to additional terms. For more information on privacy and data-handling, see the survey privacy statement.

Announcing a new wiki project! Welcome, Abstract Wikipedia[edit]

Hello everyone. I am posting the announcement below, which you may have missed elsewhere, and in the hope that you can share it with your local communities. Please note that it may be available in your language at m:Special:MyLanguage/Abstract Wikipedia/July 2020 announcement. Thanks for your attention! m:User:Elitre (WMF)


Hi all,

It is my honor to introduce Abstract Wikipedia, a new project that has been unanimously approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees. Abstract Wikipedia proposes a new way to generate baseline encyclopedic content in a multilingual fashion, allowing more contributors and more readers to share more knowledge in more languages. It is an approach that aims to make cross-lingual cooperation easier on our projects, increase the sustainability of our movement through expanding access to participation, improve the user experience for readers of all languages, and innovate in free knowledge by connecting some of the strengths of our movement to create something new.

This is our first new project in over seven years. Abstract Wikipedia was submitted as a project proposal by Denny Vrandečić in May 2020 [1] after years of preparation and research, leading to a detailed plan and lively discussions in the Wikimedia communities. We know that the energy and the creativity of the community often runs up against language barriers, and information that is available in one language may not make it to other language Wikipedias. Abstract Wikipedia intends to look and feel like a Wikipedia, but build on the powerful, language-independent conceptual models of Wikidata, with the goal of letting volunteers create and maintain Wikipedia articles across our polyglot Wikimedia world.

The project will allow volunteers to assemble the fundamentals of an article using words and entities from Wikidata. Because Wikidata uses conceptual models that are meant to be universal across languages, it should be possible to use and extend these building blocks of knowledge to create models for articles that also have universal value. Using code, volunteers will be able to translate these abstract “articles” into their own languages. If successful, this could eventually allow everyone to read about any topic in Wikidata in their own language.

As you can imagine, this work will require a lot of software development, and a lot of cooperation among Wikimedians. In order to make this effort possible, Denny will join the Foundation as a staff member in July and lead this initiative. You may know Denny as the creator of Wikidata, a long-time community member, a former staff member at Wikimedia Deutschland, and a former Trustee at the Wikimedia Foundation [2]. We are very excited that Denny will bring his skills and expertise to work on this project alongside the Foundation’s product, technology, and community liaison teams.

It is important to acknowledge that this is an experimental project, and that every Wikipedia community has different needs. This project may offer some communities great advantages. Other communities may engage less. Every language Wikipedia community will be free to choose and moderate whether or how they would use content from this project.

We are excited that this new wiki-project has the possibility to advance knowledge equity through increased access to knowledge. It also invites us to consider and engage with critical questions about how and by whom knowledge is constructed. We look forward to working in cooperation with the communities to think through these important questions.

There is much to do as we begin designing a plan for Abstract Wikipedia in close collaboration with our communities. I encourage you to get involved by going to the project page and joining the new mailing list [3]. We recognize that Abstract Wikipedia is ambitious, but we also recognize its potential. We invite you all to join us on a new, unexplored path.

Yours,

Katherine Maher (Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation) -16:51, 10 July 2020 (UTC)

  1. ↑ Abstract Wikipedia
  2. ↑ User:Denny
  3. ↑ Abstract Wikipedia mailing list

Invitation to affiliate members to complete a survey about WMF Universal Code of Conduct[edit]

Hello; My name is Mervat, and I am helping the Trust and Safety team to reach out to affiliates in order to discuss the Universal Code of Conduct.  

There has been talks about the need for a global set of conduct rules in different communities over time, and finally, Wikimedia Foundation Board announced a Community Culture Statement, enacting new standards to address harassment and promote inclusivity across projects.Since the universal code of conduct that will be a binding minimum set of standards across all Wikimedia projects, will apply to all of us, staff and volunteers alike, all around the globe, and will impact our work as groups, individuals and projects, it’s of great importance that we all participate in expressing our opinions and thoughts about UCoC, its nature, what we think it should cover or include and what it shouldn’t include; how it may develop, drawback or help our groups.   This is the time to talk about it. As you are a valuable contributor to the Wikimedia movement, your voice counts. Before starting to draft the code of conduct, we would like to hear from you; We invite you to devote some minutes to take this survey; your answers will help us create a safer environment for all on Wikimedia:
(English): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd36dNdU3C5shXEkKp9itJOhuCTx9hZE5AE-xflkxtfRMnZtg/viewform?usp=pp_url  

It's possible that you are a member of more than one affiliate; hence you may receive this survey more than once, and you may have participated previously in the discussions or filled out a previous survey during the first round of consultations about UCoC which targeted wikipedia/wikimedia communities. We apologize for this; it is really difficult to identify if a wikimedian belongs to multiple groups that work to spread free knowledge.

Looking forward to your thoughts and opinions and hoping that you can respond within the next 2 weeks.  If you have any questions about the surveys or difficulties accessing the link, please contact me by email (msalman-ctr@wikimedia.org)Results will be considered during the drafting process for the UCoC.

Thank you for your participation

Mervat Salman Trust & Safety (Policy) Facilitator Wikimedia Foundation --Mervat (WMF) (talk) 21:15, 12 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday August 23: Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Strategic flock of Wikimedians heading in a new direction.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a proposed forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

The idea is to follow up on the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting and other strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates, and you are all invited to RSVP here.--Pharos (talk) 21:41, 20 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday September 20 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Birds of a feather flock together.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August SWAN meeting and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates, this month we are meeting on Sunday September 20, and you are all invited to RSVP here.--Pharos (talk) 01:43, 18 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Movement Strategy - What Are Your Choices For Implementation[edit]

Hello Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana,

The time has come to put Strategy into work and everyone's invited to participate.

The Movement Strategy Design Group and Support Team are inviting you to organize virtual meetings with your community and colleagues before the end of October. The aim is for you to decide what ideas from the Movement Strategy recommendations respond to your needs and will have an impact in the movement. The recommendations are available in different formats and in many languages. There are 10 awesome recommendations and close to 50 recommended changes and actions or initiatives. Not everything will be implemented. The aim of prioritization is to create an 18-month implementation plan to take some of the initiatives forward starting in 2021.

Prioritization is at the level of your group, affiliate, and community. Think local and relevant! Regional and thematic platforms are great ways to prepare and share ideas. Afterwards, we will come together in November to co-create the implementation plan. More information about November’s global events will be shared soon. For now and until the end of October, organize locally and share your priorities with us.

You can find guidance for the events, the simple reporting template, and other supporting materials here on Meta. You can share your results directly on Meta, by email, or by filling out this survey. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments, strategy2030(_AT_)wikimedia.org

We will be hosting office hours to answer any questions you might have, Thursday October 1 at 14.00 UTC (Google Meet).

MPourzaki (WMF) (talk) 16:18, 25 September 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday October 25 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Friendship is a movement value.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the September and August SWAN meetings, and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including the recent proposed changes to the Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws, this month we are meeting on Sunday October 25, and you are all invited to RSVP here.--Pharos (talk) 17:15, 20 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Join the Global Conversations on November 21 and 22[edit]

Hola, こんにちは, E kaabo, Ciao, ਸਤਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੀ, Hello, سلام, Halo, Salut, 你好, Nnọọ, হ্যালো, Hallo, สวัสดี, Dzień dobry, Gyebale ko, வணக்கம், Mi Kwabo, ନମସ୍କାର, приветствие, שלום, Mholo, नमस्ते, γεια, Ahoj, ഹലോ, 여보세요, مرحبا, Բարեւ Ձեզ, Xin chào, Hallå, ಹಲೋ, Sawubona, નમસ્તે, Здраво, Merhaba, Talofa, హలో, Olá, ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ

Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana, we would love to see you at the upcoming Movement Strategy Global Conversations. It’s been a while.

The Movement Strategy Global Conversations will take place on Saturday November 21, 11:00 to 15:00 UTC, and Sunday November 22, 17:00 to 21:00 UTC, and you are warmly invited.

The focus will be to look at priorities identified by communities and affiliates, and to begin to create a movement-wide implementation plan for 2021. The main sessions will be in English. Any group interested to support live interpretation in another language may be able to receive a rapid grant. Let us know as soon as possible.

Please register by Nov. 20 so we can share the Zoom login information with you. If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Support Team via Telegram, Wikimedia Chat or by email at strategy2030(_AT_)wikimedia.org.

Looking forward to seeing you on November 21 or 22.

MPourzaki (WMF) (talk) 16:05, 16 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Call for insights on ways to better communicate the work of the movement[edit]

The Movement Strategy recommendations published this year made clear the importance of establishing stronger communications within our movement. To this end, the Foundation wants to gather insights from communities, including affiliates, on ways we all might more consistently communicate about our collective work, and better highlight community contributions from across the movement. Over the coming months, we will be running focus groups and online discussions to collect these insights. We hope your affiliate will decide to share your thoughts by participating in a focus group or joining the discussion on Meta-Wiki.

ELappen (WMF) (talk) 18:53, 18 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday November 29 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Take flight with us.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, and October SWAN meetings, and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including the recent proposed changes to the Wikimedia Foundation Bylaws, this month we are meeting on Sunday November 29, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(Note that the UTC times of and are the same as before, although a number of places have had daylight savings time changes since our last meeting).--Pharos (talk) 18:46, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Global Conversations continue on December 5 and 6[edit]

Hola, こんにちは, Ciao, Hello, سلام, Halo, Salut, 你好, Nnọọ, হ্যালো, Hallo, สวัสดี, Dzień dobry, வணக்கம், приветствие, שלום, Mholo, हैलो, γεια, Ahoj, ഹലോ, 여보세요, مرحبا, Բարեւ Ձեզ, Olá, Xin chào, Hallå, ಹಲೋ, Sawubona, Здраво, Merhaba, Talofa, హలో

Global Conversations Dec. 5 & 6

Hi Wikimedia Community User Group Botswana. 250 people participated in virtual Global Conversations that took place on November 21 and 22. The conversation continues on December 5 and 6 and we warmly invite you to take part. Registration is open until December 4. Looking forward to seeing you.

Since September, many groups have shared their local, regional, and thematic priorities for implementing the Movement Strategy recommendations. During the first set of Global Conversations on Nov. 21 and 22, we focused on initiatives that should be globally prioritized and coordinated. We invite you to read the selected global priorities. What do you like about them? What is missing? And what would make you want to play an active role in implementation? Share your thoughts in advance and continue the conversation on December 5 and 6.

Looking forward to seeing you again, or for the first time, on December 5 and 6.

MPourzaki (WMF) (talk) 20:58, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday January 10 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Into the blue.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, and November SWAN meetings, and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including SWAN input on Interim Global Council and Movement Charter, this month we are meeting on Sunday January 10, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

To start the exchange of ideas on the IGC early, and to help prepare before the SWAN calls, we have set up and invite everyone to participate at this etherpad. If you like a more interactive way of discussing, we have also made a jamboard. Check here for more details.

--Pharos (talk) 18:37, 1 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Project Grant Open Call[edit]

This is the announcement for the Project Grants program open call that started on January 11, with the submission deadline of February 10, 2021.
This first open call will be focussed on Community Organizing proposals. A second open call focused on research and software proposals is scheduled from February 15 with a submission deadline of March 16, 2021.

For the Round 1 open call, we invite you to propose grant applications that fall under community development and organizing (offline and online) categories. Project Grant funds are available to support individuals, groups, and organizations to implement new experiments and proven ideas, from organizing a better process on your wiki, coordinating a campaign or editathon series to providing other support for community building. We offer the following resources to help you plan your project and complete a grant proposal:

Weekly proposals clinics via Zoom during the Open Call. Join us for #Upcoming_Proposal_Clinics|real-time discussions with Program Officers and select thematic experts and get live feedback about your Project Grants proposal. We’ll answer questions and help you make your proposal better.

Program officers are also available to offer individualized proposal support upon request. Contact us at projectgrants@wikimedia.org if you would like feedback or more information.

We are excited to see your grant ideas that will support our community and make an impact on the future of Wikimedia projects. Put your idea into motion, and submit your proposal by February 10, 2021!

Please feel free to get in touch with questions about getting started with your grant application, or about serving on the Project Grants Committee. Contact us at projectgrants(_AT_)wikimedia.org.
RSharma (WMF)MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 07:56, 28 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday February 21 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

We are a mosiac.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, and January SWAN meetings and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates, this month we are meeting on Sunday February 21, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

To help set priorities for the SWAN agenda, and also to help manage which global conversations should be a focus in general, we have set up and invite everyone to participate at this SWAN priorities form.

Possible topics include Community Board seats, Interim Global Council, Strategy prioritization follow-up events, Branding, Universal Code of Conduct, Grant strategy, and WMF CEO search. That is a lot of things, which are most important to cover in our upcoming SWAN meeting?

--Pharos (talk) 18:47, 15 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday March 21 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Community as a hand-carved gem.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, and February SWAN meetings and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Grants relaunch and Community Board seats, this month we are meeting on Sunday March 21, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(Note that the UTC times of and are the same as before, although some places have had daylight savings time changes since our last meeting).--Pharos (talk) 04:11, 17 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday April 25 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Swanlings grow up together.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, and March SWAN meetings and June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Interim Global Council + Movement Charter, WMF Resolution about the upcoming Board elections, Community Resilience and Sustainability role in Movement Strategy coordination, Grants Strategy Relaunch, Wikimedia Enterprise / OKAPI, and WMF Executive Transition

This month we are meeting on Sunday April 25, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(Note that the UTC times of and are the same as before, although some places may have had daylight savings time changes since our last meeting).--Pharos (talk) 18:42, 21 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Invitation for Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2021[edit]

Hello there,

We are inviting you to participate in Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos 2021, a global contest scheduled to run from July through August 2021.

Participants will choose among Wikipedia pages without photo images, then add a suitable file from among the many thousands of photos in the Wikimedia Commons, especially those uploaded from thematic contests (Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Earth, Wiki Loves Folklore, etc.) over the years.

In its first year (2020), 36 Wikimedia communities in 27 countries joined the campaign. Events relating to the campaign included training organized by at least 18 Wikimedia communities in 14 countries.

The campaign resulted in the addition of media files (photos, audios and videos) to more than 90,000 Wikipedia articles in 272 languages.

Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP) offers an ideal task for recruiting and guiding new editors through the steps of adding content to existing pages. Besides individual participation, the WPWP campaign can be used by user groups and chapters to organize editing workshops and edit-a-thons.

The organizing team is looking for a contact person to coordinate WPWP participation at the Wikimedia user group or chapter level (geographically or thematically) or for a language WP. We’d be glad for you to reply to this message, or sign up directly at WPWP Participating Communities.

Please feel free to contact Organizing Team if you have any query.

Kind regards,
Tulsi Bhagat
Communication Manager
Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos Campaign
Message delivered by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:48, 3 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Join the new Regional Committees for Grants[edit]

Dear all,

We hope this email finds you well and safe. The COVID 19 situation continues to affect many of us across the globe and our thoughts are with everyone affected. We are also aware that there are several processes currently in progress that demand volunteer time and we do not want to add more work to anyone's plate.

We do want to draw your attention to our new Regional Committees for Grants though as they are an opportunity for you to have an active say in the future of our Movement!

📣 So today, we invite you to join our new Regional Committees for Grants! 📣

We encourage Wikimedians and Free Knowledge advocates to be part of the new Regional Committees that the WMF Community Resources team is setting up as part of the grants strategy relaunch [1]. You will be a key strategic thought partner to help understand the complexities of any region, provide knowledge and expertise to applicants, to support successful movement activities, and make funding decisions for grant applications in the region.

👉Find out more on meta [2].

Regional Committees will be established for the following regions:

  • Middle East and Africa
  • SAARC [3] region (Includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
  • East, Southeast Asia, and Pacific (ESEAP) region
  • Latin America (LATAM) and The Caribbean
  • United States and Canada
  • Northern and Western Europe
  • Central and Eastern Europe (CEE)

👉All details about the Committees and how to apply can be found on meta [4]. Applications have to be submitted by June 4, 2021!

If you have any questions or comments, please use the meta discussion page [5].

Please do share this announcement widely with your Network.

Best wishes,

JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 07:34, 21 May 2021 (UTC) on behalf of the Community Resources Team JBrungs (WMF) (talk) 07:34, 21 May 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday June 6 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Swan of healing.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, and April SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Movement Strategy/Events, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday June 6, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and – *Note that we have shifted the second call an hour earlier in UTC time due to popular demand and to accomodate daylight savings*.)--Pharos (talk) 20:12, 3 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday July 25 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

The swan or the egg?

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and June SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Drafting Committee, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday July 25, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and – *Note that we have shifted the second call an hour earlier in UTC time due to popular demand and to accomodate daylight savings*.)--Pharos (talk) 14:45, 22 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wiki Indaba 2021 is here![edit]

Hosted by the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda, the first ever virtual Wiki Indaba conference is taking place online from the 5th to the 7th of November 2021 under the theme Rethink + Reset : Visions of the future.

Wiki Indaba 2021 is a unique opportunity to come together to build the capacity of African Wikimedians both within the continent and the diaspora to foster the growth of the coverage and our involvement in Wikimedia projects.

The call for submissions is open, please submit your session proposal either as a presentation, panel discussion, lightning talk, or workshop before September 24th 2021.

Most importantly, we would like to have you at the conference, please register here to get your free ticket and spread the word to your community members.

Looking forward to seeing you and hearing you speak at the conference.

Geoffrey Kateregga (talk) 23:46, 16 September 2021 (UTC) - On behalf of the Wiki Indaba 2021 Local Organizing Committee[reply]

Sunday September 26 SWANniversary Party and All-Affiliates Strategic Meeting[edit]

Celebrate our first anniversary with SWAN-shaped desserts!

Join the SWANniversary on September 26 as we mark the first year of the Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network!

We will have the regular All-Affiliates Strategic Meeting, to be followed by a SWANniversary Party in the after hours session, likely through spatialized chat on WorkAdventure.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, June, and July SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, we'll look together at strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Drafting Committee, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday September 26, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and .)--Pharos (talk) 20:07, 21 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday October 31 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

A swan reflects.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and June, July, and September SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter Drafting Committee Set Up Process, Next Steps for Brand Work, 2021, Wikipedia Asian Month 2021, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday October 31, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and – *Note that we have shifted the second call a half-hour later in UTC time due to WikidataCon*.)--Pharos (talk) 01:56, 29 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday November 28 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Chart a new course on the swan ferry.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Hubs+Hubs Workshop, Movement Charter+Drafting Committee, WMDE's 'Future of Wikimedia Governance' proposal, Wikipedia Asian Month 2021, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday November 28, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and , note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 20:17, 24 November 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Subscribe to the This Month in Education newsletter - learn from others and share your stories[edit]

Dear community members,

Greetings from the EWOC Newsletter team and the education team at Wikimedia Foundation. We are very excited to share that we on tenth years of Education Newsletter (This Month in Education) invite you to join us by subscribing to the newsletter on your talk page or by sharing your activities in the upcoming newsletters. The Wikimedia Education newsletter is a monthly newsletter that collects articles written by community members using Wikimedia projects in education around the world, and it is published by the EWOC Newsletter team in collaboration with the Education team. These stories can bring you new ideas to try, valuable insights about the success and challenges of our community members in running education programs in their context.

If your affiliate/language project is developing its own education initiatives, please remember to take advantage of this newsletter to publish your stories with the wider movement that shares your passion for education. You can submit newsletter articles in your own language or submit bilingual articles for the education newsletter. For the month of January the deadline to submit articles is on the 20th January. We look forward to reading your stories.

Older versions of this newsletter can be found in the complete archive.

More information about the newsletter can be found at Education/Newsletter/About.

For more information, please contact spatnaik(_AT_)wikimedia.org.

Subscribe to the This Month in Education newsletter - learn from others and share your stories[edit]

Dear community members,

Greetings from the EWOC Newsletter team and the education team at Wikimedia Foundation. We are very excited to share that we on tenth years of Education Newsletter (This Month in Education) invite you to join us by subscribing to the newsletter on your talk page or by sharing your activities in the upcoming newsletters. The Wikimedia Education newsletter is a monthly newsletter that collects articles written by community members using Wikimedia projects in education around the world, and it is published by the EWOC Newsletter team in collaboration with the Education team. These stories can bring you new ideas to try, valuable insights about the success and challenges of our community members in running education programs in their context.

If your affiliate/language project is developing its own education initiatives, please remember to take advantage of this newsletter to publish your stories with the wider movement that shares your passion for education. You can submit newsletter articles in your own language or submit bilingual articles for the education newsletter. For the month of January the deadline to submit articles is on the 20th January. We look forward to reading your stories.

Older versions of this newsletter can be found in the complete archive.

More information about the newsletter can be found at Education/Newsletter/About.

For more information, please contact spatnaik(_AT_)wikimedia.org.

Sunday February 27 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

To dance is to fly.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Hubs+Dialogue, Movement Charter, Universal Code of Conduct+Enforcement Voting, Brand, International Women's Day+Gender Gap and WikiForHumanRights campaigns, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday February 27, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and ).----Pharos (talk) 18:05, 23 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday April 3 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Bots in precious metals are part of our community too.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including UCoC Voting, Hubs Global Conversation held + CEE Hub update, Movement Charter + Leadership Development Working Group, Desktop Improvements, Celebrate Women in March + International Women's Day, Wikimania 2022 survey concluded + Wikimedia Hackathon 2022 May 20-22 + local events, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday April 3, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and , note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 17:36, 29 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday May 8 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Swans are musical creatures.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including 2022 Board of Trustees Call for Candidates, Movement Charter/Content preliminary narrative, Human Rights Policy Community Conversations, Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan Feedback, IP blocking and Open Proxies discussion, Wikimedia Hackathon 2022 May 20-22 + local events, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday May 8, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and , note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 18:08, 3 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday June 5 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Swan impressions.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter, Hubs Global Conversation this June, WMF Proposal for Movement Strategy Forum, New rounds of WMF Conference Funds including in-person events, WMF Proposal for Sound Logo Contest, WMF Elections Analysis Committee selection, wikimania:Program submissions due June 10 (scholarship and local event grants due June 3) and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday June 5, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and ).--Pharos (talk) 20:49, 31 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday July 3 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

Swan celestial.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter, Hubs Global Conversation last week, Affiliate voting period to shortlist WMF Board candidates (July 1-15), Wikimania updates, Desktop improvements, Wikimedia Enterprise first customers, Call for program submissions and updates for a global diversity of regional/linguistic Wiki-Conferences, Wikidata:Wiki Mentor Africa and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday July 3, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and ).--Pharos via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:55, 30 June 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday November 13 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting[edit]

bestiary (Q830560)⊆compendium (Q1459574)⊆reference work (Q13136).

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Wikimedia Research Fund, 2023 Ombuds commission and Case Review Committee appointments process, feedback on consultation and community session of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee, various Wikimania topics: (ideas/suggestions for Wikimania 2023, expressions of interest for Wikimania 2024 and beyond, expressions of interest to join Wikimania Steering Committee), and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday November 13, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are and
UTC times are different from before, and also note that some areas may have recently experienced daylight savings time changes.).--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:18, 9 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday July 16 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting (Global Council focus, now available in ar, es, fr!)[edit]

SWAN: The Next Generation

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Wikimania Singapore, Future of SWAN, Movement Charter/Content new sections (particularly Movement Charter/Content/Global Council), other activities you submit, and we will top it all off with a grand finale AI Happy Hour / Doom Hour!

This month we are meeting on Sunday July 16, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

UTC meeting times are and
Note that we are now meeting on Zoom, with interpretation in the 2nd session in (Arabic) (Spanish) (French)--Pharos (talk) 02:41, 12 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The full draft of the Wikimedia Movement Charter will soon be shared[edit]

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. Please help translate to your language

Hi there,

The Movement Charter Drafting Committee is happy to announce that the full draft of the Movement Charter will be published on April 2nd, 2024. This will kick off the community engagement period from April 2nd to April 22nd.

The Movement Charter is a proposed document to define roles and responsibilities for all the members and entities of the Wikimedia Movement, including to lay out a new Global Council for movement governance.

Everyone in the Wikimedia Movement is invited to share opinions on the full version of the Charter draft – this is the last chance to offer feedback before the Charter draft is updated for the ratification vote in June 2024.

How to share your feedback?

Read the Committee's latest updates for more information.

On behalf of the MCDC,

RamzyM (WMF) 13:58, 28 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The full Movement Charter draft awaits your review on Meta[edit]

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. Please help translate to your language

Hi everyone,

The full draft of the Movement Charter has been published on Meta for your review.

Why should you care?

The Charter is important as it will be an essential document for the implementation of the 2030 strategy recommendations. Participating in the Charter discussions means that you ensure that your voice is heard and your interests are represented in shaping the future of the Movement.

Community Engagement – April 2nd to April 30th, 2024

The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) cordially invites everyone in the Wikimedia movement to share feedback on the full draft of the Movement Charter.

Let your voice be heard by sharing your feedback it in any language on the Movement Charter talk pages, attend a community drop-in session, or email movementcharter@wikimedia.org.

Please read the Committee's latest updates for more information.

Thank you.

On behalf of the MCDC,

RamzyM (WMF) 13:07, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Affiliations Committee News (January-March 2024)[edit]

Group photo of the 2023 EduWiki Conference in Belgrade, organized by Wikipedia & Education User Group

You can find this newsletter translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. Please help translate to your language

Quarterly newsletter sharing news and events about the work of Wikimedia's Affiliations Committee.

read this newsletter in full • subscribe/unsubscribe

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:55, 18 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]

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