WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Additional tips about running partnerships

@metadata	sourceLanguage "en" priorityLanguages "es" "fr" "ar" "ru" "zh" allowOnlyPriorityLanguages true description "video in Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - Basics of partnership building for Wikimedia volunteers, with computer-graded exercises." label "WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Additional tips about running partnerships"
display_name	"Additional tips about running partnerships"
subtitle-630-9890-1	"So I'll actually start with a few more slides about running a"
subtitle-9890-16310-2	"partnership, kind of left over from last time, that I wanted to make sure I discuss"
subtitle-16310-22790-3	"here. The first is about offering education to the staff of the partner."
subtitle-23150-28220-4	"We mentioned that sometimes during the first meeting, during the negotiation with the"
subtitle-28220-32990-5	"partner, the partner may want to learn a lot more about Wikimedia."
subtitle-32990-36440-6	"They may want they may have a lot of questions and they might say things like,"
subtitle-36440-41120-7	""oh, I wish, you know, John, from this other department or Frank from this other"
subtitle-41120-42500-8	"department could hear this."
subtitle-42500-50270-9	"And if only our staff knew about this." So this is a great opportunity to offer to give"
subtitle-50270-53960-10	"a talk at the partner's office, or to the partner staff."
subtitle-53960-56210-11	"These days, you know, you can give talks online."
subtitle-56660-61150-12	"Everybody has gotten used to the idea."
subtitle-61150-63560-13	"And you can offer to give such a talk."
subtitle-64010-71030-14	"And that talk, I want to stress, usually shouldn't be a workshop!"
subtitle-71030-73850-15	"It shouldn't be about teaching people to edit."
subtitle-75260-84140-16	"I think a much more useful general talk to partner staff is about how Wikipedia works,"
subtitle-84350-90500-17	"the principles, the mystery of how Wikipedia works rather than "this is how you edit", and"
subtitle-90500-91760-18	"Notability and all that."
subtitle-92420-98540-19	"And very often in my experience, partners may say, "Oh yeah, yeah, we'd love an editing"
subtitle-98540-103160-20	"workshop", but what they really want is just to understand how it works."
subtitle-103160-105520-21	"They want to understand what we do."
subtitle-105530-108680-22	"They don't necessarily want to do what we do."
subtitle-109700-114230-23	"And it's an important distinction because if we always treat it as an editing workshop,"
subtitle-114230-118820-24	"we're going to be disappointed because almost none of the people we will train will"
subtitle-118820-120830-25	"actually go on and edit."
subtitle-121520-122960-26	"That's just facts."
subtitle-122960-124160-27	"That's just how people are."
subtitle-124160-127490-28	"I mean, frankly, editing the encyclopedia is a weird hobby."
subtitle-128000-133940-29	"This is the encyclopedia anyone can edit, but not anyone wants to edit."
subtitle-133970-135800-30	"Not everyone wants to edit."
subtitle-136340-143000-31	"So treating it as an opportunity to recruit editors may or may not be appropriate."
subtitle-143030-147710-32	"Now it depends. Some of you have been designing partnerships that are about"
subtitle-147710-154130-33	"training the partner's staff to edit, and that's okay if that's understood to be part"
subtitle-154130-155210-34	"of the partnership."
subtitle-155270-162110-35	"But I'm talking about the kind of bonus, unrelated extra talk that you're offering the"
subtitle-162110-164390-36	"partner, just as part of the goodwill of the relationship."
subtitle-165230-170690-37	"That extra talk should usually not be about trying to get them to edit."
subtitle-170690-178970-38	"What you want to do is to get them excited about Wikimedia, about how complex and rich"
subtitle-179000-181430-39	"and sophisticated it is."
subtitle-182090-185120-40	"Teach them the principles, not the mechanics."
subtitle-186470-193700-41	"So yes, talk to them about neutrality, about verifiability and sourcing, about the the the"
subtitle-193700-196650-42	"process of quality improvement."
subtitle-196670-199370-43	"How do articles get better on Wikipedia?"
subtitle-199790-201920-44	"Through dialog, through discourse, through arguing."
subtitle-202850-204560-45	"And sometimes it's exhausting."
subtitle-204560-211610-46	"But that's how quality accretes or aggregates slowly on articles."
subtitle-212840-218330-47	"How we handle controversy, how we deal with things that nobody can agree on."
subtitle-218720-222380-48	"These are interesting things to non -Wikipedians because they can't imagine"
subtitle-222380-230090-49	"often. "Well, how could you write about, the India-Pakistan controversies, or the"
subtitle-230090-231560-50	"Arab-Israeli conflict or whatever?"
subtitle-231830-233150-51	"These are very controversial things."
subtitle-233150-237650-52	"How could you represent them fairly on Wikipedia?" And we have answers that are"
subtitle-237650-242120-53	"quite interesting. We have practices that are interesting that we can talk about."
subtitle-242120-247010-54	"So don't teach them how to create a table or what a diff is or what each button does;"
subtitle-247580-254480-55	"instead showcase the richness and the sophistication of Wikimedia as a community"
subtitle-254480-260270-56	"with processes and norms that result in excellent free knowledge."
subtitle-261090-263170-57	"I hope that makes sense."
subtitle-263170-269550-58	"But in my experience those are much more effective talks about Wikipedia."
subtitle-271260-275490-59	"To another topic about running partnerships."
subtitle-275940-282930-60	"Make sure that the actions that you plan as part of the partnerships are relying on each"
subtitle-282930-284680-61	"partner's strengths."
subtitle-284700-286740-62	"Set yourself up for success."
subtitle-286740-292110-63	"Don't volunteer your group to do things that your group really has no experience and no"
subtitle-292110-297180-64	"capacity to do, and don't volunteer your partner to do things they can't do."
subtitle-297480-302130-65	"For example, don't expect your partner's staff after one"
subtitle-302130-308860-66	"two hour introduction to Wikipedia, to teach or lead an editing workshop."
subtitle-308860-310200-67	"That is not going to work."
subtitle-310200-312210-68	"We have a lot of experience with that."
subtitle-312690-319140-69	"People who don't have relatively deep Wikipedia experience cannot teach editing"
subtitle-319140-320610-70	"workshops effectively."
subtitle-321600-324720-71	"So rely on your strengths."
subtitle-324720-329070-72	"Your strengths as Wikimedians; your partner's strengths as whatever they are"
subtitle-329070-330640-73	"strong at."
subtitle-330640-335340-74	"And make sure that the actions that you designed together, to the greatest degree"
subtitle-335340-341910-75	"possible are mutually reinforcing, that the activities are building and increasing the"
subtitle-341910-344460-76	"impact of each other."
subtitle-345120-351090-77	"For example, if we're partnering with a museum, we should make sure that their public"
subtitle-351090-356100-78	"relations publications, their social media, their blogging, their advertising, whatever"
subtitle-356100-360600-79	"they do, should somehow mention the Wikimedia events, the Wikimedia partnership,"
subtitle-360960-364440-80	"the fact that they are now involved in a free knowledge project of some sort."
subtitle-364590-369720-81	"And the Wikimedia events, on the other hand, should focus on the current exhibitions of"
subtitle-369720-370890-82	"the museum, for example."
subtitle-371130-373680-83	"Things that the museum specifically wants to highlight."
subtitle-374340-380070-84	"So we should probably aim to make our editing events focused on improving the"
subtitle-380070-384270-85	"quality of the current exhibitions, not just anything at all."
subtitle-384540-389160-86	"These are perhaps trivial examples, but the principle is that we should seek to make"
subtitle-389160-393960-87	"every activity within the partnership somehow contribute to both partners."
subtitle-395520-400950-88	"Perhaps that does sound trivial, but keep that in mind as you are designing your"
subtitle-401070-408990-89	"activities. When you've planned some actions, it's important to document your"
subtitle-408990-413550-90	"understanding with the partner, whatever channel you have used to reach that"
subtitle-414180-417810-91	"understanding. Maybe it was a verbal agreement, maybe it was over social media"
subtitle-417810-418850-92	"chat or something."
subtitle-418860-425640-93	"It's always a good idea to document your understanding of what was agreed in terms of"
subtitle-425640-430110-94	"the timeline, in terms of who does what, in terms of what do we do if."
subtitle-430500-432440-95	"All kinds of contingency plans."
subtitle-432870-437100-96	"A contingency plan is a fancy name for "what do we do if something goes wrong"."
subtitle-437580-443040-97	"Document that. Put it in actual writing so that you have it, you have a record of what"
subtitle-443040-444590-98	"was agreed."
subtitle-444590-446640-99	"And share that understanding."
subtitle-446640-451050-100	"Make sure that you actually share this documented understanding with your partner,"
subtitle-451050-458880-101	"by emailing them the document and explicitly asking if this matches their understanding,"
subtitle-458880-460500-102	"and inviting comments."
subtitle-461040-466650-103	"Depending on your culture, it may even be necessary to send this in hard copy for"
subtitle-466650-468390-104	"exceptionally formal partners."
subtitle-468390-471830-105	"They may demand like a physical letter by post."
subtitle-471830-479370-106	"Happily in most contexts an email these days is absolutely fine, but by sharing this you"
subtitle-479370-483240-107	"are giving the partner an opportunity to say "Wait, what?"
subtitle-483240-486990-108	"No! I thought, I thought that was on you."
subtitle-487020-493620-109	"You're saying it's on us?" it's a great opportunity to surface misunderstandings"
subtitle-493620-496020-110	"before they become problems."
subtitle-496020-498210-111	"Right after they were agreed."
subtitle-498720-500580-112	"There may have been misunderstandings."
subtitle-500580-503100-113	"There may have been miscommunication."
subtitle-503100-505470-114	"And this is an opportunity to surface them."
subtitle-505470-510660-115	"It's also establishing a written record of what was agreed to, what was committed to"
subtitle-510660-511860-116	"from both sides."
subtitle-513330-515700-117	"Here's a quick example of such an email."
subtitle-516500-520520-118	"It could sound something like, "Dear So-and-so, thank you for taking the time to"
subtitle-520520-521720-119	"meet with us yesterday."
subtitle-521750-526820-120	"I'm glad we were able to agree on next steps and I'm documenting our understanding of them"
subtitle-526820-532850-121	"here. Number one, the Wikimedia user group will provide two trainers for the event at"
subtitle-532850-538520-122	"so-and-so on the so and so'th; the partner organization will provide refreshments and"
subtitle-538520-544740-123	"WiFi internet access, for example." Item two, and and go on, document everything that"
subtitle-544740-549360-124	"was agreed to. And in the end, you can say something like, "we trust this matches your"
subtitle-549360-550500-125	"understanding as well."
subtitle-550530-555660-126	"Please do let us know if we failed to capture anything, or misrepresented what was"
subtitle-555660-558300-127	"agreed upon." Respectfully, etc."
subtitle-558720-562350-128	"blah blah blah. So this is just an example for those who have never done something like"
subtitle-562350-564390-129	"this before. It's an example of how we can communicate."
subtitle-565380-566820-130	"This is what we got."
subtitle-566850-569250-131	"We hope it matches what you got from the conversation."
subtitle-570030-572010-132	"And here's a written record anyway."
subtitle-574130-575950-133	"So this was my little addendum."