WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Common problem and mitigations - Wikimedia skill gap

@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: Common problem and mitigations - Wikimedia skill gap"
display_name	"Common problem and mitigations - Wikimedia skill gap"
subtitle-1980-7500-1	"Again, this was very, very high level about a very complex topic of community friction, but"
subtitle-7590-10230-2	"it's very solid advice that I stand behind."
subtitle-11250-17250-3	"The last example problem I will discuss today is the Wikimedia skill gap."
subtitle-17700-19560-4	"Again, this happens a lot in the context of partnerships."
subtitle-20160-24690-5	"So you created a partnership, there's mutual benefit, everybody is excited."
subtitle-24750-32940-6	"And now when you're actually trying to take the actions of the partnership plan, it turns"
subtitle-32940-37920-7	"out that you are missing some skill, some Wikimedia skill."
subtitle-38760-42870-8	"And Wikimedia skills by nature are the kinds of things that our partners, our"
subtitle-42900-47280-9	"non-Wikimedia partners are less able to help us with."
subtitle-48150-53310-10	"So for example, maybe we've created a partnership that's around content donation"
subtitle-53310-54840-11	"like images or something."
subtitle-54900-57630-12	"And now, the museum said, "great!"
subtitle-57630-59520-13	"Here, 30,000 images."
subtitle-60410-65880-14	"Put them on Commons!" And it turns out that we don't actually know how to do that."
subtitle-65900-70250-15	"We don't know all the complexities involved with batch uploading because we need to"
subtitle-70250-72050-16	"upload 30,000 images."
subtitle-72560-79160-17	"We don't know how to align the metadata that the museum has with the metadata on Commons,"
subtitle-79160-80870-18	"etc.. Now, these are skills."
subtitle-80870-83090-19	"These are not things people are just born with."
subtitle-83300-84500-20	"We need to pick them up."
subtitle-84950-90510-21	"Of course, ideally we want to have prepared for this in advance."
subtitle-90980-95900-22	"So ideally, you want to mitigate such a thing by identifying these required skills;"
subtitle-96470-101000-23	"you know that you're going to require batch uploading skills, or you know that you're"
subtitle-101000-103340-24	"going to need Wikidata queries for this project."
subtitle-103820-109130-25	"So you make sure that someone on your team, ideally more than just some one, knows how to"
subtitle-109130-114720-26	"do that. And if you don't have such a person on your team, then you need to secure them."
subtitle-114870-116430-27	"Secure those capacities."
subtitle-116430-122460-28	"Either make sure you go to some training and make sure that someone on your team is"
subtitle-122460-124040-29	"trained on how to do that."
subtitle-124050-130710-30	"Or you recruit some Wikimedia allies, someone from another community or another"
subtitle-130710-135750-31	"country who has done this, and is willing to help and join your project, for the purpose"
subtitle-135750-138480-32	"of providing that skill, in advance."
subtitle-139950-143250-33	"Now, if you haven't done this in advance, and you've run into this and the partnership"
subtitle-143250-145770-34	"is already ongoing, what can you do?"
subtitle-146490-155100-35	"My best advice to you, is to ask for help on-wiki, giving full context, and links, and"
subtitle-155100-160260-36	"timelines. And I stress this because a lot of times I've seen people, who ran into skill"
subtitle-160260-166790-37	"gaps, ask for help online in a way that didn't actually encourage people to help them"
subtitle-167620-177530-38	"If you send an email to a mailing list like Wikimedia-l or the Meta Forum"
subtitle-177530-184250-39	"or English Wikipedia Village Pump, and you say, "Hey, I'm working with this museum, can"
subtitle-184250-190920-40	"anyone help me?" That does not encourage people to help you, because it's too general."
subtitle-190940-192680-41	"What kind of help do you need?"
subtitle-192710-195380-42	"What do you actually need help doing?"
subtitle-196280-198400-43	"Where can we see what you're working on?"
subtitle-198410-200210-44	"Is there a link to the project page or something?"
subtitle-200660-203870-45	"or the categories or the files that you're having problems with?"
subtitle-204440-208700-46	"What is the timeline? Do you need help in the coming 24 hours, or do you need help just"
subtitle-208700-210050-47	"whenever is possible?"
subtitle-210050-211790-48	"Or do you need help for two months from now?"
subtitle-212550-214680-49	"And people just leave that context out!"
subtitle-214680-220700-50	"And that means that people who have the ability to help, are less inclined to do so."
subtitle-220720-224610-51	"Why? Because they say to themselves, "well, this person needs help."
subtitle-224620-226630-52	"Maybe I can help, but maybe I can't."
subtitle-226660-230500-53	"What if I say, 'yes, I can help you.' And then it turns out that they need help with"
subtitle-230500-232900-54	"something that I don't actually have the knowledge of?"
subtitle-232900-234820-55	"Then I'm kind of already committed."
subtitle-234820-238810-56	"I'm kind of already in dialog with this person, but I can't really help them."
subtitle-238810-243310-57	"Or maybe they need help in the coming 24 hours and I will not be able to help them on"
subtitle-243310-244390-58	"such short notice."
subtitle-244750-248620-59	"So I don't want to say 'yes, I can help' and then have them expect me to help them"
subtitle-248650-251400-60	"immediately." Do you see what I'm saying?"
subtitle-253390-258160-61	"And therefore, most people will just ignore this call for help,"
subtitle-258160-263620-62	"will just move on. And you are missing out on people who could help you, and maybe would"
subtitle-263620-267220-63	"have helped you, had you expressed your need more clearly."
subtitle-267340-272590-64	"So when you are asking for help on-wiki for this or any other case, make sure you don't"
subtitle-272590-277750-65	"just say "Hey, can anyone help?" Or "Does anyone know Wikidata queries?" I mean, lots"
subtitle-277750-279190-66	"of people know Wikidata queries."
subtitle-279190-280620-67	"You need to be specific."
subtitle-280630-285040-68	"You can say, "Hey, can anyone help me write a query to do this and that?"
subtitle-285040-289330-69	"And I need this query by tomorrow because there's an event or whatever." Then you let"
subtitle-289330-293170-70	"people decide, "Hey, do I want to help with this query by tomorrow?"
subtitle-293200-299200-71	"Maybe I can, maybe I will, maybe not." So that's what I mean by full context."
subtitle-299710-307510-72	"And then if you failed to get help from someone with the necessary skill, again, you"
subtitle-307510-309580-73	"need to scale down the project."
subtitle-309580-314950-74	"You need to not do the thing that requires the skill you don't have, and focus on what"
subtitle-314950-317290-75	"you can confidently deliver."
subtitle-317290-321190-76	"Focus on the parts of the partnership where you do have the skills to do the work."
subtitle-321190-326560-77	"Even if the original plan was to do, I don't know, both A, B and C, maybe you need to do"
subtitle-326560-331990-78	"just A and C because it actually turns out that you don't have the skills to help with"
subtitle-332140-332680-79	"B."