Wikimedia Aotearoa New Zealand Strategy 2026 2030/Deepen Engagement

Strategic goal #3: Deepen community engagement

Wikimedia is, at its core, a volunteer movement. The contributions of volunteer editors and organisers are fundamental to Wikipedia and the other open knowledge projects. We will deepen our engagement with the wider community to maintain our editor and organiser base with a focus on targeted outreach to engage new editors. We will identify ways to keep new editors engaged with the use of training, funding and other opportunities.

We will continue to engage with our community through our monthly newsletter, and stories on our social media channels. We will survey our editor base annually, and will survey event participants after each event, to understand what we are doing well, and to learn the areas we need to improve. Our members represent many (but by no means all) of the highly active editors on Aotearoa New Zealand-related pages. However, as a proportion of the editors in NZ who are somewhat active (ie 5 to 100 edits per month), our membership is only around 10-12%. We will find ways to invite engagement from more of the editors in Aotearoa New Zealand or those from other places who are active on Aotearoa New Zealand-related pages.

We will invite organisers and editors to come together for in person events to share stories and to work on projects. We will significantly increase the number of events we hold over the next five years by engaging more widely in the community, with a focus on the Gallery, Library, Archive & Museum (GLAM) and education sectors. We will be proactive and give engaging talks and presentations to aligned organisations to promote our work and grow the movement. We will develop and train our paid team to enable them to provide training, guidance and leadership to new editors and organisers across different communities.

Objectives/Key Actions

Support, celebrate and amplify the work of established editors and organisers.
Use content gaps as the basis for events and presentations to increase awareness and encourage involvement and contributions to our core business of improving content.
Broaden the scope of volunteer opportunities across the organisation including promoting Board membership and offering Board internships, supporting event management, and providing mentoring.
Build volunteer connections and knowledge exchange by holding online and in person networking events.
Support and grow a diverse editing community through holding thematic events.
Foster a welcoming, inclusive environment at all events especially for Māori, youth, and other underrepresented groups.
Curate a training programme to ensure WANZ paid staff are engaging and impactful trainers, organisers and communicators.
Offer online participation options for events.
Proactively seek opportunities to speak and present at institutions and societies.
Continue to develop WANZ events in the four main cities, and trial two new regions.
Identify, curate and promote Wiki courses where students can earn course credits, and work with universities to integrate them into course content.
Reach out to newcomers, to offer training and support.