27 May 2025

At 6:00pm on Google Teams

Attendance

Shannon Eichelberger, Eugene Eichelberger, Rebecca O’Neill, Sophie Fitzpatrick, Amy O'Riordan, Claire Murray, Ciaran O'Hagan, User:瑞丽江的河水

Roles

Facilitator: Shannon
Note-taker: Sophie
Additional Notes Taker:

Agenda

1. Strategic Plan

Content presentation
Q&A and Community Discussion
Vote

2. Staff Updates

PM Update
ILO Update

3. Community Q&A

Minutes

1. Strategic Plan

SE presents an overview of the proposed Strategic Plan Draft.
Floor open for discussion, comments, and concerns.
CM: Highlights institutes of technology no longer exist bar two in Ireland raises this is an issue as most are universities now. Maintaining relationships that have been made in the past should be included. Metrics described could be an issue - should be more solid and quantifiable.
SF: Agrees that relationship maintenence is something we are working on all the time but perhaps does not come across in the strategy.
RO'N: Suggestion to reword the disinformation campaign to include combating and make it clearer. Raises that AI issue is a key issue that the Foundation has been focused on, which may be important to mention in the strategy.
CO'H: Raises the importance of highlighting AI as an issue, particularly in the context of Vicipéid. Suggests that focus should be on creating more content that's relevant to schools ie Textbooks. Highlights need to improve engagement with the media to increase media coverage. Highlights his expertise in this area, but explains he does not want to offer time/skills for the improvement of this area. Highlights that Irish-specific events are needed, ie Oireachtas events. He is against the participation of students on Wikipedia. Highlights that the improvement of methodology and tools on Vicipéid is missing from the strategy. Requests less interaction with European Wikimedia Partners and more national collaboration with organisations such as Adapt.
SF: Highlights the positive outcomes of engaging student editors in the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project, the importance of collaborating with other minority language communities in Europe for knowledge exchange and alignment with government policy papers.
AO'R: Explains that she has attended Oireachtas for the last two years and highlights the valuable educational tools created for schools during the WikiWomen Erasmus+ Project.
SE: Emphasises that the strategy is for five years and thus the objectives need to be adaptable rather than too detailed.
EE: Highlights the foundation's position paper on AI. Suggests two main takeaways to keep in mind: AI is a new tool for humans to use and the ecosystem should use tools where helpful, and the bar is higher for editors and those creating content online due to AI tools that help in terms of quality outputs. Explains that WCI will need to navigate the use of AI in the community, and this is part of our outreach campaign.
SF: Highlights that AI is being used, but we can play a role in helping community members use it in an educated way.

Vote
SE: Explains that we will return to the strategy and make adjustments before we vote. Highlights that the strategy framework must be dynamic, and more specifics can be found in grant proposals that are viewable online and open to all, including metrics, etc. She will send out the revised version via mailing list, and we will vote at the meeting in June.
SE: highlights that the grant has been approved for multi-year funding for the next three years.

2. Staff Updates

PM Update (SF)

Rising Voices Workshops and Open Call
Podcast with Igbo Wikimedian Lucy Iwala
WLE collab with Ulster Wildlife
Podcast Gaelic Forests Project WLE
Wiki Loves Folklore Winners
Erasmus+ Grant Application for conservation project with Wikimedia Portugal, Basque and Greece
Science Week Application with ADAPT Centre
GLAMS: Hunt Museum, National Gallery Art+ Feminism, Institute of Archaeology Ireland
Trinity Library Editathon with Sae Wikimedia Japan Wikimedian in Residence
Education Outreach: UL, UCG, DCU, UCD, University of Maynooth
Community Editing Event for Wiki Loves Earth is upcoming.
More details found in newsletters.

ILO Update (AO'R)

Africa Day event Waterford Integration Centre with Dagbani Wikimedian
Wiki Loves Pride starts next week
Wiki Camp with Waterford Youth Service using WikiWomen Toolkits
Meitheal Wiki to make a comeback
University of Galway presentation and future science week collab.
Pride of the Deise Wiki Commons tutorial event 14th June
Bari Trip/collab with Wikimedia Italy
Wiki Muir Project update - on pause atm.

Next Meeting

Tuesday, June 24th
At 6pm on Google Meet.

Please find more info here.

24 June25

At 6:00 pm on Google Teams

Attendance

Shannon Eichelberger, Eugene Eichelberger, Sophie Fitzpatrick, Amy O'Riordan

Roles

Facilitator: Shannon
Note-taker: Sophie
Additional Notes Taker:

Agenda

1. Strategic Plan

Discussion of Updated Plan
Vote

2. Staff Updates

Admin Update
PM Update
ILO Update
Meitheal Wiki Knowledge Sharing for June theme (Wiki Loves Earth)

3. Community Q&A

Minutes

1. Strategic Plan

SE shares updates and opens the floor to discussion.
AOR raises that a Vicipeid strategy may be needed down the line
EE suggests keeping growth metrics
SF confirms that the updated strategy will be uploaded on Meta and on wikimedia.ie by the end of the week.
Vote
Voted in by consensus
SF: Rebecca votes Yes in her absence

2. Staff Updates

Administrator Update (SE)

New grant period is starting this month.
The report is due end of July
WikiWomen Erasmus+ final payment has come through, less than anticipated due to lower number of attendees at Celtic Knot 2024.

PM Update (SF)

Wiki Loves Earth is on-going until July - judges will be announced tomorrow
Wiki Loves Pride on ongoing also, postcards have been sent to Pride organisations and GLAMS.
Taroch Coalition joined
Wikimedians in residence
Working on Application for National Open Research Festival at Digital Respositary Ireland
Intern interviews happening
In the midst of organising Celtic Knot online Event on Sept. 23rd in collaboration with Wikimedia UK- looking for community members who would like to participate
Rising Voices Workshop to take place in July. Potentially at the National Library of Ireland in Dublin or Aras na Gaeilge in Galway.
IMMA residencies open potential for Wikimedian in residence.

ILO Update (AO'R)

WikiCamp is happening with the Youth club in Waterford
Will do Train a Trainer online in July and August with Wikimedia UK
Irish language funding scheme (foras na Gaeilge Business Support Scheme) open is for packaging, printed materials and signage. Will contact about going for this but asking for a digital version.
SF: Suggests applying for funding for translation.

Next Meeting

Tuesday, July 22nd
At 6pm on Google Meet.

Please find more info/RSVP here [2].