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The re·shape program, initiated by Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE) together with neue deutsche organisationen (ndo) in 2023, aims to promote knowledge equity by supporting projects from marginalized communities in Germany, particularly those experiencing racism. The program provides financial and non-material support to these projects to help make their knowledge and perspectives more visible – especially on Free Knowledge platforms. This report aims to summarize the objectives, activities and key learnings of the first program year.
With re·shape we aim to provide introductions to free licenses and facilitate collective reflection on Free Knowledge and its possibilities for mainstreaming marginalized knowledge. The program serves not only as a platform for acquiring knowledge through training but also as a space for learning and reflecting on Free Knowledge, allowing marginalized groups to explore how they can engage with and contribute to it. In the first of three planned program rounds, we funded ten projects that aim to increase the visibility of marginalized knowledge in different ways.
- We have established a framework for participants to expand their knowledge of Free Knowledge, free licenses, and Wikimedia projects.
- We were able to generate interest in networking and continued engagement with Free Knowledge beyond the program duration.
- Through supportive guidance, we facilitated a space that fostered trust and relationships among the participants.
- We have increased Wikimedia Deutschlands visibility and generated significant resonance within marginalized groups, establishing WMDE as a trusted partner for collaboration on marginalized knowledge.
- Participants contributed to making marginalized perspectives visible by publishing valuable content in various formats (blogs, podcasts, publications).
The re·shape program aims to provide a platform for individuals, collectives and charitable organizations from marginalized communities to expand their knowledge related to free licenses and Wikimedia projects. Through advisory and training sessions, participants learn theoretical foundations and gain practical experience with Free Knowledge. They reflect on using free licenses to increase the visibility of their knowledge and perspectives. Participants also gain insights into the workings of Wikimedia projects and support structures, encouraging active participation.
Marginalized communities may have reservations about sharing knowledge as Free Knowledge due to the risk of misuse or distortion by third parties. In times of political shifts to the right, there is concern that openly accessible knowledge could be used against certain marginalized groups. Therefore, re·shape's first program round followed the "Open by default" principle. While interest in Free Knowledge and willingness to publish under a free license were prerequisites, project groups could opt out if there were valid reasons. This principle, used in various open movements, aims for a long-term shift towards openness while acknowledging ethical boundaries.
Networking among participants is also a focus of re·shape. In a trusting environment, they can discuss the potentials and risks of Free Knowledge, and develop strategies to share and represent their perspectives. This enables participants to mobilize collective resources and learn from each other, increasing the effectiveness and reach of their work. While there are already network and support structures for other underrepresented groups (such as the LGBT+ Usergroup or the WikiProject FemNetz) that support members of these groups in working on Wikipedia and its sister projects, comparable structures for people affected by racism do not yet exist.
Starting in mid-May 2023, individuals, collectives, and non-profit organizations were invited to apply with projects aimed at making marginalized knowledge from communities experiencing racism more visible by publishing project results under a free license. In August 2023, a jury consisting of the members of the re·shape Board of Trustees, a representative from neue deutsche organisationen, and a member of the Wikimedia project team selected ten projects for funding.
The projects were diverse both in terms of chosen formats and content. They ranged from creating a zine on transgenerational knowledge transfer in political movements, to producing a podcast on the situation of migrant women without legal residency status in Berlin, to a blog about mundane forms of resistance practices and strategies of the first generation of migrants and refugees.
To ensure that the grant recipients could carry out their projects as independently as possible, each selected project received a stipend of 5.000 euros. The stipend could also be used to cover personal living expenses. Individual recipients and informal collectives were not required to provide proof of how the funds were used. This was intended to address and navigate the fact that marginalized groups often have fewer capacities and resources than members of the majority society.
Each project was supported by a mentor, primarily from the German-speaking Wikipedia community, to assist with project implementation and publication under a free license.
Another key aspect of re·shape was fostering exchange and networking among participants for sustainable support and collaboration. This was achieved through various activities:
- In-person events included planned spaces and activities for exchange and networking to build trust and community among participants.
- Regular communication between participants and the project team was facilitated through regular online meetings, providing a platform for questions and support.
- A mailing list was established to ease communication and collaboration outside scheduled events. Independently, some participants created a messenger group for regular co-working sessions until the end of 2023.
re·shape aims to create a space where people from marginalized communities come together to engage with Free Knowledge, expand their skills, and test their knowledge in this area. Feedback from participants, gathered through various surveys and feedback sessions during events, indicates that this goal was generally achieved.
A success of re·shape was Wikimedia Deutschland's significant resonance and visibility within marginalized groups. Nearly 90 projects applied for funding under the program, demonstrating substantial interest. This achievement is notable given Wikimedia Deutschlands initial limited visibility and relationships within marginalized communities and migrant self-organizational structures at the time of the call for proposals. Success was also attributed to effective collaboration with neue deutsche organisationen which continues beyond the first program round.
Participants expressed improvement in their understanding of Free Knowledge, free licenses, and Wikimedia projects, and showed interest in further exploration of these topics. This feedback confirms that re·shape successfully strengthened awareness and competencies in handling Free Knowledge, helping participants make their perspectives and content more visible.
Two workshops were particularly highlighted by participants for their value in exploring Free Knowledge. The first featured a lecture and workshop by Kelly Foster, an open knowledge advocate and public historian, chapter lead for Creative Commons UK and founding member of AfroCROWD UK, on Free Knowledge and Free Licenses during the program's launch event. Foster provided insights into the significance and application of free licenses and work within Wikipedia, enhancing participants' understanding of Free Knowledge from marginalized perspectives. The second input was a webinar titled "Open licenses and the politics of sharing: from your communities to everybody else," conducted in collaboration with Whose Knowledge?. This webinar provided a space for conversations and reflections on shared values and practices of openness in the context of marginalized knowledge, addressing issues of care, power, visibility, and risks. Participants gained deeper insights into feminist work and strategies in Free Knowledge practices.
Networking among participants also functioned well in the first year of re·shape, fostering trust, relationships and mutual support among funded groups. The fellows began establishing their own networks and boosting visibility for each other's content on various channels. Despite these successes, some participants expressed a desire for more networking opportunities, which will be addressed in future program years.
Not least, the project results themselves demonstrate that the idea behind re•shape works. Participants engaged with Free Knowledge not only theoretically but also practically by publishing valuable content in various formats (e.g., blogs, podcasts, or publications), thereby helping to make marginalized perspectives and knowledge more visible.
While re·shape successfully created a space for marginalized groups to engage with and network around Free Knowledge, there were challenges that required adjustments in subsequent program rounds.
Publication of content as Free Knowledge[edit]By the end of the program, only some of the funded projects had published content. This is partly because the first year was designed as a low-threshold experimental space to gather initial insights and experiences at the intersection of free and marginalized knowledge. Project outcomes included not just the published products but also the engagement with content, the implementation process, and the shared questions and insights. Additionally, delays in project implementation meant some content was not yet published. The seven-month program duration was considered too short by some, as projects became more labor-intensive than initially anticipated.
Where projects did publish results, Creative Commons licenses with NC (Non-Commercial) or ND (No Derivatives) restrictions were used, limiting the use of the work in many contexts. The "Open by default" principle allowed opting out of free licenses if there were valid reasons. These reasons were broadly interpreted, influenced by various concerns, including the potential distortion or misuse of content by third parties, especially regarding situated knowledge of people in precarious living situations.
Concerns about the misuse of marginalized knowledge are significant, especially in a context of structural racism and a political shift to the right, where openly accessible information could be exploited by right-wing movements, potentially criminalizing individuals or movements involved in political protest. Some projects wanted to restrict their content to specific communities but found no way to do this with free licenses. Concerns included the commercial exploitation of freely available information by companies without benefiting the original knowledge sharers, and a commitment to anti-capitalist practices by ensuring content was only used and shared non-commercially. Others questioned the concept of licensing knowledge, viewing it as a European practice contradictory to the collective nature of knowledge passed down through generations.
From the choice of licenses and related concerns, we learned the need for a consistently power-critical approach to share marginalized knowledge within the program. We will revise the program content on free licenses and the ND (No Derivatives) or NC (Non-Commercial) modules, providing more space for specific questions of the projects.
The mentoring provided in the re•shape program often did not meet the individual needs and expectations of the funded projects. When it worked out, the mentoring took on a coaching character. Feedback from the recipients and mentors highlighted several reasons for the challenges they faced:
- Relevance and Expertise: The majority of the projects selected for funding had no direct connection to Wikipedia. This was not a requirement in the call for proposals, but ultimately it meant that the Wikipedia expertise of the mentors was less relevant for these projects. While meetings were pleasant, they often lacked significant knowledge transfer, as specific needs of the recipients, apart from understanding Wikipedia, could not largely be met by their mentors. This was addressed through additional needs-based support and facilitation.
- Shared Experiences in Engaging with Free Knowledge: Some recipients expressed a desire for more individualized support in navigating the tension between marginalized knowledge and Free knowledge. From their perspective, more mentors with expertise in racism should be involved, as they would better understand the perspectives and needs of marginalized groups and use this very perspective as an entry point for engaging with Free knowledge.
- Unclear Roles: The role of the mentors was often unclear to both the recipients and the mentors themselves, especially when there was no substantive match between the mentor and the project. The idea that mentors should closely accompany the projects and impart knowledge did not align with the needs and expectations of the mentees, who themselves had strong subject-matter expertise.
Building on our successes and challenges outlined, we are making several adjustments for the upcoming program round to enhance our program:
- Stronger focus on funded projects: Initially, selection criteria were broad to encompass diverse perspectives and needs of marginalized groups. The goal was to create space for engaging with and publishing marginalized knowledge under a free license. In the second round, the focus will be narrower, targeting projects that aim to publish knowledge as Free Knowledge from the outset. Projects will be selected based on their compatibility with Wikimedia projects, ensuring they can potentially contribute to encyclopedic work or engage productively with dominant societal knowledge.
- Mandatory Free License Publication: The first round operated on an "Open by default" principle, allowing project groups to opt out of a free license for valid reasons. This was to create a low-barrier experimental space for initial insights at the intersection of Free and marginalized knowledge. However, as an organization dedicated to promoting Free Knowledge, we now require that project results be published under a free license as a condition for funding.
- Program and Network Partnerships: We will continue our partnership with neue deutsche organisationen supporting in program promotion and project selection. We plan deeper content collaboration and to identify and implement common interests. To reach audiences outside Berlin, we will establish network partnerships to help promote the program and engage target groups throughout Germany. These partners may also engage in the support and consultation of funded projects.
- Building a Network: To foster networking and knowledge exchange among current and former grantees and active Wikipedians, we will provide more opportunities for interaction through events. Former grantees will join the jury for selecting new projects. We will also support current and former grantees in organizing follow-up events and projects independently.
- Expert Network Instead of Mentoring: Previously, mentorship focused on Wikipedia expertise, but this did not fully meet the grantees' needs. An expert network will now offer specialized advice and support. Wikipedian involvement will occur through mid-program events, including How-to-Wiki sessions and networking opportunities.
- Project Outline and Final Report: Initially, applicants described their projects without detailed timelines or task packages, and no final report was required. Going forward, applicants must submit a project outline with goals, timeline, and format, helping us assess project feasibility. At the end, grantees must submit a short final report detailing outcomes and published results. Organizations will continue to submit financial reports, while individuals and project groups will provide a summary of fund usage.
neue deutsche organisationen is a nationwide network of nearly 200 charities, organizations and projects. Its members are the descendants of labor migrants and refugees, Sinti and Romani people, the people of the African diaspora, as well as Jewish, Muslim and other community advocates who seek to foster dialogue. Some of them refer to themselves as People of Color (PoC) or Black Germans, ‘hyphenated Germans’ or something else altogether. Their common ground: ndo sees itself as a post-migrant countermovement against racism and in favor of an inclusive Germany, advocating for more representation and visibility of marginalized groups at all levels of political and societal decision-making.
reshape@wikimedia.de
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