AvoinGLAM Charter

This document is revised annually in the General Meeting and published in avoinglam.fi and AvoinGLAM Meta.

APPROVED Dec 13, 2023

Previous editions AvoinGLAM Charter 2021 AvoinGLAM Charter for 2022 AvoinGLAM Charter 2023 AvoinGLAM/AvoinGLAM charter - Meta

1. Mission

Advocate for Open Access to cultural heritage.
Build capacity for digital transformation for cultural heritage.
Nurture a local and global community of practice for Open Access to cultural heritage.
Promote co-creation between stakeholders.
Contribute to a healthy, interoperable and inclusive open ecosystem that respects cultural rights.

2. Vision

We promote a participatory cultural commons by harnessing the collective knowledge of cultural institutions, individuals and communities through sharing and revitalizing, safeguarding and protecting expressions of culture and heritage.

3. Strategy

AvoinGLAM develops a Theory of Change, which may take the form of a strategy document later on. (Miro board)
A Community Development Strategy outlines the actions towards broader inclusion of communities. (TBC)
The strategy work is referenced from https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/AvoinGLAM/Strategy (In progress)

4. Governance

4.1 Legal status

AvoinGLAM has been a working group at Open Knowledge Finland since 2012. It is not a registered entity.
“AvoinGLAM” is registered as an auxiliary organization name for OKFI.
AvoinGLAM has signed an MoU with OKFI to describe the roles and responsibilities of each.

4.2 Membership and community

Participating in the workings of AvoinGLAM is free for anyone and does not require formal membership.
Anyone can join AvoinGLAM’s global community by signing up in the AvoinGLAM page on Meta-wiki.
AvoinGLAM maintains and develops a Community Development strategy. (TBC)

4.3 Steering Group

AvoinGLAM’s daily activities and programmatic decisions are carried out by a Steering Group.

The Steering Group has an elected Chair and 4–9 elected members.
The AvoinGLAM coordinator and the OKFI ED participate in the Steering Group meetings as non-voting members.
The Steering Group members are elected annually in the AvoinGLAM General Meeting.
To be eligible for voting and to run for candidacy in the AvoinGLAM Steering Group, individuals must join Open Knowledge Finland as members.
AvoinGLAM may refuse the candidacy of individuals in conflict with the Wikimedia Universal Code of Conduct, UCoC. The candidates must also commit to the OKFI Code of Conduct: https://okf.fi/codeofconduct.
The Steering Group members are listed on the AvoinGLAM page on Wikimedia Meta.
The Steering Group reports to the OKFI Board.

4.4 Steering Group Meetings

All meetings are open for anyone to participate under the Universal Code of Conduct.
An absolute majority of the Steering Group is required for quorum. Online voting may be used to complement decision-making.

4.5 Contact Person

AvoinGLAM employs a coordinator who acts as the contact person for the group. In the absence of an employee, the Chair of the Steering Group is the contact person.

In 2024 Susanna Ånäs acts as the contact person for AvoinGLAM’s activities.
The contact person reports to the Steering group.

4.6 AvoinGLAM General Meeting

AvoinGLAM organizes a General Meeting once a year in the autumn.

The annual plan and budget are accepted.
The AvoinGLAM Charter revisions are confirmed at the event.
The Steering Group members are elected.

4.7 Institutional memory

4.7.1 Documentation

We document our work in Meta-wiki at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/AvoinGLAM

Monthly writeups in This Month in GLAM summarize our work on an ongoing basis.
AvoinGLAM contributes to the OKFI newsletter.
AvoinGLAM blog contains earlier archives. Blog posts can be published in AvoinGLAM, OKFI, Diff, Meta or Medium in our partners’ publications.
We are testing a practice of making tiny summaries of meetings and events that the members have attended at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/AvoinGLAM/Event_log.

4.7.2 Governance handover

Suggestion: We arrange an in-person handover. The outgoing and incoming steering group members are paired and they meet to discuss. The outgoing member agrees to respond to questions of the incoming one for a short period of time, eg. 3 months
We maintain and revise this charter document that outlines the governance practicalities.
Suggestion: We make an effort to make a reference document of key practices, such as the grantmaking process. This activity will be shared among the staff and steering group and will grow organically over time.
Office practicalities and their documentation is maintained by OKFI.

4.8 Wikimedia

AvoinGLAM has received community funding from the Wikimedia Foundation since 2022 with Open Knowledge Finland as a fiscal sponsor.
AvoinGLAM maintains an international community that can be joined on the AvoinGLAM page on Meta-Wiki.
AvoinGLAM continues to discuss the option of becoming a user group in the Wikimedia movement.
AvoinGLAM coordinates activities with Wikimedia Finland to collaborate on mutual interests.

5. Working methods

AvoinGLAM aims to create a continuous flow of different working methods that feed and complement each other:

→ Surface emerging topics

Case study
Research
Discussion
Writing

→ Bring together a cross-section of actors to explore ideas

Workshop
Experiment
Retreat
Hackathon

→ Seek resolutions

Webinar
Polls & surveys
Deliberations
Hackathon

→ Influence policies

Advocacy
Public policy

→ Document and share, build capacity

Training
Resources

→ Influence public opinion

Publicity
Popular programs

→ Engage new creators and inspire new ideas

Community
Meetup
Popular programs

→ Plan and complete projects and create campaigns as platforms for collaboration

Collaboration
Project
Campaign

6. Code of Conduct

Civility and mutual respect are fundamental to ensuring a supportive and safe environment without threat of prejudice or harassment in all our activities and the workplace. This is especially important as we work with underrepresented communities.

We will

Make the Wikimedia Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC) and the Friendly Space Policy known in all digital and physical spaces we use.
Train the community in identifying, addressing and mitigating the harms of harassment.
Encourage participants in our activities to call out violations and make available a reporting protocol.
Agree on enforcement policies for protecting the community and its members against harassment. A person continuing to violate the UCoC/FSP will be asked to leave, and permanently banned from participating after three such occasions.
Any organization we work with must adhere to UCoC/FSP, and events we present in must have a Code of Conduct in place.
Any incidents breaking the law will be immediately reported to local law enforcement.

7. Shared online spaces and communications

Avoinglam.fi is the bilingual website & blog (fi/en). News will be posted there and copied to Facebook and Twitter. They will be collated into periodic newsletters.
AvoinGLAM Facebook group is the main communication channel for the Finnish community. The language can be Finnish, English, or another language, if necessary.
AvoinGLAM and project-based Twitter accounts are used for international promotion. The language is English.
AvoinGLAM page in Wikimedia Meta records all official information and documentation.
The files are stored in Google Workspace at OKFI.
We will encourage joining any international forae, such as the GLAM-Wiki Global Telegram and Facebook groups, the Open GLAM Slack and mailing list at Creative Commons, and any upcoming ones.
Email address avoinglam@okf.fi is the primary contact address.
We will publish our efforts through the This Month in GLAM, Open GLAM and Creative Commons Medium publications internationally, and promote them using the social media channels.
Open Knowledge Finland provides support for communications in social media and via the OKFI newsletter.