Global Open Initiative Strategic Plan Report For Investing Is Skills And Leadership

This is strategic document prepared by the Global Open Initiative Foundation, entails the report of a research work, concerning the implementation of the Wikimedia movement’s strategy initiative; Investing in Skills and Leadership at community level.

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This research work was sponsored by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Movement Strategy rapid grant initiative, and a detailed report on the breakdown of finances and activities can be found here.

Introduction and background

Introduction

In 2017, a strategic direction was developed to guide the Wikimedia movement to attain its goal; the 2030 vision of becoming the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge by the year 2030. Following discussions amongst members of the movement across the globe between 2018 and 2019, ten recommendations were realised as the underlying principles for guiding the movement in its mission of attaining this vision. One of these recommendations was Investing in Skills and Leadership.

We are currently in the implementation phase of the Movement Strategy, and this document seeks to focus on the implementation of the aforementioned recommendation at community level. Investing in Skills and Leadership is central to this vision, the essence of the capacity building of the human capital of any community cannot be overemphasised.

The scope for this recommendation is indeed broad, and this research seeks to focus on the Global Open Initiative Foundation community in an attempt to add to the already existing knowledge covering this recommendation, and also provide a framework for the implementation of this recommendation, especially in African Wikimedia Communities. That notwithstanding, we do encourage that research work is done in the various communities if possible with regards to this recommendation to provide a larger spectrum of information, and also, highlight the peculiarities and similarities of the various communities as far as this recommendation is concerned.

This work highlights the views and opinions of community team members, and Leaders of other communities through interviews and surveys, concerning these recommendations. It begins with an introduction and background to the recommendation in focus, followed by a discussion of the scope of the research work. The methodology and choice of methodology is then explained, and the results are subsequently analysed. Following this analysis, a conclusion is drawn and recommendations are made based on the findings. Limitations ends this report.

Background

Investing in Skills and Leadership

A reason for the lack of participation of underrepresented communities in movement activities has been the lack of requisite skills and leadership capabilities. The Wikimedia movement keeps growing over the years, with the regular addition of new sister projects during these years, there is therefore the need to equip the human resource with the necessary skills to remain relevant for the movement. The essence of building the capacity of the human resource and investing in the human capital is key for the movement, as all these recommendations can not be implemented without the human resource of the movement. The lack of requisite skills in the African communities have caused these communities to be sidelined in various movement activities which include decision making. If not addressed, the implications of this lack will result in many existing but dormant communities in the movement.

As an attempt to rectify this anomaly at community level, the Global Open Initiative Foundation intends to determine the best training method for its team members and community members, to efficiently equip the community with the requisite skills and leadership capabilities required of the community, and to help them continue this trend of also training new recruits and already existing community members. We believe that this approach will also go a long way in increasing the sustainability of the movement.

Capacity building

Capacity building or capacity development can be defined as the improvement of the facility or capacity of individuals or organisations for deployment, performance or production. Capacity building or capacity development are often used interchangeably even though the OECD-DAC (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Development Assistance Committee) stated that “capacity development” was the preferred term. According to the OECD-DAC; “Capacity development is understood as the process whereby people, organizations and society as a whole unleash, strengthen, create, adapt and maintain capacity over time.” During the preparation of the 2018-2020 recommendations, a glossary for defining the various terms was created. The glossary defined capacity building as the process through which individuals and organisations gain, improve, and retain skills, knowledge and resources needed to competently engage their activities or do so in a higher capacity. There are various ways through which the capacities of individuals or organisations can be improved and they include; visiting training or learning centres, consultations, and on-the-job training.

The Wikimedia movement has been keen on building capacity especially for emerging communities. In the Wikimedia movement, capacity building is either done at an international level (conferences) or at a local level (community-based). In the sub-Saharan region, annual conferences such as Wikindaba help volunteers from African communities to gain, improve and exchange knowledge and skills relevant for movement activities. At a localised level, communities may organise regular workshops for their members to improve their skills and knowledge in movement activities. Even though these activities pertain, the capacity of movement members in the sub-saharan has been lacking over the years.

In light of these challenges, the movement strategy found it necessary for this subject to be investigated.

Wikimedia Communities and the Global Open Initiative

Wikimedia communities refer to the various associations, organisations and User groups involved in contributing content in the various Wikimedia projects in varying capacities globally. There are about 38 chapters, 2 thematic organisations, and 136 user groups.

The Grantmaking department (as it was then known), categorised communities into three distinct groups; "developed communities", "emerging communities", and "least developed communities". "Developed communities", entail communities that were considered to be; thriving communities, self-sufficient communities, advanced communities, self-developing communities, mature communities, well-established communities, and consolidated communities. "Least developed communities" are communities in their nascent stages, incubation stage, or non-emergency communities. "Emerging communities" on the other hand are communities in the Global South that exhibit high potential to increase the quantity and quality of Wikimedia work, lack of capacity to realise potential, and an existing membership of self-motivated volunteers. According to a proposal by the then Community Engagement department of the Wikimedia Foundation, to change the name "Global South" to "Emerging Communities", the name change was going to help the Wikimedia Foundation focus it's proactive investment in the aforementioned communities in the form of programmes such as Capacity Building.

The Global Open Initiative due to its geographical location belongs to the "Emerging communities" category. The community, like every other emerging community, possesses the potential to increase and improve work in the Wikimedia movement but lack the capacity to do so.

The Global Open Initiative Foundation is a nonprofit organisation in Ghana actively involved in Wikimedia activities as one of the four known Wikimedia communities in Ghana. As part of its mission, the organisation equips Ghanaian youth with skills, knowledge, and experiences that could be of great benefit to them career-wise, and this mission is in line with the recommendation, Investing in Skills and Leadership. The community is headed by an Executive Director, who reports to a six-member board. The Executive Director is aided by ten team members, specialising in specific roles.

With a membership of over 200 hundred volunteers, ten of which are team members, the organisation wields a considerable amount of influence as far as membership is concerned in Ghana. However, like many other African communities, the community can only count on a little over 10% of the community membership to support the community with the requisite skills needed for organising and executing projects. The implementation of this recommendation in our community is expected to improve the capacity of the community and consequently enable the community to execute bigger projects.

West Bengal Wikimedians User Group

The West Bengal Wikimedians User Group was founded by the West Bengal Wikimedia community of India. The community is situated in the West Bengal region of India and is close to Bangladesh. The community’s structure is composed of General members and Representative members. Representative members, as the name suggests can represent the community on an official capacity and are selected based on their number of edits.

The community focuses on the Bengali language and is one of two Bengali user groups in the Wikimedia movement. The other Bengali user group is located in Bangladesh. The West Bengal user group have a membership of about 20 to 25 wikimedians.

The organisation conducts various campaigns and training activities across the country to promote web-based collaborative and educational projects locally in Bengali and other languages The West Bengal user group prioritizes on wiki source, and also embarks on projects like wiki loves monuments, and wiki loves butterfly.

Wikimedia Community Ireland

The Wikimedia Community Ireland is a Wikimedia user group that was originally recognised by the Wikimedia Foundation in 2014. Movement activities in the community are overseen by the project coordinator who reports to the board chair. The hierarchical structure of the community comprises of the board chair, who presides over the organisation, two deputy board chairs, who support the board chair, and the project coordinator.

The organisation encourages people to collect, improve, and share educational, cultural, and historic resources in the public domain or freely licensed. They also encourage and collaborate private galleries, libraries, archives and museums on the island of Ireland to make their contents more broadly and freely available, and also help preserve the heritage of the island of Ireland. In addition to that, they support the advancement of education by encouraging and educating people on the use of open source resources. Finally, the community supports the improvement and release of open sourced materials in the languages of the island of Ireland which includes but not limited to English and Irish.

Wikimedia District of Columbia

The Wikimedia District of Columbia was founded as the Wiki Society of Washington, DC Inc. in May 2011, but was recognised as a chapter in September 2011. The organisation is a registered non-profit organisation in the United States of America and has a board. The community seeks to advance general knowledge, collect and develop educational resources under a free license or in the public domain, and disseminate these resources effectively and globally.

The chapter engages in the promotion of free content, outreach activities, and partnership efforts with various cultural institutions and government agencies, which either have large amounts of public domain content already available or are willing to release their content under a free license.

Wiki Women in Red

Wiki Women in Red was founded in 2015 to increase content concerning women, including members of the LGBT community who identify as women and non-binary genders. Unlike other wiki communities, the community has no formal structure as far as hierarchy is concerned. There is no designated leader or head, however, interviews about the movement are granted by the founders.

The User group focuses on developing networks for identifying notable members of their target groups throughout the world, and recruiting additional editors who will be able to create and expand pertinent articles. These efforts are to ensure that community members focus on content creation. As part of its goals, the community intends to increase visibility of the WikiProject, provide access to reference materials for content creation, and develop partnerships to enhance the content of the WikiProject, it’s coverage and impact. Also, the community seeks to form and develop partnerships with other affiliates who work in the area of content gender gap, are culturally-sensitive to differing viewpoints, and to align its work so that the community and other similar communities aren't each "re-inventing the wheel".

Earlier research

Even though work on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy began in 2018, there have been discussions on capacity building in the movement prior to the aforementioned year. There have been myriad attempts by the movement since its founding to improve capacity for its community members. In 2015 for instance, an initiative called the Community Capacity Development was introduced to identify the capacity needs of the various Wikimedia communities, and find ways to build their capacity. The initiative was also aimed at initiating specific actions to build specific capacities in specific interested communities. This initiative was focused on Community Governance, Conflict management, On-wiki technical issues, New contributor engagement and growth, Partnerships, and Communications and Media relations.

During the preparation of the Wikimedia 2030 strategy recommendations, several recommendations for capacity building were drafted. Some of the recommendations were; co-creating and designing basic capacity building infrastructure for Wikimedia communities, enabling capacity building activities within the context of the participating community, and the creation of an independent Capacity Building organization or unit, governed by a community-based board.

Even though much has been done about this subject in the Wikimedia movement, this study intends to provide information on this subject that will be germane to the sub-Saharan community, and also serve as a basis for further research in the area or in a similar area.

Problem Statement

Capacity building is a means of minimizing over reliance on experts outside a community as a source of knowledge or skills to solve community problems. Capacity building serves as a way of empowering community members to gain control over their future development. In a Wikimedia community, capacity building could help communities develop solutions that are sensitive to the peculiarities of their community. African Wikimedians that actively indulge in capacity building activities are able to improve their skills and knowledge in wiki project and consequently initiate new wiki projects that impact and empower the continent and the world at large.

Unfortunately, many Wikimedians in Africa lack the essential skill required to be actively involved in movement activities. The capacity of African Wikimedians have been limited due to limited capacity building programmes at community level. Other factors inhibiting the skill capacity for African Wikimedians have been lack of funds, limited time capacity, and limited access to facilities and equipment needed for improving skills. The Global Open Initiative Foundation as an African Wikimedian community is not alien to these challenges. Even though the community can boast of over 200 community members, the organization can only rely on a handful of skilled community members to execute projects.

Should this trend persist, many Wikimedians belonging to African communities will lose interest in movement activities. These communities will be sidelined in various movement activities including decision making, and if not addressed, the implications of this lack will result in many existing but dormant communities in the movement.

There is therefore the need to determine the best and efficient method of training for team members of the Global Open Initiative Foundation and Wikimedia communities in Africa at large to improve the skills capacity of African Wikimedians especially in the sub-Saharan region.

Research Questions

The following research questions were addressed by the study:

• What are the methods and factors used to determine lack of skill in a community?
• What are the modules of training used by community leaders in the movement?
• What are the methods used to evaluate training workshops?

Research Objectives

Main Objective

The objective of this research is to determine the best training method for capacity building in our community.

Specific objectives

• To identify the methods and factors used to determine lack of skill in a community.
• To identify the methods of training used by community leaders.
• To determine how training workshops are evaluated.

Methodology

Type and Sources of Data

Primary and secondary data were used for this research work. Primary data was obtained from Wikimedia community leaders through interviews and discussions online, and from the Global Open Initiative Foundation team members through a survey. Secondary data was obtained through articles and books.

Sample Size and Sampling Technique

The population for the study was all Wikimedia community leaders and Global Open Initiative Foundation team members. The population was represented by 3 Wikimedia community leaders and 11 Global Open Initiative Foundation team members. Convenience sampling method of sampling was used to select the Wikimedia community leaders, while purposive sampling was used to select the Global Open Initiative Foundation team members. Each community leader was selected from outside the African continent based on their availability.

Method of data collection

Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained through interviews and questionnaires. Interviews were held with the selected community leaders, and questionnaires were created for the Global Open Initiative team members. The interviews focused on the three main research questions; ways of determining lack in skills amongst community members, the method for training community members, and the method of evaluating the training. The questionnaires touched on the preferred methods for training by the community members. The questionnaire was pretested and modified before the survey. Interviews were conducted by the researchers themselves.

Method of data analysis

Descriptive statistical and inferential statistical tools were used in analyzing the data.

The interviews were analysed using narrative analysis. The form of training preferred by the team was analysed using percentages. A pie chart was used to determine the preferred skill that team members prefer.

Findings

This chapter presents the results of the analyses and the discussion of the findings. These analyses and presentations are done in line with the research objectives of the study. Data was split on the basis of the four communities to allow for comparison.

Ways used to determine lack of skills in the community

In the West Bengal Wikimedia community, lack in skills in the community is determined through conversations. Community leaders speak to community members who have been selected to embark on a project so they share their needs with them. Through these conversations, community leaders are able to tell if there will be a need for training or purchasing a needed equipment to help such community members accomplish their task.

The Ireland Wikimedia community on the other hand are able to determine a lack in skill in the community through the use of surveys. Through these surveys, the community is not only able to determine a lack in skill amongst its community members, but are also able to obtain other relevant information about the community such as demographics. These surveys were done in 2016 and 2019.

The Wikimedia District of Columbia’s method of determining a lack in skill is quite unconventional compared to the aforementioned communities. The community organises training conferences where the various skills needed to organise Wikimedia projects, and also edit on the various Wikimedia projects are taught. Through these trainings, members of the community are able to determine skills they lack and need to work on.

For the Wiki Women in Red community, lack of skill is determined through the study of statistical findings based on Wikimedia related research work. Through Wikipedia related statistics, such as statistics on the gender gap of Wikipedia biographies in a specific region, the community is able to determine where to focus on moving forward. The community is also able to determine a lack in skill through observations of pages that are germane to the movement. For instance, observing how biographies of people in their target group are written.

Methods of training used by community leaders

On the training methods used, the West Bengal community began with conferences and mass training workshops to train and recruit new members for the movement. This method proved futile over time when the conferences were over. Many recruited members lost interest due to their socio-economic situation, which made volunteering relatively costly. The community resorted to taking advantage of wikisource contests to train potential editors, and this mitigated the attrition rate. Another approach employed by the community is pairing less experienced members of the community with more experienced members (mostly community leaders) to execute projects. This approach helps less experienced members gain experience over time and this makes them competent enough to lead projects in the future.

In the Irish Wikimedia community, trainings are held through conferences and edit-a-thons. Community members gain skills and expertise through conferences, some of which are sponsored so participants are able to join via scholarships. In other conferences, experts were hired to train and recruit potential editors. Aside conferences, editors gained some training through edit-a-thons.

For the Wikimedia District of Columbia charter, the community organises conferences every two years, in 2014, 2016, and in 2018. The 2020 conference could not come off due to the pandemic. These conferences were called boot camps. About 10 to 15 trainers were invited from all over the country (United States of America) and lodged in a hotel. Participants were trained for about 2 to 3 days for about 8 hours each day. These events were organised in a national archive or national museum and breakfast and lunch were catered for. Trainings were held on the various skills required in the Wikimedia community, and these trainings ranged from learning how to prepare grants, and learning how to start wiki projects, to learning how to edit on the various Wikimedia sister projects. During the event, trainers exchanged contacts with participants (community members) so participants could reach out to them if they needed any support or assistance concerning wiki issues after the event.

Wiki Women in Red on the other hand organise trainings virtually at varying times in varying locations. This is due to the nature of the community, that is, unlike localised communities, where members are located in a specific location, Wiki Women in Red is much more international with members spread across the globe. Aside these trainings, other initiatives such as essays on how to write biographies for women were prepared and given to community members who needed help on how to write articles on women. The community has a social media presence where community members who need help on editing can reach out to, and be guided by more experienced members of the community.

Form of training preferred by team members

The response from respondents regarding the form of training was in-person training which had a percentage of fifty-five percent (55%), retreat was thirty-six percent (36%), while virtual workshop constituted nine percent (9%) of the responses. This implies that community team members will prefer in-person trainings to virtual workshops or retreats.

A pie chart representing the percentage distribution of the preferred training method of GOIF team members

How trainings are evaluated

To determine the success or failure of a training workshop, the West Bengal Wikimedia community looked at the number of new contents created or uploaded, and the quality of the content created or uploaded.

Unlike the West Bengal Wikimedia community, the Irish Wikimedia community, evaluated their methods of trainings through their reports. The assessment was based on whether the outcome of the trainings met the targets set in the grant application.

For the DC community, trainings were assessed through surveys. Aside surveys, the community assessed the success of their trainings based on how active community members were in the movement and in movement activities, the number of community members joining the Wikimedia Foundation as staff, and also the number of community members winning foundation awards such as Wikimedian of the year.

For the Wiki Women in Red community, the success of trainings was determined through the number of edit counts, and number of pages created by community members following the training.

Challenges faced by communities

Just like every other Wikimedia community, the aforementioned communities have had their own share of peculiar challenges. The West Bengal community struggles with attrition. Based on the response of the community leader we interviewed, there are not many volunteers in the community that have been active for more than five years, even though the community has been in existence for more than five years. In addition to that, the socioeconomic situation of the West Bengal region is such that, potential community members will only want to be active contributors to the movement only if there was remuneration to compensate for their efforts, as many would rather spend their time indulging in other lucrative activities than volunteering their time and efforts for the movement. This has contributed highly to the attrition rate of the community. Another challenge that has plagued the community is the reduction of native speakers of the language over time due to the regular use of the English and Hindu languages via the mass media. The alphabets used for the Bengal language not being on computers and laptop keyboards is also a struggle for some community members who may be used to typing with the Latin alphabets.

The Irish Wikimedia Community like the West Bengal community also has to deal with people leaving or refusing to join the community due to varying motivations and the misconception that there must be some benefits in volunteering your services for the movement. Some of these benefits may be internships or stipends. This according to our respondent, may be the reason for the relatively smaller number of community members as compared to other communities. Another challenge faced by the community is the limited time capacity that may come with volunteering and being engaged with other activities. Many of the active members of the community are also encumbered with other responsibilities such as work and family, this limits the time for volunteering their services to the movement as finding spare time to do so might be a struggle for these members.

Our third respondent who discussed two communities with us; Wiki Women in Red, and the Wikimedia District of Columbia charter, intimated that geographical location may affect one's motivations. Living in an area where people have the financial capacity, may have the capacity to volunteer freely. In areas where people earn less, people will spend more of their time indulging in activities that will earn them more. In areas where access to the internet is a challenge, editing Wikipedia in itself is a struggle. Cultural circumstances may also affect a person’s ability to be able to actively indulge in movement activities, for instance, in some cultures, women may not be able to easily access equipment like laptops or certain facilities that can enhance their volunteering capacity.

Summary, conclusion and recommendations

Summary and conclusion

The study was conducted to determine the best training method for the Global Open Initiative Foundation. Three Wikimedia community leaders were selected from outside the African continent using convenient sampling.  All members of the Global Open Initiative Foundation team were selected using purposive sampling. Primary data was obtained with the aid of interviews and a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and content analysis were the tools employed for data analysis. The results confirmed that, various communities are able to determine a lack in skills in their communities via varying approaches. The common form of training in the various communities were conferences. This method was employed by three of the four communities. Two of the communities out of the four also used edit-a-thons or contests. The study further showed that edit counts and pages created was the most preferred method of evaluating the training method. Two out of the four communities explicitly confirmed this, the DC community leader however stated that, one of their ways of assessing trainings was; how active their members were in wiki activities. Considering that edit counts and pages created also fall under wiki activities, the DC community is considered as the third community employing this method. The preferred form of training by the Global Open Initiative Foundation team members however was in-person trainings.

Recommendations

Based in our findings, we recommend the following;

• To determine lack in skills in the community, it is recommended that community leaders hold regular conversations with community members regarding this issue at least once in a month. In addition to that, sponsored surveys must be held once a year to help community leaders gain more insight on the level of lack. Through these surveys community leaders can collect data and develop statistics that will aid in making informed decisions to help address the challenge. Based on our findings, it was also observed that community members may not know some skills they lack and might need until they participate in trainings. For this reason, the community is encouraged to organise regular trainings to help mitigate such a situation.
• Considering the rate at which new Wikimedia projects are introduced, and the widening gap in skills and expertise between Wikimedians in African communities, and Wikimedians in more developed communities, sponsored capacity building conferences must be held annually by the African Wikimedia Communities at community level where experts are invited to train community members. Trainings could range from learning how to prepare grants, and learning how to start wiki projects, to learning how to edit on the various Wikimedia sister projects. Over time, trainings will be based on need, and the skill requirements for new sister projects of the Wikimedia Foundation that will be introduced in the future. Moreover, contests and edit-a-thons should be considered as additional opportunities to train potential movement participants in the community.
• Aside reports, efforts must be made by community leaders to monitor the quality of output of community members, to assess the efficacy of the training following a training workshop.

Limitations

The sample size is a small representation of community leaders in the movement. Due to the differences in time zones, team members and community leaders alike had to compromise to settle on a time that works for both parties. The time frame was too small to interview a higher number of community members. Researchers had to rely heavily on internet services since the meetings were virtual, however, these internet services were sometimes unreliable. The quality of data collected however was not compromised.