Wikimedia Cuteness Association/Goatification

Goatification originally started as outreach and awareness for goat inclusion in the Wikimedia technical spaces and beyond. Goatification started at the Wikimania Hackathon 2017 in Montreal.

2027 is the year of the goat and it's goating to be awesome. To move forward a Goat movement strategy 2027 is needed. See also on Phabricator.

Goat facts

Goats need other goats to be happy
Goats are smart
Goats are agile: They can do amazing things, e.g. climb on trees
Female goats have beards too and no one questions that
Goats can survive in the most marginal regions of the world, and people can survive because of goats
Goats love stroopwafels

What do you know about goats? You can add your fun-goat-facts here!

Central question

How can we as organisations and organised groups make space for bottom up initiatives? How can we focus more on projects and spend less time navigating power structures?

This sounds like a difficult question, but you can start with simple actions that stimulate a creative and happy space.

Simple actions

Goat alert: If you see people drawing cats, go there and draw goats!
- Anyone can join, no common demographic.
Create stickers and give them to everyone.
Share funny images of goats (see also cuteathon)
Ask others if their project(s) already have been goatified

How it works

Network as default
No leader, as that helps avoiding bottlenecks
No one telling you what to do, nor how to do it. Instead there is space to innovate, space to grow, space to take your own responsibility
Fun-driven collaborative culture
Laughter is contagious
Lots of energy is contagious
Cryptic messages make you want to know what is happening
Appreciation tokens, swag and secret greetings increase excitement
Celebration of all contributions is a pleasure, and it makes you feel valued, and part of the fun
Let people share their goat ideas

Don't forget

Make sure you transfer your idea across platforms or events.
Find ways of including all people who might be interested, including those not present at the event

Possible output

Goatification during an event or on a platform can have various output. Users have reported:

“I talked to people who I had been at events with for 5 years more about goats and this project and laughing about it then I had ever talked to them before”
“I have the impression that I get faster response on technical questions since goatification happened”

Timeline

12 August 2017 - Goat-a-thon during the Wikimania Hackathon 2017 in Montreal
August 2017 - Draw your own cat at the table of Wikimedia Deutschland during Wikimania 2017
20 April 2018 - Session at Wikimedia Conference 2018: 44: How to build a movement in 3 days: What we’ve learned from #goatification
- Presentation: How to build a movement in 3 days
- Agenda: Outreach and awareness for goat inclusion in the Wikimedia technical spaces and beyond
18-19 July 2018 - Goatification with dragons during the Wikimania Hackathon 2018 in Cape Town
21 July 2018 - Movement Strategy Space session on 32nd floor, including goatification with goats, dragons, unicorns and trolls

The goat of review for Wikimedia technical spaces during Wikimania 2017
Draw your own cat at the table of Wikimedia Deutschland during Wikimania 2017
Draw your own cat at the table of Wikimedia Deutschland during Wikimania 2017

Outcomes goatification session as part of Movement Strategy Space in 2018

Goatification
Dragonification
Unicornification
Trollification

Communication

SourceGoat on Twitter and other social media
IRC channel: ##goat
Goatification workboard at Phabricator