Let's Connect Newsletter/Archive/2023/Issue 11

Let’s Connect Newsletter Issue 11

What is happening in Let’s Connect this month

Welcome to October’s issue of the Let’s Connect monthly newsletter. This month was filled with about five different learning clinics and was one of our busiest months in this third phase of Let’s Connect.

It's also the month our very own Jessica Stephenson gave birth to a bouncy baby boy. We wish mother and child all the best as they bond together.

Did you miss Learning Clinics - no worries!

Let's Connect Learning Clinic: Explaining and discussing the Movement Charter (time zone 2) in partnership with Movement Drafting Charter Committee (MCDC). Find this session's resources here: video recording and audio recording (In interpreted languages).
Let's Connect Learning Clinic: Wikidata for Wiki Loves Monuments with Content Partnerships Hub - Wikimedia Sweden and Wikimedia Uganda. Find this session's resources here: video recording and audio recording (In interpreted languages).
Let's Connect Learning Clinic: Friendly Space Policies: Fitting the UCoC to Your Local Context. Find this session's resources here: video recording.
Let's Connect Learning Clinic: Introduction to WikiSource 101 & 102. Find this session's resources here: video recording.
Let's Connect Learning Clinic: Wiki Loves Living Heritage. Find this session's resources here: video recording.

What Learning Clinics can you start getting excited about?

⚠️ This is a Registration Form for Learning Clinic Three ⚠️ What is Learning Clinic Three for? Alicia and Eric from Wikimedia Sweden will give a practical overview on the use of;

OpenRefine- develop your own work flow and ways of solving problems.
OpenRefine-important for mass editing dataset to Wikidata.

We will then look at how this Clinic Series can best support your own workflows, with practical exercises and tips.

👉 What are the Learning outcomes of session 3?

Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of OpenRefine's capabilities and functionalities.
Participants will be equipped to develop personalised workflows and methodologies for problem-solving using OpenRefine.
Participants will master the techniques of mass editing datasets in OpenRefine for efficient integration into Wikidata.
Participants will learn how to use OpenRefine in streamlining data management tasks on Wikidata.
Establish a connection with Wikimedia Sweden and the Content Partnerships Hub for ongoing support and continued assistance with OpenRefine.

👉 What do I need to prepare session 3? 🧠 If you miss session 1 and 2, kindly access the session Grants:Knowledge Sharing/Connect/Calendar here and complete practical exercise 1 and 2. This series will provide a practical guide on how to use OpenRefine on Wikidata.

Register here.

Other learning opportunities in the Movement

The Wiki Indaba 2023 is currently ongoing in Agadir, Morocco. There will be a Let’s Connect information session that will be happening so join the live stream. There are also amazing presentations and sessions that has happened so catch up with them using the Youtube channel from Wikimedia Morocco.

News from Movement Strategy

Movement Charter Drafting Committee: November community drop-in session on December 7, 2023.
November 8, 2023 AffCom/OC/CRC appointments: Conversation hours at 03:00 and 14:00 UTC.

Story from Let’s Connect

User:Asaf (WMF):I was glad for the opportunity to teach two modules at Let's Connect — on documenting language with Lexemes on Wikidata, and on volunteer retention. At the online calls, I found attentive learners interested in acquiring new skills and approaches to increasing the diversity of participants and content on the Wikimedia projects. I am especially happy about the modules being made available to learners in other languages, not just during the calls, but as recordings for future learners as well. I think Let's Connect is a valuable channel for movement-wide learning, and I look forward to future opportunities to contribute and share in Let's Connect.

User:Jan-Bart:One of the highlights of Wikimania was working with Chinu and Nada to organise a workshop on “Communication skills for collaborative leadership”. As a movement we have a lot of trouble in clearly communicating our needs and have similar challenges in saying “no to things that are asked of all of us. So helping participants frame their needs as a question to which the answer can be “no” and making sure that everyone feels comfortable to say no when too much is asked of them felt like a rewarding session.

User:Nada.FA:Wikimania is a learning opportunity. Let's Connect is the perfect channel for Wikimedians to learn, share, and engage. Every session I attended with Let's Connect was a thriving step for me. I had the pleasure of being a facilitator for the "Communication Skills for Collaborative Leadership" session, which was a great opening for my Wikimania experience.

User:Kunokuno:Let’s Connect focuses on providing an exciting space for learning, whereas the LDWG is experienced in tackling leadership skills within the movement. I was tasked with tracking the registered participants and documenting those who happened to just walk in and be part of the clinic. In the last session, I already had the opportunity to be part of the actual program.. Shifting the facilitation of a learning clinic from online to in-person was both thrilling and frightening for me.The language barrier has never been a problem for me or for the other participants.
What we truly treasure after the annual get-together of Wikimedians is the spirit of collaboration and friendship among us.

Resource to check out:

Learn the tools and skills needed to manage volunteer burnout as shared by Natacha LSP. The link to the resource portal is here.

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