North American Wikimedians/Hub

What could it mean to have a hub supporting projects and communities in North America? (There are different takes on what the geographical and linguistic scope should be, and what that would imply for effective equitable coordination and support across that scope. This page assumes we would start with one survey, and then consider identify whether there's a simple shared approach that would be appreciated by all or if there are multiple modes/clusters with different or diverging needs.)

Ideas for a Hub survey

A number of regions have run surveys of people + projects + groups in their region to help frame what is needed/missing and what a fledgling hub could do. At the end of the session @ WCNA this month we briefly discussed organizing such a survey in advance of Wikipedia Day.

There is limited support available for this: rapid grants to help w/ analysis (ex: MENA, CEE), and other movement-strategy support (<< $25k) for associated events and facilitation are reviewed each month. (Q: could this include a WP Day crossover?) The result could include:

• A survey of ideas and feedback.
  • What should the survey cover? Compare surveys from MENA and CEE. Needs, practices, perspectives.
  • Who should it reach? Orgs on the NARWHAL page, individuals who maintain active projects / scripts / tools?, unaffiliated editors, potential partners?
  • It seems there would be different considerations for large orgs and small non-orgs, perhaps there's room to workshop what feels relevant [here on this page] before surveying.
  • What languages should it be in? (Perhaps: start with En/Es/Fr)

• A comparison of features and approaches other hubs at various stages of development
  • How are they starting, outlines that already work, how do they plan to complement existing recurring work?
  • How will they work w/ existing regional coordination efforts?

• A comparison of current modes of sponsorship and facilitation
  • Including all of the fiscal sponsors various folks in N.A. have used to date; and orgs that have run their own networks of projects / editathons / microgrants within their area of focus
  • Including regional participants in global annual events

Ideas for a Hub pilot

A proposal for a Hub pilot [based on the above] could be submitted in the next round of Movement Strategy Implementation Grants, roughly in February.

This might cover WCNA next year, and some subset of other things that have been discussed to date (year-round admin help to support that and other events across the region; general admin help for initiatives that need fiscal sponsorship; streamlining of work w/ GLAM institutions + WREN; developing capacity in partnerships and regional / topical grants, streamlining how local groups can ask for help realizing projects, or overcoming language/other barriers, including simple microgrants; specific technical partnerships like a WikiCite collaboration; developing a longer-term plan for supporting underrepresented geographies + languages in the region; &c.)

• Timeframe: Proposal drafts should be shared in advance of the deadline for feedback; for a pilot running ~ a year.
• From Talk:NARWHAL: The pilot focus can be modest, starting with what we already expect to do, and inviting exploration of what a hub could do in the future (as part of the year).

Existing and planned discussions

• Hubs/Ongoing - a wide range of topics being explored in different regions: from those with very active established communities to those that are mostly new.
• Talk:North American Wikimedians
• WCNA 2022 discussion among NA affiliates (Etherpad)
• Movement strategy forum: Hub pilot guidelines, others
• December 2022 WALRUS meetup (upcoming)
• ... add yours