Talk:Wikimedia LGBT+/Archive 13

Call for Candidates for the Movement Charter Drafting Committee

Movement Strategy announces the Call for Candidates for the Movement Charter Drafting Committee. The Call opens August 2, 2021 and closes September 1, 2021.

The Committee is expected to represent diversity in the Movement. Diversity includes gender, language, geography, and experience. This comprises participation in projects, affiliates, and the Wikimedia Foundation.

English fluency is not required to become a member. If needed, translation and interpretation support is provided. Members will receive an allowance to offset participation costs. It is US$100 every two months.

We are looking for people who have some of the following skills:

• Know how to write collaboratively. (demonstrated experience is a plus)
• Are ready to find compromises.
• Focus on inclusion and diversity.
• Have knowledge of community consultations.
• Have intercultural communication experience.
• Have governance or organization experience in non-profits or communities.
• Have experience negotiating with different parties.

The Committee is expected to start with 15 people. If there are 20 or more candidates, a mixed election and selection process will happen. If there are 19 or fewer candidates, then the process of selection without election takes place.

Will you help move Wikimedia forward in this important role? Submit your candidacy here. Please contact strategy2030wikimedia.org with questions. Best, JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 22:19, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

Delay of the 2021 Board of Trustees election

We are reaching out to you today regarding the 2021 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election. This election was due to open on August 4th. Due to some technical issues with SecurePoll, the election must be delayed by two weeks. This means we plan to launch the election on August 18th, which is the day after Wikimania concludes.

For information on the technical issues, you can see the Phabricator ticket.

We are truly sorry for this delay and hope that we will get back on schedule on August 18th. We are in touch with the Elections Committee and the candidates to coordinate next steps. We will update the Board election Talk page and Telegram channel as we know more. Best, JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 22:20, 4 August 2021 (UTC) Read this message in other languages

Voting opens for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

Voting for the 2021 Board of Trustees election is now open. Candidates from the community were asked to submit their candidacy. After a three week long Call for Candidates, there are 19 candidates for the 2021 election.

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia Foundation's operations. The Board wants to improve their competences and diversity as a team. They have shared the areas of expertise that they are hoping to cover with new trustees.

The Wikimedia movement has the opportunity to select candidates who have the qualities to best serve the needs of the movement for the next several years. The Board is expected to select the four most voted candidates to serve as trustees. This term starts in September and lasts for three years. Learn more about the Board of Trustees in this short video.

Vote now until August 31.

Below is some useful information about the election process.

Learn more about the candidates
Candidates from across the movement have submitted their candidatures. Learn about each candidate to inform your vote. The community submitted questions for the candidates to answer during the campaign. Candidates answered the list of community questions collated by the Elections Committee on Meta.

Vote
Voting for the 2021 Board of Trustees election opened on 18 August 2021 and closes on 31 August 2021. The Elections Committee chose Single Transferable Vote for the voting system. The benefit of this is voters can rank their choices in order of preference. Learn more about voting requirements, how to vote, and frequently asked questions about voting.

Please help in the selection of those people who best fit the needs of the movement at this time. Vote and spread the word so more people can vote for candidates. Those selected will help guide the Wikimedia Foundation and support the needs of the movement over the next few years.

The full announcement and translations are available here. Please reach out with any questions. Best, JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 23:07, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Universal Code of Conduct: Enforcement draft guidelines review

The Universal Code of Conduct Phase 2 drafting committee would like comments about the enforcement draft guidelines for the Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC). This review period is planned to begin 17 August 2021.

Community and staff members collaborated to develop these draft guidelines based on consultations, discussions, and research. These guidelines are not final but you can help move the progress forward. Provide comments about these guidelines by 17 October 2021. The committee will be revising the guidelines based upon community input.

Everyone may share comments in a number of places. Facilitators welcome comments in any language on the draft review talk page or by email. Comments can also be shared on talk pages of translations, at local discussions, or during round-table discussions and conversation hours.

There are planned live discussions about the UCoC enforcement draft guidelines:

Wikimania 2021 session (recorded 16 August)

Conversation hours - 24 August, 31 August, 7 September @ 03:00 UTC & 14:00 UTC

Roundtable calls - 18 September @ 03:00 UTC & 15:00 UTC

The facilitation team supporting this review period hopes to reach a large number of communities. Having a shared understanding is important. If you do not see a conversation happening in your community, please organize a discussion. Facilitators can assist you in setting up the conversations.

Discussions will be summarized and presented to the drafting committee every two weeks. The summaries will be published here.

The full announcement and translations can be found here.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Best, JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 23:16, 20 August 2021 (UTC)

Wikimedia LGBT+ members questions

I am Vinicius, candidate in this elections for the WMF Board of Trustees. I had the opportunity to talk to some members of the group on Telegram and the questions that raised from this chat are answered in my statement's talk page. I invite any other member of the group or people interested in this discussion to visit the page and leave more questions, comments, thoughts etc. Regards, --Vinicius Siqueira (talk) 08:17, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

All the best Vinicius; thank you for standing up to be part of the Wikimedia BOT. I already castes my votes for you. Hadassahlove (talk) 14:07, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

Results for the most contended Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election

Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2021 Board election. The Elections Committee has reviewed the votes of the 2021 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election, organized to select four new trustees. A record 6,873 people from across 214 projects cast their valid votes. The following four candidates received the most support:

1. Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight
2. Victoria Doronina
3. Dariusz Jemielniak
4. Lorenzo Losa

While these candidates have been ranked through the community vote, they are not yet appointed to the Board of Trustees. They still need to pass a successful background check and meet the qualifications outlined in the Bylaws. The Board has set a tentative date to appoint new trustees at the end of this month.

Read the full announcement here.

Xeno (WMF) 01:45, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Sunday September 26 SWANniversary Party and All-Affiliates Strategic Meeting

Celebrate our first anniversary with SWAN-shaped desserts!

Join the SWANniversary on September 26 as we mark the first year of the Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network!

We will have the regular All-Affiliates Strategic Meeting, to be followed by a SWANniversary Party in the after hours session, likely through spatialized chat on WorkAdventure.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, June, and July SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, we'll look together at strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter + Drafting Committee, WMF Board elections, Wikimania 2021, and Grants Regional Committees.

This month we are meeting on Sunday September 26, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC.)--Pharos (talk) 20:10, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

Movement Charter Drafting Committee - Community Elections to take place October 11 - 24

See translations of this message.

Dear fellow Wikimedians,

This is an update from the Movement Charter process. We have closed the call for candidates on September 14 for the Drafting Committee and now have a pool of candidates with diverse backgrounds to choose from.

The 15 member committee will be selected with a 3-step process:

• Election process for project communities to elect 7 members of the committee.
• Selection process for affiliates to select 6 members of the committee.
• Wikimedia Foundation process to appoint 2 members of the committee.

Communities elect 7 members: This announcement is related to the community elections, which will take place in a time period of 2 weeks from October 11 to October 24. We look forward to a wide participation across the communities to create the committee to curate the writing of the Movement Charter. The Election Results will be published on November 1.

Affiliates select 6 members: Parallel to the election process, all affiliates asked to contribute as well: All affiliates were divided into eight geographic and one ‘thematic’ region (check the list), and each region chooses one person who will act as a selector for that region. These 9 selectors will come together to select 6 of the committee (from the same pool of candidates). The selection results will be published on November 1.

Wikimedia Foundation appoints 2 members: Finally, the Wikimedia Foundation will appoint two members to the committee by November 1.

All three processes will be concluded by November 1, 2021, so that the Movement Charter Drafting Committee can start working by then.

For the full context of the Movement Charter, its role, as well the process for its creation, please have a look at Meta. You can also contact us at any time on Telegram or via email (wikimedia2030wikimedia.org).

Best regards, JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 20:34, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

Movement Charter Drafting Committee Thematic Affiliates selection

Greetings! You are listed as a Thematic Affiliate for the Selection Process of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee. We need to make a decision about our selector by October 10; I started this page (Movement Charter/Affiliates by Region/Thematic Affiliates) to collect ideas for how we'll pick our selector and self-nominations for who our selector could be. Please add to it! --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 20:02, 28 September 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for pinging our group LiAnna (Wiki Ed). Our User Group is having this discussion within our Telegram Channel, and I am posting this for any of our members who may not have seen it there. Our User Group has until Sunday 10 October to make this "vote" to endorse a selector for our Affiliate HERE. I am posting this as a member of our Affiliate who wants to make sure our "vote" is not missed or not counted. --- FULBERT (talk) 13:41, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks, FULBERT! I also tried to start a discussion on that page, in the section "What skillsets/perspectives do we want on the Movement Charter Drafting Committee?", that collates different user groups' priorities for skillsets, beyond the obvious diversity and expertise ones for all candidates, that are unique to the thematic affiliates. Please feel free to add there, so whoever ends up our selector will have input from other thematic affiliates. --LiAnna (Wiki Ed) (talk) 17:01, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

Voting to elect members to the Movement Charter drafting committee is now open (October 12 - 24)

Voting to elect members to the Movement Charter drafting committee is now open. In total, 70 Wikimedians are running for 7 seats in these elections.

Voting is open from October 12 to October 24, 2021.

We are piloting a voting advice application for this election. It helps show which candidates hold positions similar to the choices entered.

According to the set up process, the committee will initially consist of 15 members in total. 7 members elected in this process, 6 members selected by Wikimedia affiliates, and 2 members appointed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Up to 3 additional members may be appointed by the committee, and steps may be taken to replace members as needed.

More details and the voting link is here.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about this process.

Xeno (WMF) (talk) 02:40, 15 October 2021 (UTC) (Movement Strategy & Governance Team, Wikimedia Foundation)

Learn how the Implementation Grants can support your Movement Strategy plans

We are excited to announce the reopening of the Movement Strategy Implementation Grants. This program funds projects that advance a specific Movement Strategy initiative. The projects can be big or small, but they must all make a case for advancing one initiative. Affiliates that have received funding from the Simple/Annual Plan Grants are welcome to apply.

Read more about the criteria, what to apply for, and how to apply.

Best regards,
Movement Strategy and Governance Team
Wikimedia Foundation
15:31, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

Movement Charter Drafting Committee election Call to Action: Vote now!

Your participation is needed. Community elections for the Movement Charter Drafting Committee last until October 24 (23:59 AoE). We have gathered just over 700 votes. It would be great to increase community participation. Let’s try to double that number! Please vote before October 24. Best, JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 17:02, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Canvassing from Twitter

To whoever handles the project Twitter account: please, see en:WP:CANVASSING and en:WP:ASPERSIONS. Seeing this tweet [1] in relation to en:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Aish Divine is disappointing coming from an affiliate. MarioGom (talk) 08:01, 25 October 2021 (UTC)

Sunday October 31 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

A swan reflects.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

Following up on the August, September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and June, July, and September SWAN meetings, as well as last June's All-Affiliates Brand Meeting, as well as strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Movement Charter Drafting Committee Set Up Process, Next Steps for Brand Work, 2021, Wikipedia Asian Month 2021, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday October 31, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:30 UTC – *Note that we have shifted the second call a half-hour later in UTC time due to WikidataCon*.)--Pharos (talk) 01:58, 29 October 2021 (UTC)

(Initial Review) Notification of Affiliate Expiration - Renewal pending submission of reporting

Greetings group contacts,

This is a notification to bring to your attention that your organization is currently past due on its required annual reporting. Wikimedia Affiliates are required to submit an annual activity report covering the entirety of the 12-month agreement period in order to prompt review for a renewal. Reports must be written in English, posted to meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal.

This page is used to track how organizations and groups are meeting reporting requirements described in their agreements with the Wikimedia Foundation (e.g. chapter agreements, thematic organization agreements, user group agreements). It is the central place where affiliates can add reports about their activities, share their plans, and even news or social media channels with the wider movement. When new reports are available, organizations and groups should add them to this page to keep their columns up to date.

As noted on the meta Reports page, your organization’s 2021 annual reporting became past due in 2021-09-29. Please be sure to:

• Post your 2021 annual reporting to the meta via the Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal as soon as possible to return to compliance with your user group agreement.

• Check that your group’s page is also up to date with past report links for historical record-keeping, and

• Please send an email to Wikimedia-l in order to share with a movement-wide audience.

If you have any questions or need any further guidance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to wadportalwikimedia.org.

Best regards,
Wikimedia Affiliates Data Portal

Thank you for the reminder of our annual report. We submitted it through the Data Portal, and are linking to it here as well. Thank you. --- FULBERT (talk) 01:41, 5 November 2021 (UTC)

Meet the new Movement Charter Drafting Committee members

More languages • Please help translate to your language

The Movement Charter Drafting Committee election and selection processes are complete.

• The election results have been published. 1018 participants voted to elect seven members to the committee: Richard Knipel (Pharos),Anne Clin (Risker),Alice Wiegand (Lyzzy),Michał Buczyński (Aegis Maelstrom),Richard (Nosebagbear),Ravan J Al-Taie (Ravan),Ciell (Ciell).
• The affiliate process has selected six members: Anass Sedrati (Anass Sedrati),Érica Azzellini (EricaAzzellini), Jamie Li-Yun Lin (Li-Yun Lin),Georges Fodouop (Geugeor),Manavpreet Kaur (Manavpreet Kaur),Pepe Flores (Padaguan).
• The Wikimedia Foundation has appointed two members: Runa Bhattacharjee (Runab WMF) and Jorge Vargas (JVargas (WMF)).

The committee will convene soon to start its work. The committee can appoint up to three more members to bridge diversity and expertise gaps.

If you are interested in engaging with Movement Charter drafting process, follow the updates on Meta and join the Telegram group.

With thanks from the Movement Strategy and Governance team

JKoerner (WMF) (talk) 23:34, 11 November 2021 (UTC)

Sunday November 28 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

Chart a new course on the swan ferry.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Hubs+Hubs Workshop, Movement Charter+Drafting Committee, WMDE's 'Future of Wikimedia Governance' proposal, Wikipedia Asian Month 2021, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday November 28, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC, note that some areas recently experienced daylight savings time changes).--Pharos (talk) 20:19, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Wikimedia Foundation fundraising for Wiki Loves Pride

I cross posted this to en:Wikipedia_talk:Wiki_Loves_Pride#WMF_fundraising_in_the_name_of_this_campaign

For example, Women in Red, Art+Feminism, WikiGap, Wiki Loves Women, and #VisibleWikiWomen work to strengthen coverage by and about women on Wikimedia projects, often with an emphasis on women who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color. Groups such as Black Lunch Table and AfroCrowd focus on adding knowledge about Black history and people of African descent to our projects. Wiki Loves Pride is a global campaign to expand and improve LGBTQI+ content online.

https://wikimediafoundation.org/our-work/open-the-knowledge/#a2-support-current-work

Blue Rasberry (talk) 16:41, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

Queering Wikipedia 2022 Conference Proposal

The QW2022/Proposal is open for comment on the draft. There will be a meeting with the WMF Grants team in January and it will be officially submitted before 7th February 2022. A user survey is being prepared and will be circulated for additional feedback and to help understand more of volunteer expectations in the next couple of weeks.

Please have a browse through the draft and comments are welcome on the talk page, especially for things that are worth adding to the proposal and corrections. If you know of a potential "hub" team, please do discuss it. Earlier possible partners and self-organized local hubs may want to express their support early on. Anonymized comments are welcome, just get in touch by email.

If you are interested in supporting the conference with presentations, training events, inviting speakers, helping with registration or being on the committee team, please get in contact as mentioned at the bottom of the proposal. Representation in the team and in the conference of non-English speaking and emerging communities is especially encouraged!

--QW22 (talk) 19:48, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Call for candidates - January 2022

Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The main role of the AffCom is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and update the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees as well as advise them on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

The committee consists of five to fifteen members, selected at least once every year, to serve two-year terms.

Being a part of the AffCom requires communication with volunteers all over the world, negotiating skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to understand legal texts. We look for a mix of different skill sets in our members.

Responsibilities

• Availability of up to 5-8 hours per month

• Participate in monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings

• Commitment to carry out assigned tasks in a given time.

• Facilitate and support communications

• Affiliate Support and growth

Required and Recommended Abilities, Skills, Knowledge for Affiliations Committee Members

Strong interpersonal relationship among members of the committee and also with the Wikimedia community members. Across all committee members, there are additional relevant skills as well as requirements which help to support the committee and its sustainability which include both required and relevant general skills

Required

• Fluency in English
• Availability of up to 5 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly one and two-hour voice/video meetings.
• Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.
• Strong track record of effective collaboration
• International orientation

Relevant for all members

• Public Communications (English writing and speaking skills)
• Skills in other languages are a major plus.
• Understanding of the structure and work of affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Documentation practices
• Interviewing experience
• Experience with, or in, an active affiliate is a major plus.
• Teamwork: Project and people management skills to coordinate and collaborate with different parties on a shared plan and see it through to completion.
• Problem-Solving: Ability to evaluate various solutions, consider multiple interests and points of view, revisit unresolved issues, seek compromise and work and communicate across languages and cultures.

Given the expectations for maintaining the course in 2022 and preparing for potential 2022 transitions as part of the Movement Strategy implementation process, it is important that we are also clear about two different skill sets critical to committee support at this time. The first skillset is oriented to understanding affiliate dynamics and organizational development patterns to successfully process affiliate applications for recognition; the other is oriented to conflict prevention and intervention support for affiliates in conflict.

Relevant to Affiliate Recognitions

• Administration & Attention to detail
• Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
• Awareness of the affiliates ecosystem and models and understanding of community building, organizational development, and group dynamics

Relevant to Conflict Prevention & Intervention

• Communication skills for active listening, clear instruction and turn-taking.
• Stress Management skills for maintaining patience and positivity
• Emotional intelligence to maintain awareness of emotions of oneself and others to practice empathy, impartiality, and mutual respect.
• Facilitation, negotiation, and mediation skills to guide diverse individuals and groups toward cooperation.
• Ability to work within a team

Do you have relevant skills and interest to support movement affiliates?

We are looking for people who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee members will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2022 member selection process will include a public review and comment period and a self-assessment survey for candidates to share their skills and their experience. This self-assessment information will help the committee to identify the skill sets relevant and supportive to our affiliate support processes. We invite you to apply for membership to the committee and join us in supporting the affiliates. The data shared in the self-assessment will only be made available to the committee and the relevant staff support. The nomination, candidate Q&A, and endorsements will still take place posted on Meta for public review at January 2022 page. Here the global community is welcome to provide comments and feedback about each candidate.

Once the nomination window closes 31 January 2022, the sitting members who are not candidates for re-election in this cycle will deliberate and then vote, taking into account all inputs from the meta page, self-assessment, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and committee member discussion.

A final decision will be made in late-February 2022, with new members to be notified for onboarding in February.

How to apply

If you are interested in joining the committee, please:

Step 1. Post your application on the nomination page by 31 January 2022. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant education, experience, abilities, skills, knowledge, availability, and motivation for joining the committee.

Step 2. Complete the self-assessment survey between January 1, 2021 and January 31, 2021.

• The privacy statement that applies to the survey can be found here.
• NOTE: The survey will take 15 mins. Please do not close your browser. If you need a break, you are advised to keep the browser open. In case of losing the link, please reach out to mkaur-ctrwikimedia.org
• This survey must be completed before Steps 3 & 4, as it will provide more background as to the type of work and expectations of members of AffCom.

Step 3. Answers the following questions:

• NOTE: Questions 1-3 are required for all candidates.

• Question 4 & 5 should be answered by those interested in joining the Recognitions subcommittee.
• Question 6 & 7 should be answered by those interested in joining the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee.
• If you are willing to nominate yourself for both subcommittees, answer all questions.

1. What roles have you served across any Wikimedia projects and affiliates that you think have prepared you for this role?
2. AffCom members need to manage time, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and diverse situations across the global movement. How do you envision managing these?
3. Members of AffCom serve on one of two subcommittees: Recognitions OR Conflicts Intervention. Which one of these are you most interested in serving on?
4. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think makes a group of Wikimedians ready to function together as an affiliate?
5. If you are interested in serving on the Recognitions subcommittee, what do you think are the benefits and responsibilities of functioning as formal affiliates?
6. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe your experience working with conflicts resolution.
7. If you are interested in serving on the Conflicts Intervention subcommittee, please describe how you have helped build consensus and support diversity.

Step 4. Once you have completed the above, send an email announcing your application to affcomwikimedia.org before the application deadline.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and/or the committee as a whole. We are happy to chat or have a webinar call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

--FULBERT (talk) 13:18, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Call for advisors - January 2022

Translations are available.

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is looking for new members!

The Affiliations Committee – the committee responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing Wikimedia Chapters, Thematic Organizations, and User Groups – is looking for advisors!

The main role of the Affiliations Committee is to guide groups of volunteers that are interested in forming Wikimedia affiliates. We review applications from new groups, answer questions and provide advice about the different Wikimedia affiliation models and processes, review affiliate bylaws for compliance with requirements and best practices, and advise the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees on issues connected to chapters, thematic organizations and Wikimedia user groups.

We are looking for advisors who are excited by the challenge of empowering volunteers to get organized and form communities that further our mission around the world. In exchange, committee advisors selected will gain the experience of supporting their world-wide colleagues to develop their communities as well as personal development in guiding organizational development, facilitating affiliate partnerships, and professional communications.

AffCom advisors can engage with the committee in a variety of capacities:

Consultant

Individuals with extensive movement experience can be engaged as Consultants for specific cases or initiatives by AffCom.

Trainer

Individuals with specific expertise may be engaged for short-term projects for training AffCom or Affiliates. They might also lead the Capacity Building initiatives for AffCom or affiliates.

Observer

AffCom can request specific or all advisors to act as an observer in different cases to ensure neutrality & compliance with guidelines.

AffCom Support

Development of Policies: While advisors cannot create legally binding policies for the committee, they can help create policies that provide direction and support for the committee.

Planning and Implementing Community Relations: The advisors are long-term wikimedians & also include influential community leaders who can be effective at spreading the word about initiatives and services.

Supporting Subcommittees: The advisors can support subcommittees that have assigned tasks in specific areas.

Other Tasks: Advisors can be engaged to address a specific need. Such engagements are usually short-lived and are disbanded as soon as their specific goals are met.

Key skills

We look for a healthy mix of different skill sets in our advisors, including the following key skills and experience:

1. Strong understanding of the structure and work of Wikimedia affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation.
2. Readiness to participate in political discussions on the role and future of affiliates, models of affiliation, and similar topics.
3. Availability of up to 2 hours per week, and the time to participate in a monthly two-hour voice/video meeting
4. International orientation and ability to work and communicate with other languages and cultures.
5. Knowledge of different legal systems and experience in community building and organizing are a plus.
6. Fluency in English is required; skills in other languages are a major plus.
7. Experience with or in an active Wikimedia affiliate is a major plus.
8. Strong track record of effective collaboration (such as evidenced skills at facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and so forth) is a major plus.
9. Willingness to use one's real name in committee activities (including contacts with current and potential affiliates) when appropriate.

Selection process

As a reflection of our commitment to openness, transparency, and bilateral engagement with the Wikimedia community, the 2022 advisors selection process will include a public review and comment period. All applications must be posted on Meta between January 01 and January 31, 2022 at Affiliations Committee/Advisors/2022, and the community will be invited to provide comments and feedback about each candidate. At the end of the nomination period, the applications will be voted on by the members of the committee, taking into account comments put forward by the committee's members, advisors, Wikimedia Foundation staff and board liaisons, and the community. A final decision will be made in February 2022, with new advisors expected to begin later that month.

How to apply

If you are interested in advising the committee, please submit your candidacy on Affiliations Committee/Advisors/2022 between January 01 to January 31, 2022. Your application must include the following information:

1. Your full name and Wikimedia username
2. A statement describing your relevant experience, skills, and motivation for joining the committee as an advisor.
3. The advisor role you would like to serve
4. Answers to the following three questions:
   1. How do you think affiliates work best together to partner on effective projects and initiatives?
   2. What do you see as the role of affiliates in the Wikimedia movement in the next three years?
   3. What do you feel you will bring as an advisor to the committee that makes you a uniquely qualified candidate?

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the committee. We are happy to chat or have a phone call with anyone about our work if this helps them decide to apply. Please distribute this call among your networks, and do apply if you are interested!

On behalf of the committee,

--FULBERT (talk) 13:17, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Queering Wikipedia 2022 user survey

QW2022 (Queering Wikipedia) is a global conference focused on LGBTQ+ communities and our representation on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects in all languages.

If you are a Wikimedian and LGBTQ+ or a committed ally, please help shape the proposal by providing feedback on what the priorities should be, and how the event should run. You can give anonymous feedback through the survey link below, or by copying the questions and emailing in your responses in plain text.

• Google Form
• QW2022/Survey survey questions

For a preview of the proposal, add your support, ask questions or even volunteer to join in and make it a success, see:

• QW2022/Proposal
• QW2022/Volunteer

Visit LGBT to find out more about the Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group and the different ways of talking with fellow LGBTQ+ volunteers.

Different words and acronyms are used for communities within the rainbow of sexualities and gender identities/expressions (e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, non-binary, two-spirit, third gender, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQQ2IA*, QUILTBAG, SOGI). "Queer" is used by us to represent all members of these communities and work toward solidarity for those affected by related discrimination.

Thank you! QW2022 proposal team –QW22 (talk) 11:24, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

Movement Strategy Implementation Grants

Hello there!

The Movement Strategy and Governance team wishes you a good start of the new 2022!

As we begin this year, we look forward to seeing more collaboration, increased support and connection between communities and affiliates. We would like to use this chance to share some information on the Movement Strategy Implementation Grants that aim to support volunteers and affiliates looking to help in implementing the Movement Strategy Initiatives within their communities.

These grants support big and small projects that aim to take the current state of an initiative and push it one step forward. Apply for a grant to implement a Movement Strategy initiative with a budget up to $25,000.

We understand that ideas flow at their own pace, so Movement Strategy Implementation Grants are designed to be flexible with no set deadline. Your applications are welcome at any time. Applications received after the 15th of each month will be reviewed in the following month.

Get in touch with us if you would like to discuss your project proposal or if you need more information about the program. The Movement Strategy and Governance team is happy to host conversations regarding these grants. Conversations may help answer your questions, develop your ideas, and connect with other communities with similar interests.

Please visit this meta page to look at some suggested examples, and you are welcome to join the “MS – Grants Community of Practice” group on Telegram!

Best regards,

Movement Strategy and Governance team

AAkhmedova (WMF) (talk) 12:22, 6 January 2022 (UTC)

Presentation of the More Theory of History Project on the Wiki

Dear colleagues,

I send this email to introduce ourselves and invite Wikimedia LGBT+ to support the Projeto Mais Teoria da História na Wiki (Project More Theory of History on the Wiki)! Since 2018, our team has been developing entries and training users in Theory of History in order to increase the participation of university students in Wikimedia Foundation's projects in Portuguese. Our previous experience, in the Project Theory of History on Wikipedia, based in Brazil, made clear the desire of the university public to act in public spaces for wide audiences, such as the Wikimedia projects, as can be seen in the video experience report of the participants.

In order to understand and overcome the challenges to achieve this goal, we wish to prepare a fertile soil to host even the most sensitive seed while helping to expand the sense of community among wiki users. In this sense, we would like to establish a relationship of reliability and partnership with groups that contribute to the development of our vision, bringing their experiences and strategies to build something that will certainly generate solid fruits for the entire community.

In our annual activities, we have planned four months with a special focus on editing entries and images related to women, the LGBTQIAP+ community, indigenous and people of color, as part of the objective of encouraging the editing of marginalized subjects in the Theory of History. Our intention is to expand and improve the coverage of these themes on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata and Wikiquote through moments of empowerment and exchange with researchers, activists, and interested parties in four specific monthly events, which coincide with the international or Brazilian dates of awareness of these themes.

Parallel to these thematic events there will be two wikicontests that will also cover Wikipedia, Commons, Wikidata and Wikiquote to keep participants engaged and active in their contributions to Wikimedia projects. The first of them will be between the months of April and July and the second one will be between September and December.

It is essential for us to work in harmony to improve the tools for the dissemination of free and up to date knowledge as well as strengthen ties between the entire Wikipedian community. In this sense, we think that Wikimedia LGBT+ user group has a lot to teach us about effective ways to involve the LGBT+ community in the activities we are proposing by sharing your experiences with us. Therefore, we would like to have your support in disseminating the Project, sharing experiences and bringing suggestions that you deem relevant. Likewise, we invite your supporters interested in editing in Wikipedia Portuguese edition to participate in our activities, especially during June 2022, which will focus on the LGBTQIAP+ theme.

We could arrange a virtual meeting to talk more about your support for the Project More Theory of History on Wiki, if you think it would be of some help. We are grateful for the time and promptness of everyone involved and we wish you all a pleasant 2022! --Danielly Campos Dias (talk) 12:04, 14 January 2022 (UTC)

"Bridging LGBT+ Content Gaps Across Wikipedia Language Editions"

• https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/ijidi/article/view/37270/28852

-Another Believer (talk) 16:35, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

• • This is exactly what I’ve been talking about Dronebogus (talk) 04:33, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

Question about the Affiliates' role for the Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections

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Hi All,

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Call for Feedback: Board of Trustees elections so far. The Movement Strategy and Governance team suggested another question was still under discussion. As of today, we announce the last key question:

How should affiliates participate in elections?

Affiliates are an important part of the Wikimedia movement. Two seats of the Board of Trustees due to be filled this year were filled in 2019 through the Affiliate-selected Board seats process. A change in the Bylaws removed the distinction between community and affiliate seats. This leaves the important question: How should affiliates be involved in the selection of new seats?

The question is broad in the sense that the answers may refer not just to the two seats mentioned, but also to other, Community- and Affiliate-selected seats. The Board is hoping to find an approach that will both engage the affiliates and give them actual agency, and also optimize the outcomes in terms of selecting people with top skills, experience, diversity, and wide community’s support.

The Board of Trustees is seeking feedback about this question especially, although not solely, from the affiliate community. Everyone is invited to share proposals and join the conversation in the Call for Feedback channels. In addition to collecting online feedback, the Movement Strategy and Governance team will organize several video calls with affiliate members to collect feedback. These calls will be at different times and include Trustees.

Due to the late addition of this third question, the Call will be extended until 16 February.

Join the conversation.

Thank you,

Movement Strategy and Governance

--AAkhmedova (WMF) (talk) 08:48, 21 January 2022 (UTC)

Affiliations Committee (AffCom) Member & Advisor Elections - Final Reminder for January 2022

Translations are available.

This is a friendly reminder that the Affiliations Committee – which is responsible for guiding volunteers in establishing and sustaining Wikimedia chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups – is seeking new members and advisors! The deadline to post your application on the Member nomination page and Advisor nomination is 31 January 2022.

If you know somebody you think may be interested, please share and encourage them to consider applying. If you have any questions please email affcom@wikimedia.org before the application deadline or reach out to any of the current members. Good luck to all the candidates!

On behalf of the committee,
FULBERT (talk) 17:32, 25 January 2022 (UTC)

Initiative to end anti-LGBT+ content on Wikimedia

(Copied from https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Forum#Initiative_to_end_anti-LGBT+_content_on_Wikimedia)

Potential logo

As discussed at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help_Forum#Bigoted_content_on_Wikipedias_you_don%E2%80%99t_speak_the_language_of, users of non-English projects are getting away with spreading anti-LGBT+ rhetoric in direct opposition to both Wikimedia’s UCOC and LGBT+ inclusivity initiative. I propose the creation of a project similar to Climate change portal/climate denial review to work on systematically removing this inappropriate and bigoted content. Dronebogus (talk) 10:15, 7 January 2022 (UTC)

@Dronebogus: Maybe! Can you say more about what you want to happen?

I will through out a few ideas. First consider supporting the Queering Wikipedia late 2022 online conference by taking the survey to plan it. Submit what you want in the conference. If you are interested beyond the survey, join conference planning to the extent of your interest at QW2022.

Look at the recent Wikimedia Foundation staff posts about Movement Strategy Implementation grants. If you have an idea then consider applying for funding at Grants:MSIG/About. You can talk through ideas here or in other wiki LGBT+ forums if you wish.

Here below I posted an incident of LGBT+ content. It is an individual case rather than a broad assessment like that climate change content, but maybe collecting cases could be part of a solution. We get lots of case reports and have trouble logging them right now. I was looking at this ant report wondering what to do with it, but since you asked, I posted it here. What should I do with a report like this?

Thanks for speaking out. Let me know if I can support you in your exploration. Blue Rasberry (talk) 22:20, 8 January 2022 (UTC)

After seeing the climate change review, and as mentioned in my comment on the Help Forum, I've been thinking about doing a similar review or survey of small to medium Wikimedia projects' LGBT+ content for some time. An initiative like the one proposed here by Dronebogus, however, will likely not bring about lasting positive change, as top-down imposing of content policy with a literally-stated English vs. everyone else mindset is simply not the way to affect change on the nuanced landscapes that are Wikimedia projects, or in any social community. We want communities to create and maintain neutral content, not to have some global authority continuously rewriting their articles, assuming that this global authority can even understand the language outside of machine translation.

Working with communities, and remember that there are LGBT contributors in nearly all communities (not just English ones, as you seem to imply), is necessary to achieve lasting positive change in these Wikimedia projects. And yes, in some cases it is local administrators who push the bad content, with next to no opposition. Historically, that has been resolved through local community actions, Meta-Wiki RfCs, or in more severe cases, global community bans and/or WMF bans. In the future, the UCOC will be able to be enforced regarding these editors, hopefully in a more efficient and effective way than the RfC system.

Framing it as a struggle between tolerant English projects and intolerant non-English projects is about the worst possible way to go about this. I'll leave a more detailed reply on your (Dronebogus's) talk page. An effective review, i.e. one that permanently removes bigoted content and replaces it with accurate content, would be a neutral survey of gender and sexuality topics on Wikipedias, enacting change through discussion with local administrators and editors about how to rectify inaccuracies and opinionated content. The climate change review is a great model for this. The end goal, of course, would be to help these communities better moderate content on their articles about LGBT+ subjects.

I had hoped to work on something like this later this year, and I would be happy if other editors would like to get involved, but at least for me I'd like to see how the climate denial review pans out first. I am generally opposed to top-down global actions due to their inability to positively influence change and the inherent difficulty integrating with local project autonomy, hence my idea being a review and series of discussions, rather than what seems to effectively be a global deletion drive (the proposal here), in line with the climate review. Regardless, thank you for your interest in fixing these problems. Best regards, Vermont (talk) 00:19, 9 January 2022 (UTC)

• • @Vermont: I’d like to state that my intent was never to create some kind of imperialistic kangaroo court where anglophone users can act as judge, jury, and executioner to non-anglophones, though I understand that it comes across that way. My idea was actually something more like an outreach organization where multilingual wikimedians can be contacted about problematic content by wikimedians who can’t speak a given language well enough to communicate properly so the former can try to deal with the matter as sensitively as possible. Dronebogus (talk) 13:21, 9 January 2022 (UTC)

    I understand, thank you for clarifying. An organization like that would be quite interesting; a sort of multilingual WikiProject. It would have a bit of a bigger scope than a simple content review, but rolling content reviews could be included within it. If done properly, this could be very helpful and long-term. After we can review the results of the climate review, I'd be happy to help see how this can be done effectively. Vermont (talk) 23:11, 9 January 2022 (UTC)

• I’d also like to add that if administrators on certain projects are frequently using their status to create an anti-LGBT+ chilling effect then that’s not just offensive on ethical grounds but a plain old abuse of power. Dronebogus (talk) 17:44, 11 January 2022 (UTC)

@Dronebogus: Check out this report about that climate change project you suggested for use as a model - en:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2022-01-30/Op-Ed Bluerasberry (talk) 00:39, 31 January 2022 (UTC)

Male-female and pro-gender variants of the site

I wanna inform about the draft Male-female and pro-gender variants of the site in the Community Wishlist Survey 2022. ✍️ Dušan Kreheľ (talk) 13:08, 6 February 2022 (UTC)

@Dušan Kreheľ: I asked a question and gave support. Bluerasberry (talk) 02:27, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

Friendly reminder: Meet the Community Development team

Hello everyone,

This is a friendly reminder that The Community Development team at the Wikimedia Foundation is hosting our first ever community call on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 from 15:00 - 16:00  UTC on Zoom [meeting link]

We want to thank those who have expressed interest in speaking during this call, we had an overwhelming response. Unfortunately we were only able to choose 3 speakers from the community. We will be sending invitations to those who have been selected to participate in the meeting shortly. At this time sign ups for speaking during the call has closed.

To join in the community call:

• To attend the call, please find the link here.
• Please ensure you have zoom downloaded on your personal device prior to the call.  

We are excited to see and hear from you in our first ever Community Development community call!

Thank you,

The Community Development team Cassie Casares (talk) 22:19, 15 February 2022 (UTC)

Sunday February 27 Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network meeting

To dance is to fly.

The Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) is a developing forum for all Wikimedia movement affiliates to share ideas on the Wikimedia 2030 strategy process. It expands on the model of the All-Affiliates Brand Meeting to help lay some of the groundwork for a future Global Council.

We'll focus on strategic and outreach topics of mutual concern to all affiliates including Hubs+Dialogue, Movement Charter, Universal Code of Conduct+Enforcement Voting, Brand, International Women's Day+Gender Gap and WikiForHumanRights campaigns, and other ongoing activities.

This month we are meeting on Sunday February 27, and you are all invited to RSVP here.

(UTC meeting times are 03:00 UTC and 18:00 UTC).----Pharos (talk) 18:05, 23 February 2022 (UTC)

Invitation to Hubs event: Global Conversation on 2022-03-12 at 13:00 UTC

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Hello, please see an invitation from my colleague about an upcoming Global Conversation about Hubs. AAkhmedova (WMF) (talk) 14:01, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

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The Movement Strategy and Governance team of the Wikimedia Foundation would like to invite you to the next event about "Regional and Thematic Hubs". The Wikimedia Movement is in the process of understanding what Regional and Thematic Hubs should be. Our workshop in November was a good start (read the report), but we're not finished yet.

Over the last weeks we conducted about 16 interviews with groups working on establishing a Hub in their context (see Hubs Dialogue). These interviews informed a report that will serve as a foundation for discussion on March 12. The report is planned to be published on March 9.

The event will take place on March 12, 13:00 to 16:00 UTC on Zoom. Interpretation will be provided in French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, and Portuguese. Registration is open, and will close on March 10. Anyone interested in the topic is invited to join us. More information on the event on Meta-wiki.

Best regards,

Kaarel Vaidla
Movement Strategy