| Account
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ghilt (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA)
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| Candidate details
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- Languages: en, de, fr, it
- Region: NWE
- Active wikis: de (home wiki), en, fr, it, commons, wikidata
- Wikimedian since: 2011
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| Selected home wiki
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dewiki
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| Type of seat (regional; community-at-large; or both) (division of regional seats)
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regional, NWE or community-at-large
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| Candidate Introduction
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| Introductory statement / Application summary (maximum 200 words): Why are you running for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee? What would you contribute?
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Hi, i'm ghilt and i would like to be a part of this new committee! So far, i've been an administrator in de.wp and a member of the german language arbitration committee (for everybody writing in German) since 2014 and i still believe wikipedia is the best website on the internet. And i'd like to help set up the U4C.
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| Please describe your Wikimedia experience (such as contributions to the Wikimedia projects, memberships in Wikimedia organizations or affiliates, experience working on conduct issues in your community, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation in building Wikimedia policies).
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Usually, i improve and write articles on almost any topic in natural sciences and on mechanical watches. By training, i have a PhD in biochemistry. Besides that, i am a co-organiser of wikipedian meetings in Berlin, Germany, and i'm a non-staff member of WMDE (Wikimedia Germany has a paying membership structure with roughly 100,000 members/subscribers). Over the years, i've visited two Wikimanias (Esino Lario and Stockholm). And i'm the main author of the article conflict in English and German.
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| Professional Experience, Skills and Education
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| Please briefly describe 3 situations that show how you worked on, or advised others on, a complex conduct or policy issue. How did you work with others to address the situations?
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Retrospecting almost 10 years at the german language arbcom, there have been quite a few political, religious, societal and even criminal issues. And i have completed four trainings in conflict analysis and management. Depending on the level of escalation of a conflict and the conflict behaviour of the involved, there are different best practices - starting at mediation and finding an agreement and ending at calling the police. For example, in very escalated conflicts, the conflict modes on both sides of the conflict are mainly competitive ones (i.e. only one can win - me!). This makes it improbable to induce a collaborative conflict mode on both sides and limits the options to regulating the conflict. But inside the arbcom, we always collaborate and find a consensus.
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| Leadership Experience
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| Can you describe a policy, on wiki or off, that you helped to create or change? What did you learn from this experience?
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On de.wp, i've created polls and RfCs and helped to create them. Also, there have been several contacts with WMF Trust & Safety and some with WMF Legal. Currently, i'm in a team to revise the safety policy of WMDE for events taking place in real life. Working together trains one's insights into group dynamics, preferred conflict approaches and how to reach a goal with a group. Also, one learns to detect framing, omission and other forms of manipulation in policies and RfCs better, which are trust-reducing conflict approaches.
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| How have you been able to empower people to make their voices heard?
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Being administrator and arbcom member means protecting victims, minimising collateral damages and providing a safe environment for people so that being a part of this is/becomes/stays one's favourite hobby.
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| Sometimes in professional situations, there are personality conflicts. Explain how you remain productive even with personality conflicts.
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The relevant literature on this topic has one of two basic strategies: authors like Thomas & Kilmann define 5 conflict modes with different optimal approaches for different situations, whereas authors like Michael Lund or Friedrich Glasl define strategies depending on the escalation level. Besides that, the harvard concept (see 'Getting to Yes'), non-violent communication and I-messages alternating with active listening help to improve communication and facilitate a switch from competing to collaborating conflict modes. Personally, i think the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument is more differentiated and realistic. In the TKI personality test, my default conflict strategy is collaborating, followed by competing, followed by compromising. Even though i meddle with the most escalated conflicts regularly, i still have never been (b)locked. In my job, i also first try to find a mutual agreement for the benefit of me and the other side.
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| Strategic Thinking
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| In your opinion, how can the U4C be a positive influence in the Wikimedia movement?
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The U4C has the potential of being a community body to implement the framework for the boundaries of social interactions in our movement. And it is an improvement to previously existing SOPs i have seen over the years. Also, i like community self-governance.
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| How would you help the Universal Code of Conduct develop and improve over time?
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Hmm, i guess, we will have to put the UCoC to an on-road-test and see where theory and practice differ. And also, which changes may be necessary over time (they are a-changin').
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