User:ASedrati (WMF)/Reports/Morocco UG Strategy Conversation 2020

Date and location edit

8 February 2020, Rabat, Morocco.
Duration: 14.00 - 18.00

Participant List edit

What happened edit

Session Presentation.

The Strategy Salon 2020 organized in Rabat was a unique occasion to gather members of Wikimedia MA User Group, as it covered travel and accommodation costs for active Wikimedians coming from different regions of the Kingdom. Given this context, the Session started by a strategic discussion and ended by an internal User Group meeting. 9 people came to discuss the 13 recommendations that are open for community conversation so that they could give their input about them. All recommendations were discussed one by one, and below is the summary of the discussions.

Summary of the discussion points edit

General Comments on the process edit

“As affiliate members and online contributors, we feel that the process is not transparent and many decisions are taken behind closed doors. Many of us are outside the loop and are solicited only for feedback by liaisons who go then and come back only to ask for new feedback. The Board of trustees is not transparent either and we do not know how their vote and choice will happen, based on which criteria, because they do not share this with us, the Wikimedia Affiliates.”

Recommendation 1 - Promote Sustainability and Resilience edit

Suggestions for Improvement

There should be a clear mention that editing will never be paid. However, we must have someone hired for daily administrative work such as organization of events.

For

Most participants endorse hiring local employees by WMF.

Against

One participant has strong opinions against hiring local staff, as it encourages bureaucracy and careerism and will prevent true wikimedians from doing their volunteer work, as they will fight on getting the paid jobs.

Recommendation 2 - Create Cultural Change for Inclusive Communities edit

Suggestions for Improvement

Code of Conduct – Each editing community should have their own codes and rules.
Each community has their own codes as they have their own tradition and culture.
What is the new culture? Will the new culture be fair and independent? What is common between us?

Recommendation 3 - Improve User Experience edit

For

Widely supported end endorsed by the community

Recommendation 4 - Provide for Safety and Security edit

Suggestions for Improvement

WMF should have legal representation in every country of the world.

For

Mostly supported by the participants, except the VPN point as it can be used for vandalism.

Against

One user was against the recommendation as “Each user shall be responsible for their own safety as a citizen, and to respect their own local laws even if they live in dictatorships. We are not responsible for democratizing the world.”

Recommendation 5 - Ensure Equity in Decision-making edit

For

Participants strongly endorse the recommendation, and think that the global governance body is a very good idea.

Against

One member was against the recommendation, because “Each Wikipedia and each community have what it deserves.”

Recommendation 6 - Foster and Develop Distributed Leadership edit

For

Supported by the participants without further comments.

Recommendation 7 - Invest in Skills Development edit

For

Widely endorsed and supported.

Recommendation 8 - Manage Internal Knowledge edit

For

Supported by all participants, stressing that “In many projects work is duplicated, we need to have more details and information from earlier projects”

Recommendation 9 - Coordinate Across Stakeholders edit

Not commented by the members

Recommendation 10 - Prioritize Topics for Impact edit

Against

Mostly disagreed by the members. Wikipedians should be free and should be allocated the resources no matter what they decide to write about. Who will decide the priorities and what is their legitimacy?

Recommendation 11 - Innovate in Free Knowledge edit

For

Mostly supported by the participants, especially Oral knowledge matters.

Against

One member mentions that it is fair that the western culture has created and shaped an encyclopedia, and that we have to abide by that.”If a culture is to be extinct, it is part of the course of nature, we cannot prevent that”.

Recommendation 12 - Evaluate, Iterate and Adapt edit

For

Supported by the participants without further comments.

Recommendation 13 - Plan Infrastructure Scalability edit

Suggestions for Improvement

Provide more technical tools ready for incubator and new languages for example template for templates.

For

Supported by the participants without further comments.