Wikimedia 2030/Transition/Reports/Advocacy and GLAM/December 2020/Group B Summary

The following report is part of the Advocacy and GLAM event report, and presents key points from the discussions in the second breakout room: Group B - Initiative 29: Enhance communication and collaboration capacity with partners.

Group B video presentation by Rupika - 12 December 2020

Discussed questions

• Main question:
  • What do we want to achieve in 18 months?
• Supporting question:
  • What are the immediate steps we need to take?

Discussion Details

• Initiative description: Coordinate Across Stakeholders
• Facilitator: Rupika
• Notetaker: Lucy
• Participants: Lucy Patterson, Angie Cervellera, Agustin Pena, Patricia Diaz, Andrew Lee, Rajeeb Dutta, Jakub Holzer, Butch Bustria, Kekeletso, Amarjeet Kaur

Key Discussion Points

Summarized Points

• Need to create more internal and external communication protocol for GLAM partners, so it would not be focussed internally on behalf of the movement. As a result, GLAM partners would have a more accessible platform to do outreach.
  • In addition it would be good to have regional partners who could support the work. Collaborators that exist in partner organizations.
• Improvising regarding the challenges that cultural institutions have. How do we share stories needs to be figured out.
• Better sharing of resources within the movement. Associations working with GLAM partners as well as technical partnerships (Wikidata, WIkibase) - how do we make it usable in different regions?
• In the context of ongoing pandemic - how can we bring about the innovation when it comes to work with partners. Innovating the challenge of social distance and using it for innovation in collaboration.
• Creating better communications that are iterating in nature. Curatorial efforts and repositories shared with different movement partners.
  • It might be possible to start GLAM-wiki meetings bi-monthly or bi-weekly that would be a platform to share resources and work.

The communication regarding these meetings need to be made accessible to the broader movement.

Detailed Notes

• Not only advocacy for GLAM outside our movement, but also advocacy for GLAM inside our movement, wrt “paid editing”. There is some push-back from the community. Need better statement of principles for how GLAM wiki work works. Eg GLAM wiki charter).
• Develop and use community protocols (best practice) for communicating with institutions
  • eg who should you reach out to in the institution.
• As a new person to the movement - communications are like a labyrinth - nothing is central. This is not a negative because it allows many to be part of the conversation. It reflects when you reach out from the movement, eg to contact GLAMs - hard to communicate what wikimedia is. Hard to establish official communication. Similar problem to resources for newcomers. What can we do for the next 18 months? Be more unified/close in our communication.
• Glams trying to contact with WMF - it is hard for them to understand how they can communicate with us. How we can simplify the cultural institutions can connect with wikimedia movement. In terms of equity, small institutions have harder time reaching out as opposed to big institutions as they don't have resources to hire wikimedian in residence? Making it easy to understand how glam can work with wikimedia? How we work with glam institutions can work - impacts of paid editing.
• Challenges to reach cultural institutions because they already have their strategies and they don’t need us, or they are afraid of perceived risks of opening content. How can we tell the stories of GLAM work and contributions in our movement? We need to figure out our priorities first.
• Agrees that it’s hard to know the best ways to contact institutions - so far it’s us trying to contact them, rather than them trying to contact us. How can we change this? Improve the websites? Do other people around the movement have different experiences?
• The pandemic makes it hard to get out and make contact with GLAMs - how is everyone dealing with that? What do we need to help us make partnerships? Case studies? Do we convert the curator into a Wikimedian? How do we reach young people? (sorry - missed the details here) What kind of meetups or meetings might we need to strengthen collaboration in the movement, maybe bi-monthly meetups?
• As a newcomer sounds like making partnerships and collaborations with GLAMs sounds like a good strategy
• We need to improve internal communications - get together once a month or week and share some of the work we’ve been doing. At the same time, think about how we can bring innovation about content or formats to improve GLAM work. How can we create an inverse relationship with the GLAM sector… to the point where the partners reach out to the wikimedia movement for collaboration. But what do you think? Shared communication protocols? Improving our communication so that GLAMs can understand how they can collaborate with us? What they can do? How can we do this globally so that there is equity in representation of global cultures. Not all GLAMs can afford to hire WiRs.
• When coordinating with archives and museums, some artefacts and collections are already destroyed during the world war, and some of the information is stord overseas - how can we reconnect that? -> transcontinental partnerships
• Regular meetings to share is super important. We can do this online (not just because of the pandemic) - distance is shorter now. More support from WMF to connect with institutions, eg to translate the information about GLAM collaborations from other parts of the movement, eg UNESCO collabs, to support local initiatives to build GLAM partnerships.
• Centralisation of resources (and translation) to facilitate regional/local partnership-making. This is very good feedback. I have been working in GLAM for the last 3 yrs. Curious about how experimentation / innovate for free knowledge connects here. Partnerships is something not yet very well centralised.
• Wikidata, Wikibase developement by software team - they are documenting their partnership process (currently more focussed on wikibase)

Inspired by WMUK who share their documentation. We need to share the internal knowledge - case studies - what collaboration would look like - eg how to contribute data - institutions need to know the details of what it would mean to collaborate with wikimedia for their planning needs to be there for future - what it means to collaborate - to build partnerships - Wikidata resources - glam and culture institutions