Wikimedia UG Georgia/2021-2023 Strategic Plan

2021-2023 Strategic Plan

Tbilisi, Georgia
2020

Who we are

Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia is a user group of the Wikimedia Foundation, an U.S.-based non-profit organization that operates and manages the Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia (Georgian: ვიკიმედიის მომხმარებელთა საქართველოს ჯგუფი) is an officially registered non-profit (non-commercial) legal entity in Georgia representing, which created in 2015 by active members of Wikimedia contributors living in Georgia, who are interested in organizing and participating in outreach activities on a national level.

It aims to promote and participate in the projects offered by the Wikimedia Foundation and to organize the Georgian community. One of its core missions is to aid and encourage people to collect, develop and disseminate knowledge and other educational, cultural and historic content in the public domain or other licenses that allows everyone to freely use the knowledge, and to distribute and modify said content for free. Since August 13, 2019, Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia is an officially registered Non-Entrepreneurial (Non-Commercial) Legal Entity in Georgia.

Vision

Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia shares the vision statement of the Wikimedia Foundation: „Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.“

Mission

The mission of Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia is to aid and encourage Georgians to collect, develop and disseminate knowledge and other educational, cultural and historic content in the public domain or other licenses that allows everyone to freely use the knowledge, and to distribute and modify said content for free. Also, promotion of Knowledge (initiation and stimulation of public interest in Knowledge and in means of creation, development and spreading of Knowledge and access to it), promote access to knowledge and education for all citizens, regardless of their social or other status, to organize such access, assist in the preparation of laws and other normative acts that promote knowledge creation, accumulation, development and dissemination. Our mission and goals are consistent with our organization’s Bylaws.

Values

Accessibility
Collaboration
Community
Diversity
Education
Gender equality
Independence
Transparency
Sharing
Volunteerism

Strategic Plan

This Strategic Plan defines the programs of Wikimedia UG Georgia as divided into five main goals: 1) Content development, 2) Increasing Participation, 3) Community Support and Development, and 4) Partnerships and Promoting Wikimedia. All of these programs are designed to develop Wikimedia projects in Georgian and other Wikimedia languages.

Content Development

One of the main goals of Wikimedia UG Georgia is to increase the content of Wikimedia projects in Georgian (and other) language. To achieve this goal, Wikimedia UG Georgia will hold various contests (Article Contests, Photography Contests, Wikimarathon, Wikicamps) and projects on the Georgian Wikipedia and other Wikipedias. Contests are both international and local.

To achieve this goal, we will:

Conducting and facilitating edit-a-thons and other types of contribution workshops to Wikimedia projects.
Hold local, regional and international contest.
Participate in international contests.
Putting an emphasis on events that aims at closing the gender gap on Wikimedia projects, both in terms of contributors and content.
Supporting pedagogic projects in universities, colleges and schools that include contribution to Wikimedia projects in class.
Providing technical support for the creation and the growth of new Wikimedia projects in Georgian language.
Providing resources to help contributors develop and improve content, such as access to references.
Conducting and facilitating thematic contribution workshops to the Wikimedia projects.
Conducting and enabling photographic events, such as photographic walks, in Georgia for Wikimedia Commons.
Organizing photographic contests, such as Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth for Wikimedia Commons.

Article Contests

The main goal of this program is to increase quality and authoritative content, media files relevance in Wikimedia projects (primarily in Wikipedia, Commons and Wikidata). Supporting initiatives and projects that are aimed at enriching the content of Wikimedia projects is a key model for the implementation and development of free knowledge, which is part of our mission.

Wikimedia UG Georgia will continue to work in this direction in a more thoughtful and moderate way. The organization will continue to hold local and international contests, which already have a traditional character, but the main focus will be on encouraging editors to participate in a less material way.

Enhancing quality of content

It's very important to increase the quality of the content of Wikimedia projects. It's important to improve the quality of targeted articles that are popular in Wikimedia projects, specifically on Wikipedia. Improving the arrangement, structuring, and categorization of information that already exists in projects such as Wikidata and Commons, has a positive effect on the quality of Wikimedia content, so it's important to work in this direction.

Wikimedia UG Georgia will focus and put more effort into training editors who will improve and develop the content of Wikimedia projects. Improving the skills of most editors is the key to developing and improving the content of projects.

Media Contests

Increasing the number of freely licensed Georgia-related content on Wikimedia Commons is one of the important goals of Wikimedia UG Georgia. We will try to attract more volunteers and contributors to such projects with new ideas and approaches. Organizing photographic contests, such as Wiki Loves Monuments and Wiki Loves Earth for Wikimedia Commons will be continued in the coming years in Georgia.

Increasing Participation

A key activity of Wikimedia UG Georgia is to attract new volunteers, editors and people to the initiative of the Wikimedia movement, to develop and improve Wikimedia projects. The increase of the number of participants in Wikimedia projects, primarily in the Georgian language, as well as in other languages of Wikimedia projects, is strategic for us, since the growth of the Wikimedia content and the quality of the content created depend on the number of participants.

We seek to different groups and individuals, including under-represented in our community by supporting and organising trainings aimed at increasing participation in the Wikimedia movement. It's important that when the community grows, attention is paid to the diversity of the community, therefore Wikimedia UG Georgia will pursue a special policy to increase the diversity in the community. Wikimedia UG Georgia will also look for opportunities to find opportunities to increase participation and improve the climate for newbies in Wikimedia projects.

To achieve this goal, Wikimedia UG Georgia will carry out various projects using its experience and the experience of other Wikimedia affiliates in this area.

To achieve this goal, we will:

Organizing offline and online training sessions to attract new editors to Wikipedia and its sister projects.
Using contemporary online technologies to teach the general public how to edit Wikipedia.
Integration editing Wikipedia in education.
Cooperation with state, scientific, cultural, and educational institutions to increase the number of people involved in editing Wikipedia.
Identifying under-represented groups of users and holding targeted events aimed to engage them in Wikimedia projects.

WikiClubs

The history of the WikiClubs in Georgia has not been long since it started. Officially, the first WikiClub was opened simultaneously in Marneuli and Surami in March 2020. Unofficially, however, the Surami WikiClub is already five years old.

By 2020, it became clear that the existence of WikiClubs would contribute to the development of Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, and it was for this purpose that the Wikimedia UG Georgia decided to open the first WikiClubs. Today, there are already five active WikiClubs in different regions of Georgia.

Observing the WikiClubs clearly showed us that, on the one hand, the teaching process in those schools where WikiClubs were opened became much more active, fun, and interesting. Students were actively involved in the work of WikiClubs as well as in the learning process. They learned to write the text in the encyclopedic style, and to correct it grammatically. After the students completely mastered Wiki technologies, they were given a wide field. The students of the WikiClubs wrote articles on various topics, participated in contests organized on by Wikimedia UG Georgia, and won prizes. On the other hand, WikiClubs increased the content of Georgian Wikipedia. New articles were written, or existing articles were edited, thus the quality of Wikipedia increased, and the Georgian Wikipedia developed. Members of WikiClubs created and added new items to Wikidata.

WikiCamps

Our experience with past projects tells us that one of the best ways to attract participants to the Wikimedia project is to conduct WikiCamps. We held such a WikiCamp in 2019, and we think this is an important factor in the development of the movement should be continued, both at the local level and in the regional context.

Over the past two years, WikiCamps has proven effective in attracting new contributors to Wikimedia projects as well as refining the skills of existing contributors. WikiCamp participants gain enough knowledge, which they then share with other contributors and also effectively use in their daily work on projects. This proves the effectiveness and correctness of the course, which we will continue in the future.

Training sessions

Wikimedia UG Georgia will conduct open training courses and workshops for all interested parties who want to contribute to the development of Wikimedia projects in Georgian. Trainings and workshops will be held both online (using remote channels) and in person.

Over the past years, it has become clear that such sessions attract people's interest, which helps us attract new contributors to Wikimedia projects. This helps us to increase and improve the quality of content in our projects.

Community Support and Development

Community development, support and preservation of community sustainability is one of the most important goals of Wikimedia UG Georgia. Self-organized community of Wikimedia in Georgia continues to develop and Wikimedia UG Georgia helps them in their development and sustainable existence. This direction has long been part of the Organization's programmatic activities, and we will continue to use the proven ways of working with the WikiCommunity.

Promoting, popularization and outreach of Wikimedia and Wikimedia projects is very important for Wikimedia UG Georgia and is an important aspect of the work of affiliation, since in Georgia Wikimedia and Wikipedia projects are not very popular and people know little about it.

To achieve this goal, Wikimedia UG Georgia will carry out various projects using its experience and the experience of other Wikimedia affiliates in this area.

To achieve this goal, we will:

We will hold open meetings with the public and introduce them to the Wikimedia movement.
Supporting participation of community representatives in international Wikimedia events for sharing experience and acquiring skills.
We will to organizing regional and local meetups to bring contributors and volunteers together and promote the growth of local community groups.
We will help the members of Wikimedia UG Georgia to secure grants (individual) from the Wikimedia Foundation to execute their own projects.
Highlighting high quality work of Georgian contributors on the UG website, blog and social media.
We will raise awareness of Wikimedia projects in educational institutions in Georgia.
Holding events for sharing experience between editors.
Organizing hackathons and other events for the development of technical skill for Wikimedia projects.

Georgian WikiConference

The Georgian WikiConference and the Annual General Meeting are two main annual community events. The first such meeting was held in December 2018. Besides this, Wikimedia UG Georgia will hold annual General Meetings with the participation of all members of our organization to address important issues of our organization.

Community Events

Organizing in-person meet-ups is important for both UG-GE members and the whole WikiCommunity in Georgia. They allow to enhance online cooperation, boost useful networking connections among volunteers, and facilitate knowledge sharing in the format of presentations, discussions, and personal meetings. Bringing volunteers together is especially crucial for community development in Georgia because of the geographical vastness of our country. Organizing conferences and other regional events also help boost and increase local communities.

Scholarships

Providing scholarships for international events is an important part of community and organizational development and the promotion of knowledge sharing. Attending conferences and other events provides members of the local community with an opportunity to build and strengthen connections, gain new knowledge, and share it through their reports, notes, articles, photos, and social media posts. Since it is difficult for economic reasons for most Georgian citizens to afford expensive international travel, UG-GE scholarships are especially important to the community.

Partnerships and Promoting Wikimedia

Wikimedia UG Georgia began to actively cooperate with GLAM, Universities and various educational institutions and will continue to develop these ties and network of cooperation. We are already cooperating with different schools and together with them we want to develop a network of WikiClubs, we also cooperate with one of the leading universities in Georgia and with museums and libraries. Our cooperation is aimed at attracting new volunteers to Wikimedia projects and creating new content in them (the main focus is on Wikipedia, Commons and Wikidata).

Educational institutions are the main source of volunteers for Wikimedia projects in Georgia, therefore, cooperation with them is a strategic direction for us. At the same time, there are problems in educational institutions, in particular universities, where the stereotype exists that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information and there is a Wikipedia anti-PR, we will try to communicate to them and teach them how Wikimedia projects work and what benefits we can get from them.

Our organization conducts and will conduct trainings and workshops for employees and stakeholders from GLAM, Universities and various educational institutions, so that subsequently staff themselves can independently work in Wikimedia projects.

Wikimedia UG Georgia is actively cooperating and will continue to cooperate with government agencies to develop and popularize projects and the Wikimedia movement locally in Georgia. State structures such as the Ministry of Education and others are strategic organizations in the development of Wikimedia projects in Georgia, as well as in the development and growth of the Wikimedia Movement locally in Georgia.

To achieve this goal, we will:

Developing the relationship with GLAM in Georgia.
Helping libraries and archives to integrate Wikimedia projects within their business and processes.
Conducting and enabling training sessions (physical or online) to contribute to Wikimedia projects.
Develop a network of WikiClubs.
Developing the Organization's communication strategy.

Partnership with Wikimedia and Non-Wikimedia organizations

Wikimedia UG Georgia will continue to be an active affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation and part of the global Wikimedia movement. It will keep building on its relationship with Wikimedia UG Azerbaijan, Wikimedia UG Turkey, Wikimedia Russia and seek other relationships with other chapters, UG's and thematic organizations in order to share lessons learned and resources, and to conduct projects in partnerships. The UG aims at increasing the involvement of Georgians in the Wikimedia movement.

Wikimedia UG Georgia in order to achieve its goal in cooperation with other Wikimedia Foundation affiliations, it will conduct joint projects with these organizations that will strengthen and develop bilateral relations, which in turn will contribute to the development of Wikimedia projects.

Wikimedia UG Georgia will collaborate with non-Wikimedia organizations to attract volunteers and editors to Wikimedia projects, as well as to integrate different ethnic groups into the Georgian Wikicommunity, since diversity in movement and in Wikimedia projects in Georgian language is very important for us. We have already begun work in this area and have concluded a memorandum with a specific organization.

We will also cooperate with government agencies to achieve our goals, which are primarily aimed at developing Wikimedia projects in Georgia. These structures will be the Ministry of Education, Sports, etc.

To achieve this goal, we will:

Collaborate with other WM affiliations and Non-Wikimedia organizations.
Carry out joint projects with other Wikimedia affiliations and Non-Wikimedia organizations.
Hold meetings, trainings and workshops with Wikimedia and Non-Wikimedia organizations.

Outreach

An important part of our work will be the promotion of Wikimedia projects using media (Social, Online media and etc.). To achieve this, we will use social media as well as Wikimedia UG Georgia blogs.

We are actively working with various organizations and government agencies to pass the appropriate laws for freedom of panorama and in the coming years we will continue to work in this direction.

Organizational development

One of the main goals of Wikimedia UG Georgia remains organizational development towards becoming the official chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in Georgia. We will work actively to achieve this goal, including working to diversify sources of income and develop human potential, as well as by increasing the number of projects and programs.

Map of risks

Low-impact	Low-impact, likely	High-impact, unlikely	High-impact, likely
The Organization's inability to adapt to significant changes in the environment		Political instability in Georgia	Significant decline in volunteer culture in Georgia
		Collapse of the financial (banking) system	Likely restrictions due to the covid-19 pandemic
		Attacks on the country and possible martial law in the state	Military conflict in Caucasus