Affiliations Committee/Candidates/2024/Soni

Soni (Soni)

Soni (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA)

Preferred name	Soni
What languages do you speak, and at what fluency level? (Please include your English proficiency.)	English-N Hindi-N Bengali-2
What region(s) of the world do you have experience with, and what kind of experience do you have? (“Experience” can mean you have lived or worked there or are currently living or working there; you’re familiar with the culture and language; etc.)	South Asia
What Wikimedia project(s) do you actively edit? And in what language(s)?	English Wikipedia
What affiliate(s) are you actively involved with? In what capacity are you involved? Do you serve in a leadership role or have you in the past?	I am an individual contributor. I used to be an active member of Wikimedia India when it existed. I would fall under West Bengal Wikimedians User Group and Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group but am not deeply involved in either yet. There does not exist a pan-India user group or hub, or a user group for English Wikipedians in South Asia. I am very interested in the creation of both.
Have you served on any committees (movement-related or otherwise)? And what was your role on the committee(s)?	For WikiConference India 2016, I was involved in the Sponsorship and Program sub teams. I was working with other community members in decision making. For WikiConference India 2025, I worked in the City Selections Group , and will be in the Operations Team and the Core Organising Team. We continue to discuss and plan every aspect of the conference. Outside Wikimedia, I have organised half a dozen national level events during my academics and in my personal capacity. I frequently led teams of upto 50 individuals while we conducted a large scale event. I do not have specific committee experience in the movement, but I consistently collaborate with different teams on consensus based outcomes.
Please describe any experience you have with conflict resolution and/or consensus building.	Over my 12 years in the movement, I've often dealt with conflicts. I approach these situations with respect, set clear expectations, and guide conversations carefully. I've also mentored and stood by many contributors through difficult conversations, offering required support, advice, and institutional knowledge along the way. Over the last few weeks, I have realised the power of effective mass communication, and have been summarising news from across the movement for The Signpost. I have been involved in multiple larger scale consensus building in the Wikimedia movement. The biggest impact I had was helping create the Drafts namespace, which introduced a special space for newcomers to contribute without the pressure of immediate publication. It was eventually adopted by other projects and had tangible impacts on the English Wikipedia over the next few years. I am currently involved in helping reform the English Wikipedia Adminship process. This required a massive project-wide consensus building, and will hopefully significantly improve the administrator experience for the future. We recently held a successful trial election, and continue to test other processes. My approach is built around understanding Wikimedia policies, guidelines and core principles deeply; and translating them in the most clear cut manner to everyone involved. I believe in the transforming power of a well designed process.
In your ideal world, what does the affiliate model and ecosystem look like?	In my ideal world, affiliates do not exist separately and distinctly from the rest of the movement ecosystem. There continues to be missed opportunities and strife caused by insufficient understanding of what affiliates do, as well as how the project communities support the movement. I would involve a much stronger focus on transparency and shared resources. Many affiliates, hubs, and user groups have pages that have not been updated for months; which leaves everyone else unaware of work being done and opportunities that exist. I would emphasise greater connectivity and intermingling between the different groups. Most editors are just not aware of resources already built by others, and how to best amplify their own impact. This would also increase trust between the groups. I would wish to have stronger and clearer channels between the Wikimedia Foundation and all the other groups. There are a lot of teams that are not fully aware of community needs or requirements, which causes wastage of time and energy. Foundation teams could improve sending and receiving communications from all parts of the community, and affiliates are a uniquely valuable resource for that. In my ideal world, we do not need an ‘affiliate ecosystem’ because it’d be deeply integrated with the ‘movement ecosystem’.
In your ideal world, what are AffCom’s roles and responsibilities in relation to the movement and affiliates?	In my ideal world, AffCom is much less involved with the front facing aspects of the movement than the soft power it wields. Recognition and derecognition of affiliate status is important, but far from the most important things we could be doing. Affcom is the single strongest volunteer body with direct access to the Foundation. As WMF continues to proceed with Movement Strategy recommendations, members of Affcom could be instrumental to keep our overall focus in the right direction. Even without official recognition, there are significant resources to be shared and best practices to be learnt for the different regional groups. Affcom could provide significant guidance and facilitate local collaboration regardless of the official status of any such group. AffCom could serve as the first point of contact for various stakeholders in the movement and beyond. With the many different groups, hubs, and affiliates, both insiders and outsiders can get confused about who to approach. Collaborations often involve multiple groups, so it would be helpful to have one clear, volunteer-driven body that is easy to reach and well-connected, cutting through the complexity and red tape. Overall, I’d like AffCom’s role to be much more geared towards supporting the rest of the movement, acting as a force multiplier and bridge for everyone else.
What role within AffCom are you most interested in: advisory or voting member?	Voting member