Learning Patterns Campaign: Let's talk Diversity

This page in a nutshell: Support of creative solutions for the upcoming Inspire Grants Campaign
Help us create a list of tools and knowledge around gender and diversity.

Support future grantees in the Inspire Campaign
Share what you know about Diversity in the Wikimedia movement.
About this initiative
Calendar

Have you preserved your cultural or national history through photo contests and editing events?
Have you worked to enrich a particular language or cultural group on Wikimedia?
Have you studied diversity issues in online communities?
What have you learned about encouraging diversity on Wikimedia?

Add Suggested Problems and Solutions related to Diversity

Multiple ways to contribute!

1. Describe a Problem

Use 3-5 words for the title. Describe what challenges you have, what changes you would like to see.

To add a problem, use the "edit" option to add a problem with wiki markup, use:

==Problem: ENTER PROBLEM TITLE ==

2. Offer a solution

there might be different takes at the same problem. Do you see a challenge you can relate to? What is your possible solution?

To add solutions, use the "edit" option to add a solution with wiki markup, use:

{{Solution|ENTER SOLUTION HERE }}

3. Describe a Problem and Offer a Solution

show others how you tried to solve a specific challenge you had. Submit both a problem and a solution pair.

4. Endorse others

Sign your name under problems or solutions you think are important to vote them up as potential learning patterns—

use the "edit" option to add your endorsements with wiki markup, use:

Type the "#" character, and place your signature

5. Create a Learning Pattern based on a Problem and Solution set

Take a problem and solution set and create a learning pattern based on it.

Problem: Writing for non-native English readers: density and complexity

Sometimes it is hard to know what level of complexity written documentation is and you need to know whether someone with a basic reading ability will understand (User:JAnstee (WMF)).

Yes, this can be tricky for me too --EGalvez (WMF) (talk) 21:22, 10 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: How about using the Hemingway App? (link) -- JAnstee (WMF)

Solution: How about having a white list of terms/phrases to be preferred and a black list of terms/phrases to be avoided?

Solution: Reducing at the minimum the use of colloquial phrases or clarifying. --ProtoplasmaKid (WM-MX) (talk) 19:07, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: en:w:Fry readability formula, en:w:Automated Readability Index, en:w:Flesch–Kincaid readability tests, en:w:Gunning fog index and en:w:Raygor Readability Estimate all seem pretty straight forward to implement in javsscript. It should be pretty easy to integrate such as script into the AfC, DYK and/or other processes. Stuartyeates (talk) 01:55, 4 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Problem: Writing for non-native English readers: idiomatic language

Native speakers may make frequent use of idiomatic language that makes it harder to translate (even mentally translate for one's own understanding) for non-native speakers.

If one makes a conscious effort, proper idioms like "the whole nine yards" or "busman's holiday" are relatively easy to avoid. Much harder to avoid is the idiomatic aspect of a core feature of English -- phrasal verbs, meaning verbs that combine with a preposition or particle to create their actual meaning. Phrasal verbs are often opaque (as well as harder to find in the dictionary!) to non-native speakers. For example, "blow up" may be harder to understand than "explode" or "enlarge"; "repeat" is more understandable than "do over"; "choose" easier than "pick out". Ijon (talk) 01:49, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: consciously avoid idiomatic language, and when you find yourself using an idiom, replace it with a more literal version (in writing), or follow it up (in speech) with a literal re-statement of what you meant. It's hard at first, but experience shows it does become habitual, with time. :) Ijon (talk)

Solution: Even when I try to avoid using idioms, they still show up in my writing. One thing that helps me detect idioms is to translate a sentence from my native language (English) to my second (Spanish) or third (Flemish) language. I am not as good at speaking Spanish or Flemish as I used to be, so if reading the translation is difficult, I know that I need to choose new words to explain myself (in English). --KittyCarmichael (talk) 06:30, 13 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Problem: Talking points for diversity

Sometimes, its hard to know how to talk about diversity to new wikimedians or partners. What resources are out there with data and links that we can use?

Solution: *Mind in Croydon Equal Opportunities Policy, maintaining equal opportunity when serving a community with mental health challenges

Solution: *Volunteer diversity in sports in Australia

Solution: *Volunteering England Themes: Encouraging Diversity

Solution: *"If you're facing internal resistance, get somebody from outside the organisation to talk to the organisation or deliver diversity training. People are far more willing to accept change when it's suggested externally rather than internally. If your organisation's capacity allows it, make sure that meetings, forums, equal opportunities monitoring questions etc are totally confidential, or as confidential/anonymous as possible ...Lots of diversity training is crucial, particularly around the importance of language. People can cause tremendous offence through language without meaning to, and training can address this problem."-- Involving LGBT Volunteers Case Studies, p. 6

Solution: *Involving LGBT Volunteers

Solution: *"Every delegate has the right to experience MUN in his or her own way. They do not have the right, however, to negatively affect the experiences of others. Conference organizers would also do well by remembering this. For every delegate who throws a culturally insensitive remark, there is a member of staff who is allowing this negative environment to fester." From Cultural Insensitivity in Model United Nations: A paradox.

Solution: *Volunteer Caregivers Appreciation Luncheon and Code of Online Conduct

Solution: *Retention of Aboriginal Volunteers

Solution: *Case study on diversifying your volunteer base, an example of training

Solution: *"It is clear that a wide range of interventions are required in disadvantaged communities to address the multi-faceted challenges connected to disadvantage and barriers to volunteering specifically." Interventions may include: investing in civic leaders, offering accreditation, offering short-term opportunities. From Volunteer Now’s Response to the Urban Regeneration and Community Development Policy Framework, p. 8

Solution: *When addressing questions of diversity in an international setting, it may be helpful for staff and volunteers working in organizational development to be familiar with generally accepted best practices in the private sector worldwide. Example: Society for Human Resource Management Diversity Page, a professional organization serving over 60 countries.

Solution: *Urge the The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees to adopt and implement a Diversity and Inclusion Policy, such as these examples: The Prince's Trust Diversity and Inclusion Policy, United Way U.S. National Board of Trustees Statement on Diversity and Inclusion, Healthwatch Worcestershire Diversity and Inclusion Policy

--Djembayz (talk) 15:22, 14 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Problem: What is a good way to promote your cultural heritage?

--EGalvez (WMF) (talk) 18:24, 10 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: Add any solutions here!

Problem: Uncertainty as to what constitutes sexist incivility

According to a thread at the Gender Gap Task Force, there is uncertainty as to what constitutes sexist incivility. --Djembayz (talk) 19:39, 12 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: Get community input and come up with a definition.

--Djembayz (talk) 19:39, 12 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: do a literature search, look for definitions and solution strategies

[1]; [2]; [3]; [4]Slowking4 (talk) 18:39, 4 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: Approach major institutions to find out how they define and handle this – companies like Google and Apple, and universities like Harvard and Oxford, both for staff and students.

Sarah (SV) ^talk 15:57, 10 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Problem: How to handle African American firsts biographies, and history of desegregation in universities

As a followup to Wikipedia:Meetup/DC/African Americans in STEM, I am having my first discussion at Talk:Donald R. Brown regarding biographies about African American firsts in desegregating professional schools. I am not an expert on this subject. Can some more experienced people weigh in on this? --Djembayz (talk) 04:58, 27 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Solution: [Your solution here]

Write a Learning Pattern

Ready to write your own learning pattern? Get started here

List of diversity learning patterns that have been created

All Diversity Patterns

No pages meet these criteria.

Gender Diversity Patterns

No pages meet these criteria.

About this initiative

For many years, the Wikimedia movement has acknowledged language, culture and gender diversity as important for its goal to share the sum of all human knowledge.

The Wikimedia movement faces many diversity challenges.

The Chinese, Hindi, and Arabic Wikipedias have very small percentages of editors as compared to the total population of people who know those languages; only about 45 of the world’s sovereign states participated in Wiki Loves Monuments 2014 on Wikimedia Commons
only a small minority of Wikipedia contributors are female.

Several initiatives have tried to understand the problem and work towards increasing diversity in participation and content coverage to address these gaps (e.g., Writing Diversity back in Wikipedia toolkit and Charting diversity). We want to add one more!

We are awarding Learning and Evaluation barnstars!

Barnstar for idea contributors
Barnstar for Learning Pattern contributors

Diversity Learning Pattern Campaign Calendar

February 14 - 28: Submit your problem and/or solution to Diversity Learning patterns campaign page!

March 1 to 15: Submit your problem and/or solution to Diversity Learning patterns campaign page!

March 4: IEG+PEG: Inspire Campaign launches. Support ideas with Diversity Learning Patterns!

March 16 to 22: Delivering barn stars to those who contributed to Diversity learning patterns campaign!

Learning patterns/Project/Diversity learning patterns campaign