Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2017/Sources/Cycle 2/Australian Community
Information
editWhat group or community is this source coming from?
| Name of group | Australian Wikimedia community via Wikimedia Australia |
|---|---|
| Virtual location (page-link) or physical location (city/state/country) | Australia |
| Location type (e.g. local wiki, Facebook, in-person discussion, telephone conference) | On wiki messages, Meetups, in-person discussion and emails |
| # of participants in this discussion (a rough count) | Approximately 40 |
Overview
editMost conversations in the Australian context have been -
- On wiki discussions
- Meetups
- direct conversations in person
with the co-ordinator of the discussions present.
In some cases some items below are synthesis or approximations of a number of discussions and should not be taken as necessarily verbatim direct quote from a specific location.
Summary
edit- Theme key
- Healthy, inclusive communities
- The augmented age
- A truly global movement
- The most trusted source of knowledge
- Engaging in the knowledge ecosystem
- Questions key
- What impact would we have on the world if we follow this theme?
- How important is this theme relative to the other 4 themes? Why?
- Focus requires tradeoffs. If we increase our effort in this area in the next 15 years, is there anything we’re doing today that we would need to stop doing?
- What else is important to add to this theme to make it stronger?
- Who else will be working in this area and how might we partner with them?
Melbourne
editIn conjunction with Melbourne Knowledge Week
- 1st May 2017 - Keynote speech by Katherine Maher [1] "Knowledge needs to be free – it needs to be in the hands of many, not the few, so the ideas can be shared and developed. With the advent of the Digital Age, our relationship with knowledge is immediate and intimate, a democracy where anyone can join in."
- May 2017 - Melbourne University - reference group.
- May 2017 - Melbourne meetup 33 [2] utilising [3] as the main discussion item.
| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 4 | New users should be encouraged where at all possible. | new users |
| 2 | D | 4 | Support is needed for under-developed content areas to encourage work on these. | content, support |
| 3 | B | 3 | Rapid change in social and cultural areas requires capacity to include adequate coverage and perspectives. | change, inclusivity |
| 4 | A | 4 | Languages and culture of Indigenous Australians are open to be incorporated through relationships with partner institutions. | partnerships, indigenous language and culture |
| 5 | B | 4 | Relationship between wikiprojects needs to be more clearly signed in projects for new users and irregular readers. | sister projects, communication |
| 6 | C | 3 | Understanding where Australia sits (as far as the Movement is concerned): in Oceania? Asia? Developing? Emerging? Still part of the British Empire? Australasia? What is our perceived geopolitical context? | Australia, context, geography, politics |
| 7 | C | 2 | What is Wikimedia's status and position within Australian online media and educational projects? | Australia, online, partners |
| 8 | C | 3 | Lack of clear relationships with neighbouring countries. Australian Wikimedians should have more of a relationship with neighbouring countries | Indonesia, New Zealand |
Perth
editNote that there have been three WA branch meetups where input has been given:
- 7th April 2017, Perth meetup #35 (incorporating elements of strategy)
- 3rd June 2017, Perth meetup #36
- 10th June 2017, Perth meetup #37
There have also been lengthy discussions with individuals.
| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | 2 | Being the most trusted source of knowledge is the most important thing. | trust, knowledge |
| 2 | A | 3 | We can only create a trusted source of knowledge if we are a good community. | community |
| 3 | A | 4 | Strong community also comes from personal, social interaction in real life. | face-to-face, personal, social |
| 4 | E | 4 | Reinforce Wikimedia's place in the wider world through more communication to readers (e.g. in libraries). | library, communication, readers |
| 5 | E | 5 | We need to make our metadata available in industry-standard ways, so e.g. Trove can index our material. | metadata, standards, share |
| 6 | A | 4 | Increase capacity for feedback from readers and interaction with new users. | newbies, feedback |
| 7 | D | 5 | It is important to collaborate with external partners to help find and fix incorrect content. | errors, partners, collaboration |
| 8 | B | 4 | Improve the way in which licensing information and choices are communicated, to most fully capture as much contemporary and recent-historical material as possible. | Commons, uploading, licensing, copyright |
Darwin
edit| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | 5 | Potential partners need to have better introductions to Wikimedia and what individual projects are for. | external, partnerships, understanding |
| 2 | E | 5 | Potential partners need more encouragement, and provision of metrics etc., to help them see the value in getting involved. | promotion, tracking, partners |
| 3 | A | 4 | Transient populations in some cities/universities/etc. make it hard for the wider Australian Wikimedia community to effectively support contributors. | moving, people, relationships |
| 4 | C | 1 | If we're truly global, people will find it easier to stay in touch with and belonging to the community, even when they move to new cities or countries. | global, moving, communication |
| 5 | D | 2 | There are limitations to how good we can be. Some types of content, and some content creators, do not have a place in the Wikimedia universe. | limitations, publishing, not everything |
| 6 | E | 5 | Some potential collaborators do not want to engage because they do not see Wikipedia as 'serious', or see limitations on what they'll be able to contribute. | excellence, limitations |
| 7 | E | 3 | Wikimedians can be intermediaries between the projects and external partners, and they need support in this (even if this means they're doing less of their own contributions). | support, indirect contributing |
| 8 | E | 2 | We need to have better systems for keeping up to date with what is going on with partners and potential partner institutions, so we can react to changes in their processes, collections, etc. | partners, tracking |
Brisbane
edit| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D | 2 | Engendering trust in the projects is most important. | trust |
| 2 | D | 3 | Technical improvements (e.g. Visual Editor) should take priority in order to make it easier for more people to contribute. | software, access, new users |
| 3 | A | 1 | An "outbreak of niceness" is required — we need to be more welcoming to new users. | new users, welcoming |
| 4 | B | 4 | Continue automation and improve bots etc. to take the load of robotic edits away from humans | bots, automation |
| 5 | E | 3 | Wikimedians involved in collaborations should be supported in finding balance and consensus in the work they do between external partners and the internal communities. | partners, community, paid-editing |
| 6 | E | 4 | It is important to understand the focuses of potential partners, to most effectively work with them without frustrating their goals (or our own). | partners, GLAM, goals |
| 7 | E | 4 | Learn the social, financial, academic, etc. contexts of partners, in order to better worth with their material and not waste time on things that aren't important to either side of the partnership. | partners, contexts |
| 8 | B | 2 | It would be good to be able to update lists and tables in Wikipedia with bots that pull data from Wikidata. | bots, Wikidata |
Sydney
edit| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 4 | The world is a very complex place, 'one size fits all' material in content and categorisation does not reflect this complexity | Variation, complexity |
| 2 | E | 5 | In some cases a single person creates and cooordinates relationships with partners - more support should be given for vital links in complex networks of relationships | networking, support |
| 3 | A | 4 | Many former editors who have retired or edit less due to issues from years ago need to be encouraged to be listened to, and become active again | re-engaging, communication |
| 4 | E | 5 | Potential partners need clear partnership explanation material for ease of access to background information | partnerships, communication |
| 5 | A | 2 | Content, practices and understandings still seem American-centric to users, the Americanization of content and processes seems relevant even now as an issue. | inclusivity, |
| 6 | A | 5 | Variant voices need to be heard - divergence from mainstream popular ideas should not be suppressed in the name of political correctness | diverse voices, different ideas, cultural differences |
| 7 | E | 5 | Partnership relationships need regular re-contacting and updating due to staff changes etc. (at the partner's side). | staff, communication, people |
| 8 | C | 3 | The importance of understanding global/regional miscommunication. For national and regional voices to be adequately represented in the global movement, and understanding the trade-offs that come with this. | global, local |
Adelaide
edit| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | 4 | Problems with dealing with new users, more appropriate help in starting editing. | new users, welcoming |
| 2 | A | 2 | Perceptions of problems in communities affecting D as being unsolvable. | community, disfunction |
| 3 | E | 5 | We need better systems for monitoring and identification of paid editing. | paid editing, policy |
| 4 | E | 5 | Sustaining positive contact with partners and potential partners, to build relationships. | partners, communication |
| 5 | D | 4 | Improvement of sister project relationships, for greater collaboration and cooperation. | sister projects |
| 6 | A | 2 | We need to improve morale by avoiding internal politics and in-fighting between subsections of the community (e.g. between topical groups of users, or between projects). | sister projects |
| 7 | E | 4 | A clear outline or map of sister projects, chapters, etc. is required, displaying where things are and where things belong in the whole WIkimedia universe. | interconnection, communication, maps |
| 8 | B | 2 | Automation and bots can lighten the load on human editors; this should be done where possible, to improve the editors' experience. | automation |
Other places and late additions
editLate additions and includes mails from Canberra and Hobart constitute this category - not visited in this cycle.
| Line | Theme (refer to key) | Question (refer to key) | Summary Statement | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B | 1 | Improve audio-visual content, especially in more modern ways than are currently done. | video, audio |
| 2 | B | 4 | Attract people (contributors and editors) who don't engage so well with text-heavy content. | video, audio |
| 3 | C | 1 | Don't get involved in political arguments. The projects are for education, and campaigning compromises this. | politics |
| 4 | B | 3 | MediaWiki has clearly been written by programmers, and its editing mode not appealing to non-tech contributors. | editing, visual editor |
| 5 | D | 2 | Being the most respected source of knowledge is most important. | knowledge, respect |
| 6 | C | 4 | More is required in Latin America; books are expensive there and not so easily obtainable, so a digital knowledge system is even more important. | global, books, expensive |
| 7 | C | 4 | The WMF needs to broaden it's global footprint to counter the perception it is 'American' cultural imperialism. It should do this by having a greater percentage of employees outside the USA and establishing data centers outside the USA. | |
| 8 | A | 4 |
|}
Detailed notes (Optional)
edit- Please see also - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Australia/Strategy_details - for background as to the processes
If you have detailed notes in addition to the summary, you may add them here. For example, the notes may come from an in-person discussion or workshop. If your discussion happened on a wiki or other online space, you do not need to copy the detailed notes here.