Wikimedia Foundation/Legal/Community Resilience and Sustainability/Trust and Safety/Case Review Committee/Call for applicants
This Call for applicants is intended to serve as an invitation for individuals who would like to take part in the interim Trust and Safety Case Review Committee. Please feel free to share with anyone who might be qualified and interested in applying. Applications are open until 7 March 2022.
Volunteers sought; Interim T&S Case Review Committee
editHello, all.
Nutshell: this is the second call for applications to volunteer for the Interim Trust & Safety Case Review Committee (hereafter Case Review Committee, or CRC). The CRC will stand until the Universal Code of Conduct escalation process pathways are defined and established. Text below explains what the committee does and what is required of applicants. If it resonates with you, please apply. Please forward this to any groups you think appropriate!
In 2020, the Board of Trustees asked the Wikimedia Foundation to put together an interim volunteer community review process to help support Trust & Safety behavioral investigations by ensuring that there is a functionary appeal process available for borderline cases.[2] For clarity, this is to appeal cases handled by the Foundation’s professional Trust & Safety staff. It is not to appeal governance decisions by community administrators or governance bodies.
A permanent review process for Trust & Safety team cases will be created later as part of the final stages of the Universal Code of Conduct, but this quickly constituted interim Case Review Committee will be asked to serve until it is functional. As of February 2022, the interim Case Review Committee will serve until the end of the calendar year 2022, or when a permanent process is ready to supersede it. This is a critical layer of oversight to ensure that Foundation actions are fair and unbiased and that the Foundation doesn’t step in where it is not necessary to do so.
We are looking for functionaries and experienced volunteers with an interest in joining this group. If the work resonates and you qualify, please apply.
There is a page on Meta with more information about how the CRC works.[3] In brief, it reviews the case files of qualifying Trust & Safety investigations that are appealed either by the person who requested the T&S investigation or by a person sanctioned as a result of one. We anticipate that, during active appeals, members may need to dedicate about 5 hours of work a week reviewing case files. Since it began accepting appeals in September 2021, however, the CRC has had a light workload.[4]
You will be asked to meet with the rest of the group on a quarterly basis to discuss the committee itself and how it might be improved. In its first year of operation, the CRC has provided feedback to Wikimedia Foundation Trust & Safety on how it could improve some of its processes.
There are a few very specific requirements for those who are accepted. If you are interested in applying, we ask that you first read the Committee charter and decide if you are willing and able to abide by the conditions of membership and if you meet the criteria outlined there.[3] If you then want to apply, please write to legal
wikimedia
org using “Case Review Committee” in your subject line. Please include your username, your credentials, and a statement of what you hope to bring to the role. Credentials in this case refers to community background - have you been an administrator? A member of an arbitration committee? Where or when? What experiences do you think have prepared you to do this well? Reference to professional credentials will also be taken into account, but does require legal identification so that it may be confirmed. Otherwise, we will only be asking for legal identification from applicants who are finalists.
Unfortunately, English language fluency is a must. While we hope to get as much linguistic diversity as possible, Trust & Safety’s case files are lengthy documents written in complex English, and expedience and current availability of resourcing does not make it possible to provide translations for the interim process.
The CRC serves an important role in collaborations between Trust & Safety staff and volunteers to help make sure we get the balance right in protecting communities - both in supporting community members and recognizing community autonomy.
Please submit your application by the end of March 7th.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trust_and_Safety/Case_Review_Committee/Call_for_applicants
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trust_and_Safety/Case_Review_Committee/Charter
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trust_and_Safety/Case_Review_Committee/Monthly_reports