Wikimedia LGBT+/Governance/2023-04-20

This online videoconference is focused on the tasks of the LGBT+ User Group governance, and is intended as an opportunity for organizers to discuss shared opportunities, challenges, and issues.

  • Date: Thursday, 20 April, 2023
  • Time: 3:00pm GMT/UTC+0 (8:00am PT/11:00am ET)
  • GCal: link
  • Location: Zoom link. The meeting will have an entry lobby, please reach out on the Telegram group if you are left waiting.

The Wikimedia Universal Code of Conduct will be followed for this meeting.

Attendees

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Agenda

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  • Check-In
  • Project updates:
  • Administrative updates
    • 2022 Annual report, Wikimedia LGBT+/2022 draft status
    • Invoicing workflow - Dorothy will present
      • everything paid through March 2023?
      • job descriptions for all paid staff? freelancer terms agreement?
  • Communication channels and moderation - moderation, status, issues, future
    • Mailing list
    • Telegram
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Notion
    • Determine secure org file sharing system
  • Group discussion about governance
    • Incorporating the user group as a legal entity
    • Annual grant for administration, programs, etc.
      • Desired timeline
      • Hiring administrative assistance
  • (please add any specific Wikimedia projects/events/activities topics you'd like to share with the group or open for discussion)
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notes

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  1. notetaking - Lane taking notes
  2. review the agenda posted on the wiki
  3. Check-In
    1. what are you excited about, any other agenda items?
    2. Dorothy - in San Diego, excited to meet with university dissertation committee
    3. Owen - just outside London! Doing projects which advance activist causes
    4. Z - in hometown. Excited to plan some private time a little later in the summer
    5. Fred - in Denver. Excited to do work with Spanish Wikipedia. In a "country of the month" program to develop Spanish wiki articles.
    6. Lane - in Charlottesville Virginia. Excited for Queering Wikipedia!
    7. Jeffrey - in NYC. Teaching a class at university and excited for an end to the term and onto more things.
    8. other thoughts
      1. excited to try Mastodon for Wikimedia LGBT+
      2. hammock in the backyard for summer naps
  4. Queering Wikipedia 2023
    1. Z shares progress updates!
    2. communication plan going well and we are meeting goals for visibility in the planned channels
    3. office hours have been well attended including by new people
    4. the schedule is finished and full - not posted but we have speakers
    5. we recently got confirmation from presenters of selected submissions
    6. there are still some scheduling conflicts to resolve but it is manageable
    7. we are attempting a node program
    8. this is for partner organizations to manage group participation in the conference
    9. have done technical tests of the online conference platform
    10. representation
      1. most anticipated participants in North America
      2. second most represented region is South America
      3. sufficient representation according to Wikimedia community norms for other regions
    11. Programming nearly complete, registration going live soon, publicity plans?
    12. Discuss gathering participation metrics for Grants:Conference/QW23/QW2023/Report while protecting privacy
    13. Budget spending update; someone has organizing notes somewhere
      1. lots of interest in this but short on time and many other things to discuss
      2. best to dedicate a discussion to this
      3. Information for all paid freelancers needed for invoices, estimated number of paid volunteers for QW22, QW23?
      4. Grants:Conference/QW22/QW2022 everything paid out? We need financial documentation on this page, otherwise, close to done?
    14. 30 pages of planning notes to publish in some form
    15. Questions
    16. is trust and safety in order for this?
      1. we have a Wiki LGBT+ committee which handles this
      2. that committee gets support from Wikimedia Austria
      3. the preferred channel for communicating incidents during the event is through telegram
      4. there are many telegram groups - the saftey committee has communicated with their mods that they can refer problems to the safety committee
      5. the safety committe has its own private telegram group which receives complaints
      6. we could face technical attacks
    17. should we connect with Trust & Safety for support?
      1. we do want more support from the Wikimedia Foundation
      2. we have a volunteer who will contact WMF and ask what they offer
      3. we are unaware of the WMF offering any particular service
      4. WMF offers to be aware but not sure what else is possible
    18. emergency is a special kind of safety issue
      1. emergency includes suicide talk during the conference (valid concern)
      2. active harassment during the conference
    19. do we have Wikimedia Foundation board of trustee representation?
      1. Yes
    20. we have to submit a conference report. What participation metrics do we anticipate collecting?
      1. conference registrations. Zoom is our platform for registration, so most attendees will be counted there
      2. in registration we ask for minimal information for safety and privacy reasons
      3. questions include
        1. what is your preferred language, so that we can plan translation
        2. from what country are you participating?
    21. We still have to submit 2022 metrics in a report to submit. What participation metrics do we have for this?
      1. Zoom should have a record
      2. (different attendees reported different numbers of attendees)
  5. Conversation series, Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conversation series - LGBT+
    1. WMF declined to fund the proposal - we did have mutual agreement.
    2. Bluerasberry and/or OwenBlacker to provide details, context and future plan
    3. (discussion of the proposal)
    4. we expect that we can resubmit this proposal with more discussion, and that the WMF will award similar money again
    5. lack of clarity from WMF about the labor commitment of the demands they made to receive funding
    6. could this be included in an annual grant? no -better as a project grant
  6. Wikipedia and the Biographies of LGBTQ+ People guide
    1. UG working with Art+Feminism and Wikimedia Argentina to translate WMAR's guide Wikipedia y las biografías de personas LGBTT+.
    2. OwenBlacker to provide details, context and future aspirations
    3. a group is developing a pamphlet to present outcomes
    4. the project meets community demand in several ways:
  7. Wikidata and Gender
    1. Working group becoming increasingly organised, from d:Wikidata:WikiProject LD4 Wikidata Affinity Group
    2. Google group at https://groups.google.com/g/gender-in-wikidata?pli=1
    3. this group wants to collaborate with us, but also, they are doing their own thing. Some of our participants join their meetings
  8. 2022 Annual report, Wikimedia LGBT+/2022 draft status
    1. This is currently overdue
    2. we can submit this any time to come to compliance
    3. it is acceptable and would pass, but it is missing contributions
    4. Can we change this after submission?
    5. there is no rule against that
    6. the Wikimedia Foundation is unclear about making changes to submitted reports
    7. this is wiki, anyone can edit
    8. we have no reason to believe that anyone cares about changes after submisssion, anyway.
    9. no evidence that WMF has ever read our reports in the past. They just want anything published.
    10. Jeffrey or Rachel are supposed to be the ones to submit
    11. agreement - just submit it now to come to compliance, which has benefits if done and penalties if not done
    12. (Jeffrey submitted during the call)
    13. we will call for updates to the report after submission
  9. invoicing workflow - Dorothy will present
    1. meetings with Claudia at Wikimedia Austria
    2. Claudia reiterated what she requires
    3. Claudia is businesslike, objective, direct - she simply needs a certain process
    4. Claudia's requirements
      1. Wiki LGBT+ takes responsibility for telling all contractors that they should pay their taxes
      2. contractors reponsible for giving their tax identification numbers to Claudia for Wikimedia Austria to record in case of audit, and as a norm in Austrian contracting
      3. Cladia wants job descriptions for all paid staff. Can be brief.
    5. Dorothy is the hub for all invoices
    6. Lane and Owen will sign off on all of Dorothy's invoices
    7. everyone else who wants to get paid, they must submit invoice to Dorothy
    8. Dorothy will review invoices to ensure that they meet Claudia's formatting expectations
    9. Dorothy will send invoices after her approval to Claudia for WM Austria to pay
    10. is everything paid through March 2023?
      1. everything we know is paid, but perhaps not every expense we have is paid
      2. we are unaware of any outstanding expenses
      3. all contractors say they have submitted all expenses to date
    11. job descriptions for all paid staff? freelancer terms agreement?
    12. proposal - Wiki LGBT+ should have a contractor / freelancer document explaining terms of work and payment
    13. we should keep a list of everyone we pay, even for one-off expenses
  10. Out of time at this point - some people have to go
    1. Not discussed - Communication channels and moderation - moderation, status, issues, future
    2. Not discussed - Group discussion about governance