Wikimedia South Africa/2023-Retreat/minutes

Wikimedia ZA : Strategy Workshop Agenda Attendee register Strategy Flow document

Day 1: CONNECTION

Getting to know each other: In the spirit of being human, in a space that sees many Wikimedia ZA community members doing invisible work, behind their screens, this strategy workshop aptly began with simply getting to know each other - in person. All participants broke up into groups of two, to spend time connecting with the person next to them. Each team member shared something from their connection mate’s “Past, Present and Future”. This was intentional as it aligned with how the strategy sessions itself would unfold looking back, at the present and pushing forward to a shared future.

Day 1: GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Getting Consensus : How to Engage These were the agreed upon rules of engagement garnered from an open, honest discussion with all participants. Be present. Allow all voices an equitable platform.

1. NO stupidquestions

Trust and Safety rules apply : Universal Code of Conduct No harassment on any form Friendly space policy Civility protocol Don’t judge people by who they are but rather by what they do. Always seek consensus 1:1 engagement (tough conversations must happen via a mediator) Respect each other

WHERE ARE WE NOW : Wikimedia ZA five years at a glance

Presented by Director of Advocacy, Douglas Scott Douglas Scott succinctly reviewed chapter goals and activities touching on some learning moments and milestones that were met. The last time the chapter met to strategize its five-year plan was in 2019 and a collaborative approach was used to try and help the Chapter achieve its long term goals. The primary objectives were focused on promoting free knowledge, community support and outreach. He aptly described the pillars of the ZA Chapter as: Community support - Wikimedia ZA tries to make it easier for people in South Africa to access Wikipedia bookshelves (this enables the application for grants on the site which results in the specific book being procured for the person). Regarding advocacy, Wikimedia ZA wants to make it possible to share pictures on wiki - freely and without prejudice. Diversity - The local Chapter places great importance on diversity in its edits and editors and is constantly investigating new ways of increasing the diversity in the Chapter

Completeness of knowledge - The importance of having completeness of knowledge and how there is a need for focus in this area. Fulfilling a neutral Point of View mandate - The Chapter places great priority on remaining neutral as this is an important part of the Chapters legitimacy. Access - Wikipedia Zero which is no longer an active platform due to impropriety of certain members.

Awareness - The importance of awareness and the need to continue to focus on improving this, both internally and externally. Five years on : What is our impact ? Douglas Scott noted that the fourth year has been completed. He highlighted that the Chapter has a capacity issue in that it does not have a CEO, however it does have an employee and an administrator in Gauteng and Cape town. Coenraad Loubser added perspective regarding the tasks completed in a few years .

The Group discussed changes implemented, such as advocacy which took a while to implement. There was emphasis placed on the need for the Chapter to isolate a design for themselves Having a CEO similar to corporate structures versus the current volunteer model to move the Chapter forward.

Derrick Moore advised that while doing research about Wikimedia and the Chapter itself, he wasn’t able to find information around projects that could help him understand the Wikimedia community a bit better, this is isolated as an issue which the Chapter is aware of.

Bobby Shabangu confirmed that Derrick’s comments gave the Chapter perspective on how the public perceives them. Coenraad Loubser remarked that other institutions were experiencing similar issues. He alluded to the need to take concrete steps to make volunteering easier. Bobby Shabangu elucidates the fact that a lot of people in disadvantaged communities are using their phones to edit the articles and he confirms his goal of making it easier for them to access it.

Douglas Scott advised on the existing need for a visual editor in other languages and explained the hub and spoke model which could overcome the access issue. DI The group debated whether or not it should remain a Chapter or consider progression to eventually becoming a hub, and as such might see it merge as Southern Africa communities that could include Botswana and Zambia. The Hub discussion would need to evolve further should this be the direction as this may bring about decentralisation in decisions and funding. The“IMAGINE’ Exercise Led by Herschal Jackson Imagine Wikimedia ZA in the future? - what does that look like to you It all starts with a dream - using your imagination to carry you into the future! The group was invited to engage their imagination and to picture the Chapter in the future in a world where the sum of all knowledge is accessible to everyone. The exercise had no barriers or restrictions. This exercise allowed the attendees to ponder what the future likely holds for them. This would also essentially let them decide on what course to take to get them where they’d like to be. In all scenarios, the group started with the end in mind specifically with the end they wanted to see in mind. The exercise was enlightening for participants and the outcomes painted a picture of how the members envisioned the Chapter in the future. Some of the most unique views presented were:

Wikimedia ZA being know for representative of all sectors- this was also specifically highlighting languages Wikimedia ZA has a personal representative of all African languages and is editable through voice.

Wikipedia assistant that talks to you directly regarding the tools that you need The existence of a consistent Wikimedia ZA monthly or weekly newsletter Putting Africa on the map and focusing on African History More collaboration with other organisations and Chapters on the continent and around the globeZ Open education that has been systemized - a systematic program that the community is involved in, where the person that has been mentored feels more comfortable in. More female leaders/representation on the board.

Public digital structure Black women having unlimited access to information about their bodies. All smaller languages edits tripled Free digital library Objective relevance where South Africa evolves Participants will pursue a SWOT analysis for Wikimedia ZA on 16th November 2023 and official partners will also attend the next day either in person or online and will speak to their collaborations with the Chapter to date.

Another exciting and interactive space that has been created within the problem is that of the lightning talks sessions which will give participants a moment to share their origin stories.

A reminder is also given by the secretariat that Afrikaans Wiki’s 22nd Birthday will be celebrated in Pretoria at an evening gala.

Day 2: SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is a method for identifying and analysing internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats that shape current and future operations and help develop strategic goals.Attendees were divided into four groups and asked to write down the Chapters strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. All attendees would be expected to actively participate including those online. This moment to pause and consider all What matters most : Prioritisation exerciseThe group begins the prioritisation exercise to discuss the list of SWOT points and decide on what is most important and what they should start fixing. This exercise helps the team create achievable priorities and longer term goals through this prioritisation the team will create and structure the strategy in the most effective manner according to what the group values most. The outcome of the exercise is a prioritisation of the top 5 focus areas in each SWOT analysis section. Partnerships: Listening SessionThe Moleskine Foundation: Refilwe Modise/Project Manager The first edition of Afro Curation Working with Wikimedia ZA was 2019 ,when they gathered young people attending the music festival who led on translations on articles about Constitutional Hill and some of its prisoners.

Refilwe believes what lies at the heart of the work the Moleskine Foundation leads is the decolonization of information found on Wikipedia. She shared that the MS foundation has hosted mixed Afro Curations regions so far; 2 in South Africa, 4 in Mozambique, 1 in Ghana and 1 in Nigeria. In 2019 they had 100 participants and they worked with Constitution Hill resulting in collaboration with the education department as they have access to a huge database of schools in South Africa. This means they work across the country with schools from Limpopo, Gauteng and Malangela.Translations are done in about seven languages. As recently as March they had worked with five high schools, including a school in Eldorado Park and four schools in Soweto (in different regions), trying to reach as many languages as possible.

In the edita-thon they worked with an organisation where they looked at different topics like the definition of discrimination from a cultural context, the lgbtqi+ community, The challenges they experienced was the IP situation (you can only have 3 or 5 people registered on the same IP address), Because there were a large number when they tried to register at the same time on the same IP address it crashed . This was attributed to a policy to prevent fake accountsRefilwe Modise mentions that another challenge they faced was , after the Afro Curation event there is a lack of continuation of edits. Their fear is that people lose interest post events due to lack of engagement from the sponsors. Refilwe Modise advised that they are still assessing how they overcome this obstacle; these are the things that they are aware of and need to work on. She estimates that about 10% of pupils in the last event were computer literate. In 2019 for some schools their first contact with computers was with Wikipedia which goes to show the important work that Wikipedia/Wikimedia does. They are trying to come up with solutions, as Moleskine and Afro Curation, on how to improve and make sure that the work continues. Ingrid suggests there is a role the libraries can play when it comes to providing venues where there are computers available. The final challenge mentioned was the lack of computer literacy that impedes the work they lead as basic computer functions have to be taught in the two day events. Refilwe gave detailed feedback on the Afro Curation events that were running during March in Joburg. They had sixty participants, they created thirty-eight articles and they partnered up with Prejudictionary which provided the content for this edition of AfroCuration. They were hoping to partner with the UN, but the timing did not align and funding was not finalised . A recent partnership with youth development NGO, Harambee, who is their technological partner, providing laptops needed for editing along with internet connectivity, Conhill provides the venue but they need to find other ways of working with the schools in their programme Some challenges remain like finding age-appropriate participants (varsity students), as they have realised that working with high-schoolers may not be ideal because of some of the content they put out and the fact that there can be a lot of administration linked to this. She shared her hopes that the next Afro Curation attracts more mature students.Another issue that is of concern, is not having a language quality control expert- when they are translating content about covid on Wikipedia, they are translating based based on their knowledge but they are not language professors/ linguists, when working with Afro Curation and students they don't have enough language experts. So, when they translate, they are not 100% certain that the grammar, spelling etc. is accurate.They would define success of the program in the future by : working with schools long term, looking at adopting a school working with them from start to finish - coming on a journey of progress.

Having seamless tech, where the internet doesn't crash and people can finish their work.

Getting more teacher involvement, teachers should be able to go back and continue the work that they have started and this can be encouraged with post-event plans with the schools where they can check in regularly on their improvement in Language, quality and more substantive wiki entries. Afro curation needs to be a quarterly event with the same participants so that it unfolds over the course of the year - with consistency There is a need more funding in order to do this with finesse. Douglas Scott notes hat a new approach is still being developed where a lot of people are self-selecting based on their own interests. Refilwe adds that for the next AfroCuration event it would be great together with people that have a genuine interest in the work and that will help them come up with a sustainability plan. The current partnership with the African Leadership Academy, an international school based in North riding, South Africa is showing results. Some of the students took it upon themselves and it formed part of the student enterprise program where a simulation of an economy run by the “EL” Department. Currently they have 20 student enterprises in the simulation.

They ran a Wiki Africa challenge and Scholar program AfroCuration journal. They used social media and guerilla marketing on their campus to get people involved and to become part of the edita-thon. The students did this with no involvement from Wikimedia ZA, instead they used their own research about AfroCuration. In 2022, they created seventy-four articles with eighteen participants involved and they did translations in eight languages. This year, they created eighty-six /:”articles with 120 participants and in 10 languages. What worked:

• Community response
• Marketing and promotion
• Diversity
• Translation

What didn't work:

• The number of accounts created on one network (only 10 were allowed)
• Article verification
• Information deemed invalid
• Finding adequate time for sessions

Their plans are to grow and their current partners are Moleskine Foundation, Al for governance and AC network researchers They are already working on seeking out support, being more intentional about outcomes, setting clear targets, streamline work amongst the team and involving more students. ALA also wants to begin working on a curriculum, work with other schools and take wiki Africa challenges to other schools.

In Mozambique there’s a varsity in a small area, they have done 777 articles with 130 participants and they work with Afro curation to generate content in the most widely spoken language in the country (Makhuwa), so that more Mozambicans can use Wikipedia as a source of information. Why afro curation? They believe in the power of using national languages to maintain identity, Afro Curation is shaping the Makhuwa digital landscape, researchers, lecturers and students who are doing linguistics contact analysis using Wikipedia Mkhuwa.

The challenges:

• Spelling
• Lack of grammar books
• Lack of material in their languages- working with uncommon languages can be a struggle, because sometimes you translate and the word is not recognized. The goal is to make sure that they have more people writing in these languages so that it can be recognized.

Learnings:

• The journalism students seem to be good editors.
• Extended content creation programs seem more appropriate for an emerging page.

Acra had a pre-event workshop where people were registering to have more time and their partners were cultural partners/centre, Kumasi and Okoro radio. They work well with Marketing as well as PR, they had a theme ‘Refining Africa’ from the perspectives of African authors and musicians, they did a lot of translations of their local artists and musicians in Ghana.

The challenges:

• Recruitment, training and article allocation
• Online participation
• Limited time for linguistic expert oversight

Learnings:

• Enhanced focus on cultural aspects and events
• Continuous improvement- They had 80 editors, created 80 articles and participated in 5 local languages.

They worked very closely with the universities there. BS asks how they can be supported better: post-event engagement, where they go back to the places they've helped and see if they can help them continue learning

• finding linguistics experts

advertising themselves more so that people can know what they do.

Action Point : BS requested list of these schools where they can contact these schools so that they can engage more with them.

Kyla Jade, Recreate : Convenor Recreate,is an umbrella advocacy group for copyright sites. Wikimedia is one of the founding members of the organisation, Wikimedia is very much interested in the freedom of panorama which is about access to public monuments for photography and research purposes and being able to put it up on Wikipedia. They also support the overall progression of copyright.

Kyla mentions that over the years there has been a lot of collaboration with pushing for copyright reform and they have recently started collaborating with Wikimedia on an international level in conjunction with the local level. She brings up that it's a very critical time because there's been a big divestment in funding for copyright reform and the International Wikimedia Foundation helped found them as part of their alliance grant and they were able to show the other side of civil society voice because conversations are largely centred around intermediaries such as publishing organisations, record labels etc. Kyla and her team focus more on access and royalties.They are hoping to get copyright reform finalised by early next year and more conversation around copyrights. Recreate in general tries to do a lot of education around copyrights and copyright reform with workshops, they often try to do this with specific groups such as musicians, creators, policy makers etc. Basically, they want to educate people who don't have much information on these things and Wikimedia has been very involved in the workshops.

She reveals that at the beginning of this year they collaborated with UW the Electronic information library Wikimedia and other partners and associates, they were able to put together an international conference on the right to research in Africa. They had people from many countries who were doing important work on access to research. They looked at where to draw the line between access of public good and commercial use. DS mentions that the reason they care about copyright as a movement is because they really want to illustrate their Wikipedia articles with photographs and other multimedia that improves them. The law doesn't relax certain copyright rules to allow Wikipedia to add pictures and stuff for public good reason so long as it does not violate the right of the copyright owner. They want freedom of panorama so that they can take pictures of recently built monuments and upload them. DS asks which Kyla are their other partners and how Recreate hopes their relationship with Wikimedia will evolve. Kyla answers by mentioning COSATU, SATU, BLIND SA- pushing for constitutional copyright. DS mentions that they are working with Recreate for Freedom of Panorama and fair use, which is anything you do with copyright material is okay as long as it doesn't interfere with the original person's rights. Fair dealing (what we have now as South Africa) anything you do using copyright material is not allowed unless for educational purposes. Kyla adds that they are trying to create a map of where every African country is with their copyright and how it's affecting their society. They are creating a documentary for the general public to understand what is happening locally with copyright reform, so that they might relate it back to their own situation when it comes to copyright and access to information. At the next wiki indaba event they want to have a conversation about copyright implementation, education etc. BS asks what challenges Recreate has faced and how Wikimedia can support them, Kyla responds by saying that intermediaries like record labels are pushing against reform because of fair use, things industries are refusing to change. She mentions that Wikimedia has already played a part by being a part of the team, being a part of educational workshops etc.

Lightning talks : Sharing of origin stories - tell us about your editing journey

Douglas Scott: Nostalgia, Gaming and a little bit of rebellion Douglas is a South African who started some editing when he was a student at UCT in 2006. Two years later he left South Africa to study in China - and he felt a little homesick. He researched a little about his hometown, Cape Town and found that the articles were bad - and not even factual. So, he began editing such articles and this became more and more frequent - his contributions increased. Later, when he was based in the UK, he was introduced to the South African chapter. Douglas shares how he later returned to South Africa and soon joined the chapter and that’s how he got more deeply involved and even entrenched not only in the editing work but also his interest peaked in regards to the community and the advocacy work at large. The first article he penned was interestingly about an element of his favourite video game.

Jan-Hendrick: Political Maverick wiki-editor Jan-Hendrik’s editing journey began at age twelve. At first,in 2013 he was researching the British royal family and he read such articles on Wikipedia. It fascinated him to a point where he claims he “fell down the reading rabbit hole” and would read article after article - hungry for more information to empower him, even at a young age. In 2017, with the infamous President Jacob Zuma protest he noticed that the articles on wiki for South Africanpolitics were poorly covered and written and he felt that he wanted to change that. So, he created his account and edited a few articles - and continued from there. He was active on the English Wikipedia for the first two years and then found out that there was an Afrikaans Wikipedia that also existed so he started editing on hay platform as well. When Covid-19 began and through the period of lockdowns in the country and the world, , he single-handedly made fifteen thousand edits on English Wikipedia and later became an admin for Afrikaans Wikipedia. He named himself based on the political spectrum.

Candy: Gender Matters For Candy, it was a school competition that boasted a prize of a trip to the United States that triggered her use of Wikipedia. She claims she soon got hooked and learnt that there was a Setswana Wikipedia. She created a user account and began editing , mainly focusing on local villages that she was au fait with. Candy was the second runner up and she got invited to WikiIndaba 2018 that was held and hosted by WikimediaZA in Cape Town. Her editing had a two year pause until she was not only invited to a conference in Nigeria but was wooed back to the community by Bobby Shabangu. . She works on n projects in her community, and other pan-African projects like Wiki Loves Africa. The gender gap is an agenda close to her heart and she continues to focus on such campaigns that elevate the work, biographies and information of women.

Jeremiah : Library Champion As a librarian and avid reader who loves words, Jeremiah connected with other librarians in 2013 at the International Library Conference He met other librarians in 2013 at the international Library Conference. Ingrid decided to do something Wikipedia related at UCT Libraries and they invited the Western Cape branch to attend, they had a page deleted for plagiarism, in his time at UCT libraries Ingrid has always been the one to push him to do something with Wikipedia because it lies closely to with his profession so it just makes sense for him that he works joins in to work with Wikimedia.Since then he has never looked back. He is a good learner, listener and sincerely cares about the sharing of knowledge and access to different communities.

Ingrid: Serial advocate of Wikipedia In 2014 she was very interested in the space - but was a little put off at first due to people’s articles being deleted. She was wooed by the One Lib One Ref project. She's worked with Aflia and many other organisations. Ingrid shared how she’s brought others into the fold and how she is always looking for ways to incorporate Wikipedia in the work OKRs so they are embedded. She is an avid campaigner of Wikipedia and dedicated to making it work - and spreading the word always on the benefits of using, contributing and building this world wide encyclopaedia. Itumeleng - Vandal to Victor Itumeleng shares that his journey started in grade ten; he came across Wikipedia when he was first learning how to use computers. Funny enough, he claims he found out that you can edit and he began vandalising the information because he didn't understand that there were a whole bunch of administrators behind the site. Later, in varsity while studying Law, Ingrid - whom he now works with - did a presentation on Wikipedia and at first, he wasn't interested but she was relentless in her pursuit of recruiting . After he finished his post-grad, he eventually started a job at UCT with Ingrid as his boss and she invited him to a meeting which he then attended. He began fully interacting with the community and he saw that there was so much more to editing so he was drawn to all of the projects. The rest - as they say - is history. He is fully immersed as a librarian and advocate of free knowledge. Coenraad: Connectivity Champion Coenraad shares emotively that he indeed sees the world differently - uniquely, creatively and questioning why things are the way they are. When he started his journey, he made edits anonymously and it was only in 2015 when he created an actual account he uses today. He shares that he is deeply interested in how the world works - and matters about how people interact and have access to information are close to his heart. In 2001 he worked overseas and he was faced with a decision of where he wanted to build a career internationally or in South Africa . When he came back home to South Africa he found himself in a place of need financially so he became an entrepreneur - to make his life comfortable. Eventually, he sold internet solutions. Later he found himself creating an internet service provider, he explored every single project on the internet to figure out how to make it safer for people to use. An article was done on Wikipedia and a journalist contacted him and he made a comment which was added in the article. Since then, Wikipedia has been part of his life. In UCT there was a Wikipedia convention where DS invited him to join. He loves learning and continues to do so across Wikimedia projects even today.

Martin: Top Contributor and Changemaker Martin also started his journey during lockdown and when he was in varsity, they told him not to use Wikipedia as a credible source, he then began editing to change the narrative and now he is one of the top contributors in Africa. He's completed four full projects. Currently he's working with a few people to ensure that they edit the edits that are needed. He is looking forward to Wikimedia ZA to guide them as an affiliate. He made a special mention to Ingrid who also pushed him to be a part of this.

Mucha: Wikimania 2018 recruit. Mucha shares that was in law school till 2018 and she received an email about Wikimania2018 looking for volunteers so she applied. She was recruited by someone who showed her how to simply open an account and edit. She began translating in Shona (her first language) and then someone referred her to Wikimedia and that’s how she got into this. She’s never looked back! Michael - Politics to Tech Some background into his life, Michael shares that In 2005 he was stuck in a court case for a political party he started which was rooted in anti-Korean politics, he resigned and travelled in Europe while he was away there was a lot of trouble in his party and when he got back, he was expelled. He realised that he needed to take control of the situation and he went to a cafe and went on Wikipedia and saw there was an article about his party - he started editing. He moved to Cape Town and realised how serious misinformation was and he began his journey as part of the community. His journey has grown in leaps and bounds, more recently he led the Hackathon at WikiIndaba 2023.

Tinashe - The prodigal editor returns Tinashe attended an event in the Western Cape, he’d been using Wikipedia but not as an editor. When he was visiting one of the corporate events, he tried editing a few articles and his own articles. He went silent for a while now he is fully back to editing. It can be addictive!

Bobby: Journo, editor, activist Bobby is a journo at heart, He started off as a radio producer and every time he searched on the internet, when he looked on-wiki there was not a lot of information on South African content. One day he edited an article and slowly started publishing. He stopped, moved to Nelspruit and became part of a group of intellectuals that ran salon sessions talking about the people, places and politics in South Africa. He was invited to a workshop and they explained the Wikimedia community which led him to join the chapter - which he knows leads.talk about coming full circle!

Shupai She started with Wikimedia in 2021, she was there for 3 months and she tried to immerse herself as a Wikimedian and editor. She wanted to edit the first article about her sister and it was removed because she was not notable. She also did a story about surviving covid, however it was also taken down because she didn't sound neutral. DS adds that her story really highlights the need for an ecosystem around a subject before an article can be created. That's a consistent problem in Africa, that a lot of subjects are generally notable but they don't have an ecosystem or knowledge around them to prove their notability. Coenraad agrees by saying that it's up to them as a chapter to add a new kind of wiki for these stories to be told. HJ shares that he's part of the corporate industry and he mentions that all the attendees are all revolutionary and that they are all interconnected.

Day 3: Recap

Session starts with reflections on the outcomes of day 1 and 2. The group reflects on the future state they envisioned in the Imagine exercise which isolates their Future. They then discuss the review of their strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats which gives them their past. They then proceed to review prioritisation which will give the group an indication of the requirements in the present Prioritisation Review Led by Herschal Jackson

The group is presented with the outcome of the prioritisation conducted the day before on the chapters SWOT.

SWOT review

Strengths:

• Transparency
• Community
• Good story to tell
• Proven to be able to deliver
• Common vision across the world

Weaknesses:

• Decision on the re-organisation of the chapter structure
• Ineffective learning and internal communication
• Civility in the Wiki Community

• DS mentions that this is a civility issue in the global movement especially in regards to Wiki administrators.

• Lack of external communication, Inadequate public image (of Wikimedia) and lack of media coverage around the organisation( *Lack of understanding on how Wikipedia works)

Douglas Scott mentions that the chapter struggles to find volunteers that are interested in social media. Belinda Mbambo mentions that most of the community members use Meta, she adds that they have regional communication specialists in every region and everyone uses different forms of communications and when they were discussing for the board elections information, they decided that it should be different for every region but it should live on Met Derrick Moore asked for clarification as the group were discussing different forms of communicating, but in Africa a lot of the back-channel communication is done through WhatsApp. Douglas Scott advised that while WhatsApp is prevalent in SA, other countries in Africa prefer the Telegram application. Derrick Moore mentioned SLACK as a means of communicating. Douglas Scott and Ingrid T agree that SLACK doesn't work for everyone and it's a means of communication for a corporately structured business, the communicates for using open-source software. Coenraad adds that the main problem with all of the platforms is that the signal to noise ratio is so low. Vanessa questions whether this meeting is to classify the existing community and work on their strengths and weaknesses as a community, she further wonders if Wikipedia is understood by broader people in South Africa or by the community that engages with it. Coenraad answers that what makes Wikipedia different is the radical openness, essentially people can write whatever they want, as long as it falls within the guidelines. It’s not a secret and it's so easy but people don't understand because it's so radically different from the rest of the world. He continues to say that what makes Wikipedia the biggest volunteer tech project is the idea of radical transparency. Ideologically because of his business experience many Wikimedians feel as though he doesn't belong, he is trying to bridge the gap between these two worlds. BS advises Vanessa to go to a workshop so that she can understand the culture and the way of Wikipedia. DS mentions that the culture of the chapter has developed over the past 20 years and it's always evolving. They learned it by experience; they don't have the language to explain it. Derrick recommends a book (The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler) that helped him understand this way of thinking. Vanessa raises that they have a good basis in architecture of sound content to mirror and take it out to market. DS disagrees and believes that it will never go out to market because the idea of commercialising is not ideal, because you don't pay for knowledge. Coenraad adds that it's about popularising their way of doing things, as automation grows the more these businesses grow the more, they will start functioning like Wikipedia. Roselle adds that they need to market Wikimedia more to the public because if more people know about it the more, they will get involved, especially with Librarians and students, HJ rounds it off by linking it to the communication weakness identified. Derrick raises the point that there are people who are really keen on getting into this digital space but struggling and the place that they find themselves most able to relate is Wikipedia because it’s the first thing that appears on their phones. He suggests that they spend time with more universities. Coenraad adds that for most people school is something they're forced into; they don't have any love for knowledge and they are in a favourable position to shift that mindset. Planning period- they decided on biannual learning sessions instead of quarterly.

Opportunities:

• Partnerships
• Workgroups- a library group or a school group. Something that librarians can be involved in and get Wikipedia incorporated into assignments.

Derrick adds that it's generative. It is all about having conversations between the correct people.

• Utilise a champion model - instead of having a user group that ends up not being led by somebody, a champion model works better because there is one person taking accountability.

BS explains the differences between user groups, affiliates and Hubs; User groups are one of the most basic levels of people in the community, like Wiki Project Medicine although they’ve graduated to a thematic group. A thematic group is like an affiliate which is like a thematic affiliate- they are like chapters but less formal. Coenraad adds that it’s like the differences between being a corporate non-profit with their own bank account and auditors and others are sole proprietors with no bank accounts. DS agrees and includes that they also need to be recognised by Afcon. BS explains that a thematic group is a group of Wikipedians that are based anywhere in the world and are interested in one thing. They get recognized by applying through the Affiliations Committee and meeting certain requirements to make sure they qualify - he further mentions that it's important if you want to apply for funding for a particular project and goes on to confirm that it makes it easier for the Wikimedia foundation to direct the funds to you. Coenraad adds that source materials are rarely free so in order to have citations, access to source materials you need to be able to visit the sites and engage with people and convince them to change their licence so you can use their media on Wikipedia. BS continues to say that user groups are groups of Wikimedia volunteers with a particular region or country. BM mentions that you can also have a language user group. BS advises that the chapter are affiliates, DS disagrees and mentions that the chapter are one step above affiliates, to which BS retorts by adding that affiliates is just a name to define groups that are affiliated to the Wikimedia foundation. DS agrees Coenraad questions why this is important for them to know and BS answers that the opportunities that exist for chapters are different from the opportunities for user groups and thematic groups. BM draws up a graph showing the different kinds of affiliations. One day Wikimedia ZA will want to join forces with Botswana and Namibia to create a Southern African Hub, which gives the Hub access to more resources. She mentions that all this information is available in Wiki. The reason they are meeting like this is because they are trying to take the chapter and make it a hub which can open up opportunities like making knowledge more accessible. To get closer to the ground and ultimately decentralise some of the decisions to local people to lead and decide on. Derrick notices that there are no labels, open badges and recognition, DS agrees that it’s important, but it’s something that they will look at down the line. Derrick further brings up that people can feel exploited when you're doing something and someone just sends you a certificate at the end, you've put so much work into something only to get a pat on the back as a reward. BM mentions that Hendrick got to travel to a different country for Wikimania and that is something that can be seen as an incentive. She continues to say that they have something called wiki-celebrate and they recently celebrated a librarian in Uganda and she got gifts and a barn-star that sits on her user page and shows that she’s a celebrated Wikipedian, these are examples of incentives. Mentorship HJ mentions that there is a wealth of experienced editors in the Wikimedia ZA chapter. They can utilise this wealth of knowledge to train the New Editors and to leverage those within the chapter for mentorship. Derrick adds that maybe it becomes more of a structured membership and so they’re not only mentored into using the various tools offered by Wikimedia but mentored into the community so that they understand the movement and how it works. BM clarifies that you're bringing both of these worlds together. Vanessa asks whether it would be a good opportunity to go on the news and give an opinion based on Wikipedia. BM mentions that while looking for articles about Wikimedia they found BS’s interviews and they also found DS is everywhere on interviews of panorama etc. DS adds that they don't have a more proactive approach. BM includes that there are definitely other opportunities to explore. Telling their story BM comments that they could tell their story through video content, podcasts etc.

Threats:

• Disconnect between On-wiki and Community Building
• Blind Spots

BM mentions that they could tap into journalism because their entire rotation is about being credible. Coenraad brings up that a threat could be bad journalism, because they’re quite reliant on healthy journalism. DS adds that there are some threats of litigation but that's a solely separate thing and they have a mechanism to deal with it when it comes. BM questions what other blind spots, perhaps around people they should work with but aren’t? DS answers everyone - practically how they go on achieving this is organically and haphazardly, editing one special interest group’s article, gathering information on them and then partnering up with said group. Coenraad adds that practically the chapter has grown big and professional enough to get these skill sets and is now mature enough to attract those kinds of groups. Vanessa asks what is the role of AI, bots and algorithms in the context of a South Africa that will be 30 years old next year (2024)? Who started the chapter in South Africa and who are the gatekeepers? With living famous people there is an editor who says what goes on, because with living legends most of the time people don't write about them and if there’s anything written it’s usually done so poorly, but when they pass away suddenly there’s various articles written overnight. Coenraad answers that it takes someone to research this person and then write articles on them. BM adds there isn’t an AI or Algorithm that writes about these people (dead or alive) someone has to physically type that article out and gather and verify sources. Vanessa asks what happens when you cannot verify a source. DS responds that Wikipedia is not the arbiter of what is true, it's a reflection of what is commonly believed to be true. In order to know what is true they need to tap into this ecosystem mode around every single subject and if a subject does not have an adequate ecosystem of knowledge around it, they cannot talk about it. Vanessa wonders when the chapter in SA was started, to which DS replies 2012 (11 years). She also asks who started the chapter in SA? DS answers that it was a group of them. Vanessa goes on to ask what the diversity and representation in the chapter? DS says that it's both relevant and irrelevant- it’s relevant in the sense of being able to have diverse viewpoints and reach that neutral point of view. It's irrelevant because they do not judge people on who they are, they judge them based on their work, edits. That’s why people are able to edit anonymously. Vanessa concludes that we have to advocate. BS realigns the discussion around the blind spots, which is attracting people who have a skillset on the tech side of things, they focus too much on people who edit, they need to attract more people who know how to create. He uses examples like infoblox so they can help them build a website. Coenraad adds that it's personal for DS and everything that happens is because of his time and energy and they have only recently started functioning as a chapter and so a big problem as a whole is it’s a predominantly white middle-aged hobby because that's the demographic that has the time to edit these. People who are too offended don't tend to stick around which takes them to the issue of retention. Coenraad adds that Wikimedia is the most diverse, most inclusive and most attentive movement.

Metrics of success

HJ mentions in most companies or movement metrics for success are usually based on numbers and not on sentiments. Sentiments are extremely important and work is required to isolate how these are measured. Copyright issues and freedom of speech Splintering of the community HJ brings up the discussion conducted the previous day around specific parts of the chapter splintering up and creating their own chapter. DS mentioned that it may not be a threat, because he sees it as an opportunity, if the splintering is happening because that community has grown to a point where they need space to be flexible and take advantage of things, then that’s a sign of achievement, they have natured that community to a point that they can stand on their own and do their own thing. However, if they are splintering for some other reason like gatekeeping then it’s a threat. BS agrees and adds that they don’t have a problem of people splintering from the chapter and if they do they endorse them. In the Chapter the thinking is that they exist to support the growth of the community whether that’s within or outside the chapter. BM adds that a threat could be retention of editors, she was looking at stats and she saw that after 5 edits people lose interest. BS mentions that for now this is not a big thing yet. Members ask to see the list of strengths compiled the previous day. HJ retrieves the SWOT analysis.

• Tea break: 11:42- 12:15

Details:

Strength

• Community
• Openness (trust): when it comes to information, finance/ transparency (1) - now an opportunity
• Multilingualism- now an opportunity

Jeremy highlights the point of community as a strength and questions whether this is a strength that relates this to the space that was created yesterday (at the Afrikaans Wiki 22nd birthday celebration) which was not welcoming and diverse and advises that the chapter should be clear/careful as to who they align themselves with. Jeremy asks if the Wikimedia ZA Chapter is truly diverse enough currently or is this something which requires some focus . DS adds that they need to be cautious ensuring that they work with those who share their values, as much as they endorse and support those who splinter from the community, they need to make sure that the person/groups that they are supporting are still in balance with those values. BS adds that they are building their own strengths and they try as much as they can to be transparent and where to find certain things. BM poses the question whether they’ve integrated how welcoming, unbiased and diverse they are to even consider community as their full strength. DS adds that they are so reliant on volunteering, where they get a member who isolates a project they are passionate about and they run with it however they want and the project becomes a reflection of themselves and they network and focus, but it should still adhere to all of the movements core values. Coenraad raises that this may be an opportunity and that's where diversity comes in, it’s much easier to be welcomed and understood by somebody that you can relate to and is part of your culture. DS adds that this is why they should expand the universe of conversation because it's easier to build on what you know and protect the structures that you feel comfortable with, but they should be mindful of the fact that their movement is very diverse and inclusive. It doesn't matter if a person lands up in an organisation that isn't as inclusive as they’d like it to be, what is important is that the program and organisation itself will be inclusive. You cannot change the past, you can’t change them, but you can change how you work with them in the future. Derrick poses the questions whether radical inclusion is the way and does that mean that they'll have meetings in a different language, DS answers that consensus would be the driver of that. BM offers that translation could be available for that. Coenraad adds that Internet Society has people who are paid to translate in all their sessions, they can make more calls to see if this will work for them too. Itumeleng mentions accountability in the chapter, is there an accountability and he wonders where there will be problems of misappropriation of resources. DS adds that they have the funding system with the bookkeepers and the funding community who approve all of that. He wonders how the project is held accountable according to their value and they don't really have an answer beyond the board.

BM adds that there are various committees that sit in the committee support and are part of the Global team and then there are sub-committees and members of the global community are part of this committees, meaning that you could have people of different regions could come together and look at your submission if you want to be a chapter and the community has to endorse you.

Weakness

Barriers for access to meetings (1)- people lack the physical means to get involved and be part of the community, there is a possibility to resolve this by giving people data so they can access the meetings through skype, zoom etc. Coenraad mentions that he and Michael are working on offline Wikipedia to help solve this weakness. Lack of administrative capability- finding out who is part of the organization (1)- more about bridging the community and tech, there is a disconnect between the two. When newcomers join the organization, they don't have someone to help them. Coenraad mentions a bot that welcomes you when you try to edit. BM suggests an induction and tells them about the business dividing it so that once they know that your stay for good then they can put resources and send a mentor your way. Derrick adds that they need structured mentorship. BS says that they don't have a structure to triage newbies and they should consider a matching program, where they direct them to specific groups that they are interested in. HJ mentions that this also solves their retention problem. BM mentions a campaign that looks at why humans are still essential in putting out our history in the world of AI, Chat GP and such. Videos show the interaction between humans is important. Martin adds that a lot of Wikimedia projects are upstream of AI and AI is taking the credit for that. Derrick mentions that video is a supplementary result, it’s an interaction between humans that is where the inspiration comes, they’re all doing their own little thing and if they were being run by a machine it would get frustrated, at the moment the thread that holds them together is their humanity.

Mucha asks if someone wants to be involved in the community, is there a contact for more information or a person who answers enquiries. Coenraad answers that there is a phone number and an email address on the website, they could add a CRM so that everybody that is operationally involved knows that somebody from the chapter is aware of them and dealing with them. BM adds that the opportunity for this chapter to build a better front door, if anybody wants to know who they are and what their projects are about that front door is their website and Shupei triages that. Looking at it from an external perspective if someone googles the chapter, make it more human so people feel invited. Coenraad mentions that Wikipedia has a pillar which is civility. They might think that the way some things are done is not civil, so it's an opportunity to make it friendly and welcoming. DS adds that it's important to differentiate between the movement and the chapter, they just represent a portion of the people editing. It's not one person that deletes articles anybody can once you've been around long enough, that’s the openness that they have. There are also other things that people take months to reply to. Tinashe comments there are a lot of loopholes in terms of editing especially when it comes to the intentions of editing information, they might have others with their own intentions that may come as weakness especially when you want to run an organization. BS adds that there was a political party that edited their own Wikipedia page and that caused a stir in parliament where they were discussing that page. However, as Wikipedia says, there is nothing that they can do. DS adds that they can use this as an opportunity to educate the public on what Wikipedia guidelines say because that was a clear conflict of interest. BS speaks on the fact that there are areas they cannot control but they educate people on what the purpose of Wikimedia is. BS adds that in terms of finances they have, they are accountable. It's just a matter of finding the right process that will make them more accountable. They need to make themselves clear about the reimbursement process, what can you or can you not reimburse. We have contractors and volunteers, Coenraad says that they need someone that will make it easier for volunteers to not over commit themselves and they need to appoint a person that will go over the commitments and gather the action items, and follow up on the items until they're done. BS questions how they should deal with a person that’s very good at their job, but does things that don't align with the Chapters values. DS answers that it's a matter of reminding themselves of their core principles and also members of the community raising the alarm to point that kind of behaviour out. BS wonders if they are applying friendly space principals. They don't have a mechanism to condemn people, Jeremy adds that it's a difficult balance to address an issue when it's a person, are you then giving space to understand how many other community members you are sacrificing? Derrick answers that it's helpful to think of these situations like choices on different sides. There's collegiality, the absence of collegiality, policies and a corporate approach, you have to figure it out. Kyla wonders whether these types of scenarios are of people in the same workspace or is it an online situation, It's an online situation. DS brings up that super editors tend to have cantankerous personalities and it's a human nature problem. He mentions that they should never have to compromise on their values. Coenraad adds that contributing and editing Wikipedia does something good and add value, but through the process of that Wikipedia teaches you to be more civil, more inclusive and tolerant but at some point, there have been people who have been scared off by uncivil Wikipedians. His point is that part of their culture is their way of doing things and contributing to Wikipedia is a process in self-development. HJ makes a point that they have as, part of their weakness, a reorganization of Wiki medians ZA structure that might bring accountability. BS wonders how to close off this discussion on accountability, DS answers that they it’s their principals, Itumeleng adds that assuming good faith, and having online face to face discussions. Coenraad comments on making their values clear and having an administrator for every action item for every meeting. DS reminds everyone about the principles that say, assume good faith, be inclusive, never weaponize identity, openness and consensus. Many people don't buy into these principles and so it’s important for the community to point these people out. BS mentions that there was an instinct where the chapter tried to kick a person out, but it was difficult to do so because of the lack of concrete policies. So how should they then condemn people who don't abide by these policies. DS mentions an instance where there was a person who was abusing Wiki L but they made a great editor and it took a lot of time. Derrick mentions people that call themselves the director and if anyone has a problem, they should bring it up to the director. If one of these directors are out of line then they will be held accountable by the other 2.

• Pictures: 13:30-14:00
• Lunch: 14:00- 15:00

(not everyone comes back)

Item #2: Theory of change

BM begins by telling the members that they're hoping to have a virtual media session after the AGM and they can come up with resolutions for some of the things that were brought up as opportunities and points of ínterest for this chapter. She trusts that they could have another media session after some decisions have been made where they can dilate how they can tell the story of Wikimedia ZA better, what are some of the resources and the stories that already exist among some of the members. She gives the group a recap of what has been happening these past few days. She introduces the topic (Theory of change) and presents an example that she’s worked on for the middle-east north Africa region, to show the group the process that they used and take them through it. Then she shows them the draft for Wikimedia ZA’s theory of change. She mentions that there are various formats and some can be really hard to follow but every group needs to find one that works for them. What is a theory of change? Derrick answers that in a big organization, there's a lot of stakeholders that are involved and they have to get a hold of all the key people on board. BS explains that it's when they have an end goal in mind, however, there are things that they have to do in order to get there. The theory of change answers the questions of how, when and where. In the first part of the outputs they need to look at the direct results of the inputs they will have and what deliverable they will achieve. What changes in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs will come along the way and how do they believe those will be actionable in order to create an impact. When you start with the theory of change, what is the problem that is being solved? They need to get one problem statement that encapsulates their one biggest problem that can solve a lot of other problems. She uses the MENA region as an example for a problem statement: Wikimedia communities in the MENA regions are challenged by insufficient affiliate capacity to address internal conflict. This means that they can't implement projects properly and when they apply for funding there’s always a trigger effect because they don't have the capacity to do that in an efficient way. The way to make a theory of change work is to be as specific as possible. She adds that she has written a problem statement for Wikimedia ZA where they tried to encapsulate everything into one problem statement.

Wikimedia ZA problem statement:

Wikimedia is challenged by organisational roadblocks- these include capacity constraints and inconsistent communication both internally and externally. She then encourages the group to participate in identifying more organisational roadblocks. As a group they analyse capacity constraints

Capacity constraints:

• Coordination of decision makers to implement change
• Access to meeting infrastructure and resources
• Need to professionalise the Chapter

Coenraads adds that they are not making the knowledge accessible to the volunteers that need it. As a board member he cannot find their institutional knowledge by himself he has to ask DS or BS. He suggests that they need to find someone to spend time with enough people to organize the knowledge that they have and make it accessible. Jeremy adds that the output is an organization management system. Derrick mentions that he’s noticed that in some organizations they have somebody who creates a document management system where he can go to the index where he can find usable stuff. Coenraad adds that they already have this, they just don't have anyone who is responsible for it, everyone handles their own and there is no agreement on a common framework.