Dear all,
(and sorry in advance for x-posting -- we are sharing this a bit wider to
draw attention to not only the education group, but also the Libraries and
GLAM groups, which we believe have a lot in common with ours and hope will
be active partners in our work throughout the year)
Below is a report of what we've been up to during 2018, including a few
updates looking forward to 2019. We've tried keeping it short and to the
point.
Best,
Shani.
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** 2018 Report - *
Our group has been recognized during 10/2018, so we don't have much to
report about, but here is a short summary of what we've been up to since
being elected -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group/2018_Ann…
** Revamping our User Group Page - *
Check out our (a bit more) updated page on Meta. The work is far from over
and the key areas identified are especially a work in progress and will
keep evolving as we do more work. That said, you can now easily find who we
are, how you can get involved, how governance works, various resources and
a way to contact us, which is a good start.
** Logo - winner - *
As some of you remember, we've ran a logo challenge, in order to determine
what our logo would be. We finally have a winner - a logo that most people
voted for, which was designed by krishna chaitanya velaga (who also happens
to be one of our board members :)). The new logo will be implemented soon!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_and_Education_User_Group_…
** Bylaws -*
We have started working on a draft for our bylaws here (which, once done,
will be moved to Meta) -
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hsEXVCnLrqC7qcGYXinEZENIDsZIvPnBcInh_bf…
We are looking for people with experience in governance to join the board
as we finalize our bylaws. If you're interested in working on it with us,
please contact us privately.
** Annual plan *-
We've also started working on an annual plan. Again, this is a draft, and
once done, it'll be moved to Meta. In the meantime, we are inviting anyone
who's interested in affecting what we'll be focusing on this coming year,
to comment on the (really not final!) doc -
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wBR-tAHwpwsCo24tu7mL0QNgUJEebSA18_rbZF8…
** Working groups -*
As part of working on our annual plan, the board has recognized key focus
areas for our work: *Community, Resources & Outreach. *
It was decided to open *working groups* that will be working separately on
advancing each of these focus areas. So what do we want from you?
*Please check out the different working groups
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group/Get_involved!#Working_Groups>
**and sign up* to the group(s) that interest you. We will soon start
working in those groups (also in accordance with the movement strategic
process) and interested users will be contacted directly. Each group will
have a facilitator from the board, and each group will determine its own
annual plan and tendency of meetings throughout the year.
** Monthly Open Online Meetings - *
As of January 2019, we will be conducting open online meetings at *the last
Monday of each month, between 1630-1800 UTC* (that is the time-slot most
people voted for in a doodle poll we conducted). We will send a reminder a
few days before, but this means you can already mark your calendars!
This is *a link to the meetings <https://meet.jit.si/EDUWikiUG> *(at least
for the coming 6 months) and a *the minutes from the meeting
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C6jrTGrFIS51L9qGIWXZiLfRBHSNZF8vKcO1uSTshuQ/edit?fbclid=IwAR1z8CwCbpeDX2yAd574eTTG8OE6zHnVLawc8HWcryAnEAaGDAJTY8QgYfE#>
*(which
we'll also be using for the coming 6 months). We are hoping to record our
next meetings for those who cannot attend.
In addition, in every coming meeting *we will feature 3 stories* of
initiatives from around the world. I*f you'd like to be featured* in one of
the coming meeting, please *contact me privately*.
*Finally,* we realize that while all of this makes perfect sense to us, it
might not be so clear to others, *so p**lease feel free to ask us anything
at all*. We are really looking to involve as many people from around the
world as possible in order to achieve our goals. In other words, we do not
want to rely only on the board to develop these key areas for the global
community; rather it is hoped that board members will take more of a
facilitator role, especially as our network strengthens and our
organization evolves.
Looking forward to working with as many of you in the coming year!
Shani and the Wikipedia & Education User Group Board.
-----------------------------------------------
*Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler School
of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
Chairperson, WikiProject Medicine Foundation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Project_Med>.
Chairperson, Wikipedia & Education User Group
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group>.
Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
<http://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580428621>.
Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda <http://bybe.benyehuda.org>.
*+972-525640648*
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