Re: [African Wikimedians] Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee (WISCom)

Hi Bobby, I plan to respond comprehensively to your response later today as I am busy at the moment. Regards, Isaac On Jun 11, 2018 9:27 AM, "Bobby Shabangu" &lt;bobbyshabangu(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: > Hi Isaac, > > I've already clearly lined out what the purpose of the Wiki-Indaba > Steering Committee is about from my previous e-mail to you, and Zeineb's > e-mail clearly states that having a Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee is not > something from one individual but it was a decision taken by the > conference, and I can tell you now that this was something that was also > suggested by the first Wiki-Indaba in Johannesburg in 2014. > > The Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee is a way to organize ourselves within > the African continent, not to work outside WMF's ambit or force people to > report to us. In fact I remember that in Ghana we even agreed that > representatives from WMF should form part of the WIScom. There are no > hidden agendas or nefarious intentions aimed at hampering progress within > the African Wikimedia communities. > > Now when I read your e-mail closely, I can see that you are against the > Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee, but you don't clearly state how we need to > organize ourselves as African Wikimedians. And you do not tell us how do we > help other Africans turn their ideas into actions or how do we help them > increase their communities! You don't even state what you think should > happen after the Wiki-Indaba conference, or how do we coordinate projects > done by African Wikimedians. Hence one begins to wonder if you truly > understand why do we have the Wiki-Indaba conference at the first place. > Instead you see the Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee as an unnecessary > bureaucracy, and you are giving the impression that all is actually well > within the African Wikimedian communities, which is not true by the way. > > Paying close attention to your e-mails again I think your bone of > contention really lies with one individual within the Wiki-Indaba Steering > committee and the work he does in his country. Do you want to expand on > this? > > Kind regards, > Bobby Shabangu > > > On Mon, 11 Jun 2018 05:55 Isaac Olatunde, &lt;reachout2isaac(a)gmail.com&gt; > wrote: > >> Hi Bobby, >> >> As you may already be aware, I know what Wiki-Indaba is all about and >> if you dig out some thread on this list or have been following discussions >> on this list, you will notice that I bided for Wiki-Indaba 2016 on behalf >> of my country, Nigeria. >> >> That being said, we do not want a situation where people will need >> permission from a committee to help countries that needs help. >> >> We do not want people to use the committee to promote personal agenda. >> I already noted that the goals of "Activating African Communities"[1], a >> personal project run by one of the three members of this committee are what >> we are seeing on the Wiki Indaba Steering Committee. >> >> We don't want another level of bureaucracy. I personally cannot give a >> progress report of my project to any committee except the WMF and or a >> committee constituted by WMF to handle such things. >> >> Again, Wiki-Indaba scholarship committee, LOC and WMF should handle how >> people are selected for scholarship. >> >> Regards, >> >> Isaac >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Activating_African_Communities >> >> On Jun 11, 2018 2:01 AM, "Bobby Shabangu" &lt;bobbyshabangu(a)gmail.com&gt; >> wrote: >> >>> Hi Isaac, >>> >>> Thanks for your questions and comments, and I think they are important >>> to bring forth so that we clarify them and get an understanding of what the >>> Wiki-Indaba gathering and subsequent Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee >>> (WIScom) is all about. >>> >>> Remember the conference brings together old hands of Wikimedia and >>> newbies and Wikimedians with some experience but needs capacity building, >>> we also have free knowledge advocates and mission aligned institutions >>> including sponsorships like our friends the Goethe-institute, and some >>> Embassies and university reprentatives. Projects and challenges are shared >>> by Wikimedians here and solutions are identified, but how do we track if >>> those solutions are being implemented and are working? How do we provide >>> support? How do we give conference attendees the right tools to run their >>> project? This is where the WIScom comes in. To provide simple actionable >>> solutions that will bring together Wikipedians within the African continent >>> after the conference. >>> >>> So, to simply answer you, Wiki-Indaba is not about the conference but >>> is about Wikimedians within the African continent. And although helping >>> Wikimedians organise the conference will be part of what WIScom do, but >>> WIScom is not necessarily about events management (the conference) but it's >>> more about people management (Wikimedians). >>> >>> We don't want meta or this mailing list to be the only way for us to >>> communicate but we want to also include a Facebook page and Twitter handle >>> for Wiki-Indaba where our friends the Goethe-institute or Creative Commons >>> or some Wikipedian in Malawi or Central African Republic can know about us >>> and receive the same assistance. >>> >>> Please read more about why we have the conference on the link here: >>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiIndaba_conference_2014 >>> >>> Kind regards, >>> Bobby Shabangu >>> >>> >>> On Sunday, June 10, 2018, Isaac Olatunde &lt;reachout2isaac(a)gmail.com&gt; >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Zeineb, >>>> >>>> Thanks for sharing this information. However, I do have some >>>> questions and comments. I have listed them below. >>>> >>>> 1. You wrote "Support Wikimedians within The African continent who >>>> wants to run Wikimedia projects but don't know where to start or how to go >>>> about doing that, as well as finding out about the progress of projects run >>>> by Wikimedians within the African continent and diaspora" How is this >>>> related to Indaba? I believe an Indaba steering committee should primarily >>>> focus on the business of Indaba which is the African regional conference. >>>> >>>> 2. While I do agree on the need to support individuals that one to >>>> run Wikimedia projects in their countries, I do not think we need a >>>> committee to do that, even if we do, I don't think Indaba steering >>>> committee should be the one to handle this. This appears to be out of >>>> scope. >>>> >>>> 3. "Finding out about the progress of projects runs by Wikimedians in >>>> Africa and diaspora " is a go thing, I also think this is out of scope for >>>> Indaba steering committee " Reports/Progress reports are often published on >>>> Meta Wiki for everyone to see and people are welcome to contact project >>>> coordinator if there is a capacity in which they which to help. I do not >>>> think we need a committee to do that and if we must have a committee, I >>>> don't think Indaba Steering Committee is the appropriate committee to do >>>> that. >>>> >>>> 4. In your page you wrote "Management of scholarships application and >>>> awarding process " In 2017, I proposed here "Indaba Scholarship Committee " >>>> like "Wikimania Scholarship Committee" but it does appeared that the LOC >>>> with support of the WMF handled the process. Thus, it might be a good idea >>>> to have a separate body like the one proposed above, WMF and LOC to handle >>>> this process. >>>> >>>> >>>> I do think the roles of this steering committee are overstretched and >>>> we do need to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> >>>> Isaac >>>> >>>> On Jun 10, 2018 12:01 PM, "Zeineb Takouti" &lt;zeinebtakouti(a)gmail.com&gt; >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Dear African Wikimedians, >>>>> >>>>> I hope this email finds you well. >>>>> >>>>> As you will remember that during our Wiki-Indaba >>>>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba> conference in Tunisia >>>>> it was agreed that we need to put together a steering committee that will >>>>> be responsible for capacity building which includes amongst other things >>>>> providing support to countries who wish to host Wiki-Indaba conference in >>>>> the future, support Wikimedians within the African continent who wants to >>>>> run Wikimedia projects but don't know where to start or how to go about >>>>> doing that, as well as finding out about the progress of projects run by >>>>> Wikimedians within the African continent and diaspora and letting everyone >>>>> know through social media etc. >>>>> >>>>> Currently the Wiki-Indaba Steering Committee (WISCom) >>>>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba#Wiki_Indaba_Steering_Committee_(WISCom)> >>>>> is composed of representatives from countries who were previously >>>>> host to the conference, this includes Myself, Bobby Shabangu and Felix >>>>> Nartey. We would like to increase the steering committee, and we are >>>>> calling for applications from volunteers who are interested to be part of >>>>> the WISCom. The applications can be done by answering a few questions on >>>>> this page here >>>>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba/Steering_Committee_(WISCom)> >>>>> . >>>>> >>>>> The due date for applications is Friday 22 June 2018. >>>>> >>>>> You are free to share this message on other social groups for more >>>>> participation. >>>>> >>>>> Kind regards, >>>>> >>>>> Zeineb Takouti >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Zeineb Takouti >>>>> Chef de projet / Consultante Junior >>>>> Co-fondatrice et secrétaire générale de Carthagina >>>>> Membre de Wikimedia TN User Group >>>>> GSM: (+216) 54 394 883 >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> African-Wikimedians mailing list >>>>> African-Wikimedians(a)lists.wikimedia.org >>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/african-wikimedians >>>>> >>>>>