Re: [African Wikimedians] Research + Chapters, User Groups, Affiliates at Wikimania

[apologies for cross-posting.] Hi all, If you are a representative of a chapter, user group, or affiliate [0] attending Wikimania 2019 and interested to talk with the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation, we would really like to meet you. In this case, please read on. Otherwise, please feel free to ignore this message. (We do have a focus on addressing Wikimedia's knowledge gaps, especially as it is related to missing content on Wikimedia projects and small languages.) ------- One of the empowering aspects of attending Wikimania for me in the past years has been to be able to connect to many of you in person: to build lasting relationships, to understand the challenges that you face in your Wikimedia related efforts, and brainstorm with you about how/if research can help you answer some of your open questions. These conversations have been a source of inspiration for at least a few projects that the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation has picked up over the past years [1]. As our team is planning for our presence in Wikimania 2019 [2], I only hope that we can have even more of this kind of interaction together while we're in Stockholm. To this end and in order to make the best use of our collective time together, I'd like to propose an experimental meet-up during this year's Wikimania where the interested representatives of chapters, user groups, affiliates and the members of the Research team to meet. In order to organize this session, we need your input and I have put together a few questions at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1YZmgxkJJA2lO6jl_nmOL9pwhbNu5GKV… that I'd appreciate if you answer if you find the idea of meeting up interesting. If you do not want to go to the link above and still want to provide your input, please send your responses to the questions at the end of this email to me privately. Whether the meet-up idea ends up being a useful one for you or not will be determined by your responses. Independent of that, I look forward to touch-basing with many of you soon. :) Best, Leila [0] From earlier conversations with chapters, user groups, and affiliates I've got the impression that it's useful to have a dedicated session focused on these groups and their needs/perspectives. This being said, this is not a hard rule. :) If you are not a representative of these groups and you'd like to attend, you're welcome to. Please fill out the survey. [1] https://research.wikimedia.org/projects.html [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T229267 ---- Survey questions if you don't want to fill out the survey by going to the link provided in this email: Description: [The following is a tentative description of the event and it may change based on your responses to this survey. The agenda for the meet up will be finalized on 2019-08-07.] Let's use the opportunity of being in Wikimania to get together and discuss the following and beyond: * [10-min] An update about what the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation has done since we met last year in Wikimania. We will provide updates on "Addressing Knowledge Gaps" and research contributions to "Knowledge Integrity". * [5-min] What stopped us from doing more? What challenges did we face? * [15-min] Let's talk longer term: what does it take to have a global network of researchers around Wikimedia projects? Why is having such a network important? Can we work together on this? * [30-min or more] What are some of the most pressing needs/questions that chapters, affiliates, and user groups face? (with an eye for converting them to research questions.) * ... ------- To learn more about the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation and what we do, please visit https://research.wikimedia.org/ . ------- Question 1. Are you interested to attend a meet-up with Wikimedia Foundation's Research team? Question 2. If your answer to the above question is Yes or Maybe, please let us know which affiliate, user group or chapter do you represent or are a member of? Question 3. What is a good outcome of the meet-up for you if you choose to attend it? Question 4. If you have specific times and days that you cannot attend the meet-up, please indicate them below. Question 5. Anything else you'd like to share with us and we should take into account when planning for this event? -- Leila Zia Principal Research Scientist, Head of Research Wikimedia Foundation