Dear Wikimedians,
This email is to request your participation in a survey to ascertain if we
should host an exclusively online WikiIndaba conference or a hybrid event.
As you may recall that the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) had to halt all
in-person events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic>, this had an effect on
the planned 2020 WikiIndaba annual conference which too, had to be
postponed to take place in 2021, hoping that the situation would have
improved to allow an in-person event. However, the situation hasn’t changed
much and it's hard to predict what is going to happen in the near future.
In this regard, the Wikimedia Foundation’s COVID-19 Risk Assessment protocol
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Risk_assessment_during_COVID-19>
and assessment tool
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YRtna7axYEPK-b8s8dJTK8-0a-kSnDC8oyT-WYIZswo/edit#gid=1830216932>
have to be used for in-person events that are more than 10 people.
During the last year, Wikimedia movement organizers across the movement had
to adjust to different formats and ways of engaging with the community. For
this reason, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) in Uganda
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Uganda>,
together with the WikiIndaba Steering Committee (WISCom) have had
discussions about having a conference which will ensure everyone is able
to attend. Thus, we request your participation in this survey
<https://forms.gle/FJKZ1LmG67Z6iXfq5> to ascertain if we should host the
2021 WikiIndaba exclusively online or have a hybrid event. This has
implications on the type of grant funding we will be applying for as well
as reporting. However, to be more inclusive in our decision, we would like
you to take part in this survey.
We do believe there are benefits that come with organizing WikiIndaba this
year, it would allow more people from Africa and all over the world to
participate in WikiIndaba.
Please give us your feedback no later than 20th February by responding to
this survey *https://forms.gle/mrjpMk4vaLbpiKMt9
<https://forms.gle/mrjpMk4vaLbpiKMt9>*
Kind regards,
Geoffrey Kateregga
On behalf of the WikiIndaba Local Organizing Team and WikiIndaba Steering
Committee
*Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda*
*Goethe Zentrum Kampala Library *
*Plot 52 Bukoto Street, Kamwokya*
*P.O Box 11778, Kampala-Uganda*