This email might interest others who would like to know what next steps WMF
is considering address this set of issues, in terms of policies, practices,
and technical developments.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patrick Earley <pearley(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Statement by Wikimedia Board on Healthy
Community Culture, Inclusivity, and Safe Spaces
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
I want to thank the Board for this letter, and for their focus on this
problem.
What specific work should we be doing to make progress around this issue?
Harassment is a complex problem, and there are no easy solutions. Nor is
there likely to be a single solution; improvement will have to be made
through a number of initiatives and coordinated approaches.
Wikimedia volunteers have offered many different approaches to the problem,
through consultations, workshops, the Inspire campaign, conference
sessions, and discussion. The Support and Safety team has been collating
these ideas, exploring the issue in the broader context of online
communities, and delving into academic research on the topic.
From these conversations and research, we have
identified some
categories/areas for improvement:
- Better blocking tools and detection - the Wikimedia community works
hard on the front lines keeping our users safe from harassment, through
monitoring noticeboards and recent changes for problems, investigating
“sock” accounts used to abuse contributors, and placing blocks on
problematic users. Improvements to blocking tools, and the ability to
detect harassing comments sooner can empower contributors to be more
effective at these tasks.
- Reporting and evaluation tools - The current systems for reporting
harassment are overburdened and can be unclear to users, and there are
limited tools that admins and stewards can use to evaluate the cases and
make good decisions. New tools, developed in collaboration with
functionaries and communities, can improve the experience of reporting,
investigating and managing harassment cases.
- Training for better handling of both in-person and online harassment -
Better training can give contributors the tools and skills to handle
harassment situations quickly and empathetically, document cases, and
provide good advice to targets of harassment.
- Policy and enforcement - Wikimedia communities have developed a
variety of processes, policies, and approaches to dealing with
behavioural
problems. As a movement, we need to identify which are working well, and
share those successes. We also need to identify where our approaches are
not working well, identify the problems, and try new solutions based on
research and data.
- Coordination with other platforms on harassment approaches and tools,
and keeping up with current academic research - Our communities are not
the
only ones struggling with the problem of online harassment. We need to
work more closely with other platforms, researchers, online communities,
and experts to make sure we are aware of successful techniques, new
research, and useful tools.
The above areas are not the only areas where improvement can be made -
right now, contributors are brainstorming other approaches through the
Community Wishlist process.[1] We also encourage contributors to reach out
to the Support and Safety team at ca(a)wikimedia.org with ideas, or contact
me privately at pearley(a)wikimedia.org.
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2016_Community_Wishlist_Survey
On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 12:26 PM, Sydney Poore <sydney.poore(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Thank you Christophe and the rest of the Wikimedia
Foundation trustees
for dedicating time and thought to this important topic.
I'm optimistic that if we collaborate together as a community we can
make a difference in the level of harassment on Wikimedia projects and
maybe even other parts of the internet.
Sydney
Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 3:18 PM, Christophe Henner <chenner(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Hello everyone,
As many of you know, over the past couple of years the Wikimedia
Foundation
has taken a focused look at community
health—particularly in regards to
harassment. The Foundation's Board has been monitoring and discussing
this
issue over the past year with great interest. We
have prepared a
statement
offering our thoughts on this topic, and
providing a clear mandate for
the
Foundation’s leadership to fully engage on this
issue.
Our statement is below and has been posted on Meta-Wiki, where it is set
up
Board_noticeboard/November_2016_-_Statement_on_Healthy_Community_Culture,_
Inclusivity,_and_Safe_Spaces
>
> Since the Foundation was established, we have been invested in building
a
positive
community culture. As part of these efforts, we have monitored
the
projects for instances of harassment, escalating
our capacity to respond
in
> recent years. Thanks to the work of the Foundation's Support and Safety
> Team, we now have data in the form of the 2015 Harassment Survey[1]
about
> the nature of the issue. This has enabled us to
identify key areas of
> concern, and step up our response appropriately. This research shows
that
harassment has
a negative impact on participation in our projects. This
has
> implications for our ability to collect, share, and disseminate free
> knowledge in support of the Wikimedia vision. Our statement speaks to
the
Board's
duty to help the Foundation fulfill its mission.
The Board is committed to making our communities safer and will not
accept
harassment and toxic behavior on Wikimedia
projects. We believe this
matter
deserves the Foundation's attention and
resources, and have confirmed
this
responsibility at our latest Board meeting on
November 13th. The
questions
that lay before us all now are how to best
address this threat, rather
than
if we should attempt to do so.
The Board especially appreciates and applauds the work being done to
address this important issue by many community leaders across the
movement
and teams within the Foundation. We look forward
to seeing this
cooperative
> work not only continue, but expand. Finally, we encourage everyone who
is
interested in
helping the Foundation address this threat to our vision
and
mission to engage in the upcoming discussions
around this issue.
On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees,
Christophe Henner, Board Chair
María Sefidari, Board Vice Chair
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Harassment_survey_2015
Statement by the Wikimedia Board on Healthy Community Culture,
Inclusivity,
and Safe Spaces
At our Board meeting on November 13, and in Board meetings in September
and
June, we spent considerable time discussing the
issues of harassment and
hostility on the internet generally, and more specifically on the
Wikimedia
projects.
This is an important issue. Approximately 40% of internet users, and 70%
of
women internet users, have personally experienced
harassment.[1] Of
people
who have reported experiencing harassment on
Wikimedia projects, more
than
> 50% reported decreasing their participation in our community.[2] Based
on
this and other
research, we conclude that harassment and toxic behavior
on
> the Wikimedia projects negatively impacts the ability of the Wikimedia
> projects to collect, share, and disseminate free knowledge. This
behavior
is contrary to
our vision and mission.
Our communities deserve safe spaces in which they can contribute
productively and debate constructively. It is our belief that the
Wikimedia
Foundation should be proactively engaged in
eliminating harassment,
promoting inclusivity, ensuring a healthier culture of discourse, and
improving the safety of Wikimedia spaces. We request management to
dedicate
> appropriate resources to this end.
>
> We urge every member of the Wikimedia communities to collaborate in a
way
that models
the Wikimedia values of openness and diversity, step forward
to
> do their part to stop hostile and toxic behavior, support people who
have
been targeted
by such behavior, and help set clear expectations for all
contributors.
[1] 2014 Pew Research Center Study, found at:
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/10/22/online-harassment/
[2] 2015 WMF Harassment Survey, found at:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/
Harassment_Survey_2015_-_Results_Report.pdf
Christophe HENNER
Chair of the board of trustees
chenner(a)wikimedia.org
+33650664739
twitter *@schiste* skype *christophe_henner*
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--
Patrick Earley
Senior Community Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation
pearley(a)wikimedia.org
(1) 415 975 1874
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