Hi all,

(with apologies for the delay in sending this announcement)

This email discusses a sensitive topic of armed conflict, and may contain triggers for some of our community members. While we appreciate your input, please prioritize your own mental wellbeing and don't feel obligated to respond or participate. I have tried to frame this as sensitively as possible, but welcome constructive suggestions on how to do this better off-list. 

Summary: On Sunday 21 January (08:00 PST, 16:00 UTC), the international team of Wiki Loves Monuments will organize an office hour/community conversation on: How should an international federated photo competition like WLM handle national teams, international finalists and communication in the case of geopolitical armed conflict. We will announce the link later, and you can register here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023/Office_hour  

Topic: In the past years, our communities have been confronted with the question how to deal with a number of geopolitical armed conflicts. This question came up in the past years in a few different ways: whether photos of heritage from certain countries should be allowed to be represented or compete in international competitions like Wiki Loves Monuments, whether and how photos of heritage in disputed areas can participate (especially when that dispute becomes an armed conflict) and there are probably more ways ahead that various armed conflicts can make an international competition and communication about the competition complex. There is no question whether human and cultural destruction is desirable, and every war is likely one too many. 

Why now: It is particularly hard to discuss these sensitive topics when they are current: it is a painful conversation for everyone to have, especially because the people who are living through the real-life consequences are given an additional burden of engaging in these discussions, under the pressure of time. 

For this reason I believe it would be helpful to discuss this topic without focusing on a specific conflict - but rather to discuss principles. How would we, generally speaking, international competitions such as Wiki Loves Monuments like to be influenced by armed conflict? Are there guidelines that they could maintain? At this point, we don't know who the winners of Wiki Loves Monuments are, and we can still have an abstract conversation. I don't expect this conversation to conclude right away, but hope that we can continue it in a few months after the dust of the winning images has settled. 

While this is already very soon, we have settled on Sunday 21 January, 16:00 UTC to avoid getting too close to the announcement of international winners.

Framing: Some questions that come to mind as useful conversation starters would include:

* Under what conditions could or should a national team be disqualified from participating in an international federated activity such as WLM? 

* If yes, who should make the decision whether to disqualify, and using what criteria? Who should they consult?

* Under what conditions could or should the national submissions be disqualified, if a national competition already has taken place? 

* Should the international team make efforts to not appear to support an armed conflict when communicating about the competition, or even previous events? What are some guidelines that they could follow? 

I would invite others to contribute in framing a constructive conversation (publicly or privately - when in doubt, just email me privately). 

Conversation timeline: We want this to be the start of a constructive community conversation with national organizers, international organizers and other community members who feel they can constructively contribute. We welcome contributions from organizers of other similar international competitions/activities. The conversation will be in English but if there is sufficient interest, we can see if we can organize translation resources in future conversations. You can sign up here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2023/Office_hour . Please do sign up, in case we have to share the link privately.

As mentioned, I don't expect this conversation to be "one and done". It's a first step, and I expect to follow up with a next conversation in a few months, and again around Wikimania - if there is sufficient interest. 

I will guide this conversation as a former WLM international team member and a current advisor.  

Warmly,

Lodewijk