Perhaps we should rethink our "recruiting" strategy. If our goal is to
attract editors dedicated to collecting knowledge and writing a
non-point-of-view encyclopedia, I think our outreach efforts would be best
targeted to people with expertise (like the GLAM community) or people with
a lot of spare time (like the retired community).
In general, "community activists" (of any viewpoint) are more likely to
seek out WMF projects to push a particular point of view. So, recruiting
at the Republican Conference, the Democratic Conference, the Family
Foundation Convention or this conference would call into question our
Chapter's commitment to NPOV. I think there is a difference in an
outreach effort that targets academic conferences vs. an outreach effort
that targets political activist gatherings.
Is there a general set of WMF guidelines as to the scope of outreach
efforts? For example, I know that WMF cannot support partisan political
activity. Has this proposal been vetted by the Legal Committee and the
Chapter Board?
If we had a booth, what would be the message? We want you to volunteer
time to WMF projects, but we don't want you to push the viewpoint you
traveled to Baltimore to discuss?
Thanks,
-- Bob
The world's largest gathering of of activists and
community organizers
within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and their
allies, the 24th National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, is
coming to the Hilton Baltimore, January 2529, 2012.
Gregory Varnum, a Wikimedian from Michigan, is planning to attend and
would
like to setup a booth to represent Wikimedia (the chapters + WMF) at the
conference. He has applied to the WMF for a grant to cover the costs of
this.
This is an exciting opportunity to recruit new volunteers, outreach to
potential sponsors for Wikimania and beyond, and for us to develop
relationships with organizations that have a combined volunteer base of
several million.
We are in need of volunteers to be present at the booth for questions and
general outreach on behalf of Wikimedia. The booth will be open:
- Thursday, January 26 from 2:00pm to 10:00pm
- Friday, January 27 from 8:30am to 7:30pm
- Friday, January 28 from 8:30am to 7:30pm
- Sunday, January 29 from 8:00am to 3:00pm
If you can come for any part of the time, such as a morning or afternoon,
that would be awesome! I am not yet sure when the meetup would be, but
stay tuned.
The conference is run by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and
attracts more than 2,500 people from all over the country every year.
Presenters and participants come from all walks of life and include
members
of the business community, elected officials, students, faith leaders and
staff and volunteers of non-profit organizations.
Anyone interested in more information or to sign-up as a volunteer, please
email: gregory(a)aequalitasproject.org
Cheers,
Katie
--
President, Wikimedia District of Columbia
http://wikimediadc.org
@wikimediadc / @wikimania2012
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