Dear Wikimedians,
I write to invite you all to WikiAfrica Hour episode 12, where we shall be
engaging our special guest, Maryana Iskander, CEO of Wikimedia Foundation.
It's been four months into her Wikimedia Foundation CEO job, what has
Maryana Iskander been up to? What's she currently working on? What plans
does she have for the movement? Come find out on WikiAfrica Hour episode
12.
*Date:22nd April 2022. Time: 4pm UTC. *
*You can drop questions for her on the "Questions" page of WikiAfrica Hour
Meta page*. Details:https://w.wiki/3E6L
Best regards,
Ceslause Ogbonnaya
*WikiAfrica Hour Host*
Dear Wikimedians,
On behalf of Wiki In Africa, the organizer of Wiki Loves Africa, I wish to
inform you all that the deadline for submitting entries for Wiki Loves
Africa 2022
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2022>
themed *Home
+ Habitat*, has been extended to *30th April 2022*.
Make your entries that are related to the theme and stand a chance to win
awesome prizes bit.ly/wla22_enter!
Best regards,
Ceslause Ogbonnaya
Tl;dr Urgent need to address the note denying race and ethnicity as
âmeaningful distinctions among peopleâ in the Universal Code of Conduct
(UCoC). The current wording is highly problematic and can result in
endorsing systemic and individual discrimination and violence on the basis
of race and ethnicity, rather than preventing it.
Dear Wikimedians,
We are writing this letter as the Whose Knowledge? user group, both to
Wikimedia-l, as well as adding it to the talk page for the UCoC.[0] We
endorsed the UCoC in the community voting process because we are committed
to its principles and intentions (indeed, some of us have been expressly
working towards it within the movement for a very long time, in multiple
ways).
However, we continue to be deeply concerned about the current wording of a
specific note in the UCoC: under Section 3.1 about Harassment, the note
under Insults states that âThe Wikimedia movement does not endorse "race"
and "ethnicity" as meaningful distinctions among people. Their inclusion
here is to mark that they are prohibited in use against others as the basis
for personal attacks." (emphasis ours)[1]
This is both manifestly incorrect and entirely against what we believe to
be the principles and intentions of the UCoC. Other Wikimedians have
already pointed out the deeply contradictory nature of this statement,
including WJBScribe on the talk page in May 2021,[2] but their comments
appear not to have been considered yet.
By stating that "The Wikimedia movement does not endorse "race" and
"ethnicity" as meaningful distinctions among people," those responsible for
this text do not seem to fully grasp that:
-
Even though the concept of âraceâ as a biological distinction has been
refuted, âraceâ as a social construct has been fully accepted by modern
scholars.[3] Even more importantly, we know historically that the concept
of âraceâ was created and developed to serve and justify European
colonialism in its quest to enslave, marginalize, oppress, dominate and
exterminate black, brown and indigenous peoples in the lands they
colonized. This form of âracial scienceâ was also responsible for the
genocide of Europeans who would otherwise be racialized as white outside of
Europe, in particular during World War II. Since then the concept of âraceâ
has been used to develop and create some of the most wide ranging systems
of power and privilege that currently marginalize and oppress the majority
of the world.
-
By denying or not âendorsingâ the existence of race as a âmeaningful
distinction among peopleâ, the Wikimedia movement is not doing non-white
people any favors or helping to end racism or racist demonstrations, such
as insults based on race. As weâve said before, being silent about racism
doesnât make it go away. It only creates the perfect environment for the
continued existence of the deep structural powers and privileges that
created it in the first place.[4]
-
Additionally, it is equally manifestly important to acknowledge the ways
in which the concept of âethnicityâ is used to create âmeaningfulâ -
including violently discriminatory - âdistinctionsâ amongst people,
including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism as two obvious examples. It is
equally obvious that the concepts of âraceâ and âethnicityâ are not
equivalent and/or interchangeable, and cannot be used so.
-
By including such a problematic statement, the UCoC contradicts the
movementâs commitment to knowledge equity, clearly stated and approved as
part of our Wikimedia Movement Strategy for 2030. The Universal Code of
Conduct of a movement that doesnât âseeâ race or ethnicity or acknowledge
the historical and current effects of our racialized and ethnically-driven
world, cannot and will not be able to âfocus our efforts on the knowledge
and communities that have been left out by structures of power and
privilege.â[5]
-
Leaving this wording in, also negates the ongoing efforts by individuals
and organizations across the movement who work with passion and commitment
towards knowledge equity in different ways, including through challenging
racist and ethnically discriminatory behavior in our projects.
As long-time members of our movement, we assume good faith, and recognize
that this current wording may have happened through honest intentions gone
badly wrong. As Wikimedians who believe in shared improvements through
collective editing, we hope that this mistake too will be immediately
acknowledged and removed from the UCoC. We are not entirely sure who is
ultimately responsible for this change, but if the Wikimedia Foundation
Board is in charge of reviewing the policy, we believe it is incumbent upon
the Board to share with us what possible next steps they will take, towards
this.
We look forward to a UCoC that lives up to its principles and intentions,
and we commit to its practice as Wikimedians.
With love, respect, and solidarity,
Adele and Anasuya with the Whose Knowledge? team, advisors, and friends
[0]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Universal_Code_of_Conduct#Open_Letter_âŠ
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct#3.1_%E2%80%93_HarâŠ
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Universal_Code_of_Conduct#%22The_WikimâŠ
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_(human_categorization)
[4]
https://whoseknowledge.org/media-section/creative-commons-global-summit-201âŠ
and
https://whoseknowledge.org/media-section/toward-a-wikipedia-for-and-from-usâŠ
[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017#Our_strateâŠ
--
*Anasuya Sengupta*
+44 7367 868585
*Reimagining and redesigning the internet to be for and from us all*
http://whoseknowledge.org
*We just launched the first ever State of the Internet's Languages report
<http://internetlanguages.org>!*
*There can be no love without justice... The moment we choose to love we
begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose
to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate
ourselves and others.*
*(bell hooks)*
Dear Wikimedians,
I wanted to share a quick update following Wikimedia Deutschlandâs
announcement of the Wikimedia Summit 2022 last week.
I am Cornelius, Event Coordinator at the Wikimedia Foundationâs Movement
Strategy and Governance team, and the contact person for all things around
the Summit at WMFâs side. The Movement Strategy and Governance team
collaborates with Wikimedia Deutschland on planning and organizing the
Wikimedia Summit.
-
We heard the feedback about the *tough timeline for the application.*
Talking to everyone involved, we were able to adjust the timeline for the
application: the application deadline is now April 24. This leaves the
organizing team about a week to review all applications, the final invitee
list for the in-person attendance will be published nevertheless on April
29.
-
*Weâd like to clarify that each affiliate can (and needs) only apply
once*. Add the name of your primary representative to the form. If your
affiliate has a paid staff member in the position of an Executive Director,
please let us know via a short email to wmsummit(a)wikimedia.de, so youâre
âon the radarâ.
-
We have received and heard repeated questions and suggestions to *open
up the online participation/attendance for this event* for more
affiliate representatives and individuals interested in Movement Strategy.
While weâre reviewing this at the moment with the intention to do so, weâd
just like to emphasize our need to make this decision consciously, and not
just based on pure logistical questions. It has a huge impact on the
concept of the event and the program design overall (especially in the
hybrid setting), and will also set a precedent for the upcoming years. We
will publish an update on this soon.
-
Last week, we have hosted two âQuestions and Answers sessionsâ around
the Wikimedia Summit. We have published the questions and answers as notes
on Meta. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Summit_2022/FAQ
Thanks for all your feedback and engagement around this event. Weâll keep
you posted on the usual channels. If you have any questions in the
meantime, please reach out to the organizing team via wmsummit(a)wikimedia.de
Cheers
Cornelius
--
Cornelius Kibelka (he/him)
Event Coordinator
Movement Strategy + Governance
2030.wikimedia.org
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate.
<https://donate.wikimedia.org/>*
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear Wikimedians,
We are excited to be dropping the first episode of WIKIMOVE
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WIKIMOVE>, the new podcast on everything
Wikimedia Movement Strategy.
Whatâs in this episode?
We introduce the concept of the pod and then chat about the latest news in
our movement. Then, as the main topic of this episode we discuss one of the
two pillars of movement strategy: Knowledge as a Service. During our guest
interview we learn more about the origin story of the strategic direction
and discuss its relevance for the future of our movement and for the way we
provide our services.
Our guests areâŠ
Tochi Precious, Founder of the Igbo Wikimedia User Group
Toichi has been working on developing the creativity of young African
editors and increasing the number of African language Wikipedias.
Guillaume Paumier, Principal Program Manager, Advancement, Wikimedia
Foundation
Guillaume was instrumental in the earlier stage of movement strategy
development and helped write the strategic direction.
You can find the audio podcast here
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WikiMove_-_Podcast_Folge_1_final.ogg>
and a shortened video version here.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNg1NGxHHHA> Please visit our meta page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WIKIMOVE> to react to the episode and
subscribe to get notified of each new release.
The topic and guests for our next episode will be announced soon, stay
tuned!
Looking forward to your feedback,
Movement Strategy and Global Relations, Wikimedia Deutschland
--
Eva Martin
Project Assistant Movement Strategy and Global Relations
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 219 158 26-0
https://wikimedia.de
Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia,
Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German):
https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/
Wikimedia Deutschland â Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter
der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnĂŒtzig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt fĂŒr
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207.
Hello All,
We would like to thank the over 2300 Wikimedians who participated in the
recently concluded community vote on the Enforcement Guidelines for the
Universal Code of Conduct (UCoC)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_ConducâŠ>.
At this time, the volunteer scrutinizing group has completed the review of
the accuracy of the vote and the final results are available on Meta-wiki.
A quick summary can be found below:
-
58.6% Yes, 41.4% No
-
Contributors from 128 home wikis participated in the vote
-
Over thirty languages were supported in the ballot
What this outcome means is that there is enough support for the Board to
review the document. It does not mean that the Enforcement Guidelines are
automatically complete.
From here, the project team will collate and summarize the comments
provided in the voting process, and publish them on Meta-wiki. The
Enforcement Guidelines will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for their
consideration. The Board will review input given during the vote, and
examine whether there are aspects of the Guidelines that need further
refinement. If so, these comments, and the input provided through Meta-wiki
and other community conversations, will provide a good starting point for
revising the Guidelines to meet the needs expressed by communities in the
voterâs responses.
In the event the Board moves forward with ratification, the UCoC project
team will begin supporting specific proposals in the Guidelines. Some of
these proposals include working with community members to form the U4C
Building Committee, starting consultations on training, and supporting
conversations on improving our reporting systems. There is still a lot to
be done, but we will be able to move into the next phase of this work.
Many people took part in making sure the policy and the enforcement
guidelines work for our communities. We will continue to collaboratively
work on the details of the strong proposals outlined in the Guidelines as
presented by the Wikimedians who engaged with the project in different ways
over the last year.
Once again, we thank everyone who participated in the ratification of the
Enforcement Guidelines.
Regards,
Stella Ng on behalf of the UCoC Project Team
Senior Manager, Trust and Safety Policy
Hello everyone
_Short version : _
we launched a new podcast in March. *From tech gurus to authors,
educators to activists, the Inspiring Open podcast draws wisdom and
insights from women who intersect the 'open movement' and inspire with
their thoughts and actions. On all your favorite podcast plateform, go
listen to amazing women (including recently our own Maryana)*
https://podcast.wikiloveswomen.org
_Longer version : _
*
The Wiki Loves Women team decided a few months ago to launch a new
podcast. With projects across Africa and the Middle East empowering
women with the tools and platforms to be heard, we have accumulated a
vault of interesting tales from dynamic women who push the boundaries of
what it means to build community and succeed as a collective.
*
**
**
*
The stories and ideas behind successful African women will be shared for
the next few months in the Inspiring Open
Podcast<https://tr.fdske.com/ec/gAAAAABiOFRuUc_lYEdLjajuq4AvjKeZIKVrD9vmCd8_SUjDIAZâŠ>.
From tech gurus to authors, educators to activists, the Inspiring Open
podcast draws wisdom and insights from women who intersect the 'open
movement' and inspire with their thoughts and actions.
**
*Episodes will be released every two weeks throughout 2022, for a total
of 16 portraits of amazing women. The first two guests were released
during March. They are:*
** ** Anie Akpe, founder of African Women In Tech (AWIT), an
Africa-based organisation helping girls and women with education and
mentorship within technology, as well as UX Diaspora, a unique community
of people of colour in UX who are digitally migrating to educate,
connect and inspire one another all over the world. ***
* Maryana Iskander, the Chief Executive Officer of the Wikimedia
Foundation. With a proven track record for scaling complex organisations
she has dedicated much of her work to breaking down systemic barriers of
access to opportunity and education.
*****Our newest episode is about *Maha Bali*, an open education
innovator. Maha Bali comes from a family of medical doctors but she
fancied studying computer science. This was not to last however, as it
didn't gel with personality as an extrovert. She then made the happy
option of becoming an educator.... **You may access the podcast on all
the usual podcast plateforms. *
*As wikipedians, we have paid extra attention to details and worked hard
to provide the most enjoyable experience. I invite you to have a look to
the dedicated website : **https://podcast.wikiloveswomen.org*** Records
are obviously freely licenced (including music), and a text-based
version of the full interview is published * A fine artist have drawn
portraits of our guests. Obviously all freely licenced * We have
isolated interesting quotes for the immediate benefit of podcast
addicts.... and long term benefit of Wikiquote :) * On the website, you
may also access specific parts of each episode, reading suggestions and
more *
Thanks !
Florence / Anthere
**
**
Inspiring Open is hosted by Betty Kankam-Boadu, co-founder of the Ghana
Women Experts project that promotes women's voices for commentary in the
media.Inspiring Open was created and produced by Wiki In Africa's Isla
Haddow-Flood and Florence Devouard, produced by Rachel Zadok, and sound
engineered by Jey at Melody Hub Studio, Accra, Ghana with portraits of
each guest created by Candace di Talamo. The podcast was funded through
the International Relief Fund for Organisations in Culture and Education
2021, an initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office, the
Goethe-Institut and other partners. Wiki In Africa is supported by the
Wikimedia Foundation.
*