These are interesting viewpoints indeed.
I think the connection between these awards and Wikipedia (especially in
the African continent) is clearly stated in the article. In fact, if it was
me who was writing this press release I would have started that sentence
with:
- Most African Wikipedians struggle with adding content on the
English/French Wikipedia because of lack of reliable references, and " *the
awards recognise the essential role journalists play in creating
well-researched articles that volunteer editors use as source materials to
develop content on Wikipedia....*"
Colleagues, you will agree with me that there's no one size fits all
solution to fix our problems. We exist in a dynamic community where
something that was perfectly fine a few years ago may not work today. I
personally participated in the development of the MS2030 but I was also
fully aware that the recommendations of the MS2030 are not a silver bullet
or a formula to solve all our problems in the movement. It is our
collective thinking that by implementing the recommendations, our movement
will be in a better strategic position by year 2030 to address the issues
stated in the MS2030.
Now does that mean we should say NO to a pilot project that the WMF
consulted us to try out help close the knowledge gaps in Africa because
it's not part of the MS2030 which is our silver bullet to solving all our
problems? I don't know you tell me colleagues.
Best regards,
Bobby Shabangu
On Sat, 6 May 2023 at 11:08, Mrb Rafi <mrbrafi1971(a)gmail.com> wrote:
+1 to Paul.
I was thinking of the same thing but was confused about how to put it.
Many individuals from underrepresented communities, including myself, often
feel hesitant to contribute to global-level conversations in a meaningful
way and raise their concerns.
The connection between Wikimedia and this initiative is too weak. While
cost is not the primary concern, the potential impact on Wikimedia is
significant for any Wikimedia initiative.
I am not trying to discourage our fellow Wikimedians from Africa in any
way. On the contrary, I have witnessed firsthand the incredible work they
are doing despite facing numerous obstacles, and their contributions often
go unrecognized.
This is undoubtedly a good initiative that serves the local African
community. But how does this serve Wikimedia? How do we measure the direct
impact of this initiative on Wikimedia? How is it aligned with MS2030?
I am also slightly uncomfortable with the fact that the volunteer
organizers are not recognized in any visible place. They deserve proper
acknowledgment.
From a broader perspective, there's something strange happening in the
movement. I fear that the focus is being shifted from community relations
and support to somewhere else. In the annual planning community
conversation, I expressed my concerns about the apparent reduction in
direct professional support from the Foundation for the communities.
Instead, it appears that the focus is shifting towards self-organized
initiatives, which will never be effective for underrepresented
communities. We require direct professional support from the Foundation,
which has been provided quietly but effectively in recent years. Wikimedia
communities need professional support from the foundation that empowers
them from the core and creates the capacity to work more independently.
The foundation possesses all the linguistic expertise and the required
in-depth, unique, and specialized knowledge of the local Wikimedia
community dynamics to align this initiative with MS2030 and enhance its
direct impact on the movement. But for some strange reason, they're not
doing that—not only for this initiative but almost everywhere; they're
instead fully destroying that capacity themselves through the recent
layoffs (probably). The radical changes may have a very negative long-term
impact on communities, specially the underrepresented ones.
I'm not sure, but I'm having the feeling that ideas like DEI and MS2030
are being misinterpreted to justify a lot of things that don't necessarily
serve DEI or MS2030 in the movement. Even I had the feeling that the draft
annual plan was just MS2030-washed without any visible impact. I've always
supported the foundation and its staff in any of their meaningful
contributions with all my enthusiasm and knowledge as a volunteer, but for
the last few days, I've been hesitating.
I want everyone, including the foundation, to work in such a way that it
creates capacity in the local communities and, at the same time, serves our
goals as a movement.
Best,
Rafi
On Sat, May 6, 2023 at 9:58 AM Paul J. Weiss <libcub(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
To me, this award is reaching well beyond the
scope of what the Wikimedia
community should be doing. It does not, to me, align with our Movement
Strategy's recommendations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations> nor
their initiatives
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Initiatives>, nor the WMF
2023-2024 Annual Plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024>.
Just because something might be positive for the world or our community
does not mean we should do such. As a gay man, I appreciate all the
literature awards for LGBT+ books, but I would not support such an award
from the WMF or the community. Where would this stop? Is it in scope for us
to give an award for scientific research? Social justice activism?
Translation software? These could all be beneficial to our community, but I
don't think it would be appropriate for us to take on those endeavors.
In addition I am concerned this award will have negative effects on our
fundraising. I would expect that some donors, if they found out we are
awarding $3,500 to journalists in no way connected to our wikis, might be
less likely to donate. I think this kind of thing has happened to other
non-profits.
We are stretched too thin enough already. I believe that we should stick
to our core activities, which stem from the documents linked to above.
Thanks,
Paul
User:Libcub
On 2023-05-04 1:47 PM, Olushola Olaniyan wrote:
*Dear all, *
*My name is Olushola (User: Olaniyan Olushola). I am from Africa and have
been a Wikimedia since 2014 and passionate about language. I co-lead the
Oral History documentation of Nigerian indigenous languages ( see more
about it **here*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Language_Oral_History_Documentation_Project/Gallery>
* ). *I am part and parcel of the working group for this Journalism
Award. Together with other community members and some foundation staff, we
have co-created the submission guidelines and award criteria, including
that articles should be English language articles published in a major
outlet.
Everything regarding the rationale for this award is being done in
consultation with members of our African communities, aligned with our
goals to increase exposure for the work we love in the region and close
knowledge gaps.
One thing to mention is that articles about Africa, especially written by
journalists with a local perspective, must be better represented in our
language Wikipedias, including English.
With this being a brand-new initiative, it was the best time to learn.
It is a pilot, and we all see this as an experiment to draw more
attention to journalists' important role as content creators on Wikipedia.
You will agree that we need to celebrate existing journalism excellence
that helps fill knowledge gaps online.
The working group conferred, and since this is a pilot, we decided
together that it was a good idea to consider the need to limit the scope to
collect data and insights easily. We understand the sentiment behind
language in Africa and beyond, and we always wanted to keep everything
simple. We know that no language is superior to the other, so this is a
pilot. From here, we will likely assess the impact we can have before
scaling.
We wish to expand this initiative with more regional volunteers should it
succeed - and we hope it will.
We already have more than a hundred entries!
Thank you
Shola
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