Hi Farkhad,
*External perception of the movement* The Wikimedia movement is seen as a very complex entity. Most participants knew about Wikipedia, not so many about the other projects. Even for those who knew Wikipedia, it was not so clear how decisions are taken or what is allowed to do. I explained the concept that the more you work with any of the projects the more you will find out about its inner processes, or other people will make you aware of them (because you will do something wrong or you will try to find out or "invent" how to do something). Participants did not understand what are the roles that are available for them, or what to do in them, they felt that with so much freedom to do anything, they were incapable of participating.
In a way they were marveled that just by having guidelines created and enforced by the community, it is enough to have a working project without any visible leadership. Leadership does exist, but it is exercised in different ways (for instance, by participating in conversations about policy, behaviour, or strategy). Another thing that surprised participants, is that you can do anything that you want, that there are no restrictions other than your own interest to do something and respecting the policies.
Participants did not know about the WMF, and did not know where the fundraising money goes. They did not understand how the community can participate in allocating the resources. I told them the my opinion, that the WMF still hasn't learned how to share its leadership together with the community and that they are operating as a company, which alienates me because they are not respecting the spirit of the projects.
Also it was unclear to them how to interact with the community, affiliates or the Foundation. They were not certain that they would be able to find the right person or the right place to ask questions. It that regard they saw the movement as a walled garden that can be contemplated from outside, but it is very restricted to participate in. Some participants they mentioned that Wikimedia is a faceless project, that we are very good at presenting the faces of many important people, but that we fail miserably at presenting our own.
A participant suggested to use the yellow banner to recruit new people instead of using it only to raise money. The reason being that many people would be interested in participating if they were asked to and if they were shown how to (preferably with videos recorded by Wikimedians explaining what they do).
Regards, Micru
On Mon, Feb 18, 2019 at 7:44 AM Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin < frhd@yandex.com> wrote:
Micru, I would be interested to learn about "External perception of the movement".part of your insights. Thanks.
from Russia with love, farhad https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Smart_region
-- Farhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan / WMRU:
18.02.2019, 02:35, "David Cuenca Tudela" dacuetu@gmail.com:
Hello,
Last Friday I participated in a workshop in Brussels where people from different NGOs met to learn from each other to foster flat, democratic, and diverse organisations. I was one of four speakers in a "world cafe" format (basically a circle where participants can interact with the speaker). I represented the Wikimedia movement in general, with the intention that participants would learn from our movement, and so that I would learn from them. There were also Open Space sessions.
If there is interest, I can share with you my insights on any of these
topics:
- External perception of the movement
- Recommendations to the WMF
- Governance recommendations for the movement
- Community model for affiliates
- How to increase diversity
There is a lot to say about each topic, so please ask only about the topic you have genuine interest in. If there is no interest, I'm ok keeping it to myself.
Regards, Micru
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