Hello everyone,
We are happy to announce that the Universal Code of Conduct drafting committee has been assembled. We had 26 volunteers apply, either by publicly signing up on the Meta page, or by sending an email. Volunteers from 18 different countries applied, speaking 11 different languages.
We had Wikimedian applicants with different levels of experience on-wiki, from someone who started editing only last year to people who have been editing for more than 18 years and/or have more than 300,000 edits. Applicants held a variety of different roles within the movement, and also informed us about interesting and relevant experiences in their real-life careers. It was very hard to narrow down from this diverse and extremely qualified pool of applicants.
For the final selection, two aspects guided the decision making - we want a committee that at the one hand will represent important parts of the movement. Prolific editors as well as Wikimedians whose strength is more in organizing events, wikimedians from different demographics, contributors from small and large wikis, and people holding different roles within the movement. We also wanted a group of people who will collaborate with one another effectively and create the best possible Universal Code of Conduct for the Wikimedia movement. Experience has taught us that committees that are too large find it difficult to work effectively, so we decided to cap the number of seats to 6 volunteer seats and 3 staff seats.
More information on the Committee and its new members can be found on Meta https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committee [1], and a timeline for their work is available on the main UCoC page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct [2]. Please note that more chances for engagement are coming up during the community draft review period starting from August 24.
Best regards, Christel
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committee
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct
Christel Steigenberger (she/her)
Trust and Safety Specialist
Wikimedia Foundation https://wikimediafoundation.org/