Hello,
This message is a follow-up to the 2021 April meeting of Arbitration Committee members and other functionaries [1] from many Wikimedia projects. During that meeting, there was a presentation and discussion about Croatian Wikipedia and the challenges faced by that project. The discussion was informed by a recent evaluation the Wikimedia Foundation commissioned to better understand current and past challenges of Croatian Wikipedia. The decision to conduct the evaluation was a result of the significant and ongoing community concerns raised on Meta and elsewhere.
The summary of the evaluation is now available on Meta [2] and the full report is available on Commons [3]. These documents also describe significant changes that were implemented by the local and global community since that meeting.
Ongoing round-table sessions [4] and the upcoming functionary meetings in June and July [5] may include discussions about the broader recommendations made in this report.
We welcome community members interested in discussing these topics to attend.
Thank you,
-Xeno (WMF)
Movement Strategy and Governance Facilitator
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct... https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Functionary_consultations/April_2021
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Croatian_Wikipedia_Disinf...
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Croatian_WP_Disinformation_Assessment_-... [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct... [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct... https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Functionary_consultations/June_and_July_2021
Hi Xeno,
Thanks. Good to see that an effort has finally been made to address this.
Andreas
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 8:27 PM Xeno (Jack) xeno-ctr@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello,
This message is a follow-up to the 2021 April meeting of Arbitration Committee members and other functionaries [1] from many Wikimedia projects. During that meeting, there was a presentation and discussion about Croatian Wikipedia and the challenges faced by that project. The discussion was informed by a recent evaluation the Wikimedia Foundation commissioned to better understand current and past challenges of Croatian Wikipedia. The decision to conduct the evaluation was a result of the significant and ongoing community concerns raised on Meta and elsewhere.
The summary of the evaluation is now available on Meta [2] and the full report is available on Commons [3]. These documents also describe significant changes that were implemented by the local and global community since that meeting.
Ongoing round-table sessions [4] and the upcoming functionary meetings in June and July [5] may include discussions about the broader recommendations made in this report.
We welcome community members interested in discussing these topics to attend.
Thank you,
-Xeno (WMF)
Movement Strategy and Governance Facilitator
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct... https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Functionary_consultations/April_2021
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Croatian_Wikipedia_Disinf...
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Croatian_WP_Disinformation_Assessment_-... [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct... [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct...
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Functionary_consultations/June_and_July_2021 _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Thank you for publishing this, but in all honesty it feels as a bit too little too late.
After a quick reading of the summary I am somewhat disappointed that the investigation commissioned by WMF was so reductive in presenting the complexity of the situation (it is not all about the language) and keeping it content centric *(with very few people/social centric observations). WMF also did not reflect on more than a decade of itself being a more-less passive observer (if even observer) of frustrations of contributors to Wikipedia in Croatian language* (calling it Croatian Wikipedia is a part of the problem as it adds to the nation-state perception of Wikipedia). In this decade aspirations with UCoC makes me wonder how WMF's lack of action would pass here?
For Wikipedians who spent over a decade asking for help *(many have burned out and will not return even now that situation is better) it would likely be useful to hear some kind of a sign of apology for the lack of interest, oversight and support on the WMF side. As for the recommendations presented, these at best may be well intended but also seem fairly technocratic in approach and naive at what the capacities and conditions of work are in the wider context and in the project itself.
Best Z. Blace
On Mon, Jun 14, 2021 at 10:45 PM Željko Blaće zblace@mi2.hr wrote:
Thank you for publishing this, but in all honesty it feels as a bit too little too late.
After a quick reading of the summary I am somewhat disappointed that the investigation commissioned by WMF was so reductive in presenting the complexity of the situation (it is not all about the language) and keeping it content centric *(with very few people/social centric observations). WMF also did not reflect on more than a decade of itself being a more-less passive observer (if even observer) of frustrations of contributors to Wikipedia in Croatian language* (calling it Croatian Wikipedia is a part of the problem as it adds to the nation-state perception of Wikipedia). In this decade aspirations with UCoC makes me wonder how WMF's lack of action would pass here?
For Wikipedians who spent over a decade asking for help *(many have burned out and will not return even now that situation is better) it would likely be useful to hear some kind of a sign of apology for the lack of interest, oversight and support on the WMF side. As for the recommendations presented, these at best may be well intended but also seem fairly technocratic in approach and naive at what the capacities and conditions of work are in the wider context and in the project itself.
Best Z. Blace
Minor update - second biggest TV broadcaster in Croatia covered the story with few mistakes and good intentions, as well as a naive conclusion that all is resolved now and also thanks to the research by WMF :-/ https://www.rtl.hr/vijesti-hr/novosti/hrvatska/4057588/hrvatska-wikipedija-n...
Best Z. Blace
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