Hello,
The second session of Stay Safe Stay connected, a lightweight interaction
zone for the Wikimedians in India, will take place on Saturday 5 June 2021
at 5 pm to 6:30 pm IST (11:30 am to 1:00 pm UTC). Please see the event page
here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stay_safe,_stay_connected#Session_II
This will be a Wikisource community fraternity meeting where Wikisource
editors can meet and talk to each other. We may speak about the ongoing and
upcoming Wikisource projects, share interesting news and updates around
Wikisource.
Wikisource editors from all around India are expected to be attending the
call. User:VIGNERON, French Wikisource editor, and User:Samwilson, from
English Wikisource, will be attending. If you are a Wikisource editor or
enthusiast, please join this Wikisource community call.
Please fill this short form, if you are interested to attend:
https://forms.gle/e85k84tX4oroKkjx7
For any query, please email wmwm(a)cis-india.org
Stay safe, stay connected.
Regards,
Jayanta
Note:
1) The session will be hosted on Zoom and this session will be recorded.
2) Please feel free to speak in your native language during the call.
That's cool. We'll try to translate.
3) In the open session or during the discussion, you may speak about
your/your community's Wikisource work. If you want to show any page/project
keep the link handy.
Hello,
Hope this email finds you safe in this difficult time. Many people and
Wikimedians have been affected or have suffered a loss. In an effort to
ensure community solidarity where Wikimedians can meet and talk to each
other, we are starting a lightweight interaction zone for the Wikimedians
in India. This interaction zone is named "Stay Safe Stay Connected".
Please see the event page here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stay_safe,_stay_connected
The first talk will be on Saturday, 22 May 2021, 7 pm to 8 pm IST (1:30 pm
to 2:30 pm UTC). Asaf Bartov will be the guest of the session. Asaf is a
familiar name and he has been a mentor to many Wikimedians in India. This
will be a lightweight discussion on general Wiki-topic (note the exact
agenda will be updated on the event page before the event)
We invite you to join the first talk. The session will be hosted on Zoom.
Please fill this short form, if you are interested to attend the first
interactive talk on 22 May 2021
https://forms.gle/e85k84tX4oroKkjx7
Please follow the event page for updates. Stay safe, stay connected!
Regards,
Jayanta
Hello, everyone.
TLDR:
The Board of Trustees’ Community Affairs Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
(CAC) is hosting its first office hour on May 13, 2021, at 19:00 UTC (check
for your local time <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1620928828>)!
Now in more details:
What are we announcing?
The CAC is a new Board of Trustees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees>
committee established to assess, explore and address current and future
community-related efforts. The Committee's Charter
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Affairs_Committee_Charter>
lists its full responsibilities, with the first 3 being a priority for this
coming year.
As part of our commitment to foster better communications with the
Wikimedia Movement Community, and based on feedback received from community
members requesting more availability from the Board of Trustees, the CAC
will be hosting its first Office hours.
When & Where?
The Office hours will be held on May 13 2021, at 19:00 UTC (check for your
local time <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1620928828>) via Zoom. At least
3 Trustees, as well as relevant WMF staff, will be in attendance. The
session will be streamed live and recorded, so those who cannot participate
live will be able to watch later.
How will it work?
The meeting will last for 60 minutes and an additional 30 minutes of an
“open room”. The first 60 minutes will be divided into 45 minutes of
structured Q & A (based on either update from the CAC and questions sent by
the community in advance). The final 15 minutes will be in the “ask us
anything” format, with live participation. We will be monitoring live
YouTube, Wikipedia Weekly Facebook group
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/553393111375191> and the Wikimedia General
Chat Telegram group <https://t.me/WikimediaGeneral> and the talk page on
Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>.
The structure is meant to enable the CAC to not only update the community
on current matters the Board is working on, but also hear directly from the
community, which will help inform the Committee’s future work.
Setting the agenda with your Questions
In order to be as efficient as possible, and since we anticipate that some
questions will require answers from WMF Staff, we are encouraging community
members to send questions in advance. Please send all questions to
askcac(a)wikimedia.org, by Friday, May 7th (midnight, whatever time zone you
may be in). The office hour agenda will be based on the main topics related
to the questions received. We will share this agenda on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
on May 12, including the final names of Trustees in attendance.
How to register?
For security reasons and specifically to avoid Zoombombing
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoombombing>, we will be sending the Zoom
link only to people who have registered in advance close to the meeting. In
order to register, please send an email to askcac(a)wikimedia.org, indicating
your name, username, affiliation if you have any. The title should be:
“Registration for the May 13th CAC Office Hours”.
Please note --
-
This is the first time that the Board is attempting something of the
sort. This is an experiment. We’ll see how it goes - how many people are
interested in attending, timing, translation needs etc -- and make
decisions about future meetings / changes to format accordingly.
-
The session will be moderated based on the Universal Code of Conduct
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct>
-
Universally blocked users will not be allowed in the room, but can still
participate by watching live and sending questions in real-time.
Please help us spread the word by sharing this message with your
local/online communities.
Hoping to see as many of you as possible,
Krishna Chaitanya
Hello Wikimedians,
We are all passing through a very difficult time as the second wave of
COVID-19 has hit hard throughout the country. It is a bitter and hard truth
that many of us have lost our loved ones, close friends, relatives,
neighbours already. Some of us have faced economic difficulties due to loss
of jobs, losses in businesses, huge hospitalization expenses etc.
In the midst of this crisis, a support program has been initiated to
provide some reliefs to our Wikimedia volunteers residing in India. The
program will support the following -
1. Reimbursement of vaccination costs
2. Sending of COVID-19 protection kits
3. Counseling by experts
The support will be provided by CIS-A2K. The vaccination expenses will be
reimbursed as early as April 30, 2021. The COVID-19 protection kits will
get couriered within a week or more, depending on various logistical
factors. The team will try to support the more vulnerable section of the
community first.
Volunteers are requested to fill up this Google Form to request support -
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScYcjEeuT7vUxP3NJg7KfIiZaude9IXLyC…
If you do not need this kind of support but you know some volunteers from
your community who are in dire need, you can nominate them too through this
form or mail the support team directly. Affiliate contacts and community
leaders are also kindly requested to help identify the volunteers who need
the support the most.
You can find more details about the support program here -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_support_for_Wikimedians/India
Please read the FAQ subpage too -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_support_for_Wikimedians/India/FAQ
The support team would also like to emphasise that,
a) there might be some delay in sending support as there are lockdowns in
different parts of the country and there is scarcity or non-availability of
different items in the market,
b) there might be some unintentional or unexpected errors from the team, as
this is the first time, this kind of support is being set up for Indian
Wikimedia volunteers and the team does not have prior experience to deal
with this kind of global health situation before.
c) the team members are also facing the same critical situation like
everyone else; there are possibilities that they can become sick sooner or
later, which might hamper the support to some extent.
That's why the team would like to request you to understand the limitations
and assume good faith that any failure to serve sometimes would be due to
situations beyond control.
If you want to contact us directly for any questions, concerns,
suggestions, help etc. you can mail us directly at wmwm(a)cis-india.org .
Let's join hands to overcome this situation.
Regards,
Jayanta
On behalf of the COVID-19 support team