Wiscom February 2023

wiscom@lists.wikimedia.org

2 participants
4 discussions

Re: Away for 10 weeks
by Bobby Shabangu 02 Jun '23

02 Jun '23

Thanks Gameli. On Wed, 22 Feb 2023 at 11:31, Gameli Kuffuor Kofi-Bediako < gkbediako(a)ofwafrica.org> wrote: > Dear all, > > I am Gameli and I shall be representing Raphael. It's a pleasure to be > here. > > Best regards > > On Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 9:52 PM Bobby Shabangu <bobbyshabangu(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Thanks for letting us know Raphael. >> >> Best, >> Bobby Shabangu >> >> On Tue, 21 Feb 2023 at 23:48, Raphael Berchie <rberchie(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Hello all, >>> >>> I will be away for a period of 10 weeks working on a humanitarian >>> project in a remote location. In view of this I will not have good access >>> to internet. >>> >>> Gameli Bediako the Administrative Executive of OFWA will however stand >>> in for me for the time being to prevent any hiatus that may happen as >>> result of my absence. >>> >>> Regards >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >> >>

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Away for 10 weeks
by Raphael Berchie 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

Hello all, I will be away for a period of 10 weeks working on a humanitarian project in a remote location. In view of this I will not have good access to internet. Gameli Bediako the Administrative Executive of OFWA will however stand in for me for the time being to prevent any hiatus that may happen as result of my absence. Regards Sent from my iPhone

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Re: WikiIndaba in 2024?
by Bobby Shabangu 21 Feb '23

21 Feb '23

Hi Chen, Thank you for providing us the extension, we have already reached out to UG Morocco and have started working with them on the application. Should there be pressing questions before 1st March we shall definitely reach out to you. Let me repeat this. I think we need to work on our communication Chen, and I'm stressing the importance of this - Communication. The idea is for you to support us, to me this means that there needs to be constant communication between you and I - meaning you need to give us a nudge if you see that the deadline is approaching and there is no application from our end. I need to have you on my WhatsApp if needs be. WikiIndaba is a big conference, and this means that all decisions that we are taking have a huge impact both on the community and the Foundation. So you need to be updated of every process leading to the application and the conference itself so that both you and I have peace of mind that we are doing things correctly in this ever changing Wiki environment. I forgot to check the due date and you forgot to remind us or check upon us. This back and forth of blame shifting won't help us, at worst it puts us in a bad space and creates an environment of distrust. Because now I have to prove to you that I actually told you that I can't access Doodle, and I remember very well that I even said Doodle comes out as a spam page from my end. And I also remember very well that I sent you a screen shot! ..... But where does that land us? How is it helping us or the situation we are faced with right now? What I know is that it does not help African volunteers like this newbie who penned this blog HERE <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/12/05/wiki-indaba-a-first-timers-experience/> at all. Looking forward to working with you as we are preparing this conference. Best, Bobby Shabangu On Tue, 21 Feb 2023 at 01:10, Chen Almog <calmog(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi Bobby, > > Il'l start from the end - As we do recognize the importance of this > conference and we do want to support it (hence was my surprise by not > receiving a proposal), I will allow an extension to the deadline. But it > won't be very long as we depend on the Conference Committee review that > will happen in less than 2 weeks and we have a very limited budget this > year so we will not hold back other events in the movement to > accommodate further extension. You can submit your proposal by Wednesday, > March 1. And please mind that it means you will not have a revision period > and it will go directly to the committee's review and final decision. So if > you have any pressing questions or need to consult regarding the proposal > please let me know immediately. > > As to the other points you have raised - > I am sorry to hear that you were not aware of the submission deadline. > Please mind that the deadline was published a year in advance for each > round on the Conference meta page. > > In one of our last conversations I did offered my help to work with you on > a set of selection criteria (those are not WMF criteria - it should be > decided by wiscom) to optimize the process and to also align on the > timelines for your announcements for the future hosts so we can make sure > the chosen hosts are eligible for funding *before* the announcement, as a > learning from last year premature announcement which, as you know, > caused some challenges. I did ask to postpone the first meeting, but as you > can see in the email you have attached, in the very last communication I > sent you a Doodle link which is still active, inviting you to choose a > suitable time for a meeting that you actually never answered to. > > So it might be a case of poor communication, but I urge you - the next > time you require my help or advice, there is no need to wait 4 months if > you feel like you can't get a hold of me regardless of the circumstances. > Things happen, meetings get canceled sometimes, and even emails > remain unanswered from time to time. But I don't see what it has to do with > WISCom's ownership of the bidding process that you run every year and with > missing the submission deadline. There are many channels of communication > and more people you can reach out to if you need help in resolving an issue > you are not certain about. Veronica for example (and also Dumisani as the > WMF liaisons) already agreed in our last conversation with you a few months > ago, to be the foundation representative for WISCom to complete this work > on the bidding process. > > As to WikiIndaba 2023 and 2024 - I have received your other email > regarding the future hosts and I would like to congratulate you and WISCom > for this decision. I think that knowing and planning 2 years in advance is > a great idea and can have a major impact on the success of the events and > will definitely benefit the organizers. > I have already asked the grant admin team to look into Wikimedia UG > Morocco's eligibility and hope to have an answer soon (don't wait up, and > start working on the proposal anyway. I will let you know when I have an > answer). I had a great experience working with them on WikiArabia in the > past and based on that, I have no doubt they will be a great organizing > team. > > Looking Forward for your proposal, > > Chen > > On Fri, Feb 17, 2023 at 10:48 PM Bobby Shabangu <bobbyshabangu(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Dear Chen, >> >> >> It is with great shock to learn that we’ve missed the deadline on this. >> And yes you are correct, we are about to announce the next host for 2023 >> and 2024 respectively. >> >> >> We understand the importance of meeting the deadline and apologise >> sincerely for this delay. I only learned today after reading your email >> that the due date was actually last week - 6 February 2023 and went ahead >> to inform Wiscom about this. >> >> >> We really think there has been poor communication between yourself and >> us, because the last time we spoke about the next host you informed us that >> you would like to assist in selecting the next host for the conference and >> speak about WMF's funding criteria. However, you kept on postponing and >> that meeting never happened until we were a few days from WikiIndaba 2022 >> as can be seen in the email conversation attached. So although we were >> waiting for you to come back to us, we also initiated the process to select >> the new countries so that you could meet us halfway with the selection >> process and talk further on the criteria. >> >> >> We have finalised the process and are looking to bring the conference to >> a Francophone speaking country for 2023. In fact, your email comes right >> when we are about to send our choices to you (on a separate email) to >> check for us with the Trust and Safety team if they both qualify to host >> the conference. Here we want to further outline our selection process and >> criterion which we feel was fair, transparent, inclusive and accountable. >> Then sometime next week we make the announcement to the community at large. >> >> >> Seeing that we are now faced with this situation, I’m requesting an >> extension on the deadline, so that we find time to support the next country >> to do the application thoroughly but speedily as well. WikiIndaba has >> become an important platform for the African community, especially with our >> rapidly growing community in which to share experiences, best practices, >> and to identify ways in which we can work together to support and grow >> African Wikimedia projects, so we can't afford to skip a year without >> the conference. >> >> >> Without getting this email too long, we are grateful for your >> understanding and would appreciate it if you could grant us the extension. >> >> >> Best regards, >> >> Bobby Shabangu >> >> WISCom >> >> >> > > -- > > Chen Almog (she/her) · חן אלמוג > > Lead, Program Officer Conference & Event Fund > > Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> > > > > > >

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Host Countries for WikiIndaba 2023 and 2024 Conference
by Bobby Shabangu 20 Feb '23

20 Feb '23

Dear Chen, I'm reaching out to you on behalf of the WikiIndaba Steering Committee (WISCom) regarding the next WikiIndaba Conference host country for this year 2023 and year 2024. After careful consideration we have decided that WikiIndaba 2023 will take place in Agadir, Morocco on 3&4 November and WikiIndaba 2024 will take place in Cape Town, South Africa on 1&2 November. Going forward, we have adopted a system of selecting two host countries which will cover two years of the conference. This will ease the burden and save time of having to deliberate in a long selection process after each conference. It will also give time for the next host to prepare themselves for the conference. One needs to mention that this was advice from WMF’s CEO. In order to ensure that we have regional rotation, we were deliberate with our selection process. We invited affiliates from Francophone speaking countries including Algeria, Cameroon, Morocco, Congo, Benin, Mali and Conakry Guinea to express interest in hosting the conference. This was followed by a selection criterion which looked at several factors including the capacity to host the conference, if there were elections this year in the bidding country, capacity of the affiliate as well as motivations they provided on why they wanted to host. We are happy to further meet with you to discuss the bidding process and criterion we’ve used. We believe that both countries offer the perfect environment to host the Conference, and they both have the resources, infrastructure, and capacity to make it a success. Although we have not officially announced this to the wider community, we’ve already informed the hosts that they’ve won the bids. We are confident that both countries will be able to provide the necessary support and facilities for the event. Despite all of these measures, we still want to find out from you if Wikimedia UG Morocco is cleared or fit to receive funds from the Wikimedia Foundation to run the conference for this year? I’ve already addressed the issue of late submission on my other email and again would like to sincerely apologise for this oversight from our end. However, I would also like to reiterate that WikiINdaba is important because it provides an invaluable platform for African Wikimedia communities to come together and discuss projects, challenges and opportunities for collaboration. By convening Wikimedians from across the continent, WikiINdaba serves as a forum to identify potential new partners and synergies and provides an opportunity to strengthen the African Wikimedia community as well as ensures that the African Wikimedia movement is well connected and informed. So, we can’t have the conference halted this year because of poor communication between ourselves and you. Hence, our request for an extension of the due date. Kind regards, Bobby Shabangu WISCom

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Wiscom February 2023