Hi Lightbreather,
One of my hopes is that writing up ideas like yours in IdeaLab during the
campaign could help you better gage interest and opposition to something
like this, as you pointed people to the idea for feedback - one of the
reasons for running a focused, time-bound campaign is to get lots of
eyeballs on issues and solutions from across the movement, as that's been a
helpful strategy for IEG in past rounds. As you laid out the idea and plan
there, you'd hopefully be able to see both endorsing interest from folks
who might find a space like this helpful, and also better understand
broader concerns or policies standing in the way that may or may not have
come up on this mailing list. I've never yet seen a truly innovative idea
that EVERYONE agrees on, of course (in fact, disagreement has sort of
turned into one of my gut-checks for whether something is actually
innovative), but seeing both kinds of perspectives on an IEG proposal
generally helps me decide which experiments are worthwhile funding risks to
take, and which ones simply aren't going to go anywhere.
On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 10:34 AM, LB <lightbreather2(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I put my name down as a volunteer back in October -
October 7, to be
precise. On New Year's Eve I asked the simple question: Is it possible to
start a Wikipedia project that's open to women, or people who identify as
women?
There are a handful of people on this list who are opposed to the idea,
but I for one would have loved such a thing when I first started actively
editing. Further, upon reading WP:PROJECT and nothing jumps out at as
prohibiting a WP:WOMEN project. Sarah Stierch suggested proposing it.
Heather Walls, who designed the Teahouse, could maybe help to make a
similar, women-only space? I would be very much interested in helping with
such a project, but I don't know where to start.
*First thing*, I suppose, would be a broad survey to see if other
Wikipedia women would be interested in a project tasked by women, for
women, to recruit, encourage, and support other women editors. *Not*
about any specific topics, or points-of-view - because I think women's
interests and POVs are as varied as men's - but to increase the numbers of
women editing, and to provide a refuge when you just want to talk *with
other women* about whatever it is you want to talk about that's WP
related. Because even though I believe we may share interests and POVs with
men, I think (and the evidence shows) that women *in general* (that is,
far more women than men) prefer a different communication style than has
developed here under 85% to 90% male participation.
Lightbreather
On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 11:06 AM, Siko Bouterse <sbouterse(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
Thanks for putting this out here, Risker.
I've been waiting for my blood
pressure to drop a bit before posting a happy announcement of the plan to
this list :) Glad to hear that folks are excited. I'm really looking
forward to what comes next!
We're going to need some help to make this first campaign happen, so next
week I'll be back with a bit of a more formal ask and some further details
about ways to get involved in the pre-campaign planning we're doing in
January and February.
One thing to think about: we'll want some extra volunteers with
gender-gap experience to serve on the committee helping select these
grants. If you aren't planning to execute a project yourself, but would
like to help others develop ideas into proposals and proposals into grants,
please be in touch with me, or join on the project page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire_Grants_%E2%80%93_Gen…
On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 8:36 AM, Sarah Stierch <sarah.stierch(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Yes! Thank you Risker for the positive energy.
This is what I want in
2015!!
This is GREAT news!! I can't wait to see what happens.
-Sarah
On Tue, Jan 6, 2015 at 8:21 AM, Risker <risker.wp(a)gmail.com> wrote:
(Changing the perspective on the previous thread
a bit)
Well, it's official - the Individual Engagement Grants (IEG) and
Project & Event Grants (PEG) will be focused almost exclusively for a
3-month period on providing financial support and mentorship for requests
focused specifically at addressing the gender gap. The funding allocated -
$250,000, roughly equivalent to the annual budget of many large chapters -
is very significant and should help to promote good experimentation
throughout this area.
If you've been thinking about a project you'd like to organize that is
specifically gender-gap related, now's the time to start drafting your
ideas and asking for support from the broader grants and GG community.
You'll need to describe your idea, set some targets, and collaborate with
others as a team for the best chance of success.
In particular, IEGs are intended to be experiments, and there's a
recognition that some are going to be successful, while others (even if
they look good on paper) are not going to produce results. The key is
ensuring that there is some learning derived from the experiments. Don't
be afraid to try something!
Risker/Anne
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Diverse and engaging consulting for your organization.
www.sarahstierch.com
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Siko Bouterse
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
sbouterse(a)wikimedia.org
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. *
*Donate <https://donate.wikimedia.org> or click the "edit" button today,
and help us make it a reality!*