I like several of Kerry's points.
I did mention to Luis at WMCON that it might be more cost-effective, and
potentially higher impact for some participants, to put more emphasis on
national (or thematic) conferences and less on the general Wikimania
conference.
Pine
On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 8:55 PM, Kerry Raymond <kerry.raymond(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
I think you put your finger on a key point here.
We have a large
community of “totally deserving people” but mostly get little/no
recognition of their contribution.
Most organisations that rely on volunteers have a range of ways to
recognising their efforts. In the world of WMF, other editors can give you
a “thanks” or a barnstar/Wikilove but WMF itself does not seem to do much
to recognise volunteers. So when “totally deserving” people apply for a
Wikimania scholarship, of course people are going to see this as a chance
to be recognised by WMF for their contributions. As most of the “totally
deserving” will be unsuccessful in gaining a Wikimania scholarship, of
course they are going to feel it as “demotivating”, “unfair” and “likely
to reduce their contributions” as the surveying suggests. Sure there’s
disappointment at not going to Wikimania, but I suspect the bigger issue is
that the apparent lack of recognition of their contribution that comes as
part and parcel of it. And a standard rejection letter that says “We
appreciate your contribution, but alas there aren’t enough scholarships”
fall a little short on the “recognition” front!
Perhaps if the WMF looked at ways of recognising the “totally deserving”
volunteers in other ways, then the Wikimania scholarships would not become
as big an issue. One example might be cheaper scholarships to attend a
national event (which also avoids visa issues) or funding towards hosting a
local event within their community at which their contribution can be
recognised among their peers. Announcing an award to them in their local
media might be something people might value. Others might like a trophy for
their mantelpiece suitably inscribed. I am sure others can think of more
ideas and I note that we may need different ideas for different communities
as what people value is different. For example, although the merchandise
giveaway is well-intended,
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Merchandise_giveaways/Nominations
has anyone considered if short-sleeved thin T-shirts are something
everyone in the world sees as a recognition? What about the countries were
the arms are kept covered for modesty or sun exposure? What about the
countries where T-shirts are seen as a “low status clothes”?
I also note that a return to partial scholarships would mean more people
were recognised wrt to Wikimania. The comment that the administration of
partial scholarships was too much work for WMF staff sends an unpleasant
signal about how WMF values its staff time relative to the time spent by
“totally deserving” volunteers.
In summary, I think WMF has a problem with its “totally deserving”
volunteers feeling unappreciated which is much larger than Wikimania. Given
the cost and effort of running annual Wikimanias for a relatively small
number of people, perhaps they should be less frequent with other kinds of
events and forms of recognition using the equivalent cost and effort in
between in order to spread the “wikilove” a bit more widely?
Kerry
*From:* wikimania-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
wikimania-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org] *On Behalf Of *Osmar
Valdebenito
*Sent:* Friday, 31 July 2015 11:24 PM
*To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription) <
wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
*Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-l] Fwd: Wikimania Scholarship
The problem is myths and rumours will arise always in a process that is
not (and should not) be objective. We can't just give some
It is a subjective process where you evaluate so many people, with
different backgrounds and different contributions. What is more important?
Founding a chapter or making 100,000 edits on English Wikipedia? 5,000
edits on a smaller Wikipedia or 10,000 images on Wikimedia Commons? How do
we make also possible to bring people outside our movement or with very few
edits, but that are great promoting free knowledge? And how do we ensure
gender balance? Do we prioritize new attendents than can bring new ideas to
our movement or do we support experienced members that have a proven record
of great presentations and activities?
When you have a very limited number of scholarships and a lot of great
applicants, every time you make a decision to give a scholarship to
someone, you are taking it from someone else. And usually, that other
person totally deserve it. So, even though the committees have tried to
have a balance of all these factors, someone will complain and consider it
not fair. General numbers will help to reduce these rumours, but they will
always come up again.
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