[Wikimedia-l] conversations between WMF and non-English projects

[Amir E. Aharoni]

Hi,

In the 2012-13 WMF plan document I saw an interesting thing:
"We’ve hosted key community stakeholders such as English Wikipedia’s
ArbCom and Portuguese Wikipedia’s top contributors, in an effort to
better understand and respond to issues they're facing." (page 41).

I was very happy to read this. In general, I hope that such focused
meetings will be held with more language communities. I don't think
that I need to explain why :)

I don't know how did the meeting with the Portuguese Wikipedians go; I
suppose that it was good. I don't remember that I read anything about
it in blogs or mailing lists, but I may have missed it. Maybe what I'm
about to write is known already, but I'll say it anyway.

An important thing in such meetings is to have a community member who
contributes to the Wikipedia in that language AND to the English
Wikipedia. This is needed because the Foundation people are probably
familiar with policies, customs and jargon in the English Wikipedia.
Even simple terms, like "Village Pump", are not necessarily familiar
to people who primarily edit in other languages; not all Wikipedias
have ArbComs; not all Wikipedias prohibit voting; etc. Such a person
will be able to "translate" between the English Wikipedia terms and
the local Wikipedia terms. Without such a person misunderstandings
will definitely happen, even if everybody knows the English language
well.

That's it, hope it helps.

--
Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
http://aharoni.wordpress.com
‪“We're living in pieces,
I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬