[Wikimedia-l] Free Knowledge across borders – Our new International Affairs Unit

[Nicole Ebber]

Dear fellow Wikimedians,

Some of you already know me from my work as an event and project
manager at Wikimedia Deutschland. Today I am writing to let you know
that my working area will change within the next months: We are
setting up an “International Affairs Unit” and I will become a liaison
for the collaboration between Wikimedia Deutschland and the
communities, the Wikimedia Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation. The
position will be officially launched on January 1, 2013, but I am
already starting to work on the first ideas and tasks.

I have published a blog post where I briefly introduce our plans and
motives, ask for your support and invite you to get involved. [1]
(Full-text below, but for the fancy version with links and a nice
picture, please visit our blog :))

I am very curious about your expectations, comments and wishes. You
can reach me via this list or via email, join the discussion about our
annual plan [2], leave a comment on our blog or on my talk page [3],
find me on IRC (#wikimedia-de, Nicole_WMDE) or meet me in our office
or at one of the future meetups. I am really looking forward to a
fruitful and exciting teamwork.

Best regards,
Nicole


[1] http://blog.wikimedia.de/2012/09/26/free-knowledge-across-borders/
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Deutschland/2013_annual_plan_draft/en#International_Affairs_Unit
[3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nicole_Ebber_(WMDE)





______________________
Free Knowledge across borders

Some of you already know me from my work as an event and project
manager at Wikimedia Deutschland. I am writing this blog post to let
you know that my working area will change within the next months: We
are setting up an International Affairs Unit and I will become a
liaison for the collaboration between Wikimedia Deutschland and the
communities, the Wikimedia Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation. The
position will be officially launched on January 1, 2013, but I am
already starting to work on the first ideas and tasks.

I would like to briefly introduce our plans and motives, and ask for
your support and invite you to get involved.

>From international events…

I have been working at Wikimedia Deutschland since March 2010, when my
job started with two of my all-time favourite events: The Wikimedia
Conference and the Hackathon aka Developers’ Workshop.

During the last 2.5 years, I have met many international Wikimedians
and am so happy to learn so much about our global movement. I am still
deeply impressed by the enthusiastic people from all around the world
who work together for our shared goal: Free Knowledge!

When participating at Wikimedia events, the most interesting aspects
for me are the active contribution and sustainable networking. In the
future, I would like to work more focussed on these issues.

…to international collaboration

The emphasis of my work within the new unit will lie in the following:
1. Monitor the international activities, networks and contacts and
make them available for reuse for our local activities and
communities. Publish this information in German on our blog, on
mailing lists and in the international portal (coming soon) on DEWP.
2. Utilise international expertise from other chapters communities and
the WMF for our work – and vice versa. For example, we can adapt
topics like Open Educational Resources and Diversity in Wikipedia to
our local acitivities, while the experience from our education
department can be valuable for other chapters, too.
3. Cooperate with other like-minded organisations for activities
beyond a local scope. For example, we want to contribute to the
European chapters’ visibility in Brussels and I will coordinate with
other stakeholders to bundle their interests and concerns regarding
international agreements or conditions for free and open projects.

My first steps

Within the next weeks and months, I will go more into detail about
these first activities; but I would like to share a rough overview
with you first. I do this at a very early stage of planning because I
am really looking forward to your comments and ideas.

* Wikimedia Deutschland is part of the international Wikimedia
movement. We share our know-how, initiate international exchange
programmes as well as events and support the development and
collaboration among chapters and like-minded organisations.
* We support the establishment of the Wikimedia Chapters Association
(WCA) and work closely together with our council member, Markus
Glaser.
* Some of our info materials are already published in English (monthly
and yearly reports, some brochures, annual plan. We will provide
toolkits, best practises and reports and enable others to use them for
their own work. Using channels like Meta and Outreach Wiki, Wikipedia
Signpost, the WMF’s blog and publishing English articles on our own
blog should help us spread the word and others to reuse our materials.
* We help those interested in the development of the Wikimedia
projects to make their voice heard. By making international issues
more visible within the German language projects and facilitating the
discussions, we hope to avoid potential conflicts and come up with
constructive solutions.
* Together with everyone interested in international movement affairs,
I would like to establish a portal in the German language Wikipedia.
This platform should provide background information and updates on
topics like FDC, WCA, WMF, Board of Trustees as well as cool and bold
projects from other chapters, organisations and communities.
* As you might have already guessed, I am still very much into events.
:) I am planning to invite all those interested in shaping our
international commitment to a meeting (nice working title: “camp
international”). The date is not yet fixed, more will be announced.
Ideas welcome!

Be part of it!

If you ask yourself: Wow, how could can one person take care of all
those tasks? I must admit: I won’t do this all on my own. My job is to
enable and support the work of my colleagues and the internationally
active community members.

This new unit is a great opportunity for Wikimedia Deutschland and for
me personally. Whew! But it is also a huge challenge that we can only
rise to meet with your collaboration, ideas and feedback. I am very
curious about your expectations, comments and wishes. You can reach
contact me via email, leave a comment on my talk page, find me on IRC
(#wikimedia-de, Nicole_WMDE) or meet me in our office or at one of the
future meetups. I am really looking forward to a productive and
exciting teamwork!

-- 
Nicole Ebber
Projektmanagerin

Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | NEU: Obentrautstr. 72 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 219158 26-0

http://wikimedia.de

Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg
unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das
Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.