I hoped that after the discussions on the wiki loves monuments mailing
list, someone of the grant team would have proactively informed the wider
community in an earlier stage. I hope that the fact they did not do this,
means they are reconsidering the way this campaign is shaped.
As indicated before, this 'shutdown' (or focus) of Individual Engagement
Grants as well as Project and Event Grants was confirmed
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikilovesmonuments/2014-December/007600.html>by
Alex Wang. She referred in that email to this onwiki description
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire_Grants_%E2%80%93_Gender_gap_campaign>.
I should also emphasize that Alex indicated that they don't expect this to
impact WLM-related grants (because they expect teams to request funding much
later in the process
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikilovesmonuments/2014-December/007603.html>
- not before june/july, an assumption I disagree with), and she also
suggested the closing was not as hard as it sounds, as she's willing to
discuss problems (she emphasized this in her email).
I don't want to reiterate all discussions about whether gendergap is the
problem or a symptom (we have many gaps in our community, of which the
gender gap is the most visible and easiest to measure), but I do feel
uncomfortable with this campaign. I have asked around a bit in the past
week and only received negative feedback on the campaign - with people
confirming my fear that this will likely undermine the community support
(or at least support by the 'organizing community') for gendergap-related
projects in general - be it out of frustration, compensation or jealousy. I
called it a 'negative campaign' in my emails because the focus is not about
actively boosting one type of requests (which is the claim), but rather
about making it harder to do something unrelated to it in the hope that
people instead will choose for the easy way, and organize a gendergap
related event.
What I also fear, is that people will just give their request a tiny bit of
'gendergap'-paint, make up some way how they help reduce it (which is
basically true for almost any outreach event aiming at a group with less
than 90% men - i.e. almost any group aside from Wikipedia or catholic
priests). I'm confident that most of our outreach projects, including Wiki
Loves Monuments, could claim to reach relatively more women than the editor
population contains. But I am very unhappy if we start distributing grants
on such shaky grounds - those projects often are much stronger in general
editor retention, which happens to be relatively more women. The focus of
the projects would be unnaturally shifted in the grant request compared to
the actual activities.
Again, I hope that the decision makers involved here will reconsider the
way this has been shaped, and frame it more in a positive way, focusing on
supporting efforts in a thematic direction, rather than discouraging other
thematic directions. And as I have said elsewhere: I would be similarly
against this, with any other theme - I wouldn't be able to stand the idea
to focus entirely on photo-events only for three months...
Best,
Lodewijk
On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 3:59 PM, Jens Best <jens.best(a)wikimedia.de> wrote:
Hi all,
I think some clarification is needed by people who are in charge for the
grantmaking process. There is a difference between "shutting down the
grantmaking process (PEG) and (IEG) for three full months" and adding a
voluntary gendergap "theme" to a project to get better funding chances.
So I really would like to see some clarifications about these leaked plans
before having a propably heated debate about it.
Needless to say that adding ideologically driven must-haves to a general
grantmaking process which only purpose is to serve the voluntary work on a
supposed-to-be-free encyclopedia would leave a disturbing impression on
many people.
best regards
Jens Best
2015-01-03 15:46 GMT+01:00 Romaine Wiki <romaine.wiki(a)gmail.com>om>:
There are multiple ways in how to define the
Gendergap, in this case it
is
about female participation.
I do think it is a problem that the number of female participants is
dramatically lower than those of male contributors, but still this does
not
give any good reason to exclude good projects who
are not particular
aiming
for female contributors.
WMF wants to solve the Gendergap by excluding good other projects. That
is
a very bad situation.
Trying to solve the Gendergap by enlarging the Community Gap.
Bad idea.
Romaine
2015-01-03 15:33 GMT+01:00 Jane Darnell <jane023(a)gmail.com>om>:
> Nope. Gendergap is about the gap in female participation, not in
> female-related topics. The Dutch Wikipedia has a severe gap with only
6%
> female participation. I would say this is a
pretty urgent problem for
the
Dutch and
Flemish community, so I was very glad to see this as a main
theme
for the coming three months.
On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 3:17 PM, Romaine Wiki <romaine.wiki(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hello Jane,
>
> Sorry, but I think you miss the problem here.
>
> As I said before, I am fine with more projects that improve the
coverage
> of
> > so-called female topics, but not if this is damaging the projects
which
> do
> > not aim for such.
> >
> > I hope this campaign in this form is cancelled and witdrawn and that
> never
> > ever such situation appears again. This way of working is damaging
the
> > trust in WMF, discouraging many
volunteers, worsening projects, etc.
> >
> > Having a Gendergap campaign in this form is NOT in line with the
vision
the
> Wikimedia movement has.
>
> > The current campaign is scheduled to be one of hopefully many,
targeted
> > at the community in order to generate themed proposals.
> >
> > If it was really targeted at the Wikimedia community, it would not
have
> > excluded other projects.
> >
> > I propose everyone to refuse to take part in this as this is a move
in
the
wrong direction.
And how WLM to attract more female particpation? By having a special
category for pink buildings.
Under this condition, a question as such can't be taken seriously.
Romaine
2015-01-03 14:58 GMT+01:00 Jane Darnell <jane023(a)gmail.com>om>:
> As a member of the IEG committee I am happy to say that there is no
need
> to
> > panic. WLM is highly successful project and no one is talking about
> > shutting it down, or any other project for that matter. The current
> > campaign is scheduled to be one of hopefully many, targeted at the
> > community in order to generate themed proposals. The current growth
of
> > > highly diverse and inspirational proposals takes increasingly more
> energy
> > > to manage, judge, and maintain. By introducing a three-month long
> theme,
> > it
> > > is hoped that the following will occur:
> > > 1) Grant committee members in their voluntary role as proposal
> reviewers
> > > and community sponsors will experience less burn-out in managing
> > proposals
> > > as their will be more cross pollination per cohort of proposers and
> their
> > > proposals.
> > > 2) A targeted campaign to attract proposals will enable easier
> > translation
> > > across projects if the target audience can be identified in advance
> > > 3) A targeted campaign will attract more volunteer committee
members
to
> > > manage proposals, hopefully attracting local experts in various
> Wikimedia
> > > projects.
> > >
> > > The Gendergap will be the first theme. I think it's a great idea!
How
can
> > WLM attract more female participation? Any ideas?
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 11:26 AM, Romaine Wiki <
romaine.wiki(a)gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi all,
> > > >
> > > > Some disturbing news entered my mailbox the past days. The grant
> making
> > > > team is going to shut down the grantmaking process for Project
and
> > Event
> > > > Grants (PEG) and Individual Engagement Grants (IEG) for three
full
> > > months!
> > > >
> > > > They have decided that they want to focus only on a specific
> strategic
> > > > priority: the gender gap, and that all other good projects are
> refused
> > > for
> > > > 3 months (February-April).
> > > >
> > > > Having more attention to a strategic priority is fine to me.
Having
more
> > attention to the problem of the gender gap, sounds good to me as
such,
> we
> > > can use much more projects and content in those areas. But that
does
> > not
> > > > mean that many many volunteers who are organizing other projects
> should
> > > > become the victim of other projects.
> > > >
> > > > This is a negative signal to all those volunteers who are
currently
> > > working
> > > > on project plans to be submitted in February, March and April.
Good
> >
> projects to be ignored, just because the WMF think those are less
> > > important. They say this is a positive campaign, but this sounds
as
a
> > > > negative campaign to me. This discourages many volunteers in
doing
> >
> projects.
> > >
> > > And even worse: this is only to be generally announced 2 weeks
before
> > > that
> > > > period of shutting down starts! (this sounds like a joke, sadly
it
>
isn't)
> > >
> > > To organize a good project volunteers (yes, we are still unpaid!
and
> > > > organize these projects in our spare time!) we need the time to
> > > communicate
> > > > well with all our partners and sponsors, and need the time to
come
up
> > > with
> > > > a good project plan with a stable basis. Rushing a project in
just
a
> > couple
> > > of weeks time is very unpleasant and does not help in getting a
good
> >
quality project. And announcing it two weeks before the period
indicates
> > that organizers aren't taken seriously (enough).
> >
> > For example, we are currently planning to organize Wiki Loves
Monuments
> > in
> > > 2015 again, the world wide contest to have a better documentation
and
> > > > better display of all the cultural monuments worldwide,
recognised
as
> > > largest photo contest in the world
by Guinness World Records. We
are
> > > > currently working on forming a team and want to have a good
stable
> plan
> > > to
> > > > be submitted within some weeks, but now we need to rush. And yes
we
need
> to
> > start in January/February or it will be too late to organize it
properly.
> >
> > Also all the national teams of Wiki Loves Monuments, the
international
> team
> > recommend all the national teams to start in January/February, to
have
a
> > proper organisation together with various local partners and
sponsors,
> > but
> > > now all these teams are delayed for three months.
> > >
> > > And a personal project of mine in Belgium, I am planning to
organize
> > Wiki
> > > > Loves Art in Belgium, together with various partners and
sponsors.
We
> > > > intent to start in February, but now have to rush to get such
done.
> >
>
> > > By the way: did you know there is a Belgium Gap? Belgian subjects
are
> >
relatively less and worse described on the various Wikipedias.
> >
> >
> > This shutting down results in:
> > * Discouraging many volunteers who are planning to submit good
project
> > proposals.
> > * Having volunteers rushed with project plans, which lowers the
quality
> > of
> > > the plans.
> > > * Having volunteers being late and delayed with projects, for no
good
> > > > reason.
> > > >
> > > > Grantmaking is intented to support the communities, not
frustrating
>
them.
> > > WMF: stop this negative campaign!
> > >
> > >
> > > And for all project teams who want to organize a gender gap
project:
> > > great
> > > > you organize this, it is very very welcome! But I like to make a
> > > > suggestion: submit the proposal on the first day after the
shutting
> > down
> > > > period to give a strong signal to WMF that shutting down is a bad
> idea.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > It is time for a new strategic priority: closing the Community
Gap.
> > That
> > > is
> > > > the gap between WMF and the local communities worldwide. It is
not
new,
> > it
> > > exists for many years already. (It resulted also in the drama of
the
> > > > situation around the Mediaviewer in 2014, the drama with the
Visual
> > > Editor
> > > > in 2013, etc. in what WMF didn't sense well the community.)
(Maybe
> the
> > > gap
> > > > is less between WMF and the English speaking part of the world,
but
the
> > > world is larger. We have many people around the world who are
speak
a
> > > > different language. WMF is not sensing the worldwide community
well
> > > > enough.)
> > > > Finally we should do more about this Community Gap.
> > > >
> > > > For those celebrating: I wish you a happy new year with great
> projects
> > > that
> > > > make every single human being freely share in the sum of all
human
> > knowledge!!
> >
> > Romaine
> > _______________________________________________
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