..and I dream of repetitive metrics that can be compared year to year
On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 5:02 PM, Fæ faewik@gmail.com wrote:
Ethically, I would rather defer a proposal, such as one for Wiki Loves Pride or a more general diversity event, until the restriction is lifted.
There is too much pointless political flim flam already in our Wikimedia community without masking events as GenderGap for the sake of faking metrics.
Fae On 3 Jan 2015 15:50, "Jane Darnell" jane023@gmail.com wrote:
..and I am hoping to see lots of "gendergap paint"
On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 4:42 PM, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org wrote:
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/00760...
by
Alex Wang. She referred in that email to this onwiki description <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Inspire_Grants_%E2%80%93_Gend...
.
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/00760...
- 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@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@gmail.com:
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@gmail.com:
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@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@gmail.com: > > > 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@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 > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org
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