2023:Program/Equity and Community Health/GBBHCK-Beyond editing – How visible are multipliers, community leaders and organizers, why are they important and how can their visibility be increased?
Title: Beyond editing – How visible are multipliers, community leaders and organizers, why are they important and how can their visibility be increased?
Speakers:
Martin Rulsch
Martin Rulsch is project manager for communities & engagement at Wikimedia Deutschland. He supports local Wikimedia groups in their self-organized community rooms, connects volunteers on a global level and enables Wikipedia editors to get free access to reliable sources. In his volunteer time, he does administrative tasks like fighting global vandalism and supports community governance and communications at various places.
Claude Beier
Since February 2022, Claude has been project manager for communities & engagement at Wikimedia Deutschland. The main focus of Claude’s work is on developing capacity building opportunities for community organizers. Claude is themself a community organizer with Amnesty International and focuses on training new community organizers, anti-discrimination and diversity.
Room: Room 309
Start time: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 14:15:00 +0800
End time: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 14:45:00 +0800
Type: No (pretalx) session type id specified
Track: Equity, Inclusion, and Community Health
Submission state: confirmed
Duration: 30 minutes
Do not record: false
Presentation language: en
Abstract & description[edit source]
Abstract[edit source]
Volunteers who mediate in conflicts, write grant applications, organize new editor workshops and do other activities beyond editing are so important for a healthy community(, too). Together with you we would like to discuss questions and best practice formats with the aim of increasing their visibility and support.
Description[edit source]
Conflict mediation, ideas for project development, applying for grants, introduction to editing, organizing community spaces and events, emotional support - all these and other activities initially have nothing to do with editing and content creation. Volunteers who carry out these activities are called multipliers, community organizers or community leaders. Their work is important for every Wikimedia project because they create the conditions for other community members to become active or find good provisions for their needs. But with the Wikimedia projects focusing on creating content, how visible is the work of these community organizers? A 2019 study by the WMF “Wikimedia Movement Organizers – Understanding the people who power the movement“ shows that the areas of activity which are crucial to the long-term resilience of a healthy community are the most invisible of all things and often carried out by few people. This can lead to burn-out of volunteers and disruption in the community.
Together with you we would like to discuss questions and best practice formats with the aim of increasing the visibility of the people who do this work that is so important for a healthy community and their multiplicative fields of action: How can multiplicative fields of activity be made more visible, attractive and supported? What are multiplicative fields of activity in your projects that are particularly invisible and why are they important for a healthy and vibrant community?
After an introduction, we will present some projects to increase the visibility of multipliers that are carried out by Wikimedia Deutschland to start the conversation. We look forward to the exchange!
Further details[edit source]
Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?
The Wikimedia projects offer diverse activities that volunteers can carry out. However, not all of them are equally visible or countable, as with edits or uploaded photos. This specifically applies to community organizers who invest countless volunteer hours to prepare presentations or workshops, organize onwiki or offwiki groups, or simply support other contributors through one of the various non-wiki channels. Often it is these collaborations that help gain new editors, improve community health or thrive the future of the Wikimedia projects. By shedding light on such activities and changing experiences about ways how community members, affiliates and others can make these more visible and support such multipliers, this workshop brings all topics of this year’s Wikimania together.
Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
Some experience will be needed
Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?
Onsite in Singapore- Remote online participation, livestreamed
- Remote from a satellite event
Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely- Pre-recorded and available on demand
