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2024:Program/The Helpdesk at the Content Partnerships Hub – Wikimedians providing hands-on support to each other

From Wikimania

Session title: The Helpdesk at the Content Partnerships Hub – Wikimedians providing hands-on support to each other

Session type: Lecture
Track: Partnerships
Language: en

We propose a session focusing on developing the next steps of the Helpdesk of the Content Partnerships Hub – with a focus on how it can improve capacity building in the GLAMwiki space. Through the Helpdesk you can request support for your content partnerships and through the working groups you can share your expertise by jointly responding to the many requests posted for the Helpdesk.

Description

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The Helpdesk is a new type of support structure for the Wikimedia movement. It enables Wikimedians to request support for projects where the goal is to work with partners to make content available on the Wikimedia platforms — so-called content partnerships. The Helpdesk is one of the five pillars of the Content Partnerships Hub, an initiative to create a Thematic Hub, led by Wikimedia Sverige.

The support requests are reviewed by an international expert committee, who provides guidance on which requests to prioritize. A focus is to provide support to local communities in the underserved and underrepresented parts of the Movement.

Until now, support has been given by Wikimedia Sverige’s staff, but the intention is that the support through the Helpdesk will come from experts from around the Wikimedia movement. Staff and volunteers around the world will be able to join different working groups that will provide the requested hands-on help or knowledge transfer. The requests to the Helpdesk can help guide capacity building efforts and increase the long-term capacity of Wikimedians to work with content partnerships.

At the session, we will showcase examples of the Helpdesk work, such as uploads of cultural heritage data from Ukraine to Wikidata. This will provide a natural starting point to a discussion about how affiliates and volunteers can engage with the Helpdesk, what the needs are, how it can support capacity building efforts and what we will develop next together.

Regarding what support you can request we will cover the following: how you can request support and what support can be given, what happens with your request when submitted and what you can expect.

Regarding how you can get involved we will cover the following: what the working groups are, what the benefits and opportunities are for you when joining the working group, how you can apply to them and what the expectations are.

The participants will have a clear understanding of the Helpdesk and its role and functions. They will be able to decide on their future participation and will feel empowered that they have been able to develop this concept further. They will also know how they can request help and support for their content partnerships efforts.

Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/live/V_zKO-4P9J4?feature=shared&t=16850

How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?

The Helpdesk is aimed at supporting the affiliates and volunteers who every day, in their contexts, are forming new partnerships with content owners who are interested in collaborating around open content. The Helpdesk can provide the support needed to successfully execute on these partnerships – all you need to do is ask.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Everyone can participate in this session

Resources

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Speakers

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  • André Costa
Employed by Wikimedia Sverige since 2013. I first started working as GLAM-technician which later evolved into a role as Developer and Senior developer. Since 2017 I work as Chief Operating Officer.
Active Wikimedian since 2006 editing under the username Lokal_Profil.
  • Eric Luth
I am Project Manager for Involvement and Advocacy at Wikimedia Sverige. In that capacity, I have recently worked primarily with international partnerships, such as with the UN agencies, and advocacy for the open movement at the national, European and international level. I have an M.A. in Comparative Literature, and live in Stockholm.
  • Alicia Fagerving
Alicia Fagerving is a developer at Wikimedia Sverige, working primarily with Linked Open Data and partnerships. They've been involved in developing the Content Partnerships Hub (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Content_Partnerships_Hub), with the goal of lowering the thresholds for Wikimedians and affiliates around the world to do great partnerships.