#notNewNORMAL [Call for contributions] workshop & practice

Two years ago I was proposing a workshop online with this title and I want to do it again in both online and physical form. I will share here the description and invite people who are interested to contribute ideas, works, skills or anything else to this in case they want to share resources and possibly co-develop a circle that could be a community of practice.

Here is the current 2022 version of the proposal I am able to share:

For past 2 years we have been discussing and living the ‘new normal’ mostly seen as great challenge for ‘developed’ world, while suppressed and critical voices are questioning who’s Normal it was to start with… What wiki practices are considered normal (How? Who? When? Why? they fail). This workshop aspires to help inform, research, imagine and prototype what could be alternatives, or even appropriations that foreground care and needs for those who are positioned far from centers and (assumed) norms. WikiWiki%Lohi?

How will this be beneficial for the Wikimedia communities?

By looking into and challenging: the doctrine of single and objective point of view, content and participation gaps, governance models/issues, assumptions embedded in user interface and experience, but also addressing needs for safe(r) space (considering ‘others’ - deconstructing norms, especially self-imposed ones and authoritarian) we hope to address some of the topics from 2030 strategy, new Code of Conduct and Movement Charter draft…with focus on how they play out in realities of smaller wikis, less developed regions and its participants in their language, wiki and thematic communities.

With that in mind we may choose not to go to a single NORM, especially not dated one.

#1 physical instance of the workshop is on Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 and you are welcome to express interest in attending on Meta page of submission or here!

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Me interesa saber más sobre esto @Zblace, la frase nueva normalidad siempre me ha parecido cualquier cosa menos equitativa con respecto a otras partes del globo en donde no hubo nada parecido a una normalidad, sería interesante ver una explicación dentro de los proyectos Wikimedia. Dices que pensaste realizar estos talleres hace dos años, ¿sucedió algo particular o simplemente no hubo interés de la comunidad?

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Thank you for reaching out and thinking about this concept. Yes it has been 2 years…
There was very little interest in the online conference form and I was also blaming it a bit on lack of promotion + complicated registration. Now I do not want to do it just as facilitator, but also as person who learns in peer-to-peer way from other facilitators, practitioners and critical thinkers. Maybe it makes sense to do a short online call sometimes in September with all people interested.

PING for people that might be interested in this here:
@Kiraface @NPhan_WMF @AAkhmedova_WMF @Chicocvenancio @QW22
@Pasnos @Millodarka

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Thank you sharing your proposal here, @Zblace. It would indeed be interesting to hear and learn what is the considered to be a norm for different people with different backgrounds when it comes wiki practices and connect it to practices of care for an individual as well as the community. How are the norms created in the communities and how to create some practices where different norms (using norms for the lack of a better word) could mutually exist and prosper. Looking forward to hear more.

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UPDATE: #1 physical instance of the workshop is on Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2022 and you are welcome to express interest in attending on Meta page of submission or here…

@AAkhmedova_WMF are you attending Ohrid in person?

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Yes, that’s the plan. Hope to attend your session.

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Another push for this as Program is now fixed for Sunday 16th of October, so please add yourself at the top in the form if you want to take part, or would but can not.

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Post-workshop collaborative editing of #notNewNORMAL :slight_smile:
[NOTE: The following are the notes taken during the workshop attended by 9 people. These notes are expected to be edited both by the organizer as well as the participants]

QUESTIONS: (in relation to online work and Wikimedians)

  • What were the things in pandemic that got (kind of) better and we should keep?
  • What were the norms we questioned and we should continue de-normalizing?

RESPONSES:
Franziska: Presentations (online) became more interactive with online tools like Miro boards
Mirko: Some people dislike technology, even among youth…plenty of events, but not used.
Mehrdad: Some people escaped to analogue, but platforms gave chance for many to join.
Franziska: Translation expectation carried over to events making them more accessible.
Mehrdad: Grants to support with data top-off and support with child care, etc…
Michał: Physical presence was richer with many qualities*( like political-incorrectness and fun)
Mirko: For people in rural areas almost nothing changed physically, but rich access to online.
Franziska: Privacy issues are not easy to address without much more resources
Mirko: less control over home office work and encouragement of health: SickSHAMING!

Q: How to introduce DeNormalizing as being comfortable

AnToni: On segregations in societies as in Austria: mask yes-no, old-young, vaxxed or not,
while minorities were used as scapegoats, that was spreading across media (few organizations were reacted to this scapegoating)
Matej: General meetings could be online with WM Slovakia and Poland
Ivana: Enjoys a bit of alienations and asocial proximity in small town
‘Essential workers’ and how they experienced the pandemic without the possibility to stay inside.

We are outdoor in gorgeous sun doing just one point Etherpad entry

Hello @Zblace
I am interested . But want no know is the online one has ended or not? If not I will try my best to join it but if it ended can you please provide me with the recording if possible?

We did have the session offline and outdoors, so only recording was in Etherpad, but we will for sure do this sometimes soon again and elaborate on our session in documentation.

Dear ALL - I would love to do a quick follow-up circle of people who attended the workshop and create some output from it. Who would be interested to join me in the coming Sunday evening?

Hello @Zblace
I am interested. But at the moment can’t confirm my attendance. You can count me in for now. If I can not I will inform you :slight_smile:

I will have you in mind, but this is just for the people who attended the workshop in Ohrid at WM CEE Meeting 2022 in person.

Oh my apologies I could not get it. You can count me out than. Sorry for the misunderstanding. :slight_smile: