I would like to invite you to join our Open Innovation Café: This year we are setting out on a journey to build a new format for the Wikimedia Movement, a safe space that will foster innovation and allow members of our community to experiment with and build new ideas for Free Knowledge.
This sounds intriguing, but still a little too vague? This is precisely what the Open Innovation Café is about: We want to tell you all about what we are planning and how we would love you to be involved!
When and where will the Open Innovation Café take place? Wednesday, March 15th, 6:00-6:30pm CET. Access the Zoom call through this link:
Meeting ID: 864 0379 9400
Passcode: 859211
Who is the initiator of this Open Innovation Café? The Open Innovation Café is initiated and will be hosted by the Innovation Engine team of Wikimedia Deutschland. The faces you will meet are program lead Kannika Thaimai und program manager Lucia Obst.
Why are we reaching out to you specifically? We are reaching out to people, affiliate representatives and Wikimedia community members who specifically indicated in some capacity that they are either working on or interested in innovation in the Wikimedia Movement and/or recommendation no. 9 “Innovate in Free Knowledge” of the Movement Strategy 2030. We will be a diverse, international group.
What language will this Open Café take place in? This will be done in English. If this faces you with a great language barrier, please let us know.
Do I need to prepare or bring anything? There is no requirement for joining, simply drop in as you are. However, it is in the name – a coffee or other beverage that makes you feel cozy is welcome. We’d also love a quick response which date you will be able to attend.
We look forward to seeing you at the Open Innovation Café and diving deeper into this exciting, pan-Movement endeavor!
thanks for this great notice. one suggstion; perhaps you might wish to edit the thread title, to include the date of this great event. that might greatly encourage others to participate. I hope that’s helpful, @Kannika_Thaimai_WMDE , thanks!
@Kannika_Thaimai_WMDE , thanks for today’s meeting. I would like to ask that you please create an ongoing thread here at MS forums, and use it to post updates regularly. thanks!
We have created a quick 4-question survey (anonymous) that will help us in better understanding the needs and challenges of our Movement in innovating in Free Knowledge: Movement survey on "Innovate in Free Knowledge". This will form the basis of any new innovation format to take shape in the future. It would be wonderful if you could give us a few minutes of your time as we are grateful for any response.
Re-Imagining UNLOCK is a process kick-started in early 2023 to re-think the best way to invest in innovative products and Initiatives that stand in service of the global Wikimedia Movement and can best shape the future of our Knowledge society.
In order for the Wikimedia Movement to stay relevant, to become more diverse, more resilient, and adaptable to societal changes, we need to overcome the limitations of existing Wikimedia projects. This requires us to strengthen our innovative power and capacity, and to promote innovative ideas and solutions that will catapult our Movement to the future.
For three years, the UNLOCK Accelerator has been a go-to-place to build, test and prototype new concepts on Free Knowledge that the Movement has not yet seen. It has successfully managed to expand the existing Free Knowledge project landscape and has brought us closer to overcoming knowledge inequities. However, our evaluations have shown that we can do better in building an innovation format that is designed for more long-term support and better integration of projects into the Wikimedia Movement.
This is why we are setting out on this explorative journey to find out what a new innovation format, a re-imagined UNLOCK should look like to be of most value to the Wikimedia Movement and to create an even bigger impact on the Free Knowledge Ecosystem.
Why we are doing this[