Hello! I’m Abbad from the Movement Strategy & Governance Team. During the next few weeks, I’ll be posting threads on this Forum with drafts of Meta pages for review. Each of those draft pages will be about one Movement Strategy initiative. The pages are intended to provide a simple introduction about each of the Movement Strategy initiative, and to help Wikimedians (like you!) learn how they can contribute to the implementation of initiatives.
By posting the draft pages here, we invite you to review them before they are officially published on Meta. We are using the Forum for this purpose to allow reviewers to quickly translate the content to their native language. You can leave your feedback in a reply below. It would be especially great to hear what you think about the page’s structure and format, which we hope to make easy for newcomers to use.
If you had like some guidance for your review, we would love to hear your feedback on the following questions:
What’s your first impression? Is the page appealing or interesting for you to read?
Can you find the information you expect to find? Is there something missing?
Imagine yourself as a complete newcomer (if you’re not a newcomer yourself :)). Is the information clear? Are some parts difficult to read or understand?
Systematic approach to improve satisfaction and productivity (read on Meta wiki)
Increasing the Sustainability of the Wikimedia Movement has two sides: 1. Money, and 2. People. In order to help keep the people in the Wikimedia movement and bring new Wikimedians aboard, there should be a Systematic approach to improve their satisfaction and productivity. For example, Wikimedians should be recognized for their work, not only in editing articles but also in less-visible activities, like advocating for changes in public policy, conducting research, providing training and more. Additionally, their needs should be assessed in different contexts to provide them with the kind of support they require, and to accommodate the diversity of contributors in the movement.
Develop a systematic approach to improve the satisfaction and productivity of people engaged in the Movement by:
Assessing the needs of groups and volunteers, taking into account their local contexts for effective support and recognition of efforts.
Continuously engaging and supporting publicly diverse types of online and offline contributors…
Hi. Ok, I truly appreciate tyour efforts, in posting the links, ideas, and topics above for all of us to discuss and collaborate on.
one question; I notice that the page name for this page includes a label that might lead the average user to believe that this page dates from “2018 to 2020”. is it possible to set up a redirect, which would make this more current?
I have a question about your offer above to get “more involved” in the Movement Strategy initiative. I wwould be glad to get “more involved,” and would like to seek any ways to do so. I live in the Northeast USA, so I am not really part of any community that is under-represented. is there a place for me to get involved? Again, I would be glad to do so. if your invitation was meant for other sectors, such as people in less-represented communities, I truly won’t mind. I simply would like to clarify. thanks, @Abbad_WMF !
Secondly, just as this thread on MS forums points to that Meta page, can you please set up a visible link on that page, which points to this thread on MS forums? I think that doing so will be greatly conducive to greater discussion and collaborative efforts on this.
I hope to read this great page more in depth, and to comment further later. thanks!
As a person from a well-represented community, you can still create a project to help fund “under-represented communities”. One example that comes to mind is applying for a grant to introduce Movement Strategy grants (and Wikimedia grants in general) to underepresnted communities in your region, who are very possibly not aware that such opportunities for support even exist. We are currently working on creating such examples for projects that you can implement in each initative. Unfortunately, we have not created examples for this initiative yet (nor for most).
That is a valid suggestion. I’ll start adding those links to the “related documents & discussions” sections in each intiaitive page.
Thank you for your feedback, and I hope this helps!
hi @Abbad_WMF:
Responses to the questions in your original post:
First impressions - nice, clean, uncluttered & short explanation
Information - the information is concise & mostly clear.
Any confusions? - just one; the last sentence: “Additionally, their needs should be assessed in different contexts to provide them with the kind of support they require, and the diversity of contributors in the movement.” I am not sure what you mean in this last clause: … and the diversity of contributors in the movement." Maybe you mean something like: Additionally, we should assess the needs of diverse contributors and those contributing in different contexts so that we can provide them with the kind of support they require."?
Hi @Redwidgeon. Great to know that you’re also on the Forum!
Thank you for the helpful feedback. I’ve fixed the last point you mention by adding a missing verb, which I think gives a pretty close meaning to your paraphrasing. Happy to further edit to reflect your thoughts (BTW, you can also edit the thread yourself, in the wiki spirit!).
Hi, we have prepared a report summarizing strategic data and activities related to the recommendation Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement, focusing on projects led by the Wikimedia Foundation. It includes a section about this initiative that I’m copying here for convenience and automatic translations.
This initiative calls on the movement to assess contributors’ needs and improve their support and recognition.
The Wikimedia Foundation and the broader Wikimedia movement have made significant progress toward implementing this recommendation, and the Foundation will continue prioritizing this area across multiple departments this year. According to the Community Insights Survey, between 2019 and 2022, there was a significant improvement in contributors’ satisfaction:
9% increase in contributors who would recommend Wikimedia as a great place to contribute (from 70% to 79%)
9% increase in contributors who take pride in contributing to Wikimedia projects (77% to 86%)
9% increase in contributors who say they feel like they belong in the Wikimedia movement (59% to 68%)
5% increase in contributors who report being satisfied with Movement decision-making processes (32% to 37%).
An area for continued attention is the satisfaction of movement functionaries (admins, bureaucrats, stewards, etc…), who, according to the survey, have lower satisfaction rates. For instance, 42% say they have been harassed while carrying out their roles, 32% remain unsatisfied with the Movement’s decision-making processes, and 27% are not confident that the Foundation can adequately support the Movement. To address these and other issues, in FY 2023-24, the Foundation is prioritizing improvements in the experience of volunteer editors with extended rights like functionaries (see Wiki Experiences).
This initiative also calls for better recognition of volunteers, especially in activities less visible than editing. The Wikimedia Foundation has made a number of investments toward recognizing better volunteer contributors, including:
In 2019, the Technical Engagement team launched the Wikimedia Coolest Tool Award as an annual event, including several technical categories. Since then, 4 editions have been completed, and 50 projects have been recognized with awards or honorable mentions. The 2022 winners include Citation Hunt (in the Newbie Friendly category), Wiki99 (Diversity), and Scholia (Impact).
In 2020, the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom program organized by the Community Programs team, started issuing certificates and virtual badges to the Certified Trainers who graduated from the Training of Trainers program (73 volunteers as of June 2023). These certifications and badges have helped volunteers to validate their expertise, demonstrate their efforts to grow their skillset, and forge partnerships with organizations like UNESCO, government agencies, and local teachers’ networks. Volunteers have proudly featured their achievements – see some examples on Spotify, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
In 2021, the Movement Communications team expanded the Wikimedian of the Year awards to include new categories and increased the number of volunteers celebrated yearly. Following the recommendation of recognizing volunteers beyond editors, the awards now recognize media contributors, tech contributors, organizers, newcomers, and affiliate organizations. Starting in 2011 as Wikipedian of the Year, this award was created by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and organized around the Wikimania conference and became stronger during its 2020-2022 editions. The awards continued their annual schedule through the COVID pandemic with promotional videos and online ceremonies created by the Movement Communications team and led by Jimmy Wales.
In 2022, the Technical Engagement team launched the Wikimedia tech swag program to recognize technical contributors’ active participation in outreach programs, events, and software projects. To date, 90 developers, mentors, and organizers have been rewarded for contributions in Google Summer of Code, Outreachy, Gerrit code review, and more.
In 2022, the Movement Communications team created the “Behind the Screen” video series, featuring Wikimedians speaking about their projects, their motivations, and their experiences. Examples include the revitalizing of Korean Wikisource through digitizing traditional Korean letters or the international expansion of the Wiki World Heritage User Group.
Finally, the Diff blog, maintained by the Movement Communications team, has become a central platform in our Movement to recognize individual volunteers, projects, and affiliates. In 2021, the first full year of the platform, Wikimedia volunteers, including organizers, affiliate members and WMF staff, published 341 blog posts, nearly doubling that number (654 posts in 2022). These posts have been viewed more than 750,000 times by nearly 500,000 visitors.
Finally, this initiative urges the movement to assess the needs of Wikimedians in different contexts to support a diversity of contributors better. Here too, there are several initiatives contributing to this goal:
The Community Wishlist Survey, organized by the Community Tech team, is a collaborative mechanism to assess the software needs of volunteers. It started in 2015 with 107 proposals submitted, and in 2022 the number grew to 467, when 1439 volunteers cast 9554 votes. Features like the gadget Who is active or enabling Thanks Button by default have been prioritized thanks to this collaboration.
In 2020-21, the Movement Communications Insights project organized 10 focus groups with 113 participants. It produced six recommendations in a report about how the Foundation can communicate better with the different parts of the movement. This report has informed Wikimedia Foundation plans, like building a better front door for all the information about the Foundation and coordinating within Foundation teams before communicating with the larger movement.
In 2021, the Movement Strategy Implementation Grants program was launched, encouraging applicants to start their long-term programs by researching the needs of their audiences. Since then, 12 projects have been funded to build leadership and capacity skills as well as needs assessments.
In 2022, the Community Resources team launched Let’s Connect, to support affiliates and individual grantees in assessing their needs and collaborating in a peer-to-peer environment. As of June 2023, 245 participants took part in 30 Learning Clinics. 60% of these participants were from the Middle East and Africa. Half of them had been two years or less in the movement.
