Q1: What experience do you have in trying to make the Wikimedia projects more inclusive and equitable?

Ensure Equity in Decision-Making Elections
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What experience do you have in trying to make the Wikimedia projects more inclusive and equitable?

This is one of the Affiliate questions selected for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election 2022. Only candidates can post their replies here. You can read these answers on Meta.

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  • While the Wikimedia projects are far from equitable, efforts are being made to remedy that. The gender gap remains prevalent, the global north vs global south distinction is still very pronounced, and the new editors face a barrier to entering the community. Among the ways I’ve tried to close the gap have been holding Wikipedia editing workshops to a diverse audience, mostly to young people, many of whom are women, in order to attract new editors (including a workshop for Syrian refugees in the Netherlands). Another endeavor was starting the Wikipedia Education Program in Palestinian Universities and high schools, which my colleagues are still running, pumping new blood into the community.
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In order to make the Wikimedia projects more inclusive and equitable, I have set up the Wikimedia movement in Burundi. A movement that did not exist before, it currently contains members who can bring their contributions to Wikimedia projects. Men and women, young people and adults, members of the Wikimedia movement in Burundi can now contribute to articles in Kirundi, in French, in English, etc., and thus contribute to the inclusiveness of the Wikimedia projects. I have been involved to organize events, virtual and in-person meetings to teach and guide wikimedians to contribute to wikimedia projects.

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Trustee:

  • Represented perspective of non-English-native, from small country.
  • Highly involved in resolution on healthier, equitable, inclusive movement (led to UCoC)
  • Strongly supported Human Rights policy, with special emphasis on Children’s rights.
  • Focused on inclusive, respectful movement, and equitable decision-making processes.

Volunteer:

  • Highlighting awareness to DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) and Gender Gap in my academic courses and advocacy (lectures, workshops, training, consulting)
  • Actively closing Gender Gap in my courses: half of Wikipedia articles written on notable women, Wikidata items focus on female researchers.
  • Actively bringing more women into the movement, including mentorship
  • Long history of supporting/highlighting work of emerging/developing communities
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Engage Contributors, Strengthen Spirit, Increase Resilience

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Reply by Mike Peel (Mike Peel)

I created the Wikidata Infobox on Commons, providing context for Commons categories in all languages, making it easier for non-English speakers to navigate and contribute to Commons. I have mentored Outreachy and GSoC students to bring new, diverse developers to Wikimedia. I have led many workshops and talks to introduce people to Wikimedia. I co-founded Wikimedia UK, worked with Wiki Movimento Brasil, and supported many affiliates through the Funds Dissemination Committee and Wikimedia Grants committee to build capacity and help globally improve inclusivity and equitability.

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I know that the kind of language we use can – even unintentionally – exclude others. Whenever I have contributed to any Wikipedia project (helping to edit, improve or expand existing articles) I have been careful to ensure that my suggestions are friendly and helpful, keeping in mind that the original contributor may be new or inexperienced or not a native speaker of English. And when working with my teammates on the Regional Board for the US & Canada, we always consider not only how the projects we review, but also how our reviewing process itself can contribute to inclusivity and equity.

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As a linguist, teacher, Wikimedian and one who loves to share free knowledge, I have tried the following methods to make the Wikimedian projects more inclusive:
i. Teaching and Mentorship: through my work as a Wikimedian in Residence and also as a community lead, I have succeeded in teaching and mentoring over 50 people from various countries across projects like: Wikipedia, Wikidata, Wikiquote, WikiCommons and they found their own relevant project paths.
ii. Providing support to help language projects succeed: I have also provided support to emerging volunteer language communities like: Makhuwa and Lologooli languages to add their languages into the incubator while constantly contributing and building their communities.
iii. Respect and inclusion: being a Wikimedian in Residence, a community lead and haven worked with other communities around various regions like Africa, Europe, South America have given me the experience of upholding a culture of respect and inclusion for everyone.

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I am a technically inclined person with a passion for making systems equitable, transparent and more inclusive. In my years of working with Open Foundation West Africa as a Technical and Programs Officer, I became more familiar with the width of Wikimedia Projects in multiple languages which were edited by Wikimedia volunteers around the world I later then developed a passion for localisation and internationalisation, whereby i drove more focus on managing Wikimedia projects that specifically focused more on localizing growing language wikis globally.

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  • I have mentored students from underrepresented backgrounds/regions as part of programs like Outreachy/GSoC.
  • I regularly support, mentor and nominate newer volunteer developers for “+2” maintainership rights in the MediaWiki software to counteract the power imbalance between WMF staff and volunteers.
  • I serve on the Technical Code of Conduct committee, with the goal of making the technical community more inclusive.
  • I contribute to (and support in any way I can) Kiwix, an offline content reader, that aims to bring Wikipedia and other free content to places where online access isn’t guaranteed. I am proud that the Kiwix team is supporting my candidacy.
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When I was member of Wikimedia Belgium board and responsible for « Cultural Diversity, Knowledge Equity and educationnal aspect in Wikimedi projects » (Board - Wikimedia Belgium). I did various Wikimedia activities, including a Workshop with refuges in Belgium. In addition, I was also Wikimedia ambassador in India, Cape Verde, and Ghana (see my Wikimedia user page for all detail about my Wikimedia activities).

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  • As a volunteer editor, I have:
    • Dedicated much time to welcoming, showing ropes to newcomers helping them stay, outreach
    • Participated in numerous gender gap actions, 18 out of 20 latest biographies I wrote are female :slight_smile:
    • participated and co-ran CEE Spring campaigns showing diversity of the region
  • As an activist, I have:
    • Assessed grant submissions from all over the world
    • Ran a chapter supporting diversity actions and Wikimedians in the region
    • Worked on creation of the CEE Hub to better serve regional individuals and communities
    • Worked in the Resource Allocation Working Group highlighting equity, decentralisation and more