Let's Connect Newsletter/Archive/2023/Issue 6

Newsletter 6

Let’s Connect Newsletter Issue 6

What is happening in Let’s Connect this month

Welcome to May’s issue of the Let’s Connect monthly newsletter. This month, we hosted some workshops and training programs. We also introduced Let’s Connect at the EduWiki Conference in Belgrade by our Working group member Gorana Gomirac.

Did you miss Learning Clinics - no worries!

Learning Clinic with Art+Feminism: Embedding Equity in Collective Action. Find this session's resources: English and Spanish video recording, studio recording in interpreted languages. (EN) Sharer's Presentation; (ES) Sharer's Presentation; (PT) Sharer's Presentation; (FR) Sharer's Presentation, Shared document with links and further information and resources.
Let's Connect Learning Clinic: Experiences and strategies for dealing with a team crisis.

Other learning opportunities in the Movement

Happening this week!! 👀

On Thursday, 15 June, at 17.00 UTC, the Wiki Movimento Brazil will give a fresh introduction to 🔺💎 uploading files to Wikimedia Commons with OpenRefine 💎🔺 - This event is online, free, and open for every interested Wikimedian. Some knowledge of OpenRefine is recommended (it's not for absolute beginners). If you want to participate, make sure to register.

News from Movement Strategy

The Wikimedia Terms of Use have been updated effective June 7. This follows the end of the spring consultation held between February and April and approvals recorded by the Executive Director and General Counsel per the delegation of policy-making authority from the Foundation Board of Trustees. The Foundation is happy to announce that the project license has been upgraded to CC BY-SA 4.0! Technical work has already started on this change.

GLAM-Wiki Conference 2023: Announcing the venue & scholarship application process open in Portuguese, Japanese, and Spanish.
The WikiWomenCamp (#wikiwomencamp) is back after a hiatus of 6 years! The third iteration of the WikiWomenCamp will be hosted in New Delhi, India, in October 2023. Join us for a transformative experience focused on growth, leadership, and connection. This year's theme is Map Up, Rise Up, emphasising women's empowerment and overcoming societal barriers. The Scholarships application period is from 13 June to 4 July 2023 anywhere on Earth.

Story from Let’s Connect

On 27th-29th May 2023, two Let’s Connect working group members, Jessica Stephenson and Chinmayee Mishra, attended WikiConference India and shared the works of the Let's Connect Team with the conference participants. The active participation across the globe, the relevance of Let’s Connect’s motto with the conference's theme, and the impact of this peer learning program were shared there.

The link to the presentation can be found here: Let's connect WCI 2023

Feedback from WCI participants :

Mrb Rafi: In mid-February, I received an unexpected email from Caner, a Turkish Wikimedian who expressed his eagerness to create video tutorials for Turkish-speaking individuals on Wikipedia editing. Caner discovered my profile in the Let's Connect skills directory, and I must admit that it was a delightful experience to be found and trusted by someone in this manner. As a Wikimedia outreach trainer for the past few years, I have personally experienced the lack of easily accessible visual learning materials regarding the Wikimedia movement on the internet. I understand the challenges newcomers face when entering the vast world of Wikimedia, yet I never had the resources to create online learning materials. Caner's email resonated with my frustration about not being able to fulfil my desire to address this issue.
Recognising Aaqib's extensive understanding of on-Wiki culture, I included him in the project to benefit from his valuable insights. Caner was the tech wizard, Aaqib was the Socrates, and I was the helmsman! We made a good team!! The videos can be found on youtube. You can also read the diff regarding the project. This project stands out due to its distinctive cross-cultural collaboration and the invaluable insights derived from it. Let's Connect serves as an exceptional platform for interconnecting the far-reaching corners of the movement and comprehending the authentic essence of the movement's diversity.

Gorana at EduWiki Conference: “The Let's Connect program was presented during the Edu Wiki conference, held from May 26th to 28th in Belgrade. Two Let’s Connect working group members, Justice Okai-Allotey and Gorana Gomirac, were supposed to present the work of the Let’s Connect Team to the conference participants. Unfortunately, Justice could not attend, so Gorana did the presentation at the conference by herself with the support of Justice. The conference's theme was education, and during the presentation, it was emphasised that Let’s Connect is a peer learning program and safe space to learn within Wikimedia Movement and covers many topics important to the Wikimedia world. The team, how this program works and its diversity were covered, and many small talks about Let’s Connect were made at this conference.

The link to the video from the conference can be found on Wikimedia Commons, and the timestamp is from 3:13:52.

Resource to check out:

This is a short one for Wikimedians who haven't used OpenRefine before - it has the basics for Wikidata editing (but definitely not all the whistles and bells of OpenRefine in general).

"Researching, defining and redefining strategic growth trajectories must be regarded as a tough job for Wikimedia affiliates which have just begun their journey with the far and wide community of volunteers since it has more to do with “voluntarism” than with any other aspect of the movement", reads our May 2023 strategic learnings blog.

Please find the blog.

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