Queering Wikipedia 2020/suicide response
Title:
- Response to talk of suicide
Theme:
- community health
Type of session:
- presentation
Abstract: This session will begin with an expert presentation of the correct way to respond to a person who says they wish to commit suicide. Following that, the group will discuss what process we in the Wikimedia community would like to develop. This matters to the LGBT+ community for a few reasons, including that LGBT+ people face harassment which leads to more frequent suicide, and that the LGBT+ community has a greater need to provide peer to peer support among itself, and that for broader Wikimedia policy on media about suicide the LGBT+ community is a major stakeholder and should feel encouraged to speak out on any policy development in this space.
All sorts of people may feel suicidal at some point in their life. When they do, they often look for help, and they may ask their friends and colleagues for help as well. In Wikimedia projects we have a large global community where sometimes, rarely but regularly, users report that they feel suicidal. Currently there is not a standard process for responding, except that the Wikimedia Foundation asks that anyone who knows of a suicidal Wikipedia editor should make a report to the Wikimedia Foundation Trust and Safety team. This team currently makes all its decisions discretely, but they are not experts on this particular issue, and would like to offer whatever support is available from appropriate expert organizations, typically a nonprofit suicide counseling service, which is available for a user's language and culture. If this is to happen then we should discuss the issues and process to fit LGBT+ community needs.
Additionally, we should have some discussion and awareness of Wikipedia articles on suicide. Many people who think of suicide search for information online. Typical Wikipedia articles on suicide contain information treating it as a subject in an encyclopedia, which seems appropriate from one perspective. From another perspective, the articles on "suicide" may be unique because we have some evidence to support the idea that suicidal people read them, and that if we had a link to refer to counseling, then some people would use that. The Wikipedia community either rarely or never has made such an exception to refer to external, off-wiki support services, but we could consider doing so.
Author name:
- guest speaker - we have an offer from an expert organization to send a guest speaker
- co-organizer:Lane Rasberry - but please help present this or even take the lead!
- co-organizer: user:Marajozkee
E-mail address:
- lane@bluerasberry.com
Wikimedia username:
Affiliated organization(s):
- (will name guest speaker affiliation after getting more confirmation)
- School of Data Science at the University of Virginia
Estimated time:
- 120 minutes
Have you presented on this topic previously? If yes, where/when?:
- Wikimedia New York City events
If your submission is not accepted, would you be open to presenting your topic in another part of the program? (e.g. lightning talk or unconference session)
- yes