Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Updates/May 2019
Dear fellow Wikimedians,
Discussions about what our future could look like are currently underway - thanks to everyone who has already been taking part in the community conversations. We’ve compiled all the insights gathered so far from communities in a report (see below). Strategy salons will also start happening in the next few months. If you wish to host a small event to talk strategy with your affiliate or group, good news: we are launching a strategy salon grant application process! Keep reading for all the latest updates on movement strategy.
Community conversations report March/April
We have just published our first community conversations report summarizing all the discussions that happened in March and April. Conversations are happening at affiliates and other organized groups as well as within various communities worldwide.
The insights, ideas, and information that are presented in these conversations will enrich the working groups’ development of recommendations. As part of this, the working groups are monitoring the conversations and processing the input that comes out of this. This will complement the high volume of overall input working groups receive and the large amount of proactive research they are conducting. From time to time, you may also see working group members jump into the conversations and get back to some of the questions, but this is at their discretion and may take time.
Community conversations will continue through to September. If you want to take part or find out more, please visit Meta.
Apply to host a strategy salon
Want to talk strategy with your affiliate’s community? Want to do it over dinner? Apply for a strategy salon grant! Strategy salons are short, small events where people share a meal and discuss how they can enrich the conversation around our structural reform. Affiliates and other organized groups are encouraged to apply for a grant of between $500 and $1500. This grant can be used to run an in-person strategy discussion event between June 1st and September 15th. Be quick - the application deadline is May 31. Visit Meta for more info.
What’s happening now and what’s to come
The focus of the movement strategy is currently shifting from identifying the most essential questions in our movement to finding answers. Between now and Wikimania in August, the goal is to gather information and ideas that can be used to develop recommendations for structural change within the movement. The working groups will process research and data they are collecting as well as the insights that arise during community conversations. In June and July, they will begin formalizing all of this into draft recommendations for change. Wikimania will be an opportunity to engage the with community on these.
After Wikimania, the plan is to have members of the working groups meet to bring together all the recommendations from each of the 9 groups and create one coherent set of recommendations. These will be finalized throughout October. They will then be published and presented to the Board of Trustees in November.
Meet us in Lisbon
Kaarel and I will attend the Creative Commons Global Summit this week, to connect with our friends from CC about the future of free knowledge. We will host a session on Friday at 3:30 pm on Wikimedia 2030. If you’re also attending the summit, stop by and say hello! We know that a few working group members and Wikimedians will also be at the event and look forward to seeing you there.
If you have any questions or would like to connect about the movement strategy, please feel free to contact me.
Best wishes,
Nicole