Talk:Wikimedia and Libraries User Group/Steering committee election 2019

Questions for candidates

Questions from T Cells

Questions for Windblown29

Windblown29 thanks your willingness to to serve on TWL steering committee. I have have the following questions for you.

1. It is not clear from your nomination statement how you wish to add values to TWL. Can you explain exactly what you plan to bring to TWL?

Hi, thank you for your question. What I can bring is an enthusiasm and willingness to inspire users of Wikipedia, particularly librarians. Since 2016, when I became involved with AfroCrowd and Wikimedia NYC, I have consistently assisted and participated in meetings, conferences and edit-a-thons. I now facilitate Wikipedia trainings at both public and academic libraries including the Southeastern NY Library Resources Council and Brooklyn Public Library in 2018 and at CUNY City Tech and SUNY New Paltz in 2019. I was a coach for the Wikipedia + Libraries: Better Together nine-week course in 2017 during which my AfroCrowd colleague Sherry Antoine and I presented on sharing Wikipedia through community engagement. I have also brought Wikipedia, via Art & Feminism, to my hometown of Beacon, NY where we will have our second A&F edit-a-thon next month. I’m on the Mid-Hudson Library System board of trustees, as well as on the board of Wikimedia NYC.

1. In what capacity do you want to serve?

I believe in organic growth and I’m at my best as an ambassador and facilitator. I am also a creative thinker and love to collaborate and share ideas and best practices.

1. Why is the steering committee important to you? Looking forward to reading your responses. Regards.

The steering committee is important to me because it allows for a global perspective on what is needed to keep librarians engaged worldwide with Wikipedia in all its forms. I’ve enjoyed meeting Wikipedians from London, Switzerland and across the U.S. and that is very gratifying to understand we have the same goals when it comes to knowledge management. T Cells (talk) 12:55, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Questions for Kaizenify

Hello Kaizenify and thanks your willingness to to serve on TWL steering committee. I have some comments and questions for you.

Hi T Cells, thank you for all the questions and i duly apologized for not replying on time as i was caught up with various activities. See the replies to the questions below:

1. Can you highlight some of your efforts to the development and growth of TWL branch in your home Wikipedia or other branches of TWL?

These include some of my contributions to TWL branch in my home Wikipedia. I recently co-coordinated an edit-a-thon for librarians across Nigeria in the last few weeks as part of black month celebration; you can see here en:Wikipedia:Meetup/AfroCROWD/FUNAAB Black History Month, i also have been a strong contributor to #1Lib1Ref campaign in the last campaign and was crowned second most users of the citation hunt on the English Wikipedia according to this https://tools.wmflabs.org/citationhunt/en/leaderboard.html but beyond all this i am a newcomer to the TWL with a burning desire and passion to contribute effortlessly and hence open to several grooming. Thanks

1. From your nomination statement, it does seem you want to be voted based on your social media experience. Are there past works relates to social media that you can point to?

Yes, i am one of the administrator to https://www.facebook.com/informationnigeria/ with about 4 million followers and which started from scratch and provides Nigeria with updated information and lot of credibility, Apart from that i have been involved in social media take up of lot of other organizations on twitter and Facebook especially and this is one of the ways i make money for myself in my country home Nigeria and ready to volunteer this skills. Thanks

1. While I understand that you don't have to have a verified social media account (verified twitter account for example) to perform effectively, I do think having a verified twitter or Facebook page/Fan page is important (thou not compulsory) and as someone who makes a claim of good social media should have at least one of his account verified. Why do you think you will be a great advantage to the committee?

Thanks for this questions but i don't need to have a verified social media account for myself to show my good knowledge of social media, i have been involved with verification of so many organization social media in the past while my account isn't verified, most verified account are mainly organizations, celebrities and influential people. I know my way around social media and have good knowledge of its management but don't need to be verified to prove that.

1. Why is the committee important to you?

The committee is important to me mainly due to how it can bridge more gaps between local librarians and Wikipedia and this is something that i have taken up in my local chapter.

1. What problems will you solve if elected to the committee?

I will first solve the problem of the role am elected for which is proper social media handling by re-positing the social media of the committee and also maximizing its full potentials of the committee in local Wikipedia communities.

1. What would you consider as your major contributions to Wikimedia and Libraries User Group in the last few years?

As i said am a new comer but in the last few months, i have been able to co-trained librarians across Nigeria on Wikipedia use and how to add citations and also been able to seal up partnerships with Library of Universities in Nigeria on how well to maximize Wikipedia.

1. How do you bridge the gap between a librarian and TWL?

Get them to understand the power of Wikipedia and how contributing to Wikipedia citations can improve the world knowledge.

1. If there is anything that you will change in Wikimedia and Libraries User Group, what will this be?

So far, the Wikimedia and Libraries User Group has done significantly well but if there is anything i can change; it is to encourage more libraries partnership from Africa communities.

1. What are your greatest achievement in the Wikimedia movement?

I have a whole lot but will say my greatest achievement is been able to be engaged in my local Wikimedia usergroup in Nigeria to change the narratives about having more women on Wikipedia through the wiki loves women campaign which i was deeply involved with.

Thanks for all the amazing questions and i hope with these i can earn your vote and so many other votes aswell. Thanks once again Kaizenify (talk) 09:19, 25 February 2019 (UTC)

Kaizenify ó tó gè! Bi o ti e dibo, o ti wole! T Cells (talk) 02:26, 26 February 2019 (UTC)

Looking forward to Reading your responses. Regards. T Cells (talk) 13:22, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Question for Merrilee

Hello Merrilee and thanks your willingness to chair TWL steering committee. I have a few questions for you.

1. You previously served on the committee. What are your major achievement and or contributions to the committee in the last few years?
2. What do you want to do differently this year? Looking forward to reading your responses. Regards. T Cells (talk) 13:26, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you T Cells for your questions! Our steering committee dwindled in numbers so that at the end there were only a handful of us still participating and I was one of those people. I think the last year taught us that we need to have specific, assigned roles. I learned that in addition to showing up and fulfilling my commitments, I am good at convening, leading and synthesizing which is why I put myself forward as chair. A specific contribution I made to the group was the idea of having a "virtual meeting" for the group, and we were able to execute on this once, in January. I would like to put this into regular practice, as the Education group is doing, but cannot do this alone so I look forward to having new energy on the steering committee so that we are able to move forward in creating community. I did a lot of outreach and recruiting for potential new steering committee members, hoping to both strengthen and diversify our group (both important in our global movement). I am attending the Wikimedia Summit in March and look forward to learning about how a thematic, as opposed to regional, user group can connect effectively. I'm excited about the possibilities and look forward to learning with others. I'd also like to clarify our relationship to TWL. We are the Wikimedia and Libraries User Group and we work alongside TWL but are not a steering committee for The Wikipedia Library. I know others have had this confusion. Merrilee (talk) 21:12, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Thank you Merrilee. You have my full support and I believe you will be net positive to the committee. T Cells (talk) 22:03, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Term lengths and other committees

Two comments: why is the term only one year? While it might be an advantage to have yearly turnover in a new group, eventually the group might find it easier to do long range planning with longer terms, if this would not prevent people from volunteering altogether. Also there seem to be more people looking for a role in the group than there are positions in the steering committee, perhaps there are other committees or roles or even short-term projects where their energies could be utilized. Avery Jensen (talk) 00:48, 24 February 2019 (UTC)

Hi Avery those are great comments. Thank you for the perspective. I do hope we can spin up some task groups that will allow us to tap into the enthusiasm and capacities of the community beyond the steering group. Merrilee (talk) 16:51, 25 February 2019 (UTC)