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Here are some public notes from attendees at Wikimania 2013 - submitters should respect privacy by removing specific name unless specific permission was given to do so.

Notes from Varnent

Greetings!

I wanted to share a quick update from Wikimania while it is still fresh in my mind. I was fortunate enough to be around for a number of discussions on LGBT+ Wikimedian / Wikipedian types and wanted to share as many of them as I could while respecting people's privacy. I hope others that were in attendance will also chime in with notes or thoughts.

This is in long format - it may be easier to read the on-wiki version. However, I wanted to recognize that not everyone will want to reply on-wiki - so it was worth sharing here. Please feel free to comment there - but be mindful that IS PUBLIC, whereas this list is not public and a smaller group.

Meetup

We had the 4th annual LGBT Wikimania Meetup - with over a dozen in total attending - including 4-5 allies. As usual we did not take names of attendees, but folks are welcome to chime in that they attended if they so desire. You can safely conclude and share with others that I attended.

Wikimaniacs in attendance shared some stories of experiences on wiki, activities they are working on, and I bored folks with some updates on Wikimedia LGBT+ related activity. Some attendees not already on the list indicated they would be joining it during or soon after Wikimania.

Wikimedia LGBT

Regarding that matter, Lane has suggested the group apply for user group status as LGBT+ Wikimedians User Group. I believe that is a very logical step to take - and allows the group to one day become a thematic org under the Wikimedia LGBT+ identity.[varnent 1] I welcome others to chime in if they would like. Lane has volunteered to help facilitate that process, and the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) has already assigned one (Tanvir) of the two liaisons (the other is assigned when the group actively applies - the first monitors potential applicants). In addition to being officially recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation, being a user group provides easier access to trademarks, and greater access to financial support from the Wikimedia Foundation. I have offered to help, but will not be leading any initial efforts.[varnent 2] I know others have offered to help lead things, and I suspect some emails can be exchanged to get an initial leadership team together. The group already meets the requirements, and I encourage people to respond with their reactions.

  • Thank you so much for the notes, Varnent. I am not sure if I should be inserting a comment here, or responding elsewhere, but I wanted to provide a link for user group information. Perhaps we should insert a row under "User groups in discussion"? What is the latest on naming conventions? Is there a reason to go with "LGBT+ Wikimedians User Group" instead of just "Wikimedia LGBT+"? (Feel free to move this discussion to the Wikimedia LGBT+ discussion page, if necessary. --Another Believer (talk) 15:36, 13 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I think you are fine to comment here - seems reasonable. Basically the naming conventions for the user groups would suggest we use "LGBT+ Wikimedians User Group" until the group is ready to become a Thematic Organization. The "Wikimedia XYZ" format is reserved for legal entities like thematic organizations and chapters - they are generally not permitted for user groups. That said, I think it is clear that Wikimedia LGBT+ is the eventual name the group will be seeking. It is also the "short hand" name of the group that folks will continue to use, even when our technical name is different. That make sense? --Varnent (talk)(COI) 19:58, 13 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Privacy

A number of people from nations were privacy is a serious concern were incredibly helpful in offering suggestions on a model the group can use to provide privacy to any participants in this group. Members will be able to select how much information they would like to share.[varnent 3]A Privacy Officer will be elected[varnent 4], with consideration for the laws of the candidates' residence, and charged with maintaing an offline record of anonymous members linked to a randomly assigned User # format ID for any communication or group documentation.[varnent 5] This was a collection of suggestions, and is certainly up for amendments. Additionally a future privacy policy for Wikimedia projects will likely include removing the public display of IP addresses when wikis are edited anonymously. Combined with the privacy considerations already taken with this mailing list - I am confident that we are on the right track for doing the absolute best we can to protect the privacy and identities of this group's members. This is an incredibly important topic, and I welcome constructive input.

It Gets Better submission

An idea I am incredibly excited about is members of this group individually submitting "It Gets Better" style videos to designated volunteers who will then edit them together into different editions - hopefully in different languages. Information will be coming soon on this list.

I suggest WMF makes a video like this video Amir (talk) 07:02, 26 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Diversity Conference

There was also discussion of how to send a representative, or ideally a delegation, to the upcoming Wikimedia Diversity Conference. I for one think this is a fabulous idea.

Separate public / private wiki for Wikimedia LGBT+

It was brought up by attendees outside of the US and Europe that Meta may not be the best site for future on-wiki activities. Once the group achive user group status, it would be possible to request a separate public and private wiki. Would this be of interest to the group?

I agree with the concern - which is why initially I felt Meta was the best place. However, I was surprised at the number of Wikimania participants that do not visit Meta either. I am curious if a separate wiki would be harder, or if the challenge basically balances out with some folks feeling more comfortable using it knowing it's a separate site. We are also sprawling a bit on Meta - so the subpages may become easier to manage on a separate wiki. --Varnent (talk)(COI) 19:58, 13 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

When I first proposed a logo for the group, there was not an active trademark conversation taking place - at least that I was aware of. Since that time, the conversation has evolved, and I believe it is clearer would will and will not harm the various Wikipedia and Wikimedia trademarks. Based on that, I am removing my first suggestion and have updated my new proposal for the group's logo:
Proposed Wikimedia LGBT icon logo Proposed LGBT+ Wikimedians User Group logo

Suggestions, alternatives, etc. are, as always, welcome.

The pink triangle revision is now the old version - and should be propogating across wikis to the newer version (purge and refreshing cache helps speed that up on your own browser for interested folks). Since the old revision arguably represents a trademark violation - I felt it was best to just replace it altogether rather than keep it for historical purposes (as is generally done with logos).

Harassment policy

There was a discussion on the possibility of a Wikimedia global policy on harassment. It was recommended the discussion be moved on-wiki and on-list.

Wikimania 2014 ideas

Finally, since by next year's Wikimania will be held in a major LGBT hub city - London - it has been suggested that we expand our offerings next year. Among the suggestions:

  • Local team members indicated willingness to help organize a "Coming Out Party" for Wikimedia LGBT - possibly as a fundraiser for future scholarships for LGBT Wikimedians to attend Wikimania - all Wikimania participants and supporters invited
  • The Fifth Annual LGBT Wikimania Meetup as a more story sharing and less activity update based meetup - all LGBT Wikimania attendees and supporters of LGBT Wikimania attendees are welcome to attend
  • A gathering to discuss LGBT activities within Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects - including Wikimedia LGBT
  • Possibly a leadership meeting for whatever form Wikimedia LGBT has taken by that time

I encourage folks to submit other ideas either on the mailing list or on wiki

Submitted by

Humbly submitted,
--Varnent (talk)(COI) 07:56, 13 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Varnent's Footnotes

  1. ↑ For those interested - the difference is that a user group is very informal and requires only 3-4 active members. A thematic organization requires formal by-laws, at least 20 active members, a few active projects, and the ability to form a legal nonprofit (aka charity and NGO) organization. See also: Requirements for future user groups and Requirements for future thematic organizations
  2. ↑ As an AffCom member, I believe I have a conflict of interest that prevents me ethically from voting or engaging within AffCom on any affiliation applications related to a group I am an active member of. That generally has not prevented AffCom members from then participating in a user group or chapter's application if they are a member of the group applying. That has not yet come up with a thematic organization, but there's no reason to believe it would be treated differently. This has not been a problem in the past and there are plenty of reasons to believe it is effective. However, in this particular case, I am opting to not be a primary org contact or leader during the application process. That said, I do intend on being an active volunteer, supporter, and advisor. What the leadership and group does with that is up to them. :)
  3. ↑ The suggested options being:
    • Username and real name
    • Username
    • Real name
    • Anonymous
  4. ↑ I suggest this person be allowed to hold another officer position should they so desire as I do not imagine it would be more trust based than work intensive and could imagine a trusted person being a good candidate for other positions - and again - possibly having the time to do so.
  5. ↑ A collection of suggestions led to an idea of having an encrypted backup either made available on a regular basis offline to another designated individual - and/or the encrypted backup would be shared on a secure Wikimedia Foundation server in cooperation with Wikimedia Operations. It should not be backed up on an outside server, or service like Dropbox or CrashPlan - which are more subject to unwanted government interference.

LGBT and Wikivoyage

So bad that I missed it... Sorry again...

I would like to join the user group. Although I am busy with the Wikivoyage project and suffer from lack of time. As being openly gay I am interested in gay travel information. This topic is a part of Wikivoyage (I once wrote a small article about gay travel in Cambodia on de: ). Unfortunately I forgot to place this idea to the list of inter project work on my presentation at Wikimania.

So maybe the user group and Wikivoyage can work together on:

  • Gay travel as travel topic
  • Working on rules how to place LGBT information in articles
  • Just add gay bars or whatever to the articles

I think the guidelines about gay travel will be different in each language version of Wikivoyage. So everybody can take a look to his language version and offer help and take part, if he is interested.

Just an idea. What do you think? -- DerFussi 13:33, 15 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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