2023:Program/Governance/R3SSPU-Sister projects: the past, present and glorious future

Title: Sister projects: the past, present and glorious future

Speakers:

Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight

Rosie is a member of the WMF Board of Trustees, serving as the chair of its Talent & Culture Committee. She is also a Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University (Boston) where she focuses on pre-20th-century women writers and their works. She’s a long-time editor in English Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata, and a co-founder of Women in Red, a virtual community that focuses on improving Wikipedia’s content gender gap. She has led many editing and training events, served on organizing teams for various Wikimedia conferences, and spoken widely about Wikimedia projects. In 2018, Rosie was knighted in part for her Wikipedia work. Logo, Women in Red: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_in_Red_logo.svg Logo, Virtual Ideas Cafe at Women in Red: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_-_filled_with_knowledge.jpg

Lorenzo Losa

Long term wikipedian, former chair of Wikimedia Italy, member of the board of the Wikimedia Foundation.

antanana

Antanana (Nataliia Tymkiv) is a Ukrainian Wikipedia editor and administrator, member of Wikimedia Ukraine. She has been a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees since 2016, chairing it since 2021. She was a part of the Wiki Loves Earth international team, and organised Wikimedia CEE Meetings in 2014 and 2018 in Ukraine. Since 2013 she has been a member of Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine organising team. From 2012 to 2016 served as a Board member of Wikimedia Ukraine, and as its volunteer Executive Director (2013-2015). An experienced editing workshop organiser

Pretalx link

Etherpad link

Room: Room 310

Start time: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 12:05:00 +0800

End time: Fri, 18 Aug 2023 12:45:00 +0800

Type: No (pretalx) session type id specified

Track: Governance

Submission state: confirmed

Duration: 40 minutes

Do not record: false

Presentation language: en


Abstract & description

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Abstract

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In this session we will discuss and collect ideas about the lifecycle of sister projects, including: * What should be the criteria for creating a new Wikimedia project? * What do we expect from a Wikimedia project? And what kind of support and resources should a Wikimedia project expect? * When a Wikimedia project is considered successful? * What should be the criteria for closing an existing Wikimedia project?

The discussion will inform the work of the Board of trustees’ Sister projects task force.

Description

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For the last 15 years, the ecosystem of Wikimedia projects (also called Sister projects - like Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikiversity, etc.) has seen very few changes: only a few projects have been created, and none has been phased out, even though many proposals for new projects have been presented, and some ideas for changes in existing ones have been voiced.

In 2023, the Board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation is beginning to discuss this topic, with the goal of setting up processes for reviewing new project proposals and monitoring existing ones.

This session will be a group discussion aimed at collecting ideas for the work of the Sister projects task force. It will be introduced by a short (~10 minutes) presentation about the process.

Important note: the current focus of the Board is on designing general processes for creating, phasing out or rethinking projects, and not yet on decisions about specific projects. Specific proposals will not be discussed at this time, and no decisions will be made.

Further details

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Qn. How does your session relate to the event themes: Diversity, Collaboration Future?

Wikimedia projects are the main space where collaboration happens in our movement. By defining and understanding what makes a project successful, what issues currently exist, and how we might replicate Wikipedia success in potential new projects, reflecting the diversity of knowledge and of our movement, we can ensure that Wikimedia will be successful not only in the present, but in the future.

Qn. What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Average knowledge about Wikimedia projects or activities

Qn. What is the most appropriate format for this session?

  •   Onsite in Singapore
  •   Remote online participation, livestreamed
  •   Remote from a satellite event
  •   Hybrid with some participants in Singapore and others dialing in remotely
  •   Pre-recorded and available on demand