[Wikimedia-l] Thoughts regarding the Wikiverse as a public forum

[Pine W]

Hello colleagues,


In the Wikiverse one of my continuing struggles is with the topic of how we
can be vibrantly diverse, and accepting of strong debates and open
disagreement, while also not intimidating good faith contributors who may
be less willing to comment in a public space due to fear of criticism. I am
also mindful that people who would be good contributors may leave the
Wikiverse completely because they find that the Wikiverse is too stressful
for them.

I am currently thinking along four tracks.


First, the nature of Wikiverse topics probably make us be a relatively
stressful and relatively high conflict environment. We have a public
service mission to educate, and although I think that many of us love the
mission, we deal with many high conflict topics within the scope of that
mission. I think that this will remain a constant.

Second, I want to encourage quieter people to be brave in speaking up, but
in my personal initiatives I haven't succeeded at that in any way that I
can see. Does anyone have suggestions about how we can encourage quieter
people to participate more often in public discussions, and to feel more
courageous?

Third, I am also thinking about our struggles to define civility, and to
make a distinction between justified personal criticisms and unjustified
personal attacks. I don't think that relatively authoritarian central
control of public discussion (by WMF or anyone else) is a good idea, for
three reasons: 1. a comment that may be insulting in culture A may be
normal and acceptable in culture B, 2. I don't want to decrease public
accountability for problems like governance failures or incompetence, and
3. I don't want to give powerful people easy access to wikilegal
justifications for suppressing personal criticism of themselves or their
allies. (I oppose, for example, saying that “deliberate intimidation” is
off limits, because in some circumstances I think that it is very
reasonable to threaten people with demotions, blocks, or termination of
employment.) At the same time, I don't want Wikimedia sites to host and to
publicize groundless personal attacks or trolling. In many cases I think
that distinguishing justified criticism from garbage can be done easily,
but sometimes making the distinction is more challenging.

A fourth track seems to me to have significant potential for good. We can
increase the quality and quantity of positive feedback, and we can place
more emphasis on cultivating certain spaces where we mutually agree to
leave the conflicts outside. (The Wikiverse as a whole is not a "safe
space", but we cultivate some exceptions within that. Maybe an analogy for
these places would be public gardens.) Hopefully these initiatives would
decrease stress, improve retention, and improve morale. These can be done
while simultaneously being supportive of candid discussions in the broader
Wikiverse.

I am interested in hearing your comments, if you would like to share.


Yours in service,


Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] VideoWiki Tool

[Strainu]

This is absolutely, incredibly awesome James! Thanks to you and the
team for this super nice feature!

Strainu

În vin., 3 mai 2019 la 04:14, James Heilman  a scris:
>
> Hey All
>
> The videowiki tool for making video summaries has moved to an "all on
> Wikipedia" functionality.
>
> Step-by-step instructions on how to use it are here
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VideoWiki/Tutorial
>
> An example video is here
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VideoWiki/Polio
>
> And a place to play around with the tool is here
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VideoWiki/Sandbox
>
> Well it works there is still a lot of stuff to improve within the tool.
> Feedback appreciated. Best
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
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[Wikimedia-l] Seeking members for a paid translation experiment

[Gregory Varnum]

Hello!

The Wikimedia Foundation is seeking community members to join a new
“Organization communications translators" group.

We are looking for 3–5 translators in each of the target languages (Arabic,
Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Spanish) to join an experiment for
paid translations which we project will last for the remainder of 2019.

This is an experimental translation model we are testing for Wikimedia
Foundation materials primarily used in external communications (such as the
Foundation's website, transparency report, and organizational policies).
These tend to be much longer than materials we generally seek translations
for, and with more stringent requirements on languages, quality, and
timeline. We have heard that for translations of this nature, fair paid
compensation is often necessary, so we have designed this trial around
lengthy organizational-message oriented materials. We are asking
translators to be responsible for the translations in a way that we simply
can not ask of volunteers.

This model was developed based on experiences with past translation efforts
and feedback from community translators, affiliates, and staff within the
Foundation. It is not a replacement for any existing translation work, and
will not be utilized for things like project content, newsletters, or
fundraising materials (as those have existing translation models in place).

We will be testing this model out over the coming months, and will make
changes based on feedback and what we learn. We may also be making changes
to things like the pay model and process before the model is implemented as
we collect additional feedback from applicants and others within the
movement.

For more information, please visit this Meta-Wiki page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Organization_communications_translators_group

Individuals interested in participating should contact Gregory Varnum (
gvar...@wikimedia.org) in the Wikimedia Foundation Communications
department by 16 May 2019 and provide:
1. On-wiki username
2. Languages which you have high proficiency in and are interested in doing
translations for (must include at least one of the target languages)
3. Examples of past translation activities (can be links to wiki pages you
have translated)
4. A brief statement on how you manage quality when translating
5. A brief statement sharing why you are interested in participating in
this experiment
6. Acknowledgement that this model is an experiment, subject to change,
does not apply to all content produced by the Foundation, and requires
translators to assume responsibility for the accuracy and quality of their
translations

Thank you!
-greg

-- 

Gregory Varnum (pronouns - he/his/him)

Communications Strategist

Wikimedia Foundation 
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