Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK policy updates - consultation

[Charles Matthews]

> On 02 March 2017 at 00:11 Michael Peel  wrote:
> 
> Hi Lucy,
> 
> I've added a few comments to the google docs - sorry for not quite meeting
> your deadline.
> 
> I see that the new volunteers policy removes a key phrase that was often
> used in WMUK's past: "staff should only do things that volunteers either
> cannot do or do not want to do".
> 



> When we hired the new staff members we tried to focus them on being
> enablers that would scale up volunteer activity rather than replace it (e.g.,
> coordination roles). Sadly, I think that worry was realised anyway, and staff
> did displace volunteer work in, e.g., talking to potential partners, at a time
> when there were still volunteers willing to do that work but they just weren't
> being invited to do so.
> 

The "either-or" thinking behind this argument was and is wrong-headed, anyway. 

What I would call the "freelance" approach to institutional contacts gives no
guarantee of continuity. We know that if it is one volunteer dealing with one
person in an institution, the relationship can easily go up in smoke. If it is
one contact in the office, ditto. These things are easy to illustrate from
recent history. To use the word "displace" when there should be a properly
understood division of labour is a reminder of past bad management, really. 

> I think that's part of what then led WMUK to become so London-centric, as
> that's where its staff was, even though its volunteers were distributed much
> more widely.
> 

Well, how about thinking instead in new terms, rather than this old blame game?

At the recent education conference we heard from Melissa Highton of the
University of Edinburgh, in her keynote. about "getting the Wikimedian in
Residence out of the library". GLAMs are more strongly concentrated around
London than the university system; and learned societies even more so. I think
it was fantastically unhelpful to slur over the difference between education
policy and the WiR policy, as was done around 2014. 

Anyway, the so-called "key phrase" never did much good, in my recollection, so
I'm glad to see the back of it.

Charles___
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Wikimedia UK policy updates - consultation

[Michael Peel]

Hi Lucy,

I've added a few comments to the google docs - sorry for not quite meeting your 
deadline.

I see that the new volunteers policy removes a key phrase that was often used 
in WMUK's past: "staff should only do things that volunteers either cannot do 
or do not want to do". That's OK - perhaps that phrase has now outlived its 
usefulness - but it might be useful to recall why that phrase started being 
used. Caveat that my memory has faded over the years, so if other have a 
different recollection then please share it!

Back then, we were starting to hire a number of new positions for the first 
time, working in areas that at the time were dominated by volunteer work 
(particularly GLAM, but also other outreach approaches), and we were worried 
that the staff might displace/discourage volunteers from contributing to those 
areas. That's not scalable, as there are always going to be a limited number of 
staff and a much larger base of volunteers, so it's much more effective for 
staff to support volunteers rather than trying to replace them. When we hired 
the new staff members we tried to focus them on being enablers that would scale 
up volunteer activity rather than replace it (e.g., coordination roles). Sadly, 
I think that worry was realised anyway, and staff did displace volunteer work 
in, e.g., talking to potential partners, at a time when there were still 
volunteers willing to do that work but they just weren't being invited to do 
so. I think that's part of what then led WMUK to become so London-centric, as 
that's where its staff was, even though its volunteers were distributed much 
more widely.

Things have changed quite a bit since then, but I hope that the principle (if 
not the phrase) survives in WMUK's approach to engaging volunteers, and 
leveraging its staff capacity to make the biggest possible impact.

Thanks,
Mike

> On 15 Feb 2017, at 11:26, Lucy Crompton-Reid 
>  wrote:
> 
> Dear all
> 
> Many thanks to those of you who have inputted into the two policies I 
> circulated earlier this year for community consultation (about Diversity and 
> Safeguarding). I'm in the process of revising those draft policies - 
> according to the suggestions that have been made - for board review in March. 
> 
> As I mentioned at the time, I'm updating a number of board-level policies and 
> would welcome community feedback into the following working documents by 
> Wednesday 1st March:
> 
> Volunteers Policy 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hHZ-JIUhl0NAcS9kT3d-LNYH7DUW1Oz0Vyf6OrYmiJU/edit?usp=sharing
>  
> 
> Safe Space Policy 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a1vWJBFFn_dQ0nmXIINYHmp3fXSKrY3I5q4qfv7Y4CQ/edit?usp=sharing
>  
> 
> Donation and Grants Acceptance Policy 
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UnqR3V9-_mOMacEQo0xzTGn6aY9-HaC3jAC1Lk6yGsw/edit?usp=sharing
>  
> 
> 
> Please feel free to add comments directly to the document or to email me with 
> your feedback. 
> 
> Many thanks
> Lucy
> 
> 
> -- 
> Lucy Crompton-Reid
> 
> Chief Executive
> 
> Wikimedia UK
> 
> +44 (0) 207 065 0991
> 
>  
> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and 
> Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered 
> Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
> 
> Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia 
> projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst 
> other projects). Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no 
> legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.
> 
> ___
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