Hi all, Just a quick note that I was invited to Wikiconvention on Friday 9 August by Wikimedia France. On Monday 12 August (delayed by travel to Wikimania!) I sent a note expressing my regrets, as I had a family wedding to attend during that same weekend as the Convention. I also asked at the same time to be notified as soon as the 2020 Tunis dates were confirmed, so that I or other members of the Foundation's leadership team are able to plan to attend (and I have already put those dates in my calendar).
Unfortunately, as all volunteers know, sometimes personal/family commitments do preclude travel. I similarly cannot attend the CEE Conference due to a personal commitment this year. Sometimes there are also scheduling conflicts: This year the German-speaking WikiCon gathering is the same weekend as WikiArabia, and WikiCon North America is the same weekend as WikiIndaba. This means there's always going to be a sense of missing something important! I would also agree with what Leila shared. I was very appreciative to be invited to Wikiconvention, WikiArabia, and WikiIndaba this year. But I want to respect that not every community feels that it is the place of the Foundation's ED to participate or speak at their events, and that's totally fine. I don't think people always need to hear from me, but I am always very happy to support any event in which I am invited! Katherine On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 2:25 PM Natacha Rault via Wikimedia-l < wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > Thanks for sharing this Leila! This is of course a useful angle. > Nattes > > > Le 16 sept. 2019 à 21:51, Leila Zia <le...@wikimedia.org> a écrit : > > > > Hi, > > > > A different angle for looking at the question of WMF staff attending > > community events which may help this conversation: > > > > As a staff member (and acknowledging that my position is none of the > > ones Thierry called out in their first email on this thread), with the > > exception of a few community events, I very much hesitate to attend a > > local community-run event unless the specific community, or at least > > one person from that community, has specifically invited me or told me > > I should consider attending. There is definitely some feeling of > > fear/self-consciousness on my end about entering in a place where I > > may not be welcome, where I impose my presence to others, or entering > > conversations where my expertise may not be valued/considered because > > I'm carrying a history which may or may not even be really mine. > > > > I'm sharing my feelings and the way I think about whether to attend a > > local event or not here not to ask for empathy in my specific case > > (which is btw, always welcomed:) but to say that there may be other > > staff members like me, especially those who have joined WMF more > > recently, who may be in the same boat. My recommendation would be for > > the local communities to signal to the specific people which they want > > in their meetings that they're welcome to attend. At least this way > > you will know the person has felt invited/welcomed and will have a > > higher chance to decide to attend. > > > > To be clear: I'm not saying WMF not attending this specific event > > would have been addressed by the above. I don't know. I'm just > > explaining one of the reasons this may have happened, and providing a > > suggestion to address this specific reason. > > > > Best, > > Leila > > -- > > Leila Zia > > Principal Research Scientist, Head of Research > > Wikimedia Foundation > > > > On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 4:20 AM Philip Kopetzky > > <philip.kopet...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> > >> Gereon, you clearly forget the whole Mediaviewer saga and attendance of > WMF > >> staff at the following WikiCon in Cologne ;-) But that was a long time > ago > >> :-) > >> > >>> On Mon, 16 Sep 2019 at 01:53, Gereon Kalkuhl <gkalk...@freenet.de> > wrote: > >>> > >>> Since 2010 we have the WikiCon for the German language communities with > >>> more than 300 attendants. I don't remember that the WMF has sent anyone > >>> to these conventions. And why should they? It's all in German, the > >>> communities are established and have strong chapters. I suppose the > same > >>> applies to the French language communites. The WMF visits emerging > >>> communities, to learn about them and to help them by transfering > >>> knowlege. They visit the CEE meetings, they visit Wiki Indabas. I don't > >>> think that the WMF is neglecting big communities, it rather makes sense > >>> that when sending employes across half the planet they check before, > >>> what benefits the conferences have from their attendance and what > >>> benefits their attendance bring to the particpants of the conference. > >>> Cheers, Gereon > >>> > >>>> Am 15.09.2019 um 20:02 schrieb Thierry Coudray: > >>>> "*The Foundation does not care so much of the French-speaking > >>> contributors*". > >>>> This harsh sentence is the translation of a statement in French, I've > >>> just > >>>> said in a conversation a week ago at the Francophone Wikiconvention > held > >>>> last weekend in Brussels. The statement may seem excessive, because > the > >>>> Foundation does things for the Francophone community as well as for > other > >>>> communities (and its website is fairly well translated into French). > But > >>> it > >>>> reflected my feeling, shared by my three interlocutors, all > non-French, > >>>> facing that no Foundation high-level members were present to this > >>>> Wikiconvention: no executive director, nor members of the Board, nor > any > >>>> level-C staff. In an another conversation, where the subject came up > over > >>>> again, someone said this absence was offensive. I do not know if it > >>>> reflects the majority of attendees feelings but with varying degrees, > I > >>>> would said it was widely shared. > >>>> > >>>> In 2017, for the Francophone Wikiconvention in Strasbourg we had a > very > >>>> quick visit of Katherine Maher, in 2018, a simple video message and in > >>> 2019 > >>>> ... nothing. At the same time, the Francophone Wikiconvention has > stepped > >>>> up with ever more participants, always more countries represented. > This > >>>> year, it brought together more than 220 Francophones, Algerian, > Belgian, > >>>> Beninese, Cameroonian, Canadian, French, Guinean, Ivorian, Swiss and > >>>> Tunisian contributors, and I may forget some, with varied and > enriching > >>>> conferences and meetings. A huge success, very well organized by > >>> employees > >>>> but also by several volunteers, who dedicated time and energy. This > >>>> Wikiconvention and the projects and achievements submitted have shown > the > >>>> French-speaking Wikimedia community vitality, which will continue to > >>> grow. > >>>> FYI, French is foreseen, thanks to Africa, to be the most rapidly > growing > >>>> languages in the next twenty years and will be the mother tongue or > the > >>>> language used for communication for more than 8% of the world's > >>> population > >>>> in thirty years' time. But my reaction would have been the same if I > had > >>>> attended an Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Swahili-speaking or any other > >>>> important languages Wikiconvention. > >>>> > >>>> So yes, this Wikiconvention is not in English. Fortunately, not all > >>>> Wikimedia meetings are in English. In a previous discussion on this > >>> mailing > >>>> list about the question of whether or not it is appropriate to > continue > >>>> Wimania, one of the participants argued that unlike other Wikimedia > >>>> meetings, anyone could attend Wikmania. It may be obvious for those > who > >>>> have English as a mother tongue or for Northern Europeans for whom > >>> English > >>>> is almost a second mother tongue but this is false: English is spoken > >>> only > >>>> by a small minority in the world, less than one human in six. So only > one > >>>> human in six or seven could attend Wikimania or any other > >>> english-speaking > >>>> conferences or meetings (the case of the vast majority of global > >>> Wikimedia > >>>> conferences). I do not deny a common working language usefulness but a > >>>> Wikiconvention in French, as I hope other languages ones will be more > to > >>>> come soon, allows all non-English speaking Francophones to > participate in > >>>> the Wikimedia movement and above all, help them to meet our common > goal > >>> of > >>>> spread freeknowledge.The movement talks a lot about its efforts to > >>> overcome > >>>> differents gaps (gender, LGBT,...) and it's rightly pointed, these > topics > >>>> are important. But it simply forget the language gap and the almost > >>>> exclusive use of English excludes a very large majority. > >>>> > >>>> So why no high level Foundation members in Brussels ? > >>>> I was told that Valerie D'Costa, the new Chief of Community > Engagement, > >>>> should initially be there but finally told she will not. But then, no > >>> other > >>>> member could then replace her and why only one Foundation representant > >>>> given the part of French language in the WM projects ? Perhaps no > >>> Foundation > >>>> Board or high level member speaks French or feels she/he speaks good > >>> enough. > >>>> But with more than 220 attendants at the FWC, it would have been easy > to > >>>> find volonteers with a good level of English to provide simultaneous > >>>> translation in discussions with other non-English speaking > participants > >>> or to > >>>> translate conferences.A higher-level representation would have helped > the > >>>> Foundation top level to gain more insight into Wikimedian > French-speaking > >>>> community and enabled this community to have a direct access to the > >>>> Foundation, like in Wikimania. That would have helped bridging the gap > >>>> between these "two worlds". Because this gap is real. In the 2011 > Finance > >>>> Meeting in Paris, during workshops where a Board member was in each > >>>> group (Jan-Bart > >>>> de Vreede for mine), me and another non english-speaking chapter head > >>> (she/he > >>>> will recognize her/himself) had made the comment that we had the > >>> impression > >>>> in our relation with the Foundation of "*colliding with an Anglo-Saxon > >>> wall*". > >>>> I notice that despite more Foundation staff diversity in recent years, > >>>> French speaking organizations would probably still have the same > feeling > >>>> and clearly many French-speaking wikimedians feel that gap. > >>>> > >>>> It is sad that the Foundation, which is very demanding with > Francophone > >>>> chapters, does not apply itself to these demands with the Francophone > >>>> community. FYI the next French-speaking Wikconvention will be held on > WE > >>> 31 > >>>> october/1 November 2019 in Tunis. Save the date. > >>>> > >>>> Regards > >>>> > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >>> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > >>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >>> <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> -- Katherine Maher (she/her) Executive Director Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
