With a new name and a strategy-focused aim, the Wikimedia Summit (formerly known as the Wikimedia Conference) kicks off next month. Around 200 participants from Wikimedia affiliates, the Wikimedia Foundation, and various committees will head to Berlin from 29–31 March to discuss the future of the Wikimedia movement. The finalized schedule will be published in the coming weeks, but we couldn’t wait to share a preview.
This year’s program will place the spotlight on Wikimedia 2030, the movement strategy process. Via interactive sessions, presentations, and open space forums, participants will assess where we wish the Wikimedia movement to head and what kind of structural changes might be necessary to get there. In short, the 2019 Wikimedia Summit will bring all the work done to date within the movement strategy process into focus.
The movement strategy process and working groups at a glance
The driving question behind the movement strategy process is how do we update our structures and programs so that we can successfully advance in our strategic direction. To help answer this, over 90 members of our global community have formed into nine working groups and have been scoping out the current status of specific thematic areas within the movement.
Each group is researching and collecting data on key elements of our movement and using this to establish a scope, specifically, a set of guiding questions that we wish to seek answers to. These guiding questions will provide the framework for developing recommendations for structural changes needed to become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge.
Each working group has dedicated itself to one fundamental thematic area to gain a multi-faceted view of our movement:
- Advocacy
- Capacity building
- Community health
- Diversity
- Partnerships
- Product and technology
- Resource allocation
- Revenue streams
- Roles and responsibilities
The groups are working around the clock, analyzing the present situation of their particular field of inquiry, identifying existing and possible challenges, as well as pinpointing where opportunities may lie.
The aim is to have a draft scoping document for each thematic area ready by the beginning of March. These documents will be refined and polished in community conversations in the lead up to the Wikimedia Summit. After the Summit, the working groups will start to find answers to these guiding questions, tapping into movement knowledge, external expertise, and research. At Wikimania in Stockholm in August 2019, draft recommendations on how the Movement needs to change to successfully strive toward “knowledge as a service” and “knowledge equity” by 2030 will be presented and revised. After the recommendations have been agreed upon by the end of 2019, the implementation of the changes will begin.
The scope at the Wikimedia Summit
This year’s Wikimedia Summit at the end of March is where it all comes together—literally. Representatives from each working group will outline their work on their thematic areas so far and engage with the organizational side of the movement. This includes representatives from the Wikimedia Affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation, including the Board of Trustees, Executive Director, and the C-level team.
The start of the Summit will offer attendees a chance to reconnect with each other and with the movement strategy process and discover how they can contribute to it. The program will then dive head first into analysis, with the working groups detailing their investigation of the movement and its outcomes. Following this, the emphasis will shift toward collaboration, with working group members and participants having an opportunity to map out next steps and generate ideas for change.
Share your thoughts!
Everyone is encouraged to provide their input into the movement strategy process and the scope. The more contributions, the more effective and relevant recommendations for structural change will be. There are two key ways to get involved:
- Connect with working group members from your area, group, or community and offer your support to review their documents or provide your advice
- Join our online community conversation, which will happen around the Wikimedia Summit, on the Meta-Wiki page, on several language wikis, and also via survey. In this online conversation, you can offer your insight and feedback on the scoping documents.
Anna Rees, Project Assistant, International Relations
Wikimedia Germany (Deutschland)
You can learn more about the Wikimedia Summit and about our movement strategy process.
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