Wikipedia:GLAM/New Zealand Wikipedian at Large/Melbourne

Notes from Melbourne visit, November 2018

Links

Wikipedia NZ

The Community Capacity exercise was interesting in highlighting not just what we're doing OK in (social media, press) but areas we hadn't even thought about building capacity in (bots, OTRS – are there any OTRS volunteers in NZ?). Our "group" is embryonic, but this will be a useful tool in identifying where we can improve, and where we lack robustness (dependent on just one person).

It would be easy enough to create a press kit with a FAQ, contact names and details, links to stories, some CC media photos.
We need to encourage a diverse range of interviewees in media coverage, and give joint interviews (not just me all the time!)
NZ needs a representative in the Wikimedia Cuteness Association to attend international events.
As of September 2017, there were 270 active editors at a NZ IP address (five or more edits a month in English Wikipedia). Australia has 1100 (not as many per capita as NZ)
Australia does Wikiclubs through libraries: would they work better at universities? Keen procrastinating young people, a club/society structure already, rooms and wifi easily available, plus access to experts and references. Maybe try to launch one at VUW in the new year?

Draft 1-year plan for Wikipedia Aotearoa (Wikimedia NZ?), when the usergroup is formed:

Brainstorm a baseline capacity survey and add it to the Community Capacity Map, identifying what skills are missing and what training could be possible from AU or the WMF
Engaging with Māori to contribute to a toolkit of recommendations for working with tangata whenua on Wikimedia projects (see below), to share with Australia and the Wikimedia Foundation
Carry out a banner-based survey of NZ editors using Central Notice, which can send results to Google Forms, asking what NZers want to work on, what tools or contacts are they missing etc.
Organise a small Wikiconference ("hobbit-sized"), a one-day free central event with one structured and one "unconference" stream; perhaps somewhere nice like Martinborough. Short and sweet, not for muggles.

Indigenous Culture Toolkit

Practices and sensibilities around indigenous people is going to be a priority for the Year of Indigenous Languages. An educational resource/guide that talks about what works, what doesn't. AU/NZ cautions and case studies. I was pretty frank about what would be required from any project wanting to work with Māori.

See Whose Knowledge?
See origin of the [of Tijuana]; originally a Kumeyaay word, but no citation available. The Kumeyaay want this to be known, but can't supply a source – another lesson on the importance of documenting sources (see the PCAP project, and Asaf's talk on what Wikipedia can learn from the women's movement).

General

The importance of sharing logins in case a critically-important person is hit by a bus.
Running Commons events is great for beginners, but Commons doesn't teach them any Wikipedia editing – a gap.
In theory, a User page on Meta propagates across all wikis; in practice, project interlinking breaks all the links.
Use Wikipedia: Plain and Simple (WP:PANDS) with newbies.
Be seen to be working outside the big cities.
WMF may be willing to up the number of scholarships to an event held in Australasia if it overcomes the "chilling effect" of distances and increases equity.
Rewards for promising and prolific newbies: the custom can of condensed milk (literally) in Ukranian WP, the "First Harvest" award in Israeli WP.
Thank someone every day, even for creating an article years ago.
ESEAP is in 2020.
Possible project: training materials for Pattypan. Work with author and look for WMF support.
Lexeme system, based on Wikidata, is going to revitalise Wiktionary
Structured data on Commons: allows descriptions from multiple cultural perspectives and languages; similar to haw the PCAP project is adding descriptions to Auckland Museum objects.
"Wikipedia is a middle-class hobby!"