conflicts between local chapters and respective editor communities

CONFLICTS BETWEEN LOCAL CHAPTERS AND RESPECTIVE EDITOR COMMUNITIESHarel Cain [[User:Harel]]

harel.cain@gmail.com

Wikimedia Israel

Wikimania 2010, Gdánsk, Poland, July 2010

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CHAPTERS ANDEDITOR COMMUNITIES

NATURAL FRIENDS(yeah, right…)

OR BORN ENEMIES?(sure!)

CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNITIES

No hierarchy Anarchistic Very informal Suspicious of authority Suspicious of bureaucracy

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHAPTERS

Bureaucratic Formal Fond of formal titles Fond of government

SOME GOSSIP

WHAT CHAPTERS THINK OF COMMUNITIES

“They never did anything for our cause” “They don’t appreciate our efforts” “They sit at home in pajamas and write

stupid articles” “They don’t understand the Eternal Wisdom

of the Foundation” “They aren’t interested in what goes on in

meta”

WHAT COMMUNITIES THINK OF CHAPTERS

“They are a bunch of self-important assholes who want jobs in government”

“The last time they edited in Wikipedia was in early 2006”

“They don’t have anything better to do” “They take orders from all sorts of people

with foreign names that won’t tell us what to do”

“They want to fly around the world and sip cocktails”

“They’re looking for a job” “Why do we need the damn thing?!”

SOME REALITY

THE BITTER REALITY

News and information about chapter activities are met with: Indifference Cynicism Ridicule Schadenfreude

What goes on in the online projects stops interesting the chapter

THE BITTER REALITY (CONT.)

Chapter activists stop being active online Editors have no interest in becoming chapter

members

A large rift grows between the two sides

SOME CASE STUDIES

VIDEO COMPANY

Wikimedia Israel signed an agreement with a dubious company to record “video articles” in return to adding links to their material on Wikipedia articles

Community response was very negative Lesson learned: intervention with online

content on the part of a chapter is an absolute faux-pas

VILLAGE PUMP CENSORSHIP

Information related to purchase options of Wikipedia T-shirts issued by Wikimedia Israel for a big meet-up were repeatedly removed from the village pump because “it didn’t belong there”

Lesson learned: choose the right people to post such information

WIKIPEDIA EXHIBITION

Wikimedia Israel found financing for a big poster exhibition about Wikipedia

The posters were edited online, on Wikipedia, by the editor community

Lesson learned: let the editor community take part from home

SOME ADVICE

SOME ADVICE TO CHAPTER FOUNDERS AND ACTIVISTS

Don’t set up a chapter if you don’t have a team of well-known and mainstream editors

Make sure you know why you’re starting a chapter, and what you should expect

Assign someone from the chapter to act as an “ambassador” to the community; make sure she’s active and accepted by the community

Always inform Be transparent NEVER agree to any commitment that involves

the actual content or design of the projects

SOME ADVICE TO COMMUNITIES

Understand that chapter activists are your fellows, not your enemies

Look for ways in which the chapter can help your online project (including financially)

Remember that at first, the chapter will make some poor decisions, give it a grace period

SOME QUESTIONS

CHAPTERS EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK

Are chapters the right thing for all editor communities?

CHAPTERS BY IMPULSE

Who should decide on founding a chapter, and by which process?

CORRELATION OF STRUCTURE

Should there be a correlation of structure between chapter and community?

1:1 MAPPING BETWEEN PROJECTS AND CHAPTERS?

Many languages in a geography Many geographies with a common language

So no 1:1 mapping between editor communities and chapters

THE VALUE OF CHAPTER MEMBERSHIP

“Continue your online activity offline” Does it appeal to all people? Can we offer other, less-formal paths? Can we turn chapter membership into a valuable

thing?

CHAPTERS AS A CAREER

Should we encourage chapters to grow to a point where they can hire activists as paid employees?

Doesn’t this have a very deterring and negative effect?

IT’S TIME WE HEAR WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY

SEE YOU ALL IN HAIFA 2011!