2012 Communications Review

There is a need for a review of all current, ongoing and future communications activity within Wikimedia UK. This page exists for volunteers, trustees and staff to make suggestions as to what is covered in the review. Please do use the discussion page to share ideas as well as making amends on this page.

I've created this page as a place where we can share ideas for the pending communications review and for volunteers, trustees and staff to share their thoughts on what should be in the scope of the project. It's also worth clarifying what work volunteers and trustees would like to do before the remainder is picked up in the office, as per our policy that staff should only do things that volunteers either cannot do or do not want to do. --Stevie Benton (talk) 13:30, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Suggested areas of review

I've given this some initial thought and I have some suggestions. As a starting point, I've broken down comms requirements into three key areas: Channels, Resources & Policies, and Plans. There's also another area which needs to be looked at, which is - who will do the work (as noted above)? Please let me know what you think. --Stevie Benton (talk) 13:30, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Who will complete what tasks?

This is up for grabs. If anyone has any suggestions for areas of work they'd like to take on, please note them here. It's important that everyone who would like to be involved, either doing some of the work or making comments and suggestions, feels that they have an ample opportunity to do so and feels supported in this.

Channels

Internal

The internal channels are used primarily to communicate with the Wikimedia community, as well as the Board of Trustees and the staff of WMUK - and sometimes the Wikimedia Foundation and other chapters.

• Wikimedia UK wiki (to include Water Cooler)
• Meta wiki
• Email lists (such as UK-L, Com Com)
• Board meetings
• Office Hours / IRC chats

All of the above channels can support multimedia content.

Geonotices on Wikipedia and other Wikmedia sites are our most effective way of communicating with the broader population of UK based editors. But content must be brief.

NB: While not including Wikimeets as they are not WMUK events as I understand it, we can offer support.

External

The external channels are used to communicate to the wider world, including the mass media and the general public.

• Our print - leaflets, brochures, annual report etc
• Online - news, tech, education, general
• Social media (non-wiki) - Twitter, Facebook, Google +, identi.ca, others as they emerge
• Other print / news - news, tech, education, etc
• WMUK events - edit-a-thons, GLAM:Wiki etc

Multi-purpose channels

By Multi-purpose channels it is meant that they can be used for different audiences and support both internal and external communication

• Our wiki - uk.wikimedia.org
• Blog
• Video
• Audio
• Webcasts
• Photography
• Design (infographics, logos)

Resources and Policies

In this area I've listed some resources and policies that we need. Some of these will already exist or be in development. Again, this is just a starting point.

• Statement on how we communicate with members and the wider community
• Statement on how we communicate with volunteers
• Statement on how we communicate with donors (individual and grant)
• Summary of key messages, key comms resources and lines to take
• Toolkit of logos, positioning statement, about us, lines to take and key contacts
• Sign-off process for blog posts, press releases, multimedia content
• Agreed process and list for out of hours media contact and "on call" requirement
• Monitoring

Plans

What kind of plans do we need to create and put in place? Early suggestions:

• Plan to build relationships with external media
• Plan to build relationships with organisations with whom we share areas of common interest
• Media plan covering the next three, six and twelve month periods