ComDev minutes 2024-05-28

Community Development Committee

Tuesday 28th May 10 am - 11:30 am (online)

DRAFT MINUTES

Welcome and apologies

Present: Caroline Ball, Sammy Tarling, Kelly Foster, Rod Ward

Staff attending: Sara Thomas, Lucy Crompton-Reid (LCR) and Chuks Ogbonna (minuting).

Apologies: Daria Cybulska

Declaration of interests

None

Approval of previous minutes

Kelly asked about accessibility for the minutes and LCR answered that we are transitioning our internal knowledge management systems which may have caused some issues, particularly for people who don’t have a Wikimedia account. We are hoping these will be resolved by September.

Matters arising (CB)

Nil

Recruitment to the Committee - Update (LCR)

LCR gave a short update on recruitment and confirmed that the two new external members were planning to attend the next meeting. She also reassured the Committee that having checked the board minutes from March, the proposed candidates had been approved.

Community Leaders Survey full report (ST)

The report was taken as read, with ST providing some additional insight and comments and inviting any questions.

• KF observed that there were no references to AI in the responses received. There was a discussion about how AI may affect the issues that come up for trainers, and LCR suggested we may hold a specific meeting about this for volunteers. The Committee supported this suggestion.
• RW said he believes it is a positive report and urged ST to keep up the good work.

• KF asked about section 2.3 of the report and if there’s any way we can identify the issues and ways to address them. ST responded that the comments around not being treated fairly referred to Wiki discussions and not necessarily to WMUK. LCR added that one of the comments (from someone with gender critical views who felt that she had been treated unfairly) had prompted a whole staff discussion, where she reminded the team that all volunteers must be treated fairly regardless of whether their views are different to our own personal opinions. LCR noted that it was a helpful and involved discussion and that like many organisations, there need to be ongoing conversations to consider sensitive issues. ST referred to the appendix for more detail on some of the comments received in the survey.

Outreach to new community groups - discussion (ST)

ST gave the report, highlighting the work with community groups and inviting feedback including contacts or suggestions.

• A discussion followed about the benefit of longer term projects over one off interventions. LCR noted that we know one off editing events do not lead to editor retention; although they can be useful for other reasons.

• KF highlighted WMDE’s knowledge equity programme re:shape, which is an interesting new model. Committee members reviewed the website and made some additional comments and questions, including whether it was monitored according to WMF’s KPIs (the conclusion was probably not, as WMDE raise their own funds through the Wikipedia banner)
• CB suggested that we take this discussion over to the next meeting to enable the two new members (Lucy Moore and Kiran Sahota) to contribute.

Community Day 2024  - initial brainstorming on participation and themes (ST)

ST talked about timing for this year’s event and suggested November and asked for topics, suggestions and directions, also inviting members to get involved in planning the day. ST also talked about giving recognition to community leaders and their work.

• There was a discussion about other, less formal meetups, in addition to the annual Community Day and community-organised meetups. Edited by LCR to note - I think Kelly may have been thinking about this blog post.

• CB valued the model where volunteers have a chance to talk about what they are passionate about, rather than having to respond to a brief
• There was a discussion about whether the theme of the day could be AI this year. LCR responded that as a team we will take this back and decide whether to foreground AI during the community day, or have that discussion at a separate meeting/event.

Wikimedia UK 2025-30 Strategy community consultation - brief discussion (LCR)

LCR reported that we are in the early stages of developing our next five year strategy, working to a deadline of the end of September. She is planning to organise a community consultation meeting, with the opportunity for asynchronous feedback on the draft text and then a short session at or after the AGM, sharing the highlights of the new strategy. She asked the Committee if they were happy with this proposed approach.

• RW asked if LCR is referring to the strategy or the funding application and LCR clarified that the consultation would be about the strategy, rather than the proposal to WMF. The expected deadline for the latter is late September, which is dictating the timeline for the new strategy.

• KF supported the approach and suggested that community members should be encouraged to have their own strategic discussions, for example at meetup events.

Quick scan - en.wiki issues we should know about (all) (LCR)

• RW noted that there will probably be a test case of the Universal Code for Conduct quite soon
• LCR noted the recent situation on the French Wikipedia relating to deadnaming (more on this here). She said that at the time this was happening she had got in touch with the LGBT+ user group to find out whether there was a sense that this could spread to the English Wikipedia, but this doesn’t seem to be an immediate concern.  

AOB

As it was Rod Ward’s last meeting as a member of the committee, KF thanked RW for his contribution to the committee over the years. CB thanked Rod also for everything he has contributed to the committee and WMUK.

The meeting ended at 11:31 am