ComDev minutes 2024-08-27

Community Development Committee

Tuesday 27th August 10 am - 11:30 am (online)

DRAFT MINUTES

Welcome and apologies

Present: Caroline Ball, Kelly Foster, Kiran Sahota

Staff attending: Sara Thomas, Lucy Crompton-Reid, Daria Cybulska, Rupal Karia and Chuks Ogbonna (minuting).

Apologies: Sammy Tarling, Lucy Moore

Declaration of interests

None

Approval of previous minutes

KF raised a point that the minutes attached were that of February instead of May 28th, the May file was shared with members and the minutes were then Approved afterwards.

Matters arising (CB)

KF asked for those who attended Wikimania to give a brief update on any professional or community-related items, ST & DC answered about the plans to continue VSN in collaboration with Wikimedia Argentina (VSN).

New Members (CB)

Kiran Sahota joined the meeting and introduced herself to the meeting, she was warmly welcomed by everyone. CB requested that the minutes of the last two meetings be emailed to members after the meeting.

Standing Item - any Wiki issues of which we should be aware (Item 3)

Outreach to new community Groups / Remit Item 2 (ST/RK)

ST & RK gave the report, which highlighted Rupal's work over the past year - the information is outlined in the discussion items.

• CB asked if the priority is to leverage existing communities or to identify new groups to work with and what we would do in areas where there may be gaps. There was a discussion about the balance between the two.

• KF asked what conversations have been had already concerning outreach to new community groups. RK answered that she and ST met Dr. Tola Dabiri and the discussion was about the Black British communities, including topics of paying people for their time; and building trust amongst the Black communities. Conversations have also been had with groups like Black Lunch Table, WikiShtetl, and re: shape, and we’re also taking into consideration the work done with the South Asian Heritage Consultation, and the Heritage Innovation Fund report. DC added that ‘cold calling’ does take more effort and time, but this is our strategic priority to do.
• KS suggested that people need to be incentivised to attend events and that framing events for particular demographics should be carefully considered.
• KF asked to what extent is paying volunteers about promoting expertise or bringing people together; the group shared thinking about paying volunteers for their expertise as a way of removing a barrier to participation.

WMUK Strategy - volunteers & community (LCR)

LCR gave an update on the WMUK 2025-30 strategy process. This led to a discussion about general volunteer strategy.

• KF asked if WMUK has an understanding of the pipeline from training to being an established editor, ST answered that there are on-going stewardships; she referenced the work with Protests & Suffragettes where she has followed up on longer term engagement work.  Discussion was also had about trying to understand more about the stewardship interventions required for longer term retention.
• LCR added that she went to a Wikimania learning clinic about retaining editors which was really interesting. In particular, there was a discussion about the social aspect of retention and that feeling part of a community can be very motivating.

Update on Wiki Loves Earth & Wiki Loves Monuments (items 1 & 4) (ST)

ST mentioned that WLE ran in Scotland this year having been done in Wales for the last few years, there were 109 contributors, she was happy with that outcome

WLM will kick off on Sunday 1st of September. It requires a lot of work to set up, but we are involving technical volunteers this year to help, e.g. making sure that contribution lists are up to date. KPI for the competitions (images uploaded & number of contributors) were discussed.

• RK highlighted we have a grants programme if volunteers want to run WLM-related events. She added that they are also looking for volunteers around the Communications aspect in collaboration with Katie Crampton - there is a range of volunteer tasks available.

Volunteer trainers and on-wiki restrictions (items 3 & 4) - discussion (ST)

ST gave background regarding delivery volunteers who might be banned as editors on English Wikipedia, leading a discussion on how to handle that within WMUK programmes. Committee discussed Universal Code of Conduct, and how that relates to behaviours off-wiki at events. A volunteer can be a good trainer and still be banned for certain behaviours on wiki.

• LCR added that currently, contrary to the trustee code of conduct, WMUK Staff may be banned on Wikipedia and remain a member of staff.
• KF suggested making a code of conduct for WMUK trainers - this is something we include in the volunteer agreement for people that complete Train the Trainers
• KS mentioned that she is glad that we are considering these issues in-house.  

Update on Project grants (ST)

ST gave an update, emphasising that we are pleased to see an increase in project grant totals in terms of spend.

• KF asked where she could find all successful grants. DC gave background on how, for accessibility, most grants are done via a private submission form. Discussion about how these may be more prominently represented on the website / wiki.

AOB

• DC asked if it is possible to move meetings to Mondays.
• KF added that she would like RK to attend as many meetings as possible in the future as it will be important, she also suggested having a hello to everyone attending that one.
• CB concluded that we would communicate via email at the next meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

The meeting ended at 11:40 am