Jump to content

Submissions/Wikimedia From The Other Side

From Wikimania


Info

This is an Open submission for Wikimania 2017 that has not yet been reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 2127 - C10
Title of the submission

Wikimedia From the Other Side (Volunteer and/or Staff, Impact of a Status on Engagement in the Wikimedia Movement)

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, poster, birds of a feather discussion)

lecture, roundtable or panel (depending on who wants/does not want to participate)

Author of the submission

Delphine Ménard, and others to present/participate

Language of presentation

English

E-mail address

dmenard@wikimedia.org

Username

notafish / Delphine (WMF)

Country of origin

France / Germany

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Wikimedia Foundation

Personal homepage or blog
Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal)

More and more "community members" end up working for the organizations in the movement. Community liaisons, developers, program officers, event managers, many people start out as volunteers and pursue a professional career in the chapters or the Wikimedia Foundation. Upon hiring, one question that comes back again and again is: "Will you survive the switch from community to staff?". Some staff members leave the Wikimedia organizations, for personal or professional reasons, and stay on or return as volunteers in the movement. Some ask themselves: "Will I be able to go (back) to being a volunteer?". To these two questions, some of us have an answer, others don't, others again don't need one. This presentation or round table or whatever format is most appropriate (panel maybe) will try and understand what fundamental differences or similarities engagement as staff or volunteer may present. We will try to present various points of view to try and make clearer what impact being staff with a community background or volunteer with a staff background may have on our daily work/involvement.

What will attendees take away from this session?

The idea is to show that no-one really belongs on one side or the other but that we all have to learn from each other. This is intended to shed further light on the "us vs them" schism (whoever us and them may be) and show that a grassroot organizational structure does not preclude movement between volunteers and staff, but on the contrary that those movement feed both "cultures" or "both sides. So take aways are: better understanding of staff by volunteers and of volunteers by staff, laying out the groundwork for effective and productive work together by showing the different worlds and how they intersect.

Theme of presentation
  • WikiCulture & Community
For workshops and discussions, what level is the intended audience?
  • intermediate (you need at least some understanding of the community/organizational structure for this to make any sense;
Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long)
55 minutes if panel, 25 minutes if lecture
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
yes
Slides or further information (optional)
Special requests
Is this Submission a Draft or Final?
Info

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with a hash and four tildes. (# ~~~~).

  1. Amir É. Aharoni (talk) 10:08, 11 April 2017 (UTC)[reply]