conflicts between local chapters and respective editor communities
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CONFLICTS BETWEEN LOCAL CHAPTERS AND RESPECTIVE EDITOR COMMUNITIESHarel Cain [[User:Harel]]
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!