2020–21 Annual Plan Report

Final report

Program story

Contracting an inaugural Wikimedia Australia Executive Officer

Executive Officer Caddie Brain

After nearly 13 years operating with only a volunteer committee, 2020-21 saw a significant milestone for the Wikimedia movement in Australia with the contracting of WMAU’s first staff member, a Community Support and Outreach Coordinator.

In order to grow, increase partnerships and professionalise its operations, WMAU required additional support to coordinate its community development and outreach work. Since the chapter was established in 2007, the small managing committee has carried responsibility for governance, community engagement activities and communications. While successful to this point, the committee had reached the limit of its ability to continue to grow operations on an entirely volunteer basis.

The Community Support and Outreach Coordinator role was a three-month short-term contract position approximately 15 hours per week that managed communications, volunteer engagement and development, and general administration for the WMAU committee and wider community. At the midterm review of progress against the WMAU Annual Plan 2020-21, there were many identified activities within the budget that could not proceed due to COVID-19 pandemic-related travel restrictions. WMAU reallocated AUD$10,000 to establish the Community Support and Outreach Coordinator. This pilot funding enabled both the committee and the coordinator to establish working arrangements and informed WMAU’s annual plan and budget for 2021-22.

WMAU contracted experienced Wikimedian Caddie Brain, who is well-recognised in the community and familiar with Wikimedia Australia events and operations, to establish the duties and procedures within the interim role. Caddie Brain (she/her) is an independent creative technologist, producer and former journalist. She began Wikiclub NT, a monthly editing club in the Northern Territory that effectively doubled the number of pages for that region and established Know My Name, a partnership with the National Gallery of Australia. She has also produced radio, exhibitions, augmented reality audio tours, machine learning prototypes, Wikipedia editing clubs and recently supported Arrernte young people, artists and linguists to make their own emoji set. She has worked is public programs and exhibitions across the GLAM sector and recently completed a Master in Applied Cybernetics.

Key deliverables of the Coordinator role included:

• Development and implementation of a three-year Communication Strategy
• Management and growth of of WMAU’s social media channels
• Planned implementation of the redevelopment and redesign of the WMAU website
• Production of regular newsletters (every two months) for members and partners
• Management of WMAU's brand and visual identity, including the design and production of printed materials and merchandise
• Organisation of facilitation and/or support of 18 online and face-to-face events for WMAU and its partners
• Established new partnerships acting as a main point of contact both for the partner organisation and volunteers involved
• Managed monthly committee meetings, providing agenda preparation, reports and updates
• Facilitated and supported 1Lib1Ref and Wiki Loves Earth campaigns

Overall this was a very successful initiative which has significantly expanded the administrative and outreach capabilities of Wikimedia Australia and one we plan to continue.

Learning story

Pivoting to online events

Online drop-in sessions for 1Lib1Ref 2021 in Australia

The ongoing travel and social distancing requirements in Australia due to COVID-19 has kicked off a rich period of experimentation and model development for virtual, online and hybrid training training, meetup and community events. WMAU found success with both formal presentation models, edit-a-thons and casual drop-in sessions. Even beyond the acute phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, WMAU intends to continue to offer both a mix of online and face-to-face (but no hybrid) events.

Key learnings from across these sessions include:

• Use of a more complex video conferencing system such as Zoom enables fuller control and management of participants.
• Multiple facilitators should be made hosts in order to better manage participants and ensure calls continue if the host loses connectivity for some reason. This also ensures participants are all able to move into break out rooms with different facilitators depending on their level and interests.
• Sessions required a minimum of two hours, but a maximum of three hours. An hour-long event only allows enough time for an information session but not significant editing.
• Online events avoid many of the shared IP issues experienced in face-to-face events.
• Introducing and encouraging editing in just one Wikimedia platform is recommended (i.e. editing in English Wikipedia only, not simultaneously introducing Wikimedia Commons as well for new users)
• For an online edit-a-thon (not an information session) around 30 participants is the maximum number to create community and intimacy while ensuring that participants are adequately supported.
• An Acknowledgement of Country is essential at the beginning of each event. As participants are often geographically dispersed, they can also be invited to post the Traditional Country from which they are joining the call into the chat.
• Welcoming participants to include their pronouns in their video name also ensures inclusivity and safe spaces for a diverse range of participants.
• Online edit-a-thons run best when supported by multiple experienced Wikipedians (ideally a minimum of three).
• Inviting participants to share their usernames allows a record of participants and/or an easy way to load editors into a Dashboard. The Dashboard provides a way of staying in touch and tracking participant progress over time.
• The chat function is a useful tool for enabling participants to quickly post questions without interrupting the flow of a presentation.
• Editing counts are generally less than face to face events. Many participants do not have access to multiple screens so following the video instruction and editing simultaneously can be challenging for many participants.
• Slides can be a useful tool to provide participants an introduction to Wikipedia and the WIkimedia movement. Although live demonstration of Wikipedia editing through a screen-sharing function is preferred to slides.
• Preparation is key. Offering participants a range of suggested content to work on ensures a smoother event. Use of a shared spreadsheet avoids edit conflicts and ensures ease of communication between participants. Providing participants the option of working on existing pages as well as new pages is critical considering the limitations of online instruction.
• Once an introduction has been provided, offering participants a range of Breakout rooms, each of which is supported by an experienced Wikipedian enables a greater level of support for participants with different skills and interests. or example, use of the main room for new editors, provision of a room for experienced editors to undertake communal editing and having a few breakout rooms ready for one-on-one instruction for users that may require a higher level of support.
• Online edit-a-thons offer a greater opportunity to reach a more diverse and geographically dispersed range of participants.
• Wide advertising of meeting links may generate potentially unwelcome or inappropriate drop-ins into calls.
• Hybrid events with both a face to face component as well as online participants are not preferred. They require a greater level of support and offer a poorer experience for both kinds of participants.

Spending update

A detailed budget can be seen here.

Total expenditure: US$24,117.43/AU$32,511.38

Grant Metrics Reporting

Metrics, targets and results: grants metrics worksheet here.