Meeting:Committee (2023-01-16)
This meeting has two pages: one restricted-access page (only for members of the current Board) and one public-access page (which may have sensitive information redacted).
- Present: Amanda, Alex, Kelly, Pru, Tom (and Belinda)
- Apologies: Peter, Jeremy
Meeting opened: 4pm AWDT / 6.30pm CDT / 7pm AEDT
Previous meeting
Matters for decision
ESEAP Grant Report
The key sections from the ESEAP draft report have now been moved to meta into the Conference Report Template. The report is due to be submitted by 31 January (60 days post event). Belinda has circulated this to the rest of ESEAP COT who have all indicated full support for the report to be submitted.
Wikimania 2023 travel and scholarships
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2023:Scholarships
The committee encourages all members and community to attend if possible.
WMF Travel Scholarship applications opened Thursday, 12 January 2023. Deadline for applying for WMF scholarships: Sunday, 5 February 2023.
Should WMAU staff be supported directly by WMAU to attend? Need a PD policy on what counts as PD versus core organisation business.
Committee members won’t be funded by WMAU and should apply for WMF funding and they are eligible for WMAU scholarships.
That WMAU provides travel and accommodation costs for the EO and the Program Officer to attend Wikimania 2023 in Singapore.
- That WMAU uses the Wikimania scholarship process for applications and actively promotes this process and the due date to the Australian community.
- That WMAU allocates up to $8,000 for Wikimania 2023 scholarships from the Engagement fund component of our remaining grant.
- That WMAU forms a Wikimania scholarship subcommittee made up of 3 committee/community members who will not be eligible/applying for scholarships.
Moved: Pru; seconded: Amanda; outcome: ApprovedNotes:
WMAU Committee planning day
A Committee planning day would be greatly beneficial in discussing and prioritising the strategic plan and deliverable for the remainder of 2022/2023 as an opportunity for the WMAU committee to meet in person to discuss and plan for the year ahead (for the first time since 2019). The aim is to work through the strategic plan and develop priority activities for staff and committee.
- When? Suggestion to coincide with Everything Open Conference 2023, March 14-16 2023 Melbourne
- Suggested dates: Sat 18 or Sunday 19 Feb or Friday 17 or Saturday 18 March 2023
- Where: Melbourne? Or some other time and place
Motion: That we hold an in person committee meeting - Date TBC
Program priorities for January to June 2023
Based on mid-term budget and activity we need to decide whether we can achieve these major programs (total funding $22,000) before 30 June 2023, and determine actions for staff and committee.
2.2.2 First Nations reference group
Background: James has contacts as part of The Record and SLQ are advertising to have a First Nations Wikipedian in Residence. BlackWrite - $ & timeline for this?
What would a reference group do? Belinda suggests it needs to be attached to a project. Kelly suggests eg funding for a pilot to develop a program that can then be documented and rolled out in other organisations.
Amanda suggests working with a First Nations organisation directly rather than individuals.
Tom suggests AIATSIS as a key contact, preference for inviting organisations rather than individuals.
Belinda suggests inviting NSLA, ALIA. She is meeting with SLSA
Kelly suggested considering saturated versus underrepresented markets and trying to link a partner state library with an interested regional partner organisation for capacity building, funding.
Matters for discussion
“Microcredentials are small courses in a specific area of study, with a focus on upskilling and reskilling in short timeframes, to meet the needs of employers and industry.” (DESE 2022)
Following on from the University of Canberra (UC) conference in September 2023, there is an opportunity to develop a Wikimedia microcredentials course with WMAU as industry partner with UC. The Australian Government has provided $18.5 million for the Microcredentials Pilot in Higher Education. Universities that apply will require an industry partner which would be the role of WMAU.
According to DESE FAQ “Industry partners or professional bodies may engage in the design and/or delivery of funded microcredentials in a range of capacities, including the below: • Skills definition and consultation on industry skill needs, • Course design, including facilitating work-integrated learning, as appropriate, and • Teaching, mentoring and workplace assessment, as appropriate.”
Pilot info: https://www.education.gov.au/microcredentials-pilot-higher-education
Moved: Amanda; seconded: Pru; outcome: Approved
Reports
Executive Officer Report (for noting)
Events planning 2023
List of events and conferences occurring in 2023
ESEAP Hubs Interim Steering Committee
ESEAP Hub Interim committee held on Wednesday 11 January. Summary of discussion: Still seeking some new members (Japan, Pacific, Malaysia, possibly others) Draft Declaration has been started Model of Hub to be addressed at next meeting on 8 February 2023
Communications
- Wikidata Fellowships 2023 advert has gone out on email, social media and through e-newsletters. Encourage all committee members to distribute widely through networks, colleagues and all related organisations.
Announcement: https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Wikimedia_Australia_and_Wikimedia_Aotearoa_New_Zealand_launch_2023_Wikidata_Fellowship
- Fellowships page with link to application: https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Wikidata_Fellowships
Draft Jumbunna report (linked to First nations Reference group)
Draft Report was received on 22 December and distributed to Executive. Belinda still waiting to hear from Fiona Romeo to identify a specialist within WMF around indigenous cultural collections on Wikipedia/Wikidata
Franklin Women videos
Belinda received the DRAFT video chapters that have been created in partnership with Franklin Women, Bunya Productions and WMAU. Caddie has done a fantastic job being filmed for this high profile project. Feedback has been provided for Franklin Women to consider as part of final editing and production. Belinda will circulate final videos as soon as they are available.
Wikimedians in Residence or similar partnerships
Gathering information in Asana around each organisation as they approach WMAU to identify project scope. Need to make decisions about which are prioritised and which may need to wait or be scheduled around availability of staff or facilitators. Spreadsheet of Asana partners as at 19 December 2022 available on Google Drive.
Partnerships approach 2023
Belinda and Pru have drafted a basic outline for the process around approaches by potential partners or organisations seeking to partner.
Memberships
Belinda has applied for membership with Creative Commons, and Australian Digital Alliance. Waiting to hear back from both of them. Please send Belinda suggestions for others.
Safe Spaces Policy
A community member has raised concerns via email to James (cc’d Belinda) about our Safe Spaces Policy and specifically how our community meeting agenda and zoom link are public, and that anyone can join the meetings. They suggest that all attendees should have to register to attend each meeting, are vetted, and then sent the zoom link. They would like WMAU to maintain a list of “undesirables” who are banned from attending, but has not clearly stated whether they currently feel unsafe.
The policy: https://wikimedia.org.au/wiki/Safe_Space_Policy
Social media report
December figures below:
Total followers as of Dec 31:
- Twitter: 2615 (up by 128)
- Facebook: 1726 (down by 122)
- Instagram: 183 (up by 4)
- Linkedin: 152 (no change)
- YouTube: 23 (up by 5)
Twitter followers grew by 128, otherwise all Twitter stats dropped as people used Twitter less and it was Christmas so there were less events/promotions. We made 24 tweets and were mentioned in 35. Mentions were down compared to 151 in October and 68 in November.
We posted 3 times on Facebook, 4 times on Instagram, 0 on Linkedin, and added 9 videos on YouTube.
Our YouTube channel now has all ESEAP videos uploaded. In December we got 608 views equalling people spending 15 hours watching our videos. Of these, the ESEAP Alliances & Partnerships video received 307 views. Over 50% of our views came from ‘suggested videos’ rather than direct links (18%) or our channel page (7%).
YouTube gives extra demographic information, so we know in December the majority of our viewers were from India (11%), Pakistan (4.9%), and Iraq (2.6%). They are mostly male (61.8%) and aged between 18-34 years old. 54% are aged between 25-34.
On our WMAU website we published 3 news stories.
- 2022's Most Viewed Wikipedia Pages In Australia - A 2022 Wikipedia Wrap Up
- ESEAP 2022 - The 2022 conference in Sydney bringing together Wikimedians from East, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.
- Wikimedian In Residence Wrap Up - James Gaunt on twelve weeks with the Australian Music Vault
President's Report
- Microcredentials University of Canberra - response required
Treasurer's Report
Profit and Loss Statement January was presented Balance sheet January was presented
Midterm 2022-23 Budget in progress
- As at 31 Dec 2022 funds expended against annual plan totals $82,218.24 (28.19% of total)
- Engagement 13%
- Equity and inclusion 4.54%
- Capacity building 31.7%
Mid-term grant report is due now.
ESEAP Conference
- Final budget report presented
- A small number of adjustments post last month’s ‘final’ report.
- Virgin refund on accommodation required following delayed Perth flight $179.40
- Awaiting reimbursement for the catering and accommodation costs related to the additional Wikimania Core Organizing Team meeting of AUD $12,050
Membership report
- 0 new members joined
- 1 member non-renewed
Secretary's Report
Correspondence
- Upcoming UCoC vote - request for names of eligible members not meeting general editing eligibility
Activities
Global activities
- 15 January: Wikipedia’s 22nd birthday
- Wikimania dates announced: 16 - 20 August 2023 in Singapore
- ESEAP pre-Wikimania meeting proposed for 15 August 2023 in Singapore
- WikidataCon to be in Taiwan in October 2023
National activities
- Everything Open conference by Linux Australia in Melbourne, March 2023 (https://2023.everythingopen.au/)
- Australian Digital Alliance - 17 February 2023 in Canberra
- Australian Media Literacy Summit in Sydney, Friday, 24 March, 2023
Program to be confirmed in January 2023 Bursary of $500 (participants located outside Sydney) https://medialiteracy.org.au/australian-media-literacy-summit-register-your-interest-now/
Local activities
- WikiClubWest 2023 program pending
Next meetings
- Next Community meeting: Wed 8 February 2023
- Next Committee meeting: Monday 20 February 2023