supporting communications, from outreach or lobbying to providing funds used by local volunteer organizers.[1]
In parts of the world with less overlap of culture, language, country and geography, or in countries like the United States, Australia and Canada, where the the contributors to one project might be spread across very wide distance, regional communities, national affiliates or chapters have less cohesion or influence, or where the volunteer community doesn’t have organizational capacity, another solution is needed. Instead, there are often small meetup groups, or the slightly more formal “user group” -- an informal organization recognized as gathering for developing specific activities in a scope and eligible for small grants and other support from the Wikimedia Foundation.[2]
However, many Wikimedia/pedia contributors are not aware of these organizations, or are satisfied contributing to Wikipedia or another Wikimedia project as an individual volunteer independent of these organizations.[3] Wikipedia editors are as diverse as the encyclopedia; they edit and may or may not have any interest in collaborating on projects beyond the interests that original brought them to the projects -- for example, a subject area, or addressing specific grammatical errors. Therefore libraries wishing to engage with Wikipedia contributors should not necessarily turn to the most active online editors, as they may have no desire to be part of formal projects or take on any additional responsibility.
For library organizations who want to get involved in Wikimedia projects, reaching out to one of these organized affiliates is frequently the best course of action: they often have technical experience organizing events or projects in their region, and can find the right resources to provide guidance and training to cultural professionals.[4] But if you can’t find a local affiliate, we recommend trying several tactics:
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- ↑ For more description of the chapters, see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters
- ↑ For more description of the user groups, see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_user_groups
- ↑ At the time of writing, the Wikimedia Foundation is in the process of developing a movement wide strategic direction -- one of the likely results of this more cohesive direction, will be a clearer inspiration and objectives of this network of formal organizations in the Wikimedia movement -- making it easier for contributors and heritage professional to identify if their needs can be met by movement organizations. For more information about the direction see: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017
- ↑ To find your local affiliate, we recommend starting at the portal at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates . Some communities have designated particular contacts for GLAMs, this list (not as well maintained) can be found at: https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Contact_us
