I like several of Kerry's points. I did mention to Luis at WMCON that it might be more cost-effective, and potentially higher impact for some participants, to put more emphasis on national (or thematic) conferences and less on the general Wikimania conference.
Pine On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 8:55 PM, Kerry Raymond <[email protected]> wrote: > I think you put your finger on a key point here. We have a large community > of “totally deserving people” but mostly get little/no recognition of their > contribution. > > > > Most organisations that rely on volunteers have a range of ways to > recognising their efforts. In the world of WMF, other editors can give you > a “thanks” or a barnstar/Wikilove but WMF itself does not seem to do much > to recognise volunteers. So when “totally deserving” people apply for a > Wikimania scholarship, of course people are going to see this as a chance > to be recognised by WMF for their contributions. As most of the “totally > deserving” will be unsuccessful in gaining a Wikimania scholarship, of > course they are going to feel it as “demotivating”, “unfair” and “likely > to reduce their contributions” as the surveying suggests. Sure there’s > disappointment at not going to Wikimania, but I suspect the bigger issue is > that the apparent lack of recognition of their contribution that comes as > part and parcel of it. And a standard rejection letter that says “We > appreciate your contribution, but alas there aren’t enough scholarships” > fall a little short on the “recognition” front! > > > > Perhaps if the WMF looked at ways of recognising the “totally deserving” > volunteers in other ways, then the Wikimania scholarships would not become > as big an issue. One example might be cheaper scholarships to attend a > national event (which also avoids visa issues) or funding towards hosting a > local event within their community at which their contribution can be > recognised among their peers. Announcing an award to them in their local > media might be something people might value. Others might like a trophy for > their mantelpiece suitably inscribed. I am sure others can think of more > ideas and I note that we may need different ideas for different communities > as what people value is different. For example, although the merchandise > giveaway is well-intended, > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Merchandise_giveaways/Nominations > > > > has anyone considered if short-sleeved thin T-shirts are something > everyone in the world sees as a recognition? What about the countries were > the arms are kept covered for modesty or sun exposure? What about the > countries where T-shirts are seen as a “low status clothes”? > > > > I also note that a return to partial scholarships would mean more people > were recognised wrt to Wikimania. The comment that the administration of > partial scholarships was too much work for WMF staff sends an unpleasant > signal about how WMF values its staff time relative to the time spent by > “totally deserving” volunteers. > > > > In summary, I think WMF has a problem with its “totally deserving” > volunteers feeling unappreciated which is much larger than Wikimania. Given > the cost and effort of running annual Wikimanias for a relatively small > number of people, perhaps they should be less frequent with other kinds of > events and forms of recognition using the equivalent cost and effort in > between in order to spread the “wikilove” a bit more widely? > > > > Kerry > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Osmar Valdebenito > *Sent:* Friday, 31 July 2015 11:24 PM > *To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription) < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [Wikimania-l] Fwd: Wikimania Scholarship > > > > The problem is myths and rumours will arise always in a process that is > not (and should not) be objective. We can't just give some > > It is a subjective process where you evaluate so many people, with > different backgrounds and different contributions. What is more important? > Founding a chapter or making 100,000 edits on English Wikipedia? 5,000 > edits on a smaller Wikipedia or 10,000 images on Wikimedia Commons? How do > we make also possible to bring people outside our movement or with very few > edits, but that are great promoting free knowledge? And how do we ensure > gender balance? Do we prioritize new attendents than can bring new ideas to > our movement or do we support experienced members that have a proven record > of great presentations and activities? > > When you have a very limited number of scholarships and a lot of great > applicants, every time you make a decision to give a scholarship to > someone, you are taking it from someone else. And usually, that other > person totally deserve it. So, even though the committees have tried to > have a balance of all these factors, someone will complain and consider it > not fair. General numbers will help to reduce these rumours, but they will > always come up again. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >
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