Discussions/Community health I

The Discussion Room is a space for open and facilitated discussions at Wikimania. Participation of the audience in the session is critical, because there are no speakers, and there is no expert panel!

You can find a full overview of the discussion topics on the Discussion Room main page. Please note: there is limited seating available, and we're not saving any seats! Please be on time, but feel free to join during the midway break between two discussions.

Practical facts

Topic: Community health I: Principles for collaboration
Date & Time: Saturday 25 June, 16.00–16.40h
Notes: https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Wikimania2016-discussion5a
Facilitator: Sj & Jan-Bart
Venue: Primary School

Format

The Discussion Rooms host discussions with a specific style:

Discussions of 40 minutes each;
Clearly defined topic for each discussion, related to Wikimedia;
Aiming to reach pre-defined goals during the discussion;
Discussions take place in English;
Discussions are moderated by a facilitator;
There is no audience as everybody is expected to participate in discussions, and everybody is audience;
Key lessons and points are documented live on etherpad, and may be processed later;
Each discussion will come with a single recommendation of maximum 120 characters.

Each discussion targets specifically online Wikimedia projects, it lasts 40 minutes and it starts with a short 2-3 minutes introduction.

To set the tone of our discussions, we have three rules:

Focus on YOU. We are interested in discussing and triggering individual action, things people can personally do and change to improve our Wikimedia projects and movement. We trust the discussion can be much more interesting if we do not focus on what others should do ("the others", Wikimedia chapters and Wikimedia Foundation).
Be constructive and polite. Disagreements animate discussions and they can allow us to unfold all issues related to a topic. Let's avoid personal attacks, let's consider that we have different backgrounds and let's aim at making everybody comfortable in sharing their legitimate point of view.
Be short and on topic. Let's create space for everyone to express his/her opinion.

Introduction

Wikimania is an ideal venue for a conversation about principles for interaction because there will be a many different people present who can share a range of experiences with collaboration on the Wikimedia projects. What needs to be done to make Wikipedia a friendlier space for everyone while also safeguarding freedom of expression? What generally accepted principles for conduct and interaction within the Wikimedia movement are necessary to ensure everybody is able to contribute and participate? Is to “assume good faith” enough to advance Wikipedia’s goal of being an encyclopedia of free knowledge in which every human being can participate? We hope the conversation will produce principles that can be adapted into rules that fit into a local context of culture and norms.

This discussion will try to develop a set of possible principles that strike a good balance between free speech and safety from harassment for all editors on the Wikimedia Projects.

This discussion is based on the submission Good faith collaboration - Principles for Interaction and Conduct on the Wikimedia Projects

Interested attendees

Pinging Kritzolina, PEarley (WMF), Kalliope (WMF), JGerlach (WMF), HaithamS (WMF), Ewulczyn (WMF), nithum and Iislucas.

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