Discussions/Wikisource
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
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
Wikipedia is certainly the biggest and most active of all Wikimedia projects, but it is not the only one. The other projects at times seem to suffer from a vicious circle in which they receive less attention because of being smaller, and thus remain smaller and receive less attention. Wikimedia Commons is regularly discussed because it's perceived as serving Wikipedia. Wikidata is discussed because of it's the next big thing.
But other projects with high potential, such as Wikisource, receive reduced support —or investiment in time or money— from the broader community, the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia chapters and other affiliates. On another note, affiliate-driven campaigns have contributed with many important materials in Wikisource, but with limited activity thereafter in terms of the Wikisource proofreading process.
The goal of this session is discussing and extracting some ideas on what we can all do to promote Wikisource, engage new contributors and support them. This includes, of course, knowing what do Wikisource editors expect and need from the rest of the movement, as well as figuring out what can individual Wikipedians, affiliates and the WMF do to leverage Wikisource better.
Some topics that may be discussed in this session:
- What do Wikisource editors expect from the rest of the movement?
- What do Wikisource editors feel they need in terms of the platform? What do they want from developers?
- How do Wikisource editors think that Wikisource can/should be promoted to engage new editors?
- Are there any features or processes in Wikisource that prevent its promotion? If so, how can we deal with them?
- How can Wikipedia editors and other individual contributors engage with Wikisource and help with its needs?
- How can we further enhance synergy between Wikisource materials and Wikipedia articles?
- How should affiliates such as chapters incorporate Wikisource within their programs and projects? What should they avoid?
- How were past experiences successful in engaging new editors in Wikisource? How did their fail?
- How can WMF help leveraging Wikisource?
Do you want to read up on the topic? Some suggested reading (not required to participate!):
- Wikisource page on What is Wikisource?
- McDevitt Parks, Dominic: Wikimedia and the new collaborative digital archives.
- Zanni, Andrea: Wikisource: what we've done, what we could do better, video presentation at Wikimania 2012. Slides are also available.
- Smithsonian Libraries: Wikimania 2012 & BHL, a reflection on Zanni's presentation.
- Wikimédia France: Wikimédia France and the French National Library enter a partnership for Wikisource.
- Berthelot, Jean-Frédéric & Vigneron, Nicolas: Lessons from the partnership with the Bibliothèque nationale de France, slides presented at the Wikisource Conference 2015.
- Notes and slides of different presentations from the Wikisource Conference 2015.