Grants/Requests/2024/Steward delegation to Wikimania 2024

Description

The two users applying (Jon Kolbert and Ajraddatz) are both bilingual stewards from Canada seeking funding (or partial funding) to attend Wikimania 2024 in Poland. We both specialize in work that is less visible and content-oriented but still essential for the movement - ensuring that content is protected (particularly on small-language projects), global governance, and some expansion and availability of data related to Canadian subjects on Wikidata. This requested funding is timely as it will allow the two users to participate in discussions related to the finalization and ratification of the Movement Charter and similar strategy documents and conversations. There is also the possibility to engage in conversations and presentations related to Wikidata and the integration of data on Wikipedias and with the Abstract Wikipedia site. In-person communication will better facilitate interactive discussions on these subjects and allow for continued development and expansion of working relationships with other participants in ways that online/remote interaction could not achieve.

This funding request fits under priority 1 of the Annual Strategic Plan 2021, namely as it will allow participants to engage in conversations about other topics identified as important by Canadian volunteer communities - specifically the ratification and implementation of the Movement Charter and ensuring representation of Canada's linguistic diversity (to include Indigenous language communities) within movement governance structures. Discussions are also expected to include the topic of expansion and quality control of content on smaller-language Wikipedias that represent minority and Indigenous language groups within Canada, a subject that fits within this priority.

Jon Kolbert participated in their first Wikimania in 2023 and represented the stewards group at the effects of IP address range blocking on the Global South session which fostered important connections with the global community to implement the multi-lingual steward unblock wizard to guide editors who are facing an IP block. In their capacity as an administrator on Wikimedia Commons, they also attended the The Case for NC Commons session as well as various other sessions in the Legal, Advocacy, and Risks track. Jon was a participant in the Giving Contexts to Places We Love - The Power of OpenStreetMap and Wikidata and has since contributed to that project for locations in the National Capital Region since that particular session.

If funding is approved, the participants will participate in various discussions and sessions as described above, as well as commit to hosting a session or discussion on these subjects. A full report will be written related to the results of participation and the next steps, as applicable, of presentations related to Canada or subjects that may impact the representation of Canadian communities in on-wiki and movement governance bodies.

List of participants

Indicate here the list of participants that will incur expenses for this activity; you do not need to list all participants that will take part in the activity. Make sure to indicate who is in charge of the activity.

• Ajraddatz
• Jon Kolbert

Pre-Approval (before expenses)

Planned Budget

Indicate here your detailed planned budget.

Item	Amount	Name of the participant that will incur this expense
Airfare	~1500$ per person = 3000$	Jon Kolbert & Ajraddatz
Train travel	~ 100$ per person = 200$	Jon Kolbert & Ajraddatz
Registration fee	~137$ per person = 274$	Jon Kolbert & Ajraddatz
Accommodation	~600$ (shared room)	Jon Kolbert & Ajraddatz
Total	4,074$ CAD

Note : Depending on funds available, the accommodation and registration fee can be covered by the participants.

Decision of the Programs Committee

Hi Jon Kolbert and Ajraddatz

Pre-approved for a total amount of $4 074 by the signature of WMCA Executive director :

1. Louis Germain (WMCA) (talk) 14:04, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

*Maximum allowed for Airfare $1 500 per person*

Approval (after expenses)

Activity Report

Both Ajraddatz and Job Kolbert attended Wikimania 2024. Overall, the event went well and facilitated many policy-based discussions in the areas identified in the request, as well as provided a good opportunity for collaboration among the stewards, with other functionaries and with WMF staff.

Both users attended various sessions related to movement governance, Wikidata, and inclusion of and support for marginalized groups within Wikimedia projects. Some sessions attended include:

• Volunteer archetypes: How might we nurture future generations of Wikimedia volunteers?, a talk that explored how different types of people communicate and contribute on Wikimedia projects with implications for editor attraction and retention.
• Trust and Safety Product 2/2: Temporary Accounts are coming, which outlined various plans and challenges related to the roll-out of temporary accounts and technical and policy changes that will result.
• Abstract Wikipedia and the dream of a Universal Language, a talk on the Abstract Wikipedia project and how it will continue to be developed and expanded, and how it can support content development on other Wikipedias and extend access to free knowledge.
• Open Conversation with the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, which allowed for a discussion of the movement charter ratification vote and next steps.
• Bâtir une communauté (en Afrique) 1 : Menez un projet Wikimedia de A à Z - Préparation & outils, a very interesting talk that could have applications for engaging Indigenous and other language minority communities in Canada with a focus on providing targetted, as-needed support based on local needs.

There were a few key results from the participation at the conference:

• Internal steward policy work was completed regarding the implementation of global account blocks, including the start of a consultation on Meta-Wiki with the broader community and eventually the finalization of global account blocking guidelines.
• Further discussions were had between stewards and WMF staff on the rollout of temporary accounts.
• Discussion was organized on disinformation and the role of the community in overseeing Foundation actions in that space were discussed, with an aim to improve transparency where possible.
• Finally, both users did outreach work, helping to inform editors about global community issues and build connections that could be useful in future collaborative work. For example, various informal discussions were held about global blocking practices with community members to better understand the impacts of current practices and identify pain points and how processes could be changed in the future to better support local projects.

Final Budget

Indicate here your detailed final budget.

Item	Amount	Name of the participant that made this expense
...	... $	...
...	... $	...
Total	... $

Decision of the Programs Committee

This section will be filled by the Programs Committee.

Technical Information

This section will be filled by the Programs Committee.

• Request Number :
• Type of activity in the Annual Budget :
• Total Approved Amount :