Talk:Volunteer Strategy Gathering/November 2014

We need a timescale for organising this.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 11:02, 6 October 2014 (BST)

Insights from WMDE

There was a really interesting talk at Wikimania by Dirke Franke of Wikimedia Germany. He talked about how different volunteers want different things and that the volunteers get to do the cool stuff and the staff do the less-cool stuff that enables the cool stuff to happen. Do we have a video of the talk? That would be very useful.

Yaris678 (talk) 10:17, 26 October 2014 (GMT)

Thanks for that. I have had a bit of an online search and found one of Dirk's presentations at the Pre-conference Volunteer Support meeting meeting is available here. Is this what you mean? There is a video on You-tube here, but I think this is something different? Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 14:24, 26 October 2014 (GMT)

You make a good point. One thing that then emerges is how to design a project so that volunteers can do the cool stuff and that there a funds for someone to br paid to do the less exciting work? Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 19:48, 26 October 2014 (GMT)

Looking at the programme, the talk was 12:00 to 12:30 in the Fountain Room, as part of the Technology VII stream. It was called "Engineering volunteering – what’s this volunteer support all about anyway?" but the presenter started by saying that it wasn't specific to engineering volunteering.

That Prezi presentation you linked to The community is you friend covers similar ground, although obviously it is just the slides - not what came out of the presenters mouth.

Designing a project so there are cool bits and bits we need to get funding for sounds like a sensible response to this way of looking at things. Maybe we could also do some kind of survey to work out what things people think are cool.

Yaris678 (talk) 11:00, 27 October 2014 (GMT)

Thanks for that. I have tracked down the video here, starts around 35 mins and goes on until 52 mins. I found it rather hard to hear, but the slides are also available here.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 11:21, 27 October 2014 (GMT)

Thanks for finding that video. I have watched it back and I think it had some really good stuff. I especially like the Q&A at the end. e.g. the very last question, about project management. His point was that they generally don't manage volunteers - they try to support the volunteers to manage their own projects. Maybe doing that is easier said than done, but it is a good thing to aim for. It means people have to work out what is the best way to give support. Food for thought. Yaris678 (talk) 18:31, 3 November 2014 (GMT)

Yes that is an interesting piece which I have transcribed below:

Member of audience: Do you have any tools to manage the volunteers, for project management of volunteers?

Dirk Franke:"We do have some project management, but normally the projects are managed by the volunteers themselves and we try to support them. So the projects are managed by one or two of the volunteers and we try to support them with talking to them and asking questions and just try to help them managing their own projects. It is not like we are managing the volunteers, they are managing themselves and basically they tell us what to do, not the other way around. Sometimes people say that's not the way, but that is really not true: it is always the other way around." Wikimania 2014, Technology VII - Invention

This very much fits in with how WMUK is likely to develop, with a move to much more project-based funding. What this implies, though, is that our volunteers are starting to think in terms of projects and are keen to take on suitable roles to deliver projects. On the other hand it also implies that WMUK has suitable processes to enable and support such volunteers meet the requirements of such roles, particularly in relationship to reporting both for accountability to the movement and in regards to good governance of the charity. One of my hopes is that we shall make some progress in developing this at this gathering.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 11:40, 4 November 2014 (GMT)

This pre-dates the official version of WMUK's history and thus is probably heresy, but volunteers used to run projects within WMUK, not least because there was nobody else to do it. For example, a volunteer would take the lead in a relationship with, say, a museum, and work with others as necessary to develop events and other things. Whereas now staff take the lead, develop events behind closed doors, advertise them, and bring in volunteers only at the very end of the process. I'm not going to pretend that the WMUK of 2010/11/12 was some sort utopia; it lacked strategy or indeed any idea of what it was trying to do and how its projects tied into each other and it was at a very early stage of its development as an organisation, but one of the things it had in its favour (and the reason I joined) was that it was a grassroots organisation and volunteers could actually play a central role. The WMUK of 2010/11/12 had a small number of volunteers who were very engage, whereas now it has a much larger number of volunteers (on paper, using a very dubious definition) but they are much less engaged. Neither is sustainable in the long term, but at least in the past the board listened to the (albeit small) community. Harry Mitchell (talk) 18:09, 16 November 2014 (GMT)

Harry, the board is listening. You haven't indicated above the practical steps you think that the charity should take to improve volunteer engagement, but I hope you'll be able to come and share your thoughts on the day. I'll be there. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 18:19, 17 November 2014 (GMT)

Agenda suggestions

• What are the most important things for WMUK to focus on in the coming year? Mike Peel (talk) 20:29, 27 October 2014 (GMT)
• Which of WMUK's current activities are making the most impact? How can their impact be increased? Mike Peel (talk) 20:29, 27 October 2014 (GMT)
• How can WMUK better support and engage volunteers? Mike Peel (talk) 20:29, 27 October 2014 (GMT)
• What role does WMUK have in the Wikimedia movement's technology development? Mike Peel (talk) 20:29, 27 October 2014 (GMT)
• What is our view of the comments of the FDC staff on our annual funding proposal?
• What characteristics/skills/experience would the community like to see in a new CEO?
• What is the purpose of Wikimedia UK? Is it currently fulfilling that purpose? Is the current framework the best way to fulfil it?
• How is Wikimedia UK as an organisation relevant to the Wikimedia projects? Should it be more so?
• WMUK focus for 2015. We will not know what funding we have been allocated by FDC until 1st December. Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 16:55, 29 October 2014 (GMT)
• Impact of current WMUK activities. Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 16:55, 29 October 2014 (GMT)
• Better support and engagement for volunteers. I think this has to be a key element of the conference. Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 16:55, 29 October 2014 (GMT)

Technology development

I am not sure how many people attending the conference will be up on all the tech issues. I am hoping that we will have some people from the recently formed Wikidata Working Group to give a report back on how the group functions. What I feel we may need is a one-day tech gathering focussing specifically on such issues. Then it would be possible to get to grips with things and come up with practical steps forward. A decision to organise such an event could be an important outcome of this gathering.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 16:55, 29 October 2014 (GMT)

To give praise where it's due, a separate meeting focused on technology is a very good idea. But, rather than a hackathon/developer conference type event, I'd love to see an event where on-techy people can talk to techy people about the things they'd like to see and get feedback on how practical the ideas are in terms of the amount of development work required and then discuss how WMUK could support them. Harry Mitchell (talk) 19:03, 16 November 2014 (GMT)

I suggest steering clear of making plans about wikidata for a time when the right technical people are available. I spent this weekend at the wikidata hackerthon after WMNL invited me and offered to cover my expenses (on the presumption that the UK would not), and managed to build a general bot for wikidata to upload the Tate dataset (potentially 440,000 items) as well as attending a related Europeana task force meeting. The only other UK person at the hackerthon was Jheald, which may be an indicator of something.

I'm not available this month, and if I wanted to come I'm sure there would be reasons found to exclude me, what with me being "deeply disturbed". --Fæ (talk) 15:08, 18 November 2014 (GMT)

Engaging new people

I was recently shown this, I'm sure there are other examples we could examine and explore for Wikimedia context. Daria Cybulska (WMUK) (talk) 12:43, 4 November 2014 (GMT)

That is awesome. A lot of thought has obviouasly gone into it, but it is very concise and, because of its tabular nature, should be very quick to use. Yaris678 (talk) 22:07, 4 November 2014 (GMT)

Travel and subsistence

For speed and convenience, I plan to drive from London. Will there be car parking provision? As I'm not familiar with the venue, I'd appreciate some general information about directions, refreshments, &c. Andrew Davidson (talk) 13:51, 15 November 2014 (GMT)

There are a number of car parks, but not cheap. The nearest two are i) Brindley Drive, immediately at the rear of the library, and ii) at the NIA, just along Cambridge Street (the North, rather than South, carpark is closest). There are plenty of food outlets, inside and nearby outside the library. If approaching via M40/M5, leave the latter at junction 3, and follow signs for the city, then NIA. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 18:01, 16 November 2014 (GMT)

I understand that WMUK will be covering travel costs for attendees (as per the announcement on 7 October), so presumably that will also cover car parking? It would make sense to keep costs low by car-sharing where possible, perhaps we could add a section to this page to facilitate this? I'll be driving from Manchester, and would be happy to offer a lift to anyone traveling from the same direction. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 01:02, 18 November 2014 (GMT)