User:Maryacat/sandbox

Call details

 * Date: 2019-07-30
 * Topic: Wikidata/Wikimedia Communication Channels
 * Presenters: Hilary Thorsen
 * Panelists:
 * Merrilee Proffitt, Co-Chair of the Wikimedia and Libraries User Group and Senior Manager of the OCLC Research Library Partnership, OCLC
 * Esther Jackson, Public Services Librarian & Wikimedian in Residence, New York Botanical Garden's LuEsther T. Mertz Library
 * Martin Poulter, Wikimedian in Residence, University of Oxford based at the Bodleian Libraries

Presentation material

 * Communication in the Wikidata/Wikimedia communities

Overview
Communication channels divided into three sections


 * For asking questions
 * Main space: Project chat (welcomes both very basic questions and advanced, complex ones)
 * Main link: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Project_chat (also on left margin of Wikidata pages)
 * Includes a searchable archive
 * There are also Talk pages on every Wikidata page:
 * Users’ Talk pages are especially useful for getting touch with someone
 * Project Talk pages offer discussion pages for projects
 * E.g. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata_talk:WikiProject_Books for Wikiproject books
 * If a project doesn’t seem to be active, might want to try main Project Chat
 * Item / Property Talk pages - related to a specific item or property
 * Property Talk pages usually include the documentation (description, hierarchy, constraints, etc) for the property  (via the macro; you can add it if it’s not there)
 * Editing conventions
 * https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages (good to bookmark, since searching on Help:Talk pages in Wikidata doesn’t get you there)
 * Can add headings to pages for discussion as well as sign your name  (putting four tildes ~ at the end of your message easy way to sign.  Make sure you’re logged in when you do this.)
 * [PRB: I believe you don’t have to sign your name at all if you don’t want to]
 * Formatting specifics around indentations (replies)/headings/signatures
 * For staying informed about Wikidata
 * Wikidata status update (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Status_updates)
 * Includes an archive
 * Twitter: @WikidataFacts, @WikiResearch
 * For asking questions and staying informed
 * Instant messaging options
 * Telegram - usually 40-70 Wikimedians online at any given time; similar to Slack
 * IRC channels: e.g. #wikidata (irc://irc.freenode.net/wikidata or https://kiwiirc.com/client/irc.freenode.net/#wikidata)
 * Good for Wikidata office hours where Wikimedia Deutschland developers are guaranteed to be available; Technical Advice IRC Meeting happens every Wednesday)
 * Otherwise not as heavily used as Telegram
 * Various Facebook-related groups (though remember that not everyone uses FB)
 * Wikidata Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WikidataCommunity/
 * Wikidata + GLAM https://www.facebook.com/groups/Wikidata.GLAM/
 * Mailing lists
 * General wikidata list includes a weekly status update with event info, links to press articles, related wikimedia news, proposed/approved/deprecated properties; development updates, monthly tasks that the community can help with
 * LD4 mailing lists
 * Wikimedia user groups: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_user_groups
 * Example: Wikimedia and Libraries user group, Wikibase user community
 * Twitter accounts:
 * @Wikimedia
 * @Wikipedia
 * @Wikidata
 * @WikilibraryUG (Wikpedia and Libraries User Group)
 * Some new wikimedia spaces include https://space.wmflabs.org/ (blog ) and https://discuss-space.wmflabs.org/ (safe discussion space).  Both are new, and Merrilee notes that it’s yet to be seen how they’ll evolve. Spaces are governed by code of conduct.
 * And the LD4 community also has its Slack instance https://ld4.slack.com/ (see the #wikidata channel in particular)

Panel discussion:
Merrilee Proffitt: finds it helpful to hang out in a bunch of places and observe. Also found it less intimidating to edit pages than participate in Talk: pages; the tutorials on how to do that are helpful!

It’s easy to get stuck in places that no one’s watching, or not be able to gauge how active a space is; look at the “history” tab on a talk page to get a sense of frequency/current-ness/users who are engaged. If a Wiki page is useful to you, be sure to add it to your watchlist (by clicking on the star in the headers at the top of the page) so you get notified when it updates.

Esther Jackson: Agrees with Merrilee, and notes that things like watchlists and Talk pages also apply in other Wikimedia spaces like Wikipedia. Her #1 point of contact is local (there’s an NYC-based Wikimedia Slack instance, https://wikimedianyc.slack.com/). As a second choice, she’ll try search engines with “wikidata” and the topic of interest to see if there’s something written about it. E.g. “how do I tag someone in wikidata?” (which is useful when you want to get a particular person’s attention)

Martin Poulter: Introduced Wikidata Project Books page. On many pages (e.g. halfway down the Wikiproject page for Books) there’s a space for participants to add your name so you can be notified when the page gets tagged using the template in a discussion.

He finds that Talk pages for individual items and properties aren’t all that useful (compared to on Wikipedia). Project pages more productive to raise questions, etc. vs. individual item pages.

A useful shortcut: WD:RAQ (“Request a query”: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Request_a_query). A way of asking for help about how to formulate a query for the data you’re interested in. Helps connect SPARQL newbies and experts.

Hilary: asked panelists on usefulness of local Wikidata chapters & user groups.


 * :  Esther: finds local community useful to work within smaller group first, then getting referrals out to larger communities. Also have individuals working with specific Wikidata communities.

Merrilee: Wikimedia & Library User Group: meets monthly via Google Hangouts, e-mail, Telegram. (Especially important for groups that are spread throughout timezones globally)

Wants to underscore: people are really important connection, making individual connections regardless of electronic community is important, whether local or halfway around the world. Similar to our work in libraries.

Q from Alexandra Provo:: How to find appropriate group to consult with on projects? (Her example is a project related to Arabic langauge books.)

Martin: talk initially on project chat, more general sources, perhaps Facebook group. Note: being bold is the key. Wikimedia Projects start with someone saying “I want to do this”. Don’t ask permission, just do it.

Hilary: have you started a Wikimedia project or participated in starting one? (And how do you keep it going, w/o becoming dormant over time?)  Suggestions?

Esther: Important to have list of tasks for folks to participate in. And have active contributors. Esther had contributors initially enthusiastic, no specific tasks, was important to have those initially.

Merrilee: Hasn’t had good success in looking for good models for project. Women in Red has managed to stay active over a long time. (Project:Plants is another long-running project.)  Helps to have a core of dedicated people making checklists, checking things off. (Wikipedians are great list-makers and -checker-offers.) Rob Fernandez points out in chat that lists can be easy to generate using Wikidata queries. Community focus is important; find your natural collaborators. (John Mark Ockerbloom: WIR has also had lots of spinoff and related projects (e.g. scientists, artists, etc.) which have helped keep it going.