User:Sm8900/item draft 2

This is a redirect from WikiProject Editor Empowerment. this is a draft during the initial phase of this effort, while we seek input and feedback from others.

Thanks for visiting this draft page. this will soon be moved to the actual page for this WikiProject, once revisions are finalized.

If you wish, you can click the link below to skip to the section for "Members," where you can add your name and initial comments, to help us get started.



Request help with possible new forum for WikiProjects

Hi. I am trying to create a forum where various WIkiProjects can exchange ideas and information about their best ideas, efforts, methods, and accomplishments. I am the Lead Coordinator at WikiProject History. I tried to create an active exchange at WikiProject Council, but did not get very far when I tried to do so.

I would like to get some interested editors together who might be interested in helping with this idea, either with getting WikiProject Council moving again, or creating a whole new WikiProject to do so.

You can sign up to help at WikiProject Editors Forum/Members. Right now, this page is a redirect to a draft in my user space; we will move it to the project space as soon as we have ten people signed up.

eventually, the goal would be to have a few people from a wide variety of WikiProjects and varioous topical areas, working together at WIkiProject Council, to help us create a forum and an exchange for ideas and information.

Would you be interested in helping with this? Please let me know. If you wish, you can simply comment on my talk page to let me know any comments or thoughts on this. thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk) 02:14, 26 January 2020 (UTC)

Goals and ideas
Thanks for visiting this project. We are still a work in progress. we will be adding much more ideas in the near future. below is some basic background, just to get things rolling.

Background
Recently I visited WikiProject Council to get an idea of their current efforts and structure. It turns out that WikiProject Council has several; vital and essential functions here; they have set up numerous resources that are of vital importance here, including the items below. These resources are absolutely outstanding, and we invite editors to view these resources any time.


 * Directory of WikiProjects
 * Guide to creating new WikiProjects.

However, WikiProject Council does not see itself as an actual "council" in the conventional sense of the word; in other words they do not have a formal body of members, and they do not manage or facilitate an ongoing discussion process or any kind of continuous exchange of information.We appreciate the vital work that they currently do; this includes building and maintaining vital resources,  and addressing specific inquires and requests that may arise,  rather than actually facilitating an actual ongoing discussion process to exchange ideas between different WikiProjects. They did point out some existing recurring problems with WikiProjects; e.g. one problem mentioned is how many WikiProjects exist purely in name only, but are no longer active.

Our goals
That's where this WikiProject comes in.


 * We are here to serve as an active forum;
 * to promote discussion,
 * to allow exchange of ideas,
 * We believe that every day, the active WikiProjects are serving a useful and vital purpose;
 * namely to bring editors together every day to cover areas that need to be covered.
 * and in some cases to actively tackle societal issues or inequities which need coverage and which until now have not received sufficient coverage.

So we believe that the idea of "WikiProjects" remains viable, vital and active, and we believe that facilitating open exchange of ideas, rather than hindering it, is vital to the continued success of Wikipedia.

But all of this stem from one key idea, which is our real core concept, founding principle, and underlying goal:

We are here to promote editor empowerment.

basically, in my opinion it is up to us. the truth is that many WikiProjects do serve a useful and vital purpose. and even more there is still much tangible value to create an active communication process like the one that I describe below.

Basically, there are active WikiProjects out there, they do have a clear mandate and purpose, and they do have a widespread ongoing clearly-defined group effort to address, and document the key topical areas that is their specific focus.

WikiProject Women in Red is one of the best examples of this. A group of editors all focused on a clear goal, namely to wrote and edit entries for a topical area that they feel has received far too little coverage here.

I would like to create a new active process to highlight active WikiProjects, to recruit new editors to join them, to highlight what they are doing right and the ways other WikiProjects can develop and flourish.

Basically, we would be doing the mission that WikiProject Council should be doing.

I would like to get some active WikiProject coordinators together, to serve as a core committee of sorts to drive this process forwards. I already have a core group in mind. we have some individuals who may wish to represent "Women in Red," and we have WikiProject Military History as a ready source of input and insight. Additionally, I editors who has been highly active at the history WikiProject, and once we start some core discussions, there are other editors who have expressed as well.

Ideas
Basically, we have three major goals:


 * start a core committee process that can provide a forum for exchange of views amongst many active WikiProjects, to exchange ideas techniques and methods on ways to attract new editors, develop new resources and processes, and to improve the editing process for their own respective areas.
 * as part of that, and within that process, I would like to make WikiProject History a true, genuine, and active resource for the many WikiProjects who deal with various sub-topics within History as a field.
 * some of the WikiProjects that focus upon sub-topics within the field of history are far more active than the general umbrella WikiProject History itself. there is a simple reason for that; people are far more motivated and energized by a historical topic that touches them personally, than by the general generic field of history as a whole. for that reason WikiProjects devoted to specific topics, nations or ethnicities, or even simple groups such as women or the military get far more attention than the general history project.


 * creating this will involve setting up new sub-pages and new forums, perhaps, depending on what discussions people want to have. the first step will simply be to promote greater interchange at the talk page for WikiProject History. after that, we can look into other options for setting up other resources and forums for people to use.

Meta-Wikimedia strategic discussion

 * there is a general strategic planning process taking place right now at the meta-Wikimedia site. I would like to assemble a group of WikiProject coordinators who could potentially contribute to this process as a concerted group, to add their real-life experiences on what does works and what doesn't.
 * In order to facilitate this, we could create a whole new working group, with its own set of pages and sub-pages, where we could exchange thoughts, views and ideas.
 * Also, in order to build this, I could go to the talk pages for various related WikiProjects, let them know what we are doing, and who is involved, and try to encourage them to come back to our established page, to join our group discussion, and to offer new ideas.

Here is a link to one central page in this process:


 * meta:Talk:Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommendations

Introduction
'''Here is the proposed core structure on how to proceed. This is still in process.'''


 * Umbrella Groups. we plan to set up broad umbrella groups to encompass entire topical areas. These would be for broad generic topics. this means one umbrella group for history, one for politics, one for the arts, one for science, one for pop culture and so on and so on. once we do that, then
 * Working Groups. within those umbrella groups, we could have various working groups, based mainly on function, but also based on topical area. so we could have one working group within history for helping new editors, one for sharing methods for improving articles, one for exchanging info on running a WikiProject. or alternately, we could make it much simpler; we could have one working group for experienced coordinators on active WikiProjects, and then that working group would be to enable them to share ideas and methods on any topics that they see fit to share.
 * Task Forces underneath the working groups, we could have task forces. these would be outgrowths of the working groups, based on what active editors wish to set up. if no one has any ideas for task forces, then they would not exist. it would only be based upon real ideas from active editors, who seek to actively work on them and be available to exchange ideas.

okay, so to do all this, i.e. in order to propose all this, and then act upon it, and then set up pages for this, I need the active, vocal support, from a group of experienced, established WikiProject coordinators, right at the outset, and available on a constant basis.

Please sign up below fin our section for "Members." and then please add your initial comments.

One proposal
As part of this, I have a somewhat novel idea. I would like to create a new namespace here at Wikipedia, for GROUPS. it would be for all groups of editors, of any size or focus, that seek to work together. basically, it would be a namespace for any and every group of editors who want to form a group ''other' than a WikiProject, in which to pursue various groups goals and strategies.

However, given that right now, we do NOT have any such namespace, and none is planned with that name, then THIS WikiProject is here to address that need. Basically we are here to exchange any and every need that might arise for which editor discussion, input and exchange is needed.

We will be a cross-WikiProject forum. We will provide an inter-project exchange, across many topical areas, where editors can find a voice, find a platform, invite others to join their projects, or get ideas from other projects on great methods for promoting a topic, attracting recruits, improving articles, etc.

Explanation and instructions
Please add your name, under the section "members." then please, please go to the "Initial comments" section, and write a brief comment letting us know how you got here, and what your main concerns are. All of you were either invited here and drawn here based on our core goals. we'd like to get a sense of everyone's views right at the outset.

We will be working continuously to build this resource in the next few days. to do so, the sooner we can get written statements of support from others, the better. just put down some initial points about how you got here, where you heard of us, why you wanted a project like this, and what your core goals and concerns are that drew you here.

We want to get this idea off the ground, folks. let's get the discussion rolling. we welcome your input. thanks!!!

List of Members
Please add your name below to sign up as a member here. then please go to the section for "Initial comments," and post some comments there. Please indicate any WikIProject(s) that you are actively part of, and also any WikiProjects for whom you could serve as an active liaison.



Initial comments
''Please add your initial introduction and some introductory comments below, on how you got here, your core concerns and ideas, and why you seek to participate. the more we get, the better we have a basis for proceeding. You can create a section IF you want, but alternately you do not need to. Remember to include your signature. Thanks!! --Sm8900 (talk) 15:34, 23 January 2020 (UTC)''

Comments:

Coordinators
Coordinator:

Article Improvement
Coordinates and facilitates discussion and exchange regarding ideas and methods to reach goals below.


 * How to improve articles

Recruitment
Coordinates and facilitates discussion and exchange regarding ideas and methods to reach goals below.
 * How to recruit editors

Wikipedia governance
Coordinates and facilitates discussion and exchange regarding ideas and methods to reach goals below.
 * Governance of Wikipedia and sub-areas such as editing rules

Liaisons with active WikiProjects
Liaisons with active WikiProjects:


 * User:Sm8900, Lead Coordinator, WiIkiProject History