Wikimania

Submissions/Wikimedia LGBT+

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After careful consideration, the Programme Committee has decided not to accept the below submission at this time. Thank you to the author(s) for participating in the Wikimania 2015 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this July.

Submission no.
2140
Title of the submission
Wikimedia LGBT+
Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)
Presentation
Author of the submission
Christopher Thomas Cooper (others may help with preparation and delivery and will be credited as appropriate)
E-mail address
ctc_wikimedia@fastmail.com
Username
CT Cooper
Country of origin
United Kingdom
Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
Wikimedia LGBT+ User Group
Personal homepage or blog
Not applicable
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

Wikimedia LGBT+ is a Wikimedia user group formed at Wikimania 2014 and formally approved by the Affiliations Committee in September 2014. Our aims are to encourage LGBT cultural organizations to use Wikimedia projects and to adopt the values of free culture and open access, promote Wikimedia projects as a tool for strengthening LGBT communities, and to create and expand content of interest to LGBT communities on Wikimedia projects and to increase the overall quality of such content in all languages.

This presentation will primarily consist of a speech (with the backing of a slide show) which shall review our goals, current activities, and future opportunities. Audience participation, such as asking for a show of hands to a topical question, will also be included to maximise engagement. The presentation will be roughly structured as follows:

  • Introduction to LGBT issues (3 minutes): A brief review of the worldwide LGBT community, what LGBT (and related variation such as LGBTQIA) stand for, and the relevance of this community to Wikimedia projects and the free culture movement.
  • Introduction to Wikimedia LGBT+ (2 minutes): A brief run through of what Wikimedia LGBT+ is, how and why the user group was formed, and what it does. We will take this opportunity to clarify potential misconceptions by emphasising that Wikimedia LGBT+ welcomes contributors from any background, sex, sexuality, or gender identity, and by noting that we are not a political organization or lobby group.
  • Current activities (10 minutes): We will critically examine our current activities including the holding of meetups, involvement in LGBT events, collaborations with external organizations and Wikimedia projects, as well as the promotion of safe space policies and practices.
  • Future opportunities (6 minutes): Future ideas for the project will be discussed, including assisting language projects where anti-LGBT sentiment is common, helping LGBT contributors who face harassment, and new collaborations. The potential threats and problems to future activities, such as cultural resistance and protecting user anonymity, will also be considered with proposed mitigations or solutions provided.
  • Summary (1 minute): A brief review of the main issues covered and key points raised. At this point members of the audience will be given two post notes, one yellow and one blue, in order to give anonymous feedback if they wish. On the yellow post-it note they will be asked to write one sentence on what they think the key "take away" point from that session, while on the blue post-it notes they will be asked to write down any suggestions on future activities for our user group.
  • Questions and answers (8 minutes): An opportunity for audience members to present questions to the presenter(s) which will answered and debated, time permitting. Post-it notes will be collected as the session closes with the feedback received to be processed and published after Wikimania.

The aim of this presentation is to increase awareness of Wikimedia LGBT+ and the wider LGBT community to a diverse audience of Wikimania attendees and to inspire individuals to contribute and to encourage others to do so. This will also be an opportunity for us to gain feedback on the wider community's perceptions of Wikimedia LGBT+ and to establish a dialogue on good practices and potential future collaborations with individuals and groups carrying out similar activities in other areas.

Track
WikiCulture & Community
Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long)
30 minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Yes
Slides or further information (optional)
None at present.
Special requests
As a member of the Scholarship Committee, I would prefer that this didn't clash with any sessions related to scholarships.

Interested attendees

If you are interested in attending this session, please sign with your username below. This will help reviewers to decide which sessions are of high interest. Sign with a hash and four tildes. (# ~~~~).

  1. Orderinchaos (talk) 16:38, 15 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  2. Another Believer (talk) 19:01, 15 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  3. Varnent (talk) 06:42, 16 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  4. Blue Rasberry (talk) 15:36, 19 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  5. Ladsgroup (talk) 08:11, 20 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  6. Jim Carter (talk) 06:12, 1 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  7. --L235 (talk) enwiki 04:48, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  8. --Atropine (talk) 23:47, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  9. guillom (talk) 23:57, 7 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  10. Trans Goat (talk) 10:10, 11 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  11. MRG90 (talk) 19:53, 1 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
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