Submissions/Thematic organizations as catalysts for cross-wiki collaboration

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 2013 programme submission, we hope to still see you at Wikimania this August.

Submission no.: 3069
Subject no.: E2 or F1

Title of the submission: Thematic organizations as catalysts for cross-wiki collaboration

Type of submission: presentation

Author of the submission: Daniel Mietchen

Country of origin: Germany

Affiliation: Wiki Project Med; Open Knowledge Foundation Germany

E-mail address: daniel.mietchenokfn.org

Username: User:Daniel Mietchen

Personal homepage or blog: http://wir.okfn.org

Abstract

Wikimedia Thematic Organizations are a set of proposed new elements in the organizational framework supporting the Wikimedia movement. They complement the Wikimedia Foundation and traditional country-based Wikimedia chapters by working on "providing the sum of human knowledge" within their thematic focus. While no such organizations existed at the time of submission of this session proposal, a number of ideas have been floated as to how they could catalyze collaboration across Wikimedia projects and languages, and the session is dedicated to discussing a selection thereof.

Detailed proposal

Wikimedia projects collect and structure information on a vast range of topics, which opens the door for systematic engagement with communities around the world - be they scholarly societies or sports clubs - that have organized themselves around such a common area of interest. Existing organizations within the Wikimedia movement do not have thematic foci (i.e. beyond strategic priorities), so their potential to improve coverage within a given area of knowledge is limited. Existing thematic groups within the Wikimedia community are typically confined to one or very few Wikimedia projects and languages, which limits them in terms of how they can reach out to these external thematic communities.

Thematic organizations can at least theoretically bridge those gaps by catalyzing thematic collaboration across and beyond Wikimedia projects, and this session is devoted to discussing how this might play out in practice, with special emphasis on how a thematic spin could be given to ongoing and future activities within existing Wikimedia chapters.

Track: WikiCulture and Community

Length of presentation/talk: 25 minutes

Language of presentation/talk: English

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

Yes

Slides or further information (optional)

Special requests

This presentation would be given on-wiki and might use video and sound

Interested attendees

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Blue Rasberry (talk) 17:38, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
-- Marcus Cyron (talk) 22:23, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Amqui (talk) 01:13, 3 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Vini 175 (talk) 02:26, 3 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Anthonyhcole (talk) 02:53, 4 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
_Manawa|Talk^{Education First} 21:13 5 May 2013 (UTC)
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