2025-08-07 –, NYERI (Meeting room 6)
Language: English
This talk will focus on presenting a system we have created that can be adapted for Wikimedia community groups to enforce the Universal Code of Conduct when reports of violations arise. The “dispute protocol” is openly licensed to be adapted by self-governed communities such as Wikimedia Affiliates. In the talk, we will discuss why it’s important for decentralized communities to establish transparent procedures for deliberating on reports and mediation. Without structures to deliberate on reports, community risks include breaches of confidentiality and a lack of trust in organizers commitments to upholding safe spaces. We will present how community leaders can adapt the system we have created to build processes for locally enforcing the UCoC when reports arise. The audience for this talk includes organizers of Affiliates and other in person, hybrid, or virtual meetup groups which might benefit from clarifying procedures for responding to issue reports.
This talk will focus on presenting a system we have created that can be adapted for Wikimedia community groups to enforce the Universal Code of Conduct when reports of violations arise. The “dispute protocol” is openly licensed and designed to be adapted by self-governed communities such as Wikimedia Affiliates. In the talk, we will discuss why it’s important for decentralized communities to establish transparent procedures for deliberating on reports and mediation. Without clear structures to deliberate on reports of violations, community risks include breaches of confidentiality and a lack of trust in organizers commitments to upholding safe spaces. We will present how community leaders can adapt the system we have created to build processes for locally enforcing the Universal Code of Conduct when reports arise. The audience for this talk includes organizers of Wikimedia Affiliates and other in person, hybrid, or virtual meetup groups which might benefit from clarifying procedures for responding to issue reports, such as reports of violations to the Universal Code of Conduct. The aim is to increase awareness of strategies to move through issues and interpersonal conflicts and promote the adoption of this dispute process among Wikimedia groups.
- What other themes or topics does your session fit into? Please choose from the list of tags below.
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Capacity building, Affiliates
- What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?
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Everyone can participate in this session
- How do you plan to deliver this session? You will be asked to confirm this closer to the date in case of changes to the format.
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Dialing in from a remote location
- How does your session relate to the event theme: Wikimania@20: Inclusivity. Impact. Sustainability?
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Inclusivity and sustainability in community groups requires that safe spaces be prioritized. The Universal Code of Conduct is mainly aimed at preventing conflict from arising. The UCoC lacks clear steps that community leaders can use when reports of violations arise. In order to provide a solution to the lack of issue report procedures in decentralized organizations, we created an openly licensed system. By putting open licenses on governance procedures, we believe impact can be achieved so communities don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” to manage conflict resolution.
- Should your session be selected for the program, do you agree to release your session and supporting materials on-wiki and on the eventyay platform under CC BY-SA 4.0?
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I agree
Dorothy Howard has worn multiple hats as a community organizer, open knowledge advocate, and researcher. She was formerly a Wikipedian-in-Residence at the Metropolitan New York Library Council in 2013-2014. She was a Program Officer at WikiConference USA, 2014. She was an early Wikipedia community advisor/curricula developer/organizer for Art + Feminism, 2014-2015. She has also done some academic research reflecting on participating in the Wikimedia community as a gender and diversity advocate and subject of numerous research studies about Wikipedians. She was Administrative Executive for the Queering Wikipedia 2023 virtual conference.