Three things about Wikimedia that even experienced Wikimedians might not know
The Wikimedia ecosystem is vast, and learning how to navigate it takes a lot of time. Even experienced volunteers and community leaders don't always fully appreciate the subtle ways in which the system works.
I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do have over 13 years of experience in Wikimedia as an online volunteer and 5+ years as an affiliate leader – experience which I'll distil into a workshop that will help people who already have some experience in the movement to understand it better.
Specifically, we'll discuss:
1. **“Everything is already somewhere on Meta”.** If you are trying to do a task or an activity, it's likely already been done before. But how can you look for examples and replicate them?
2. **Making sense of the movement's nebulous power structures.** Why is a Wikipedia admin both a “janitor” and a powerful functionary? Why do affiliates have no governing role over their communities and yet often have enormous impact? We'll try to figure out!
3. **How to follow the conversations.** So much of decision-making happens in places that aren't obvious – from on-wiki talk pages to Telegram groups. How do you figure out where the conversations are happening and how to participate in them?
Since it's a workshop, not a presentation, the session will be interactive – I'll be asking questions to the audience, and we'll do a few exercises together.
