Collab membership - education-collab

13 Feb 2017

Dear Collab members,

Based on the on-wiki and the call we had last week, it seems we have
reached a consensus ergarding what membership of the Collab should look
like. I'm including the description of (what i understand to be) membership
for your consideration. I'm also sharing it to the Wiki where we've had our
discussion. I would like to request your comments, especially if you see
something that is different from what you expect.
__________________________________________

The Education Collab is a relatively new structure within the Wikimedia
Movement. As such, it is evolving and adapting to its context and the
opportunities that arise around it. Since October, and  up to now, there’s
been a discussion around the evolution of one aspect of the Collab:
membership. Based on discussions over email, video and on wiki, there seems
to be a consensus on the following ideas:

Open membership

The Education Collab needs to move to an open membership model, where
anyone interested in contributing to the goals of the Collab is welcome to
join and participate. Contributing to those goals is in no way exclusive to
the Collab: anyone is welcome to help reach them. Collab members happen to
focus a significant part of their volunteering time to them, and use the
Collab as a mechanism to facilitate collaboration around those goals.

In practical terms, as in most Wikiprojects, membership means signing on
the Wiki page, thus indicating your willing participation and dedication of
time and energy to pursuing those goals.

The expectation linked to membership is thus focused on your contribution
to achieving those goals. The goals are set by consensus, and support the
larger Wikipedia Education Program goals.

Monitoring contributions from the Collab members

In order for the Collab members to learn from each other and from each
others’ contributions, the following means of sharing the achievements are
considered:

   1.

   Use of Phabricator: This is the main tool to register your contributions
   to the Collab goals. Activities, reports, and any relevant contribution to
   the Collab goals should be represented here. There is a dedicated
   Phabricator project for the Education Collab at
   https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/profile/1479/
   2.

   Sharing activities and results through additional communication
   channels:
   1.

      Attendance at Collab meetings, while not a requirement, helps the
      Collab as a whole to hear your voice, and helps you benefit from
input from
      the Collab
      2.

      Sharing to the Collab mailing list is also beneficial, be it to share
      activities, successes, challenges or asking questions to your Collab
      colleagues.
      3.

      Other communication channels may emerge, depending on the needs of
      the Collab. Participation in them accelerates the achievements of the
      Collab as a whole.

These means of monitoring the Collab’s activities will help the Collab
assess its value and contributions to the Education Program and the
Wikimedia Movement.

_______________________________________________

Let me know what you think!

Best Regards,

Vahid.

-- 
Vahid Masrour
Community Capacity Manager, Wikipedia Education Program
vmasrour(a)wikimedia.org
https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education