Wikiversity:Colloquium/archives/December 2021

Newbie question

Hello, sorry if this sounds a stupid question but the heading "How can the Wikiversity Bloom Clock help support other Wikimedia projects?" in Bloom Clock project page, why is it written like so as if Wikiversity is sponsoring it? Having contributed for sometime on Wikipedia, I, initially, thought that could be a vandalism or a newbie mistake. But, I was surprised to see it was a featured project. Is it allowed on Wikiversity to use such a tone? any guideline page on this? I checked a little and seemed like it was the "active learning" thing that permitted it. Lightbluerain (discuss • contribs) 19:06, 8 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Lightbluerain: Bloom Clock was one of the first big Wikiversity learning projects from back in 2006. It is historically significant because it demonstrated the potential power of a WEB 2.0 wiki to gather data from participants worldwide. There was certainly a hope in 2006 that Wikiversity learning projects could be used to support other Wikimedia projects. They can (now), but the only accepted form is the WikiJournal peer-reviewed format.

Wikiversity was initially a robust learning environment. There were essentially three types of users: those interested in overall Wikiversity development (top down), those interested in specific learning projects (bottom up), and those who were blocked or banned from Wikipedia but still wanted to contribute something somewhere (and not always with the best of intentions).

In March 2010, there was a breaching experiment where some Wikiversity participants attempted attacks on Wikipedia to study the response and document wiki culture. (Not a good idea.) Wikiversity participation disintegrated after that, and by 2012 (when I joined) there were very few active participants or active projects.

It took several more years, but we now have a community where people blocked from Wikipedia are generally not welcome here. Disruption efforts aren't tolerated. Most crazy content is either deleted outright or moved to User: space as personal essays. Anything that has a "Net Negative Effect" is deleted and the user blocked.

The down side is, when there is no controversy, there is also very little engagement. By far, the majority of Wikiversity users now are just readers. Most editors are either professors, retired professors, or students whose professors require them to contribute. The rest is mostly junk and vandalism. The vandalism is deleted and the junk is moved to Draft: space or PRODed. There's not a lot of active discussion.

As someone new to Wikiversity but clearly interested in our mission, please feel free to question whatever you find and help improve Wikiversity wherever you can.

Thanks! -- Dave Braunschweig (discuss • contribs) 20:47, 8 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. Thanks. Nice to know of the beginning stage of this Wiki. 😊Lightbluerain (discuss • contribs) 18:45, 9 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Upcoming Call for Feedback about the Board of Trustees elections

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The Board of Trustees is preparing a call for feedback about the upcoming Board Elections, from January 7 - February 10, 2022.

While details will be finalized the week before the call, we have confirmed at least two questions that will be asked during this call for feedback:

What is the best way to ensure fair representation of emerging communities among the Board?

What involvement should candidates have during the election?

While additional questions may be added, the Movement Strategy and Governance team wants to provide time for community members and affiliates to consider and prepare ideas on the confirmed questions before the call opens. We apologize for not having a complete list of questions at this time. The list of questions should only grow by one or two questions. The intention is to not overwhelm the community with requests, but provide notice and welcome feedback on these important questions.

Do you want to help organize local conversation during this Call?

Contact the Movement Strategy and Governance team on Meta, on Telegram, or via email at msg wikimedia.org.

Reach out if you have any questions or concerns. The Movement Strategy and Governance team will be minimally staffed until January 3. Please excuse any delayed response during this time. We also recognize some community members and affiliates are offline during the December holidays. We apologize if our message has reached you while you are on holiday.

Best,

Movement Strategy and Governance

Thank you. Xeno (WMF) (discuss • contribs) 20:19, 27 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]