08-07, 10:30–10:55 (Poland), Istanbul (10)
Language: English
Volunteer contributors successfully rose up to the challenge in the early days, keeping Wikipedia reliable amidst soaring societal demand for verified information, while being directly affected by the invasion themselves. But how does long-term adaptation to the ongoing war look like now that we’re almost 2.5 years into the full-scale invasion? What short-term stitches have proved relevant and what could be done to help the Ukrainian community survive the war in the longer term?
Russia’s war has had a profound impact on Ukrainian society and the Wikimedia community in Ukraine.
On the one hand, community members were directly affected by the invasion. Many people have had to flee their homes, some joined the Armed Forces or lost their job and source of income. On the other hand, reader interest on Wikipedia soared as Ukrainians were looking for reliable information in uncertain times.
In the first, most difficult months of the full-scale war the community successfully rose up to the challenge and kept Ukrainian Wikipedia up and running. Partly this was due to short-term stitches like fast-tracked decision making among the volunteer community (e.g. the practice of appointing temporary administrators under a simplified procedure).
Wikimedia Ukraine also proved resilient and has achieved remarkable results in the past two years, both keeping the vast majority of its pre-war programs and taking on new responsibilities like wartime community support. (See, for example, https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/02/01/wikimedia-ukraines-work-in-2023-in-10-projects/).
But the invasion is in its third year and shows no signs of ending soon. Long-term sustainability is at risk as the war continues to wear on the community, for example with new people getting called up to serve in the army and many Ukrainians not being able to return from abroad.
Thus, the objectives of this session would be:
* Give brief context on how Russia’s war in Ukraine impacted the wiki community in its early days
* Reflect on which short-term strategies have proved effective (and which haven’t) and what other communities can learn from this experience
* Discuss the challenges of long-term adaptation to the war
* Invite participants to think about the role of the international community in helping Ukraine weather Russia’s war in the long haul
Session recording: https://youtu.be/j4jFqkG8iHg?t=2682
Collaboration within the Ukrainian wiki community and across global Wikimedia communities has been crucial in the response to the war, and as part of its objectives the session aims to explore how to build on this collaboration and further develop it
What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?* –Everyone can participate in this session
How do you plan to deliver this session?* –Dialing in from a remote location
What other themes or topics does your session fit into? Please choose from the list of tags below. –Collaboration, Affiliates, Storytelling
I've been part of the Wikimedia movement since 2012. I'm Programs Coordinator of Wikimedia Ukraine where I lead the affiliate's programmatic work, such as content campaigns, editor recruitment efforts, and community support. In my volunteer capacity, I'm an administrator & bureaucrat on Ukrainian Wikipedia. I'm also a member of the Steering Committee of the Wikimedia CEE Hub.