08-07, 11:00–11:55 (Poland), Tbilisi (7)
Language: English
This panel session will demystify the landscape of public policy advocacy within our movement. The session will start with a concise overview of key priorities and methods from the Wikimedia Foundation. Affiliates from around the world will supplement this overview with firsthand accounts of their own advocacy work. Attendees will learn the types of issues that Wikimedians champion and the multifaceted methods we employ, as well as key regulatory trends that we need to navigate in order to promote and protect our collective mission.
In 2023 the Wikimedia Foundation and affiliates engaged in significant policy advocacy activities in order to respond to governments’ desires to hold big tech to account, ensure access to information prevailed during crises, and help inform international organizations that were trying to establish global norms to govern online spaces like Wikipedia. As a result, the Foundation made grant funding available for public policy advocacy, engaged in processes at the United Nations level, and worked closely with movement partners. So what is all this work about? What does public policy advocacy mean? How is it different from advocacy? Who engages in policy advocacy, how, and to what effect?
This panel session will demystify the landscape of public policy advocacy within our movement. The session will start with a concise overview of key priorities and methods from the Wikimedia Foundation. Affiliates from Wikimedia Sverige, Wikimedia UK, Wikimedia Chile, and Wikimedia Ukraine will supplement this overview with detailed, firsthand accounts of their own advocacy work. Their stories will cover emerging trends and provide insights into how the movement can be prepared to face similar challenges in other countries. The core issues discussed will include disinformation during times of crisis, explaining Wikimedia's unique community-led governance model to key stakeholders, protecting Wikimedia in the face of online safety legislations, and showing-up as a defender of the free knowledge movement in discussions about AI. Attendees will learn the types of issues that Wikimedians champion and the multifaceted methods we employ, as well as key trends that we need to navigate in this advocacy galaxy to promote and protect our collective mission.
Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/live/kBr9tNEMA0k?feature=shared&t=4563
.
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?* –Onsite in Katowice
What other themes or topics does your session fit into? Please choose from the list of tags below. –
Ziski leads the Global Advocacy team's collaborations with volunteers and affiliates around the world to co-design advocacy campaigns and skill-building programmes so that our movement can better protect and promote free knowledge online. Grassroots energy is essential to the movement's policy initiatives, for those most directly impacted best understand their own local context and needs. To this end, she works closely with communications, community growth, and grant initiatives. She has been at the Foundation since 2021, lives in London, and speaks German and English.