myrmepropagandist

Is the #wikipedia in dire need of more cash? Their pleas are alarming--- but how are they really doing?

I've always been reticent to donate since I wrote so many articles for them and created "project afro" to improve the depth of coverage on people of the African diaspora--

For all this work I got very little support or kindness, mostly outright hostility. It was like a war to even get some articles to EXIST.

But, I also think the wikipedia is one of the last "good" parts of the internet.

Dec 10, 2022 at 3:52pmWeb
Show threadmyrmepropagandistDec 10, 2022

Whelp, they've marked the project as "inactive" I suppose I ought to go back in again and try to jump start it. But I have no time or energy-- on the other hand I have this fabulous book my mom gave me-- it's from her grad school days , a compendium of published papers in mathematics from black mathematicians -- comprehensive as of 1970...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_African_diaspora #blackmastodon #blackSTEM #blackmath #mathfolks

Show threadLes LoreDec 10, 2022

@futurebird I donate a small amount annually because I am NOT a content contributor & I think some parts of it are brilliant like wikimed

https://www.kiwix.org/en/wikimed/

WikiMed – Kiwix

Kiwix
Show threadDoug HoltonDec 10, 2022
@futurebird Thanks for raising awareness about this. It's unfortunately one of the paradoxes of open that goes even beyond #Wikipedia, including #Mastodon & the #Fediverse I think https://openfuture.eu/paradox-of-open-responses/how-openness-becomes-exclusionary/
90% of Wikipedia editors are male https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_bias_on_Wikipedia
95% of #OpenSource contributors on #GitHub are male, compared to 77% in industry overall https://www.wired.com/2017/06/diversity-open-source-even-worse-tech-overall/
Here's one article that lists 29 techniques to help support #inclusion https://thenewstack.io/hacks-to-help-open-source-leadership-support-inclusion/
#diversity #equity
How openness becomes exclusionary – Open Future

In his response to the Paradox of Open, Leonhard Dobusch describes the diversity deficits within open movements, offering a conceptual framework of exclusionary openness to more systematically understand and address it.

Open Future
Show threadChris CarlinDec 10, 2022

@futurebird Related: How successful is the fundraising strategy?

I want to see numbers, and it sounds like you do too, but I recognize that a lot of people find impassioned pleas to be more compelling than financial releases.

It's a puzzle of marketing, then: whichever message they put out will turn off one group but bring in another, and I have no idea which is more optimal for them or how well their strategic choice is working toward their goals.

Well, it's in their interest to get it right

Show threadPeterD 🇩🇪 🇨🇦Dec 16, 2022
@futurebird I donate every year and this year I donated twice. And they are still asking for more. Did a major sponsor cancel on them?
Show threadJames M Branum יעקב מתתיהו ☮Dec 16, 2022

@futurebird They need more volunteers, especially BIPOC folks.

My understanding is that they have plenty of $.

Show threadDr. Earhart Sampson PhDDec 21, 2022

@futurebird

I donated. I use it daily.

Show threadmyrmepropagandistDec 21, 2022

@Abby I donated blood instead.

(I think wikipedia is some of the best of the internet, but also deeply flawed--- something I will also soon be saying about this place too I expect. )