Wikimedia Clinics

This page documents an experimental Wikimedia Foundation program called Wikimedia Clinics, coordinated by the Community Development team, and archives the notes generated during the Clinic calls.

In these complex times of pandemic, and the coming complex times of post-pandemic, live human contact with fellow Wikimedians, even mediated through a video call, can be helpful, relaxing, and fun.  It can also offer opportunities to ask questions you have been meaning to ask but never got around to, or to explain complex situations that may be hard to articulate in writing.

To better support members of the community during this time, the Community Development team is scheduling open video calls where any active Wikimedian is welcome to attend and ask questions or ask for advice about whatever Wikimedia-related goal or problem they're working on. 

You can also just share what you're working on and invite feedback, even if you don't have a specific question. Or people can just connect to hang out, or to offer their own experience to the people asking questions.

These calls will be hosted two to three times a month (in alternating time zones, to accommodate as many people as possible).

Each clinic session:

• would be 70-90 minutes in length depending on topics presented and volume of conversation
• would have at least two Wikimedia Foundation staff members guaranteed to be present. They are not guaranteed to have the answers you need, but they are committed to helping you get them, even if not during the call itself, but as later follow-up.  
• would be summarized in an in-depth digest of the call that would be edited for clarity and available to all volunteers interested. These notes would link to any tools and resources mentioned on the call and will be shared on this mailing list and archived on Meta (below).

These calls are not replacing any existing channels or regularly-scheduled calls!  Every channel or call you are already using continues to exist.  No important announcements will be made on these calls, and no one should feel stressed or obligated to attend them.

Rather, they are a new form of live-communication open support calls, less narrow in focus than some of the existing channels (where only specific topics are expected), and, we hope, more approachable and welcoming for people not sure whether their question or dilemma is appropriate for one of the other channels.  

If these calls are found useful, we'll try to offer them in some other languages, to increase access to those not comfortable speaking English.

The Wikimedia Clinic calls are a Friendly space. Attendees are expected to:

• Listen with patience and respect.
• Share your experience, but remember others' contexts are very diverse, and may not match yours.
• Be of service to others on the call.

Based on feedback received so far, starting with Clinic #007, we have some pre-scheduled segments (so people can choose to attend if interested in those topics), but will still leave a good chunk of time in each call for people to bring up topics spontaneously.

The next calls are scheduled for:

• (the next call has not been scheduled yet)

Remember there's no particular preparation needed.  Feel free to join us with anything Wikimedia-related that's on your mind, or just to hang out.

In December 2020, the Foundation reflected on the program, and wrote up this retrospective.