Edit 2019/Approaching the Climate Crisis as Wikimedians: 2024/Main Page

This submission has been designated as a lightning talk at WikiConference North America 2019.

The Wikimedia movement has become the defacto, core platform for accessing basic knowledge about the world, especially in the fields of science, where many of Wikipedia’s tactics for writing and communicating were based. Yet on topics related to the pressing climate crisis English Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia ecosystem are woefully incomplete or inconsistent. Through this workshop, we will facilitate a group conversation about how the North American community can work to improve the participation and engagement on these topics

Through this workshop, we want to guide participants through a positively focused conversation, that identifies and solicits new ideas around a number of core topics including: What are the best small actions for getting more contributors and community members engaged in communicating the climate crisis through Wikimedia? Where should we look for allies and new contributors? Where should we look for supporting the growing youth movement around climate change in the Wikimedia community? How should we support newcomers in communicating the climate crisis while also ensuring that they don’t get caught in the combative environment that led to the ArbCom sanctions on climate change?

Presentation slides

The structure of the workshop will include: A 15 minute introduction to the current state of articles and recent initiatives 45 minute guided group idea generation session, focused on generating and refining core ideas useful for establishing the space.