Projekte/Strategy2017+

WMAT Strategy 2017+

Roadmap 2017+

As an association, we aspire to results-oriented management, i.e. we concern ourselves with the question of what we seek to achieve for our impact groups (communities, partner organisations, etc.) and in their personal and wider social environments by our services and activities.

In the summer of 2015, the board and staff of Wikimedia Austria (WMAT) began elaboration of a schedule for the coming years. In a first step, efforts focused on creating a basis for further discussion, in particular the definition of objectives and matching key figures for performance assessment. In a final step, during this year's strategy meeting, we set the course for the association's development until 2020. Ongoing activities were assessed in terms of their contribution to the achievement of these targets, and gaps and potential for further development were identified.

Our target vision for Wikimedia Austria in the year 2020 is an organisation …

• that develops and successfully implements fundamentally new ideas in the field of free knowledge,
• is perceived as a central non-profit institution in Austria in the field of cultural heritage digitisation,
• is regarded as a pioneer and reliable partner by communities and partners in the DACH and CEE regions and
• secures at least 25% of its funding from sources outside of Wikimedia Foundation.

In order to achieve this vision, we are dedicated to pursuing the process of professionalisation begun during the past strategy phase, i.e. the collaboration of volunteers and full-time professional staff. For the period until 2020, we expect a moderate growth in this respect of approx. 25-30% in terms of budget and employees. The bulk of this growth shall be generated independently of the Wikimedia Foundation through third-party funding.

Objectives and Key Figures

Volunteer Support

A diverse community of volunteers with a wide range of skills, a desire to get continually better at their work together and that offers a constructive working environment to existing and new users.

This programme serves to support and develop the Wikimedia communities. One focus is on German-language Wikimedia projects. In keeping with our mission, we also work together closely with other communities and organisations in the region and our immediate neighbouring countries. In order to promote sustainable structures in the Wikiverse on an international level, the programme also includes activities that facilitate the sharing and development of expertise concerned with project management, volunteer support and organisational development.

Goals

• Retaining existing and new volunteers
• Creating motivation for volunteer work and more responsibility
• Improving networking among volunteers
• Ensuring satisfaction among volunteers
• Building necessary skills for volunteer work (skill transfer)
• Promoting diversity and growth in the communities (relief)
• Representing the interests of the communities before third parties
• Improving conflict culture in the communities

Potentials

Currently, the greatest potential lies in the attraction and retention of new contributors. WMAT possesses effective means to spark the interest of newcomers for Wikimedia projects, but we must find more systematic solutions to motivate these potential volunteers to sustained participation beyond that. In the area of skill transfer, efforts are notably needed to spur regional growth, in order to include communities located outside of Vienna. Another important field of action identified is the active involvement in shaping a positive conflict culture, particularly in the context of our activities on non-administrative conflict resolution.

Key figures

• Number of new contributors
• Number of recurrent contributors
• Number of people involved
• Number of involved active contributors
• Number of active contributors who have not yet participated in WMAT activities
• Perceived appreciation by the association in community survey
• Satisfaction with the orientation of the association in the community survey
• Contribution of association activities to skill acquisition among volunteers

Free Content

Generating, opening and distributing multifaceted and valuable content that fascinates and engages Wikimedia volunteers, partners, and readers alike.

The programme is dedicated to the generation, production and distribution of free content. This is done both by the development of internal projects and the targeted establishment of partnerships, in particular with galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) and other public and private institutions involved in the area of cultural heritage.

Goals

• Increasing diversity (format (text, photo, video, audio) and content)
• Enhanced reader orientation
• Superior quality of content
• Creating multipliers of free knowledge through partnerships
• Increasing quantity
• More further use

Potentials

The greatest potential lies in the development of our partnerships with GLAM institutions - both in terms of opening contents and their potential re-use. Even more could be done in this area for the development of further (financial and staff) resources for our activities. Beyond this, the aim is to establish multipliers through the partnerships who independently advocate free knowledge in their institutions and industries. Another important question is how we could more strongly incorporate reader orientation into our project selection and planning.

Key figures

• Number of WMAT-sponsored media files
• Number of media files integrated into Wikimedia projects sponsored by WMAT
• Number of excellent media files (valued, quality, featured images)
• Number of new and improved articles through WMAT-sponsored writing competitions and edit-a-thons

Free Knowledge in Society

Creating collective impact on a societal level by working with and through others to achieve more impact than we could ever achieve alone.

The programme is divided into the three areas of public relations, political and social representation of interests and education. The aim is to generate awareness among the general public for the significance of free knowledge and to shape the regulatory environment in which free knowledge can grow.

Goals

• Increasing the visibility of Wikimedia projects outside of the communities
• Identifying relevant political fields in Austria
• Establishing Wikimedia Austria as an authority for socio-political issues around free knowledge
• Building and maintaining contacts to relevant members of parliament
• Building multipliers for free knowledge

Potentials

In the area of public relations, the development of personal contacts to media representatives and more individualised (addressing regional issues, taking into account media office target audiences) press relations provide significant potential. In the area of the representation of political and social interests, the primary goal is the more specific support of our EU activities at national and regional levels - by maintaining our independence of political parties and other political organisations. In the area of education activities, plans are to increase results significantly by a focus on scalability and replicability, without depending too much on own staff resources. Another area concerns cooperation with other organisations of civil society with a view to benefiting from synergies in the organisation of joint projects, on the one hand, and to achieve a higher publicity profile through joint presentation, thus establishing Wikimedia Austria as an authority in Austria civil society, on the other hand.

Key figures

• Number of media reports about WMAT activities
• Number of subscribers to our communication channels
• Number of partner organisations in our projects
• Number of events on EU level
• Number and quality of the contacts on EU level
• Scope of support for our projects through donations in cash and kind