Årsmelding 2020/en

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  The Northern Sámi got a new layout in the spring of 2020, designed by Árvu on commission from Wikimedia Norge
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  Wikimedia Norge's diversity manager, Åsa Paaske Gulbrandsen (left) quit in August, and was replaced by Mali K. Brødreskift (right)
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  Wikimedia Norge's presentation about Sámi place names at the Celtic Knot Conference, 2020

Wikimedia Norge's work in 2020

In 2020, Wikimedia Norge has worked on anchoring the organization's goal of including knowledge and voices that are not yet represented on the Wikimedia projects. That means that diversity and equality work was the organization's angle of entry when it comes to choosing projects and applying for funding, choosing partners and what types of support systems we put in place for the communities. This work was in line with Wikimedia Norge's strategy and the international strategy work in the Wikimedia movement. In 2020 we started prioritizing and implementing recommendations from the international strategy work. In 2020, Wikimedia Norge wanted to be an even more visible actor in the work for diversity on the Wikimedia projects among contributors and in organizational structures of the Wikimedia organizations.

Wikimedia Norge's work in 2020 happened in the intersection between volunteer contributors' wishes and feedback, the international strategic direction and the goals we have made in cooperations with other actors. Under the umbrella of diversity, Wikimedia Norge's staff could unite these different approaches.

Wikimedia Norge's vision is to be a visible proponent of knowledge sharing and open access to information. The staff's mission is to support the contributors to the Wikimedia projects. These can be individuals, organizations or institutions that want to contribute to the projects or to free knowledge in general. The following four targets are listed in the organization's strategy:

• Wikimedia Norge wants to support and strengthen the big and enthusiastic community of volunteers, readers and contributors that the Wikimedia projects have
• Wikimedia Norge wants to increase the content quality of the Wikimedia projects, especially the ones in Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Northern Sámi
• Wikimedia Norge wants to increase the diversity amongst the contributors to the Wikimedia projects
• Wikimedia Norge wants to increase the contribution to free knowledge from government and civil society

These targets were reflected in the action plan and the budget that the staff worked from in 2020. The action plan is focused around three themes:

• Supporting volunteer activity: using various support structures and initiatives, we are working to support the volunteer contributors and cooperating organizations' efforts on the Wikimedia projects.
• Content on the Wikimedia projects: Through various cooperations, and together with volunteers, we are working to add content from underrepresented groups on the Wikimedia projects.
• Promoting free knowledge: We are working to promote everyone's access to free knowledge and welcoming new contributors to the Wikimedia projects.

More information about the organization's work and reports from 2020 can be read in detail here:

• Annual report in English for the July 2019–June 2020 period can be read here
• Semi-annual report in English for the July 2020–December 2020 period can be read here

Support structures Wikimedia Norge offers

Wikimedia Norge has offered a range of support structures for volunteer contributors during 2020. Because of the ongoing pandemic, some of these have been used less than in previous years. These support structures comprised wikigrants, covering travel expenditures, applying for press accreditation, dispersing access to Retriever (an online archive of all Norwegian newspapers), access to bokhylla.no from foreign IP addresses, sponsoring prizes for various contests (like Wiki Loves Monuments) and organizing wiki meet-ups. Less formal support is also given by email or on-wiki when contributors want to have feedback, to discuss ideas or resolve conflicts. The staff appreciates being contacted throughout the year!

Wikimedia Norge's offices are in Oslo, and because of this, a lot of our activities have taken place here. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we have had to move our activities fully online, including the general assembly. When the situation returns to normal, we will go back to holding the general assembly outside of Oslo every second year. The board of Wikimedia Norge has representatives from all over the country. The organization offers travel scholarships and wikigrants that can be used to arrange local meet-ups or for traveling to conferences. Wikimedia Norge are happy to assist with organizing events outside of Oslo if volunteers or partners request it.

The monthly meet-ups have been held digitally, with various subjects. One of the subjects that was raised in the fall of 2020 was the collaborative environment of the Wikimedia projects. A suggestion that was brought up was that the staff should organize a meet-up for Wikipedia administrators, which is under planning and will be held in March 2021.

Wikimedia Norge's projects

In 2020, we worked on two main projects: Gender imbalance on Wikipedia and the Sami project.
In the project Gender imbalance on Wikipedia, we have, for example, worked on a teaching program for OsloMet students, participated in the annual meeting of the museum network for women's history at the Women's Museum in Kongsvinger with a course in Wikipedia editing, and together with the National Museum prepared red link lists (lists of biographies of women missing from Wikipedia). In the Sami project, we have, for example, worked to create an image collection after the Reinbeitekommisjonen (1913)(reindeer grazing comission) in collaboration with the Sami archive and the National Archives and made a project on Sami place names from the Mapping Authority on Wikidata. As a part of this project Wikimedia Norway has participated in the work that resulted in a version of Wikipedia in a new language, enaresamisk Wikipedia and made a new design for Northern Sami Wikipedia. There is information on both projects on this page on Wikimedia Norway's wiki. We have a number of partners in both the LAM- and education sector in these types of projects. Examples of national partners are OsloMet, UiT Norwegian Arctic University, the National Library, The National Archives Services of Norway (at the National Archives and the Sami Archive). Examples of international partners are Wikitongues and Art + Feminism. One goal is to always ensure shared ownership of this work so that Wikimedia Norway alone will not ensure progress. We have also in 2020 had a number of annual activities we participate in, but some of these had to be either canceled or adjusted due to the ongoing pandemic. Some of these were Wikinobel, Giellavakkhu (Sami language week), WikiGap and the Research Days.

Throughout the year, we have gained useful experiences about which activities we have previously done physically that also work digitally, and which are more challenging to carry out. We will take these experiences with us into 2021, when we prioritize which activities we will carry out.

In 2020, Wikimedia Norway was granted a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation to conduct the conference Arctic Knot in June 2021. This is a conference that focuses on small languages ​​and Wikipedia and is a continuation of the Celtic Knot conference series, organized by Wikimedia UK and others in previous years.

Public relations

The organization works according its own communication plan which is published here. The employees make a simple measurement of the communication work in advance of each board meeting (quarterly, which can be read here. The communication plan lists these three goals:

1. Contribute to increasing knowledge about Wikimedia and Wikipedia
2. Contribute to recruiting more contributors to Wikipedia and a greater diversity of contributors
3. Contribute to getting more participants to competitions and events

There has been an increase in attention in the press where both volunteers and employees have been interviewed. Facebook is the priority channel for regular content sharing in addition to the blog at Wikimedia.no.

Wikimedia Norway sends out about 4 newsletters a year by e-mail and on Wikipedia with information about our work. Employees receive a series of emails each week from individuals, companies and organizations. The topic of most inquiries is mainly how to contribute to Wikipedia and how the content can be reused. It is a priority task for the employees to respond quickly to all inquiries.

Throughout 2020, the organization has received a lot of positive feedback on the communication work we do and the importance it has for updating the outside world and partners about our projects. We therefore see a good benefit from using the limited resources we have for this type of work. In 2020, we signed up for VU Kompetanse to become better at using social media. When virtually all of our work was moved to digital surfaces in March 2020, our efforts in social media became even more important, since we do not meet volunteers and partners at events, conferences or meetings. Wikimedia Norway had good and well-established collaborations at the beginning of 2020. This was one of the reasons why we could relatively easily change the way we work when society was turned upside down when the pandemic hit in February / March 2020.

Here are links to Wikimedia Norway's information channels: web page, wiki, blog, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

Volunteers and members

Wikimedia Norway had 119 members in 2020 (112 in 2019, 103 in 2018, 81 in 2017 and 68 in 2016) and mainly does not differentiate between support the organization provides to members and to other voluntary contributors. The various support schemes Wikimedia Norway provides has been used by both volunteers and members.

In 2020, we switched to using the CRM system Solidus for member management and communication. With the transition to Solidus, we have made it possible for membership fees and donations to be paid via direct debit, card payment, Vipps (a mobile payment application) and SMS.

Employees

The organization had 3 employees in 2020, divided on 2.3 positions until August 2020, and 2.6 positions as of August 2020. In addition, we have rented out an office space to an employee from Wikimedia Sweden as of May 2020. Due to Oslo recommending people to work from home , the office of Wikimedia Norway has been mostly empty since March 2020. The office could be used somewhat in the period August-October 2020.

The work environment at Wikimedia Norway was good in 2020. Having few employees has obvious advantages and disadvantages. It is a challenge working from home, and the employees look forward to being able to meet physically again. Working from home is an additional burden for new employees. The employees use various digital tools in their daily work to compensate for the fact that we cannot meet physically.

The work of the board

During this period, the board has had six meetings. Meeting agendas and minutes can be read here. With the exception of the first meeting in February, all board meetings have been conducted as video meetings. From time to time it is challenging not to be able to meet and discuss in real life, but we have had good digital meetings. Digital meetings have led to less travel and have made it easier to get all board members to attend meetings.

The co-operation between the board, the administration, the volunteers and the election and control committees has worked well during this period. The board has audited tasks and documents (overview of management documents) in accordance with the boards annual cycle. The board has participated in a number of digital meetings with the international network in connection with the strategy work and the development of the organization.

Financials

Budget for 2020 and quarterly financial reports for 2020 have been published here. The annual accounts for 2020 show a profit of NOK 432,253. Via these links the annual accounts for 2020 and auditor's report can be read. The finances of Wikimedia Norway are stable.

The financing of Wikimedia Norway came in 2020 from various support schemes we applied for (mainly project support), donations and membership fees, rental of office space, and payment for consulting assignments the employees did for partners. About 70% of the revenue we had in 2020 was allocated by the Wikimedia Foundation. The application for these funds can be read here. Funding from the Wikimedia Foundation is provided for the period July-June. For the period July 2020 – June 2021, Wikimedia Norway was granted NOK 1,970,000, the same amount as the year before. The funds from the Wikimedia Foundation cover the organization's operating costs.

In 2020, Wikimedia Norway was granted funding from the Norwegian Cultural Fund, Fritt Ord, the NUUG Foundation and the Norwegian Gambling and Foundations Authority.

Wikimedia Norway was also supported somewhat indirectly by borrowing premises for free, participating in conferences for free, having prizes for competitions on Wikipedia sponsored, etc. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the indirect support for Wikimedia Norway has been lower in 2020 than in previous years.

Gender balance in Wikimedia Norway

Among employees (including freelancers), the board, the nomination committee and the control committee, there were in 2020:

• 7 women and 9 men