Groups
 | This page is obsolete. It is being retained for archival purposes. It may document extensions or features that are obsolete and/or no longer supported. Do not rely on the information here being up-to-date. See meta:Wikimedia user groups and Special Interest Groups instead. |
MediaWiki groups organize open source community activities within the scope of specific topics and geographical areas. They are Wikimedia User Groups that agree on a level of coordination in the MediaWiki context. As such, they extend the capacity of the Wikimedia Foundation in events, training, promotion and other technical activities benefiting Wikipedia, the Wikimedia movement and the MediaWiki software.
MediaWiki Groups are open to members of different specialties and levels of expertise. The richer and more diverse the better. Non-technical users willing to contribute and learn are welcome too! All groups commit to the Friendly space policy.
MediaWiki groups can request support from the Wikimedia Foundation and chapters in various forms.
Thematic groups
Thematic MediaWiki groups collaborate with their logical counterparts in the wider FLOSS community. They are global groups, collaborating online.
- They are in touch with communities within the same focus.
- They participate in events of the same topic.
- They promote related training and outreach activities.
- They help improving the related documentation in wikimedia.org.
- They collaborate with the related development teams.
- Eventually some of them meet at Wikimania.
Local groups
Local MediaWiki groups collaborate with Wikimedia chapters, See also Wikipedia meetups and other local communities related with Wikimedia, free software, free culture... Their focus consists in face to face activities:
- Organization of local events: meetups, training, hackfests... These events adhere to the WMF Friendly space policy.
- Participation in events held in their area.
- Distribution of merchandising.
- Promotion of local contributors to global MediaWiki and Wikimedia activities.
Also for non-English speaking groups:
- Localization of documentation and software following translatewiki.net processes.
Local groups must be really local. Starting points like e.g. Recife, Munich or Saint Petersburg are better than Brazil, Germany or Russia. If you miss a channel for regional coordination then consider requesting the creation of a regional mailing list and/or local mailing list.
Creating a group
You don't need anyone to propose a group, just yourself. To get it approved you must have at least three contributors.
Check Groups/Proposals for more details to create your MediaWiki group.