Illustration
Atelier Disko (atelierdisko.de) (Wikimedia Commons), CC BY-SA 4.0

Regionalization
Local spaces and hubs give Wikimedia projects a face

Volunteers in Bremen, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne und Munich (as well as in Berlin starting in 2017) meet in local spaces to plan shared projects and to grow together as a community locally. At the same time, they exchange ideas with other organizations that have similar areas of focus and are available for collaborations with regional institutions. In the process, new solutions, projects, and ideas develop that they implement themselves or with the support of Wikimedia Deutschland. The WikiMUC space, which opened in Munich in the spring of 2016, is already active at the regional level with Serlo (an open-learning platform), Kiron (higher education for refugees) and Start2Code (where kids learn computer programming).

Wikimedia Deutschland supports the globally unique concept of local spaces as a logistical and financial partner. This includes contract negotiations and payments for rent, utilities, and operating costs as well as funding for equipment, events, and public relations. The volunteers, as a result, can concentrate entirely on their activities. Wikimedia Deutschland regularly exchanges with them at events about the local work and supports them in evaluating it. In 2016, a total of 489 activities were conducted in local spaces and hubs. Among these, many events brought together volunteers, disseminated information about the Wikimedia projects, or actively contributed to them.