Hello SM list,

The month and a half week sprint that is the 2015 WMF Elections is starting in earnest in just under an hour with banners going up for all logged in users. The committee has been talking about how much of a role SM should play (if any) in the elections given the requirements to vote or run (300 edits, 20 in the past 6 months + some exceptions). However I know that we do have a large community following as well and some things may have other interest to different groups especially given the board's very large push for more diverse candidates this time including a letter from them that will be linked from the banner. I'd be very interested in people's thoughts.

For now (well once banners go up after 5pm pacific/00:00 utc):

@Wikimedia tweet about the diverse candidates from the community for the board (and possibly FDC) linking to the letter/Call for Candidates.

Interested in other thoughts that we've been throwing around:

Blog post about the Call for Candidates (I think this is unlikely unless comms really wants it and the Board doesn't want to do it. Likely to be less value add)
Social Media regarding voting/asking candidate questions (I think relatively likely but will bring up on the social media list and see what others think about it matching the audience of @Wikimedia)
Blog post about the election in general inviting people to ask the board candidates questions and vote when voting opens

I think this is the most likely blog post from the committee if the comms team is interested. It could be either from the Board or the Committee (bylined by the whole committee, Greg Varnum as volunteer Coordinator or me as advisor). Would probably go out at the start of the question period, possibly with some SM about it again at the start of the election and can talk about how many candidates we have (hopefully about their diversity) and inviting people to ask questions and to vote if eligible.

Blog post after the election talking about the process (also possible from either the committee or me, depends on what comms wants/we need and how the election went).

James Alexander

Community Advocacy

Wikimedia Foundation

(415) 839-6885 x6716 @jamesofur