Dear all,

Sorry about the rather late reminder, but - thanks to everyone who has given feedback about these board seats. I'll be voting at the end of the week on Friday (aka the last minute) so if anyone else wants to send me your thoughts please do. If it is helpful, here is a useful scoring matrix from Wikimedia Netherlands which I intend to use, that lists some of the qualities it is good for board members to have:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Assessing_candidates_for_the_Affiliate-selected_Board_seats_of_the_Board_of_Trustees.pdf

I'll be looking at candidates with this tool myself.
thanks all!
Phoebe

On Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 9:57 AM phoebe ayers <phoebe.ayers@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all, 
The election cycle for Wikimedia Foundation board seats is open this year for affiliates: that is, user groups & chapters. The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that hosts Wikipedia & her sister projects, & they have a board of trustees that is partially composed of people from the Wikimedia community. This election is part of the process for choosing those people.

Wikimedia New England is eligible to vote in this election. The basic process is: 
* candidates were nominated / could self-nominate: (today is the last day!) 

* there are open questions/answers from each candidate that will be posted here: 

* voting will happen in late May. I volunteered to be the main point of contact for Wikimedia New England this year, which means I will be voting on behalf of the group. The total list of groups voting is here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2019/Eligible_entities

We don't have a process in our user-group for internal voting on candidates, as some user groups do, and I realize not everyone getting this message realizes that they might be considered part of a user group! (we also don't have formal membership, but if you are doing Wikipedia work in the New England area you can be part of the group if you want!). However, despite not really having a process, I don't want to vote on our behalf without talking to the other members of the group. What I propose is this: 

* take a look at the candidates (above) and email me (phoebe.ayers@gmail.com)  if you have a preference for or against any of the candidates. Two of the candidates are currently on the board and are running for re-election. 
* if you don't have a preference, but want to be involved/learn more about the election, let me know that. Let me know by the end of next week please. 

If there's interest in this process, I'll make some sort of local poll & convene a usergroup meeting in May. If there's no replies, I will consult with other active members of the group one on one and then vote on our behalf. 

Sound OK? Let me know if you have any questions. Also, I was once a WMF board member appointed through this process, so if you have any questions about the board in general let me know. 

cheers, 
Phoebe