Sue writes:
"Interesting thread, Itzik --- to be honest, I had forgotten that staff had
> been granted the right to vote regardless of edit count. I wouldn't be
> surprised if the only staff members who do vote are those who would qualify
> under the edit count requirement anyway.
>
> "Seems to me that rather than creating new exemptions from the edit count
> requirement, we might be better off to lower the number of edits required
> so that anybody who's demonstrated interest in the projects would qualify.
> If edits on meta, mediawiki, outreach, etc., qualify, and we were to lower
> the edit count requirement, then I think that would be inclusive of
> most/all contributors. Would something like that make sense?"
>
It makes sense to me. I think many thoughtful people recognize that the
edit-count requirement is a fairly weak metric of engagement in the
Wikimedia community. I also think the exemptions actually have reflected
the same recognition -- that someone who is not a dedicated editor may be a
committed and contributing member of the community in other ways than
super-numerous recent edits.
That there should be some threshold of engagement I think is necessary to
prevent capture of WMF board, but I'm not sure it needs to be as high as it
is right now.
FWIW, when I was on staff I did not vote for WMF board positions, even
though I could, because I thought it was important in the role I was
playing to recuse myself from engagement in the elections. I don't think
that reasoning would apply to all staff members, but it felt applicable in
my particular case.
--Mike
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Deryck Chan" <deryckchan(a)gmail.com>
Date: 29 Apr 2013 12:42
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Resignation announcement, and a parting remark
to everyone
To: <cfranklin(a)halonetwork.net>
Cc: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
See the footnotes on the FDC decision page. Both WMHK and WMCZ were
declared eligible at the time of submission, but the WMF subsequently found
new faults during the review period which they chose to use as convenient
excuses to disqualify these 2 chapters.
On 29 Apr 2013 12:33, "Craig Franklin" <cfranklin(a)halonetwork.net> wrote:
> I'd like to come back to this - if the entity was told they were eligible
> (which certainly looks to be the case from the public documents), when was
> it discovered they were not? Obviously, putting together an FDC
> application is a tremendous amount of work for a chapter, and if the effort
> was futile from the start, then the time that Deryck and WMHK put into this
> could have been better spent on useful programme work instead.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig Franklin
>
>
> On 29 April 2013 17:25, Thehelpfulone <thehelpfulonewiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 29 Apr 2013, at 07:52, Tilman Bayer <tbayer(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> >
> > > I'm not familiar with the case, but reading that page, it seems that
> > >
> >
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:WM_HK/Education_Toolkits_For_Li…
> > > might also have played a role for the FDC's recommendation?
> >
> > Indeed, yet it looks like there has been no (public) follow up by the
> paid
> > WMF grants staff for over a month. In addition,
> >
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim… to still be an eligible entity.
> >
> > Winifred/Asaf, please can you clarify whether WMHK is still an eligible
> > entity and what follow up was done after that message a month ago?
> >
> > ---
> > Thehelpfulone
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Thehelpfulone
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>
Please, see
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/04/29/redrawing-the-map-…
Worth thinking on the impact this can also have on Wikimedia projects when
it comes to the actual knowledge
divide<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_divide>,
mainly like Wikipedia, which aggregates knowledge in the form of a
encyclopedia through reliable sources.
This reminds me the reason why organizations like Article
19<http://www.article19.org/>were created (private communication with
a friend who worked there), where
a UNESCO report from the 80's already pointed out such divide (I have to
remember the name of the report).
To face this reality is a way for we try to learn what can be done in terms
of metrics on our global projects.
(Although I must tell my biggest concern now is that we from the global
south - or whatever you call it, maybe we could call the big fraction of
the world without access to knowledge - have access to scientific and
educational knowledge.)
Tom
--
Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful
than a life spent doing nothing."
I am very sorry to read this Deryck. I know how completely committed you
are to our movement and you have my sincere respect.
I hope that those with influence carefully consider the issues you raise,
and take a moment for doubt and serious review.
Fae (mobile)
Greetings friends,
As you know, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) helps to make
decisions about how to effectively allocate movement funds to achieve
Wikimedia’s mission, vision, and strategy. [1]. On behalf of the FDC,
I am pleased to announce recommendations for Round 2 of funds
allocations for the year 2012-13. [2] The WMF Board of Trustees will
make a decision on these recommendations by June 1, 2013.
This round, the FDC received proposals from four Wikimedia movement
entities for a total requested amount of 1.2 million USD. The FDC and
the FDC staff spent significant time reviewing all four proposals. The
FDC staff prepared materials for the FDC review, including analysis on
finances, grant compliance, and programs and presented an overview of
these findings to the FDC. The FDC members asked questions of the
entities on-wiki over the four-week community review period and
closely followed the community questions and commentary on the
proposals. The FDC recently met in Milan for three days (April 22-24,
2013) for an additional in-depth review and deliberation on all proposals.
To
learn more about the review and deliberation process, please visit the
recommendations page.
The FDC would like to thank all the entities that submitted proposals.
Submitting a proposal requires a tremendous amount of work. We'd like
to recognize the staff and volunteers that put so much time and effort
into creating the proposals, liaising with the FDC members and support
staff, and answering questions on the proposal page. We appreciate all
of their efforts.
We, the FDC, are still learning about the fund-seeking process. For
the next few months, we will be reviewing the FDC proposal process,
the FDC portal, and all the associated forms. We'd like to hear from
you about how you think we can improve (the discussion on this topic
started already during our feedback session in Milan, with many great
suggestions). We invite you, members of the community to provide feedback
about the recommendations and the process by providing feedback about the
FDC process on-wiki to the Ombudsperson. [3] The Ombudsperson will collect
this feedback and use it in our continuous improvement process.
For formal complaints about the recommendations, there is a separate
process that entities should follow. Any entity that would like to
submit a complaint about the FDC’s Round 2 recommendation should
submit it by 23:59 UTC on 8 May 2013 in accordance with the complaint
process outlined in the FDC Framework. The process is as follows: [4]
* The complaint should be in the form of a 500-or-fewer word summary
directed to the two non-voting WMF Board representatives on the FDC
(Jan-Bart and Patricio)
* The complaint should be submitted on-wiki, through the FDC portal
page designated for this purpose [5]
* These board representatives will present the complaint to the WMF
Board at the same time it considers the FDC recommendation.
* Formal complaints can be submitted only by the Board Chair of a
funding-seeking entity.
* Formal complaints must be filed within seven days of the submission
of the FDC slate of recommendations to the WMF Board (by end of day
UTC May 8)
* Any planned or approved disbursements to the organization filing a
complaint will be put on hold until the complaint is resolved.
* If the WMF Board's consideration of the complaint results in an
amendment of the FDC's recommendations (which is expected only in
extraordinary circumstances), the WMF Board may choose to release
extra funds from the WMF reserves to provide additional funds not
allocated by the FDC's initial recommendation.
* Other members of the WMF Board may participate in the investigation
if approved by the Chair of the WMF Board.
Thank you for all of your support over the inaugural year of the FDC's
work. We look forward to hearing your feedback.
On behalf of the FDC,
"pundit" Dariusz Jemielniak, (Chair)
[1]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_…
[2]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2012-2013_rou…
[3]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Appeals_regarding_FDC_process/201…
[4]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Complaints_regarding_FDC_recommen…
[5]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Complaints_regarding_FDC_recommen…
> Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2013 07:31:59 +0800
> From: Josh Lim <jamesjoshualim(a)yahoo.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Are chapters part of the community and
> board seats for affiliates?
> Message-ID: <56A3C552-D6ED-47BA-8EA2-E56F9A1B833B(a)yahoo.com>
>
> On Feb 23, 2013, at 4:27 AM, Fae <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The vast majority of volunteers like the idea that there is a Chapter
>> they can turn to to ask for help, or to get their idea for a project
>> reviewed, funded and looking "official". If a volunteer came to a
>> wikimeet with a brilliant idea for a project, but said they could not
>> stand the stupid bureaucracy of chapters, I'd say "excellent mate, you
>> go for it and I'll see what I can do to help with funding if you need
>> it."
>
> I'm inclined to believe that bureaucracy exists despite, not because of, chapters. As it is, volunteers, especially those from the Global South, can be classified into two types:
>
> 1. They're "detached": they're part of the community, but they don't know about the support options open to them
> 2. They're so involved in the community, they could care less about the "bureaucracy" (in my university, this is called "going down the hill", as my university is on a hill)
>
> Chapters aside, I'm in fact curious to know how many volunteers do know about the Foundation's grants system, or the research program, or heck, Wikimedia User Groups or Wikimania scholarships. Granted, it's a good thing that volunteers have options open for them whether or not they want to deal with the bureaucracy, but it's all for nought if they're left unaware of those options.
>
> Josh
>
> JAMES JOSHUA G. LIM
I just wanted to follow up on this and reinforce Josh Lim's point.
Yesterday, I spent several hours chatting with volunteers, seasoned and
new, at the Wikipedia Day that the New York City chapter put together:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Wikipedia_Day (thank
you, volunteers of New York City!). I was dismayed at how few people
knew about the Participation Support subsidies that they could apply for
to help them do outreach (more on that & related opportunities at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start ).
In my role helping MediaWiki sysadmins and developers, I often ask
whether they've heard of our conferences, our paid internships, our
online events, and so on. More and more of the undergraduate students
have heard of Google Summer of Code
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code_2013 , but graduate
students often don't know that they're eligible, and students in North
America and Europe often haven't heard of it.
I don't know the answer. Like Josh, I don't know how well our publicity
about these things is penetrating our volunteer communities, and I don't
know what level of penetration I would be satisfied with. I suspect
that others have better answers regarding what we've tried, what works,
and what we're doing next, and I'd love to hear them.
--
Sumana Harihareswara
Engineering Community Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello,
I have proposed a project to WikiMedia through Google Summer of Code
2013 internship program. The project is based on Central Search Engine
having capability to bind all the WikiMedia services till the date and
showing the results of search term on a common place with best possible
results being searched and sorted.
I have prepared synopsis on what the project is and how it is going to be
dealt. Its a tentative schedule so pardon any amateurish behavior I might
have reflected.
The link for the official proposal is :
http://www.google-melange.com/gsoc/proposal/review/google/gsoc2013/code_sid…
The link for my mediawiki user page is :
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Code_sid
The link for bugzilla report is :
https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47775#c0
Kindly visit all the stuff and do let me know if there is anything I have
left out in the process.
--
Siddhartha Garg
Dear all,
We have the pleasure to announce the hiring of 2 new employees and one long-term contractor in 2013. On the other hand, Chantal Ebongué, our Chief Administrative Officer, will leave her job at the end of July.
The three hiring are:
- Manuel Schneider, as Chief Information Officer and Event Manager, who has started on 1st January 2013 (so this announcement is long overdue !)
- Muriel Staub, as German-speaking Community manager, who will start on 1st May 2013
- Ilario Valdelli, Italian-speaking Community and GLAM manager, who will start on 1st may 2013.
Muriel Staub will be our new German-speaking Community manager a 50% position. Muriel is preparing a Master in Management, Organization Studies and Cultural Theory at the University of Sankt Gallen. The subject of her Master Thesis is "How does the use of Wikipedia affect the production and sourcing of knowledge at Swiss Universities". She has a strong experience as community manager for Apple, as well as having managed academic events as a personal assistant of the Chancellor and Vice President of the Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany.
Ilario Valdelli is hired as our Italian-speaking Community and GLAM manager, also a 50% position. Ilario has a Master in Arts and worked for many years in the IT field. He is a well-known member of the Wikimedia community; he is founding member of Wikimedia CH as well as a current Board member (he was of course not involved in the hiring process, and will not remain on the board when his new job starts). He knows very well the Ticinese community and has already developed strong partnerships with GLAMs in this area.
The Community managers will work actively with the German or Italian-speaking community to support them in accomplishing projects and get in touch with Wikimedia entities and officials. They help the community by gathering requests and ideas, communicating them to all relevant parties and translating information wherever needed. This includes support to bring formal requests and motions to WMCH by helping to prepare them, translate them and present them to the Board. It's their responsibility to make sure the community voices are heard inside the association and that activities and communications of Wikimedia movement entities are also replicated into the communities. As a GLAM Manager, Ilario will continue to contact GLAMs in Ticino and create various partnerships aiming to develop GLAM collaborations in Switzerland.
Manuel Schneider, another well-known member of the community, has been hired in January 2013 as a long-term part-time contractor to support Wikimedia CH with its technical infrastructure, help with technical questions in our projects and manage events. Manuel has been a Wikipedian since 2004. A co-founder of Wikimedia CH, he has technically supported both our chapter and the wider community for many years, helping in particular to organize several Wikimanias. Currently, Manuel has a lot to do working on our internal infrastructure (servers, backups, donation process, etc), but he should soon be able to spend more time supporting our actual projects, something that will benefit the wider community.
Chantal Ebongué is WMCH’s CAO since July 2012. She was hired as our first employee to make the step for professionalization and gave a more solid administrative basis to our association. Thanks to her, after almost one year, the results are positive : WMCH has 4 staff members, an office in Lausanne, the 2012-2013 fundraiser was a success, new projects have started or are in the, and reporting and communication have been improved even if it’s not perfect yet.
Chantal decided to resign from her position on July 31 2013, after having completed the transition phase. The success of Chantal's work can be seen by the increasing number of appeals we receive from cultural or education institution; the dark side of the success is that she has no time left for her for doing actual work on cultural or educational content, which was her initial motivation when joining WM CH. She will move to a new job where she will be able to create original work.
Chantal will support us in the hiring strategy for the next step and we wish her the best for the future.
As an important lesson, we are more than ever convinced that the professionalization of a chapter must go by leaps and bounds, and should involve several hirings at the same time. It is impossible for a single employee to handle the management of projects and the administrative overheads, especially during the setup phase. We also believe that we need a good balance between members of the community and "external" people: it is likely a good thing to have administrative staff who is not from the community, but he/she needs to be able to rely on a day-to-day basis on someone who knows the community, something impossible to achieve when hiring only one person at a time.
As such, while the limitation of growth for established chapters is certainly a good thing, chapters that hires their first employees should be allowed to increase their budget drastically at once (with appropriate oversignt, of course).
Charles
___________________________________________________________
Charles ANDRES, Chairman
"Wikimedia CH" – Association for the advancement of free knowledge –
www.wikimedia.ch
Skype: charles.andres.wmch
IRC://irc.freenode.net/wikimedia-ch
Hi,
After four months
After 6 years without employees, and 4 months of the recruitment process
(collecting resumes and interviews) I happy to announce that last month
WMIL hired Executive Director to support the increase in WMIL's activities,
projects, volunteers and professionalization..
Meet Dorit Shafir Dyamant:
Over the last decade she mainly worked at NGO's in a variety of roles: from
marketing through projects management and producing conferences. She have
MA degree in nonprofit management from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
and B.A in literature and comparative philosophy from University of Haifa.
As a student at the Hebrew University, she founded and produced for 6 years
the project "Words and poets' - an open evenings meetings for young poets.
She married to Itay, and mother to Marom and Shalev. And I quote her, "I
love to read three books at the same time, I write primarily for myself all
my life, and I fervently supports positive thinking and action based
sharing and cross-fertilization."
She will attend the ChapConf in Milan next week and I encourage her
colleagues (CEO/ED and any chapters representatives or WMF's staff) to meet
her, share tips and welcome her to our Wikimedia family!
Dorit email is dorit(a)wikimedia.org.il and she already been subscribed to
all the relevant mailing lists.
I will use this opportunity also to share our new website (we just launched
it today) - we still have lot of bugs to fix and text improvement, but as
most of you can't understand Hebrew, it will not really change a lot for
you :) (We will launch the English version in the next few weeks):
http://www.wikimedia.org.il
Regards,
Itzik Edri
WMIL Chairman