Thank you for this important step towards stabilizing the WMF.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
>
> On Thursday, February 25, 2016, Maggie Dennis <mdennis(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Hello, all.
> >
> > I am delighted to announce that Katy Love has agreed to step into the
> role
> > of Director of Resources in the Community Engagement department, picking
> up
> > the baton so ably carried by Siko Bouterse before her. Katy has been with
> > the Wikimedia Foundation since January 2013, beginning as the first
> program
> > officer to work with the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC). I’m
> grateful
> > to her for moving into this role and am looking forward to collaborating
> > with her closely in WMF’s Community Engagement department.
> >
> > We will be hiring her replacement to oversee the FDC/full annual plan
> > grants program in the weeks ahead.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Maggie
> >
> >
>
Katy - lots of congratulations! You're going to do amazing things. Trust
me, I know...
It's been a privilege working with you on our APGs and in between - our
staff might be shy (or asleep, it's waaay past bedtime here) so I'll take
this opportunity to say that we at Wikimedia Israel have come a long way
and learned a lot as an organization under your guidance and with your good
counsel.
It's been tremendous so far, looking forward for the next round :)
Fondly,
Ido
Dear all,
I am honoured to announce, on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, the
recognition of a new Wikimedia User Group in the US: Georgia Piedmont
Wikimedians [1]
Among their goals are continuing to organize meetups of wikimedians in
the region (they have been doing it informally for a few years already)
and other activities like edit-a-thons, photo-hunts in Atlanta and other
areas, and collaborating with other organizations.
Welcome to the family!
1: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Piedmont_Wikimedians
--
"*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
Carlos M. Colina
Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 |
www.wikimedia.org.ve <http://wikimedia.org.ve>
Member, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
Phone: +972-52-4869915
Twitter: @maor_x
Something in Oliver's departure email caught my eye:
* "Because we are scared and in pain and hindered by structural biases and
hierarchy, we are worse at our jobs." (quoted with Oliver's permission)*
And that got me thinking. WMF, an organization that was built with the open
and community-driven principles - why have we became the classic example of
a corporate multi-level hierarchy? Should we mimic a living organism rather
than a human-built pyramid?
This may sound naive and wishful, but could we have a more flat and
flexible team structure, where instead of having large teams with
sub-teams, we would have small self-forming teams "by interest". For
example, someone decides to dedicate their 20% to building support for
storing 3D models in wiki. Their efforts are noticed, the community shows
its support, and WMF reacts by increasing project resourcing. Or the
opposite - the community questions the need of a project, and neither the
team nor WMF can convincingly justify it - the project resources are
gradually reduced.
An organism reacts to the change of its environment by redistributing
resources to the more problematic areas. Would small, flexible, and more
focused teams achieve that better?
At this juncture, I would like to repeat my recommendation that
Foundation employees to immediately join the Union for Non-Profit
Workers, IFPTE Local 70:
http://ifptelocal70.org/home/
Furthermore, the discussion concerning innovative ways to fund the
best long term editors through, for example, a new spin-off foundation
other than the WikiEd Foundation or something like http://arowf.org/
was supposed to be, gives me hope that there is an easier solution
than paying the best editors merely for accuracy review. However, I
don't think the donation pool would do a better job. Having said that,
I want to encourage additional brainstorming along those lines.
What if there was a spin-off Foundation with a mission to identify and
pay bonuses to the best long term editors?
Dear all,
I am honoured to announce, on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, the
recognition of the newest affiliate in Europe: Basque Wikimedians User
Group [1]
This new group is formed by wikimedians interested in promoting the
different Wikimedia projects in the Basque Country, and especially the
projects in Euskera, increasing the users' participation in them as well
as reaching out to cultural and educational organizations both in France
and Spain related to the Basque Country.
Ongi etorri!!
1: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Basque_Wikimedians_User_Group
--
"*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
Carlos M. Colina
Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 |
www.wikimedia.org.ve <http://wikimedia.org.ve>
Member, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
Phone: +972-52-4869915
Twitter: @maor_x
>
>
> I know this isn't easy - not on the Board, not on the senior staff, not on
> the staff, and not on Lila.
> I'm so sorry and sad for all of us where this has come to, and there is an
> enormous amount of goodwill and skill in supporting the board in moving
> forward and doing the thorough planning it needs to do from this point
> onward.
>
> Wishing you well always,
> Gayle
>
Well said, Gayle.
All the best,
Ido
Patricio, thanks for the update and thanks for all of your thoughtful
consideration and work on this issue. I know it's been a stressful time for
everyone.
I've left a note on the talk page, just want to make sure we capture the
notion that existing staff leadership such as team leads and middle
managers who work with both upper management, staff & the larger user
community be involved in capturing what sort of expectations and values we
need to hire for.
Recruiting and interviewing and hiring leaders is hard at the best of
times; it's doubly hard in weird hybrid
open-source-non-profit-company-community situations like ours. Take
advantage of the resources available to you in your staff.
-- brion
On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 10:50 AM, Patricio Lorente <
patricio.lorente(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear friends,
>
> This week, the Board of Trustees accepted Lila’s resignation. Her last day
> will be March 31, 2016.
>
> I would like to thank Lila for her efforts over these past two years, and
> her passion for our shared mission. Together, we wish her the best in her
> future endeavors and accomplishments.
>
> The Board of Trustees is meeting regularly to determine next steps. Our
> top priority is to develop a clear transition plan that seeks to build
> confidence with community and staff, appoint interim leadership, and begin
> the search for a new Executive Director. We will continue working closely
> together over the coming days, and will share an update next week.
>
> This work will require extensive collaboration by the Board over the next
> few weeks. Although we know you’ll have questions, it is likely we’ll be
> very focused on planning the next steps. We appreciate your patience and
> understanding during this time.
>
> Patricio
>
> TRANSLATION NOTE: This message is also posted on Meta at the Board
> Noticeboard for for translation. You can find it here:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/25_F…
> --
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately
> directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia
> community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
Best of luck to the Board moving forward with this process. You have a lot of work ahead.
Brad
> On Feb 25, 2016, at 1:50 PM, Patricio Lorente <patricio.lorente(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear friends,
>
> This week, the Board of Trustees accepted Lila’s resignation. Her last day will be March 31, 2016.
>
> I would like to thank Lila for her efforts over these past two years, and her passion for our shared mission. Together, we wish her the best in her future endeavors and accomplishments.
>
> The Board of Trustees is meeting regularly to determine next steps. Our top priority is to develop a clear transition plan that seeks to build confidence with community and staff, appoint interim leadership, and begin the search for a new Executive Director. We will continue working closely together over the coming days, and will share an update next week.
>
> This work will require extensive collaboration by the Board over the next few weeks. Although we know you’ll have questions, it is likely we’ll be very focused on planning the next steps. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time.
>
> Patricio
>
> TRANSLATION NOTE: This message is also posted on Meta at the Board Noticeboard for for translation. You can find it here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/25_F…
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> _______________________________________________
> WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list
> WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l