Congratulations Katherine. May the force be with you 😊
K.
On Friday, 11 March 2016, Jack Rabah <jrabah(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Congratulations Katherine! Mabrook.
>
> On Friday, March 11, 2016, C. Scott Ananian <cananian(a)wikimedia.org
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','cananian(a)wikimedia.org');>> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 9:59 PM, Katherine Maher <kmaher(a)wikimedia.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> We are committed to delivering the first version of the 2016-2017 Annual
>>> Plan no later than April 1st for community and FDC review
>>>
>>
>> It might be best if you can manage to deliver it on March 30th. ;) The
>> next day tends to be a bit foolish.
>>
>> At any rate: Congratulations! Let's hope this is the start of the
>> good-news potion of 2016.
>> --scott
>>
>>
>
> --
>
> Jack Rabah
> Regional Manager for Strategic Partnerships - MEA
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> +962-7777-07745 [Amman-Jordan]
>
> jrabah(a)wikimedia.org
> <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','jvargas(a)wikimedia.org');> (Skype:
> Jack.M.Rabah)
>
>
>
>
>
--
Kalliope Tsouroupidou
Community Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation
Dear all,
The deadline for nominations in the Affiliate Selected Board Seats process
passed on Tuesday, and 10 candidates have been nominated:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Nominat…
This is more candidates than any previous affiliate/chapter-selected
process, and I am pleased to note that 4 of the candidates are women and 5
are from countries not in North American or Western Europe. All candidates
who have received one or more endorsements from voting organisations by 23
March will be added to the ballot for the election.
While only Chapters and the single Thematic Organization have a vote in
this election, all community members are invited to participate by asking
questions to the candidates, here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016/Questio…
Help translating candidate statements into other languages is also much
appreciated.
(For more details about this process, please see here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliate-selected_Board_seats/2016 )
Many thanks,
Chris Keating
(one of the election facilitators)
Hello all,
I’m happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation leadership team has
proposed an interim Executive Director, and the Board has given our full
support. Starting on March 14th, current Chief Communications Officer
Katherine Maher (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF)) will
step into the role of interim Executive Director. We thank the C-levels for
their careful consideration in this process, and Katherine for stepping up
during this period of transition.
In choosing an interim ED, the C-levels started by identifying immediate
priorities for the coming months, including building trust, improving
communications, and filling key leadership positions. They felt, and we
agree, that Katherine is the right person to lead the organization while it
addresses these and other important issues. Additionally, this will allow
the rest of the executive team to focus on critical organizational
functions, including community and engineering management, fundraising, and
strengthening our human resources function. You can read more about our
process and thinking here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Marc…
Katherine has been with the Foundation as Chief Communications Officer for
about two years now. During that time, she has developed a versatile and
effective team that serves the needs of the organization and movement,
collaborating closely with other departments and the community. She has
thoughtfully introduced new capacities and led her team through
transitions, and played a critical role in shepherding the strategy process
and the annual plan, in collaboration with other C-levels. She is known for
listening to and empowering the people that she works with.
For those who don’t know Katherine, she’s been a longtime advocate for
global open communities, culture, and technology. She previously led
advocacy for the international digital rights organization Access Now,
where she worked on freedom of expression, access to information, and
privacy. She has supported the efforts of citizens and governments around
the world to deepen transparency and participation in her roles at the
World Bank, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and
UNICEF (where her team built wikis for youth participation in major global
issues). She is a member of the advisory board of the Open Technology Fund.
With interim leadership in place, our next step as the Board is to move
quickly to plan and implement the search for a permanent Executive
Director. We will be working together over the coming weeks to clarify
roles and responsibilities in this search, and identify the best way for
community and staff to participate. We want this process to be inclusive
and incorporate many voices. We look forward to sharing an update on our
progress toward the end of next week.
As interim Executive Director, Katherine will report to the Board. Geoff
Brigham will continue serving as Board Secretary, and Jaime Villagomez as
Board Treasurer, reporting to the Board in those capacities. As of March
14, Katherine's reports include the C-team: Geoff Brigham, Jaime
Villagomez, Maggie Dennis, Lisa Gruwell, Joady Lohr, and Wes Moran. The
Communications team will continue to report to Katherine for the time
being, with support from the leadership of Juliet Barbara and Heather
Walls.
Thank you,
Patricio
Translation notice - This message is available for translation on
Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/10_M…
--
Dear Katherine,
So glad to see you're going to be working with the BoT and WMF employees to
help us move forward! Also, quite relieved to see all this positivity on
Wikimedia-l, finally :-)
Wishing you and the WMF team success - it's apparent from the transition
update that things are moving in the right direction already.
All the best,
Ido
Hi people,
it's finally time to send your applications for the Community Village at
Wikimania 2016:
https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_village
And you can also start planning your meetups:
https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetups
Finally, remember that the calls for discussions, posters and trainings
closes on March 20, so you have 10 days left!
Have a nice weekend,
Ginevra
Wikimania Programme Committee
I think this is a brilliant idea, both personally and professionally. I'm
incredibly thrilled that I'll be (continuing to) work under Katherine.
Bravo.
--Ed
On Thu, Mar 10, 2016 at 11:15 PM, Rosemary Rein <rrein(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Thank you Katherine for your service and leadership at this critical
> junction for the organization and our community.
>
> Rosemary
> On Mar 10, 2016 6:56 PM, "Patricio Lorente" <patricio.lorente(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>>
>> I’m happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation leadership team has
>> proposed an interim Executive Director, and the Board has given our full
>> support. Starting on March 14th, current Chief Communications Officer
>> Katherine Maher (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Katherine_(WMF))
>> will step into the role of interim Executive Director. We thank the
>> C-levels for their careful consideration in this process, and Katherine for
>> stepping up during this period of transition.
>>
>> In choosing an interim ED, the C-levels started by identifying immediate
>> priorities for the coming months, including building trust, improving
>> communications, and filling key leadership positions. They felt, and we
>> agree, that Katherine is the right person to lead the organization while it
>> addresses these and other important issues. Additionally, this will allow
>> the rest of the executive team to focus on critical organizational
>> functions, including community and engineering management, fundraising, and
>> strengthening our human resources function. You can read more about our
>> process and thinking here:
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Marc…
>>
>>
>> Katherine has been with the Foundation as Chief Communications Officer
>> for about two years now. During that time, she has developed a versatile
>> and effective team that serves the needs of the organization and movement,
>> collaborating closely with other departments and the community. She has
>> thoughtfully introduced new capacities and led her team through
>> transitions, and played a critical role in shepherding the strategy process
>> and the annual plan, in collaboration with other C-levels. She is known for
>> listening to and empowering the people that she works with.
>>
>> For those who don’t know Katherine, she’s been a longtime advocate for
>> global open communities, culture, and technology. She previously led
>> advocacy for the international digital rights organization Access Now,
>> where she worked on freedom of expression, access to information, and
>> privacy. She has supported the efforts of citizens and governments around
>> the world to deepen transparency and participation in her roles at the
>> World Bank, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and
>> UNICEF (where her team built wikis for youth participation in major global
>> issues). She is a member of the advisory board of the Open Technology Fund.
>>
>> With interim leadership in place, our next step as the Board is to move
>> quickly to plan and implement the search for a permanent Executive
>> Director. We will be working together over the coming weeks to clarify
>> roles and responsibilities in this search, and identify the best way for
>> community and staff to participate. We want this process to be inclusive
>> and incorporate many voices. We look forward to sharing an update on our
>> progress toward the end of next week.
>>
>> As interim Executive Director, Katherine will report to the Board. Geoff
>> Brigham will continue serving as Board Secretary, and Jaime Villagomez as
>> Board Treasurer, reporting to the Board in those capacities. As of March
>> 14, Katherine's reports include the C-team: Geoff Brigham, Jaime
>> Villagomez, Maggie Dennis, Lisa Gruwell, Joady Lohr, and Wes Moran. The
>> Communications team will continue to report to Katherine for the time
>> being, with support from the leadership of Juliet Barbara and Heather
>> Walls.
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Patricio
>>
>> Translation notice - This message is available for translation on
>> Meta-Wiki:
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/10_M…
>> --
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Wmfall mailing list
>> Wmfall(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wmfall
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Wmfall mailing list
> Wmfall(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wmfall
>
>
--
Ed Erhart
Editorial Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
Below is a message Jimmy Wales sent to James Heilman and myself on Feb. 29.
I mentioned the existence of this message on the list on March 2:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-March/082901.html
I feel this message can provide important insight into the dynamics
surrounding James H.'s dismissal, and various people have expressed
interest in seeing it, so I'm forwarding it to the list. (For what it's
worth, I did check with James H.; he had no objection to my sharing it.)
For context, as I understand it, Jimmy's message was more or less in
response to this list message of mine:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-February/082764.html
-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
*From: *Jimmy Wales
*Date: *February 29, 2016 6:21:46 AM
*To: *Pete Forsyth,James Heilman
*Subject: **A conversation?*
James, I wonder if you'd be up for a one on one conversation. I've been
struck in a positive way by some of the things that Pete has said and I
realize that moving things forward on wikimedia-l, being sniped at by
people who are as interested in creating drama as anything else, isn't
really conducive to reaching more understanding.
I have some questions for you - real, sincere, and puzzled questions.
Some of the things that you have said strike me as very obviously out of
line with the facts. And I wonder how to reconcile that.
One hypothesis is that you're just a liar. I have a hard time with that
one.
Another hypothesis is that you have a poor memory or low emotional
intelligence or something like that - you seem to say things that just
don't make sense and which attempt to lead people to conclusions that
are clearly not true.
Another hypothesis is that the emotional trauma of all this has colored
your perceptions on certain details.
As an example, and I'm not going to dig up the exact quotes, you said
publicly that you wrote to me in October that we were building a
Google-competing search engine and that I more or less said that I'm
fine with it. Go back and read our exchange. There's just now way to
get that from what I said - Indeed, I specifically said that we are NOT
building a Google-competing search engine, and explained the much lower
and much less complex ambition of improving search and discovery.
As another example, you published a timeline starting with Wikia Search.
It's really hard for me to interpret that in any other way than to try
to lead people down the path of the conspiracy theorists that I had a
pet project to compete with Google which led to a secret project to
biuld a search engine, etc. etc. You know as well as I do that's a
false narrative, so it's very hard for me to charitably interpret that.
Anyway these are the kinds of things that I struggle with.
Picking up on the mention of Suzie Nussel in the January 2016
minutes,[3] I could find no other WMF published information apart from
the minutes and the recently released powerpoint that /probably/
supported the presentation.[1] It's possible I missed some emails
about Suzie's appointment.
Presumably the strategy consultation supporting the WMF was an open
bid process and Suzie is the only consultant delivering on it. In the
spirit of openness, can the specification for the work (or open
invitation to tender) that supported the formal WMF contract review be
published please? It would be reassuring to understand the pre-defined
outcomes, and how large a piece of consultancy this is intended to be.
I cannot find a website for the 'Nussel Consulting Group', could
someone kindly provide a link? My assumption is that the Group has one
employee and is unrelated to the Nussel Group owned by the politician
Jim Nussle, apart from a coincidence of surnames.[2]
For transparency, I note that both Suzie and I have worked for AOL.
Links:
1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2016_Strategic_Approaches_Report.pdf
2. http://thenusslegroup.com
3. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Meetings
Thanks,
Fae
On 9 March 2016 at 19:20, Stephen LaPorte <slaporte(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The Board has published the minutes and resolutions from the Board of
> Trustees meetings in December and January 2016. You can find the Board's
> minutes on the Foundation Wiki:
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Meetings
--
faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
I think there are many different interpretations of what it means to "be a
high-tech organization", which makes it a difficult label to base arguments
around; readers will interpret it very differently depending on their
personal experiences and biases.
One view might concentrate on notions of "innovation", "excellence", or
"return on investment" achieved through super-smart people creating unique
technology -- this view associates "high-tech" with success, competitive
advantage, brand awareness/marketshare, and money (profit for traditional
corporations, or investment in the mission for non-profits).
Another view might concentrate on other features considered common to
"high-tech" companies such as toxic work environments, lack of diversity,
overemphasis on engineering versus other disciplines, disconnection from
users' needs, and a laser-focus on achieving profits at the expense of
long-term thinking. This view associates "high-tech" with social and
economic inequality and exploitation of employees and users for their labor
& attention to the detriment of their physical and emotional health.
And there are many, much subtler connotations to be found in between.
I believe a high-tech organization should invest in smart people creating
unique technology. But I also think it should invest in people, period.
Staff and volunteers must be cultivated and supported -- that's how loyalty
and passion are developed, and I believe they pay dividends in productivity
and recruitment.
Absolutely Wikimedia Foundation needs to build better technologies --
technologies to serve the needs of our editors, our readers, our
photographers, our citation reviewers, etc. This means Wikimedia Foundation
needs a good relationship with those people to research, brainstorm, plan,
develop, test, redevelop, retest, and roll out software successfully. The
people who represent Wikimedia Foundation in those relationships are its
staff, so it's important for management to support them in their work and
help them succeed.
It is my sincere hope that when the current crises are resolved, that the
Board of Trustees and the executive can agree on at least this much as a
shared vision for the Foundation.
-- brion