Hello | مرحباً بكم | Olá | Bonjour | Hola Wikimedia-L,
Let’s Connect
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Knowledge_Sharing/Connect>would
like to invite you to participate in our second learning clinic on: “Mastering
the Capacity Exchange (CapX) Tool.”. The session will be in English and
simultaneously translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese and
Arabic. If you missed the first one, you can find the recording here.
<http://youtube.com/watch?v=0SY0mPaCy_I&feature=youtu.be>
Session date: Monday, October 30, 2025, from 17:00 to 19:00 UTC.
Location(zoom): Event registration link here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfy0HqUrZXnZMLRsxRLMzrAkBYyUuoASV7…>
. Once you register, the Google Calendar invitation will be sent.
CapX <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HycQ0aBQ7ck> is a platform that
enables easy connection with other Wikimedians, affiliates, and programmes,
facilitating the exchange of knowledge and information. As you are aware,
Let’s Connect registration and user profiles have migrated to the Capacity
Exchange platform <https://capx.toolforge.org/>.
If you are a Let’s Connect registered participant, then you will be able to
create your CapX profile and merge your existing Let’s Connect information
with just a few clicks. Below, we prepared a step-by-step tutorial
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QMZj_5BfhR8OkZKNBrcPcozs9NL8jmAMCCaS7hJ…>on
how to do it.
If you are a new member and have not yet registered for Let’s Connect, you
can now proceed directly to the CapX platform <https://capx.toolforge.org/>to
do so. Below you also find information on how to do it.
What should you prepare?
-
Sign up to Cap Exchange (CapX) <https://capx.toolforge.org/> if you
don’t already have an account and create your Let’s Connect profile on
CapX.
-
Read through the Capacity Exchange Meta page.
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Capacity_Exchange>
What will you gain?
-
By the end of this session, participants will learn how to navigate the
CapX platform and how to use it to form connections.
-
Participants will learn more about the partnership between the Let’s
Connect team and the Capacity Exchange team.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email the Let’s Connect
working group
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Knowledge_Sharing/Connect/Team>at
Letsconnectteam(a)wikimedia.org.
We look forward to seeing you!
Let's Connect Working Group.
Dear all
I'm very pleased to share with you all Wikimedia UK's latest Strategic
Report, for our 2024/25 financial year:
https://2025strategicreport.wikimedia.org.uk/
I also wanted to share three new board appointments:
*Douglas Scott* and *Ian Watt*, both active Wikipedians, were elected to
Wikimedia UK's board for the first time at our recent AGM.
In September we appointed a new Chair, *Lucy Yu*, who is a co-opted
trustee. You can read more about Lucy and her appointment here:
https://wikimedia.org.uk/2025/09/lucy-yu-wmuk-new-chair/
Finally, we also have two recent staff appointments, in brand new roles: *Dr
Lucy Hinnie*, part time Topics for Impact Coordinator; and *Dr Sally Latham
<https://wikimedia.org.uk/2025/10/sally-latham-joins-wikimedia-uk-as-educati…>*,
full time Education Lead.
Best wishes
Lucy
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
07803 505 169
*My pronouns are she/her and my name is pronounced like this
<https://namedrop.io/lucycromptonreid>*
Dear Wikimedians,
As the Mid-Autumn season arrives, it's a perfect time to reconnect and to
remind you that *Wikipedia Asian Month 2025* is just around the corner.
Wikipedia Asian Month (WAM) is an annual online campaign held every
November (to December) to promote the creation and improvement of Wikipedia
content about Asia across multiple language communities.
Over a dozen language communities have already registered for this year's
event on Meta-Wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Asian_Month_2025/Join_an_Event>,
and we warmly invite your participation as well.
*A Sneak Peek 👀*
- *The return of postcards*
- We’re bringing back the beloved Wikipedia Asian Month postcard
tradition.
This year, we are planing to invite individuals and communities to
contribute original artwork — your design could be sent to participants
around the world.
- By taking part in WAM 2025, eligible editors could receive a
physical postcard!
*Visit *WAM 2025 homepage
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Asian_Month_2025>
* to see how to join Wikipedia Asian Month.Join WAM 2025 and celebrate the
rich diversity of Asia with us!*
Sincerely,
Betty
[[User: Betty2407]] on behalf of Wikipedia Asian Month User Group
--
*-- *
*Betty Chang (She/her) *
*General Coordinator*
*Wikipedia Asian Month User Group*
Dear Wikimedians,
We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming *EduWiki Workshop:*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:EduWiki_Workshop_October_2025>*“Children
and Wikis
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:EduWiki_Workshop_October_2025>”*, a
practical and interactive workshop designed to strengthen our ability to
create child-friendly Open Education Resources (OERs).
*This 2-hour online workshop will provide guidance on:*
-
Recognizing children as a distinct target audience and integrating
children’s rights into our work.
-
Writing clearly and at an age-appropriate level for better comprehension.
-
Choosing images responsibly, with attention to ethics, safety, and
respect.
-
Why children need an encyclopedia and how Wikimedia can meet that need.
*Details*
- *Trainer:* Dr. Ziko van Dijk
- *Date:* 22nd October 2025
- *Time:* 04:30 PM UTC
- *Location:* Zoom
Please register via the event’s Meta page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:EduWiki_Workshop_October_2025
We look forward to your participation in this important session on making
knowledge accessible and safe for children.
Best regards,
Bukola James
Coordinator
EduWikiHub
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group/EduWiki_…>
This message is being translated into other languages on Meta-wiki.
العربية • español • français • português • 中文. You can help with more
languages.
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Octo…>
Dear all,
I am writing to you from Kyiv to follow up on the announcement made by the
Elections Committee on 21 August, and to share the list of candidates for
the 2025 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election. The voting period
will be open from October 8 - October 23 and we hope that everyone who can
vote will do so: you can check your voter eligibility here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2025/Voter_e…>
.
Based on the process outlined below, including mutual discussions with
candidates about their own wishes to advance further in the process, the
Board has unanimously decided that four candidates will be on the ballot
for the 2025 elections: Bobby Shabangu, James Alexander, Michał Buczyński,
and Wojciech Pędzich.
We encourage all other 8 eligible candidates who submitted their
candidacies this year to consider participating in future Board elections
or for other leadership and governance positions in the movement. One goal
of the Board is to develop these leaders for our movement, including
growing future Trustees, by identifying opportunities for all volunteers
who put their names forward for this and prior board elections.
The steps we took to improve our processes
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Board_of_Trustees_Candidate_Re…>
this year were based on more consistency and standardisation between how
all candidates are seated irrespective of their pathway to joining the
board (e.g., community-and-affiliate selected and board-selected). As in
past years, this included background checks, media checks, reference
checks, and an interview with members of the Board’s Governance Committee,
but this year this was all done before the voting.
The interview for any candidate joining the Board is used to assess more
subjective criteria like a candidate’s judgment, discernment, discretion,
and ability to engage in the duties and requirements of being a Trustee,
some of which can be complex and difficult to measure. These conversations
typically cover topics like conflicts of interest, fiduciary obligations of
Trustees, a track record of commitment to Wikimedia’s core principles and
values (e.g., upholding NPOV, managing COIs, etc.), as well as a
candidate’s understanding of the Board’s Code of Conduct
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Code_of_Conduct_of_the_Wikimed…>
and other governance policies, and what these policies require of Trustees.
This is based on best practices and process improvements as well as the
increased stakes of achieving our mission now and into the future. Now more
than ever, the Foundation needs a strongly unified board committed to
collective decision-making responsibilities that can help steer the
organisation and our movement through difficult global headwinds, and also
at a time in which we will have leadership transitions in both the Board
Chair and CEO roles.
This year, these steps were taken ahead of the community voting instead of
after. This change will ensure that all candidates on the ballot are ready
and able to be seated. It also helps avoid a situation where the Board is
unable to implement the outcome following the community vote. At the end of
the voting period on October 23, following the results and scrutiny of the
vote, the Board will vote to appoint the final two candidates at the
December 2025 Board meeting.
The process steps here explain how we arrived at this decision, including
subjective assessments true for any selection process. Our decisions relate
entirely to the factors listed above.
We invite your questions on the talk page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Boar…>
of this message on Meta, and are always available for conversations with
anyone who would like to speak with Foundation Trustees and executives
through the Let’s Talk initiative (sign up here on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>).
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
For French and Arabic, please scroll down.
.....................................................................................
Dear Wikimedians,
Earlier this year, the Wiki Loves Africa: Farm to Plate contest brought in
more than 30,000 incredible images to Wikimedia Commons — showcasing
Africa’s rich agricultural practices, food traditions, and the people
behind them.
Now, it’s time to take the next step: help us make these images easier to
find, search, and use! 🚜🥘🍴
We are excited to launch the WLA 2025 ISA Tool Campaign, where you can add
structured data to images related to:
-
Farming and agricultural products
-
Machines and tools
-
Food processing and cooking
-
Restaurants and food on plates
-
The entire journey “from farm to table” across the continent.
🛠️ What is ISA?
The ISA Tool <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool> is a
fun, multilingual game-like tool that allows you to add structured data
(“depicts” statements) to images on Commons. This simple step greatly
improves the visibility, accessibility, and usability of Africa’s visual
stories.
📅 Campaign dates
1st October – 30th November 2025
🚀 How to get started
1.
📺 Watch this short video on how ISA works: YouTube tutorial
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsUqDnsNKo>
2.
📖 Check this guide on how to use “depicts” properly: Commons:Depicts
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Depicts>
3.
🎮 Jump into the campaign and start playing here:
https://isa.toolforge.org/campaigns/421
Let’s celebrate Africa’s food journey together — and make sure the world
can discover it more easily!
.................................................................................
Chers Wikimédiens,
Au début de l'année, le concours Wiki Loves Africa: du champ à l’assiette a
permis de rassembler plus de 30 000 images incroyables sur Wikimedia
Commons, mettant en valeur les riches pratiques agricoles, les traditions
culinaires et les personnes qui les font vivre en Afrique.
Il est maintenant temps de passer à l'étape suivante : aidez-nous à rendre
ces images plus faciles à trouver, à rechercher et à utiliser ! 🚜🥘🍴
Nous sommes ravis de lancer la campagne WLA 2025 ISA Tool, qui vous permet
d'ajouter des données structurées aux images liées aux thèmes suivants :
- L'agriculture et les produits agricoles
- Les machines et les outils
- La transformation des aliments et la cuisine
- Les restaurants et les plats
- Tout le parcours « de la ferme à l'assiette » à travers le continent.
🛠️ Qu'est-ce que l'ISA ?
L'ISA Tool <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool> est un
outil ludique et multilingue, semblable à un jeu, qui vous permet d'ajouter
des données structurées (déclarations « depicts ») aux images sur Commons.
Cette étape simple améliore considérablement la visibilité, l'accessibilité
et la facilité d'utilisation des médiass africains.
📅 Dates de la campagne
Du 1er octobre au 30 novembre 2025
🚀 Comment commencer
📺 Regardez cette courte vidéo sur le fonctionnement de l'ISA : tutoriel
YouTube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsUqDnsNKo>
📖 Consultez ce guide pour savoir comment utiliser correctement les «
depicts » : Commons:Depicts
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Depicts/fr>
🎮 Lancez-vous dans la campagne et commencez à jouer ici :
https://isa.toolforge.org/campaigns/421
Célébrons ensemble le parcours alimentaire de l'Afrique et faisons en sorte
que le monde puisse le découvrir plus facilement !
.................................................................................
أعزائي الويكيميديين،
في وقت سابق من هذا العام، جلبت مسابقة ”ويكي تهوى أفريقيا: من المزرعة إلى
الطبق“ أكثر من 30,000 صورة مذهلة إلى ويكيميديا كومنز — تعرض الممارسات
الزراعية الغنية في أفريقيا، والتقاليد الغذائية، والأشخاص المسؤولين عنها خلف
الشاشات.
الآن، حان الوقت لاتخاذ خطوة تالية: ساعدونا في تسهيل العثور على هذه الصور
والبحث عنها واستخدامها! 🚜🥘🍴
يسعدنا إطلاق حملة أداة ISA WLA 2025، حيث يمكنكم إضافة بيانات منظمة إلى
الصور المتعلقة بما يلي:
-
الزراعة والمنتجات الزراعية
-
الآلات والأدوات
-
تجهيز الأغذية والطهي
-
المطاعم والأطعمة على الأطباق
-
الرحلة الكاملة ”من المزرعة إلى المائدة“ عبر القارة.
🛠️ ما هي أداة ISA؟
أداة ISA <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:ISA_Tool> هي أداة
متعددة اللغات تشبه الألعاب وتتيح لك إضافة بيانات منظمة إلى الصور على كومنز.
هذه الخطوة البسيطة تحسن بشكل كبير من ظهور القصص المرئية لأفريقيا وإمكانية
الوصول إليها واستخدامها.
📅 تواريخ الحملة
1 أكتوبر - 30 نوفمبر 2025
🚀 كيف تبدأ
📺 شاهد هذا الفيديو القصير حول كيفية عمل ISA: دليل YouTube
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLsUqDnsNKo>
📖 اطلع على هذا الدليل حول كيفية استخدام العناصر المصوَّرة في الملف بشكل
صحيح: كومنز:تصور <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Depicts/ar>
🎮 انضم إلى الحملة وابدأ اللعب هنا: https://isa.toolforge.org/campaigns/421
لنحتفل معًا برحلة الطعام في أفريقيا — ولنحرص على أن يكتشفها العالم بسهولة
أكبر
#PlayISA
#WikiLovesAfrica
--
*Donia*
WikiAfrica Hour Production Coordinator
& Wiki In Africa Tools Community Facilitator
This message will be translated into other languages on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…>
العربية • español • français • português • Deutsch• 中文
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…>
You can help with more languages
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…>
Hi everyone,
Since joining the Foundation I have tried to regularly write to you
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…>
here and elsewhere, and I wanted to share a few updates since my last
letter. In October 2023
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…>,
I reflected that we were in a period of compounded challenges across the
world with escalating wars, conflict, and climate reminding us each week
that global volatility and uncertainty was on the rise. That feels even
more true now. My instinct then was to ask us to make more time to talk to
each other and to try and pull closer together. This feels even more needed
now.
I noted that the return of in-person gatherings has been essential for a
subset of our volunteers, providing spaces for reconnecting, recharging and
working through difficult issues together in the same room. Foundation
leadership has also been working harder to share organizational news and
have individualized conversations on-wiki and in other digital forums. Our
goal has been to put more effort and intentionality into communicating the
right information, at the right time, and in the right way, even knowing
that we can never meet everyone's expectations.
Most importantly, we had to keep talking to each other – formally and
informally – throughout the year. This was the basis of an open invitation
to Talking: 2024
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…>,
an effort designed to listen intently to what is on your minds now, to
share progress at the Foundation, and to also reflect on the needs for
multi-year strategic plans. (A reminder that our priorities for long-range
planning
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…...>,
informed by movement strategy, are Wikimedia’s financial model,
product/technology needs, and roles/responsibilities.)
So far, Wikimedia Foundation Trustees, executives, and staff have hosted
130 conversations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
on-wiki, with individuals, and in small groups. These conversations have
stretched across all regions of the world. We have learned from
prolific community
members to recent newcomers, from technical volunteers to stewards, event
organizers, and affiliate leaders. Since these discussions were intended to
improve deliberations at the Board’s strategic planning retreat next week,
here is a summary of some of the feedback I've heard so far!
Continue focusing the Foundation on supporting product/technology needs. As
early as my first letter to you in January 2022,
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…>
I understood that the central role of the Wikimedia Foundation is in
enabling our projects, which is core to every aspect of our movement's
mission. This was reinforced in most of the Talking:2024 conversations that
we hosted over the last five months – from the need for the Foundation to
remain focused on upgrading technical infrastructure to supporting
volunteer needs for tool maintenance and metrics. Our annual planning
continues to center the Foundation’s product and technology priorities. More
deliberate conversations are taking place at the Foundation about what a
multi-generational view of Wikimedia projects requires of us all. For me,
this remains perhaps the most critical topic for our strategic efforts as
we make tangible and practical a mission
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Mission> that calls for
our work to continue in perpetuity.
Recent discussions on this mailing list remind me that we can’t get to
everything fast enough, but we continue to move more in the right
direction. Chief Product & Technology Officer Selena Deckelmann recently
shared
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/02/20/thinking-about-annual-planning-in-the…>
that: “In the last couple of months, we shipped changes that enabled a
better backbone for PageTriage
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:PageTriage>, and worked closely
with volunteer developers to ensure future sustainability. Going forward,
we have a number of initiatives ranging from projects like Edit Check
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Edit_check>, Discussion Tools
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DiscussionTools>, Dark mode
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/11/24/dark-mode-is-coming/>, Patrolling on
Android <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/Android>, Watchlist
on iOS <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS>,
Automoderator <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Moderator_Tools/Automoderator>,
Community Configuration
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth/Community_configuration>, the Wikimedia
Commons Upload Wizard
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Upload_Wizard>, and others.
We've resolved over 600 volunteer-reported issues in Phabricator in the
last 6 months, and we're using research methods that solicit prototypes
directly from volunteers
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Accessibility_for_reading/Commun…>
for informing typography decision making. And we're learning not just the
basics of font size and spacing, we're also getting important information
about context, devices and cultural aspects of the use of Wikipedia which
are vital for helping make our software easier to use as how people use and
access it changes (and it has changed a lot over 20 years!).” She has
also already
published draft objectives for the product and tech teams, and your input
and on-wiki comments are always welcome
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Ann…>
.
‘Human-led, tech-enabled’ means that the humans still lead. While tech
featured prominently in most of these conversations, there remains no doubt
that Wikimedia is a human-led movement (“It’s all about people.”). This led
to exploring even more solutions that can address a familiar dilemma about
how to balance the needs of existing editors with initiatives to welcome
newcomers (“It’s always the war between ‘we need to protect the existing
content’ and ‘do we care about new users with a tolerance for errors.’”).
While some shared wonderful stories of their own journeys (“I wanna say
that the Newcomer tools have been a really great project and very glad to
see that energy was expensed there”), there was vocal urgency about the
sustainability of the projects for generations to come (“We are sending
away people who could be helpful to the projects”). In this regard, several
discussions highlighted the value of the Universal Code of Conduct
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct>
as a “game changer” in signaling to all communities that they are actively
invited and welcomed to safely contribute to the mission of free knowledge,
while still acknowledging there is more to do (“It’s probably a good thing,
but I don’t know if it will solve what I have faced.”). I learned in my
initial listening tour that we have to make all contributions count
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Office…>,
and all contributors feel welcomed. I found that the Talking:2024
conversations deepened my own understanding of the peer support and
mentorship needed for volunteers to thrive as active community members.
(One example are these reflections
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Clovermoss/Editor_reflections> where
140 other editors participated).
Finally, our human-led values came up in several conversations about
Wikimedia’s role in shaping the next generation of artificial intelligence,
a topic of ongoing discussion in the world
<https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/magazine/wikipedia-ai-chatgpt.html?unloc…>,
in our communities <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Future_Audiences>,
and at the Foundation. This is complemented by ongoing discussions about
the role of AI-generated content on our platform by various project
communities.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Large_language_model_policy)>
A recent effort to contribute to a shared research agenda on AI
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Artificial_intelligence/…>can
be found here – including the need for more research to understand human
motivation to contribute to the knowledge commons – it was created by a
small group working in the open who rushed to publish a ‘bad first draft’
that will benefit from more input.
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Talk:Artificial_intellig…>
Can our financial model provide more certainty, and also force difficult
trade-offs? In my last letter,
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…>
I shared that future projections indicate that, for a range of reasons,
fundraising online and through banners may not continue to grow at the same
rate as in past years. We have several long-term initiatives underway to
help mitigate this risk and also diversify our revenue streams, including
the Wikimedia Endowment
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Endowment>
and Wikimedia Enterprise
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Enterprise>.
Over the past two years, we have slowed the rate of growth
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Ann…>
for the Foundation itself, while increasing financial resources
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Ann…>
that support other movement entities. The Talking:2024 conversations
provided a space for movement entities to share a need for multi-year
financial certainty in their support from the Foundation, which we will
take into our planning for next year. Other conversations highlighted the
need to continue prioritizing limited resources and being more explicit
about trade-offs (“[We must] use the money we have as wisely as we can”).
These discussions have already improved the thinking for the Foundation’s
current and upcoming planning cycles.
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/01/31/progress-on-the-plan-how-the-wikimedi…>
Movement roles need more clarity. The task of defining a Movement Charter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter> came
up in several conversations with contributors of all kinds. These ranged
from reflections about movement strategy recommendations and principles
(“Will it always be first come, first served in this movement?”) to
questions about the purpose of different structures (“What decisions do we
need the global council to make? Why are decisions moving from one center
to another?” “We are taking a hammer to solve this issue when they are
simple screws.”). Unsurprisingly, there were varying perspectives (“The
editing community in many regions doesn’t see an immediate benefit in
affiliates, hubs, or other governance structures.” “The community still
feels unheard by the Foundation.” “The good work that affiliates do in
certain regions is commendable, especially where those affiliates are
deeply engaged with the community.”)
And a deep recognition of the complex task at hand (“The community is so
huge and it’s hard to tie everyone together.” “How do we make change in the
movement in a way that is understandable and doesn’t scare people.” “There
has to be control and risk management with empowering the community,
inviting everyone, and trying to grow while protecting what we have
meticulously built over the past 23 years.”).
Considering the investment of time and resources going into the charter, we
need to make sure that this effort will provide us all with clearer
strategic direction on what is needed to serve the future needs of our
movement, and meet the expectations of a rapidly changing world around us.
The Wikimedia Foundation recently shared these questions
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Wikimedia_Foundation_…>
with the Movement Charter Drafting Committee to identify areas of key focus
and concern. We will continue to review and comment on new drafts as they
are produced in the weeks and months ahead. The Board of Trustees will
dedicate time at its next Open Conversation with Trustees on March 21
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
to talk more about this process and the Foundation’s hopes for a Movement
Charter.
+++
Talking: 2024 kicked off a useful check-in to hear how we are collectively
doing, and it continues. Your voice and contributions would help add to the
feedback we have already received—whether that is on-wiki, in 1:1
conversations, in small groups, in person. What we learn will continue to
inform the Foundation's long-term planning. Please consider joining a
conversation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…'s_talk>
.
For me, each conversation has been a reminder that what drives this
movement is the people. We remain at a pivotal moment, where the world
needs Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects more than ever. As one of you
shared, “I feel like there is a way because we have made a way, an
experience of community that connects people across the world.”
As always, I welcome your feedback either on my talk page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User_talk:MIskander-WMF>
or emailing me directly at miskander(a)wikimedia.org.
Maryana
Maryana Iskander, Wikimedia Foundation CEO