On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Erik Moeller <erik(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 8:44 PM, Casey Brown
<lists(a)caseybrown.org> wrote:
"Advocacy" is a much more general term
in this context than people
seem to be taking it as. It does not mean lobbying or fighting for
something controversial with outside organizations. As I understand
it, it's the opposite: advocating to the Wikimedia Foundation on
behalf of the community.
Yeah, that's my understanding of the game plan here as well. I think
the announcement could have been clearer in that regard, but that's
pretty much what Philippe and Maggie have already been doing, and what
they'll continue to do in a structure that's set up for growth.
Sometimes we have a tendency to speak in management lingo when we
should be choosing simple, crisp & clear terms. Honest feedback: Burn
the chart on
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/LCA_Announcement
and draft a super crisp mission statement to slap on the first page
for this group. I know, I've been guilty of this as well -- no
criticism of the team. When working in an organization this kind of
communication style is often expected from you in day-to-day work, but
it's not necessarily helpful when communicating with people who have
very little time and interest to parse it.
I think the brainstorming page is a great start and hope it'll be
utilized and further advertised in coming days:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal/Community_Advocacy
Congratulations to Philippe and Maggie for their new roles. I think
it's about time that we're creating this structure, and I think it'll
generate lots of tangible value for the community.
Then my suggestion would be, rename the department.
I completely agree, it is about time Philippe and Maggie get more authority
and a dedicated department. I am happy for both of them. They actually do
and have been doing the heavy lifting for years when it comes to the
community. I would actually be more in favor of calling their department
the community department. ;)
Regards
Theo