Hi everyone,
I hope this finds you all as well as could be. It's been a while since I've sent a note out about movement strategy; so much has changed in the world since we started these conversations in 2017, including this global pandemic. Indeed, much has continued to evolve in our movement too, including the growth of the projects themselves and the continued expansion of the global community.
Against this backdrop, and on behalf of the working group members [2], the team of writers who finalized the content [3, 4], and the core team [5], I have the honor of notifying you of the publication of the 2020 movement strategy recommendations, now live on Meta-wiki [1].
*=== The 2030 strategic direction ===* As you recall, the 2030 strategic direction calls upon Wikimedia to become "the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, and anyone who shares our vision will be able to join us. This final version of the recommendations embodies an aspiration for how the Wikimedia movement should continue to change in order to advance that direction and meet the Wikimedia vision in a changing world.
They are also the culmination of a tremendous amount of work over many dozens of places, of many thousands of hours, by many hundreds of Wikimedians. They are the synthesis of your thoughts, critiques, insight, and hopes for our work. Thank you, all of you, who have contributed to this thinking about the future of our movement.
*=== What’s in the recommendations? ===* These recommendations clarify and refine the previous version, which was published in January this year. The team that finalized the content has done an impressive job of reviewing and integrating movement feedback, refining the recommendations, and making the language as clear as possible. The result is a 40-page document that outlines 10 recommendations for change in our movement, along with 10 underlying principles, a narrative of change, and a glossary of key terms.
These recommendations are intended to` guide our movement over the next decade. They are at a high strategic level so that the ideas are flexible enough to be adapted to different global and local settings and will allow us to navigate future challenges.
*=== How to review the recommendations ===* The recommendations are online in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Portuguese, and Spanish. We also have a summary available in Catalan, Dutch, Farsi, Hebrew, Polish, and Russian, and we welcome volunteer translation support for these and other languages.
We encourage you to read the recommendations in your own time and at your own pace, either online [6] or in a PDF [7]. There are a couple of other formats for you to take a deeper dive if you wish, such as a one-page summary, slides, and office hours, all collected on Meta [8]. If you would like to comment, you are welcome to do so on the Meta talk pages. However please note that these are the final version of the recommendations. No further edits will be made.
*=== What’s next ===* The focus of the movement strategy process will shift toward implementation. Originally, we had intended to meet in Berlin for the Wikimedia Summit to discuss and plan how we want to move forward. Due to the current global health crisis, this is unfortunately not possible.
Instead of a physical event, the Wikimedia Foundation is intending to host a series of virtual events that will help us transition to the implementation phase. The goal will be to produce a plan to begin the implementation — to identify what initiatives must come first, and in what sequence, and with what resources and support.
This series will not only address Wikimedia affiliates and the Wikimedia Foundation, but have a wider scope to ensure various parts of the movement are engaged in different ways. Planning has started, but it will take a few more weeks. We are mindful that everyone has been impacted by the pandemic in different ways, and we are therefore taking things one step at a time. We expect to share more details this month, and begin this work together through the summer and into the fall.
*=== Thank you ===* I want to extend my deep gratitude to every single person who has helped create these recommendations. True to the Wikimedia way, it is through the contributions of many that we have reached this milestone.
Working group members dedicated more than a year to engaging with movement stakeholders and developing the draft recommendations. On-wiki contributors took part in community conversations to share their thoughts on the content and help improve it. Affiliates and community organizers held dedicated events to discuss strategy and provided valuable advice throughout the process. Wikimedia Foundation staff and Board of Trustees supported and guided the process from the beginning. The writing team and the reviewers [9] worked tirelessly to revise and finalize the recommendations. Community and affiliate strategy liaisons facilitated countless discussions. Thank you all.
This work is remarkable, and I look forward to continuing on this journey with all of you to create the future of our movement together.
Yours, Katherine
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommen... [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Working_... [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Working_... [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Working_... [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/People/S... [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommen... [7] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_2030_Movement_Strategy_Rec... [8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recommen... [9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Working_...