Hi fellow Wikimedians,
If we are seriously going to consider an expanded Community Council as an alternative to WMF BoT reform, we need to have a real discussion about what "devolution" would mean, and what specific responsibilities we think should be given up, and distributed to a broader community governance.
For example:
Should the WMF BoT devolve a non-core portion of the budget? How would the core portion be defined, and the non-core aspects? Should the WMF BoT devolve aspects of the approval or closing of sister sites? (Wiktionary, Wikidata, Wikinews, a potential genealogy project) Should the WMF BoT devolve aspects related to Wikimania and related regional meetings?
Thanks, Pharos
On Sun, Feb 28, 2016 at 12:43 PM, Emmanuel Engelhart kelson@kiwix.org wrote:
On 28.02.2016 15:53, Brion Vibber wrote:
I just want to split out a concept that came up in the big threads of the last few days:
Some members of the WMF Board of Trustees are giving strong signals
(like,
saying it outright) that the BoT can't fully take on the role of movement leadership or community representation. Not because they think it
shouldn't
happen, but because structurally and legally and practically the board of Wikimedia Foundation Inc has different roles to fill.
I think we should consider what roles and structures we *do* want as members of the Wikimedia movement community. And I think we should think about that and talk about that carefully before rushing into details like board reform.
Perhaps we should explicitly accept WMF as a "first among equals" org within the movement, with specific roles like tech development and fundraising (or other emphases as well) while other orgs concentrate on different specific issues. Or even just "one among equals" that happens
to
have specialized in those roles.
This probably means we should think about "umbrella" structures to coordinate and represent and look forward.
And that's something we should *definitely* not rush into. If a mismatch
in
hopes for what the WMF BoT can and should do has been a factor in communication and leadership issues in the past, then it's very important we not make the same kinds of mistakes in any new structures that might
be
needed.
Delighting to read this. That said, the path to achieve this looks pretty challenging. Would the WMF be able to organize such a move and "give-up" parts of its duties/activities to better focus on core business?
Emmanuel
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