Hi, all.
I wanted to drop a few more thoughts as the hiring manager of the
particular role under discussion and the interim chief of CE.
First, as noted, the full scope of this role will be defined in conjunction
with the community consultation in strategy phase 2. There is a track for
Capacity Building in which the Foundation is an active participant, along
with many others. There is no plan to centralize all activities related to
Community Development within the Foundation. I personally wouldn't consider
that a good idea - we have different experiences and expertise and work
best when we work together. And there is plenty to be done. The Foundation
is already and has long been quite active in this area. In addition to
facilitating peer-to-peer development, Foundation staff have been directly
taking a role in training for years, from many specific sessions at
Learning Days <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Learning_Day_events>
to the dedicated Community Capacity Development program <
and many
other points between.
While I’m here, I’ll note that we knew that this particular job was going
to happen when we were writing the annual plan in January and February, and
hence we included it by name in our plan, but CE is organizing our
structures in ways intended to help us take on the new work necessary to
reach our strategic direction, while continuing to provide the core support
and services to which we are already committed. This will result in more
roles being developed under executive review and in accordance with Board
guidance for Foundation staffing. I imagine everyone here is familiar with
the “Work With Us” page at <
gt;. CE’s plans for work
done by these roles will be developed in conjunction with the movement
strategy, just as the plan for this role will be.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Maggie
On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 6:19 PM Nathan <nawrich(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with Ad and keyed on the same objection when
reading Pine's
complaint. The WMF has been the primary organization responsible for
developing the community since the inception of the Wikimedia movement.
That isn't changed by the titles of any particular position. To the extent
that conflicts of interest develop between the WMF and affiliates, I
question the objectives of the affiliates. Affiliates that fund Wikidata,
GLAM projects and other efforts that source significant volumes of high
quality content do good work. The value of edit-a-thons, "management
effort" dedicated to organizing organizations and paying staff and all that
entails and other soft efforts is less well established. I don't think the
creation of a management layer position over existing staff and work at the
WMF is a great moment to consider the pros and cons of these efforts,
however, whether at the WMF or affiliates. That opportunity is the strategy
development process.
On Sun, Jul 15, 2018 at 5:58 PM Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Ad,
I agree that WMF support for training can be beneficial (although, given
the choice, I would prefer non-WMF funding sources in order to minimize
conflicts of interest between community/affiliate goals and WMF).
However,
the more firmly that WMF tries to elevate itself
as the manager of the
wikiverse and to tell community members what to do, the more strongly I
object. Community autonomy should be respected, and WMF's purpose in the
wikiverse is to offer support rather than to assert centralized
management.
I have been thinking about these issues for a few days. I think that WMF
providing technical support and training, such as a document regarding
"How
to create a citation", is much safer than
non-technical training, such as
"How to apply notability guidelines" which may refer to policies and
practices that are almost exclusively established by community consensus
instead of WMF edict.
Regarding WMF involvement in community health, I think that there are
ways
that WMF can be supportive without placing itself
in control or asserting
leadership. For example, WMF can usefully and safely improve technical
tools for sockpuppet detection, and WMF can research the prevalance of
incivility on wikis over time, and WMF can research the effectiveness of
interventions that the community decides to implement.
Pine
(
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
-------- Original message --------From: Ad Huikeshoven <
ad(a)huikeshoven.org>
Date: 7/15/18 12:19 PM (GMT-08:00) To:
Wikimedia Mailing List <
wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Concerns
about WMF's "Manager of Community
Development" job posting
Dear friends,
Pine wrote "The idea of WMF placing itself in the position of managing
community development is problematic."
I disagree with Pine. It has been recognized in the past that community
is
the key asset in the movement. I do belief that
it is a fiduciary duty to
manage your key asset wisely and responsively. Editing / contributing to
Wikimedia projects has a radically decentralized nature. Your concern
regards paying due respect to that radically decentralized nature.
Community health has been or is an issue for example. I am very glad
there
is going to be a person leading a team of
professionals to provide
guidance
to volunteer leaders. And the person will have a
challenge to gain trust
of
the community, and to build trust within the
communities.
Have a nice weekend,
Ad
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
<mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
--
Maggie Dennis
Interim Chief of Community Engagement
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.