Dear all,
Please read below if you want to provide constructive feedback on improving communication from and about the Wikimedia Foundation. It is quite difficult to meet everyone’s communications expectations in every channel and format, so the goal is to keep trying new things to see what can be improved. The Wikimedia Foundation Bulletin [1] is an experiment to establish a more standardised format and cadence which would include headlines and links from the Wikimedia Foundation's technical work, and also work with communities, and affiliates as well as other stakeholders like readers, donors, regulators, the media and the public.
Past feedback that has informed this approach suggests that:
(1) regular top-line communication seems to be the best way to be connected;
(2) the communication should be with a known publishing frequency, and that any additional communication in between is only if something urgent happens;
(3) there should be links to other specialised newsletters, updates from the Foundation, and searchable archives of previous editions;
(4) and that this type of connection would be beneficial to avoid over communicating.
A new edition of the Wikimedia Foundation Bulletin is envisioned to be published bi-weekly. You can subscribe to the bulletin https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Global_message_delivery/Targets/Wikimedia_Foundation_Bulletin&action=edit&redlink=1 via talk page delivery on any Wikimedia wiki. Based on your feedback, a potential commitment to this form of communication would be planned for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The headlines would focus on the Foundation's work (including the Board) — planned office hours, meetings, ongoing public conversations, community feedback rounds, open issues, updates, etc. Regularity and predictability would also help the multilingual reach of our communications by helping all translators plan their time, knowing when something would be coming their way. It would also help the teams at the Foundation know when and where to share information into this aggregated source to be included in the bulletin.
This experiment described above is aimed at asking for initial feedback on the idea. If this experiment is successful, it can provide a single point of standardised and aggregated information from the Foundation with many links to more detailed sources. If the concept works, additional time and effort can be dedicated to making the format more attractive and functional; but if not, the Foundation will not go down this road, and can try something else. And apologies in advance about the design—or lack of it. There is interest in improving it further, but for a prototype, content and speed were prioritised over the form :)
As a note: regular communications from the Foundation will continue as they are while we all learn if the Bulletin is a better way to aggregate information.
So, please find here a page on Meta with a short overview of the concept itself: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Bulletin
And here you can find the first “trial” issue: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Bulletin/2024/06-01
Your feedback https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Bulletin&action=edit&redlink=1 is welcome on the concept itself, but of course, details and suggestions on anything from the design to specific words used would also be helpful!
As this is an experiment, this issue is published on Meta [1], here, and will be published on the English Wikipedia Village pump (WMF), to check the reception, what is missing, what is too much, and whether this is something to consider investing more time and effort into. But if you like this experiment and want to share it with your community, by all means, do translate it and post it where appropriate on your wiki, and let us know how it was received on the talk page [2] or email askcac@wikimedia.org!
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Bulletin [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Bulletin
P.S. There might also be an opportunity to talk about it at the next Conversation with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/2024-06-27_Conversation_with_Trustees on 27 June at 18:00 UTC.
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!*