Thanks Asaf, I've updated WMAR website with the new presentation.
*Osmar Valdebenito G.* Director Ejecutivo A. C. Wikimedia Argentina
2013/8/29 Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org
On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, MZMcBride z@mzmcbride.com wrote:
The first section was removed? I got excited to see the term "Global South" with a line through it (in the agenda index), but I think I initially misunderstood its meaning.
No, the strikethrough was a visual cue that the _term_ "Global South" is emphatically not on the agenda.
The term "Global South" is pretty awful and deserves a quick death.
Agreed...
But based on the title of the presentation and this e-mail thread... I'm not hopeful that it's dead
yet.
...but what do we replace it with? This has been rehashed quite a bit, but no one has come up with a compelling alternative that's reasonably concise and is politically acceptable. (Personally I am happy with "developing world" and "developing nations", but of course those terms are euphemistic as well, and apparently no longer acceptable in some circles.)
I have stated before that the term, for us, is just shorthand for a list of countries, and we make no essentialist assumptions about some uniformity throughout all these countries. It is my understanding that most of the consternation (kittens dying etc.) the term causes is due to the assumption that we _are_ making an essentialist assumption and treating all GS countries the same. I hope it is by now evident we are not.
Once again, I find no point to debating this. All who _are_ interested are welcome to hash it out somewhere, and submit a consensual term (or a shortlist) to WMF for consideration. If a superior term arises, I promise to make an effort to adopt it across WMF. Until then, let's focus on the actual work rather than the nomenclature.
I'm a little confused about whether the ongoing programs in Brazil and India will continue. There's a note that reads "No WMF contractors on the ground any more", but it's unclear whether this means a discontinuation
of
the current folks. And the final slides focus on future engagements. Does the "no contractors on the ground" line mean only full-time staff will be working with (engaging with, if you prefer) areas in the future?
Full-time
staff and local chapter folks, I guess? And simply no Wikimedia
Foundation
contractors?
There are no WMF employees outside the US, so "no contractors on the ground" (in the GS context -- we still have engineers around the world!) means that (once the Brazil transition is complete -- this is in progress), no program work in the GS will be done by WMF contractors, but only by local partners (movement affiliates -- chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups -- and unaffiliated partners), some of whom would be WMF grantees.
Cheers,
A.
Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe