Dear members of the community,
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007. We will therefore hold elections for these three seats in the coming months.
As a nominated member of the Board of Trustees it has been decided that I will be the person who will be the contact for these elections within the Board. But the real process will be guided by an "election committee". Amongst other things, the Election Committee will discuss and explore:: 1) revisions to the election method and process 2) limiting organizational access to ongoing election records 3) technological measures to improve voting security.
At this time I would like to ask any interested volunteers to submit a brief summary of qualifications to volunteering@wikimedia.org. This summary should consist of your username, list of active projects, real name and a paragraph or two explaining the skills that you feel would benefit the foundation in the elections process. The deadline for applications is the end of Sunday the 13th of May (UTC).
There are only a few conditions to becoming a volunteer.
1) You are willing to spend the time in the next months working on the elections 2) You cannot run in the election yourself 3) you have not been a vocal supporter of one of the (future) candidates, and will not speak in support of any candidate 4) You may not vote in the election
Hopefully these elections will reflect the spirit within all Wikimedia projects and show an even more active and stronger community than the last time!
Jan-Bart de Vreede Vice Chair Board of Trustees Wikimedia Foundation
Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
Dear members of the community,
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007. We will therefore hold elections for these three seats in the coming months.
As a nominated member of the Board of Trustees it has been decided that I will be the person who will be the contact for these elections within the Board. But the real process will be guided by an "election committee". Amongst other things, the Election Committee will discuss and explore::
- revisions to the election method and process
- limiting organizational access to ongoing election records
- technological measures to improve voting security.
At this time I would like to ask any interested volunteers to submit a brief summary of qualifications to volunteering@wikimedia.org. This summary should consist of your username, list of active projects, real name and a paragraph or two explaining the skills that you feel would benefit the foundation in the elections process. The deadline for applications is the end of Sunday the 13th of May (UTC).
I suppose members of the committee have to be 18+ because of their IP checking abilities?
Thanks, Michal Zlatkovsky [[m:User:Timichal]]
As I understand it, this committee will not be in charge of handling the elections themselves, but rather be about _how_ the elections should be conducted. This because some changes are needed in accord with the 'fiasco' of last year's election. Wikimedia is becoming ever more visible, and I believe that this year's election will garner quite a lot of media attention, which makes it even more important that everything is conducted correctly (other than the obvious reasons of fairness, etc., of course).
In other words, I don't see any reason why committee membership should be limited to those over 18, if there is a good candidate that doesn't meet that criteria. ;-)
On 5/5/07, Timichal timichal@timichal.net wrote:
Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
Dear members of the community,
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007. We will therefore hold elections for these three seats in the coming months.
As a nominated member of the Board of Trustees it has been decided that I will be the person who will be the contact for these elections within the Board. But the real process will be guided by an "election committee". Amongst other things, the Election Committee will discuss and explore::
- revisions to the election method and process
- limiting organizational access to ongoing election records
- technological measures to improve voting security.
At this time I would like to ask any interested volunteers to submit a brief summary of qualifications to volunteering@wikimedia.org. This summary should consist of your username, list of active projects, real name and a paragraph or two explaining the skills that you feel would benefit the foundation in the elections process. The deadline for applications is the end of Sunday the 13th of May (UTC).
I suppose members of the committee have to be 18+ because of their IP checking abilities?
Thanks, Michal Zlatkovsky [[m:User:Timichal]]
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Jon Harald Søby wrote:
As I understand it, this committee will not be in charge of handling the elections themselves, but rather be about _how_ the elections should be conducted.
I realized this minutes after sending my original mail and was actually trying to write a clarifying follow-up before I saw your reply. :)
In other words, I don't see any reason why committee membership should be limited to those over 18, if there is a good candidate that doesn't meet that criteria. ;-)
Nevertheless, I'd like to know for sure whether there are any obstacles for the minors soon enough, so we can avoid getting last-minute bad news about this (cough cough, steward elections 2006 :-) )
Thanks, Michal Zlatkovsky [[m:User:Timichal]]
Hi All,
First point, this committee will be involved both in the how elections are to be conducted as well as the actual election procedures.
I am not sure how much actual access there is to private information and therefore, if there is a 18+ requirement. I will post this here in the coming days.
Jan-Bart de Vreede
On 5/5/07, Jon Harald Søby jhsoby@gmail.com wrote:
As I understand it, this committee will not be in charge of handling the elections themselves, but rather be about _how_ the elections should be conducted.
So why the real names requirement?
geni wrote:
Jon Harald Søby wrote:
As I understand it, this committee will not be in charge of handling the elections themselves, but rather be about _how_ the elections should be conducted.
So why the real names requirement?
Case A: They will only discuss what is needed for the elections. Unless we intend to use [[security by obscurity]], specially because we want to avoid last time problems, it should (must) be completely public. I'd propose a meta: page to brainstorm, or maybe a thread on the list. No need to put restrictions (real names, can't vote...) as it's widely known.
Case B: They are those who will verify the elections are "clean". The requirements (real name, +18... ) are appropiate.
Case C: These election committee will be the chief of the Election Officials and set their rules. At least on the beginning discussion should be public. I don't know if there will be on during the elections some case nobody else can know. Public discussion is ok for most of cases, even if they have the last word. Doesn't seem so important being +18 or not voting.
On Sat, May 5, 2007 19:05, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007.
I look back at [[Elections for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, 2005/En]] on meta and note that there were two Board members to be elected at that time, and that "We are voting for two positions. They will be elected for two years and there will be no distinction between them." At that "The election for 2005 now closed. Angela and Anthere were re-elected for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees".
However [[Board of Trustees]] on the Foundation site states "Florence Nibart-Devouard, Chair (term until June 2008)".
It would probably be sensible for all concerned (voters and prospective candidates) if clarification was made as to the manner, reason and timing of the - presumed - extension to Anthere's term was made unless this is a typo in the election notice given that her term was due to also terminate this year and I don't recall seeing a specific announcement of this change.
Regards
Alison Wheeler
I thought this was already announced in december or so? In my memory, correct me if I am wrong, the board has asked Anthere to extend her stay on the board with a year, as is I guess the right of the board. At that time when it was announced, I can not remember any protest on it, and I doubt there would be much problems with it. So I guess that you oversaw that announcement.
Lodewijk
2007/5/6, Alison Wheeler wikimedia@alisonwheeler.com:
On Sat, May 5, 2007 19:05, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007.
I look back at [[Elections for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, 2005/En]] on meta and note that there were two Board members to be elected at that time, and that "We are voting for two positions. They will be elected for two years and there will be no distinction between them." At that "The election for 2005 now closed. Angela and Anthere were re-elected for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees".
However [[Board of Trustees]] on the Foundation site states "Florence Nibart-Devouard, Chair (term until June 2008)".
It would probably be sensible for all concerned (voters and prospective candidates) if clarification was made as to the manner, reason and timing of the - presumed - extension to Anthere's term was made unless this is a typo in the election notice given that her term was due to also terminate this year and I don't recall seeing a specific announcement of this change.
Regards
Alison Wheeler
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
effe iets anders wrote:
I thought this was already announced in december or so?
Correct, see Anthere's mail here: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2006-December/025300.html
Michal Zlatkovsky [[m:User:Timichal]]
Alison Wheeler wrote:
On Sat, May 5, 2007 19:05, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007.
I look back at [[Elections for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, 2005/En]] on meta and note that there were two Board members to be elected at that time, and that "We are voting for two positions. They will be elected for two years and there will be no distinction between them." At that "The election for 2005 now closed. Angela and Anthere were re-elected for the Wikimedia Board of Trustees".
However [[Board of Trustees]] on the Foundation site states "Florence Nibart-Devouard, Chair (term until June 2008)".
It would probably be sensible for all concerned (voters and prospective candidates) if clarification was made as to the manner, reason and timing of the - presumed - extension to Anthere's term was made unless this is a typo in the election notice given that her term was due to also terminate this year and I don't recall seeing a specific announcement of this change.
Regards
Alison Wheeler
Nod.
The information you are looking for is here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_expansion
Copy below
Whereas the Board confirms its committment to expand the number of members on the board of directors It is hereby resolved that:
Hereafter, persons appointed to the board shall serve for a term of one year, which may be renewed.
Hereafter, persons elected from the community shall be appointed for a term of two years.
The board reaffirms its commitment to expand further in the coming years, and include members with a diverse set of talents, experience, and competencies, the majority of whom are elected or appointed from the community.
The terms of Jimmy Wales and Michael Davis will expire in December 2007. Tim Shell resigns effective 15 December, 2006. The board appoints Jan-Bart de Vreede to join the board to replace Tim Shell. (Term to expire 31 December, 2007) The board appoints Florence Devouard to serve until 1 July, 2008. The board appoints Oscar van Dillen and Kat Walsh to the Board to serve from 8th December 2006 until 1 July, 2007. The board anticipates elections will be held in June, 2007, for three positions, each for a term of two years. The board anticipates elections will be held in June, 2008, for three positions, each for a term of two years.
-------------------
When we wrote the resolution, we also expressed a desire to expand the board further (to 9 people). But we did not wish to make a firm decision on this point. The current board seems to agree that we should plan this expansion in the future months. It would be very likely 2 appointed seats, so that we can add more skills to the board. Timeline was not extensively discussed, but there is apparently an agreement that it could be between august and december.
Why not until august ? Essentially because we need to see who ends up elected, which skills will be missing, and because it would make sense to wait after Wikimania, where we are likely to meet and talk with many people. Why december ? Because it will be the time when seats of Jimbo, Jan-Bart and Michael are liberated.
I believe somewhere between these two dates would be best, to avoid too many members joining/quitting at the same time.
I will put such a decision on the agenda after Wikimania. Not anytime before.
On Sun, May 6, 2007 11:34, Florence Devouard wrote:
The information you are looking for is here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_expansion
Thank you for the clarification.
On Sat, May 5, 2007 19:05, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007.
should therefore read "Your elected representatives Florence Devouard (Anthere) Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007, however Florence Devouard (Anthere) has been approved by the Board to serve as an appointed member of the Board from July 1st 2007 to June 30th 2008."
Why december ? Because it will be the time when seats of Jimbo, Jan-Bart and Michael are liberated.
Wonderful choice of word "liberated" ;-P
Alison Wheeler
Alison Wheeler wrote:
On Sun, May 6, 2007 11:34, Florence Devouard wrote:
The information you are looking for is here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_expansion
Thank you for the clarification.
On Sat, May 5, 2007 19:05, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
As most of you know we will be holding elections for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees in the near future. Your elected representatives Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007.
should therefore read "Your elected representatives Florence Devouard (Anthere) Erik Möller (Eloquence), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage) and Oscar van Dillen (Oscar) all have terms that expire on July 1st 2007, however Florence Devouard (Anthere) has been approved by the Board to serve as an appointed member of the Board from July 1st 2007 to June 30th 2008."
Why december ? Because it will be the time when seats of Jimbo, Jan-Bart and Michael are liberated.
Wonderful choice of word "liberated" ;-P
Alison Wheeler
indeed :-)
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org