On 1 November 2013 09:17, Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Dear Shyamal, and everyone,
I apologize for not responding in a timely manner to your question on the
Wikimedia Forum[1]. Since that thread is now archived, and because I don't
want to "bury" my respond, I'm responding here, on this list where most of
the people who care will read it.
To your question: Vishnu did ask me -- at the time (the delay is all mine)
-- about sharing the WMF and CIS agreement publicly. We will not be
sharing that agreement, on principle: not because there's anything secret
or damning in it, but because we do not want to create a misleading
precedent that may set the expectation that all WMF contracts are subject
to community review. This isn't, and cannot be, the case. We likewise do
not expect chapters or other partners to publicly share contracts.
That said, I am happy to answer the question that prompted you to want to
look at the agreement, viz. whether the community "really has the right to
complain about things like lack of discussions / transparency etc." -- the
answer is: yes, of course! The community is our ally in ensuring
meaningful work gets accomplished, in India as in elsewhere in the world.
We not only "allow", but _want_ the community to review CIS-A2K's work,
just like it reviews WMF's work (on more global/technical matters, e.g. the
visual editor), Wikimedia India's work, and any other group operating in or
around the Wikimedia projects.
Asaf,
One of the reasons I personally would want to push for more visibility on
the agreement terms is the spending that is being done on the salaries of
the people involved in the Indian program. There's not much disclosure on
these if I'm not mistaken. Or point me to it if there's any.
Starting from the earlier program director, the salaries allotted were mind
bogglingly huge when compared to the salary trends in the non-profits here
in India. The impression the volunteers involved in the community would get
obviously is that the spending has been free flow, and anything but frugal.
And considering the volume of spending, there's an impending question about
the fruitfulness of the actual work done on ground.
--
Hari Prasad Nadig
http://hpnadig.net
http://twitter.com/hpnadig
http://flickr.com/hpnadig