[Foundation-l] Where we are headed

[Anthere]

Gavin Chait wrote:
> The most immediate concern for the Wiki Foundation is less the idea of an
> office with furniture and windows, or even the difficulties of
> collaboration, mostly it is continuity.
> 
> At the moment the founders are involved.  They have an idea of what they
> want and how to achieve that.  There are now thousands of regular
> contributors who are influencing that direction.  There are millions of
> occasional contributors who muddy the edges.  How do you ensure continuity?
> 
> One of the first development organisations I worked in 15 years ago was a
> student-run endeavour at the University of Cape Town.  Every year hundreds
> of students volunteer and contribute to different projects.  Each project is
> run by older students.  Continuity is difficult where students graduate and
> leave each year.  Sometimes entire projects vanish when the students who
> know how to run them fail to come back.
> 
> The solution was to employ a small band of professionals whose task is to
> make sure that projects are properly budgeted and accounted for, keep track
> of how the different projects interact, and ensure that the overall emphasis
> of the organisation remains focused.  The professionals ensure consistency
> while the volunteers contribute fresh ideas, fresh thinking, new directions
> and lots of enthusiasm.
> 
> It has worked well for more than 50 years for this organisation.
> 
> Offices are far less important than continuity.  And the more you rely on
> volunteers, the more important it is to have a solid base of professionals -
> where-ever they may be. 

you speak a lot of sense.


Ant