[Foundation-l] RfC: Mission & Vision Statements of the Wikimedia Foundation

[Erik Moeller]

Only one response so far? If there's no interest we might as well do
without a public referendum.

On 11/15/06, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Organizations often have a "mission statement" and a "vision
> statement". For a typical distinction, see e.g.:
> http://www.cfbroward.org/new/tips/1.html
>
> At the Board Retreat in October, we revisited our existing "Vision",
> which is: "Imagine a world in which every single person is given free
> access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."
>
> We also developed a mission statement from scratch. What's the point?
> Aside from uniting behind a set of key goals, it helps us to decide
> which activities fall within our scope and which ones don't --
> something that is not always easy, given the diversity of our existing
> projects and communities. Should we launch a WikiFoo project, or is
> Foo not part of our mission? Both the vision and mission statement
> will be frequently cited in future discussions of this kind, so they
> are relevant, and not just organizational fluff.
>
> After some further discussion, the Board has come up with the
> following Mission and Vision statements. I would like to invite
> comments on these statements, and perhaps we can identify changes that
> we can all agree on. I would also like to encourage you to propose
> alternative statements on Meta (see URLs below).
>
> The idea is that, after a discussion and editing period of at least
> two weeks, the Board will choose a version of the M&V statements.
> These versions will then be put forward to the community, for a simple
> "up" or "down" vote. If a statement reaches at least a two thirds
> majority of support, it will be implemented as such. If it only
> reaches a simple majority, further discussion and potential revision
> may follow, at the Board's discretion. A statement that does not reach
> a majority will not become an official statement of the WMF. The usual
> voting restrictions will apply (minimum participation period etc.) and
> will be announced together with the vote.
>
> A general note: Our mission statement is perhaps longer than it needs
> to be, and our vision statement shorter. But in these matters, we can
> be flexible -- the most important question is whether both statements
> meet the specific needs of _our_ organization and community.
>
> == Vision Statement ==
>
> '''Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge.'''
>
> Comment:
>
> One version from the Retreat contained the phrase "in their own
> language" at the end, but we removed that later--I made the argument
> that there are different ways to address language barriers, e.g. by
> teaching another language like English and then giving access to
> learning resources in that language. IMHO we should not explicitly
> endorse or reject any particular _strategy_ of knowledge dissemination
> in our vision statement. Rather, I suggested we could add a phrase
> such as "unimpeded by language barriers, socioeconomic status, or
> government censorship". This was seen as too negative. In any case, I
> feel that the simple adjective "freely" may be sufficient in order to
> convey the idea that we seek to make knowledge as widely available as
> possible.
>
> == Mission Statement ==
>
> '''The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage
> people around the world to collect and develop knowledge under a free
> license, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.'''
>
> '''In collaboration with a network of chapters, the Foundation
> provides the essential infrastructure and an organizational framework
> for the support and development of multilingual wiki projects and
> other endeavors which serve this mission. The Foundation is committed
> to making and keeping all information from its projects available on
> the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity.'''
>
> Comment:
>
> This is a slightly edited version from the Retreat, see the URL below
> for the original. It was important to us to emphasize that the
> relationship between WMF and its chapters, in general practice, is
> more one of organizations with different scope working towards the
> same goals, rather than a top down chain of command. The last sentence
> seemed important to emphasize the distinction between "free licensing"
> and "free access", both of which we are equally committed to.
>
> == Comments & edits welcome ==
>
> In the spirit of "stable versions", the M&V statements above can be
> found, as protected pages, on
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mission
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vision
>
> You can suggest changes in this thread, or edit the unstable versions:
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mission/Unstable
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vision/Unstable
>
> You are also encouraged to "fork" new versions if that becomes
> necessary due to lack of consensus on the wiki. Again, after at least
> two weeks, the Board will nominate the versions to be voted upon by
> the community. Let me know if you have any questions about this
> process.
>
> You are encouraged to translate the proposed Mission & Vision
> statements, and to carry this discussion into other languages -- see
> the language links at the top of the above-referenced pages to get
> started.
> --
> Peace & Love,
> Erik
>
> Member, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>
> DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise stated, all views or opinions expressed
> in this message are solely my own and do not represent an official
> position of the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of Trustees.
>


-- 
Peace & Love,
Erik

Member, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

DISCLAIMER: Unless otherwise stated, all views or opinions expressed
in this message are solely my own and do not represent an official
position of the Wikimedia Foundation or its Board of Trustees.