[Foundation-l] Mission/Vision Statement

[Anthony]

On 1/9/07, The Cunctator <cunctator at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 1/6/07, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 1/5/07, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > > On 1/6/07, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > What happens when webpages are replaced by GopherNG? ;)
> > >
> > > Well, we're not saying anything about the web, we're saying
> > > "Internet". In that respect, "multilingual wiki projects" is much more
> > > tech-centric. But either seems fine with me; if these solutions become
> > > outdated, we will simply update our mission statement, as we've done
> > > before. It's the vision statement which should be timeless.
> >
> > Same argument applies. I don't see how the internet is important to
> > our mission. It's the best tool for the job today, sure, but it's not
> > our mission. Sure we can revise it.. but why bother mentioning it. Our
> > mission is providing effective support for the creation and
> > propagation of this free content. That we use the Internet is true
> > today, but it's not at all fundimental ... it simply adds length
> > without adding clarity.
>
>
> I would respectfully disagree -- some degree of specificity in mission is a
> Good Thing. The *vision* statement is deservedly as broad as possible. I
> think focusing on the Internet in the mission is good.
>
> We can offset the additional length by removing the free-beer aspects
> > of the current draft. I believe the free-beerness of Wikimedia itself
> > is a natural side effect of our mission of wide propagation but not in
> > and of itself a fundamental goal.
>
>
> Considering how many people in the world are poor, and that our intended
> audience is the whole world, maybe it should be a fundamental goal.

What percentage of those poor even have Internet access?  It seems to
me that Wikimedia content will *always* be available for no cost over
the Internet, and in fact the Foundation couldn't even stop this from
happening if they wanted to.  Granted, this content might not
necessarily be available *ad-free* over the Internet without
Foundation support, but this isn't even part of the mission as
currently stated.

Anthony