[Foundation-l] Our values

[daniwo59 at aol.com]

Florence,
 
This is a very commendable email, and I admire its simplicity. The  values 
you suggest are instinctive to anyone who has been involved in the  projects for 
a while, but as Wikimedia grows, it is important to reiterate them  again and 
again for new staff and new project members, who have not been raised  on 
them. 
 
That said, I do have a couple of questions and hope that you can  clarify.
 
In a message dated 1/29/2008 5:06:37 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
anthere at anthere.org writes:

Our  community is our biggest asset
We are a community-based organization. We  must operate with a mix of
staff members, and of volunteers, working  together to achieve our mission.
We support community-led collaborative  projects, and must respect the
work and the ideas of our community. We must  listen and take into
account our communities in any decisions taken to  achieve our mission.


Question: "Community" has always been a mantra of our projects. As such, I  
was a bit surprised by an email exchange with Jay Walsh last week, in which he  
said: "I'm hesitant to use the word 'community' as much as I'm hesitant to  
call people 'audience.' In reaching out to communicate, so far at least, I'm  
more inclined to speak of users, editors, stakeholders, casual readers etc - 
but  this is my personal interpretation." I found his comment counter-intuitive, 
 given the nature of the projects to date, and wonder if you might clarify 
your  opinion on "community" and the terms used to describe it.



of service is a priority
We will try our best to give  access to high quality Wikimedia project
content 24 hours a day and 7 days,  as well as provide access to
regularly updated, user-friendly, and free  dumps of Wikimedia project
content.
To insure world-wide, unrestricted,  dissemination of knowledge, we do
not enter into exclusive partnerships,  with regards to access to our
content or use of our  trademarks.

Freedom
We make extra efforts to use only free software  on our own servers, and
to support open and patent-free media formats that  are viewable and
editable with free software.


Question: This was the subject of some debate last week, also on this  
mailing list. Are we committed "exclusively" to open and patent-free media  formats 
that are viewable and editable with free software?




Transparency
We must communicate Wikimedia Foundation  information in a transparent,
thorough and timely manner, to our  communities and more generally, to
the  public.


Independance
As a non-profit, we mostly depend on gifts  to operate (donations,
grants, sponsorship etc...). It is very important to  us to ensure our
organization stays free of influence in the way it  operates. For this
reason, we strictly follow a donation policy, reserve  the right to
refuse donations from a limited number of sources, and try to  multiply
the number of sources.


Question: As a charitable organization, it is easy to become dependent on  
the largesse of major donors, who could hold considerable sway over day-to-day  
operations. The answer is either to find an independent revenue stream or to  
create an endowment to ensure that basic costs are covered in perpetuity.  
Frankly, I am biased. I believe that "Independence" is the most important of  
these values--without it we will not be able to withstand challenges to all the  
other values. As such, what steps are being taken to ensure the Foundation's  
financial independence?
 
I believe in the values as you expressed them, and I am confident that the  
Board will vote unanimously in support of them. I am just curious about some of 
 the practical implications, and eager to hear your thoughts on them.
 
Danny



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