[Foundation-l] transparency or translucency?

[James Rigg]

I think transparency *is* about making everything public, and that the
Foundation is merely a semi-transparent organisation, and should at
least be open about not being a completely open. I don't know enough
about the Foundation and non-profit law to say whether the Foundation
could or should be truly transparent, but I do think it is wrong for
it to trade on the kudos of transparency when it is merely
semi-transparent. And similarly for the claims I read of it being
anti-hierarchical.

James


On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 3:50 PM, Jesse Plamondon-Willard
<pathoschild at gmail.com> wrote:
> James Rigg <jamesrigg1974 at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> It does seem to be the case that it has been decided that the earlier
>> ideals of *full* transparency and no hierarchy were naive and have
>> been abandoned.
>
>
> Hello James,
>
> Transparency is not about making everything public, but making as much
> as feasible public. I don't think anyone expects their employer to
> publish their pay negotiations or medical conditions, and I don't mind
> if there's no press release about the Executive Director's bad
> diarrhea day. Some aspects are less public than I would like (such as
> some committees' discussion), but overall the Foundation is pretty
> good at transparency.
>
> Hierarchy is inevitable within the Foundation (the Board of Trustees
> naturally has more sway than the janitor); no hierarchy is an ideal
> for wiki communities, where no editor has more decision power than any
> other regardless of access flags.
>
> I think there's room for improvement, but generally the Foundation
> fulfills its ideals relatively well. Ironically, it's the community
> itself that does more poorly in fulfilling the no-hierarchy rule;
> people seem to naturally fall into hierarchies even if you keep
> telling them they're all equal.
>
> --
> Yours cordially,
> Jesse Plamondon-Willard (Pathoschild)
>
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