[Foundation-l] Call for Volunteers: Wikimedia Research Committee

[Erik Moeller]

Hello all,

The Wikimedia Foundation is looking for volunteers who would like to
support the management of relationships between Wikimedia communities
and the broader communities of researchers who study Wikimedia
projects. We hope to create a committee with volunteers from both
groups with a rich combination of skills and backgrounds.

Here are some areas of work that this new Wikimedia Research
Committee, with help from the Wikimedia Foundation staff, is intended
to explore:

* developing policy around researcher permissions for non-public data
* supporting the development of subject recruitment processes
* reviewing research projects when conflicts-of-interest arise
* articulating and channeling requests for data and technical resources
* helping to formulate the key strategic research objectives of the
Wikimedia movement (see strategy.wikimedia.org)
* helping to formulate small tactical experiments related to
Wikimedia's strategic goals
* developing an open access policy as a requirement for significant
support from the Wikimedia Foundation
* helping create a "starter kit" for researchers to avoid duplication of effort

To date, many of these issues have been handled by the Wikimedia
Foundation on a case-by-case basis, with various points of contact and
unclear responsibilities. The research committee will act as a first
point of contact for many, if not most, of these requests, and help us
to formulate processes and policy beyond the boundaries of projects
and languages.

We are estimating the minimum time commitment for membership in this
committee to be 2-4 hours per week.

To be clear, we are also hiring additional research and engineering
staff. This committee is intended to work in close partnership with
Wikimedia Foundation staff.

If you are interested in joining this committee, please write an
off-list e-mail response to <erik at wikimedia dot org> with the
following information:

1) Your name and background;
2) Explanation of your role and interest in research projects and/or community;
3) Key areas of activity you'd like to focus on as a member of such a committee.

This will help us seed the committee with a diverse group of
individuals. The committee can later be expanded beyond the initial
membership, once internal processes for doing so are established
(similar to the chapters committee).

We look forward to hearing from you. :-) Please disseminate this
message further where relevant. We will aim to respond to applications
within two weeks.

All best,
Erik

-- 
Erik Möller
Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate