[Foundation-l] WMF Chapter Development Director job posting

[Steven Walling]

When the Wikimedia Foundation runs a project, it should be obvious that such
a project can be easily understood from its perspective. For me the WMF is a
worldwide organisation and consequently its actions should be acceptable
from that perspective. When the WMF runs a "pilot" project like the current
public policy project, it should therefore conform with its global
perspective. Given that it is about SUBJECT MATTER whose appreciation
differs from country to country it is weird that no "foreign" universities
are part of this project. It is also easy to argue that from a cost point of
view, this project requires less funding when it is run in many other
countries. The fact that it is run only in the USA also has NPOV
implications.

Ever heard the expression, the perfect is the enemy of the good? I assume
you're referring to the public policy project in the passage above.
Everything you say is true. The program should be extended to universities
outside the U.S. for a long list of reasons.

But it is just a beginning and no group of people, whether it's the
Foundation or volunteers, can do everything at once. Let's not let
perfectionism get in the way of trying something useful that could later be
expanded and refined to work at scale and internationally.

Steven Walling

On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 12:19 AM, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Hoi,
> The USA is a sizeable country. But it is not unique in that. Russia is
> certainly bigger and India is certainly more populous. Both Russia and
> India
> have one chapter.
>
> When the Wikimedia Foundation runs a project, it should be obvious that
> such
> a project can be easily understood from its perspective. For me the WMF is
> a
> worldwide organisation and consequently its actions should be acceptable
> from that perspective. When the WMF runs a "pilot" project like the current
> public policy project, it should therefore conform with its global
> perspective. Given that it is about SUBJECT MATTER whose appreciation
> differs from country to country it is weird that no "foreign" universities
> are part of this project. It is also easy to argue that from a cost point
> of
> view, this project requires less funding when it is run in many other
> countries. The fact that it is run only in the USA also has NPOV
> implications.
>
> The issue is that when there is an USA chapter and this project was run by
> the chapter, such reservations would not be as potent. Mixing national and
> international priorities is not appropriate.
> Thanks,
>       GerardM
>
> On 23 August 2010 08:56, Keegan Peterzell <keegan.wiki at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I have to chime in to echo that the size of the USA and the fact that it
> is
> > populated throughout is an issue for a general USA chapter.  I attended a
> > meetup in Nashville, Tennessee, which had people from five states and it
> > was
> > a seven hour drive for me, and I was in a state next to it.  Going to DC
> in
> > January was equally interesting, I had to fly in to visit and that's not
> > even half a country away.  The US is a different creature, I have no
> advice
> > on chapter organization here.
> >
> >
> > --
> > ~Keegan
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan
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> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
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