[Foundation-l] 2008/2009 Wikimedia Foundation Annual Report

[Liam Wyatt]

Beautiful document. I like the ongoing calendar running across the bottom of
each page. It gives a sort of narrative structure. I also would like to know
what material the Wikipedia globe on the front page is made out of? Also,
has anyone contacted Naresh Sharma's teacher or parents (see the last page
of the report)? What a cute story :-)

Would it be possible to produce a version of the PDF that is single-page
like the previous report instead of double-page, to make for easier online
reading (rather than having to zoom in to be able to read the text, and then
scroll sideways)? I understand that  "It's primarily intended to work as a
print document" but perhaps you could place two versions online - the "print
version" and the "view online" version? You would probably have to leave the
double-page spreads (pages 7 and 12) as they are.

Finally, if there is still time for comment/changes, with regards to the NIH
section - should it be made more explicit that the chapters have the primary
responsibility for undertaking outreach activities "on the ground" - and
that the WMF allocates some of its program money for that purpose? It states
on Sue's Feb. report to the Board that "investing directly in staging
events" is an area the WMF will not
prioritise<http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Letter_to_the_Board_%28Feb_2010%29#Areas_the_Wikimedia_Foundation_will_not_prioritize>but
instead it wishes the Chapters to be the drivers of these kinds of
activities. So, in the context of highlighting the NIH event which was an
outreach activity the WMF ran, it might be useful to point out that the WMF
does not generally intend to be using its funding to undertake such
activities *itself* - but rather to use those funds to encourage chapters to
do so. I'm not suggesting removing the NIH example from the page, but
perhaps it could be clarified a little bit?

Best,
-Liam [[witty lama]]

wittylama.com/blog
Peace, love & metadata


On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 1:25 AM, Steven Walling <steven.walling at gmail.com>wrote:

> I read the Report earlier today as it was passed around Twitter. The design
> is really a step up from the last report (not that it was bad, just that is
> one is so good). The timeline in particular is helpful.
>
> I would like to say that the page about the Mumbai attacks article felt *
> slightly* out of context, at least compared to the amount of space devoted
> to it versus, say, the NIH Wikipedia Academy. Donors might benefit from a
> more frank explanation that the article was just one example of the
> projects
> as a source of breaking news and how our content evolves over time.
>
> Anyway, that's just some nitpicking on a pretty fantastic document. :) Well
> done!
>
> Steven Walling
> http://enwp.org/User:Steven_Walling
>
> On Fri, Jan 22, 2010 at 5:09 PM, Jay Walsh <jwalsh at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > In the next day or so Rand and the fundraising team will be sending out
> an
> > email to all of our donors (about 230,000 - thanks to a tremendous
> > fundraiser) recapping the campaign sharing our 2nd annual report, which
> you
> > can also read here:
> >
> > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Annual_Report
> >
> > As with our previous year's report, we make an effort to describe the
> > year's activities, our major accomplishments, our financial successes,
> and
> > where we're heading in the coming year/years.  This is a crucial tool for
> > our fundraisers and for building strong relationships with our major
> > stakeholders, and of course to let our chapters and our vast community of
> > volunteers get a snapshot of our work.  It's primarily intended to work
> as a
> > print document, and one that quickly presents top-line data and key
> > information, as well as a basic structured narrative about the Foundation
> > and our volunteer community's work.
> >
> > You'll note that our report is out later than last year, and this isn't a
> > pattern we'll duplicate :)  We did spend more time on design and
> narrative
> > this year, with the intention of bringing more depth to the story,
> > especially in features like the center-spread anatomy of an article.  We
> > also wanted to put more of a forward-facing direction on the report.
> > Optimally our report will always come out 2-3 months after the close of
> > fiscal, as soon as our audited statements are complete.
> >
> > There's still more good work to be done, but it's a big leap from last
> > year. This year's designers David Peters and Rhonda Rubenstein did a
> great
> > job (collectively known as 'ExBrook design' here in SF
> > http://www.exbrook.com/).  Lane Hartwell's ccbysa photos feature
> > prominently - she's been shooting our staff portraits for the last two
> years
> > (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photography_by_Lane_Hartwell
> ).
> >
> > We'll be starting work on the next edition in a few months.  About 1500
> > copies will be printed here in the next week or so.  We'll be sure to
> bring
> > copies to the chapter meeting and of course Wikimania.  We can ship some
> > copies out as well if there's interest (but in limited quantities only,
> it's
> > a pricy shipment after 10 locations :)
> >
> > Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
> >
> > --
> > Jay Walsh
> > Head of Communications
> > WikimediaFoundation.org
> > blog.wikimedia.org
> > +1 (415) 839 6885 x 609, @jansonw
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
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