[Foundation-l] The matrix, reloaded (movement roles, or who does what in Wikimedia?)

[FT2]

The thing is, I don't understand what it's saying, or that it is providing
any framework or useful information on the point of ""what roles exist and
who's covering them how", to the point I actually can't contribute. It
appears to say nothing.

I'm sure that isn't the case, but it is incredibly rare something is posted
as a community notice and I literally cannot make anything of it.

If a bare empty frame was created and users asked to fill it in, that would
be one thing. But the existing frame suggests some thought has gone into it
already. I just don't understand even the slightest, what thought that was
or what tentative results it reached.

By way of example, looking at the bare text of that page for "advocacy",
what conclusions were reached on who is covering what aspects of advocacy,
and to what extent, and what that area of operations involves? If some kinds
of advocacy will be handled by the office and others by chapters what
distinctions are important in that decision? Is advocacy (but not lobbying)
a major chapter activity or a minor one? Saying that WMF does do "advocacy"
and chapters "can but some might not wish to" is almost self-evident, so it
doesn't add anything knowledge-wise.

Ditto fundraising, what kinds of "support" is it initially anticipated might
be provided by "individuals"? And ditto what on earth does "business
partnerships" - "foundation" - "globally" mean and what does it say about
how business partnerships will be selected, created or managed, decisions
made about them, and choices about resources used on them?

Without that kind of level of data it's not possible to say whether the
conceptual structure being created is excellent, poor, has loopholes, can be
improved, or misses the point. It becomes a set of truisms or jargon.

FT2



On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 2:12 PM, Austin Hair <adhair at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 1:54 PM, FT2 <ft2.wiki at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Apologies for my unusual denseness here, but this matrix makes no sense
> to
> > me, and lacks any information needed for constructive improvement.
> >
> > What I'd be looking for is a description of what the role and
> responsibility
> > is, in each box. Knowing that Business partnerships/Foundation is
> > "Globally", or that Advocacy+lobbying/Groups is "Support groups", tells
> me
> > precisely zero of any value about any organizational matter, roles, work
> > needed, and so on.
>
> Well, that's sort of the point.
>
> It's the start of something that we hope to have extensive community
> input on—it's the first step, not the last. Thirteen people
> brainstormed over the course of a few hours two weeks ago, and we
> wanted to throw what we had out there so everyone has a chance to
> participate.
>
> The definition of "groups" is particularly vague, as noted in the
> description. It's not something that I expect to resolve this week or
> next, but with some help we might have it mostly clarified within a
> few months.
>
> If you have specific questions, let's discuss! There's plenty of space
> on the wiki, and I'm happy to address stuff on this list and make sure
> it's integrated into the main body of work.
>
> Austin
>