[Foundation-l] Questions about new Fellow

Fri Jan 21 06:36:06 UTC 2011

Thanks for introducing yourself Achal after so many years on the Advisory
Board. Dare I suggest, you add part of that introduction to your Advisory
Board page on one of the wikis. About the 5 year plan, dare I suggest you
get around to reading that one of these days, you're on the Advisory Board
after all.

Let me clarify something, the page thats being linked to by Erik Moeller is
a grant page, you are appointed as a fellow. I might be wrong on this but
none of the other fellows had to apply for grants or the majority of them
did not. Even the existence of such a process was unknown to most. The grant
in question, I have no issue with, you are more than welcome to pursue any
research you want, its your position as the fellow that I am concerned
about. You can't be on an advisory board and tell a non-profit organization
what to do as a pro-bono advisor to the board and then get paid by the said
foundation as a fellow a few years into your tenure, serving both positions
at the same time. This I believe, wreaks of impropriety, none of the other
Advisory Board members ever had or will have the same privilege I assume,
which is why I replied to this thread in the first place.

This is something that the Foundation should have checked and announced
before your appointment. In my opinion, you can have one or the other, you
can either be a paid staff member/researcher for as long as the foundation
employs you or you can be on the board as an advisor.

Also, from your and Erik's admission above, the scope of your involvement
seems to be far larger than I previously thought, encompassing the board,
chapters and "other kinds of affiliation that might usefully exist within
our world", this only heightens my concerns even more.

I hope others reading this realize the implication of your appointment. I
had no idea who you were before this, and still don't, its nothing personal
against you. Its the foundation I am bringing this up to, which I hope
realizes, is for their own benefit.

E. Forrester

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:56 AM, Achal Prabhala <aprabhala at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> On Friday 21 January 2011 07:26 AM, MZMcBride wrote:
> > Achal Prabhala wrote:
> >> Greetings,
> >>
> >> I'm happy to tell you a little more about myself and the scope of this
> >> short-term research project I'm undertaking, and I'm as happy to assume
> >> that you fully intended for your messages to come across as decorous and
> >> rational.
> > Hi. I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post. However, you
> seem
> > to have only replied, not responded.
> >
> >> I am, however, involved on a daily basis with all kinds of work that is
> >> related to the movement, and I'm delighted to be of use to you.
> > What kind of daily involvement? Is this work in your capacity as a
> > volunteer, as a member of the Advisory Board, or as a Wikimedia Fellow?
> >
> In all these capacities and more.
> >> Now to the project. I see that neither of you gentlemen has any thoughts
> >> on it, and I welcome your engagement.
> > I'll admit that I don't particularly care what you're working on. That's
> > approximately my attitude toward what the other Wikimedia Fellows are
> > working on as well.
> That's the spirit. And I've always felt that a waste is a terrible thing
> to mind.
> > I do care if you received the Fellowship for different
> > reasons than the other Fellows, though. I do care if there's the
> appearance
> > of impropriety or a conflict of interest (or worse, actual impropriety or
> > conflicts of interest).
> >
> > I'll repeat the questions I feel you haven't answered. You're obviously
> free
> > to not answer them ever, but I do want to make sure that your reply to
> the
> > opening thread isn't viewed as a response to most of the questions asked
> > about/to you.
> >
> > MZMcBride wrote:
> >> More importantly, is there a concern about an Advisory Board member
> being
> >> chosen as a Wikimedia Fellow? Is there a conflict of interest there? Is
> >> there a concern about the appearance of impropriety?
> >>
> >> Achal has a growing influence on Wikimedia, particularly its new
> operations
> >> in India. This has included being part of the hiring decisions, etc.
> This is
> >> more of a consultant role, making his selection as a Wikimedia Fellow
> even
> >> stranger. And his growing influence and power in such a big part of
> >> Wikimedia's five-year strategy is making people wary.
> > If you could answer some of these questions, particularly about what your
> > specific role has been in hiring in India, I'd really appreciate it (as
> > would many members of this list, I imagine). In your reply, you say that
> > you're involved "on a daily basis with all kinds of work that is related
> to
> > the movement," but also "that reports of my influence are greatly
> > exaggerated" [in the context of the strategy report]. These statements
> don't
> > seem to reconcile with me currently. And I never meant to suggest that
> you
> > were deeply involved with the strategy _report_, but with the strategy
> > _implementation_. There's a world of difference.
> >
> > If you've been involved with the hiring process in India, you should say
> so
> > outright as someone who's committed to openness and transparency.
> You're right. I should. But somehow, I assumed it was perfectly clear -
> not to mention open and transparent - after this report
> (
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_November_2010#India_planning
> )
> and this one
> (
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_December_2010#India_planning
> ),
> as well as countless other conversations that were had on the subject.
> >   If you've
> > been involved with site selection in India or whatever else, you should
> say
> > so. These are the things I'm hearing, but I've no idea what level of
> truth
> > there is to them. That's why I started this thread and that's why I'm
> glad
> > you've replied (though I'd be more glad if you responded). As E.
> Forrester
> > noted, there is a wariness among some Wikimedia participants that an
> inner
> > circle exists, but I think you might be able dispel some of this notion
> with
> > more candid responses.
> Settle down, my friend...going around in circles will make us all dizzy.
> Personally, I recommend half an hour of Pranayama
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranayama) every morning: it makes one
> feel calm and loving.
> > MZMcBride
> >
> >
> >
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