[Foundation-l] roadmap for WM affiliation ; a name for self-identified affiliation

Wed Jul 13 18:13:44 UTC 2011

I had the same interpretation as Ziko.  Affiliate sites, in Alec's
language, want to indicate they share Wikimedian ideals.
Few such sites would want to become a Wikimedia-hosted project.

SJ

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 7:03 AM, Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> If I understand Alec right he wants a model wherein a project like
> WikiSomething can declare itself affiliated with Wikimedia:
> "We need a name for self-identified project affiliation. External
> projects needs to be able to claim, on their own initiative, that they
> are "part of" something."
> Of course, WikiSomething can say on its website "We like Wikimedia and
> share its goals", but the wording must not give the impression that
> there is an official link between both.
> The problem is that we don't want that anybody can decorate himself
> with the Wikimedia trademark and maybe abuse it. There must be an
> official recognition anyway from Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> Kind regards
> Ziko van Dijk
>
>
>
>
>
> 2011/7/13 Lodewijk <lodewijk at effeietsanders.org>:
>> I am not sure if this is about the same thing. I read Alec's questions as
>> being about content projects that want to affiliate themselves with
>> Wikimedia - want to become the new Wikimedia project. I know that in the
>> past this question has lived for example with OmegaWiki/WiktionaryZ . SJ,
>> would you consider this to be similar to Wikimedian groups who want to have
>> a slightly more formal relationship with the Movement?
>>
>> Lodewijk
>>
>> 2011/7/13 Samuel Klein <meta.sj at gmail.com>
>>
>>> We're discussing setting up an "Affiliation committee" to oversee
>>> simple, low-overhead wikimedia affiliates and associations.  These
>>> could be organizations 'under the umbrella' of free knowledge --
>>> requiring just basic review of their work and standards to confirm
>>> they are in line with our basic principles.  [1]
>>>
>>> Wikimedia Associations could be individual wikiprojects, clubs, or
>>> meetups run by one or more people that want to establish a lasting
>>> identity as part of the movement.
>>>
>>> Third-party wikis and larger groups could be Wikimedia Affiliates.
>>>
>>> Both could use web-badges and icons to identify them with the movement
>>> (derived from the WM community logo?).
>>>
>>> SJ
>>>
>>> [1]
>>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_roles_project/New_group_models
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 8:32 PM, Alec Conroy <alecmconroy at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > Prompted by discussions in another thread, I ask a related question--
>>> >
>>> > ;1--  A roadmap towards affiliation
>>> >
>>> > How should a currently-unaffiliated project go about becoming 'part
>>> > of' Wikimedia?
>>> >
>>> > One easy step they could take would be to simply  say, on their
>>> > website, "This site considers itself to be part of the Wikimedia
>>> > Movement".   (alternate text welcome )
>>> >
>>> > Later, a self-identified affiliate could be formally designated as
>>> > "part of the Wikimedia Movement" by the global community or the
>>> > foundation or both.
>>> >
>>> > Such recognition would have lots of benefits for the new projects that
>>> > share our values-- other WM projects would know to visibly link to
>>> > them whenever they have relevant content (as we currently do across
>>> > WMF projects).  We could permit access to the unified login, we could
>>> > allow template-sharing or image-sharing.  We could set up
>>> > interwiki-linking, and other interoperability functions.
>>> >
>>> > Such recognition would have even bigger benefits for us.   We could
>>> > get an affiliation with an established, successful project that shares
>>> > our values.  The kinds of project that we would build ourselves if
>>> > someone else hadn't already built it.   Their userbases and readership
>>> > would see get to Wikimedia as something larger than just WP, and it
>>> > would help cement public understanding that Wikimedia is a Movement,
>>> > very big, very diverse, and very special.
>>> >
>>> > ; 2--   We need a name for self-identified project affiliation.
>>> >
>>> > External projects needs to be able to claim, on their own initiative,
>>> > that they are "part of" something.    That something should be a
>>> > something that is connected to us.
>>> >
>>> > But self-identified affiliation has no gatekeeper, so whatever it is
>>> > new projects can be "part of", there could be lots that we don't
>>> > approve of.
>>> >
>>> > I'm the founder of a project and I want signal my ideological
>>> > affiliation to WM.   I think my own project's values match the
>>> > Wikimedia's values, in my opinion anyway.
>>> >
>>> > Recognizing that I may or may not be right-- what should I say I am a
>>> > "part of"?
>>> >
>>> > We could just tell projects in this situation to say they are "Part of
>>> > the Wikimedia Movement", but perhaps that name is one we want to
>>> > reserve just for officially recognized projects.   If so, what name
>>> > should such projects use instead?
>>> >
>>> > Note that they need to be saying something different than just "I like
>>> > Wikipedia, here's a link".  They need to be _identifying_ their own
>>> > efforts as _under the umbrella_ of what we do.   They need to be
>>> > "investing" in us and our mission, saying "This project is our attempt
>>> > to help share the world's information".
>>> >
>>> > Right now, I think we can craft any statement, logo, or button we want
>>> > and like-minded projects would use it if prompted.   We just have to
>>> > be thoughtful about what we want those things to look like.   We will
>>> > no longer have total control over whichever name or logos we recommend
>>> > projects use for self-identified affiliation.
>>> >
>>> > So that's my question -- what should third-party wikis say they are
>>> > "part of", if they want to express a connection to us?
>>> >
>>> > Alec
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > foundation-l mailing list
>>> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
>>> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj          +1 617 529
>>> 4266
>>>
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>
>
> --
> Ziko van Dijk
> The Netherlands
> http://zikoblog.wordpress.com/
>
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-- 
Samuel Klein          identi.ca:sj           w:user:sj          +1 617 529 4266