[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Announcement: Building a new Legal and Community Advocacy Department & Promotion of Philippe Beaudette

[Theo10011]

On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 12:07 PM, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 8:44 PM, Casey Brown <lists at caseybrown.org> wrote:
> > "Advocacy" is a much more general term in this context than people
> > seem to be taking it as. It does not mean lobbying or fighting for
> > something controversial with outside organizations. As I understand
> > it, it's the opposite: advocating to the Wikimedia Foundation on
> > behalf of the community.
>
> Yeah, that's my understanding of the game plan here as well. I think
> the announcement could have been clearer in that regard, but that's
> pretty much what Philippe and Maggie have already been doing, and what
> they'll continue to do in a structure that's set up for growth.
>
> Sometimes we have a tendency to speak in management lingo when we
> should be choosing simple, crisp & clear terms. Honest feedback: Burn
> the chart on
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/LCA_Announcement
> and draft a super crisp mission statement to slap on the first page
> for this group. I know, I've been guilty of this as well -- no
> criticism of the team. When working in an organization this kind of
> communication style is often expected from you in day-to-day work, but
> it's not necessarily helpful when communicating with people who have
> very little time and interest to parse it.
>
> I think the brainstorming page is a great start and hope it'll be
> utilized and further advertised in coming days:
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal/Community_Advocacy
>
> Congratulations to Philippe and Maggie for their new roles. I think
> it's about time that we're creating this structure, and I think it'll
> generate lots of tangible value for the community.


Then my suggestion would be, rename the department.

I completely agree, it is about time Philippe and Maggie get more authority
and a dedicated department. I am happy for both of them. They actually do
and have been doing the heavy lifting for years when it comes to the
community. I would actually be more in favor of calling their department
the community department. ;)

Regards
Theo