[Foundation-l] Floating a notion: permanent Wikimania committee?

[Michael Snow]

On 6/17/2010 5:35 PM, phoebe ayers wrote:
> OK, so I guess my question is (and we talked about this on IRC too) --
> who has the power or the ability -- or who *should*, in a perfect
> world -- create such a committee? We don't have much precedent for
> this. There were concerns over who or what body can create
> governance/oversight structures, particularly if this isn't really
> just a Foundation issue.
>    
I suppose the board could create the committee, if it's not clear who 
else might have the authority. Or perhaps better, the board could 
authorize its creation. I think the board is a bit reluctant to jump in, 
partly for the reason Sue mentioned that overseeing Wikimania is not 
really a board-level issue (it's primarily operational rather than 
strategic), but also because the board is not well placed to fill and 
maintain committees like this. When it becomes a situation of appointing 
people none of us really knows, or feeling that there are probably 
people we're not aware who ought to be recruited to a committee like 
this, it's pretty uncomfortable to have that responsibility. But if we 
authorized the committee and then let the staff and experienced 
Wikimania volunteers review applications or expressions of interest to 
join the committee, that might work out. That's kind of the direction 
things have moved in any case. Some of the early committees that still 
function have evolved to a place outside the board's immediate activity, 
and the current work of the governance committee is focused more on 
structures needed to organize the board's own functions.

--Michael Snow