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

[Austin Hair]

On Fri, Feb 18, 2011 at 4:44 PM, Theo10011 <de10011 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I left a message on the talk page about the definition of "groups" in the
> context of Movement Roles Project last week. I also brought this up in the
> IRC hour a week ago. I know the intention here is to be as inclusive as
> possible, but can we start to classify what "groups" are expected to be
> included in the project.
>
> A little more clarification about these "groups" would be greatly helpful
> either on wiki or the mailing list.
>
> I would assume that chapters are one such groups that are definitely going
> to be included in the classification, if so, can we at least include them
> somewhere so people have a general idea here about the context or what's
> expected.

"Groups" is definitely the vaguest part of the roles matrix. Figuring
out what that means is what we're doing now, and it will surely be
refined as the project goes on.

As used in the working session that produced the matrix, "groups" was
"anything between one person and a Wikimedia chapter." How that's
defined is something that's dogged everyone who's worked with
Wikimedia organizations (and non-organizations, and un-organizations,
&c.) since Wikimedians started organizing. Nobody has that definition,
so far—it's this project's goal to find one.

There's clearly a gray area between one random dude and Wikimedia
Deutschland or WMF Inc.—one of the great things about what we do is
having random people get together and do stuff, with varying levels of
organization. The idea is to clarify who does what, and how that
entity works with related entities.

There's currently a copy of the matrix[0] that anyone can edit. If you
think that it needs more discussion, there's also a talk page[1],
which is anxiously looking for contributors.

If I can clarify anything else about the process, please ask.

Austin

[0] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_roles_project/Roles_Matrix#The_Roles_Matrix:_Reloaded
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_roles_project/Roles_Matrix