[Foundation-l] Fwd: Wikimedia India Program Trust

[Sue Gardner]

On 11 November 2011 17:11, Achal Prabhala <aprabhala at gmail.com> wrote:
> Honestly, news reporters in India are confused about *everything*
> related to Wikipedia and Wikimedia :) Even a cursory analysis of news
> coverage will confirm that they routinely mix up what the movement is,
> what the difference between Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Foundation is,
> what the difference between a chapter member and a staff member is, etc.
> And as someone who has been following this from the outset, I can say
> with some confidence that this has nothing to do with the chapter and
> the Foundation in India, rather, just our own complicated terminology
> and insider-language, and a general laziness on the part of Indian news
> media to learn the details. Basically, we'd still get completely whacky
> press coverage even if there was no chapter and no Foundation entity.

FWIW, this is definitely not confined to India :-)

>From a brand perspective, the Wikimedia movement is extremely
confusing to reporters: we have Wikimedia, Wikipedia, the sister
projects, MediaWiki, the Wikimedia Foundation, chapter organizations,
school clubs, and projects and activities of all types. And, media are
continually befuddled about how we work: they are used to professional
spokespeople, so they don't understand why X person in the Wikimedia
movement isn't speaking on behalf of the whole movement.

When I joined the Wikimedia Foundation in 2007, I thought this was a
problem that needed to be fixed. Over time though, I've begun to
realize that it's pretty fundamental to our movement's values. We want
to have a movement in which it's easy to participate; in which there
are few barriers to entry; there is minimal rule-making and
rule-enforcement, where people can flexibly wear different hats and
take on different roles, etc.

So yes: I think we are confusing to journalists, and they often get
the story wrong. That's too bad. But on the whole, I think it's a
small price to pay in exchange for a vibrant, creative, productive
movement, and the cure for it (real clarity, lots of rules) would be
worse than the disease.

Thanks,
Sue


--

Sue Gardner
Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation

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415 816 9967 cell

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