[Wikimedia-l] WMF's New Global South Strategy

Fri Aug 30 08:16:13 UTC 2013

Regarding missing alternatives to the GS _term_.

2013/8/30 John Vandenberg <jayvdb at gmail.com>

> 'Global Strategy countries'?
>
> I think this aligns with the intention of GS, which is to support
> initiatives that help make our movement more global by investing in
> areas/languages where editors and/or readers is low but potential is high.
>

I tend to say that it's not about areas/languages but about the challenges
mentioned in Asaf's slides. "Global" -- in my opinion -- is a term that
emphasizes _unifying_ aspects of a subject. At its core the GS initiative
is about conditions (re: WP, accessing and contributing) that are
_different_ between certain areas of the world and others. That's why
"global" won't do the trick. The "challenges: factors" section in Asaf's
slides suggests that this difference has its roots in
* limited access to the internet and to materials,
* diglossia and other language issues,
* financial, political and cultural limitations.

...all of which are social issues (<-- terribly unscientifc
oversimplification alert). In other words: The challenges have nothing to
do with latitude (or longitude) but have an inherently social nature. Thus,
there may not be a need to find a geographical label at all. What matters
is a priority list which determines in which countries support is both
highly necessary and most likely to be effective. With the countries listed
in the aforementioned slides the WMF has such a list. I guess if
Greenland[1] met the priority criteria (showing a huge community potential,
having web access issues and specific cultural issues, and so on and so
forth), it would probably make the priority list, wouldn't it? My point is:
An alternative term for "global south" could be something based on _what_
is addressed instead of _where_ things are addressed. Could be something in
the direction of "Social Access Initiative" or the like. (Really, just an
example for illustration purposes, I won't defend it :-)

Best,
Michael Jahn

[1] My apologies to Greenland. I know nothing about you, except that you're
way up north! It's a shame. Don't mean to insult you.

> John Vandenberg.
> sent from Galaxy Note
> On Aug 30, 2013 11:42 AM, "Balázs Viczián" <balazs.viczian at wikimedia.hu>
> wrote:
>
> > What about making it simply global...?
> >
> > Balázs
> > 2013.08.30. 2:44, "Asaf Bartov" <abartov at wikimedia.org> ezt írta:
> >
> > > On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 5:30 PM, MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > The first section was removed? I got excited to see the term "Global
> > > > South" with a line through it (in the agenda index), but I think I
> > > > initially misunderstood its meaning.
> > >
> > >
> > > No, the strikethrough was a visual cue that the _term_ "Global South"
> is
> > > emphatically not on the agenda.
> > >
> > >
> > > > The term "Global South" is pretty
> > > > awful and deserves a quick death.
> > >
> > >
> > > Agreed...
> > >
> > >
> > > > But based on the title of the
> > > > presentation and this e-mail thread... I'm not hopeful that it's dead
> > > yet.
> > > >
> > >
> > > ...but what do we replace it with?  This has been rehashed quite a bit,
> > but
> > > no one has come up with a compelling alternative that's reasonably
> > concise
> > > and is politically acceptable.  (Personally I am happy with "developing
> > > world" and "developing nations", but of course those terms are
> > euphemistic
> > > as well, and apparently no longer acceptable in some circles.)
> > >
> > > I have stated before that the term, for us, is just shorthand for a
> list
> > of
> > > countries, and we make no essentialist assumptions about some
> uniformity
> > > throughout all these countries.  It is my understanding that most of
> the
> > > consternation (kittens dying etc.) the term causes is due to the
> > assumption
> > > that we _are_ making an essentialist assumption and treating all GS
> > > countries the same.  I hope it is by now evident we are not.
> > >
> > > Once again, I find no point to debating this.  All who _are_ interested
> > are
> > > welcome to hash it out somewhere, and submit a consensual term (or a
> > > shortlist) to WMF for consideration.  If a superior term arises, I
> > promise
> > > to make an effort to adopt it across WMF.  Until then, let's focus on
> the
> > > actual work rather than the nomenclature.
> > >
> > >
> > > > I'm a little confused about whether the ongoing programs in Brazil
> and
> > > > India will continue. There's a note that reads "No WMF contractors on
> > the
> > > > ground any more", but it's unclear whether this means a
> discontinuation
> > > of
> > > > the current folks. And the final slides focus on future engagements.
> > Does
> > > > the "no contractors on the ground" line mean only full-time staff
> will
> > be
> > > > working with (engaging with, if you prefer) areas in the future?
> > > Full-time
> > > > staff and local chapter folks, I guess? And simply no Wikimedia
> > > Foundation
> > > > contractors?
> > > >
> > >
> > > There are no WMF employees outside the US, so "no contractors on the
> > > ground" (in the GS context -- we still have engineers around the
> world!)
> > > means that (once the Brazil transition is complete -- this is in
> > progress),
> > > no program work in the GS will be done by WMF contractors, but only by
> > > local partners (movement affiliates -- chapters, thematic
> organizations,
> > > and user groups -- and unaffiliated partners), some of whom would be
> WMF
> > > grantees.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > >
> > >    A.
> > > --
> > >     Asaf Bartov
> > >     Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org>
> > >
> > > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
> the
> > > sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> > > https://donate.wikimedia.org
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