[Wikimedia-l] Strange, surprising, bold and unnecessary - reply to the WMF board statement

[Theo10011]

On Wed, Feb 6, 2013 at 11:25 PM, James Heilman <jmh649 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Okay usually when one comes up with a new idea for something the
> expectation is that it will be stated clearly what problem this new
> idea will solve and how it will solve it.
>

Well, I don't know what to say. I had an idea in mind when I first wrote
the draft for the council, then it got contorted into something and then
something else, and I have barely been involved in the process for around
an year, partly against my will then willingly.


>
> Here is the list of potential tasks set for the WCA
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Tasks


I wasn't involved in that task list, so better the people who wrote that,
answer that.


>
> Why do any of these need paid staff to complete them rather than
> volunteers? Why do they deserve paid staff any more than the dozens of
> other issues that we have that are at least equally important? In fact
> no paid staff is requested for any of the tasks set forth.
>

Why don't you start by asking those questions to WMF, then WMDE then WMUK
and any other chapter filing a budget with FDC. This organization just had
the bare minimum personnel spending it needed to accomplish the goals at
the time, but as the Dylan song went, things have changed....


>
> A lot of "facilitating and promoting said work and idea"s of volunteer
> is done by volunteers. And IMO should continue to be done by
> volunteers. So am not conflating the two.
>

So WMF doesn't facilitate and promote anything? how about any of the
chapters?Do you believe the last few wikimedian-in-residence, or
GLAM-outreach, or WLM, or hundreds of remote outreach events didn't have
anyone facilitating them? this can include Wikimania, hackathons and tons
of events half of us haven't heard of. They were done by volunteers of
course, but they were supported, backed, evaluated by paid staff members.
I'll be happy to go in detail and point you to several budgets on Meta if
you like.


>
> With respect to "The law firm is supposed to look over contracts,
> documents and agreements of 40 other organizations" Only 21 have
> signed up. Where does the number 40 come from? And why do all these
> organizations need documents looked over more? We have managed to find
> free lawyers for both Wikimedia Canada and Wiki Project Med Foundation
> and we managed to incorporate both as volunteers.
>

The number of chapters at the time of my involvement was 38 or 39, some
organization including yours were approved in the following period. I took
the liberty and rounded up. The 40 were envisioned at the time when I wrote
the original draft idea for the council (WCA), I have no idea why it is 21.

I am glad that you have been able to find free lawyers in Canada. I don't
think you should expect that everyone is as fortunate or comes from an
affluent country with relevant contacts. It wasn't a leap to have at least
a single legal expert on call for 40 organizations using the trademark and
name Wikipedia and Wikimedia. My recommendation was based from experience
of watching chapters have occasional legal issues and problems all over the
world, mostly Europe and Asia. WMF can not always be expected to help or
bail out every editor and every organization in 40 countries carrying our
name. It would only be an asset to have a local expert on the ground.


>
> With respect to "If you employ someone on a daily basis" This is the
> issue. I am not convinced we should employ someone on a daily basis
> for this work as it is presented. Wikipedia is not a fancy shiny
> project, we are not Google or Microsoft. We are a rag tag group of
> "amateurs" trying to do something amazing. We do not need shiny
> offices, in cities of global importance, we do not need to fly around
> the world with important titles.
>

It's a viable point, and I partly agree with it. But the comparison I would
offer is this- this is or was, supposed to be a support organization for 40
chapters, some of them had budgets that were nearing or over 1 million USD.
They had several staff members, support personnel - how can you expect a
back-office, support organization for 40 chapters that was envisioned to be
self-sufficient some day, be smaller than the first 5 or 10 chapters they
were supporting.

BTW that entire "rag tag group of amateurs doing something amazing",
doesn't hold very true indefinitely  We were doing something amazing when
we started, but we're really not amateurs anymore. The editing community is
still isolated from some of the recent spending and support but it has only
been increasing and increasing for the last decade. Look at the recent
budgets, look at the spending, the chapter spending, the programs, the
infrastructure- while its not as close to a typical top 10 nternet
property, it's not exactly a rag tag bunch of amateurs either.


>
> So with respect to a budget I would consider in the range of $25,000
> to me more appropriate. No actual office. No paid staff. Some funding
> to cover limited travel for volunteers interested in taking on this
> work. Collaboration taking place on meta. Efforts to improve meta.
> Some free google accounts. The use of skype for meeting (which is also
> free). Most work taking place virtually. The use of volunteers and
> google translate to translate stuff. This organization of volunteers
> acting as a consultant as I know my chapter is not looking for anyone
> to tell us what to do.
>

Well, 25000 (USD or CAN) might actually be close to minimum wage for
Belgium or Switzerland but ok. But it's not for you to decide what is
appropriate. There can be 100 different opinions about this matter and all
be right at the same time. You are still talking like this is all done in a
volunteer's capacity. This was supposed to be a small support organization
for others.

And I know your chapter might not be looking for anyone to tell you what to
do, but please let others decide on what and how they want to work. Every
chapter's program would reflect what kind of support they would need.

BTW the whole skype spending that you keep pointing to, if you would read
the associated talk page was a program to link all chapters with
professional videoconferencing abilities with WMF. This was to ameliorate
some of the travel spending in the first place. The amount you saw was
actually for professional videoconferencing equipment while starting with
free skype accounts first, and making the switch on an ongoing basis as who
needed it.

-Theo