[Wikimedia-l] About the concentration of resources in SF (it was: "Communication plans for community engagement"

[David Cuenca]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 9:11 AM, Nathan <nawrich at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think your anti-Americanism is misplaced. Let's look at some of the
> key people involved in the VisualEditor project. Erik is German, James
> F is British, Roan Kattouw is Dutch, Timo Tijhof is Dutch. If you were
> to skim the list of the engineering staff, they are extremely diverse,
> with many remote employees throughout Europe and a number of relocated
> Europeans (and others) working in San Francisco. So I think your
> implication that the VE is some element of arrogant American
> imperialism is false, and you should retract it so that others will
> continue to take your feedback seriously.
>

I don't agree with Romaine's view that it is a cultural problem, but it is
true that the WMF management seems to prefer to have all development
concentrated in SF. As you say: "a number of relocated Europeans (and
others) working in San Francisco." This concentration of resources in only
one place is not healthy.

And it has additional problems like finding technical staff at a reasonable
price there and having to relocate people from all over the world, when
some development centers could be open at other locations too, which might
be cheaper:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_budget#Development_centers_in_other_places_outside_US

Why is this not done? Wikidata is being developed that way, so it is
possible. Is there anything against repeating the experience?

Cheers,
Micru