Hi Nemo,
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. You are correct -- this did not make my "to do" list, but I believe honoring commitments made by the WMF is important and therefor I've been looking this issue. Here is what I found and what we will do:
- This issue was a clear oversight error. - To prevent issues like these in the future two paths are important: 1. ability to highlight issues through escalation 2. improved clarity on which programs or grants qualify for funding (through training) and the process by which that is done - The first point will be addressed this quarter by HR in the employee handbook through the modified escalation policy and escalation channel. - The second will be addressed through changes to grantmaking program, which we proposed to open for discussion this spring/summer (Q4/Q1) starting with the FDC-level grants https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Advisory_Group/Recommendations/2014/ED_Response. In short, we are looking to be very clear on goals, parameters, and focus of grants we distribute to ensure they are handled and validated consistently and accurately.
The two aspects together should help avoid these types of issues. I am also asking to include some "'guardrail" items in employee training. No system is perfect however, and we will continue to tune it to avoid problems.
Finally, while I sincerely appreciate you bringing up the issue, I would also appreciate if this is done without snark or disparagement in the future. This would ensure everyone is more productive in their solutions. We will respond in kind.
Thank you, Lila
On Wed, Jan 21, 2015 at 4:23 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemowiki@gmail.com wrote:
Sue Gardner, 01/04/2014 05:23:
On 21 March 2014 13:23, Erik Moeller erik@wikimedia.org wrote:
We will update the wiki page at https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedian_in_ Residence/Harvard_University_assessment with more information and details. I encourage others to participate in this as a collaborative process.
Thanks Erik.
For everyone: following up on Erik's e-mail, the WMF has done a postmortem of the Belfer situation, which I've just posted at the link from Erik above.
https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Assessment_of_Belfer_ Center_Wikipedian_in_Residence_program#Decisions_made said:
The ED plans, with the C-level team, to develop a better process for staff to escalate and express concerns about any WMF activities that staff think may in tension with, or in violation of, community policies or best practices. It will take some time to develop a simple, robust process: we aim to have it done by 1 May 2014.
I think we're well past the deadline–unless "2014" was a typo for "2015", or "ED" a typo for "Sue Gardner in her spare time". Any updates?
Nemo
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