Dariusz, thanks for continuing to engage here. Besides the good questions that others have asked, I'll add a few:
1. If the Knowledge Engine is such an important project, why is it not mentioned in https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2015-16?
2. I realize that as a percentage of the WMF budget, $250k is a relatively small number. As others have said, this is not a reason for opacity about it, nor a reason for not having a conversation with the community about something so strategically important as a decision to explore the question of "Would users go to Wikipedia if it were an open channel beyond an encyclopedia?" It's one thing to have a blue-sky exercise thinking about possibilities, and another thing to take a $250k step in that direction, especially without consulting the community.
3. I am getting tired about seeing bad news in general about WMF governance, planning, and turnover. I am curious how you plan to address those issues. Like you, I would rather that we be talking about our movement plans for the next 10 years. However, it's difficult to have those conversations when WMF is making so many self-inflicted wounds. The recent round of resignations is of respectable people from the WMF staff is making the situation that much more concerning and that much more difficult to recover from. It seems to me that WMF leadership has lost control of this situation, and I'd like to hear what the recovery plan is. Personally, I feel that we need leadership that can build good relationships with the staff and community, is transparent by default, and is capable of restoring the credibility of the organization's planning, execution, and goodwill. I think that we may need new leadership to make that happen. I am interested to hear your thoughts.
Pine
On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 7:32 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak darekj@alk.edu.pl wrote:
11.02.2016 10:23 PM "SarahSV" sarahsv.wiki@gmail.com napisał(a):
Hi Dariusz,
T he grant application doesn't restrict the search engine to Wikimedia
projects. It says that the "Knowledge Engine by Wikipedia [is a] system for discovering reliable and trustworthy public information on the Internet.
My understanding is that the top range could potentially be all open/public resources, but this is the far stretched total goal, and still not a general search engine of all content including commercial one.
And a rrasonable realistic outcome can be just improving our searches across projects.
I can't comment on the initial ideas or goals, as I was not on the Board before August 2015, but this is what I understand we build now.
.
The document says the "Search Engine by Wikipedia" budget for 2015–2016
($2.4 million) was approved by the board. Can you point us to which board meeting approved it and what was discussed there?
I dont recall this specifically, and I'm going to elude this question by going to sleep (and hoping someone better informed may pick).
Good night!
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