Hi

Thank you Florence & Sj for your feedbacks and additional information.

This was necessary to me but they confirm my personal primary feelings.

I had the belief that the current WMF mgmt (board?) would at least avoid
this kind of mistake. I have to admit I was wrong. It looks like there
is a kind of pattern at the WMF which transcends the ages & persons.

I have invested 20mn to fill the survey anyway.

Emmanuel

On 21.06.20 19:40, Florence Devouard wrote:
> It is a fair question Emmanuel
> 
> 
> Well, what you say is true. In short, if I summarize super briefly
> 
> 1) According to Heather, the brand redefinition was a request from the
> board back in 2015. But there is no mention in board meeting minutes and
> two former board members do not remember this decision. Note: this was
> in Lila time.
> However, it seems indeed that the board confirmed its non-opposition to
> the communication team to work on that topic in 2018:
> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2018-11-9,10,11#Branding
> Note that this does not appear to be a request from the board to the
> staff, but rather a request from the staff to be allowed to explore.
> 
> 2) Brand awareness survey done in 7 countries in 2017 showed poor
> visibility and understanding of the wikimedia brand
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Sources/Brand_awareness,_attitudes,_and_usage_-_Executive_Summary
> 
> 2) When a survey was done a bit later, the statistical results were
> displayed in such a way that the case was made from the brand team that
> there was very little opposition from the community
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Communications%2FWikimedia_brands%2F2030_research_and_planning%2Fcommunity_review%2Fresults&type=revision&diff=19827063&oldid=19800238
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Should_the_Foundation_call_itself_Wikipedia#Updates_from_the_Foundation
> Evidence was made that the statistical presentation was broken and
> misleading.
> Arguments from opponents to the change include the fact the board
> members might have been mislead in believing there was no opposition
> from the community, and thus approved a rebranding without correct context.
> 
> 3) Following that situation, a RFC was launched by the community, and
> show an overwelming opposition to replace Wikimedia with Wikipedia in
> our orgs and projects name.
> Note that RFC is opt-in only, so might over represent those who oppose
> the rebranding. Hence the case made for the final survey to poll
> community members about their position on the matter.
> Those who want to further explore:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Should_the_Foundation_call_itself_Wikipedia
> 
> 4) The Brand team continued its work. Extensive discussions followed,
> with face to face brainstorming events to try to identify "good ideas".
> And key argument to opponants was that it was still in discussion phase etc.
> Brand network was created to better inform etc., give arguments in favor
> of the change etc. (I joined it as representant of offline UG to keep
> track of what was going on)
> There was further information provided about a month ago during a public
> meeting, revealing a collection of "words/directions"
> There were repeated requests from the people following this topic, for
> the final survey to include the "no change please" option. But this has
> been dismissed repeatedly.
> 
> 5) Then finally a new survey (the one I mentionned earlier) was proposed
> a few days ago with a short list of options. The "no option" is not
> proposed, and the three options include replacing wikimedia by wikipedia.
> This is creating social unrest. Best person to know more about that is
> Andrew Lih.
> 
> 6) An executive statement was published 2 days ago, stating that a) this
> rebranding was done per board request, and 2) the rename will happen
> Quote: *"We should have been clearer: a rebrand will happen. This has
> already been decided by the Board. The place where we seek consultation
> and input is on what an optimal rebrand looks like, and what the path to
> get there will be."*
> To read full statement :
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_movement_brand_project/Executive_statement
> 
> 7) There is a boiling discussion on whether to set up a central banner
> to invite participants to respond the survey, with community opposition
> to set up the banner.
> I have actually been contacted by some staff about this, who were
> apparently trying to evaluate the level of risk of WMF staff to be
> unsysoped if they decided the get over the community and activate the
> banner anyway
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CentralNotice/Request/Movement_Brand_naming_proposals
> I am not sure the banner is live yet. At least, I see no banner myself.
> It should have gone live on the 16th
> 
> 8) Thus followed much discussion after the executive statement, on
> telegram and on meta.
> Probably central place is here :
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_movement_brand_project/Executive_statement#A_call_for_Board_statements,_and_disappointment
> APPARENTLY, a statement from the board is expected. Unless wrong, it has
> not been published yet.
> 
> 9) There is a meeting TONIGHT (21h UTC+2), community organized, on the
> matter.
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/All-Affiliates_Brand_Meeting
> I'll attend and will try to summarize
> 
> 
> Should you invest more time on the process ? Good question. I am asking
> myself the same question. We have a few more days to reflect.
> 
> 
> Florence
> 
> 
> 
> Le 18/06/2020 à 09:24, Emmanuel Engelhart a écrit :
>> Hi Florence
>>
>> Thank you for keeping us up-to-date with this process.
>>
>> On 17.06.20 20:08, Florence Devouard wrote:
>>> So, the Brand Team is moving on and has announced a short list of
>>> proposals to rename Wikimedia Foundation, UG and such to remove the word
>>> "Wikimedia"
>> I hope I'm properly informed, but AFAIK there is an extremely strong
>> majority (almost a consensus) within the community against replacing
>> "Wikimedia" with "Wikipedia" in our orgs naming. cf.
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Should_the_Foundation_call_itself_Wikipedia
>>
>> But it seems that the process continues without taking in account the
>> result of this survey. To me, this seems not fair.
>>
>> Considering that offline activities are booming, in particular because
>> of the Covid19 pandemic and therefore we have a lot to do anyway, I
>> wonder why exactly I should invest more time on this process?!
>>
>> Regards
>> Emmanuel
>>


-- 
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: https://kiwix.org/
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* Wiki: https://wiki.kiwix.org/

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature

_______________________________________________
Offline-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/offline-l

Reply via email to