Re: [Wikimedia-l] Board level strategic planning?

2016-08-02 Thread Ben Creasy 
Thanks Christophe! I reviewed some of the earlier emails responding to the
June minutes and realized that Pine actually touched on this same topic
just a bit ago and as I recall Katherine gave a great overview of her
approach, so my apologies in bringing it up again so soon. No need to
respond to this email.

With that said, I hope that when the initial framework is released it will
have a bit more information on the motivation and background research that
went into it than the April 2016 Governance recommendations...

If you're coming up with an important overhaul like this and an explicit
goal is to be transparent with the community, it could be worthwhile to
start the process with transparency by being explicit in answering
questions like "who did you talk to", "what did you read and think was
compelling", "what are you unsure about", "is there any empirical
evidence", etc. Maybe the answer to some questions (like empirical
research) is "we don't know and we don't think it's worth the time", but
I'd be interested in hearing that explicitly rather than implicitly. The
WMF is unique: the closest I can think of is the Mozilla Foundation (which
I doubt has great governance) and maybe the Khan Academy (an amazing leader
like Sal Khan makes careful governance less necessary). GNOME and KDE have
tiny budgets with almost no employees, so their boards have little
influence on the software. Environmental nonprofits can be fairly large and
complex, altho the small ones end up as contractors for foundations (e.g.,
SEACC, one of the nonprofits I was involved with). Museums are relatively
simple. Schools and hospitals are the ones that come to mind which grapple
with commonly grapple difficult management decisions on the scale of WMF.
Also, elected boards (even partially) are quite uncommon; Sierra Club is a
notable elected board, but with 15 members it can't be very effective at
all.

Also, if you want to be transparent and not over scope, it may be worth
forecasting categories of how the board expects to allocate its limited
time and then retrospectively reporting on how it actually spent its time
to the community. I see that the Governance recommendation includes a plan
is to have solid annual agenda, and perhaps that will basically address the
issue of the board putting too much on its plate. However, when I read
"Avoid letting minority perspectives disproportionately take up the
Foundation and the Board's attention" it actually kind of bothered me. How
do we know know if something is a minority perspective? Instead of
"minority perspectives", it should be about "minor issues". The problem in
the last year or two was more about the board (apparently) ignoring
perspectives than it was about the board giving them undue attention. My
personal experience and recollection from the book I recommended
earlier, *Governance
as Leadership*, is that it not uncommon for boards to end up spending a lot
of time on housekeeping small items (e.g., bylaws tweaks), which could be
relatively minor.

On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 10:41 PM, Christophe Henner 
wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I love to write long emails, but four in a row would too much.
>
> As said before we are taking up our leadership role.
>
> The strategy process *is* a black box right now. We (Katherine mostly) have
> been working on the process for a few weeks.
> We will share soon I hope, the first part of that process.
>
> I would just ask you a little time, it has only been a month that Katherine
> and I have been in our current positions. Even if works was started before
> that, decisions to move forward with a movement strategy is only a month
> old.
>
> And as said before, this year we are focusing on building the foundations
> we need to get Wikimedia Foundation in a better place. So, basicly, we
> won't go down to the feature level and focus on th global level :)
>
> Happy to talk on that topic :)
>
> Le 2 août 2016 7:19 AM, "Joseph Seddon"  a écrit :
>
> > Hey Pine,
> >
> > The Wikimedia Endowment is specifically set up to
> >
> > *"act as a permanent safekeeping fund to generate income to support the
> > operations and activities of the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity". [1]*
> >
> > The Endowment acts as the online projects safety net. It will be
> > independent of the Wikimedia Foundation board and importantly It's not
> > there to support the WMF in perpetuity, it's the Wikimedia projects. Even
> > if the WMF is likely to be the main benefactor from the fund; should, in
> > the eyes of the Endowment Advisory Board, the WMF be no longer a fit and
> > appropriate body to support the Wikimedia projects (as a result of legal,
> > fiduciary or other issues), it has the ability to provide fund to an
> > alternative organisation to fulfill that work.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Seddon
> >
> > [1]
> >
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Establishment_of_Endowment
> >
> >
> >
> > > * WMF remains a single point of failure

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Arabic version of Offline Medical App Launches

2016-08-02 Thread Jorge Vargas 
Excellent news James!!! Congrats on this new milestone. Huge fan of your
work. :)

On Tue, Aug 2, 2016 at 3:29 AM, James Heilman  wrote:

> Hey All
>
> We have just launched the Arabic version of our offline medical app. It is
> all of Arabic Wikipedia's healthcare, pharmaceutical, anatomy, and
> sanitation articles.
>
>
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedar
>
> Only avaliable for Android at this point in time. Persian coming soon :-)
>
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
>
> The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
> www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
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> 




-- 
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Wikimedia Foundation
jvar...@wikimedia.org
+1 415.404.9536
Skype: jorge.a.vargas.p
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Arabic version of Offline Medical App Launches

2016-08-02 Thread Wilfredor 
Excellent news James

2016-08-02 10:34 GMT-03:00 Mohammed Bachounda :

> Thanks you  chokran :)
> it's good news ; we will sharing - in all social media known
>
>
> > Hey All
> >
> > We have just launched the Arabic version of our offline medical app. It
> is
> > all of Arabic Wikipedia's healthcare, pharmaceutical, anatomy, and
> > sanitation articles.
> >
> >
> >
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedar
> >
> > Only avaliable for Android at this point in time. Persian coming soon :-)
> >
> > --
> > James Heilman
> > MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
> >
> > The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
> > www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
> >
> > --
>
> *Mohammed Bachounda*
> Leader Wikimedia Algérie UG
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>



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Farsi Wikipedia

2016-08-02 Thread Mardetanha 
Thanks eveyone
Please read my blog post about this milestone
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/08/01/digest-farsi-wikipedia-milestone/

On Tuesday, August 2, 2016, Katherine Maher  wrote:

> This is wonderful, congratulations on all the hard work and achievement!
>
> On Mon, Aug 1, 2016 at 2:02 PM, Alex Wang  > wrote:
>
> > Congratulations!!!
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 28, 2016 at 10:15 AM, Amir Ladsgroup  >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I talked to Mohsen earlier and convinced him it's Persian. I hope it
> uses
> > > Persian more often :D
> > >
> > > Best
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jul 28, 2016 at 1:25 PM Shlomi Fish  >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > On Wed, 27 Jul 2016 22:40:12 +0430
> > > > Mardetanha > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > I would to let everyone know, after 13 years and millions of edits,
> > > > Finally
> > > > > Farsi Wikipedia has reached 500,000 article. This is a very
> historic
> > > > moment
> > > > > for all us in Farsi Wikipedia.
> > > > >
> > > > > Mardetanha
> > > >
> > > > Congratulations to the Persian Wikipedia contributors on reaching
> this
> > > > landmark! Well done, and good luck in the future.
> > > >
> > > > One small nitpick if I may:
> > > >
> > > > http://behdad.org/farsi.html/
> > > >
> > > > “Persian is the English word for Farsi.”
> > > >
> > > > Regards,
> > > >
> > > > Shlomi Fish
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > -
> > > > Shlomi Fish   http://www.shlomifish.org/
> > > >
> > > > *shlomif:* hack, hack, hack ; save ; make ; make test; commit. And
> > start
> > > > over.
> > > >
> > > > *mrjink:* hack, hack, hack; save; make; swear; fix typos; save; make;
> > > make
> > > > test; swear some more; hack some more; save; make; make test; cheer;
> > > > commit.
> > > >
> > > > *meep:* hack, make, test, segfault, oh noes, revert to previous
> > revision
> > > >
> > > > Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post -
> > http://shlom.in/reply
> > > .
> > > >
> > > > ___
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> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Alexandra Wang
> > Program Officer
> > Community Resources
> > Wikimedia Foundation 
> > +1 415-839-6885
> > Skype: alexvwang
> > ___
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>
>
>
> --
> Katherine Maher
>
> Wikimedia Foundation
> 149 New Montgomery Street
> San Francisco, CA 94105
>
> +1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635
> +1 (415) 712 4873
> kma...@wikimedia.org 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Arabic version of Offline Medical App Launches

2016-08-02 Thread Mohammed Bachounda 
Thanks you  chokran :)
it's good news ; we will sharing - in all social media known


> Hey All
>
> We have just launched the Arabic version of our offline medical app. It is
> all of Arabic Wikipedia's healthcare, pharmaceutical, anatomy, and
> sanitation articles.
>
>
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedar
>
> Only avaliable for Android at this point in time. Persian coming soon :-)
>
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
>
> The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
> www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
>
> --

*Mohammed Bachounda*
Leader Wikimedia Algérie UG
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Arabic version of Offline Medical App Launches

2016-08-02 Thread Gerard Meijssen 
Hoi,
Congratulations  :)
Thanks,
 GerardM

On 2 August 2016 at 12:29, James Heilman  wrote:

> Hey All
>
> We have just launched the Arabic version of our offline medical app. It is
> all of Arabic Wikipedia's healthcare, pharmaceutical, anatomy, and
> sanitation articles.
>
>
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedar
>
> Only avaliable for Android at this point in time. Persian coming soon :-)
>
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
>
> The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
> www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
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[Wikimedia-l] Arabic version of Offline Medical App Launches

2016-08-02 Thread James Heilman 
Hey All

We have just launched the Arabic version of our offline medical app. It is
all of Arabic Wikipedia's healthcare, pharmaceutical, anatomy, and
sanitation articles.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedar

Only avaliable for Android at this point in time. Persian coming soon :-)

-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
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