Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri join Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

[Steinsplitter Wiki]

Are both members of the community? I see no username.

From: sl...@wikimedia.org
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2016 17:27:30 -0800
To: press-rele...@lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Kelly Battles and Arnnon 
Geshuri join Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

This press release is also available online 
here:https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Kelly_Battles_and_Arnnon_Geshuri_join_Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees
And as a blog post here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/01/05/new-wikimedia-foundation-trustees/


Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri join Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
New Trustees bring deep financial, operational, and organizational development 
expertise to Wikimedia’s free knowledge mission 
San Francisco -- January 5, 2016 -- Today the Wikimedia Foundation announced 
two new members to its Board of Trustees: Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri. The 
new Trustees bring deep expertise in strategy and financial oversight, and 
diversity and organizational development, as well as a commitment to advancing 
Wikimedia’s vision of free knowledge for the world. 
“We considered dozens of candidates from all over the world, with 
not-for-profit and technology experience, and the highest professional 
standards.” said Dariusz Jemielniak, Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board 
Governance Committee and Board Trustee. “Kelly's finance and auditing skills 
will be essential to the Board’s oversight and budgeting responsibilities. 
Arnnon's expertise in talent development and cultural diversity will be 
indispensable for the development of the Wikimedia Foundation, and 
communications and transparency within the Wikimedia movement. We look forward 
to partnering with them.”
A veteran financial executive, Kelly brings more than 25 years of experience in 
financial management and administrative oversight for leading technology 
companies and non-profit organizations. She currently serves as Chief Financial 
Officer of Bracket Computing, a cloud virtualization company in Mountain View, 
California. Her earlier roles included Chief Financial Officer at Host 
Analytics, Vice President of Finance at IronPort, and Director of Strategy and 
Corporate Development at Hewlett Packard.
“As a non-profit supporting one of the most popular websites in the world, the 
Wikimedia Foundation has a unique responsibility to practice transparent, 
effective stewardship of donor resources,” said Kelly. “I am excited to lend my 
financial and strategic experience to an organization dedicated to making 
knowledge more freely available to the world.”
Arnnon brings more than 20 years of experience in developing strong 
organizational cultures with diverse, passionate employees. He is currently the 
VP of Human Resources  at Tesla Motors, where he shepherds Tesla’s unique 
culture and oversees all global people operations, analytics, and staffing. 
Before joining Tesla, Arnnon served as Senior Director of HR and Staffing at 
Google, where he built the company’s talent acquisition and diversity strategy, 
growing the organization to more than 20,000 people in five years. Earlier in 
his career, Arnnon served as Vice President of People Operations and Director 
of Global Staffing at E*TRADE Financial. 
“I have always believed in the power of open, transparent knowledge. Wikipedia 
represents some of the best aspects of our changing world: deeper knowledge, 
collaboration, and, ultimately, understanding,” said Arnnon. “This opportunity 
is a true privilege for me and I am thrilled to help support this powerful 
mission.”
“Kelly and Arnnon bring a special combination of expertise, integrity, and love 
for our mission. From Arnnon’s people and culture expertise to Kelly’s strong 
financial management background, both members bring valuable skills to 
strengthen our Board and help grow the Wikimedia movement for future 
generations. Most importantly, they bring a deep commitment to making knowledge 
more freely available for people around the world,” said executive director 
Lila Tretikov.
Kelly and Arnnon were approved unanimously by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of 
Trustees. Both terms are effective Jan 1, 2016 and will last for two years. 
Please see the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees for complete biographies. 
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports and 
operates Wikipedia. Wikipedia attracts more than 15 billion page views each 
month. Every month roughly 75,000 people edit Wikipedia, collectively creating, 
improving, and maintaining its more than 35 million articles across hundreds of 
languages -- all of which makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web 
properties in the world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia 
Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations 
and grants.
Wikimedia Foundation Press Contact 
Katherine Maher+1 415-839-6885 ext 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Craig Franklin]

Congratulations from me as well to both Kelly and Arnnon.  I wonder if
they'll take the plunge and subscribe here? =)

But without in any way questioning their good faith, dedication and fitness
for the job (and it is good to see another female appointed), I have to say
that I also feel this is a missed opportunity for the WMF.  It is not like
the "white American with a background in the tech sector" is a particularly
under-represented group in our movement.  I believe it will be difficult
for the WMF to realise it's ambitious goals in operating in developing
countries with its current mix of trustees, most of whom are either from
continental Europe or the United States.

Cheers,
Craig



On 6 January 2016 at 12:09, Liam Wyatt  wrote:

> Congratulations to Kelly and Arnon in joining the wikiverse at this crucial
> time in our movement's existence. I hope their expertise - respectively in
> Finance and HR - will be able to be put to good use!
>
> However, I do have a concern about diversity...
> Both of these appointees are white Americans from Iowa/Kansas with
> top-pedigree Silicon Valley resumes.
>
> I note that one of the other appointed WMF-board seats is currently also
> occupied by Guy, also Silicon Valley, and one of the recently elected
> community seats is occupied by Denny, who is a manager at Google. They all
> live and work in the same field and within commuting distance to the WMF
> office.
>
> I've always believed that Wikimedia is an education charity that happens to
> exist exists in a technology field. I often note in presentations that I
> give that the Wikimedia vision statement does NOT use the words, Internet,
> or Wiki, or Encyclopedia. But these appointments indicate the Board and WMF
> Executive believe Wikimedia is a technology charity that happens to exists
> in the education field.
>
> These appointments will make a crucial difference to how the new WMF
> strategic direction will go - and clearly the leadership is wanting to make
> us act more like a Californian dot-com and less like a global education
> charity. Less "community consensus building" and more "move fast and break
> things" - is the message I am reading here.
>
> Can the board please address how it accounts for the geographical
> proximity and professional-background similarity between three of the four
> Board-appointed seats? And, whether you would define the WMF as a "tech
> organisation"?
>
> - Liam / Wittylama
>
>
>
>
> --
> wittylama.com
> Peace, love & metadata
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Tanweer Morshed]

The contribution of Jan-Bart and Stu cannot be ignored.They have immensely
put effort for the movement, and were involved for a long time. Thank you
Jan-Bart and Stu for your commitment and contribution.


Regards,
Tanweer

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:37 PM, Chris Keating 
wrote:

> I just wanted to add my thanks as well as both Jan-Bart and Stu have served
> the movement with a huge amount of dedication and commitment for many years
> and helped steer the WMF through many challenges. It has been a real
> pleasure to work with both of you.
>
> Thank you both for everything you have done and best wishes for the future!
>
> On a more practical note as there is now no Dutch person on the WMF board I
> am concerned that there is now no obvious supplier of stroopwafel at board
> meetings - has a proper impact assessment been conducted?
>
> Chris
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Steven Walling 
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.
> >
> > Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your participation
> over
> > these years.
> >
> > Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial governance
> of
> > the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have been
> deeply
> > important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money
> entrusted
> > to us by donors.
> >
> > Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is difficult
> > to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I find
> > myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the
> board,
> > but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the board
> (this
> > time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > While we have long discussions on this list about board composition, we
> > > seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are leaving
> > the
> > > Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu
> West
> > > have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I think
> > > there are not many people who can recall the days that the board didn't
> > > have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board
> with
> > > them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in
> > place.
> > >
> > > Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat), and
> > has
> > > been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe he
> > > chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind
> the
> > > accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly
> disagreed
> > on
> > > affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
> > > constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than problems.
> He
> > > served both as treasurer and vice chair.
> > >
> > > Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
> > > already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
> > > education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people who
> > > went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there
> > with
> > > his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in the
> > past
> > > years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he
> served
> > > the board in many positions, including as chair.
> > >
> > > I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice
> > thankyou
> > > coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they
> > did,
> > > that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd
> > like
> > > to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy
> and
> > > effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
> > > appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may
> even
> > > have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with
> > us
> > > though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
> > > mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
> > >
> > > I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I
> hope
> > > to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > >
> > > Lodewijk
> > > ___
> > > 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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> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > New messages to: 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Craig Franklin]

While it's not hard to find a WMF employee who will privately (or
increasingly, not-so-privately) complain of poor morale, I'd be wary of
reading too much into submissions to sites like Glassdoor.  Employees that
are content rarely take the time to report this, so you end up with a
skewed sample consisting largely of the unhappy and demotivated.

Cheers,
Craig

On 5 January 2016 at 05:56, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 7:08 PM, Pine W  wrote:
>
> > If there's a lot of dissatisfaction among the staff, the reasons for that
> > dissatisfaction would be helpful to know.
>
>
>
> Some recurring themes on Glassdoor[1] over the years are –
>
> * Hiring of completely inexperienced staff
> * Incompetent managers
> * Unclear strategy
> * Favouritism
> * Angst-ridden climate
>
> [1]
> https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Wikimedia-Foundation-Reviews-E38331.htm
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> 
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Theo10011]

A big Thank you from me too, to both these wonderful people. We've
certainly had our share of disagreements in other venues, but I've always
thought highly of both.

Stu is an excellent financial strategists, with an understanding for what
matters. His work with the audits and general business acumen were big
resources. I am grateful to have had our share our disagreements, it
afforded me the opportunity to know how knowledgeable Stu is and how
passionate he is about our goals. Thank you Stu.

I spent a few days around Jan-Bart, and he truly is a warm, wonderful
presence to be around - gregarious and funny, a true mensch. He was more
community oriented and supportive than any elected trustee I've known over
the years (Perhaps with the exception of Sj). A positive influence and a
voice of reason in any contentious discussion I've seen. Thank you
Jan-Bart.
Warm Regards
Theo

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Gerard Meijssen 
wrote:

> Hoi,
> Jan Bart, I am grateful for our trip to Brussels. You have done good.
>
> Stu you have done your thing and it is not mine. Thank you that I have
> never taken an interest.
> Thanks,
>  GerardM
>
> On 6 January 2016 at 10:44, Tanweer Morshed 
> wrote:
>
> > The contribution of Jan-Bart and Stu cannot be ignored.They have
> immensely
> > put effort for the movement, and were involved for a long time. Thank you
> > Jan-Bart and Stu for your commitment and contribution.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Tanweer
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:37 PM, Chris Keating <
> chriskeatingw...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I just wanted to add my thanks as well as both Jan-Bart and Stu have
> > served
> > > the movement with a huge amount of dedication and commitment for many
> > years
> > > and helped steer the WMF through many challenges. It has been a real
> > > pleasure to work with both of you.
> > >
> > > Thank you both for everything you have done and best wishes for the
> > future!
> > >
> > > On a more practical note as there is now no Dutch person on the WMF
> > board I
> > > am concerned that there is now no obvious supplier of stroopwafel at
> > board
> > > meetings - has a proper impact assessment been conducted?
> > >
> > > Chris
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Steven Walling <
> steven.wall...@gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.
> > > >
> > > > Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your participation
> > > over
> > > > these years.
> > > >
> > > > Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial
> governance
> > > of
> > > > the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have been
> > > deeply
> > > > important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money
> > > entrusted
> > > > to us by donors.
> > > >
> > > > Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is
> > difficult
> > > > to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I find
> > > > myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the
> > > board,
> > > > but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the board
> > > (this
> > > > time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk <
> lodew...@effeietsanders.org>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > While we have long discussions on this list about board
> composition,
> > we
> > > > > seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are
> > leaving
> > > > the
> > > > > Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and
> Stu
> > > West
> > > > > have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I
> > think
> > > > > there are not many people who can recall the days that the board
> > didn't
> > > > > have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the
> board
> > > with
> > > > > them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in
> > > > place.
> > > > >
> > > > > Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat),
> > and
> > > > has
> > > > > been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe
> > he
> > > > > chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force
> behind
> > > the
> > > > > accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly
> > > disagreed
> > > > on
> > > > > affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
> > > > > constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than
> > problems.
> > > He
> > > > > served both as treasurer and vice chair.
> > > > >
> > > > > Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I
> recall
> > > > > already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
> > > > > education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people
> > who
> > > > > went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised
> there
> > > > with
> > > > > his big smile. I can't remember 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive)]

Congratulations Kelly and Arnnon!


-Hasive
WMBD

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:14 PM, Fæ  wrote:

> I was amused to read the official announcement, which paints the two
> new appointed white American trustees who "happen" to live and work
> within an easy commute to the WMF offices in California, as a win for
> diversity and internationalism.[1]
>
> No, WMF, these were cosy personal network appointments that make the
> WMF look like a typical "old boys club" with a focus on money, power,
> growth and do nothing to gain community confidence that your board is
> going to turn around its strategy into something meaningful and
> effective for our open knowledge mission over the next two years.
>
> In line with Anthony Cole's comment, the majority of the board should
> declare a conflict and opt out of any vote that touches on Google,
> Wikidata etc. but of course the on-going complacent group think will
> apply.
>
> 1. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/01/05/new-wikimedia-foundation-trustees/
>
> Fae
>
> On 6 January 2016 at 07:52, Anthony Cole  wrote:
> > This is all fascinating and concerning. Most concerning to me is the
> > presence on the board of someone actually on Google's payroll right now.
> > How can Denny not be fatally conflicted in all - or most - board
> > deliberations that involve broad strategy - especially but not only to do
> > with WikiData?
> >
> > Anthony Cole
> > I'm on the board of Wiki Project Med Foundation.
> >
> > Anthony Cole
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Legoktm 
> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> On 01/05/2016 08:01 PM, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
> >> > I note we now have on the board:
> >> >
> >> > * Jimmy Wales, who has served as a member of Google's "Advisory
> Council"
> >> > * Denny Vrandecic, who is a Google employee
> >> > * Guy Kawasaki, who has served as special advisor to the CEO of the
> >> > Motorola business unit of Google
> >> > * Kelly Battles of Bracket Computing, which partners with Google Cloud
> >> > Platform
> >> > * Arnnon Geshuri, who served as Senior Director of HR and Staffing at
> >> Google
> >> >
> >> > Did I miss anyone?
> >>
> >> I think you missed all the board members who have Google set as their
> >> browser's default search engine instead of using DuckDuckGo[1].
> >>
> >> But really, I think you should be paying attention to Facebook. We are
> >> reliant upon HHVM to run MediaWiki, which is developed by them, as well
> >> as Phabricator for bug tracking, which was originally developed by them.
> >> Furthermore, our current hardware officer[2] is a Facebook employee.
> >>
> >> [1] https://duckduckgo.com/
> >> [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hardware_Officer
> >>
> >> -- Legoktm
> >>
> >> ___
> >> 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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> 
>
>
>
> --
> fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
> Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.
>
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> 
>



-- 
*Nurunnaby Chowdhury (Hasive) **:: **নুরুন্নবী চৌধুরী (হাছিব)*
User: Hasive  |
GSM/WhatsApp/Viber: +8801712754752
​
Administrator | Bengali Wikipedia 
Member | GAC Committee, Wikimedia Foundation

Member | IEG Committee, Wikimedia Foundation

Director | Wikimedia Bangladesh Operations Committee

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 | Skype: nhasive | www.nhasive.com
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Chris Keating]

I just wanted to add my thanks as well as both Jan-Bart and Stu have served
the movement with a huge amount of dedication and commitment for many years
and helped steer the WMF through many challenges. It has been a real
pleasure to work with both of you.

Thank you both for everything you have done and best wishes for the future!

On a more practical note as there is now no Dutch person on the WMF board I
am concerned that there is now no obvious supplier of stroopwafel at board
meetings - has a proper impact assessment been conducted?

Chris

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Steven Walling 
wrote:

> Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.
>
> Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your participation over
> these years.
>
> Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial governance of
> the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have been deeply
> important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money entrusted
> to us by donors.
>
> Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is difficult
> to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I find
> myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the board,
> but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the board (this
> time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)
>
> On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk 
> wrote:
>
> > While we have long discussions on this list about board composition, we
> > seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are leaving
> the
> > Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West
> > have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I think
> > there are not many people who can recall the days that the board didn't
> > have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board with
> > them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in
> place.
> >
> > Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat), and
> has
> > been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe he
> > chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind the
> > accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly disagreed
> on
> > affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
> > constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than problems. He
> > served both as treasurer and vice chair.
> >
> > Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
> > already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
> > education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people who
> > went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there
> with
> > his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in the
> past
> > years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he served
> > the board in many positions, including as chair.
> >
> > I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice
> thankyou
> > coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they
> did,
> > that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd
> like
> > to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
> > effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
> > appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
> > have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with
> us
> > though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
> > mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
> >
> > I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I hope
> > to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Lodewijk
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Tobias]

Ultimately this is about cost. Right now, the cheapest way for the board
to get away with this is to publish some vague statements without really
revealing anything, and hoping that the discussion will die down after a
couple of weeks.

As a community, we can drive up the cost of this strategy. Boycott the
next election (if you want to call it that), introduce an
editing-free-week, put up sitenotices to inform our readers and attract
media attention, until the board lives up to the transparency principles
that we've come to expect from each other in this movement.

At some point the cost will be too high for the board to continue their
strategy of hiding behind vague language.

Tobias

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Adam Wight]

Dear Board,

I'm deeply grateful that the past, current and new members of the Board
have dedicated the 10 hours/week and more to our cause, and both as people
and Board functionaries I wish them the best and much success in their
lives.

However, the Board as an entity which has energetically lost the trust of
both its own staff and that of the broader community who cares about such
issues does, in my opinion, owe us all a better backstory for these latest
appointees.  I would love to hear more about the humanist and visionary
bubbles left in their wake, for example a loving and vibrant workplace
environment crafted by Arnnon, a scheme to charge no tuition at the
Montessori school devised by Kelly...  I do believe that these stories must
lay deeper beneath the surface of these two, who appear from their CVs to
be rich, likeable personalities with impeccable, traditional business
management skills.  The Board owes it to Kelly and Arnnon, if no one else,
to set them up for success by sharing the mission-aligned personal history
which makes them desirable appointments to our unique organization.

Perhaps you could request new Board members to write a personal statment,
of their vision and the goals they intend to pursue during their time on
the Board.

Warmly,
Adam Wight
Fundraising Tech "the sheepdog" Lead
Wikimedia Foundation
User:Adamw

On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 5:01 PM, Dariusz Jemielniak 
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> As Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee, I am happy
> to introduce the two newest members of our Board of Trustees: Kelly Battles
> and Arnnon Geshuri.
>
> Kelly and Arnnon bring deep expertise in strategy and financial oversight,
> and diversity and organizational development, and a passionate commitment
> to advancing Wikimedia’s vision for the world. You can learn more about
> them in the blog post here:
> http://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/01/05/new-wikimedia-foundation-trustees/,
> and their biographies have been added to the Board of Trustees page, here
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees.
>
> Over the past several weeks, the Board considered many qualified candidates
> from around the globe. We were looking for people with experience in
> strategic and organizational development to help guide the Wikimedia
> Foundation’s future. We were also looking for people with a sense of
> empathy and cultural awareness, who would value and strengthen the unique
> culture of our diverse, global movement.
>
> We are excited to announce that with Kelly and Arnnon, we have found
> exceptional new Trustees who have these qualities, as well as many more.
> They were approved unanimously by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
> Trustees. Both terms are effective Jan 1, 2016 and will last for two years.
> We look forward to working with them on the Board and toward our mission.
>
> Please join me in welcoming them.
>
> Dariusz
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Pierre-Selim]

2016-01-06 8:52 GMT+01:00 Anthony Cole :

> This is all fascinating and concerning. Most concerning to me is the
> presence on the board of someone actually on Google's payroll right now.
> How can Denny not be fatally conflicted in all - or most - board
> deliberations that involve broad strategy - especially but not only to do
> with WikiData?
>

Are you suggesting the removal of another communitee selected board member ?
Just checking :)


>
> Anthony Cole
> I'm on the board of Wiki Project Med Foundation.
>
> Anthony Cole
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Legoktm 
> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > On 01/05/2016 08:01 PM, Andreas Kolbe wrote:
> > > I note we now have on the board:
> > >
> > > * Jimmy Wales, who has served as a member of Google's "Advisory
> Council"
> > > * Denny Vrandecic, who is a Google employee
> > > * Guy Kawasaki, who has served as special advisor to the CEO of the
> > > Motorola business unit of Google
> > > * Kelly Battles of Bracket Computing, which partners with Google Cloud
> > > Platform
> > > * Arnnon Geshuri, who served as Senior Director of HR and Staffing at
> > Google
> > >
> > > Did I miss anyone?
> >
> > I think you missed all the board members who have Google set as their
> > browser's default search engine instead of using DuckDuckGo[1].
> >
> > But really, I think you should be paying attention to Facebook. We are
> > reliant upon HHVM to run MediaWiki, which is developed by them, as well
> > as Phabricator for bug tracking, which was originally developed by them.
> > Furthermore, our current hardware officer[2] is a Facebook employee.
> >
> > [1] https://duckduckgo.com/
> > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hardware_Officer
> >
> > -- Legoktm
> >
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>



-- 
Pierre-Selim
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
Jan Bart, I am grateful for our trip to Brussels. You have done good.

Stu you have done your thing and it is not mine. Thank you that I have
never taken an interest.
Thanks,
 GerardM

On 6 January 2016 at 10:44, Tanweer Morshed  wrote:

> The contribution of Jan-Bart and Stu cannot be ignored.They have immensely
> put effort for the movement, and were involved for a long time. Thank you
> Jan-Bart and Stu for your commitment and contribution.
>
>
> Regards,
> Tanweer
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:37 PM, Chris Keating 
> wrote:
>
> > I just wanted to add my thanks as well as both Jan-Bart and Stu have
> served
> > the movement with a huge amount of dedication and commitment for many
> years
> > and helped steer the WMF through many challenges. It has been a real
> > pleasure to work with both of you.
> >
> > Thank you both for everything you have done and best wishes for the
> future!
> >
> > On a more practical note as there is now no Dutch person on the WMF
> board I
> > am concerned that there is now no obvious supplier of stroopwafel at
> board
> > meetings - has a proper impact assessment been conducted?
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Steven Walling  >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.
> > >
> > > Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your participation
> > over
> > > these years.
> > >
> > > Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial governance
> > of
> > > the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have been
> > deeply
> > > important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money
> > entrusted
> > > to us by donors.
> > >
> > > Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is
> difficult
> > > to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I find
> > > myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the
> > board,
> > > but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the board
> > (this
> > > time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk 
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > While we have long discussions on this list about board composition,
> we
> > > > seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are
> leaving
> > > the
> > > > Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu
> > West
> > > > have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I
> think
> > > > there are not many people who can recall the days that the board
> didn't
> > > > have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board
> > with
> > > > them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in
> > > place.
> > > >
> > > > Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat),
> and
> > > has
> > > > been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe
> he
> > > > chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind
> > the
> > > > accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly
> > disagreed
> > > on
> > > > affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
> > > > constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than
> problems.
> > He
> > > > served both as treasurer and vice chair.
> > > >
> > > > Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
> > > > already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
> > > > education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people
> who
> > > > went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there
> > > with
> > > > his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in
> the
> > > past
> > > > years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he
> > served
> > > > the board in many positions, including as chair.
> > > >
> > > > I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice
> > > thankyou
> > > > coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they
> > > did,
> > > > that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd
> > > like
> > > > to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy
> > and
> > > > effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
> > > > appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may
> > even
> > > > have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun
> with
> > > us
> > > > though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
> > > > mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
> > > >
> > > > I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I
> > hope
> > > > to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
> > > >
> > > > Best,
> > > >
> > > > Lodewijk
> > > > 

[Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Pete Forsyth]

I think this is a question for Patricio or Lila:

At the November 2015 Metrics & Activities meeting, Lila presented[1] a
slide outlining the new Strategic Planning process.[2]

Amid general comments about how inclusive the process would be, that slide
indicates that the draft briefly introduced at that meeting was to be
finalized in December 2015, approved by the Board in January 2016, and
presented publicly in May 2016.

Can you confirm if that is actually the process underway? Are you on
schedule?

Can you address (in this venue) whether a plan that is developed in
November and December by (at least some) staff, and presented publicly the
following May, can truly be more inclusive than the 2010 plan -- which
engaged 1,000 people, and took a year to complete, on an open wiki?

-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]

[1] At about 20 minutes in:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Metrics_-_November_2015.webm
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WMF_Metrics_%26_Activities_Meeting_November_2015_(1).pdf=19
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Steven Walling]

Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.

Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your participation over
these years.

Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial governance of
the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have been deeply
important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money entrusted
to us by donors.

Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is difficult
to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I find
myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the board,
but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the board (this
time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)

On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk 
wrote:

> While we have long discussions on this list about board composition, we
> seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are leaving the
> Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West
> have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I think
> there are not many people who can recall the days that the board didn't
> have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board with
> them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in place.
>
> Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat), and has
> been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe he
> chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind the
> accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly disagreed on
> affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
> constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than problems. He
> served both as treasurer and vice chair.
>
> Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
> already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
> education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people who
> went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there with
> his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in the past
> years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he served
> the board in many positions, including as chair.
>
> I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice thankyou
> coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they did,
> that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd like
> to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
> effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
> appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
> have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with us
> though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
> mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
>
> I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I hope
> to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
>
> Best,
>
> Lodewijk
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Andrew Gray]

On 6 January 2016 at 02:09, Liam Wyatt  wrote:

> I've always believed that Wikimedia is an education charity that happens to
> exist exists in a technology field. I often note in presentations that I
> give that the Wikimedia vision statement does NOT use the words, Internet,
> or Wiki, or Encyclopedia. But these appointments indicate the Board and WMF
> Executive believe Wikimedia is a technology charity that happens to exists
> in the education field.
>
> These appointments will make a crucial difference to how the new WMF
> strategic direction will go - and clearly the leadership is wanting to make
> us act more like a Californian dot-com and less like a global education
> charity. Less "community consensus building" and more "move fast and break
> things" - is the message I am reading here.

I would like to very much second Liam's concerns here. This feels like
we're drifting further into the bubble of SF technology companies, and
frankly the world needs less of that not more. I think it's valuable
that we have some board members with experience from outside the
Wikimedia bubble - but also very important that we try to avoid too
large a proportion of the board coming from within the SF technology
bubble. This feels like a step sideways in that regard, and it's
unsettling.

(I also agree with his concerns about diversity, but we're not always
great at solving that through the elected seats either, to be fair...)

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk

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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Conference 2016 - Registration closes in one and a half weeks!

[Wenke Storn]

Dear Wikimedians,

Thanks to those of you who have already registered for the Wikimedia
Conference 2016 – we are already very excited to welcome participants from
across the world in Berlin in April.

You have not yet registered for the conference? Your affiliation is
eligible [1] to attend the conference and you have been selected to
represent your affiliation in Berlin?

Then please be kindly reminded to register until Friday, January 15, 2016.
You have only one and a half weeks left! Please note that WMDE and WMF
teams will only be able to proceed as planned with regards to travel
booking and program design with all participants registered in time.

To register for the conference, please find the link to the registration
form here [2].

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us via wm...@wikimedia.de should you
have any questions or comments. Daniela will be back in the office on
Monday (January 11) and will then get back to your requests and emails.

Best regards,

Wenke on behalf of the organizing team

Wikimedia Deutschland

wm...@wikimedia.de

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2016/Eligibility_Criteria
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2016/Registration#Registration_link



-- Forwarded message --
From: Daniela Gentner 
Date: 2015-12-01 13:06 GMT+01:00
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Conference 2016: Registration now open
#WMCON16
To: Wikimedia Mailing List 


Dear Wikimedians,

We are delighted to inform you that the registration for the Wikimedia
Conference 2016 [1], which will be held in Berlin from Friday, April
22, through Sunday, April 24, is now open!

Following Christian’s invitation and Nicole’s email regarding the
Program Design Process [2], we would like to provide you with
important information regarding the eligibility for participation,
participant number regulation, registration procedure, specifics in
regards to the travel and hotel booking as well as the visa
application process.

== Eligibility criteria ==
The eligibility criteria for participating in the Wikimedia Conference
2016 are aligned to the Affiliates’ Agreements with the Wikimedia
Foundation. Chapters, Thematic Organizations and User Groups must have
been officially recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation by today
(December 1, 2015), must have shown signs of recent activity and be
up-to-date on their reporting, latest by January 1, 2016 to be
eligible to participate.

Before registering, please check the eligibility and status of your
affiliate[3]. Only affiliates with the status “ready to register” can
proceed with the registration process. For all others, we recommend to
catch up on your reports before January 1, 2016.

==Participant number regulation==
Chapters and Thematic Organizations can send two delegates; or up to
four, if they have paid staff; User Groups can send one delegate. The
eligibility table on meta lists each affiliate and the respective
number of delegates that can be sent to the Wikimedia Conference 2016
[3].

==Registration information==
To make the conference a success, it will be essential for the invited
affiliates to deliberately choose their delegates. We recommend to
follow the “How to select the delegates” information, which is
published on meta [4].

Persons who are selected by their organization to represent them at
the conference need to register via the registration form [5]. The
registration deadline is Friday, January 15, 2016. Please note that we
won’t be able to accept and process registrations after this deadline.

We also hope that several members of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees and staff, the Funds Dissemination Committee as well as the
Affiliations Committee will participate in the conference. We see a
huge advantage in having their representatives on site and encourage
them to take part in a range of talks and discussions. Please also
register via the registration link.

In addition to the core-conference, pre-conference workshops on
program design, evaluation, and community learning on Wednesday and
Thursday, April 20-21, are organized by the Learning and Evaluation
team of the WMF [6]. Should you be interested in participating in
these workshops, you can indicate your interest in the registration
form as well.

For the purpose of helping affiliates to check that only their
selected representatives have registered and enable participants to
connect before the conference and stay in involved afterwards, we will
publish all participants’ names on the meta page [7] shortly after
registration.

Further information on the registration process can be retrieved from meta
[8].

==Hotel and travel booking==
WMDE has blocked a number of hotel rooms at Motel One Leipziger Platz,
which is in walking-distance to the conference venue as well as the
WMDE office.

Representatives of affiliates with an annual plan grant (group 1) will
need to book and pay for 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Knight Foundation grant for search and discovery

[Tito Dutta]

That's an excellent news. :)

On 6 January 2016 at 19:16, Wes Moran  wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> I’m happy to announce that the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has
> awarded an exploratory grant of $250,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation’s
> Discovery department [1], in order to conduct research and prototyping to
> improve how people discover and engage with information on Wikipedia and
> Wikimedia projects.
>
> The Discovery team has begun six months of research and prototyping, with
> the goal of building better experiences to help people discover knowledge.
> You can learn more about the team’s work here
> .
>
> Our deliverables include:
>
>
>- User testing and research on current user flows to understand the
>search and discovery experience
>- Creation and maintenance of a dashboard of core metrics to use in
>product development
>- Research on search relevancy and the possibility of integrating open
>data sources
>- Open discussion with the Wikimedia community of volunteer editors
>- Creation of sample prototypes to showcase discovery possibilities
>
> The need to improve our search experience has long been recognized across
> the Wikimedia projects.  We need better ways to help everyone discover the
> most relevant, reliable information on Wikipedia and its sister projects.
> For
> example, while people can search within one project (like Wikipedia or
> Wikimedia Commons), they can’t easily search across the different projects.
> Some people still receive zero results if they search and do not include
> the right words in a search. There are open data sources that have the
> potential to improve how people find information, and that should be
> explored.
>
> We look forward to discussing these projects with communities and anyone
> with an interest. You can collaborate with the Discovery department in the
> following ways:
>
>- Subscribe  to
>the Discovery team’s public mailing list
>- Read about these projects and others at the MediaWiki Discovery
> page
>- Reach out to the Discovery team on their IRC channel:
>#wikimedia-discovery on Freenode .
>
> A press release and blog post will follow shortly, and more information in
> the form of an FAQ has been posted here [2].
>
> Wes Moran, VP of Product
>
> User: WMoran_(WMF)
>
> [1]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Discovery
> [2]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Discovery/KnightFAQ
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Tito Dutta]

Congrats friends. I hope you will do a lot of good works for the Wikimedia
movement. :)

On 6 January 2016 at 18:09, WereSpielChequers 
wrote:

> Dear Anthony,
>
> The community elected Denny knowing that he worked at Google
> <
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/Board_elections/2015/Candidates#Denny_Vrande.C4.8Di.C4.87_.28Denny.29
> >
> .
>
> If this was an additional conflict of interest taken on after his election
> then things might be different, but this looks to me something better
> resolved by declaring the interest and recusing from relevant votes and
> discussions.
>
> I'm not entirely happy with the current board and especially the loss of
> Doc James. Unless I've missed it neither the GLAM nor Medical sectors now
> have an advocate on the board, but removing an elected board member for a
> conflict of interest that was declared in his election statement would not
> make sense to me.
>
> There is a wider issue that we also have people who have previously been
> connected to various other organisations whose strategies might impinge on
> ours. Do we or should we have some sort of break requirement such
> as requiring directors to recuse from decisions involving recent former
> employers?
>
>
> 
>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >
> > Pierre-Selim asked: "Are you suggesting the removal of another communitee
> > selected board member?"
> >
> > I'm sure Denny would make a fine adviser. But having a voting board
> member
> > who is paid by Google, who in turn is almost the (and would like to be
> the)
> > monopoly commercial vendor of knowledge to the world, strikes me as
> wrong.
> > That's much too close an embrace.
> >
> >
> > Anthony Cole
> >
> >
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Tito Dutta]

All the best :) :)

On 6 January 2016 at 16:25, Theo10011  wrote:

> A big Thank you from me too, to both these wonderful people. We've
> certainly had our share of disagreements in other venues, but I've always
> thought highly of both.
>
> Stu is an excellent financial strategists, with an understanding for what
> matters. His work with the audits and general business acumen were big
> resources. I am grateful to have had our share our disagreements, it
> afforded me the opportunity to know how knowledgeable Stu is and how
> passionate he is about our goals. Thank you Stu.
>
> I spent a few days around Jan-Bart, and he truly is a warm, wonderful
> presence to be around - gregarious and funny, a true mensch. He was more
> community oriented and supportive than any elected trustee I've known over
> the years (Perhaps with the exception of Sj). A positive influence and a
> voice of reason in any contentious discussion I've seen. Thank you
> Jan-Bart.
> Warm Regards
> Theo
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Gerard Meijssen  >
> wrote:
>
> > Hoi,
> > Jan Bart, I am grateful for our trip to Brussels. You have done good.
> >
> > Stu you have done your thing and it is not mine. Thank you that I have
> > never taken an interest.
> > Thanks,
> >  GerardM
> >
> > On 6 January 2016 at 10:44, Tanweer Morshed 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > The contribution of Jan-Bart and Stu cannot be ignored.They have
> > immensely
> > > put effort for the movement, and were involved for a long time. Thank
> you
> > > Jan-Bart and Stu for your commitment and contribution.
> > >
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Tanweer
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:37 PM, Chris Keating <
> > chriskeatingw...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I just wanted to add my thanks as well as both Jan-Bart and Stu have
> > > served
> > > > the movement with a huge amount of dedication and commitment for many
> > > years
> > > > and helped steer the WMF through many challenges. It has been a real
> > > > pleasure to work with both of you.
> > > >
> > > > Thank you both for everything you have done and best wishes for the
> > > future!
> > > >
> > > > On a more practical note as there is now no Dutch person on the WMF
> > > board I
> > > > am concerned that there is now no obvious supplier of stroopwafel at
> > > board
> > > > meetings - has a proper impact assessment been conducted?
> > > >
> > > > Chris
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Steven Walling <
> > steven.wall...@gmail.com
> > > >
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.
> > > > >
> > > > > Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your
> participation
> > > > over
> > > > > these years.
> > > > >
> > > > > Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial
> > governance
> > > > of
> > > > > the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have
> been
> > > > deeply
> > > > > important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money
> > > > entrusted
> > > > > to us by donors.
> > > > >
> > > > > Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is
> > > difficult
> > > > > to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I
> find
> > > > > myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the
> > > > board,
> > > > > but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the
> board
> > > > (this
> > > > > time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk <
> > lodew...@effeietsanders.org>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > While we have long discussions on this list about board
> > composition,
> > > we
> > > > > > seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are
> > > leaving
> > > > > the
> > > > > > Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and
> > Stu
> > > > West
> > > > > > have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I
> > > think
> > > > > > there are not many people who can recall the days that the board
> > > didn't
> > > > > > have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the
> > board
> > > > with
> > > > > > them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem
> in
> > > > > place.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis'
> seat),
> > > and
> > > > > has
> > > > > > been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I
> believe
> > > he
> > > > > > chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force
> > behind
> > > > the
> > > > > > accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly
> > > > disagreed
> > > > > on
> > > > > > affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
> > > > > > constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than
> > > problems.
> > > > He
> > > > > > served both as treasurer and vice chair.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[WereSpielChequers]

Dear Anthony,

The community elected Denny knowing that he worked at Google

.

If this was an additional conflict of interest taken on after his election
then things might be different, but this looks to me something better
resolved by declaring the interest and recusing from relevant votes and
discussions.

I'm not entirely happy with the current board and especially the loss of
Doc James. Unless I've missed it neither the GLAM nor Medical sectors now
have an advocate on the board, but removing an elected board member for a
conflict of interest that was declared in his election statement would not
make sense to me.

There is a wider issue that we also have people who have previously been
connected to various other organisations whose strategies might impinge on
ours. Do we or should we have some sort of break requirement such
as requiring directors to recuse from decisions involving recent former
employers?




> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Pierre-Selim asked: "Are you suggesting the removal of another communitee
> selected board member?"
>
> I'm sure Denny would make a fine adviser. But having a voting board member
> who is paid by Google, who in turn is almost the (and would like to be the)
> monopoly commercial vendor of knowledge to the world, strikes me as wrong.
> That's much too close an embrace.
>
>
> Anthony Cole
>
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Andy Mabbett]

On 5 January 2016 at 23:44, Patricio Lorente  wrote:

> We have also been meeting with the 2015 Election Committee regarding the
> next steps for filling the open community-selected seat.

As I pointed out recently, the phrase "community-selected" is
misleading in this context, The community do not "select" a person to
occupy that seat, they merely make a recommendation, which is then
subject to board approval.

Please be more precise in your use of language, especially in official
communications.

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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[Wikimedia-l] Knight Foundation grant for search and discovery

[Wes Moran]

Hello everyone,

I’m happy to announce that the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has
awarded an exploratory grant of $250,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation’s
Discovery department [1], in order to conduct research and prototyping to
improve how people discover and engage with information on Wikipedia and
Wikimedia projects.

The Discovery team has begun six months of research and prototyping, with
the goal of building better experiences to help people discover knowledge.
You can learn more about the team’s work here
.

Our deliverables include:


   - User testing and research on current user flows to understand the
   search and discovery experience
   - Creation and maintenance of a dashboard of core metrics to use in
   product development
   - Research on search relevancy and the possibility of integrating open
   data sources
   - Open discussion with the Wikimedia community of volunteer editors
   - Creation of sample prototypes to showcase discovery possibilities

The need to improve our search experience has long been recognized across
the Wikimedia projects.  We need better ways to help everyone discover the
most relevant, reliable information on Wikipedia and its sister projects. For
example, while people can search within one project (like Wikipedia or
Wikimedia Commons), they can’t easily search across the different projects.
Some people still receive zero results if they search and do not include
the right words in a search. There are open data sources that have the
potential to improve how people find information, and that should be
explored.

We look forward to discussing these projects with communities and anyone
with an interest. You can collaborate with the Discovery department in the
following ways:

   - Subscribe  to
   the Discovery team’s public mailing list
   - Read about these projects and others at the MediaWiki Discovery
    page
   - Reach out to the Discovery team on their IRC channel:
   #wikimedia-discovery on Freenode .

A press release and blog post will follow shortly, and more information in
the form of an FAQ has been posted here [2].

Wes Moran, VP of Product

User: WMoran_(WMF)

[1]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Discovery
[2]: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Discovery/KnightFAQ
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Andrew Gray]

On 6 January 2016 at 07:52, Anthony Cole  wrote:
> This is all fascinating and concerning. Most concerning to me is the
> presence on the board of someone actually on Google's payroll right now.
> How can Denny not be fatally conflicted in all - or most - board
> deliberations that involve broad strategy - especially but not only to do
> with WikiData?

Given Denny's long history with Wikimedia and his role in Wikidata, I
would be more concerned about influence working the other way around
;-)

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Michael Maggs]

I'd like to add my word of thanks from Wikimedia UK, as well.  Both 
Jan-Bart and Stu as long-standing and experienced trustees have been 
notably welcoming, friendly and open, and both have been extremely 
helpful in maintaining good WMF board / chapter board relations.  I know 
I can speak for others at Wikimedia UK as well, who have had excellent 
relations with them over the years.


It has been a pleasure to work with you both, and I and my colleagues 
wish you all the best for the future.


Best regards


Michael


__

Michael Maggs

Chair, Wikimedia UK



Lodewijk wrote:

While we have long discussions on this list about board composition, we
seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are leaving the
Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West
have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I think
there are not many people who can recall the days that the board didn't
have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board with
them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in place.

Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat), and has
been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe he
chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind the
accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly disagreed on
affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than problems. He
served both as treasurer and vice chair.

Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people who
went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there with
his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in the past
years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he served
the board in many positions, including as chair.

I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice thankyou
coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they did,
that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd like
to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with us
though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.

I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I hope
to see you around in our movement in many different ways.

Best,

Lodewijk
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Anthony Cole]

Is Denny recusing from all discussions and decisions that might affect
Google, broadly construed, including decisions involving WikiData?

I'm glad to see two people with Kelly's and Arnnon's expertise on the
board.

Anthony Cole


On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:53 PM, Andrew Gray 
wrote:

> On 6 January 2016 at 07:52, Anthony Cole  wrote:
> > This is all fascinating and concerning. Most concerning to me is the
> > presence on the board of someone actually on Google's payroll right now.
> > How can Denny not be fatally conflicted in all - or most - board
> > deliberations that involve broad strategy - especially but not only to do
> > with WikiData?
>
> Given Denny's long history with Wikimedia and his role in Wikidata, I
> would be more concerned about influence working the other way around
> ;-)
>
> --
> - Andrew Gray
>   andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Steinsplitter Wiki]

Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri are Volunteers? 

I am not able to find the volunteer  account of both.

With best regards,
Steinsplitter


> From: kikkocrist...@gmail.com
> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 15:55:14 +0100
> To: dar...@alk.edu.pl; wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees
> 
> 2016-01-06 2:01 GMT+01:00 Dariusz Jemielniak :
> > As Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee, I am happy
> > to introduce the two newest members of our Board of Trustees: Kelly Battles
> > and Arnnon Geshuri.
> 
> I realize that my previous email was not the best welcome.
> 
> Welcome Kelly and Arnnon to the vibrant (very very very vibrant,
> probably beyond the "flammable" line) Wikimedia world.
> 
> C
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Cristian Consonni]

2016-01-06 2:01 GMT+01:00 Dariusz Jemielniak :
> As Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee, I am happy
> to introduce the two newest members of our Board of Trustees: Kelly Battles
> and Arnnon Geshuri.

I realize that my previous email was not the best welcome.

Welcome Kelly and Arnnon to the vibrant (very very very vibrant,
probably beyond the "flammable" line) Wikimedia world.

C

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Sydney Poore]

I also want to thank Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West for their work as
Trustees. I had the pleasure of working with both of them and know
them to be committed to the wikimedia mission.

I hope you all stay engaged.
Warm regards,
Sydney Poore
Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
Wikipedian in Residence
at Cochrane Collaboration


On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Cristian Consonni
 wrote:
> 2016-01-06 8:10 GMT+01:00 Lodewijk :
>> [...] But in the mean time, I'd like
>> to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
>> effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
>> appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
>> have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with us
>> though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
>> mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
>>
>> I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I hope
>> to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
>
> Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all your contributions to the movement
> over many years.
>
> Cristian
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Knight Foundation grant for search and discovery

[Andreas Kolbe]

There is a piece by Wes on the website of the Knight Foundation[1] and an
additional FAQ on Discovery's "Knowledge Engine" development on
MediaWiki.[2]

The Knight Foundation funds many things, and is a past donor to the
Wikimedia Foundation--but I'm aware that the Knight Foundation is also
Google's partner in "Newsgeist".[3][4]

[1]
http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2016/1/6/exploring-how-people-discover-knowledge-wikipedia-and-its-sister-projects/
[2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Discovery/FAQ
[3] http://alldigitocracy.org/what-is-newsgeist/
[4] https://twitter.com/newsgeist



On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:17 PM, MZMcBride  wrote:

> Wes Moran wrote:
> >The Discovery team has begun six months of research and prototyping, with
> >the goal of building better experiences to help people discover knowledge.
> >You can learn more about the team’s work here
> > >.
>
> This blog post doesn't mention the Knight Foundation. So we already find
> ourselves wondering whether the "Search and Discovery" (SAD) team's goals
> are its own or that of people at the Knight Foundation.
>
> >Our deliverables include:
> >
> >   - User testing and research on current user flows to understand the
> >   search and discovery experience
> >   - Creation and maintenance of a dashboard of core metrics to use in
> >   product development
> >   - Research on search relevancy and the possibility of integrating open
> >   data sources
> >   - Open discussion with the Wikimedia community of volunteer editors
> >   - Creation of sample prototypes to showcase discovery possibilities
> >
> >The need to improve our search experience has long been recognized across
> >the Wikimedia projects.  We need better ways to help everyone discover the
> >most relevant, reliable information on Wikipedia and its sister projects.
> >For example, while people can search within one project (like Wikipedia or
> >Wikimedia Commons), they can’t easily search across the different
> >projects.
>
> Yes. My frustration here is that nothing you're proposing will actually
> address the real problems facing search. Do you think a "dashboard of core
> metrics" is going to bring about inter-wiki search? If anything, over the
> next six to eight months, the SAD team will be even more useless than
> usual as it focuses on fulfilling obligations of a restricted grant.
>
> It would be great to have a search engine that searches all wiki pages on
> a local wiki. We haven't even reached that point yet. It would be great to
> have a search engine that is aware of non-text content and can filter
> media results. We're nowhere near that point yet. But in a few months,
> maybe your team will have a better understanding of "user flows" and that
> will help... something. I certainly won't be holding my breath.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Anna Stillwell]

Thank you both for your service.
Warmly,
/a

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 7:34 AM, Sydney Poore  wrote:

> I also want to thank Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West for their work as
> Trustees. I had the pleasure of working with both of them and know
> them to be committed to the wikimedia mission.
>
> I hope you all stay engaged.
> Warm regards,
> Sydney Poore
> Sydney Poore
> User:FloNight
> Wikipedian in Residence
> at Cochrane Collaboration
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Cristian Consonni
>  wrote:
> > 2016-01-06 8:10 GMT+01:00 Lodewijk :
> >> [...] But in the mean time, I'd like
> >> to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
> >> effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
> >> appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
> >> have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with
> us
> >> though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
> >> mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
> >>
> >> I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I
> hope
> >> to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
> >
> > Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all your contributions to the movement
> > over many years.
> >
> > Cristian
> >
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>



-- 
Anna Stillwell
Major Gifts Officer
Wikimedia Foundation
415.806.1536
*www.wikimediafoundation.org *
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Pine W]

Just a note that I am continuing to discuss the subjects of turnover and
WMF employee morale with Boryana, and I have also asked Lila about this.

Pine

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:22 AM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 10:18 AM, Craig Franklin  >
> wrote:
>
> > While it's not hard to find a WMF employee who will privately (or
> > increasingly, not-so-privately) complain of poor morale, I'd be wary of
> > reading too much into submissions to sites like Glassdoor.  Employees
> that
> > are content rarely take the time to report this, so you end up with a
> > skewed sample consisting largely of the unhappy and demotivated.
> >
>
>
> Looking a bit further into Glassdoor disproves that theory.
>
> For comparison, here are two non-profits of roughly similar size for
> comparison:
>
> * NPR has an approval rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on 96 reviews, with 79%
> saying they would recommend working there to a friend.[1]
>
> * The American Enterprise Institute has an approval rating of 4.1 out of 5,
> based on 53 reviews, with 89% saying they would recommend working there to
> a friend.[2]
>
> You can find approval ratings in excess of 90% on Glassdoor for some large
> corporates, based on literally thousands of reviews.
>
> [1]
> https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-NPR-EI_IE3965.11,14.htm
> [2]
> https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-AEI-EI_IE151782.11,14.htm
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Thyge]

Transparently, I suppose?

Thyge

2016-01-06 19:31 GMT+01:00 Pine W :

> Just a note that I am continuing to discuss the subjects of turnover and
> WMF employee morale with Boryana, and I have also asked Lila about this.
>
> Pine
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:22 AM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 10:18 AM, Craig Franklin <
> cfrank...@halonetwork.net
> > >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > While it's not hard to find a WMF employee who will privately (or
> > > increasingly, not-so-privately) complain of poor morale, I'd be wary of
> > > reading too much into submissions to sites like Glassdoor.  Employees
> > that
> > > are content rarely take the time to report this, so you end up with a
> > > skewed sample consisting largely of the unhappy and demotivated.
> > >
> >
> >
> > Looking a bit further into Glassdoor disproves that theory.
> >
> > For comparison, here are two non-profits of roughly similar size for
> > comparison:
> >
> > * NPR has an approval rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on 96 reviews, with
> 79%
> > saying they would recommend working there to a friend.[1]
> >
> > * The American Enterprise Institute has an approval rating of 4.1 out of
> 5,
> > based on 53 reviews, with 89% saying they would recommend working there
> to
> > a friend.[2]
> >
> > You can find approval ratings in excess of 90% on Glassdoor for some
> large
> > corporates, based on literally thousands of reviews.
> >
> > [1]
> > https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-NPR-EI_IE3965.11,14.htm
> > [2]
> >
> https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-AEI-EI_IE151782.11,14.htm
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Pine W]

Heh (: I have no problem with those emails being published.

Just for clarification: I do believe that there is value in some
confidential and 1-on-1 communications. Where I think there is room for
change is with regards to a governing body of an open-source organization
(in this case, the WMF board) limiting access to so many of its official
deliberations. I would strongly prefer that official deliberations of a
governing body be open to the public. I feel that public deliberations
provide important benefits: more credibility, reduction of the risks of
groupthink, encouragement of civility in meetings, and increased
accountability to the public.

I'm happy to provide further details on Washington State laws on open
meetings and public records. Generally I feel that they provide good
guidance. There are exceptions, for example in the cases of attorney-client
privileged information, personnel matters, or deliberations about pending
property acquisitions. I feel that the reasons for the exceptions are
generally well designed, and it's important that closed-door official
meetings are the exception rather than the norm.

Pine

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 11:07 AM, Thyge  wrote:

> Transparently, I suppose?
>
> Thyge
>
> 2016-01-06 19:31 GMT+01:00 Pine W :
>
> > Just a note that I am continuing to discuss the subjects of turnover and
> > WMF employee morale with Boryana, and I have also asked Lila about this.
> >
> > Pine
> >
> > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:22 AM, Andreas Kolbe 
> wrote:
> >
> > > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 10:18 AM, Craig Franklin <
> > cfrank...@halonetwork.net
> > > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > While it's not hard to find a WMF employee who will privately (or
> > > > increasingly, not-so-privately) complain of poor morale, I'd be wary
> of
> > > > reading too much into submissions to sites like Glassdoor.  Employees
> > > that
> > > > are content rarely take the time to report this, so you end up with a
> > > > skewed sample consisting largely of the unhappy and demotivated.
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Looking a bit further into Glassdoor disproves that theory.
> > >
> > > For comparison, here are two non-profits of roughly similar size for
> > > comparison:
> > >
> > > * NPR has an approval rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on 96 reviews, with
> > 79%
> > > saying they would recommend working there to a friend.[1]
> > >
> > > * The American Enterprise Institute has an approval rating of 4.1 out
> of
> > 5,
> > > based on 53 reviews, with 89% saying they would recommend working there
> > to
> > > a friend.[2]
> > >
> > > You can find approval ratings in excess of 90% on Glassdoor for some
> > large
> > > corporates, based on literally thousands of reviews.
> > >
> > > [1]
> > >
> https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-NPR-EI_IE3965.11,14.htm
> > > [2]
> > >
> >
> https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-AEI-EI_IE151782.11,14.htm
> > > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Amy Vossbrinck]

Yes and a very big thank you to Stu for all of his work on the Audit
Committee!!

Take care, Amy

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:52 AM, Katie Chan  wrote:

> Thank you both. Hope to continue to see you around. :)
>
> KTC
>
> On 06/01/2016 16:11, Anna Stillwell wrote:
>
>> Thank you both for your service.
>> Warmly,
>> /a
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 7:34 AM, Sydney Poore 
>> wrote:
>>
>> I also want to thank Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West for their work as
>>> Trustees. I had the pleasure of working with both of them and know
>>> them to be committed to the wikimedia mission.
>>>
>>> I hope you all stay engaged.
>>> Warm regards,
>>> Sydney Poore
>>> Sydney Poore
>>> User:FloNight
>>> Wikipedian in Residence
>>> at Cochrane Collaboration
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Cristian Consonni
>>>  wrote:
>>>
 2016-01-06 8:10 GMT+01:00 Lodewijk :

> [...] But in the mean time, I'd like
> to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy
> and
> effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
> appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may
> even
> have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with
>
 us
>>>
 though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
> mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
>
> I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I
>
 hope
>>>
 to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
>

 Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all your contributions to the movement
 over many years.

 Cristian

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>>
>>
>>
>
> --
> Katie Chan
> Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the
> author and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the
> author is associated with or employed by.
>
>
> Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
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>
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-- 
*Amy Vossbrinck*
*Executive Assistant to the*
*Chief of Finance and Administration​ and*
*the Vice President of Human Resources​*
*Wikimedia Foundation*
*149 New Montgomery Street*
*San Francisco, CA 94105*
*415.839.6885  ext 6628*
*avossbri...@wikimedia.org *
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Andreas Kolbe]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 10:18 AM, Craig Franklin 
wrote:

> While it's not hard to find a WMF employee who will privately (or
> increasingly, not-so-privately) complain of poor morale, I'd be wary of
> reading too much into submissions to sites like Glassdoor.  Employees that
> are content rarely take the time to report this, so you end up with a
> skewed sample consisting largely of the unhappy and demotivated.
>


Looking a bit further into Glassdoor disproves that theory.

For comparison, here are two non-profits of roughly similar size for
comparison:

* NPR has an approval rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on 96 reviews, with 79%
saying they would recommend working there to a friend.[1]

* The American Enterprise Institute has an approval rating of 4.1 out of 5,
based on 53 reviews, with 89% saying they would recommend working there to
a friend.[2]

You can find approval ratings in excess of 90% on Glassdoor for some large
corporates, based on literally thousands of reviews.

[1] https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-NPR-EI_IE3965.11,14.htm
[2]
https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-AEI-EI_IE151782.11,14.htm
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Philippe Beaudette]

I consider myself honored to think of both Jan-Bart and Stu as friends.
They are both exceptional people, who steered the WMF through a serious
period of growth and rarely, if ever, put a foot wrong in so doing.  My
hat's off to both of you.

Best,
pb

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:55 AM, Theo10011  wrote:

> A big Thank you from me too, to both these wonderful people. We've
> certainly had our share of disagreements in other venues, but I've always
> thought highly of both.
>
> Stu is an excellent financial strategists, with an understanding for what
> matters. His work with the audits and general business acumen were big
> resources. I am grateful to have had our share our disagreements, it
> afforded me the opportunity to know how knowledgeable Stu is and how
> passionate he is about our goals. Thank you Stu.
>
> I spent a few days around Jan-Bart, and he truly is a warm, wonderful
> presence to be around - gregarious and funny, a true mensch. He was more
> community oriented and supportive than any elected trustee I've known over
> the years (Perhaps with the exception of Sj). A positive influence and a
> voice of reason in any contentious discussion I've seen. Thank you
> Jan-Bart.
> Warm Regards
> Theo
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:22 PM, Gerard Meijssen  >
> wrote:
>
> > Hoi,
> > Jan Bart, I am grateful for our trip to Brussels. You have done good.
> >
> > Stu you have done your thing and it is not mine. Thank you that I have
> > never taken an interest.
> > Thanks,
> >  GerardM
> >
> > On 6 January 2016 at 10:44, Tanweer Morshed 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > The contribution of Jan-Bart and Stu cannot be ignored.They have
> > immensely
> > > put effort for the movement, and were involved for a long time. Thank
> you
> > > Jan-Bart and Stu for your commitment and contribution.
> > >
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Tanweer
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 3:37 PM, Chris Keating <
> > chriskeatingw...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I just wanted to add my thanks as well as both Jan-Bart and Stu have
> > > served
> > > > the movement with a huge amount of dedication and commitment for many
> > > years
> > > > and helped steer the WMF through many challenges. It has been a real
> > > > pleasure to work with both of you.
> > > >
> > > > Thank you both for everything you have done and best wishes for the
> > > future!
> > > >
> > > > On a more practical note as there is now no Dutch person on the WMF
> > > board I
> > > > am concerned that there is now no obvious supplier of stroopwafel at
> > > board
> > > > meetings - has a proper impact assessment been conducted?
> > > >
> > > > Chris
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 8:56 AM, Steven Walling <
> > steven.wall...@gmail.com
> > > >
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Thanks for starting this thread Lodewijk.
> > > > >
> > > > > Jan-Bart and Stu: Wikimedia has been lucky to have your
> participation
> > > > over
> > > > > these years.
> > > > >
> > > > > Stu, thank you in particular for helping steer the financial
> > governance
> > > > of
> > > > > the Wikimedia movement. Your expertise and professionalism have
> been
> > > > deeply
> > > > > important to making sure Wikimedia is a good steward of the money
> > > > entrusted
> > > > > to us by donors.
> > > > >
> > > > > Jan-Bart, my friend, you are a force to be reckoned with. It is
> > > difficult
> > > > > to sum up the total impact of your leadership in the movement. I
> find
> > > > > myself falling back on memories not just of your formal role on the
> > > > board,
> > > > > but of your warmth and generosity of spirit. I hope leaving the
> board
> > > > (this
> > > > > time) doesn't mean your Wikimania streak will be broken. ;-)
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 11:11 PM Lodewijk <
> > lodew...@effeietsanders.org>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > While we have long discussions on this list about board
> > composition,
> > > we
> > > > > > seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are
> > > leaving
> > > > > the
> > > > > > Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and
> > Stu
> > > > West
> > > > > > have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I
> > > think
> > > > > > there are not many people who can recall the days that the board
> > > didn't
> > > > > > have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the
> > board
> > > > with
> > > > > > them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem
> in
> > > > > place.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis'
> seat),
> > > and
> > > > > has
> > > > > > been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I
> believe
> > > he
> > > > > > chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force
> > behind
> > > > the
> > > > > > accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly
> > > > disagreed
> > > > > on
> > > > > > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Katie Chan]

Thank you both. Hope to continue to see you around. :)

KTC

On 06/01/2016 16:11, Anna Stillwell wrote:

Thank you both for your service.
Warmly,
/a

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 7:34 AM, Sydney Poore  wrote:


I also want to thank Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West for their work as
Trustees. I had the pleasure of working with both of them and know
them to be committed to the wikimedia mission.

I hope you all stay engaged.
Warm regards,
Sydney Poore
Sydney Poore
User:FloNight
Wikipedian in Residence
at Cochrane Collaboration


On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 9:52 AM, Cristian Consonni
 wrote:

2016-01-06 8:10 GMT+01:00 Lodewijk :

[...] But in the mean time, I'd like
to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with

us

though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.

I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I

hope

to see you around in our movement in many different ways.


Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all your contributions to the movement
over many years.

Cristian

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Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the 
author and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the 
author is associated with or employed by.



Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Steinsplitter Wiki]

I asked if and Arnnon Geshuri are Volunteers. Because there is nothing in the 
bio like "editor since 2011" for example.

Maybe both have disclosed his volunteer account, i don't know. Therefore i ask.


Calling a simple question "attempted outing" is ridiculous.

> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> From: k...@ktchan.info
> Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 16:55:41 +
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees
> 
> On 06/01/2016 16:02, Steinsplitter Wiki wrote:
> >
> > Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri are Volunteers?
> >
> > I am not able to find the volunteer  account of both.
> 
> Since when is (attempted) outing okay because the people involved are 
> trustees?
> 
> KTC
> 
> -- 
> Katie Chan
> Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the 
> author and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the 
> author is associated with or employed by.
> 
> 
> Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
>  - Heinrich Heine
> 
> ---
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> 
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Andy Mabbett]

On 6 January 2016 at 16:02, Steinsplitter Wiki
 wrote:

> Kelly Battles and Arnnon Geshuri are Volunteers?

Unless we''ve started paying WMF board members, then of course they are.

> I am not able to find the volunteer  account of both

Not every volunteer who contributes to our mission has an account; nor
are they required to.

Some edit anonymously (i.e. without logging in), and some help to run
events, or contribute in other ways, but don't edit.

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Pete Forsyth]

Philippe,

Thank you for expanding on that:

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Philippe Beaudette 
wrote:

> I can only suspect that Lila's language here was imprecise
>

That is of course a possiblity. I would be very open to a clarification of
how the board and ED see the community's role in strategic planning; that's
what I'm seeking here.

It's not my intent to analyze a few words in detail. But there is little
else to go on, at the moment.
* It was not merely the word "outsourced" that failed to capture what
happened in 2010, but in my opinion the entirety of Lila's statement about
it;
* There has been very little public communication about strategic planning
since this process started many months ago, in stark contrast to the
year-plus of continual discussion that we had in 2009-2010.

If a clarification or correction needs to be made, I would love to hear it.
I hope it will come with a more thorough statement than we have heard to
date, as well.

In a slightly more ideal world, such a clarification would not have to be
sought out; a prominent misstatement in November could have been corrected
that same month, at the initiative of any of the board or staff present who
(I hope) recognized the flaws in the statement. I suppose that ship has
sailed, though.

-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Florence Devouard]

Kelly and Aronnon, I will be happy to meet you in meat space at 
Wikimania in Italy next summer.


In a context where Stu is leaving the board, Kelly expertise will indeed 
reveal very precious. I am well aware a veteran financial expertise is 
one critical and difficult to find. I doubt not Stu waited till his 
replacement was identified before leaving ;)
Obviously as well, only a US citizen should take in that position and 
being located nearby the WMF also appears to me to be an asset. I 
appreciate Kelly is a woman as well.
I would suggest changing the profile picture though, otherwise the 
fundraising team might hire you to be Jimbo staring eyes replacement.


I am tempted to say that the board is being wise in adding Aronnon, an 
expert in "growing healthy cultures and organizations, leading 
innovative practices to identify, attract, and retain great people". 
Much needed at WMF if rumors are correct.


So, very warm welcome to both of you.


This said, with all due respect, I am also very *disapointed* by the 
lack of diversity on the current board.
Too much white. Too much tech. Too much California. Too much Big 
Companies related.


That sucks.


Anthere



Le 06/01/16 02:01, Dariusz Jemielniak a écrit :

Dear all,

As Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board Governance Committee, I am happy
to introduce the two newest members of our Board of Trustees: Kelly Battles
and Arnnon Geshuri.

Kelly and Arnnon bring deep expertise in strategy and financial oversight,
and diversity and organizational development, and a passionate commitment
to advancing Wikimedia’s vision for the world. You can learn more about
them in the blog post here:
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/01/05/new-wikimedia-foundation-trustees/,
and their biographies have been added to the Board of Trustees page, here
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees.

Over the past several weeks, the Board considered many qualified candidates
from around the globe. We were looking for people with experience in
strategic and organizational development to help guide the Wikimedia
Foundation’s future. We were also looking for people with a sense of
empathy and cultural awareness, who would value and strengthen the unique
culture of our diverse, global movement.

We are excited to announce that with Kelly and Arnnon, we have found
exceptional new Trustees who have these qualities, as well as many more.
They were approved unanimously by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees. Both terms are effective Jan 1, 2016 and will last for two years.
We look forward to working with them on the Board and toward our mission.

Please join me in welcoming them.

Dariusz
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Theo10011]

On Thu, Jan 7, 2016, Pete Forsyth  wrote:
>
> Me, editorializing, very briefly for now:
>
> This answer is very bizarre. Characterizing the 2010 process as having been
> "outsourced" or not involving staff is wildly inaccurate, as I'm sure
> anybody on staff (or on the Board -- such as the board member who was in
> attendance at that meeting) would know. And while it may be that more
> people answered specific questions used to inform the plan this time
> around, the kind of specific questions asked were worlds away from the kind
> of deep engagement encouraged in the 2010 process.


Perhaps, she means that the process was outsourced to the Bridgespan Group
and Blue Oxen Associates (Eugene's firm). It is mentioned on Strategy Wiki
under Process[1]. Eugene and Philippe were brought in to facilitate the
project which eventually led to Philippe joining WMF. Bridgespan conducted
interviews and developed a "guiding paper" that became the broad-strokes
for the plan itself, and eventually led to Barry and Jessie joining WMF.

As someone intimately involved in that last process, I can attest to it
being open but not necessarily community designed. The task force area and
the larger direction was decided by other parties involved.I am not sure if
the last plan was a resounding success either. Just see the deliverable and
how much was achieved - we went through a lot of changes and outright
failures.

Lastly, the concern about this new plan being designed in private is
something I share with the rest. The current situation with the staff and
the board, the high number of new employees, acrimony with the community,
along with the less than stellar performance of the last few years, any new
plan designed in private under those circumstances does not sound very
promising.

Regards
Theo

[1] https://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Process#Phase_I:_Level-setting
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[Florence Devouard]

Thank you for this message Lodewijk !

I would like to join the messages already posted to thank both Stu and 
Jan-Bart. I was on the board when we ask them to join us and I have no 
memory of ever regretting that decision ;)


I wish you both the best !
JB, can we expect to see you in Italy next summer ? I sure hope so...

Anthere

 Le 06/01/16 08:10, Lodewijk a écrit :

While we have long discussions on this list about board composition, we
seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are leaving the
Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West
have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I think
there are not many people who can recall the days that the board didn't
have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board with
them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in place.

Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat), and has
been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe he
chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind the
accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly disagreed on
affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than problems. He
served both as treasurer and vice chair.

Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people who
went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there with
his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in the past
years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he served
the board in many positions, including as chair.

I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice thankyou
coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they did,
that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd like
to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with us
though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.

I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I hope
to see you around in our movement in many different ways.

Best,

Lodewijk
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Philippe Beaudette]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:29 PM, Pete Forsyth  wrote:

> ​[Pete]​
>  editorializing, very briefly for now:
>
> This answer is very bizarre. Characterizing the 2010 process as having been
> "outsourced" or not involving staff is wildly inaccurate
> ​
>
-- 

​Quite.  The two people hired for that process (Eugene Eric Kim and myself)
had deep involvement with the Wikimedia community prior to being hired.  I
believe Lila was likely referring to the involvement of the Bridgespan
Group in the process, but I would hasten to point out that their
involvement was largely advisory, and deeply informed by the involvement of
the more than 1000 people who contributed to the development of the
2010-2015 plan.

I can only suspect that Lila's language here was imprecise - I don't think
that process could be legitimately thought of as "outsourced" in the common
usage of the word, nor do I believe that Lila thinks that.  I think she was
mostly operating on the fly and grabbed the wrong word.

But I've been wrong before. :-)
pb​


Philippe Beaudette

phili...@beaudette.me
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Wikimedia Foundation to explore new ways to search and discover reliable, relevant, free information with $250, 000 from Knight Foundation

[Florence Devouard]

Great news

And...

Just pointing out to the Privacy Policy in case, for memory.

https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Privacy_policy

This is the list of WMF engagement with regards to the collection and 
use of our data. It should be printed and be the book next to the bed 
for the team in charge of this project. Just saying.


Anthere



Le 06/01/16 15:37, Juliet Barbara a écrit :

This press release is also available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_to_explore_new_ways_to_search_and_discover_reliable,_relevant,_free_information_with_$250,000_from_Knight_Foundation

And as a blog post here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/01/06/explore-new-ways-to-search-and-discover/



Wikimedia Foundation to explore new ways to search and discover
reliable, relevant, free information with $250,000 from Knight Foundation


/Funds support research and testing to improve how people find
information on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects/


SAN FRANCISCO—Jan. 6, 2015— The Wikimedia Foundation will launch a new
project to explore ways to make the search and discovery of high
quality, trustworthy information on Wikipedia more accessible and open
with $250,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Funding
will support an investigation of search and browsing on Wikipedia and
other Wikimedia projects, with the goal of improving how people explore
and acquire information.

Wikipedia includes more than 35 million articles across hundreds of
languages. Its standards for neutral, fact-based and relevant
information have made it a reliable resource for nearly half a billion
people every month. With more than 7,000 articles created every day and
250 edits made per minute, Wikipedia is constantly growing and
improving. Its open, nonprofit model, allows anyone to participate and
contribute. This project will help improve discoverability of this vast
resource of community-created content.

Over the last decade, the world has seen a surge in digital information.
People today can access vast amounts of information online, mostly
through a small number of closed technologies. Through this project, the
Wikimedia Foundation will test ways to make relevant information more
accessible and investigate transparent methods for collecting,
connecting, and retrieving this information consistent with the values
of Wikipedia and the open web.

With Knight support, the Wikimedia Foundation has begun six months of
deep research, testing, and prototyping on user search habits and
practices on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Using these
platforms as testing grounds, the organization will examine questions
around content preferences, queries, the quality and relevance of
results, and what information people consume and why. It will conduct
open discussions with the Wikimedia community to help inform the
project. A public-facing dashboard will display results and metrics from
this discovery and lessons will be shared widely.


“Finding an article on Wikipedia is like opening the first page in the
book of knowledge. We have an obligation to our communities to make this
first experience captivating for every user. We share Knight
Foundation’s belief in the power of open information in building
engaged, strong communities. We are excited for the potential of this
project to bring free, relevant, trustworthy knowledge to every person,”
said Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Lila Tretikov.

“As the amount of digital content continues to grow, helping people
search for and discover relevant information so they can make decisions
important to their lives is becoming increasingly essential,” said John
Bracken, Knight Foundation vice president for media innovation. “This
project will help uncover more effective, transparent ways to do just
that, drawing on the Wikimedia Foundation’s commitment to an open and
free Internet.”

For more information visit:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Discovery/KnightFAQ.

About the Wikimedia Foundation

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that supports
and operates Wikipedia. Wikipedia attracts more than 15 billion page
views each month. Every month roughly 75,000 people edit Wikipedia,
collectively creating, improving, and maintaining its more than 35
million articlesacross hundreds of languages-- this all makes Wikipedia
one of the most popular web properties in the world. Based in San
Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity
that is funded primarily through donations and grants.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality
journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the
arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are
informed and engaged. www.knightfoundation.org



Wikimedia Foundation Press Contact

Katherine Maher

+1 415-839-6885 ext 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcing new Wikimedia Foundation Trustees

[Sam Klein]

Kelly and Arnnon, good to meet you!  This is an exciting time to join the
movement; your experience and insight will be welcome.
I hope you have a chance to share public thoughts from time to time.

Anthere:
> I appreciate Kelly is a woman as well. I would suggest changing the
profile picture though, otherwise the fundraising team might hire you to be
Jimbo staring eyes replacement.

Now would that be so bad?

But yes, the board is missing a certain breadth of social, regional, and
other perspective.
We should think about ways to provide that perspective in addition to /
more flexible than choosing a couple of trustees each year.

Lodewijk:
> And, whether you would define the WMF as a "tech organisation"?

That's a fair question, even though the bulk of the staff do technical work
of some sort.   There are all-developer organizations that think of
themselves as a 'design' or 'entertainment' or 'political' organization,
where tech is just one of the powerful tools in their belt.  And WMF has at
times presented its role as roughly 'tech' + 'community' – facilitating,
rather than directly realizing, the mission... and despite that feeling of
uniqueness, similar efforts could support almost any mission.

Whether this is the best division of labor for a centralized org, I don't
know; Wikimedians have tried other options in different regions, so there
are many examples to learn from.

Sam
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[Wikimedia-l] Origin and status of WMF Values and Guiding principles

[Guillaume Paumier]

Hello folks,

I was adding citations to an internal WMF page, and I went down a wiki-
archaeology rabbit hole trying to find the origin of the WMF's Values and 
Guiding principles documents.

I'd like to reach out to the collective accumulated experience of this list to 
sort out a few questions and disambiguate the two concepts.

I realize a lot is happening in the movement (and on this list) these days, 
and this isn't an urgent, important or groundbreaking discussion. This message 
is more like a message in a bottle, hoping to find knowledgeable people that 
can 
help me clear up the ambiguity :)

This is what I've got so far (with some help from Tilman Bayer for a few bits):

-o-o-o-o-

* Florence Devouard (then-Chair of the WMF's Board of Trustees) started a 
discussion about the Foundation's values on the foundation-l list in 2007:

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/19502

* The list of values was first drafted by the Board and the Advisory Board, and 
then discussed on Meta-Wiki with the larger communities:

https://advisory.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meeting_August_2007/Notes#Values
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Values

* The discussion was restarted by Florence in early 2008 on foundation-l. She 
presented a new, longer draft of six core values with explanations, and 
proposed "to the board to finalize (-> approve) the values of Wikimedia 
Foundation.":

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/25147/

* After some feedback from list members, she posted a modified version on the 
Meta-Wiki page, which is largely identical to today's text:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?diff=858927=856985

* It is unclear whether those Values were officially approved by the Board. I 
couldn't find a resolution or meeting minutes indicating official approval.

* In 2013, then-Executive Director Sue Gardner drafted a list of Guiding 
principles for the WMF, which were presented to, and approved by, the Board in 
May of that year.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Guiding_Principles
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-04-18#Guiding_Principles
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Wikimedia_Foundation_Guiding_Principles

* That resolution indicates that the guiding principles "may come to replace 
the previous list of values", but I couldn't find any confirmation that they 
did 
replace them.

* A conflicting statement from Sue on Meta-Wiki indicates that "This document 
isn't intended to supersede the Values document. It's actually intended to 
flesh out the values a little bit further, so it's more explicit how we live 
them on a day-to-day basis at the staff level.":

https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?diff=5375389=5367067

-o-o-o-o-

We're linking to the WMF's Values in a lot of prominent places, and they've 
also been brought up many times in recent strategy discussions. There seems to 
be an underlying assumption, in those discussions, that the Values are a 
document with the same origin and status as the Vision & Mission statements.

My impression (and I'd like to hear thoughts from this list about this) is 
that the Values document was never "officially" approved by the Board, and 
instead is more the result of a soft consensus.

This isn't to say that those Values wouldn't have as much weight, importance or 
authority as voted-on documents like the Mission & Vision statements, or the 
WMF Guiding principles. An unchallenged consensus seems like a valid way of 
validating rules and principles, especially in the context of our movement. 
I'm trying to get confirmation about whether this is the case, so as to remove 
the ambiguity and acknowledge the origin story.

As I mentioned, this isn't the most important topic of discussion right now. 
I'll still be grateful if someone can help me understand the backstories :)

-- 
Guillaume Paumier

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thank you, Jan-Bart and Stu

[rupert THURNER]

thank you both. i enjoyed seeing jan-bart beeing the movements best man in
many situations. and i appreciated money talks and croissant with stu, who
was open to globalize the movement in a financial aspect while always
paying attention that it does not become FIFA. some videos from sunny haifa
and netherlands:
* stu, mr decentralization: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ULO0ppoxBs8=2951
* jan-bart, mr 1 mio $$, and stu, mr 100 years:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ULO0ppoxBs8=3912
* jan-bart, mr stroupwaffel: https://youtu.be/5C0aNWfwaaw?t=835
* jan-bart, mr hiring sue gardner: https://youtu.be/eCrMJMh4gX0?t=25

best,
rupert


On Thu, Jan 7, 2016 at 1:12 AM, Florence Devouard 
wrote:

> Thank you for this message Lodewijk !
>
> I would like to join the messages already posted to thank both Stu and
> Jan-Bart. I was on the board when we ask them to join us and I have no
> memory of ever regretting that decision ;)
>
> I wish you both the best !
> JB, can we expect to see you in Italy next summer ? I sure hope so...
>
> Anthere
>
>  Le 06/01/16 08:10, Lodewijk a écrit :
>
> While we have long discussions on this list about board composition, we
>> seem to almost ignore the fact that two long time veterans are leaving the
>> Wikimedia Foundation board, as scheduled. Jan-Bart de Vreede and Stu West
>> have been around longer than many regular editors nowadays, and I think
>> there are not many people who can recall the days that the board didn't
>> have them on it. I have never had the pleasure to serve on the board with
>> them, but a little thank-you from our community side, would seem in place.
>>
>> Stu joined the board already in 2008 (filling Michael Davis' seat), and
>> has
>> been a solid power on the board's audit responsibilities (I believe he
>> chaired the audit committee for quite a while) and was a force behind the
>> accountability of movement affiliates. While we often strongly disagreed
>> on
>> affiliate issues, I appreciate the fact that he always remained
>> constructive and wanted to think about solutions rather than problems. He
>> served both as treasurer and vice chair.
>>
>> Jan-Bart was on the board even longer, since early 2007, and I recall
>> already working with him through Kennisnet (a Dutch foundation for
>> education and IT) before that. Jan-Bart is one of those rare people who
>> went to ALL wikimania conferences, and can be easily recognised there with
>> his big smile. I can't remember a theme Jan-Bart didn't work on in the
>> past
>> years (Affiliates, HR, searching a new Executive Director) and he served
>> the board in many positions, including as chair.
>>
>> I'm sure that the WMF communications staff and/or board has a nice
>> thankyou
>> coming up - with a more accurate description of the awesome work they did,
>> that I now made up from the top of my head. But in the mean time, I'd like
>> to do it myself: Thank you Jan-Bart and Stu for all the time, energy and
>> effort that you poured into our movement. I know that not all of us
>> appreciate this as much as we perhaps should, and sometimes you may even
>> have perceived us as hostile. I do sincerely hope that you had fun with us
>> though, and I'm confident that you made a big dent in our impossible
>> mission of sharing the sum of all knowledge with everyone.
>>
>> I hope to meet you again soon, at least in Italy at Wikimania, and I hope
>> to see you around in our movement in many different ways.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Lodewijk
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>>
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Origin and status of WMF Values and Guiding principles

[Sam Klein]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 9:53 PM, Guillaume Paumier <
guillaume.paum...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Wikimedia_Foundation_Guiding_Principles
>
> * That resolution indicates that the guiding principles "may come to
> replace
> the previous list of values", but I couldn't find any confirmation that
> they did
> replace them.
>

I don't think they did.  They were drafted in such a way that one could
have constructed "principle blame" to see which values informed parts of
which principles, and a merge or more nuanced classification that covered
various layers of principles would make sense (ex: from abstract values to
specific principles to short-term implementation), but that did not happen.


> We're linking to the WMF's Values in a lot of prominent places, and they've
> also been brought up many times in recent strategy discussions. There
> seems to
> be an underlying assumption, in those discussions, that the Values are a
> document with the same origin and status as the Vision & Mission
> statements.
>

As a point of reference: there was a brainstorming sessions at the Board+ED
retreat in Nov 2014, about whether the (principles+values) were
unchangeable / had the status of the mission.  [conclusion at the time: no.]

The retreat was private, with lots of playing devil's advocate for each
value ["how does this aspect of this principle make it harder to realize
the mission?  what would happen if it were ignored?"].  But as I recall, we
imagined doing something similar in the public strategy discussion. In the
end, the public discussion in 2015 was delayed & simplified... But I hope
we do still have that discussion on Meta.


> As I mentioned, this isn't the most important topic of discussion right
> now.
> I'll still be grateful if someone can help me understand the backstories :)
>

Thanks for asking here :)
<%2B1%20617%20529%204266>
Sam
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Luis Villa]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 12:54 PM, Luis Villa  wrote:

> Brief preview: the schedule has changed somewhat, because we wanted to
> take some more steps to be inclusive of staff feedback (has been underway
> for a few weeks) and community feedback (starting next week). The timeline
> will be tight, because we're trying to tie this into the annual plan
> process and an FDC submission, but we hope this is the start of a
> healthier, young-term process of annual planning and strategy.
>

I apologize - I misspoke. Things will be ready for translation next week
and published the week after.

Luis


-- 
Luis Villa
Sr. Director of Community Engagement
Wikimedia Foundation
*Working towards a world in which every single human being can freely share
in the sum of all knowledge.*
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Knight Foundation grant for search and discovery

[Pete Forsyth]

I wrote grants and grant reports on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation from
2009-2011. I was impressed at the time with the emphasis on transparency
and other factors around grants, especially restricted grants. I'm
beginning to doubt those values have survived, since their main champions
at the WMF have all departed.

I just wrote about this in greater depth:
http://wikistrategies.net/grant-transparency/

-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:07 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> Would it be possible to share the actual grant agreement with the
> community, so that people can understand what the Knight Foundation want
> you to accomplish, and what is going to be built with this money?
>
> Seeing the specifications would help.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Pete Forsyth]

Hi Luis,

Many thanks for the swift update. I'll be looking forward to the
announcements next week.

My final question above still stands, though, and I do feel that an answer
from the ED or the Board is in order. In November, Lila claimed
(inaccurately, IMO) that the 2010 process was "outsourced" and
insufficiently transparent, and that this process would be more
transparent. However, the WMF has repeatedly boasted of the 1,000
stakeholders were engaged, and as many of us recall, the central tool used
to craft the plan was an open wiki that many of us collaborated to build.

In what respect is the current process, which was begun many months ago and
has yet to produce any significant visible artifacts, more transparent, or
more inclusive, or better aligned with any governance values, than the 2010
process?

The removal of Doc James from the board has brought many people's attention
to the issue of transparency. I hope the WMF leadership can take this
opportunity to discuss its approach to transparency in relation to
strategic planning -- which is of course of central interest to anyone who
cares about the organization's direction.

-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 12:54 PM, Luis Villa  wrote:

> Hey, Pete-
>
> We'll be announcing some next steps on strategy next week.
>
> Brief preview: the schedule has changed somewhat, because we wanted to take
> some more steps to be inclusive of staff feedback (has been underway for a
> few weeks) and community feedback (starting next week). The timeline will
> be tight, because we're trying to tie this into the annual plan process and
> an FDC submission, but we hope this is the start of a healthier, young-term
> process of annual planning and strategy.
>
> Hope that helps?
> Luis
>
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:03 AM, Pete Forsyth 
> wrote:
>
> > I think this is a question for Patricio or Lila:
> >
> > At the November 2015 Metrics & Activities meeting, Lila presented[1] a
> > slide outlining the new Strategic Planning process.[2]
> >
> > Amid general comments about how inclusive the process would be, that
> slide
> > indicates that the draft briefly introduced at that meeting was to be
> > finalized in December 2015, approved by the Board in January 2016, and
> > presented publicly in May 2016.
> >
> > Can you confirm if that is actually the process underway? Are you on
> > schedule?
> >
> > Can you address (in this venue) whether a plan that is developed in
> > November and December by (at least some) staff, and presented publicly
> the
> > following May, can truly be more inclusive than the 2010 plan -- which
> > engaged 1,000 people, and took a year to complete, on an open wiki?
> >
> > -Pete
> > [[User:Peteforsyth]]
> >
> > [1] At about 20 minutes in:
> >
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Metrics_-_November_2015.webm
> > [2]
> >
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WMF_Metrics_%26_Activities_Meeting_November_2015_(1).pdf=19
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
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> > 
>
>
>
>
> --
> Luis Villa
> Sr. Director of Community Engagement
> Wikimedia Foundation
> *Working towards a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge.*
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[James Heilman]

I have begun a reply to the board Q & A here
https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/James_Heilman_removal_FAQ=15213281#What_happened.3F

Best
-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Michael Peel]

> On 6 Jan 2016, at 21:36, Pete Forsyth  wrote:
> 
> My final question above still stands, though, and I do feel that an answer
> from the ED or the Board is in order. In November, Lila claimed
> (inaccurately, IMO) that the 2010 process was "outsourced" and
> insufficiently transparent, and that this process would be more
> transparent.

{{citation needed}} please? Although I don't disagree with everything else you 
say, I'm puzzled by this remark, and I haven't seen that claim before.

Thanks,
Mike


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Strategic plan

[Luis Villa]

Hey, Pete-

We'll be announcing some next steps on strategy next week.

Brief preview: the schedule has changed somewhat, because we wanted to take
some more steps to be inclusive of staff feedback (has been underway for a
few weeks) and community feedback (starting next week). The timeline will
be tight, because we're trying to tie this into the annual plan process and
an FDC submission, but we hope this is the start of a healthier, young-term
process of annual planning and strategy.

Hope that helps?
Luis

On Wed, Jan 6, 2016 at 2:03 AM, Pete Forsyth  wrote:

> I think this is a question for Patricio or Lila:
>
> At the November 2015 Metrics & Activities meeting, Lila presented[1] a
> slide outlining the new Strategic Planning process.[2]
>
> Amid general comments about how inclusive the process would be, that slide
> indicates that the draft briefly introduced at that meeting was to be
> finalized in December 2015, approved by the Board in January 2016, and
> presented publicly in May 2016.
>
> Can you confirm if that is actually the process underway? Are you on
> schedule?
>
> Can you address (in this venue) whether a plan that is developed in
> November and December by (at least some) staff, and presented publicly the
> following May, can truly be more inclusive than the 2010 plan -- which
> engaged 1,000 people, and took a year to complete, on an open wiki?
>
> -Pete
> [[User:Peteforsyth]]
>
> [1] At about 20 minutes in:
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Metrics_-_November_2015.webm
> [2]
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:WMF_Metrics_%26_Activities_Meeting_November_2015_(1).pdf=19
> ___
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> 




-- 
Luis Villa
Sr. Director of Community Engagement
Wikimedia Foundation
*Working towards a world in which every single human being can freely share
in the sum of all knowledge.*
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