[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Ivan Martínez]

Welcome on board Maryana!
All the best,

El mar, 14 sept 2021 a las 17:43, Camelia Boban ()
escribió:

> Welcome to our movement Maryana.
>
> Il giorno mar 14 set 2021 alle ore 17:42 Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga <
> galder...@hotmail.com> ha scritto:
>
>> Welcome: https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>>
>
> You will have time to get to know the wikimedians, but writing or
> improving someone's biography in Wikipedia
> is perhaps one of the most heartfelt and sincere welcome that a Wikipedian
> can give.
>
>
> Camelia & WikiDonne UG
>
>
> --
> *Camelia Boban (she/her)*
>
> *| Java EE Developer |*
>
> WikiDonne | Wikimedia Diversity Ambassador | *AffCom*
>
> M. +39 3383385545
> camelia.bo...@gmail.com
> *Wikipedia  **| 
> **WikiDonne
> UG * | *WikiDonne Project
>  *| *WikiDonne APS
> *
>
> [image: File:WDG - Wikipedia20 background Cake slim.jpg]
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Il giorno mar 14 set 2021 alle ore 23:17 Risker  ha
> scritto:
>
>> Welcome, Maryana.  We can all look forward to getting to know you better,
>> and for you to get to know us, too.
>>
>> Feel free to reach out to people with your questions, your ideas, and
>> your concerns.
>>
>> Risker/Anne
>>
>> On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 11:36, Maryana Iskander 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>>>
>>> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
>>> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
>>> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
>>> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
>>> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
>>> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
>>> mine.
>>>
>>> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
>>> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
>>> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
>>> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
>>> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
>>> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
>>> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
>>> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
>>> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
>>> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
>>> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
>>> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
>>> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
>>> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
>>> to champion often unheard voices.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
>>> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
>>> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
>>> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
>>> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
>>> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
>>> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
>>> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
>>> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
>>> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
>>> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
>>> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
>>> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
>>> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
>>> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
>>> for new leaders.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
>>> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
>>> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
>>> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
>>> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
>>> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
>>> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
>>> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
>>> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
>>> people of integrity and commitment, who also

[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Community User Group Albania - Report

[Nafie Shehu]

Dear Wikimedians,

Below you can find the report of the Wikimedia Community User Group
Albania for 
2020:https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/2020_Report



If you have any questions or suggestions, please let us know.


Best regards,
Nafie
On behalf of Wikimedia Community User Group Albania members
___
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[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] This Month in GLAM: August 2021

[The 'This Month in GLAM' team]

*This Month in GLAM* is a monthly newsletter documenting recent happenings
within the GLAM project, such as content donations, residencies, events and
more. GLAM is an acronym of *G*alleries, *L*ibraries, *A*rchives and *M*useums.
You can find more information on the project at glamwiki.org.

*This Month in GLAM – Issue VIII, Volume XI – August 2021*
--


Albania report: Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP) Campaign in Albania
and Kosovo
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Albania_report


Australia report: How Australian libraries are turning to Wikipedia during
the global pandemic
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Australia_report


Brazil report: Transbordados: WikidataCon's preconference for Latin America
discusses GLAM and decolonization
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Brazil_report


Côte d'Ivoire report: Glam-wiki 2021 10 Juillet en Côte d'Ivoire
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Côte_d'Ivoire_report


France report: Wikimedian in residence; Some projects for this autumn
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/France_report


India report: Second proofread competition starts on Bengali Wikisource in
collaboration with the British Library
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/India_report


Italy report: Summer school in July and two new WiR in August
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Italy_report


Netherlands report: 50 cool new things you can now do with KB’s collection
highlights, and New old photographs of Algeria, Mali and Morocco by
Angeline van Achterberg
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Netherlands_report


New Zealand report: A Wikimedian at New Zealand Opera
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/New_Zealand_report


Serbia report: Villas and castles of Serbia
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Serbia_report


Sweden report: History, history and future
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Sweden_report


UK report: Khalili Collections reaches 30 articles
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/UK_report


USA report: Wiki salons and Kearny Mesa
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/USA_report


Special story: Hack4OpenGLAM is ready to start
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Special_story


Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons report: OpenRefine starts SDC
development
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Structured_Data_on_Wikimedia_Commons_report


WMF GLAM report: GLAM conversations and feedbacks for a better Wikimedia
movement
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/WMF_GLAM_report


Calendar: September's GLAM events
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Contents/Events



--


About *This Month in GLAM*
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/About


Single page view
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/August_2021/Single

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Camelia Boban]

Welcome to our movement Maryana.

Il giorno mar 14 set 2021 alle ore 17:42 Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga <
galder...@hotmail.com> ha scritto:

> Welcome: https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>

You will have time to get to know the wikimedians, but writing or improving
someone's biography in Wikipedia
is perhaps one of the most heartfelt and sincere welcome that a Wikipedian
can give.


Camelia & WikiDonne UG


--
*Camelia Boban (she/her)*

*| Java EE Developer |*

WikiDonne | Wikimedia Diversity Ambassador | *AffCom*

M. +39 3383385545
camelia.bo...@gmail.com
*Wikipedia  **| **WikiDonne
UG * | *WikiDonne Project
 *| *WikiDonne APS
*

[image: File:WDG - Wikipedia20 background Cake slim.jpg]









Il giorno mar 14 set 2021 alle ore 23:17 Risker  ha
scritto:

> Welcome, Maryana.  We can all look forward to getting to know you better,
> and for you to get to know us, too.
>
> Feel free to reach out to people with your questions, your ideas, and your
> concerns.
>
> Risker/Anne
>
> On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 11:36, Maryana Iskander 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>>
>> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
>> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
>> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
>> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
>> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
>> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
>> mine.
>>
>> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
>> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
>> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
>> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
>> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
>> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
>> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
>> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
>> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
>> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
>> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
>> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
>> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
>> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
>> to champion often unheard voices.
>>
>>
>>
>> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
>> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
>> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
>> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
>> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
>> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
>> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
>> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
>> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
>> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
>> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
>> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
>> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
>> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
>> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
>> for new leaders.
>>
>>
>>
>> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
>> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
>> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
>> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
>> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
>> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
>> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
>> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
>> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
>> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
>> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
>> world.
>>
>>
>>
>> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
>> culture: one that is founded on accounta

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Risker]

Welcome, Maryana.  We can all look forward to getting to know you better,
and for you to get to know us, too.

Feel free to reach out to people with your questions, your ideas, and your
concerns.

Risker/Anne

On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 11:36, Maryana Iskander 
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
> mine.
>
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
> to champion often unheard voices.
>
>
>
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
> for new leaders.
>
>
>
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
> world.
>
>
>
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>
>
>
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
> encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
> for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
> resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
> should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
> ever ask that question again. I then returned to South Africa and spoke to
> another Rebecca. This young woman grew up in a rural area where it was a
> struggle to afford text messaging, never mind any meaningful access to the
> digital world. She, too, d

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Paulo Santos Perneta]

Welcome Maryana!

The first thing I've done after knowing the name of the new CEO was
stalking the history of your Wikipedia entry, to see when it was created.
And now I've red how it happened first hand 😂 About your other Wiki
experience - I also had the privilege of participating in an AfroCuration
event in Mozambique the weekend before the last with the Macua students and
teachers of Rovuma University, promoted by the Moleskine Foundation, and it
was beyond fantastic.

I strongly concur that if you are about to begin your own editing and
volunteer journey, do it under a non identifiable name, and see for
yourself what newbies have to endure to be part of our movement. It will
certainly be a very valuable experience.

Wishing all the best in this new journey of your professional life,
Paulo

Maryana Iskander  escreveu no dia terça,
14/09/2021 à(s) 16:37:

> Dear All,
>
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
> mine.
>
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
> to champion often unheard voices.
>
>
>
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
> for new leaders.
>
>
>
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
> world.
>
>
>
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>
>
>
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
> teacher asking the studen

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[George Herbert]

Welcome Maryana!  This is a challenging organization but an important one.
It sounds like you're leading with an understanding of the importance and
context.  Good luck.

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 8:36 AM Maryana Iskander 
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
> mine.
>
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
> to champion often unheard voices.
>
>
>
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
> for new leaders.
>
>
>
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
> world.
>
>
>
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>
>
>
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
> encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
> for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
> resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
> should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
> ever ask that question again. I then returned to South Africa and spoke to
> another Rebecca. This young woman grew up in a rural area where it was a
> struggle to afford text messaging, never mind any meaningful access to the
> digital world. She, too, did not have equal access to the resour

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[Maggie Dennis]

Hello, all.

I have some responses to your questions posted here and elsewhere that I've
just dropped on Meta on the talk page of the statement there
.
I was asked to concentrate there because it can be hard for people to find
answers scattered through an email thread. It's very long or I might paste
it here, too. Apologies if folks wish I had; I can do that going forward if
so. Also, if folks feel that statement should be moved to the main page so
that it can be marked for translation, too, I'm happy to accommodate and
don't at all object if somebody just boldly does it. I wanted to get some
answers out quickly and thus didn't ask others on my team for their
recommended approach.

Warm regards,
Maggie

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 11:39 AM Alphos OGame 
wrote:

> Hello Maggie, hello all,
>
> If you can communicate on the subject, when was your team first made aware
> of the situation ? Trying to figure out how long this has lasted.
> And were affected users (by which I mean users who had their emails and
> passwords reset) ultimately able to recover their accounts ? Or will they
> be ?
>
> Thank you for letting us know of the issue.
>
> Roger / Alphos
>
>
> Le 14 sept. 2021 à 10:48, William Chan  a écrit :
>
> Hi Andres,
>
> I am not Maggie (definitely here) but as far as I know, some members from
> the zhwp are also affected. If I am correct, it is their email being
> removed and password got reset.
>
> William
>
>
> On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 16:45, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:
>
>> Hi Maggie,
>>
>> Thanks for your post; I have two questions.
>>
>> 1. What is the status of Mardetanha, the Iranian steward and past (even
>> very recent) author of Wikimedia blog posts (which link his real name to
>> his user name)?[1][2]
>>
>> Judging by https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?diff=21964430 where he
>> says, using his alt account,
>>
>> Yes, we are all locked until "voluntarily" resign to get back our account
>> back [[User:Mard|Mard]] ([[User talk:Mard|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2021
>> (UTC)
>>
>> his account must be locked. But I can't find any recent actions related
>> to his account in the public logs on Meta.[3] What am I missing?
>>
>> 2. Speaking of project capture, the Kazakh Wikipedia was captured by
>> state actors almost a decade ago (with the Foundation's blessing at the
>> time, and public regrets later[4]).
>>
>> Are there any functionaries in Kazakhstan that will be impacted by these
>> changes?
>>
>> Andreas
>>
>> [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/author/mohsen-salek/
>> [2]
>> https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/persian-wikipedia-independent-source-or-tool-iranian-state/
>> [3]
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=&user=&page=User%3AMardetanha&wpdate=&tagfilter=&wpfilters%5B%5D=newusers
>> [4]
>> https://eurasianet.org/wikipedia-founder-distances-himself-from-kazakhstan-pr-machine
>>
>> On Monday, September 13, 2021, Maggie Dennis 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi, again.
>>>
>>> I just realized I failed to answer one of the questions. I'm sorry; it's
>>> rather late in my day, and I didn't mean to overlook it. In addition to
>>> what was noted earlier, I believe it was 12 other users who were contacted
>>> and asked to adjust their behavior to work within community policies,
>>> especially regarding "canvassing" and good faith collaboration with other
>>> users.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Maggie
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 6:21 PM Maggie Dennis 
>>> wrote:
>>>
 Hello, all.

 First, our apologies for the translation. We had hoped to provide this
 service to make it easier for our Chinese language communities, but clearly
 it didn't work out as we had hoped. I'm enormously grateful to say that a
 Chinese translation is now available on Meta:
 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Office_actions/September_2021_statement/zh
 <3 We are actively seeking to increase our capacity in Chinese and several
 other languages, and I hope some people will apply!
 https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3374682?gh_src=b62d5dae1us

 With respect to the NDA policy change, this was indeed very obliquely
 addressed on September 1st here
 ,[1]
 at which point we felt the need to be very oblique in our response because
 we were still actively attempting to communicate with all users impacted.
 We knew, of course, that experienced Wikimedians would be able to connect
 the dots but were hoping to avoid attracting external attention by bad
 actors that might put some of these people in danger. Not being a lawyer,
 I'm still a little nervous about saying the wrong thing (my teams were more
 involved in implementing than directing that policy change), but it's
 probably obvious to everyone by now t

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[João Alexandre Peschanski]

Welcome Maryana! We look forward to strengthening the Wikimedia Movement
with you.

Congratulations to the WMF BoT and all the others that were involved
in/with the Transition Committee.

João


Em ter., 14 de set. de 2021 às 12:53, Nataliia Tymkiv 
escreveu:

> Dear all,
>
> I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
> has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
> [1] [2].
>
> Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
> Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
> building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
> Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
> Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
> focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
> academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
> international research university based in the United States.
>
> Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
> barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
> community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
> organisations shaped by shared decision-making.
>
> In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
> Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
> critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
> Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
> search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
> potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
> us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
> embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
> She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
> initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
> sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
> accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
> perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
> States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
> working on the African continent.
>
> Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
> larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
> is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
> vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
> is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.
>
> As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
> to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
> a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
> will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
> to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
> Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.
>
> Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
> 2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
> will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
> Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
> direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
> weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
> (CCed) to the Foundation!
>
> PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
> languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]
>
> *[1]
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
> *
>
> *[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>  *
>
> *[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
> *
>
> *[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
> *
>
> *[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
>  *
>
> *[6]
> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021
> 
>  *
> *[7]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO
> 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Jan-Bart de Vreede]

HI Maryana,

Welcome to the movement in your new role!  While we have to be patient a bit 
longer I look forward to seeing you learn about and improve upon the role of 
the Foundation within movement so that together we can tackle the complex 
challenges ahead of us.

Thank you to all the board members and staff members involved in completing 
what is the  incredibly challenging proces of finding us a  new CEO!

Warm greetings

Jan-Bart de Vreede
Wikimedia Nederland


> On 14 Sep 2021, at 17:35, Maryana Iskander  wrote:
> 
> Dear All, 
> 
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.  
> 
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia Foundation, 
> I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement: “Knowledge 
> belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking statement. In an 
> increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which almost nothing 
> belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge must belong to all is enough to 
> capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly mine. 
> 
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free. 
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United 
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I was 
> consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s 
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by 
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership positions 
> and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of power, not just 
> protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to make meaningful 
> impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres: in-between research and 
> teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare delivery and advocacy at 
> Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and the private sector at 
> Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all of these organisations 
> required listening to and learning from many diverse stakeholders – including 
> volunteers – and using my position of leadership to champion often unheard 
> voices.
>  
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated society 
> – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the resilience 
> of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with one of the 
> highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new organisation had just 
> been formed with a big vision to close this opportunity gap. I signed up, 
> first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for many years as the CEO. My job has 
> been to cultivate a common space of trust for the collective assets of the 
> society – from government, the private sector, civil society, and millions of 
> young people – to work in a coalition to tackle one of the most daunting 
> challenges of our time. To do this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel 
> platform that leverages all forms of technology as a way to serve communities 
> still riddled by a basic lack of access. Our successes came from the power of 
> connection, partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the 
> solution, not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to 
> make space for new leaders.
>  
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many 
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the most 
> important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to add my 
> time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not just 
> imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share in the 
> sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that distributed 
> leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of people can do on 
> their own. I am eager to support processes that will make this even more true 
> for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with people of integrity and 
> commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I can already see that I will 
> meet new colleagues like this from all over the world.
>  
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by culture: 
> one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in all its 
> forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an organisational 
> humility in working with others and a relentless focus on getting things done 
> the right way – while doing the right thing.
>  
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the United 
> States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school teacher 
> asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an encyclopedia 
> at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel, for the first 
> time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the resources needed for her 
> education.  The work of this collective community, should we achieve our 
> v

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Erik Moeller]

Dear Maryana,

Welcome! What a wonderful, varied background in mission-driven work. I
can't wait to read more of your perspective on this list and on the
wikis. Wishing you all success in the role!

Warmly,

Erik
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[wikiasartea]

Welcome to Wikimedia!
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Steven Walling]

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 11:30 AM Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> Hi Maryana,
>
> Welcome, great opening letter.
>
> You mention that you want to do some of your own volunteer editing in the
> months before you officially start, which is great.
>
> Here is an idea: between now and then, tell absolutely no one what your
> user account is called, and what articles, projects or language versions
> you are working on. I think you might find the experience invaluable.
>

This is a great suggestion. The average Wikipedia editor starts their
editing anonymously or pseudonymously with no reputation attached to their
contributions. Doing the same would give you an honest perspective on the
new contributor experience.

Good luck,
>
> Andreas
>
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 4:36 PM Maryana Iskander 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>>
>> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
>> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
>> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
>> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
>> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
>> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
>> mine.
>>
>> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
>> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
>> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
>> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
>> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
>> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
>> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
>> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
>> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
>> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
>> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
>> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
>> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
>> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
>> to champion often unheard voices.
>>
>>
>>
>> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
>> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
>> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
>> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
>> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
>> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
>> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
>> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
>> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
>> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
>> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
>> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
>> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
>> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
>> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
>> for new leaders.
>>
>>
>>
>> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
>> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
>> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
>> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
>> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
>> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
>> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
>> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
>> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
>> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
>> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
>> world.
>>
>>
>>
>> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
>> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
>> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
>> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
>> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>>
>>
>>
>> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
>> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
>> teacher asking the st

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Andreas Kolbe]

Hi Maryana,

Welcome, great opening letter.

You mention that you want to do some of your own volunteer editing in the
months before you officially start, which is great.

Here is an idea: between now and then, tell absolutely no one what your
user account is called, and what articles, projects or language versions
you are working on. I think you might find the experience invaluable.

Good luck,

Andreas

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 4:36 PM Maryana Iskander 
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
> mine.
>
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
> to champion often unheard voices.
>
>
>
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
> for new leaders.
>
>
>
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
> world.
>
>
>
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>
>
>
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
> encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
> for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
> resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
> should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
> ever ask that question again. I then returned to South 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Samuel Klein]

Hello Maryana!  This is superb news.

Brad 'OG' Patrick  wrote:

> Congratulations and welcome to the best job in the world!
>

You're not wrong :)

Access to knowledge seems to becoming more unequal these days in new ways,
with the volume of convincing un-knowledge increasing much faster than the
modest pace of the real thing.  So our work is not getting easier.  But
humor, joy, and a commitment to empowering one another across the varied
texture of our planet, is as good a foundation for it as any I know.  Thank
you Maryana, for sharing your thoughts and wishes.

Sending a warm welcome,
Sam.
--
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Butch Bustria]

Hi Maryana,

Welcome. We hope for the best and we love to reach out to you in one of our
East, Southeast Asia & the Pacific (ESEAP) virtual meetings.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Butch Bustria




On Tue, 14 Sep 2021, 11:36 pm Maryana Iskander, 
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
> mine.
>
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
> to champion often unheard voices.
>
>
>
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
> for new leaders.
>
>
>
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
> world.
>
>
>
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>
>
>
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
> encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
> for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
> resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
> should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
> ever ask that question again. I then returned to South Africa and spoke to
> another Rebecca. This young woman grew up in a rural area where it was a
> struggle to afford text messaging, never mind any meaningful access to the
> digital world. She, too, did not have eq

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[effe iets anders]

Welcome to the movement, Maryana,

I'm confident that there is much we can learn from your background and
experience. I'm also glad that you take your time to get acquainted, and it
feels right when people take the time to complete their obligations at
their previous organization - even when it's perhaps slightly inconvenient.

Good luck on your listening tour!

Lodewijk

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 9:20 AM Ankan Ghosh Dastider <
ankanghoshdasti...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Welcome, Maryana! Really excited to have you in the family. Best wishes
> for the future journey!
>
> Ankan
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:06 PM Brad Patrick  wrote:
>
>> Congratulations and welcome to the best job in the world!
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *Nataliia Tymkiv 
>> *Reply-To: *"wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org" <
>> wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
>> *Date: *Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 11:53 AM
>> *To: *"wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org" <
>> wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>, "wikimedi...@wikimedia.org" <
>> wikimedi...@wikimedia.org>
>> *Cc: *"miskan...@wikimedia.org" 
>> *Subject: *[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new
>> Wikimedia Foundation CEO
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>> has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
>> [1] [2].
>>
>> Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
>> Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
>> building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
>> Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
>> Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
>> focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
>> academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
>> international research university based in the United States.
>>
>> Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
>> barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
>> community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
>> organisations shaped by shared decision-making.
>>
>> In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
>> Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
>> critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
>> Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
>> search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
>> potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
>> us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
>> embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
>> She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
>> initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
>> sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
>> accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
>> perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
>> States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
>> working on the African continent.
>>
>> Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
>> larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
>> is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
>> vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
>> is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.
>>
>> As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement
>> efforts to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the
>> development of a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code
>> of Conduct. She will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity
>> and exploring ways to address the gaps in content and the diversity of
>> contributors to Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in
>> this journey.
>>
>> Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
>> 2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
>> will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
>> Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
>> direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
>> weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
>> (CCed) to the Foundation!
>>
>> PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
>> languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]
>>
>> *[1]
>> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
>> 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Mardetanha]

Welcome Maryana.

Wish you all the best

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 8:49 PM Ankan Ghosh Dastider <
ankanghoshdasti...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Welcome, Maryana! Really excited to have you in the family. Best wishes
> for the future journey!
>
> Ankan
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:06 PM Brad Patrick  wrote:
>
>> Congratulations and welcome to the best job in the world!
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *Nataliia Tymkiv 
>> *Reply-To: *"wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org" <
>> wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
>> *Date: *Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 11:53 AM
>> *To: *"wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org" <
>> wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>, "wikimedi...@wikimedia.org" <
>> wikimedi...@wikimedia.org>
>> *Cc: *"miskan...@wikimedia.org" 
>> *Subject: *[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new
>> Wikimedia Foundation CEO
>>
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>> has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
>> [1] [2].
>>
>> Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
>> Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
>> building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
>> Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
>> Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
>> focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
>> academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
>> international research university based in the United States.
>>
>> Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
>> barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
>> community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
>> organisations shaped by shared decision-making.
>>
>> In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
>> Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
>> critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
>> Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
>> search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
>> potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
>> us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
>> embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
>> She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
>> initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
>> sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
>> accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
>> perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
>> States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
>> working on the African continent.
>>
>> Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
>> larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
>> is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
>> vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
>> is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.
>>
>> As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement
>> efforts to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the
>> development of a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code
>> of Conduct. She will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity
>> and exploring ways to address the gaps in content and the diversity of
>> contributors to Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in
>> this journey.
>>
>> Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
>> 2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
>> will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
>> Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
>> direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
>> weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
>> (CCed) to the Foundation!
>>
>> PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
>> languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]
>>
>> *[1]
>> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
>> *
>>
>> *[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>>  *
>>
>> *[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
>> *
>>
>> *[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Ankan Ghosh Dastider]

Welcome, Maryana! Really excited to have you in the family. Best wishes for
the future journey!

Ankan
On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 10:06 PM Brad Patrick  wrote:

> Congratulations and welcome to the best job in the world!
>
>
>
> *From: *Nataliia Tymkiv 
> *Reply-To: *"wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org" <
> wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
> *Date: *Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 11:53 AM
> *To: *"wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org" <
> wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org>, "wikimedi...@wikimedia.org" <
> wikimedi...@wikimedia.org>
> *Cc: *"miskan...@wikimedia.org" 
> *Subject: *[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new
> Wikimedia Foundation CEO
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
> has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
> [1] [2].
>
> Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
> Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
> building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
> Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
> Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
> focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
> academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
> international research university based in the United States.
>
> Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
> barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
> community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
> organisations shaped by shared decision-making.
>
> In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
> Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
> critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
> Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
> search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
> potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
> us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
> embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
> She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
> initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
> sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
> accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
> perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
> States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
> working on the African continent.
>
> Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
> larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
> is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
> vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
> is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.
>
> As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
> to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
> a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
> will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
> to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
> Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.
>
> Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
> 2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
> will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
> Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
> direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
> weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
> (CCed) to the Foundation!
>
> PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
> languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]
>
> *[1]
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
> *
>
> *[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>  *
>
> *[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
> *
>
> *[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
> *
>
> *[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
>  *
>
> *[6]
> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Cr

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Brad Patrick]

Congratulations and welcome to the best job in the world!

From: Nataliia Tymkiv 
Reply-To: "wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org" 
Date: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 11:53 AM
To: "wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org" 
, "wikimedi...@wikimedia.org" 

Cc: "miskan...@wikimedia.org" 
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia 
Foundation CEO


Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has 
appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation [1] [2].

Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment 
Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on 
building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment. 
Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned 
Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement focused 
on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in academia as the 
Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an international research 
university based in the United States.

Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic barriers, 
creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and community 
empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex organisations 
shaped by shared decision-making.

In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition Committee 
[6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this critical role 
and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The Transition Committee 
conducted a far-reaching and competitive global search, receiving around 400 
recommendations and speaking to about 50 potential candidates. Throughout this 
selection process, Maryana impressed us as someone who is deeply inspired by 
the Wikimedia vision and who embodies the values of equity and community that 
inform all Wikimedia work. She has extensive leadership experience working with 
volunteer-led initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and 
social sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to 
accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global perspective: 
Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United States and the 
United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and working on the African 
continent.

Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is 
larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This is 
an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared vision 
for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana is the 
right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.

As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts to 
implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of a 
Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She will 
continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways to 
address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to Wikimedia 
projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.

Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5, 2022, 
as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation will 
continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the Board. In my 
conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of direct 
communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming weeks, she 
will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana (CCed) to the 
Foundation!

PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more 
languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]

[1] 
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University

[6] 
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021
[7] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO

Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees


NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working 
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You 
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in 
advance!

___
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedi

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Mohammed Bachounda]

مرحبا Welcome!
Happy to see you with our great community, to walk with us to build the
best future of knowledge, looking for better for 2030

Welcome again :)

Mohammed BACHOUNDA
leader WIKIDZ Algeria

Le mar. 14 sept. 2021 à 16:52, Shani Evenstein  a
écrit :

> Welcome, Maryana!
> So happy to have you join the Wikimedia family.
> Exciting times!
> Shani.
>
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 6:43 PM Dariusz Jemielniak <
> dar...@kozminski.edu.pl> wrote:
>
>> Let me be one of the first ones to say "welcome"! I'm so delighted to see
>> you take the helm!
>>
>> best,
>>
>> dj
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 5:37 PM Maryana Iskander 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Dear All,
>>>
>>> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>>>
>>> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
>>> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
>>> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
>>> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
>>> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
>>> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
>>> mine.
>>>
>>> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
>>> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
>>> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
>>> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
>>> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
>>> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
>>> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
>>> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
>>> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
>>> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
>>> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
>>> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
>>> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
>>> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
>>> to champion often unheard voices.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
>>> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
>>> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
>>> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
>>> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
>>> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
>>> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
>>> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
>>> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
>>> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
>>> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
>>> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
>>> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
>>> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
>>> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
>>> for new leaders.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
>>> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
>>> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
>>> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
>>> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
>>> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
>>> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
>>> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
>>> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
>>> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
>>> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
>>> world.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
>>> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
>>> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
>>> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
>>> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
>>> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
>>> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
>>> encyclopedia at home. She wa

[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Dan Rosenthal]

Congratulations and welcome Maryana.

Dan Rosenthal


On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 11:53 AM Nataliia Tymkiv 
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
> has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
> [1] [2].
>
> Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
> Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
> building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
> Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
> Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
> focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
> academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
> international research university based in the United States.
>
> Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
> barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
> community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
> organisations shaped by shared decision-making.
>
> In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
> Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
> critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
> Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
> search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
> potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
> us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
> embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
> She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
> initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
> sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
> accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
> perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
> States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
> working on the African continent.
>
> Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
> larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
> is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
> vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
> is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.
>
> As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
> to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
> a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
> will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
> to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
> Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.
>
> Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
> 2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
> will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
> Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
> direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
> weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
> (CCed) to the Foundation!
>
> PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
> languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]
>
> *[1]
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
> *
>
> *[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>  *
>
> *[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
> *
>
> *[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
> *
>
> *[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
>  *
>
> *[6]
> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021
> 
>  *
> *[7]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO
> *
> 

[Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
[1] [2].

Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
international research university based in the United States.

Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
organisations shaped by shared decision-making.

In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
working on the African continent.

Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.

As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.

Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
(CCed) to the Foundation!

PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]

*[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
*

*[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
 *

*[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
*

*[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
*

*[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
 *

*[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021

*
*[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO
*


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during wee

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Shani Evenstein]

Welcome, Maryana!
So happy to have you join the Wikimedia family.
Exciting times!
Shani.

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 6:43 PM Dariusz Jemielniak 
wrote:

> Let me be one of the first ones to say "welcome"! I'm so delighted to see
> you take the helm!
>
> best,
>
> dj
>
> On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 5:37 PM Maryana Iskander 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>>
>> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
>> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
>> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
>> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
>> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
>> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
>> mine.
>>
>> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
>> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
>> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
>> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
>> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
>> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
>> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
>> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
>> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
>> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
>> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
>> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
>> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
>> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
>> to champion often unheard voices.
>>
>>
>>
>> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
>> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
>> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
>> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
>> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
>> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
>> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
>> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
>> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
>> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
>> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
>> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
>> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
>> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
>> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
>> for new leaders.
>>
>>
>>
>> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
>> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
>> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
>> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
>> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
>> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
>> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
>> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
>> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
>> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
>> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
>> world.
>>
>>
>>
>> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
>> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
>> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
>> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
>> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>>
>>
>>
>> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
>> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
>> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
>> encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
>> for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
>> resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
>> should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
>> ever ask that question again. I then returned to South Africa and spoke to
>> another Rebecca. This young woman g

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Dariusz Jemielniak]

Let me be one of the first ones to say "welcome"! I'm so delighted to see
you take the helm!

best,

dj

On Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 5:37 PM Maryana Iskander 
wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.
>
> When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
> Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
> “Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
> statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
> almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
> to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
> mine.
>
> My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
> Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
> States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
> was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
> rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
> the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
> positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
> power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
> make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
> in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
> delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
> the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
> of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
> stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
> to champion often unheard voices.
>
>
>
> In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
> society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
> resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
> one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
> organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
> opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
> many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
> for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
> sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
> coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
> this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
> forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
> lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
> partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
> not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
> for new leaders.
>
>
>
> Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
> reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
> most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
> add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
> just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
> in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
> distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
> people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
> this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
> people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
> can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
> world.
>
>
>
> My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
> culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
> all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
> organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
> getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.
>
>
>
> During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the
> United States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school
> teacher asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
> encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
> for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
> resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
> should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
> ever ask that question again. I then returned to South Africa and spoke to
> another Rebecca. This young woman grew up in a rural area where it was a
> struggle to afford text messaging, never mind any meaningful access to the
> digital world. She, too, did not have equal access to the resources she
> needed. Despite their starkly different circumstances, I

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga]

Welcome: https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Maryana_Iskander.jpg/1200px-Maryana_Iskander.jpg]
Maryana Iskander - Wikipedia, entziklopedia 
askea.
eu.wikipedia.org


From: Tito Dutta 
Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 5:40 PM
To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
Cc: Maryana Iskander 
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

Hello,
Good to know about the update Nataliia. Thanks to the Transition team for 
working on this. Good wishes (and welcome) to Maryana Iskander in the new role. 
Hope to work with you on Movement Strategy and other Wikimedia projects/areas 
from January onwards.

ইতি,/Thanks(a
টিটো দত্ত/User:Titodutta
(মাতৃভাষা থাক জীবন জুড়ে)


মঙ্গল, ১৪ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০২১ তারিখে ৯:০২ PM টায় এ Nataliia Tymkiv 
mailto:ntym...@wikimedia.org>> লিখেছেন:
Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has 
appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation [1] [2].

Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment 
Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on 
building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment. 
Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned 
Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement focused 
on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in academia as the 
Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an international research 
university based in the United States.

Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic barriers, 
creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and community 
empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex organisations 
shaped by shared decision-making.

In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition Committee 
[6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this critical role 
and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The Transition Committee 
conducted a far-reaching and competitive global search, receiving around 400 
recommendations and speaking to about 50 potential candidates. Throughout this 
selection process, Maryana impressed us as someone who is deeply inspired by 
the Wikimedia vision and who embodies the values of equity and community that 
inform all Wikimedia work. She has extensive leadership experience working with 
volunteer-led initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and 
social sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to 
accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global perspective: 
Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United States and the 
United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and working on the African 
continent.

Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is 
larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This is 
an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared vision 
for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana is the 
right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.

As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts to 
implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of a 
Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She will 
continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways to 
address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to Wikimedia 
projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.

Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5, 2022, 
as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation will 
continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the Board. In my 
conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of direct 
communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming weeks, she 
will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana (CCed) to the 
Foundation!

PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more 
languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]

[1] 
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University

[6] 
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021

[7] 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Tito Dutta]

Hello,
Good to know about the update Nataliia. Thanks to the Transition team for
working on this. Good wishes (and welcome) to Maryana Iskander in the new
role. Hope to work with you on Movement Strategy and other Wikimedia
projects/areas from January onwards.

ইতি,/Thanks(a
টিটো দত্ত/User:Titodutta
(মাতৃভাষা থাক জীবন জুড়ে)


মঙ্গল, ১৪ সেপ্টেম্বর, ২০২১ তারিখে ৯:০২ PM টায় এ Nataliia Tymkiv <
ntym...@wikimedia.org> লিখেছেন:

> Dear all,
>
> I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
> has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
> [1] [2].
>
> Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
> Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
> building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
> Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
> Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
> focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
> academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
> international research university based in the United States.
>
> Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
> barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
> community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
> organisations shaped by shared decision-making.
>
> In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
> Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
> critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
> Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
> search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
> potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
> us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
> embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
> She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
> initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
> sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
> accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
> perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
> States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
> working on the African continent.
>
> Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
> larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
> is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
> vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
> is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.
>
> As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
> to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
> a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
> will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
> to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
> Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.
>
> Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
> 2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
> will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
> Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
> direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
> weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
> (CCed) to the Foundation!
>
> PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
> languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]
>
> *[1]
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
> *
>
> *[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
>  *
>
> *[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
> *
>
> *[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
> *
>
> *[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
>  *
>
> *[6]
> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021
> 
>  *
> *[7]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_notic

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[Alphos OGame]

Hello Maggie, hello all,

If you can communicate on the subject, when was your team first made aware of 
the situation ? Trying to figure out how long this has lasted.
And were affected users (by which I mean users who had their emails and 
passwords reset) ultimately able to recover their accounts ? Or will they be ?

Thank you for letting us know of the issue.

Roger / Alphos


> Le 14 sept. 2021 à 10:48, William Chan  a écrit :
> 
> Hi Andres,
> 
> I am not Maggie (definitely here) but as far as I know, some members from the 
> zhwp are also affected. If I am correct, it is their email being removed and 
> password got reset.
> 
> William
> 
> 
> On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 16:45, Andreas Kolbe  > wrote:
> Hi Maggie,
> 
> Thanks for your post; I have two questions.
> 
> 1. What is the status of Mardetanha, the Iranian steward and past (even very 
> recent) author of Wikimedia blog posts (which link his real name to his user 
> name)?[1][2]
> 
> Judging by https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?diff=21964430 
>  where he says, using 
> his alt account,
> 
> Yes, we are all locked until "voluntarily" resign to get back our account 
> back [[User:Mard|Mard]] ([[User talk:Mard|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2021 
> (UTC)
> 
> his account must be locked. But I can't find any recent actions related to 
> his account in the public logs on Meta.[3] What am I missing?
> 
> 2. Speaking of project capture, the Kazakh Wikipedia was captured by state 
> actors almost a decade ago (with the Foundation's blessing at the time, and 
> public regrets later[4]). 
> 
> Are there any functionaries in Kazakhstan that will be impacted by these 
> changes?
> 
> Andreas
> 
> [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/author/mohsen-salek/ 
> 
> [2] 
> https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/persian-wikipedia-independent-source-or-tool-iranian-state/
>  
> 
> [3] 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=&user=&page=User%3AMardetanha&wpdate=&tagfilter=&wpfilters%5B%5D=newusers
>  
> 
> [4] 
> https://eurasianet.org/wikipedia-founder-distances-himself-from-kazakhstan-pr-machine
>  
> 
> 
> On Monday, September 13, 2021, Maggie Dennis  > wrote:
> Hi, again.
> 
> I just realized I failed to answer one of the questions. I'm sorry; it's 
> rather late in my day, and I didn't mean to overlook it. In addition to what 
> was noted earlier, I believe it was 12 other users who were contacted and 
> asked to adjust their behavior to work within community policies, especially 
> regarding "canvassing" and good faith collaboration with other users. 
> 
> Best,
> Maggie
> 
> On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 6:21 PM Maggie Dennis  > wrote:
> Hello, all.
> 
> First, our apologies for the translation. We had hoped to provide this 
> service to make it easier for our Chinese language communities, but clearly 
> it didn't work out as we had hoped. I'm enormously grateful to say that a 
> Chinese translation is now available on Meta: 
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Office_actions/September_2021_statement/zh 
>  
> <3 We are actively seeking to increase our capacity in Chinese and several 
> other languages, and I hope some people will apply! 
> https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3374682?gh_src=b62d5dae1us 
> 
> 
> With respect to the NDA policy change, this was indeed very obliquely 
> addressed on September 1st here 
> ,[1]
>  at which point we felt the need to be very oblique in our response because 
> we were still actively attempting to communicate with all users impacted. We 
> knew, of course, that experienced Wikimedians would be able to connect the 
> dots but were hoping to avoid attracting external attention by bad actors 
> that might put some of these people in danger. Not being a lawyer, I'm still 
> a little nervous about saying the wrong thing (my teams were more involved in 
> implementing than directing that policy change), but it's probably obvious to 
> everyone by now that you have correctly named the immediate jurisdictions of 
> concern.
> 
> I do want to say, though, that the policy was written to address a challenge 
> which is likely to be ongoing: we are not just in danger of infiltration, but 
> of attack through the extortion or potenti

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Maryana Iskander]

Dear All,

Thank you for this opportunity to introduce myself to you.

When I read the job position [1] for the next leader of Wikimedia
Foundation, I noticed that it opened with a seemingly simple statement:
“Knowledge belongs to all of us.” Does it, really? It’s a striking
statement. In an increasingly unequal and polarizing world, one in which
almost nothing belongs to all of us, the idea that knowledge *must *belong
to all is enough to capture anyone’s attention and imagination – certainly
mine.

My story is shaped by a twin belief that knowledge can also set us free.
Shortly after I was born in Cairo, Egypt, my parents left for the United
States. During my time at university, graduate school, and law school, I
was consistently pulled towards some of society’s toughest issues – women’s
rights, civil rights, and the rights of prisoners. I was equally pulled by
the need to be effective in making change – seeking out leadership
positions and raising my hand and voice to change the institutions of
power, not just protest against them. I learned that the opportunity to
make meaningful impact often sits ‘in-between’ traditional spheres:
in-between research and teaching at Rice University, in-between healthcare
delivery and advocacy at Planned Parenthood, and in-between government and
the private sector at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator. My time at all
of these organisations required listening to and learning from many diverse
stakeholders – including volunteers – and using my position of leadership
to champion often unheard voices.



In 2012, I followed my heart to South Africa and its very complicated
society – a legacy of apartheid perpetuating deep inequality despite the
resilience of communities full of potential and hope, and a country with
one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. A new
organisation had just been formed with a big vision to close this
opportunity gap. I signed up, first as an unpaid volunteer, and then for
many years as the CEO. My job has been to cultivate a common space of trust
for the collective assets of the society – from government, the private
sector, civil society, and millions of young people – to work in a
coalition to tackle one of the most daunting challenges of our time. To do
this, we relied on an inclusive, multi-channel platform that leverages all
forms of technology as a way to serve communities still riddled by a basic
lack of access. Our successes came from the power of connection,
partnership, and a collective belief that young people are the solution,
not the problem. As I began my tenth year, I felt it was time to make space
for new leaders.



Why am I joining the Wikimedia Foundation at this moment? There are many
reasons: (1) this collective of projects is growing what is perhaps the
most important commons infrastructure of our modern world. I am excited to
add my time and talents to this vision. What will it take to create – not
just imagine – a world in which every single human being can freely share
in the sum of all knowledge? (2) I have experienced first-hand that
distributed leadership models can usually achieve more than any group of
people can do on their own. I am eager to support processes that will make
this even more true for our movement; and (3) I am drawn to working with
people of integrity and commitment, who also appreciate humor and joy. I
can already see that I will meet new colleagues like this from all over the
world.



My former colleagues will say that I believe progress is enabled by
culture: one that is founded on accountability, diversity and inclusion in
all its forms, and a way of working led by values. It has informed an
organisational humility in working with others and a relentless focus on
getting things done the right way – while doing the right thing.



During the recruitment process, I met with a leading academic in the United
States named Rebecca. She told me a story of her primary school teacher
asking the students to raise their hands if they did not have an
encyclopedia at home. She was one of those students, and it made her feel,
for the first time, that maybe she didn’t have equal access to the
resources needed for her education.  The work of this collective community,
should we achieve our vision, will make it unnecessary for a teacher to
ever ask that question again. I then returned to South Africa and spoke to
another Rebecca. This young woman grew up in a rural area where it was a
struggle to afford text messaging, never mind any meaningful access to the
digital world. She, too, did not have equal access to the resources she
needed. Despite their starkly different circumstances, I believe that each
Rebecca can find her own point of entry into our vision and impact as we
look ahead to 2030.

*What have been my prior experiences with the wikiverse?*

I have had two past interactions with the people behind Wikipedia, in
addition to being a reader and admirer.



First, I attended a conference 

[Wikimedia-l] Welcoming the new Wikimedia Foundation CEO

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

I am pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation
[1] [2].

Since 2013, Maryana has served as the CEO of Harambee Youth Employment
Accelerator [3], a South African non-profit social enterprise focused on
building African solutions for the global challenge of youth unemployment.
Prior to this, she spent six years as Chief Operating Officer of Planned
Parenthood Federation of America [4], a volunteer-led social movement
focused on access to women’s healthcare. Maryana has also worked in
academia as the Advisor to the President of Rice University [5], an
international research university based in the United States.

Her professional career has been motivated by breaking down systemic
barriers, creating opportunities for collaborative solution-building, and
community empowerment. She has a proven track record for leading complex
organisations shaped by shared decision-making.

In looking for the next CEO, we on the Board convened a Transition
Committee [6], primarily to guide us in finding the right person for this
critical role and secondly to oversee the executive Transition Team. The
Transition Committee conducted a far-reaching and competitive global
search, receiving around 400 recommendations and speaking to about 50
potential candidates. Throughout this selection process, Maryana impressed
us as someone who is deeply inspired by the Wikimedia vision and who
embodies the values of equity and community that inform all Wikimedia work.
She has extensive leadership experience working with volunteer-led
initiatives and building partnerships across public, private and social
sectors. Maryana also brings expertise in technology-led innovation to
accelerate meaningful social change. She does this with a global
perspective: Maryana was born in the Middle East, educated in the United
States and the United Kingdom, and has spent the last decade living and
working on the African continent.

Maryana joins the Wikimedia Foundation at a crucial time. The movement is
larger than ever, and it has never been more relevant or more trusted. This
is an inflection point, as decisions need to be made to execute a shared
vision for where the Movement wants to be in 2030. We believe that Maryana
is the right person to help lead the Foundation at this moment.

As Maryana begins, her priorities will include supporting movement efforts
to implement the Wikimedia 2030 recommendations, such as the development of
a Movement Charter and the finalization of a Universal Code of Conduct. She
will continue the Foundation’s focus on knowledge equity and exploring ways
to address the gaps in content and the diversity of contributors to
Wikimedia projects. She will be supported by the Board in this journey.

Maryana will officially start at the Wikimedia Foundation on January 5,
2022, as she transitions from her current job. Until then, the Foundation
will continue to be led by the Transition Team, with guidance from the
Board. In my conversations with her, I have seen that Maryana is a fan of
direct communication and excited to learn from the movement. In the coming
weeks, she will share ways to connect. Please join me in welcoming Maryana
(CCed) to the Foundation!

PS. For translations of this message, or to help translate it into more
languages, please visit Meta-Wiki [7]

*[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2021/09/14/wikimedia-foundation-appoints-maryana-iskander-as-chief-executive-officer/
*

*[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryana_Iskander
 *

*[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harambee_Youth_Employment_Accelerator
*

*[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_Parenthood
*

*[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University
 *

*[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Creating_a_CEO_Transition_Committee_and_Transition_Team,_2021

*
*[7]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/14_September_2021_-_Welcoming_the_new_Wikimedia_Foundation_CEO
*


Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees

*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during wee

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[Eric Liu]

Or even Affiliates in Taiwan or Hong Kong were a better solution, as some 
Wikimedia Movement terms are best understood by our own members of the 
community.

Hopefully the Foundation would try to solve the translate issues.
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
Public archives at 
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To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[William Chan]

Hi,

1. I must say that, for those who were desysopped, there are very clear
evidence and feelings from Hong Kong editors that the elections that
empowered them to the positions they got came from rigged elections with
canvassing being observed but never dealt due to acts to deal with them
being claimed as outright hostility against the users in China.
2. I wrote the August 2019 piece. I'm not banned, I'm 1233. [1]
3. There were accounts which those admin accounts being shared upon
non-admins (I don't think, imo, even account sharing between admins is
right at all)
4. The Chinese community is in standstill after 2019.
5. It seems to be a preliminary conclusion of events that lead to all zhwp
Checkusers deprived of such checkuser right.
6. I really hope for a global discussion, but a November 2017 discussion
(initiated my me) led to nothing, then I think there's an ongoing RFC that
didn't get much attention too.
7. I am quite confident that SWAN will discuss this issue and a larger open
office hour is coming.
8. IMO, Techyan and Walter Grassroot deserved this.
9. Even outright fascism propaganda can't be dealt with internally till WMF
g-lock [2]
10. Yes, if you get into a deeper dive on editors, you will find large,
half-page political announcements are on userpages.
11. The worst part of those discussions are within QQ, off wiki plots
against the safety of active, dissident (in terms of Communist party
leadership) editors.
12. They did all the hostility since 2015 [3]

Regards,
William Chan

[1]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-08-30/Community_view
[2]:
https://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:%E5%B0%A4%E9%87%8C%E7%9A%841994&oldid=67304211
[3]:https://twitter.com/Philip_Tzou/status/1437543054043275265

On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 17:43, Yair Rand  wrote:

> (For those trying to play catch-up on the Wikipedia-in-China issue, I
> recommend diving into some old Signpost archives: [1] ("The BBC looks at
> Chinese government editing"), [2] ("Interview: Carl Miller on Wikipedia
> Wars"), [3] ("Community View: Observations from the mainland"), [4]
> ("Special report: Hardball in Hong Kong"), and maybe [5] ("Chinese man
> detained and penalized for reading Wikipedia") and [6] ("China and the
> Chinese Wikipedia"). Note that the author of the community view piece and
> the subject of the special report, User:Techyan and User:Walter_Grassroot
> respectively, are both among those banned in this action. I have not found
> sources covering the more recent events relating to the canvassing policy.)
>
> I'm having a difficult time understanding the notice, particularly which
> parts are relating to the NDA change and which are relating to the more
> recent actions. If I am understanding correctly, the NDA change:
> * was prompted by credible threats against contributors,
> * involved risks pertaining to private data being taken by hostile
> entities,
> * could not be communicated in advance even to stewards without creating
> serious risks.
>
> Meanwhile, regarding the bans and desysoppings:
> * The message vaguely implies, but does not state, that "credible threats
> to [Chinese users'] safety" were relevant to this decision.
> * A second justification is similarly implied: That the actions were
> necessary to avoid community capture/infiltration on zhwiki, presumably by
> the government of the PRC. Particularly highlighted issues of relevance to
> this are canvassing and fraud, presumably for community manipulation.
> * Some relevant information on this cannot be revealed publicly ("limits
> to what we can reveal").
>
> Maggie has stated on-wiki that those desysopped will be permitted to run
> for adminship again [7], while the WMF will "monitor the integrity of
> elections for those seeking sysop rights again (after this action) until we
> are able to help the local community adopt a more secure system." I am
> fairly confident that, if the desysoppings were necessary to avoid actual
> harm (that is, if there was a threat to safety from those users holding
> advanced rights), the WMF would not allow the restoring of those rights.
> Maggie's on-list response to Yaroslav mentioning desysoppings of those
> "whose behavior has been problematic in relation largely to canvassing or
> demonstrated abuse of their roles" seems to further support that this was
> not about harm.
>
> The canvassing rationale for the desysoppings (and possibly for some of
> the bans, if all seven were not for the same reasons) is not sufficient to
> justify this action by the WMF; preventing local canvassing is not within
> the T&S's remit. This may not have been the actual rationale (per "limits
> to what we can reveal"), but there are clear indications that it was, per
> the posts.
>
> This decision may have needed to be made. The decision also might not have
> been the WMF's decision to make.
>
> Outside of specific limited situations, desysoppings are decisions made by
> volunteers. It is possible that circum

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[William Chan]

No idea why it got half of the content, but what I can say, is that they
removed emails and reset passwords of user accounts until they
"voluntarily" stepped down. This may mean a need to dive into email logs.

On Tue, 14 Sep 2021 at 17:43, Yair Rand  wrote:

> (For those trying to play catch-up on the Wikipedia-in-China issue, I
> recommend diving into some old Signpost archives: [1] ("The BBC looks at
> Chinese government editing"), [2] ("Interview: Carl Miller on Wikipedia
> Wars"), [3] ("Community View: Observations from the mainland"), [4]
> ("Special report: Hardball in Hong Kong"), and maybe [5] ("Chinese man
> detained and penalized for reading Wikipedia") and [6] ("China and the
> Chinese Wikipedia"). Note that the author of the community view piece and
> the subject of the special report, User:Techyan and User:Walter_Grassroot
> respectively, are both among those banned in this action. I have not found
> sources covering the more recent events relating to the canvassing policy.)
>
> I'm having a difficult time understanding the notice, particularly which
> parts are relating to the NDA change and which are relating to the more
> recent actions. If I am understanding correctly, the NDA change:
> * was prompted by credible threats against contributors,
> * involved risks pertaining to private data being taken by hostile
> entities,
> * could not be communicated in advance even to stewards without creating
> serious risks.
>
> Meanwhile, regarding the bans and desysoppings:
> * The message vaguely implies, but does not state, that "credible threats
> to [Chinese users'] safety" were relevant to this decision.
> * A second justification is similarly implied: That the actions were
> necessary to avoid community capture/infiltration on zhwiki, presumably by
> the government of the PRC. Particularly highlighted issues of relevance to
> this are canvassing and fraud, presumably for community manipulation.
> * Some relevant information on this cannot be revealed publicly ("limits
> to what we can reveal").
>
> Maggie has stated on-wiki that those desysopped will be permitted to run
> for adminship again [7], while the WMF will "monitor the integrity of
> elections for those seeking sysop rights again (after this action) until we
> are able to help the local community adopt a more secure system." I am
> fairly confident that, if the desysoppings were necessary to avoid actual
> harm (that is, if there was a threat to safety from those users holding
> advanced rights), the WMF would not allow the restoring of those rights.
> Maggie's on-list response to Yaroslav mentioning desysoppings of those
> "whose behavior has been problematic in relation largely to canvassing or
> demonstrated abuse of their roles" seems to further support that this was
> not about harm.
>
> The canvassing rationale for the desysoppings (and possibly for some of
> the bans, if all seven were not for the same reasons) is not sufficient to
> justify this action by the WMF; preventing local canvassing is not within
> the T&S's remit. This may not have been the actual rationale (per "limits
> to what we can reveal"), but there are clear indications that it was, per
> the posts.
>
> This decision may have needed to be made. The decision also might not have
> been the WMF's decision to make.
>
> Outside of specific limited situations, desysoppings are decisions made by
> volunteers. It is possible that circumstances have made functioning local
> discussion impossible, in which case a global discussion could take place.
> If necessary secrecy of certain information makes public global discussion
> unable to independently provide judgement, it could fall to the stewards to
> assist. Unless this situation relates to one of the responsibilities that
> the community has delegated to T&S, at no point does this fall to them.
>
> While the lack of disclosure makes it impossible to be sure, it looks
> quite likely to me that the WMF has acted inappropriately in
> desysopping these users.
>
> -- Yair Rand
>
> [1]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-10-31/In_focus
> [2]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-10-31/Interview
> [3]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-10-31/Community_view
> [4]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2021-07-25/Special_report
> [5]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-11-01/In_the_media#Chinese_man_detained_and_penalized_for_reading_Wikipedia
> [6]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-08-30/Community_view#China_and_the_Chinese_Wikipedia
> [7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:WMFOffice#Recent_desysops
>
> ‫בתאריך יום ב׳, 13 בספט׳ 2021 ב-12:15 מאת ‪Maggie Dennis‬‏ <‪
> mden...@wikimedia.org‬‏>:‬
>
>> (on-wiki:  ; Google translated notice that there is a professional
>> Chinese translation of the email below - 中文翻譯見下文)
>>
>> Hello, everyone.
>>
>> I’m

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[Yair Rand]

(For those trying to play catch-up on the Wikipedia-in-China issue, I
recommend diving into some old Signpost archives: [1] ("The BBC looks at
Chinese government editing"), [2] ("Interview: Carl Miller on Wikipedia
Wars"), [3] ("Community View: Observations from the mainland"), [4]
("Special report: Hardball in Hong Kong"), and maybe [5] ("Chinese man
detained and penalized for reading Wikipedia") and [6] ("China and the
Chinese Wikipedia"). Note that the author of the community view piece and
the subject of the special report, User:Techyan and User:Walter_Grassroot
respectively, are both among those banned in this action. I have not found
sources covering the more recent events relating to the canvassing policy.)

I'm having a difficult time understanding the notice, particularly which
parts are relating to the NDA change and which are relating to the more
recent actions. If I am understanding correctly, the NDA change:
* was prompted by credible threats against contributors,
* involved risks pertaining to private data being taken by hostile entities,
* could not be communicated in advance even to stewards without creating
serious risks.

Meanwhile, regarding the bans and desysoppings:
* The message vaguely implies, but does not state, that "credible threats
to [Chinese users'] safety" were relevant to this decision.
* A second justification is similarly implied: That the actions were
necessary to avoid community capture/infiltration on zhwiki, presumably by
the government of the PRC. Particularly highlighted issues of relevance to
this are canvassing and fraud, presumably for community manipulation.
* Some relevant information on this cannot be revealed publicly ("limits to
what we can reveal").

Maggie has stated on-wiki that those desysopped will be permitted to run
for adminship again [7], while the WMF will "monitor the integrity of
elections for those seeking sysop rights again (after this action) until we
are able to help the local community adopt a more secure system." I am
fairly confident that, if the desysoppings were necessary to avoid actual
harm (that is, if there was a threat to safety from those users holding
advanced rights), the WMF would not allow the restoring of those rights.
Maggie's on-list response to Yaroslav mentioning desysoppings of those
"whose behavior has been problematic in relation largely to canvassing or
demonstrated abuse of their roles" seems to further support that this was
not about harm.

The canvassing rationale for the desysoppings (and possibly for some of the
bans, if all seven were not for the same reasons) is not sufficient to
justify this action by the WMF; preventing local canvassing is not within
the T&S's remit. This may not have been the actual rationale (per "limits
to what we can reveal"), but there are clear indications that it was, per
the posts.

This decision may have needed to be made. The decision also might not have
been the WMF's decision to make.

Outside of specific limited situations, desysoppings are decisions made by
volunteers. It is possible that circumstances have made functioning local
discussion impossible, in which case a global discussion could take place.
If necessary secrecy of certain information makes public global discussion
unable to independently provide judgement, it could fall to the stewards to
assist. Unless this situation relates to one of the responsibilities that
the community has delegated to T&S, at no point does this fall to them.

While the lack of disclosure makes it impossible to be sure, it looks quite
likely to me that the WMF has acted inappropriately in desysopping these
users.

-- Yair Rand

[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-10-31/In_focus
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-10-31/Interview
[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-10-31/Community_view
[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2021-07-25/Special_report
[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-11-01/In_the_media#Chinese_man_detained_and_penalized_for_reading_Wikipedia
[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2019-08-30/Community_view#China_and_the_Chinese_Wikipedia
[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:WMFOffice#Recent_desysops

‫בתאריך יום ב׳, 13 בספט׳ 2021 ב-12:15 מאת ‪Maggie Dennis‬‏ <‪
mden...@wikimedia.org‬‏>:‬

> (on-wiki:  ; Google translated notice that there is a professional Chinese
> translation of the email below - 中文翻譯見下文)
>
> Hello, everyone.
>
> I’m Maggie Dennis, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Vice President of Community
> Resilience & Sustainability.[1] I’m reaching out to you today to talk about
> a series of actions the Foundation has recently taken to protect
> communities across the globe.
>
> I apologize in advance for the length and the ambiguity in certain areas.
> These are complicated issues, and I will try to summarize a lot of what may
> be unfamiliar i

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[William Chan]

Hi Andres,

I am not Maggie (definitely here) but as far as I know, some members from
the zhwp are also affected. If I am correct, it is their email being
removed and password got reset.

William


On Tue, 14 Sept 2021 at 16:45, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> Hi Maggie,
>
> Thanks for your post; I have two questions.
>
> 1. What is the status of Mardetanha, the Iranian steward and past (even
> very recent) author of Wikimedia blog posts (which link his real name to
> his user name)?[1][2]
>
> Judging by https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?diff=21964430 where he
> says, using his alt account,
>
> Yes, we are all locked until "voluntarily" resign to get back our account
> back [[User:Mard|Mard]] ([[User talk:Mard|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2021
> (UTC)
>
> his account must be locked. But I can't find any recent actions related to
> his account in the public logs on Meta.[3] What am I missing?
>
> 2. Speaking of project capture, the Kazakh Wikipedia was captured by state
> actors almost a decade ago (with the Foundation's blessing at the time, and
> public regrets later[4]).
>
> Are there any functionaries in Kazakhstan that will be impacted by these
> changes?
>
> Andreas
>
> [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/author/mohsen-salek/
> [2]
> https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/persian-wikipedia-independent-source-or-tool-iranian-state/
> [3]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=&user=&page=User%3AMardetanha&wpdate=&tagfilter=&wpfilters%5B%5D=newusers
> [4]
> https://eurasianet.org/wikipedia-founder-distances-himself-from-kazakhstan-pr-machine
>
> On Monday, September 13, 2021, Maggie Dennis 
> wrote:
>
>> Hi, again.
>>
>> I just realized I failed to answer one of the questions. I'm sorry; it's
>> rather late in my day, and I didn't mean to overlook it. In addition to
>> what was noted earlier, I believe it was 12 other users who were contacted
>> and asked to adjust their behavior to work within community policies,
>> especially regarding "canvassing" and good faith collaboration with other
>> users.
>>
>> Best,
>> Maggie
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 6:21 PM Maggie Dennis 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello, all.
>>>
>>> First, our apologies for the translation. We had hoped to provide this
>>> service to make it easier for our Chinese language communities, but clearly
>>> it didn't work out as we had hoped. I'm enormously grateful to say that a
>>> Chinese translation is now available on Meta:
>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Office_actions/September_2021_statement/zh
>>> <3 We are actively seeking to increase our capacity in Chinese and several
>>> other languages, and I hope some people will apply!
>>> https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3374682?gh_src=b62d5dae1us
>>>
>>> With respect to the NDA policy change, this was indeed very obliquely
>>> addressed on September 1st here
>>> ,[1]
>>> at which point we felt the need to be very oblique in our response because
>>> we were still actively attempting to communicate with all users impacted.
>>> We knew, of course, that experienced Wikimedians would be able to connect
>>> the dots but were hoping to avoid attracting external attention by bad
>>> actors that might put some of these people in danger. Not being a lawyer,
>>> I'm still a little nervous about saying the wrong thing (my teams were more
>>> involved in implementing than directing that policy change), but it's
>>> probably obvious to everyone by now that you have correctly named the
>>> immediate jurisdictions of concern.
>>>
>>> I do want to say, though, that the policy was written to address a
>>> challenge which is likely to be ongoing: we are not just in danger of
>>> infiltration, but of attack through the extortion or potentially
>>> persecution of publicly identifiable people with access to personal
>>> information. The intention is not to shut down access to everyone in every
>>> such jurisdiction who has ever blocked Wikimedia sites, but to flag for the
>>> Foundation's legal department the need to review in such cases. Because of
>>> that, depending on the current risks of which we are aware, the list of
>>> impacted jurisdictions may change. I would hope that people will not
>>> hesitate to apply; rejection of a signed NDA in such cases is by no means a
>>> personal judgment and may be a step taken to protect not only our
>>> communities, but those users themselves and those they love.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Maggie
>>>
>>>
>>> [1]
>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Access_to_nonpublic_personal_data_policy#Answers_to_some_questions_around_policy_change
>>>
>>> On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 5:43 PM effe iets anders <
>>> effeietsand...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
 Thank you Maggie, for the announcement. It's a sad day, and I'm sure
 there were many sad actions that resulted in this.

 Two questions from my end:
 * Could you commit to 

[Wikimedia-l] Regarding a series of serious office actions / 有关于一系列的办事处行动

[Andreas Kolbe]

Hi Maggie,

Thanks for your post; I have two questions.

1. What is the status of Mardetanha, the Iranian steward and past (even
very recent) author of Wikimedia blog posts (which link his real name to
his user name)?[1][2]

Judging by https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?diff=21964430 where he
says, using his alt account,

Yes, we are all locked until "voluntarily" resign to get back our account
back [[User:Mard|Mard]] ([[User talk:Mard|talk]]) 12:06, 1 September 2021
(UTC)

his account must be locked. But I can't find any recent actions related to
his account in the public logs on Meta.[3] What am I missing?

2. Speaking of project capture, the Kazakh Wikipedia was captured by state
actors almost a decade ago (with the Foundation's blessing at the time, and
public regrets later[4]).

Are there any functionaries in Kazakhstan that will be impacted by these
changes?

Andreas

[1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/author/mohsen-salek/
[2]
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/persian-wikipedia-independent-source-or-tool-iranian-state/
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log?type=&user=&page=User%3AMardetanha&wpdate=&tagfilter=&wpfilters%5B%5D=newusers
[4]
https://eurasianet.org/wikipedia-founder-distances-himself-from-kazakhstan-pr-machine

On Monday, September 13, 2021, Maggie Dennis  wrote:

> Hi, again.
>
> I just realized I failed to answer one of the questions. I'm sorry; it's
> rather late in my day, and I didn't mean to overlook it. In addition to
> what was noted earlier, I believe it was 12 other users who were contacted
> and asked to adjust their behavior to work within community policies,
> especially regarding "canvassing" and good faith collaboration with other
> users.
>
> Best,
> Maggie
>
> On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 6:21 PM Maggie Dennis 
> wrote:
>
>> Hello, all.
>>
>> First, our apologies for the translation. We had hoped to provide this
>> service to make it easier for our Chinese language communities, but clearly
>> it didn't work out as we had hoped. I'm enormously grateful to say that a
>> Chinese translation is now available on Meta:
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Office_actions/September_2021_statement/zh
>> <3 We are actively seeking to increase our capacity in Chinese and several
>> other languages, and I hope some people will apply!
>> https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/3374682?gh_src=b62d5dae1us
>>
>> With respect to the NDA policy change, this was indeed very obliquely
>> addressed on September 1st here
>> ,[1]
>> at which point we felt the need to be very oblique in our response because
>> we were still actively attempting to communicate with all users impacted.
>> We knew, of course, that experienced Wikimedians would be able to connect
>> the dots but were hoping to avoid attracting external attention by bad
>> actors that might put some of these people in danger. Not being a lawyer,
>> I'm still a little nervous about saying the wrong thing (my teams were more
>> involved in implementing than directing that policy change), but it's
>> probably obvious to everyone by now that you have correctly named the
>> immediate jurisdictions of concern.
>>
>> I do want to say, though, that the policy was written to address a
>> challenge which is likely to be ongoing: we are not just in danger of
>> infiltration, but of attack through the extortion or potentially
>> persecution of publicly identifiable people with access to personal
>> information. The intention is not to shut down access to everyone in every
>> such jurisdiction who has ever blocked Wikimedia sites, but to flag for the
>> Foundation's legal department the need to review in such cases. Because of
>> that, depending on the current risks of which we are aware, the list of
>> impacted jurisdictions may change. I would hope that people will not
>> hesitate to apply; rejection of a signed NDA in such cases is by no means a
>> personal judgment and may be a step taken to protect not only our
>> communities, but those users themselves and those they love.
>>
>> Best,
>> Maggie
>>
>>
>> [1]
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Access_to_nonpublic_personal_data_policy#Answers_to_some_questions_around_policy_change
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 13, 2021 at 5:43 PM effe iets anders <
>> effeietsand...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you Maggie, for the announcement. It's a sad day, and I'm sure
>>> there were many sad actions that resulted in this.
>>>
>>> Two questions from my end:
>>> * Could you commit to making a better translation available (through
>>> community processes or otherwise) for the record? I think this decision may
>>> be referred to quite a bit in the future, so it's valuable to have an
>>> accurate translation available to the Chinese community.
>>> * What countries are affected currently by the NDA decision
>>> 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: WMCUG Response for recent office actions

[Andreas Kolbe]

Here is a machine translation, by DeepL.com (Google Translate produces
gobbledygook by comparison!)

Qiuwen - Wikimedians of Mainland China

Drop the illusion and prepare for the fight - a comment on the Foundation's
region-wide lockdown of Chinese Wikimedians and Maggie Dennis's "statement"

Posted by Qiuwen on September 14, 2021 in Drop the illusions, prepare for
the struggle - A comment on the Foundation's region-wide targeting of
Chinese Wikimedians and Maggie Dennis' "statement"

[This commentary, by Lu Zu, takes the form of an open letter and will be
translated into English shortly.]

September 13, 2021 will be remembered by all Chinese Wikipedians.

The Wikimedia Foundation has locked out all Chinese Wikipedians, including
members and liaison members of my group, for no apparent reason, and has
removed the administrator and administrative privileges of many more
Wikipedians. This decision was made by the Foundation at the instigation of
some people in the Chinese wiki community, without any consideration,
without listening to the views of the community, and without any basis for
believing the slander of a small group of people.

It is no accident that the Foundation has decided to take action at this
point in time. The Foundation has torn off its mask of hypocrisy towards
us, and indeed towards the entire mainland Chinese community, and has
revealed its green fangs. Following the Foundation's decision, the
perpetrators of this farce are rejoicing that their imagined greatest
rival, our own Wikipedians of Mainland China (WMC), has been knocked off -
just as they were four years ago when they were region-wide locked out at
Watchtower Ai Meng.

The Chinese government and the Communist Party of China have been
criticized for blocking foreign websites and suppressing Wikipedia's
development in China. But the Foundation has done what even the Chinese
government has failed to do - the Chinese government has not stopped us
from organising meetings or events, and has not declared our grey area,
university club-like organisation an "illegal group". Zero Wikipedians have
been arrested, threatened, or in any way obstructed by the Chinese
government, and the Foundation has banned seven people and removed the
administrative powers of 12 others with a single move.

These people have done the dirtiest and toughest work in China, a country
where Wikipedia has been blocked until now, to grow the community to its
current size. Now, they have to be slapped backwards and bitten back by the
Foundation.

The Foundation has clearly learnt its lesson from when Fram, the
administrator of the English Wikipedia, was banned in 2019. At that time,
Fram's administrator was pulled from his post and was also banned from the
English Wikipedia. This caused an uproar in the English Wikipedia community
at the time. The Foundation never dreamed that the community would react so
strongly to the banning of Fram. The foundation may have had an external PR
team, but they didn't realise that it was the community that needed PR the
most. It took the Foundation over a month to put out the fires in the
community. Even though the vast majority of the English wiki community
objected to the Foundation's forced involvement in the community, the
Foundation did not budge: the Fram, who had his administrator privileges
removed for no good reason, was not reinstated after weeks of protest and
opposition from the community.

We know that there are many people in the community who care about us, who
want Wikipedia to be unblocked in China, who want the Wikimedia movement to
grow in China, who recognise the efforts and even sacrifices that WMC has
made for the development of Wikimedia in China, or at the very least, who
think that the Foundation should not have banned so many administrators
overnight and without warning. You may also be under the illusion that the
Foundation has the possibility to admit its mistake or to retract their
decision. The truth, dear friends, may have disappointed you. Like you, we
hope that today is just a nightmare. However, I am here to give you a
precautionary note: lose your illusions and prepare to fight.

Having seen what happened with Fram, this time the Foundation accompanied
the lockout and de-prioritisation with a "statement" in an attempt to
obfuscate and justify its unjustified actions before the community could
react. This "statement" by Maggie Dennis, the Foundation's community
development officer, also officially sounds the death knell for the
Wikimedia movement in mainland China under the Foundation's leadership -
I'm not saying here that the Wikimedia movement is dead in China, I'm
saying that the Foundation I am saying that the Wikimedia movement under
the leadership of the Foundation is dead..

The Wikimedia movement is much more than the Foundation: it is about
opening up one's copyright, respecting the copyright of others, being
willing to share, treating everyone with courtesy, and so on. This is the
reaso