Re: [Wikimedia-l] Looking for Liaisons for the Movement Strategy Process

[Pine W]

Fae, I have a number of points of contention with WMF, but at least as far
as the strategy process is concerned WMF has done a few things that no one
was forcing it to do such as being willing to discuss how money is
collected and distributed, and Kaarel has been diplomatic in my
communications with him. I'm fine with asking difficult questions about the
strategy process, but I'm willing to extend an assumption of good faith to
the process. If I could make changes happen magically then I would like for
the strategy groups to be far more weighted to volunteers than staff, but I
also recognize that it's difficult to get volunteers for the large time
commitment that WMF is asking of the strategy groups, and I'm not sure that
I could do a much better job than Kaarel and Nicole are doing at the
moment. I suggest that a slightly more diplomatic tone would be good if you
want people to respond to your questions. I can't force you to take this
suggestion, and I've certainly been unhappy with other WMF actions, so I
can only explain here why I'm willing to extend an assumption of good faith
to this particular process and would encourage you to think about doing the
same. If the strategy process starts to go in ways that I dislike later,
I'll think about what to do then, but for now I think that AGF and civility
are the way to go with regards to this process.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Looking for Liaisons for the Movement Strategy Process

[Fæ]

"Liaisons will ensure that the voices and perspectives of these
communities are heard and considered in the Movement Strategy Process"

Question 1: Was there not feedback last year from volunteer
coordinators (or whatever the title was) that their voices were lost,
and that their time felt wasted; how was that fixed?

Question 2: Exactly how are paid liaisons empowered or authorised to
"ensure" that community feedback is heard, or will be able to measure
their impact on the huge, expensive and politically sensitive WMF
strategy process?

By the way, I know that the pitch is that this is a "movement"
strategy, but clearly when the top level goals are express in language
like:
"To serve our users, we will become a platform that serves open
knowledge to the world across interfaces and communities. We will
build tools for allies and partners to organize and exchange free
knowledge beyond Wikimedia. Our infrastructure will enable us and
others to collect and use different forms of free, trusted knowledge."
This has nothing to do with unpaid volunteers like me, as my real
experience over several years is that I have no voice whatsoever to
actually influence any of this WMF employee controlled
'infrastructure', 'platforms' or who the WMF chooses as 'partners',
even though I have invested months of my time in the development of
GLAM related tools, none was ever recognised or later maintained by
the WMF. I recall personal discussions and phone conferences where WMF
management were positively rude about any prospect of WMF dev time
being involved in non-WMF employee originating projects, and though
tone may be nicer, the outcomes are the same.

For these reasons I have positively avoided using up my valuable
volunteer time over the last couple of years in any of these WMF
strategy discussions, it would be jolly nice to be provided with
evidence that things are different in 2019, and it would be worth me
reconsidering my views and try to engage with whoever becomes a paid
WMF liaison when they appear on Commons, rather than ignoring them,
their surveys, or their email offers for interviews.

Thanks in advance,
Fae (Commons volunteer)

On Mon, 7 Jan 2019 at 15:01, Kaarel Vaidla  wrote:
>
> Dear fellow Wikimedians,
>
> We are happy to announce our plans to engage Wikimedia communities in the
> strategic and structural reform discussions of our global movement. The
> Movement Strategy Process requires input and participation from all of our
> communities and we are looking for Liaisons for the Movement Strategy
> Process to engage with some language communities and facilitate their
> participation in global strategic discussions. Liaisons will ensure that
> the voices and perspectives of these communities are heard and considered
> in the Movement Strategy Process and that members of these communities
> actively engage and participate in the discussions in their own language.
>
> Based on criteria of reach of the language, projects, as well as existing
> editor base, the Core Team has identified the following language
> communities for further engagement and will be hiring a Strategy Liaisons
> for each:[1]: Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese,
> Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
>
> The Liaisons are expected to: engage with the communities in their native
> language; coordinate and facilitate discussions; support healthy
> communication; provide details and context when needed, and monitor
> different communication channels of the communities to surface ideas
> related to the Strategy Process. Liaisons will be expected to identify
> opportunities where the ongoing Movement Strategy Process discussions can
> benefit and solicit ideas from interested community members. Liaisons will
> also be expected to summarize the most important discussion points,
> coordinate translations of these summaries to share them with Liaisons
> Coordinator, Working Groups and wider global community.
>
> Ideal candidates will have  a good connection with the local communities,
> strong communication skills, fluency in English and one of the nine
> identified community languages as well as organizational and collaborative
> skills.
>
> The Liaisons positions will be part time (up to 20 h/week) and will be in
> place from February to December 2019. If you are interested in the role or
> would like to have more information, you can find the full description of
> the role on respective application page
>  [2].
>
> Please note that we are also  recruiting for a full-time Liaisons
> Coordinator to ensure  engagement of the communities in the Movemement
> Strategy Process and manage the worknd fuddy-duddy of the  Strategy Liaisons. 
> You can
> find the full description of this role on respective application page
>  [3].
>nd fuddy-duddy
> We look forward to collaborating with many of you in

[Wikimedia-l] Looking for Liaisons for the Movement Strategy Process

[Kaarel Vaidla]

Dear fellow Wikimedians,

We are happy to announce our plans to engage Wikimedia communities in the
strategic and structural reform discussions of our global movement. The
Movement Strategy Process requires input and participation from all of our
communities and we are looking for Liaisons for the Movement Strategy
Process to engage with some language communities and facilitate their
participation in global strategic discussions. Liaisons will ensure that
the voices and perspectives of these communities are heard and considered
in the Movement Strategy Process and that members of these communities
actively engage and participate in the discussions in their own language.

Based on criteria of reach of the language, projects, as well as existing
editor base, the Core Team has identified the following language
communities for further engagement and will be hiring a Strategy Liaisons
for each:[1]: Arabic, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese,
Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

The Liaisons are expected to: engage with the communities in their native
language; coordinate and facilitate discussions; support healthy
communication; provide details and context when needed, and monitor
different communication channels of the communities to surface ideas
related to the Strategy Process. Liaisons will be expected to identify
opportunities where the ongoing Movement Strategy Process discussions can
benefit and solicit ideas from interested community members. Liaisons will
also be expected to summarize the most important discussion points,
coordinate translations of these summaries to share them with Liaisons
Coordinator, Working Groups and wider global community.

Ideal candidates will have  a good connection with the local communities,
strong communication skills, fluency in English and one of the nine
identified community languages as well as organizational and collaborative
skills.

The Liaisons positions will be part time (up to 20 h/week) and will be in
place from February to December 2019. If you are interested in the role or
would like to have more information, you can find the full description of
the role on respective application page
 [2].

Please note that we are also  recruiting for a full-time Liaisons
Coordinator to ensure  engagement of the communities in the Movemement
Strategy Process and manage the work of the  Strategy Liaisons. You can
find the full description of this role on respective application page
 [3].

We look forward to collaborating with many of you in the upcoming year and
working with the Strategy Liaisons to engage  our communities in the
Movement Strategy Process. If you have any questions or specifications
regarding the role, please do not hesitate to reach out to our Project
Manager Jodi McMurray ( jmcmurray{{at}}wikimedia.org ).

With all the best wishes,

Kaarel and the Core Team

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Participate/Translation

[2] https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1478679?gh_src=2a6a8b121

[3] https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/1460548?gh_src=abf396081
-- 
*Kaarel Vaidla*
Process Architect for
Wikimedia Movement Strategy
2030.wikimedia.org
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,