I owe a number of good people an apology. I have worked for several self-protecting bureaucracies myself, and it is possible, though not easy, , for individuals to do good work there. I never intended to imply that everyone there is incompetent, though it is certainly my opinion that some of the people assigned to some of the programs I have been involved in have been. I admit that my anger is an inappropriate reflection of my frustration at my inability to work with those in one particular program.
On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 8:54 PM, David Goodman <dgge...@gmail.com> wrote: > One obvious possibility for support is the chapters and the thematic > organizations; even if the WMF continues these fellowships as it > should, the other bodies in the movement should supplement them--it is > good to have more than one source of funds and more than one body > deciding on requests. But whether their work can be actually > implemented at those levels is another matter. > > The proposal at meta says "the Wikimedia Foundation was never able to > resource the fellowships to the point where they could achieve > significant impact: " I don't think the resource at issue is primarily > money, considering that in all recent years we have had not only > surpluses, but greater than expected surpluses. The resource which is > lacking is sufficient qualified people at the Foundation to work with > the fellows and help implement their projects. Rather than get such > people--which admittedly would require a change in WMF culture--the > WMF staff finds the easiest thing is to not even attempt to make the > improvements; it is too troublesome to deal with the good ideas of the > community, so the reaction is what one expects of self-protecting > incompetent bureaucracies: diminish the flow of good ideas. > > > > On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 7:57 PM, Steven Zhang <cro0...@gmail.com> wrote: >> In my opinion, the value of fellowships in my opinion is huge, and I feel >> that ceasing to support projects like the Teahouse would be a real shame. >> That said, I do feel there are other ways that individual editors could get >> the support they need to work on critical projects. As long as this remains >> in some capacity, then I think that could work too. >> >> Regards, >> >> Steve Zhang >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On 22/10/2012, at 10:25 AM, Jacob Orlowitz <wikioca...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> >>> A letter in support of the Community Fellowship program from past, >>> current, and prospective Fellows, >>> >>> The WMF has expanded profoundly over the past decade, and especially >>> in the last few years. Recently initiatives to streamline and focus >>> the WMF have been undertaken; while these efforts are worthy in spirit >>> and necessary at some level, one useful if not vital program has been >>> caught in that process: The Community Fellowship program. We would >>> like to express our strong support of this valuable and important >>> program. >>> >>> The Fellowship program is first and foremost a community-based >>> program. It selects editors to work on projects -- those which are >>> novel and have yet to be tried, those that have been tried but have >>> not been rigorously developed or tested, and those otherwise that need >>> financial, technical and institutional backing to succeed. It >>> represents a direct line of support from the WMF to >>> community-organized, community-driven, and community-maintained >>> projects. >>> >>> We strongly believe that the Fellowship program is a great way to jump >>> start many projects cheaply, efficiently, and with low-risk. Most >>> importantly, because Fellowship projects are community-organized, >>> there is high potential for their broad community support. >>> >>> We recognize that the Wikimedia Foundation’s allocation of funding >>> must reflect the priorities of the Foundation’s annual and strategic >>> plans, and we understand that the future of the Fellowship program is >>> at risk under the justification that it does not fit within those >>> plans. >>> >>> The Fellowship program of course has a cost, but it is one we believe >>> is well justified by its impact. The following reasons explain why we >>> think the program is a worthwhile asset to the WMF and one that will >>> ultimately help it succeed in its strategic goals: >>> >>> 1) The program has a track record of producing successful projects, >>> with promising upcoming efforts that would be interrupted by a loss of >>> funding. Most recently a new-editor community called the Teahouse was >>> developed directly through the Fellowship program. The Teahouse, as >>> well as other projects have targeted goals which often match up with >>> those identified by the Foundation as urgent, such as new editor >>> engagement and editor retention. Other projects besides the Teahouse >>> have worked on improving our dispute resolution processes, our small >>> language wiki development, improving the usability of help >>> documentation, and facilitating cross-wiki translation efforts. >>> GLAM/Wikipedian-in-Residence positions were pioneered under the >>> Fellowship program as were studies in long term editor trends through >>> Wikimedia Summer of Research. (See the full list of past projects). >>> These projects are of great value and exist in areas that the >>> community had or has not made sufficient advances in on its own. >>> >>> In the works are projects to create a sense of community around the >>> sorely lacking female demographic, to build a game which would ease >>> new editors through the maze of skills needed to be effective, a >>> Wikipedia Library initiative which would outfit our most experienced >>> editors with access to high quality resources through a single sign-on >>> portal, and a Badges experiment to employ a proven approach to >>> recognizing, motivating, and rewarding the efforts of our users. >>> Without the Community Fellowship program, those efforts may stall or >>> collapse. >>> >>> 2) The Fellowship program's core strength is as a laboratory of agile, >>> community-driven creativity and innovation. The program has nurtured >>> projects that require more investment and organization than the >>> community alone can support, but that innovate in areas of importance >>> to both the community and the Foundation. The Fellowship program has >>> the asset of targeted flexibility and cost-effective implementation. >>> Fellowship projects require few if any development resources, >>> substantially reducing their burden on the Foundation. Through its >>> varied portfolio of projects the Fellowship program can address any >>> number of key goals, and do so in a lightweight but meaningful way. >>> >>> 3) The Fellowship program is committed to demonstrating results and >>> making data-driven recommendations that help meet Foundation targets. >>> Fellowship research projects have set and maintained a high standard >>> for reporting results and making actionable recommendations. The >>> Teahouse pilot reports and metrics reports, the dispute resolution >>> survey results, and the template A/B testing projects are excellent >>> examples of this commitment to transparency and accountability. The >>> Foundation has benefitted from these data: results from fellowship >>> projects have been featured at Wikimania. Deputy Director Eric >>> Moeller’s presentation on supporting Wikiprojects drew extensively on >>> Fellowship project findings, and E3’s template testing presentation >>> was based substantially on Fellowship research. Fellowship research >>> has been a frequent feature on the Wikimedia blog, and has generated >>> good press for the Foundation. >>> >>> 4) The Fellowship program been instrumental to our understanding of >>> the editor decline, and how to stop it. Fellowship projects have >>> yielded many valuable & actionable insights into the editor decline: >>> such as the negative impact of the gradual increase in newcomer >>> warnings and newcomer reverts, and the recent decline in participation >>> in community processes by newer groups of editors. Fellowship >>> research has also refuted several prominent decline theories, such as >>> the theory that the quality of new editors has decreased over time, or >>> that the workload of vandal fighters has increased. In short, >>> Fellowship research allows Wikimedia to prioritize promising work and >>> make decisions about which decline theories to address based on actual >>> data, rather than anecdotes, accepted wisdom, or intuition. >>> >>> 5) The Fellowship program builds good will between the WMF and the >>> community by spotlighting and bootstrapping community-driven >>> initiatives. Fellowships are devised by community members, endorsed >>> by community members, implemented with community involvement--and the >>> community reaps the benefits of those initiatives. The Foundation >>> gets to play the vital role of supporting projects that otherwise may >>> have floundered, sat idle, or been ignored completely. The community >>> appreciates this and recognizes the Foundation’s pivotal part in >>> making these projects happen. Also, not continuing the program would >>> mean not just removing funding from the recipients of Fellowships and >>> their projects, but also losing the community infrastructure and >>> networks that have been developed as a result. The Foundation is the >>> keystone to continuing this progress. >>> >>> 6) The Fellowship program gives the Wikimedia Foundation one of the >>> only channels to directly fund individual editors. And not just any >>> editors but some of the most active, engaged, driven, and enthusiastic >>> editors Wikipedia has. Funding those editors directly enables them to >>> devote a degree of focus and commitment to Wikipedia that they might >>> not otherwise be able to balance while meeting other constraints in >>> their lives. The Foundation has become a recipient of a great amount >>> of donations, but much of that financial support is unavailable to >>> individual editors. There is not yet a grant-making process which >>> doesn't run through Chapters. The Fellowship program is one lifeline >>> to those editors, and it is a good one. >>> >>> 7) The Fellowship program provides a pipeline of trusted and >>> knowledgeable editors to contribute to the Foundation's efforts. Many >>> of those editors would be ideal candidates for positions within the >>> Foundation, and the Fellowship program is a great way to identify, >>> enlist, and onboard those individuals. Maryana Pinchuck and Steven >>> Walling were Fellows, as were Liam Wyatt, Lennart Guldbrandsson, >>> Stuart Geiger, Diederik van Liere, Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia, Melanie >>> Kill, Aaron Halfaker, Achal Prabhala, Jonathan Morgan, and James >>> Alexander. While being a training ground for future Foundation >>> staffers, advisors, or researchers is not the stated purpose of the >>> Fellowship program, it is nonetheless a positive side-effect. >>> >>> 8) The Fellowship program partners with and complements other WMF >>> initiatives. The fellowship program enhances programs such as Editor >>> Engagement Experiments by experimenting with community features rather >>> than just interface features. Creating new spaces for new editors to >>> find help and build community, identifying pain-points in existing >>> community processes by surveying editors, and organizing cross-wiki >>> translation efforts are excellent ways of improving the editor >>> experience on Wikipedia. Fellowship projects have also benefitted >>> existing WMF initiatives by providing necessary services: for >>> instance, the Teahouse has served the needs of students enrolled in >>> Global Education programs that do not have access to Classroom >>> Ambassadors. The impact of the Fellowship program scales and exceeds >>> the scope of the individual projects to numerous other forums and >>> facets of the community. >>> >>> For these reasons, we urge the Wikimedia Foundation to reevaluate the >>> worth of the Community Fellowship program and to continue it in its >>> original or a similar capacity. The Fellowship program is an >>> impactful, flexible laboratory of creativity which connects the >>> Foundation and the community's best and most passionate editors. >>> Having it has been a huge gain, and losing it would be a significant >>> loss. >>> >>> Sincerely, >>> >>> * Anya Shyrokova User:Anyashy, prospective Fellow >>> * Jake Orlowitz User:Ocaasi, prospective Fellow >>> * Jon Harald Søby User:Jon Harald Søby, former Community Fellow >>> * Jonathan Morgan User:Jtmorgan, former Research Fellow >>> * Liam Wyatt User:Wittylama, former Cultural Partnerships Fellow >>> * R. Stuart Geiger User:Staeiou, former Wikimedia Research Fellow >>> * Peter Coombe User:The wub, Community Fellow >>> * Steven Zhang User:Steven Zhang, Community Fellow >>> * Tanvir Rahman User:Tanvir Rahman, Community Fellow >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Wikimedia-l mailing list >>> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list >> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > > > > -- > David Goodman > > DGG at the enWP > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DGG > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG -- David Goodman DGG at the enWP http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:DGG http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:DGG _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
