Hello Erik, I don't disagree with the premise of your argument that an alternative structure of the wikimedia movement would let some parts of the wikimedia movement grow stronger and more effective in delivering a focused impact.
There is no doubt that North America could be self sustaining (people and resources) with loads of thematic organizations, both affiliates and independent. The largest European Chapters would do fine. The question is whether a Federation would actually strengthen the diversity of the wikimedia movement or would it weaken the global mission? The important element is a body of people in the wikimedia movement who strongly embrace the diversity of the movement and make it the priority. Currently there is weak support in the wikimedia movement for global alliances. But the ones that have happened have given the wikimedia movement a sense of unity. Like Wiki Loves Monuments and Art+Feminism. Right now the central hub of the global movement is WMF. Despite other recent problems. The WMF is doing a great job of regularly communicating about the world wide movement. There needs to be a successful transfer of the global mission to another body/bodies or there is the risk that local growth will be even more uneven than today. Additionally, the core sense of a movement could be lost unless there is a strong shared vision. Volunteers and donors contribute to a greater movement because of the its mission. So,a priority of a Federation would be to foster a strong shared mission. Sydney Sydney Poore User:FloNight Wikipedian in Residence at Cochrane Collaboration On Thu, Mar 17, 2016 at 10:22 PM, Erik Moeller <eloque...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi folks, > > Now that the dust has settled a bit, I would like to expand on an idea > that’s been touched on a few times (most recently, in an editorial by > William Beutler [1]): the notion that WMF might be a more effective > organization if it limited its own size in favor of focused spin-off > organizations and affiliates. > > I was very much part of building the current WMF in terms of both size > and structure, but I also think recent events underscore the fragility > of the current model. WMF is still tiny compared with other tech > companies that operate popular websites, but it’s a vast organization > by Wikimedia movement standards. With nearly 300 staff [2] (beyond > even our ambitious 2015 strategic plan staffing numbers), it dwarfs > any other movement org. > > I can see three potential benefits from a more federated model: > > 1) Resilience. If any one organization experiences a crisis, other > independent organizations suffer to a lesser degree than departments > within that organization. > > 2) Focus. Wikimedia’s mission is very broad, and an organization with > a clearly defined mandate is less likely to be pulled in many > different directions -- at every level. > > 3) Accountability. Within a less centralized federation, it is easier > to ensure that funding flows to those who do work the movement wants > them to do. > > My experience is that growth tends to be self-reinforcing in budgetary > processes if there are now clear ceilings established. I think that’s > true in almost any organization. There’s always lots of work to do, > and new teams will discover new gaps and areas into which they would > like to expand. Hence, I would argue for the following: > > a) To establish 150 as the provisional ceiling for Wikimedia movement > organizations. This is Dunbar’s number, and it has been used > (sometimes intentionally, sometimes organically) as a limiting number > for religious groups, military companies, corporate divisions, tax > offices, and other human endeavors. [3][4] This is very specifically > because it makes organizational units more manageable and > understandable for those who work there. > > b) To slowly, gradually identify parts of the WMF which would benefit > from being spun off into independent organizations, and to launch such > spin-offs, narrowing WMF's focus in the process. > > c) To aim to more clearly separate funding and evaluation > responsibilities from programmatic work within the movement -- whether > that work is keeping websites running, building software, or doing > GLAM work. > > Note that I'm not proposing a quick splintering, but rather a slow and > gradual process with lots of opportunity to course-correct. > > More on these points below. > > == Potential test case: MediaWiki Foundation == > > A "MediaWiki Foundation" [5] has been proposed a few times and I > suspect continues to have some currency within WMF. This org would not > be focused on all WMF-related development work, but specifically on > MediaWiki as software that has value to third parties. Its mission > could include hosting services as earned income (and potentially as an > extension of the Wikimedia movement’s mission). > > MediaWiki is used today by numerous nonprofit and educational projects > that are aligned even with a narrow view on Wikimedia’s mission. > Examples include Appropedia, OpenWetWare, WikiEducator, W3C’s > WebPlatform, Hesperian Health Guides, and too many notable open source > projects to list. > > Among commercial users, it has lost much ground to other software like > Confluence, but it remains, in my view, the most viable platform for > large, open, collaborative communities. Yet it’s a poorly supported > option: many of the above wikis are outdated, and maintaining a > MediaWiki install is generally more work than it needs to be. > > Building a healthy third party ecosystem will have obvious benefits > for the world, and for existing Wikimedia work as well. It may also > create a proving ground for experimental technology. > > Which work that WMF is currently doing would be part of an MWF’s > mandate? I don’t know; I could imagine that it could include aspects > like Vagrant, or even shared responsibility for MediaWiki core and > MW’s architecture. > > == The Wiki Education Foundation precedent == > > It’s worth noting that this spin-off model has been tried once before. > The Wiki Education Foundation is an example of an organization that > was created by volunteers doing work in this programmatic space in > partnership with staff of the Education Program at WMF, who left to > join the new org. It is now financially independent, building its own > relationships with funders that WMF has never worked with, and > achieving impact at unprecedented scale. > > LiAnna Davis, who is today the Director of Program Support at Wiki Ed, > wrote a detailed response to William’s blog post, which I think is > worth quoting in full [1]: > > ----begin quote---- > I worked for the WMF for nearly four years and have worked for the > spun-off Wiki Education Foundation for the last two, and I strongly > support the idea of spinning off more parts of WMF into independent > nonprofits like ours. > > As you noted, Wiki Ed is a test case for your proposal, so for readers > who don’t know our history: We started in 2010 as a pilot program > (called the Public Policy Initiative) within WMF, funded by a > restricted grant, to support university professors in the U.S. who > wanted to assign their students to edit Wikipedia as a class > assignment. The pilot showed the idea was successful, and so we > started piloting it in countries as part of the Catalyst project (Arab > World, Brazil, and India). > > The U.S. program had lingered at WMF without any real organizational > support because the U.S. wasn’t a target region. WMF leadership saw > its potential, however, and formed a volunteer Working Group of > Wikipedians and academics who created the structure of the > organization that became the Wiki Education Foundation in 2013. WMF > gave us a small start-up grant to get us going, and provided fiscal > sponsorship for us until our 501(c)3 status came through (and we could > fundraise on our own). > > Today, we’re an independent organization, not funded by WMF, and we’ve > scaled the impact of our programs incredibly. We’re supporting three > times as many students, we’ve developed our own technology to support > our programmatic work, and our students are busy addressing content > gaps in academic areas on Wikipedia. > > So why are we so successful? There are a lot of factors, but there’s > one I want to highlight here, because I think it’s a clear difference > between when we were at WMF and our current work at Wiki Ed. We have > one, very clear mission: We create mutually beneficial ties between > Wikipedia and academia in the U.S. and Canada. > > The WMF mission is inspiring — but it’s really broad, just like our > movement is. When we were doing this same project at WMF, I’d struggle > to just focus on the Education Program and ignore the rest of the > mission. Whenever I interacted with people outside the foundation (and > I did so a lot), people would come to me with ideas to further WMF’s > mission that weren’t in my program’s boundaries. I’d spend time trying > to help, because I believed in the mission and wanted to help it > along. I’m not the only one: I would see this idealism and commitment > to the mission repeatedly among my colleagues at WMF. I still see it > from the current WMF staff. They’re all there because they believe in > the mission. They want to help, and it’s really hard to not try to > help with everything, because you can see so many different facets of > helping that mission. > > Essentially, with a mission as broad as WMF’s, it’s hard for staff to > keep a narrow focus. *Everything* can seem mission-related. When your > mission is as narrow as Wiki Ed’s, it’s easier to find your focus and > keep your attention on developing one area well. This is a key > strength of independent organizations — independent, narrower missions > keep staff focused and more productive on achieving their small part > of the overall Wikimedia mission. > > I strongly support more discussion about spinning off other parts of > WMF into independent organizations. > ----end quote---- > > == A "Movement Association"? == > > A more radical suggestion would be to spin off work on grantmaking and > evaluation. This isn’t trivial -- there are legitimate arguments to > keep this work close to other community-facing work WMF is doing. But > there are undeniable benefits in greater separation. > > When it comes to large annual plan grants, much has been done to > ensure that the FDC can operate as an independent body and evaluate > each plan on its merits. Ultimately, however, the decision rests with > the WMF, which has a much better understanding of its own programs > (through the direct relationship with its ED) than of those of > affiliates. > > Similarly, while WMF has done a fair bit to provide self-service > evaluation tools to the movement at large, it’s not clear that its > work is always held to the same standard as everyone else’s. A WMF > grantee must very publicly report results and success metrics; WMF > attempts to do so as a matter of course, but it is not accountable to > another organization for failing to do so. > > Finally, as was discussed here a lot in recent weeks, WMF itself has > no clear accountability to the movement. The Board elections are > advisory in nature. There is no membership. Non-elected seats are > filled by the Board with little visibility. There is a semi-permanent > "Founder’s Seat". > > If grantmaking and evaluation responsibilities were increasingly > shifted to a "Wikimedia Movement Association", this could gradually > allow for true accountability to the movement in the form of > membership and democratic, movement-wide decisions to make funding > allocations on the basis of evaluation reports (through committees or > otherwise). > > This may also make the endowment a more compelling proposition than it > is today. Yes, keeping Wikimedia’s sites operational indefinitely is a > very worthwhile goal. But what if the endowment ultimately also helped > to support global, federated work towards Wikimedia’s vision? What if > all affiliates -- indeed the whole movement -- were excited and > motivated to help grow it? > > == Where to go from here? == > > There are lots of open questions in all of this. Should all site-wide > fundraising remain inside WMF, for example, with funds being > transferred to a movement entity? What’s the dividing line between > "development for third parties" (MWF) and "development for Wikimedia" > (WMF)? How would staff transition to new organizations? Where should > those organizations be based? Should they be distributed, have > offices? > > An important thing to remember here (a lesson I’ve had to learn > painfully) is that big changes are best made in small steps, with room > for trial and error. > > Implementing this strategy is, I think, a matter of first committing > to it as an idea, and then creating coherent proposals for each step, > publicly with broad input. First, if there is support for the general > idea, I would recommend kicking it around: Are these the right kinds > of spin-offs? What are the risks and how should existing affiliates be > involved in the process? And so on. > > The fact that WMF has just experienced a major organizational crisis > should not itself fill us with pessimism and despair. But we also > shouldn’t ignore it. We must learn from it and do what reason tells us > -- and in my view that is to build a more resilient _federation_ of > organizations than what we have today. > > Warmly, > > Erik > > == Notes == > > [1] > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-03-09/Op-ed > > [2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Template:STAFF-COUNT > > [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number > > [4] > http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-01-10/the-dunbar-number-from-the-guru-of-social-networks > > [5] Our branding is confusing beyond repair. I don't think there's an > easy fix here, and we should just embrace our nutty nomenclature > (Wikimedia/MediaWiki/Wikipedia) at this point. > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
