Hi Joady, Thank you for publishing this. Overall I like this draft. I would like to offer two comments.
1. My impression is that WMF Communications is largely used to support fundraising, readership, and sometimes legal or advocacy topics. The department seems to be externally focused. I would like to see work by WMF Communications and/or WMF Community Engagement on developing a systematic "internal" communications system among content contributors and WMF departments. There are currently many internal communications flows, and while I think that there have been some noticeable improvements over the past few years (I particularly want to acknowledge the WMF Community Liaisons), there is a long way to go in systematizing and optimizing these communications flows. So instead of looking for a chief communications officer whose main strength is in marketing, sales, PR, or other forms of external communication, I would encourage WMF to seek a chief communications officer who has a track record of facilitating long-term improvement of internal communications in complex and diverse environments. 2. For the line in the JD draft which currently reads "A clear, effective communications style, including experience guiding messaging for major organizations, political candidates, or movements", I would encourage considerable caution about hiring someone into this role who has had a background in political campaigns. I would prefer that the individual have no affiliation with any political party. I can think of some organizations which are not aligned with a specific political party and which support civil rights issues which are likely to be largely compatible with WMF's mission, but I would still be very cautious about hiring someone who has any background in politics. Keeping in mind WMF's recent and controversial annual report, I think it is particularly important to hire a chief communications officer who can guide communications and the WMF organization away from involvement in political matters to the maximum extent possible while still supporting freedom of expression in the limited circumstances in which constraints on freedom of expression would impede Wikimedians' ability to communicate freely about matters of important public interest. Thank you, 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, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
