Thank you so much; I'm impressed by the work you are doing and your approach. One part of the Wikimedia mission that I hope returns to the fore in the coming year is defense of copyleft; ensuring that users of Wikimedia copyrighted content respect the license and share alike.
On Tue, Jan 31, 2023, 4:09 PM Maryana Iskander <miskan...@wikimedia.org> wrote: > This message is being translated into other languages on Meta-wiki. > العربية • español • 中文 • deutsch • français • português• > You can help with more languages. > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Updates/Year_One_Update> > > Hi everyone - This month marked my official one-year anniversary as CEO of > the Wikimedia Foundation. Based on some feedback from this list, I have > tried to send a regular update every few months (see January > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Maryana%E2%80%99s_Listening_Tour>, > April > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Updates/Three_Month_Update_and_Wikimedia_Foundation_Draft_Plan>, > June > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/June_2022_Meeting_Outcomes_from_Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees>, > September > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Updates/Nine_month_update>). > I wanted to send another one today to reflect on my first year, and share > upcoming work we have planned at the Foundation. > > Some of you may recall that I prepared for joining Wikimedia with a > two-month listening tour > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Maryana%E2%80%99s_Listening_Tour> > that led me to talk to a few hundred volunteers and Foundation staff across > 55 countries. This shaped the five puzzles > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Maryana%E2%80%99s_Listening_Tour/The_Puzzles> > and three priorities > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Officer/Maryana%E2%80%99s_Listening_Tour/My_Incoming_Priorities> > that I shared with you when I started. These puzzles continue to guide what > I believe are the biggest questions we must answer collectively, especially > the question of, "what does the world need from us now?" > > I also completed the three priorities I outlined last January: (1) > reimagining the Foundation's annual plan > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023> > to be more firmly anchored in our movement's strategic direction; (2) > recruiting a capable Chief Product & Technology Officer > <https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2022/06/13/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-selena-deckelmann/> > for the Wikimedia Foundation; and (3) starting to refresh the Foundation's > organizational > values <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Values> to > guide our ways of working with each other, and with all of you. > > English Fundraising Campaign > > As 2022 came to a close, a Request for Comment (RfC) launched on English > Wikipedia > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_197#RfC_on_the_banners_for_the_December_2022_fundraising_campaign> > to propose changes to the messaging of year-end fundraising banners. The > Wikimedia Foundation accepted the guidance provided by the RfC, and > established a co-creation page > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising/2022_banners> to > seek volunteer input on banner messaging from community members. Throughout > the fundraising campaign, the Foundation team posted regular updates to > this co-creation page. In brief, over 450+ banners were tested during this > year's campaign, and $24.7M of revenue was raised compared to the original > $30M goal (a shortfall of $5.3 million). During the first few days, the new > banners resulted in about 70% less revenue than on the corresponding days > in the prior year. Additional information on the campaign results are > posted here > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Fundraising/2022_banners#January_Community_Campaign_Recap>. > The fundraising team will continue to work with all language communities on > banner messaging in the year ahead, and we look forward to building on what > we learned in this campaign. > > The RfC raised a much wider range of issues than just fundraising banners. > While > anticipated revenue shortfalls made this a difficult period for the > Foundation, I believe we tried to hear these broader concerns, many of > which are shared across communities beyond English Wikipedia. > > One concern was about the very rapid budget growth of the Foundation, > which has stabilized in the last year. Given the revenue gap from this > year's English campaign, we are reviewing and lowering our expenditure for > the current year. And I anticipate we will have a reduced budget and > certainly slower growth next year. We will have more information by April > on future financial projections. > > I communicated previously that I have started frank conversations with the > Board of Trustees and Foundation staff about what roles the Foundation > should grow (like support for technology) and what activities we should > hand over to others or stop altogether. Looking ahead, the size of our > budget should be driven by what the Foundation should be doing and can > actually do well. The 2030 movement strategy provided guidance (and > motivated much of our historic growth), but was short on specifics. I await > the Movement Charter > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter> to > provide further clarity, but believe the Foundation may need to make some > decisions sooner. > > A second concern was about the Foundation's responsiveness to editors and > other technical contributors. We collectively have to respond to decades of > growing technical debt, poor processes for maintaining software, and > staying relevant in a world where technology keeps going faster. There is > no quick fix to most of our technical challenges. > > That said, our Chief Product and Technology Officer Selena Deckelmann > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SDeckelmann-WMF>, who comes with > experience supporting online communities and collaborating with technical > contributors, has made meaningful progress in her first six months. She has > shared the following update: > > "We've made progress on PageTriage issues raised by New Page Patrollers in > an open letter. In the last 120 days, 141 patches have been reviewed > through collaboration between the Foundation and the community. There have > also been several meetings between community members and staff to talk > about the future of PageTriage and the newcomer experience, and there is > now work planned in Q4 > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Page_Curation/2023_Moderator_Tools_project> > to update the extension. We continue to engage with Commons > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Product_and_technical_support_for_Commons_2022-23> > as we are making critically needed software upgrades to community > prioritized tools. The Foundation's Wishathon > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech#December_20,_2022:_Wishathon_Update> > (leading up to the community wishlist kickoff for 2023) involved about 40 > staff contributing time over a week in December to deliver 71 patches and 4 > wishes granted. We are working with communities to make Vector 2022 the > default skin, after 3 years of development work, feedback and continued > iteration with wiki communities." > > In March, Selena will be ready to host forums to share what she thinks are > needed improvements to the Foundation's processes, including technical > support and collaborative product development. Beginning next week, the > Foundation’s product and technology teams will start posting their planned > objectives to solicit input and guidance from contributors. > > And, finally, comments were made in the RfC about the unclear role of > Tides in managing the Knowledge Equity Fund > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Knowledge_Equity_Fund>. > Over the next few months, we will be moving the remainder of the Equity > Fund from Tides back into the Foundation. Relatedly, the Wikimedia > Endowment > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Endowment> > has received its 501(c)(3) status from the US Internal Revenue Service. We > are in the process of setting up its financial systems and transitioning > the Endowment's funds out of Tides as well. > > Looking Ahead > > In my 9-month update, I shared that my top three priorities will remain > strategy, leadership and culture. > > On strategy, the Board of Trustees will meet this March in New York to > consider a few topics that require taking a multi-year view: > > (1) Wikimedia's financial model and future projections for revenue streams > in online fundraising (which we anticipate will not continue to grow at the > same rate), the next phase of the Wikimedia Endowment, and the lessons we > have learned so far from Wikimedia Enterprise > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Enterprise>'s > first year in operation. > > (2) Re-centering the Foundation's responsibility in supporting the > technology needs of the Wikimedia movement by understanding the needs of > our contributor communities, as well as emerging topics like machine > learning/artificial intelligence and innovations for new audiences. > > (3) Beginning more focused conversations to establish frameworks and > principles for understanding the Foundation's core roles and > responsibilities. This is intended to help to provide inputs into the > movement charter deliberations and broader movement strategy conversations. > > Members of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Drafting_Committee> and > Wikimedia > Endowment Trustees > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment#Wikimedia_Endowment_Advisory_Board_Members> > will join in the March discussions, and we will share a report with you > after the meeting. > > This strategic planning will happen concurrently to our annual planning > cycle. Annual planning is being led this year by the needs of our Product & > Technology departments. This will be the first time since about 2015 that > these two departments will undertake joint planning. Our intent is to > repeat the two-way planning processes we experimented with last year, both > on-wiki > and off-wiki > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2022-2023/Feedback_Appendix> > . Finally, we intend to provide more granular information about the > Foundation's staffing, team structures, and specific budgets as an outcome > of these planning efforts. > > On leadership, we have welcomed new Trustees > <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/12/12/the-wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-two-community-and-affiliate-selected-trustees/> > to the Board following the last community-and-affiliate election. I also > made a few senior staff appointments: Lisa Gruwell was named Deputy to the > CEO alongside her responsibilities as Chief Advancement Officer; Anusha > Alikhan became the head of communications at the Wikimedia Foundation; > Nadee Gunasena was appointed Chief of Staff; and as of this week, Stephen > LaPorte formally begins as the next General Counsel. > > I believe that values and culture will matter the most for any real reset > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_197#Comment_from_Nataliia,_Chair_of_the_Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees> > to occur in how the Wikimedia Foundation relates to communities, and > vice-versa. This is especially true when trust has to be built and > maintained; and when any kind of change has to be catalyzed and sustained. > The Board and Foundation tried to model this in how we heard and responded > to the request for changes in fundraising banners. And we will continue to > spend more time reflecting on what the world and our global communities > need from us now. > > I think we are heading more in the right direction and continue to welcome > your feedback either on my talk page > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User_talk:MIskander-WMF> > or at miskan...@wikimedia.org. > > Maryana > > Maryana Iskander > > Wikimedia Foundation CEO > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/7WCRKESMDJCDA3QIJLXPKYJEZ2F3XQZE/ > To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
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