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who has previous experience as CEO or
Executive Director of a non-profit of comparable size working in the same field as the Wikimedia Foundation. No one is blocking the Board appointing Katherine Maher to the Board, as she has announced her departure as CEO/ED of the Wikimedia Foundation by April 15. All in all, this leaves ample room for the community and affiliates to select their representatives through their preferred method, that is by having a free and open election.
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electing them by the people in their country. Some of the board members engaged in email conversation, and I raised more questions. The ensuing conversation stopped soon after the moment someone realized they were stepping out of line, and ranks were closed. I could get a quote from an official voice from the board. That quote ended up being 462 words long, not answering any of my questions directly.
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pandemic, on top of multiple other consultations, but also tries to seek to solve a problem – diversity – which has already been solved by having an IGC soon. And the board failed to integrate this consultation within the overall framework of conversations about implementation of strategy recommendations. Just like they failed at integrating the branding discussion within the strategy process.
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Movement, are skilled in editing
Wikimedia projects, and skilled in contributing in other ways to the Wikimedia Movement. Most notably, those volunteers have taken initiatives both online and offline to organize projects and programs. It looks like the current board doesn't value these skills and experience as relevant to governing the Wikimedia Foundation.
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What kind of diversity? Gender and ethnicity diversity? Diversity of wikis (i.e. have a lot of people on the board from small wikis)? My first thought is that the composition of the board should be proportional to the composition of
Knowledge (XXG) users, both in terms of gender/ethnicity and of size
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Playing devil's advocate for a moment, the board has certain legal duties (under
American law, since the WMF is incorporated in the United States) to ensure the organisation is properly run and the money is going where it's supposed to go. This makes sure things happen like the staff get paid and the
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that the bylaws-mandated voting process was being postponed ("We do not want to delay the trustee selection process any longer than we have to It does not currently seem likely that the process will resume before August 2020, but we are committed to completing it before the end of June 2021"). As Ad
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This consultation isn't the only ongoing consultation with the communities. There are a whole range of Global
Conversations about implementation of the recommendations of the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy process. And some other consultations are also running. One of the strategy recommendations –
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The call for feedback about community seats proves the Board of
Trustees is not capable of governing the Wikimedia movement, and the call for feedback on community seats is a distraction from the conversation on implementing the Wikimedia movement strategy recommendations. The Wikimedia movement has
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Apparently the Board sees an urgent need to hear from a voice from Africa. They created three extra appointed seats, and no one is blocking the Board to handpick someone from Africa to become one of the
Trustees. And maybe another one from South-East Asia. Apparently they want someone on their board
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In 2019 a woman from
Ukraine (Eastern Europe) and a woman from Israel (Middle-East) were selected by affiliates to become board members. The call for feedback states as problem the election process favors men from the US and Western Europe. The latest election outcome fully contradicts this part of
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The movement has recognized and acknowledged a lack of diversity of our representation in governing bodies over the past years, and has resolved this issue by proposing an (Interim) Global
Council (IGC). The current call for feedback about community seats is not only badly timed – in the midst of a
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What the Board of the
Wikimedia Foundation actually does is mostly boring stuff. They have to read piles of paper, approve annual plans and annual budgets, review financial reports and go through tons of legal stuff. The board also does hire and fire the CEO or Executive Director of the Wikimedia
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Most notably there is a total lack of diversity among appointed trustees, most of them being US residents. The five volunteers on the board all speak different native tongues, and are all born in different countries, originating from four different parts of the world. The current diversity among
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The Board amended the bylaws in 2020. They proposed expanding the board from 10 to 16 seats. There will be even more appointed seats, not selected by contributors to Wikimedia projects, in the future. The call for feedback is restricted to community seats. The Board didn't ask the community for
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The other part of the 'problem' the Board seeks to solve is with respect to skills and experiences. Five trustees on the board are selected by communities and affiliates from volunteers who contribute to Wikimedia projects. Those volunteers have multiple years of experience within the Wikimedia
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Apparently the Board has a dislike for elections, and wants to get rid of the system of election by the community and the affiliates of Trustees. In preparing this article I have reached out to all board members, asking them whether they would prefer appointment of parliamentarians rather than
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Half the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation consist of appointed trustees chosen for their specific skills and experiences. Most of them aren't contributors to the Wikimedia projects. Most of them had no idea how Wikimedia projects function and operate, and are unaware how Wikimedia
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In 2017 some 5,500 contributors to Wikimedia projects elected three members to the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation for a three year term. Their mandate ended nearly a year ago. The Board decided to extend their terms for a year. The ongoing pandemic was an excuse to postpone an
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There will be a Global Council at the earliest at the end of Wikimania 2022. Depending on your point of view that is either very far away, or pretty soon. In the interim, there will be an Interim Global Council to draft a Movement Charter and oversee the implementation of the strategy
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which is priority 1 – is to ensure equity in decision making. To include underrepresented voices in governance and to assure diversity, it was recommended to have a Global Council in the future. The Global Council would be a large body, representing the diversity of the movement.
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Whether or not Wikimedia project wiki communities actually do support the creation of an (Interim) Global Council and drafting a Movement Charter, which are highly preferred by some people from Wikimedia affiliates, is a topic for a Signpost article in the future.
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recommendations. The current timeline projects having an Interim Global Council seated in April or May 2021. That is pretty soon, and probably at the same time or even before new community representatives will be elected to the Board of Trustees.
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community and affiliate seats is at a maximum given the number of available seats. If there is a diversity problem on the board, then it is within the appointed seats, not within the community seats.
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that has been approved by the board, but which I'm sure a large proportion of the community will not approve in its current form, has me concerned. It seems to me that this, especially in light of
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503:, and all Wikipedias summed together have 94 million users, so one idea would be to give en-Wikipedians 44% of the seats. Fair? Yes. Diverse enough? Dunno. Guess that's for the people to decide. –
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election, yet the Board of Trustees launched a very intensive consultation with the community. This consultation is probably more time- and energy-consuming than an actual election.
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It would have been a good idea to include links in this piece, both as references and for explanatory context. Quickly dumping a few here, starting with the Signpost's own coverage:
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They want to discuss changes to the way Trustees are selected. They aim at greater diversity. They have concerns about skills and experiences of community elected board members.
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servers stay on. Being a good or popular Knowledge (XXG) editor or being able to win an election is not necessarily the same skill set.
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It's strange how people who one would individually respect can get together and create a monster. All the best:
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The Wikimedia Foundation is taking away your freedom to elect community representatives to their board.
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an urgent need of a Global Council inclusive of all Wikimedia project wiki communities.
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mentions, the stated rationale were the hardships of the pandemic - especially "
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the negative impact it would have on community members’ ability to participate
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The call for feedback on community seats is a distraction: Free as in Liberty.
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that Knowledge (XXG) desperately needs actual leadership, in place of the
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volunteers have organized themselves online and offline over the past.
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advice how to fill in the extra appointed seats they created.
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The call for feedback on community seats is a distraction
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360:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try
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556:Explore Knowledge (XXG) history by browsing
613:Knowledge (XXG) Signpost archives 2021-02
421:research has since made abundantly clear
18:Knowledge (XXG):Knowledge (XXG) Signpost
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394:"Board composition discussion"
356:add the page to your watchlist
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412:April 2020 board announcement
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533:Universal Code of Conduct
525:I've said for a long time
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460:Penny for your thoughts?
427:to run for reelection.)
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353:. To follow comments,
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