I am pleased to share the position description for the new Chapter Development Director position [1] with the Wikimedia Foundation. We are now open for applications and aim to fill this position with an outstanding candidate by November. Thank you to those who shared perspectives on the Chapter Development role on the Meta page [2] that was set up a few weeks back. The process of defining ways for chapters and WMF to work together effectively is an ongoing one that I look forward to continuing with all of you and with our new staff member. Please do forward on the posting and suggest candidates. It would be great to find candidates from within the Wikimedia movement.
The position description draws from the input received on Meta as well as informal discussions and input received from various sources. [3] The description provides a window into how I am thinking about the relationship between chapters and WMF. Let me share some of my thoughts in the interest of openness and transparency. These are just preliminary thoughts and I welcome ongoing feedback about where I'm on point and where I might be off-base. Let me start by saying that I am very committed to the chapter mission to "empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally"[4] In my analysis (and I think most share this conclusion), we are still a long way from realizing this mission, even in our largest chapters. We, in the Global Development team, are investing in Chapter Development roles (we plan to add to the team in the future) to support the realization of the mission. For me, success in five years would be to be in a position where 75% of chapters would be rated “effective” and over 50% would be rated “very effective” based on an objective set of mission-focused metrics I would like to develop collaboratively with chapters over the next year. In addition, I would like there to be at least 60 chapters that are reasonably [5] representative of the global population. It would be great if we generate some shared goals in the coming months. I have designed the WMF role as articulated in the position description with success metrics in mind and with an orientation toward mutual cooperation and a strong respect for the fact that virtually all of the chapter participants today are volunteers and that our future strength will remain in the initiative, commitment and creativity of volunteers, even as we add staff and spend money in chapters and at WMF. I expect that the WMF staff (as well as capacity building support on organizational development) will help make voluntary action easier, more scalable and more sustainable, particularly for the leaders who have expressed a certain level of fatigue in carrying the full weight of their chapters. It is important to be clear that I see the Foundation and chapters as independent organizations who are both ultimately accountable to the Wikimedia movement. In my team's work, I would like to earn our role by demonstrating our value. We do and should have clear agreements about the work we do together along with our financial relationships. These may require some trade-offs; however, these should lay out mutual expectations that encourage positive, productive work that supports the Wikimedia mission. As such, I would expect that we are able to negotiate and abide by contractual agreements that help us all do our work. A final word on openness. This note is an attempt to be open about how I'm thinking now. I want my team's (and our) work to be open and transparent to the movement. We should share publicly our thinking, reports on our activities, evaluations of our successes and failures and a standard report card of our effectiveness. I don't see this as a mechanism for reward or punishment, but as a way to open us up to the movement at large and most importantly to enable us to be a learning community where we can critically assess our work and adapt. I hope this note is a reasonable start. I look forward to working with you all, to having your feedback and to bringing a strong Chapter Development Director on board soon. Barry [1] See http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/Chapter_Development_Director [2] See http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapter_development [3] Berlin Chapters meeting discussions, strategy project, Wikimania discussions, generous proactive input from Delphine Menard reflecting on her prior experience, thoughts provided by Sebastian Moleski and an email exchange with Bence Domokos [4] See http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters [5] Added “Reasonably” caveat as we might not be in a position to have chapters in places such as the People's Republic of China for policy reasons _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
