Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Wikimedia Foundation has soft launched!

[Gregory Varnum]

There is a page on Meta-Wiki with a talk page:  
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_website

There is also a Phabricator project:  
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/wikimediafoundation.org/

-greg

___
Sent from my iPhone - a more detailed response may be sent later.

> On Aug 1, 2018, at 7:56 PM, Yair Rand  wrote:
> 
> The new website highlights "Advocacy" as one of the three areas that the
> Foundation deals with, along with Research and Technology. From the page
> linked, it promotes the WMF's misguided and unauthorized venture into
> trying to influence US immigration law, now claiming it to be something the
> WMF does "routinely". These statements do not belong on the WMF website.
> 
> (Also, there is no longer any way to inform people responsible for the site
> about errors, like "do not write you own bio". Or the fact that the header
> is in German, despite saying that the page is in English.)
> 
> Is there any intention to have somewhere where edits can be at least
> proposed?
> 
> -- Yair Rand
> 
> 2018-08-01 21:51 GMT-04:00 Gregory Varnum :
> 
>> Hello,
>> 
>> After many months of work by over 100 individuals around the organization
>> and movement, the Wikimedia Foundation's new website soft launched this
>> week!
>> 
>> You can check it out for yourself here (you may need to clear your
>> browser's cache):  https://wikimediafoundation.org/
>> 
>> 
>> So what comes next?
>> 
>> Throughout this week, the Communications department and core website team
>> will be doing final tweaks and quality assurance testing in preparations
>> for translations.
>> 
>> Over the coming weeks we will be working with affiliates and contributors
>> around the world to make the site in available in Arabic, Chinese, French,
>> German, Russian, and Spanish - in addition to the English version soft
>> launched today. Once the translations are completed, we will be doing a
>> more public announcement regarding the new website and begin more formally
>> implementing usage of it.
>> 
>> Additionally, we will be holding office hours in the coming weeks.
>> 
>> 
>> What about the old website?
>> 
>> The old website (aka Foundation Wiki) will be given new life in the coming
>> weeks as the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki - where it will continue
>> to house important documentation for the Wikimedia Foundation like
>> policies, board resolutions and minutes, legal documents, etc. Additional
>> information on the changes coming to that wiki and the plans for migrating
>> archived content to Meta-Wiki will be available in the coming weeks.
>> 
>> 
>> What else should I know?
>> 
>> There is a lot of great things about this new website we are excited to
>> share with all of you! More information about office hours will available
>> in the coming weeks. Until then, we encourage you to take a look and
>> contact me directly if you find any bugs, typos, or have any comments.
>> 
>> 
>> Thank you!
>> 
>> The Communications department greatly appreciates all of the discussions,
>> work, and patience everyone has put into this gigantic undertaking. We are
>> very close to the finish line, and today marks a significant step which was
>> only possible with the help of the 100+ people involved.
>> 
>> On behalf of the Communications department and core website team (Heather,
>> Zack, Katherine, Mel, and Greg),
>> 
>> -greg
>> 
>> ---
>> Gregory Varnum
>> Communications Strategist
>> Wikimedia Foundation
>> gvar...@wikimedia.org
>> Pronouns: He/Him/His
>> 
>> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Wikimedia Foundation has soft launched!

[Pine W]

Hi Greg, thank you for the update.

The bold visual design is interesting. Hopefully WMF's target audiences
will like it.

I have a couple of concerns. This is not intended as an attack, and please
try not to take this personally.

1. I am a bit uncertain about the appropriateness of asking affiliates and
volunteers to spend valuable time translating WMF's corporate website. I am
not sure that it is a request that I would make if I was in WMF's place.
WMF has plenty of funding that could be used for that, and I think that
affiliate and volunteer translator time would be better spent on content
translation. Is there a reason to ask volunteers to spend their valuable
time doing something that paid translators could do?

2. The section on "Key information - things to know" should be carefully
examined by people who know Wikimedia policy and practices well. There are
several places where that section needs additional work.

3. I partly share Yair's concern about the advocacy section. I have mixed
views about some of WMF's public policy positions, while I fully agree with
others. I suggest removing the word "routinely" unless WMF intends to
become more active than it has been in the past with advocacy efforts that
may be "non-core" with respect to WMF's mission, and I suggest that WMF
should consider how to communicate that its own positions may or may not be
representative of the positions of affiliates and contributors.

I'm busy with other issues so I probably won't spend much more time
thinking about the WMF website in the near future, but I thank you for your
well-intentioned efforts to modernize the site. Hopefully in the long run
all will be well.

Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Wikimedia Foundation has soft launched!

[Yair Rand]

The new website highlights "Advocacy" as one of the three areas that the
Foundation deals with, along with Research and Technology. From the page
linked, it promotes the WMF's misguided and unauthorized venture into
trying to influence US immigration law, now claiming it to be something the
WMF does "routinely". These statements do not belong on the WMF website.

(Also, there is no longer any way to inform people responsible for the site
about errors, like "do not write you own bio". Or the fact that the header
is in German, despite saying that the page is in English.)

Is there any intention to have somewhere where edits can be at least
proposed?

-- Yair Rand

2018-08-01 21:51 GMT-04:00 Gregory Varnum :

> Hello,
>
> After many months of work by over 100 individuals around the organization
> and movement, the Wikimedia Foundation's new website soft launched this
> week!
>
> You can check it out for yourself here (you may need to clear your
> browser's cache):  https://wikimediafoundation.org/
>
>
> So what comes next?
>
> Throughout this week, the Communications department and core website team
> will be doing final tweaks and quality assurance testing in preparations
> for translations.
>
> Over the coming weeks we will be working with affiliates and contributors
> around the world to make the site in available in Arabic, Chinese, French,
> German, Russian, and Spanish - in addition to the English version soft
> launched today. Once the translations are completed, we will be doing a
> more public announcement regarding the new website and begin more formally
> implementing usage of it.
>
> Additionally, we will be holding office hours in the coming weeks.
>
>
> What about the old website?
>
> The old website (aka Foundation Wiki) will be given new life in the coming
> weeks as the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki - where it will continue
> to house important documentation for the Wikimedia Foundation like
> policies, board resolutions and minutes, legal documents, etc. Additional
> information on the changes coming to that wiki and the plans for migrating
> archived content to Meta-Wiki will be available in the coming weeks.
>
>
> What else should I know?
>
> There is a lot of great things about this new website we are excited to
> share with all of you! More information about office hours will available
> in the coming weeks. Until then, we encourage you to take a look and
> contact me directly if you find any bugs, typos, or have any comments.
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> The Communications department greatly appreciates all of the discussions,
> work, and patience everyone has put into this gigantic undertaking. We are
> very close to the finish line, and today marks a significant step which was
> only possible with the help of the 100+ people involved.
>
> On behalf of the Communications department and core website team (Heather,
> Zack, Katherine, Mel, and Greg),
>
> -greg
>
> ---
> Gregory Varnum
> Communications Strategist
> Wikimedia Foundation
> gvar...@wikimedia.org
> Pronouns: He/Him/His
>
>
> ___
> 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,
> 
___
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[Wikimedia-l] New Wikimedia Foundation has soft launched!

[Gregory Varnum]

Hello,

After many months of work by over 100 individuals around the organization and 
movement, the Wikimedia Foundation's new website soft launched this week!

You can check it out for yourself here (you may need to clear your browser's 
cache):  https://wikimediafoundation.org/


So what comes next?

Throughout this week, the Communications department and core website team will 
be doing final tweaks and quality assurance testing in preparations for 
translations.

Over the coming weeks we will be working with affiliates and contributors 
around the world to make the site in available in Arabic, Chinese, French, 
German, Russian, and Spanish - in addition to the English version soft launched 
today. Once the translations are completed, we will be doing a more public 
announcement regarding the new website and begin more formally implementing 
usage of it.

Additionally, we will be holding office hours in the coming weeks.


What about the old website?

The old website (aka Foundation Wiki) will be given new life in the coming 
weeks as the Wikimedia Foundation Governance Wiki - where it will continue to 
house important documentation for the Wikimedia Foundation like policies, board 
resolutions and minutes, legal documents, etc. Additional information on the 
changes coming to that wiki and the plans for migrating archived content to 
Meta-Wiki will be available in the coming weeks.


What else should I know?

There is a lot of great things about this new website we are excited to share 
with all of you! More information about office hours will available in the 
coming weeks. Until then, we encourage you to take a look and contact me 
directly if you find any bugs, typos, or have any comments.


Thank you!

The Communications department greatly appreciates all of the discussions, work, 
and patience everyone has put into this gigantic undertaking. We are very close 
to the finish line, and today marks a significant step which was only possible 
with the help of the 100+ people involved.

On behalf of the Communications department and core website team (Heather, 
Zack, Katherine, Mel, and Greg),

-greg

---
Gregory Varnum
Communications Strategist
Wikimedia Foundation
gvar...@wikimedia.org
Pronouns: He/Him/His


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: First round of Working Group members

[David Cuenca Tudela]

SJ, other groups can meet and discuss, but they only have relevance if they
are given some legitimacy.
If the output of paralel groups is ignored, the only inspiration they can
give is about how to waste community good faith (and resources).
Having discussion groups only makes sense if there is a community to
interact with, and if the output of that interaction serves some purpose.

I also think that it wouldn't be fair to take community attention bandwidth
away with paralel groups until the official groups have had some chance to
perform.
Considering all the feedback that has been given here, I trust that it will
be used to improve the blindspots.

Micru

On Tue, Jul 31, 2018 at 11:31 PM Samuel Klein  wrote:

> Micru -- these are good and kind thoughts, and practical suggestions.
>
> I don't know how much energy it's usfeul to put into *extra communication*
> to/from/about the current groups.  But I would be especially interested in
> ideas for ways other groups (some are excluded from any closed process)
> could organize similar visions and proposals and priorities for the future,
> in parallel.  Sometimes it is easier to develop crisp ideas as
> contrast/critique of an existing process, than from scratch.  In which case
> quirks of a process, like incomplete sections of articles, can serve as
> helpful inspiration.
>
> SJ
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 24, 2018 at 2:03 AM David Cuenca Tudela 
> wrote:
>
> > > The messages about our application process that we ran in June were not
> > distributed directly to the broad variety of project communities. Our
> focus
> > was indeed on the organized part of the movement, and then to work with
> the
> > Working Groups on getting the message to the project communities and to
> > those who would be interested in such discussions and enrich them.
> >
> > "The organized part of the movement" is very small in comparison to the
> > whole. For instance WMFR has 274 members out of 17,500 contributors [1].
> It
> > is true that some do not care at all about "strategy" or the "global
> > movement" as long as they can keep doing their work, but others are not
> > organised because they do not understand or feel the added value of being
> > organised, yet they might want to participate.
> > I also think that it would have been nicer to have new people with new
> > ideas, instead of having the existing establishment (as Chris has noted)
> do
> > the recommendations, because I fear that they will get entrenched in the
> > status quo instead of being bold and asking for different, and perhaps
> more
> > inclusive, approaches.
> >
> > > We would like to be especially careful to not create too much noise for
> > people not interested in or fatigued by the strategy process. If you have
> > ideas, I would be really interested in hearing them.
> >
> > Ideas:
> > - Newsletter to interested people for frequent updates (weekly/bi-weekly)
> > - Multilingual Massmessage to pump villages/mailing lists for less
> frequent
> > updates (monthly/bi-monthly)
> > - Blog posts every 3-6 months
> > - Central talk page on meta for ongoing discussions between working group
> > participants and community members
> > - Ask digital communities (or select from the applications, or existing
> WG
> > participants) for a group of people to act as liaison to bridge language
> > and participation barriers
> > - Ask working groups to document arguments on meta
> >
> > > We are seeking a large spectrum of diversity, including volunteer
> project
> > communities.
> >
> > I think more specific criteria are needed since a large number of
> > applications have been rejected without indicating which criteria they
> were
> > not fulfilling.
> >
> > > As the names and background of the Working Group members is also
> > published on meta, it is also possible for everyone to share your
> thoughts
> > regarding the existing gaps, just like you have done in your letter.
> >
> > "Person X from group X" doesn't say anything to me about which ideas the
> > participants espouse. Would it be possible to publish on meta the
> > motivation letters of the participants?
> > I believe it is the lowest effort option, and it would help to get to
> know
> > the people behind the working groups. If you don't have time to
> > format/structure it, I can help there.
> >
> > I do not agree that there should be speakers of all languages in the
> > working groups. The language a person speaks says nothing about the ideas
> > they support. There are monolingual English speakers that appreciate the
> > value of having multilingualism play a prominent role in the movement,
> and
> > there might be also Portuguese speakers that do not respect the diversity
> > within their linguistic community or in the world. What is important is
> > that we have liaisons/ambassadors that connect with the broader movement,
> > because I doubt that the working group participants can do that alone.
> >
> > Thanks for your readiness to give space for this discussion to