[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wiki Loves Monuments] Decision of WLM in Ukraine organizers not to submit photos for the international round

[Samuel Klein]

I appreciate this and the extraordinary photos of Ukrainian heritage that
came out of past years' contests, one of the fruits of which is sitting on
my wall.

❤️‍啕⚡, SJ



On Tue, Dec 13, 2022, 10:46 AM Olga Milianovych <
olga.milianov...@wikimedia.org.ua> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> On behalf of the organizing team for Wiki Loves Monuments in Ukraine I’m
> writing to inform you of our decision not to submit photos for the
> international round.
>
> Traditionally, Wiki Loves Monuments in Ukraine has been one of the biggest
> WLM local contests in the world, as well as among the biggest projects
> supported by Wikimedia Ukraine.
>
> This year, Ukraine and subsequently the contest has suffered from Russia’s
> full-scale invasion. Particularly, for security reasons the organizers had
> to limit submissions only to photos taken before February 24th, 2022, which
> is the date when Russia openly invaded Ukraine.
>
> Despite the limitations, we managed to organize the contest in 2022 and
> attract almost 14,000 photos of Ukrainian cultural heritage from almost 300
> participants. They illustrate over 5,300 monuments, including 351 monuments
> depicted for the first time.
>
> However, the local organizers will not be submitting Ukrainian photos for
> the international round because of the international organizers’ decisions
> to accept photos from Russia on the international stage. To be clear, we do
> not support this decision and had asked the international team not to
> accept Russian photos in the international round.
>
> While we fully support the spread of free knowledge in various forms, we
> believe that it is not appropriate to promote on the international level
> photos from the country that wages a brutal war against Ukraine, kills
> thousands of Ukrainians – and systematically destroys and steals Ukrainian
> cultural, architectural and archaeological monuments.
>
> Besides, Russia’s war has deprived Ukrainian photos of equal conditions in
> the competition. While daily life in Russia continues largely as normal,
> Ukrainian photographers have had to operate in extremely difficult
> conditions and under many limitations – both the formal ones imposed for
> security reasons and the overall situation in Ukraine (power blackouts,
> problems with internet connectivity, personal hardship etc.)
>
> Therefore, we cannot accept Ukrainian photos competing alongside Russian
> ones – we do not think that in current circumstances it is the right thing
> to announce which Ukrainian photos are better and which are worse than
> Russian ones.
>
> We are grateful to Ukrainian participants and volunteers who have made the
> contest possible this year against the odds, as well as to international
> organizers for their hard work in supporting the largest photo contest in
> the Wikimedia ecosystem.
>
> Best regards,
> Olga Milianovych
> Member of the organizing committee for Wiki Loves Monuments in Ukraine
>
> (Disclaimer: Antanana is a member of the Wiki Loves Monuments Ukraine
> organizing committee. Due to her currently serving on the Wikimedia
> Foundation Board of Trustees she recused herself from taking part in
> discussions and making decisions on this topic).
> ___
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: How does the selection of WMF expert board members happen?

[Vi to]

It's commendable your attempt to broaden the discussion into something more
general, aimed at preserving board prestige.

I concur that as a first step there should be a clear stance about "what
the board seeks into its appointed member(s)?".

Vito

Il giorno lun 12 dic 2022 alle ore 17:43 effe iets anders <
effeietsand...@gmail.com> ha scritto:

> Given that the actual appointment is about a year ago, it may make sense
> to shift this conversation and these great questions into a more general
> domain: what is the current procedure the WMF follows when encountering a
> vacancy for an expert board member?
>
> I imagine we could rephrase some of these questions into more general
> language (although the original questions from Scann may still be valuable):
>
> - What does the search strategy look like, and is the movement engaged in
> it? How? (I would add the same question for the other stakeholders,
> including staff)
> - How are the elements of the ideal profile determined (e.g. US vs
> worldwide, social good vs commercial, etc)
> - To what extent are demographic criteria used in setting a profile for a
> specific recruitment (rather than at the high level 'we want to be diverse')
>
> I think we could add to that how the WMF does a 'background check' (in the
> broadest sense possible), although I doubt everything we discussed would
> always come up. But in two or three occasions over the past years we have
> had appointments result in some controversy, and it would be interesting to
> better understand whether WMF was aware but didn't consider it important
> enough, whether WMF feels that these issues are not relevant enough to
> begin with or whether WMF would have expected to have been aware, but
> wasn't.
>
> I realize that board appointments like this are rare events, and it's hard
> to really analyze them for that reason. Each appointment has its own
> quirks, and I'm pretty sure nothing you'll say or do will truly satisfy the
> entire community. I personally don't think it's realistic to pre-announce
> any appointment to the community before formalizing, but it would also be
> interesting to think about how we can leverage the community better. I'm
> thinking about identifying specific experts, committees or focus groups
> (but I'm confident there's more ways available). And maybe the WMF is
> already doing all this and we're just under-appreciating it!
>
> All in all, these questions don't necessarily have to reflect on Luis'
> appointment - they are interesting in their own right.
>
> Lodewijk
>
> On Mon, Dec 12, 2022 at 3:02 PM  wrote:
>
>> To add to the conversation, I'm wondering several things.
>>
>> 1. Was there actually an outreach strategy to recruit for this type of
>> technologist profile? Was it communicated to the movement? We could have
>> helped.
>>
>> 2. Why the decision on someone whose only relevant background as
>> technologist is on US corporate technology companies? As several people
>> have pointed out, Luis doesn't seem to have any relevant experience in
>> enterprises that contribute to the larger social good; some of them are
>> significantly controversial (Rappi, Loft); and all of them seem to be very
>> much US-based.
>>
>> 3. Why a guy? It would have been significantly better to bring a woman
>> into this position. If the problem is retention, I actually think that a
>> woman would have been a way better fit to understand what's failing in
>> terms of business culture that's creating challenges to make people stay.
>>
>> There are several other things that could be said about this decision but
>> I think others have already said them -- like the whole NFT & blockchain
>> thing and the "fintech for young people", which is already a huge, huge,
>> huge red flag.
>>
>> cheers,
>> scann
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>>
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Opportunities open for the Ombuds commission and the Case Review Committee

[Karen Brown]

Hi folks,

This is just a reminder that we are still accepting applications for
membership on the Ombuds Commission and the Case Review Committee. Both are
important committees with a vital role in community governance.

If you are interested in serving in either capacity listed above, please
write in English to the Trust and Safety team at  ca[image: @]wikimedia[image:
.]org   (to apply to the OC) or to the Legal Team at  legal[image: @]
wikimedia[image: .]org   (to apply to the CRC) with information about:


   - Your primary projects
   - Languages you speak/write
   - Any experience you have serving on committees, whether movement or
   non-movement
   - Your thoughts on what you could bring to the OC or CRC if appointed
   - Any experience you have with the Checkuser or Oversight tools (OC only)
   - Any other information you think is relevant


Please also be sure to include your username in the email!

The deadline for applications is 31 December 2022 in any timezone.

Regards,
Karen

On Mon, Oct 3, 2022 at 8:54 AM Karen Brown  wrote:

>
> You can find this message translated into additional languages on
> Meta-wiki.
> 
>
> More languages
> 
> • Please help translate to your language
> 
>
> Hi everyone! The Ombuds commission (OC) and the Case Review Committee
> (CRC) are looking for members. People are encouraged to nominate themselves
> or encourage others they feel would contribute to these groups to do so.
> There is more information below about the opportunity and the skills that
> are needed.
>
> About the Ombuds commission
>
> The Ombuds commission (OC) works on all Wikimedia projects to investigate
> complaints about violations of the privacy policy, especially in use of
> CheckUser  and Oversight
>  (also known as
> Suppression) tools. The Commission mediates between the parties of the
> investigation and, when violations of the policies are identified, advises
> the Wikimedia Foundation on best handling. They may also assist the General
> Counsel, the Chief Executive Officer, or the Board of Trustees of the
> Foundation in these investigations when legally necessary. For more on the
> OC's duties and roles, see Ombuds commission on Meta-Wiki
> .
>
> Volunteers serving in this role should be experienced Wikimedians, active
> on any project, who have previously used the CheckUser/Oversight tools OR
> who have the technical ability to understand these tools and the
> willingness to learn them. They must be able to communicate in English, the
> common language of the commission. They are expected to be able to engage
> neutrally in investigating these concerns and to know when to recuse when
> other roles and relationships may cause conflict. Commissioners will serve 
> two-year
> terms (note that this is different from past years, when the terms have
> been for one year).
>
> About the Case Review Committee
>
> The Case Review Committee (CRC) reviews appeals of eligible Trust & Safety
> office actions. The CRC is a critical layer of oversight to ensure that
> Wikimedia Foundation office actions are fair and unbiased. They also make
> sure the Wikimedia Foundation doesn’t overstep established practices or
> boundaries. For more about the role, see Case Review Committee on
> Meta-Wiki .
>
> We are looking for current or former functionaries and experienced
> volunteers with an interest in joining this group. Applicants must be
> fluent in English (additional languages are a strong plus) and willing to
> abide by the terms of the Committee charte
> r.
> If the work resonates and you qualify, please apply. Committee members will
> serve two-year terms (note that this is different from past years, when
> the terms have been for one year).
>
> Applying to join either of these groups
>
> Members are required to sign the Confidentiality agreement for nonpublic
> information
> 
> and must be willing to comply with the appropriate Wikimedia Foundation
> board policies (such as the access to non-public information policy
> 
> and the Foundation privacy policy
> ). These 

[Wikimedia-l] December Wikimedia Foundation Board Meeting Outcomes

[Nataliia Tymkiv]

Dear all,

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met for their final meeting of
2022 on December 7. Two members of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee
(MCDC) – Érica Azzellini and Manavpreet Kaur – were invited to join the
meeting as Board Visitors
.

== Board Business ==

Quite a bit of regularly scheduled Board business was covered, including:

   -

   Appointing Mike Peel [1] to the Board and reappointing Shani Evenstein
   Sigalov to her second term [2]. Their terms will run from December 7, 2022
   until December 31, 2025. You can read more about Mike and Shani here on
   Diff [3].
   -

   Most of the work of the Board is done via its committees. Each year each
   Trustee’s committee assignments are approved to serve on individual Board
   committees, either as full members or as alternates. The new membership is
   listed here [4].
   -

   The Board also approved the September 8 Board meeting minutes [5].


== Governance Reforms ==

During the meeting, the Board also approved changes to the Affiliations
Committee Charter [6]. Also, the Community Affairs Committee (CAC) is to
oversee the Affiliations Committee on behalf of the board from now on, and
will be responsible for any future revision of the Affiliations Committee
Charter, and for appointing Board Liaisons. CAC will likewise be providing
oversight to the Language Committee [7]. These changes will help CAC to
work more directly with the advising Board committees, to assess and
provide support, and to make changes quicker if needed.

== 2022 Board Selection Review ==

The Board also received an update from the Governance Committee on their
recent meeting with the Elections Committee in November. The past selection
process was challenging because of the lack of clarity on the roles of all
the bodies involved. The Board acknowledges that the process became
overcomplicated, and changes mid-process added more confusion and
frustration. For the next Board selection process, there would be more
clearly defined roles for the Elections Committee, the Governance Committee
/ Board Selection Task Force, and Foundation staff, to avoid slowdowns and
lack of clarity on process. These updated roles and responsibilities will
be made public to help voters and candidates understand how decisions are
being made. The Board agreed with the recommendation from the Governance
Committee to seat Trustees in 2024 at the December board meeting, so that
there is enough time to plan the next selection process, and make all
necessary changes to the SecurePoll software etc.

== Foundation Updates ==

During the meeting the Board also received a report from staff on the
current financial outlook as well as an update on year-end fundraising
revenue: the first week
of
the revised banner campaign on the English Wikipedia shows a roughly 50%
decline in donations. As this was information for only one week, the Board
needs more data to understand the implications, and will therefore be
meeting again with staff in January to discuss next steps.

After the Board meeting there was an open Q session with Foundation
staff, to discuss the meeting outcomes, and the fundraising data.

== 2023 Meeting Dates ==

The regular 2023 Board meeting dates have been set and the Board will be
meeting:

   -

   March 9-12, New York, USA
   -

   June 21 (Virtual)
   -

   August (Wikimania, Singapore, the exact date(s) TBD)
   -

   December 6 (Virtual)


== Open Conversation with Trustees on December 15 ==

I hope to see you at the upcoming CAC Open Conversation with Trustees
,
happening December 15, at 12:00 UTC, on Zoom (write to ask@wikimedia.org
if you would like to register). As usual, the call will be recorded, and
there will be a live YouTube stream. This call will have interpretation
into Arabic. As communicated before, the aim is to provide interpretation
for any language where there are five or more interested community members,
but as mentioned on the page, the requests should have been made at least 5
days before the event.

[1]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_Mike_Peel_to_the_Board_of_Trustees

[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Renewing_Shani_Evenstein_Sigalov%E2%80%99s_Appointment_to_the_Board_of_Trustees,_2022

[3]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/12/12/the-wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-two-community-and-affiliate-selected-trustees/


[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Committee_Membership,_2022

[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Review,_Ratification,_and_Approval_of_Consent_Agenda,_December_2022


[6]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Updating_Affiliations_Committee_Charter,_2022

[7]