Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Jan-Bart de Vreede]

Hi All,

Just to react to a few points in this discussion.

1) We did get a lot of community input for connectors and potential candidates 
(thank you all for that). We used this list and approached people where we felt 
this was useful, and this also generated some interesting leads.

2) For all our “potentials” we have a screening process. That means that a 
large part will never be contacted as a potential candidate, simply because 
they are not close to matching the profile. We might still approach them as a 
connector if we feel that this will help us reach other “potentials”. If you 
suggested a name, that person might very well not be contacted at all.

3) The transition team will not be publishing/discussing the merits (or 
identity) of any of the people which we have contacted in any public forum like 
this mailing list. (for all the reasons mentioned in this thread) Our intend is 
that we will involve the community where we feel it is possible and desirable.

4) Even if candidates have publicly announced their interest in the position we 
will respect point 3. I do want to publicly state my gratefulness to those 
candidates that have decided to invest in applying for the position, even if we 
do not end up selecting them.

Jan-Bart de Vreede
Chair
Wikimedia Board of Trustees.

PS: There also seems to be some confusion about the re-appointment process for 
the founders seat on the Board. Just to confirm: the founders seat is also up 
for reappointment every two years. Referring you the minutes of our last 
meeting (https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-11-24) you will see 
that a vote took place on this.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Oliver Keyes]

On 31 January 2014 14:01, James Salsman  wrote:

> > the community can help with identifying candidates by
> > suggesting people who should be invited to apply (we did that)
>
> Thank you, Oliver! How many people suggested by the community
> were invited, and what were their responses? Did Ward Cunningham
> get an invite?


No idea - as long as my hair is getting I'm still not Gayle or Kat. But I'd
hope they'd have it written down somewhere.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Michael Peel]

On 31 Jan 2014, at 21:14, James Alexander  wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 12:55 PM, James Salsman  wrote:
> 
>> We should be discussing the merits of individual candidates in the open.
>> 
> 
> 
> No... we should not. That would greatly hamper the board's ability to get
> good candidates. Most people who are already in a current job are not going
> to be willing to have open debates about the job opportunities they are
> seeking. Not only because their 'boss' will know but also because if they
> are in a public company that could cause large issues in the market etc
> (all for naught if they don't get selected).

There are ways of having community input into this sort of thing without outing 
the candidates. When the WMUK Chief Exec was hired, the penultimate step of the 
recruitment process was having the three shortlisted candidates attend a London 
wikimeet to talk with some of the community, who could then share their 
thoughts with the WMUK board so that they could be taken into account in the 
hiring process. It’s much more difficult to do that on a global scale, of 
course, but some sort of anonymous on-wiki or on-IRC Q&A session could be 
organised that might enable the community to gain insight into the candidates 
and provide their thoughts without naming or outing the candidates.

(I’m not saying that *should* be done here, just that it *could* be done, of 
course.)

Thanks,
Mike


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Salsman]

> the community can help with identifying candidates by
> suggesting people who should be invited to apply (we did that)

Thank you, Oliver! How many people suggested by the community
were invited, and what were their responses? Did Ward Cunningham
get an invite?

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Oliver Keyes]

On 31 January 2014 12:55, James Salsman  wrote:

> Craig Franklin wrote:
> >...
> > it would be grossly unprofessional for Erik, Jan-Bart, or anyone else
> > to publicly discuss the relative merits of people who may or may not
> > be involved in a confidential hiring process
>
> No, the Board resolved to "consult the community as necessary to
> assist with identifying, evaluating, and selecting candidates" as per
>
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_and_authorizing_a_transition_committee_in_the_search_of_a_new_Executive_Director
>
> How is it possible for the community to evaluate and select candidates
> without a transparent discussion of their individual merits?
>
> Easily; I think you're simply reading the resolution incorrectly. It can
be interpreted as "each individual candidate should be publicly outed and
discussed", sure, but I don't think that's what it means.

I interpret the resolution to mean candidates, plural, as a group, not
candidates as a collection of singular subjects. Or to put it another way:
the community can help with identifying candidates by suggesting people who
should be invited to apply (we did that) The community can help with
evaluating and selecting candidates by explaining what they'd like to see
in the new ED (we did that too). This doesn't extend to "the community
should be involved with every candidate as part of their individual
interview-and-hiring processes"; for all the reasons James gives below,
that would be a startling thing to see from the board, and something they'd
say explicitly if they actually intended to say it. I think the error may
be on the part of the reader and not the writer.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Alexander]

On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 12:55 PM, James Salsman  wrote:

> We should be discussing the merits of individual candidates in the open.
>


No... we should not. That would greatly hamper the board's ability to get
good candidates. Most people who are already in a current job are not going
to be willing to have open debates about the job opportunities they are
seeking. Not only because their 'boss' will know but also because if they
are in a public company that could cause large issues in the market etc
(all for naught if they don't get selected).
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Salsman]

Craig Franklin wrote:
>...
> it would be grossly unprofessional for Erik, Jan-Bart, or anyone else
> to publicly discuss the relative merits of people who may or may not
> be involved in a confidential hiring process

No, the Board resolved to "consult the community as necessary to
assist with identifying, evaluating, and selecting candidates" as per
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Appointing_and_authorizing_a_transition_committee_in_the_search_of_a_new_Executive_Director

How is it possible for the community to evaluate and select candidates
without a transparent discussion of their individual merits? There is
nothing which requires confidentiality in the hiring process. What
would be unprofessional would be if the Board doesn't follow through
with their own resolution, but we all know how well the resolution to
maximize financial support of the projects fares as soon as the
budgeted fundraising goal is reached since a couple years ago.

We should be discussing the merits of individual candidates in the open.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[rupert THURNER]

Me too. Wikipedia is what it is through the community, and a CEO well
respected in the community who, over the years proved to have handled many
situations with care, and involving the relevant stakeholders is, at least
imo, the best what can happen to the wmf.

Rupert.
 Am 30.01.2014 16:56 schrieb "Steffen Prößdorf" <
steffen.proessd...@wikimedia.de>:

> I absolut agree with all Erik said.
>
> Steffen
>
>
> 2014-01-30 Erik Zachte :
>
> > I find it kind of sad to see how this thread after Ting reopened it
> > (surely after careful consideration) morphed into frivolity. So let me
> say
> > I deeply respect Ting's choice to reapply, and to do so, very on-topic,
> in
> > the open. That takes courage. I personally think Ting would be a great
> CEO.
> > It is not our call but I wish the committee all wisdom.
> >
> > Erik Zachte
> >
> > [..]
> > > Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death Star to preserve all
> > > of human knowledge?
> >
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Ziko van Dijk]

Actually, as Erik Zachte, I am unhappy when someone like Ting makes a
serious proposal on this list and then the thread is used for mockery
on the subject. For mockery, strange comparisons etc., one is welcome
to open an new thread...
Kind regards
Ziko


Dr. Ziko van Dijk
voorzitter / president Wikimedia Nederland

Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland
Postbus 167
3500 AD Utrecht
http://wikimedia.nl



2014-01-31 Craig Franklin :
> James,
>
> I believe they were talking about the cloning/death star discussion.  Not
> everything is about you, mate.
>
> In regards to the relative merits of the candidates, it would be grossly
> unprofessional for Erik, Jan-Bart, or anyone else to publicly discuss the
> relative merits of people who may or may not be involved in a confidential
> hiring process in a public forum such as this.  I suspect you're wasting
> your metaphorical breath in continually asking for these sorts of details.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig Franklin
>
>
> On 31 January 2014 16:08, James Salsman  wrote:
>
>> My suggestion of Leonie Haimson as co-director was most certainly not
>> frivolous, and concern trolling on comments made in the spirit of fun
>> to try to sideline consideration of her is offensive.
>>
>> Erik and others, what has Ting accomplished that would make him a
>> better Director or Co-director than a parent advocate in the education
>> field whose Foundation and goals have been seriously impacted by paid
>> advocacy editing abuses on Wikipedia?
>>
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>>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Craig Franklin]

James,

I believe they were talking about the cloning/death star discussion.  Not
everything is about you, mate.

In regards to the relative merits of the candidates, it would be grossly
unprofessional for Erik, Jan-Bart, or anyone else to publicly discuss the
relative merits of people who may or may not be involved in a confidential
hiring process in a public forum such as this.  I suspect you're wasting
your metaphorical breath in continually asking for these sorts of details.

Cheers,
Craig Franklin


On 31 January 2014 16:08, James Salsman  wrote:

> My suggestion of Leonie Haimson as co-director was most certainly not
> frivolous, and concern trolling on comments made in the spirit of fun
> to try to sideline consideration of her is offensive.
>
> Erik and others, what has Ting accomplished that would make him a
> better Director or Co-director than a parent advocate in the education
> field whose Foundation and goals have been seriously impacted by paid
> advocacy editing abuses on Wikipedia?
>
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>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Salsman]

My suggestion of Leonie Haimson as co-director was most certainly not
frivolous, and concern trolling on comments made in the spirit of fun
to try to sideline consideration of her is offensive.

Erik and others, what has Ting accomplished that would make him a
better Director or Co-director than a parent advocate in the education
field whose Foundation and goals have been seriously impacted by paid
advocacy editing abuses on Wikipedia?

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Claudia Garád]

+1

Thank you Erik.

A serious remark on the clone discussion: Instead of trying to copy a 
status quo I strongly suggest to move on and embrace the idea of 
something or someone new: change is not always easy - sometimes even 
scary - but change is inevtiable, necessary and good.




Am 30.01.2014 16:55, schrieb Steffen Prößdorf:

I absolut agree with all Erik said.

Steffen


2014-01-30 Erik Zachte :


I find it kind of sad to see how this thread after Ting reopened it
(surely after careful consideration) morphed into frivolity. So let me say
I deeply respect Ting's choice to reapply, and to do so, very on-topic, in
the open. That takes courage. I personally think Ting would be a great CEO.
It is not our call but I wish the committee all wisdom.

Erik Zachte

[..]

Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death Star to preserve all
of human knowledge?



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Steffen Prößdorf]

I absolut agree with all Erik said.

Steffen


2014-01-30 Erik Zachte :

> I find it kind of sad to see how this thread after Ting reopened it
> (surely after careful consideration) morphed into frivolity. So let me say
> I deeply respect Ting's choice to reapply, and to do so, very on-topic, in
> the open. That takes courage. I personally think Ting would be a great CEO.
> It is not our call but I wish the committee all wisdom.
>
> Erik Zachte
>
> [..]
> > Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death Star to preserve all
> > of human knowledge?
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Erik Zachte]

I find it kind of sad to see how this thread after Ting reopened it (surely 
after careful consideration) morphed into frivolity. So let me say I deeply 
respect Ting's choice to reapply, and to do so, very on-topic, in the open. 
That takes courage. I personally think Ting would be a great CEO. It is not our 
call but I wish the committee all wisdom.

Erik Zachte

[..]
> Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death Star to preserve all 
> of human knowledge?




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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Salsman]

>... try to clone Sue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recurring_Futurama_characters#Cubert_Farnsworth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_(2009_film)

> Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death Star
> to preserve all of human knowledge?

If Sue and Leonie Haimson were mutual co-directors of each other's
organization, that would be better than building a Death Star or
cloning either individually at this point.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Tobias]

On 01/30/2014 02:22 AM, Steve Zhang wrote:
> Funnily enough the cost of doing so has been looked into:
> http://news.com.au/technology/lehigh-university-figure-out-how-much-it-costs-to-build-death-star/story-e6frfro0-1226275852491
> 
> In short, $8,100,000,000,000,000 and would take about 800,000 years.
> Probably not a viable solution :)

Also, I don't think that our community could agree on building a Death
Star, seeing that it's diameter is subject of a fierce dispute and edit
war on Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Lamest_edit_wars#Death_Star

I believe building the Infosphere is much more suitable given our
movement's mission:
  "The Infosphere is a massive […] memory bank created […] to catalogue
all the information in the Universe"
http://theinfosphere.org/Infosphere



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[K. Peachey]

On 30 January 2014 11:22, Steve Zhang  wrote:

> Funnily enough the cost of doing so has been looked into:
>
> http://news.com.au/technology/lehigh-university-figure-out-how-much-it-costs-to-build-death-star/story-e6frfro0-1226275852491
>
> In short, $8,100,000,000,000,000 and would take about 800,000 years.
> Probably not a viable solution :)


Due to our focus on knowledge, The Library[1][2] might be a more preferable
option.

[1]. Silence in the Library <
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence_in_the_Library>
[2]. Forest of the Dead 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Steve Zhang]

Funnily enough the cost of doing so has been looked into:
http://news.com.au/technology/lehigh-university-figure-out-how-much-it-costs-to-build-death-star/story-e6frfro0-1226275852491

In short, $8,100,000,000,000,000 and would take about 800,000 years.
Probably not a viable solution :)
 On 30/01/2014 12:08 AM, "Fæ"  wrote:

> On 29 January 2014 12:21, Steve Zhang  wrote:
> > Part of me still thinks we'd be better off and it would be easier to try
> > clone Sue rather than trying to find a suitable replacement for her...
>
> Hm, clone armies. Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death
> Star to preserve all of human knowledge?
>
> (As a certain CEO said once; blah, blah, blah, dark side.)
>
> Fae
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Fæ]

On 29 January 2014 12:21, Steve Zhang  wrote:
> Part of me still thinks we'd be better off and it would be easier to try
> clone Sue rather than trying to find a suitable replacement for her...

Hm, clone armies. Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death
Star to preserve all of human knowledge?

(As a certain CEO said once; blah, blah, blah, dark side.)

Fae

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Steve Zhang]

Part of me still thinks we'd be better off and it would be easier to try
clone Sue rather than trying to find a suitable replacement for her...
On 29/01/2014 7:03 PM, "Ting Chen"  wrote:

> Hello dear all, hello Transition Team, hello dear board,
>
> I am still willing to take the challenge.
>
> Looking into the description of the search criteria:
>
> Key to the success of the Executive Director will be a commitment to
> understand and advance Wikimedia's core values.
> - In many occasions in the past years I have demonstrated that the core
> values of our movement are part of my life. They are the values that I use
> to guide my behavior and my decisions, not only inside of the movement, but
> also in my professional work and in my personal life.
>
> The Executive Director will need to have the technology management
> and product development skills to effectively lead a high traffic website,
> and experience designing and implementing planning processes with a high
> built-in assumption of fast and iterative change.
> - In the past 16 years I worked in a company which like no other IT
> companies had decisively contributed into the establishment of standards
> and processes of the industry. I started in that company as a programmer on
> the OS (Assembler and C++) level and moved with the time into the position
> of technical lead of projects that are set into highly complicated
> political contexts. Being a subject matter expert, I am the anchor with
> facts and expertise between the different political interests and streams,
> build trust with my open and direct communication style to all groups and
> parties and move things forward by understand the background of the
> different interests and so build bridges and provide solutions that address
> those backgrounds directly. These are the skills and personal marks that
> brought me there where I am now: Into the core of those troubled projects.
>
> He or she will need to have exceptional communication skills, and to
> possess both a drive to achieve transformative results and a deep respect
> for collaborative processes. The ED's ability to effect change in
> partnership with Wikimedia's community will be decisive not just to their
> success, but to Wikimedia's lasting impact in the 21st century.
> - As I have stated in my resign letter from the board, I believe this is
> indeed the most intriguing, most urgent and most difficult part of the work
> that lay directly before us in the next decade. And for this we need, more
> than anyone else inside of the movement, an ED who is really trusted by the
> community (to which I count the readers, the editors, the affiliated
> organizations, their board and staff, the staff of the Foundation, and the
> board). Gain trust is hard work, build trust needs time. It took me long
> time, two or three years, to build that mutual trust with many of the
> people within our movement. And trust is the thing that thwart the belief
> that the process has the luxury of time. Because with the lasting of
> indecisive time the trust sinks and the anxiouty raises.
>
> As it is remarked at one point, there is no obvious career path that leads
> to this position. After seeing the result of last year's search I am
> strengthend in my belief, that I am the best fit for this position.
>
> Greetings
> Ting
>
>
>
>
>
> Am 1/21/2014 12:09 PM, schrieb Jan-Bart de Vreede:
>
>> Hey Frederico
>>
>> I will write an update for the meta page in the coming week or so but
>> just to give you a general sense of where we are at: we are trying to reach
>> potential candidates in a different way, and so far that looks like a good
>> strategy. This means more direct contact between the Foundation and
>> candidates and more pro-actively reaching out to people who initially
>> showed no interest.
>>
>> There is no scientific way to make the trade-off between
>> characteristics/skills of candidates. We might very well choose to ignore
>> an important characteristic if all the others fall into place. And it is of
>> course easier to make a trade-off on less significant characteristics and
>> skills. The decision to look for more candidates rather than make a choice
>> in December was not an easy one, but we were not willing to go for a
>> candidate who was missing too many of our desired characteristics/skills.
>> This is something that the transition team does, and its not something that
>> translates well to a table on meta.
>>
>> I am not sure what you are referring to as "avoid another fiasco", but as
>> far as I am concerned we are simply in a stage of finding new candidates
>> and trying to surface the candidate that is up to the challenge and
>> opportunity that we as a unique movement have to offer. This was always an
>> option, and we would have liked to have found someone in the first round,
>> but it wasn't to be.
>>
>> Jan-Bart de Vreede
>>
>>
>>
>> On 18 Jan 2014, at 11:08, Federico Leva (Nemo) 
>> wrote:
>>
>>  I don't know what to think abo

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Ting Chen]

Hello dear all, hello Transition Team, hello dear board,

I am still willing to take the challenge.

Looking into the description of the search criteria:

Key to the success of the Executive Director will be a commitment 
to understand and advance Wikimedia's core values.
- In many occasions in the past years I have demonstrated that the core 
values of our movement are part of my life. They are the values that I 
use to guide my behavior and my decisions, not only inside of the 
movement, but also in my professional work and in my personal life.


The Executive Director will need to have the technology management 
and product development skills to effectively lead a high traffic 
website, and experience designing and implementing planning processes 
with a high built-in assumption of fast and iterative change.
- In the past 16 years I worked in a company which like no other IT 
companies had decisively contributed into the establishment of standards 
and processes of the industry. I started in that company as a programmer 
on the OS (Assembler and C++) level and moved with the time into the 
position of technical lead of projects that are set into highly 
complicated political contexts. Being a subject matter expert, I am the 
anchor with facts and expertise between the different political 
interests and streams, build trust with my open and direct communication 
style to all groups and parties and move things forward by understand 
the background of the different interests and so build bridges and 
provide solutions that address those backgrounds directly. These are the 
skills and personal marks that brought me there where I am now: Into the 
core of those troubled projects.


He or she will need to have exceptional communication skills, and 
to possess both a drive to achieve transformative results and a deep 
respect for collaborative processes. The ED's ability to effect change 
in partnership with Wikimedia's community will be decisive not just to 
their success, but to Wikimedia's lasting impact in the 21st century.
- As I have stated in my resign letter from the board, I believe this is 
indeed the most intriguing, most urgent and most difficult part of the 
work that lay directly before us in the next decade. And for this we 
need, more than anyone else inside of the movement, an ED who is really 
trusted by the community (to which I count the readers, the editors, the 
affiliated organizations, their board and staff, the staff of the 
Foundation, and the board). Gain trust is hard work, build trust needs 
time. It took me long time, two or three years, to build that mutual 
trust with many of the people within our movement. And trust is the 
thing that thwart the belief that the process has the luxury of time. 
Because with the lasting of indecisive time the trust sinks and the 
anxiouty raises.


As it is remarked at one point, there is no obvious career path that 
leads to this position. After seeing the result of last year's search I 
am strengthend in my belief, that I am the best fit for this position.


Greetings
Ting





Am 1/21/2014 12:09 PM, schrieb Jan-Bart de Vreede:

Hey Frederico

I will write an update for the meta page in the coming week or so but just to 
give you a general sense of where we are at: we are trying to reach potential 
candidates in a different way, and so far that looks like a good strategy. This 
means more direct contact between the Foundation and candidates and more 
pro-actively reaching out to people who initially showed no interest.

There is no scientific way to make the trade-off between characteristics/skills 
of candidates. We might very well choose to ignore an important characteristic 
if all the others fall into place. And it is of course easier to make a 
trade-off on less significant characteristics and skills. The decision to look 
for more candidates rather than make a choice in December was not an easy one, 
but we were not willing to go for a candidate who was missing too many of our 
desired characteristics/skills. This is something that the transition team 
does, and its not something that translates well to a table on meta.

I am not sure what you are referring to as “avoid another fiasco”, but as far 
as I am concerned we are simply in a stage of finding new candidates and trying 
to surface the candidate that is up to the challenge and opportunity that we as 
a unique movement have to offer. This was always an option, and we would have 
liked to have found someone in the first round, but it wasn’t to be.

Jan-Bart de Vreede



On 18 Jan 2014, at 11:08, Federico Leva (Nemo)  wrote:


I don't know what to think about a final community consultation on a specific name. 
Personally I suspect that I wouldn't be able to say anything about it, as with 
.
Speaking of which, I wonder how the problems there were addressed: 
apparently they just expanded the 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Luiz Augusto]

The 100% being reduced to at least 90% but, in fact, my wording was
friendly to start a flame war. Sorry for that.
Em 22/01/2014 11:27, "Katie Chan"  escreveu:

> Oh for heavens sake, what does that have anything to do with this thread?
>
> --
> Katie Chan
> Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the
> author and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the
> author is associated with or employed by.
>
>
> Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
>  - Heinrich Heine
>
>
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Katie Chan]

Oh for heavens sake, what does that have anything to do with this thread?

--
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Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author 
and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the author is 
associated with or employed by.


Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
 - Heinrich Heine


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Luiz Augusto]

Founder of a company that hosted the first wiki setup named as Wikipedia
after someone else suggested it due to the failure of Nupedia.

There is currently a Foundation where he is limited to the boy who
sometimes talks to the press only after YEARS of internal wars, including
press coverage of he misusing the Foundation credit card.

You should learn more about the Wikimedia history...
Em 22/01/2014 09:43, "Jeevan Jose"  escreveu:

> Founder of the Wikimedia Foundation = One who founded/established the
> foundation? Sorry; I didn't get your question.
>
> Regards,
> Jee
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Fæ  wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the assurance that the community "directly and indirectly
> > influences 100% of the board".
> >
> > Could someone point me to where this happened for the founder of the
> > Wikimedia Foundation?
> >
> > Thanks again,
> > Fae
> >
> > On 21 January 2014 17:28, Jan-Bart de Vreede 
> > wrote:
> > > Hey
> > >
> > > I am sure it is technically feasible, its just not realistic from a
> > hiring perspective. I cannot tell a potential candidate that process
> > includes a public vetting process, this is something that is just not
> going
> > to happen. We are hiring an ED for the Wikimedia Foundation, and the
> Board
> > of Trustees of that Foundation is simply the body that is responsible for
> > the final decision on this.
> > >
> > > I am not going to debate the different kinds of movement representation
> > in the board, but I would argue that the community directly and
> indirectly
> > influences 100% of the board, as appointed members are appointed by
> > (s)elected members and the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.
> > >
> > > Jan-Bart
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:57, MZMcBride  wrote:
> > >
> > >> Thanks for getting back to me.
> > >>
> > >> Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
> > >>> There is no "community consultation" period in the selection proces.
> > It's
> > >>> simply not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public
> > "vetting"
> > >>> phase.
> > >>
> > >> I'm not sure I understand how it would be infeasible. It's 2014, not
> > 1814.
> > >> I think we've figured out how to solicit feedback in a timely manner.
> > >>
> > >> It seems less desirable to me to reduce the Wikimedia community to
> > waiting
> > >> for the white smoke.
> > >>
> > >> The new Executive Director will be publicly vetted, to be sure, it
> just
> > >> sounds as though it'll happen after or he or she has been firmly
> > appointed
> > >> by the Board. It would be dishonest to suggest that there's no merit
> to
> > >> this approach, but I do wonder if it's in line with Wikimedia's
> values.
> > >>
> > >>> The good news is that you elected representatives on the board who
> > >>> have a strong voice in the selection process and final approval.
> > >>
> > >> I'm not quite sure who "you" is, but only three of ten Board seats are
> > >> directly elected. I suppose that's a strong voice?
> > >>
> > >> MZMcBride
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> ___
> > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > >> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> ,
> > 
> > >
> > >
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > fae...@gmail.com http://j.mp/faewm
> > Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.
> >
> > ___
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> > 
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Salsman]

GerardM, please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Class-size_reduction&diff=563977349&oldid=405118703

...for starters. The editor from 2010 is a strident charter schools
movement proponent who strongly prefers parochial education to public
education in the U.S., which is a surprisingly common view among Stanford's
Hoover Institution-sponsored staff, their relatives, and alumni. See also
the proportion of Americans who disbelieve evolution, vaccines, and
radioisotope dating.

Best regards,
James Salsman


On Wednesday, January 22, 2014, James Salsman  wrote:

> Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
> >...
> > we are trying to reach potential candidates in a different way
>
> Does Leonie Haimson want to interview to be co-director?
> http://www.classsizematters.org/about-us/
>
> She started editing in the past year, after suffering from a paid
> advocacy-introduced inaccuracy contrary to the peer reviewed secondary
> literature, many examples of which still exist in the English
> Wikipedia.
>
> Best regards,
> James Salsman
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Jeevan Jose]

Founder of the Wikimedia Foundation = One who founded/established the
foundation? Sorry; I didn't get your question.

Regards,
Jee


On Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Fæ  wrote:

> Thanks for the assurance that the community "directly and indirectly
> influences 100% of the board".
>
> Could someone point me to where this happened for the founder of the
> Wikimedia Foundation?
>
> Thanks again,
> Fae
>
> On 21 January 2014 17:28, Jan-Bart de Vreede 
> wrote:
> > Hey
> >
> > I am sure it is technically feasible, its just not realistic from a
> hiring perspective. I cannot tell a potential candidate that process
> includes a public vetting process, this is something that is just not going
> to happen. We are hiring an ED for the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Board
> of Trustees of that Foundation is simply the body that is responsible for
> the final decision on this.
> >
> > I am not going to debate the different kinds of movement representation
> in the board, but I would argue that the community directly and indirectly
> influences 100% of the board, as appointed members are appointed by
> (s)elected members and the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.
> >
> > Jan-Bart
> >
> >
> >
> > On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:57, MZMcBride  wrote:
> >
> >> Thanks for getting back to me.
> >>
> >> Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
> >>> There is no "community consultation" period in the selection proces.
> It's
> >>> simply not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public
> "vetting"
> >>> phase.
> >>
> >> I'm not sure I understand how it would be infeasible. It's 2014, not
> 1814.
> >> I think we've figured out how to solicit feedback in a timely manner.
> >>
> >> It seems less desirable to me to reduce the Wikimedia community to
> waiting
> >> for the white smoke.
> >>
> >> The new Executive Director will be publicly vetted, to be sure, it just
> >> sounds as though it'll happen after or he or she has been firmly
> appointed
> >> by the Board. It would be dishonest to suggest that there's no merit to
> >> this approach, but I do wonder if it's in line with Wikimedia's values.
> >>
> >>> The good news is that you elected representatives on the board who
> >>> have a strong voice in the selection process and final approval.
> >>
> >> I'm not quite sure who "you" is, but only three of ten Board seats are
> >> directly elected. I suppose that's a strong voice?
> >>
> >> MZMcBride
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ___
> >> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> >> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
> >
> >
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
>
>
>
> --
> fae...@gmail.com http://j.mp/faewm
> Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.
>
> ___
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> 
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Fæ]

Thanks for the assurance that the community "directly and indirectly
influences 100% of the board".

Could someone point me to where this happened for the founder of the
Wikimedia Foundation?

Thanks again,
Fae

On 21 January 2014 17:28, Jan-Bart de Vreede  wrote:
> Hey
>
> I am sure it is technically feasible, its just not realistic from a hiring 
> perspective. I cannot tell a potential candidate that process includes a 
> public vetting process, this is something that is just not going to happen. 
> We are hiring an ED for the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Board of Trustees 
> of that Foundation is simply the body that is responsible for the final 
> decision on this.
>
> I am not going to debate the different kinds of movement representation in 
> the board, but I would argue that the community directly and indirectly 
> influences 100% of the board, as appointed members are appointed by 
> (s)elected members and the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> Jan-Bart
>
>
>
> On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:57, MZMcBride  wrote:
>
>> Thanks for getting back to me.
>>
>> Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
>>> There is no "community consultation" period in the selection proces. It's
>>> simply not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public "vetting"
>>> phase.
>>
>> I'm not sure I understand how it would be infeasible. It's 2014, not 1814.
>> I think we've figured out how to solicit feedback in a timely manner.
>>
>> It seems less desirable to me to reduce the Wikimedia community to waiting
>> for the white smoke.
>>
>> The new Executive Director will be publicly vetted, to be sure, it just
>> sounds as though it'll happen after or he or she has been firmly appointed
>> by the Board. It would be dishonest to suggest that there's no merit to
>> this approach, but I do wonder if it's in line with Wikimedia's values.
>>
>>> The good news is that you elected representatives on the board who
>>> have a strong voice in the selection process and final approval.
>>
>> I'm not quite sure who "you" is, but only three of ten Board seats are
>> directly elected. I suppose that's a strong voice?
>>
>> MZMcBride
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> Wikimedia-l mailing list
>> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 
>> 
>
>
> ___
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> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 
> 



-- 
fae...@gmail.com http://j.mp/faewm
Personal and confidential, please do not circulate or re-quote.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
Sorry I cannot parse this " suffering from a paid advocacy-introduced
inaccuracy contrary to the peer reviewed secondary literature"
Thanks,
 GerardM


On 22 January 2014 11:29, James Salsman  wrote:

> Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
> >...
> > we are trying to reach potential candidates in a different way
>
> Does Leonie Haimson want to interview to be co-director?
> http://www.classsizematters.org/about-us/
>
> She started editing in the past year, after suffering from a paid
> advocacy-introduced inaccuracy contrary to the peer reviewed secondary
> literature, many examples of which still exist in the English
> Wikipedia.
>
> Best regards,
> James Salsman
>
> ___
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> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Strainu]

2014/1/21 Jan-Bart de Vreede :
> I am not going to debate the different kinds of movement representation in 
> the board, but I would argue that the community directly and indirectly 
> influences 100% of the board, as appointed members are appointed by 
> (s)elected members and the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.

What a bad joke... What does the community have to do with the
founder's seat (10% of the board)? And the members chosen by the board
itself (40%) have time and again shown that, despite their good faith
and best efforts, their understanding of the inner workings of the
community is scarce at best. I reckon (without any proof though) that
this distribution of seats is at least in part responsible for the
alienation between the Foundation and the community in 2009-2012.

Strainu

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[James Salsman]

Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
>...
> we are trying to reach potential candidates in a different way

Does Leonie Haimson want to interview to be co-director?
http://www.classsizematters.org/about-us/

She started editing in the past year, after suffering from a paid
advocacy-introduced inaccuracy contrary to the peer reviewed secondary
literature, many examples of which still exist in the English
Wikipedia.

Best regards,
James Salsman

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Dariusz Jemielniak]

I have to say that much as I would like to have the opportunity for us, as
the community, to participate in the process, I understand that this could
likely deter many quality people from applying (and we don't want only
those who are currently between jobs, right?).

best,

dariusz "pundit"


On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 6:28 PM, Jan-Bart de Vreede  wrote:

> Hey
>
> I am sure it is technically feasible, its just not realistic from a hiring
> perspective. I cannot tell a potential candidate that process includes a
> public vetting process, this is something that is just not going to happen.
> We are hiring an ED for the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Board of Trustees
> of that Foundation is simply the body that is responsible for the final
> decision on this.
>
> I am not going to debate the different kinds of movement representation in
> the board, but I would argue that the community directly and indirectly
> influences 100% of the board, as appointed members are appointed by
> (s)elected members and the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.
>
> Jan-Bart
>
>
>
> On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:57, MZMcBride  wrote:
>
> > Thanks for getting back to me.
> >
> > Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
> >> There is no "community consultation" period in the selection proces.
> It's
> >> simply not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public "vetting"
> >> phase.
> >
> > I'm not sure I understand how it would be infeasible. It's 2014, not
> 1814.
> > I think we've figured out how to solicit feedback in a timely manner.
> >
> > It seems less desirable to me to reduce the Wikimedia community to
> waiting
> > for the white smoke.
> >
> > The new Executive Director will be publicly vetted, to be sure, it just
> > sounds as though it'll happen after or he or she has been firmly
> appointed
> > by the Board. It would be dishonest to suggest that there's no merit to
> > this approach, but I do wonder if it's in line with Wikimedia's values.
> >
> >> The good news is that you elected representatives on the board who
> >> have a strong voice in the selection process and final approval.
> >
> > I'm not quite sure who "you" is, but only three of ten Board seats are
> > directly elected. I suppose that's a strong voice?
> >
> > MZMcBride
> >
> >
> >
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
>
>
> ___
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>



-- 

__
dr hab. Dariusz Jemielniak
profesor zarządzania
kierownik katedry Zarządzania Międzynarodowego
i centrum badawczego CROW
Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego
http://www.crow.alk.edu.pl
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Jan-Bart de Vreede]

Hey

I am sure it is technically feasible, its just not realistic from a hiring 
perspective. I cannot tell a potential candidate that process includes a public 
vetting process, this is something that is just not going to happen. We are 
hiring an ED for the Wikimedia Foundation, and the Board of Trustees of that 
Foundation is simply the body that is responsible for the final decision on 
this.  

I am not going to debate the different kinds of movement representation in the 
board, but I would argue that the community directly and indirectly influences 
100% of the board, as appointed members are appointed by (s)elected members and 
the founder of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Jan-Bart



On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:57, MZMcBride  wrote:

> Thanks for getting back to me.
> 
> Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
>> There is no "community consultation" period in the selection proces. It's
>> simply not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public "vetting"
>> phase.
> 
> I'm not sure I understand how it would be infeasible. It's 2014, not 1814.
> I think we've figured out how to solicit feedback in a timely manner.
> 
> It seems less desirable to me to reduce the Wikimedia community to waiting
> for the white smoke.
> 
> The new Executive Director will be publicly vetted, to be sure, it just
> sounds as though it'll happen after or he or she has been firmly appointed
> by the Board. It would be dishonest to suggest that there's no merit to
> this approach, but I do wonder if it's in line with Wikimedia's values.
> 
>> The good news is that you elected representatives on the board who
>> have a strong voice in the selection process and final approval.
> 
> I'm not quite sure who "you" is, but only three of ten Board seats are
> directly elected. I suppose that's a strong voice?
> 
> MZMcBride
> 
> 
> 
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 
> 


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

Thanks Jan-Bart for the answer.

Jan-Bart de Vreede, 21/01/2014 12:09:

[...] I am not sure what you are referring to as “avoid another fiasco”, [...]


Sorry, I'll clarify: it would be a "fiasco" (only) if you had the same 
result again. I was just aiming for a summary of the previous and 
current situation in your own view.
	So if I summarise correctly: the answer to "Have we been looking for a 
unicorn -- somebody who doesn't exist in the real world?" is no, "too 
insular?" maybe, "unfairly comparing" no idea. Or, in other words, you 
keep looking for the same thing but in a different way, which seems to 
work better. Correct? You can answer in that update next week, no hurry.


Nemo

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[MZMcBride]

Thanks for getting back to me.

Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:
>There is no "community consultation" period in the selection proces. It's
>simply not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public "vetting"
>phase.

I'm not sure I understand how it would be infeasible. It's 2014, not 1814.
I think we've figured out how to solicit feedback in a timely manner.

It seems less desirable to me to reduce the Wikimedia community to waiting
for the white smoke.

The new Executive Director will be publicly vetted, to be sure, it just
sounds as though it'll happen after or he or she has been firmly appointed
by the Board. It would be dishonest to suggest that there's no merit to
this approach, but I do wonder if it's in line with Wikimedia's values.

>The good news is that you elected representatives on the board who
>have a strong voice in the selection process and final approval.

I'm not quite sure who "you" is, but only three of ten Board seats are
directly elected. I suppose that's a strong voice?

MZMcBride



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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Katie Chan]

On 21/01/2014 12:08, Craig Franklin wrote:

Hi Jan-Bart,

I was unaware that the panel had gone back to the drawing board with
looking at new candidates.  I gather from the tenor of Sue's original
posting that she was planning to have moved on by now, has she committed to
continuing to work on for the forseeable future while you continue to look
for a replacement?  Does the BoT have a contingency plan in case Sue does
decide to leave before a permanent replacement is found?






"Fortunately, Sue's reconfirmed with me that she's willing to stay on 
until the search reaches a successful conclusion, which means we have 
the luxury of time."


--
Katie Chan
Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail are solely those of the author 
and do not necessarily represent the view of any organisation the author is 
associated with or employed by.


Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
 - Heinrich Heine


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Craig Franklin]

Hi Jan-Bart,

I was unaware that the panel had gone back to the drawing board with
looking at new candidates.  I gather from the tenor of Sue's original
posting that she was planning to have moved on by now, has she committed to
continuing to work on for the forseeable future while you continue to look
for a replacement?  Does the BoT have a contingency plan in case Sue does
decide to leave before a permanent replacement is found?

Cheers,
Craig Franklin


On 21 January 2014 21:09, Jan-Bart de Vreede wrote:

> Hey Frederico
>
> I will write an update for the meta page in the coming week or so but just
> to give you a general sense of where we are at: we are trying to reach
> potential candidates in a different way, and so far that looks like a good
> strategy. This means more direct contact between the Foundation and
> candidates and more pro-actively reaching out to people who initially
> showed no interest.
>
> There is no scientific way to make the trade-off between
> characteristics/skills of candidates. We might very well choose to ignore
> an important characteristic if all the others fall into place. And it is of
> course easier to make a trade-off on less significant characteristics and
> skills. The decision to look for more candidates rather than make a choice
> in December was not an easy one, but we were not willing to go for a
> candidate who was missing too many of our desired characteristics/skills.
> This is something that the transition team does, and its not something that
> translates well to a table on meta.
>
> I am not sure what you are referring to as “avoid another fiasco”, but as
> far as I am concerned we are simply in a stage of finding new candidates
> and trying to surface the candidate that is up to the challenge and
> opportunity that we as a unique movement have to offer. This was always an
> option, and we would have liked to have found someone in the first round,
> but it wasn’t to be.
>
> Jan-Bart de Vreede
>
>
>
> On 18 Jan 2014, at 11:08, Federico Leva (Nemo)  wrote:
>
> > I don't know what to think about a final community consultation on a
> specific name. Personally I suspect that I wouldn't be able to say anything
> about it, as with <
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Executive_Director_Transition_Team/Update_9_December
> >.
> >   Speaking of which, I wonder how the problems there were addressed:
> apparently they just expanded the search and reduced the number of people
> participating, but I see no answers to the question: «Have we been looking
> for a unicorn -- somebody who doesn't exist in the real world? [...] too
> insular? [...] unfairly comparing [...]?».
> >   If an answer was found, I'd like to know it. To me that only
> looked like a rhetorical question, because of course I have no idea what
> exact criteria/questions/interview practices are being applied or if unfair
> comparisons were made. To avoid another fiasco, it would probably be useful
> to publish on Meta an anonymised table of candidates, pointing out
> strengths and weaknesses in a single line for each. Then one could say «oh,
> look, "criterion" 175 made 12 otherwise awesome candidates "fail", do we
> really need it?».
> >
> > Nemo
> >
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Ziko van Dijk]

Hello,

I would also prefer to avoid an expression such as "fiasco". Having not
found a candidate in 2013 was unpleasant, unfortunate, undesirable...

Kind regards
Ziko


Am Dienstag, 21. Januar 2014 schrieb Jan-Bart de Vreede :

> Hey Frederico
>
> I will write an update for the meta page in the coming week or so but just
> to give you a general sense of where we are at: we are trying to reach
> potential candidates in a different way, and so far that looks like a good
> strategy. This means more direct contact between the Foundation and
> candidates and more pro-actively reaching out to people who initially
> showed no interest.
>
> There is no scientific way to make the trade-off between
> characteristics/skills of candidates. We might very well choose to ignore
> an important characteristic if all the others fall into place. And it is of
> course easier to make a trade-off on less significant characteristics and
> skills. The decision to look for more candidates rather than make a choice
> in December was not an easy one, but we were not willing to go for a
> candidate who was missing too many of our desired characteristics/skills.
> This is something that the transition team does, and its not something that
> translates well to a table on meta.
>
> I am not sure what you are referring to as “avoid another fiasco”, but as
> far as I am concerned we are simply in a stage of finding new candidates
> and trying to surface the candidate that is up to the challenge and
> opportunity that we as a unique movement have to offer. This was always an
> option, and we would have liked to have found someone in the first round,
> but it wasn’t to be.
>
> Jan-Bart de Vreede
>
>
>
> On 18 Jan 2014, at 11:08, Federico Leva (Nemo) 
> >
> wrote:
>
> > I don't know what to think about a final community consultation on a
> specific name. Personally I suspect that I wouldn't be able to say anything
> about it, as with <
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Executive_Director_Transition_Team/Update_9_December
> >.
> >   Speaking of which, I wonder how the problems there were addressed:
> apparently they just expanded the search and reduced the number of people
> participating, but I see no answers to the question: «Have we been looking
> for a unicorn -- somebody who doesn't exist in the real world? [...] too
> insular? [...] unfairly comparing [...]?».
> >   If an answer was found, I'd like to know it. To me that only
> looked like a rhetorical question, because of course I have no idea what
> exact criteria/questions/interview practices are being applied or if unfair
> comparisons were made. To avoid another fiasco, it would probably be useful
> to publish on Meta an anonymised table of candidates, pointing out
> strengths and weaknesses in a single line for each. Then one could say «oh,
> look, "criterion" 175 made 12 otherwise awesome candidates "fail", do we
> really need it?».
> >
> > Nemo
> >
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list
> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
>  ?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
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>  ?subject=unsubscribe>



-- 


Dr. Ziko van Dijk
voorzitter / president Wikimedia Nederland

Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland
Postbus 167
3500 AD Utrecht
http://wikimedia.nl

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Jan-Bart de Vreede]

Hey Frederico

I will write an update for the meta page in the coming week or so but just to 
give you a general sense of where we are at: we are trying to reach potential 
candidates in a different way, and so far that looks like a good strategy. This 
means more direct contact between the Foundation and candidates and more 
pro-actively reaching out to people who initially showed no interest.

There is no scientific way to make the trade-off between characteristics/skills 
of candidates. We might very well choose to ignore an important characteristic 
if all the others fall into place. And it is of course easier to make a 
trade-off on less significant characteristics and skills. The decision to look 
for more candidates rather than make a choice in December was not an easy one, 
but we were not willing to go for a candidate who was missing too many of our 
desired characteristics/skills. This is something that the transition team 
does, and its not something that translates well to a table on meta.

I am not sure what you are referring to as “avoid another fiasco”, but as far 
as I am concerned we are simply in a stage of finding new candidates and trying 
to surface the candidate that is up to the challenge and opportunity that we as 
a unique movement have to offer. This was always an option, and we would have 
liked to have found someone in the first round, but it wasn’t to be.

Jan-Bart de Vreede



On 18 Jan 2014, at 11:08, Federico Leva (Nemo)  wrote:

> I don't know what to think about a final community consultation on a specific 
> name. Personally I suspect that I wouldn't be able to say anything about it, 
> as with 
> .
>   Speaking of which, I wonder how the problems there were addressed: 
> apparently they just expanded the search and reduced the number of people 
> participating, but I see no answers to the question: «Have we been looking 
> for a unicorn -- somebody who doesn't exist in the real world? [...] too 
> insular? [...] unfairly comparing [...]?».
>   If an answer was found, I'd like to know it. To me that only looked 
> like a rhetorical question, because of course I have no idea what exact 
> criteria/questions/interview practices are being applied or if unfair 
> comparisons were made. To avoid another fiasco, it would probably be useful 
> to publish on Meta an anonymised table of candidates, pointing out strengths 
> and weaknesses in a single line for each. Then one could say «oh, look, 
> "criterion" 175 made 12 otherwise awesome candidates "fail", do we really 
> need it?».
> 
> Nemo
> 
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 
> 


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Jan-Bart de Vreede]

Hey

There is no “community consultation” period in the selection proces. Its simply 
not feasible or desirable to have someone have a public “vetting” phase. The 
good news is that you elected representatives on the board who have a strong 
voice in the selection process and final approval.

Jan-Bart de Vreede
Chair Wikimedia Board of Trustees


On 18 Jan 2014, at 06:58, MZMcBride  wrote:

> Hi.
> 
> Is there a community consultation period built in to the selection process
> for a new Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director? If not, should there be?
> 
> In trying to figure out what the selection process may look like, I
> re-reviewed some of the relevant FAQs and timelines:
> 
> * https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/90968
> * https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/91132
> * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/7127367
> 
> As I understand the basic process, the Transition Team will ultimately
> find a suitable candidate and will make a recommendation to the Wikimedia
> Foundation Board of Trustees. (Please correct me if this description is
> mistaken... this is largely unchartered territory for Wikimedia.)
> 
> When this recommendation is made and prior to the Board voting, should the
> Wikimedia community have the opportunity to weigh in on the candidate
> Selection prior to final approval? If so, in what way?
> 
> These questions are not meant to suggest that the Wikimedia community and
> the Transition Team have not been working together already (e.g., in
> creating a connectors list, drafting interview questions, etc.).
> 
> While nobody would reasonably argue that every Wikimedia Foundation
> employee be vetted by the Wikimedia community, it seems to me that this
> particular position is unique given its enormous influence in shaping
> Wikimedia's course. As I understand it, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
> Trustees is (s)elected to ultimately make the choice of who oversees the
> daily operations of the Wikimedia Foundation as Executive Director.
> However, I believe that ensuring that the community is adequately
> consulted is important.
> 
> Relatedly, I've asked the Executive Director Transition Team on-wiki about
> the possibility of more regular status updates on its progress in some
> form (mailing list posts, wiki page updates, etc.).
> 
> MZMcBride
> 
> 
> 
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> 


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

I don't know what to think about a final community consultation on a 
specific name. Personally I suspect that I wouldn't be able to say 
anything about it, as with 
.
	Speaking of which, I wonder how the problems there were addressed: 
apparently they just expanded the search and reduced the number of 
people participating, but I see no answers to the question: «Have we 
been looking for a unicorn -- somebody who doesn't exist in the real 
world? [...] too insular? [...] unfairly comparing [...]?».
	If an answer was found, I'd like to know it. To me that only looked 
like a rhetorical question, because of course I have no idea what exact 
criteria/questions/interview practices are being applied or if unfair 
comparisons were made. To avoid another fiasco, it would probably be 
useful to publish on Meta an anonymised table of candidates, pointing 
out strengths and weaknesses in a single line for each. Then one could 
say «oh, look, "criterion" 175 made 12 otherwise awesome candidates 
"fail", do we really need it?».


Nemo

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[Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[MZMcBride]

Hi.

Is there a community consultation period built in to the selection process
for a new Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director? If not, should there be?

In trying to figure out what the selection process may look like, I
re-reviewed some of the relevant FAQs and timelines:

* https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/90968
* https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/91132
* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/7127367

As I understand the basic process, the Transition Team will ultimately
find a suitable candidate and will make a recommendation to the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees. (Please correct me if this description is
mistaken... this is largely unchartered territory for Wikimedia.)

When this recommendation is made and prior to the Board voting, should the
Wikimedia community have the opportunity to weigh in on the candidate
Selection prior to final approval? If so, in what way?

These questions are not meant to suggest that the Wikimedia community and
the Transition Team have not been working together already (e.g., in
creating a connectors list, drafting interview questions, etc.).

While nobody would reasonably argue that every Wikimedia Foundation
employee be vetted by the Wikimedia community, it seems to me that this
particular position is unique given its enormous influence in shaping
Wikimedia's course. As I understand it, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees is (s)elected to ultimately make the choice of who oversees the
daily operations of the Wikimedia Foundation as Executive Director.
However, I believe that ensuring that the community is adequately
consulted is important.

Relatedly, I've asked the Executive Director Transition Team on-wiki about
the possibility of more regular status updates on its progress in some
form (mailing list posts, wiki page updates, etc.).

MZMcBride



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