Good job. On Sat, Jul 23, 2011 at 2:41 AM, Barry Newstead <bnewst...@wikimedia.org>wrote:
> Dear all, > > Below is a note I've prepared that takes a look at the year past and > the year ahead for the Wikimedia Foundation's Global Development team. > > An editable and formatted version can be found at > > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Global_Development_year_in_review_and_road_ahead,_2011 > > Barry > > ---- > > Year in review and road ahead > Barry Newstead > > I just passed my first anniversary since I joined the Wikimedia > Foundation and we created the Global Development team. It has been a > year in which we have put the team in place and built our > understanding of the opportunities and challenges we face in achieving > our goals. > > Why we exist > > At the heart, the Global Development team’s role is to help the > community to grow and thrive in places where we have not yet achieved > our movement’s potential. Places where the approach that worked in > the Global North has not yet taken hold in sufficient numbers. At a > time when Wikimedia’s editor community (dominated by Global North > editors) is slowly ebbing and readership on the personal computer is > plateauing, we need to be proactive in working to create strong > communities in the Global South, where more than half of Internet > users live today and an overwhelming share of future Internet users > will come from. It isn’t clear what specific programs will work, but > it is imperative that we work hard everyday alongside the community to > try new things and help scale up efforts that are promising. > > The foundation has set clear goals in our strategic plan to reach 1 > billion readers by 2015 and to increase the number of active editors > to 200,000 with 37% from the Global South. The Global Development > team will play an important role in catalyzing and supporting > communities to reach these goals. > > The Past Year for the Global Development team > > (1) Building a diverse team > > When I started, we were a small team of 4 with Jay, Moka, Kul and > myself. We had very limited capacity and the team had a range of > foundation-wide responsibilities. Over the year, we have built a > diverse (and I’d say very talented) team to fulfill roles that I see > as vital. We have a mix of experienced Wikipedians on the team and > folks who bring valuable new capabilities to tackle the new challenges > we face. I’m particularly happy that we have a team that has a lot of > experience globally and brings diverse perspectives to the table. I’m > also glad that most of the recruiting work for me is finished, as I’m > ready to focus more time on getting results in our priority areas. > Our team will grow a bit in 2011/12, but it will focus mostly on > filling in the team in India and Brazil. > > (2) Executing effectively > > While we were building the plane, we were flying it too! We had > important accomplishments and I’m happy that all of these involved > close partnership with the community around the world and other teams > within the foundation. Some of the highlights include: > > * Wikipedia’s 10th Anniversary celebration was a great success with > events in over 200 locations, many of which received special edition > T-shirts and buttons that help to bond our world-wide community. We > also garnered incredible media coverage that underscored the important > role of Wikipedia in the public imagination. I see this initiative as > a model for an initiative catalyzed by the foundation and made reality > by the community in innovative and effective ways. > * We launched our India catalyst initiative with efforts to help build > the community via visits by Jimmy and myself along with support for > community work on outreach. We met and introduced many people to > Wikimedia at meetups in many cities. We had amazing media coverage of > all of our (community and WMF) activities that added momentum to our > work. I’m also happy that we launched our first program in June - the > India Education Program. > * Our grants program more than doubled with a wide range of chapters, > like-minded groups and individuals, implementing initiatives large and > small aimed at contributing to the Wikimedia vision. In addition, we > continue to provide support for Wikimania and will be supporting a > large contingent of Wikimedians from over 20 countries to attend > Wikimania in August. > * In close partnership with community developers, we invested to > improve the tools available for offline projects with the integration > of OpenZIM into the collections tools and a usability upgrade for the > Kiwix reader. > * For the first time, we have the internal capacity to start > understanding how we, as a movement, are doing and we put that > capacity to work with our first systematic survey of the global editor > community. The survey was available in 22 languages (thanks to the > volunteer translator community) and was completed by over 5,000 > editors - an amazing sample! We also embarked on a research effort to > understand the needs of mobile users in India and Brazil. Results of > this work will be published soon and are already informing our mobile > decision making. > * We worked closely with chapters involved in fundraising to resolve > some difficult issues regarding international funds transfers and we > improved the fundraising agreement. There is more work to do on this, > but we made a lot of progress and I’m happy that we are entering the > new fiscal year with few problems relating to funds transfers. > * We also managed to improve our joint compliance regarding chapter > agreements. This puts the relationship between chapters and WMF on a > stronger footing. > > > Not a bad year for our little team, though there have definitely been > bumps in the road. Two areas I would say we didn’t get the job done > are: > > * We did not make as much progress on our mobile work. Mobile is a > huge priority for WMF and for Global Development in particular. We > struggled to determine our strategy and then get resources aligned > behind the strategy. I take responsibility for this and have been > acting aggressively to get us off to a fast start in 2011/12, both > through additions to the team, greater focus and attention from Kul > and me, efforts to accelerate discussions with partners, and close > work with our Mobile Engineering team to quickly strengthen our mobile > portfolio. > * We didn’t get our new online store launched. We made amazing > progress on improving our merchandise and putting the building blocks > in place, but we didn’t get it launched. We expect to launch in July > and I’m excited to see what the community thinks. > > > The year ahead > > Our team starts the new fiscal year with a lot of momentum across the > board...and a lot to do. We have signed up to tackle two critical > foundation-wide goals for 2011/12: Reverse the editor decline and > dramatically increase mobile. We aim to contribute significantly to > the goal of returning our active editors per month to 95,000 by June > 2012 and to increasing mobile page views to 2 billion. These goals are > both part of the five-year strategy...and we need to get moving on > them. > > Global Development’s efforts to reverse the editor decline revolve > around our work with the community in the Global South and the scaling > of the Public Policy Initiative into the Global Education program. In > the next few months, we will expand the India Education Program, > launch additional programs in India, get started on work in Brazil, > support the launch of education programs in new geographies and make > grants to chapters and like-minded groups with a focus on editor > community health and growth. Our communications team will support > this effort with media and communications work that highlights > “contribution” starting in India with an [Edit] India campaign. Our > research team will capture insights from the editor survey and will > begin to generate insights from our own data to help identify > opportunities and challenges. > > On the mobile end, we are beginning now to approach mobile operators > and handset makers to improve the prominence of Wikipedia in their > offerings. We would like to secure deals where mobile operators offer > Wikipedia access for free (no data charges) to their customers. We > think this will help advance our vision significantly and introduce > millions of new people to Wikipedia. In partnership with the Mobile > Engineering team, we plan to invest in creating applications for the > major operating systems and in developing features that enrich the > experience and, critically, create ways to contribute. > > In addition, you will see other important work happening on the Global > Development team: > > * We have doubled our grants budget again to $600,000 and Asaf Bartov > will be working with chapters and other groups/individuals (with an > emphasis on the Global South) to develop grant programs that achieve > the goals laid out in our strategic plan. Specifically, we plan to > start tracking the change in active editors in the geographies where > we make grants over the next year. > * We will continue to build on our initial work on offline projects > through continued efforts to improve the tools available and through > partnerships to increase the distribution reach. By the end of > 2011/12, we aim to double the number of deployments of offline > Wikipedia around the world. > * We will be supporting Wikimania in Haifa with a $100,000 grant to > support the conference as well as funding ($130,000 from our own > budget plus a contribution of $30,000 from Wikimedia Germany) to > support scholarships for over 70 attendees. We will also provide > support for Wikimania 2012 in Washington, DC. > > > The Year Ahead for me > > My first year was a great learning experience and I feel I’ve got a > clearer sense of the opportunities challenge ahead. My greatest > challenge this past year was the sheer breadth of the Global > Development portfolio. I constantly had to juggle a range of > activities and for much of the year, people were relying on me to > handle issues since we didn’t have our team in place. This gave me a > good perspective into the needs and expectations of our team, but also > left me feeling a bit unfocused. My goal for 2011/12 is to focus more > of my time on the top priority areas of growing the editor base in > India and Brazil, and implementing our mobile strategy. > > For me, success in 2011/12 will mean: > > * Mobile partnerships that reduce the cost of accessing Wikipedia to > zero (or close to zero) and market Wikipedia on the mobile in key > countries in the Global South covering over 500 million mobile users > * Wikimedia’s mobile services to include quality apps on Android, > Windows, iPhone and Blackberry; first set of contribution tools > integrated into the mobile offering; our mobile site works well on a > wide range of phones > * Strong growth in the India editor community with clear results in > terms of editor growth from WMF’s India program activities > * Shift in Brazilian editor community toward healthy indicators, > return to growth in the editor community and a successful launch of > WMF’s Brazil team in the second half of the year > * The Global Development team functions cohesively as a group and > partners well with the community, other WMF teams, chapters and our > partners. > * Staff on the Global Development team grow professionally and see the > impact of their work. > > > The year ahead promises to again be a busy one for the Global > Development team and we’ll be partnering with many groups in the > Wikimedia movement. We will be moving forward with a clear purpose of > meeting our goals, learning along the way and collaborating with a > wide range of groups and individual in the movement. Onwards! > > -- > Barry Newstead > Chief Global Development Officer > Wikimedia Foundation > > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in > the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! > > http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate > > > _______________________________________________ > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > directed to Foundation-L, the public mailing list about the Wikimedia > Foundation and its projects. 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