Congratulations from me as well to both Kelly and Arnnon. I wonder if they'll take the plunge and subscribe here? =)
But without in any way questioning their good faith, dedication and fitness for the job (and it is good to see another female appointed), I have to say that I also feel this is a missed opportunity for the WMF. It is not like the "white American with a background in the tech sector" is a particularly under-represented group in our movement. I believe it will be difficult for the WMF to realise it's ambitious goals in operating in developing countries with its current mix of trustees, most of whom are either from continental Europe or the United States. Cheers, Craig On 6 January 2016 at 12:09, Liam Wyatt <liamwy...@gmail.com> wrote: > Congratulations to Kelly and Arnon in joining the wikiverse at this crucial > time in our movement's existence. I hope their expertise - respectively in > Finance and HR - will be able to be put to good use! > > However, I do have a concern about diversity... > Both of these appointees are white Americans from Iowa/Kansas with > top-pedigree Silicon Valley resumes. > > I note that one of the other appointed WMF-board seats is currently also > occupied by Guy, also Silicon Valley, and one of the recently elected > community seats is occupied by Denny, who is a manager at Google. They all > live and work in the same field and within commuting distance to the WMF > office. > > I've always believed that Wikimedia is an education charity that happens to > exist exists in a technology field. I often note in presentations that I > give that the Wikimedia vision statement does NOT use the words, Internet, > or Wiki, or Encyclopedia. But these appointments indicate the Board and WMF > Executive believe Wikimedia is a technology charity that happens to exists > in the education field. > > These appointments will make a crucial difference to how the new WMF > strategic direction will go - and clearly the leadership is wanting to make > us act more like a Californian dot-com and less like a global education > charity. Less "community consensus building" and more "move fast and break > things" - is the message I am reading here. > > Can the board please address how it accounts for the geographical > proximity and professional-background similarity between three of the four > Board-appointed seats? And, whether you would define the WMF as a "tech > organisation"? > > - Liam / Wittylama > > > > > -- > wittylama.com > Peace, love & metadata > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
