On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 9:07 AM, Yaroslav M. Blanter <pute...@mccme.ru> wrote:
> On 2016-01-13 06:06, rupert THURNER wrote: > > Interesting summary, what are the three major outcomes of this plan, and >> one example what should not have gone into the plan? >> > > anybody can do it I agree! :) I enjoyed seeing your reflections, and would love to hear from more people on this. (For what it's worth, here's the summary of the Strategic Plan <https://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Movement_Strategic_Plan_Summary> .) My own take on Rupert's (excellent) question: == Three major outcomes == 1. It helped many Wikimedians (and I count myself among them) develop a much stronger understanding of what our international, and multi-project, world looks like. Hearing ideas -- whether new or familiar -- from Wikimedians from different countries, different languages, different projects -- was very refreshing, and having it done in a context that invited conversation and deliberation made it very "real." 2009-10 were the years my perspective on Wikimedia substantially shifted from Oregon to international (though working at the WMF in that time was also a major contribution). I suspect this is true of many of us. 2. Building on #1, we developed a great deal of capacity for shared strategic thinking. Taking part in strategic discussions, in a mode outside the drama or excitement of the day, established lines of communication that still exist, and are still actively used. Much of what I see is in the volunteer world; but I also suspect the process greatly informed the grant-giving arms of the WMF, which were formalized in the wake of the process. I'd be very interested to hear from Asaf, Siko, and others from the grants programs on this. 3. It generally gave the WMF, and all organizations and people wanting to broadly serve or address the Wikimedia community, a better understanding of who they're talking to, and what goals and values are widely held. Whether or not one makes explicit reference to the five strategic goals, having a sense of what they are is a powerful conceptual tool. This, in particular, has certainly found its way into the grant-giving programs, and perhaps other areas of WMF's operations. == What should not have gone in the plan? == In hindsight, the plan has one significant flaw (which I blogged about <http://wikistrategies.net/wikimedia-needs-trustee/> during the Board Election). Philippe Beaudette, recently quoted in Liam Wyatt's blog post <http://wittylama.com/2016/01/08/strategy-and-controversy/>, said: "The Wikimedia Foundation has one unique strategic asset: the editing community." The following "Virtuous Circle graphic was produced by the strategic planning process (hey, look at me, I'm an ASCII artist!). It's purpose is to show what dynamics drive Wikimedia's continuous improvement: Y --> T R I E L A A C U [[ ? ]] H Q | ^ v \ PARTICIPATION In the original, it had "infrastructure" in the middle, i.e. technical infrastructure. The graphic is accurate. But (to summarize my blog post briefly) it does not capture what is UNIQUE about Wikimedia. In fact, almost EVERY major web site -- at least the social ones like Facebook, eBay, etc. -- has a technical core that supports a cycle of improving/increasing content, reach, and participation. Wikimedia should have something social in the middle. You can still call it infrastructure -- in an important way, it is -- but it should be "volunteer infrastructure" or "community infrastructure." That would help us better contemplate the thing that makes us unique, and the thing that must be protected and nourished if we're going to help all of humanity engage with all knowledge. That's something we should address this side around. Technology pervades all parts of this diagram -- but it should be contemplated in the ways it impacts groups of people working in the system, not the other way around. -Pete [[User:Peteforsyth]] _______________________________________________ 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>
