Hi Erik, Those are great ideas, and I'm think I can support most of them.
MediaWiki is indeed something we need to invest on much more. Or even re-built it from scratch. It's the base to all our work and the future or our projects. The idea of having an organization that this is 100% of his mission makes sense. Also the idea of hosting MW for others - see WordPress for exmaple. Even the WMF, a big organization with hundreds of developers and tech guys pays to WP in order to host is own blog. The Education Foundation is also a good example - I spoke a lot with the WMF's education team about the great EDUFund's dashboard and how we can use it around the world, not only in the US. It is a powerful tool that the WMF is not even close or plans to offer to the education teams around the world. While the WMF is also not planning to develop one - why not to support the EDUFund or another chapter in order to make it international? But why we need to go far with the ideas - WikiData is probably the greatest example. But WMDE is not the only one organization that can do things like that. So yes, we most re-think how we de-centralize some of the foundation\movement work. Itzik *Regards,Itzik Edri* Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel +972-(0)-54-5878078 | http://www.wikimedia.org.il Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment! On Fri, Mar 18, 2016 at 4:22 AM, Erik Moeller <eloque...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi folks, > > Now that the dust has settled a bit, I would like to expand on an idea > that’s been touched on a few times (most recently, in an editorial by > William Beutler [1]): the notion that WMF might be a more effective > organization if it limited its own size in favor of focused spin-off > organizations and affiliates. > > I was very much part of building the current WMF in terms of both size > and structure, but I also think recent events underscore the fragility > of the current model. WMF is still tiny compared with other tech > companies that operate popular websites, but it’s a vast organization > by Wikimedia movement standards. With nearly 300 staff [2] (beyond > even our ambitious 2015 strategic plan staffing numbers), it dwarfs > any other movement org. > > I can see three potential benefits from a more federated model: > > 1) Resilience. If any one organization experiences a crisis, other > independent organizations suffer to a lesser degree than departments > within that organization. > > 2) Focus. Wikimedia’s mission is very broad, and an organization with > a clearly defined mandate is less likely to be pulled in many > different directions -- at every level. > > 3) Accountability. Within a less centralized federation, it is easier > to ensure that funding flows to those who do work the movement wants > them to do. > > My experience is that growth tends to be self-reinforcing in budgetary > processes if there are now clear ceilings established. I think that’s > true in almost any organization. There’s always lots of work to do, > and new teams will discover new gaps and areas into which they would > like to expand. Hence, I would argue for the following: > > a) To establish 150 as the provisional ceiling for Wikimedia movement > organizations. This is Dunbar’s number, and it has been used > (sometimes intentionally, sometimes organically) as a limiting number > for religious groups, military companies, corporate divisions, tax > offices, and other human endeavors. [3][4] This is very specifically > because it makes organizational units more manageable and > understandable for those who work there. > > b) To slowly, gradually identify parts of the WMF which would benefit > from being spun off into independent organizations, and to launch such > spin-offs, narrowing WMF's focus in the process. > > c) To aim to more clearly separate funding and evaluation > responsibilities from programmatic work within the movement -- whether > that work is keeping websites running, building software, or doing > GLAM work. > > Note that I'm not proposing a quick splintering, but rather a slow and > gradual process with lots of opportunity to course-correct. > > More on these points below. > > == Potential test case: MediaWiki Foundation == > > A "MediaWiki Foundation" [5] has been proposed a few times and I > suspect continues to have some currency within WMF. This org would not > be focused on all WMF-related development work, but specifically on > MediaWiki as software that has value to third parties. Its mission > could include hosting services as earned income (and potentially as an > extension of the Wikimedia movement’s mission). > > MediaWiki is used today by numerous nonprofit and educational projects > that are aligned even with a narrow view on Wikimedia’s mission. > Examples include Appropedia, OpenWetWare, WikiEducator, W3C’s > WebPlatform, Hesperian Health Guides, and too many notable open source > projects to list. > > Among commercial users, it has lost much ground to other software like > Confluence, but it remains, in my view, the most viable platform for > large, open, collaborative communities. Yet it’s a poorly supported > option: many of the above wikis are outdated, and maintaining a > MediaWiki install is generally more work than it needs to be. > > Building a healthy third party ecosystem will have obvious benefits > for the world, and for existing Wikimedia work as well. It may also > create a proving ground for experimental technology. > > Which work that WMF is currently doing would be part of an MWF’s > mandate? I don’t know; I could imagine that it could include aspects > like Vagrant, or even shared responsibility for MediaWiki core and > MW’s architecture. > > == The Wiki Education Foundation precedent == > > It’s worth noting that this spin-off model has been tried once before. > The Wiki Education Foundation is an example of an organization that > was created by volunteers doing work in this programmatic space in > partnership with staff of the Education Program at WMF, who left to > join the new org. It is now financially independent, building its own > relationships with funders that WMF has never worked with, and > achieving impact at unprecedented scale. > > LiAnna Davis, who is today the Director of Program Support at Wiki Ed, > wrote a detailed response to William’s blog post, which I think is > worth quoting in full [1]: > > ----begin quote---- > I worked for the WMF for nearly four years and have worked for the > spun-off Wiki Education Foundation for the last two, and I strongly > support the idea of spinning off more parts of WMF into independent > nonprofits like ours. > > As you noted, Wiki Ed is a test case for your proposal, so for readers > who don’t know our history: We started in 2010 as a pilot program > (called the Public Policy Initiative) within WMF, funded by a > restricted grant, to support university professors in the U.S. who > wanted to assign their students to edit Wikipedia as a class > assignment. The pilot showed the idea was successful, and so we > started piloting it in countries as part of the Catalyst project (Arab > World, Brazil, and India). > > The U.S. program had lingered at WMF without any real organizational > support because the U.S. wasn’t a target region. WMF leadership saw > its potential, however, and formed a volunteer Working Group of > Wikipedians and academics who created the structure of the > organization that became the Wiki Education Foundation in 2013. WMF > gave us a small start-up grant to get us going, and provided fiscal > sponsorship for us until our 501(c)3 status came through (and we could > fundraise on our own). > > Today, we’re an independent organization, not funded by WMF, and we’ve > scaled the impact of our programs incredibly. We’re supporting three > times as many students, we’ve developed our own technology to support > our programmatic work, and our students are busy addressing content > gaps in academic areas on Wikipedia. > > So why are we so successful? There are a lot of factors, but there’s > one I want to highlight here, because I think it’s a clear difference > between when we were at WMF and our current work at Wiki Ed. We have > one, very clear mission: We create mutually beneficial ties between > Wikipedia and academia in the U.S. and Canada. > > The WMF mission is inspiring — but it’s really broad, just like our > movement is. When we were doing this same project at WMF, I’d struggle > to just focus on the Education Program and ignore the rest of the > mission. Whenever I interacted with people outside the foundation (and > I did so a lot), people would come to me with ideas to further WMF’s > mission that weren’t in my program’s boundaries. I’d spend time trying > to help, because I believed in the mission and wanted to help it > along. I’m not the only one: I would see this idealism and commitment > to the mission repeatedly among my colleagues at WMF. I still see it > from the current WMF staff. They’re all there because they believe in > the mission. They want to help, and it’s really hard to not try to > help with everything, because you can see so many different facets of > helping that mission. > > Essentially, with a mission as broad as WMF’s, it’s hard for staff to > keep a narrow focus. *Everything* can seem mission-related. When your > mission is as narrow as Wiki Ed’s, it’s easier to find your focus and > keep your attention on developing one area well. This is a key > strength of independent organizations — independent, narrower missions > keep staff focused and more productive on achieving their small part > of the overall Wikimedia mission. > > I strongly support more discussion about spinning off other parts of > WMF into independent organizations. > ----end quote---- > > == A "Movement Association"? == > > A more radical suggestion would be to spin off work on grantmaking and > evaluation. This isn’t trivial -- there are legitimate arguments to > keep this work close to other community-facing work WMF is doing. But > there are undeniable benefits in greater separation. > > When it comes to large annual plan grants, much has been done to > ensure that the FDC can operate as an independent body and evaluate > each plan on its merits. Ultimately, however, the decision rests with > the WMF, which has a much better understanding of its own programs > (through the direct relationship with its ED) than of those of > affiliates. > > Similarly, while WMF has done a fair bit to provide self-service > evaluation tools to the movement at large, it’s not clear that its > work is always held to the same standard as everyone else’s. A WMF > grantee must very publicly report results and success metrics; WMF > attempts to do so as a matter of course, but it is not accountable to > another organization for failing to do so. > > Finally, as was discussed here a lot in recent weeks, WMF itself has > no clear accountability to the movement. The Board elections are > advisory in nature. There is no membership. Non-elected seats are > filled by the Board with little visibility. There is a semi-permanent > "Founder’s Seat". > > If grantmaking and evaluation responsibilities were increasingly > shifted to a "Wikimedia Movement Association", this could gradually > allow for true accountability to the movement in the form of > membership and democratic, movement-wide decisions to make funding > allocations on the basis of evaluation reports (through committees or > otherwise). > > This may also make the endowment a more compelling proposition than it > is today. Yes, keeping Wikimedia’s sites operational indefinitely is a > very worthwhile goal. But what if the endowment ultimately also helped > to support global, federated work towards Wikimedia’s vision? What if > all affiliates -- indeed the whole movement -- were excited and > motivated to help grow it? > > == Where to go from here? == > > There are lots of open questions in all of this. Should all site-wide > fundraising remain inside WMF, for example, with funds being > transferred to a movement entity? What’s the dividing line between > "development for third parties" (MWF) and "development for Wikimedia" > (WMF)? How would staff transition to new organizations? Where should > those organizations be based? Should they be distributed, have > offices? > > An important thing to remember here (a lesson I’ve had to learn > painfully) is that big changes are best made in small steps, with room > for trial and error. > > Implementing this strategy is, I think, a matter of first committing > to it as an idea, and then creating coherent proposals for each step, > publicly with broad input. First, if there is support for the general > idea, I would recommend kicking it around: Are these the right kinds > of spin-offs? What are the risks and how should existing affiliates be > involved in the process? And so on. > > The fact that WMF has just experienced a major organizational crisis > should not itself fill us with pessimism and despair. But we also > shouldn’t ignore it. We must learn from it and do what reason tells us > -- and in my view that is to build a more resilient _federation_ of > organizations than what we have today. > > Warmly, > > Erik > > == Notes == > > [1] > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-03-09/Op-ed > > [2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Template:STAFF-COUNT > > [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number > > [4] > http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-01-10/the-dunbar-number-from-the-guru-of-social-networks > > [5] Our branding is confusing beyond repair. I don't think there's an > easy fix here, and we should just embrace our nutty nomenclature > (Wikimedia/MediaWiki/Wikipedia) at this point. > > _______________________________________________ > 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>
