Wikimedia Foundation elections/Board elections/2013/Candidates/et

I submit my candidacy for the Board of Trustees because my experience with Wikimedia has been a bit different from many and as such I can bring a different perspective. I began editing in 2007 not only to add information about topics that concern me (e.g. those related to Mexico) but also as a way to develop my Spanish language skills. Shortly after I began involving Wikipedia into my advanced English language classes as “authentic communication” even before there was a Wikipedia Education Program. While my focus has been on education, my experience also includes involvement in the various programs of Wikimedia such as GLAM and Wikimedia México. In fact, I have mixed aspects of GLAM and chapter work involving my campus in projects such as photography contests, cultural outreach, participation in chapter events and even photo donations from campus archives, things done at few, if any, other educational institutions. Educational institutions are extremely important to Wikimedia, and it is important to have someone on the board who is both a Wikipedian and an educational professional who understands both the needs of educational institutions and the needs and culture of the Wiki community.

During the past ten years, I have edited, taught, spoken on and written about Wikipedia. I've helped run Wikimania for many years and have been involved with the research, education and GLAM communities. I have also reported for the Signpost, planned local events, and worked on strategy. I served on the Board of Trustees from 2010-12. During the day, I am a science and engineering librarian at the University of California, Davis.

The next Board will have much to do. The Board must hire and guide the next executive director; develop both annual and long-term strategic plans; decide whether to pursue an endowment; and evaluate the FDC. The Board must also assess the WMF's overall direction, and, with the community and staff, decide whether WMF activities are effective in keeping the projects and their communities healthy and growing. I believe the Board's most important role is ensuring the long-term future of Wikimedia's projects and mission. We can achieve this through forward-looking financial and technical planning, and with open internal processes that aid in developing community leadership.

I can help keep the Board on track. I'm familiar with how the Board, WMF, and community work, and can organize and lead discussions, build consensus, and communicate decisions. I can help manage the limited time of the Board effectively, and if elected, will do so to get the Board to tackle the hardest issues well.

My name is Francis Kaswahili Kaguna, speaking English, Swahili and Sukuma languages. Basically from Tanzania I submit my candidacy for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation, I am optimistic that the link between the world and Africa need a someone and that someone is Francis Kaswahili Kaguna, I'm quite sure that the contribution of Africa is very important in the Wikimedia Community. I promise that if elected my focus will be on the following:

• As the Board of Trustees is the ultimate corporate authority in the Wikimedia Foundation my sanction on this Board will be led by principals, speed and standard
• I will encourage young people especially all those completed their training on ICT to train others on importance of computer technology with information about Wikimedia and its projects and to become Wikipedia users
• Liaise with various experts maintain excellent relationships between all continents in their participation in all Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia and the eleven sister projects.
• I will encourage all users of the Wikimedia community to organize Concerts so people can meet together to discuss how to have a sustainable Wikimedia community.

I have been volunteering for Wikimedia for years, as a normal editor, a head of a local chapter, in ChapCom & ComCom, and as conference organizer of Wikimania 2013. I work as an editor of a local media company in Hong Kong.

WMF must remain open, rather than a "centralized traditional charity". We should empower the local affiliates to professionalize and stabilize their structures as needed, and nurture diversity.

WMF shall also improve communication with different parties, where my background as a Journalism student may help. Sometimes just a few more words, and a few more people listening, can change a lot.

I hope I can be a helpful bridge between different parties within the movement, whether or not I'm elected. I look forward to hearing from you about how WMF should be, as I'm actually better in listening than talking. I believe honest sharing itself is crucial to the future of the board and WMF.

The Board should help make this so. We will also choose and support our next ED, and build a roadmap that includes the strategies of our many communities.

About me

I was born in the US, and have lived in Germany and Kenya. I fell in love with Wikipedia and its sister projects 10 years ago. Since then I have contributed as an editor, translator, columnist, and steward. I led Wikimania 2006 and planned the Kiswahili WP Challenge. I have served on the Board since 2009, working on transparency and strategy, and serving on the Chapters Committee and the Audit Committee.

Off-wiki, I chair the technical committee for the Digital Public Library of America. I was Director of Content at One Laptop per Child, where we sent WP and WikiJunior to 2M children in the developing world. Before that, I studied physics at Harvard, and worked in software and education.

I am not much of a bureaucrat or a politician; I'm an editor, and an admin on the English wiki. A Dutch native, I got a Ph.D. in the US and am now a tenured professor of Medieval literature, where I list my Wikipedia work as "research". The 2011 Higher Education Summit and Wikimania 2012 solidified my desire to become active in the organization. I am especially interested in promoting the use of Wikipedia in academia.

Some bullets:

• I've been involved with the Education Working Group, and I would continue the Foundation's support for the education project and the folks that make it work, possibly with an education or academic chapter.
• The WMF should strengthen relationships between the various wikis; for instance, the English wiki and Commons are frequently, needlessly at odds.
• Editor retention is a huge problem on the English wiki and others, despite WikiLove and new notification systems. It is possible that this can only be addressed within the specific wiki, but the Foundation has shown interest in it and I would like to be involved with that effort.
• The WMF exists to keep the servers running and to enable article writers to write better articles: the rest is secondary.

Hello Wikimedia. I'm putting in a candidacy so you have diversity of choice, and because I can bring unique insight. Me as a Wikimedian? I'm a sysop on English Wikipedia (occasional contributor to Commons/Wikibooks/Wikinews) and write articles about the Second World War. I'm also heavily involved with the Wikimedia UK chapter. In real life I am a freelance software engineer and author/writer.

I hope to bring a deeply technical perspective to the board, and an understanding of software engineering, architecture and management. The Foundation has worked to build links between the technical staff and the community, with some high profile success and failures. I hope to advise, both as a technologist and Wikipedian, how best to create a strong working environment.

Broadly, the Foundation and Community need to build stronger ties, and I would foster that relationship - helping the WMF to incorporate broad community views into their strategic thinking; for example the editor retention program is excellent but needs deeper collaboration with the community to foster new editors.

Disclosure: I am a paid contractor for the Wikimedia UK, a mild conflict that I am confident of managing.

Hi, I’m a Psychology lic. I’m interested in this position because I'm a long-time volunteer, who started out on en.wp and am now most active on Wikinoticias, Meta and Spanish Wikipedia where I founded the LGBT Wikiproject. I’m a founding member of Wikimedia España, and was its first Vice-President. I also have experience with inter-chapter cooperation and helping new groups through the Iberocoop network. For more than a year I‘ve been serving on the Affiliations Committee, and am a member of the Individual Engagement Grants committee since its creation. I enjoy working towards empowering volunteers through official recognition and/or grants.

Throughout my wiki volunteerism, I’ve been amazed with the people I’ve met. This has deepened my commitment to the Wikimedia movement. We may disagree on the path, but we all share the same powerful commitment to the outcome. As a Board member, my focus would include supporting our vision through the development of strategic plans, ensuring that diversity is at the heart of WMF's efforts to increase editorship, and encouraging communication and exchange by making the Board more approachable and visible.

The issue most important to me, professionally and personally, is also most important to Wikimedia: access to knowledge, for everyone, uncensored, as creators and as consumers.

I'm a lawyer, currently at Creative Commons; I went to law school because of Wikipedia, and have studied and worked in a wide range of the legal issues that affect us. I'm active in the free culture movement, building connections between organizations, helping each other achieve shared goals.

I've been a Wikimedian for 9 years, on the board since 2006, and currently its chair, helping Wikimedia maintain its principles and fulfill its mission throughout a period of growth. But this isn't a role I intend to hold forever. The main reason I am seeking another term is to guide the transition to a new executive director. This is one of the most important tasks of a board; when that goes well, the rest of the job can be about providing direction, oversight, and strategy in a careful, thoughtful way.

Hiring Sue and then working with her was an invaluable experience and a key time for WMF; I hope to spend the first year with her successor, making sure we are aligned on the values and practices that cannot compromise, and figuring out new directions.

I plan to continue using my experience, professional skills, and commitment to the principles of our movement to guide us through a period of change while keeping the values and integrity that define our work.

In the next two years we face major changes of leadership, technology, funds dissemination and of strategy. I believe for our movement to thrive the WMF must proactively support the capacity development of local communities. We must focus on enabling the community itself to be successful advocates for our mission.

I have been involved in many aspects of the community. I am most proud of being the founder of our GLAM project and being the world’s first Wikipedian in Residence - at the British Museum. I have convened outreach conferences in Europe, Asia and North America, and frequently presented to cultural organisations and the media. I have also been: The WMF cultural partnerships fellow; the vice-president of Wikimedia Australia; and co-host of the Wikipedia Weekly podcast. My administrative involvement includes teams such as Individual Engagement Grants, Wikimania and OTRS.

Professionally, I coordinate digital engagement at the National Library of Australia and have previously worked for Creative Commons and Europeana. My academic work on the historiography of Wikipedia received an award and I am completing a WIPO Masters degree in intellectual property law.

I stand for these Board of Trustees community seats because Values I hold dear, and our Vision and Mission are for me a daily call to action.

I work at the University of New England, in Armidale Australia, as a Research Data Analyst.

I have over 100,000 edits. While I primarily edit on the English-language projects, I have over 100 non-anti-vandalism edits to 17 projects, including Wikipedias (Spanish, Russian, German, French, & Indonesian), Wikisource (Dutch, French, Russian, Latin and Multilingual), and I have edited on many of the Wiktionary projects, and English Wikiversity and smaller contributions to English Wikibooks.

I have been the president of the Australian chapter, however I moved aside earlier this year to allow my colleague Craig Franklin to carry that torch. I have presented at, and organised, GLAM conferences, Wikimedia in Higher Education conferences in Australia and Indonesia, Open Knowledge conferences and workshops across Australia and Indonesia.

I will work with the Board of Trustees to:

• increase transparency of how funds are being spent, including breakdowns of expenditure on English Wikipedia vs other Wikipedia, and the sister projects,
• initiate a community process to evaluate creating a separate non-profit that will be responsible for ongoing development of the MediaWiki software, and
• allow community members to table items at the Board of Trustees meetings.