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95: 193: 551: 122: 112: 372: 216:, announced his resignation that month following sustained criticism over financial matters and over his reponse to a string of sexual misconduct cases. One widely reported example was the university's construction of a $ 700,000 fence around Dirks' residence, as well as an "emergency exit"—reported as a manifestation of mutual mistrust between university leadership and its students and community. Williamsworks crafted a plan to " 37: 132: 92: 142: 102: 465:, suggests that the remaining work for the present fiscal year may consist of ways to "connect Wikimedia projects" and enable users to "interlink interactive content across projects." He also pointed to successful projects by other teams in the Product division, noting that Discovery plans to improve the successful search suggestion capability. 115: 445:
the team's work as "more productive and groundbreaking than many other teams have been able to do in 5 years". However, progress in the discussion was gradual, due in part to the absence of the person responsible for the central decision; Katie Horn, Director of Discovery and Fundraising Technology,
135: 457:, Moran addressed the various concerns raised. He said he was "happy that there was respect and enthusiasm for work." His department is "reviewing how this work is done," and has not made a decision to end it entirely. The immediate focus, he told us, will be to complete work toward goals in the 105: 321:
Three further positions are available for Meta Wiki strategy coordinators, who will work alongside the language specialist coordinators and others to facilitate the Foundation's inclusive strategy processes. Successful applicants will take up a three-month contract for up to 20 hours per week,
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Whether or not Williamsworks pursues top-tier speaking engagements for WMF leadership, it does appear to bring experience in one critical area beyond those explicitly identified in the WMF's published criteria, which centered more on the international Wikimedia movement than the organization.
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inquiry, confirming it was she who initially proposed the firm, along with several others, for consideration. Gruwell, who shares roots in Montana politics with Williams, said "Whitney is in my professional network", but added that they have no family relationship, nor has she worked for
709:. I'm not sure which story you're referring to, but I confess I was a little surprised that neither of these elicited much discussion -- I felt that both contained worthwhile original reporting on topics of significant interest to the Wikimedia community. Glad to know you agreed. - 636: 278: 436:
on the Phabricator site for bug reports: "There were expectations that were set regarding things such as team goals, working collaboratively with stakeholders, and advance notice to communities, that were repeatedly not met by the team." Wikimedia volunteer
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WMF strategy consultant brings background in crisis reputation management; Team behind popular WMF software put "on pause": Several developments in the $ 2.5 million strategic planning process explored, and a team within the software production department is
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posts illustrating an interactive graphic. Social media responses praised the feature, its origins in a readership survey that found especially strong interest in "rich content", and the lead developer's sustained focus on addressing that interest.
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and team lists will remain the standard for updates about Wikimedia engineering. We will also be adding a FAQ on MediaWiki.org about the pause and changes to help with the communication." Watch the comment thread below for an update.
417: 412:. The team's two most recent outputs enable interactive maps and data-driven graphics on Wikimedia sites. The latter, built on data sets that can be stored on Wikimedia Commons, appears to have the strongest readership of any 170: 72: 495:
Moran expressed confidence that volunteer developers involved in the work of the Interactive team would remain engaged, and stated that further information about work in the Discovery department would be forthcoming:
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Williamsworks was one of several small organizations considered for the role by the WMF, starting in late 2016. Lisa Seitz-Gruwell, the WMF's chief advancement officer, responded to a
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Chris Koerner, community liaison for the Discovery department, emailed us following publication, to point out that we missed important meeting notes in our review. He suggested these
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for the role, it is also known for previously advising at least one organization with an ongoing leadership and public relations crisis—a skillset that may prove valuable to the WMF.
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for 17 language specialist strategy coordinators who are bilingual in English and at least one of a list of other languages. Interim chief of community engagement Maggie Dennis
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revealed no obvious related goals for Interactive; the justification for the claim that Interactive had missed goals and expectations remains somewhat opaque. One
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was out on a scheduled vacation. As the discussion evolved, speculation emerged—later confirmed by Wes Moran, WMF's vice president of Product, in an email to the
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The firm—whose website advertises expertise in "public policy, politics, philanthropy, communications and global development"—was noted in August 2016 for having
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Posts on the email list expressed dismay over the news and the manner of its announcement, which was initially explained by a Discovery product manager in a
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about a quarter ago, the team tried to start with more planning—a roadmap, team roles, checklists for deployment—the usual stuff. It didn't go well.
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Work on Interactive was led by very energetic and talented technical folks for a good chunk of time without a lot structure around the work. Then,
347: 56: 45: 699: 524:—do appear to inform the questions raised in the discussions covered here. We regret missing these messages, and thank Chris for the update. - 690:
I appreciate your effort in reporting this story. Perhaps the most overlooked report of the year. Not as sexy as cancer research, I suppose.
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On January 11, the consulting firm Williamsworks was announced as part of the core team that will run the Wikimedia Foundation's
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liaise between these communities and others to maximize participation of their communities in the movement strategy process;
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on the more widely read Wikimedia-L email list revealed concern from a number of Wikimedia volunteers, who—in contrast to
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WMF strategy consultant brings background in crisis reputation management; Team behind popular WMF software put "on pause"
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Nicholas Dirks, the outgoing chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, was a prior client of Williamsworks.
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on a number of WMF software rollouts over the years—expressed enthusiasm for the team's recent offerings.
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observed: "Getting people to trust each other and work together appears to be a hallmark of her style."
217: 382: 192: 497: 421: 461:, which runs through June 2017. A review of the annual plan, as well as the Product department's 401: 714: 425: 775: 281:
on February 2. In addition to Williamsworks personnel, the core strategy team will include
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has been put "on pause" pending further determinations about its future, according to an
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Firm hired for strategic planning also brings background in reputation management
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2.5 million strategic planning process. Williamsworks was founded in 2003 by
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collections of notes. Indeed, some of these notes—particularly those from a
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initially published on the Discovery email list on January 20. A subsequent
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in 2016. But the Interactive team's work bears little resemblance to the
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WMF's Interactive team put "on pause" following popular software releases
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improve the Chancellor’s strategic profile nationally and internationally
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Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on
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conduct deep outreach to the specified non-English communities;
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to the post of executive director. Introducing his March 2016
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added some context, with the following introductory remarks:
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with several Wikimedia volunteers echoed the theme of trust.
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monitor and summarise discussions about strategy topics; and
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produce a summary report at the end of their contract.
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Funds Dissemination Committee application for funding
441:, who first brought up the incident on Wikimedia-L, 661:If your comment has not appeared here, you can try 785: 289:in her previous strategic planning effort, and 279:fifth update on the strategic planning process 153: 304:that these Wikimedians will be expected to: 208:an ambitious public relations plan for the 400:The Interactive team is part of the WMF's 664: 14: 786: 420:, driven in part by unusually popular 239:of former WMF communications director 472:review of the Discovery department's 55: 29: 366: 794:Knowledge Signpost archives 2017-02 416:Technology Report in the last year 27: 549: 406:ill-fated Knowledge Engine project 210:University of California, Berkeley 191: 57: 35: 28: 805: 646:These comments are automatically 453:Responding to a request from the 370: 233:substantial difficulties in 2016 140: 130: 120: 110: 100: 90: 322:beginning in early March 2017. 657:add the page to your watchlist 231:Like UC Berkeley, the WMF had 13: 1: 632: 18:Knowledge:Knowledge Signpost 7: 342:The Wikimedia Foundation's 10: 810: 700:01:26, 12 April 2017 (UTC) 482:email from a team member 719:04:20, 8 May 2017 (UTC) 476:from fiscal year 16–17 228:in Davos, Switzerland. 654:. To follow comments, 554: 493: 196: 40: 553: 522:December 2016 meeting 486: 250:with Maher, reporter 195: 39: 650:from this article's 402:Discovery department 277:Maher published her 226:World Economic Forum 459:2016-17 Annual Plan 641:Discuss this story 596:WikiProject report 576:Arbitration report 555: 478:(see update below) 197: 46:← Back to Contents 41: 665:purging the cache 611:Technology report 530: 506: 418:Technology report 397: 389: 388: 331: 291:Guillaume Paumier 51:View Latest Issue 801: 778: 689: 682: 668: 666: 660: 639: 621:Featured content 573: 565: 558: 541: 525: 502: 410:Knowledge Engine 391: 374: 373: 367: 344:Interactive team 323: 181:Whitney Williams 178: 162: 144: 143: 134: 133: 124: 123: 114: 113: 104: 103: 94: 93: 63: 61: 59: 809: 808: 804: 803: 802: 800: 799: 798: 784: 783: 782: 781: 780: 779: 774: 772: 767: 762: 757: 752: 745: 725: 724: 683: 676: 670: 662: 655: 644: 643: 637:+ Add a comment 635: 631: 630: 629: 566: 563:6 February 2017 561: 559: 556: 545: 544: 539: 534: 533: 371: 340: 274:Williamsworks. 241:Katherine Maher 201: 200: 189: 176: 173: 167: 163: 152: 151: 150: 141: 131: 121: 111: 101: 91: 85: 82: 71: 66: 64: 58:6 February 2017 54: 53: 48: 42: 32: 26: 25: 24: 12: 11: 5: 807: 797: 796: 773: 768: 763: 758: 753: 748: 747: 746: 727: 726: 723: 722: 721: 645: 642: 634: 633: 628: 623: 618: 616:Traffic report 613: 608: 603: 598: 593: 588: 586:News and notes 583: 581:Special report 578: 572: 560: 548: 547: 546: 537: 536: 535: 532: 531: 529:, Feb. 6, 2017 387: 386: 375: 339: 336: 334: 319: 318: 315: 312: 309: 214:Nicholas Dirks 202: 198: 190: 185:WMF's criteria 172: 169: 168: 165: 149: 148: 138: 128: 118: 108: 98: 87: 86: 83: 77: 76: 75: 74: 69: 68: 67: 65: 62: 49: 44: 43: 34: 33: 15: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 806: 795: 792: 791: 789: 777: 771: 766: 761: 756: 751: 743: 739: 735: 731: 728:Keep up with 720: 716: 712: 708: 704: 703: 702: 701: 697: 693: 687: 680: 675:(to comment) 674: 667: 658: 653: 649: 638: 627: 624: 622: 619: 617: 614: 612: 609: 607: 604: 602: 599: 597: 594: 592: 589: 587: 584: 582: 579: 577: 574: 570: 564: 557:In this issue 552: 543: 528: 523: 519: 516: 512: 509: 508: 507: 505: 499: 492: 489: 485: 483: 479: 475: 474:meeting notes 471: 466: 464: 460: 456: 451: 449: 444: 440: 435: 430: 427: 423: 419: 415: 411: 407: 403: 398: 395: 384: 383:MediaWiki.org 380: 376: 369: 368: 365: 363: 360: 357: 353: 349: 345: 335: 332: 330: 326: 316: 313: 310: 307: 306: 305: 303: 299: 294: 292: 288: 287:Lila Tretikov 284: 280: 275: 272: 267: 263: 261: 259: 253: 249: 247: 242: 238: 234: 229: 227: 223: 219: 215: 211: 207: 194: 188: 186: 182: 166: 161: 157: 147: 139: 137: 129: 127: 119: 117: 109: 107: 99: 97: 89: 88: 80: 60: 52: 47: 38: 23: 19: 730:The Signpost 729: 711:Pete Forsyth 672: 671: 606:In the media 590: 569:all comments 542:"In focus" → 510: 494: 490: 487: 477: 469: 467: 454: 452: 447: 431: 413: 399: 392:See or edit 390: 348:announcement 341: 333: 320: 296:The WMF has 295: 283:Suzie Nussel 276: 270: 268: 264: 257: 245: 230: 203: 174: 164: 156:Pete Forsyth 776:Suggestions 679:Peteforsyth 648:transcluded 394:source data 379:Phabricator 356:extensively 256:Subsequent 518:additional 498:Wikitech-L 434:discussion 352:discussion 298:advertised 260:interviews 84:Share this 79:Contribute 22:2017-02-06 770:Subscribe 652:talk page 443:described 302:announced 248:interview 237:promotion 222:TED Talks 31:sidelined 788:Category 765:Newsroom 760:Archives 742:Mastodon 738:Facebook 591:In focus 470:Signpost 455:Signpost 448:Signpost 422:Facebook 414:Signpost 362:pushback 271:Signpost 258:Signpost 246:Signpost 224:and the 126:LinkedIn 106:Facebook 70:In focus 20:‎ | 734:Twitter 707:wbm1058 705:Thanks 692:wbm1058 511:Update: 426:Twitter 381:and on 359:covered 206:crafted 116:Twitter 673:First! 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Index

Knowledge:Knowledge Signpost
2017-02-06
The Signpost
← Back to Contents
View Latest Issue
6 February 2017
Contribute
E-mail
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Pete Forsyth
Tony1
Whitney Williams
WMF's criteria

crafted
University of California, Berkeley
Nicholas Dirks
improve the Chancellor’s strategic profile nationally and internationally
TED Talks
World Economic Forum
substantial difficulties in 2016
promotion
Katherine Maher
Signpost interview
Tony1
Subsequent Signpost interviews

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