Communal enabling of quality
Great thread and I know the community health team is wrestling with this as well. Change is hard and getting consensus for change in a well-established community is the hardest part. When I think of the work I've done with clients over the years, it is rare that there is an emergent consensus from the diffuse community that change is needed. In addition, a top-down change mandate rarely works either unless there is a huge crisis.
My read on where Wikimedia is today is that there is a strong consensus about the purpose Wikimedia serves (the vision) and a growing consensus that the way the community is engaging around article quality is becoming an obstacle both in terms of the ability to reach high quality consensus on articles (too much "last person standing wins") and on acceptance/cultivation of new editors with expertise to contribute to existing articles as well as new areas.
I wonder if the strategy to start to tackle these challenges is one of many small innovations/experiments, some that might take hold and others that might fail. For example, what if a small group of editors developed a new approach to consensus building on an article. They might set out some simple guidelines and then commit to follow those guidelines. They might also volunteer to facilitate discussions on articles where there are tough disputes. Over time, these guidelines and behaviors would evolve (get improved) and they might provide an alternative way to engage.
I could imagine a bunch of better ideas than this, but I think the "solution" will come from many small changes by many people that add up to a major culture change rather than a big bang shift in the culture.
Thanks again for the continued great dialogue on this issue.
--BarryN 18:15, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
Thanks Barry. Those are good points for community health. We're discussing how we form consensus and make decisions. Adding/changing roles (e.g.: facilitators) in our organizational structure is another thing we're discussing.
Those two areas are high on my list, personally. We'll see what other task force members think.