What do we agree on: Advocacy TF recommendations

Hi Bodnotbod,

Yes, the Wikimedia Foundation isn't going to prioritize advocacy in the immediate future. Here's how I would like to see "advocacy" play out for Wikimedia:

  • Advocacy is mostly engaged in on a geographical basis, since generally it's an attempt to influence public policy. So, I believe the natural main advocates will be the chapters. I think the Dutch chapter has been beginning to lead some advocacy work inside the EU, and I applaud that: I think it makes sense and they are well-suited to do it. As I've said elsewhere, this is an argument for accelerating chapter development in countries where chapters don't yet exist.
  • The Wikimedia Foundation does not intend to direct any particular resources towards advocacy inside the United States, for two primary reasons: 1) Because the Wikimedia Foundation is international in scope, and any energy it directs towards Washington is energy it doesn't have for international work, and 2) because there are lots of organizations which share many of our beliefs and interests inside the United States, and which have large lobbying divisions that will protect our ability to do our work as well as their own. That doesn't mean we will never engage in advocacy inside the United States: it just means that it's not a high priority for us. Meaning, unlike many top internet properties, we will not begin hiring a phalanx of lawyers to work in DC.
  • The Wikimedia Foundation intends to strengthen its relationships with international organizations that share many or all of our values, and we will join them in advocacy work, judiciously, where & when we think our voice can add some value. We have all kinds of friends and partners who will help us decide when to do that -- e.g., chapters, industry partners such as Google, civil liberties groups such as the EFF, and individual volunteers around the world.
  • It's worth pointing out that there is very little documentation of Wikimedia's core beliefs. Some of the work here is a good start (e.g., on net neutrality), and I would love to see volunteers collaboratively develop a large set of core position statements -- ending up with something like this, from eBay: http://www.ebaymainstreet.com/policy-papers. eBay's general counsel has told me that eBay's goal with its Main Street initiative is is to equip ordinary people (i.e., eBay buyers and sellers) with information and arguments to help them advocate in their own self-interest. I think it would be a service to Wikimedia project readers, to provide them with something similar. It is not easy for people to find accessible, non-industry-perspective information about a whole range of internet-related issues including e.g., privacy, censorship, copyright, etc. --- in my view to develop and offer it would be a huge public service. And it's something Wikimedia editors are perhaps uniquely well-positioned to do :-)
Sue Gardner19:32, 2 March 2010