Expanding Participation in the Movement

Assumption in the defining of a Wikimedia Movment:

The Movmement is not owned, it is particpated in, worked for, supported. The movement is the conglomeration of all the efforts and impacts relevant to the Vision.

The Vision that guides the Wikimedia Movement and the Wikimedia Foundation is:

“Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.” [1]

The Mission that guides the Wikimedia Foundation, its affiliates and its projects is:

“The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. In collaboration with a network of chapters, the Foundation provides the essential infrastructure and an organizational framework for the support and development of multilingual wiki projects and other endeavors which serve this mission. The Foundation will make and keep useful information from its projects available on the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity.” [2]

To understand what purpose the Wikimedia Foundation should serve and what types of activities it should undertake, dertermine:

An understanding of the scope of the movement (based on the Vision)
Identificaiton of the players in the full scope of the movement
Identification of current Foundation strengths
Identification and gap analysis of individuals and organizations that affiliate with the Foundation

1) Scope of the Movement

If the Vision includes the sum of all knowledge- the Movement must include the sum of all knowledge holders.
If the Vision includes reaching every single human being, the Movement must provide its resourcess in a way that it “accessible” to each human being.
There are many individuals and organizations currently working worldwide in activities that would support the Vision of the Wikimedia Movment.

Assumptions:

Knowledge = “expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation. Oxford English Dictionary”

As each individual has a separate experience and education – every indidividual that can amass these experiences has a piece of the sum of all knowledge.

Accessible means not only the physical and cognitive ability to access, but also understanding of relevence and non-limiting transaction costs for access ($ but also time, format, culture etc).

2) Players in the Movement

The Foundation has a role to play in supporting other players in the Movement, as those players could have a role in supporting the Foundation.
There are organizaitons and individuals who are already contributing to the Wikimedia Foundation, its projects, its affiliates (Chapters) and/or the movment but aren't formally recognized or appreciated by WMF or related entities.
There is opportunity to increase their engagement with the movment if there were intentional efforts to engage them in affiliating/identifying with the Foundation and/or the Movement.

Career Lattice
Formal Affiliation roles