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Strategy/Wikimedia movement/2018-20/Transition/List of Initiatives/Complete

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This is a list of initiatives (i.e. key outcomes, changes or actions) embedded in the Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy recommendations and raw material for implementation that is to be prioritized by communities in the ongoing Transition Phase.

There is a simplified version of this list to make it easier to read and translate.

List

Recommendation Initiatives Theme Key actions
No. Clusters Actions and Changes in full Further details from the recommendation
1. Increase the Sustainability of our Movement 1 Systematic approach to improve satisfaction and productivity Develop a systematic approach to assess and improve the satisfaction and productivity of people engaged in the Movement Coordination, research Assess the needs of groups and volunteers, taking into account their local contexts for effective support and recognition of efforts.
Continuously engaging and supporting publicly diverse types of online and offline contributors.
2 Funding for underrepresented communities Dedicate a significantly larger amount of Movement funding to support emerging and marginalized communities and groups Resourcing Based on their needs, including reimbursement for staffing, operational costs, and other activities not directly related to adding, curating or editing content.
3 Increased awareness about the Wikimedia Movement Increase awareness about the Wikimedia Movement, its values, achievements, projects, and communities worldwide Advocacy, coordination, communication, revenue to secure the attention, trust, and interest of knowledge consumers, volunteers, partners, and donors.

See merchandising and revenue generation for the movement below

4 Global revenue generation policy + fundraising strategy Global policy to all Movement entities to outline rules for revenue generation and what may be adapted to local contexts and needs, in order to distribute revenue generation responsibilities and diversify its streams Governance, revenue This policy will balance sustainability, our mission and values, and financial independence. Ensuring funds are raised and spent in a transparent and accountable manner.
Distribute the responsibility of revenue generation across Movement entities and develop local fundraising skills to increase sustainability. Revenue, coordination, skills development Fundraising strategy - increased revenue and diversified revenue streams across the Movement
Explore new opportunities for both revenue generation and free knowledge dissemination through partnerships and earned income
5 Developing enterprise-level API Building enterprise-level APIs (with high standards of availability, throughput, and usability). Revenue, product
Develop safeguards to ensure access to API for non-commercial, research, and small to moderate commercial use.
6 Engagement of third party ecosystems Active engagement of third party ecosystems in the development of MediaWiki technologies Coordination, product (e.g. Wikibase and Parsoid)
7 Revenue generation for the Movement Providing professional and consultancy services concerning MediaWiki technologies. Revenue, product
Creating merchandising and making use of the Wikimedia brand.
Diversified global approach for revenue possibilities through virtual assistants and search engines of the use of our platform and product.
8 Align with environmental sustainability initiatives Initiatives for our Movement to align with Environment sustainability initiatives Coordination
2. Improve User Experience 9 Methodology to improve the Wikimedia platform UX research, design, testing and community engagement Involve representatives of designers, technical developers, communities, and user profiles in iterative UX design, research and result dissemination processes Coordination; product; research To raise awareness and enable better decision-making
Test and validate the usability of products with different user profiles Advanced editors, technical contributors, and newcomers reflecting the diversity we aim for
Community engagement around product design and UX Inform communities about the state of UX, collaborate on needs, and support them in taking responsibility to be more inclusive by addressing barriers that prevent growth, diversification, and participation.
Adaptable UX to various devices Interfaces designed intentionally for a wide range of devices Product So users can consume and contribute in diverse contexts
Iterative and inclusive process of research for enhancing User Experience, continuous assessment of user experience Research and assessment
Understanding changes and adapting our platforms and spaces to meet diverse user needs
Provide positive experience of the Wikimedia ecosystem for both consumption and contribution to knowledge
10 Compatibility with Accessibility Guidelines Support compliance with the most advanced accessibility guidelines using free and open-source software Product; safety E.g. WCAG for web, W3C mobile web best practices, etc.
11 Resources for newcomers Easy-to-find and easy-to-understand resources for newcomers Product; skills development Including onboarding media and guiding interfaces helping them independently learn and navigate
12 Peer-to-peer spaces Spaces that allow finding peers with specific interests, roles, and objectives along with communication channels to interact, collaborate and mentor each other. Coordination; product; skills development
13 Platform functionality and documentation standards Documentation and standards to capture platform functionalities for evaluation, learning, and improvement. Coordination; product See also 'manage internal knowledge'
14 Cross-project tool development and reuse Tools to connect cross-project and cross-language functionalities to provide an enhanced experience of the knowledge contained in the Wikimedia ecosystem for a particular interest, informational need or inquiry Coordination; product
Clear pathways for advancing new wiki proposals (including new language versions) and for reusing community-developed software features
Developer tooling and high-quality documentation to allow technical contributors to create and maintain tools with usability and efficiency.
15 Partnerships to develop Wikimedia API Make the Wikimedia API suite more comprehensive, reliable, secure and fast, in partnership with large scale users where that aligns with our mission and principles Coordination; product to improve the user experience of both our direct and indirect users, increase the reach and discoverability of our content and the potential for data returns, and improve awareness of and ease of attribution and verifiability for content reusers.
3. Provide for Safety and Inclusion 16 Code of Conduct Create a Code of Conduct, in collaboration with communities, to provide a universal baseline of acceptable behavior for the entire Movement without tolerance for harassment Safety; coordination; governance This will be done through an inclusive process with respect to context, existing local policies, as well as enforcement and conflict resolution structures.
17 Private incident reporting Create pathways for users to privately report incidents, either technical or human, including harassment Product; safety To have them addressed effectively and with appropriate urgency regardless of language or location.
18 Baseline of community responsibilities Establish a baseline of community responsibilities for safeguarding and maintaining a healthy working atmosphere for both online and offline Wikimedia involvement, along with procedures for reporting and follow-up Coordination; safety; governance
Attract and retain volunteers to a safe, and harassment-free environment
Contributors have conditions and resources enabling them to participate without having their security compromised
19 Develop a safety assessment and execution plan - technical, human, and legal support processes Research and develop an adaptable safety assessment and execution plan, as well as rapid response and support infrastructure
  • psychological support (e.g., therapists, counselors, mediators),
  • technical support (e.g., anonymization mechanisms),
  • legal assistance (e.g., list of partner lawyers, facilitation of legal representation at a local level),
  • fast-track escalation path in life-threatening situations,
  • procedures for reacting to large scale challenges, such as socio-political unrest and environmental threats,
  • training and opportunities to raise awareness and build response capacity for community safety and conflict management.
Coordination; safety; skills development This would ensure that on and offline contributors have available resources ready and accessible to mitigate the harm caused by their Wikimedia activities
Framework and standards for a contextual evaluation regarding safety of contributors
20 Advocacy - local capacity development Develop local capacity for advocacy for legal and regulatory frameworks our communities need to make our projects thrive. Skills development; advocacy
21 Built-in platform mechanisms for safety Establish built-in platform mechanisms aimed at safety of contributors in their contexts (e.g. anonymization mechanisms) Product; safety These mechanisms need to be assessed for opportunities and risks in particular projects or contexts including risk of harassment and vandalism

See 'ensure anonymity' below in this recommendation

Ensure anonymity, privacy, access to necessary security measures to address practices such as doxing and trolling
4. Ensure Equity in Decision-Making 22 Movement Charter Create a Movement Charter Coordination; governance Lay the values, principles and policy basis for Movement structures, including the roles and responsibilities of the Global Council, regional and thematic hubs, as well as other existing and new entities and decision-making bodies,

Set requirements and criteria for decisions and processes that are Movement-wide to be legitimate and trusted by all stakeholders, e.g. for

  • Maintaining safe collaborative environments,
  • Ensuring Movement-wide revenue generation and distribution,
  • Giving a common direction on how resources should be allocated with appropriate accountability mechanisms.
  • Defining how communities work together and are accountable to each other.
  • Setting expectations for participation and the rights of participants.

Establish a temporary committee, consisting of participants representative of the diversity of the global Movement, who will work openly, transparently, and in close collaboration with the broader movement and communities in order to: Serve as an Interim Global Council and play a leadership role in supporting the implementation of the Movement Strategy.

  • Oversee the development of the Movement Charter in consultation with communities, organizations and subject matter experts,
  • Engage with the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation to identify areas of its current responsibilities
  • Design an independent and transparent process, along with an independent legal assessment, to transfer those responsibilities and authorities to the appropriate Movement-led bodies.
23 Interim Global Council Establish an Interim Global Council to play a leadership role in supporting the implementation of the Movement Strategy. Coordination; governance See below
24 The Global Council Establish a Global Council Coordination; governance Establish a Global Council representative of the Movement in its role and composition. It will be composed of both elected and selected members, in a way designed to reflect the breadth and diversity of participation not only in the Movement at present but also in communities we wish to serve. This body will have authorities and responsibilities outlined in the Charter, and these should include, but not be limited to:
  • Overseeing the implementation of Movement Strategy, with community input wherever possible, and its alignment across established structures of the Movement;
  • Overseeing further development and endorsement of the Movement Charter;
  • Enforcing accountability of all Movement organizations around: , Use of Movement funds; Alignment with the Wikimedia mission, vision, and Strategic Direction; Compliance with the Movement Charter; Appropriate use of movement branding and marks;
  • Setting frameworks on resource allocation and revenue generation for the Movement.
  • Any responsibility that the Interim Global Council has identified as needing to be delegated by the Board.
Commission an independent legal assessment, for transfer of responsibilities and authorities to the appropriate Movement-led bodies.
Existing Movement structures (Affiliations Committee or Funds Dissemination Committee), to be reviewed and adapted During implementation and the development of the Charter
Ensure equitable opportunities for participation in decision-making and resource allocation
Movement stakeholders to have the mandate, knowledge, and resources to be present in decision-making process that affects them
25 Regional & thematic hubs Actively facilitate and support the creation of regional and thematic hubs Coordination; governance * Assess which thematic (e.g. advocacy, capacity building, partnerships, research, etc.) or geographic areas of the Movement need structures that support coordination across stakeholders.
  • Hubs are either an enhancement of existing entities, collaborations between affiliates, or new structures formed for a specific purpose. - They are expected to emerge according to identified needs and organic initiatives.
  • Hubs are independent in their daily work and operations, though coordinating with other stakeholders and sharing results of their work with the rest of the Movement.
  • These structures will work toward high standards of diversity, inclusion, accountability, and equity in decision-making as per the Movement Charter.
  • The concrete scope and functionality of these structures will be decided by communities and organizations based on their contexts and needs. These systems will follow the subsidiarity principle while making the following functions available:
    • Allocation of resources;
    • Providing legal support to community members and organizations, and evaluating safety and security guidelines and procedures adapted to local contexts;
    • Coordinating capacity building;
    • Supporting organizational growth through tailored advice and peer support
    • Developing appropriate technologies to better serve communities.
Framework for evaluating the hubs and methods of ensuring that hubs are interconnected
A collaborative, supportive Movement to function together and avoid confusion
26 Flexible resource allocation framework Allocation of resources Coordination; governance; resourcing * In the immediate future, the Wikimedia Foundation should increase overall financial and other resources directed to the Movement for the purpose of implementing Movement strategy.
  • These additional resources should support new regional and thematic hubs and other Movement organizations in addition to existing Movement organizations and affiliates.
  • In the near future, the Movement should play a guiding role in resource allocation. The processes for allocation should be designed through consultation and described in the Movement Charter. This transition to Movement-led guidance should occur in a timely fashion.
  • The Global Council should oversee the implementation of the guidance given by the Movement as described in the Movement Charter, including recommendations for funds allocation to regional and thematic hubs and other Movement organizations while recognizing the involved organizations’ legal and fiduciary obligations.
  • Based on frameworks set by the Global Council, regional and thematic hubs will facilitate resource allocation through approaches that are reliable, contextualized, flexible, and resilient to secure -and sustain communities and organizations with multi-year plans.
  • Funding systems will need to be flexible in terms of length, merging strategic goals of the Movement with local needs and directives, specifying mutual accountabilities, and opening pathways to local funding initiatives.
Create a distributed decision-making process to provide access to resources through distributed, decentralized power structures
Wikimedia Foundation should increase overall financial and other resources directed to the Movement for the purpose of implementing Movement strategy. * These resources should support new regional and thematic hubs and other Movement organizations
  • In the near future, the Movement should play a guiding role in resource allocation
  • The processes for allocation should be designed through consultation and described in the Movement Charter
  • The Global Council should oversee the implementation of recommendations for funds allocation to regional and thematic hubs and other Movement organizations
  • Based on frameworks set by the Global Council, regional and thematic hubs will facilitate resource allocation
  • Funding systems will need to be flexible in terms of length, local needs and directives, specifying mutual accountabilities, and opening pathways to local funding initiatives.
Resources should be allocated 'in' and 'by' people in each context and tailored to address their needs
27 Guidelines for board functions and governance Establish good practice guidelines for how boards function, such as term limits, election and selection processes, and other governance questions where applicable and relevant for a community Coordination; governance * Establish good practice guidelines for how boards function, such as term limits, election and selection processes, and approaches to other governance questions where applicable and relevant for a community. These guidelines will need to be adapted and contextualized by each stakeholder. Boards would be held accountable for following good practices by the Global Council. For those that do not, the Global Council will create mechanisms to review and provide support.
  • Collectively define good practice guidelines for how to both empower/inspire and enable/support new volunteers to run for different types of elected roles. These efforts will be particularly focused on underrepresented groups.
  • Ensure leadership positions and ways of accessing them are documented, transparent, and accessible.
5. Coordinate Across Stakeholders 28 Living documents to define responsibilities for specific areas of work Create and keep updated shared documents defining clear responsibilities and expected capabilities for specific activities like advocacy, capacity building, partnerships, product, and technology, among others. Coordination, governance These documents reflect common shared values, needs, principles, and accountability and facilitate growth and inclusivity.

*see Equity in Decision-Making, guidelines for board functions and governance

29 Enhance communication and collaboration capacity with partners and collaborators Create spaces for communication and collaboration between and with technical contributors to increase the scale and impact of our work and infrastructure sustainability Coordination, product, technology * A space for partners and other collaborators on specific content area workflows that require tools, updating, and improving
  • A space for participation and communication for third-party developers - identify and resolve core barriers to make way for collaborative work on modern technologies, creating new interfaces, and improving our user experiences.
  • Improve communication channels and spaces between developers and communities - to receive feedback as well as to create processes for mentoring, training, and organizing code review and documentation writing, among others.
  • Improve understanding and engagement between volunteer communities and other parts of our Movement
30 Technology Council Create a Technology Council to establish processes for introducing new functionalities onto Wikimedia platforms and tools Coordination; governance; product; technology The aim is to improve communication between staff developers and other technical contributors to better network, coordinate innovation, provide and obtain support, and foster input on decisions and resource allocations that impact communities.
  • Establish processes for introducing new functionalities onto Wikimedia platforms and tools
  • Improve communication between staff developers and other technical contribute
  • Nurture networking, coordinating innovation, providing support
6. Invest in Skills and Leadership Development 31 Global approach for local skill development - gathering data, matching peers, mentorship, recognition Create a systematic, global approach for skill development Coordination, skills development, product, research and assessment * Establish methodology that maps assets and needs, and generates (aggregated) data for deploying skills development initiatives based on real needs
  • Establish a service that facilitates connecting/matching peers across the Movement for teaching and learning skills
  • Encourage a diversity of methods, including training, mentoring, consulting, online learning, peer-to-peer support, and events.
  • Create incentives for skill development (online and offline) through the recognition of skills
Local skill development with global coordination Learning across communities, build upon existing expertise, and increase local skills for online and offline activities.
32 Leadership development plan Systematic, globally-coordinated leadership development plan Coordination, skills development, research and assessment * Establish a process to understand and model leadership according to skills necessary in each context
  • Deploy tools or processes based on existing volunteer engagement that support communities in identifying potential leaders.
  • Invite potential leaders from other social movements to diversify and enrich the Movement through sharing experiences
  • Provide training options (e.g. online, in-person) at local and regional levels to allow individuals to acquire leadership skills
  • Create an outline of roles and skills that contextually encourage self-governance and ensure subsidiarity
Invest in individuals to develop the abilities needed to effect change in the Movement We envision a Movement built by committed, well-trained, socially- and technically-skilled individuals from different backgrounds that reflect the diversity of global communities
33 Skill development infrastructure Invest in new or existing technological infrastructure which facilitates learning of skills through functional, collaborative, real-time tools and quality content Skills development, product, technology * User-friendly, searchable, multilingual, multi-format curated platform to host learning resources
  • Learning resources (e.g. “learning packs”) directed to individuals and organizations joining the Movement to encourage self-directed knowledge acquisition and development of skills
  • Learning packs required to understand issues that relate to scalability, sustainability and any of the areas considered in the Wikimedia Movement Strategy recommendations
  • Procedures to evaluate the quality of learning content and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge at global and local levels

* see also Manage Internal Knowledge

7. Manage Internal Knowledge 34 Facilitate a culture of documentation Facilitate a culture of documentation to become integral to Wikimedia’s work and evaluation and as an outcome in itself Coordination Resource its creation in key areas, such as capacity building, advocacy, partnerships, and technology
35 Establish a movement wide knowledge base Establish a knowledge-base system with access to all Movement learning assets Coordination, product, skills development * Design the knowledge-base to be user-friendly, inclusive, functional, participatory, multilingual, and searchable.
  • Make internal knowledge resources accessible through project platforms so users can be aware of what exists for them to use and where they can find it.
  • Create clear documentation regarding infrastructure development and scalability, to transparently engage more Movement stakeholders.
  • Encourage the creation of metadata for every piece of internal knowledge to support its findability through search tools.

* see also Invest in Skills and Leadership Development

Encourage the growth and maintenance of this knowledge-base * Encourage sprints with focused scope to avoid cost and time overruns.
  • Adapt content, training, and learning to local contexts and involve diverse communities to ensure knowledge is accessible and available in multiple forms.
  • Support the creation of reports to measure and evaluate the Movement’s progress accurately, thus creating better awareness and setting informed priorities.
  • Provide dedicated staff to assist with content curation, discoverability, quality assurance, user support, and to facilitate peer-to-peer matchmaking.
8. Identify Topics for Impact 36 Identify the impact of Wikimedia projects & content Research how our content is used: measuring the coverage, quality, and verifiability of content, the public's trust, and their ability to access and understand our content Product, safety, research This will give us a better understanding of the different ways in which Wikimedia content can make an impact on improving people’s lives.

Prioritize resources accordingly for Wikimedia organizations

Misinformation Understand how our projects can be misused or abused by detecting threats with significant potential for harm Safety, research (such as misinformation, disinformation or scams).
Identifying impactful topics Conduct and support research and analysis to identify topic areas that have a high impact on the world and on knowledge consumers. Research * This requires developing tools to analyze content, creating a shared understanding of impact among Movement stakeholders, and developing relationships with specialized partners.
  • Map topic areas in close collaboration with projects, partners and local communities to benefit from their expertise and ensure their autonomy and independence.
37 List of high-impact topics Encourage coverage of collectively-identified priority topics Coordination, events Projects will benefit from efforts of creating content and from prioritizing resources towards addressing identified gaps
Bridging content gaps Implement initiatives to fill content gaps on topics which may have more impact Coordination, events * While respecting our long-standing principles of welcoming everyone who wishes to contribute to any topic within each project’s guidelines.
  • This might involve community initiatives, outreach, stipends, grants and other funding, partnerships, and employing methodologies supported by technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.
38 Content initiatives in underrepresented communities Advocate for and build capacity around content creation and quality writing in areas where both editors and content are missing Skills development, advocacy for example through regional and thematic hubs.

* see also Invest in Skills and Leadership Development

9. Innovate in Free Knowledge 39 Identifying policies that hinder knowledge equity Consult with communities and experts to identify policies in Wikimedia projects that act as barriers of access to content related to underrepresented communities Coordination, research (e.g. Notability)
40 Policies for experimentation with projects for knowledge equity Experiment and create new projects or policies to address gaps in knowledge equity Coordination, governance, product
Create pathways to new projects, create new functionalities, or encourage communities to create new policies that address these barriers The goal is to allow the inclusion and preservation of all forms of human knowledge in all socio-cultural contexts (e.g. encourage refining reliability criteria to provide guidelines to identify reliable sources from oral or non-Western knowledge resources, encourage ensuring that notability criteria are relevant in all contexts).
41 Continuous experimentation, technology, and partnerships for content, formats, and devices Innovate in different formats, develop new software, integrate tools, establish partnerships and improve our policies Product, technology, partnerships
Build the necessary technology to make free knowledge content accessible in various formats Support more diverse modes of consumption and contribution to our projects (e.g. text, audio, visual, video, geospatial, etc.).
Create tools and partnerships to facilitate bringing content from other data and knowledge bases to our projects
10. Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt 42 Monitoring, evaluation and learning at all levels with support and mutual accountability Learning and evaluation at all levels, to verify our work Coordination, research, technology, resourcing
Provide financial and human resources and expertise for monitoring, evaluation, communicating progress, and learning at all levels of the Movement (global, regional, local)

on each of the recommendations

Learnings to be communicated across our Movement To increase self-awareness, resilience, and accountability among all stakeholders, allowing us to continuously adapt our strategies accordingly and perform periodic reviews to improve.
43 Develop a comprehensive evaluation system for Movement activities and structures - including technology, coordination, capacity, policies and governance Distribute responsibilities around the processes of monitoring, evaluating and learning with all Movement stakeholders so that they have mutual accountability and ensure continual progress. (including coordination and knowledge management)
Evaluate the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of the development of the activities of the Movement. * Continuously evaluate the implementation of the strategy recommendations in real-time, and disseminate to impacted stakeholders.
  • Collaboratively establish common and contextualized indicators and desired impacts for measuring and monitoring progress on the goals of the strategic direction. This would include indicators for equity, advocacy, public policy, diversity in people and content, inclusion and openness towards newcomers, community health, technology, platforms’ usability, and accessibility, among others.
  • Facilitate joint analysis, discussion and learning with the participation of communities and impacted stakeholders as appropriate.
  • Access external, independent research to complement self-evaluation where needed and appropriate (always based on principles of participatory evaluation regarding Programs).
Share and communicate results broadly for each Movement area of work and for strategy recommendations to raise awareness and accountability, both among affiliates and contributors.

* see also Manage Internal Knowledge

44 Iterative change processes Iterate change processes in the areas of technology development, coordination, capacity building, policies, and governance systems, and promote validation after research and testing. This requires us to:
  • Involve affected communities/stakeholders to assure that lessons from evaluation are shared to inform their activities at local and regional levels.
  • Involve affected communities/stakeholders to implement, determine and communicate changes to the strategy recommendations and related activities/programs.
45 Adaptive Policies (flexible policies, structures, budgeting and planning to adapt to global changes) Adapt to meet new and altered situations and challenges by adopting policies and procedures based upon evaluations of the changing Movement and the changing world Coordination, resourcing, governance, product This requires us to:
  • Increase the flexibility and adaptability of the structures and approaches we employ to implement each recommendation.
  • Incorporate evaluation results into decision-making at all institutional levels.
  • Use evaluation results to inform planning and budgeting of Movement stakeholders with fiscal and programmatic responsibilities.
  • Evaluate external conditions (socio-political, legal, environmental, etc.) to anticipate them, act on them if we can, and adapt to changes.