Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee/Procedure for Sibling Project Lifecycle/revised

This is a revised version of the Procedure for Sibling Project Lifecycle based on the public consultation. The main changes:

• There's a more apparent distinction between the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and Wikimedia Movement;
• The proposed name "Siblings Projects" is untranslatable in many languages. Therefore, Wikimedia content projects in different languages, such as English Wikipedia and Yoruba Wikipedia, are called "Language Projects", and separate non-Wikipedia Wikimedia projects, such as Wiktionary or Commons, are called "Wikimedia Projects"— two words, capital letters.
• There's distinction between submitting the proposal for opening new Wikimedia Projects and closing them: the former is done publicly on Meta, the latter can be submitted to the responsible committee [to be determined] and will be published with the sensitive information, for example, copyright violations, redacted.
• The proposal for opening or closing a Wikimedia Project can come not only from a group of individuals, but from the entities such as an affiliate.

Introduction

This procedure outlines the steps and requirements for opening new Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia projects aim to create, curate, and disseminate free knowledge to the world. Before initiating a new project, the committee will ensure that it aligns with the Wikimedia Foundation's mission and values and evaluate the financial and technical resources required by Wikimedia Foundation and the Community to support it.

Project Proposal

Prepare a formal project proposal that includes: Required information:

• List the responsible initiative group(s) and/or entities (for example, Wikimedia Foundation, affiliates), including those who did not design the proposal but are interested in contributing - usernames, length of involvement in the Wikimedia projects, and extended user rights, if any. It is unlikely that the project proposal by one person will be accepted.
• Description: A description of the project, its scope, goals, and objectives. Explain how it aligns with the mission and integrates into existing projects (if possible).
• Community Evaluation: Document community activity and assess the number of active editors and editors with extended rights (if any).
• Content Scope: Define the scope of the project's content, including formats (e.g., text, media, data), languages (monolingual or multilingual), and topics.
• Technical Requirements: Infrastructure and tools required to host and maintain the project. (if known)

Link to a working pilot or demo site if one exists. This can be supported by a Project incubator (such as WikiSpore) Publish documentation on Meta and submit the proposal on [PAGE].

• Optional information: Support from the Wikimedia Foundation, an established affiliate or Hub will increase the chances of project opening/adoption.

Evaluation of the new proposal

• Research and Feasibility Study: Conduct thorough research to ascertain the need and potential impact of the proposed project. Assess whether an existing Wikimedia project can accommodate the proposed content. Assess the main alternative non-wikimedia projects.
• Legal and Copyright Compliance: Ensure the proposed project meets legal and copyright requirements. Determine the licensing and copyright status of content to be included.
• Financial assessment: Projected costs for start-up. Projected upkeep for the first few years
• Engage with Community: Engage with the Wikimedia community, including editors, volunteers, and stakeholders. Seek input and feedback on the proposed project idea to ensure community support.

If all requirements are met and the evaluation is possible, recommend to the CAC for consideration.

Project Pre-approval

Submit the project proposal to the CAC for review and approval based on the following criteria:

• Alignment with Mission: Ensure the project aligns with the Wikimedia Movement's mission of promoting free knowledge.

Community Support: Assess the level of support and engagement from the Wikimedia community.

• Legal and Copyright Compliance: Verify that the project complies with legal and copyright requirements.
• Technical Feasibility: Confirm the technical feasibility of hosting and maintaining the project.
• Financial Feasibility: ensuring it is financially possible to support a new project.

Recommend the outcome. Prepare the recommendation for the CAC:

• Decline - the proposed project does not meet the criteria required for a new Sibling Project.
• Recommend in principle but propose hosting outside the Wikimedia Foundation.
• Recommend opening a new Wikimedia Project.

If everything above is positive, CAC will recommend the proposal for Board approval.

Closing projects, including adoption, merging, etc.

In general, closing a project will result in its content remaining publicly available (e.g., by making the wiki read-only); no content will disappear unless there are legal concerns (e.g., systematic copyright infringements). Prepare a formal project proposal that includes the following information and submit it to the relevant Wikimedia Foundation Board Committee:

• List the responsible initiative group and/or entities (for example, Wikimedia Foundation, affiliates), usernames, length of involvement in the Wikimedia projects, and user rights. One user's application may be speedily declined.
• Identify the Need: Determine the specific reasons for considering the closure of a Wikimedia project. The need to close a project should be based on compelling reasons, such as
  • Lack of impact on other Wikimedia projects and broader Internet infrastructure
  • Severe lack of community activity
  • Legal issues that cannot otherwise be resolved
  • Significant misuse that cannot otherwise be resolved
  • Strong external project to merge with
  • Sustainability / Lack of resources to properly

Community Consultation: Extensive consultation with the affected community is crucial before closing a Wikimedia project. This consultation should be open and transparent, allowing all stakeholders to express their opinions and concerns. In case of the final decision of the “project closure,” the project can be

• Merged with a different sister project
• Retain a limited access to editing,
• Archived,
• Offered for hosting on a different platform,
• In extreme cases (close to 100% copyright violation or misleading information) deleted.

The submitted proposal will be made public on [PAGE] after the redaction of the sensitive information (if any).

Glossary

• Adoption: Wikimedia Foundation hosts a new content project based on MediaWiki software (or not, considering tech support projects: Wikistats, Wkitech,etc.), with a standalone domain and fully linked with the other projects (i.e. not only in Wikilabs).
• CAC: Community Affairs Committee, a part of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
• Language Committee - Wikimedia Foundation Board-associated volunteer wikimedians committee, which makes decisions about opening and closing of the existing language versions of the existing content projects
• Language projects: wikimedia content projects in different languages, such as English Wikipedia and Yoruba Wikipedia.
• Wikimedia Projects: existing content Wikimedia projects such as Spanish Wikipedia or German Wikisource, and candidates for new out-of-the-scope projects such as Wikijournal or Vikidia.
• Wikistats: example: Wikimedia Statistics - English Wikiquote