Emerging strategic priorities/si

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කාර්ය බලකායක් සමන්විත වනුයේ 2009 ඔක්තෝබර් හිදී අධිකාරලත් කුඩා කණ්ඩායමක් වන අතර, ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණ වනුයේ එක් මූලෝපාය මාතෘකාවන් ගවේෂණය කොට, 2009 දෙසැම්බර වන විට නිර්දේශයන් මාලාවක් එළිදරවු කිරීමයි.

එක් එක් කාර්ය බලකාය සඳහා බලකා සාමාජීකයන් ~5 සිටින අතර ඔවුනට සහය සැපයීමට මාතෘකා-විශේෂිත හෝ නිපුණතා-විශේෂිත උපදේශක කණ්ඩායමක් සිටිනු ඇත. කාර්යයයෙහි ගැඹුරින් නිමග්න විය යුතු අවශ්‍යතාවය පරිදි, කාර්ය බලකා සාමාජිකයන් විසින්, 2009 ඔක්තෝබර 1 දා සිට 2009 දෙසැම්බර 18 දින දක්වා කාල තුලදී, සාමාන්‍යය වශයෙන් සතියකට පැය දහයක පමණ කාල සීමාවක් මේ සඳහා වෙන් කරනු ඇතැයි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙයි.

විකිමාධ්‍ය පදනම විසින් කාර්ය බලකා තේරීම් කමිටුවක් ස්ථාපනය කොට ඇති අතර, ඔවුන්ගේ වගකීම වනුයේ එක් එක් කාර්ය බලකායෙහි සේවය කරන්නේ කවුරුන්ද යන වග තීරණය කොට ඔවුන් කුමක් සිදු කරන්නේද යන වග නියම කිරීමය.

විෂය-පථය පුළුල් කෙරුම

ESP 1. විශාල, මැනැවින්-සම්බන්ධිත ගහනයන් තුල

Determine how to significantly increase usage and participation in large geographic regions with large language populations (> 50M speakers) where the Wikimedia projects are currently under-performing relative to the opportunity. (Opportunity = large number of literate, educated, internet-connected people.)

ESP 1 Task Forces

Improving performance in China - How to realize the full potential of the Wikimedia projects among the 300 million and growing Chinese people, addressing challenges of openness and competition. The Wikimedia projects underperform in China both in terms of reach and participation, primarily because the projects have often been inaccessible in China, and because other sites have developed there which cover some of the same work that we do. The purpose of the task force will be to figure out how the Wikimedia projects can increase reach and participation inside China. This task force will focus solely on Chinese people who have internet access. Note this task force would benefit from a survey of Chinese readers and editors, plus non-readers.
Improving performance in India - How to realize the full potential of the Wikimedia projects among the 100 million and growing Indian people with all of their diversity (languages in particular). The Wikimedia projects underperform in India both in terms of reach and participation, which is in some ways surprising because many of the factors that typically are success indicators for Wikimedia are present in India: a large number of literate, internet-connected people live there, Indian culture values freedom of speech and education, and is tech-centric and tech-positive compared with many other parts of the world. There are many factors contributing to Wikimedia's under-performance in India: these probably include cultural issues, lack of awareness of the Wikimedia projects, and language issues. The purpose of this task force will be to figure out how the Wikimedia projects can increase reach and participation inside India. This task force will focus solely on Indian people who have Internet access. Note this task force would benefit from a survey of Indian readers and editors, plus non-readers.

This emerging strategic priority has been explored in depth in the paper Expand reach within large, well-connected populations.

Note: Key questions that relate to this task force and priority can be found here.

ESP 2. Within mid-sized connected and under-connected populations

Determine how to significantly increase usage and participation in large geographic regions with medium-size language populations (5M to 30M speakers), where the Wikimedia projects are currently under-performing relative to the opportunity. (Opportunity = number of literate, educated, internet-connected people).

Investigate the opportunity for reaching large geographic regions with large and medium language populations of people with limited or no access to the Internet.

ESP 2 Task Forces

Improving performance in Middle East & North Africa (Arabic languages) - There are 1 billion native Arabic speakers in the world across a range of countries. Wikimedia has started to grow in Arabic and the question is how to reach full potential. The purpose of this task force is to identify barriers to reach and participation in the Arabic-language projects, and figure out how to increase reach and participation. Note this task force would benefit from a survey of Arabic-language readers and editors, plus non-readers.
Improving performance in local/regional languages in Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern & Western Europe - There are 78 languages used daily by greater than 10M speakers representing almost 5 billion people. Wikimedia has mixed success in creating vibrant language sites. What are the approaches and models that will enable broadening and deepening of Wikimedia in these languages. This task force will focus on increasing usage and participation among widely-used languages which are underperforming relative to other widely-used languages. (For the purposes of this task force, we will focus on the highest-potential languages -- e.g., languages with the largest numbers of literate, Internet-connected people speaking them on a daily basis.) The purpose of this task force is to identify barriers-to-usage and barriers-to-participation that are common to many or all highest-potential languages, not including Chinese, the Indian languages, and Arabic, which are being covered by other task forces -- and to figure out how to increase reach and participation in those languages. Note this task force might benefit from a carefully-designed cross-language survey.
Connecting Wikimedia to those without or with limited Internet access - The knowledge available in Wikimedia's projects is accessible primarily to those on the Internet. There are close to 5 billion - almost all disadvantaged - people who are unconnected to Wikimedia. Wikimedians have created a range of initiatives to take Wikimedia offline and/or into new forms. How might Wikimedia create platforms/initiatives/partnerships for accessibility at a scale that can bring billions more into the Wikimedia community. We assume that eventually, everybody will be online (why?? Lkcl 22:34, 30 September 2009 (UTC)). The job of this task force is to develop a short and medium term strategy for making Wikimedia project material available to people who are not currently connected to the Internet. Note this task force might benefit from a survey of NGO-type organizations and individuals working with less-connected populations, and/or from some targeted deep interviews with same.

Key questions related to this strategic priority can be found here.

Improving Quality Content

ESP 3. Expansion of available high quality information

Review and evaluate the potential for Wikimedia to significantly increase the quality and scope of content available, including the evaluation of current projects that exist or new projects that need to be built as well as the implications for quality control mechanisms in these areas.

ESP 3 Task Forces

Improve quality and quality assurance processes - How should Wikimedia both continue to ensure and improve quality of knowledge and increase transparency of quality. The scope of this work group will cover both "social" and technical ways to improve quality: for example, how can Wikimedia best engage with schools and subject-matter experts to improve quality, as well as quality-labelling/supporting tools such as Flagged Revs and article assessment/rating tools. This discussion may include non-textual contributions, as well (such as images and videos).
Toward the sum of all knowledge in the encyclopedia, project and beyond - Where are the big opportunities for knowledge growth (e.g., education, news, others) that build on Wikimedia's approaches, tools and commnuity

Note: Key questions related to this strategic priority can be found here.

Enhancing Community

ESP 4. Strengthen the community

Determine how to strengthen the health and build the diversity of the contributors to Wikimedia's projects through increased conversion of readers, increased diversity, improved community health and culture, and increased emphasis on building specific under-represented community groups

ESP 4 Task Forces

Improve reader conversion: It's normal for participatory online projects to have many more readers than participants, and there are lots of good justifications for why participation (as a proportion of readers) in the Wikimedia projects might be lower than in projects with a more social or open-ended purpose, and/or projects that target people in wealthy parts of the world. Nonetheless, Wikimedia aspires to make available "the sum total of all human knowledge," and the larger our pool of participants, the closer we will be to achieving that goal. The purpose of this task force is to identify, and develop a strategy for fixing, whatever barriers are keeping readers from participating. Note this task force would benefit from a survey of non-editing readers.
Improve diversity: Wikimedia aspires to collect and share the sum total of all human knowledge. For us to do that well, we need a diverse array of contributors. To date, the core Wikimedia editor demographic is well-educated, tech-centric, non-partnered, childless young men in developed countries. Over time, the community of editors has become more insular and less friendly to newcomers. The purpose of this task force is to investigate ways to increase participation among groups that are currently under-represented in the Wikimedia community. Note this task force would benefit from a survey of non-editing readers (focusing analysis on respondents who are under-represented within the community) as well as focus groups and interviews.
Enhance community health and culture: The goal of this task force is to develop a strategy for retention and good community health: how can Wikimedia ensure an active, healthy core community of editors. Note this task force might benefit from a survey of current and former editors, and/or some in-depth interviews.
Simplify and reduce policy proliferation: This task force will also look into wiki-lawyering, policy proliferation, and the picking up or cross-pollination of policies from more mature projects to newer projects and the potential for stiffling growth and innovation for these newer projects.
Increase contribution from groups with high potential to add value task force: The goal of this task force is identify high-potential groups that could add value to the Wikimedia projects.

This emerging strategic priority has been explored in depth at Strengthen the community.
Note: Key questions for this ESP can be found here.

ESP 5. Optimize Wikimedia's operations

Determine how the various Wikimedia players can best work together, and with external parties, to advance the mission in terms of: organizational structure, governance, roles between staff and volunteers.

Determine sources for financial sustainability.

Determine path forward for continuous technological improvement and advancement.

ESP 5 Task Forces

Movement roles – How can the various Wikimedia players best work together to advance the mission. Key questions include: In a volunteer-driven organization, what types of work are volunteers best-suited to, and what types of work are paid staff best-suited to (what is the most effective role of paid staff). What is the most effective role of the chapters in advancing the mission. What organizational structures are required to advance the mission, but are currently missing, and how can they be fostered and developed. What is the role of loose or informal organizational structures, and how can they be supported and how should money be moved among organizational structures and individual Wikimedians, to maximally advance our shared work.
Financial sustainability - What are the options available to Wikimedia to either generate income to support the work of Wikimedia on a sustainable basis in perpetuity?
Alliances and partnerships – How can the Wikimedia movement best partner up with other institutions and organizations to advance the mission (e.g., partnerships with businesses, foundations and educational/informational institutions, to increase distribution, encourage participation, or increase quality). What kinds of partnerships will advance the mission most, and who should lead their development. What are the necessary preconditions and how can we ensure they're in place. Note this task force might benefit from a survey of current/potential partners, and/or some in-depth interviews.
Innovation and usability – How can the Wikimedia movement ensure continual innovation and usability so its work is maximally useful for intended recipients.
Technology and ops - What is the infrastructure and dev community required to evolve Wikimedia platform for great scale, usability and format.
Advocacy agenda – Fulfillment of the Wikimedia mission is dependent on unimpeded global access to information online. How can the Wikimedia movement best shape and influence public perception and public policy, internationally, in order to support development of an environment conducive to its work.

Note: Key questions related to this emerging priority can be found here.

Procedure

Task Force Mandate

The Task Forces will have the mandate to:

Convene on their assigned topic
Consult the guiding paper, fact bases and summary interview notes already developed in Phase 1 of this strategy project
Consult with advisors
Conduct additional primary (interviews, focus groups) and secondary research (reports, statistics) as needed
Develop preliminary findings
Formulate tentative conclusions
Propose recommendations
Report on the assigned topic

NOTE: Mandates will be finalized by the Selection Committee

In support of these mandates, each Task Force will be given the following:

Set of strategic questions which should guide their work
Contact list of topic advisors who would be willing to provide input
Guiding paper which identifies and provides supporting evidence for strategic priorities
In depth fact bases on Reach, Content, and Participation, including detailed data analyses
Tools and templates to support conducting interviews, doing analyses, and creating the final deliverable

Task Force Selection Process

Task Force participants will be chosen from an open application process. People may apply to serve on a task force from September 16 through September 25, 2009, or until 2,000 applications are submitted, whichever comes first. Additionally, the Selection Committee may invite others to participate in the process.

The Task Force Selection Committee along with volunteers will go through a deliberation process on a private Wiki to determine the appropriate task forces. This will be a two step process. The first step will be an initial screen to create a task force pool. The second step will be assignment to a specific Task Force either as a Task Force member or advisor.

In step 1, all applications will be reviewed and scored 1 to X based on a set of criteria. A minimum of 2 reviews for each application will be done and the scores averaged. The goal for step 1 is to identify a potential pool of ~200 applicants for step 2.

In step 2, the Selection Committee and volunteers will draft a top list of applicants per Task Force based on fit criteria. After each Task Force has been drafted, there will be a balancing done across Task Forces to ensure, as best as possible, equal distribution of expertise and skill. Once this private deliberation has been done, Task Force assignments will be posted and assigned members and advisors contacted.

It is anticipated this announcement will take place on October 5, 2009.

Task Force Work

Each Task Force will be expected to do their work on this Wiki. They may also decide to use other tools to coordinate their work. They will be able to work in any mutually agreed upon language. However, final work products will be expected in English (to be translated into other languages).

The Selection Committee will ask one participant on each Task Force to serve as the group's facilitator, who will be responsible for facilitating conversation, keeping the group on track, and making sure the group fulfills its responsibilities.

Task Forces will produce:

Weekly status reports here on the wiki
Recommendations of strategic priorities for their specific topic area, with supporting facts and requirements. A first draft of these recommendations will be due on November 20, 2009. The final draft will be due on December 18, 2009.

Open Community Process

The Task Forces described above will do their work openly on this wiki, subject to the same processes inherent in any open wiki. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to engage constructively in the work of the different Task Forces.

Additionally, while the Task Forces described above will be appointed by a selection team, we see no reason why motivated individuals should not be able to use the same tools and templates to form their own Task Forces. We'd encourage these groups to share their work openly on this wiki as well.