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Erik Möller leaving Foundation; annual plan grants under community review

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By Resident Mario, Tony1, Go Phightins!

Management changes continue: Erik Möller to leave Foundation

Vice president of product and strategy, Erik Möller
The Wikimedia Foundation's vice president of product and strategy, Erik Möller, will leave the WMF on April 30. Executive director Lila Tretikov announced his resignation on the Wikimedia-l mailing list on April 13, thanking him for shepherding her through the past year as executive director. Möller's tenure of seven years has been marked both by immense growth in the size and scope of WMF, as well as by controversies that at times have put him at odds with the community—most notably the "superprotect" issue in 2014.

Möller joined WMF as a staff member in 2008 after spending time as a MediaWiki developer and WMF trustee. In his departing comments on the mailing list, he recalled the "many hats" he has worn while a WMF staffer, and listed his work with universities, the building of VisualEditor, and the fact that "we don't shy away from complex issues" such as diversity, community health, SOPA, and the NSA lawsuit as cherished achievements."

Möller's departure comes amid several changes in the WMF's leadership structure, including the promotion of Luis Villa to senior director of community engagement, and the arrivals of Terry Gilbey as chief operating officer and Kourosh Karimkhany as VP of strategic partnerships.

Möller told the Signpost that as Wikimedia moves in new directions, he hopes the dynamics of how it works will continue: "Site experience changes have always been the most contentious, going back to when I was a volunteer [developer]; I know I've been a persistent troublemaker in that regard, ... We can ease the tensions by improving process, delivery and engagement—and I'm confident the team under Lila will do that. But there will always be areas and moments of conflict, and I personally think that's okay. It's one of the ways we all figure stuff out."

Möller said his best memories are of Wikimanias: "it's been amazing to have this opportunity to be in touch with the community once a year. At Wikimania 2006 in Boston, it was a privilege to introduce the Definition of Free Cultural Works together with Mako Hill, which we later adopted to underpin our Licensing Policy. It was great fun to stay at Mako's place, and there I got to spend some time with Aaron Swartz, who I had met on IRC years before, and was just as brilliant as everyone says."

"Wikimania 2007 in Taiwan to me is still the best Wikimania ever. ... So much space for conversation with delightful people, such a dedicated volunteer team, and what an amazing country to visit. It was also Sue Gardner's introduction to the community, which was lovely to be part of."

Möller is still to make a final decision on whether to take a gap year: "it's an important new point in my own life". He looks back fondly at his WMF work: "It was never easy, not for a moment—you always feel the weight of what you're responsible for, the intense scrutiny that you're going to get, the ways people will judge you personally or professionally. When things get heated, sometimes you need to be able to just detach. It can be all-consuming—it's not been rare for me to be at the office till midnight wrapping up on some issue or other."

"We've had many debates over the years over things big and small. I worked pretty closely with Mike Godwin and lots of other people on the migration from GFDL to CC-BY-SA, for example, and the amount of discussion on mailing lists and wikis about that alone fills volumes (or feels that way). Again, it was tough—but also rewarding." GP, T

Annual plan grants bids up for community review

Applications in the latest round of biannual annual plan grants (APG) process are now up for community review. APGs are allocated to support the overall annual plans of eligible Wikimedia affiliates to achieve mission objectives; the APG scheme takes up the largest proportion of grantmaking resources. There are six applications:

CIS-A2K: The Centre for Internet and Society is a Bangalore-based Indian NGO concerned with technological advocacy and multidisciplinary research in Internet and society. It is involved with Wikimedia India via the Access to Knowledge (A2K) program, a long-standing project ongoing since 2011, organized and funded in collaboration with the Foundation. They are asking for just over US$200,000 to fund the continuation of "qualitative and quantitative growth of 12 Wikimedia projects across 9 Indian languages and associated communities, in addition to providing need based support to other Indic communities".

Wikimedia Armenia: The chapter's proposal asks for slightly more than $120,000, a total that, compared to last year's disbursement of just under $100,000, is just in range of the Funds Dissemination Committee's recommended 20% maximum year-on-year bump. The budget covers two part-time staff hires (0.5 full-time equivalent each) and will cover several educational programs, a Wiki Loves Monuments initiative, and a yearly Wikicamp that last year led to the creation of 6,000 Wikipedia articles, the proofreading of 2,000 Wikisource pages, 6,600 entries in Wiktionary, and 500 files on Commons. 300 articles were also created in Western Armenian: "One of the goals of WMAM this year is the establishment and development of the Western Armenian Wikipedians' community, [to improve] article quality in Western Armenian, as well as find possible ways to open [a] Western Armenian Wikipedia."

Wikimedia France: As one of the largest affiliates, WMFR has set out a proposal for just over $670,000 in funding. The organization outlined their plan in terms of "six axes": training sessions, especially an iteration of the increasingly popular (in chapters) "training the trainers" program to facilitate community-to-community outreach; regional development through the financing of local projects and partnerships with "local authorities", for instance by creating more contributor spaces across France and facilitating photographic work; general public engagement through engagement with local and national fairs and competitions and work to be done on developing the organization's media coverage; international practical action to support the production of content related to the global south; and work on the organization's "quality policy" and communication with donors and the public.

Wikimedia Italy: The bid is for $166,680. The theme is structural: the organization aims to recruit "new volunteers and a re-organization of volunteers' activities on a geographical basis through the introduction of national and local coordinators for the main programs." A reorganization of the staff is forthcoming, with attention to Wikimedia Italy's brand awareness and "diversification of funding" (not unlike the recently begun efforts of the Wikimedia Foundation itself). An educational project is to be launched nationally, a partnership with the OpenStreetMap Foundation is being organized, and more "structured" cooperation with Wikidata are planned. Metrics of note for the organization are: "a more efficient structure, an increased users' involvement, a greater visibility of WMIT's activities among general public and cultural institutions, the systematic introduction of need assessments and indicators." The organization has published a lengthy 102-page annual plan.

Wikimedia Norway: The application is for some $260,000, presenting a threefold plan. First there is the organization's GLAM program, which aims to increase institutional sharing of cultural data to Wikipedia and to Commons. Particular efforts on this front will go towards interactions between institutions and volunteers and staff, the establishment of a Wikipedia Library, a Wikipedian-in-residence, and making inroads outside the capital, Oslo. Second is a Gender Gap Project, recently launched in collaboration with several university libraries and made possible in part by external funding from partnering non-profit institutions. And there is an Academic Wikipedia Program to cooperate with academic institutions to attract new editors among their students and enhance familiarity with Wikipedia in the Norwegian academic and research communities. Three Norwegian university institutions are experimenting with Wikipedia editing at the moment, and the chapter is seeking co-operation with the Norwegian Research Council.

Wikimedia South Africa: Asking for just under $100,000, WMZA is an APG newcomer. The chapter's focus is linguistic, aiming "to support a vibrant multilingual and multicultural content community that generates and disseminates content that is used, and [undertaken] by the local and global community. With 11 official languages, South Africans are well-placed to contribute not only to the English and Afrikaans Wikipedias, but to smaller Wikipedias." Programs are split into three categories. The first is community outreach, focusing on the language projects and outreach efforts like the JoburgpediA project. The second is institutional outreach going out to a variety of South African non-governmental organizations, as well as an intent to "engage" "government entities" in Kiwix, an open-source offline resource project (for more on Kiwix see recent blog posts). The last category is "international collaboration", covering platform support for editors and "awareness of [the] Wikimedia movement", a topic of common interest both to chapter organizations and the Wikimedia Foundation as of late.

Editors are encouraged to peruse the applications and offer critical comment on the talkpages. R

Brief notes

  • WMF office move: A discussion occurred on the WM mailing list on the topic of the Foundation's current home city, San Francisco, and the prospects of a potential move. The WMF moved there from St. Petersburg, Florida in 2007, and its current location is cited by many as being an important element of the Foundation's talent attraction and retention abilities—yet San Francisco is also often cited as the most expensive US city. To mitigate this cost burden both on the Foundation itself and on the public non-profit salaried staff, the WMF solicits and encourages a remote workforce: on this topic Steven Walling said that "I wouldn't be surprised if close to half of staff are based remotely." Garfield Byrd, chief of finance and administration, wrote that "at this point, WMF is not planning on moving out of the San Francisco market area ... the advantages of having good access to [the] talented people and organizations WMF interacts with far outweigh any advantages to moving to a lower cost location outside of the San Francisco market area." Executive director Lila Tretikov stated that: R
  • RfC on steward rights renewal: A request for comment was made on the meta-wiki proposing a clarification in the annual re-confirmation of stewards after their initial election. Stewards have the highest level of user-rights in the movement—full access to all user-rights and user-right assignment privileges on all wikis—and are the core of the projects' emergency response and small-wiki response teams. As of publication time the proposal looked unlikely to pass. R
The Wiki Education Foundation's outreach manager Samantha Erickson speaking to members of the University of Arizona "Geo Club" at a presentation on editing in February.
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The WMF should move to either Virginia or Nebraska, for neutrality reasons. Alternatively, they could move back to their original foundation location. Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 15:02, 18 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That makes a lot of sense — in a parallel universe inhabited by flying pigs with a penchant for wearing pink berets. Viriditas (talk) 19:22, 18 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Golly, I didn't realise that we had flying pigs wearing pink berets. You'll have to introduce me to them sometime.
Also, if we are in a parallel universe, what universe is our universe parallel to? Tharthandorf Aquanashi (talk) 20:32, 18 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
There is a Commons category for flying pigs, but none of them appear to have pink berets. We should address this gap in our coverage. Gamaliel (talk) 21:01, 18 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

So no one is going to mention the elephant in the room? That pushing such half-finished software on the communities like VisualEditor, & creating Superprotect then using it to enforce his will on de.wikipedia cost Erik Möller his job? -- llywrch (talk) 06:11, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Llywrch, nice theory, but first, we try to keep it to the facts, and second, I think you'd have a great deal of trouble building a circumstantial case to support the theory. I do not believe it, myself. Tony (talk) 06:27, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
J'accusations are not publishable in this venue—N&N is neutral. ResMar 16:57, 20 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
My remark was not about the article, but the lack of comments to it.

And it is either quite naive or very disingenuous to state that Möller had nothing to do with VisualEditor. He was CTO while it was being designed, coded & tested; ultimate responsibility for its failures -- & successes -- are his. What was done reflected, in a general way, what he expected; if it did not, then the people responsible were acting against his wishes, & he should have been fired long ago for gross negligence of his duties.

But back to the lack of comments on this article. Maybe that shows that the community has moved on & it is no longer a sore spot with many Wikipedians. But if it did, I would expect at least one comment defending what Möller did as CTO. More likely, IMHO, most Wikipedians lack any serious interest in the Foundation or its employees -- beyond blaming them for any & all problems. If so, that would be troubling: many Wikipedians feel the Foundation's lack of engagement with the communities harms both, but that could be easily solved (it's amazing how fast people respond when their paycheck is on the line); a lack of engagement by the average Wikipedian with the people & processes that shape the environment they work is not as easily fixed. -- llywrch (talk) 16:21, 21 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The fact that Erik was never CTO (the last CTO at the Foundation was Danese Cooper) sort of signifies how little you are informed about the Foundation's structure or goings-on. Which then makes this claim seem a little thin.--Jorm (talk) 16:43, 21 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm. CTO is an abbreviation for "chief technology officer", which means he's the guy at the top of the org chart who manages all technology issues. According to his profile, Möller was "Deputy Director and Vice President of Engineering and Product Development", which means he's the guy at the top of the org chart who manages all technology issues. It seems to me these to be synonyms, so saving a few seconds as I type this out while my 8-month-old daughter is taking a nap -- & could wake at any moment -- was foremost in my mind. But you are welcome to disagree with me. Of course someone who didn't work for the Foundation developing technology might think you are splitting hairs over a job title, which then makes your claim a little thin, Jorm. -- llywrch (talk) 04:41, 22 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
 Llywrch: It's obvious to all observers that the WMF is going through a major restructuring. Was Moller a casualty of said reorganization? He could have been. Depending on who you ask...it may even have been likely. But will we ever know for sure? I doubt it. Hence, conjecture, which we do not publish. Take that as you will.
 Jorm: I have frustratingly little comprehension of what WMF internal organization is like and I've been writing a weekly section on internal news about the same for the past month (and for two stints before that). Short of getting a job there these distinctions are not graspable by us editors, and frankly your dash at Llywrch strikes me as borderline uncivil. ResMar 05:00, 22 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
"[Moeller] should have been fired long ago for gross negligence of his duties" seems pretty uncivil too (and pretty dissonant, when it's in the same post as "IMHO, most Wikipedians lack any serious interest in the Foundation or its employees -- beyond blaming them for any & all problems") - I notice you not pushing back on that. Is that because you agree with it, and civility enforcement is for people you disagree with, or? Ironholds (talk) 15:50, 23 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
 Ironholds: You took what he was saying out of context, then drove five more miles upriver just for good measure.
Also, on second reading:
...most Wikipedians lack any serious interest in the Foundation or its employees -- beyond blaming them for any & all problems...
Amen. That's good because they shouldn't have to care, but moreso bad because the fact that they don't leads to superprotect et al. We do what we can to bridge the information gap. ResMar 20:20, 23 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
There's a context in which it is acceptable to call a staffer 'grossly negligent' and advocating they be fired, while bemoaning that nobody seems inclined to work closely with the community? My. What a fascinating place that must be. Ironholds (talk) 23:12, 23 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
 Ironholds: What was done reflected, in a general way, what he expected; if it did not, then the people responsible were acting against his wishes, & he should have been fired long ago for gross negligence of his duties. That's a description of how jobs work, not an accusation of anything. ResMar 13:56, 26 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]
You're the one who called it an "accusation"; I merely said it was unacceptable. Ironholds (talk) 19:46, 26 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]


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