Strategic Planning/WMF Strategic Plan: Fit to WMAU

Below are the line items from the WMF Strategic Plan. Add your thoughts as to whether there is potential for WMAU to do something in this area. At this stage, don't worry about resourcing, risk or priorities - they can come after we've fleshed out the total spectrum of what's possible.

==Stabilise Infrastructure==


===Make technology investments to guarantee the permanence of projects and support ongoing growth.===

*'''Build new data centers''' with automatic failover features to reduce the likelihood of outages and ensure the continued operations of the site in the case of catastrophic events.  

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:10, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Deploy additional caching centers''' in key locations to serve growing audiences in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. 

WMAU could provide a a caching centre or lobby for an Australian institution (e.g. major GLAM, university) to provide a caching centre - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:12, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Improve stability and security''' by resourcing to eliminate single points of failure, apply critical upgrades, and implement disaster recovery plans.

WMAU might have a role in providing mirrors or backups, but need to know more of WMF's plans before WMAU role could be formulated - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:12, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Manage the MediaWiki release cycle''' to ensure it meets the evolving needs of readers and editors. 

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:10, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Develop clear documentation and APIs''' to enable developers to create applications that work easily with MediaWiki.  

WMAU could provide tools and/or advice on interchange between MediaWiki and Australian resources (e.g. [http://trove.nla.gov.au/ Trove]) - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:14, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Expand public awareness and support for the Wikimedia movement.===
*'''Spread information''' about Wikimedia’s mission, vision, values and practices. 	Help people better understand our work, and motivate them to help us do it.

WMAU could run public seminars - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:19, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Grow the number of Wikimedia donors''', to ensure steady, robust support.

WMAU could reinforce the importance of donations  in public seminars. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:19, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could approach major Australian organisations which might use WMF services or share values with WMF to provide large donations. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:19, 8 May 2011 (EST)

From a Treasurer's point of view, this is pretty important.  Something like 90% of our funding is via the WMF fundraiser at the moment, obviously diversifying and broadening our revenue base is desirable.  [[User:Lankiveil|Lankiveil]] 09:53, 8 May 2011 (EST).

*'''Increase capacity''' to safeguard the movement's reputation and support the advancement of legal conditions that enable unimpeded access to information online, worldwide.

WMAU could provide documentation on how WMF's licensing and practices relates to Australia's copyright, privacy & other legislation. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:19, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could provide a FAQ for Australians wishing to create WMF content in relation to Austrlaian legislation, policies & practices. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:19, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Build internal capacity to better support the movement and achieve its strategic goals.===
*'''Increase capacity''' by adding new staff to catalyze, support and partner with community members.   

(Reinterpreting this with WMAU members instead of WMF staff) WMAU could recruit more WMAU members through its public seminars. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:21, 8 May 2011 (EST)

==Increase Participation==


===Encourage the health and growth of Wikimedia communities and the projects they sustain.===

*'''Develop new features and tools''', such as a rich-text editor, enhanced navigation, and social functionality, to make editing easier and more fun. 

WMAU could provide features and tools that integrated with Australian-based tools (an existing example of this is the Australian Digitised Newspapers having Wikipedia citations as one of their citation formats). - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:30, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Support the recruitment and acculturation of newer contributors''' by encouraging a welcoming environment on the Wikimedia projects, as well as supporting community leaders who are eager to serve as recruiters, guides and mentors for newer volunteers. 

WMAU could have a mailing list for Aussie editors. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:30, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMF already host a mailing list, see [https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/WikimediaAU-l].  While the title is "for matters relating to the planned Australian chapter," for a long time it was also used for general discussion of Australian topics.  I can see a space for a new list, open to anyone who is interested, maintained by WMAU, for general discussion of matters of interest to Australian editors.  [[User:Lankiveil|Lankiveil]] 09:57, 8 May 2011 (EST).

*'''Encourage diversity''' by conducting outreach among groups that have the potential to bring new expertise to the projects, as well as by supporting leaders from underrepresented groups in their efforts to cultivate new members from within their communities. 

WMAU could conduct a survey to identify underrepresented groups in the Australian community and provide seminars and support through "peak bodies" in those groups. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:30, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Support offline and social events''' to increase community cohesion and commitment to the projects. 

WMAU could host an annual Australian Wikimedia conference/gathering. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:30, 8 May 2011 (EST)
WMAU could host smaller more frequent gatherings in major cities. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:30, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Create products and services''' that support affiliation and excellence among Wikimedians. 

WMAU could have some system of Aussie rewards, possibly including funding travel to Australian Wikimedian events. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:30, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Expand Wikimedia’s global footprint through catalytic investments and chapter support.===

*'''Design and deploy catalyst teams''' to pilot activities spurring growth in readership and editing in the high-priority areas of '''India, Brazil,''' and the Arabic-speaking areas of the '''Middle East and North Africa. '''	

WMAU probably cannot contribute directly to this, but could target international students in Australia from these regions to develop them as potential leaders on their return to their home countries. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:41, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Support Wikimedia chapters''' with financial or other assistance to enable them to serve their local Wikimedia communities effectively, and contribute to the health and growth of the overall movement. A priority will be pursuing outreach to expand and increase diversity in the contributor base.  

WMAU could support (financially or otherwise) activities in nearby nations without their own Wikimedia Chapter, e.g. Pacific Islands. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:41, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could also promote the development of sub chapters at state or regional level to broaden both the membership base and user base. [[User:Gnangarra|Gnan]][[User_talk:Gnangarra|garra]] 11:39, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Facilitate community efforts''' to create organizational models and structures that support the Wikimedia projects.

WMAU could try to encourage Australian organisations to take some reponsibility for the quality and currency of articles in Wikipedia relevant to them, e.g. schools on articles about their local community. And WMAU send them a periodic reminder of the need to update these articles along with a WMAU newsletter. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:41, 8 May 2011 (EST)

Encourage a Wikipedia Editor role in relevant Australian organisations (e.g. GLAMs, historical societies) to apply edits requested by less-edit-capable members. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:41, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Support volunteer initiatives''' that fuel the growth of communities and projects around the world, including meet-ups, public outreach activities and other volunteer innovations. 

WMAU could run such events in Australia and provide guidelines and advice for others planning such things - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:39, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could explore public liability insurance to cover volunteer initiatives relating to WMF activities. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:39, 8 May 2011 (EST)
::would like to think the committee has already done this, if it hasnt then it should be priority because PLi is needed for any/every event WM-au organise. Its also needed anytime they send a representative to an event. [[User:Gnangarra|Gnan]][[User_talk:Gnangarra|garra]] 11:34, 8 May 2011 (EST)

==Improve Quality==

===Support our volunteer community through technology improvements to article assessment, by community members, readers and experts.===
*'''Develop improved tools''' for near real-time assessment of information additions and changes by experienced Wikimedia community members.

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:11, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Systematically collect input from readers and subject-matter experts to perform both surface and depth reviews of the largest possible number of articles. '''

WMAU could identify or develop lists of Australian experts or key Australian resources, especially with regard to Australian content. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:44, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could prepare checklists/templates for Australian content on various kinds, e.g. cities, animals, to try to ensure that all articles of that kind cover off all key aspects (e.g. population data for cities, method of reproduction of animals). Checklists could include links to key Australian resources where such information might be found (e.g. ABS for population data) - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:58, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Provide support to the Wikimedia movement in the development of institutional partnerships and alliances.===

*'''Provide project funding''' for efforts to connect Wikimedia projects with the work of institutions of culture and learning.

WMAU could identify out-of-copyright resources held by institutions that could be made more available via WMF projects or via the institutions themselves. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:36, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could try to persuade institutions to make resources over which they hold copyright more freely available, via themselves or WMF, particularly where the copyright is in the digitisation of a non-copyright original work or where they are deriving little/no economic value from their copyright. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:36, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU provides funding to support Wikipedian-in-Residence in institutions to progress the ditigisation of such resources. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:50, 8 May 2011 (EST)


*'''Give global visibility''' to these efforts through our communication channels.  

WMAU promotes these relationships through its newsletter. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:50, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Develop and maintain''' documentation of best practices, blueprints, standards, and metrics associated with institutional partnerships.

WMAU gather documentation on the motivations, policies and practices of various types of Australian institution to identify areas where they are or are not likely to be willing to work with WMAU (or WMF) and how best to structure the relationship. E.g. most major GLAMs will want "branding", most local historical societies will be concerned about loss of income - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:50, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Provide excellent service to our audience through clear quality labeling and the development of highly effective response systems.===
*'''Develop clear and concise quality labeling''' to support readers.

WMAU develop checklists/templates for certain classes of Australian content as a means of rating articles for their level of completeness. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:45, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Support development of first-responder systems''' that empower community volunteers to consistently and effectively address hot-button issues.

WMAU could develop some kind of trigger system to alert relevant Asutralian experts and "curators" in response to significant events reported on news feeds to ensure Wikipedia articles are rapidly updated, e.g. feed off ABC news (might get support of ABC Innovation Team for this). - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:54, 8 May 2011 (EST)

==Increase Reach==

'''General Comment''': What about the 55+ and Indigenous people?  WMF strategic plan concentrates predominantly on Africa and India, but these are all groups that we can reach out to right here at home.  [[User:Lankiveil|Lankiveil]] 09:47, 8 May 2011 (EST).

===Enhance the quality of the core user experience regardless of geography.===
*'''Build additional caching centers''' in key locations to manage increased traffic from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, as well as to ensure reasonable and consistent load times no matter where a reader is located.

WMAU could provide a a caching centre or lobby for an Australian org (e.g. major GLAM, university) to provide a caching centre - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 06:59, 8 May 2011 (EST)

=== Invest in mobile products to broaden the movement’s reach to connected populations. ===
*'''Develop partnerships''' with mobile providers and entrepreneurs that offer users who do not own expensive smartphones wide access to Wikimedia’s mobile products. 

Australians will have access to Wikimedia via NBN, so low-end mobile solutions might not be so necessary in Australia? - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:05, 8 May 2011 (EST)

Encourage Australian ISPs to offer Wikimedia as unmetered content. Could be linked into local cache/mirror? - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:05, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Invest in technology improvements''' that enhance mobile features, functionality and access.


:maybe run/fund a challenge for development of free apps that focus on WM projects. [[User:Gnangarra|Gnan]][[User_talk:Gnangarra|garra]] 11:43, 8 May 2011 (EST) [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 20:16, 10 May 2011 (EST)

===Invest in offline products to broaden the movement’s reach to populations who will remain disconnected from the Internet.===
*'''Create new offline products and partnerships''' with the capacity to distribute versions of Wikimedia’s projects to large numbers of readers with limited connectivity at low or no cost.

Australians will have access to Wikimedia via NBN, so lobby ISPs to make Wikimedia unmetered content. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:06, 8 May 2011 (EST)

==Encourage Innovation==

===Increase access to information that drives community, decision-making and action.===
*'''Implement a web analytics tool''' to provide mission-critical information to the Foundation and the movement as a whole.  

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:10, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Provide better information about the movement''' to enable everyone to better support it, by developing and publishing diverse measures of the health and growth of Wikimedia communities and projects.  

WMAU to contribute to reporting against these measures on its activities. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:10, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Foster a healthy community of researchers''' interested in analyzing Wikimedia, provide access to relevant data, and highlight important questions to be addressed.

WMAU could host a research conference in conjunction with a university. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:40, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Conduct regular reader and editor surveys''' in order to take the pulse of the community and identify pressing issues or concerns.

WMAU could conduct surveys from the non-engaged Australia community to identify reasons for non-engagement. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:10, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Develop standards''' for the development of staged experiments and A/B tests.

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:10, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Support the infrastructure of networked innovation and research.===
*'''Develop clear documentation and APIs''' so that developers can create applications that work easily with our platforms.

WMAU could provide tools and/or advice on interchange between MediaWiki and Australian resources (e.g. [http://trove.nla.gov.au/ Trove]) - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]]

*'''Ensure access to computing resources and data''' for interested researchers and developers, including downloadable copies of all public data.

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:13, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Continually improve social and technical systems''' for volunteer development of core software, extensions, gadgets and other technical improvements.

No obvious way WMAU can contribute to this, beyond circulating the need for Australian volunteers to contribute to the international effort. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:13, 8 May 2011 (EST)
:scholarhips, identify skilled people conditinally assist in funding them to improve those skills. [[User:Gnangarra|Gnan]][[User_talk:Gnangarra|garra]] 11:46, 8 May 2011 (EST)

===Promote the adoption of great ideas.===
*'''Develop clear processes for code review, acceptance and deployment''' so that volunteer development does not linger in limbo.

No obvious role for WMAU - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:18, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Organize meetings and events''' bringing together developers and researchers who are focused on Wikimedia-related projects with experienced Wikimedia volunteers and staff.

WMAU could host a local event, perhaps in conjunction with a research/developers conference. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:18, 8 May 2011 (EST)

WMAU could fund Australian developers/researchers to attend international WMF events. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:18, 8 May 2011 (EST)

*'''Showcase and recognize''' the greatest innovations of the Wikimedia movement, and create community spaces dedicated to the exploration of new ideas.

WMAU could promote these within Australia. - [[User:Kerry Raymond|Kerry Raymond]] 07:18, 8 May 2011 (EST)