Statement from our incoming President


Elliott Bledsoe outlines areas of focus going forward
, Elliott Bledsoe. Keywords: Board updates
Elliott Bledsoe, incoming Wikimedia Australia President, 2024

It is an honour to serve as the President of Wikimedia Australia (WMAU). As the new President I have been giving some thought to what that means for me and the organisation.

WMAU has seen a lot of change in recent years. As the previous President, Amanda Lawrence, noted at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Sunday just gone, in the past four years the organisation has shifted from having a committee with no staff to an organisation with a hard-working team of three. The value of new capacity in the organisation cannot be overstated – and its impact has already been widely seen. This would not have been possible without the investment in the organisation by the Wikimedia Foundation, and we are very thankful for their support.

In that four-year period the Wikimedia Movement and the world itself has also changed. The Wikimedia Foundation and the Movement are in a period of flux. And that sits within a set of complex and interconnected global challenges: war, struggles against inequalities, the extreme and unpredictable impacts of climate change and everything that comes with artificial intelligence (AI).

Importantly, part of my time in the President’s seat will see out the current Strategic Plan and its accompanying Activity Plan, both of which run until the end of 2025. Much important and good work has come out of that Plan and the organisation remains committed to delivering on it.

My tenure will also see me lead a process to develop a new Strategic Plan for the organisation with my fellow elected Board members and the WMAU staff. As I see it, there are four main areas WMAU should be focusing on.

These are to:

  • Grow free knowledge – Our events, partner projects, residencies, bursaries for international events and other activities are all part of how we grow Australian free knowledge and participation in Wikimedia platforms and projects. We will continue these with vigour.
  • Strive for knowledge equity – In growing free knowledge, we must remain mindful of the importance of knowledge equity and how it can be respectfully and ethically achieved. We will need to play many roles in making Wikimedia platforms and projects more diverse, equitable, accessible and inclusive.
  • Get better at governance – Fair, transparent, equitable decision-making is crucial internally at WMAU, within the Wikimedia Movement and in relation to domestic and international regulation that impacts on Wikimedia Foundation’s mission and values. Good governance is ongoing.
  • Celebrate our community – We have a diverse and inspiring community around us, and I want WMAU to continue to invest in and celebrate them.

More thinking, consideration and collaboration is needed before these ideas are committed to, in terms of the organisation’s strategic direction going forward. But, to kick off that process, below I have outlined some preliminary thoughts on each.

Grow free knowledge

WMAU wants to see more Australian contributions to Wikimedia platforms and projects. That is Australians creating free knowledge and participating in Wikimedia platforms and projects as much as it is about more Australian content on them.

So much of what the organisation does is for that purpose:

Beyond these formal activities, growing free knowledge is also deeply embedded in the culture of mentoring and support shown by our dedicated membership.

I want to explore how the Australian Chapter extends this existing scaffold to encourage even greater participation by Australians and the inclusion of more Australian material on Wikimedia platforms and projects.

Strive for knowledge equity

Even as we aspirationally seek to grow the free knowledge coming from Australia and Australians across Wikimedia platforms and projects, there is more work to be done to ‘Open the Knowledge’ and to promote knowledge equity.

The role we play in expanding the Wikimedia platforms and projects to reflect missing histories, stories, and contexts will vary. At times we will need to take a backseat and be led by others. No matter our role, our pursuit of a more diverse, equitable, accessible and inclusive Wikimedia must be respectful and ethical.

The research we published earlier this year on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples using and editing Wikipedia, for example, reminds us that closing knowledge gaps and addressing biases in Wikimedia projects needs to be done respectfully, with care, and in consultation with knowledge holders. And it requires awareness that sometimes Wikimedia platforms and projects may not be the right place for all knowledges.

Get better at good governance

We will continue our work improving WMAU’s own governance and procedures. Our stewardship of the organisation must be based on ethical leadership, accountability, transparency, fairness and integrity in how the organisation is run. This is how we build and maintain trust – among our members, partners and other stakeholders. And that is crucial to our resilience as an organisation.

Good governance at the Wikimedia Foundation and throughout the Movement is also important. The Australian Chapter is committed to advocating for positive change across the international community.

And we will continue to monitor and participate in domestic and international advocacy efforts around topics such as the regulation of platforms and the internet, digital literacy, internet affordability, freedom of speech and censorship, online and child safety, privacy, copyright, AI, open access and anything else that impinges on the Wikimedia mission and values. In my tenure, the organisation will increase our engagement with governments and other stakeholders to promote policies that allow free knowledge to flourish.

Celebrate our community

While I recognise that our members are not the entirety of the Australian Wikimedia community, they are the core of the organisation – that will not change. Going forward, I want to explore ways WMAU can better recognise, connect, support, care for, empower and celebrate our members.

These ideas are still forming for me. They are not fixed. But I hope others in the WMAU community will take up the rallying call. I welcome feedback on these ideas and others about WMAU’s future. They will be on the agenda at WikiCon Australia in Tandanya/Adelaide in November this year. I hope to discuss the organisation’s strategic direction with many of you there, but my inbox is also always open.

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