This is a late posting (we’re almost in June!), but I wanted to use the chance that now have this Forum to share the Movement Charter Drafting Committee’s monthly update from April. Those updates published on the 10th day of every month, and they give a quick summary of what the Charter’s Drafting Committee has been up to.
If you wish to receive those updates (and other Charter announcements) more regularly, please consider subcribing to the Movement Charter’s Newsletter, distributed once each month!
April’s monthly update
I’m copying the full update’s text below to allow people here to use the automatic translation to read it. I’d like to note, though, that we do have quality translations on Meta in Arabic, French, German, Korean, Indonesian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Check them out, if you speak these languages!
Meetings
Regular MCDC meetings (more frequent this month due to an experiment with weekly meetings):
3 April: 120 minutes.
10 April : 90 minutes
18 April: 60 minutes. Joined for the first 30 minutes by two Board of Trustees liaisons.
24 April: 90 minutes.
Other meetings:
Communications subcommittee: 13, 22 and 27 April
Research subcommittee: 15 and 28 April
Values/preamble subcommittee: 14 April
Completed work
Code of Conduct : The Committee’s internal code of conduct was finalized and is available on Meta.
Ongoing work & discussion
Drafting the Movement Charter : The drafting work will partly be prepared and carried out by subcommittees, each focusing on one particular topic. Each subcommittee will draft several outlines or “seed options” and present them to the community for review in the future. The initial topics that the Committee has identified are: 1. Values & Principles, 2. Governance and 3. Resources.
Values & Principles : There is now a subcommittee working on the first topic (Values & Principles). The subcommittee’s work may need to be first informed by the research.
Ratification : Committee discussed the need to wait and learn from the results of the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines ratification vote, a model which could be similar to the future ratification vote for the Movement Charter.
June in-personmeeting : The Drafting Committee will meet in Berlin from 17-19 June. The meeting’s agenda will focus on the committee in general, and better defining the Movement Charter’s outline.
Research & documentation : The Committee is discussing research to help inform or prepare for its work. The scope is being discussed, the following are possible options for it: 1. Survey data collection and analysis (in the Wikimedia movement), 2. Summarizing previous documents about Wikimedia governance, 3. Finding and comparing “Charters” of other non-profit organizations, and/or 4. Consulting and engaging with experts.
Communications & stakeholder engagement : The communications subcommittee has finalized a strategic communications plan. As a part of this, the subcommittee is now working on a “stakeholder engagement plan”, which defines the desired level of engagement on Movement Charter according to three levels: 1. Informed, 2. Consulted and 3. Extensively engaged. Here’s an example in Dutch of a recent outreach.
Email management : The Committee agreed on a process to manage and respond to emails. A public email address will be announced soon.
Training : Some Committee members are joining a training in “nonviolent communication”. The training is provided by the Brazilian organization Sinergia Comunicativa in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation. Other communications training is being discussed.
Staff support : The Committee is discussing the possible needs of additional support from staff for subcommittees, especially for the communications and research subcommittees.
This is a late posting of a Movement Charter Drafting Committee update from May 2022. Those updates are published on the 10th day of every month, and they give a quick summary of what the Charter’s Drafting Committee has been up to.
If you wish to receive those updates (and other Charter announcements) more regularly, please consider subcribing to the Movement Charter’s Newsletter, distributed once each month!
May’s monthly update
Meetings
Regular Committee meetings: 8th and 22nd May
Communications subcommittee: 4th, 11th and 25th May
Values & Principles: 12th and 30th May.
Completed work
In-person meeting planning: The Committee members prepared, in collaboration with their facilitator (Irene Laochaisri), a full program for their in-person meeting. The meeting will take place in Berlin, Germany between 17-19 June. The main objective is creating a draft outline of the Movement Charter, and agreeing on a methodology to draft the content of this outline.
The Committee’s newsletter subscription is open. Subscribers will receive monthly updates and announcements about upcoming consultations or public sessions regarding the Movement charter. It can be delivered to your talk page on your project of choice.
Replacing a resigned member: The group of affiliate selectors decided on replacement for a member who left the Committee. An official announcement will be made soon about the new member.
Ongoing work & discussion
Wikimedia Summit: The Committee is in touch with Wikimedia Deutschland and is expected to be involved in planning the Wikimedia Summit. The Committee will further discuss this with Wikimedia Deutschland during the Berlin meeting, between 17-19 June.
Relationship with the Board of Trustees: Until the end of April, as a pilot, two liaisons from the Board were attending 30 minutes during Committee’s meetings once a month. This proved unsatisfactory for both sides. As an alternative, the Committee offered the Board of Trustees one seat on the committee. The Committee perceived that this seat would add diversity in perspectives, and give the Board its desired voice. The Board, however, wishes to keep working through liaisons and not voting members. Discussions on the engagement with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees therefore still continue.
Staff support: The Committee presented its projected needs for support from staff in the near future. Those needs include support in: Documenting meetings, facilitation, logistical and project management support, communications planning, outreach, translations, and conducting research. The Wikimedia Foundation is reviewing the needs and evaluating if the current support staff can meet them.
This is a late posting of a Movement Charter Drafting Committee update from June 2022. Those updates are published on the 10th day of every month, and they give a quick summary of what the Charter’s Drafting Committee has been up to.
If you wish to receive those updates (and other Charter announcements) more regularly, please consider subcribing to the Movement Charter’s Newsletter, distributed once each month!
June’s monthly update
Meetings
In-person meeting in Berlin: 17-19 June
Regular Committee meetings: 5th and 26th June
Values & Preamble subcommittee: 9th June
Communications subcommittee: 8th June
Completed work
In-person meeting: The Movement Charter Drafting Committee met for the first time in Berlin in-person, on 17-19 June. A Diff blog post will be published soon with more details about this. The meeting had the following goals and outcomes:
Charter outline: There is progress made working on the outline of the Charter. The Committee is still discussing several options for how the outline (which is like a “table of contents”) may be organized.
Drafting methodology: There is progress made in agreeing on the methodology to draft the content of the Movement Charter. The methodology will be shared when ready.
Drafting subcommittees: The Committee is setting up the subcommittees to focus on drafting different parts of the outline.
Replacing an MCDC member: Jamie Li-Yun Lin decided to leave the MCDC in May. Starting from June 26th, she has been officially replaced with Daria Cybulska. The replacement was made by the same group of selectors that selected Jamie, in accordance with the MCDC member replacement guidelines.
Position towards the Hubs Minimum Piloting Criteria: During the in-person meeting, the MCDC discussed the Hubs Minimum Piloting Criteria. The Committee agreed that it does not see itself as a committee responsible for approving Hubs, and will not take this role. Hubs, though, will be defined in the Movement Charter (like other governance structures in the movement).
Official email address: You can now be in contact with the Movement Charter Drafting Committee using the official email address: movementcharterwikimediaorg
Ongoing work & discussion
Relationship with the Board: The MCDC decided to permanently invite two Board of Trustees liaisons to all the Committee’s meetings. One exception of this is when specific internal topics are being discussed, like Code of Conduct cases. From their side, the Board of Trustees invited two MCDC members to join their meeting on 23 June.
Drafting methodology: Following the in-person meeting, the Committee continues to discuss the methodology for drafting the Movement Charter. The document will be publicly shared when completed.
Finalizing the Movement Charter outline: Following the in-person meeting, the Committee continues to discuss the outline of the Movement Charter (almost like a “table of contents”).
Establishing drafting subcommittees: Following the in-person meeting, the Committee continues to discuss setting up drafting subcommittees to start working on the content.
This is a Movement Charter Drafting Committee update from July 2022. Those updates are published on the 10th day of every month, and they give a quick summary of what the Charter’s Drafting Committee has been up to.
If you wish to receive those updates (and other Charter announcements) more regularly, please consider subscribing to the Movement Charter’s Newsletter, distributed once each month!
July’s monthly update
Meetings
Regular Committee meetings: 10th and 24th July
Communications subcommittee: 6th and 20th July
Completed work
Wikimedia Summit participation planning: Most of the Committee members will participate in the Wikimedia Summit, which will include dedicated sessions for the Movement Charter. The Committee also agreed to meet for two days before the Summit (7-11 September overall). This also includes attending two meetings of the Board of Trustees, to which two MCDC members are invited.
Finalizing the drafting methodology: The Committee finished developing a rough methodology to use in drafting the Movement Charter, based on which drafting groups can already start their work.
Ongoing work & discussion
Facilitator replacement: Irene, the Committee’s previous facilitator, decided to step down from her role at the end of June 2022. The search for a replacement is ongoing. Committee members are taking turns in facilitating meetings, and also participating in the replacement process.
Wikimania participation: The Committee is creating an introductory video about the Movement Charter to present at Wikimania.
The Movement Charter outline: The Committee reached agreement on a rough outline for the content of the Movement Charter (to be published soon on the Movement Charter content page).
Establishing drafting groups: The Committee agreed to start forming drafting groups for three chapters in the Movement Charter. Those chapters will be the following:
This is a Movement Charter Drafting Committee update from August 2022. Those updates are published on the 10th day of every month, and they give a quick summary of what the Charter’s Drafting Committee has been up to. This month it is published earlier due to the highlights about the Wikimedia Summit, which is taking place from 9-11 September.
If you wish to receive these updates (and other Charter announcements) more regularly, please consider subscribing to the Movement Charter’s Newsletter, distributed once each month!
Monthly updates - August
Meetings
Regular Committee meetings: 7th and 21st August
Communications subcommittee: 3rd, 17th and 31st August
Values & Principles drafting group: August 31st
Roles & responsibilities drafting group: 29th August
Completed work
Drafting Groups set up: Having finalized the Movement Charter outline, the Committee formed drafting groups to start drafting content. Each MCDC member was asked to up for at least one (full membership is shown in the Drafting Committee page). The Drafting Groups are the following:
Preamble
Values & Principles
Roles & Responsibilities
Summit deliverables planning: The Committee agreed that each of the three drafting groups will be submitting at least one draft introductory paragraph to be published and discussed at the upcoming Wikimedia Summit.
Movement Charter video: The Committee and the MSG team created a short video (~8 minutes). The video briefly explains what the Movement Charter is, and introduces the Drafting Committee members. This video was streamed during Wikimania.
In-person meeting summary (June 2022): The Committee published a short summary of its in-person meeting in June to openly share the results and outcomes.
Ongoing work & discussion
Committee facilitation: The search for a facilitator continues. Meanwhile, Committee members are self-facilitating the meetings.
Timeline: The Committee is in the process of updating its timeline to reflect recent changes.
Summit survey: The Drafting Committee designed and is currently reviewing a survey to share with affiliates during the Wikimedia Summit, to collect feedback for the Movement Charter content and relevant processes.
Future in-person meetings: The Committee is planning future in-person meetings further ahead with considerations of venues where visa processing is easier in an attempt to accommodate the numerous difficulties faced by some members.
Values & Principles drafting group: 1, 21 and 29 September
Roles & responsibilities drafting group: 1, 26 and 29 September
Communications subcommittee: 14 and 28 September
Completed work
Presenting Movement Charter content at the Wikimedia Summit: The Committee presented their first drafts at the Wikimedia Summit 2022 (on 9-11 September). The drafts covered three sections: The Preamble, Values & Principles and Roles & Responsibilities. The Committee is currently integrating the feedback on those drafts.
Ongoing work & discussion
Drafting Movement Charter sections: Drafting Groups of MCDC members have been developing multiple versions of draft sections. Drafts were presented and discussed at the Summit, and the Committee is currently revising them based on feedback. The drafts cover three sections: Preamble, Values & Principles and Roles & Responsibilities.
Community Consultation & Communication Plan: The Committee is working on a plan for community outreach and consultation on the Movement Charter content. The Movement Strategy and Governance Team is helping produce the plan. The consultation periods will follow the Movement Charter timeline.
Facilitator hiring: The Committee prepared a “statement of work” to hire a new facilitator to support its meetings and work. The search for a facilitator is ongoing.
@Qgil-WMF , @NPhan_WMF , can we please create a thread for general discussion of the Movement Charter drafting process itself?
I am not able to find any such general thread for this topic. if such a thread exists, then could you please add the “Movement Charter” tag to that thread? thanks.
Great suggestion, @Sm8900 ! We should have a general thread coming soon, in time for the community consultation period. We’ll be publishing draft texts for some of the content of the Movement Charter this week, so people can review and feedback on using different avenues:
on Meta
on the Forum
via an optionally anonymous survey
attending a regional conversation with the MCDC members around the draft texts
Here it says “Preamble, Values & Principles, and Roles & Responsibilities (intentions statement). The drafts of these sections will be available on the Meta page here on November 14, 2022”. I really don’t want to set up unneccessary pressure but it would be good to have something practical to talk about.
I am tagging @Qgil-WMF , and @NPhan_WMF , to ask for any feedback they may have, and to make sure this has their approval. I absolutely respect their right to have the final say over any decisions, actions, revisions,etc here. thanks very much.
Roles & responsibilities drafting group: 3 and 17 October
Communications subcommittee: 12 October
Completed work
Movement Charter draft chapters: The Committee completed three draft chapters: The Preamble, Values & Principles and Roles & Responsibilities (purpose statement). The drafts will be published on Meta, along with a call for feedback, on November 14th. These drafts will be translated in the 15 priority languages.
Community Consultation & Communication Plan: The Committee and Movement Strategy and Governance team finalized an outreach and consultation plan for the Movement Charter drafts review. The consultation periods will follow the Movement Charter timeline.
Participation at events: Committee members took part in several community events and presented sessions or panels about the Movement Charter. Events included: Wikidata Conference Istanbul, WikiArabia, and WikiIndaba. Upcoming events include WikiConNL and others.
Decision on membership: The Committee decided not to add new members or replace those who step down after 1 January 2023, unless for exceptional reasons. For more details, please see this page.
Ongoing work & discussion
Readability and legal reviews: The Committee is integrating feedback to the Movement Charter drafts based on a readability and translation review (by the Movement Strategy and Governance Team) and a legal review (by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Legal staff) before the drafts will be shared on Meta for a broader community review.
Ratification methodology: The Committee is drafting an early, rough draft of a methodology for ratifying the Movement Charter.
New drafting groups: New drafting groups are being formed to work on next chapters of the Movement Charter (besides the ones included in the upcoming community consultation). Topics of the new chapters will be: the Global Council, Decision-making and Amendments & Implementation (see the Movement Charter outline for details), while the work on the Roles and Responsibilities chapter is also continued.
Facilitator hiring: The call for proposals for an MCDC facilitator is closed. Three representatives of the committee will be working with the MSG team to complete the new hiring process by the end of November.
Charter onboarding sessions: The MCDC had 3 sessions of “Ask Me Anything” about the Movement Charter’ sessions open to the community. The sessions introduced participants to the Movement Charter basics before starting the community consultations later in November.
Community Consultations: The Committee is hosting 8 online regional conversations with the communities for different time zones. There is interpretation support for various languages. The Committee is using the conversations to collect feedback about the recently-published Movement Charter drafts.
External facilitator hiring: The Committee is now in the last stage of interviews. The new facilitator will start in January.
Ratification process outline: Aiming to publish a first draft for community review in January.
Next in-person meeting: The Committee is planning for an upcoming in-person meeting, to make progress in drafting. The meeting will take place in early February.
The Committee was on a break from meetings between December 19th and January 4th
Open weekly meetings: every Thursday
Regular Committee meetings: 11 December
Roles & responsibilities drafting group: 12 December
Completed work
Movement Charter community consultation: The MCDC completed its first community consultation on three Movement Charter drafts of: The Preamble, Values & Principles, and Roles & Responsibilities. The community was invited to provide feedback through eight online global meetings (to accommodate different languages and time zones). Additional feedback collection included: several meetings with Movement Charter ambassadors and their respective communities, Meta talk pages, Movement Strategy Forum, a survey and more. The feedback collected is being compiled into a summary that will be shared in January 2023.
Facilitator hired: The MCDC hired two facilitators who work in a duo, İstem and Merve, to support its work. The previous facilitator stepped down back in June 2022 (the Committee has been self-facilitating ever since).
Ongoing work & discussion
Reviewing feedback from the community consultation: The MCDC is reviewing the extensive feedback from the community consultation and considering changes to the drafts based on it. A summary of the feedback will be published later in January.
Starting new drafting groups: The MCDC is forming three new drafting groups to start working in early 2023: Decision-making, Hubs, and the Global Council. In addition, the Roles & Responsibilities drafting group will remain active.
In-person meeting: Aware of the long visa-application procedures for some countries, the MCDC had already in September 2022 scheduled an in-person meeting for the Committee to take place in early February 2023. This meeting was going to be dedicated to working on the next set of drafts. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the request for the meeting was denied. The Committee is now exploring the possibility of getting together again in the second quarter of 2023 (April to June).
Ratification methodology: The MCDC prepared a proposal for the ratification methodology for the Movement Charter to be shared in February, 2023. Community members will be invited to provide feedback on the Meta page, MS forum and will also have the opportunity to join live feedback meetings.
Independent legal review: The MCDC is discussing the best timing for a legal review providing an independent perspective on the Charter content . The procurement and set up process is being currently discussed with the Movement Strategy & Governance Team.
Inviting external advisors: The MCDC is working on a procedure for finding and inviting the advisors from the movement to actively support the drafting groups in drafting the upcoming next chapters of the Charter.
Roles & responsibilities drafting group: 12 and 26 January
Global Council drafting group: 31 January
Completed work
Movement Charter community consultation: A summary of the feedback collected in November and December is now available on Meta. The summary highlights the most recurring points in the feedback, and is a quick read. Additionally, there is a detailed feedback document, which includes all the comments collected during the consultation. The Drafting Committee is carefully looking through the detailed feedback, and their responses will be shared by March 2023.
Planning an online working session: The Committee was planning to meet in-person in Mexico City on 3 - 5 February 2023 to start drafting the next set of chapters on: Roles & Responsibilities, Decision-Making, Global Council and Hubs. Due to uncertainty about the financial situation, the request for the meeting was denied. Consequently, an alternative online working session was planned and designed, with the help of facilitators and the support team, for the same dates. In-person meetings for later in 2023 are also being planned.
Ongoing work & discussion
Reviewing & responding to the community feedback: The Drafting Committee is in the process of reviewing the community feedback from the last community consultation, and is integrating changes and/or responding to the comments, accordingly.
Stakeholder conversations: The MCDC had a first direct conversation with Maryana, CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, in the bi-weekly meeting on January 22nd, on the topic of the current financial situation of the WMF. Also, the R&R drafting group is scheduling conversations with stakeholders to understand their work, and had their first conversation with representatives of the Stewards UG on January 20th.
Ratification methodology: A proposal for a ratification methodology of the Movement Charter is being finalized. There is a community consultation on the methodology planned to start in early to mid March 2023 (postponed from February).
Launching new drafting groups: Three new drafting groups of Movement Charter content started convening or early discussions in January. The three topics they are working on are: Decision-making, Hubs and the Global Council. In addition, the Roles & Responsibilities drafting group is still active.
Creating a glossary: Some Committee members are coordinating an effort to collect terms that may need further definitions based on the community consultation feedback. The definitions will be compiled in a glossary when the next set of drafts is published in mid 2023, or earlier if feasible.
Independent legal review: The Committee and the supporting Wikimedia Foundation staff are further looking into the logistics of arranging a legal review independent from the Foundation.
Global Council drafting group: 4, 14 and 28 February
Hubs drafting group: 2, 4, 16 and 23 February
Decision-making drafting group: 4, 10 and 17
Roles & responsibilities drafting group: 4, 9 and 23 February
Completed work
Launching new drafting groups: Three new drafting groups of Movement Charter are now actively-drafting content. The three topics they are working on are: Decision-making, Hubs and the Global Council. In addition, the Roles & Responsibilities drafting group is still active from 2022.
Online working session: The MCDC met for an extensive virtual working weekend on 3 - 5 February, as an alternative to a canceled in-person meeting. The session was used to brainstorm outlines of an upcoming set of Movement Charter chapters, and to discuss some key content topics.
Engagement at events: Two members of the Committee presented during Iberoconf 2023, and reported back to the full Committee about feedback from the region’s communities on the Movement Charter content and engagement.
The MCDC has announced the Call for Advisors! Individuals interested to support the Drafting Groups or the Sub-committees of the MCDC in the role of an advisor can fill out the advisory application form by May, 2023. The MCDC will be contacting interested individuals on a rolling basis. Do you want to know more about it? Please read here for more information. The information is also available in Arabic, Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian and Chinese languages respectively.
Ongoing work & discussion
Interviewing experts, conducting research and creating outlines: The new drafting groups (see above) are exploring their content topics. This includes research into existing documents and past discussions about their topic, interviewing experts from across the Wikimedia movement, and creating rough outlines for each chapter. Interviews also included conversations with the Foundation’s General Counsel Stephen LaPorte.
Reviewing & responding to the community feedback: The MCDC is preparing to publish responses to the community feedback on the first set of drafts (collected during a consultation in November - December 2022). The response is expected to be published in late March.
Ratification methodology: A proposal for a ratification methodology of the Movement Charter is being finalized. There is a community consultation on the methodology planned, but the timeline has shifted (originally intended in February), and an announcement of the new timeline will follow.
Coordinating with Wikimedia Germany: The Committee held a meeting with the team of Movement Strategy & Global Relations from Wikimedia Germany, to coordinate communications and engagement regarding the movement governance.
Submissions to Wikimania: The Committee prepared and submitted applications for five sessions as part of the governance track of Wikimania 2023.
Participation at the Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees’ Strategic Retreat: Several Committee members traveled to New York in early March to listen and participate in during the Wikimedia Foundation’s annual planning retreat. This was an opportunity to learn about the current governance systems in sensitive topics, like fundraising and technology decisions. It was also an opportunity for the Committee to meet in-person and make progress on drafting (see below).
Ongoing work & discussion
Ratification conversations: The Committee and the support team are planning conversations on 18 and 24 April. Those will be opportunities for the community to give feedback on the ratification methodology proposal. Details are in the pre-announcement.
Drafting new chapters: The Committee has been drafting additional chapters about the following topics: The Global Council, Hubs, Decision-making and Roles & Responsibilities. There is an initial draft text being prepared for each of those topics. The Committee is also planning extended online sessions to discuss some of the more difficult points in each chapter.
Collecting input from advisors and experts: The Committee is preparing to welcome a number of advisors from outside the Committee. All interested Wikimedians were invited to apply earlier (you can still apply here!). Additionally, the Committee is planning and scheduling meetings with individuals with specific sets of expertise in various topics, including stewards, movement committees, Wikimedia Foundation and affiliate staff, and others.
wikimedia
org
But rest assured, they’re coming online as we speak!
