Lodewijk, Board members are required to fulfil a number of different functions, and some of those requirements will inevitably be in tension with each other. For example, board members are supposed:
– to represent the volunteer community – to represent the affiliates – to represent the interests of the present readership – to represent the interests of the future readership – to bring a variety of professional skills (technical, legal, social, etc.) to the board – etc. Diversity impinges on this in multiple ways. The obvious ways are: What is the gender mix? How many races, ethnicities, nationalities, continents, languages and cultures of the world do the members represent? But there are other, less obvious ways in which diversity matters. For example: How diverse is a board where all the members have a tech or business background, and there is no one with a background in the humanities – philosophy, history, literature, art, classics, music, religion ...? I can't think of a more appropriate thread to discuss such matters than this one, which invites people to put their names forward. Best, Andreas On Sun, May 8, 2022 at 12:07 AM effe iets anders <[email protected]> wrote: > If you want to have a discussion about the term 'diversity' in the context > of Wikimedia (I doubt it will remain limited to the board selections), it > might be helpful to start a new thread for that. The challenge at hand is > to get sufficient high quality candidates for this election that can add > value (with whatever name) to the WMF board of trustees. > > Lodewijk > > On Sat, May 7, 2022 at 11:38 AM H4CUSEG via Wikimedia-l < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Well, let's have a look at what they're looking for. There are some vague >> references to representation, diversity, and expertise, but if you look a >> bit closer at >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022/Apply_to_be_a_Candidate, >> they indicate that "most beneficial for new trustees to bring" are: >> * Organizational strategy and management >> * Enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development >> * Public policy and the law >> * Social data science, big data analysis, and machine learning >> >> I'm not going to propose a new set of criteria, other than to say if you >> really want diversity, inclusion and belonging, let people explain why they >> think they bring something of value, and let the community decide. >> >> And to hell with machine learning. People, not machines. >> >> Sent with ProtonMail secure email. >> ------- Original Message ------- >> On Saturday, May 7th, 2022 at 2:01 AM, Peter Southwood < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >> >> > How do you propose that relevant competencies be recognized, defined, or >> > assessed? Cheers, Peter >> > >> > -----Original Message----- >> > From: H4CUSEG via Wikimedia-l [mailto:[email protected]] >> > Sent: Friday, May 6, 2022 15:52 >> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List >> > Cc: H4CUSEG >> > Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Are you considering running for the 2022 >> > Wikimedia Foundation board elections? >> > >> > Yes. We shouldn't define people by what they're not (white, >> cis-gendered, >> > male, etc.). But we should also adopt an expanded conceptualization of >> > "competency" that is more inclusive. What we think of as competency has >> been >> > defined by people who found their own specific skills particularly >> important >> > (and their own race better than other people's). To be inclusive means >> to >> > understand and value the competencies that people bring, in stead of >> > requiring that people of colour can join as long as they also have all >> the >> > "white" competencies. >> > >> > >> > Sent with ProtonMail secure email. >> > ------- Original Message ------- >> > On Friday, May 6th, 2022 at 2:59 AM, Lorenzo Losa [email protected] >> > >> > wrote: >> > >> > > On mer, 2022-05-04 at 14:36 +0000, H4CUSEG via Wikimedia-l wrote: >> > > >> > > > Can we stop referring to "diverse people" please? It's offensive. >> > > >> > > I'm sorry for that. >> > > >> > > If I understand it right - and correct me if I'm wrong - you are >> saying >> > > that calling someone a "diverse person" is labeling that person in a >> > > bad way. This is a fair point. Diversity relates to a multitude, not >> to >> > > an individual. >> > > To rephrase my sentence: we need trustees who are individually skilled >> > > and experienced, forming a board that is collectively diverse - that >> is >> > > able to express and create space for different perspectives and ideas. >> > > >> > > Lorenzo >> > > >> > > _______________________________________________ >> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], >> guidelines >> > >> > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> > >> > > Public archives at >> > >> > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/ >> > message/IJHKZYD7YDC7KQNAHJRJRSLIUCYANO2Q/ >> > >> > > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], >> guidelines at: >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> > Public archives at >> > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/ >> > message/2AF725BB7LMS7EFMNHB6ITYFDXBBSW2W/ >> > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], >> guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines >> and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> > Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/NYWU7OLMF3M5O3JQACO4TMR4XEEDN4JS/ >> > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines >> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l >> Public archives at >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/E4EPEFV2FNYIJNMDAHABLTC44343LNOE/ >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/ER7Y4D27AGQUWAIKACWOJ2BYN5P7MGWI/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
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