Movement Strategy/Initiatives/Technology Council

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Technology Council

Coordinating Across Stakeholders requires creating a Technology Council to oversee the process of developing new technical features. Many significant software changes are approached without consultation or communication, which often leads to negative reactions and suboptimal integration of the new tools. The Technology Council can be a central entity made up of Wikimedia Foundation staff and technical contributors from the communities. The Council would improve communication, discuss technical changes, and make decisions to approve or reject their implementation.

Create a Technology Council to establish processes for introducing new functionalities onto Wikimedia platforms and tools. The aim is to improve communication between staff developers and other technical contributors to better network, coordinate innovation, provide and obtain support, and foster input on decisions and resource allocations that impact communities.
— Movement Strategy recommendation #5: Coordinate Across Stakeholders

Related documents and discussions

Some of the past discussions, texts and old versions of Movement Strategy recommendations that can provide further context to this initiative:

Movement Strategy recommendations and initiatives

Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement
1. Systematic approach to improve satisfaction and productivity 2. Funding for underrepresented communities 3. Increased awareness about the Wikimedia Movement 4. Global revenue generation policy & fundraising strategy 5. Develop enterprise-level API 6. Engagement of third party ecosystems 7. Revenue generation for the Movement 8. Align our practices to support environmental sustainability

Improve User Experience

9. Methodology to improve the Wikimedia platform UX research, design, testing and community engagement
10. Community engagement around product design and UX
11. Adaptable UX to various devices
12. Compatibility with Accessibility Guidelines
13. Resources for newcomers
14. Peer-to-peer spaces
15. Platform functionality and documentation standards
16. Cross-project tool development and reuse
17. Partnerships to develop Wikimedia API

Provide for Safety and Inclusion
18. Code of Conduct 19. Private incident reporting 20. Healthy community atmosphere 21. Develop a safety assessment and execution plan - technical, human, and legal support processes 22. Local capacity development for advocacy 23. Built-in platform mechanisms for safety

Ensure Equity in Decision-Making
24. Movement Charter 25. The Global Council 26. Regional & thematic hubs 27. Flexible resource allocation framework 28. Guidelines for board functions and governance

Coordinate Across Stakeholders
29. Living documents to define responsibilities for specific areas of work 30. Enhance communication and collaboration capacity with partners and collaborators 31. Technology Council (for improved communication, coordination and support)

Invest in Skills and Leadership Development
32. Global approach for local skill development - gathering data, matching peers, mentorship, recognition 33. Leadership development plan 34. Skill development infrastructure

Manage Internal Knowledge
35. Facilitate a culture of documentation 36. Establish a movement wide knowledge base

Identify Topics for Impact
37. Identify the impact of Wikimedia projects & content 38. Identify the effects and mitigations of misinformation and disinformation 39. Bridge gaps in high-impact content 40. Build capacity to improve high-impact content in underrepresented communities

Innovate in Free Knowledge
41. Identify policies that hinder knowledge equity 42. Policies for experimentation with projects for knowledge equity 43. Continuous experimentation, technology, and partnerships for content, formats, and devices

Evaluate, Iterate, and Adapt

The Strategic Direction • The Principles • The recommendations • Initiatives • Updates • History