Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive Officer/Maryana’s Listening Tour/Overview

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Puzzles and Priorities | Reflections from Maryana’s Listening Tour
Maryana Iskander, Wikimedia Foundation Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
A wonderful welcome from Nigeria
A welcome message from Wikimedia Norway

The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has appointed Maryana Iskander as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Wikimedia Foundation. In Maryana’s introductory letter to the movement, she said “my first job is to listen and seek to understand.”

As part of this commitment, Maryana is undertaking a listening tour of the Wikimedia movement. She will meet with volunteer contributors, affiliates, donors, partners and staff. She wants to hear from anyone interested in sharing directly with her even before she officially joins the Wikimedia Foundation in January 2022.

December 2021 update

Since commencing the Listening Tour in September 2021, Maryana has had close to 300 individual and small group conversations with volunteers, affiliate leaders and staff, and former and current staff of the Wikimedia Foundation. She has attended 17 community-organized events bringing together close to 800 community members from around the world. Maryana plans on sharing reflections from the Listening Tour after formally assuming her role as the Chief Executive Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation in January 2022. And even though the Listening Tour has wrapped up for 2021, conversations will continue in 2022 and people are warmly invited to continue to share their views with Maryana. Please see below.

Questions from Maryana

Questions?

Maryana is interested in all the different views from across our communities. She is asking everyone:

  • What do you think: about the vision, mission, impact, strategy and how we relate to the rest of the world? What do you think about our current and future ways of working and achieving our aspirations?
  • What does data, research and evidence also tell us about our vision, mission, impact, strategy and how we relate to the rest of the world? How is this the same or different from what you think?
  • What motivates you at a personal level to contribute to your projects and take part in your communities?

Share your views

As part of Maryana’s listening tour, you can get in touch with her in many ways to share your views.

  • Directly by email at miskander@wikimedia.org.
  • On wiki, by leaving a message in any language on this page’s talk page. Foundation staff will pass on (and translate where needed) all messages to Maryana.
  • Joining one of the many events listed below.

Join Maryana at an event

Events are being added all the time, so feel free to watch this page for more.

If you would like to invite Maryana to an event please email movementcomms@wikimedia.org and we can check availability. Please note Maryana is trying to meet as many people as she can but may not be able to make all the events she is invited to during this transition period.

Name Date and time

(all times in UTC)

Relevant links
Meeting with Wikimedia South Africa Tuesday, 21 September 2021 Completed
Wikimedia South Africa Annual General Meeting Saturday, 25 September 2021 Completed
Major Donors Virtual Events 22 September, 13 October and 9 November Invites sent directly to groups.
German-language WikiCon 2021 Saturday October 2, 14:00-15:00 UTC Program
Meeting with a cross-section of User Groups
  • LGBT+
  • AfroCrowd
  • WikiMujeres
  • WikiWomen
Thursday, October 7th Invites sent directly to groups.
ESEAP regional monthly meeting Saturday October 9, 07:00 UTC Event page
WikiConference North America Sunday October 10, 15:45 UTC Program and registration

Video recording (YouTube)

WikiArabia Friday October 15, 11:30 UTC Program and registration

Video recording (YouTube)

Conversation with the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees - Community Affairs Committee Wednesday October 20, 11:00 UTC Program and registration
Wikidata Con Saturday October 30, 16:00 UTC Program and registration
Wiki Indaba Friday November 5, 11:00 UTC. Program and registration

Video recording (YouTube)

Wikimedia CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) Friday November 5, 16:00 UTC. Program and registration
WikiNaija Saturday November 6, 09:00 UTC. The bimonthly meeting of Wikimedia communities in Nigeria

A welcome video for Maryana

Language diversity and Wiki projects, organized by Wikitongues Tuesday November 10, 15:00 UTC Program
Conversation with Spanish and Portuguese-speaking communities Friday November 12, 18:30-20:00 UTC. Video recording
Wikisource 18th Birthday Celebrations Wednesday November 24, 13:30 UTC Agenda and Registration
MediaWiki Stakeholders Group Wednesday November 24, 15:00 UTC MWStake Event details

Video recording

WikiConvention francophone Post-Conférence: Thursday November 25, 15:30 UTC Program and registration
Final Open Call in 2021, hosted by CIS-A2K   Friday November 26, 13:30 The final stop of the Listening Tour in 2021 hosted by CIS-A2K.

Video recording

Event information