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Movement Charter

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This page contains the statements candidates running for the Movement Charter's Drafting Committee.

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Candidates

Mike Peel (Mike Peel)

Mike Peel (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Me in 2017 Personal: Name: Mike Peel Location: Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain Languages: en-N, es-1, pt-BR-1, fr-1, python, C Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2005 Active wikis: English Wikipedia, Commons, Wikidata
statement (Not more than 450 words)	I am primarily active on the English Wikipedia, Commons, and Wikidata, with over 350k edits combined since 2005. I work both on content creation (new articles, article expansion, new photographs), and wikignoming (e.g., linking Wikipedias, Wikidata, Commons). I authored the multilingual Wikidata infobox used in over 3 million Commons categories, operate Pi bot (over 8 million edits, mostly on Wikidata and Commons) and co-originated the term ‘editathon’ with the first event at the British Library in 2011. I co-founded Wikimedia UK and was a trustee of it for its first 5 years as it was created as a charity and grew into an established organisation. I served on the Funds Dissemination Committee for four years, both on its initial committee in 2012–14 and another term in 2015–17. I have been part of Wiki Movimento Brasil since 2019 (informally since 2016), actively contributing to a thriving affiliate in an emerging community. This has widened my understanding of the diverse challenges our movement faces, particularly given local realities and the need to embrace diversity. By day I am a radio astronomer working for international collaborative telescope projects. I have lived in the UK and Brazil, and am currently working in Spain (I've been learning Portuguese and Spanish). I would like to bring my expertise from across the Wikimedia movement to the WMF board. My experience has given me a broad overview of the Wikimedia movement, understanding diverse affiliates by both being part of several and reviewing their activities through the FDC. At the same time I am an active on-wiki community member, and understand the different viewpoints across multiple Wikimedia projects as well. Linked with the overall Wikimedia movement strategy, I would like to see less centralisation at WMF of movement expenditure and resources, with a corresponding increase in making use of (and growing) the expertise and leadership of the Wikimedia affiliates in their geographical areas and/or specialisms. I would also like to see the Board (and WMF more generally) become more transparent, and engage more with the community.
Top 3 Board priorities	1. New ED hiring, onboarding, and overall transition process 2. Increase transparency and engagement of the WMF board and organisation with the Wikimedia community 3. Provide guidance to rebalance the work done by the WMF vs. affiliates vs. community
Top 3 Movement Strategy priorities	1. Increasing engagement with emerging communities, while making the best use of the strengths of more privileged communities 2. Sustainable and innovative technical development 3. Increase engage with fellow-traveller organisations (e.g., GLAM)
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Matanya (talk) 20:21, 1 July 2021 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Joe Sutherland (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 18:14, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Trustee Evaluation Form

Trustee Evaluation Form Years of Experience <1 1–2 2–5 5–10 10+ Wikimedia experience. The candidate is a dedicated contributor to the Wikimedia movement. Eligible contributions include: contributions to the Wikimedia projects, membership in a Wikimedia organization or affiliate, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization. 10+ years. Active on the English Wikipedia (editing since 2005, admin since 2007, ~70k edits), Commons (editing since 2006, admin since 2018, ~110k edits, ~40k photos uploaded), Wikidata (editing since 2013, admin since 2020, ~170k edits). I write bot code, and operate Pi bot since 2017 (8.3m+ edits). I am a member of Wikimedia UK (member #2) and Wiki Movimento Brasil. I have organised Wikimedia events like editathons, supervised summer students working on Wikimedia projects (currently two Outreachy students funded by WMF), attended Wikimanias, Wikimedia conferences, etc. Board experience. The candidate has served on the board of trustees/directors or other similar governing body of a nationally- or globally-focused organization (non-profit, for-profit, or governmental). 5-10 years. I was a trustee of Wikimedia UK for 5 years, serving variously as its membership Secretary, Chair, and Secretary. I was on the FDC for two terms = 4 years, including serving as Secretary. Executive experience. The candidate has worked at an executive level for an organization, department, or project of comparable (or greater) size, complexity, and scope to the Wikimedia Foundation. <1 year. I work in academia, where I am currently a postdoc. I have experience with supervising students, teaching, and managing complex projects. This includes participating in international telescope collaborations, where I work on all aspects of multi-million-dollar projects: from telescope hardware, to data analysis pipelines, to scientific publications and public outreach. Subject matter expertise. The candidate has worked or significantly volunteered in an area relevant to the work of the Foundation and the Board. Such areas will be determined on an annual basis and may include areas such as Global movement building and community organization, enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development, public policy and the law, knowledge sector (e.g., academia/GLAM/education), human rights and social justice, open Internet/free and open source software, organizational strategy and management, finance and financial oversight, non-profit fundraising, human resources, board governance. 10+ years. I have been in academia since I started as a PhD student in 2006. As an astronomer, I write a lot of code to analyse data, and generally understand software development. Diversity: Background The candidate belongs or belonged to a group that has faced historical discrimination and underrepresentation in structures of power (related to, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, social class, economic status, or caste). Yes/No No. I am a white male, of which there are many within the Wikimedia community. I have lived in Brazil, and currently reside in Spain, so I have multicultural experience. I also work in international collaborations that include participants from, for example, Brazil, South Africa, China, South Korea, and Japan. Diversity: Geography The candidate would contribute to the overall geographic diversity of the Board of Trustees, based on the geographic regions where they have lived. Yes/No Yes. I was born in the UK, have lived in Brazil, and am currently in Spain. Diversity: Language The candidate is a native speaker of a language other than English. Yes/No No. I am a native English speaker. I am learning Spanish, and know some Portuguese and French - but it is enough to get by, not have conversations. I am also mostly fluent in Python. Diversity: Political system experience The candidate has substantial experience living in and/or working to share knowledge in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive context. Yes/No No. Both Brazil and Spain have non-democratic histories, which I have seen evidence of (and have documented memorials to), but I have not experienced it first-hand.

Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight

Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight (Rosiestep)

Rosiestep (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	WikiConference North America 2019 Video statement Personal: Name: Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight Location: Nevada City, California, United States Languages: sr-2 (it is my first language but I speak it poorly now), en-N, es-2, fr-2 Editorial: Wikimedian since: June 2007 Active wikis: English Wikipedia, Commons, Wikidata
statement (Not more than 450 words)	About me I became an English Wikipedia editor in 2007; administrator since 2009. In 2014, I founded WikiProject Women Writers. As a strong believer in the power of volunteerism and community organizing, I have been very active in the affiliates’ world. In 2015, I co-founded Women in Red and WikiWomen's User Group. In 2016, I joined the Board of Wikimedia District of Columbia (WMDC); was elected a member of the Affiliations Committee (AffCom); and was honored as co-Wikimedian of the Year, while Women in Red was shortlisted for the ITU/UN Women GEM-TECH award. I was co-grantee for WikiConference North America 2016, and co-founder of its User Group. In 2017, I was elected WMDC vice-president and AffCom secretary. Involved with movement strategy (MS) since 2016, I joined the Community Health Working Group in 2018. In the same year, I was knighted by the Republic of Serbia, my family’s homeland, in part because of my Wikipedia work. Since 2019, I am associated with WikiCred. In 2020, the article I created on Maria Lauder was honored as the 6th million article on English Wikipedia. Also in 2020, I was elected AffCom chair; re-elected this year. I hold a BS degree in Business Management and a Master of Business Administration. My professional career focused on contract management, project management, talent acquisition; retired in 2016. I have served as an adjunct professor (organizational behavior; healthcare administration) also lecturer (talent acquisition). In 2017, I was WMF contractor, Gender Diversity Mapping project, first of its kind. Since 2017, I am a Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University. About my goals I advocate for diversity in its many forms/perspectives, including (alphabetically) content, donors, editors, enthusiasts, partners, readers, and so forth. I’m a veteran editor on EN-WP (+220K edits, 1,300+ DYK articles, created 5,300+ articles). Also, +6K WikiCommons uploads (mostly Public Domain photos). Also, +44K Wikidata edits, (including Wikidata WikiProject Women Writers in Review). I rely on and support tech, AI development, tools and our tech community. My initial work on the MS Community Health Working Group focused on community interviews and data collection. When we developed Recommendations, my focus centered on skills training, community safety, newcomer experience (editors, Affiliates, WMF staff, BoT, and organizational partners), and leadership development. I continue to champion these areas. More support for community organizations. I am keen for us to establish the Global Council and Hubs in order to provide more equitable models for governance, advocacy, capacity building, resource allocation. I believe they will also have a positive affect on readership, partnerships, etc.. I support the continued existence of affiliates and champion efforts to help them thrive; same for non-affiliate communities (e.g. Women in Red).
Top 3 Board priorities	Hire and onboard a new CEO Improve Board governance + community relations Continue to support Movement Strategy
Top 3 Movement Strategy priorities	Ensure equity in decision making Provide for safety and inclusion Invest in skills and leadership development
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Matanya (talk) 20:20, 1 July 2021 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Joe Sutherland (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 18:18, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Trustee Evaluation Form

Trustee Evaluation Form Years of Experience <1 1–2 2–5 5–10 10+ Wikimedia experience. The candidate is a dedicated contributor to the Wikimedia movement. Eligible contributions include: contributions to the Wikimedia projects, membership in a Wikimedia organization or affiliate, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization. 10+ years: I have been a Wikimedian since 2007. I have served as an admin, Affiliate co-founder, AffCom officer, Movement Strategy Working Group member. Whenever there is an opportunity to do so, I talk about the wiki movement (press; presentations; conferences). As I have relationships with communities around the world, not just English-speaking, I understand their needs, especially those of the Affiliates. Additionally, Women in Red has helped build a global network of womxn around the Wikimedia movement. Board experience. The candidate has served on the board of trustees/directors or other similar governing body of a nationally- or globally-focused organization (non-profit, for-profit, or governmental). <1 year: Though I have not served on a national/global board, I do serve as a member/officer of a regional board, Wikimedia District of Columbia (since 2016). Though Women in Red is not a registered non-profit, it is a global organization as recognized by ITU/UN Women who shortlisted it in 2016 for the GEM-TECH award. Executive experience. The candidate has worked at an executive level for an organization, department, or project of comparable (or greater) size, complexity, and scope to the Wikimedia Foundation. No. I don't have executive experience at this scale. But I have managed multi-million dollar annual budgets for a US government contractor in the healthcare sector from 1993 to 2009, serving as the company’s representative in legal matters during that time. I hold a post-graduate certificate in Executive Healthcare Leadership from the University of California, San Diego. Subject matter expertise. The candidate has worked or significantly volunteered in an area relevant to the work of the Foundation and the Board. Such areas will be determined on an annual basis and may include areas such as Global movement building and community organization, enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development, public policy and the law, knowledge sector (e.g., academia/GLAM/education), human rights and social justice, open Internet/free and open source software, organizational strategy and management, finance and financial oversight, non-profit fundraising, human resources, board governance. 10+ years: I have been involved in Movement Strategy since 2016, including serving on the Community Health Working Group. As a member of AffCom since 2016 (Chair since 2020), I have experience in community development and conflict resolution/management. For a decade, I have addressed Wikipedia’s content gender gap. Since 2017, I am a Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University (Boston) focused on pre-XX-century women writers and their works. In my professional life, I have 15 years of experience with contract management and project management; 15 years of experience in Talent Acquisition including C-level positions. The title of my Master’s thesis was: “A Two Year Strategic IT Plan for a Non-Profit”. Diversity: Background The candidate belongs or belonged to a group that has faced historical discrimination and underrepresentation in structures of power (related to, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, social class, economic status, or caste). Yes. I am a woman in my 60s. Diversity: Geography The candidate would contribute to the overall geographic diversity of the Board of Trustees, based on the geographic regions where they have lived. No. I was born in the US to Yugoslav-born parents who met in a post-WWII DP camp. I grew up in a Serbian-speaking home with family members of 3 generations; English was the second language. This upbringing contributed to my lifelong interest in geographic and cultural diversity (traveled to 30+ foreign countries; hosted 8 foreign exchange students; sent my 2 sons in their school years to other continents as foreign exchange students). In 2016, I co-developed a geographic-hub-based conference model (WCNA) (co-grantee; Core Team member since its establishment) which became a User Group (co-founder), the only conference-themed Affiliate within our movement. Diversity: Language The candidate is a native speaker of a language other than English. Yes. My first language (childhood home language) is Serbian. EN (N); ES (1-2); FR (1-2). Language and cultural identity issues hold my interest, for example, the languages of Yugoslavia. Diversity: Political system experience The candidate has substantial experience living in and/or working to share knowledge in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive context. I have not lived in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive country. However, for more than a decade, I have shared knowledge about women who have done so through the Wikipedia biographies I have created, for example, Margarita Ortega, Deolinda Rodrigues Francisco de Almeida, Konkordiya Samoilova, and Tang Qunying.

Adam Wight

Adam Wight (Adamw)

Adamw (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Adam Wight Personal: Name: Adam Wight Location: Berlin, Germany Languages: en-N, es-2 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2012 Active wikis: mediawiki, meta
statement (Not more than 450 words)	Problem: Our institutions should reflect our movement. If knowledge is a mountain, then we should be terraced gardens spanning its slopes, rather than a fortress built on the summit. Wikimedians spread themselves out into every subject and language, rather than building a single dominant project in some colonial language. But the Wikimedia Foundation is dominant, its revenue is over 12 times greater than the largest chapter. Proposal: Progressively increase the proportion of resources going to smaller local organizations, have these take over many of the Foundation's roles. Movement-wide decisions made by a confederation of local groups. Problem: Editors and contributors create all of our wealth, but have minority control over electing the Board's representatives. Proposal: Contributors directly elect the full Wikimedia Foundation Board, one person one vote. This will require the Board to change its Bylaws, and possibly requires conversion (back) to a membership organization. Then, future questions will be resolved according to popular mandate. Problem: The boundaries of our projects are tightly guarded. Any new communities can only launch after a long and difficult process, and only if they are similar to existing projects and rooted in similar values. The many who are denied must turn to commercial or other hosting, with inconsistent safety policies, licensing, and even with imposed advertising. Proposal: We need a diaspora of projects, such as an ad-free, open wiki farm with stable funding and consistent community safety. We might also draw new life into the movement with: real-time collaborative editing, partnering with journalists to fight disinformation, and reaching beyond on-wiki life with initiatives like the Knowledge Equity Fund. About myself: As a Board member, I will push for direct democracy, and will take a pledge to support any recall or referendum vote by the contributors. My priorities are aligned with the strategic recommendations and the outcome of the 2019 governance review, and I'm happy to listen to others and adapt what I advocate as needed. My professional background is mostly as a software developer, or as a manual laborer depending on what I can find. I enjoy community organizing, have helped start a sidewalk food collective, a free school, and along with others attempted to unionize Wikimedia Foundation staff. I've helped maintain industrial arts shops, and see some parallels to what needs to be done as a Board member: set up a structure that lets every individual thrive and be creative, keep the lights on, and talk a lot with everyone. My wiki experience is a total of 9 years staff at WMF and WMDE. I can say that staff universally respect what they call the "Community", and if anything may be slightly afraid of the editors. I'll work to rebuild the Foundation's trustworthiness.
Top 3 Board priorities	1. Democracy: Elect the full Board, with contributors recognized as the legal owners of the Foundation. 2. Diversity: Phase out some of the roles played by the Foundation, focusing on coordination between chapters, stewardship of trademarks, international law and safety issues. Greatly increase the proportion of funds distributed to local entities. Evaluate splitting out organizations to focus on MediaWiki, and another to provide wiki hosting. 3. Diaspora: Support a non-profit, ad-free wiki farm open to all, with the benefit of a uniform safety framework.
Top 3 Movement Strategy priorities	1. Equity in decision-making 2. Safety and inclusion 3. Innovation for free knowledge
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Matanya (talk) 20:28, 1 July 2021 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Joe Sutherland (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 01:02, 30 June 2021 (UTC)

Trustee Evaluation Form

Trustee Evaluation Form Years of Experience <1 1–2 2–5 5–10 10+ Wikimedia experience. The candidate is a dedicated contributor to the Wikimedia movement. Eligible contributions include: contributions to the Wikimedia projects, membership in a Wikimedia organization or affiliate, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization. WMF software developer, 7 years. WMDE software developer, 2 years. Board experience. The candidate has served on the board of trustees/directors or other similar governing body of a nationally- or globally-focused organization (non-profit, for-profit, or governmental). No Executive experience. The candidate has worked at an executive level for an organization, department, or project of comparable (or greater) size, complexity, and scope to the Wikimedia Foundation. No Subject matter expertise. The candidate has worked or significantly volunteered in an area relevant to the work of the Foundation and the Board. Such areas will be determined on an annual basis and may include areas such as Global movement building and community organization, enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development, public policy and the law, knowledge sector (e.g., academia/GLAM/education), human rights and social justice, open Internet/free and open source software, organizational strategy and management, finance and financial oversight, non-profit fundraising, human resources, board governance. Software engineering. Diversity: Background The candidate belongs or belonged to a group that has faced historical discrimination and underrepresentation in structures of power (related to, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, social class, economic status, or caste). No Diversity: Geography The candidate would contribute to the overall geographic diversity of the Board of Trustees, based on the geographic regions where they have lived. No Diversity: Language The candidate is a native speaker of a language other than English. No Diversity: Political system experience The candidate has substantial experience living in and/or working to share knowledge in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive context. No

Vinicius Siqueira (Vini_175)

Vini_175 (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Statement's video (also in Spanish and Portuguese) Personal: Name: Vinicius Siqueira Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Languages: pt-BR-N, pt-5, en-4, es-4 Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2007 Active wikis: ptwiki, Commons
statement (Not more than 450 words)	Our movement is going through major changes as we devise new compass points and discuss new governance models. One such change --that was highlighted in the strategy process-- has been the importance of empowering voices from the Global South and marginalized communities in the Global North. This candidacy arises to some extent from this process. About me: I want to change the world to make it fairer and more democratic, and more aligned with a radical understanding of social justice. This is the exact vision which led me when I was 14 years old to make my first edits on Wikipedia in Portuguese, in 2007, and that has oriented my engagement with the movement ever since. I am currently the vice-chair of the Brazilian affiliate Wiki Movimento Brasil and have served as its liaison with the WMF. I am especially active in our diversity and our communications committees and our projects around decolonization, and have been involved at different periods with other affiliates, especially Wiki Project Med, as a former board member. Wikipedia in Portuguese is my home wiki. My volunteer time availability is compatible with expected workload as a Wikimedia trustee. I live in Brazil and work as a physician in impoverished neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro. I am also a professor at the School of Medicine at the Estácio de Sá University. I am an activist in the movement for access to essential medicines and for universal health coverage. I am a gay man and an active supporter of LGBTQIA+ rights in my home country. About my goals: To fulfill our mission we need to move towards an architecture and a governance system that ensures greater diversity of users and content. We have progressed in envisioning this system; we now need to make sure decision-making processes are empowering, meaningful and equitable for all. We need more Wikimedians from the Global South and from marginalized communities in the Global North on key movement instances, including the Board of Trustees. Greater diversity will contribute to fostering more engagement from communities and demographics that have been systematically disempowered in our movement; it will also be associated with the emergence of new local and regional leadership that we need as we move towards a more decentralized structure. Greater diversity will also contribute to increasing accountability and devising innovative community consultation designs. To sum up, my goal as a trustee is to contribute to bring about the vision we have laid out in the Movement Strategy, knowing that the Wikimedia Foundation should lead by example.
Top 3 Board priorities	1. Ensure Equity in Decision-making. 2. Invest in Skills and Leadership Development. 3. Increase the Sustainability of Our Movement.
Top 3 Movement Strategy priorities	1. Ensure empowered participatory governance. 2. Ensure diversity and equity in decision making processes. 3. Defend an internet for and from all, in which we invest in democratizing the access to and production of knowledge, empowering Global South communities and marginalized communities in the Global North.
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Matanya (talk) 20:29, 1 July 2021 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Joe Sutherland (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 18:11, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Trustee Evaluation Form

Trustee Evaluation Form Years of Experience <1 1–2 2–5 5–10 10+ Wikimedia experience. The candidate is a dedicated contributor to the Wikimedia movement. Eligible contributions include: contributions to the Wikimedia projects, membership in a Wikimedia organization or affiliate, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization. 10+ years: I first edited Wikipedia when I was 14 years old, in 2007. I have served in many editorial capacities on Wikipedia in Portuguese. I am a founding member of Wiki Movimento Brasil and Wiki Project Med as well. Board experience. The candidate has served on the board of trustees/directors or other similar governing body of a nationally- or globally-focused organization (non-profit, for-profit, or governmental). 2-5: I have served as Wiki Movimento Brasil's vice-chair since 2017. This is currently the only affiliate in Brazil, a user group in the process of applying for chapter recognition. Executive experience = <1 year: I do not have executive experience in an organization of the same level of complexity and scope of the Wikimedia Foundation. My activity has mostly been geared towards grassroots organizing in Brazilian impoverished communities, particularly Rocinha, the largest favela in Brazil. Executive experience. The candidate has worked at an executive level for an organization, department, or project of comparable (or greater) size, complexity, and scope to the Wikimedia Foundation. Subject matter expertise. The candidate has worked or significantly volunteered in an area relevant to the work of the Foundation and the Board. Such areas will be determined on an annual basis and may include areas such as Global movement building and community organization, enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development, public policy and the law, knowledge sector (e.g., academia/GLAM/education), human rights and social justice, open Internet/free and open source software, organizational strategy and management, finance and financial oversight, non-profit fundraising, human resources, board governance. 10+ years: I have been a social-justice and human-right activist in all periods in my life. I was a leader in the student movement. I have become a physician to work with the urban poor. As a university professor, I aim at engaging students to also understand medicine as a social justice practice. I have joined the Wikimedia movement because all knowledge matters and is transformative. Diversity: Background The candidate belongs or belonged to a group that has faced historical discrimination and underrepresentation in structures of power (related to, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, social class, economic status, or caste). Yes. Diversity: Geography The candidate would contribute to the overall geographic diversity of the Board of Trustees, based on the geographic regions where they have lived. Yes. Diversity: Language The candidate is a native speaker of a language other than English. Yes. Diversity: Political system experience The candidate has substantial experience living in and/or working to share knowledge in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive context. Yes. When I was born Brazil had recently transitioned to becoming a democracy, so I have no direct experience with the authoritarian regime period. Nevertheless, as I have dedicated my life to working on Brazilian favelas, where police violence is the norm and where democracy is an abstraction, I do feel I carry a strong understanding of what it means to live in a repressive context.

Douglas Ian Scott (Discott)

Discott (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Candidate details	Douglas at the 2018 Wikimedia Conference. Video statement Personal: Name: Douglas Ian Scott Location: Cape Town, South Africa Languages: en-N, af-2, cmn-2, python, R Editorial: Wikimedian since: 2006 Active wikis: English Wikipedia, Commons
statement (Not more than 450 words)	President of Wikimedia South Africa (2015-2020), lead organiser of Wikimania 2018 in Cape Town and co-organiser of the first Wiki Indaba conference in 2014. I have been an active editor on English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons since 2006. Currently I am deeply involved in trying to get South African copyright law amended to include Freedom of Panorama and Fair Use against much resistance from major industry stakeholders. The proposed legal conventions and terms will make editing Wikipedia much easier in South Africa. I am involved in and supportive of expanding the community in emerging countries, most specifically in Africa, a part of the world that I strongly feel will play an increasingly important role within the free knowledge movement. This, along with my experience working with a wide and diverse range of community members from many different Wikimedia projects (both online and offline) has equipped me with a good understanding of the many different views within our diverse community. My professional background as a criminologist has developed my skills in conflict mitigation and resolution in  different environments. As a local community leader I have found this to be a useful skill in maintaining and strengthening community health within the South African chapter. I feel that my career as a researcher and technologist has given me a strong grounding in many of the technical aspects of our movement. I strongly believe in the importance of expanding the community's presence on the board through direct elections. If elected I will consistently work for a stronger community role on the Board of Trustees by calling for a greater ratio of seats to be occupied by elected community members instead of appointees. My vision as a member of the board, should I be elected, is to see greater inclusion of, and support for, our community in emerging countries. I would also like to see the board become more transparent and have a deeper level of engagement with the community. Additionally, I would strive for the decentralisation of community resources in the WMF and a stronger role for the community in WFM decision making.
Top 3 Board priorities	1. Expanded engagement between the WMF organisation and the board with the Wikimedia community whilst increasing transparency. 2. Hire and onboard the new WMF CEO – who ever occupies this role will have a very large and long lasting impact on the movement. A person with a deep and genuine belief in the free knowledge movement and the collaborative inclusionist non-commercial volunteer culture of the community is very important. 3. Re-balancing WMF/Community relations so as to strengthen the role of the community within the WMF
Top 3 Movement Strategy priorities	1. Increased representation and support for emerging communities 2. Improved community health and board governance 3.Sustainable and innovative development of new technology to support the community
Verification	Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee
	Eligibility: Verified Verified by: Matanya (talk) 20:38, 1 July 2021 (UTC)	Identification: Verified Verified by: Joe Sutherland (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 18:18, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Trustee Evaluation Form

Trustee Evaluation Form Years of Experience <1 1–2 2–5 5–10 10+ Wikimedia experience. The candidate is a dedicated contributor to the Wikimedia movement. Eligible contributions include: contributions to the Wikimedia projects, membership in a Wikimedia organization or affiliate, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization. 10+ Board experience. The candidate has served on the board of trustees/directors or other similar governing body of a nationally- or globally-focused organization (non-profit, for-profit, or governmental). 7 Executive experience. The candidate has worked at an executive level for an organization, department, or project of comparable (or greater) size, complexity, and scope to the Wikimedia Foundation. Subject matter expertise. The candidate has worked or significantly volunteered in an area relevant to the work of the Foundation and the Board. Such areas will be determined on an annual basis and may include areas such as Global movement building and community organization, enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development, public policy and the law, knowledge sector (e.g., academia/GLAM/education), human rights and social justice, open Internet/free and open source software, organizational strategy and management, finance and financial oversight, non-profit fundraising, human resources, board governance. 6 Diversity: Background The candidate belongs or belonged to a group that has faced historical discrimination and underrepresentation in structures of power (related to, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, social class, economic status, or caste). No Diversity: Geography The candidate would contribute to the overall geographic diversity of the Board of Trustees, based on the geographic regions where they have lived. Yes Diversity: Language The candidate is a native speaker of a language other than English. No Diversity: Political system experience The candidate has substantial experience living in and/or working to share knowledge in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive context. Yes

Interviews

Here is a short list of some of the discussions and interviews I have given about my candidacy.

• WikiAfrica Hour : Episode 3: WMF Board Demystified (25 Jun 2021)