Meetings/2011 election: Candidate questions

This page has been set up to allow voters to ask questions of the candidates for the 2011 Board elections. Please add your suggested questions below but remember that candidates are not obliged to answer any question. Questions can also be asked at the hustings at the AGM itself.

Further information is also available in the Candidate Statements

Questions

1. What do you think are the most important strategic objectives for Wikimedia UK in the next 1-3 years? Rodw 19:00, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
2. If elected as a director what can you bring to achieving them? Rodw 19:00, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
3. What is your username on Wikimedia projects? (question from Andrew West on email) AndrewRT 23:45, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Answers

Roger Bamkin (Victuallers)

1. 2. If elected as a director what can you bring to achieving them? I know the amount of effort required - as I am currently having to find time to answer this question because of the commitments I have made to Derby Museum and Wikimedia to support them in their collaboration. I'm optimistic that voters may forgive the brevity of this answer because I am doing rather than talking.

I can see that having edited wikipedia and handled million pound budgets in real life is useful, but so is my ability to direct a pantomime or chair a board of school governors. How do you bring together a group of volunteers to create something better than any of them could have done (or would have attempted) on their own? You need to create a compromise between retaining cooperation of everyone and the unachievable ideal. Luckily wikimedia projects provide proof that this is possible and at times the incredible is achieved. The challenge for Wikimedia is not to settle for what everybody believes is possible.

  3. I'm Victuallers. Tens of thousands of edits, hundreds of articles and pictures, but I don't count them. I have admin powers but I prefer to create. (A victualler is an inn keeper who arranges food, drink and rest.) I have been active on wikisource, English & Simple wikipedia and commons.

John Byrne (Johnbod)

1) Largely covered in my statement. In particular: achieving registed charity status, selecting the right set of employees, and expanding our membership and operations. There are a lot of important questions that I don't want to prejudge, as a newcomer. As I say in the statement, I think maintaining and increasing editors who add good content is the most pressing need for the project as a whole, & the chapter should also focus on this. Securing the basis of our ongoing funding is also crucial - we need to be sure we will continue to receive a good share of UK fundraising.

2) I have excellent experience of working in the management team of very rapidly expanding organizations, and a wide range of management experience in somewhat related environments (publishing, IT), especially in financial and legal areas. I have extensive wikipedia experience in many areas, and I think a good understanding of WP issues and editor's needs. As an editor my interests align very well with GLAM initiatives.

3) See header.

Chris Keating (The Land)

1. What do you think are the most important strategic objectives for Wikimedia UK in the next 1-3 years? First of all, I think we need to develop a clearer strategic plan. Not by board diktat, but by discussion with the community. But in terms of what the objectives in that plan should be...

1. Engagement. Year on year, we should be aiming for increasing numbers of WMUK members, increasing numbers of community members participating in WMUK events/initiatives, increasing numbers of donors and donation income, and finding ways to get people who currently contribute by donating to contribute by editing or providing other content.
2. Outreach. We should set targets for the number of partnerships with and events involving the cultural sector, universities/academics, voluntary organisations, and anything else we can think of.
3. Professionalisation. To underpin this, we need to move from a situation where the Board does everything as a group of overworked volunteers, to a situation where much of the day-to-day work is done by staff members who are themselves working with the community to get things done.

2. If elected as a director what can you bring to achieving them

I have quite a lot of experience working in volunteer organisations which was trying to achieve a great deal with not a huge amount ; and doing so wearing a number of different hats - volunteer, Board member, and staff member.

To expand on my election statement a bit, for 8 years I was a member of staff at the Liberal Democrats, first running local election campaigns and then responsible for a large chunk of national fundraising. I also held voluntary positions, first on the Executive (Board) of the youth wing of the Lib Dems, and from 2008-2010 as Chair of the Liberal Democrat Agents & Organisers Association, which provided training to campaign managers. Now I am a fundraiser for a national healthcare charity - a much larger organisation but still one dependent on volunteer good will for both money and effort.

Professionally, everything I've done is basically about finding ways to engage with volunteers and donors. This is a skill set (and to an extent an outlook) which I think is otherwise missing from the Board, and a large part of the reason I'm standing is to make sure it is a priority.

My experience also means I'm very aware of the challenges involved in being a volunteer-led organisation with a small staff team. There are particular challenges to being an organisation's sole staff member, and also particular challenges for a volunteer Board which finds itself trying to manage a small staff team. I've been in both situations, and I'd hope that I can help that process go smoothly.

3. What is your username on Wikimedia projects

The Land is my on-wiki identity. If anyone is really interested in seeing my userpages on all projects where I've every said or done anything, they are here: meta outreach Commons WikiSource I am also on Twitter.

Andrew Turvey

1. I believe the most important strategic objectives for Wikimedia UK in the next few years are:

• Staff recruitment, enabling us to scale up activities and facilitate more volunteer involvement
• Continuing and expanded engagement with the key sectors of academia, the cultural area ("GLAM"), the media and the professions
• Obtaining charity status

3. My username is AndrewRT. My contributions on Wikimedia projects are described here and here

Steve Virgin

1.What do you think are the most important strategic objectives for Wikimedia UK in the next 1-3 years? Rodw 19:00, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

a) Recruitment - getting the best people for the roles to drive the goals of the community forward

b) Professionalising the chapter so that the Board can set 'strategic objectives' and 'guide staff to deliver them' rather than as it is at present with volunteer Directors getting involved in far too many operational day-to-day matters.

2.If elected as a director what can you bring to achieving them? Rodw 19:00, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

I think I have most to offer in the field of outreach, having organised a number of successful events over the last twelve months I have built a network of contacts in academia (University level), local government & in schools that can help me to work with the community to widen and deepen volunteer involvement

3.What is your username on Wikimedia projects? (question from Andrew West on email) AndrewRT 23:45, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

My User Name is no different from my Candidate name