News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:School vs. Wikipedia by akolbe on Friday October 07, 2022 @07:38PM (#33128311)
The former Wikimedia CEO is now on the Atlantic Council and currently serves on the US Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board:

https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/katherine-maher/

Then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a representative of the Office of eDiplomacy to the 2012 Wikimania conference, who at the time was "leading an ambitious State Department initiative that uses social media and online platforms to change the way employees communicate and reach outside their boundaries to advance U.S. foreign policy interests."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/federal-fac...

His Wikimania speech is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0NsY48OQdc&t=457s

A few years later, the person put in charge of facilitating the Wikimedia Strategy 2030 process was Hillary Clinton's former Trips Director, Whitney Williams:

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/...

The PR company that has looked after Wikimedia for the past decade or so is Minassian Media, run by the chief communications and marketing officer of the Clinton Foundation, who formerly was assistant press secretary and director of television news in the White House for President Bill Clinton:

https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/wikipedias-d...

The Chief Advancement Officer at Wikimedia is the politically very well connected lady here:

https://sfgov.org/civilservice/sites/default/files/Documents...

The current CEO is Maryana Iskander; she has been a speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative and presented her work to Bill Clinton in South Africa.

Wikimedia also partners extensively with the Tides Foundation and Tides Advocacy ... So there are very significant political connections.

Re:School vs. Wikipedia by wpietri on Saturday October 08, 2022 @10:00AM (#33132326)
Since I can't post the Pepe Silva/Red String Guy meme here directly, I'd be much obliged if you'd just imagine it for me. Thanks!
Re:School vs. Wikipedia by akolbe on Saturday October 08, 2022 @10:30AM (#33132568)
Each of the above is true and verifiable by the links posted.

You can make of it what you will.

Re:School vs. Wikipedia by wpietri on Saturday October 08, 2022 @10:42AM (#33132685)
Yes and what I make of it in relation to information quality on Wikipedia is the red string meme. Classic conspiracy-theory boogeyman nonsense, all allusion and vaguery.
Re:School vs. Wikipedia by akolbe on Saturday October 08, 2022 @11:30AM (#33133119)
The Wikimedia Foundation does not edit Wikipedia. So what I said above has got little to do with the information quality on the level of an individual article.

I still find it interesting though that the organisation attracts so many politicos. And as far as the Wikimedia Foundation's Strategy 2030 is concerned, it's absolutely relevant. A lot of people in the volunteer community felt that the result of the strategy discussions was kind of preordained, rather than a reflection of the community's will. ("By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge, and anyone who shares our vision will be able to join us ..." etc.)

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/...

There is more indirect influence on content by the Wikimedia Foundation nowadays, where they fund community organizers to increase coverage in a particular topic area.

An early example that taught them how not to do this (as well as a clear example of undue donor influence) was the Belfer Center scandal:

https://thewikipedian.net/2014/04/02/bats-in-the-belfer-a-be...

That was a scandal only because the Wikipedia volunteer community paid attention.

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/wikipedia-paid-editing-scanda...

A more recent example that seems unobjectionable is this one:

https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/09/22/join-the-organizer-lab...

Re:School vs. Wikipedia by wpietri on Saturday October 08, 2022 @12:25PM (#33133618)
> what I said above has got little to do with the information quality

In that case I wish you luck in finding the right place to discuss it.

Re:School vs. Wikipedia by akolbe on Saturday October 08, 2022 @01:31PM (#33134239)
It was you who introduced the topic of government backing above ... that just triggered my memory. Never mind.