Wikimedia Foundation elections/2024/Candidates/Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight
Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight (Rosiestep)
Rosiestep (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)
| Candidate details | .jpg)
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| Total word count for the whole application (required + optional questions) is 1000 (one thousand) words | ||
| Required questions | ||
| Why are you running for the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees? What would you contribute? What would you like to learn more about? | I believe serving on the Board is the best way for me to ensure that the 2030 Movement Strategy's Recommendations and Initiatives receive strategic commitment (e.g., Annual Plan Process). I will continue to be a deeply committed Wikimedian, listening and participating in conversations, campaigns, and conferences to ensure community points of view are addressed in strategic conversations with the CEO, staff, and the Board, championing shifts in direction or priorities when it benefits or impacts the Movement. | |
| Please describe your Wikimedia experience (such as contributions to the Wikimedia projects, memberships in Wikimedia organizations or affiliates, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization). | - Editor
Wikipedians: by number of DYKs, #5; by article count, Top 100; by number of edits, Top 150. New Page Patrol reviewers: #7. Co-Wikipedian of the Year, 2016; Knighted, 2018, partly because of my Wikipedia work.
- Organizer: list of events, committees, etc. | |
| From your perspective, what should the Wikimedia Foundation be prioritizing over the next 5-10 years, and why do you see these as the most important priorities? | I wear a silicone bracelet inscribed with: WWHSD? (What Would Hari Seldon Do?). In the same way that this fictional character thought about and planned for the far future, I think about the far future of our Wikimedia movement... 10-100 years from now. Ergo, I view these as the Top Four areas we should prioritize:
Why?: I believe this is what the world needs from us, as well as what consumers (readers, virtual assistants, chatbots, etc.), editors, contributors, organizers, partners, and donors want from us. | |
| Optional questions - Professional Experience, Skills and Education | ||
| Please describe your experience with governing bodies of organizations (nonprofit or for-profit), mentioning the scope of your responsibilities, as well as the complexity of the organization (in terms of scale of operations, budget, number of people involved, or other meaningful measures) and the size of the board or body. | 1. Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees (2021-present). Elected in 2021 for a 3 year term. I serve as Chair, Talent & Culture Committee. Member: Executive Committee and Community Affairs Committee; also, Sibling Projects Task Force. Previously: Governance and Audit Committees.
2. Board of Directors, Wikimedia District of Columbia (WMDC) (multi-state programmatic operations of a 501(c)(3) public charity) (2016-2021). Appointed, 2016. Vice-President, 2017-2021. Among my responsibilities: Human Resources and Friendly Space. 3. Co-founder, Women in Red (established July 2015).
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| Please describe your professional career experience. | Professional career: healthcare industry. Since 1990, I worked for a large corporation (national; later international) that provides healthcare services: administrator, contract management, talent acquisition. Memberships: PMI SHRM, and ERE. Retired in 2016.
In 2017, I became a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar at Northeastern University's Digital Scholarship Group. My work focuses on pre-20th-century, trans-Atlantic, English-language women writers and their works (on Wikipedia and also a Wikidata project). Unpaid position. | |
| Please briefly describe 3 situations that show how you tackled, or advised others on, a complex problem in an organization. How did you work with others to address the situations? | 1. I helped bring together leaders from WM-CA, WM-DC, WM-MX, and WM-NYC during Wikimania Esino Lario (June 2016) to coordinate WCNA 2016 as a regional conference (previously, it was US-based). Together, we developed plans for it to occur in October and I agreed to be a co-grantee. It was a success (4 days; 7 tracks; >300 attendees).
2. In November 2020, the WCNA Core Team was still unable to decide whether to facilitate an online-only conference before the end of the year (e.g., COVID pandemic) because we were inexperienced with such a model. I suggested that the learnings from facilitating an online-only conference could be incorporated in future WCNAs so we don't have to be perfect this time; it's okay to take the risk and make mistakes. A successful virtual WCNA 2020 occurred in December (3 days; 4 tracks; >150 attendees) with several learnings. | |
| Please describe your educational background, including degrees, certificates, and courses of study finished, and their relevance to board work. | BA in Business Management, and later, an MBA degree. Also, post-graduate certificate in "Healthcare Executive Leadership". More recently: Board Leadership Development Program (2022), Team Dynamics/Board Practice Series (2023), and Essential Facilitation (2024).
Relevance: MBA degree is quite relevant as the Board's mission is to focus on organizational strategy, a central component of this degree. | |
| Please add any relevant links describing your professional background, experience, profile (such as LinkedIn, staff page, etc.). | - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosiestephenson/ | |
| Optional questions - Leadership Experience | ||
| Please describe ways in which you have helped to form a bridge between multiple communities (such as by working on projects outside your home wiki, or working on a collaboration between multiple affiliates). | 1. Wikimania 2023: co-founded WikiWomenSummit x Wikimania (WWS). "Building bridges" day for strategy, skill-building, leadership development, celebrations. Goal: repeat WWS at future Wikimanias, shifting format to support each year's unique ideas/requirements/Core Team/attendees.
2. Helped develop ideas on the Community Health Working Group (2018-20). 3. Elected to the Affiliations Committee (2016-2021). Served on its Conflicts Committee all years. Officer (Secretary, 2017; Chair, 2020-21). 4. In 2016, I ideated that WCNA become an Affiliate to retain/incorporate learnings into future convenings. To date, WCNA is the only conference-based Affiliate. | |
| Can you describe a policy, on wiki or off, that you helped to create or change? What did you learn from this experience? | ||
| How have you been able to empower people to make their voices heard? | 1. Since joining the WMF Board of Trustees in 2021, I championed the need for strategic support for wikiwomen so that more of their voices could be heard. I'm grateful that it was included in the 2023-24 Annual Plan (and also in the current draft 2024-25 Annual Plan). The newly-hired staff have provided support with convenings, campaigns, and the March (Women's History Month) calendar, empowering more wikiwomen to make their voices heard.
1a. Victoria and I represented the Board of Trustees at WikiWomenCamp 2023 where we listened, learned, and celebrated the strategic work done by women around the world. 1b. Co-founder and Core Team (with Vanj), WikiWomenSummit x Wikimania 2023. The event brought together dozens of Wikimania attendees; see program here. 1c. Core Team (with Chinmayee, Florence, Käbi, Manavpreet, Maria, Nur, Vanj), WikiWomenSummit x Wikimania 2024. During this day-long event, we will soft-launch a new idea of mine: WikiWomenSummit X Lunch. Like TEDx brings the essence of TED talks to local communities, WikiWomenSummit X Lunch will do the same for wikiwomen around the world. The goal is to empower women's leadership and new voices at future regional/thematic wiki conferences by facilitating a "wikiwomen lunch" (e.g., 1.5 hours), the luncheon's program, time, format varying with each iteration. 2. Co-founder (with Roger), Women in Red (2016). Collaborating with an ally, formed a community where people of all genders engage on-wiki to talk about women's representation (biographies, women's works, women's issue) on Wikipedia. See 33,700+ comments on the talkpage. Women in Red was shortlisted for the ITU/UN Women GEM-TECH Award (2018). 3. Co-founder (with Emily, Netha, Sydney), WikiWomen's User Group (2015). Collaborating with other women to form communities and Affiliates where wikiwomen can communicate regarding topics of interest. 4. Encouraged the founders of WikiProject Women in Religion, WikiProject Women Do News, and WikiProject Electronic literature to develop an on-wiki presence so that their voices could join the Wikimedia movement. | |
| Sometimes in professional situations, there are personality conflicts. Explain how you remain productive even with personality conflicts. | Listen and learn before reacting; remain polite and civil; focus on issues. Understand that perceptions vary; we don't all see things the same way. | |
| Optional questions - Strategic Thinking | ||
| Where do you see the need for greater diversity in the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees or within the movement? What steps would you take to improve diversity on the Board or within the movement? What steps would you recommend the Board take to improve diversity? | Current Trustees incorporate gender and age diversity (for transparency, I'm 70 years old); represent four continents. An "Advisory Board" would bring additional perspectives. Historically, an "Advisory Board" existed. Currently, "Volunteer Advisory Members" serve on the Board's Governance and Audit Committees, plus the Community Affairs Committee's Sister Projects Task Force -- but this is different than an "Advisory Board". This would be a possible approach to provide opportunities for Wikimedians in underrepresented parts of the world, e.g., with representation from each region (per "Regional Grants Committees" alignment). | |
| Verification | Identity verification performed by Wikimedia Foundation staff and eligibility verification performed by the Elections Committee | |
Eligibility:  Not yet verified
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Identification: | |