[]1As I’ll be leaving for
[University of Technology Sydney]2 (UTS) in October, the time has
come (formally, Friday) for me to step down from the board of
[Wikimedia UK]3. I’ve now been on the board for just under 2 years
(having served half an elected term), and it has been my huge privilege
to work with such a dedicated group of volunteers (including the board)
and staff. I first encountered Wikimedia UK while working at Cambridge
University on an [OER project]4. In that role, I attended the 1st
[EduWiki]5 – a conference about the relationship between Wikimedia
and education – and enjoyed speaking to people from the Wikimedia side
and those like me from a education institutions with interest in how
Wikimedia might relate to our work. That work got me [editing
Wikipedia,]6 and talking to folks around Wikimedia UK about the
relationship between the movement and education. So, when I was
co-opted, I had hoped to bring some of my education and analytics
expertise to the board. I’ve done this a bit, but actually for the most
part, my work has only indirectly drawn on that experience, focussing
more on general strategy (and day to do governance matters). And I’m
very proud of the work we’ve done here, setting out our [strategic
plan]7, [impact]8 measures, and developing an organisational
structure that best support our mission, and the crucial role of
[volunteers]9 in that. I’ve been reflecting a bit recently
regarding what I’ve contributed to the charity, and what I’ve gained
from the experience myself. I wrote some [thoughts on what trustees do
earlier]10, but they were more general than my own experience.
[Only 2.1% (in 2013) of trustees were under 30]11 (also see [gov
report]12), although I’m on the upper end of that (and compared to,
e.g. youth stakeholder trustees I’m (a) ancient and (b) weighed down
with qualifications). So it’s been a great experience for me to get to
understand and get involved in the legal and organisational context of
charity governance, ensuring we have funding and spend our funds
appropriately, dealing with governance issues and ensuring our
relationships with the public and other’s are good, developing strategy
and so on. My work has particularly focussed on strategy development,
working to understand what we – as a charity – exist for and how those
goals can be expressed, targeted, and progress on them measured. I hope
that, moving forwards, some of the particular interests and project
ideas existing and prospective volunteers have can be developed (and I
hope I can still offer some advice from my areas of expertise). Back in
2013 when I originally asked what being a board member might involve, I
sent the enquiry not because I was desperate to serve on a board, but
because I was trying to work out ways to get involved specifically with
WMUK. I hope that, moving forwards, the many ways individuals with
diverse arrays of expertise can join and extend our efforts are more
obvious and more open. The [volunteer strategy work]13 we’ve been
developing recently is certainly aimed at that! I’ll certainly be
keeping my eye on things from the other side (where I’d be happy to
offer any advice!), and I’m sincerely grateful for the opportunity to
have worked so closely with some of the global Wikimedia Community. In
particular the board (and especially Michael, our chair) have been
extraordinarily generous with their time in support of the charity; it
has been a huge pleasure to support the board closely on a number of
projects, and a fantastic learning experience in my role as vice chair.
I look forward to seeing the charity continue to develop!
Footnotes
-
/static/2015/08/wikimedia_uk_rock.jpg ↩
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http://sjgknight.com/finding-knowledge/2014/02/wikimedia-uk-strategy-consultation/ ↩
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http://sjgknight.com/finding-knowledge/2014/04/wmcon-wikimedia-strategy-making-it-impactful-measuring-impact-and-thinking-about-tech-and-localisation/ ↩
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http://sjgknight.com/finding-knowledge/2015/06/wmuk-volunteer-strategy-consultation/ ↩
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http://sjgknight.com/finding-knowledge/2015/08/what-do-trustees-do/ ↩
-
http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2013/nov/06/why-charities-need-young-trustees ↩
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https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/284702/rs23text.pdf ↩
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https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Volunteer_strategy_consultation_2015 ↩