That's a darned shame. I'm aware that there are a lot of areas that people want to fix on MW Core.
I get really concerned when I hear that the person who holds the vision and direction for the Wikimedia Foundation didn't really participate in it beforehand, and I get even more concerned when I see that she branches off into proposals for search technology that appear to be far outside the scope of Wikimedia projects.
Nobody has ever thought search in Wikipedia or the various projects was particularly effective. However, bringing everything together doesn't just involve searching, and frankly there are a number of more pressing governance and community issues that need to be managed.
Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair here, but she was profiled when she first joined the WMF Board, and the following was said about her:
At the meeting, she described the impact on friends and family of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the difficulty of getting reliable information in the face of “so much secrecy.”
Yet we see that this is precisely what happened with this grant proposal. A major grant was applied for and awarded and not even WMF staffers knew about it. You can see on the mailing list that it was a total shock when it was finally revealed.
I'm watching this train wreck from afar, but closer than others because some of my friends are deeply involved in Wikipedia and the WMF. I'm always amazed that a leadership change can complete kill an organisation. I've seen it in the corporate world, and I see it all the time in the volunteer world as well. The Wikimedia Foundation seems to be yet another victim of the appointment of a clueless leader, with no experience in the area or with the group they are meant to be leading, thrashing around, making changes without really understanding how systems work, the history of the organisation or relying on the experience and sage advise of the many expert and dedicated people around them, ultimately leading to a great deal of unnecessary turmoil, ill-will and frankly destruction in their wake.
I get really concerned when I hear that the person who holds the vision and direction for the Wikimedia Foundation didn't really participate in it beforehand, and I get even more concerned when I see that she branches off into proposals for search technology that appear to be far outside the scope of Wikimedia projects.
Nobody has ever thought search in Wikipedia or the various projects was particularly effective. However, bringing everything together doesn't just involve searching, and frankly there are a number of more pressing governance and community issues that need to be managed.
Perhaps I'm being a bit unfair here, but she was profiled when she first joined the WMF Board, and the following was said about her:
At the meeting, she described the impact on friends and family of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and the difficulty of getting reliable information in the face of “so much secrecy.”
Yet we see that this is precisely what happened with this grant proposal. A major grant was applied for and awarded and not even WMF staffers knew about it. You can see on the mailing list that it was a total shock when it was finally revealed.
I'm watching this train wreck from afar, but closer than others because some of my friends are deeply involved in Wikipedia and the WMF. I'm always amazed that a leadership change can complete kill an organisation. I've seen it in the corporate world, and I see it all the time in the volunteer world as well. The Wikimedia Foundation seems to be yet another victim of the appointment of a clueless leader, with no experience in the area or with the group they are meant to be leading, thrashing around, making changes without really understanding how systems work, the history of the organisation or relying on the experience and sage advise of the many expert and dedicated people around them, ultimately leading to a great deal of unnecessary turmoil, ill-will and frankly destruction in their wake.