Affiliate-selected Board seats/2016/Nominations/Lodewijk Gelauff

Name:

Lodewijk Gelauff

Wikimedia username:

Effeietsanders

Questions for all candidates - Questions for this individual candidate that do not apply to other candidates

Statement

		This selection goes beyond our current crisis, goes beyond selecting an Executive Director. It's about helping to set a course for our movement for the coming decades.
		We should be a movement, rather than a set of independently operating people and entities.
		We need to value and support our most important resource, our main stakeholder, our best friend: the community of volunteers all around the world.
		Putting good people together in one room is no guarantee for success - they need to work together with the people outside that room to make that happen.

In Wikimedia, we know a bumpy road when we see one. And the Wikimedia Foundation has a very bumpy road ahead. We have a wonderful vision as a movement, where the Wikimedia Foundation has an important role to play: working towards a world where every human freely shares in the sum of all knowledge.

This selection goes beyond our current crisis, goes beyond selecting an Executive Director. It's about helping to set a course for our movement for the coming decades. If you select me as a board member, I will do my best to work on everything that comes our way: selecting a good ED, setting a strategy, improving the relationships inside the organisation, improving the effectiveness of the Board and many things that we don't know about yet.

I don't have perfectly ready-made solutions for the challenges we face and for the unknown challenges that will arise. I did demonstrate in the past that I can bring people together, and that I share the values of our community. I would do that based on a moral compass, which includes the following values:

Be honest
Be transparent when possible
Communicate proactively, don't wait until it is demanded
Communication is a two-way street and requires both listening and talking
Embrace a diversity and exchange of opinions, inside and outside the board
Use and value the local expertise in our movement
Work together and be a movement, rather than a set of independently operating people and entities

I would like to listen to input, and discuss the challenges publicly where possible. We need to value and support our most important resource, our main stakeholder, our best friend: the community of volunteers all around the world, in all 200+ languages. Because without that community, the Wikimedia Foundation would be nothing. And the affiliates are one of the best instruments we have to harness that power of the volunteer communities.

Like many of you, I was too saddened when I saw the realities unfold in the past months. Not only because of the facts, but also how poorly they were communicated with this community. It proofs once again that putting good people together in one room is no guarantee for success - they need to work together with the people outside that room to make that happen. This requires building trust, between all relevant stakeholders. To accomplish this, we should reconsider our communication infrastructures, and see how we can improve them in such a way, that constructive input from the community at large becomes more likely and the cost of communication goes down. I have some thoughts about it, but it is something we should do together.

So far, the bottle neck of our movement resources has been with volunteer (wo)manpower. In the coming years, we may face a new reality: funding might force us to make real choices in what parts of the movement we want to invest our funding. For such decisions, a strategy that describes how we see the movement as a whole is important. We have to reconsider how we govern our movement. Discussions are ongoing on whether the movement should get its own governing body, and that the Wikimedia Foundation will be just one of the organisations in that movement. Maybe the current way is the best - but lets discuss alternatives.

And last but not least, as a movement we're still facing the same major challenge we have been facing for years: how do we ensure that the great content we developed doesn't stop here, how to we grow and diversify our community to be ready for the future.

With great enthusiasm I have worked together with many of you in the past years: as a board member of Wikimedia Nederland, to get your chapter recognised (Chapters/Affiliations Committee), at our Chapters/Affiliates meetings in Nijmegen/Berlin/Milan, by showcasing the coolest projects of our chapters at Wikimania or by organising Wiki Loves Monuments competitions around the world. I would be honoured if you would give me the opportunity to work together with you on our shared vision, from yet another position: the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.

Résumé

I'm 28 years old and live in The Hague, the Netherlands. I studied chemistry and Science Based Business (Master of Science at Leiden University) where I got into the very interesting field of measuring and demonstrating impact. This is the topic I worked on in the past two years, organising activities and a network of experts in that field. Last year at Wikimania I presented some lessons I learned in that position about how 'impact' can be measured, and what systems are being used to stimulate it.

I had the pleasure of joining Dutch language Wikipedia in 2005, and found my way to many corners of the Wikimedia movement since. I have been active on the Wikimedia projects (nlwiki mostly, but also enwiki, nlwikisource, nlwikibooks, commons) as editor (2005-current), administrator (2005-2015), bureaucrat and steward (2006-2010). I have written articles, fought vandalism, welcomed new users, recategorised the templates, uploaded photos (not too fabulous at that though), added interwikilinks (no more!) and corrected spelling mistakes. All in all, I have made an estimated 30,000 edits.

In 2006, I was one of the founders of Wikimedia Nederland, and served on its board for five years (2006-2011). I fell in love with chapters rapidly, and served for five years on the chapters/affiliations committee (2009-2014) after which I continued to serve as adviser, and helped organise the Chapters Meeting twice.

In 2010 I was one of the people who stood at the foundation of Wiki Loves Monuments, which I was happy to coordinate for some years, and would become the world's largest photography competition. After tuning that down a bit in 2014, I have become a bit more active again in editing. At Wikimania, you may have met me in the past presenting the 'coolest projects of the Wikimedia Chapters' or in the past few years at the Discussion Room, where I was able to bring back structured community discussions at our main annual event. All these activities, I suppported with enthusiasm and together with many many other volunteers. No job is a one person's job.

Some more detailed resumé is available in my LinkedIn profile or in pdf on request.

Eligibility

I am eligible to serve as a trustee at the Wikimedia Foundation

Endorsements

Wikimedia Nederland endorsed Lodewijk Gelauff on the Board meeting March 10th, 2016:

Most people know Lodewijk as one of the initiators of Wiki Loves Monuments. Lodewijk has done a tremendous job in driving forward the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest to become the large such contest in the world. Lodewijk has long time experience on an affiliate board and the affiliations committee. Being a well-respected Wikipedian, he was one of the founders of Wikimedia Nederland now more than 10 years ago, and he remained a board member for 5 years. Lodewijk combines enthusiasm for the international movement with a deep rooted knowledge of affiliates and local activities and we are happy to endorse his candidacy for the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation.

Grijz (talk) 09:17, 16 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

At the Wikimedia NYC March 2016 public meeting, attendees took part in an open vote to endorse Lodewijk's participation as a candidate in this election. This is part of our chapter's policy to encourage a more diverse and more transparent process for the WMF board elections.--Pharos (talk) 17:42, 18 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Polska is delighted to endorse Lodewijk Gelauff for the Trustee of Wikimedia Foundation.

Lodewijk is a renowned Wikimedian, deeply rooted in our Movement and Values. Well-known thanks to the Wiki Loves Monuments competition and the AffCom activity, he is no stranger to Wikimedia Affiliates and the work done off-line and on-line. His perspective and experience would be a great fit to the existing Board of Trustees.

What is perhaps even more important, we know him also as a strong leader, listener and an advisor, conciliatory but firm, with great integrity and interest in both the people and the problems involved. Perhaps you found him such as well, e.g. if you attended one of his remarkable “round-table” sessions on Wikimania.

We trust these traits would make him a great representative inside and outside of the Movement, as recognized already at the Erasmus Award.

Approved on the Board meeting on March 6th, 2016, reapproved on March 15th, 2016. On behalf of WMPL, aegis maelstrom δ 18:41, 18 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Australia endorses this candidate Gnangarra (talk) 10:41, 19 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia Portugal, after internal deliberation, is proud to unanimously endorse Lodewijk for the Board of Trustees' Affiliatte-selected seats. Lodewijk has consistently been a keen and enthusiastic collaborator whenever we've worked together, has always shown interest and provided advice on our activities both online and in international meetings, and even participated in a physical meeting in Portugal during the preparations of WLM 2011. His assistance, comments and encouragement have been very positive for us and we all recognize the commendable work he's been doing throughout the years for the Wikimedia movement. --Waldir (talk) 13:36, 19 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimdia ZA (South Africa) endorses Lodewijk's candidacy and recognises the positive contributions he has made to the movement over the years. In addition to being known for running the Wiki Loves Monuments competition he is also known for being a very good listener as well as a firm but fair leader. We feel he will make an outstanding representative for the Movement.--Discott (talk) 20:35, 21 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]