User:Geoff Plourde/Community Assembly

The Wikimedia Community Assembly is a proposed leadership body for the Wikimedia Community. This proposal is is designed to be significantly more straightforward, inclusive, and less bureaucratic than the Wikicouncil or Community of the Wikimedian Projects. The impetus for this proposal is the void that currently exists in community governance. This gap is prohibitive to the full realization of the potential of the community as an asset to the Foundation. To address this gap, its most important task would providing a unified community voice to the Board and the world.

In accordance with the principles of the open source movement, membership in the Assembly would be granted to any Wikimedian who requests it. By doing so, this would prevent this body from becoming a elitist cabal, by insuring that all are heard, not just a privileged few. To prevent this body from being dragged down by size, which does not allow for business to be conducted in an orderly and efficent fashion, subgroups (Committees/Commissions/Working Groups/Task Forces) specializing in specific issues would be created. Any 5 members with a specific issue or topic would be able to create a subgroup to work on that issue or topic. Membership in these issue specific subgroups would be open to all, but if necessary another group might be formed.

The Assembly would run according to a community written charter, that would be revised at least once every calendar year. Decisions of the Assembly would be made by consensus, as with most other Wikimedian projects.