Wikimedia Foundation elections/2021/Candidates/Lorenzo Losa/es

Lorenzo Losa

Lorenzo Losa (Laurentius)

Laurentius (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Detalles de los candidatos	Declaración en vídeo del candidato (en español) Información personal: Nombre: Lorenzo Losa Ubicación: Milán, Italia Idiomas: it-N, en-3, es-2 Editorial: Wikimedista desde: abril de 2004 Wikis en donde el candidato está activo: Wikipedia en Italiano, Wikidata
statement (Not more than 450 words)	It is said that Wikipedia is the last, and greatest, bastion of Internet original spirit. Indeed, this is an unusual place. We build an encyclopedia that everyone knows and loves – and many other projects that still don't have the recognition they deserve – but we are not just an encyclopedia, a product. Wikimedia is also, and foremost, a movement of people that believe in free access to knowledge, and in participation – and Wikipedia is just its better known result. Wikipedia was born in 2001. Twenty years later, ideas like freely sharing the content of our projects, letting everyone edit them, and community self-governance, still look absurd to most people in the world. Probably they look even more absurd than twenty years ago. Yet they work. Not only are they not hindering us; they are the very basis of our success. I don't know what the future holds for us. Will Wikipedia still be as important as it is now? Will Wikidata take its place? Or maybe something that doesn't exist yet? How will our movement evolve? We will need to change and adapt. We will need to let go of things that we don't expect. But whatever the future, we need to stay anchored to our values. We need to uphold that Wikimedia is governed by its community, not the other way round. I choose to focus on values because they are what brings us together. They guide us in our actions, and outlive any single project. Yes, we truly are the greatest bastion of Internet original spirit: let's bring it to the future. A few words about me I earned a master degree in Mathematics from the Scuola Normale Superiore, where I have also been a PhD candidate. After leaving the PhD studies, I founded a company focused on reuse of bibliographical data (WikiCite didn't exist at the time!), and I have later helped with the start-up of some other companies. Today, I am leading the development of an electronic brokerage platform, part of a group that operates multiple markets related to sustainable commodities. I have been in the Wikimedia movement since 2004, as Wikipedia editor, Italian Wikipedia administrator, OTRS volunteer, bot operator. Overall, I made over 1 million edits, including bot edits, across different projects. I served as board member and president of Wikimedia Italia, and as community-elected Funds Dissemination Committee member. Above all, I believe in free knowledge and in the wiki projects, and I do my best to support their growth.
Top 3 Board priorities	Transparency in the board's processes. Although I have been a highly involved wikimedian for more than a decade, I have always found it difficult to understand what the Wikimedia Foundation board is doing. Even worse, it is frustrating to see suggestions and concerns from the community that seem not to be taken into account. Having been on multiple boards myself for many years, I fully understand that many of the board's discussions are confidential – but not all of them. I also know from experience that when you get into a board, it is easy to overlook these problems. It is not due to bad will, it's just that when you have the information, it's difficult to consider the perspective of those who don't have it. But this is one more reason to strive for real two-way communication. Transition to a less central role. The Wikimedia Foundation Board has always been seen a bit like a board of the movement – although we know that it is not. Now, with the Movement Strategy, the new Global Council is expected to finally give a body that is truly representative of our movement. We don't know yet how it will be shaped, but in order to achieve its potential the Wikimedia Foundation Board, and the Wikimedia Foundation itself, will have to learn a new way. Hiring and onboarding a new CEO. One may like it or not, but having a good CEO is more important than having good board members – and a bad CEO can do much more damage than a bad board member. Selection, support and oversight of the CEO is one of the most critical roles for the board.
Top 3 Movement Strategy priorities	Whatever happens, keep the focus on Wikimedia values. We are a movement based on values – free access to knowledge, participation, equity. Keep the values in the spotlight. Let them guide our actions. Strategy implementation, in a fair way. There have been years of work on the Movement Strategy, and we are slowly moving to implementation. This strategy talks about decentralization, equity in decision-making, empowering communities. This is a great opportunity to change our movement for the better. At the same time, there is the risk that a time of changes will end favouring the old power structures. We need to make sure this does not happen. The community is a governing body. The community is not just a bunch of people providing free work to support the projects. The community is the Wikimedia movement itself. It is our ultimate decision-making body.
Verificación	Verificación realizada por el comité de elecciones o personal de la Fundación Wikimedia.
	Idoneidad: Verificado Verificado por: Matanya (talk) 20:42, 1 July 2021 (UTC)	Identificación: Verificado Verificado por: Joe Sutherland (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 18:14, 29 June 2021 (UTC)

Trustee Evaluation Form
Trustee Evaluation Form Years of Experience <1 1–2 2–5 5–10 10+ Wikimedia experience. The candidate is a dedicated contributor to the Wikimedia movement. Eligible contributions include: contributions to the Wikimedia projects, membership in a Wikimedia organization or affiliate, activities as a Wikimedia movement organizer, or participation with a Wikimedia movement ally organization. 10+ years I have been in the Wikimedia movement since 2004 (17 years so far!). I contribute mostly to Italian Wikipedia and Wikidata. Since 2006, I have been an administrator on Italian Wikipedia. Between 2006 and 2016 I was an OTRS operator. I operate a bot on Italian Wikipedia. Overall, I made over 1 million edits, including bot edits, across different projects. I have been a member of Wikimedia Italia since 2006, working on a wide range of programs – GLAMs, education, Wiki Loves Monuments, advocacy, volunteer support, etc. I have always believed in the importance of supporting the movement not only in my country but also at the international level. I have served on the Funds Dissemination Committee for four years as a community-elected member, which gives me a wide perspective on the work and activities of many affiliates. Among other things, I was an organizer of the Wikimedia Conference 2013, board election facilitator during multiple selections, and I have taken part in networks like Iberocoop or the chairpersons groups. Board experience. The candidate has served on the board of trustees/directors or other similar governing body of a nationally- or globally-focused organization (non-profit, for-profit, or governmental). 10+ years I have served on the boards of multiple nationally-focused (Italian) associations, and in particular on the board of Wikimedia Italia from 2011 to 2014, and again as chair from 2016 to 2020. During this time the association has grown tenfold and faced many challenges, with its successes and its failures, and it has been a great learning experience for me. Moreover, I have been elected to the Funds Dissemination Committee for two terms, from 2015 to 2019. Executive experience. The candidate has worked at an executive level for an organization, department, or project of comparable (or greater) size, complexity, and scope to the Wikimedia Foundation. While not comparable in size, I co-founded my own company in 2014, and co-managed it for the next few years. Across different roles, I have had executive responsibilities over budgets summing up to over 1 million dollars and I have coordinated up to 10 people. Subject matter expertise. The candidate has worked or significantly volunteered in an area relevant to the work of the Foundation and the Board. Such areas will be determined on an annual basis and may include areas such as Global movement building and community organization, enterprise-level platform technology and/or product development, public policy and the law, knowledge sector (e.g., academia/GLAM/education), human rights and social justice, open Internet/free and open source software, organizational strategy and management, finance and financial oversight, non-profit fundraising, human resources, board governance. Public policy (5-10 years). Since its creation in 2013, I am part of the coordinated effort to get a policy framework more favourable to free knowledge both in the European Union and in Italy. I have been fighting for freedom of panorama and policies that support free knowledge, especially during the development of the 2019 European copyright directive. Facilitation (2-5 years). I love to help people and groups to work together effectively and reach their goals. I've built my skills with both experience and specific training. Software and technology (10+ years). I currently work as software development lead, and I have a working knowledge of software development processes. I have been using (almost) only free software for the last 20 years. Diversity: Background The candidate belongs or belonged to a group that has faced historical discrimination and underrepresentation in structures of power (related to, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ identity, social class, economic status, or caste). No Diversity: Geography The candidate would contribute to the overall geographic diversity of the Board of Trustees, based on the geographic regions where they have lived. Yes I was born and I live in Italy. Diversity: Language The candidate is a native speaker of a language other than English. Yes I am an Italian native speaker. Besides English, I understand Spanish very well. Diversity: Political system experience The candidate has substantial experience living in and/or working to share knowledge in a non-democratic, state-censoring, or repressive context. No I live in a reasonably democratic country, and editing Wikipedia will never put my life in danger; but this doesn't mean that everything is fine. In 2009, the then president of Wikimedia Italia was sued for 20 millions euros in an effort to influence the content of a Wikipedia article. She won in court, but it took five years. When I became the president myself, I didn't take it lightly. Many Wikipedia's editors have been worried about the risks they were taking in editing, and some decided not to edit certain articles, just to be sure. This effectively limits our independence. I live in a reasonably democratic country, but even here, even in the US and in the EU, laws that would restrict users' freedom are proposed every day. Protecting users' rights matters for everyone, everywhere.