Wikipedia:Wikimedia Strategy 2018–20/Glossary
This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference. This page supported discussions in January and February 2020 (see summary of conversations). Please see updates at meta:Movement Strategy. |
Glossary | ||||
Narrative of Change | Principles | Glossary |
Term | Definition / discussion | Source / link |
---|---|---|
Accessibility |
Accessibility in the sense considered here refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments so as to be usable by people without regard to their abilities or attainments. | Henry, Shawn Lawton; Abou-Zahra, Shadi; Brewer, Judy (2014). The Role of Accessibility in a Universal Web. Proceeding W4A '14 Proceedings of the 11th Web for All Conference Article No. 17. ISBN 978-1-4503-2651-3. Retrieved 2014-12-17. |
Adaptability |
Adaptability captures the capacity of a socio-environmental system to learn, combine experience and knowledge, adjust its responses to changing external drivers and internal processes, and continue developing within the current stability domain. | Walker, B., C. S. Holling, S. R. Carpenter, and A. Kinzig. 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9(2): 5 |
Capacity Building |
Capacity building (or capacity development) is the process by which individuals and organizations obtain, improve, and retain the skills, knowledge, tools, equipment and other resources needed to do their jobs competently or to a greater capacity (larger scale, larger audience, larger impact, etc). | Capacity building |
Coaches |
Coaches are professionals who help fine-tune the development, performance, and skills of other people, helping them to reach their full potential in meeting organizational needs. | Bond, Christopher; Seneque, Megan. (2013) “Conceptualizing coaching as an approach to management and organizational development”. Journal of Management Development. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. 32 (1): 57–72 DOI 10.1108/02621711311287026. ISSN 0262-1711. |
Community |
In this document, Community refers not only to editor communities but rather to all members of the movement. It must be acknowledged that the movement in its diversity is comprised of many communities and there is not one community that every single person subscribes to. | “Community” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Contextualization |
Decisions within the Wikimedia movement involve the communities which are impacted and respond to their socio-economic, political, and cultural circumstances and needs. | “Contextualization” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Contributor |
In this document a contributor is anyone who contributes to the mission of the movement. It can be an editor, an organizer, staff, partner, or anyone else who invests time in movement activities. | “Contributor” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Cultural change |
Cultural change is large-scale organizational modification of the interlocking attitudes, assumptions, values, communication channels, processes, roles and goals which define the organizational structure, dynamically linking the vision of the organization, responsiveness to stakeholders, systems and processes in a transparent way to sustain its continuous improvement. | Denning, Steve (23 July 2011). “How Do You Change An Organizational Culture?“ Forbes. Jersey City, New Jersey: Forbes Media. ISSN 0015-6914. |
Disintermediation |
The removal of intermediaries. In the context of access to knowledge on the internet, it refers to replacing links to websites like Wikipedia with in-place extracts from those websites. Examples include digital assistants and the Google knowledge panel. | Chadwick, Andrew. “Disintermediation” Britanica. London, UK: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. |
Emergent structures / regional hubs |
Emergent support structures and emergent regional structures/hubs are newly or to-be-developed support organizations to enable a common space for coordinating activities and identifying and advocating for the needs of the communities they serve. |
“Emergent” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. “Hub” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Equity |
Equity is achieved by treating everyone justly based upon their circumstances and with consideration of the barriers that prevent them from having the same level of achievement. It cannot be accomplished by treating everyone equally. | Dressel, Paula (26 March 2014). “Racial Equality or Racial Equity? The Difference It Makes”. Race Matters Institute. Roswell, Georgia: JustPartners, Inc.
Kuttner, Paul (29 October 2016) “The problem with that equity vs. equality graphic you’re using”. Cultural Organizing. Salt Lake City, Utah: Cultural Organizing Organization |
External |
In this document, external refers to participants, entities, events, and conditions outside the Wikimedia movement. | “External” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Function |
A part of a system that performs a basic operation, such as finance, partnership development, human resources, etc. | “Function” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Impact |
The impact of something is all the consequences it has on the world (both intended and unintended). Evaluating its impact means looking at how the world would be different if that thing did not exist / happen. Impact evaluation is a common tool for maximizing the good that can be done, given limited resources. | White, Howard (June 2009) “Theory-Based Impact Evaluation: Principles and Practice” 3ieimpact.org. New Delhi, India: International Initiative for Impact Evaluation. |
Inclusion |
The act of reducing exclusion and discrimination, (including those regarding age, social class, ethnicity, religion, gender, and attainment, etc.) by both individuals and groups through modifying settings, policies, cultures, and structures to recognize and value diversity. | Ainscow, Mel; Booth, Tony; Dyson, Alan (2004). Improving Schools, Developing Inclusion. London: Routledge. ISBN 0–415–37236–4 |
Internal |
In this document, internal refers to people, systems, processes, and other resources that are within the Wikimedia movement. | “Internal” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Knowledge management |
A system of administering, creating, curating, sharing, and using knowledge that is critical to an organization and the people who participate in the organization’s activities, ensuring that information is on hand and readily available when needed. | Servin, Géraud; De Brún, Caroline (July 2005). “ABC of Knowledge Management”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Wigan, UK: NHS National Library for Health. |
Mentorship |
A learning and development partnership between someone with in-depth experience and someone who wants to learn. While the mentor may be older or younger than the person being mentored, both mentor and mentee benefit from the exchange within the relationship. | Farren, C. (2006). Eight types of mentors: Which ones do you need. PDF). MasteryWorks. Inc. |
Movement |
In this document, “movement” refers to any and all stakeholders in any affiliates, communities, chapters, partners, or user groups who are aligned with the Wikimedia Foundation in the free-knowledge movement. | Wikimedia movement |
Principle |
A principle is a fundamental proposition that serves as the foundation for a systematic change. | “Principle” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Reinventing the wheel |
To recreate something that already exists, especially at the expense of unnecessary time and effort; to repeat effort needlessly. In Wikimedia, very often contributors need to find ways to repeatedly overcome challenges to carry out non-advanced tasks. | “Reinvent: Reinvent the Wheel (idiom)” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Resilience |
The ability to recover from sudden changes, disruptions, and disturbances. | Almedom, A. M.; O’Byrne, D.; Jerneck, A. Jerneck (2015). “Principles of Epistemological Accountability with Methodological Implications for Measuring, Assessing, and Profiling Human Resilience”. Ecology and Society 20(3): 9. [1] |
Resources |
An economic or productive factor, such as people, materials, revenue, technology, and other assets required to accomplish an activity and achieve the desired outcome. | “Resources” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Scalability |
Scalability is the property of a system to handle a growing amount of work by adding resources to the system. | Bondi, André B. (2000). Characteristics of scalability and their impact on performance. Proceedings of the second international workshop on Software and performance – WOSP '00. p. 195. doi:10.1145/350391.350432. ISBN 158113195X. |
Self-determination |
Self-determination implies the right or ability of a person to control their own fate. In Wikimedia, it means allowing a community or a group of users to organize themselves in the form they choose. | “Self-determination” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Self-management |
Self-management replaces the hierarchical pyramid in organisations by interdependent networks of small, autonomous teams. Thus, power and decision-making is no longer concentrated on the top but distributed. | Laloux, Frederic (2015). “Self Management”. Reinventing Organizations Wiki. |
Stakeholders |
Any individual or group, whether voluntary (having invested human, financial, or other capital in the organization) or involuntary (is placed at risk because of organizational activities), who can affect the realization of organizational objectives or is affected by the realization of those objectives. | Gossy, Gregor (2008) A Stakeholder Rationale for Risk Management: Implications for Corporate Finance Decisions. Wiesbaden: Gabler Verlag. pp. 6-7 ISBN 978-3-8349-0985-5 |
Strategic principle |
A roadmap of rules and processes, adopted and communicated throughout an organization, that define actions and priorities that people should/should not take in organizational decision-making and resource allocations to accomplish target objectives. | Watkins, Michael D. (10 September 2007). “Demystifying Strategy: The What, Who, How, and Why”. Harvard Business Review. Brighton, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Publishing |
Subsidiarity |
"The principle of subsidiarity holds that decision-making authority is best placed (a) where responsibility for outcomes will occur; and (b) in the closest appropriate proximity to where the actions will be taken that will produce the outcomes.” | Wolf, P. J. (2001). “Principle of Subsidiarity” in Smelser, Neil J.; Baltes, Paul B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier Ltd. ISBN 978-0-08-043076-8 via Science Direct. |
Support |
To give or be prepared to give help to someone if necessary. In this document is understood as people in the movement being able to help each other with the necessary resources to engage. | “Support” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Sustainability |
In this document, sustainability refers to the viability of maintaining a system or process over time and at scale. | “Sustainability” (2020). Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. |
Toxic environment |
Occurs when elements, such as negative emotions and behaviors, in the workplace setting "negatively impact the long-term viability of an organization". Negativity may be real or perceived, but generally includes a breach of the psychological well-being of a participant or group. | Field, Tim (2016). "Toxic Work Environment" In Harder, Henry G.;Wagner, Shannon; Rash, Josh (eds.) Mental Illness in the Workplace: Psychological Disability Management. London: Routledge. pp. 207-234. ISBN 978-1-317-09733-4 |
Underrepresented |
A group of people who are omitted or are not represented in a given situation at the same level as they are represented in the larger population. | DeSutter, K. L. (2013). “Minority Students in Teacher Education: Diversifying America’s K-12 Teaching Force” (pp. 501-516). In Wang, Victor X. (ed.) Handbook of Research on Teaching and Learning in K-20 Education. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Information Science Reference. ISBN 978-1-466-64250-8 |
Unrepresented |
(See Underrepresented) | |
Unrestricted funding |
Revenues which can be used as an organization sees fit or necessary, without the grantmaker making constraints on its use. | What is General Operating Support and Why is it Important? |
Usability |
An attribute of quality that assesses how easy user interfaces are to learn and use by those who need to use them. This involves effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use. | Nielsen, J. (2003). Usability 101: Introduction to usability. NNGroup.com. Fremont, California: Neilsen Norman Group
Jokela, T., Iivari, N., Matero, J., & Karukka, M. (August 2003). “The standard of user-centered design and the standard definition of usability: analyzing ISO 13407 against ISO 9241-11”. In Proceedings of the Latin American conference on Human-computer interaction (pp. 53-60). ACM. |
User Experience |
A consequence of a user’s internal state (predispositions, expectations, needs, motivation, mood, etc.), the characteristics of the designed system (e.g., complexity, purpose, usability, functionality, etc.) and the context (or the environment) within which the interaction occurs (e.g., organisational/social setting, meaningfulness of the activity, voluntariness of use, etc.). | Hassenzahl, M., & Tractinsky, N. (2006). User experience-a research agenda. Behaviour & information technology, 25(2), 91-97. |