Wikimedia Product/Perspectives/Scale/Resilience

Resilience

Summary

In order to reach its 2030 goals, the Wikimedia product platform must prepare for rapid scaling of development, of contributors and of content. In the process it will be critical to design for resilience – the ability to engender sustainable growth and to fend off threats. For example, it will be necessary to define countermeasures against external threats such as censorship, misinformation , climate and policy related threats, as well as attacks on security or privacy by state actors. It will also be necessary to anticipate and countermand threats that could undermine the projects from within: communities or affiliates turning against one another, communities turning against themselves and communities turning against the Foundation. And finally, perhaps the most critical existential threat is relevance: what barriers to entry could be erected to prevent loss of mind share? What pre-emptive measures must be taken to guarantee mind share as new communities come on line? This paper explores each type of threat and offers a set of economic, cultural, and technical countermeasures. As the incumbent nonprofit internet presence defending a neutral point of view and access for all, it is critical that Wikimedia maintain and strengthen itself to preserve a future with truly free knowledge.

White Paper

DRAFT