{"id":649329,"date":"2013-03-28T09:05:28","date_gmt":"2013-03-28T13:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webpronews.com\/?p=222741"},"modified":"2013-03-28T09:05:28","modified_gmt":"2013-03-28T13:05:28","slug":"sue-gardner-to-depart-wikimedia-foundation-uncomfortable-with-where-internet-is-heading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/649329","title":{"rendered":"Sue Gardner To Depart Wikimedia Foundation, \u2018Uncomfortable\u2019 With Where Internet Is Heading"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation (the organization that runs Wikipedia) announced today that she is stepping away from her position. She’s not leaving right way. She expects it to take at least six months to find her replacement, and she will remain in her position in the meantime. <\/p>\n

She’s been with the foundation since it was small, and has helped lead it to the Internet force it has become. But why is she leaving? She doesn’t like where the Internet is headed. Gardner, who says the decision wasn’t easy, says it comes down to two things. <\/p>\n

“First, the movement and the Wikimedia Foundation are in a strong place now,” she says in her announcement<\/a>. “When I joined, the Foundation was tiny and not yet able to reliably support the projects. Today we\u2019re healthy, thriving, and a competent partner to the global network of Wikimedia volunteers. If that wasn\u2019t the case, I wouldn\u2019t feel okay to leave, and in that sense, my leaving is very much a vote of confidence in our Board and executive team and staff. I know they will ably steer the Foundation through the years ahead, and I\u2019m confident the Board will appoint a strong successor to me.”<\/p>\n

“I feel that although we\u2019re in good shape, with a promising future, the same is not true for the internet itself. (This is thing number two.) Increasingly, I\u2019m finding myself uncomfortable about how the internet\u2019s developing, who\u2019s influencing its development, and who is not,” she adds. “Last year we at Wikimedia raised an alarm about SOPA\/PIPA, and now CISPA is back. Wikipedia has experienced censorship at the hands of industry groups and governments, and we are \u2013increasingly, I think\u2013 seeing important decisions made by unaccountable, non-transparent corporate players, a shift from the open web to mobile walled gardens, and a shift from the production-based internet to one that\u2019s consumption-based. There are many organizations and individuals advocating for the public interest online \u2014 what\u2019s good for ordinary people \u2014 but other interests are more numerous and powerful than they are. I want that to change. And that\u2019s what I want to do next.”<\/p>\n

More on recent developments with CISPA here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Gardner says she intends to do something else aligned with the values of Wikimedia, which might surface in the form of a book, a non-profit, or work in partnership with something that already exists. <\/p>\n

“Either way, I strongly believe this is what I need to do,” she says. “I feel an increasing sense of urgency about this. That said, I also feel a strong sense of responsibility (and love!) for the Wikimedia movement, and so I\u2019ve agreed with the Board that I\u2019ll stay on as Executive Director until we have my successor in place. That\u2019ll take some time \u2014 likely, at least six months.”<\/p>\n

In the meantime, she says, nothing will change. <\/p>\n

The Board has appointed a transition team, which will be meeting over the coming weeks, with a face-to-face meeting scheduled for mid-April. <\/p>\n

Here’s an interview we did with Gardner back in 2009<\/a> about keeping Wikipedia relevant. <\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation (the organization that runs Wikipedia) announced today that she is stepping away from her position. She’s not leaving right way. She expects it to take at least six months to find her replacement, and she will remain in her position in the meantime. She’s been with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-649329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}