Difference between revisions of "Wikimedia Foundation"

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In January 2004, [[Jimmy Wales]] appointed his business partners [[Tim Shell]] and Michael E. Davis to the foundation's board. In June 2004, an election was held for two user representative board members. Following one month of campaigning and two weeks of online voting, [[Angela Beesley Starling|Angela Beesley]] and [[Florence Devouard|Florence Nibart-Devouard]] were elected to join the board. In late 2004, Wales and Beesley launched a startup company, [[Wikia]], affiliated with neither Wikimedia nor Bomis, except for their presence as principals/trustees. In July 2005, Beesley and Nibart-Devouard were re-elected to the board. On July 1, 2006, Beesley resigned from the board effective upon election of her successor, expressing concern about "certain events and tendencies that have arisen within the organization since the start of this year," but stating her intent to continue to participate in the Wikimedia projects, and in the formation of an Australian chapter. A special election was held in September to finish Beesley's term, ending with the mid-2007 election. The election was won by [[Erik Möller]]. Möller was subsequently hired as Deputy Executive Director of the WMF. On December 8, 2006, the board expanded to seven people with the appointments of Kat Walsh and [[Oscar van Dillen]]. Walsh was elected Chair of the board in July 2012.
 
In January 2004, [[Jimmy Wales]] appointed his business partners [[Tim Shell]] and Michael E. Davis to the foundation's board. In June 2004, an election was held for two user representative board members. Following one month of campaigning and two weeks of online voting, [[Angela Beesley Starling|Angela Beesley]] and [[Florence Devouard|Florence Nibart-Devouard]] were elected to join the board. In late 2004, Wales and Beesley launched a startup company, [[Wikia]], affiliated with neither Wikimedia nor Bomis, except for their presence as principals/trustees. In July 2005, Beesley and Nibart-Devouard were re-elected to the board. On July 1, 2006, Beesley resigned from the board effective upon election of her successor, expressing concern about "certain events and tendencies that have arisen within the organization since the start of this year," but stating her intent to continue to participate in the Wikimedia projects, and in the formation of an Australian chapter. A special election was held in September to finish Beesley's term, ending with the mid-2007 election. The election was won by [[Erik Möller]]. Möller was subsequently hired as Deputy Executive Director of the WMF. On December 8, 2006, the board expanded to seven people with the appointments of Kat Walsh and [[Oscar van Dillen]]. Walsh was elected Chair of the board in July 2012.
  
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Wales and Beesley continued to develop Wikia as a for-profit alternative to the WMF projects, and some critics allege that by deleting very specialized articles and content from Wikipedia, a core team was pushing people to develop specialized wikis on Wikia.
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Wales and Beesley continued to develop Wikia as a for-profit alternative to the WMF projects, and some critics allege that by deleting very specialized articles and content from Wikipedia, a core team was pushing people to develop specialized wikis on Wikia. Michael E. Davis, a former business partner of Wales who served for years as a founding member of the WMF board and was MWF's Treasurer, was named Treasurer and Secretary of Wikia in January 2006. In January 2009, Wikia subleased two conference rooms to the WMF.
  
 
Wales continues as a voting member of the WMF Board and serves as its spokesperson.
 
Wales continues as a voting member of the WMF Board and serves as its spokesperson.
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==Doran scandal==
 
==Doran scandal==
 
In January 2007, Carolyn Doran was named chief operating officer and Sandy Ordonez joined as [http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Head_of_Communications head of communications].<ref>{{cite web | title = Current staff | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | url = https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Current_staff | accessdate =February 1, 2007 | author = Danny | authorlink = foundation:User:Danny | archiveurl = https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Current_staff&oldid=19370 | archivedate = February 1, 2007 }}</ref> Doran began working at WMF as a part-time bookkeeper in 2006 after being sent by a [[Temporary work|temporary agency]]. Doran later left the foundation in July 2007, and [[Sue Gardner]] was hired as consultant and special advisor (later becoming the Chief Executive Officer). It was later disclosed<ref>{{cite news | first = Cade | last = Metz | title = Wikipedia COO was convicted felon | url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/13/wikimedia_coo_convicted_felon/ | date = December 13, 2007 | accessdate =December 27, 2007 }}</ref> that Doran was a convicted [[felony|felon]], with a [[DUI]] arrest during her tenure at the foundation and a substantial criminal history, including shooting her boyfriend and complicity in credit card forgery.<ref>{{cite news |authorlink=Brian Bergstein | first = Brian | last = Bergstein | title = Felon Became COO of Wikipedia Foundation | url = http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcWLu3fg-aDeJNfWTY6hlbz93oCwD8TM0HVG0 | date = December 21, 2007 | accessdate =December 27, 2007 }}</ref> Her departure from the organization was cited as one of the reasons the foundation took about seven months to release its fiscal 2007 financial audit.<ref>{{cite news | author = Ral315 | title = ''Signpost'' interview: Florence Devouard | url = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2007-11-19/Anthere_interview | work = The Wikipedia Signpost | date = November 19, 2007 }}</ref>
 
In January 2007, Carolyn Doran was named chief operating officer and Sandy Ordonez joined as [http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Head_of_Communications head of communications].<ref>{{cite web | title = Current staff | publisher = Wikimedia Foundation | url = https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Current_staff | accessdate =February 1, 2007 | author = Danny | authorlink = foundation:User:Danny | archiveurl = https://wikimediafoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Current_staff&oldid=19370 | archivedate = February 1, 2007 }}</ref> Doran began working at WMF as a part-time bookkeeper in 2006 after being sent by a [[Temporary work|temporary agency]]. Doran later left the foundation in July 2007, and [[Sue Gardner]] was hired as consultant and special advisor (later becoming the Chief Executive Officer). It was later disclosed<ref>{{cite news | first = Cade | last = Metz | title = Wikipedia COO was convicted felon | url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/13/wikimedia_coo_convicted_felon/ | date = December 13, 2007 | accessdate =December 27, 2007 }}</ref> that Doran was a convicted [[felony|felon]], with a [[DUI]] arrest during her tenure at the foundation and a substantial criminal history, including shooting her boyfriend and complicity in credit card forgery.<ref>{{cite news |authorlink=Brian Bergstein | first = Brian | last = Bergstein | title = Felon Became COO of Wikipedia Foundation | url = http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcWLu3fg-aDeJNfWTY6hlbz93oCwD8TM0HVG0 | date = December 21, 2007 | accessdate =December 27, 2007 }}</ref> Her departure from the organization was cited as one of the reasons the foundation took about seven months to release its fiscal 2007 financial audit.<ref>{{cite news | author = Ral315 | title = ''Signpost'' interview: Florence Devouard | url = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2007-11-19/Anthere_interview | work = The Wikipedia Signpost | date = November 19, 2007 }}</ref>

Revision as of 01:10, July 22, 2012

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is a not-for-profit Florida corporation with its principle place of business in San Francisco, California. It operates several online collaborative wiki projects including Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikiversity, Wikimedia Incubator, Meta-Wiki, Wikidata and owns the now-defunct Nupedia online encyclopedia.

History

The creation of the foundation was officially announced on June 20, 2003, by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales,[1] who had been operating Wikipedia within his adult entertainment company Bomis.[2] At the time, Wikipedia was operating out of Bomis' offices in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The name "Wikimedia" was coined by American author Sheldon Rampton in a post to the English mailing list in March 2003.[3] At the start, Wales transferred ownership of all Wikipedia, Wiktionary and Nupedia domain names to Wikimedia along with the copyrights for all materials related to these projects that were created by Bomis employees or Wales himself. The computer equipment used to run all the Wikimedia projects was also donated by Wales to the foundation, which also acquired the domain names "wikimedia.org" and "wikimediafoundation.org".

In April 2005, the US Internal Revenue Service determined that the foundation was an educational foundation in the category "Adult, Continuing Education", making all contributions to the foundation tax-deductible for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

On September 25, 2007, the foundation's board decided to move to the San Francisco Bay Area. The Board said its major reasons for choosing San Francisco were proximity to like-minded organizations and potential partners as well as cheaper and more convenient international travel than is available from St. Petersburg, Florida.[4][5][6]

Wikia

In January 2004, Jimmy Wales appointed his business partners Tim Shell and Michael E. Davis to the foundation's board. In June 2004, an election was held for two user representative board members. Following one month of campaigning and two weeks of online voting, Angela Beesley and Florence Nibart-Devouard were elected to join the board. In late 2004, Wales and Beesley launched a startup company, Wikia, affiliated with neither Wikimedia nor Bomis, except for their presence as principals/trustees. In July 2005, Beesley and Nibart-Devouard were re-elected to the board. On July 1, 2006, Beesley resigned from the board effective upon election of her successor, expressing concern about "certain events and tendencies that have arisen within the organization since the start of this year," but stating her intent to continue to participate in the Wikimedia projects, and in the formation of an Australian chapter. A special election was held in September to finish Beesley's term, ending with the mid-2007 election. The election was won by Erik Möller. Möller was subsequently hired as Deputy Executive Director of the WMF. On December 8, 2006, the board expanded to seven people with the appointments of Kat Walsh and Oscar van Dillen. Walsh was elected Chair of the board in July 2012.

Wales and Beesley continued to develop Wikia as a for-profit alternative to the WMF projects, and some critics allege that by deleting very specialized articles and content from Wikipedia, a core team was pushing people to develop specialized wikis on Wikia. Michael E. Davis, a former business partner of Wales who served for years as a founding member of the WMF board and was MWF's Treasurer, was named Treasurer and Secretary of Wikia in January 2006. In January 2009, Wikia subleased two conference rooms to the WMF.

Wales continues as a voting member of the WMF Board and serves as its spokesperson.

Doran scandal

In January 2007, Carolyn Doran was named chief operating officer and Sandy Ordonez joined as head of communications.[7] Doran began working at WMF as a part-time bookkeeper in 2006 after being sent by a temporary agency. Doran later left the foundation in July 2007, and Sue Gardner was hired as consultant and special advisor (later becoming the Chief Executive Officer). It was later disclosed[8] that Doran was a convicted felon, with a DUI arrest during her tenure at the foundation and a substantial criminal history, including shooting her boyfriend and complicity in credit card forgery.[9] Her departure from the organization was cited as one of the reasons the foundation took about seven months to release its fiscal 2007 financial audit.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Neate, Rupert. "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales goes bananas", The Daily Telegraph, October 7, 2008. Retrieved on October 25, 2009. “The encyclopedia's huge fan base became such a drain on Bomis's resources that Mr Wales, and co-founder Larry Sanger, thought of a radical new funding model – charity.” 
  2. ↑ Wales, Jimmy (June 20, 2003). Wikipedia English mailing list message.
  3. ↑ Rampton, Sheldon (March 16, 2003). Wikipedia English mailing list message.
  4. ↑ Carlos Moncada (September 25, 2007). Wikimedia Foundation Moving To Another Bay Area. The Tampa Tribune.
  5. ↑ Richard Mullins (September 26, 2007). Online Encyclopedia To Leave St. Petersburg For San Francisco. The Tampa Tribune.
  6. ↑ Kim, Ryan (October 10, 2007). Wikipedia team plans move to San Francisco. San Francisco Chronicle.
  7. ↑ Danny. Current staff. Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on February 1, 2007. Retrieved on February 1, 2007.
  8. ↑ Metz, Cade. "Wikipedia COO was convicted felon", December 13, 2007. Retrieved on December 27, 2007. 
  9. ↑ Bergstein, Brian. "Felon Became COO of Wikipedia Foundation", December 21, 2007. Retrieved on December 27, 2007. 
  10. ↑ Ral315. "Signpost interview: Florence Devouard", The Wikipedia Signpost, November 19, 2007. 
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