Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-07-27/Board elections/José Gustavo Góngora

All began one night in July 2006. I was just having a look in order to prepare a project for university and I soon realised that everyone could modify the information. I started by correcting small mistakes and then I got gradually involved with the community. As of September 2006 I had already written two featured articles. In April 2007, I was appointed administrator and bureaucrat on the Spanish Wikipedia. Some months later, I got involved with the Catalan Wikipedia project. Moreover, in December of that year I was chosen as a new member of the Spanish Arbitration Committee (aka Comité de Resolución de Conflictos), being re-elected in June 2008 for another period of six months, becoming the most trusted user out of 18 for the charge.
 * How did you become involved with the Wikimedia community? What contributions are you most proud of?

Finally, in March 2009 I was appointed CheckUser on the Catalan Wikipedia, being also the most trusted user ever in that project with 84 votes in favour and none against.

Concerning the last point of your question, if I have to show myself proud of something, is of confidence. It is not an easy task to earn the confidence of two different communities. Up to now, I have written about 500 articles (100 in Spanish, around 400 in Catalan), 11 of them have been recognised as featured articles (10 in Spanish, 1 in Catalan), four as good articles, and some others have been awarded with gold, silver and bronze medals in different wiki-competitions created on the Spanish Wikipedia to encourage people to improve articles.

I have also been a judge in some wiki-competitions. I have given three interviews to the Media. One, to the Spanish newspaper El País, another to a radio program called L’hora L from Radio SER Barcelona, and finally, another one to a Uruguayan local newspaper entitled El País. As of May 2009, I was chosen out of more than 1,000 people to have free scholarship to attend Wikimania 2009, which will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I will also give a conference there based on the Catalan project and how many goals have been achieved by the Associació d’Amics de la Viquipèdia (Wikipedia's Friends Association), a non-profit organization. Its aim is to promote Wikimedia projects in schools, scientific institutes, universities and other cultural entities throughout the countries where Catalan is spoken (Spain, France, Andorra and Italy).

Being part of the Board of Trustees demands responsibility. One has to be conscious of that everything you would do there will require effort, patience and the ability of being a good speaker. It is not only a matter of charisma but of being familiarized with Wikimedia policy. If some years ago it was an interesting and time-consuming duty, nowadays – with all the projects fortunately growing faster and faster – it is crucial to work even harder in order not to be overwhelmed by the present situation. Donations, investment, hardware, software and new policy proposals at a high level of competence are among the main tasks with which a future member of the Board will have to deal closely. Furthermore, the quality and efficiency of the Board of Trustees will rely mainly on its members. The latter have to attend several meetings, work together, find agreements and negotiate with other associations whenever needed.
 * What do you see as the role of the Board of Trustees?

I will gladly assume all those responsibilities and even more if necessary. After all, we will be representing the interests of many people who use and/or consult Wikimedia projects worldwide. We will obviously try to find the better option for each case, always seeking the project’s profit.

New things can always be added even if something is currently working well. Personally, I would bring 1) my three-year experience working as a volunteer in related projects. I was born in a Third World country and I had to face poverty and live within the economic limitations of that place. When someone has to beat the barriers in search of better conditions, administration is a crucial fact to be taken into account. I feel myself able to comprehend what Third World people need. When there is no money for books, free-licensed knowledge is one possible way out of a few. Cybercafés are cheaper than books in many occasions. Therefore, here is when we must carry out our duty as easily reachable knowledge providers.
 * If elected, what would you bring to the board that it currently lacks?

Apart from this, due to my personal condition, I can contribute with 2) a multicultural point of view. I feel myself aware of the interests of people not only from Latin America but also from other poor countries. 3) A Hispanic perspective can also bring interesting purposes to this gentle project. Most Spanish-speaking editors feel themselves abandoned and alien to a wider community where most of its members are generally only English speakers. Integration and mutual collaboration will be on my list of preferences. On the other hand, I represent the interests of another small but struggling community: the Catalan Wikipedia project. I also play an important role in other related projects – most notably the Associació d’Amics de la Viquipèdia - that aim to encourage people to join Wikimedia projects in Catalan language.

Having studied legal English at university enables me to 4) be aware of special jargon. 5) Unlike other candidates, I can speak and/or understand almost all Romance languages, especially Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Portuguese and some French. This obviously makes it possible to keep a fluent communication with speakers of those languages, which in turn represent some of the top 10 Wikipedia projects with more articles and faster growth. In addition, I can translate texts from most of the afore-mentioned tongues.

In response to your query, the specific goals I would like to achieve as a trustee are as follows:
 * What specific goals would you have as a trustee?
 * To get the Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Galician and French communities more involved with the Foundation. These important projects can really help Wikimedia with their opinions and work. For instance, local chapters such as Wikimedia Argentina, WM France, WM Italy, WM Portugal or WM Brazil (though not an official chapter yet) can really give us a lesson of integration and management. They all seem to have a good deal with its people and they all have succeeded to an extent in their purposes.
 * To help the Foundation to better approach Third World and minor languages needs. Wikimedia still has a long way to go regarding remote areas where virtual and free knowledge is almost inexistent
 * To keep on doing my job promoting Wikimedia projects. Until know, I have been concerned with the Spanish and Catalan versions, showing myself interested also in neighbor chapters (Italy, Portugal and France, mainly). Nonetheless, it is time to do the same but at a large scale.
 * To work by consensus. Respecting other ideas while not necessarily sharing them is likely to be a crucial fact. Another thing that I have mentioned in my statement is planning. I can act as a go-between the Foundation and the different communities.
 * To act always according to the Wikimedia Foundation interests and needs. Discipline, hard work, neutrality and determination will be part of my personal commitment.
 * To translate policy, texts, surveys and other contents in order to help the Foundation in its aim of reaching a wider mass of contributors.
 * To look for partnerships and negotiations that can result of interest to Wikimedia. I compromise myself to read the terms of different contracts with other members of the Board.

I will focus my attention on four issues without disregarding other topics. Therefore, priority should be given to translation, software and hardware development, governance and outreach.
 * The Wikimedia Foundation is beginning an organized effort at strategic planning, in which the board will play a major role. What are the key elements you would like to see prioritized in Wikimedia's strategy for the coming years?

First of all, as a translator, I am aware of professional techniques and jargon. Having a translator at the Board can enforce what it has been done up to now. Bearing in mind that most poor countries in Latin America have Spanish as their first tongue, proficiency in this language while translating texts is likely to be a key for better outreach. My attempt is to go outside developed countries and explore new ways of approaching new - and often isolated - cultures that lack of the advantages that most of us have as residents of generally wealthy nations.

Secondly, software and hardware development is essential for Wikimedia since its supported projects are constantly facing change and are evolving at a high speed level.

Finally, but not less important, is governance. Even if I find that the Board is doing pretty well, improvements on this area can be profitable.

I think that the Foundation until now has been focused on providing technical infrastructure for projects. However, in the future I think that the Foundation should be more active in the first sentence of its bylaws mission: empower and engage people to collect and develop educational content.
 * What do you think the Wikimedia Foundation isn't doing that it should be? What is it doing that it shouldn't be?

The public outreach project is a desirable step in this direction. Investments in making software more user friendly or using Foundation grants to chapters to encourage them to develop coordinated activities in this direction could also be of help.

Unfortunately it seems that there is a natural trend in human systems to evolve by concentrating power. This natural way seems to be from consensus for democracy. Luckily this is lethal for Wikimedia projects. Nobody will contribute willingly to the project if s/he cannot do what s/he wants. I think that it is vital even for large projects to find mechanisms to ensure that almost everybody feels that what is being done in the project is what s/he believes it is right to be done.
 * The English Wikipedia community is increasingly concerned with questions of project governance: who has authority to set and reshape policy, and who should?; how can a project so large, with so diverse a community, make collective decisions?; does consensus scale, or will some form of democracy be necessary to address the project's problems?; and many others. What role, if any, do you think the Board of Trustees can or should play in addressing governance and policy problems on individual projects?

From my point of view the Foundation's position in this issue should be doing nothing but continuously warning communities about the dangers of concentrating power and the vital need of making the contributors feel happy while cooperating to fulfil the Foundation's mission: empower and engage people to collect and develop educational content.

Apart from that, there is a more crucial element. I think that truth exists and that everybody can understand it by talking-reasoning (in Catalan we say enraonant); none "authority" (legal, religious, nor academic) can hold the possession of truth. Historically this position has been clearly defeated by those defending different "authorities" but nowadays information can flow almost for free and without censorship.

I have talked about this in both the questionnaire and in the interview with Wikivoices. As I have already said, partnerships can be profitable for Wikimedia. However, we must keep an eye on it always intending to make a perusal of the terms and evaluating how much profit we can take from them. For instance, I have entered into negotiations with local institutions here in Spain in order to blend forces and exchange content under compatible licenses.
 * Wikimedia's partnerships with outside organizations--including for-profit companies like Kaltura and Orange as well as non-profits and public institutions like Mozilla Foundation and various archives and museums--have becoming increasingly prominent. What sorts of partnerships should and shouldn't the Foundation pursue?

I think that this topic has been fully commented on in previous questions.
 * Over the last three years, the scope of the Wikimedia Foundation has expanded rapidly, with a budget growing from $3.0 million in fiscal year 2007-2008 to a planned $9.4 million in 2009-2010. What strategy should the Board of Trustees pursue in planning for future financial growth?  What is your view of the current financial plan?

I think that the chapter’s network has to be a bottom-up created system. The role of the Foundation should be limited to facilitating the process and guaranteeing that chapters fulfil the global movement principles. The Foundation should not establish artificial difficulties or special aids. From now onwards, the Foundation must review chapters' activities, facilitate inter-chapters cooperation, facilitate diffusion of best practices and if activities of some chapters do not fulfil the global principles, the Foundation should withdraw its chapter status.
 * What role would you like the board to play in fostering the initiation, growth and viability of local Wikimedia Chapters? What role do chapters play in your strategic vision for Wikimedia?

Essential. To empower and engage people to collect and develop educational content further that what already has been done. Only deep knowledge of cultural specificities, legal status and local reality can help in this mission. I think that the Foundation should find the way out and provide the means to encourage the chapters in helping to fulfil this mission.

From my point of view we need a deeper understanding of why people engage in the project, how we can encourage this process, how the society of the future will be shaped and how Wikimedia projects will fit in this future society.
 * How does the Wikimedia Advisory Board fit into your strategic vision for Wikimedia? Are there any specific tasks you would ask of them as a trustee?  Are there critical areas of expertise that are not represented on the Advisory Board and you think should be?