This pages shows the translated version of Wikimedia Deutschland's Annual Compass 2016 which has been resolved by our Supervisory Board. The questions and input that helped shape this Compass can be found under Phase 1 (in German). We are now collecting your ideas for activities around these priorities under Phase 3.

Wikipedia is one of the top ten websites in the world. Volunteers create, improve, and distribute its content and that of all other Wikimedia projects. Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE) supports their work on Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, and other knowledge projects. Our association’s goal is to promote free access to knowledge. The Supervisory Board used this goal, which is enshrined in the association’s charter, as a starting point in its planning for 2016. They have asked themselves how WMDE should go about achieving it in the coming year and what the association’s priorities should be in doing so. We do not achieve our goals alone, but collaborate with our like-minded partners who are equally impact driven.

The Supervisory Board asked everyone interested for their opinions. We analyzed and discussed the results in a retreat called by the Supervisory Board, in which the board members, the Executive Director, and the department heads participated. In order to provide new impetus for WMDE’s work in the year ahead while also building on successful efforts, we took the collected opinions into account, using as a guide tried-and-tested practices and previous commitments.

Based on all this, we set out and prioritized the following focal points for the association’s work in 2016:

We would like to significantly increase the number of volunteers contributing to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects again. New editors are essential for us to be able to guarantee openness, diversity, and thus the long-term viability and quality of Wikimedia projects. As certain projects have only had limited success in the past in leading to the attraction of new editors, we want to try out a new approach in 2016. We will analyze why the approaches that have been taken so far have not been effective enough and look for new ways of getting new volunteers to contribute to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects, while also supporting their continued involvement. We need to be accessible, welcoming, vibrant, and allow for a multiplicity of voices if we are to motivate as many as possible of the thousands of daily Wikipedia readers to actively participate and get involved.

Wikidata has taken on huge importance for our global Wikimedia movement. In the last few years it has been Wikimedia’s fastest growing and most thriving project. Wikidata is also becoming increasingly important outside the Wikiverse through its work on highly topical issues such as “Open Data,” “Structured Data,” and the “Internet of Things.”

In the future, Wikidata will be the central location where Wikimedia projects can access and reuse structured data. Wikidata therefore represents the central hub for structured free knowledge. Our aim is to extend the reach of Wikidata, both within Wikimedia projects and in society. To this end, the Engineering and Management teams in the Software Development Departments of WMDE and the Wikimedia Foundation will continue to work closely together, while also intensifying their work on other levels.

In order for Wikidata to meet existing and future challenges in a sustainable manner, we need to carry out targeted work on several levels and to close any identified gaps. Besides making technological innovations and further developing and constantly improving the underlying platform and the Wikibase software and its interfaces, we must also address non-technical issues by supporting the community and putting it in a position to ensure good data quality, and by setting up partnerships with institutions that can make their data available.

Software development should continue to gear itself toward community needs. In order to continue to be successful in the future, we need to develop scalable, sustainable tools and establish effective resources and processes. The optimization of MediaWiki is key here, while software development continuously needs to be able to react to requirements and opportunities in an agile way.

The political and legal framework is of central importance when it comes to securing and promoting free knowledge. Freedom of panorama and the copyright protection of state-owned works at EU level will be among the topics we focus on in 2016. We also need to keep an eye on national developments surrounding the political and legal framework for free knowledge, in order to be able to actively push for improvements and to be able to quickly react to potential restrictions that could threaten our work. Political policy and law will therefore be two important aspects of the association’s work in 2016, and will help us play a decisive role on the political stage in Brussels and at the national level. We also aim to expand our collaboration with volunteers in this field.

We want to focus our attention on cultivating good, constructive, appreciative, and productive relationships with all groups that contribute to the success of the activities carried out by WMDE and other volunteer projects. This is important both for the further involvement of volunteers and for our own future direction and identity.

We are intensifying our attempt to find ways of developing networks and multipliers with institutions in the fields of education, science, and culture. In the coming year, we would like to focus on selected “flagship projects” with educational, scientific, and cultural institutions that call attention to WMDE’s political and legal work to promote free knowledge, or that kindle an interest in similar collaborative work with other institutions. We can also use these projects to approach highly qualified authors and to motivate them to participate in Wikimedia projects.

Contributions from the participative phase of preparing this document showed us the wide range of ways in which committed Wikimedians can enrich this area of our work. The expansion of the relevant structures to improve the support and integration of volunteers into the work with educational, scientific, and cultural institutions is therefore a focal point for 2016.

The framework for free knowledge can only be changed in the long term at the political level. WMDE has therefore been contributing to the debate surrounding free learning and teaching materials for several years now, and has successfully positioned itself as a forerunner with regard to Open Educational Resources (OER). Our aim is to simplify and therefore increase the use of Open Educational Resources.

We want to further consolidate WMDE’s strong position as a political actor in the field of OER in 2016.

WMDE considers itself to be a part of an international movement and a partner of the Wikimedia Foundation. We work systematically and cross-departmentally to ensure that we benefit from the knowledge of others, that others learn from our experiences, and that we are in a position to have a greater impact by collaborating with international partners. We have already taken on responsibility for the movement’s global challenges and organization – with the lead development of Wikidata, for example, or by hosting and further developing the Wikimedia Conference – and we want to intensify our work in this area.

In the past two years, WMDE has helped local groups build hubs for their local work. This program has been adopted intensively and is supposed to be continued in 2016. At the same time, we want to systematically analyze the activities that have been carried out in the local hubs until now, and assess what outcomes are achieved there. The overarching goals of WMDE will be taken into account for the analysis. Building upon this, we will develop proposals on how to further enhance our local volunteer support through to an option for a more extensive regionalization of the association’s work in the long run. This process is to be carried out in close consultation with the local groups.

The WMDE office already works closely together with volunteers in many areas. As shown by their contributions during the participative phase of drawing up this annual compass, this cooperation is both important and necessary in order to have a sustainable impact on society. We therefore not only want to continue this successful work in 2016, but also want to intensively and systematically expand it. The involvement of volunteers should also be taken into account when planning the association’s activities. We will publicly document our new steps taken to involve the volunteers. We must also analyze how we can better implement WMDE’s goals by putting a focus on volunteers.

In the participative phase for the annual compass, the question arose once again as to how the goals enshrined in the association’s charter are weighted and what common identity they give WMDE as a whole. In addition to content-related topics, we should also focus on discussing this issue with all participants in a structured process in 2016. This links in closely with the resulting long-term, strategic goals. These should also be addressed and framed in a similar process.