Annual Plan for 2017
Developing the organization collaboratively

Our Annual Plan describes the organization’s areas of emphasis for the following year. Thus, as many groups as possible that value open knowledge should be incorporated into the planning procedure. Members, volunteer communities, and external experts make a range of different proposals within the framework of the collaborative process. Above all, the discussion on the substance and goals critically examines what actually needs to be done to spread open knowledge.

The drafting of the Annual Plan for 2017 was a concerted effort. For instance, at the eighteenth annual general meeting in spring, we introduced the participatory world café format, which was received positively. We discussed the work and future of the organization with members at different thematic tables. The discussion of our common goals helped bring the planning for this year into greater focus. Compared to the previous year, we were able to summarize our ten areas of emphasis under five main points. We integrated these into the organization’s three fields of activity: In 2017, we want to recruit new volunteers for Wikipedia, while holding on to our current contributors. We will continue to develop the software behind Wikipedia and the free Wikidata database. We also want to further improve the general parameters for open knowledge through political and legal work and in cooperation with cultural and educational institutions.

In the following years, we will strive to motivate even more members to become actively involved in helping to shape the organization. We also aim to simplify the planning procedure in a way that will permit us to start planning later in the year and to flexibly respond to any changes.