Katherine Maher Quotes

It’s never exactly a good time to step away -- transitions always have some rough edges -- but it’s always best to do so when the organization is strong, and before you’ve overstayed your welcome. The movement is in a good, strong place. Our communities are growing, our readership is too

In my experience, it is perfectly possible to have opinions and also produce valuable, fact-based information for the world.

Why why why Manhattan are you all eating and drinking and walking around with no masks. Why.

A month ago, we were planning for the future. Today, we still are — just a different future than any of us expected... At Wikimedia, we live by a mantra: everything that happens in the world happens on Wikipedia. And when things happen, the world looks our way.

Lowkey excited about all the innovation in videoconferencing. We went from standard-awful to Brady Bunch to multi-grid to Together in about 3 months. Keep it up.

When it became clear that SARS-CoV-2, or simply, the latest coronavirus, was spreading globally and likely to become a pandemic, we took it seriously. Our responsibility is to keep Wikipedia online and available for the world, especially in moments of crisis. A world that is changing requires changing how we work.

At the same time, women make up a majority of senior leadership at the Wikimedia Foundation — including the chief executive, chief operating, chief advancement, chief creative, and chief engagement officers as well as the vice president of human resources... we’re just willing to hire people who, perhaps when we first see their resume, are not necessarily the exact right fit for the job... If you believe that a bunch of amateur, volunteer, nonspecialists can write an encyclopedia and then have it be the fifth most popular website on the planet, then you also have to believe that there are talents that exist within society that may not match what we actually think a COO or a CTO should look like.

In 8 hours I’ll put on a mask, leave my home, head to the airport, fly for 6 hours, quarantine for 14 days, and hopefully by mid-July I’ll be able to see my mom. I would not be going if there were not urgent family issues, but I won’t lie: I am afraid.

The COVID-19 epidemic is something that makes clear our global human interconnectedness and the responsibility we have to one another. We don’t have precedent for its challenges, but we do know that our best response relies on the sort of global empathy, cooperation, and community building that sits at the heart of this organization.

Churchill is my favorite example to use with western audiences about the nature of truth in popular histories. To millions, a liberating hero. To yet millions of others, oppressor and genocidaire.

In a given month, I might fly to New York to meet with the about making its collection more accessible online to Wikipedia, then head to Tunisia to meet members of the Wikipedia community. A big reason why I spend so much time on road is that we support nearly 300 languages. We’re committed to the idea that Wikipedia should be this essential knowledge infrastructure for the world. ... I used to be really aggressive—walk off the plane and go straight into meetings. Because we’re a nonprofit, we travel economy class everywhere; getting off a long flight can be tough.... If I need a nap, that’s OK. You have to be nice to yourself. ... One of the first things I do in a city is go for a run. It’s a great way to orient yourself—even if it’s just for a mile or two.

Access to information is essential to healthy communities and should be treated as such... This becomes even more clear in times of global health crises when information can have life-changing consequences. All institutions, from governments to international health agencies, scientific bodies to Wikipedia, must do our part to ensure everyone has equitable and trusted access to knowledge about public health, regardless of where you live or the language you speak.

Big organizations do good work. So do small organizations working with specific communities. Often, they work together. Please support both for #Beirut

This election is the most important election of our lifetime, and potentially will determine how many lifetimes our children and their children have to come. Vote Climate.

Holistic histories and analyses of power and influence are a threat to simplistic narratives and can be an accelerant for understanding, empathy, and justice.