Technical Collaboration Guidance/Principles

The Wikimedia Foundation designs and develops software for the end user in furtherance of its mission to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. When designing and developing software, the Wikimedia Foundation takes care to consider the following software development principles, that our content, software, practices and/or products should always: This list is not exhaustive.
 * 1) Free and available - Be freely licensed and readily available for all peoples.
 * 2) Informed and insightful - Have a deep understanding of user needs and experiences. Decisions should be informed by data and research.
 * 3) Transparent and responsible - Development of a product should be in the open, with public feedback loops whenever possible. Decisions should be fully accounted for, and should be clearly explained and well-documented.
 * 4) Collaborative and adaptive - Be developed together. Staff and volunteers should be receptive to feedback, feature requests, and bug reports throughout the lifecycle of a product
 * 5) Accessible and secure - Provide a consistent, usable experience for all populations, regardless of technical limitations or physical disability. Software and its development should maintain user privacy and site security.