See the wiki version here:
http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Wikimedia_news/numero_24/en
*
W i K i M e D i A N e W s* no. 24 - April 4, 2009
Official monthly bulletin from Wikimedia Italia Association.
Editorial
This month the newsletters starts with a small warning to all members.
The organization of the Extraordinary Members' Assembly showed that it's
not always easy to communicate within out organization. Many members
were removed because they did not pay their yearly dues; some of them
however payed after the Assembly, and they were reinstated. We really
like that everyone of us had a look at the formal communications we send
every now and then, and take part in the life of our association.
As for the upcoming events, in May and June there will be plenty of new
events and wonderful chance of meet people. All our members are urged to
take active part in organization and success of these initiatives.
Senpai
What happened last months
* January 9, Reggio Emilia: at "la Gabella", meeting about Wikipedia
and Wikimedia. Paginazero says:
o This year Telecitofono <http://www.telecitofono.it> included
once again Wikimedia Italia - which I represented - among
the meetings held by the School of Ethics and Politics
"Giacomo Ulivi".
Like last year, we had a two hours' meeting/talk about
Wikipedia, Wikimedia, their workings and the philosophy beneath
them.
The day after I had another talk about these topics with the
students of three classes of Computer Science at the High School
BUS Pascal <http://www.pascal.re.it/Pages/Home/Home2.htm>. These
students teach elder people to use a PC and the Internet, as I
already talked about last year: see [1]
<http://www.nonsolofannulloni.forumpa.it/100-storie/casi-selezionati/?id=1748>.
* Wikipedia wins Premiolino
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/it:Premiolino> 2009! Frieda reports:
o the prize was awarded in Milano, at Palazzo Marino (the City
Hall). About 200 people attended: prizewinners, jury,
sponsor (Birra Moretti) and its testimonial (Orso Maria
Guerrini aka Baffo Moretti), some journalists. The reason
for the prize to Wikipedia (/Because it let at everybody's
disposal a great, open, democratic encyclopedy, continuously
perfected in real time - like for example the voice about
President Giorgio Napolitano, checked and revised by the
presidential staff) so that it became a really useful tool
for journalists./) was written by the renowed journalist
Gian Antonio Stella, great fan of us. Mr Stella gave himself
the prize, asking me some question (on things we already
talked about). The audience cheered us a lot, and many
people asked me questions and explanations about Wikipedia
and how it works. Jollyroger, who was with me, took the
chance to make some pics to the other /famous/ prizewinners,
so that we could add them to the relevant voices in Wikipedia.
* March 22, Milan: Assembly of Wikimedia Italia. Sunday, March 22,
2009 we held on Ordinary and Extraordinary Members' Assembly of
Wikimedia Italia at Domus Academy in Milano. We approved the final
balance for year 2008 and the estimation for year 2009, and
ratified the members' list (removing all members who did not pay
the fee for year 2008 and/or 2009); then we changed the bylaws of
the association. The modifications we made were needed because we
want to be listed as APS (Association for Social Promoting), being
thus able to allow tax deducibility status for donations to the
Associations, and to be recipients of "5 per mille" (destination
of part of our taxes). Here
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_marzo_2009/Verbale>
you can find the minutes of the Ordinary Assembly; here
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_marzo_2009/Verbale_straordinaria>
the ones of the Extraordinary Assembly. (Both pages are in Italian).
What will happen next month
* May 22-24, Vicenza: Festival delle libertà digitali. Wikimedia
Italia organizes together with Vicenza LUG the first Festival of
Digital Freedoms.
The event has been presented in advance during WMI Assembly. For the
first time our Association organized such a large event. The official
program of the Festival will be unveiled at mid April in the site of the
Festival,
http://www.libertadigitali.org ; our members may find the
draft program
<http://wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:1%C2%B0_festival_delle_libert%C3%A0_digitali>
in advance.
As a highlight, Saturday May 23 Wikimedia Italia will hold a 10-hours
no-stop event in the historical downtown of Vicenza; there will also be
several side events.
We ask all our members to propose their ideas in our association's wiki,
and to take an active part in the organization of the Festival. If you
cannot attend, at least discuss about it!)
News from WMF projects
* *Wikibooks*: new logo
<http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks/Logo> is official; we
have also the localized version
<http://it.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Wikibooks:Bar&oldid=154741#nuovo_logo.21>
(«Libri liberi per un mondo aperto»).
* *Wikinotizie*: reached 6,800 articles.
* *Wikipedia*: a proposal
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/it:Wikipedia:Bar/Discussioni/Evidenziare_il_tasto_modifica_%28usabilit%C3%A0%29>
has been made to make the tab "edit this page" more prominent,
like in pl.wiki, fr.wiki or en.wiki for better usability: the
solution is however disliked.
* *Wikiquote*: Quaro75
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/q:it:Utente:Quaro75> has been voted
sysop
<http://it.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Wikiquote:Amministratori&oldid=237436#Votazione_per_Quaro75_amministratore>
. There are now 7 sysops. A proposal
<http://it.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Wikiquote:Bar&oldid=241709#Evidenziare_il_tasto_modifica_.28usabilit.C3.A0.29>
has been made to make the tab "edit this page" more prominent,
like in pl.wiki, fr.wiki or en.wiki for better usability: there
are doubts about the chosen shade of blue. (For the time being the
tab, has been put in boldface
<http://it.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki%3AMonobook.css&diff=241712&oldid=196232>).
* *Wikisource*: reached 3,000 users.
* *Wikiversità*: After a survey, the community voted that teaching
material different from university lessons are allowed; they
approved the creation of two new departments which will hold
teaching material for younger age classes, and "not formal" contents.
* *Wikizionario*: reached 5,000 users.
News from Wikimedia Italia
* On February 5th we issued a press release: /Rettifica
dell'intervista pubblicata da Il Giornale
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Rettifica_dell%27intervista_pubblicata_da_Il_Giornale>/
(Amendments to an article by Il Giornale). The article rectifies
some statements written in an Italian newspaper, and it was a
joint effort from several members of WMI; it appeared also in the
Italian newssite WebNews
<http://www.webnews.it/news/leggi/10089/wikimedia-risponde-a-il-giornale/>,
ang got about 1,000 impressions at our site.
News from our projects
News from W@H
Wiki@Home starts again, after the winter hiatus! We are working on
several interviews. We need a couple of people to help Draco in the
organization.
Project Schools
* In February and March Cotton held two short courses about
Wikipedia and the related projects in two high schools in the
province of Padua. Cotton reports:
In Istituto Leopardi I made two lessons, one hour each. I made a
general introduction about the history of Wikipedia and WMF, a
brief presentation of the related project and said something
about the GFDL license and the difference with copyright. After
a suggestion from the teacher, I tried to go in depth speaking
about the awareness of the use of Wikipedia, thinking about the
end-of-school short dissertations; I made an analysis of some
articles, pointing at their characteristics.
In Liceo Einstein I made two lessons, one hour and half each.
Contents were more or less the same, but I had the time to go
more in depth.
You may read the report (in Italian) at this page
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:Wiki_a_Scuola/Istituto_Leopardi_%28PD%29_e_Liceo_Scientifico_Einstein_anno_2008/2009>.
* VirtualSkiz, together with other members from Campania, started
supporting Project Schools, and they got several connections and
some results. They said:
In cooperation with the secondary school "San Giovanni Bosco" of
Trentola-Ducenta, Wikimedia Italia was involved as local partner
in the prestigious European project of intercultural education
"Comenius Regio".
During last Assembly in September we met the Referent for P.O.N.
Projects. Together, we devised two project (for secondary
schools “Istituto Comprensivo Stroffolini” at Casapulla and
“Benedetto Croce” at San Prisco): “Parolando e Wikando”, an
educational project which puts together classroom tutorials, use
of a wiki platform and acquaintance with the on-line encyclopedia.
At the PProfessional High School 'O. Conti' of Aversa,
VirtualSkiz is teaching as external expert; 30 hours of
activities to let the pupils understand the underlying
philosophy and be able to use the wiki platform.