Hi all,
After the success of Monmouthpedia etc, we decided to try something
similar in South Africa - in collaboration with the Heritage
department of the City of Johannesburg. After the President of
Wikimedia South Africa did a radio interview about the proposed
project, our contact in the City got this letter:
===
Dear Eric,
Kindly note that this email is sent without prejudice.
It would be greatly appreciated if you would consider the Walk and
Talk Tours patented system in 1999 with regards to information signage
relating back to electronic media to obtain information in respect of
a site.
To take this step further I would suggest that Johannesburg
Development Agency/ Johannesburg Arts and Culture/ Wikapedia etc
consider buying this concept from Walk and Talk Tours CC without the
necessity of going through unnecessary legal fees in using the
patented concept without the consent of Walk and Talk Tours CC.
Kind regards
Beryl Porter
www.walktours.co.za
Tel: +27 11 444 1639
Fax: +27 11 444 6128
Cell: +27 83 269 9769
email: bporter(a)iafrica.com
===
I did some research, and found the relevant patent here:
http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/WO2004021309
A brief review of the patent seems to indicate that it doesn't cover
anything except for phone calls, but the wording is sufficiently broad
that one could construe it to refer to any data sent over a wireless
network. Can someone on this list please give an opinion?
Thanks,
--
David Richfield
[[:en:User:Slashme]]
+27718539985
Forwarding to this list on the request of the Election Committee.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Snowolf <snowolf(a)snowolf.eu>
Date: 8 February 2013 00:45
Subject: [Wikimedia Announcements] 2013 Steward Elections and Confirmations
To: wikimediaannounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Hello everyone,
on behalf of the Election Committee for the 2013 Steward Elections [1]
and Confirmations [2], I'd like to let you know that the voting phase
has started and I'd like to invite you to take part in electing our
future stewards and confirming our old ones.
Voting will remain open until February 27 2013, 23:59 (UTC).
We are using the same system for the steward elections we used last
year, which involves the following easy steps:
- Click on the big gray vote button on the vote page, a box will appear;
- Select your vote (yes/no/neutral), and write your comments (if you
have any) in the comment box;
- And click "vote" on that box and it will save your vote automatically.
Eligible to vote in the steward elections are all users with:
- an account on Meta (this wiki);
- a global account (or an account on Meta with user page linked to
your main wiki, and a link to your meta account from your home wiki user
page);
- that do not primarily use the account for automated (bot) tasks;
- at least 600 edits before 01 November 2012 (on one wiki, or edits
on unified wikis can be combined);
- at least 50 edits between 01 August 2012 and 31 January 2013 (on
the same wiki as above, or edits on unified wikis can be combined).
If you have any questions, feel free to leave them on the talk page [3]
or poke us on the IRC channel #wikimedia-stewards-elections on freenode.
Please feel free to forward this e-mail to other lists if you think it
useful :)
Snowolf
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/Elections_2013
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/Confirm/2013
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Stewards/Elections_2013
[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/Elections_2013/Guidelines
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately
directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia
community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
_______________________________________________
WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list
WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
--
Thehelpfulone
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Thehelpfulone
*Dear friends and colleagues,
We are gearing up for Round 2 of the FDC process! Thank you for your
support and suggestions through Round 1. Susana Morais, the FDC
Ombudsperson, recently invited the community to offer comments and
suggestions for improving the process, particularly the FDC portal (ease of
navigability, user-friendliness), FDC forms, and the communication with the
FDC members and staff.[1] Please continue to share your thoughts and
experiences with us.
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Appeals_regarding_FDC_process>
I am writing to you to remind you of the schedule for Round 2 and the
guidelines for the process.
Schedule
February 15: All entities wishing to apply for Round 2 should complete
their eligibility requirements by e.o.d UTC February 15.[2] Please contact
my colleague Christine Bockneck for any support on this.
March 1: All proposals from eligible entities are due by e.o.d UTC. We have
incorporated feedback from Round 1 to make the proposal form for Round 2
easier to use and navigate, but have been conscious of not making any
substantive changes, so that there is parity between Round 1 and Round 2
applicants. We may well make substantive changes to this form for Year 2
(starting July 2013), and welcome suggestions for that.
March 1-31: Community review period. As the Board representatives to the
FDC (Jan-Bart and Patricio) informed you a few days ago, the Board in
consultation with the FDC approved a two week increase to this period, to
support a more in depth review and response process. Please do comment on
the proposals, as your participation strengthens each entity’s work and our
movement. We know that having the proposals only in English can be a
constraint, and we hope the longer period will help with this as well.
April 8: Posting of the FDC staff assessments.
April 22-24: FDC meeting in Milan.
May 1: Posting of the FDC recommendations.
May 8: Any complaints to the Board representatives from Round 2 applicants
should be posted by this date. [4]
June 1: The Board decision is posted.
Guidelines
As a reminder, the FDC framework approved last year offered funding
guidelines for eligible entities for the next three years.[5] As
demonstrated by the FDC recommendations of Round 1,[6] the FDC does
consider these guidelines as well as the rationale offered by each entity
for its growth. For Year 1 of the FDC, the guidelines for the requests are
100-120% of the amount in grants or retained from payment processing the
previous year.
To quote from the framework:
“These amounts are not targets; rather, they are guidelines to help
eligible entities plan over the next few years and adjust to the new
funding environment. Eligible entities may request more or less than these
target amounts. The FDC will give a higher level of scrutiny to requests in
excess of these guidelines and to requests from eligible entities whose
year-to-date actual spending is significantly less than their year-to-date
budgeted spending.”
The FDC staff is always available to support eligible entities and
community members; please be in touch with Katy Love, Senior Program
Officer for the FDC (fdcsupport(a)wikimedia.org) or onwiki:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Questions_for_FDC_staff/2012-2013…
We look forward to an engaging Round 2 process.
Warmly,
Anasuya
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Appeals_regarding_FDC_process
[2]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Eligibility_status/2012-2013_roun…
[3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposal_process
[4]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Complaints_regarding_FDC_recommen…
[5]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_…
[6]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2012-2013_rou…
*
--
***Anasuya Sengupta
Senior Director of Grantmaking
Wikimedia Foundation*
*
*
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
Dear all,
The next WMF metrics and activities will take place on Thursday,
February 7, 2013 at 7:00 PM UTC (11 AM PST). The IRC channel is
#wikimedia-office* *on irc.freenode.net and the meeting will be
broadcast as a live YouTube stream.
The current structure of the meeting is:
* Review of key metrics including the monthly report card, but also
specialized reports and analytics* Review of financials* Welcoming
recent hires* Brief presentations on recent projects, with a focus on
highest priority initiatives* Update and Q&A with the Executive
Director, if available
Please review https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings
for further information about how to participate.
We'll post IRC logs and the video recording publicly after the meeting.
Thank you,
Praveena
--
Praveena Maharaj
Executive Assistant to the VP of Engineering and Product Development
+1 (415) 839 6885 ext. 6689
www.wikimedia.org
Hello again,
Many apologies but here is the correct link to the announcement -
http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/wikimedia-uk-and-wikimedia-foundation-…
Thank you,
Stevie
On 7 February 2013 17:25, Stevie Benton <stevie.benton(a)wikimedia.org.uk>wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia Foundation have today published the Compass
> Partnership report regarding the governance of Wikimedia UK. You can find
> the report here<http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_UK_gov_review_rpt_v5.pdf>and there is a complementary joint
> statement from Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia Foundation<http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/wikimedia-uk-and-wikimedia-foundation-…>and a chronology
> of events<http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Descriptive_chronology_v6.pdf>.
> There is a page reserved for discussion of the review on Meta here<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK/Governance_Review_discussion>and a page
> outlining some questions and answers regarding the review here<http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/questions-and-answers-related-to-the-g…>
> .
>
> The best place to begin is with this blog post which contains full details<http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/wikimedia-uk-and-wikimedia-foundation-…>
> .
>
> Do let me know if there are any questions or comments.
>
> Thanks and regards,
>
> Stevie
> --
>
> Stevie Benton
> Communications Organiser
> Wikimedia UK+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
> @StevieBenton
>
> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
>
>
> *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
>
>
--
Stevie Benton
Communications Organiser
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
@StevieBenton
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England
and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513.
Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street,
London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a
global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the
Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal
control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
_______________________________________________
WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list
WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
"The WCA is lead by the council, who are all volunteers. They will be
supported by staff, but the council are in charge."
I would love to have my Wikipedia work supported by staff too. Who is
paying for said staff? How much are they projected to cost? In fact I
would simply like some of the travel costs and accommodations for
those involved in my Wikipedia projects covered. I am happy to cover
my own costs.
We have a second draft budget here
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Draft_budget_…
at more than $300,000
We have $42,000 going to a translator / PR person? I have managed to
find translators for more than 30 languages which have translated more
than 1 million words in 2012 as part of this project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_tas…
Most translation on Wikipedia is done by volunteers. Why is
translation for this organization deem more important than say for key
medical diseases?
I see that in the second draft the funding for the SG has decreased
from 96000 euro to 60000 euro. I think the number I am looking for is
around zero, we are an organization run on volunteers. The World
Health Organization is willing to have a Wikipedian in Residence. I
have found someone who will do it for free / the experience of working
at the WHO but he needs some help covering his expenses. The person is
willing to work full time to do out reach to 600 interns at the WHO
who are usually young leaders in their respective medical communities
from around the world.
With respect to the law firm costs of $30,000. That is a lot for
supporting collaboration between chapters. With respect to $10,000 for
a chapters network / skype? But skype is free and we already have
meta. It is inexpensive to set up a website.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
Okay usually when one comes up with a new idea for something the
expectation is that it will be stated clearly what problem this new
idea will solve and how it will solve it.
Here is the list of potential tasks set for the WCA
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Chapters_Association/Tasks
Why do any of these need paid staff to complete them rather than
volunteers? Why do they deserve paid staff any more than the dozens of
other issues that we have that are at least equally important? In fact
no paid staff is requested for any of the tasks set forth.
A lot of "facilitating and promoting said work and idea"s of volunteer
is done by volunteers. And IMO should continue to be done by
volunteers. So am not conflating the two.
With respect to "The law firm is supposed to look over contracts,
documents and agreements of 40 other organizations" Only 21 have
signed up. Where does the number 40 come from? And why do all these
organizations need documents looked over more? We have managed to find
free lawyers for both Wikimedia Canada and Wiki Project Med Foundation
and we managed to incorporate both as volunteers.
With respect to "If you employ someone on a daily basis" This is the
issue. I am not convinced we should employ someone on a daily basis
for this work as it is presented. Wikipedia is not a fancy shiny
project, we are not Google or Microsoft. We are a rag tag group of
"amateurs" trying to do something amazing. We do not need shiny
offices, in cities of global importance, we do not need to fly around
the world with important titles.
So with respect to a budget I would consider in the range of $25,000
to me more appropriate. No actual office. No paid staff. Some funding
to cover limited travel for volunteers interested in taking on this
work. Collaboration taking place on meta. Efforts to improve meta.
Some free google accounts. The use of skype for meeting (which is also
free). Most work taking place virtually. The use of volunteers and
google translate to translate stuff. This organization of volunteers
acting as a consultant as I know my chapter is not looking for anyone
to tell us what to do.
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
Dear Wikimedians,
Wikimedia Commons is happy to announce that the 2012 Picture of the Year
competition is now open. Click here <To see the candidate images just go to
the POTY 2012 page on Wikimedia Commons at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2012/Introdu…>to
vote right now! Voting is open to established Wikimedia users who meet
the following criteria:
1. Users must have an account, at any Wikimedia project, which was
registered *before Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000* [UTC].
2. This user account must have more than *75 edits* on *any single*
Wikimedia
project *before Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000* [UTC]. Please check
your account eligibility at the POTY 2012 Contest Eligibility
tool<https://toolserver.org/~pathoschild/accounteligibility/?user=&wiki=&event=27>
.
3. Users must vote with an account meeting the above requirements either
on Commons or another SUL-related Wikimedia project (for other Wikimedia
projects, the account must be attached to the user's Commons account
through SUL <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Unified_login>).
Hundreds of images that have been rated Featured Pictures by the
international Wikimedia Commons community in the past year are all entered
in this competition. From professional animal and plant shots to
breathtaking panoramas and skylines, restorations of historically relevant
images, images portraying the world's best architecture, maps, emblems,
diagrams created with the most modern technology, and impressive human
portraits, Commons features pictures of all flavors.
For your convenience, we have sorted the images into topic categories. Two
rounds of voting will be held: In the first round, you voted for as many
images as you like. The first round category winners and the top ten
overall have made it to the final.* In the final round, when a limited
number of images are left, you must decide on the one image that you want
to become the Picture of the Year.*
Wikimedia Commons celebrates our featured images of 2012 with this contest.
Your votes decide the Picture of the Year, so remember to vote in the first
round by *February 14, 2013*.
To see the candidate images just go to the POTY 2012 page on Wikimedia
Commons at *
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Picture_of_the_Year/2012/Introdu…
*
Thanks,
the Wikimedia Commons Picture of the Year committee