Dear all,
During the Annual Assembly this weekend, mr. Jarle Vines was elected new
chairman of the Board, a position that he also upheld from 2010 to 2013. At
the same time, we truly thank Jon Harald Søby for his good service in his
term as chairman.
Here is the Q3 Activity report of Wikimedia Norway, covering January-March.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…
Kind regards,
--
*Erlend Bjørtvedt*
Nestleder, Wikimedia Norge
Vice chairman, Wikimedia Norway
Mob: +47 - 9225 9227
http://no.wikimedia.org <http://no.wikimedia.org/wiki/About_us>
Hi all,
please find below the WMF report for March 2014, in plain text.
As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_March_2014
and the reports are being posted on the Wikimedia blog, too:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/
As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary.
Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay
updated, by providing a translation:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_March_2014
Many thanks to those who have been contributing to the still ongoing
translation work on the February "Highlights"!
While still focusing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a
small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole movement.
Suggestions for the upcoming April issue are welcome until tomorrow at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights#Movement_news_ite…
Regards, Tilman
--
Wikimedia Foundation Report, March 2014
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_April_3…>
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting
covering the month of March
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2014-04-03>
(April 3, 2014)
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 New Beta feature: Hovercards show article previews
o 3.2 Typography refresh: A new look for text on Wikimedia sites
o 3.3 Draft annual plan published for feedback from the community
and the FDC
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 VisualEditor
o 4.2 Editor engagement
o 4.3 Mobile
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Online Fundraising
* 6 Grantmaking
o 6.1 Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee)
o 6.2 Project and Event Grants
+ 6.2.1 Grants funded in March 2014
+ 6.2.2 Reports accepted in March 2014
o 6.3 Travel and Participation Support
+ 6.3.1 Requests awarded in March 2014
+ 6.3.2 Reports accepted in March 2014
o 6.4 Individual Engagement Grants
+ 6.4.1 Grants started in March 2014
o 6.5 Learning and Evaluation
+ 6.5.1 Program Evaluation
+ 6.5.2 Grants Programs
+ 6.5.3 Org effectiveness
+ 6.5.4 Other
o 6.6 Wikipedia Education Program
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 March Staff Changes
o 7.2 March Statistics
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department
o 9.1 LCA Report, March 2014
+ 9.1.1 Contract Metrics
+ 9.1.2 Trademark Metrics
+ 9.1.3 Domains Obtained
+ 9.1.4 Coming & Going
+ 9.1.5 Other Activities
o 9.2 Communications Report, March 2014
+ 9.2.1 Major announcements
+ 9.2.2 Major Storylines through March
+ 9.2.3 Other worthwhile reads
+ 9.2.4 WMF Blog posts
+ 9.2.5 Media Contact
+ 9.2.6 Communications Design
+ 9.2.7 Wikipedia Signpost
* 10 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
Global unique visitors for February:
*474 million* (-4.28% compared with January; -1.83% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release March data
later in April)
Page requests for March:
*21.042 billion* (+0.2% compared with February; -2.3% compared with
the previous year)
(Server log data
<http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>,
all Wikimedia Foundation content projects including mobile access,
but excluding Wikidata <https://www.wikidata.org> and the Wikipedia
main portal page <https://www.wikipedia.org/>.)
Active Registered Editors for February 2014 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*75,958* (-6.80% compared with January / -2.06% compared with the
previous year)
(Database data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia
Foundation projects.)
*Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF
projects):
http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/
(Definitions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Metric_definitions>)
== Financials ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_February_2…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of February 28,
2014
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_February_…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of February 28, 2014
(Financial information is only available through February 2014 at the
time of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date February 28, 2014.
Revenue 39,242,310
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group 10,750,112
Fundraising Group 2,739,036
Grantmaking Group 1,078,075
Programs Group 1,205,135
Grants 3,887,562
Governance Group 469,783
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group 2,425,548
Finance/HR/Admin Group 4,542,676
Total Expenses 27,097,927
Total surplus (12,144,383)
/in US dollars/
* Revenue for the month of February is $1.07MM versus plan of $0.01MM,
approximately $1.06MM or 18,244% over plan.
* Year-to-date revenue is $39.24MM versus plan of $45.05MM,
approximately $5.81MM or 13% under plan.
* Expenses for the month of February is $4.35MM versus plan of
$4.41MM, approximately $63K or 1% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, outside
contract services, and travel expenses partially offset by higher
legal fees, grants, and payment processing fees.
* Year-to-date expenses is $27.10MM versus plan of $31.80MM,
approximately $4.70MM or 15% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees,
payment processing fees, staff development expenses, and travel
expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services,
grants, and recruiting fees.
* Cash position is $52.44MM as of February 28, 2014.
== Highlights ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HoverCard_ClaudeMonet.png>
Screenshot of a Hovercard (a preview of the article en:Claude Monet
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet> displayed in en:Camille Doncieux
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Doncieux>)
=== New Beta feature: Hovercards show article previews ===
Hovercards <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Beta_Features/Hovercards> are brief
previews of a Wikipedia article or other wiki page, displayed when the
reader hovers over a link to that page. The preview consists of the lead
paragraph and first image of the article. Users can enable this feature
by logging into their account and clicking the "Beta" link at the top
right. Hovercards were inspired by the Navigation popups
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tools/Navigation_popups> gadget used
by many experienced Wikimedians on the English Wikipedia and elsewhere,
and modify the idea to make it more suitable for casual readers.
=== Typography refresh: A new look for text on Wikimedia sites ===
At the end of March, an update to the typography
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/typography> on the desktop version of Wikimedia
sites was announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/27/typography-refresh/>. The
typography refresh
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Typography_refresh> is
based on four requirements: 1. Readability, 2. a consistent look across
multiple devices, 3. availability of the typefaces
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/typefaces> across various platforms (Mac OS X,
Windows, Linux, and mobile operating systems), and 4. accessibility
(even for those readers with visual impairments).
The most visible change is that headings are now displayed in a serif
font instead of a sans-serif font. Among the other modifications: The
text color is now a very dark grey instead of pure black, while the
background color remained pure white. Also, the body font size was
increased.
The changes were scheduled to be rolled out in April, with adjustments
based on user feedback.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sue_Gardner_discussing_the_2014-15_…>
Sue Gardner discussing the WMF FDC proposal
=== Draft annual plan published for feedback from the community and the FDC ===
In March, the Foundation worked to prepare its 2014/15 annual plan for
publication in draft form, as a proposal to the FDC
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
(Funds Dissemination Committee). The feedback from the FDC and the
community review period (April 1 to April 30) will be taken into account
<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2014-April/070826.html> while
the plan is being finalized. As part of the FDC proposal, the Foundation
published a new comprehensive overview of ongoing, long-term work
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
that WMF staff and contractors are carrying out in support of the
Wikimedia projects.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for March 2014 can
be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2014/March
Department Highlights
Major news in March include:
* Hovercards
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/26/hovercards-now-available-as-a-beta-fe…>
now available as a Beta feature on all Wikimedia wikis, allowing
readers to see a short summary of an article just by hovering over a
link (see also Highlights above);
* a subtle typography change
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/27/typography-refresh/> across
Wikimedia sites for better readability, consistency and accessibility;
* a recap of the upgrade and migration
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/28/wikimedias-road-to-bugzilla-4-4/>
of our bug tracking software.
=== VisualEditor
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Portal>
===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erik_M%C3%B6ller_explaining_citatio…>
Erik Möller explaining citation support in VisualEditor
In March, the *VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor>*
team continued their work on improving the stability and performance of
this visual tool to edit wiki pages. They also added some new features
and simplifications, helping users edit and create pages more swiftly
and easily. Editing templates is now much simpler, moving most of the
advanced controls that users don't often need into a special version of
that window. The media dialog was improved and stream-lined to make it
clearer what the controls are for. The overall design of dialogs and
controls was improved to make it flow better, like double-clicking a
block to open its dialog. A new system for quickly and simply inserting
and editing "citations" (references based on templates) neared
completion and will be enabled in the coming month.
The *Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid>* team continued with a
lot of bug fixing and tweaking
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid/Deployments> of this parsing program
that converts wikitext to annotated HTML, behind the scenes of
VisualEditor. Media and image handling in particular was improved. In
the process, we discovered a lot of edge cases and inconsistent behavior
in the PHP parser, and fixed some of those issues there as well.
We revamped our round-trip test server interface
<http://parsoid-tests.wikimedia.org/> that compares the wikitext code of
a page before and after it's been converted into annotated HTML, and
back into wikitext. We fixed some issues in the round-trip test system,
and improved our error logging system.
We also designed and implemented a HTML templating library
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_template_system> which combines
correctness, security and performance. This will notably be used to
evaluate HTML templating for translation messages and eventually wiki
content.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor_-_2013-14_Q2%E2%80%93Q…>
Presentation slides from the VisualEditor team's quarterly review
meeting
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>
on March 26
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Parsoid_review_Q3,_March_2014.pdf>
Presentation slides from the Parsoid team's quarterly review meeting
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>
on March 28
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Growth_team_update_April_2014.pdf?p…>
Presentation slides from the Growth team
=== Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> ===
This month the *Core Features* team focused on improvements to how the
new Flow <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow> discussion system works with
key MediaWiki tools and processes. We made changes to the history,
watchlist, and recent changes views, adding more context and bringing
them more in line with what experienced users expect from these
features. We released a thank feature in Flow, allowing users to thank
each other for posts, and began work on a feature to close and summarize
discussions. Lastly, we continued work on rewriting the Flow interface
to make it cleaner, faster, and more responsive across a wide number of
browsers/devices.
In March, the *Growth <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth>* team primarily
focused on bug fixing, design enhancements, and refactoring of the
GettingStarted <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GettingStarted> and
GuidedTour <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GuidedTour> extensions,
which were recently launched on 30 Wikipedias. We updated icons and
button styles, rewrote the interface text, and refactored the interface
to be more usable in non-English languages. We also began to refactor of
the GuidedTour API, in order to support interactive tours that are
non-linear. Non-linear tours will not depend on a page load to run,
which will notably enable better support for tours in VisualEditor
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor>. Last but not least, we made
progress on measuring the impact of GettingStarted
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Onboarding_new_Wikipedians/Rollout>
across all wikis
where it is deployed, with results for the first 30 days of editor
activity expected in early April.
=== Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
The *Wikimedia Apps <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps>* team
worked on logged-out editing to logged-in editing, and table of contents
refinements.
The *Mobile web projects <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_web_projects>*
team worked on the link inspector for VisualEditor on tablets, and a
switch between VisualEditor and wikitext on tablets. Both are in alpha.
During the last month, with the assistance of the Operations and
Platform teams, the *Wikipedia Zero
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero>* team set up the upcoming
Partners Portal and continued work on reducing image size for the mobile
web. Additionally, the team added Wikipedia Zero detection to the
Wikipedia for Firefox OS app, as well as contributory features support
for users on partner networks supporting zero-rated secure connections.
With the assistance of the Apps team, new features were added to the
forthcoming reboots of the Android and iOS apps; proof of concept for
full-text search was started on iOS.
Smart, the largest mobile operator in the Philippines, is giving access
to Wikipedia free of data charges through the end of April. We arranged
a meeting with local community members and Smart to explore ways to
collaborate in support of education. The partnerships team started to
review the 27 existing Wikipedia Zero partners, to update the
implementation, identify opportunities for collaboration in corporate
social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and get feedback on the program.
The account reviews will continue for the next few months.
== Fundraising ==
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* A longtime WMF donor and retired aerospace engineer from Colorado is
leaving us his entire estate in a living trust.
* The fundraising team coordinated completion of the WMF's FDC proposal.
=== Online Fundraising ===
File:Open Letter for Free Access to Wikipedia - three months later, MTN
responds.webm
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Open_Letter_for_Free_Ac…>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_Letter_for_Free_Access_to_Wiki…>
MTN response by video
* The online fundraising team ran *banner campaigns* in the Sweden,
Thailand, Indonesia, Spain, Denmark, and Norway. Roughly $1.7
million was raised in March (preliminary numbers as donations are
still settling).
* The team prepared *translations* of fundraising messages into
multiple languages for upcoming international banner campaigns. If
you would like to help with the translation process, please get
involved <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/Translation>.
* Mobile operator MTN South Africa responds to the Sinenjongo High
School 'open letter' video and grants *Wikipedia Zero in South
Africa*, publishing a video response of their own (see right).
== Grantmaking ==
Department highlights
* The first impact reports for Annual Plan Grants (reviewed by the
FDC), for activities in 2013, were submitted on 31 March, and an
analysis will be published this May.
* The Grantmaking Learning & Evaluation and the Program Evaluation and
Design teams are integrated and will continue to focus on program
evaluation and organisational effectiveness.
* The Wikipedia Education Program team also joins Grantmaking.
=== Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee) ===
* No new annual plan grants were funded this month; *3 grant reports*
were reviewed this month.
* Preparations are underway for upcoming Funds Dissemination Committee
Deliberations and Funds Dissemination Advisory Group Meeting in
Frankfurt, Germany this May.
* Staff summary of Q2 *progress reports*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Staff…>
published, and comments on WMHU's Q4 progress report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/…>
published. Thanks to all entities that submitted reports in this cycle.
* *2013-2014 Round 2 eligibility
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Eligibility_checklist…>*
is
confirmed and announced: 6 entities are now eligible to submit
proposals on 1 April 2014.
* /Impact reports
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals>/ for most
2012-2013
Round 1 grants submitted on 31 March, and will be analyzed before
the upcoming FD Advisory Group
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/FD…>
Meeting on 25 May - 26 May
=== Project and Event Grants ===
* Grants:PEG/Frequently_asked_questions
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Frequently_asked_questions>
is updated.
* *5 new requests* were funded and *11 reports* were accepted in March
2014.
==== Grants funded in March 2014 ====
* Grants:PEG/WM_ZA/joburgpedia-2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_ZA/joburgpedia-2014>:
Building on the 2013
pilot, to do outreach and increase Wikipedia coverage of historic
buildings around Johannesburg.
* Grants:PEG/WM_PH/Cultural_Heritage_Mapping_project_2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_PH/Cultural_Heritage_Mapping_…>:
To
support a nationwide heritage documentation and mapping project in
the Phillipines, with results feeding into Wikimedia projects.
* Grants:PEG/WikiSym_Initiative/2014_OpenSym_Conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WikiSym_Initiative/2014_OpenSym_…>:
To
support the 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration.
* Grants:PEG/WM_ES/CUSL8
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_ES/CUSL8>: To support
Wikimedia outreach at the Spanish National Free Software
Universitary Contest Awards Conference.
* Grants:PEG/WM_PH/Annual_program_plan_2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_PH/Annual_program_plan_2014>:
To support
Wikimedia Philippines' 2014 annual project plan, including
edit-a-thons, WLM, and a rewards program.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palacio_Real_de_Aranjuez_-_130921_1…>
The Royal Palace of Aranjuez: One of the winning photos in Wiki Loves
Monuments 2013 in Spain
==== Reports accepted in March 2014 ====
* Grants:PEG/WM CZ/Presentation & Outreach/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Presentation_%26_Outreach/…>
* Grants:PEG/WM Movement/Flow Funding Pilot Project/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_Movement/Flow_Funding_Pilot_P…>
* Grants:PEG/Katie Filbert - Wikimedians in DC/WikiXDC/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Katie_Filbert_-_Wikimedians_in_D…>
* Grants:PEG/Aislinn Dewey/Distribute WikiReaders to Schools/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Aislinn_Dewey/Distribute_WikiRea…>
* Grants:PEG/Shipmaster - Community of Arabic Wikipedia/Producer
Prize-2013/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Shipmaster_-_Community_of_Arabic…>
* Grants:PEG/WM AM/Wiki Loves Monuments 2013/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_AM/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013/…>
* Grants:PEG/WM RS/Annual plan 2012-2013/Report/Q5
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_RS/Annual_plan_2012-2013/Repo…>
* Grants:PEG/WM ES/Wiki Loves Monuments Spain 2013/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_ES/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_Spain…>
* Grants:PEG/Wikimedia Slovakia/Start-up/Report/Wiki Loves Monuments
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Wikimedia_Slovakia/Start-up/Repo…>
* Grants:PEG/WM CL/Annual Program Plan 2013-2014/Report/Interim report
to December 31, 2013
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_CL/Annual_Program_Plan_2013-2…>
* Grants:PEG/WM MX/Wiki Loves Monuments 2013/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_MX/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013/…>
=== Travel and Participation Support ===
* *1 new request* was funded and *4 reports* were accepted in March 2014.
* As part of an overall program redesign, the Travel and Participation
Support reporting form has been revised: the *new version of the
reporting form
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Reporting_template>* is
designed to
be more lightweight and more useful to participants for sharing
learning with the movement and includes an option to create learning
patterns <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library/Learning…>
==== Requests awarded in March 2014 ====
* Grants:TPS/Strainu/OSGEO_Cluj
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Strainu/OSGEO_Cluj>:
a request to fund an outreach presentation in OSGEO 2014 Cluj that
works toward free and open source solutions for working with
geospatial data. The presentation will have a focus on gathering and
verifying coordinates of monuments on Wikipedia.
==== Reports accepted in March 2014 ====
* Grants:TPS/Rjain/FOSS_Asia_2014/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Rjain/FOSS_Asia_2014/Report>
* Grants:TPS/Rahul21/FOSSASIA/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Rahul21/FOSSASIA/Report>
* Grants:TPS/Harsh4101991/FOSSASIA/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Harsh4101991/FOSSASIA/Report>
* Grants:TPS/Daniel_Mietchen/58th_Annual_Meeting_of_the_Biophysical_Society/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Daniel_Mietchen/58th_Annual_Meet…>
=== Individual Engagement Grants ===
* A round 1 2014 *open call for proposals* ran March 1-31. With the
support of staff, committee, and the larger community, in office
hours <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Events#Past_events>
and on-wiki, 25
proposals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-join>
were finalized and submitted
during this period. In April, proposals will be checked for
eligibility and offered for community comments before the
committee's formal review begins.
* *4 new members
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Committee#ieg-members>*
have joined
the IEG committee, to replace 4 retiring members.
* Templates for midpoint and final IEG reports have been improved
based on learning from the first round
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Learning/round_1_2013/impact>.
* We've *submitted 4 Wikimania session proposals* aimed at fostering
participation in grantmaking to individuals and sharing learning
from past grantee projects:
o An IdeaLab workshop for creating ideas, project plans, and
learning patterns
<https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/IdeaLab_Workshop:_Maki…>
o An IdeaLab mixer for connecting people and projects
<https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/IdeaLab_mixer>
o A panel discussing social media strategies, drawing on learning
from 2 past IEG projects
<https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Wikipedia_Goes_Viral:_…>
o A grantmaking panel showcasing past grantees from WMF's 4
Grantmaking programs
<https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/WMF_Grants_Showcase:_F…>
* We've also submitted a session idea to run an *IdeaLab workshop at
Wikiconference USA
<http://wikiconferenceusa.org/wiki/Submissions:IdeaLab_Workshop/>*.
* In other individual grantmaking news: Setup continues for the
*Arabic book grants pilot
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/ARWP_small_individual_grants…>*,
a joint
effort between WMF Grantmaking and The Wikipedia Library
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library>
to fund *books and other
reliable sources for Wikipedia editors*. A reusable kit
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Kit> is
being designed and developed on
meta-wiki, which will be initially used to build out Arabic
Wikipedia's Library hub
<https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9…>.
2 volunteer account coordinators
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Kit/Coordinators>
have been selected
for the Arabic Library and their setup is in progress. We aim to
begin processing book requests on Arabic Wikipedia in April.
==== Grants started in March 2014 ====
* The Wikimaps Atlas <http://wikimapsatlas.github.io/> project, which
was selected
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Wikimaps_Atlas> in IEG
round 2 2013,
began work in March.
=== Learning and Evaluation ===
The month of March (and we expect the next few months) involved the
*incorporation of the former "Program Evaluation and Design" team into
the former "Grantmaking Learning & Evaluation" team*. We are now acting
as one cohesive team, with clear workstream areas carved out -- the
largest of which is program evaluation. We are thrilled about the
opportunity to coordinate more effectively on the integration of program
and organizational effectiveness.
We spent a lot of time this past month prepping for the months ahead:
annual planning for FY14-15, Wikimedia Conference 2014, Wikimania
submissions, interviews for the new community coordinator, and strategy
sessions with the new team. We are looking forward to the return on
these planning investments over the months ahead!
==== Program Evaluation ====
In addition to the work collaborating within grantmaking around our
organizational shift and annual planning (/see above/), in the month of
March the program evaluation team has also been:
* Preparing for our upcoming in-person meet-up sessions surrounding
*Wikimedia Conference 2014* ( Pre-conference Program Evaluation and
Design workshop
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News/Wikimedia_C…>,
Open Thursday workshop sessions
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News/Wikimedia_C…>,
a Conference Dialogue session
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Programme#18_Prog…>,
and overview sessions on tracking and reporting tools
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Programme#19_Prog…>)
* Submitting proposals to WikiConference USA
<http://wikiconferenceusa.org/wiki/Submissions:Growing_the_Awesome_in_your_P…>
and Wikimania
<https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/Growing_the_Awesome_in…>
* Adding new *learning modules
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Learning_modules>*
to our portal
Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library>
* Hosting *Virtual Meet-ups
<https://plus.google.com/b/117126229120807344920/117126229120807344920/posts>*
on Setting goals and targets: A SMART Process
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7iMVOPRKhQ#t=18> (17 participants
and 95 views as of 4/1/2013) and Evaluation reports (Round II)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U2WgpaHot4> (12 participants and
34 views as of 4/1/2013)
==== Grants Programs ====
Annual Plan Grants
* Contractor *Kacie Harold* joined us near the end of the month to
help launch research to support the FDC Advisory Group convening,
taking place in May 2014. She will be pulling together the
quantitative and qualitative information from the first two years of
the FDC.
* Results from a *cost-benefit survey
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_continuo…>*
following Round 1 deliberations (November 2013) are posted. Major
takeaways are that people spend on average just over 90 hours on the
application process, but primarily no financial costs are incurred.
One recomendation is to eliminate the redundancy in the process
(lots of the same Q&A).
==== Org effectiveness ====
* Led /Strategy, planning, and evaluation/ for the *Boards training
workshop <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Boards_training_workshop_March_2014>*:
a session
hosted by WMUK in London focusing on capacity building for board
members of Wikimedia organizations.
* Developed org effectiveness *research and workplan* to bring in
information around how other organizations think about
organizational effectiveness and design their movement structures.
==== Other ====
* Ran training and implemented pilot of new *grants administration
tool*, "Fluxx <http://fluxx.io/>"
* Brainstormed and implemented ideas for the *microgrants pilot*
* Prepared a prototype dashboard for Wikipedia *geo-data visualization*
=== Wikipedia Education Program ===
* The Global Education team (also known as the Wikipedia Education
Program) is now a *part of the WMF Grantmaking team*.
* Anna Koval joined the Global Education team as a *Global Education
Program Manager*, transitioning from her role at the Wikimedia
Foundation as a Community Advocate.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Education_Coop_kick-off_meeting_in_…>
Global Education Cooperative kick-off meeting in Prague
Global programs
* The Global Education Team traveled to Prague, Czech Republic, to
kick off a *Global Education Cooperative*. The Coop
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/March_2014/Educati…>
includes Wikipedia Education Program leaders from Mexico, Nepal,
Serbia, Armenia, Catalonia (Amical), Ukraine, the Czech Republic,
the Arab World, Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. Areas of focus
identified are mentoring, resources, communications, and recognition
for programs and participants. Watch for more information soon.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EduWiki_Learning_Day_Belgrade_2014_…>
Education program leaders at the EduWiki conference in Belgrade
* Rod Dunican and Anna Koval traveled to Belgrade, Serbia, for
*EduWiki 2014 in Belgrade, Serbia
<http://edu.wikimedia.rs/index.php?title=EduWiki_Conference_2014>*.
Education program leaders from 4 Wikimedia chapters (Macedonia,
Czech Republic, Germany, and the U.K.) joined hosts Wikimedia Serbia
for a learning day and a regional conference for high school and
university educators and students.
Arab world programs
* Results from the *fall 2013-2014 term in Jordan* showed a growth in
student participation and overall on-wiki contributions with 88
students contributing a total of 1.2 million bytes of new content to
the Arabic Wikipedia.
* Tighe Flanagan joined Dr. Nidal Yousef in Jordan to support local
Wikipedia Education Program outreach and present the previous term's
results at a *celebration conference at Isra University*.
* Results from the *fall 2013-2014 term in Egypt* showed a drop in the
amount of students but an increase in overall student activity
on-wiki with 109 students contributing a total of 7.8 million bytes
of new content to the Arabic Wikipedia.
* The *Training Center for Wikipedia Translation at King Saud
University* in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, welcomed a new faculty leader,
Dr. Majid Al-Humaidi, where students and professors are working to
get their Wikipedia Education Program pilot up and running.
* The *Education Program Extension*
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program> was
piloted by the Arabic Wikipedia community and did not result in any
objections and courses may begin to use this tool in the spring 2014
term.
Communications
* Sage Ross, with design support from Heather Walls, has consolidated
the various education pages on Outreach wiki into a unified
*Wikipedia Education Program portal
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program>*, in
preparation for a content update and ongoing maintenance by the
Education Cooperative.
* The biweekly *Wikipedia Education Program Update
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/News> has
been ended*, in favor of using the This Month in Education
newsletter <https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter> as
the central place for education project news.
* One blog post:
o Introducing Dr. Paola Ricaurte Quijano of Tec de Monterrey,
Mexico City Campus
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/07/paola-ricaurte-quijano-profile/>
(March 7)
== Human Resources ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:April_2014_HR_Metrics_from_WMF.pdf>
Metrics meeting presentation slides
Much of March has been spent supporting the *ED and VPE searches*, and
the first draft of the department annual plans and staffing to feed into
the Wikimedia Foundation's *FDC proposal*submission. Routine work around
benefits administration, immigration, continues. Onward.
=== March Staff Changes ===
New Requisitions Filled
* Chase Pettet (Engineering)
* Kevin Leduc (Engineering)
Conversions (Contractor to Requisition)
* Anna Stillwell (HR)
Requisition Department Changes
* Janice Tud, HR to Grantmaking
* Carolynne Schloeder, Grantmaking to Engineering
* Adele Vrana, Grantmaking to Engineering
* Dan Foy, Grantmaking to Engineering
* Jaime Anstee, Programs to Grantmaking
* Rod Dunican, Programs to Grantmaking
Requisition Departures
* LiAnna Davis (Programs)
* Ken Snider (Engineering)
New Interns
* Alex Monk (Engineering)
New Contractors
* Kacie Harold (Grantmaking)
* Teresa Cho (Grantmaking)
* Siebrand Mazeland (Engineering) (was previously requisition)
Contracts Ended
* Dashiell Renaud
* Sahar Massachi
* Jon Søby
* Steven Bernardin
* Stefan Petrea
=== March Statistics ===
Total Requisitions Filled
March Actual: 184
March Total Plan: 163
March Filled: 3, Month Attrition: 3,
FYTD Filled: 41, FYTD Attrition: 23
Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end
33 → reflects 4 total out of plan req#s 193-196 (for finance)
== Finance and Administration ==
* The *investments* of the Wikimedia Foundation of $15.4 million, have
an estimated annual income as of 2/28/14 of $462,000.
* Application was filed with the County of Loudoun, home of the
Virgina data center, for an *exemption from personal property
taxes*. If our application for exemption is approved, it will save
the Wikimedia Foundation $70,000 per year.
* Completed version one of the Wikimedia Foundation *FY 2014-15
budget* for the FDC application.
== Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department ==
For LCA, March was focused on a variety of ongoing projects, including
litigation and community consultations.
* We concluded a large discussion on a *draft amendment to the Terms
of Use on undisclosed paid editing
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use/Paid_contributions_amendment>*,
with over 2,000
contributors and over 300,000 words. As a next step, this proposal
will be presented to the Board. Thanks go out to all participants
and to our interns, Jorge Vargas and Shaila Nathu, who did a lot of
hard work on this collaboration.
* After collaboration with community members on Meta and in our public
Advocacy Advisory Group
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors>,
the legal team finalized and submitted a response to the *European
Commission's request for consultation on copyright*
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/14/wikimedia-participates-in-eu-copyrigh…>.
We thank everyone who participated in this discussion.
=== LCA Report, March 2014 ===
==== Contract Metrics ====
* Submitted : 28
* Completed : 26
==== Trademark Metrics ====
* Submitted : 20
* Approved: 4
* Pending : 4
* Denied: 2
* Request withdrawn: 1
* Approval not needed : 9
==== Domains Obtained ====
wikimedia.voyage, wikivoyage.voyage, winkipedia.com
==== Coming & Going ====
* LCA says goodbye to Dashiell Renaud, one of our legal interns. We
wish him the best of luck as he continues his legal career.
* LCA welcomes Jessica Tam, a new legal intern and recent graduate
from Santa Clara Law.
==== Other Activities ====
* Michelle attended a *Patent and Trademark Office forum on the DMCA
Notice-and-Takedown System*
<http://www.uspto.gov/ip/global/copyrights/AGENDA_March-20_Multistakeholder_…>
to ensure Wikimedia's interests in protecting and improving the
current system were heard.
* Yana and Luis did a *panel presentation on open trademark licensing*
at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit
<http://collaborationsummit2014.sched.org/event/21e70c737d0bc54fe701adf47216…>,
focused on explaining our new trademark policy and the historical
and legal background behind it.
* Manprit Brar, a fellow in the legal team, published a blog post
titled *"Celebrating women and change in IP
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/21/celebrating-women-and-change-in-ip/>"*;.
This blog post highlighted relevant legal issues, and Yana's
participation in a panel discussion.
* Community Advocacy continues to build out *tools to improve and
speed up common workflows*, including a DMCA takedown tool that cuts
the time needed to handle a report by about 75%, and another for
reporting to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
with similar performance improvements.
=== Communications Report, March 2014 ===
March saw the announcement
<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaannounce-l/2014-March/000876.…>
revealing the Foundation's *new Chief Communications Officer*, Katherine
Maher. Katherine will take on her new role in mid April. The
Communications team tracked some complex issues through the month,
including efforts by a Greek politician to *sue a Greek Wikipedian* and
fundraising issues in *Finland*, and also worked on change management
issues with Foundation leadership. And we supported the Fundraising team
in the preparation of the publication of the draft 2014/15 annual plan
in form of the *WMF FDC proposal
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>*,
including an appendix titled *“Ongoing work areas of the Wikimedia
Foundation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>”*
which for the first time gives a comprehensive overview of recurring,
long-term work that staff across the organization carry out in support
of Wikimedia projects (see also general "Highlights" section
). We also pitched out the unveiling of the *new
typography*, leading to two stories in Fast Company magazine.
==== Major announcements ====
*A statement on Wikimedia Foundation’s fundraising delivered to the
National Police Board of Finland
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Statement_on_WMF%27s_Fi…>*
(03 March, 2014)
==== Major Storylines through March ====
Wikimedia and Bitcoin
Jimmy Wales at the forefront of the Bitcoin discussion - hints that
the Foundation might start to accept the digital currency, but
assures a consultation with the Board of Trustees before any final
decision is made. (04 March, 2014).
Mashable [1]
<http://mashable.com/2014/03/10/jimmy-wales-reddit-bitcoin/>
The Telegraph [2]
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/10687380/Influx-of-Wikipedi…>
Wikipedia on Crimea
An edit war has ensued on Wikipedia after disputes between Ukraine
and Russia have put the Crimean region's status as an autonomous
republic of Ukraine up for debate - triggering constant edits and a
spirited debate (19 March, 2014).
ABC News [3]
<http://abcnews.go.com/International/crimea-war-words-wikipedia/story?id=229…>
HNGN [4]
<http://www.hngn.com/articles/27005/20140320/wikipedia-and-national-geograph…>
Talk Radio News Service [5]
<http://www.talkradionews.com/united-nations/2014/03/20/un-map-showing-crime…>
The Voice of Russia [6]
<http://voiceofrussia.com/radio_broadcast/36172287/270304663/>
==== Other worthwhile reads ====
"UC Berkeley hires first Wikipedian-in-residence" (04 March, 2014).
Mercury News [7]
<http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_25364220/uc-berkeley-hires-first-wi…>
SF Gate [8]
<http://www.sfgate.com/technology/article/UC-Berkeley-grad-to-expand-Wikiped…>
Dallas morning news [9]
<http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20140322-fixing-wikipedia-is-h…>
"Greek politician tries to use defamation lawsuit to gag Wikipedia, is
rewarded with Streisand effect." (06 March, 2014).
Tech Dirt [10]
<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140305/08562026441/greek-politician-trie…>
"Study finds thousands of academic papers include Wikipedia citations"
(18 March, 2014).
Academica Group [11]
<http://academica.ca/top-ten/study-finds-thousands-academic-papers-include-w…>
"Warming up to the culture of Wikipedia" (19 March, 2014)
NY Times [12]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/20/arts/artsspecial/warming-up-to-the-cultur…>
"Wikihistory – Finding the World’s Leaders through the ages through
Wikipedia Social Networks" (19 March, 2014).
Knight News Challenge [13]
<https://www.newschallenge.org/challenge/2014/feedback-review/wikihistory-fi…>
"The Wikipedia gender gap" (19 March, 2014).
Literacy teaching and teacher education [14]
<http://literacyteaching.net/2014/03/18/the-wikipedia-gender-gap/>
"The Geography of fame" (22 March, 2014).
NY Times [15]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/the-geography-of-fame.html…>
The Bill Fold [16]
<http://thebillfold.com/2014/03/how-to-ensure-your-progeny-have-wikipedia-en…>
Jimmy on holistic medical practices
Jimmy Wales rejected a change.org petition to allow more positive
discussion of holistic medicine on Wikipedia, defending Wikipedia's
policicy to rely on respectable scientific journals (24 March, 2014).
TIME [17]
<http://time.com/36938/wikipedia-founder-sticks-it-to-lunatic-holistic-heale…>
Business Insider [18]
<http://www.businessinsider.com/jimmy-wales-petition-response-2014-3>
Ars Technica [19]
<http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/03/wikipedia-founder-calls-alt-medicine…>
Slate Magazine (blog) [20]
<http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/27/jimmy_wales_denies_petit…>
The Daily Banter [21]
<http://thedailybanter.com/2014/03/wikipedia-founder-smacks-down-petition-to…>
International Business Times [22]
<http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/wikipedias-jimmy-wales-calls-holistic-medicine-pra…>
==== WMF Blog posts ====
Blog.wikimedia.org published 26 posts in March 2014
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/3/>. Two posts were multilingual
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/>, with translations
in Spanish.
Some highlights from the blog include:
*Wikimedia participates in EU Copyright Consultation
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/14/wikimedia-participates-in-eu-copyrigh…>*
(March 17, 2014).
*Wikimedia-RU changes Russian Civil Code
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/17/wikimedia-ru-changes-russian-civil-co…>*
(March 17, 2014).
*For Rexford Nkansah, Wikipedia represents the future of education
for his country
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/19/for-rexford-nkansah-wikipedia-represe…>*
(March 19, 2014).
*Hovercards now available as a Beta Feature on all Wikimedia wikis
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/26/hovercards-now-available-as-a-beta-fe…>*
(March 26, 2014).
*Typography refresh: A new look for text on Wikimedia sites
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/27/typography-refresh/>* (March
27, 2014).
==== Media Contact ====
Media contact through March 2014: wmf:Press room/Media Contact#March
2014 <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#March_2014>
==== Communications Design ====
The Wikipedia *Teahouse* had its second birthday - still going strong,
now run by the community. We worked with Grantmaking to create a
prototype for the new *Wikipedia Library pilot on Arabic Wikipedia*, and
began a sprint to make the *IdeaLab* more flexible and reusable for
developing projects. Brena Monteiro finished her *FOSS Outreach Program
for Women project* with mentors Quim and Heather.
==== Wikipedia Signpost ====
For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the
community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for March 2014:
* Volume 10, Issue 9
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-03…>,
05 March 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 10
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-03…>,
12 March 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 11
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-03…>,
19 March 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 12
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-03…>,
26 March 2014
== Visitors and Guests ==
Visitors and guests to the WMF office in March 2014:
1. Deji Olukotun (PEN)
2. Jason Douglas (Google)
3. Denny Vrandecic (Google)
4. Francesco Radicati (Informa)
5. Nathan Knight (Informa)
6. Pat Reed (Global Collect)
7. Tom Staudt (Global Collect)
8. Loida Veroes (Global Collect)
9. Stormy Peters (Mozilla)
10. Alexis Rossi (Internet Archive)
11. Jake Johnson (Internet Archive)
12. Kevin Gomez (Internet Archive)
13. Jesse Johnson (Internet Archive)
14. Valerie Ball (KPMG)
15. Regina Prince (KPMG)
16. Ana Akhir (KPMG)
17. Dwight Wilson (Collabriv)
18. Katrina Walker (Collabriv)
19. Alan Bird (W3C)
20. Glenn Turner (Advanced Mobile)
21. John Sebastian Gomez (Infusion)
22. Juan Vanegas (U Caldas)
23. Cristian Perez (U Caldas)
24. Gautam Chandna (Opera Software)
25. Andreas Bovens (Opera Software)
26. Randy Abreu (Thomas Jefferson School of Law)
27. Tim Seeger (TJSL)
28. Skye Anderson (TJSL)
29. Robert Wasserman (TJSL)
30. Daniel Hasson (TJSL)
31. Michael Goodman (TJSL)
32. Sean Russel (TJSL)
33. Yana Loboda (TJSL)
34. Owen Davis (Wikia Inc.)
35. Katherine Kuhns (SVIC)
36. Javier Vallaure (All Pago)
37. Phillip Bock (All Pago)
38. Tom Hehir (CCSC Inc.)
39. Richard Millington (feverbee.com)
40. Tyson Polski (USCIS)
41. Astrid Wichmann (OpenSym)
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
_______________________________________________
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:
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_______________________________________________
WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list
WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
Hi all,
This round of proposals to the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) presents a new and interesting challenge - that of reviewing the entirety of the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF's) plan for the next year. As part of the FDC process, the WMF/FDC staff normally assemble a staff assessment of each proposal. In this case, however, the WMF/FDC staff have a potential bias here, since their work is included in the WMF's proposal.
As a result, we have asked Wikimedia Deutschland (WMDE), the second largest entity in our movement, to do the staff assessment of the WMF's proposal, and they have agreed to do this. WMDE will be adapting the framework of the standard staff assessment as they see fit in order to appropriately assess the WMF's proposal; the main expectation we have is that they will help identify the key strengths and weaknesses of the proposal in their assessment. They will be sharing their assessment with the WMF on the 7th May, on the same day that the FDC staff will share their assessments with the other applicants, in both cases to check for factual inaccuracies. The assessment will be posted publicly on the 8th May, on the same day that the FDC staff will publicly post their assessments.
We would also like to encourage the other Wikimedia organisations to review the WMF's proposal, and to post comments and questions on the talk page for the proposal. It goes without saying that we also encourage Wikimedia community members to also review the WMF's proposal, and the other proposals in this round, and to similarly post comments and questions. Community feedback is important for the FDC work. The FDC will take all feedback into account during its deliberations next month. We will also be inviting specific community members with particular experience/skills to ask for their input on the proposals; please get in touch if you have any suggestions of community members that should be invited to do this.
Thanks,
Dariusz and Mike on behalf of the FDC
I strongly object that the advocacy_advisors list is being censored while
foundation officials pretend to hold open consultations there. Shame!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "James Salsman" <jsalsman(a)gmail.com>
Date: Apr 30, 2014 8:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Advocacy Advisors] Coalitions on mass surveillance
To: "Advocacy Advisory Group for WMF LCA" <
advocacy_advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Cc:
Hi Stephen,
Why not include people who are working on software based solutions instead
of just lobbying such as dnschain from http://okturtles.com ?
Sincerely,
James Salsman
On Apr 30, 2014 8:30 AM, "Stephen LaPorte" <slaporte(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> We are considering joining the following coalitions which seek to protect
> free expression and privacy by opposing mass surveillance, and we would
> like to get your input. The Wikimedia community raised concerns with PRISM
> and other mass surveillance programs during a discussion on the topic in
> July 2013,[0] as well as in our recent consultation on our revised privacy
> policy.[1] After these discussions, we looked for opportunities to take a
> stance on mass surveillance that was consistent with our movement's mission
> and values, and is more global in nature. We believe the following two
> coalitions may meet these criteria:
>
> Necessary and Proportionate (https://necessaryandproportionate.org) - a
> set of principles on mass surveillance, based on international human rights
> obligations.
>
> Reform Government Surveillance (https://reformgovernmentsurveillance.com)
> - a call for global government surveillance reform, focusing on
> transparency and appropriate limitations.
>
> We would like to join like-minded organizations and ask for reform on the
> current state of mass surveillance. Privacy and free expression are
> essential components of our mission to disseminate free educational
> content. Your input on joining these coalitions would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> 0. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:PRISM
>
> 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy
>
> --
> Stephen LaPorte
> Legal Counsel
> Wikimedia Foundation
>
> *For legal reasons, I may only serve as an attorney for the Wikimedia
> Foundation. This means I may not give legal advice to or serve as a lawyer
> for community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal
> capacity.*
>
> _______________________________________________
> Advocacy_Advisors mailing list
> Advocacy_Advisors(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/advocacy_advisors
>
>
In case anyone is interested in the content of the draft Annual Plan, there is plenty of discussion on the talk page and any editor in good standing can participate. The principal commentators on the talk page so far have been Nemo and I. Regardless of which organization does the staff assessment I think the discussion on the talk page is valuable and I encourage more people to review the plan and make comments. It would be good to have more diversity. If anyone has concerns about the plan's content, now is the time to say so. (: We're having a good discussion, please join us.
I'm glad WMF made the draft available for comment from the community, FDC, and other Wikimedia organizations.
Pine
Hi all,
I've started a page on Meta which I hope will act as a hub for
documentation and ideas around the training and development needs of
Wikimedia movement organisations:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organisational_development
I'd ask anyone who's interested in this kind of thing to have a look and
add examples and thoughts for the future.
As many people will know from my contributions to this year's and last
year's Wikimedia conference, or from the training workshop we held in
London in early March, this is an issue where I feel the movement (or, at
least, the part of the movement that is involved in movement
organisations!) can and should do better.
I was interested to read the Signpost coverage of the Wikimedia
Conference(1) which evidently comes from a similar point of view!
We are slightly hampered by the fact that there is no single body
responsible for doing this kind of training and development work, so I
would invite everyone with a stake in this (WMF, FDC, AffCom, Chapters,
Thorgs, User Groups, interested individuals) to treat this as something
where everyone can play a role in sharing experience, scoping out the way
forward, and building a better way of doing this for the future!
Regards,
Chris
(1)
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Jake Orlowitz (Ocaasi)
There are ~6000 languages in the world and around 3000 of them have
more than 10,000 speakers.
That approximation has some issues, but they are compensated by the
ambiguity of the opposition. Ethnologue is not the best place to find
precise data about the languages and it could count as languages just
close varieties of one language, but it also doesn't count some other
languages. Not all of the languages with 10,000 or more speakers have
positive attitude toward their languages, but there are languages with
smaller number of speakers with very positive attitude toward their
own language.
So, that number is what we could count as the realistic "final" number
of the language editions of Wikimedia projects. At the moment, we have
less than 300 language editions.
* * *
There is the question: Why should we do that? The answer is clear to
me: Because we can.
Yes, there are maybe more specific organizations which could do that,
but it's not about expertise, but about ability. Fortunately, we don't
need to search for historical examples for comparisons; the Internet
is good enough.
I still remember infographic of the time while all of us thought that
Flickr is the place for images. It turned out that the biggest
repository of images is actually Facebook, which had hundred times
more of them than the Twitpic at the second place, which, in turn, had
hundred times more of images than Flickr.
In other words, the purpose of something and general perception of its
purpose is not enough for doing good job. As well as comparisons
between mismanaged internet projects and mismanaged traditional
scientific and educational organizations are numerous.
At this point of time Wikimedia all necessary capacities -- and even a
will to take that job. So, we should start doing that, finally :)
* * *
There is also the question: How can we do that? In short, because of Wikipedia.
I announced Microgrants project of Wikimedia Serbia yesterday. To be
honest, we have very low expectations. When I said to Filip that I
want to have 10 active community members after the project, he said
that I am overambitious. Yes, I am.
But ten hours later I've got the first response and I was very
positively surprised by a lot of things. The most relevant for this
story is that a person from a city in Serbia proper is very
enthusiastic about Wikipedia and contributing to it (and organizing
contributors in the area). I didn't hear that for years! (Maybe I was
just too pessimistic because of my obsession with statistics.)
Keeping in mind her position (she said that she was always complaining
about lack of material on Serbian Wikipedia, although at this point of
time it's the encyclopedia in Serbian with the most relevant content)
and her enthusiasm, I am completely sure that many speakers of many
small languages are dreaming from time to time to have Wikipedia in
their native language.
Like in the case of a Serbian from the fifth or sixth largest city in
Serbia, I am sure that they just don't know how to do that. So, it's
up to us to reach them.
English Wikipedia has some influences on contemporary English language
("citation needed", let's say). It has more influences on languages
with smaller number of speakers, like Serbian is (Cyrillic/Latin
cultural war in Serbia was over at the moment when Serbian Wikipedia
implemented transliteration engine; it's no issue now, while it was
the issue up to mid 2000s).
But it's about well developed languages in the cultural sense. What
about not that developed ones? While I don't have an example of the
effects (anyone, please?), counting the amount of the written
materials in some languages, Wikipedia will (or already has) become
the biggest book, sometimes the biggest library in that language; in
some cases Wikipedia will create the majority of texts written in
particular language!
While we think about Wikipedia as valuable resource for learning about
wide range of the topics, significance of Wikipedia for those peoples
would be much higher. If we do the job, there will be many monuments
to Wikipedia all over the world, because Wikipedia would preserve many
cultures, not just the languages.
* * *
There is the question "How?", at the end. There are numerous of
possible ways and there are also some tries to do that, but we have to
create the plan how to do that systematically, well, according to our
principles and goals and according to the reality.
What we know from our previous experiences:
* The number of editors has declined and, at the moment, without a
miracle (or hard work, but I assume the most of our movement is used
to miracles, not to hard work), the trend will continue. Contrary to
that, number of readers has increased. Unfortunately, in this case a
miracle is not necessary for that trend to end.
* If we count languages with relevant statistics for editors per
million, the top of them belong either to the highly motivated
communities (Hebrew), either to the rich countries with harsh climate,
which makes writing on Wikipedia as a good fun (Estonian, Icelandic,
Norwegian, Finish), either to the community which belongs to the both
categories (Scots Gaelic). And it's around 100 users per million.
If a community has 100,000 of speakers, it would mean that the
community would have 10 editors with 5 or more edits per month. In the
cases of the languages with 10,000 of speakers, it would mean 1 editor
with 5 or more edits per month. That won't work.
I'd say that Scots Gaelic could be a good test (Wikimedia UK help
needed!). It's a language with ~70k of speakers and if it's possible
to achieve 100 active editors per month, we could say that it could
somehow work in other cases, as well.
* Besides preserving languages and cultural heritage, we want to have
useful information on those Wikipedias. That's a tough job for many
communities because of various issues: from the lack of reasonable
internet access to the inherent cultural biases.
But we have some tools -- Wikidata as the most important one -- to
create a lot of useful content.
But the entrance level is very high. Editors have to know to use
computers well, as well as to think quite formally. That's serious
obstacle in areas without well developed educational systems.
* Good news is that we have chapters in three countries with a lot of
languages: India, Indonesia and Australia (though, it's about very
small languages in Australia; though, Australia is much richer). So,
we have organizational potential.
* There are, of course, a lot of other issues. Many of them, actually.
But if we wouldn't start, we wouldn't do anything.
* * *
As you could see, I wrote this not as a kind of plan, but as the set
of open questions. I'd like your input (first here, then on Meta):
What do you think? How can we start working on it? What do you think
it would be the most efficient way? Ways? Any other idea?
I'd call you to give wings to your imagination. To be able to solve
that, we need bold ideas. At the other side, I'd appreciate people
with more organizational skills to give their input, as well.
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