It has now been over a year that my email address was put on
moderation (perhaps someone would like to provide a date, I have not
trawled the archives). In the absence of any appeal process, I ask
that this is lifted.
My most recent email to this list has yet to be posted, it has been
waiting for 9 days. Waiting for several days or over a week is now the
norm for my rare posts to list. Though not one of my emails has ever
been rejected from publication, this effectively makes communication
impossible and amounts to an effective ban after being black-balled.
Based on timing, I was put on moderation apparently due to Russavia's
incivil posts to Wikimedia-l, not because of any email I have ever
posted to this list that anyone can provide a link to, nor for any
reason of incivility on my part. If I am to remain forever on
moderation I ask that a clear rationale be given so that I can change
the wording I use in emails to met whatever the list moderators
believe is needed. At the current time I am completely in the dark as
nobody will discuss this with me or provide examples.
Thanks,
Fae
--
faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
I just voted in the board election, and I must note how delighted I am
at the excellent candidates.
To the board: even the people who don't get in, make sure you're in
touch with them, use them in an advisory capacity, keep them drawn in
and involved.
Yet again, Wikimedia amazes me with the stupendous calibre of
candidates we have even for volunteer jobs.
- d.
My fellow Wikimedians,
I started this as a way to improve important meta pages that have eroded in
usefulness over the years - vote for one or more of them for the June 2015
collaboration, and feel free to make your own nominations!
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Circle/Meta_Collaboration_of_the_Month
(Truly the most important electoral decision facing our movement currently.)
Thanks,
Pharos
During this Wikimedia Conference 2015 there was a paradigm shift in the way
problems are expressed. It was highlighted that the wikimedia movement is
not only about gathering and sharing knowledge, but also about the people
behind it, about finding ways to enhance the togetherness that is created
by participating in our sites, no matter which ones they are in the
present, and no matter which they will be in the future.
There was a lot of blindness in the past from my side and from a lot of
people I met during the years. Our movement is not only a "knowledge
movement" or a "open movement", it is above a "social movement" which
depends very much on the strength of our social connections to advance and
thrive. The most obvious connection is between contributor and reader, it
is the most singular one which differentiates us from other platforms like
facebook, however it is far from being the only one.
Contributor-to-contributor is another key one which has been
underestimated, and it is the salt and pepper of the community.
There have been attempts to improve the atmosphere of those relationships,
however they have failed because humans are social creatures mostly in
person, and online relationships work best once you know the person you are
communicating with. With strangers it might work too, but there is a lot of
work to do at the personal level to improve the empathy, the goodwill, and
of course, to assume good faith.
I am not aware of any attempts to show contributors how they can be better
persons online with online strangers, perhaps it is something that can be
practiced and learned. There is the common tendency to think that the fault
is always in others, but very seldom one seeks to dig deep into oneself and
try to find inner peace. I believe that with a strong inner peace conflicts
would be less, the atmosphere would improve, and the so-called "editor
decline" would be a problem of the past.
That goodwill can be cultivated at upper levels too. Sometimes there are
decisions that must be taken to improve our sites, and some of them have
created a lot of drama which maybe could have been minimized by enabling
expression spaces, where there can be some real communication happening,
that is, bidirectional, and not to force any ideas, just to foster
understanding.
In the wikimedia movement there is a serious lack of said expression
spaces. For instance, during the WMCON 15, it was the first time that user
groups representatives seated down together, also with some WMF employees,
to discuss user groups in an open manner. I think it is a big step forward
which paves the way in other areas too.
Problems of the past like VE deployment schedule, and the upcoming Commons
reform could profit of the "sit-and-talk" approach. It is costly, it takes
time, however in the end there are more smiles, less drama, and the general
feeling that besides of the you and me, there is a we, which is created
together.
I would like to propose the creation of a user group for each area of
interest that we have problems with, so users can participate in the
problem solving approaches. That is of course only half the way, the other
half way is even more difficult which involves *using* those spaces
constructively, and also involving more and more users in this other kind
of "contribution" which is so radically different from the "click-and-type"
contribution.
There is for instance the need to create roads for users to progress in the
movement, to bring users from "casual reader" to a "wise wikimedian"
status. Such a wise people already exist in our movement, it is a pity that
we don't enable more knowledge transfer between the "elders" and newcomers,
because when one of our wise wikimedian (digitally) dies, it leaves behind
a big gap which is very big to fill up again.
I dream of a movement like that, wise, and which enables people to grow to
the very best of their abilities. And not only that, I dream of growing
myself with all of you together and finding countless friends along the
way. What a good way to finish one's life that to have been able to do
every day what one loves with people who does the same. This is pure joy
and I want more of it :)
Micru
[sorry for cross-posting]
Hello everyone,
I would like spend a minute thanking Wikimedia Deutschland for organizing
the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, and thanking everyone who participated
in it.
I'd like to say out loud that I really liked the atmosphere, that I enjoy
more and more the simple fact that when we are together (chapters, WMF,
affiliates, user groups, everyone) we feel like a movement, we act like a
movement, we work and eat and drink and dance together and we argue much
less than when we are online, typing in front of screens.
Yes, it not easy and cheap to travel half the world just to meet in person.
Yes, there are differences and past and present disagremeents, but when we
can actually *talk* they just fade back.
I think it is important (at least sometimes) to use wikimedia-l (as other
mailing lists) to discuss things that work :-), to express gratitude and
say out loud things that pleased us.
I, for example, learned a lot about the ongoing transformation of the
Wikimedia Foundation: many things are changing, they are working a lot, and
very often we as affiliates do not notice these things.
I saw many changes towards a better, more open and more collaborative
Foundation, and I don't know many times I heard WMF employees asking for
feedback and help.
So.
This is a open and shameless request for assumption of good faith, request
I'd like to make to all of us.
We'll have plenty of time to argue and discuss again,
but let's take a moment to celebrate what we are and the fact that with our
collaborative effort the world sucks a little less.
It's time that we rebuild the a "we", as in "We, Wikimedia".
Have a nice weekend.
Aubrey
David & Andrea, I so want to join this new ""we in the wikimedia movement"
thingy! Where's the sign-up page? I especially like the
contributor-contributor part and would like to emphasis that our
disconnects are so much worse when they are cross-project than just the
usual within-project edit wars. When you throw language issues into the mix
the tempers get extraordinarily worse. Commons gets a lot of the flack just
because everybody uses it so much, but it's really not their fault. I
didn't know there was a Commons reform movement and would be very curious
to know the back story on that one. I for one question the decision to
stuff all files there (including books), but there has been a point of no
return on that one for a while.
Jane
Dear all,
On behalf of the Affiliations Committe, it is an honor for me to
announce the recognition [1] of a new Wikimedia User Group, the fourth
in the Arab World: Wikimedians of the Levant User Group [2]. Our
Levantine brothers and sisters have been working for several years on
different projects, not only in Education but also interacting with
their peers from projects in other languages such as Russian and
something very important, trying to close the gender gap and increasing
the free knowledge available in Arabic. They are also thinking of
organizing WikiArabia 2016.
Please, join us in welcoming the newest member of the wikifamily.
Mabruk!!!! :-)
1:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Wikimedi…
2: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_the_Levant
--
"*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
Carlos M. Colina
Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 |
www.wikimedia.org.ve <http://wikimedia.org.ve>
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
Phone: +972-52-4869915
Twitter: @maor_x
Hi all,
there is a strange behavior in the Italian Wikipedia. The banner for the
vote for the WMF board is not visible.
Also from Switzerland I do not see it but I see the banner of Wiki Loves
Earth.
The behavior is that I see the banner of WLE more or less 40% of the time
and in the remaining 60% of time I do not see any banner.
It seems that the timeslot dedicated to the banner of WMF board is taken by
an empty banner.
I have checked the configuration of the centralnotice and it seems OK.
May someone check it?
--
Ilario Valdelli
Wikimedia CH
Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens
Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre
Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera
Switzerland - 8008 Zürich
Wikipedia: Ilario <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ilario>
Skype: valdelli
Facebook: Ilario Valdelli <https://www.facebook.com/ivaldelli>
Twitter: Ilario Valdelli <https://twitter.com/ilariovaldelli>
Linkedin: Ilario Valdelli <http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=6724469>
Tel: +41764821371
http://www.wikimedia.ch
Forwarding the email below with permission. Program leaders might want to
look at the "further resources" sections in particular, on
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/News/Pre-conference_works…
.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Maria Cruz <mcruz(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, May 21, 2015 at 7:16 AM
Subject: [Wmcon15] What happened at pre-conference sessions?
To: WMCON15 Mailing List <wmcon15(a)wikimedia.de>
Hi all,
It was really nice to meet so many of you at WMCON last week! =)
As facilitators of sessions in the pre conference agenda, we wanted to
share with the conference audience at large what happened in the sessions
that took place on Wednesday May 13, and Thursday May 14, co-hosted by WMDE
and Learning and Evaluation team at WMF.
Both days focused on evaluation and program design and the main goal was to
give participants tools and resources to better think through Wikimedia
programs and what we want to achieve with these awesome activities. One of
the most common topics of conversation was how to make better use of
volunteer time and avoid burnout, a common concern across communities.
We worked together to better understand how to use a Logic Model as an
evaluation tool, and work in groups to create some examples. We reviewed
data sources and tools best suited to capture program outcomes. On
Thursday, sessions focused on how to design an annual proposal and SMART
plan, program toolkits and storytelling toolkit, effective question design
for surveys, and Wikimetrics training.
You can find all participants' input and the presentations shared on the
event page on Meta [1].
We want to thank every person who took part. We were excited to hear how
many were keen on taking back to local communities the tools and resources
shared.
And also: don't be a stranger! If you want to receive Learning and
Evaluation announcements, subscribe to our email list and follow our
profiles [2] =)
Remember we are here to help. Don't forget to have fun and be creative in
evaluating and telling your program story!
Happy editing,
*María Cruz * \\ Community Coordinator, PE&D Team \\ Wikimedia Foundation,
Inc.
mcruz(a)wikimedia.org | : @marianarra_ <https://twitter.com/marianarra_>
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Evaluation/News/Pre-conference_works…
[2] Email list: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-ped
Twitter: @WikiEval
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/programevaluation/