I've just updated the World War I Editathon page on-wiki with the details
of half a dozen academics who will be joining us on the 16th of June at the
British Library.
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/World_War_I/World_War_I_Editathon
They have expertise in a fascinating range of subjects, ranging from the
military history of the War through to its impact on the Church, medicine,
psychiatry, literature and covering geographical areas including Britain
and Ireland, the Western Front, Turkey and the Middle East, India and
South-East Asia.
If you've already signed up - have a look at the academics' profiles and
areas of interest and see where you might like to pick their brains!
(Obviously, you're welcome to come along and edit any subject you want, but
it would be great if we could get the most out of the academics who are
coming along!)
If you haven't yet signed up - there is still time! (Wikimedia UK can pay
travel expenses for Wikimedians who are coming if required, and lunch is
included!).
Thanks,
Chris
--
Chris Keating
Trustee, Wikimedia UK
@chriskeating
chris.keating(a)wikimedia.org.uk
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited, a Charitable Company
registered in England and Wales. Registered Company No. 6741827. Registered
Charity No.1144513.
Registered Office: 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street,
London EC2A 4LT
Andrew Turvey has quit as listadmin so we could probably do with a spare.
Present admins are me, James Forrester, Mike Peel and Richard Symonds.
Mailman is easy to administer. The workload is minimal - checking the
spam filter when you can be bothered.
Any volunteers? Please email wikimediauk-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org .
- d.
All,
A lot of Wikipedia t-shirts, mugs, etc have been dispersed around the
country for various events, and I'm trying to keep track of them and ensure
that they're being used effectively. The last thing we want is dozens of
tshirts sitting under someone's bed, unused and forgotten!
If you've got any tshirts, mugs, bags, badges, pens or banners - or
anything else - please let me know so I can keep a record of what we've got
around the country.
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Disclaimer viewable at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
>>If you had been banned for being a specialist, the public would be
understandably surprised, but you weren't.
I think the public would also be surprised about why I was banned, as it
happens.
Ed
Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton at gmail.com:
>>It's not a matter of whether Wikipedia "can" work with you. It's a
matter of whether it wants to. You've been banned, which means it
doesn't want to work with you. It's not an inability, it's a choice.
Many individuals on Wikipedia were deeply opposed to the ban in question,
and continue to be opposed. So when you 'it doesn't want to work with you',
it's not clear what 'it' means.
In any case, there is nothing to stop a banned individual from working with
others to improve the project. The question comes down to whether the
project is to be improved or not.
For example, when our book on Scotus appears, what happens if any of the
facts cited in the book are then incorporated into the article? Is copying
from a book 'written by a banned user' something that Wikipedia will
'choose' not to do? What happens if I read out passages from the book to
someone like Charles, and he edits the article using his own account. Is
that prohibited by the 'banned' rule? In any case, I can't see anything in
the banning policy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:BAN that prohibits
this.
Stepping back, it would seem extraordinary to a member of the general public
that any organisation whose purpose is the construction of a comprehensive
and reliable reference work should be banning specialist editors in the
first place. The usual reply, that 'crowdsourcing' will take the place of
specialists, doesn't seem to work. I have pointed out some serious problems
with an article about one of Britain's most prominent and influential
philosophers, on this very forum, and the article hasn't improved in any way
since last week. Is this good PR for Wikipedia or Wikimedia?
So I say it again: it's a matter of whether Wikipedia and Wikimedia 'can'
work with the system to improve articles. There is in fact a choice.
We are compiling a set of agreements that have been made with Wikimedia UK,
formal and informal, to create useful resource for future use.
If you have any that you have used in the past, especially ex-trustees,
could you send me copies?
Many thanks
Jon Davies.
--
*Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK*. 07976 935 986
tweet @jonatreesdavies
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.
Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990.
Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). It is an independent non-profit
organization with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for
its contents.
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
The latest version of our five year plan is now available for comment
before being taken to the Board on July 1st.
Please remember that this is a plan that will change annually and will not
be set in stone.
It is broad brush - looking for where we are going but not the exact
details.
Targets and metrics will be attached when the detail is teased out.
Year one relates to the period from which it is adopted - hopefully July
1st.
It tries to find a balance of realism and optimism.
It is not a strategic plan - strategy is what you do in response to
circumstances.
It is not two tablets of stone either. This is the work of approaching
twenty people all looking for consensus not the word from on high.
I look forward to your comments.
Here is the page:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Version_Four_Five_Year_Plan#Reporting_and_Acco…
Here is the discussion page for comments and
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Version_Four_Five_Year_Plan
--
*Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK*. 07976 935 986
tweet @jonatreesdavies
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.
Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990.
Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). It is an independent non-profit
organization with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for
its contents.
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
Dear all,
On 12 May 2012 Wikimedia UK held its Annual General Meeting and a
conference. Many thanks for everybody who attended and helped make it a
success! Wikimedia UK office team had a meeting to brainstorm the event -
we had ideas of what went well on the day and what could be improved. Below
we are sharing our observations with you:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_UK_2012/Community_reflections#O…
*What did you think of the event?* Please give us feedback by completing
the following survey:
https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org.uk/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey…
If you have not attended, it would be very useful if you filled the
feedback form too - that will help us improve future events.
Many thanks,
Daria
--
Daria Cybulska
Events Organiser
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 207 065 0994
--
Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited, 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).
Hello everyone,
I'm sure you all know about Monmouthpedia by now. We're starting to pick
up some press coverage - so far, countries running the story include the
US, Israel, Turkey, France, Mexico, Russia and India. You can see the
links at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Reports/2012/May#GLAM_activities
It's also been covered on the WMUK
<http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2012/05/welcome-to-the-worlds-first-wikipedia-…>
and WMF <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/05/16/monmouthpedia_day/> blogs.
We currently have people pushing the story to the international press,
tech press, UK press and Wales press. Hopefully we should see positive
outcomes from this activity soon.
If you'd like to help share the story please do let people know about it
via Twitter, Facebook and so on. If you have any questions, please do
get in touch.
Many thanks,
Stevie
--
Stevie Benton
Communications Organiser
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 20 7065 0993