I apologise for the somewhat emotionally charged post. Please read to the
end and I promise my argument will come together...
Wikimania 2016 gave me more emotional hot air than any other previous
Wikimania except the one I organised (2013). But unusually, the hot air
didn't arise from disputes about Wikimedia chapter governance or conference
(dis)organisation. It was about Brexit.
(For the record, I thought Wikimania Esino was amazingly well-operated.)
Before Wikimania, I had already set out my attitude towards Brexit on a
Facebook note. I've reposted it on my user-space on the Wikimania 2016 wiki
so I won't repeat my arguments at length:
https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Deryck_Chan/The_reluctant_Rem…
The title of my post gives it away - I'm lukewarm towards Brexit.
At Wikimania, the topic of Brexit naturally brought itself up in many
mealtime conversations between me and Wikimaniacs from other EU countries.
My opinion on the matter often took conversations towards unhappy
disagreement, and I would feel excluded from subsequent conversation on the
same table.
I've never felt so rejected at Wikimania. Most heated debate at Wikimania I
was involved in took the form of "us vs. y'all", so as inflamed as a debate
may have been, there would be a "my side". But not this time. My unusual
perspective as a non-white British (and EU, until UK formally withdraws)
citizen meant that I had a perspective that was shared by very few others
at Wikimania. It was like "me vs everyone else".
I felt disenfranchised enough by the referendum debate itself as a
non-white citizen of the UK. I felt sad enough that I voted Remain but
Leave won. I wanted to share the little bit of hope I still had about the
future, on the day Leave was declared victorious, and wasn't appreciated.
I shared my feelings with Daria Cybulska (WMUK staff, Polish origin) and
she reminded me to be "sensitive" of other people in discussion... an
instruction I immediately fell foul of in that discussion, as I forgot that
the UK's withdrawal from the EU will mean fewer opportunities for people
with similar backgrounds to Daria, as much as the EU's protectionist
tendencies have been reducing the opportunities for people with similar
backgrounds to me.
Okay, enough Brexit chat. I promised my argument would come together.
In her Wikimania keynote, Katherine Maher said one of the things WMF would
prioritise in the next year is to make our communities a "friendly and
inclusive space".
I'm a six-time Wikimaniac; and in-person meetings are known to facilitate
more amicable debates than online discussions. But because of my unique
background, even I fell foul of the standards of sensitivity in
communication, and as a result felt unwelcome.
Now imagine someone from a far-flung corner of Wikimedia-sphere joining
Wikimania for the first time. Or a prospective new editor from a far-flung
corner of Earth clicking [edit] for the first time. When there's
disagreement in which the newcomer has a unique perspective, will they feel
included?
I don't claim to have the magic bullet. But thanks to Brexit happening
during Wikimania 2016, now I understand the sheer magnitude of the problem.
I feel encouraged that Katherine and the WMF are making it a leading
priority for the next year to foster a "friendly and inclusive" community
atmosphere.
I'm not sure which one is easier to solve: the political mess of today's
Europe, or the hostile mess of online communities. But for both, I shall
remain hopeful and do my part to make our communities better.
Deryck
Hello everybody, in advance of tomorrow's AGM in Birmingham, we've
published the 2015-2016 Annual Review
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_UK_Annual_Review_2015-16.p…>.
Its a shorter summary of much of the information in the Annual Report and
Impact Reports, and shows what the charity has achieved during the year and
where our priorities are taking us.
All the best,
John Lubbock
Communications Coordinator
Wikimedia UK
Dear all
If you are coming to tomorrow's Wikimedia UK Meetup and AGM, please
remember to bring your voting forms, and your camera for Wiki Takes
Birmingham :)
I hope to see many of you there. Tea and coffee will be available at Impact
Hub from 10.30am, and we'll be starting at 11am. The AGM itself starts at
3pm. Andy has sent directions to the venue, which is about a 10 minute walk
from New Street Station and a five minute walk from Moor Street.
All best
Lucy
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 207 065 0991
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.
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.*
For those of you attending the AGM, I found this list...
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jul/21/top-10-craft-beer-pubs-in-bi…
- Post Office Vaults? Two minutes from New Street station:
http://postofficevaults.co.uk/foreignbeer.php
- The Anchor Inn? Five Minute Walk from the venue. CAMRA's
http://anchorinndigbeth.co.uk/
- The Victoria? Two minutes from the station, might be a bit busy on a
Saturday: http://www.thevictoriabirmingham.co.uk/
- Also nearby: Cherry Red's is a a hipsterish coffee/beer bar, over the
road from BrewDog Birmingham.
Thoughts?
Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
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.*
Dear Wiki colleagues,
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”
[cid:image002.jpg@01D1D910.BA64D710]
Following recent Wikipedia training events & the LTW all staff event at the University of Edinburgh, I’d like to extend the invitation to you to join the Wiki social meets in Edinburgh and Glasgow next week.
About the meetups.
It will be a social gathering for Wikimedia enthusiasts, where we…
· Have a bite to eat and a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic!).
· Chat about Wikipedia and any other topics we fancy!
· Explore how we can encourage others to engage with Wikipedia and arrangements for future Wiki meetups.
This is mainly a casual social event and is an open invitation to anyone interested in finding out more about Wikipedia, other Wikimedia projects, projects re-using Wikipedia, and other collaborative wiki projects.
A Wikipedia Social Event in Edinburgh - Come say hi!
Edinburgh - Thursday 14th July 5.30-8pm @ The Jolly Botanist<http://attending.io/events/wiki-meetup-edinburgh-11-acc282ff-c7f6-49b0-be14…> – Click here for more details & to confirm your attendance.
The Jolly Botanist is a family friendly gin bar and dining room which is extremely accessible via train for those travelling from outside the city via Haymarket station, and via bus for Edinburgh residents. It offers food, drinks (tea, coffee & alcoholic beverages), and WiFi and should give us plenty of room to meet and have a chat after work!
From its website<http://thejollybotanist.co.uk/>:
“The Jolly Botanist, located in the West End at Haymarket – voted “Best new Pub 2015”. With an old Victorian style interior, the bar has a very welcoming & distinctive feel. While you are working through all the gins we have on offer, why not try our food menu which has a range of beautiful main meals, snacks & fantastic sharing platters.
The Jolly Botanist extends his warmest welcome to YOU, in Edinburgh-Haymarket’s newest dining room and intoxicating liquor emporium! Scouring the globe for rare botanicals and extraordinary liqours, our bewinged and exquisitely suited explorer The Jolly Botanist has returned to offer rare and experimental delights for the demanding paletes of his many patrons. Here, thirsty travellers will discover one of Edinburgh’s most vast and illustrious selections of gins, whiskeys and cock–tails. And for those in need of hearty sustenance, we have procured the finest flavours from the land and sea, prepared with absolute distinction, and designed to excite even the most critical tongue! So come. Experience first-hand the Jolly Botanist, in all his intriguing and gastronomic glory!“
ALTERNATIVELY – for those based in or near Glasgow (or fancy a jaunt through on the weekend)
A Wikipedia Social Event in Glasgow - Come say hi!
Wiki social meet - Glasgow 16th July 4pm @ The CCA<https://attending.io/events/wiki-meetup-glasgow-8>
Location of Wiki meetup @ 4pm: CCA Terrace (upstairs) cafebar, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD.
CCA blurb<http://www.cca-glasgow.com/programme>: “CCA: Centre for Contemporary Arts is Glasgow’s hub for the arts. Our year-round programme includes cutting-edge exhibitions, film, music, literature, spoken word, festivals, Gaelic and performance. At the heart of all activities is the desire to work with artists, commission new projects and present them to the widest possible audience. Previously home to The Third Eye Centre (1975-1991), the building is steeped in history and the organisation has played a key role in the cultural life of the city for decades. We operate a unique open source programming policy where we offer organisations and individuals space in the building to programme their own events. In 2015-16, CCA worked with 244 programme partners across 1,011 events and 28 festivals.
In April 2015, CCA won the award for Best Cultural Venue in The Glasgow Awards highlighting the quality of the impressive programme presented by the venue and its partners. This broad and experimental programme encourages a diverse audience to experience the arts, with 334,511 admissions to the venue in the past year…. Entrance to all our exhibitions and many events is free. In 2015, we launched our public engagement programme which aims to extend access to CCA and has – at its heart – the prospect of cultural and social change explored through art. In 2015-16, 60 activities took place in CCA and in communities throughout Glasgow, reaching 2,238 participants. Saramago Café Bar (downstairs) offers a relaxed environment and a great menu during the day as well as lively place to hang out in the evenings. Free wi-fi is available throughout the building. Independent shops Aye-Aye Books and Welcome Home are located in the entrance area, offering a wide range of publications, craft and design to take home. CCA is supported by Creative Scotland, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life and Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.“
Optional Activity - Take in the Glasgow School of Art tour
“Mackintosh at the GSA Tour: Join our daily hour-long tours to visit our collection of original Charles Rennie Mackintosh furniture. View rare artwork by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, back on display as part of the daily tour.” Let me know asap if you would like to attend this as places on the tours need to be booked in advance. Cost: £8
Not sure what it’s all about? Feel free to bring a friend along.
NB: No prior Wikipedia experience is necessary for attending either of these meets. It really is open to all and newcomers are very welcome. BUT if you would like to have a go prior to the meet then there is a fun tutorial called ‘The Wikipedia Adventure’ you can try at home which is very straightforward to use & explains everything you need to know to get started (taking about 45 mins-1 hour to complete). Recommended.
Try 'the Wikipedia Adventure'.<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure>
Hoping the weather will be nice as both venues can be exceedingly pleasant suntraps.
Hopefully see you there!
Cheers,
Ewan
Ewan McAndrew
Wikimedian in Residence
Tel: 07719 330076
Email: ewan.mcandrew(a)ed.ac.uk
Working hours are 2.5 days per week, usually Monday, Tuesday & Thursday.
Wikipedia Project Page for the residency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, Learning, Teaching & Web Services, Hugh Robson Building, 15 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD.
www.ed.ac.uk
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
Hi all,
Apologies for a blanket message, but would anyone be interested in talking
to Simon about the issue below? Sounds like a potentially interesting
project. If so feel free to get in touch - I think he's looking for a
conversation within the next couple of days.
Thank you!
Daria
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Simon Julier <sjulier3.1415926(a)gmail.com>
Date: 7 July 2016 at 12:14
Subject: Talking to you about potential EPSRC proposals on content creation
and reusable content
To: Daria.Cybulska(a)wikimedia.org.uk
Dear Daria,
I'm writing to you at the suggestion of Pam Fisher to see if it would be
possible to talk to you about a proposal for the EPSRC call on "Content
Creation and Consumption in the Digital Economy" (attached).
I'm a Reader in the Department of Computer Science at UCL. One area
we've been working in is the use of augmented reality to get people to
engage with local history. AR can be used to take historical information
and put it in context. We've done a number of pilot projects (the promo
video for our most recent prototype system is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaNpAGQQT84 - I managed to avoid
appearing in the video) and what's become clear is that a fundamental
problem is the authoring tool - how does information get put into the
system in the first place?
* In particular, we're very concerned with two problems: (a) how can one
create reusable content which isn't locked up in some weird proprietary
system with some strange format which can't be used elsewhere? (b) how can
we make it easier for somebody to author content in 3D without high end
tools.*
Would it be possible to talk to you about these issues? If so, when
would be convenient?
Yours sincerely
Simon Julier
--
Daria Cybulska - Head of Programmes and Evaluation, Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 207 065 0994
+44 7803 505 170
--
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.*
It seems that the Chilcot Report is under Open Government licence (OGL) 3.0.
Is anyone working to put it in Wikisource?
Note that OGL exempts Crown logos and some other elements. Any third
party-content may not be under OGL.
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
Dear all, this is just a reminder that the deadline for proxy votes for
Wikimedia UK's AGM this Saturday is *3pm today*.
Cheers
Lucy
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 207 065 0991
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.
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.*
Hi,
The University of Edinburgh is hosting Repo Fringe 2016 this year on 1st-2nd August. As part of this two day event we are staging a 3 hour Wikisource & Wikidata showcase event.
This email below is the one we have been distributing to people interested in attending Repo Fringe 2016.
http://www.repositoryfringe.org/
and registration can be arranged here:
http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/registration/
Anyone interested would be very welcome to attend.
Please also disseminate to your networks accordingly.
Best regards
Ewan
Ewan McAndrew
Wikimedian in Residence
Tel: 07719 330076
Email: ewan.mcandrew(a)ed.ac.uk
Working hours are 2.5 days per week, usually Monday, Tuesday & Thursday.
Wikipedia Project Page for the residency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, Learning, Teaching & Web Services, Hugh Robson Building, 15 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD.
www.ed.ac.uk
From: BROWN Lorna<mailto:Lorna.Brown@ed.ac.uk>
Sent: 06 July 2016 14:17
To: BROWN Lorna<mailto:Lorna.Brown@ed.ac.uk>
Subject: Repository Fringe 2016 - Wikidata & Wikisource Showcase & more!
Dear Delegate
Thanks for registering for Repository Fringe 2016!
Make sure you keep checking the website<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/> for updates about various aspects of the programme<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/programme/> - and feel free to pass this information on to anyone else who might find the Showcase of interest!
You can find out more about our Keynote Speakers<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/keynote-speakers/> online as well as full details of our mammoth Wikidata & Wikisource Showcase<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/wikidata-wikisource-showcase/>, which is summarised here in brief:
Wikisource showcase - "It's not what you do, it's what it does to you"
As well as providing lots of examples, this introductory session looks at why Wikisource is receiving increased attention and affection and how it adds value to the collections of libraries and archives. It will also talk about the role Wikisource plays in raising the visibility, accessibility and appreciation of out-of-copyright texts and their authors, and how Wikisource links to its sister projects, Wikipedia, Wikicommons and Wikidata.
Wikidata showcase - The possibilities are endless
During the second session, attendees will get hands-on, learning the nuts and bolts of how to use and edit Wikidata. It will also cover methods for accessing data and showcase some of the most exciting applications and visualisations that have already been built on Wikidata.
Wikidata Advanced Tools workshop
The last slot of the day is a more technical workshop aimed at people who are interested in learning more about advanced methods for accessing Wikidata in an automated way.
***
Use EPrints?
Les Carr will be doing a bumper user group session which also looks at brainstorming 'flavours' for bespoke repositories, followed up by a second session looking ahead to the future of EPrints in Version 4.0 and the new ideas from the COAR Future Repositories. More information to come shortly...
***
Submit a Poster
We are still looking for poster submissions from people who have something to tell the world about. Posters can relate either to one of this year's conference themes or to repository management in general.
If you would like to submit a poster, please email your proposed title and an abstract of up to 200 words to explain the aim of your poster to repofringe(a)gmail.com. The submission deadline is 15th July 2016.
Preparations have already begun here in Edinburgh to set up for the Festival - we recommend booking your accommodation as soon as possible if you have not already done so.
We look forward to seeing you all in August.
Kind regards,
Lorna
Lorna Brown
Business Administrator
Digital Curation Centre
0131 650 8391
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
Dear all
MozFest currently has a call for proposals for speakers/facilitators at
their conference in London this October. They have a number of strands that
I think could be interesting and relevant from an open knowledge
perspective, listed here:
https://mozillafestival.org/spaces-and-sessions
The deadline for proposals is 1st August. If you want to apply as a
volunteer for Wikimedia UK, we could potentially cover your expenses
(subject to agreement by daria.cybulska(a)wikimedia.org.uk). There are also
stipends available from MozFest I believe.
All best
Lucy
--
Lucy Crompton-Reid
Chief Executive
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 207 065 0991
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.
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.*