Dear all,
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met in New York City from 5 to 8
March. As usual I am writing to share the outcomes of the meeting and
information about other sessions held during the week.
== Board Meeting ==
Our official board meeting took place on March 7, and we were joined by
members of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC). At the meeting,
we approved the December meeting minutes [1], made changes to the Executive
Committee Charter [2], and updated the Board committee composition [3]. The
terms of our current Vice Chairs, Shani and Esra’a, came to an end, and we
welcomed Lorenzo and Kathy into those roles [4].
I would like to acknowledge and thank both Shani and Esra’a for their hard
work over many years. The role of Board Vice Chairs is an important one,
and I, as Chair, appreciate the additional input and time they have
provided over the past three years, supporting the Board and the
Foundation’s leadership, as well as their commitment to supporting this
transition. I also look forward to working closely with Lorenzo and Kathy
as their terms as Vice Chairs begin now. The overall updated Trustee
membership is here [5].
During the meeting, Dariusz, Chair of the Board Selection Working Group,
gave an update on the 2024 Board selection process status, which you can
read more about here [6]. We also heard from Foundation staff on various
topics and received an update on the current fiscal year and progress
against the Annual Plan [7]. We heard from the Advancement team about donor
thank-you page changes, which invited donors to edit and yielded 4,398 new
user accounts being created [8]. This experiment was conducted based on
feedback from volunteers. As usual, the Board received committee updates in
advance of the meeting, which included an important update from the Audit
Committee [9].
In its most recent meeting, the Audit Committee discussed and approved a
change in how unrealised gains or losses are reported. They will now be
counted as non-operating revenues instead of operating revenues, which will
bring the financial statements in line with how the Foundation budgets for
operating revenues. The Audit Committee also approved an updated Investment
Policy that guides how operating reserves are invested. The official Board
meeting ended after a brief update from the staff team monitoring the 2024
global elections work.
== Other Sessions & Meetings ==
Movement Charter
The Board, MCDC members, and staff met for a half-day workshop after the
Board meeting. I thank the MCDC for their work over the last 2.5 years. It
is not easy to take broad recommendations and flesh them out. We spent time
together reflecting on the draft Movement Charter and the Foundation’s
perspective, particularly about the role of the Global Council [10]. The
Foundation’s perspectives will be one of the topics on the agenda at the
Open Conversation with the Trustees, hosted by the Community Affairs
Committee (CAC) on March 21 [11].
Strategic Retreat
We ended the week on March 8 with a Strategic Retreat, a joint session held
with the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, the Endowment Board of
Trustees, representatives from MCDC, and Wikimedia Foundation leadership.
This included presentations on our three priority topics: (1) financial
model, including updates on online revenue trends, Wikimedia Enterprise,
and Wikimedia Endowment; (2) product and technology; and (3) roles and
responsibilities. We built on the themes established at last year’s
Strategic Retreat, including more focus on longer-term planning about the
work of the Foundation, and what it will take to ensure our projects
continue across generations [12], both technologically and in terms of our
financial model. This retreat is one important space for the various
leadership groups within the movement to plan, brainstorm, and engage as
partners.
Governance Workshop
Our first full day together as the Board, March 5, was focused on a
governance workshop for members of the Board. We focused on the role of
trustees and committee chairs and shared best (and worst) practices from
other boards some of us sit on. This is part of a more comprehensive larger
professional development plan that trustees have engaged in over the last
three years. We ended the day with a reception hosted at the New York City
Chapter’s new shared space (also the home to rescued turtles!) - many
thanks to the organisers for your hospitality! We also greatly enjoyed the
wiki fashion show!
Sessions with Foundation Leadership
On March 6, we joined Foundation staff for a session on the Annual Planning
process. We ended the day with a Board Executive Session which also
included discussions with the executive team about leadership development,
career growth, and best practices for succession planning at all
organisational levels.
The Board will meet again virtually in June to approve the Foundation’s
annual plan and budget, and then again in-person at Wikimania in Poland,
where I hope to see some of you as well!
[1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-12-06
[2]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee:Executive_Committee_Charter
[3]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Board_Officers_and_Committ…
[4]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Hand…
[5] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Committee:Main
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2024
[7]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/01/31/progress-on-the-plan-how-the-wikimedi…
[8]
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth/Newcomer_experience_projects#Scaling_…
[9]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2023-08-15#Committee_updates
[10]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Wikimedia_Foundation_…
[11]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…
[12]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/03/05/wikipedia-a-multigenerational-pursuit/
Take care, and thank you,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
Hi everyone,
We're excited to announce the release of the *March 2024 issue of
the CEE Newsletter*! This edition is filled with captivating stories,
community highlights, and collaborative achievements from across the
Central and Eastern Europe region in the Wikimedia movement.
Read the Newsletter here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CEE/Newsletter/March_2024>
*In This Issue:*
- *CEE Hub Updates:* Dive into the empowering journey of the Wikimedia
Community User Group Cyprus and discover the pivotal role played by the CEE
Hub in supporting their endeavors. Learn about our involvement in the
'Heritage Guard Network' project aimed at safeguarding cultural and natural
heritage in danger.
- *International Updates:* Stay informed about the latest developments
and upcoming events shaping the Wikimedia movement globally.
- *CEE in the News:* Explore the impact of CEE communities in global
education and cultural sectors with a summary of articles from This month
in Education and This month in GLAM.
- *Reader’s Digest:* Stay updated on important topics from around the
globe with insights from the Diff Blog and open calls and consultations
within the Wikimedia landscape.
- *Updates from Communities:* Delve into the vibrant activities of CEE
communities, including initiatives like Wiki Loves Earth 2024, celebrations
of Ukrainian Wikipedia's 20th anniversary, and innovative projects like the
Friendship Edit-a-thon between Japan and Turkey. Explore topics like SLAPPs
against CEE and initiatives aimed at overcoming challenges and promoting
diversity within the Wikimedia movement. Learn about Wikipedia in education
initiatives in Albania, including updates on University Students'
Internships, Wikipedia within the education setting, and WikiGap Tirana
event celebrating women in entrepreneurship.
You can read the full newsletter here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CEE/Newsletter/March_2024>. We hope you
enjoy the inspiring stories and achievements showcased by our
vibrant CEE communities.
Happy reading!
Toni Ristovski | Тони Ристовски
*CEE HUB | Program Officer*
Tel. +389 72 565 409
Web. www.wmceehub.org
Hello everyone,
It is my pleasure to share with you that we are announcing the winners of
Wiki Loves Monuments 2023 through our social media platforms on
*Monday, March 25th, starting 18.00 UTC. *
As it is the WLM tradition, the announcement - in a descending order - will
kickstart with the honorable mentions from 25th-16th place, every 30
minutes.
This will be followed by an 8.5 hours break before the commencement of the
top 15 on *Tuesday, March 26th, at 7.00 UTC* in the same time and interval
order. The overall winner of the WLM 2023 competition will be
announced at *14:00
UTC.*
You can follow the results on any of our social media channels:
- https://www.instagram.com/wikilovesmonuments/
- https://www.facebook.com/WikiLovesMonuments/
- https://twitter.com/wikimonuments
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/wikilovesmonuments/
Best,
Ciell - on behalf of the WLM International Team
Dear Community,
We are pleased to announce that our highly anticipated post on the Diff
blog has been officially published on March 26, 2024. You can access the
post by following this link:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/03/26/editing-together-in-tyap-romanian-and…
The post highlights the successful completion of a pilot project undertaken
by the Tyap Wikimedians User Group (TWU) and the Wikimedians of Romania and
Moldova User Group (WMROMD). This collaborative initiative took place from
September 15 to December 1, 2023.
You will find a comprehensive project summary in the post, including
valuable insights and lessons learned. It was written by Claudia
Şerbǎnuţǎ and Kambai Akau, with editing contributions from Gorana
Gormiac.
Please feel free to translate it into your languages for a wider reach.
Happy reading!
Kambai
Dear wikimedians,
Nearly one year ago, the Graphs extension was disabled from all wikis, because there was a security issue that should be solved (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T334940). A wide team from the WMF worked on a solution for some weeks, but after Northern Hemisphere spring ended, summer came, then the monsoon season, and now it is again summer in the Southern Hemisphere... and Graphs are still disabled. All the solutions proposed have been dismissed, but every two months there's a proposal to make a new roadmap to solve the issue. We have plenty of roadmaps, but no vehicle to reach our destination.
Seven years ago, we were discussing our Strategy for 2030. We used thousands of volunteer hours, thousands of staff hours and millions of dollars to build a really well-balanced strategy. There we concluded that "By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge". We also made some recommendations to improve the User Experience (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Improve_U…) and claimed that we wanted to Innovate in Free Knowledge (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Innovate_…). Well, the situation is now worse than it was seven years ago, let me give some examples:
* Graph extension is used in thousands of pages, some of them highly relevant, as COVID or Climate Change information. There are thousands of graphs broken now, and the only partial solution give is loading these graphs as images, instead of promoting an interactive solution.
*
Meanwhile, a place like Our World in Data has been publishing data and interactive content with a compatible license for years. (Remember, "By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge"). Trying to add this data and graphs to Wikimedia projects has been done by WikiMed, and it is technically possible, but still blocked to deploy (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T303853).
* Wolfram Alpha is like a light year ahead us on giving interactive solutions to knowledge questions, even the silliest ones (https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=how+many+oranges+fit+in+the+Earth%3F). We have good technical articles about a lot of things, but sometimes "becoming the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge" needs to provide solutions to exact problems, like the answer to an equation, and how to solve it. That's also "free knowledge".
*
Brilliant (https://brilliant.org/) is brilliant if you want to learn lots of things, like geometry or programming. Way better than Wikipedia. But... you need to pay for it. How could we even try if we can't add anything interactive to our platforms?
* We can build interactive timelines using Wikidata, but we can't embed them at Wikipedia. Weird, because I can do it in any external page. Hopefully, Histropedia will do it better. http://histropedia.com/<http://histropedia.com/>
* We could have something very special: inline links in video and audio subtitles. We used to have them, but the new video infrastructure doesn't allow it. Imagine a world where you can watch a video and link a link in the subtitles just to know more about that.
* ...
The list can go on an on ("which phase the moon is today?"), but I think that the idea is clear. We could have interactive content, but we are going in the opposite direction, and every year we are further from our goal, because other platforms are doing it better, way better. And this seems like some wild ideas, but then I read the 2023-2024 annual plan section called "Wiki Experiences" (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024/…) and it looks like we should be going there. But we aren't.
I'm sorry if this e-mail feels bitter. My experience in the last years is that we are now further of what we need that we were before, even if many chapters and volunteers are trying to overturn it.
Thank to everyone who have been trying.
Galder
Hi all,
The next Conversation with the Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees
[1] will take place on Thursday, 21 March at 19:00 UTC. The 90-minute
call will take place on Zoom, with simultaneous streaming to YouTube
[2], and the recording will be uploaded to Commons.
The agenda for the meeting will include topics such as Board updates
after its in-person meeting in NY earlier this month; the Board’s work
with the MCDC; and the WMF’s Annual Plan Process, including what was
learned during the Talking:2024 initiative [3].
Please note that considering feedback received from participants in
previous meetings, in this year’s meetings less time will be dedicated
to updates, and more time will be allocated to free-flow conversation
with Trustees.
As in last year, we’ll be hosting these meetings every quarter (March,
June, August - during Wikimania, and November), and will be rotating the
hour of these meetings to accommodate different time zones.
If you’d like to join us directly in Zoom, please email
askcac(a)wikimedia.org for the Zoom link. You can also request
interpretation, and ask any questions you would like to see answered, to
the same address.
Hope to see as many of you as possible there.
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuaNdf_mqSM
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…
Thanks,
Mike, on behalf of the Community Affairs Committee, Board of Trustees,
Wikimedia Foundation
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
I am writing to you as a concerned volunteer from Pakistan regarding a
critical issue that has been persisting for several years now. Despite
multiple attempts to communicate this matter to members of the WMF's
communication team, there has been a disappointing lack of response or
acknowledgment.
For the past several years, Commons has been blocked in Pakistan. While
Wikipedia was briefly blocked last year, the swift response from both
Pakistani and international news media led to its unblocking. However, the
blockade of Commons, being a less prominent site in comparison, has gone
largely unnoticed.
Furthermore, several journalists I have spoken to have also expressed
frustration over their attempts to reach out to WMF staff regarding this
issue, only to receive no response.
I urge the WMF to prioritize this matter and take immediate action to
address the ongoing blockage of Commons in Pakistan.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
--
Saqib Qayyum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Saqib
TL;DR: 'Wiki Loves Bangla' is a new yearly photo competition organized by
Bangla WikiMoitree (a wikimedia thematic network and aspiring hub) aimed to
reduce the content gap regarding Bangla Culture and Heritage. Competition
result links are at bottom of this email.
---
People of Bengali ethnicity live all around the world, but the majority of
the population live in Bangladesh and India. Bengali Wikimedians from all
over the world have been enriching the Wikimedia projects in the Bangla
language hand-in-hand for the past two decades.
In 2022, the longest-running Wikimedia project Bangla Wikipedia turned 18.
To celebrate the 18 years of sustained collaboration between Bangla
Wikimedians, the Wikimedia Bangladesh Chapter
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Bangladesh> and West Bengal
Wikimedians User Group
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/West_Bengal_Wikimedians> of India had
decided to designate this long relationship as a formal collaboration
network and named it "Bangla WikiMoitree
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bangla_WikiMoitree/en>." Later "Bangla
WikiMoitree" was categorised as a Wikimedia thematic network and aspiring
hub for Bengali culture and language.
Despite Bangla being the 5th most spoken language and Bengalis being the
third-largest ethnic group (est. population of 300 mil in 2023), we have a
significant content gap about Bangla Culture and Heritage in Wikimedia
projects.
In the 3rd in-person meeting of "Bangla WikiMoitree" (held in Singapore
during Wikimania 2023) we agreed that more organised and long-term work is
needed to reduce this content gap. So we started planning to design a
program, named "Bangla Culture and Heritage Collation Program" (in Bangla,
"বাংলা সংস্কৃতি ও ঐতিহ্য সংরক্ষণ কর্মসূচি").
In January 2024, we launched the 1st flagship project under this program, "Wiki
Loves Bangla
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Bangla_2024/en>" (
in Bangla, "বাংলার প্রেমে উইকি").
Wiki Loves Bangla is an annual international photography competition around
Bangla culture and heritage. This competition will be held yearly on a
different theme each year. The subject of the first edition was Bengali Food
and Cuisine, which aimed to highlight the diversity of Bengali cuisine by
improving the quality and quantity of images of Bengali food available
around the world.
In this edition, the contest attracted significant participation with over
2,100 images of Bengali food and culture from 212 participants, reflecting
the enthusiastic engagement with the initiative. We believe this
competition has substantially enriched Wikimedia Commons with a wealth of
Bengali food photos, which will greatly enhance the illustration of
Wikipedia articles in the future.
You can check the top 10 winning photos on commons: https://w.wiki/9XAb or
on the official website: https://wikilovesbangla.org/galleries/ .
ধন্যবাদ। (Thank You.)
On behalf of Bangla WikiMoitree-
Shabab Mustafa
[User:Tarunno]
Hi there,
The Movement Charter Drafting Committee is happy to announce that the full
draft of the Movement Charter will be published on April 2nd, 2024. This
will kick off the community engagement period from April 2nd to April 22nd.
The Movement Charter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter> is
a proposed document to define roles and responsibilities for all the
members and entities of the Wikimedia Movement, including to lay out a new
Global Council for movement governance.
Everyone in the Wikimedia Movement is invited to share opinions on the full
version of the Charter draft – this is the last chance to offer feedback
before the Charter draft is updated for the ratification vote in June 2024.
How to share your feedback?
-
share your message or question on the Movement Charter Talk page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#>;
-
attend a community drop-in session
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Community_Consultation#Mon…>
on April 4 at 15.00-17.00 UTC (details forthcoming);
-
or email movementcharter(a)wikimedia.org.
Read the Committee's latest updates
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Drafting_Committee/Updates> for
more information.
On behalf of the MCDC,
Anass
Hi all,
I’m writing to let you know that Wikimedia Ukraine published and submitted
our annual reports for 2023.
In 2023 we continued to live under Russia’s full-scale military invasion.
On the one hand, the past year was more stable than 2022, and we were able
to bring back many of the projects that had to be cancelled at the
beginning of the all-out war, as well as start brand-new ones. For example,
we brought back Ukraine’s local edition of the Wiki Loves Earth photo
contest, as well as CEE Spring and WikiGap article campaigns.
On the other hand, the war continued to have a significant negative impact
on the Ukrainian wiki community and its capacity, and as a result on
Wikimedia Ukraine’s work. At the same time, apart from our traditional
programs, we continued work around supporting the community under wartime
conditions and expanded to cover Ukrainians abroad e.g. during our annual
Wikimarathon campaign.
Our full report (in Ukrainian) is available here:
https://ua.wikimedia.org/?curid=9363
You can read a Diff post with key highlights in English (and Japanese!)
here:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/02/01/wikimedia-ukraines-work-in-2023-in-10…
Other English-language materials that shed light on our work in 2023:
* Stories of Ukrainian Wikimedians during the war: https://w.wiki/5ZLi
* Our presentations at Wikimania 2023: https://w.wiki/9X3w
* Insights from Wikimarathon 2023, a nationwide-turned-worldwide series of
events for Ukrainian Wikipedia’s birthday:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/03/29/35-events-1900-wikipedia-articles-how…
* Short report from Ukraine’s annual Wikiconference:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/11/08/ukraines-annual-wikiconference-brings…
* Results of our first-ever mass open online course for educators:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/10/19/reading-wikipedia-in-the-classroom-in…
Best Regards
Anton Protsiuk
Programs Coordinator at Wikimedia Ukraine