More than 1 billion people live on the continent of Africa but just about
27 thousand Africans contribute to the African story on Wikipedia.
Are you ready to help put back the African narrative in the hands of its
people?
The partnership & community programs team at the WMF is forming a
partnership with the African Union to encourage content creation from the
continent. The project seeks to empower Wikimedia communities on the
continent by creating access to the network and the resources of the AU.
You can read more about the project in our recently published diff post
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/04/21/setting-our-sights-on-knowledge-equit…>.[1]
Please do not hesitate to contact us via campaigns(a)wikimedia.org if you
have further questions or join us at the AKI office hour on 4 May 2022
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/87653338679&sa=D&s…>
to meet partner institutions, engage and contribute to making this
storytelling project a success! [2]
Best,
[1] -
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/04/21/setting-our-sights-on-knowledge-equit…
[2] - https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/87653338679
--
Felix Nartey
Senior Program Officer, Campaigns
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello everyone,
The Community Development team will be leading its second community call on May
25th, 2022 @ 15:00 UTC - 16:30 UTC on zoom <https://zoom.us/>.
You can join the call on the scheduled date and time here
<https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/81408843170?pwd=OVcwblBrQjR6WXpNVFNmZHJYWEFadz09>
.
This will be our second community call! To read the first community call
please visit our meta page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Development/Community_Calls#Commu…>
. The Community Development team would like to provide the opportunity for
volunteers who are interested in presenting their current work related
to capacity
building. The allotted time for speakers is 5-10 minutes each.
What is expected in the call?
We invite presenters to share about past/current projects/ programs or
training that have taken place or are currently happening in their
community.
We also invite volunteers to connect about community projects they would
like to share or need. The Community Development team would like to
encourage this call to be a safe space to share ideas, ask questions and
get to know more Wikimedians from all parts of the movement.
If you are interested in speaking at the call, please sign up here
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGFgYSlnV7wK0azqNkfP5PY6ZYw70UnhT…>.
Although the primary language of the call is English, we are committed to
providing simultaneous translation to the best of our ability. Please use
the same sign up sheet
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGFgYSlnV7wK0azqNkfP5PY6ZYw70UnhT…>
to indicate your language preference & time zone so that we can do our best
to accommodate translation support and timezone for this call and the next
community call as needed.
To participate in the community call:
-
Second community call: May 25, 2022 from 15:00 - 16:30 UTC on Zoom
<https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/81408843170?pwd=OVcwblBrQjR6WXpNVFNmZHJYWEFadz09>
-
Sign up
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGFgYSlnV7wK0azqNkfP5PY6ZYw70UnhT…>
to speak at the second community call. The application closes on May
18th, 2022.
We are excited to see and hear from you in our call! If you have any
questions, please feel free to email the Community Development team at
comdevteam(a)wikimedia.org.
Thank you,
The Community Development team
Cassie Casares
Program Support Associate
Community Development
Wikimedia Foundation
ccasares(a)wikimedia.org
FYI
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Florence Devouard <fdevouard(a)gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2022 at 20:21
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Open proxies and IP blocking
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hello friends
Short version : We need to find solutions to avoid so many africans being
globally IP blocked due to our No Open Proxies policy.
*https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking>*
Long version :
I'd like to raise attention on an issue, which has been getting worse in
the past couple of weeks/months.
Increasing number of editors getting blocked due to the No Open Proxies
policy [1]
In particular africans.
In February 2004, the decision was made to block open proxies on Meta and
all other Wikimedia projects.
According to the no open proxies policy : Publicly available proxies
(including paid proxies) may be blocked for any period at any time. While
this may affect legitimate users, they are not the intended targets and may
freely use proxies until those are blocked [...]
Non-static IP addresses or hosts that are otherwise not permanent proxies
should typically be blocked for a shorter period of time, as it is likely
the IP address will eventually be transferred or dynamically reassigned, or
the open proxy closed. Once closed, the IP address should be unblocked.
According to the policy page, « the Editors can be permitted to edit by way
of an open proxy with the IP block exempt flag. This is granted on local
projects by administrators and globally by stewards. »
I repeat -----> ... legitimate users... may freely use proxies until those
are blocked. the Editors can be permitted to edit by way of an open proxy
with the IP block exempt flag <------ it is not illegal to edit using an
open proxy
Most editors though... have no idea whatsoever what an open proxy is. They
do not understand well what to do when they are blocked.
In the past few weeks, the number of African editors reporting being
blocked due to open proxy has been VERY significantly increasing.
New editors just as old timers.
Unexperienced editors but also staff members, president of usergroups,
organizers of edit-a-thons and various wikimedia initiatives.
At home, but also during events organized with usergroup members or
trainees, during edit-a-thons, photo uploads sessions etc.
It is NOT the occasional highly unlikely situation. This has become a
regular occurence.
There are cases and complains every week. Not one complaint per week.
Several complaints per week.
*This is irritating. This is offending. This is stressful. This is
disrupting activities organized in good faith by good people, activities
set-up with our donors funds. **And the disruption** is primarlly taking
place in a geographical region supposingly to be nurtured (per our strategy
for diversity, equity, inclusion blahblahblah). *
The open proxy policy page suggests that, should a person be unfairly
blocked, it is recommended
- * to privately email stewards[image: (_AT_)]wikimedia.org.
- * or alternatively, to post a request (if able to edit, if the editor
doesn't mind sharing their IP for global blocks or their reasons to desire
privacy (for Tor usage)).
- * the current message displayed to the blocked editor also suggest
contacting User:Tks4Fish. This editor is involved in vandalism fighting and
is probably the user blocking open proxies IPs the most. See log
So...
Option 1: contacting stewards : it seems that they are not answering. Or
not quickly. Or requesting lengthy justifications before adding people to
IP block exemption list.
Option 2: posting a request for unblock on meta. For those who want to look
at the process, I suggest looking at it [3] and think hard about how a new
editor would feel. This is simply incredibly complicated
Option 3 : user:TksFish answers... sometimes...
As a consequence, most editors concerned with those global blocks... stay
blocked several days.
We do not know know why the situation has rapidly got worse recently. But
it got worse. And the reports are spilling all over.
We started collecting negative experiences on this page [4].
Please note that people who added their names here are not random newbies.
They are known and respected members of our community, often leaders of
activities and/or representant of their usergroups, who are confronted to
this situation on a REGULAR basis.
I do not know how this can be fixed. Should we slow down open proxy
blocking ? Should we add a mecanism and process for an easier and quicker
IP block exemption process post-blocking ? Should we improve a process for
our editors to pre-emptively be added to this IP block exemption list ? Or
what ? I do not know what's the strategy to fix that. But there is a
problem. Who should that problem be addressed to ? Who has solutions ?
Flo
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Log/Tks4Fish
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Global_permissions#Request…
*[4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/No_open_proxies/Unfair_blocking>*
_______________________________________________
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
Public archives at
https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org…
To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Dear Wikimedians, The 2022 Board of Trustees election is here! The Call for
Candidates has been announced here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022/Announc…>.
The Board of Trustees oversees the operations of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Community-and-affiliate selected trustees and Board-appointed trustees make
up the Board of Trustees. Each trustee serves a three year term. The
Wikimedia community has the opportunity to vote for community-and-affiliate
selected trustees. The Wikimedia community will vote to elect two seats on
the Board of Trustees in 2022. This is an opportunity to improve the
representation, diversity, and expertise of the Board of Trustees. Are you
interested in becoming a candidate? Kindly submit your candidacy here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022/Apply_t…>.
Warmly,
--
Zita Ursula Zage (she/her)
Facilitator, Movement Strategy & Governance
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear all,
The Board of Trustees seeks candidates for the 2022 Board of Trustees
election. *Read more on Meta-wiki.*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_ele…>
The 2022 Board of Trustees election
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_ele…>
is
here! Please consider submitting your candidacy to serve on the Board of
Trustees.
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia
Foundation's operations. Community-and-affiliate selected trustees and
Board-appointed trustees make up the Board of Trustees. Each trustee serves
a three year term. The Wikimedia community has the opportunity to vote for
community-and-affiliate selected trustees.
The Wikimedia community will vote to fill two seats on the Board in 2022.
This is an opportunity to improve the representation, diversity, and
expertise of the Board as a team.
Who are potential candidates? Are you a potential candidate? Find out more
on the Apply to be a Candidate page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_ele…>
.
Thank you for your support,
Movement Strategy and Governance on behalf of the Elections Committee and
the Board of Trustees
--
Zita Ursula Zage (she/her)
Facilitator, Movement Strategy & Governance
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello all,
The Global Advocacy team is looking for your input. We are hosting a series
of community conversations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Policy_Community_Conversations…>in
May to learn how the Human Rights Policy can best support Wikimedians like
you.
Given the diverse regional spread and country-context of members in this
email group, we hope you can share how community members' human rights have
been challenged and how the Foundation can better support individuals and
prevent such situations. Details for the call:
- Thursday, May 12
- 19:00 (Abuja, Nigeria), 18:00 (UTC)
- Register via Zoom:
https://wikimedia.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qdu6gqTgoHNFiFumYTD3H-HET8Fe7…
What is the outcome of these sessions? We will do two things with the
information that is shared via these conversations and smaller focus
groups. (1) We will share a summary of our findings by publishing them on
Meta, in a Diff blog, and (hopefully!) presenting them at Wikimania. (2)
Feedback and recommendations will shape the implementation process of the
Human Rights Policy.
Where can you learn more about these calls and the Human Rights Policy? You
can learn more about the conversion format, call schedule, types of
questions that will guide the conversation, as well as the Human Rights
Policy on this meta page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Policy_Community_Conversations…>
.
What if you can’t join any of these conversations? If you are interested
but cannot attend the calls you can still share your experiences via a
survey that will soon be available.
We hope to see you there,
Ziski from the GA Team
Franziska Putz (she/her)
Movement Advocacy Community Manager, Global Advocacy
Wikimedia Foundation
Fputz(a)wikimedia.org
*UCT timezone
Hello All,
Following engagements with some communities that began in 2021, I am
pleased to share with you some brief insights about an upcoming project we
are working on with the African Union (AU) and the Africa No Filter (ANF).
--------------------------------------
Africans are born storytellers.
For the longest time, they have had strong traditions of sharing truths.
Over time, the African narrative has been snatched and shaped outside the
borders of this continent.
The partnership forged between the WMF, African Union, and Africa No Filter
seeks to work with communities in making sure the African narrative is back
in the hands of its people.
Together with you, we want to re-shape the African narrative by exploring
your expertise as Africans and Wikimedians to ensure coverage of the
continent.
The partnership will include a Wikimedian in residence and resource persons
from the continent to ensure its success. We encourage you to watch out for
an upcoming diff post and a platform to chat further about these still
shaping structures of the partnership.
We want to hear from you!
On behalf of the AKI team,
--
Felix Nartey
Senior Program Officer, Campaigns
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello All,
Following our thread these last few weeks about the AKI project, I am
delighted to share that we published a diff post
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/04/21/setting-our-sights-on-knowledge-equit…>
to
provide further information about the project yesterday. We are very
excited that this will be the beginning of an exciting journey between the
African Union and our communities.
We are organizing an office hour on the 4th of May to engage with you,
provide additional information, answer any further questions, and have the
opportunity to engage with the partners.
*Office Hour Details*
Date: 4 May 2022
Time: 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Link: https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/87653338679
You may send questions, thoughts, or feedback to us at
campaigns(a)wikimedia.org. Looking forward to discussing the future of this
project with you!
Best regards,
--
Felix Nartey
Senior Program Officer, Campaigns
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear Wikimedians,
On Friday 22nd April, we join millions of people across the world to
celebrate Earthday. 🌿🍀🌳
As part of the #WikiforHumanRights
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiForHumanRights>campaign, we will be
hosting an editing workshop to equip participants with Wikipedia editing
skills.
This workshop is also a good opportunity for newcomers. Feel free to share
the invitation with community members in your region.
*Join our Earthday workshop on Friday, April 22nd at 12:00 UTC*
*Register to join the zoom meeting- https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/87329258230
<https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/87329258230?fbclid=IwAR16DyhpGuQHbaKtVbY9Fb000e…>
*
See you!
Ruby