****************************************** __ __ _ _ _ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ / / / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | <| |/ /| | | | | __/ / / |_|_|__/___|_|_| |_|___| .org
Year: 2009 Week: 7-22 Number: 106
******************************************
An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community
//////////////////////////////////////////
=== Technical news ===
[dumps] - Dumps are becoming more regular now and are actually working, thanks to Foundation developer Tomasz Finc. Two new mailing lists were created to discuss dumps. http://dumps.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/xmldatadumps-l -- discussion list for the dumps https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/xmldatadumps-admin-l -- admin list (Failures / Upgrades / Changes)
[Abuse Filter] ? After all the research done by the English Wikipedia, many other wikis have reached consensus about activating the Abuse Filter and are now carefully exploring the possibilities (including: alswiki, arwp, elwp, fiwp, hewp, nlwb, nlwp, ruwp, svwp, zhwp).
[Books & PDF] - In April a new function was enabled to make "books" of pages of the wiki. The added pages can be stored, exported as PDF or OpenDocument. Also is there the option to order your "book" (= collection of wiki-pages) in print. It is enabled on most projects and wikis but not on all. Look for a book toolbox in the side menu.
On the English Wikipedia this function is removed again after objections of the community. On most Wikis is there also an option to download a PDF-version of the page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Books
=== Request for help ===
[wikizine] - Wikizine is planning on becoming more regular and to do that, we need your help. Please post news tips or even help us with writing by joining the editors mailing list. http://report.wikizine.org -- tip line http://mail.wikizine.org/mailman/listinfo/editors_wikizine.org -- editors mailing list
=== Foundation ===
[new board members] - The chapters have finally selected their choices for the board, choosing Arne Klempert (akl) and Michael Snow. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-May/052037.html announcement on foundation-l
[usability] - The usability project published a sneak preview of their research results. The project is also still looking for a software developer. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/04/24/usability-study-results-sneak-preview/ -- blog post http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/Software_Developer_(project) -- job opening
[strategic planning] - The board announced that they are starting a long-term strategic planning process to lay out the next 3-5 years. The foundation is currently hiring 3 people to work as a part of that project. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-April/051565.html -- board resolution http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings -- job openings
[auditcom] - The audit committee is currently looking for volunteers. The only requirement is to be financially literate. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-May/051977.html -- call for volunteers
[BLPs] - The Board released a statement about biographies of living people. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Biographies_of_living_people -- resolution/statement
[Public outreach] - The public outreach hub on Meta-Wiki was recently revamped. Among other things, the Foundation is seeking a volunteer for the bookshelf project and tips from public outreach/Wikimedia-related presentations. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_outreach/Get_involved http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Best_practices_in_giving_a_Wikipedia_presenta...
=== Legal ===
[licensing update] - The licensing update vote results are now available. 75% has voted in favor of the license update (with 14% remaining neutral). 43% of all votes came form the Enlgish language Wikipedia. This means that the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) license will be be added in addition to the current GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) CC-BY-SA) for most of the Wikimedia Foundation projects. Actual change of the license on the sites will be arround the 15th of June. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Licensing_update/Results http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Dual_license_vote_May_200... -- press release
=== Agenda ===
[Maker Faire-SF] The Wikimedia Foundation is planning to have a booth at the San Francisco Maker Faire again this year. If you're near SF, stop by and say hi or volunteer to help out with the booth! http://makerfaire.com/ -- Maker Faire home page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/San_Francisco/Maker_Faire -- volunteer signup
[Wiki Loves Art/NL] ? In collaboration with Creative Commons NL, the Dutch Wikimedia chapter, Wikimedia Nederland, is organizing Wiki Loves Art/NL this June. More than 30 museums and other inheritanc-agencies are cooperating with volunteers to free their collections, amongst them the well-known Van Gogh museum. More information: www.wikilovesart.nl
=== Community ===
[embassies contest] - Norwegian & Estonian embassies sponsor article-writing contests in three languages (Norwegian: nb/Bokmal & nn/Nynorsk, et/Estonian). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-05-18/Multili...
[japanese conference] - a one-day Japanese conference is currently being planned for November 22 in Tokyo, planning is on Meta. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_Japan http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_Japan/en
[Wikimania 2009] - The scholarships and program committees are currently reviewing all the submissions they received; more information should be given by the end of May. http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/
[Wikimania 2010] - It is official, Wikimania 2010 will be held in Gdansk, Poland, Europe on July 9-11, 2010. The event site is beautifully located on O?owianka Island. http://wikimania2010.wikimedia.org/ http://www.epgd.net/grafika/wilga/images/37.jpeg -- air picture of O?owianka (Bleihof) island
[Picture of the Year] ? Wikimedia Commons held their annual Picture of the Year election. The votes have been cast, and now we?re waiting for the final results to appear. The unofficial results can be found at http://is.gd/CKHG
=== Awards ===
[webware] - Wikipedia was one of the Webmare 100 winners, which recognizes the best Web 2.0 sites, services, and applications on the Web today. http://news.cnet.com/8301-13546_109-10237659-29.html
[WMIT award 2009] - Wikimedia Italia, the Italian chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, issues an Award for people who gave significant contributions to the open projects supported by Wikimedia Foundation and/or Wikimedia Italia. The winners were announced on May 23 at the Digital Freedoms Festival. http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Premio_Wikimedia_Italia_2009/en -- description page http://www.libertadigitali.org/ -- festival webpage http://wikimedia.it/index.php/Vincitori_del_Premio_Wikimedia_Italia_2009 -- winners list
=== Media ===
[ta.wp] - Tamil Wikipedia got a nice article in "The Hindu". New account creations on that wiki doubled on the day the article was published. http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2009/05/21/stories/2009052150760100.htm
[Censors of Wikipedia?] - an article with comments from our General Counsel, Mike Godwin, about the censorship of Wikipedia in the UK a few months back. http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2009/05/features/the-hidden-ce...
=== Stats ===
[de.wp] -- The German Wikipedia has reached 900,000 articles.
=== Other news ===
[Marriage for CTO] - Brion Vibber, the Chief Technical Officer for the Foundation, got married this weekend. Congratulations to Brion & Marti!
=== Did you know ... ===
... that there are also browser, operating system (and more) statistics of the projects available?
http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/VisitorsSampledLogOperatingSystems.htm
=== Quote ===
"Man will not fly for fifty years" ? Orville Wright, 1901
////////////////////////////////////////// Number of subscribers: 730 Unique Visitors website last week: Editor(s): Casey, Alex Corrector(s): Rjd Thanks to: the #wikimedia-tech crew, Mwpnl Contact: http://report.wikizine.org Website: http://www.wikizine.org //////////////////////////////////////////
Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy, validity and especially but not limited to, correct grammar and spelling. Satisfaction is not guaranteed. Wikizine.org is published by [[meta:user:Walter]]. Wikizine is a irregular publication as long as there is noteworthy news (and time) Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html and also the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
announce-l@lists.wikimedia.org