******************************************
__ __ _ _ _ _
/ / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___
\ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \
\ /\ /| | <| |/ /| | | | | __/
\/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___|
.org
Year: 2008 Week: 50 Number: 102
******************************************
An independent internal news bulletin
for the members of the Wikimedia community
//////////////////////////////////////////
=== Technical news ===
[Wiki rename] - the first letters of the url of our projects indicate the
language of that project. For some of them those will change to other
ones. Effected languages are; Aromanian, Low German, Moldovan and
Belarusian. Redirects will be created.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/34563
[WikimediaNotifier] - A system has setup to create a message on Meta that
then is copied automatically to all the wikis. The purpose is to improve
the internal distribution of important news to the community. The messages
are posted in namespace of the bot [[user:WikimediaNotifier]] but wikis
can request to post them somewhere else like in there village pump if the
wish it so.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_notifications
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_notifications/how-to
[MediaWiki extension Testing] - Many of the extensions written for
MediaWiki are used outside of the Wikimedia Foundation. Installing is not
always easy because they do not come with a guarantee that they will work.
ExtentionTesting provides a testing environment where these extensions
can be tested against the stable releases of MediaWiki. This way it is
easier and more predictable to use extensions with the MediaWiki software.
http://extensiontesting.wikiation.nl/Main_Page
[Interwiki map] - the interwiki map is updated. The means that the many
changes done to it are now live. For example you can now link to an
OTRS-ticket with the interwiki [[Ticket:]]. The old prefix [[OTRS:]] was
broken and no support was found to repair it.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Interwiki_map
[Turnkey MediaWiki] - A Ubuntu-based distro created for one purpose;
running MediaWiki. Ideal to try out MediaWiki on your own computer.
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/TurnKey_MediaWiki
=== Request for help ===
[Web Designer/geek] -
Wikizine.org seeks the help of a volunteer who can
realize an idea the involves building a website that is intended to
besides being useful also create revenue to support
Wikizine.org Contact
[[user:Walter]]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Walter
=== Foundation ===
[Wikimedia Foundation] - The Stanton Foundation donates US$ 890,000 to the
Wikimedia Foundation to develop an easier way to write and change
articles. The goal is to increase usability so that more people can edit
articels, which have less technical knowledge.
http://tinyurl.com/64zmen -- WMF press release
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/StantonGrantQA
[WMF Audited financial statements] - the new ones for the period 2007-2008
are published. If you like the know the official financial numbers then
this is what you need to read.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/34390
=== Legal ===
[Wikimedia Deutschland] - The German chapter Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
are hosting a website (
www.wikipedia.de), where the German wikipedia can
be searched. A German court enacted a temporary restraining order that
this website must not link to the German wikipedia (
de.wikipedia.org). The
reason is a lawsuit between Wikimedia Deutschland and Lutz Heilmann, a
member of the German Parliament (Bundestag), about some statements in the
article about him. He also sued three Wikipedia users because of their
work on this article. The restraining order was abolished after 2.5 days.
Because of the news coverage the donations for the Wikimedia Deutschland
was increasing signifcant.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz_Heilmann
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutz_Heilmann
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Wikimedia_deutschland_website_16_no…
[European Copyright] - A working group of the Dutch Wikimedia, German
Wikimedia, Hungarian and Italian Wikimedia Chapter has issued a reaction
on the EU Green paper Copyright in the Knowledge Economy.
http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Groep_Groenboek/en
http://tinyurl.com/6djgwy -- The text of the green paper
[WM Netherlands] - a request for an preliminary injunction is issued by
Bob Sijthoff against the Dutch Chapter to obtain the identity of
particular user and the removal a specific article. The position of WM
Netherlands is that the are not legally or technical capable of doing
that. Ruling is expected by the 10th of December.
=== Agenda ===
[WM Serbia Conference] - The Regional Conference of Wikimedia Serbia will
be held at 19th, 20th and 21st December in Belgrade, in the Belgrade Youth
Home.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/34612
http://tinyurl.com/6hx9vo -- WM Serbia conference
=== Community ===
[Commons: Bundesarchiv Project] - The German Federal Archive has about
170.000 digital photos since 2007. Using this photos was not free of
charge. After long discussions with the Wikimedia Deutschland almost
100.000 photos are now licenced by the cc-by-sa 3.0 DE. Currently the
photos are uploaded to Commons.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Bundesarchiv
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_the_German_Federal_A…
[New Wikibooks logo] - The selection process of new logo for the Wikibooks
project is coming to a close. Only the colors of the new logo still need
to be decided.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks/Logo
=== Media ===
[Censor] - British internet service providers have been blocking a
Wikipedia article and so also causing problems for there users to edit
Wikipedia. The blocked article was flagged as child-pornographic in
nature. Interestedly also Chinese media are reporting the blocking of
Wikipedia in the UK.
http://tinyurl.com/5eo9s7 -- Wikinews article about it
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Censorship_of_WP_in_the_…
[Winkler Prins] - in the Dutch language is the Winkler Prins, founded in
1870, the last surviving encyclopedia. Winkler Prins announced that there
10th edition will no longer be published in paper from. Reasons are lack
of interest in a encyclopedia on paper and huge work to get the
information that can fill 50 book down to 26 books. The 10th edition be
published online subscription based.
http://www.deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie/cultuur%2Ben%2Bmedia/1.419229
=== Stats ===
[EN wp] - out of frustration of lack of good statistics on the number of
active editors on the EN wp [[User:Dragons flight]] has made some.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.english/96575
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editing_frequency
[NL Wikipedia] - the Dutch language Wikipedia passed the 500,000 article mark
[Fundraiser] - while the funding is coming in some stats are available
about the success rate of the different banners.
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/34559
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2008/11/25/wikimedias-fundraiser-which-banners-cl…
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2008/11/14/2008-fundraiser-update/
=== Other news ===
[Wikipedia Loves Art] - is a free content photography contest coordinated
with the Brooklyn Museum, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and possibly other
museums worldwide, and aimed at illustrating Wikipedia articles. The event
is planned to run for the whole month of February 2009, and the name is a
play off of Valentine's Day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Loves_Art
http://www.flickr.com/groups/wikipedia_loves_art/
[WikiVoices] - The podcast "Not The Wikipedia Weekly" changes its name to
WikiVoices.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiVoices
=== Quote ===
"Fair use is not a right. [..] Fair use is only a... ...legal defensible
position" ~ A Fair(y) Use Tale!
http://dotsub.com/view/4918f3c8-8f04-4aa1-b300-39048dca6822
//////////////////////////////////////////
Number of subscribers: 725
Unique Visitors website last week: 110
Editor(s): Walter, Anonymous
Thanks to: Angela, Ellywa, GerardM
Especially thanks to: Sannse
Contact: reply or
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]],
and is not a publication of the Wikimedia Foundation.
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