Chapters update report Wikimedia Nederland February/March/April 2009
Sorry for the delay in writing this report.
Best regards,
Lodewijk
Wikimania 2010
After long deliberation about the perfect city, location, accommodation and
party Wikimedia Nederland completed the Wikimania 2010 bid for Amsterdam.
The bid has been built for the Tuschinski Theatre as location and involved
the help of many volunteers, got the support of several partners and
enthousiasts. The full bid is available on
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2010/Bids/Amsterdam . In the mean
while, it has become clear that the Gdansk bid has been accepted, and that
Amsterdam was a close runner up.
Wikiportrait 2.0
The Wikiportrait Website has been upgraded, and is now mainly more usable
and time efficient on the backside (OTRS). Celebrities can upload their
photograph through the website interface after going through a wizard
explaining the copyright status, after which OTRS volunteers take care of
the uploading, tagging and publishing part.
Wiki Loves Art NL
A local Wiki Loves Art is being organized in cooperation with Creative
Commons NL, the Museumnacht Foundation and Digitaal Erfgoed Nederland. The
concept is to cooperate with museums to let people photograph a part of
their collection to upload under a free license, and there is a
competitional element on quality. In the concept it has been attempted to
take the better elements from the previous editions in New York, London and
Australia but also to learn lessons for improvements. 15 museums from all
over the country and with a wide variety of topics have indicated to
participate. There will be a closing party in one of the museums in
Rotterdam.
Free Media
Some contacts have been made with a few institutions to persuade them to
release a part of their digital material under a free license. No
breakthroughs yet.
Lustrum University of Groningen
Agreement has been reached with the library of the University of Groningen
that Wikimedia Nederland will participate in the lustrum activities with a
"Wikipedia Lounge" in June.
Hello!
Our chapters report are now available on meta, and copied here for your
convenience.
==Chapters meeting==
Well, we had a great time and arrived home with lots of ideas. We haven't
really put anything into action yet though.
==Tech meeting==
We also had three members attending the tech meeting. They are also bubbly
with ideas and are working on extensions and OpenStreetMap integration. We
are now starting up a tech group.
==Board meeting==
We have had one board meeting in April, on Skype. Minutes in Swedish are
available.[1]
==Seminar==
One of our members gave a talk in Skellefteå.[2] The title was (loosely
translated) "Better cake if all can bake?"
==Media==
The book ''Så fungerar Wikipedia'' (How Wikipedia works) recieved a good
review in the official national library magazine. Available in Swedish.
[3]
Lennart, our chair, also wrote nicely in his blog "Who owns our Swedish
cultural heritage?" Available in Swedish. [4]
==Upcoming Wikipedia Academy==
We finally set a date for this years WA, 16-17 November at Stockholm
University. More information to come.
==Links==
*[1] http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6tesprotokoll/Protokoll_2009-04-27
*[2] http://www.skelleftea.se/default.aspx?id=24884
*[3]
http://www.biblioteksforeningen.org/bbl/bbl2009/Biblioteksbladet_nr3_2009.p…
*[4]
http://mrchapel.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/vem-ager-vart-svenska-kulturarv/
Jan Ainali
Bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige: 100 kr till bankgiro 5822-9915 (skriv
"Medlemsavgift, namn, adress och epost")
http://se.wikimedia.org
Dear all,
Please find linked below the Annual Report including Financial Report of Wikimedia UK, covering our activities from our creation to the date of our AGM, which was held yesterday:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetings/2009_AGM/Board's_Report
Please let me know if you want us to send this to anyone else in order to comply with clause 1.9 of our Chapter Agreement.
Any questions please let me know,
Regards,
Andrew Turvey
Secretary,
Wikimedia UK
Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited.
Wiki UK Ltd is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827.
The Registered Office is at 23 Cartwright Way, Nottingham, NG9 1RL, United Kingdom.
Available on Meta-Wiki at <
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikim%C3%A9dia_Ma…
>
Available on our website at <
http://wiki.media.hu/wiki/Report_January%E2%80%93February_2009>
Sorry for the delay.
Wikimedia Hungary Report
Vol. II. Issue 1.
January–February 2009
Prepared by: Tamás Mészöly and Bence Damokos
This is the third report of Wikimedia Hungary, detailing the events of the
January–February period of 2009.
== Activities ==
=== January 2009 ===
* We have registered the domains for most of the Hungarian projects:
** wikidezet.hu (Wikiquote),
** wikiforras.hu (Wikisource),
** wikikonyvek.hu (Wikibooks),
** wikifajok.hu (Wikispecies),
** wikihirek.hu (Wikinews),
** commons.hu (Commons).
* We registered in two databases of nonprofit organisations:
nonprofit.hu[1] and
adhat.hu [2] (the biggest Hungarian public database of NGO's).
* Wikimedia Hungary has joined the non-profit ad service, Bloggerunió [3]
and thus our banner is displayed on over sixty blogs.
* A mailing list [4] for announcements was created for members of the press.
* We started cooperating with several museums.
* An online membership registration interface [5] was created to facilitate
joining the chapter.
=== February 2009 ===
* Ongoing organisation and planning for the 2009 chapters' and developers'
meetup.
* We had a Board meeting where we decided on several matters:
** we admitted new members (reaching the total of 22 members at this point);
** created and approved a fund management policy;
** a 2009 budget proposal was approved (a General Assembly will have to
approve the budget formally);
** we agreed on providing the necessary budget for the Berlin meetings (to
complement the financial help the other chapters have gracefully offered);
** most importantly we decided on starting our first programs (in March):
*** an international picture competition [6],
*** an article writing competition [7],
*** and a micro grants program [8].
* We filed our taxes.
== Contacts ==
* The association was represented at two a celebration of János Bolyai and
Zoltán Bay.
* We held a Wikipedia and Wikimedia presentation in the city library of
Szeged.
== Fundraising ==
* In the joint fundraising with the Wikimedia Foundation we have collected
69 500 forints in donation ($316 by the 20 January exchange rate, $282
calculating by 5 March rates). Per the contract and ensuing agreement with
the Foundation half of these funds will be spent on the awards of our
international picture competition.
== News about the Hungarian Wikimedia projects ==
* The Hungarian Wikisource has reached 10 000 articles on 1 February, and
the Hungarian Wiktionary had its 100 000th entry on 17 February.
* On 16 February the Hungarian Wikipedia's article count surpassed the
inactive Volapük Wikipedia and thus joined the company of the top 20
language editions. Almost concurrently with this the number of edits reached
5 million, meaning that there is one Wikipedia edit for every second
Hungarian citizen and every third Hungarian speaker.
== In other news ==
As of 30 January Google Translate supports translating to and from Hungarian
- the results could get better, but this is an important step in making the
Hungarian web accessible to the world and vice versa.
== Press and media presence ==
* The results of the WMF fundraiser were reported in many publications, our
vice president and president gave interviews on the subject:
** 6 millió dollár gyűlt össze a Wikipedia működtetésére [9] – kisalfold.hu,
3 January 2009
** 6 millió dollárt gyűjtöttek össze a Wikipediának [10] – index.hu, 3
January 2009
** 6 millió dollárból gazdálkodhat a Wikipedia [11] – sg.hu, 3 January 2009
** Összegyűlt a pénz a Wikipédia működésére [12] – zoom.hu, 3 January 2009
(interview with our vice president)
**Interview with our president (and its reprints):
*** Magyarok a Wikipedia javára adakozók között [13] – sg.hu, 5 January 2009
*** Magyarok a Wikipedia javára adakozók között [14] – dunatv.hu, 5 January
2009
*** Magyar adakozók [15] – hirextra.hu, 5 January 2009
*** Magyarok is adakoztak a Wikipediának [16] – kulturpart.hu, 6 January
2009
*** Magyarok a Wikipedia javára adakozók között [17] – prim.hu, 6 January
2009
* A leading blog on Web 2.0 questions has asked their readers to edit the
Hungarian Wikipedia, other blogs joined in later:
** Mentsük meg a magyar Wikipédia becsületét [18] – "Let's save the honour
of the Hungarian Wikipedia" – Webisztán, 9 January 2009
** Mentsük meg a magyar Wikipédia becsületét [19] – Könyvesblog, 9 January
2009
** Mozgalom a még ütősebb magyar wikiért [20] – Urban Legends, 9 January
2009
** Mentsük meg a magyar Wikipédia becsületét [21] – Kockablog, 9 January
2009
* Újabb nyitott enciklopédia a világhálón [22] – "Yet another open
encyclopedia on the internet" – Népszabadság, 17 January 2009
* Legyen az Encyclopædia Britannica szerzője! [23] – "Become an author of
Encylopaedia Britannica" – index.hu, 23 January 2009
* A Wikipédia szigorítani akarja a szabályokat [24] – "Wikipedia wants to
adopt stricter rules" – index.hu, 27 January 2009
* Jelölt változatok [25] – it-business.hu, 2009. február 2. (interview with
our president)
* Wikimédia [26] – Bloggerunió (blog), 6 February 2009 (interviw with our
vice president)
* Sunyi vandalizmus [27] – "Sly vandalism" – Népszabadság, 7 February 2009
* Kultjáték Wikipediára [28] – "Cult game for Wikipedia" – index.hu, 17
February 2009
* Jimmy Wales - reálisan a Wikipediáról [29] – "Jimmy Wales - realistically
about Wikipedia" – sg.hu, 20 February 2009
* Történelemhamisítás két kattintással [30] – "Falsifying history with two
clicks" – index.hu, 21 February 2009
[1]: http://www.nonprofit.hu/szerv/egyszerv/65709.html
[2]: http://adhat.hu/szerv/egyszerv/65709.html
[3]: http://bloggerunio.blog.hu
[4]: http://lists.wiki.media.hu/wws/info/sajto
[5]: http://wiki.media.hu/jelentkezes
[6]:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wikimedia_Hungary_picture_competi…
[7]:
http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Sz%C3%B3cikk%C3%ADr%C3%B3_verse…
[8]:
http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:K%C3%B6lts%C3%A9gt%C3%A9r%C3%AD…
[9]:
http://www.kisalfold.hu/vilagvevo/6_millio_dollar_gyult_ossze_a_wikipedia_m…
[10]: http://index.hu/tech/net/wiki0103/
[11]:
http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/64844/6_millio_dollarbol_gazdalkodhat_a_wikipedia
[12]:
http://www.zoom.hu/it_tudomany/osszegyult-a-penz-a-wikipedia-mukodesere-355…
[13]: http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/64873
[14]: http://www.dunatv.hu/kultura/magyarok_a_wikipediaert.html
[15]:
http://www.hirextra.hu/hirek/article.php?menu_id=2&cat=1&article_id=116533
[16]:
http://www.kulturpart.hu/rengeteg/7896/magyarok_is_adakoztak_a_wikipedianak
[17]: http://hirek.prim.hu/cikk/70910/
[18]:
http://webisztan.blog.hu/2009/01/09/mentsuk_meg_a_magyar_wikipedia_becsulet…
[19]:
http://konyves.blog.hu/2009/01/09/mentsuk_meg_a_magyar_a_wikipedia_becsulet…
[20]:
http://www.urbanlegends.hu/2009/01/09/mozgalom-a-meg-utosebb-magyar-wikiert
[21]:
http://kocka.blog.hu/2009/01/09/mentsuk_meg_a_magyar_wikipedia_becsuletet_2
[22]: http://nol.hu/lap/mozaik/lap-20090117-20090117-33
[23]: http://index.hu/tech/net/brit0123
[24]: http://index.hu/tech/net/wiki0127
[25]:
http://www.it-business.hu/index.php/hirhatter/megkerdeztuek/28165-jeloelt-s…
[26]: http://bloggerunio.blog.hu/2009/02/06/wikimedia
[27]: http://nol.hu/archivum/lap-20090207-20090207-23
[28]: http://index.hu/tech/net/2009/02/17/kultjatek_wikipediara
[29]: http://www.sg.hu/cikkek/65769/jimmy_wales_realisan_a_wikipediarol
[30]:
http://index.hu/tech/net/2009/02/21/tortenelemhamisitas_ket_kattintassal
See the wiki version here:
http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Wikimedia_news/numero_24/en
*
W i K i M e D i A N e W s* no. 24 - April 4, 2009
Official monthly bulletin from Wikimedia Italia Association.
Editorial
This month the newsletters starts with a small warning to all members.
The organization of the Extraordinary Members' Assembly showed that it's
not always easy to communicate within out organization. Many members
were removed because they did not pay their yearly dues; some of them
however payed after the Assembly, and they were reinstated. We really
like that everyone of us had a look at the formal communications we send
every now and then, and take part in the life of our association.
As for the upcoming events, in May and June there will be plenty of new
events and wonderful chance of meet people. All our members are urged to
take active part in organization and success of these initiatives.
Senpai
What happened last months
* January 9, Reggio Emilia: at "la Gabella", meeting about Wikipedia
and Wikimedia. Paginazero says:
o This year Telecitofono <http://www.telecitofono.it> included
once again Wikimedia Italia - which I represented - among
the meetings held by the School of Ethics and Politics
"Giacomo Ulivi".
Like last year, we had a two hours' meeting/talk about
Wikipedia, Wikimedia, their workings and the philosophy beneath
them.
The day after I had another talk about these topics with the
students of three classes of Computer Science at the High School
BUS Pascal <http://www.pascal.re.it/Pages/Home/Home2.htm>. These
students teach elder people to use a PC and the Internet, as I
already talked about last year: see [1]
<http://www.nonsolofannulloni.forumpa.it/100-storie/casi-selezionati/?id=1748>.
* Wikipedia wins Premiolino
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/it:Premiolino> 2009! Frieda reports:
o the prize was awarded in Milano, at Palazzo Marino (the City
Hall). About 200 people attended: prizewinners, jury,
sponsor (Birra Moretti) and its testimonial (Orso Maria
Guerrini aka Baffo Moretti), some journalists. The reason
for the prize to Wikipedia (/Because it let at everybody's
disposal a great, open, democratic encyclopedy, continuously
perfected in real time - like for example the voice about
President Giorgio Napolitano, checked and revised by the
presidential staff) so that it became a really useful tool
for journalists./) was written by the renowed journalist
Gian Antonio Stella, great fan of us. Mr Stella gave himself
the prize, asking me some question (on things we already
talked about). The audience cheered us a lot, and many
people asked me questions and explanations about Wikipedia
and how it works. Jollyroger, who was with me, took the
chance to make some pics to the other /famous/ prizewinners,
so that we could add them to the relevant voices in Wikipedia.
* March 22, Milan: Assembly of Wikimedia Italia. Sunday, March 22,
2009 we held on Ordinary and Extraordinary Members' Assembly of
Wikimedia Italia at Domus Academy in Milano. We approved the final
balance for year 2008 and the estimation for year 2009, and
ratified the members' list (removing all members who did not pay
the fee for year 2008 and/or 2009); then we changed the bylaws of
the association. The modifications we made were needed because we
want to be listed as APS (Association for Social Promoting), being
thus able to allow tax deducibility status for donations to the
Associations, and to be recipients of "5 per mille" (destination
of part of our taxes). Here
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_marzo_2009/Ver…>
you can find the minutes of the Ordinary Assembly; here
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_marzo_2009/Ver…>
the ones of the Extraordinary Assembly. (Both pages are in Italian).
What will happen next month
* May 22-24, Vicenza: Festival delle libertà digitali. Wikimedia
Italia organizes together with Vicenza LUG the first Festival of
Digital Freedoms.
The event has been presented in advance during WMI Assembly. For the
first time our Association organized such a large event. The official
program of the Festival will be unveiled at mid April in the site of the
Festival, http://www.libertadigitali.org ; our members may find the
draft program
<http://wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:1%C2%B0_festival_delle_libert%C3…>
in advance.
As a highlight, Saturday May 23 Wikimedia Italia will hold a 10-hours
no-stop event in the historical downtown of Vicenza; there will also be
several side events.
We ask all our members to propose their ideas in our association's wiki,
and to take an active part in the organization of the Festival. If you
cannot attend, at least discuss about it!)
News from WMF projects
* *Wikibooks*: new logo
<http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikibooks/Logo> is official; we
have also the localized version
<http://it.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Wikibooks:Bar&oldid=154741#nuovo_…>
(«Libri liberi per un mondo aperto»).
* *Wikinotizie*: reached 6,800 articles.
* *Wikipedia*: a proposal
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/it:Wikipedia:Bar/Discussioni/Evidenziare_il_t…>
has been made to make the tab "edit this page" more prominent,
like in pl.wiki, fr.wiki or en.wiki for better usability: the
solution is however disliked.
* *Wikiquote*: Quaro75
<http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/q:it:Utente:Quaro75> has been voted
sysop
<http://it.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Wikiquote:Amministratori&oldid=23…>
. There are now 7 sysops. A proposal
<http://it.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=Wikiquote:Bar&oldid=241709#Eviden…>
has been made to make the tab "edit this page" more prominent,
like in pl.wiki, fr.wiki or en.wiki for better usability: there
are doubts about the chosen shade of blue. (For the time being the
tab, has been put in boldface
<http://it.wikiquote.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki%3AMonobook.css&diff=241…>).
* *Wikisource*: reached 3,000 users.
* *Wikiversità*: After a survey, the community voted that teaching
material different from university lessons are allowed; they
approved the creation of two new departments which will hold
teaching material for younger age classes, and "not formal" contents.
* *Wikizionario*: reached 5,000 users.
News from Wikimedia Italia
* On February 5th we issued a press release: /Rettifica
dell'intervista pubblicata da Il Giornale
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Rettifica_dell%27intervista_pubblicata_da…>/
(Amendments to an article by Il Giornale). The article rectifies
some statements written in an Italian newspaper, and it was a
joint effort from several members of WMI; it appeared also in the
Italian newssite WebNews
<http://www.webnews.it/news/leggi/10089/wikimedia-risponde-a-il-giornale/>,
ang got about 1,000 impressions at our site.
News from our projects
News from W@H
Wiki@Home starts again, after the winter hiatus! We are working on
several interviews. We need a couple of people to help Draco in the
organization.
Project Schools
* In February and March Cotton held two short courses about
Wikipedia and the related projects in two high schools in the
province of Padua. Cotton reports:
In Istituto Leopardi I made two lessons, one hour each. I made a
general introduction about the history of Wikipedia and WMF, a
brief presentation of the related project and said something
about the GFDL license and the difference with copyright. After
a suggestion from the teacher, I tried to go in depth speaking
about the awareness of the use of Wikipedia, thinking about the
end-of-school short dissertations; I made an analysis of some
articles, pointing at their characteristics.
In Liceo Einstein I made two lessons, one hour and half each.
Contents were more or less the same, but I had the time to go
more in depth.
You may read the report (in Italian) at this page
<http://www.wikimedia.it/index.php/Associazione:Wiki_a_Scuola/Istituto_Leopa…>.
* VirtualSkiz, together with other members from Campania, started
supporting Project Schools, and they got several connections and
some results. They said:
In cooperation with the secondary school "San Giovanni Bosco" of
Trentola-Ducenta, Wikimedia Italia was involved as local partner
in the prestigious European project of intercultural education
"Comenius Regio".
During last Assembly in September we met the Referent for P.O.N.
Projects. Together, we devised two project (for secondary
schools “Istituto Comprensivo Stroffolini” at Casapulla and
“Benedetto Croce” at San Prisco): “Parolando e Wikando”, an
educational project which puts together classroom tutorials, use
of a wiki platform and acquaintance with the on-line encyclopedia.
At the PProfessional High School 'O. Conti' of Aversa,
VirtualSkiz is teaching as external expert; 30 hours of
activities to let the pupils understand the underlying
philosophy and be able to use the wiki platform.
This is the Chapters report for Wikimedia Sverige for Q1 2009. My goal is
to get back to monthly reports from now on again.
==Annual report 2008==
As you all probably have seen we managed to produce an annual report,
inspired by the beautiful one from WMF. If you haven't seen it is
available in English on our website. [1]
==Wikipedia workshops==
We have started a series of workshops, held at the Gothenburg City
Library. So far we have had two of them and while the crowd isn't huge it
is an excellent occasion to make a deep connection.
==Media==
The big thing in media during the start of this period was the debate
whether flagged revisions would be turned on or not. Or, should I say, the
misconception that it already was turned on. Swedish media in general
acted as parrots, repeating English online media.
On the same day as our AGM we managed to get a full page debate article
about copyright in one of the biggest newspaper in Sweden, Svenska
Dagbladet. [2] Also the same day there was a full page interview with our
chair, Lennart Guldbrandsson, in the biggest financial paper in Sweden.
During entire March there was a two page article in Kupé, the magazine
that is distributed as onboard reading on all trains in entire Sweden.
These unfortunately not available online.
==Newsletter==
We have produced one short members newsletter since the last report. It is
available in english. [3]
==Annual general meeting==
On March 14 we had our third AGM, in Stockholm. [4] This year we were
kindly allowed to hold it at the Royal Library, an honour with
significance. We were also lucky to have Karl Sigfrid [5], a member of the
parliament, as chairman of the meeting (yes, he is a member of WMSE). We
had the highest number of members at the same place in the same time, but
that still only counted for 17% of our members. The meeting was pretty
uncontroversial, no resolutions were made and the entire board was
re-elected. That left us with more time to discuss the future and the plan
for 2009 which was very interesting and useful input to the board. On the
meeting we showed a video with many Swedish politicians and celebrities
interviewed on their look on Wikipedia. We had expected more criticism but
instead it were more or less raised to the skies.
==Getting pictures from museums==
Inspired by WMDE we have started to contact museums and archives to
discuss how we can make pictures more available. We have not been very
lucky so far but with WMDE's recent announcement we are hopeful to produce
some results soon.
==Links==
[1] http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil:Annual report 2008.pdf
[2] http://www.svd.se/opinion/brannpunkt/artikel_2593783.svd
[3] http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nyhetsbrev/7/en
[4] http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Årsmöte_2009
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wki/Karl_Sigfrid
Jan Ainali
Become a member of Wikimedia Sverige: 100 SEK via this site (accepts
VISA/Mastercard):
https://www.payson.se//SendMoney/Default.aspx?De=Wikimeda+Sverige&Se=betala…
Please mention that you want to become a member
http://se.wikimedia.org
Ni!
Hi everyone,
We just concluded the first annual chapter report for wikimedia brasil!
It's a little late into 2009 so we also dropped some information on
more current events.
It can be read on Meta on the following URL, which is now linked in
the Reports page:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Chapter_Report_2008
But to keep with this list's tradition, the full source follows below.
Cheers,
the WikiBrasil volunteers
~~
'''Wikimedia Brasil, the Brazilian non-Chapter of the Wikimedia
Foundation presents you its... 2008 Annual Report!'''
== Why a non-Chapter, and what do we mean by that ==
As many might know, a request for the creation of a Brazilian Chapter
of the Wikimedia Foundation was approved last year.
The volunteers behind that request, after careful - and heated -
deliberation, chose not to establish themselves as a formal chapter at
this time.
We have, instead, "established" ourselves as a ''Mutirão for Freedom
of Knowledge'' and will use the name WikiBrasil or, in short form, WB.
<blockquote>Mutirão is the Portuguese language word for any
"self-assigned task force of socially motivated volunteers". Yes we
have a word for it, how cool is that?</blockquote>
There are four main reasons for this.
# '''Advocates of informality'''
#:
#:A significative part of our group argues that, regardless of the
points below, we can better advance the foundation's vision by acting
as a group of autonomous volunteers and devoting ourselves to
activities we can take on without funding or legal structure behind
us.
#:
# '''Threats regarding Brazil's legal context'''
#:
#:We cannot yet rely on our legal system to grant a Brazilian Chapter
of Wikimedia independence over the content and legal responsibility
for the platform.
#:
#:It is likely that a Brazilian Chapter would be under constant
harassment from defamation lawsuits, and it is unlikely that we could
get a court decision waving us of responsibility for content like
other chapters did.
#:
# '''Threats regarding the misuse of NGO's in Brazil'''
#:
#:NGO's in Brazil are widely used for indirect and direct corruption
in many and creative ways. This is so that many aren't even aware
they're a part of some corruption scheme.
#:
#:We don't want to be a part of that, and tough we have a good idea of
how to keep ourselves clean, it could cost an amount of energy we
might not have at our disposal.
#:
# '''Lack of process and mutual trust'''
#:
#:Our group has not fully developed the mutual trust and familiarity,
nor the coherence and processes, required to establish a legitimate
hierarchy. Hierarchy is required by institutionalization, and
legitimacy to avoid being hijacked by interest groups in the context
of item 2.
#:
#:However, since such qualities are desirable no matter the status of
our community, we have drafted a Statement of Principles. Adherence to
this statement shall be the only requirement to be a volunteer in our
Mutirão.
So, given the points above, in this report "we" means the group of
volunteers who, after receiving the authorization to begin a Wikimedia
Chapter in Brazil, decided to remain in informality, establishing
ourselves as a social movement instead of an NGO.
=== References ===
All discussion is available (in portuguese) in our mailing list's archive:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/WikimediaBR-l
And here's our Statement of Principles (translated to english!):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Carta_de_Princípios/en
== Our activities in 2008 ==
=== Jimbo in Brasil ===
Our first activity as a group was organizing Jimbo's visit to Brasil,
which was done without any financial resources or the use of
trademarks, was a no-logo event, and inspired our decision not to
become an NGO.
His visit included a debate with brazilians activists, scholars and
entrepeneurs engaged with free knowledge and free culture, held at
"Centro Cultural São Paulo", one of São Paulo's main centers for
culture. He was also interviewed in "Roda Viva", the most reputable
interview program on brazilian television.
All activity was registered (in portuguese) in our page at the
MetaWiki and the debate event blog:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Jimbo_in_Brasilhttp://www.wikibr.org/
=== Idea List ===
We have also compiled an initial list of ideas for ''mutirões'', and
contacted people and partners for each of them. Those include people
in the university, cultural, political and educational realms.
To that brainstormed list followed another compilation, of those
efforts, and some new ones, which developed into actual mutirões.
(in portuguese)
The first list: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Projetos
The new list: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Mutirões
=== Reverberações ===
One of these ''mutirões'' which has already materialized was
introducing the wiki software and reinforcing the free collaboration
logic during the organization of one of the main meetings of
independent artists who work with collaborative processes in Brasil.
For more information (in portuguese):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Projetos/Reverberaçõeshttp://reverberacoes.com.br/
== So far in 2009... ==
=== Campus Party ===
We took part in an event called Campus Party Brasil, which had over
five thousand participants,
There, a group of six volunteers gave talks about the Wikimedia
Platform, held workshops on Wikipedia and Wikicommons editing, and
collected images for Wikicommons.
They also participated in two debates held by the internet branch of
Sao Paulo's public television channel, "IPTV Cultura", and performed
live Wikipedia editing during other debates and interviews.
A full report is available at MetaWiki (in portuguese):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Projetos/Campus_Party/Relat…
Our organization for the event can be seen part in Meta and part in
our mailing list archives (both in portuguese):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Brasil/Projetos/Campus_Partyhttps://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/WikimediaBR-l
=== Adopt a representative ===
One of our main objectives is to give conceptual and technical support
for other wiki-based ''mutirões'' using free content licences, which
can benfit from and contribute back to the Wikimedia Projects.
One such initiative started this year within our community is devoted
to assist citizens in monitoring their political representatives, and
is called "Adote um Vereador".
This mutirão is receiving a lot of media attention because it started
as an invitation from a well known radio anchor for people to write
blogs about a politician of their choice. The proposal achieved a much
larger scale when two of our volunteers started a wiki to organize the
blogs and help them share information.
Here's the URL (in portuguese):
http://vereadores.wikia.com/
=== Forensepédia ===
The other mutirão nurtured in our community is a collaborative online
encilopedia of legal terms and jurisprudence.
Providing the mutirão's mentor with assistance during the initial
stages of building the wiki, as well as a lot thought put into the
choice of license (CC-BY-SA), were some of the activities that brought
together both communities.
This collaboration has proven rich beyond the production of content,
with some insightful messages in our mailing list and Meta wiki ending
with the acronym "TNLA" (for those unfamiliar: This is Not Legal
Advice) and the later development of the acronym NRLA (Not a Request
for Legal Advice). This was most valuable given the nature of some of
our discussions, hinted by the beginning of this report.
Here's the URL (in portuguese):
http://www.forensepedia.org/
== Plans for 2009 ==
=== Chapters Meeting ===
Wikimedia Chapters Meeting in Berlim will be our first chance to meet
representatives from all chapters. We plan to present them the
highlights of this report and discuss with the broader community some
issues raised here, including our understanding that a Chapter need
not be an NGO.
Our preparation (being translated to english):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_meeting_2009/Preparation/Wikimedia_…
Our organization page (in portuguese):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Chapters_meeting_2009
=== Wikimania ===
Yes, we're going to pay our neighbors a visit!
=== Wiki baptism ===
We're connecting with government agents in digital inclusion programs
to promote the Wikimedia Projects through workshops on wiki
collaboration, freedom of knowledge, and related subjects.
=== Wart ===
Some of our volunteers are joining "photograpic walks", open groups
who regularly get together and walk around town to take pictures and
share knowledge of photography. Our intent is to talk about Wikimedia
Commons and free licences with these communities.
=== The future of information ===
Those more academic-minded in our group are preparing, for the second
semester, a cicle of lecture-debates on commons based peer-production.
It will be held simultaneously at two of Sao Paulo's main centers for
culture and on the web, allowing for remote participation. The course
will follow material to be developed at the Wikiversity.
Here's the link (in portuguese):
http://pt.wikiversity.org/wiki/O_Futuro_da_Informação
=== Press and big media ===
We've been in touch with the brazilian press, building material to
help them understand and use the right terms when reporting on the
Wikimedia Projects.
In addition, through talks with Sao Paulo's public television, "TV
Cultura", we've been invited to cast a Wikimedia Project's contributor
on each interview of the program "Roda Viva", to bridge the show and
the internet, promoting collaboration on articles related to each
interview.
More on that (in portuguese):
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Imprensahttp://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Brasil/Imprensa/TV_Cultura
== Fim (end) ==
Well, I hope this was an interesting read.
We wish all the best for our brothers and sisters in 2009.
Hugs!
-- Wikibrasil, mutirão de conhecimentos livres
The March newsletter has been published at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Newsletter/March2009 and is copied
below for your convenience:
Summary: With everything in place for the chapter, other than charity
status, we have organised the first Annual General Meeting - your
chance to influence the chapter's future and stand for the board. The
bid to hold Wikimania 2010 in Oxford is coming on nicely. We also
bring you the usual details of meet-ups and news coverage, and details
of how to propose a project, and possibly get funding.
In this month's newsletter:
1. Chapter formation process
2. Annual General Meeting and Board elections
3. Oxford Wikimania bid
4. Project funding
5. Meet-ups
6. News coverage
1. Chapter formation process
We've started accepting members! Since we opened our bank account last
week, we've been able to finish processing the membership applications
received so far. We currently have 15 members, with more in the final
stages of acceptance. If you've been waiting for us to be fully set up
before submitting your application, then now's the time!
2. Annual General Meeting and Board elections
We are pleased to annouce that the first AGM of Wikimedia UK v2 will
be on Sunday 26th April 2009, starting at 12 noon. The AGM will elect
a new Board for 2009–10 and debate the priorities of the chapter -
including Wikimania, if we win the bid! All members can take part in
the election or stand for the Board - this page has details of how to
join and this page how to stand for the board.
When the initial board was elected in September 2008, we agreed that
we would stand down if we hadn't incorporated the company within six
months, and we would hold an AGM within six months of incorporation.
Despite the delays experienced first in getting chapter approval and
then opening the bank account, we are very happy to have met both of
these deadlines.
3. Oxford Wikimania bid
The bid to hold Wikimania 2010, the 6th annual Wikimedia Conference,
in Oxford is nearing completion. All major information about the bid
must be in place before 29th March, after which the jury will begin
questioning the three teams aiming to host the event.
If you would like to support the bid, please add your name to the
local team, help finalise the bid, and consider joining the organising
meeting on the IRC channel on Tuesday 24th March at 20:30.
4. Project funding
There is currently an opportunity for chapters to get funding from the
Wikimedia Foundation for specific projects. Have you got a project
that you'd like to get started on? We're currently asking for
proposals! The deadline for the funding opportunity is the 7th of
April, so don't delay!
5. Meet-ups
Since the last newsletter, meet-ups have occurred in Cambridge, London
and Manchester.
Sunday 8th March saw the 19th London Wikipedia meetup. The meetups
have been running since June 2004 and currently take the form of an
afternoon at the Penderel's Oak in Holborn on the second Sunday of
every month, with people dropping in and out, as and when they can.
Ten wikipedians came along, most falling within the stereotypical
Wikipedia demographic of 20 to 40 year-old
winter-warmer-and-cranberry-juice-drinkers, slightly too knowledgeable
of wiki markup for their own good. Topics discussed included
Wikimania, adminship, copyright law, hoax articles and the featured
article process. The meetups are a good opportunity to meet other
Wikipedia contributors and several projects have come about as a
result of discussions at these meetups. The next one is due to be held
in April (see this poll for the next date, as the second Sunday of
April is Easter Sunday).
The 4th Manchester meetup took place on the 14th March at "The
Manchester & County", a Wetherspoons pub off Piccadilly Gardens. Six
Wikipedians appeared, also falling within the stereotypical Wikipedia
demograph. Topics included the RfA process (including lots of juicy
gossip), flagged revisions, the balance between admin duties and
regular editing and Wikimedia UK. The next meetup in Manchester will
be on Saturday 4th April.
6. News coverage
March has been a quieter time for us, with no big story dominating,
but we've seen the BBC discussing Wikipedia's articles on UK
politicians, while Jimmy Wales has been interviewed by the BBC World
Service, who wondered how Wikipedia manages to remain free, and Seth
Finkelstein wrote a critical piece in The Guardian on inclusionism and
deletionism in Wikipedia.
The February newsletter has been published at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Newsletter/February2009 and is copied
below for your convenience:
Summary: The chapter is now up and running, and we have now opened our
bank account. We have a new website, and are putting plans in place
for the first Annual General Meeting. Meanwhile, February has seen the
successful Wikipedia Loves Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
bidding to host Wikimania 2010 has opened, and the Government's
Intellectual Property consultation has closed. We also bring the
regular news of meet-ups, and a new feature highlighting press
coverage of Wikimedia in the UK.
In this month's newsletter:
1. Chapter formation process
2. Website
3. Annual General Meeting
4. Wikipedia Loves Art
5. Oxford Wikimania bid
6. IP consultation
7. Meet-ups
8. News coverage
1. Chapter formation process
We now have a bank account with the Co-Operative Bank! We'll shortly
be processing the membership applications and donations received so
far, so if you want to be one of the first members of the chapters you
need to get your applications in as soon as possible!
2. Website
If you're reading this, then you'll notice that we have a new website,
http://uk.wikimedia.org/! The site's naturally a wiki, so every page
is editable, although we will be protecting the pages that formally
represent the chapter (e.g. the Main Page, the Memorandum of
Association, etc.). Please, go forth and edit!
We're after administrators for the site to help maintain it - remove
vandalism, block troublesome users, edit protected pages, etc. If
you'd be interested in helping your chapter this way, then please let
us know.
3. Annual General Meeting
Now we have our bank account, we can finally pin down a date for the
AGM. This will be discussed at the next board meeting, on the 2nd of
March, and on the mailing list over the following week.
4. Wikipedia Loves Art
The Wikipedia Loves Art photography contest has been running all this
month at fifteen museums globally, including at the Victoria & Albert
Museum in London. The launch event on Sunday 1st February saw at least
30 people come along to the museum, who laid out refreshments, cameras
to lend, computers for uploading photos and staff on hand to help. The
following Sunday saw the regular "second Sunday" London meet-up
relocate to the museum, and half a dozen more people showed up then.
So far over 3,000 images have been uploaded to the flickr group,
including over 200 from the V&A. You only have a few days left until
the end of February to take pictures and upload them - so keep
snapping to be in with a chance of winning one of the prizes on offer!
5. Oxford Wikimania bid
User:Seddon has been continuing his work on the Wikimania bid.
However, for it to have a chance of success he needs to be able to
demonstrate to the judges that he has a committed team. Thus if you
want Wikimania in the UK, now is the time to really get involved.
6. IP consultation
Earlier this month we submitted a document to the government
(available at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Copyright_consultation) in
response to their request for comment on an IPO "Issues Paper". In our
response we focused on the issue of the copyright status of
photographs of public domain works. Currently in the UK anyone who
takes a photograph of a public domain painting (for example) holds
copyright over that photograph, which means, for example, that when
scanned post-cards of paintings are uploaded to Wikipedia, Wikimedia
is taking a legal risk. We argued that such photographs do not meet
the standards of originality necessary for a work to be copyrightable.
The deadline for submissions has been extended, so we have not heard
back from the IPO as yet, however we are optimistic that we will be
invited to discuss these issues further with them in the summer.
7. Meet-ups
The London February meet-up relocated to the Victoria & Albert museum
to take part in the Wikipedia Loves Art photography contest (see
above). We will return to the Penderel's Oak on 8th March. Meetups are
also planned over on 28th February in Cambridge and in the next couple
of months in Manchester and Birmingham.
8. News coverage
The possible implementation of flagged revisions on the English
language Wikipedia has been in the news in the UK, and we've been
providing accurate information. Mike Peel was interviewed by BBC Radio
Wales' "mousemat", who put together an informative feature. Meanwhile,
David Gerard spoke to the Daily Mail about some vandalism to the
article on Alan Titchmarsh.
Other stories this month have included a piece in the Sunday Times
based on an interview with Jimmy Wales, in which Giles Hattersley
claimed that his Wikipedia article had contained several errors - but
the Daily Telegraph noted that Hattersley has no Wikipedia article.
Reuters reported on a Conservative Party official altering a Wikipedia
article in an attempt to support a claim made by David Cameron. The
Independent published a article critical of Wikipedia, but David
Mitchell, writing in The Observer, thinks that Wikipedia is
"brilliant".