Hi Aaron and Pine,
Please see https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2015-May/031684.html
I was thrilled to see Maribel Acosta's WikiWho check-in for Mediawiki-Utilities today, and I hope you are, too: https://github.com/maribelacosta/wikiwho/pull/3
I intend to raise money independently so that someone such as Maribel or perhaps one of her colleagues recommended by Fabian Flöck can work on https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Accuracy_review
Once that is complete, the project calls for human fact checkers to work on the suggested passages for proofreading and fact checking review. I intend to raise money for them, too, but I understand that the WMF can't have any part of hiring them to preserve the safe harbor DMCA provisions. Earlier in the year, I administered qualifying examinations to hundreds of fact checker candidates, and have transferred the results of those examinations to Lila and Dario, in case I get run over by a bus, and also so that they can independently confirm the quality of the examination process, questions, and responses which they should have.
Aaron, can you please confirm that Lila and Dario have those and don't need anything more from me to read them? I would love to do this myself, but I will be very busy through the end of the year.
Best regards, James
On Thu, Jun 4, 2015 at 6:09 AM, Aaron Halfaker aaron.halfaker@gmail.com wrote:
Hi James,
I've been away traveling for the last couple of weeks. Regretfully, I don't know what you are talking about. I see that a link was censored from a previous email in the thread.
What exactly are you hoping for? That we'll dedicate some researcher time to a specific project? Maybe you're just looking for feedback. I see you mention hiring people -- but for what purpose?
-Aaron
On Wed, Jun 3, 2015 at 9:11 PM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
P.S. I mean, the WMF can't hire them but the WEF can, and I hope they do soon to complement the accuracy metric without expenditure.
On Wednesday, June 3, 2015, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Aaron,
Could you please confirm that Lila and Dario are in receipt of the fact-checker candidate list and associated materials? Please remember that the WEF can't hire them but the WikiEd Foundation has not yet achieved IdeaLab technology, so your assistance may still be required. Thank you for your patience.
Best regards, James Salsman
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com Date: Sunday, May 31, 2015 Subject: comments on Annual Plan To: Lila Tretikov lila@wikimedia.org Cc: Dario Taraborelli dtaraborelli@wikimedia.org
Dear Dario and Lila,
Are you both able to see the human fact checker and proofreader candidates in [censored] ?
Please keep the contents of that file confidential, as I promised I would not share it with commercial interests.
Please let me know your thoughts on the next best steps.
Best regards, James
On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 10:05 PM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
Lila,
Thank you so much. I will help Dario as much as I can. You are both so great.
Best regards, Jim
On Thursday, May 28, 2015, Lila Tretikov lila@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hi James,
Not sure we can "take this away" better than another volunteer, but we do plan to focus on quality measurements. I am CCing Dario who is in charge of Analytics Research to look into the specifics of what's involved here and how it may link to the general quality metrics.
Lila
On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 7:54 AM, James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Lila,
Please take this away from me. I do not want to be in a position where my influence over it can unduly enrich my new client by degrading the quality of the encyclopedia. Please let me know your decision.
Best regards, James
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: James Salsman jsalsman@gmail.com Date: Thu, May 28, 2015 at 8:52 AM Subject: comments on Annual Plan To: Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Regarding https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2015-16#Eng...
Will key quality metrics for reading include accuracy of articles on the Simple English Wikipedia?
To that end, will the Wikimedia Foundation please take over this project in full as stated here: https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2015-May/031684.html
I have a new contract through the end of the year and will be unable to devote the time I had planned. Thank you.
Best regards, James Salsman