Hi friends,
I hope you're all enjoying Wikimania, online or onsite! If you're in
Katowice, please come say hi to me.
I'm sharing this message because we need to crowdsource some WikiLove for
an important policy event. As many of you know, explaining the Wikimedia
model to policy stakeholders is a key priority for our movement. We've
identified a BIG stage where we'd like to do this: the South by Southwest
2025 <https://www.sxsw.com/>[1] conference in Austin, Texas. They have a
unique process, and we need your help - to win a popularity contest.
*How you can help:* We submitted a panel proposal (details below the line)
titled "How can fictional futures help us strengthen truth and facts
online?". Panels that are selected are those that get the
most votes. Voting is open between now and August 18th. If there's one
thing we're really good at, it's crowdsourcing. Please vote for our panel
here <https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/151603> [2], and help us explain
the model to this audience.
Grateful if you could also share this with your friends in the movement and
beyond!
Best,
Ziski
[1] https://www.sxsw.com/
[2] https://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/151603
_________
The panel, "How can fictional futures help us strengthen truth and facts
online?", will bring together speakers from the worlds of tech, fiction and
journalism, to talk about how we can create a future where reliable,
well-sourced, and human-verified information is not only flourishing, but
public trust in it is growing. The speakers include:
-
Sewell Chan <https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/sewell-chan/>
(Moderator) – Editor-in-Chief, Texas Tribune
-
Karen Lord <https://karenlord.wordpress.com/> – Award-winning science
fiction author
-
Stephen Harrison <https://www.stephenharrison.com/> – Contributing
Editor, Slate
-
Rebecca MacKinnon, Vice President Global Advocacy, WMF
As part of these discussions, we will raise awareness about how Wikipedia’s
human-led content moderation model is an antidote to mis- and
disinformation. As we enter into a time where the use of artificial
intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent, Wikipedia’s human approach
to verifying content becomes more important than ever; this is something
that our teams have collectively been emphasizing in our external messaging
to help educate the media, lawmakers and the wider public about how this
model is important in maintaining information integrity, and why it should
be protected.
Franziska Putz (she/her)
Senior Movement Advocacy Manager
Global Advocacy, Wikimedia Foundation
Fputz(a)wikimedia.org
UTC Timezone
Hello everyone!
I am happy to share with you some interesting news coming from CASE
(Coalition against SLAPPs in Europe), a coalition of which Wikimedia Europe
is part of.
CASE just announced the launch of its latest resource: the Anti-SLAPP
Guidebook. This comprehensive guide is designed to empower public watchdogs
and advocates to protect themselves from abusive lawsuits and legal
threats, effectively position their defenses, and know where to seek help
if faced with legal challenges. You can find more information and access
the guidebook on the CASE webpage
<https://www.the-case.eu/latest/case-guidebook-how-to-prevent-slapps-or-get-…>
(it will be actually published on the 5 of September).
The CASE Guidebook covers essential topics, including:
⭐ Defamation
⭐ Protest
⭐ Copyright and Trademark
⭐ Whistleblowing
⭐ Commercial and Official Secrets
⭐ Data Protection Law
CASE is also offering a series of mini-trainings focused on the most
relevant areas for those who speak truth to power:
-
5 September, 14:00 CET: Preventing Trouble with Copyright & Trademark
Laws
Chair: Elise Perry, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Speakers: Daniel Simons, Greenpeace and Gill Phillips, former Editorial
Legal Director at the Guardian
-
12 September, 14:00 CET: Preventing Trouble with Defamation
Chair: Elise Perry, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Speaker: Daniel Simons, Greenpeace
-
17 September, 14:00 CET: Preventing Trouble with Data Protection Laws &
Whistleblowing, Commercial and Official Secrets Laws
Chair: Elise Perry, Thomson Reuters Foundation
Speakers: Pauline Delmas, Sherpa, Manon Yzermans, Maison des Lanceurs
d’Alerte & Nikita Kekana, Digital Freedom Fund
In these sessions, they will break down key terminology, explore relevant
laws, and provide practical tips to help you safeguard yourself from legal
threats.
Feel free to register for these valuable training sessions!
#Training 1:
Anti-SLAPP Training #1: Preventing Trouble with Copyright & Trademark Laws
Tickets, Thu, Sep 5, 2024 at 2:00 PM | Eventbrite
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anti-slapp-training-1-preventing-trouble-with-…>
#Training 2:
Anti-SLAPP Training #2: Preventing Trouble with Defamation Tickets, Thu,
Sep 12, 2024 at 2:00 PM | Eventbrite
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anti-slapp-training-2-preventing-trouble-with-…>
#Training 3:
Anti-SLAPP Training #3: Data Protection, Whistleblowing & Official Secrets
Tickets, Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 2:00 PM | Eventbrite
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/anti-slapp-training-3-data-protection-whistleb…>
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to them at
coalition(a)the-case.org.
All the best, Michele
*Mr Michele FAILLA*
Senior EU Law & Policy Advisor
*Wikimedia Europe*
Rue Belliard 12
1040 Brussels
https://wikimedia.brussels
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.*
Wikimedia Europe ivzw
Dear all,
so nice having met quite a bunch of you at *Wikimania Katowice* and how
wonderful that the plan from Santiago having a follow up advovacy meeting
became reality so soon. Plus, the workshop was simply great, my heartfelt
thanks to the organizers and you all!
*Please allow me to send Updates on the GDC process as you may be
interested:*
You remember that we sent our Open Letter before the second Revision of the
draft GDC was out to influence its content. Meanwhile, the third (and last)
revision ist out, but not public. Why? IT "moved to the Ambassador Level",
meaning that only the representatives of the member states were involved.
They read the text and just had to remain silent until July 19. However,
"several" member states "broke the silence" issuing "concerns" about
specific paragraphs. That means, the text ist rejected and negotiations
continue, but only about these paragraphs.
Curiously, all interested stakeholders are again invited to speak at
Thursday, *22nd of August 2024* (10:00–11:30 ET/16:00–17:30 Uhr MESZ) You
have to register*.*
Registration for listening or speaking:
https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=2zWeD09UYE-9zF6kFubccH-…
What exactly can be said if the information about the precise paragraphs
remain secret to anyone outside the group of member states remains a
mystery to me. The inclusion of civil society stakeholders was called
"window dressing" by some experts.
The technical Community has addressed this process with its shortfalls in
inclusivity with a recent Open Letter:
https://www.cira.ca/en/resources/news/state-of-internet/joint-statement-tcc…
Another Open Letter addressed several concerns by civil society. You can
See that the Commons and a robust digital Public infrastructure are not
mentioned, making our Open Letter so essential:
https://www.apc.org/node/40255
I will try to find some more details about paragraphs and such and maybe
participate in the said stakeholder event. Normally you have a statement
for two minutes. If anyone of you would like to speak, too, we may want to
align forces. However, I will not waste too much time in this statements as
they may not be very impactful.
Open to comments and advice
Yours, Friederike