First of all, everyone who showed support for (more) cuteness in the Wikimedia movement received two stickers: the logo of the WCA + "Cuteness approved!". This support was indicated on Meta in the section Users that support cuteness in the Wikimedia movement of the Wikimedia Cuteness Association page. This was very successful and resulted in 109 new indicators of support on this Meta page, and more have promised to sign up.Thank you Asaf for your mail!Hereby a cuteness report on Wikimania 2017, written on behalf of Wendy the Weasel.We had a great Wikimania in Montreal with a lot of cuteness.On Friday 11 August Katherine Maher asked in her keynote about Wikimania 2030 the support from the Wikimedia Cuteness Association for the Wikimania 2030 strategic direction. The same evening Wendy the Weasel came with an official statement that it is endorsed. On request of Katherine Maher, the Wikimedia Cuteness Advisory Committee has been founded to be able to provide thoroughgoing feedback on cuteness issues. Read the statement at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Cuteness_ Association/Vision_for_ Wikimedia_2030 The Wikimedia Cuteness Advisory Committee has reviewed the text and has come with some remarks. Two major issues exist with the current draft: it misses the word "cuteness" at least once, and second more cute words are suggested to have the direction much better fit with how Wikimedia will be in 2030: much more cute!On Sunday 13 August, during the closing event of Wikimania 2017, many of the present cuties from the Wikimedia movement had a reserved seat close to the speakers. One of the speakers was Jimmy Wales. During his speech, one of the cuties could no longer hold it up and threw himself down. It is not a good idea to speculate on the exact cause, but maybe the next time the Wikimedia Cuteness Advisory Committee can give an advice to Jimmy Wales wherever needed.
after the closing event of Wikimania 2017 the group photo was taken in the Ballroom. On the front row the many cuties from the Wikimedia Cuteness Association sat on the front row. (Group photo not yet found on Commons...)After the closing ceremony and the group photo, the General Assembly (AGM) of the Wikimedia Cuteness Association took place, present were 30 (!) cuties, supported by their assistants and many other supporters of cuteness. Also group photos were made.On Sunday evening we also got informed (seriously!) by a member of the Affiliations Committee that the Wikimedia Cuteness Association can become an official user group of the Wikimedia movement, and after two years the user group can become a thematic organisation. The benefit of being recognised is that we can send a board member to the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin and that we can receive grants, like for buying the copyrights on the designs of members of the Boards of Cuties.It is obvious that cuteness supports the mission and vision of the Wikimedia movement, but some humanoids are still in denial. A member of the Learning & Evaluation team from the Wikimedia Foundation indicated that it would be good to do research on how cuteness effects the performance of contributors in quantification and numbers. Perhaps an questionnaire can be executed.Before the Wikimania conference, the Hackathon took place. During the hackathon there was a goat-a-thon to close the goat-gap as there are not enough goats on Wikimedia projects. As goats are special members of the Wikimedia Cuteness Association, and knowledge gaps in the Wikimedia projects are a( )cute problem, the Board of Cuties is very happy that a special activity has been organised to address this gap. Goatification is important for the Wikimedia movement, therefore also a goatification project exists on Phabricator, on Wikidata the WikiProject Goats exists, and one submission about goats was held at Wikimania.As many of you already know, since the Wikimedia Conference in April 2017 in Berlin, the cuties work on a Cuties Space Policy, as successor of the Friendly Space Policy. This has not been finished yet and is still in draft.A final point of order, please make sure all cuties are listed on the membership list at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Cuteness_ Association/Membership_list The Wikimedia Cuteness Association we also re-activate the wiki of the Wikimedia Cuteness Association so that we can have there a full photo album of all our members online.The two creators of the wiki are too busy to maintain the wiki, therefore Romaine will (hopefully) soon take it over.Kind cute regards,Wendy the Weasel
amanuensis/assistant of Wendy: Romaine2017-08-09 2:13 GMT+02:00 Asaf Bartov <abartov@wikimedia.org>:______________________________Dear friends in cuteness,What is the expected representation of our illustrious association at Wikimania this year? Let folks accompanying members of the Wikimedia Cuteness Association post a brief introduction, and perhaps say something about their expected cute participation in this year's event.Cancunchyk the Turtle[1] is here in Montreal, with me as amanuensis. Cancunchyk has been participating in the WCA's first-ever Cuteness Exchange Program, and has been traveling with me this past year, since Wikimania in Esino Lario in 2016. He has had occasion to supervise my talks and activities in events such as the Wikimedia CEE Meeting in Armenia, WikiConference India, WikiIndaba in Ghana, the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, WikiConference Bulgaria, WikiConference Czech Republic, and even met a US Ambassador and was instrumental in sensitive talks with the Turkish government in a (so far unsuccessful) effort to remove the block from Wikipedia in Turkey.My usual travel companion, Shaxal the Lion[2], has had the benefit of WMF Board member Nataliia Tymkiv serving as his amanuensis since Esino Lario, and is expected to attend -- and, indeed, supervise -- the WMF Board of Trustees meeting this year.At the conclusion of Wikimania, Shaxal's and Cancunchyk's exchange program would end, and they will work together[3] on publishing a report on the Cuteness Exchange Program, which they hope to see replicated across the cuteness movement.Finally, I believe I have spotted *prospective member* Pushynochka's amanuensis in the lobby today, and since Shaxal and Cancunchyk have already conducted a membership interview with Pushynochka in Esino Lario[4], this event would be a good opportunity to formally induct Pushynochka to the WCA.Yours in cuteness,Asaf_________________
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