Wikimedia-l December 2007

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

163 participants
159 discussions

[Foundation-l] Czech Wikipedia's EDP and WMF's licensing policy
by Michal Zlatkovsky 20 Dec '07

20 Dec '07

Hello, after the Board approved the licensing policy (http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Licensing_policy in case anyone forgot :) ), we have written an EDP on Czech Wikipedia that allows us to use things like company logos under certain conditions (okay with US and Czech laws, ie. explicit permission needed; okay with GFDL, ie. can be nonderivative; no free image available; fair use-like rationale) and we've been using it for a while. However, I talked to pfctdayelise about our EDP today and her opinion is that the Foundation's licensing policy was targeted to "legal loopholes" like fair use or fair dealing - and as we don't have any such thing in the Czech Republic (and I'm pretty confident we don't, there have been numerous discussions about that), our EDP is invalid and we can't make any exception policy at all. I think her interpretation is correct and we at Czech Wikipedia should revoke out EDP, but I'd like to hear more opinions, and as I don't expect any official reply, I'm trying this mailing list. So, what do you think? :) Thanks, Michal Zlatkovsky, [[m:User:Timichal]]

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[Foundation-l] Wikipedia colored according to trust
by Luca de Alfaro 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

Dear All, we have a demo at http://wiki-trust.cse.ucsc.edu/ that features the whole English Wikipedia, as of its February 6, 2007 snapshot, colored according to text trust. This is the first time that even we can look at how the "trust coloring" looks on the whole of the Wikipedia! We would be very interested in feedback (the wikiquality-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org mailing list is the best place). If you find bugs, you can email us at http://groups.google.com/group/wiki-trust Happy Holidays! Luca PS: yes, we know, some images look off. It is currently fairly difficult for a site outside of the Wikipedia to fetch Wikipedia images correctly. PPS: there are going to be a few planned power outages on our campus in the next days, so if the demo is off, try again later.

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[Foundation-l] Wikimedia/Wikipedia trademarks?
by Nathan Awrich 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

Out of curiosity, how are trademarks derived from Wikimedia/Wikipedia handled and licensed? Since the Foundation doesn't necessarily impose content restrictions on other sites (except, perhaps, under legal constraints?) does the trademark license to non-English chapters include indemnification against liabilities based on content? Is the OTRS system effective at policing, say, libel in languages other than the most common European languages? Has the Foundation been notified of any trademark infringement issues/pursued action? Theoretically (in extremis, or a change in opinion on the part of the majority of those responsible for electing Board members) could the Foundation could impose additional restrictions on chapter Wikipedias or revoke license to use the Wikipedia name? I haven't seen any mention of this in the bylaws, so I thought I'd ask and see if someone can clue me in. Thanks, Nathan

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[Foundation-l] Wikipedia and Wikinews
by Mike Godwin 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

Brian writes: >> Wikipedia is not, and should not attempt to be, a news source. If >> you >> can't >> accept that news coverage is incomplete and *not encyclopaedic* >> then you >> don't understand the differences between the projects. >> >> I don't want to get dragged into a prolonged flame war on the >> subject, but >> I >> agree wholeheartedly with the philosophy that Wikipedia should not >> try to >> act as a news source. >> >> Someone dies? The facts (date/time/cause) go on Wikipedia. The obit >> goes >> on >> Wikinews. Speaking as a former reporter (and still a sometime journalist), I respect the distinction Brian is trying to make here. To me, the problem is partly enforcement (I don't want to add a new restriction on Wikipedia contributions) and partly user satisfaction. I think this is less an issue of project rivalry than one of simply trying to address how users actually use the projects. I know from experience that en.wiki users value the up-to-dateness of Wikipedia entries regarding breaking news. I think this particular user community (en.wiki) would like for that usefulness to continue, and I would be saddened to see a new class of edit wars start based on whether this or that addition should be in Wikinews rather than Wikipedia. What I would like to see more of is Wikipedia articles citing Wikinews as a source. ---Mike >

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[Foundation-l] Conditional approval for many projects
by GerardM 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

Hoi, To get rid of some backlog, many projects have been conditionally approved. The basic rationale for these approvals has been - it is an unproblematic existing ISO-639-3 code - often there is an existing project Wikipedia already I am happy to report that many of the follow up projects already have a quality localisation (above 90%) and I am sure that this can be achieved for the other secondary languages as well. For the new languages we expect to have at least the major messages localised. These messages are grouped together in the BetaWiki so it is easy to check their status. Many of the MediaWiki extensions can now be localised in MediaWiki as well. So when particular extensions are to be part of a particular environment, (cite for instance in Wikiversity ??) it will be good when you check out their localisation as well. All the new languages have been prepared in BetaWiki ( http://translatewiki.net/wiki/Main_Page ) BetaWiki is a really lively environment and every day over 500 localised messages become part of the core MediaWiki functionality. This means that you can have your own user interface in all Wikimedia Foundation projects. When you find that your experience is not as good as on your home wiki, you can help and make a difference :) Thanks, GerardM

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Re: [Foundation-l] Question about Erik
by Michael Snow 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

Dan Rosenthal wrote: > Maybe someone can help answer this question for me. > > Erik is now the Deputy ED. I assume that this is the position that was > budgeted for in the ED's budget. Erik presumably approved that budget > while he was on the board. Now he is the recipient of a salary that he > approved in his board tenure? Is that correct? > No, I don't believe it is. Perhaps you missed the announcement last week on this list, which identified Cheryl Steffen as the new personal assistant to the Executive Director. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-December/035917.html I'm not sure what part of the budget Erik's salary would come from. Since the plan is for Brion to report to Erik, perhaps it's anticipated that it would fall under the "Technology" area. Given the position, it could also be considered "Finance and Administration", or the budget might split the assignment of his salary across multiple areas. The published "planned spending distribution" doesn't go into detail about individual salaries, nor would it necessarily be expected to. I also note that the budget was approved October 6, whereas the resolution appointing Sue as Executive Director (from which Erik recused himself) was passed November 26. If his new position was offered between those two dates, then I wouldn't consider it improper for him to have voted to approve the budget. --Michael Snow

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[Foundation-l] Question about Erik
by Dan Rosenthal 19 Dec '07

19 Dec '07

Maybe someone can help answer this question for me. Erik is now the Deputy ED. I assume that this is the position that was budgeted for in the ED's budget. Erik presumably approved that budget while he was on the board. Now he is the recipient of a salary that he approved in his board tenure? Is that correct? -Dan Rosenthal

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Re: [Foundation-l] [WikiEN-l] Citizendium on quality
by George Herbert 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

cc'ed to Foundation-L. On Dec 18, 2007 3:44 PM, Jussi-Ville Heiskanen <cimonavaro(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On 12/19/07, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > http://blog.citizendium.org/2007/12/18/why-the-focus-on-creating-quality-co… > > > > Interesting thoughts on quality. > > For me the telling line in that blog post is: > > "Even if we don't get it right, someone eventually will, because it is > possible and because there is such a huge potential demand for it. I > look forward to that day!" > > That is pretty much what citizendium is relying on. That there is a > "huge potential > demand" for perfection instead of "just good enough". I don't see that > this is a gimme, but it could be true. I cast my lot with "just good > enough", so will have > to forego perfection. Without getting absolutist, I think there's clearly a spectrum here. We've picked one point; it works for us, and our editors and our readership, and we're taken credibly by outside organizations and society as a whole. It may be that other points in the spectrum are both workable as volunteer projects (critical mass of contributors and content) and higher in the quality spectrum, and seen as more valuable by society as a whole. This is something that the Foundation may want to keep in mind; "English Wikipedia" as currently structured may not be the only english language encyclopedia project worth supporting. Why let Larry and Google have all the fun exploring the corners and diversity options in the space we're in? -- -george william herbert george.herbert(a)gmail.com

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[Foundation-l] Announcing Erik Moeller as Wikimedia Deputy Director
by Sue Gardner 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

Hi folks, I am delighted to announce Erik Moeller as Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. Erik will take up his new responsibilities in our San Francisco headquarters beginning January 10, and will report directly to me. As part of this transition, and as you know already from Florence's announcement yesterday, Erik has resigned from his role as Board member. Erik is well-known in the Wikimedia community. A twice-elected board member, he has been active in the projects since 2001. Through his six years of volunteer participation, he has made thousands of edits and uploads, contributed to the MediaWiki software, helped launch Wikinews and Commons, and supported the organization in numerous other ways. He is also the author of "Die heimliche Medienrevolution," one of the first books to include an in-depth analysis of wiki collaboration. Most recently, Erik has been Chief Technology Officer of Stichting Open Progress, where he managed a decentralized team of developers in the implementation of OmegaWiki, a collaborative ontology database. He also provides hosting for several wiki communities, including WikiEducator.org, and has project-managed other wiki software development projects such as the LiquidThreads discussion system. Our chief technical officer, Brion Vibber, will report to Erik. In addition, I will be delegating specific projects to him, and he will act on my behalf when I am traveling or otherwise unavailable. He will also play an important role in orienting the new San Francisco staff, and helping them to understand the processes, history and values of the Wikimedia projects. Since I joined the Foundation in June, I have been impressed with Erik's commitment, hard work and evangelism on behalf of Wikimedia. I know he will now be able to make an even greater contribution to what we do, and I'm very pleased he's agreed to join the staff in the new office. Please join me in welcoming Erik to the staff of the foundation. Sue Gardner Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: for an academic endorsement of wikipedia articles?
by Michael Bimmler 18 Dec '07

18 Dec '07

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Pascal Belouin <pbelouin(a)hotmail.com> Date: Dec 17, 2007 4:54 PM Subject: for an academic endorsement of wikipedia articles? To: foundation-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org Hello, I was thinking about the fact that wikipedia was still a tricky subject regarding its use for referencing in the academic world. I was wondering if it would not be possible to obtain from official academic bodies a sort of endorsement that would qualify a wikipedia article for "official" academic referencing? Regards, Pascal Belouin www.belouin.com

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Wikimedia-l December 2007