Wikimedia-l June 2008

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127 participants
110 discussions

Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

Durova's point is that in her case, law enforcement was unable and unwilling to help. Apathetic would be an understatement. Willfully negligent might be even more appropriate. I think her point is that we ought to consider what actions the foundation can take to assist individuals in cases where the courts and law enforcement aren't a recourse. And I'll verify her statement about the particular stalker on Wikipedia Review and the checkuser he stalked (not that we don't all know who that might be), namely because he's got my personal information too and has threatened me as well. -- Dan Rosenthal ---- Perhaps Dan misread my words. I have described David Shankbone's situation and my own, not some other person's. In a general sense I do know of other instances, quite a few actually. Unless a person gives me permission to discuss their situation I respect their desire for privacy. This is the type of situation where the decision about what to do belongs solidly in the hands of the individual most directly involved, in each individual instance. The decision to step forward involves a near-certainty of increased trolling and may enhance actual danger. In this difficult discussion I ask all participants to measure their comments wisely. This list is public. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

I am a bit lost as to what this whole thread is about. Many people seem to be speaking with a great deal of allusion where I am not familar enough with the backgroun to dechiper it. So can someone clearly tell me if there are any current admins or crats on any wiki that are known to have "on or off list threaten others to kill, maim and rape"? Birgitte SB ---- Gerard's descriptions in this thread are consistent with a series of e-mails I've been receiving for months. I read them in voice chat over Skype recently. Being a decent and sensible man, Gerard gasped. They are quite graphic and they come from a static location within driving distance of my home. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Geoffrey Plourde 11 Jun '08

11 Jun '08

Greg; Thanks for your concerns. I believe that the Foundation should take the step of affirming that they will not stand for stalking of users, not necessaily a huge banhammer. The group of users would be more productive in hunting down and bringing justice to the stalkers. As a side digression, there is a measure in Congress, HR 6123, that would outlaw stalking over the internet. ----- Original Message ---- From: Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell(a)gmail.com> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Sent: Sunday, June 8, 2008 10:19:00 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 11:54 PM, Geoffrey Plourde <geo.plrd(a)yahoo.com> wrote: [snip] > RickK left because his family was threatened. Not to belittle your concern about Cyberstalking... but ... RickK 'left' after being blocked for 3RR in a dispute with SPUI of all people. (A tangent, I know but I've found that uncorrected statements have a terrible tendency of becoming 'the truth'. ... ) At the end of the day no one on Wikipedia or at Wikimedia is empowered to stop real staking (can we drop the 'cyber'? It makes it sound like a video game. If you're being stalked does it matter how it got started?)... Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a vigilante posse, not law enforcement. Stalking which is serious and real.. rather than an extended online pissing match... stuff that endangers people can't be improved by anointing a few more users as holy emperors of the Wiki. Take a look at DavidShankbone's comments on Digg: David's a nice guy and I have a lot of sympathy for what he's gone through... But he writes: "The Wikimedia Foundation needs to publicly support the creation of a group of Wikipedia volunteers who have the authority to define harassment and stalking and take action against it. They will advise the Stewards of cases that require a full block across all projects of an IP range." ... Now seriously, if your problems can be actually resolved by smacking the enemy with a ZOMG WMF WIDE BAN, thats not stalking... it's an internet pissing match between people who are taking Wikipedia far too seriously. Is it a problem that so many good contributors have a problem avoiding Internet Drama? Sure... But to call random internet drama stalking is akin to yelling "rape" every time you get some unwanted flirtation. Overuse of the a serious word diminishes its importance and makes it insufficiently expressive when we really need it. In fairness, there are a lot of people on English Wikipedia who have been stalked, attacked, and otherwise mistreated in serious ways. Yet, many of those people have also been among those calling for more impressive ban hammers. I don't think that just because someone is asking for an internet-drama solution doesn't mean they don't haven't been harmed in a serious way. But the ZOMG WMF WIDE BAN can't actually solve their real problems... but the real stalking is always intermixed with regular Internet drama, so I guess that internet drama solutions are what get called for because actually addressing the stalking is much harder, if not sometimes impossible, and perhaps when you're looking for revenge you'll take what you can get... ::shrugs:: I can only guess. _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

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[Foundation-l] Britannica
by Milos Rancic 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

I saw David's post from a week ago at wikien-l... Which remembered me to ask: Did anyone from WFM anytime talked with people from Britannica about possible cooperation? Their most important advantage we will never have: reliability in the strictly scientific sense. And both projects may benefit from cooperation (if they adopt our license, of course [at least for some part of their content]). BTW, sorry for heresy :)

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[Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Long_term_abuse/JB196 > > How does this relate to stalking? I don't see it mentioned on that page. ---- It doesn't. This thread has been hijacked in pursuit of much less serious matters than stalking, and I'm very sorry to see that. I had hoped that editors who have themselves experienced severe harassment would exhibit better priorities. Nonetheless, I saw a post that painted with a very broad brush that covered a volunteer in whom I have the highest respect, and with whom i have worked closely for a year and a half. He's under the gun right now in other regards, over a dispute in which both he and the other side have valid points, and it saddens me to see a bunker mentality set in. A similar bunker mentality happened last fall; I made mistakes then. It isn't a good thing when dedicated and productive volunteers get caught up in that, and I wished to demonstrate that he had indeed done very good work in the site's best interest. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Geoffrey Plourde 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

Well, I don't know if I have mentioned this before but there are certain civil remedies that can be taken. First, when legal action is filed, at least in California, you can have a peace officer serve the summons. A officer at the door tends to make stalkers lose their belief of invincibility. In addition, restraining orders can be enforced by the person holding the order. It is a matter of filing a contempt motion and is a pain, but it is effective. ----- Original Message ---- From: Durova <nadezhda.durova(a)gmail.com> To: foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 5:07:36 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article Even if you know who it is, even if you know where they are, if they haven't crossed the line into clearly criminal conduct then getting law enforcement to stop them may be difficult or impossible. You can try a restraining order in some cases, or suing them, but that's not always useful either. ---- Oh, it goes beyond that. Even if the behavior has clearly crossed the line into criminal conduct then getting law enforcement to stop them is difficult to impossible. In my lifetime I have stood in front of police officers, restraining order in hand, and pointed to the precise lines that the perp (who was standing ten feet away) was violating at that very moment before the officers' eyes, and the officers refused to take the perp into custody. That happened not once but repeatedly with different officers. And their chain of command supported them. I have witnessed police refuse to take a report for a direct death threat even when a restraining order was already in place. And after I did get police reports, the police misplaced physical evidence repeatedly. When I went to court with an armful of physical evidence, the prosecutor himself showed up at court having left the entire case file behind on his desk, and cut a sweetheart deal with the defense attorney while shutting me out. I asked to speak to the prosecutor repeatedly, but was denied the opportunity until after the judge had already ruled, at which point the prosecutor told me all my evidence was past history and might as well be thrown away. I did get that fellow behind bars, though. And I did some things to make sure that prosecutor's office never handled another case that sloppily again (when it changes endorsements in the mayor's race they change their tune). In short, I'm no noob and I'm no fool. These last few months several people have been telling me who Gavin de Becker is, as if I hadn't already read "The Gift of Fear" years before I joined Wikipedia. I don't entirely agree with Mr. de Becker. I see where he's coming from, but he and I have philosophical differences. I also think Wikipedia is different enough from the world of his usual clients that his approach requires modification. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Geoffrey Plourde 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

Apologies, I realized that this could be misconstrued. Please note IANAL. This was meant for cases where the police refuse to deal with it. Civil and criminal law are different kettles of fish. Again no disrespect was meant. ----- Original Message ---- From: Durova <nadezhda.durova(a)gmail.com> To: foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 6:34:00 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article Well, I don't know if I have mentioned this before but there are certain civil remedies that can be taken. First, when legal action is filed, at least in California, you can have a peace officer serve the summons. A officer at the door tends to make stalkers lose their belief of invincibility. In addition, restraining orders can be enforced by the person holding the order. It is a matter of filing a contempt motion and is a pain, but it is effective. ---- Geoff, I have long experience with both the theoretical and practical aspects of California law in this regard. -Durova -- http://durova.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

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Re: [Foundation-l] Stalking Article
by Durova 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

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Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia mouvement
by Geoffrey Plourde 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

How about the Wikinet? ----- Original Message ---- From: Pharos <pharosofalexandria(a)gmail.com> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Sent: Monday, June 9, 2008 5:26:49 PM Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia mouvement On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 2:17 PM, Milos Rancic <millosh(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 6:57 PM, Florence Devouard <Anthere9(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> I posted a proposition regarding the Wikimedia Mouvement here: >> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Www.wikimedia.org_template >> >> The general idea is to create a website which would report on our global >> mouvement. Main benefits would be >> * to present ourselves as a loose but nevertheless coordinated body of >> some sort (public face) >> * share practices and experiences between chapters and wmf >> >> Situation right now is not satisfactory and I believe it likely to >> create either more tension or more separation in the future. Generally, >> information regarding wikimedia mouvement is hosted on >> * internalwiki (private wiki shared between some chapters members and wmf), >> * on meta (access to information is very confusing since it is mostly a >> work-wiki and a wiki shared by many), >> * on Foundationwiki (eg >> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact_2008) >> * on each association website (eg http://wikimedia.de/) >> >> Can we discuss that ? If you are supportive, please mention it on the >> wiki page > > Add there unofficial Wikimedian organizations, too: From the seeds for > the future chapters (all over USA, for example) and semi-official > organizations like Wikinewsie is to the (Not The) Wikipedia Weekly, > Wikizine etc. As someone who has been involved in organizing a New York City chapter (and has been watching other US efforts), indeed, I think this could be useful. I agree with some that calling it the "Wikipedia Movement" might not be best. Maybe the "Wikimedia Network" (as suggested by Florence) or "Wikimedia Volunteers Movement" or something. Another benefit I see could be an e-mail directory of dedicated Wikimedians in different cities and regions, available for press inquiries and outreach to academic and cultural institutions. This directory shouldn't be allowed to grow stale, and should be pruned regularly. If and when this wiki is started, I would also propose an aggressive policy of merging and redirecting the clutter of half-formed idea pages which we will inevitably see. This site should be clearly oriented as a public face. Thanks, Pharos _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l

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[Foundation-l] Public Outreach: Report and Newsletter (05/08)
by Frank Schulenburg 10 Jun '08

10 Jun '08

Public Outreach: Report and Newsletter (05/08) Status: 30 May 2008 Prepared by: Frank Schulenburg Content: 1. ENCOURAGING UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS * Survey Generation 50plus * Workshops for senior citizen internet tutors * Lecture at the course "Manager for virtual learning projects in seniors' education in Europe" * Online course "Wikipedia in internet cafés for older people" * Workshops in Africa supported by Namibian ambassador * UCT and UWC declared interest to stage Wikipedia workshops at Capetown, South Africa 2. WIKIPEDIA ACADEMY SERIES * Third German Wikipedia Academy in Berlin 3. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES * Outlook: Production of Wikipedia video tutorials 4. PARTNERSHIPS * Partnership with ZAWiW (Centre for General Scientific Education) 5. GRANTS AND FUNDING * Wikimedia Deutschland: New budget for international outreach activities 6. UPCOMING * Lecture at the University of Hildesheim (06/2008) * Workshop at the 13th Annual Conference of the Society for Media in Science, Danube University of Krems (09/2008) Contact ---------- 1. UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS SURVEY GENERATION 50PLUS A survey conducted among older German Wikipedians in March 2008 treats the question of how to encourage senior citizens of the 50-plus age group to contribute. The participants answered to the following questions: * How much time do you spend on reading Wikipedia articles / editing Wikipedia / contributing to discussions per day? * What ist your motivation to contribute to Wikipedia? * What are the specific problems older people have to deal with when contributing to Wikipedia? * What keeps older people from contributing to Wikipedia? * How do you rate the findability and comprehensibility of Wikipedia's help pages? * Which measures fit best to help older people to start contributing to Wikipedia? * Have you ever motivated other older people to contribute to Wikipedia? * Would you be willing to give Wikipedia introductions to other older people (e.g. workshops, lectures) * How do you rate the Wikimedia Foundation's efforts to encourage contributions from older people? The survey is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's strategy to encourage contributions from targeted underrepresented groups. Summary of the results: It is not so much technical barriers what keeps older people from contributing, but a lack of self-confidence, lack of personal contact persons and an atmoshere of conflict and stress. Even if some usability problems exist (e.g. templates, infoboxes and tables are too difficult to handle), these problems are not age-specific. What distinguishes senior citizens from younger people is the size of their "biographical backpack". Many of them are used to hierarchical structures they experienced during their working life. As Wikipedia's internal structures and work flows are subject to frequent changes, outreach material for senior citizens should list a number of good arguments why openness is important for a lively web project like Wikipedia. Outreach material should also give reasonable answers to the question "Why should I sacrifice my time by contributing to Wikipedia?" Generativity as well as the possibility to learn by teaching others are important motivational factors for senior citizens. Many participants of the survey are willing to help. This is a big opportunity: older Wikipedians are much more convincing for people of their age and may give them more self-confidence ("If he/she succeeded to contribute at his/her age - why shouldn't I be able to do the same?"). Senior citizens are an auspicious target group - not only because of their bigger time budget but also due to their knowledge and experiences. Outreach activities should refer to existing structures ("Wiki-adoption"), concentrate on measures that are most likely to satisfy the needs of older people (printed material) and try to achieve sustainability by encouraging volunteerism. WORKSHOPS FOR SENIOR CITIZEN INTERNET TUTORS On March 17 and 18 I held a lecture and two Wikipedia workshops for senior citizen internet tutors in Bad Urach, Germany. Senior citizen internet tutors are older people with an above-average understanding of computer issues who teach internet skills to people of their age. Around 60 participants from various organisations active in the field of adult education attended the workshops. LECTURE AT THE COURSE "MANAGER FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING PROJECTS IN SENIORS' EDUCATION IN EUROPE" On April 24 I held a lecture at the course "Manager for virtual learning projects in seniors' education in Europe", an introductory course of the european Grundtvig lifelong learning programme. The Grundtvig programme seeks to respond to the challenges raised by the necessity to update knowledge and to provide adults with pathways to improve their know-how and competences, as they progress through life so that they can adapt to changes in the labour market and society. The workshop was intended for those who wish to apply the new information and communication media in seniors' education. The participants belonged to an important target group as they act as multipliers for information about new media in their respective countries. ONLINE COURSE "WIKIPEDIA IN INTERNET CAFÉS FOR OLDER PEOPLE" An online course entitled "Wikipedia in internet cafés for older people" has been developed by de:User:Lyzzy, Christian Carls of the "Forum Seniorenarbeit NRW" and me [1]. The course is intended for volunteers in internet cafés for older people who are willing to stage Wikipedia workshops on their own. The course will start on 9 June 2008 and will be funded in parts by the German Wikimedia Chapter. During the first weeks we will teach the participants the basics of how to edit Wikipedia articles. In a second phase we will develop a concept for Wikipedia courses for senior citizens. After six weeks the participants should be able to act as Wikipedia evangelists and motivate other people of their age to contribute to Wikipedia. A map [2] drawn by commons:User:Lencer illustrates the internet use of people between 55 and 74 years of age in Europe. If the course succeeds, its concept can be transferred to other European countries with an above-average internet usage rate among people of the 50-plus age group. WORKSHOPS IN AFRICA SUPPORTED BY NAMIBIAN AMBASSADOR On 14 March I met the Namibian ambassador at Berlin. We talked about the Foundation's plans to stage more Wikipedia startup workshops in Africa and he showed great interest in the opportunity to document African history and culture in the African-language Wikipedias. The ambassador will write letters of recommendation to both the Namibian government and the University of Namibia in Windhoek to support our goals and activities. Furthermore he invited me to attend the next regular meeting of the African ambassadors at Berlin to present our plans to a bigger number of representatives of African countries. UCT AND UWC DECLARED INTEREST TO STAGE WIKIPEDIA WORKSHOPS AT CAPETOWN The University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) declared their interest to stage Wikipedia workshops in 2008. I'm in contact with a representative of the Multilingual Education Programme (MEP) at UCT and with the Dean of the Faculty of Education at UWC and will develop a programme for the events within the next month. ----- 2. WIKIPEDIA ACADEMY SERIES THIRD GERMAN WIKIPEDIA ACADEMY IN BERLIN Next month the third German Wikipedia Academy [3] will take place at Berlin. The event is organised by Wikimedia Deutschland in partnership with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (the formerly Prussian Academy of Sciences, founded in 1700 by the German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz). Under the motto "Mathematics. Knowledge. Wikipedia" the event will be official part of the German "Year of Mathematics", an annual event organized by the German Ministry for Education and Research that started in 2000 and focussing on a different discipline each year. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will support the event with funds. ----- 3. NEW EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL OUTLOOK: PRODUCTION OF WIKIPEDIA VIDEO TUTORIALS Video tutorials make learning much easier than printed material or online help pages. We will try to use this effect by producing two initial videos demonstrating the basics of Wikipedia editing. On 28 April I met some professionals of a film production company which has a track record of developing short films and online videos (amongst their customers is Greenpeace). They submitted a quote for the production of two videos, 3-4 minutes each. As the board of Wikimedia Deutschland agreed to take over the costs, we will begin with the pre-production within the next weeks. ----- 4. PARTNERSHIPS PARTNERSHIP WITH ZAWIW The Wikimedia Foundation and the ZAWiW will collaborate in the development of learning material suitable to encourage contributions to Wikipedia from senior citizens. The Zentrum für Allgemeine Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung (ZAWiW, Centre for General Scientific Education) [4] is a centre of learning specialised in the development of innovative education programs for seniors. Located in Ulm, Germany, the ZAWiW was founded by the University of Ulm in 1994. It was a reaction on the increasing request for general multidisciplinary education for adults of any age, especially in the "third age". Among the objectives ZAWiW has been * qualifying seniors for new tasks and activities in society, economy and science * encouraging self-directed learning supported by new information and communication technologies * showing the usefulness and improving the use of new communication technologies for seniors and organisations of senior education At the European level ZAWiW coordinates education programs like "eLearning in Later Life" (eLiLL), SeniorLearning and ICT4T. ----- 5. GRANTS AND FUNDING WIKIMEDIA DEUTSCHLAND: NEW BUDGET FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES On 15 March a board meeting of Wikimedia Deutschland took place at Berlin. The German board decided to increase its budget for international outreach activities in 2008 as part of its commitment for the global promotion of free knowledge. Amongst other things the money will allow the Wikimedia Foundation to support its chapters with printed versions of the brochure "Das kleine Wikipedia-Einmaleins" ("Wikipedia basics", an introduction for beginners) [5]. A Swedish version of the brochure is in preparation. ----- 6. UPCOMING LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HILDESHEIM (06/2008) A Wikipedia lecture for senior citizens will take place on 10 June 2008 at the University of Hildesheim, Germany. Around 80 participants of the 50-plus age group will attend. WORKSHOP AT THE 13TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR MEDIA IN SCIENCE (09/2008) Under the motto "Open Trends in Higher Education: Imperatives and Challenges" the 13th Annual Conference of the Society for Media in Science will take place at the Danube University Krems, Austria from September, 16-18 2008. The conference is directed towards researchers, lecturers, and persons in decision making positions who are involved in technologically supported learning and are interested in recent developments in theory and practice. Dr. Klaus Wannemacher, consultant at the Higher Education Information System (the Higher Education Information System (HIS) supports German institutions of higher education and their administrations as well as higher education policy-makers in their efforts to fulfil their tasks effectively) and me will participate at the pre-conference with a workshop entitled "Wikipedia in University Teaching - sharing knowledge being (too) easy?". Topics will be the increasing plagiarism practiced by students copying and pasting Wikipedia articles into their own works and the opportunities to integrate Wikipedia in academic teaching (ie. encouraging students to write Wikipedia articles as part of University courses). The outcome of the workshop shall be published as a brochure for University staff members. ----- CONTACT Frank Schulenburg Public Outreach Coordinator Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Phone: +49 551 2726447 Cell: +49 172 5635243 Skype: fschulenburg E-mail: fschulenburg[at]wikimedia.org ----- Weblinks and notes: [1] http://www.forum-seniorenarbeit.de/index.phtml?sNavID=373.120&mNavID=373.11… [2] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Use_of_Internet_in_European_Union_2… [3] Programme (in German): http://www.wikipedia-academy.de/2008/programm.php [4] http://www.uni-ulm.de/uni/fak/zawiw/startseite/en [5] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Einmaleins.pdf (5.4 MB) NB. This mail address is used for public mailing lists. Personal emails sent to this address will get lost.

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Wikimedia-l June 2008