Wikimedia-l October 2010

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

132 participants
136 discussions

Re: [Foundation-l] xkcd's map of the internet
by Christophe Henner 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

In Wikimedia trolls are memes. So we're at our rightful place :) Christophe ------Message d'origine------ De: Svip Expéditeur: foundation-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org À: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List Répondre à: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List Objet: Re: [Foundation-l] xkcd's map of the internet Envoyé: 7 oct 2010 00:52 On 7 October 2010 00:44, Florence Devouard <Anthere9(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Ok, maybe that's just me.... but I could not find us ! Where are we ? > (north west ? south east ? ) Between Troll Bay and Sea of Memes. Heh, that felt silly to say. _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l Envoye depuis mon Blackberry

1 0

[Foundation-l] Pending Changes development update: October 6
by Rob Lanphier 07 Oct '10

07 Oct '10

Hi everyone, Pending Changes work continues apace. The big thing we'd like to call everyone's attention to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pending_changes/Feedback#Call_for_sp… We'd really like to get your input on specific suggestions that we can implement quickly. Speak now or forever hold your peace. Well, maybe not forever, but until after November. At least, if you want to implement your idea by November. Here are the main development tasks that are active right now: Bug 25294 - "Reject" button confirmation screen in Pending Changes https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25294 Bug 25289 - Make review load faster by speeding up display of old revisions https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=25289 We'll be deploying the updates to these just as soon as they get checked in. Here's the location of the wiki we're using for testing development versions: http://prototype.wikimedia.org/flaggedrevs ...and finally, here's the full list of issues: https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/showdependencytree.cgi?id=25293 For those of you who might have missed it, Pending Changes was the primary topic for Sue Gardner's office hour last week. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_Sue_2010-09-30 Please provide your input in Bugzilla if you're comfortable with that; otherwise, please remark on the feedback page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Pending_changes/Feedback Thanks! Rob

1 0

[Foundation-l] GLAMWIKI:Fr registration is now open by email -- check the website!
by Bastien Guerry 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Dear all, The GLAMWIKI:Fr website is now out: http://rencontres.wikimedia.fr/ Don't miss the list of speakers: http://rencontres.wikimedia.fr/index.php?title=Who .. and the detailed program: http://rencontres.wikimedia.fr/index.php?title=Programme/en The event takes place on the 3rd and 4th of december in Paris, and the Victor Hugo conference room can welcome more than 350 persons each day. ... so don't be shy, buy your ticket to Paris and come :) Registration is *free*. People can now register by sending an email to this address: mailto:inscription-rencontres@wikimedia.fr *IMPORTANT*: please pass on this email address together with the link to the website to all your GLAM contacts. Public registration through the website will open on October 15th. Thanks to all speakers who helped us feed this website with the right information (please send me updates/fixes if needed.) Special thanks to Kropotkine_113 for his tremendous help on the website, to Zetud for the careful proofreading and to Béria Lima for her help on the translation! -- Bastien

1 0

[Foundation-l] cross posted emails
by John Vandenberg 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

in re many emails like Fwd: [Wikiquote-l] Help Beat Jimmy! (The appeal, that is....) cross-posted emails, include the notices about IRC office hours, end up coming to me with Subject: [Wikiquote-l] ... ... Reply-To: Mailing list for the Wikiquote projects <wikiquote-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> I'm guessing this is controlled by the mailing list software. Is there any way we can have the Subject start with [foundation-l] and Reply-To: set to foundation-l ? Just asking; it isn't a big deal for me. I could unsubscribe from wikiquote-l... -- John Vandenberg

4 4

[Foundation-l] New list moderator
by Ryan Lomonaco 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

I'd like to welcome a new list moderator, AlexandrDmitri, to join myself and Austin Hair. Alexandr is an administrator on the English Wikipedia and English Wikinews, and serves as an arbitration clerk on the English Wikipedia. Please welcome him to the list. Thanks, Ryan Lomonaco (Ral315)

1 0

[Foundation-l] Help Beat Jimmy! (The appeal, that is....)
by Philippe Beaudette 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

Hi everyone, I wanted to take a moment to bring you up to date on the planning of the 2010-2011 fundraiser, and ask once again for your participation in the process. Our updated meta pages (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2010 ) will give you an overview as well. There's a lot of information here, because we've made huge progress: I hope you'll take the time to read it and join in the planning for the fundraiser. There's no doubt about it: the appeal from Jimmy Wales is a strong message. We've tested it head-to-head against other banners, and the results [1] are unequivocal - especially when you also compare its performance last year and the year before. But nobody wants to just put Jimmy up on the sites and leave him up for two months! So we're issuing a challenge: Find the banner that will beat Jimmy. Data informed conclusions Here's the trick: We have to make our decisions based on the facts, not our instinct. Please read the summaries below for really important details from our focus group and survey of past donors. Focus Group Wikimedia conducted a focus group of past donors in the New York City area in September 2010. It's important to note that this was a single focus group, and in a single city. We'll need to do more to make sure that results correlate universally. But we came out of it with a few important take-away points. It's important to realize that these points reflect ONLY donors - they should not be read as a wider feeling about mission or strategic direction - they're messaging points to help us refine and deliver the best messages possible. ** The most powerful image is of Wikipedia as a global community of people who freely share their knowledge and self-police the product. For everyone who participated, the idea of a global community of people sharing knowledge that is accessible to anyone who wants it free of charge is incredibly powerful. Respondents in this group were highly unlikely to be editors themselves; most consider themselves users. They love the idea of the community and want to support it, but they are reluctant to put themselves out there by being more than a user and a donor. ** Keeping the projects ad-free is a powerful motivator. Respondents were unanimous that keeping Wiki[m\p]edia ad free should be a priority, even if it meant that Wiki[m\p]edia would be approaching them for money more often. Accepting paid ads could corrupt the values and discourage the free flow of information. ** Independence is critically important. These respondents consume a lot of media, and they place a high premium on the free flow of information. They have little patience for “sponsored” news or information that excludes other perspectives. The Wikimedia model of openness and community engagement facilitates that. ** It’s a cause because it’s a tool. This may sound a bit like a chicken/egg argument, but it’s actually an important nuance. These folks use Wikimedia every day for things from simple curiosities to serious research. So it’s a tool that lets them get what they need. But it has grown to 17 million articles in 270 languages. Because it has that kind of depth and it reaches so many people around the world, it’s worth protecting what the community so successfully built. And that makes it a cause too. ** Growing isn’t always a good thing, when positioning for donors. Like many tech savvy folks, our respondents are a suspicious lot. The idea of Wikimedia growing brings up concerns about what Wikimedia would become, and fears about the path of companies like Facebook. It’s not just a privacy concern; it’s a concern about what would happen to the democratic model of Wikimedia inside a growth strategy. Supporting the organic growth of the community doesn’t raise the same concerns. ** Supporters strongly reject any agenda being attached to Wikimedia, even when that agenda would extend the current offerings. An agenda implies ownership, and respondents feel pretty strongly that the community owns Wikipedia. They think of Wikipedia as an organic thing, not like a typical nonprofit, and any attempt to steer it would disrupt that. Community support is one of the key values, and not everyone in the community would support new initiatives. ** There is room to fundraise more aggressively. Across the board, respondents were surprised that they didn’t have the opportunity to give to Wikimedia more often. Obviously, there is a balance and a PBS-style solicitation schedule wouldn’t make sense both for Wikimedia’s personality and for this audience, but there is much more space available than we are taking. ** Wikimedia donors are highly suspicious of marketing gimmicks. Simple, direct messages are likely to work best. Jimmy’s message worked not so much because he was the founder, but because it was a simple plea for support delivered authentically. As we know, that’s something that also needs quantitative testing to prove. Sometimes donor response in a focus group and donor activity don’t line up exactly. But, some things already line up with early tests. The more gimmicky the banner, the less likely it is to drive donations even if it increases clicks. Reaction to banners like “572 have donated in New York today” also raised concerns about privacy – not a good reaction in an already suspicious audience. Appeals to “keep us growing” or that highlight a contributor’s work raise earlier concerns about an agenda. Donor Survey Highlights Wikimedia produced a random sample of 20,000 individuals from the much larger number of individuals, from many countries, contributing less than $1000 between November 1 2009 and June 30 2010. These individuals were invited to participate in a 29 item (but around 70 question) survey. 3760 agreed to participate, and the survey was conducted in August 2010. The participants probably differ from those who declined in ways that are associated with survey answers. Hence the respondents do not represent an entirely representative sample of the < $1000 donors. The survey participants are committed to Wiki[p/m]edia, visiting it frequently. They say that they are very likely to donate again, and they support all the survey-mentioned reasons for donation. They were not aware of Wikipedia chapters. A majority of respondents did not appear greatly concerned about possible threats to Wikipedia’s identity. About 1/3 of these individuals have edited, though not frequently. Those who express more support for Wikimedia as a cause appear more prone to edit. Those who have not contributed in this way say mostly that they haven’t thought about it--suggesting that they haven’t really considered the possibility—or that they don’t have time. Europeans and the highly educated especially stress lack of time. Some subgroup differences were found within the sample. The likelihood of writing or editing does vary a bit by subgroup, for example. Overall, however, responses did not vary greatly by subgroup, whether “demographic” (nationality, education, sex) or behavioral (e.g., degree of on-line activity). * The full details of the survey can be found at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FR_Donor_survey_report.pdf * A short overview can be found at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Donor_survey_report_excerpts.pdf . Chapters Chapters will receive the specifics of how we will work with them through their fundraising contacts which were designated on the fundraising survey, in order to keep the information communicated here to the essentials. Testing We have been testing for ten weeks now, and are really pleased with the progress that the tech team has made with new tools to support the fundraiser. Geotargetting appears to work now, and we are currently testing a 1 step versus 2 step donation process. We will have solid test results this week, we believe. In all, we believe that we are - technically and message-wise - in a really good position. We're working out kinks, definitely, but we're working them out before the fundraiser starts, so that we can maximize the dollar-earning potential of every day that we have banners up. We need you From the very beginning, Zack charged me with presenting the most collaborative fundraiser yet. I'm thrilled at the level of involvement from the community, in everything from banner creation to testing structure, to design, to actually sitting on our test fundraisers with us in virtual conferences and being a full participating member of the team. We're reporting out frequently, and trying very hard to engage with members of the community. We have dedicated staff who are outreaching to our various language wikis in an attempt to get ever more broad participation. I strongly encourage you to join in the discussions at the meta pages about the fundraiser: /http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FR2010. Your involvement is not just appreciated - it's crucial. Thanks for sticking through this email - join us in discussion and help us beat the Jimmy appeal! Thanks, Philippe [1] - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2010/Banner_testing#Test_six_ :_September_23rd.2C_2010 ____________________ Philippe Beaudette Head of Reader Relations Wikimedia Foundation philippe(a)wikimedia.org Imagine a world in which every human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

1 0

Re: [Foundation-l] Has Wikipedia changed since 2005?
by WJhonson＠aol.com 06 Oct '10

06 Oct '10

In a message dated 10/5/2010 6:01:14 AM Pacific Daylight Time, jayen466(a)yahoo.com writes: > You're right there. It's a bloody headache finding the words of the > article in amongst all the citation templates when you're trying to edit. >> That however really isn't a fault that can be laid at the feet of the citation method (inline), but rather perhaps at the feet of the editor program. It has been discussed before, that it might be helpful should we have a way to splice apart the content from the format. Vanilla HTML does not do that at all, but other competing editors can and do. Some steps in that direction have been taken already with the newer upgrade, but not all, in particular the templates. Perhaps this is an opportunity. W.

7 6

[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Zack Exley
by Steven Walling 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

Greetings everyone, Just a reminder that Zack Exley, Chief Community Officer at the Wikimedia Foundation, will be holding IRC office hours today (October 5) at 21:00 UTC (14:00 PT, 17:00 ET, 23:00 CEST) in #wikimedia-office on irc.freenode.net. Instructions for accessing the discussion for those without an IRC client can be found at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours. Please feel free to forward and translate this message to any relevant list, and we look forward to chatting with you! -- Steven Walling Community Fellow Wikimedia Foundation (wikimediafoundation.org)

1 0

[Foundation-l] Correction to IRC Office Hours with Zak Greant
by Zak Greant (Foo Associates) 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

Greetings All, As Roan kindly noted, the times for my office hours session were wrong for Canberra. In Canberra time, the first session will happen at 03:00 and the second session will happen at 15:00. To see the full (and corrected) chart of times, please see: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Zakgreant#Office_Hours Cheers! --zak

1 0

[Foundation-l] Foundation-l word cloud
by Federico Leva (Nemo) 05 Oct '10

05 Oct '10

You may be interested in the word cloud I created with the full archive of foundation-l: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foundation-l_word_cloud_small.png You can find it at a bigger resolution and with the "source code" (if you want to improve it) here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Foundation-l_word_cloud.png Nemo

11 18

Jump to page:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Wikimedia-l October 2010