On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 9:26 AM, Aubrey <zanni.andrea84(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>...
>
> The issue of metadata is nontheless serious, because it's one of the most
> important flaws of Wikisource: not applying standards (i.e Dublin Core) and not
> having a proper tools for export/import and harvest metadata is still make us
> amateurs, at least for "real" digital libraries (who focus mainly on the
> metadata stuff, and sometimes provide either texts or images (it is really rare
> to have both)).
This is also a problem with Wikimedia Commons.
http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Dublin_Core
> The Perseus project is an *amazing* project, but I regard them far more ahead
> than us. The PP is actually a Virtual Research Environment, with tools for
> scholars and researcher for studying texts, (concordances and similar stuff).
I agree. I would go further; PP will always be far more advanced than
a mediawiki system.
They store their data in TEI format, which is an extremely rich
standard. Wikisource can incorporate some of the TEI concepts by
using templates, but I doubt we could ever be a leader in this area,
nor do I think we want to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_Encoding_Initiative
> It happens that I just finished my Master thesis about collaborative digital
> libraries for scholars (in the Italian context), and the outcome is quite clear:
> researcher do want collaborative tools in DLs, but wiki system are
> to simple and (right now) too naive to really help scholars in their work (and
> there's a lot of other issues I'm not going to explain here).
>
> I would love to have PP people involved in collaboration with Wikisource, just
> don't know if this is possible.
I agree. PP and Wikisource are too different, and have very little to
gain from the other. PP wants to improve/increase collaboration &
community, but not at the expense of loosing the quality of their
metadata. Wikisource wants to improve quality and metadata, but not
at the expense of the ability to collaboration and our simple editing
interface.
Again, interoperability is the first step towards useful
'collaboration'. i.e. Wikisource needs to export TEI. Then we could
feed our poorly annotated/described sources into PP, where the
academic community would then add the metadata.
TEI export would also be useful for wiktionary.
> Just one more thing: why this awesome thread has not been linked to the
> source-l? Probably that would have been the best place to discuss.
;-)
--
John Vandenberg
Besides having a great time on Wikimania, I've heard a number of
complains which put a shadow on a really great event. At some point of
time I was even a bit depressed.
I was thinking a lot about should I raise this issue or not; and if
yes, then how. After the first issue I thought not to talk about it at
all. After the second, I thought that it is better not to talk. After
the third, I thought that I should contact some people privately.
After the fourth I've realized that I should talk about it publicly.
Then a couple of more issues came which convinced me that I have to
talk about that publicly. We are open community and serious issues,
those which affect many people, should be discussed publicly.
I will talk without mentioning names, but I will try to be precise
enough. In other words, I don't want to talk about people and
organizations, but about problems. Taking care about problems is much
more important than making witch hunts.
It also should be noted that all of those problems are "natural" and I
don't see that any of them is able to hurt Wikimedia movement, if we
put it under control. It also should be noted that there are many
successful corrupted organizations, like FIFA and OIC are. However, I
hope that we won't go that way.
I've heard about two serious corruption issues among chapters. And as
I am living in a deeply corrupted country, I am personally very upset
with this. However, those two cases are too obvious not to be
recognized and fixing is in ongoing phase. However, I am very deeply
concerned about what is going with the rest of 20+ chapters. And what
will happen with them when they are able to become corrupted. We need
an audit system for checking how things are going on in all chapters.
In this case I am much more concerned about chapters than about WMF,
but it would be good to have a common international body which would
audit all of the important issues among chapters and WMF.
What I am able to realize a couple of months earlier, everybody are
able to realize when those things become public. I've already
mentioned privately that I am deeply concerned with the connection
with US business interests and present WMF strategy (not to be
confused with whole Strategic Planning, but partially yes). It is now
a public issue, although my concern has been seen by very limited
number of people. And I am quite sure that it was not about spreading
my concern via informal channels, but about recognizing the problem by
a number of Wikimedians separately. I hope that Strategy Planning will
fix those problems -- if properly implemented.
There is a split between those who are coming from rich and poor
countries. Wikimania social networking was about various groups. I am
lucky that I am connected well and that I know where should I ask and
what should I ask. However, there are Wikimedians who are not well
connected and who don't know where to ask and what to ask. I am also
from a country similar to Poland and I had a feeling like I am just in
a little bit weird city of my own country. But, many Wikimedians came
from very different parts of the world, as well as they were not able
to buy their confidence. If we want to be a global movement, we have
to think about them. It is not just about Wikimanias, it is about
every social interaction in which Wikimedia is involved. Thus, I fully
support Wikimedia Israel initiative for helping spreading Wikimedia
projects into developing world. And if organizations from Israel are
not welcomed everywhere, there are many other Wikimedia chapter which
could help.
Wikimedia is now a global movement and global culture. It is not
anymore a site with cool content, but an organization and movement
with worldwide impact. *All* decisions of WMF, chapters and their
bodies are now political decisions in the international sense. So,
*before* making *any* decision, please consider political impact of
your decision. If you need help, you can ask various Wikimedians or
hire a professional in international relations.
WMF and chapters have enough money now to be attracted by careerists.
Persons who try to put themselves as "mid-players", between Wikimedia
organizations and people and organizations who are working with WM
organizations. WMF and chapters should be explicit in noting to
everybody that such behavior is not acceptable and to Wikimedians that
they are safe of it.
Closely connected with the previous previous is the fact that many
Wikimedians feel that they are alienated from Wikimedia leadership
(not just WMF and staff, but more about some amorphous mass of
influential Wikimedians). There was an incident in Dormitory 6 because
of misunderstanding between organizers and dormitory management. I
would say that it shouldn't be a big deal, as such problems can happen
everywhere. What was not usual is the reaction of the part of
Wikimedians who were there. Some of them were cool and just somewhat
frustrated because of this. However, the reaction and feeling of the
other part was "We shouldn't call them [WMF and organizers]. They will
not help us. They don't care for us. They have fun in the city,
although we have problems here."
This feeling is irrational in the particular case. Organizers took
care about them, of course. However, I didn't hear this from a couple
of well connected Wikimedians who were there. I didn't hear it from
Europeans and inhabitants of other OECD countries. I've heard this
from not so rich Wikimedians who were far away from home; from those
who felt insecure in a distant country and who feel a gap between
those with money (and/or connections) and them.
This list is consisted of our first serious real-world problems. Yes,
I know that we used to be virtual, online, onwiki. I know that those
problems are new for us. But if we want to stay as a global movement,
we have to fix them. Otherwise, we'll be just another attempt for
creating a decadent society which main purpose is to make fun for rich
and wannabe rich. And, by the way, to explain to poor how rich world
looks like.
Erik Moeller states:
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please join me in thanking Rand for all he has done for Wikimedia, and
wishing him the best for his future.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rand, thanks for your work for the Wikimedia Foundation and its movement.
Best wishes on your future career elsewhere. Should you ever again initiate
a market research survey, I'll again be happy to provide you insights and
guidance.
Gregory Kohs
In a message dated 7/2/2010 3:20:37 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
wiki-list(a)phizz.demon.co.uk writes:
> Nothing competes with free, why would you pay for an album when your
> mates just download it for nothing? >>
Gee I don't know. Why are people still renting videos from Netflix when
you can watch 500 free movies on YouTube? I think you're being specious.
There are already companies making money with this model. Just because
don't *want* to use it, doesn't mean that they aren't going to be *forced* to
use it, by the market.
Now I can rent a DVD for one dollar a day at 7 eleven. So what is
Blockbuster going to do with that? Go down to one dollar also? Or go out of
business? Or do the online thing for say... fifty cents? And which is smarter?
Fighting or changing?
If you can't adapt, then you're doomed. Just ask the giant tree sloth, and
the woolley mammoth.
(sending on behalf of Ting)
Dear friends,
Today, here in Gdansk, at the meeting of the Board of Trustees during the sixth annual Wikimania Conference, the Board made some important changes. I'm pleased to share this news with you. The Foundation will be issuing a public announcement shortly as well.
Every year at Wikimania, the Wikimedia Board appoints its officers for the coming year. This year we have changes to each of the Officer roles. As of today's meeting, I was fortunate to be appointed Chair of the Board - and I'm grateful to have the support of the Board in this new role.. Stuart West was appointed Vice-chair (and continues as Board Treasurer), and Samuel Klein becomes Board Secretary.
Also, the Wikimedia chapters have made their selections for the two chapters-selected Board seats. Arne Klempert has been reappointed to his seat, and Phoebe Ayers has also been appointed to join the Board.
This means that Michael Snow will be leaving the Board: he has been invited to join the Advisory Board, and the Board warmly thanks him for his service.
Michael Snow has been a tireless and dedicated leader of this Board, and the whole Wikimedia movement, over the past two years. I want to express my sincere thanks to him on behalf of the Board and all of the Wikimedia community. I am also excited to congratulate and welcome Phoebe Ayers to the Board, and also to congratulate Arne Klempert for his re-appoitment to the Board in a Chapter-appointed seat.
There are 10 seats on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees and according to the Foundation's bylaws, three members are elected by the Wikimedia community, two members are selected by the Wikimedia chapters, a Community Founder seat held by Jimmy Wales, and four members appointed by the Board itself to provide additional, specific expertise. Currently all seats on the Board of Trustees are filled.
This is the first time that the official Chapters selection process has been carried out. Members of Wikimedia's global chapters, made a call for nominations for new members and voted to elect their two members. In this year's election nine candidates from the Wikimedia community originally stepped forward. Two of those candidates stepped out of the process, leaving seven candidates for selection by the Chapters.
All of the officer appointments are effective immediately, and we are pleased to welcome Phoebe to the Board right away.
I'd like to thank the Chapters for their thoughtful work in convening a process and carrying out their voting process. I would also like to thank all of the candidates who stepped forward for with their nominations.
I'm looking forward to an incredible year ahead. We have an ambitious plan for the Foundation and the projects over the next year, and we have a tremendous group to tackle a busy year ahead.
Sincerely,
Ting
--
Ting Chen
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
E-Mail: tchen(a)wikimedia.org
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Foundation-L, the public mailing list about the Wikimedia Foundation and its projects. For more information about Foundation-L:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
_______________________________________________
WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list
WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
Yesterday at wikimania panel: “Allow, Invite, Encourage: Growing Wikipedia
in the World” Several members of ChapCom and Board recognized they don’t
know what a Chapter is.
I think we should help in clarifying ideas. I just created this draft:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/What_a_Local_Chapter_is%3F
Please help to improve it.
Hello,
I forward a mail from ThomasV.
This tool as a potential much beyond Wikisource.
Regards,
Yann
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ThomasV <thomasV1 @ gmx . de>
Date: 2010/7/9
Subject: [Wikisource-l] Recent Changes in Real Time
To: "discussion list for Wikisource, the free library"
<wikisource-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Firefox 4 and Chrome 6 have support for Websockets.
I wrote a websocket server that forwards Recent Changes to a web
browser, in order to visualize them dynamically.
Here is a list of pages using it:
*[http://toolserver.org/~thomasv/rcsound.html a page that plays a sound
everytime a page is proofread at the most active wikisources]
*[http://toolserver.org/~thomasv/wprc.html en.WP's recent changes] (it
scrolls kind of fast)
*[http://toolserver.org/~darkdadaah/wiktio/outils/rc/fr_wikt_rc_table.html
fr.wiktionary's RCs]
If you decide to write another page that uses this server, please add it
to the list.
It is possible to use this tool directly on any Wikimedia wiki ; here is
a script that turns the RC page of your wiki into a self-updating page:
importScriptURI('http://wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=MediaWiki:DynamicRC.js&action=raw&c…');
I hope you enjoy it. If you decide to write a page that uses this tool,
please add it to this list :
https://wiki.toolserver.org/view/RC_Websocket_server
Thomas
Hello, everyone.
Join the working group on developing nations! We welcome any and all who
want to help.
For context, take a look at
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proposed_Agenda_for_Wikimedia_in_Develo…
This is an initiative of a few Wikimedians, started in the working group on
developing nations in Berlin 2010, but we are looking to engage both the
Foundation and non-Wikimedians around the world, to brainstorm how to best
further the Wikimedia Vision in developing nations, and to plan and hatch
actual projects.
If you're at all interested, even in just passively getting occasional
updates about this, register here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dE1KYTFxeWtwWTdiLWV1VElBeE…
Thanks!
Asaf Bartov, on behalf of
the working group on developing nations
--
Asaf Bartov <asaf.bartov(a)gmail.com>
On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 4:41 PM, Ting Chen <tchen(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
> This year we have changes to each of the Officer roles. As of today's
> meeting, I was fortunate to be appointed Chair of the Board - and I'm
> grateful to have the support of the Board in this new role.. Stuart West was
> appointed Vice-chair (and continues as Board Treasurer), and Samuel Klein
> becomes Board Secretary.
<snip>
> Also, the Wikimedia chapters have made their selections for the two
> chapters-selected Board seats. Arne Klempert has been reappointed to his
> seat, and Phoebe Ayers has also been appointed to join the Board.
>
> This means that Michael Snow will be leaving the Board: he has been invited
> to join the Advisory Board, and the Board warmly thanks him for his service.
>
> <snip>
> --
> Ting Chen
> Chair of the Board of Trustees
> Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
> E-Mail: tchen(a)wikimedia.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
Congratulations to all the new officers, Phoebe for her selection/election
and Arne for his reelection. With the growth of the foundation and the
projects that is expected in the coming year(s) I don't envy the position
you guys are all in but greatly admire the willingness you all have to help
and guide the foundation down a path that I think could be both bumpy and
vastly important.
Good luck Michael and thank you for all your work (again a big time of
growth within the foundation and projects). We better keep seeing you
around. :)
James Alexander
James(a)jamesofur.com
James.Alexander(a)rochester.edu