Forwarding to foundation-l.
Comments are welcome on the agenda talk page; suggestions for future
meetings welcome here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Board_meetings
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: phoebe ayers <phoebe.wiki(a)gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 3:15 AM
Subject: [Internal-l] board meeting agenda
To: "Local Chapters, board and officers coordination (closed subscription)"
<internal-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
The agenda for the upcoming WMF Board meeting is now published here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Board_meetings/October_7-8,_2011
-- phoebe
--
Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529
4266
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:14:51 +0200
> From: "Federico Leva (Nemo)" <nemowiki(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Blackout at Italian Wikipedia
> To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List
> <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID: <4E8B855B.5010804(a)gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> WereSpielChequers, 04/10/2011 23:46:
> > If someone tried to use this law
> > to
> > force an editor to publish a rebuttal of something posted before the
> > freeze, then surely that would be retrospective legislation?
>
> I don't see why. Web pages are permanent, they ask the
> correction/declaration to be published after the new law (there's no
> time limit for it) and you have to publish it. You're not punished for
> having published the original text.
>
> Nemo
>
>
> Webpages are only permanent if someone keeps hosting them. I can see that
if the Italian Wikipedia was back up someone in Italy might send a note to
the WMF asking them to comply with this Italian law. But if an editor is no
longer active on the site it would be retrospective legislation to oblige
them to return to a site in 2012 and publish a rebuttal note to something
they wrote in 2006.
If it is retrospective legislation then there may an opportunity for the
opposition to appeal to the European Court.
If this legislation is passed then one option would be for the Italian
Wikipedia to be restored, but with a site notice explaining that "This site
is hosted n the USA and operates under US law rather than Italian law, click
here if you are in Italy and need to see rebuttals posted under Italian law"
. Then you could have a rebuttal namespace transcluded onto the article for
those who have said they are in Italy and therefore need to see the
rebuttals.
This blackout is bound to lead to more Italians reading and perhaps editing
other language versions of Wikipedia instead. It would be interesting to
hear from the WMF what their policy would be on IP requests from the Italian
Police, particularly if any were made re Italian editors editing other
language versions of Wikipedia.
In the meantime there may be an unusual number of Italian editors seeking
renames from named accounts to pseudonymous ones. Would it be possible to
upgrade that process so that mailing list archives, former signatures on
talkpages and other uses of an editor's name were also amended?
WereSpielChequers
I want to say very clearly that without the provisions included under
Creative Commons 3.0 article 5, it will be very difficult for
volunteer contributors to consider working for a project that makes
them liable to all kinds of complaints. For that reason, the proposed
"Indemnity" clause of the proposed new terms of use is a tremendous
change. This sort of major change should be discussed in a very wide
consultation with the community, with a "sitenotice" announcement on
all projects, rather than making a surreptitious change as is being
proposed on Meta.
See also http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Terms_of_use#Terms_of_use.2316._Indemni…
Hi
There seems to be a situation developing at Italian Wikipedia related to a
local law that would infringe neutrality on Wikipedia. The discussions even
mention a possible blackout/lockdown in reaction.
Is anyone aware of this situation? Is it likely to have any effect on other
projects and outside communities? Is WMF aware since it is mentioned in the
discussion as well.
The announcement that was linked to on IRC:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Vituzzu/comunicato/en
A discussion which might be relevant:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bar/Discussioni/Comma_29_e_Wikipedia
Theo
Whoever has locked out access to it.wikipedia.org should be immediately
desysopped under emergency procedures. This site is run by the Wikimedia
Foundation and I've seen no authorization by the WMF for the vandalism of
one of its websites.
Sorry for the cross-posting, but I write here what I have already
submitted to internal.
It seems that there is the majority to put it.wikipedia.org alive
again in the following hours.
The law has not been approved yet but the committee, who has in charge
the proposal, has accepted some amendments like that of the paragraph
29 (which is the point in discussion in it.wikipedia.org).
It means that a proposal will be submitted to the approval of the
Parliament but it's not sure that it will be approved or not.
The Parliament can:
A) reject the whole law
B) approve the law but reject the amendments
C) approve the law and the amendments
At the moment there is still a big conflict in the Parliament to
proceed with the point A but if the point A will be approved, the
feeling is they will proceed with the scenario C.
Anyway what is very important is the impact of the action of
it.wikipedia.org in Italy and how it has been perceived, and I think
that this is an interesting point like "post-mortem" phase to analyze
some results:
A) Wikipedia is considered in Italy like a "vital"service, important
like the power supplier or the transportation and the strike in
Wikipedia has been considered like a strike of the railroads
B) The impact in all persons have been strong and all of them have
understood what is in discussion and the consequences of paragraph 29.
In my opinion Wikipedia has supplied to a missed information in the
media
C) No one understand that the editors in Wikipedia are volunteers and
this is not a real strike or a "public" service (this is really a
strange feedback)
These are three important points, in my opinion, that can help to
understand what Wikipedia is for any normal people in Italy.
Ilario
*Stanton Foundation Awards Wikimedia $3.6 Million for Technology
Improvements*
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 5, 2011 – The Wikimedia Foundation announced
today it has been awarded the largest-ever grant in its history: $3.6
million from the Stanton Foundation. The purpose of the grant is to fund
major investments in the technology infrastructure that supports Wikipedia
and its sister projects, in order to successfully serve their growing
readership. The Wikimedia projects currently reach more than 422 million
unique visitors around the world every month (comScore, August 2011), making
Wikipedia the fifth most-popular website in the world.
The grant will fund development of a new editing interface that will make it
possible for people to easily edit Wikipedia without needing to learn
special wiki syntax. It will also support development of new technical
features to make Wikimedia a friendlier and more understandable environment
for new editors, and an improved mobile experience for readers and editors.
"The Stanton Foundation is a long-time funder of the Wikimedia Foundation,
and I am thrilled they're increasing their investment in us," said Sue
Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. "The Stanton
Foundation was one of the first institutions to recognize that Wikipedia is
a serious educational endeavor that's having a significant impact on people
around the world. I will always be grateful to them for taking a risk in
first funding us, many years ago."
The Stanton Foundation is the foundation created by the American
broadcasting executive and media pioneer Frank Stanton, who, in 1960,
organized the first-ever televised presidential debate. Among its previous
grants to the Wikimedia Foundation, the Stanton Foundation provided $1.2
million in 2010 for the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative, a program
designed to improve the quality and quantity of information related to
public policy topics in Wikipedia. The project resulted in 800 American
students at universities such as Harvard and University of California
Berkeley adding the equivalent of 5,800 printed pages of material to
Wikipedia, and has now been expanded to include universities in Canada and
India.
*About the Wikimedia Foundation*
http://wikimediafoundation.orghttp://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization which operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,
Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation
receive more than 422 million unique visitors per month, making them the
fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, September 2011).
Available in more than 280 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 18
million articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than
100,000 people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation
is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations
and grants.
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FYI, meanwhile more than *HALF A MILLION* Italian citizens, in less
than *24 hours*, expressed strong support for it.wiki in the social
network/blogsphere: I think this is an incredible result for the Wiki
movement and philosophy (for Italy, but also at the international
level). It is the most massive, coherent and rapid social mobilization
ever happened in Italy, to my knowledge. For anything.
Some data: more than Half a million people in 24 hours, growing at the
impressive rate of *one thousand people/minute*, expressed support on
FB and liking the Wikistrike; tens of thousands of comments and posts
in FB, Google+ and the whole italian blogsphere to support Wiki, and
openly expressing how Wikipedia is now essential for the everyday life
of so much people; every main Italian media dedicating articles at the
Wikistrike; tens (hundreds ?) of relevant international media
reporting on it.
Everything happened in less than 24 hours.
It is a huge international PR- and mass-sensibilization success,
focused on the value and defence of the Open Knowledge, and its
diffused and ubiquitous relevance for the life of many millions of
people.
Ven