Wikimedia-l November 2011

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116 participants
82 discussions

[Foundation-l] Fundraiser launch week update
by Megan Hernandez 24 Nov '11

24 Nov '11

Hi all, An update from the first week of the fundraiser is up on meta: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2011 Big first week, check it out. Megan -- Megan Hernandez Head of Annual Fundraiser Wikimedia Foundation

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[Foundation-l] The Signpost – Volume 7, Issue 47 – 21 November 2011
by Wikipedia Signpost 23 Nov '11

23 Nov '11

News and notes: Last-minute candidates for ArbCom, the Sue Gardner European Tour hits London http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/News_a… In the news: Indian wikiconference heralds expansion, fundraiser in Silicon Valley major donor coup, import of Wikipedia reconsidered http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/In_the… Discussion report: Much ado about censorship http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/Discus… WikiProject report: Working on a term paper with WikiProject Academic Journals http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/WikiPr… Featured content: The best of the week http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/Featur… Arbitration report: End in sight for Abortion case, nominations in 2011 elections http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/Arbitr… Technology report: Mumbai and Brighton hacked; horizontal lists have got class http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21/Techno… Single page view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost/Single PDF version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-21 http://identi.ca/wikisignpost / https://twitter.com/wikisignpost Editor note: Apologies for the recent late deliveries to this list; the auto-forwarding from WmAnnounce has been malfunctioning. -- Wikipedia Signpost Staff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost

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[Foundation-l] Image permission
by James Heilman 23 Nov '11

23 Nov '11

There seems to be a great hurry to delete images even when permission has been obtained from the author in question. Having uploaded many hundreds of images you think people would assume good faith and give a guy a couple of weeks while he is on vacations... -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: Wikimedia India Program Trust
by Hisham 23 Nov '11

23 Nov '11

cross-posting to foundation-l & internal-l from India Community list; apologies if you've read this already. hisham Begin forwarded message: > From: Hisham <hmundol(a)wikimedia.org> > Subject: Wikimedia India Program Trust > Date: November 11, 2011 9:55:00 AM GMT+05:30 > To: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > > Hi Folks, > I'm writing to share an update with you on certain developments of relevance to the Wikimedia movement in India. > > Announcement of Wikimedia India Program Trust > For some time, efforts have gone into creating an organization that would provide an appropriate structure to support Wikimedia program activities in India. Aspects such as the current regulatory framework (regarding funding, taxation, etc.) as well as the legal protection for the India team have been considered to determine this structure. In this context, a host of options (e.g. subsidiary, branch, Section 25) were evaluated and a determination was made towards an independent non-profit public trust. Legal advice has been taken at every stage in this decision. > > A new entity, the “Wikimedia India Program Trust”, has now been formed and registered (in Delhi.) This will be the organization that will eventually drive India programs and house the team in India. > > Why an Independent Public Trust? > The Trust will provide an effective vehicle within India to marshal resources to support programs and partner with local institutions. The objective of the Trust is to promote the objectives of the Wikimedia movement and work closely with the Wikimedia community on various projects with an India focus. It is important to understand that the Trust will not have any editorial control over content on any of the Wikimedia projects. The Trust is a not for profit organization. > > Introduction of Trustees > Trustees have been identified based upon their support for Wikimedia movement's principles and plans in addition to having reputations for good governance and management. > > Sunil Abraham and Rahul Matthan have been requested to be the initial Trustees. Both are friends of Wikipedia and have extensive experience. > > Sunil is Executive Director of the Centre for Internet & Society (CIS), is a long term advocate of free software and IP reform and has been supporting the Wikimedia community and movement for some time now. > > Rahul is a partner and heads the technology practice at Trilegal. He brings deep expertise and relationships that will be valuable for the Trust. > > These initial Trustees will serve for a term of three years at the maximum. All additional or subsequent Trustees will serve on rotation in accordance with a trustee selection plan that will be prepared. > > Trustees will not be compensated for their services. > > Governance, Funding, Financial Standards & Communications of the Trust > The Trust will be governed by Trustees who will provide oversight and guidance regarding the operations and governance of the Trust. > > Since the Trust is an independent organization, it will require funding for its operations which is in compliance with the legal and regulatory framework in India. It will seek funding from private donors within India as well as external sources. > > The Trust has the support of the Wikimedia Foundation which is a United States based non-profit foundation. However, in India all non-profit organizations need to be in existence for 3 years before they can receive funding from sources outside India. In the interim, they can apply for prior-permission under the FCRA regulations to help expedite the process. As a result, the Trust will shortly be applying for approval to receive funds from the Wikimedia Foundation in the future. > > As a Trust, we are required to have an independent external auditor. We have appointed KPMG. KPMG is experienced in auditing non-profit companies and are also auditors for the Wikimedia Foundation. > > Annually, the Trust will publicly disclose it's independently audited financial statements. > > The Trust will publish a monthly newsletter outlining its current activities and future plans. This will commence in December 2011. > > Operations of the Trust > The trust deed under which the Trust must operate clearly states that the purpose of the Trust is to independently promote the growth of volunteer activities within India in support of effective and unrestricted dissemination of free knowledge to the public. > > I will serve as the Executive Director of the Trust. Once it is possible, additional employees will be brought on to the Trust > > The Trust will eventually have an office in Delhi. > > In the interim, I have personally secured temporary office space to facilitate establishing the Trust and its mission. It is located at Top Floor, G-15, Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110 016. It's a couple of minutes walk away from IIT Flyover and Hauz Khas Metro. Do drop in! It's a small but cozy place and we'd love to have you over! > > Conclusion > We continue to make progress in setting up program activities to support the growth of Wikimedia in India. We have a long way to go, but are glad that we are starting to build a solid foundation. > > The following link is for FAQs on this (and related) topics: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FAQ_India_Programs/FAQ_Wikimedia_India_Progr… > > As always, do reach out if you have any comments or questions. > > Warm Regards, > > hisham >

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[Foundation-l] A proposal for a Wikimedia project that helps people find solutions to their problems
by Yao Ziyuan 21 Nov '11

21 Nov '11

Hello Jimmy Wales and other Wikimedia Foundation members, I'm writing you to propose a Wikimedia project (tentatively called "WikiSolve") no less important than Wikipedia. We know Wikipedia can teach people knowledge (in terms of concepts), but it can't directly help people find solutions to their problems, because it's "concept-oriented" rather than "problem-oriented". I envision a wiki that collects virtually every known problem in the world and their corresponding solutions, so that people with a problem in mind can find a solution on it. The key problem in designing such a wiki is how such a wiki can guide the user to the problem page he wants. I believe a hypertext-based mechanism called "troubleshooting wizard" is the answer. A good example of a troubleshooting wizard is http://support.hubris.net/dialup/wizard/ . As you can see, this is a way for the user to locate his problem in a wiki without knowing keywords used to name or describe that problem, just like Wikipedia allows a user to locate a concept without knowing its name or any keywords used to describe it. There is actually more background to this idea. I strongly recommend you read the following article that compares how AI and a wiki tackle two old problems differently: knowledge representation and problem solving: ---------- (A formatted version of the following article is at https://plus.google.com/u/0/102291835965130378165/posts/finzeoipR7A) >From formal to semi-formal: knowledge representation and problem solving in the AI way and the wiki way 1. Failure of the formal way to represent encyclopedic knowledge Big thinkers like Leibniz, Dijkstra and John McCarthy all dreamed about an encyclopedia written in formal language and an automated reasoner that could solve a problem by reasoning on this formal knowledge base. Unfortunately attempts at this like the Cyc project still have a long way to go. 2. Success of the semi-formal way to represent encyclopedic knowledge In contrast, Wikipedia is a big success. Most stuff on Wikipedia is written in natural language, but Wikipedia does have some formal elements. Most fundamentally, each concept on Wikipedia has a unique formal name, and there are hyperlinks between related concepts, enabling the user to navigate to a target concept without initially knowing its name (which makes Wikipedia an important "global positioning system" (GPS) for concepts). 3. What would be the wiki (semi-formal) way to problem solving, then? When it comes to "problem solving", there are actually two kinds of problem solving: 3.1. Wiki-based solution sharing The first kind is when you have a problem already solved by experts, and these experts want to create a wiki as a "solved problem base" where you can easily find your problem and consequently see the corresponding solution written by these experts. Now the question is: how can such a "problem base" wiki be organized so you (the user) can find your problem easily? What I want to say is "troubleshooting wizard". Do a Google search for [ troubleshooting wizard ], and the first result is a good example of what it is like: http://support.hubris.net/dialup/wizard/ As you see now, a troubleshooting wizard uses a series of questions to let you specify your problem's characteristics (or "symptoms"), and eventually leads you to a solution to your specific problem. You will find this immediately familiar because you probably already saw this kind of thing in Windows XP's Help System. Now you can realize that a wiki as a hypertext system can surely implement a troubleshooting wizard that walks the user to his problem in a "problem base" wiki. 3.2. Wiki-based problem solving The second kind is when you have an open problem that doesn't have a known solution (otherwise you're supposed to find its solution in a "problem base" wiki as discussed in Section 3.1). Now if you want to attack this open problem on your own, creating a wiki may help, for the following reason. During your problem-solving process you may need to divide the original problem into subproblems, or apply certain strategies such as "generalization", "specialization" and "analogy" to the original problem to obtain some "derived problems", whose solving may help you solve the original problem (this is what George Polya's famous book "How to Solve It" talks about). To keep track of these "subproblems", "derived problems" and other kinds of middle results, a wiki would be a great organizer.

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[Foundation-l] TVTropes policies: No such thing as notability.
by Kim Bruning 21 Nov '11

21 Nov '11

Sometimes it's interesting to read policy from other wikis that are currently successful and growing and see how they differ from WP. eg: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability or: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WikipediaUpdater (considered an antipattern on tv tropes!) Addiction warning: These are links to TVTropes. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife (Isn't getting people addicted to reading and editing a *GOOD* thing, from a wiki POV?) sincerely, Kim Bruning --

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[Foundation-l] For Job Hunters, Digital Merit Badges
by Fred Bauder 21 Nov '11

21 Nov '11

Should we be in on this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/digital-badges-may-highlight-job… Fred

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[Foundation-l] Finnish MP FAIL!!!
by Jussi-Ville Heiskanen 20 Nov '11

20 Nov '11

Not sure if this is appropriate for this list, but just for lulz. A finnish member of parliament just got caught for his speech being a word for word piece of snippets from a Finnish Wikipedia article. No intervening binding lines, just the Wikipedia text. Way to go!!! -- -- Jussi-Ville Heiskanen, ~ [[User:Cimon Avaro]]

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[Foundation-l] WikiKids - Vikidia: encyclopedia for children
by Mathias Damour 20 Nov '11

20 Nov '11

Hi all, I've tried to compile some of the old messages and discussions about this topic, which has been put in light time to time, notably (as far as I know) three times on this mailing list from 2005 to 2010 (see below). I am a French wikipedian, and would like to tell you about this pretty old project: a wiki encyclopedia designed for and partly maintained by children. The idea of a equivalent of Wikipedia for children was discussed in particular in 2005-2006 on this page : http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikikids Although it had no continuation as a Wikimedia project, wikis with such a feature were launched first in Dutch: WikiKids http://wikikids.wiki.kennisnet.nl ; in french a few month later: Vikidia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikidia ( http://fr.vikidia.org/ ) and then in Spanish ( http://es.vikidia.org ) for 8-13 years old children. I opened Vikidia. WikiKids.nl and Vikidia in French are doing well and are quite alike in size and activity, they are both 5 years old now, whereas Vikidia in Spanish doesn't make it so well. (If you are Spanish speaker or if you know people that would be interested in it, please tell them about this wiki !) On Vikidia in French, we currently have a guest-book opened, and the comments left on it http://fr.vikidia.org/wiki/Vikidia:Livre_d%27or/Automne_2011 are quite encouraging (Google translation: http://bit.ly/vfPP4m ). Children say they appreciate the articles to be more readable for them than on Wikipedia, their main reserve being that some article are not developed enough, or that there isn't articles on every subject they would like to know about... They clearly expect (and claim) some substantial content, though it has to be easier than the Wikipedia's content. We have yet a bit more than 10,500 articles in Vikidia in French, and about 250,000 unique visitors a month. This "Wikikids" question was mentioned again in the Wikimedia scope one year ago firstly on this mailing list, and on the 2010 Wikimedia Study of Controversial Content there: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2010_Wikimedia_Study_of_Controversial_Conten…: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Recommendations: Controversial Text Because of the considerations outlined above, our recommendations surrounding text in WMF projects are the following: It is recommended: (...) 3. That, however, the Foundation investigate the creation of a “WikiJunior” version of the Wikipedias, aimed at children under the age of 12, either as a stand-alone project or in partnership with existing and appropriate educational institutions. Explanations: (...) Recommendations 2 and 3 (...) Much more successful, in our opinion, is a project specifically targeted to children, and to the quite different needs of children in different age groups. Some projects of this nature have already been begun in the WikiJunior section of WikiBooks, but it is our feeling that the scope of such a venture might necessitate the formation of partnerships with institutions who have experience and resources already devoted to this area. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I of course agree, except on those points : * /"a project specifically targeted to children, and to the quite different needs of children in different age groups"/ I would warn against the idea of dividing the content for age group as restricted as each year of age, following the pattern of school class. That point could be expounded. * /"the scope of such a venture might necessitate the formation of partnerships with institutions who have experience and resources already devoted to this area."/ Thats quite a conservative point of view, kind of those that, if followed by Wikipedia, wouldn't have permit its developpment. I mean that in such a project, one should try to communicate with institutions, publicize what they do, share some points of view, competence and so on, but he shouldn't wait for those institutions as if they would have to approuve the project and its methods, as if only them could tell what is good for the project, since it deals with children. Another feature of WikiKids/Vikidia is of course that it let children be involved in building the content, and does not "only" aim to produce and offer content for children, for the same benefits that you can find in Wikipedia-editing workshops for students. There is both some school projects and volunteer (and often enthusiastic) children editing on Vikidia along with teenagers, students and adult writers. This project is not the same as Wikijunior. It is a Wikipedia-like project, which Wikijunior isn't. I do have in mind that there is Simple English Wikipedia, whom no other equivalent have been created in any other language. I guess that it would make less easy to create a wikikids in english, as it would be partly similar to simple. I would also say that the fact that this wiki is not so big and hasn't been created in other language may show that its aim would not be so clear, mobilizing and justifying. By the way, on Vikidia, we do hope to be usefull not only to children but to people of any age that would like a simple approach of a subject, or a shorter one than on Wikipedia. We beleive that if its content were not relevant to older people, it wouldn't be good either for children. Another thought, one may even link this projet with an article of the convention on the Rights of the Child http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child which is the following: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Article 13 http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm#art13 1. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive *and impart* information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice. 2. The exercise of this right may be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary: (a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others; or (b) For the protection of national security or of public order (ordre public), or of public health or morals. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm afraid that the main objection may be the opinion I can read on the 2010 discussion on this list, which is to assume that anything that deals with children should be exclusively conducted by certified professionnals, and thus can not be an open collaboration project. Since I can't see any legal grounds to it (do you need a licence to write a book for children ?), I guess it has some sociological or cultural grounds... However, the point of this message is to address the "I don't think it can work well" objection, associated with issues such as vandalism, censorship, defining the appropriate content, children motivation and ability to edit articles... since it does work well at least in two language, where there is children, teenagers and adults working together to better the wiki. And thousands of readers every days. Previous discussions on this mailing list : http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2005-January/015108.html January 2005 http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-May/thread.html#30511 May 2007 http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2010-June/thread.html#594… June 2010 On the wikis : http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikikids http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_86#New_Wikipedia… October 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_79#… October 2011 http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Wikipedia_exclusively_for_Kids http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Wiki_for_kids http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Wikipedia_Junior http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Archive… and July 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28policy%29/Archive_78… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Archive… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Persist… Greetings, -- Mathias Damour [[User:Astirmays]] 49 rue Carnot 74000 Annecy France 00 (33)4 57 09 10 56 00 (33)6 27 13 65 51 mathias.damour(a)laposte.net

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[Foundation-l] Translations of October 2011 Wikimedia Highlights available in Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), Nederlands (Dutch), 日本語 ‎(Japanese), Italiano ‎(Italian)‎, Français (French), Suomi (Finnish), Español (Spanish), Deutsch ‎(German)‎
by Tilman Bayer 19 Nov '11

19 Nov '11

Translations into several languages are now available for the October 2011 "Wikimedia Highlights" - combining some of the most relevant information from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for October 2011 with a selection of other important events from the Wikimedia movement. Help is welcome in spreading the translated versions among the project communities for these languages. Many thanks to all translators! Suggestions for notable items to cover in the short movement news part of the upcoming Highlights issue are welcome until the beginning of December, see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights . Regards, Tilman -- https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/de Höhepunkte aus dem Monatsbericht und dem technischen Bericht der Wikimedia Foundation für Oktober 2011, samt einer Auswahl anderer wichtiger Ereignisse aus dem Wikimedia-Universum https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/es Destacados del informe de la Fondación Wikimedia y el informe de ingeniería por octubre de 2011, con una selección de otros eventos importantes del movimiento Wikimedia https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/fi Kohokohdat Wikimedia Foundationin raportista ja Wikimedian ohjelmistotuotantoraportista lokakuussa 2011 sekä kuukauden muut tärkeät tapahtumut Wikimedia-liikkeessä https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/fr Éclairages sur le rapport de la Fondation Wikimedia et le rapport d’ingénierie Wikimedia pour octobre 2011, avec une sélection d’autres évènements importants du mouvement Wikimedia. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/it Approfondimenti dal rapporto Wikimedia Foundation e dal rapporto ingegneristico Wikimedia di ottobre 2011, con una selezione di altri eventi importanti dai movimenti di Wikimedia https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/ja 2011年10月のウィキメディア財団報告書及びウィキメディア技術報告の抄録ほかウィキメディア活動の重要行事について https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/nl Hoogtepunten uit de Wikimedia Foundationrapportage en de Wikimedia technische rapportage voor oktober 2011, aangevuld met een selectie van andere belangrijke gebeurtenissen binnen de Wikimediabeweging. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2011/vi Những điểm nổi bật từ Bản báo cáo Wikimedia Foundation và phản hồi kỹ thuật Wikimedia vào tháng 10 năm 2011, bao gồm các sự kiện quan trọng khác của phong trào Wikimedia -- Tilman Bayer Movement Communications Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB

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Wikimedia-l November 2011