Wikimedia-l November 2011

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116 participants
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[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Brin Wojcicki Foundation Announces $500, 000 Grant to Wikimedia
by Jay Walsh 18 Nov '11

18 Nov '11

*Brin Wojcicki Foundation Announces $500,000 Grant to Wikimedia* SAN FRANCISCO, CA – November 18, 2011 – The Brin Wojcicki Foundation, started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, awarded a $500,000 grant to the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia and its sister sites. The Wikimedia Foundation kicked off its 8th annual fundraiser on November 16, 2011. The Wikimedia projects currently reach more than 477 million unique visitors around the world every month (comScore, October 2011), making Wikipedia the fifth most-popular web site in the world. “This grant is an important endorsement of the Wikimedia Foundation and its work, and I hope it will send a signal as we kick off our annual fundraising campaign this week," said Sue Gardner, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation. "This is how Wikipedia works: people use it, they like it, and so they help pay for it, to keep it freely available for themselves and for everyone around the world. I am very grateful to Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki for supporting what we do.” The Brin Wojcicki Foundation has funded such organizations as the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which is researching a cure for Parkinson’s disease. The principals of the Brin Wojcicki Foundation are Sergey Brin, who co-founded Google in 1997, and Anne Wojcicki, who co-founded 23andMe, a personal genetics company. *About the Wikimedia Foundation* http://wikimediafoundation.org http://blog.wikimedia.org The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix, Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 477 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, October 2011). Available in more than 280 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 20 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. Media Contact: Jay Walsh Head of Communications Wikimedia Foundation Tel. +1 415 839 6885 x 6609 jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org *(to be removed from future mailings, please reply to this email with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line)* _______________________________________________ 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

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: Thank you from the Wikimedia Foundation
by Sue Gardner 18 Nov '11

18 Nov '11

The campaign for this year is officially launched! Congratulations to everyone working on it, and fingers crossed for its success. Thanks, Sue ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Sue Gardner" <donate(a)wikimedia.org> Date: Nov 15, 2011 2:30 PM Subject: Thank you from the Wikimedia Foundation To: "Susan Gardner" <sgardner(a)wikimedia.org> Dear Susan, You are amazing, thank you so much for donating to the Wikimedia Foundation! This is how we pay our bills -- it's people like you, giving five dollars, twenty dollars, a hundred dollars. My favourite donation last year was five pounds from a little girl in England, who had persuaded her parents to let her donate her allowance. It's people like you, joining with that girl, who make it possible for Wikipedia to continue providing free, easy access to unbiased information, for everyone around the world. For everyone who helps pay for it, and for those who can't afford to help. Thank you so much. I know it's easy to ignore our appeals, and I'm glad that you didn't. From me, and from the tens of thousands of volunteers who write Wikipedia: thank you for helping us make the world a better place. We will use your money carefully, and I thank you for your trust in us. Thanks, *Sue Gardner* Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director For your records: Your donation on 2011-11-15 was USD 1000.00. This letter may serve as a record of your donation. No goods or services were provided, in whole or in part, for this contribution. The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit charitable corporation with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the United States. Our address is 149 New Montgomery, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94105. U.S. tax-exempt number: 20-0049703 *Opt out option:* We'd like to keep you as a donor informed of our community activities and fundraisers. If you prefer however not to receive such emails from us, please click below and we'll take you off the list: Opt out<https://civicrm.wikimedia.org/thank_you/unsubscribe?c=1217193&h=e21ee93ee10…>

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[Foundation-l] Occupy events: Are you OK?
by Milos Rancic 18 Nov '11

18 Nov '11

I came from pub and before going to bed, I checked emails and news. And I saw that the conflict with police is escalating. As many Wikimedians participate in OWS and other Occupy protests in US, it would be good that you report here what's going on with you.

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[Foundation-l] MENA Education Program?
by aude 17 Nov '11

17 Nov '11

Erik, Sue, Frank, et al, Can you please say more about the plans for a Middle East education program? (yes I have read notes from the recent trip on outreach wiki) What is the timeframe? Who is going to run it? Will you establish a "trust" there? Where will the office be? If the program is to be duplicated, I certainly hope there are not the same issues with quality, as has happened in Pune. What lessons have you learned and what will you do differently? Knowing that there is quite a backlog, last time I checked, with pending changes on Arabic Wikipedia, I am very concerned for the ability of volunteers there to handle a massive influx of new content. I am also concerned if you setup a trust in, say Egypt, that will put a damper on any efforts to form a chapter, which I know has been discussed. If done carefully and well, I would be very delighted to see outreach programs be a success for Arabic Wikipedia, and hope that will be the case. Cheers, Katie

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[Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikipedia’s Contributors and Authors at the Center of Wikimedia’s Eighth Annual Fundraiser
by Jay Walsh 16 Nov '11

16 Nov '11

*Wikipedia’s Contributors and Authors at the Center of Wikimedia’s Eighth Annual Fundraiser * SAN FRANCISCO, November 16, 2011 - The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind Wikipedia, today announced the launch of its annual fundraising campaign. The annual fundraiser brings in critical revenue so that Wikipedia and its sister projects can remain freely available to people around the world. Funds raised in this campaign by Wikimedia and its regional chapters will be used to maintain Wikimedia’s server infrastructure and improve software, expand global reach, and provide direct support to a global volunteer community. The Foundation's total 2011-12 planned spending is $28.3 million USD. This year’s campaign will focus on telling the story of the volunteers and editors who donate their time to further the Wikimedia mission: to spread free knowledge around the world. Through the duration of the campaign, the users of Wikipedia and its sister projects will learn about the unique personalities behind our projects, as well as the passions and motivations that fuel their contributions. As in previous years, Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, will also play a visible role in the fundraising campaign. “Our community - both our donors and those who actually help write projects like Wikipedia - is made up of people who are curious, brilliant, and engaged,” said Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “This year we want to share their stories. I think people will find it interesting to read about the folks who work behind the scenes in the projects -- and ideally, I am hoping that some readers will be inspired to start editing themselves, as well.” *Three Wikipedia contributors to look out for * Alan Sohn (user:Alansohn) has contributed so much tech-related information to more than 2,500 original articles on Wikipedia that his time commitment to the hobby would equate to hundreds of thousands of earned dollars if he focused only on his day job as a New Jersey-based systems consultant. “But money is not the incentive here,” Alan says. “You deal in a different currency on Wikipedia.” He believes the Foundation has harnessed an invaluable resource of cooperating individuals dedicated to sharing unbiased, accurate information. Susan Hewitt (user:Invertzoo), a US citizen originally from England, knows her snails. She harbors such a fascination for gastropods and has cultivated such an extensive knowledge of their existence that she can’t help but want to share. “That’s what makes Wikipedia so magical,” she says, “there’s this unspoken light inside all of us that comes from the desire to help educate, to help share knowledge.” Susan donates because she believes she has a moral obligation to support any free service she uses so frequently. West Virginia native, and San Francisco Bay area-based, Brandon Harris (User:Jorm) left a high-paying career in the tech industry to help make positive changes to society. He now works as a programmer for the Wikimedia Foundation because everything in his soul tells him it’s the right thing to do. Brandon is particularly motivated by the thought that WMF produces with “sticks and wires” what massive, big-budget companies only dream of pulling off. During the 2010 annual fundraising campaign, the Wikimedia Foundation raised $15 million in fifty days, a 72% increase over 2009’s total of $8.7 million. The 2011 campaign will run through January 2012, with appeals from Brandon, Susan, Alan, Jimmy Wales, and many more atop pages on Wikipedia and its sister sites, asking readers for their support. You can also follow the conversation about the annual fundraising campaign via @wikipedia on Twitter (http://twitter.com/wikipedia) or Identi.ca ( http://identi.ca/wikipedia). To donate to the campaign, visit: http://donate.wikimedia.org. *MORE VISUAL MATERIALS* For photos of the Wikipedia contributors, as well as samples of the fundraising banners, visit: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Category:Fundraising_2011_press_materia… *About the Wikimedia Foundation * http://wikimediafoundation.org http://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 454 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. *Media Contact: * Jay Walsh Head of Communications Wikimedia Foundation Tel. +1 415 839 6885 x 6609 jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org *(to be removed from future mailings, please reply to this email with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line)* _______________________________________________ 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

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[Foundation-l] Office Hours - 18 November, 22:00 UTC
by Oliver Keyes 16 Nov '11

16 Nov '11

Hey guys! As you've probably all come to expect, there'll be another office hours session on the article feedback tool this week at 22:00 UTC (and yes, I have checked :P). In attendance will be the full gamut of devs, managers and technical specialists! Also me. It's deliberately scheduled to make it possible for US east coasters to attend, so those of you who read foundation-l and are interested in the AFT, please do come along (Risker, I'm lookin' at you :P). For those in Asia/Australasia, 3am UTC (you can check how that relates to your timezones at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=3&min=00&sec=0&da…) on Saturday will see an office hours session on the AFT aimed at you folk ;). It'll just be me, I'm afraid, but if you want to engage on the AFT, have any suggestions, or just want to discuss it, you're welcome to attend :). -- Oliver Keyes Community Liason, Product Development Wikimedia Foundation

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[Foundation-l] Thanking volunteers
by Lodewijk 16 Nov '11

16 Nov '11

I sent this request already to some internal lists, but here there might also be quite some volunteers who have a thought about thanking volunteers :) ---- It is almost the end of the year, and that is for me personally usually a moment to thank some of the people I have worked with over the past twelve months. That triggered me to try and figure out what methods are currently being used in the Wikimedia universe to thank the real life volunteers. Therefore I have set up this questionnaire. I have tried to make it simple&quick to answer, but at the same time to leave plenty of opportunity to leave suggestions. Please find it here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dDBXU3l2LXlae… . It should take you roughly 3-4 minutes to fill it out. I hope you are willing to spend these minutes and help me (and others) understand better what thanking in Wikimedia is all about. I am targeting both individuals and organizations with this. If you want to seperate the two, just fill it out twice. Please focus on what *has been done* so far, not what you're planning to do. I want to be able to make the replies available publicly. For individuals without names etc of course, for organizations I would like to be able to add the name of the organization unless there is an objection. For the rest it is of course totally informal and it is for sharing practices. I'm trying to figure out: * How important you think thanking is * What are the best practices and the coolest ideas * Whether physical or online methods are used primarily Thank you for your help! Lodewijk ps: oh yes, of course: you can share this with everybody you like. I hope someone can send this to the chapters-l especially.

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Re: [Foundation-l] Fwd: Wikimedia India Program Trust
by Joan Goma 16 Nov '11

16 Nov '11

> > Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:12:42 +0000 > From: B?ria Lima <berialima(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Fwd: Wikimedia India Program Trust > > *The way I see is India is a land of immense potential for the Wikimedia > > Movement. IMHO, There is enough space of 10 chapters and Wikimedia > offices > > to co-exist and work together in India.* > > > > Did you ever read the Chapter Agreement you signed with WMF? That document > states that WMIN is the ONLY chapter of WMF in India, and that any one > organization must have their "approval" to work in Indian soil (I'm saying > that based in WMPT agreement, WMIN one might be different.) > > I think that the spirit of an agreement is more important than its wording but I would like to comment both. Regarding the wording, in my opinion what the contract says can be interpreted exactly the other way around. It says that to create another chapter in the same geographical area WMIN will be consulted. [1] It doesn’t say that the approval of WMIN is needed. Furthermore to create an organization different than chapters not even that consultation is foreseen. As for the spirit I feel that the impression that chapters have private ownership of land is a big mistake that can leads us to a situation contrary to our values. This exclusivity is contrary to the spirit of sharing. We are not cultivating potatoes where the owner of the land keeps the potatoes. We give the potatoes away. The more and better people working the land more potatoes can give away. We don’t need land owners, what we need are people working the land. I think these organizations should be happy of having there each other andsee a chance that what one of them can’t do, perhaps will be done by the other. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Agreement_between_chapters_and_Wikimedi…

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[Foundation-l] Board report Sept-Oct
by phoebe ayers 16 Nov '11

16 Nov '11

Hi all, The Sept-Oct activity report for the Board of Trustees is published on Meta here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_Reports/September-October,_2011 This is an informal report that we started doing a few months ago to try and communicate more about what the board and individual trustees are doing. You can find past reports (July-August and May-June) at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_Reports. Text of the report follows. Feedback is welcome! -- phoebe ----- Board of Trustees -- activity report September-October 2011 * Resolutions and votes New chapters: The Board approved three new chapters in September-October: Wikimedia District of Columbia, Wikimedia Bangladesh, and Wikimedia Venezuela. Congratulations to all! Update to the donor policy: The donor privacy policy, an updated version of which was approved in July by the Board, had some small amendments which the Board approved; the latest version of the policy can be found at donor policy. * Other Board work Meetings: The Board met for its regularly scheduled meeting on October 7-8, in San Francisco (agenda). The next IRC meeting is scheduled for November 6, and the next regular quarterly meeting is scheduled for 3-4 February 2011 in San Francisco. Agendas will be posted here. Audit Committee: The Audit Committee met in late September to review the preliminary results of KPMG's independent audit of the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Other agenda items included an update on the 2011 fundraiser. Stu and also Renata from the Audit Committee spent time with new Chief of Finance and Admin Garfield Byrd, helping orient him to the foundation and broad movement. Future of fundraising process: The Board, led by Jan-Bart, kicked off a process to develop a fundraising model for 2012 and beyond. The first step is developing criteria against which fundraising and funds dissemination models will be judged; the Board will then ask Sue and the staff, with community input, to develop potential models and judge them against the criteria. The process is laid out here, with links to the pages for criteria, which everyone is encouraged to edit and discuss. * Trustee outreach and other activities - Kat attended the Creative Commons Global Summit in Warsaw, Poland. - Phoebe attended WikiSym 2011, an academic conference about wikis and open collaborative software that was held this year in Mountain View, California. There were many papers about Wikipedia research presented; some of them are summarized here. Phoebe also presented a workshop at WikiSym, with Reid Priedhorsky, about collecting the literature about wikis and Wikipedia; see the workshop page for details. - Ting attended WikiConvention 2011 in Nürnberg, Germany from Sep. 9th to 11th, a community gathering of German Wikimedians. On Sep. 23rd he made a speech on the OpenWorldForum in Paris about the Biography of Living People Policy on Wikimedia projects. - Stu continued to help develop Reports and started a new movement-wide transparency page, Financial reports. - Sam attended the launch of the Digital Public Library of America in Washington, DC on October 21-22, as part of their Audience and Participation workstream. He spoke in their plenary session about the need to improve digital citations and the m:Wikicite project proposal. - Bishakha was neckdeep in supporting the community team behind WikiConference India 2011 which will take place from 18 to 20 November 2011. - Jimmy spoke around the world in September: in Cambridge (YouGov), Lima, Peru (conference of former South American Presidents), Indianapolis, Indiana (marketing conference), London (ICT4D conference), and Austin, Texas (school board members conference). Additionally, he attended the unveiling of the new Human Rights Logo in New York (where he was one of the judges). October took him to London, Istanbul, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Bologna, New York, and Amsterdam.

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[Foundation-l] The Signpost – Volume 7, Issue 46 – 14 November 2011
by Wikipedia Signpost 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

News and notes: ArbCom nominations open, participation grants finalized, survey results on perceptions on Wikipedia released http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14/News_a… In the news: Fundraising vs ads redux, WikiConference India nigh, a world lit up with articles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14/In_the… WikiProject report: Having a Conference with WikiProject India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14/WikiPr… Featured content: Writing featured content: Advice from Sturmvogel 66; Sports, sports, sports! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14/Featur… Arbitration report: Abortion and Betacommand 3 in evidence phase, three case requests outstanding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14/Arbitr… Technology report: Coding Challenge results; Wikimedians to wait and see if Athena really does represent "wisdom, courage and inspiration" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14/Techno… Single page view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost/Single PDF version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-11-14 http://identi.ca/wikisignpost / https://twitter.com/wikisignpost -- Wikipedia Signpost Staff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost

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Wikimedia-l November 2011