Wikimedia-l March 2011

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

144 participants
121 discussions

Re: [Foundation-l] Remarks on Wikimedia's fundraiser
by Mike Godwin 07 Mar '11

07 Mar '11

Andrew Garrett writes: We might be growing, but I don't think anybody in the industry would > hesitate to say that we're still "small" and "running on a shoestring > budget". The websites that we compete with run budgets in the hundreds > of millions to billions of dollars. > This point can't be overstressed. Compared to organizations running the other nine of the top ten websites, Wikimedia Foundation is miniscule, and should still be considered so even if/when the Foundation meets the goals set in the strategic plan. --Mike

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[Foundation-l] WMF 2015 strategic plan and multilingualism
by Teofilo 07 Mar '11

07 Mar '11

http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Template:BLPLang is not currently used at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Movement_Strategic_Plan_Summa… This can be construed as the WMF wanting to reach the people of the world to provide educational contents AND English-dominate them. The fact that http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications_subcommittees/Trans#Core_set_… is now marked as "obsolete" disappoints me. It seems to mean that multilingualism has been rejected. Can the notion that a key document like a strategic plan is ready for release when it exists in only one language be discussed ? Or is it already too late ? Has multilingualism definitely lost the game ? For example because most of the supporters of multilingualism have left the management sphere of WMF. If you look at Jay Walsh's user page on meta : http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jaywalsh you can find an indirect acknowledgement that Canada is a multilingual country. Is multilingualism worse off or better off in the Wikimedia Foundation than it is in Canada ? Should http://blog.wikimedia.org/ remain 100% English ? Why not have 1 or 2% of non-English with English translation ? 5 or 10% of English-with-some-translation ? Which degree of openness to non-English language should be shown on http://blog.wikimedia.org/ ? What is the purpose of linking to the blog from non-English main pages such as http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Portada anyway ? Would it not be fairer to tell people "we have nothing pertinent in your language on this website. Please learn English first and come back. See you again" ? Shouldn't a number of English-only contents be moved to the USA, UK, Australia, etc. chapter websites ?

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[Foundation-l] Raising funds without being quite so annoying to readers
by WereSpielChequers 07 Mar '11

07 Mar '11

Picking up on the comment by Tobias about less intrusive fundraising, I would make sure we are pursuing the following: 1 Build up a past donors database, communicate with them effectively and then as long as they donate annually make sure they aren't irritated by ads for people who haven't donated at all. (I gather something is now being done here, but I know it wasn't in the past). 2 Get tax deductible/refunded status in as many countries as feasible. Especially countries like the UK where the tax is refunded to the charity rather than the donor. (I know the UK chapter is working on this, and that it isn't easy here, but there are probably other countries with similar systems where we may not even have started). 3 Ramp up Merchandising. Unlike almost any charity I can think of we can offer Xmas gifts for every taste, including for dads. Middle aged men are notoriously difficult to buy presents for, we are one of the few charities that could market calenders, mugs or mousemats suitable for fans of milhist, wrestling, NASCAR or indeed flowers, waterfalls and scientific elements. This is a real opportunity for the fundraising team to work with the Featured content crowd and the wikiprojects. It could also make a serious contribution to my annual Xmas present buying headaches. 4 Use IP location to not put up ads in countries where we are unable to accept donations in the local currency. Most of the charities I've worked with in the past have not actually made money on the first donation they get from a new donor, generally it costs more to recruit a new donor than they give in the first donation. The real income stream is from repeat donations in future years and from merchandising. Wikimedia is in the amazing position that it can get new donors for less than the cost of recruiting them. However that is only true because the advertising that we do internally is treated as free. In reality that advertising brings with it a big overhead in terms of annoyance to both our volunteers and our readers. I'm not suggesting that we put a monetary value on that internal webspace, but I would suggest that we measure that annoyance better and set some targets to minimise it. Money raised per ads served would help, as would excluding IPs and users who've already seen an ad and not responded. We might also consider not serving ads on pages that are disproportionately viewed by minors WereSpielChequers > > However the main point of mail was to discuss how we're going to raise > funds without being annoying to readers, and I welcome any input from > WMF staff, chapters and volunteers :-) > > -- Tobias

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[Foundation-l] (OT) Wael Ghonim TED talk on the Egyptian Revolution
by Sue Gardner 06 Mar '11

06 Mar '11

This is not 100% off-topic, since he talks about Wikipedia off the top. But it's worth watching regardless of that: it is a really lovely, inspiring talk. http://www.ted.com/talks/wael_ghonim_inside_the_egyptian_revolution.html Thanks, Sue Some text from his Wikipedia article below: In January 2011, Ghonim persuaded Google to allow him to return to Egypt, citing a "personal problem".[12] Ghonim had been running a Facebook fanpage about Mohamed ElBaradei, which was being used to promote democracy and organize protests in Cairo.[13] Ghonim disappeared on 27 January during the nationwide unrest in Egypt. His family told Al-Arabiya and other international media that he was missing. Google also issued a statement confirming the disappearance. Many bloggers like Chris DiBona and Habib Haddad campaigned in an attempt to identify his whereabouts. On 5 February 2011, Mostafa Alnagar, a major Egyptian opposition figure[14], reported that Wael Ghonim was alive and detained by the authorities and to be released 'within hours'.[15] On 6 February 2011, Amnesty International demanded that the Egyptian authorities disclose where Ghonim was and to release him.[16] Ghonim was released on 7 February, after 11 days in detention. Upon his release, he was greeted with cheers and applause when he stated: "We will not abandon our demand and that is the departure of the regime."[17] The same day, Ghonim appeared on the Egyptian channel DreamTV on the 10:00 pm programme hosted by Mona El-Shazly. In the interview he praised the protesters and mourned the dead as the host read their names and showed their pictures, eventually rising, "overwhelmed," and walking off camera. The host followed.[18][19] In the interview, he also urged that they deserved attention more than he did, and calling for the end of the Mubarak regime, describing it again as 'rubbish'. He also asserted his allegiance to Egypt, saying that he would never move to the United States, the homeland of his wife.[20][21] Becoming a symbol of the revolution in Egypt,[22] Ghonim stated that he is "ready to die" for the cause.[23] "At the end ..., he gathered himself for a few seconds and tried to make the most of the platform [El-Shazly] had given him. 'I want to tell every mother and every father who lost a child, I am sorry, but this is not our mistake,' he said. 'I swear to God, it’s not our mistake. It’s the mistake of every one of those in power who doesn’t want to let go of it.'"[18] On 9 February, Ghonim addressed the crowds in Tahrir Square, telling the protesters: "This is not the time for individuals, or parties, or movements. It's a time for all of us to say just one thing: Egypt above all."[24] -- Sue Gardner Executive Director Wikimedia Foundation 415 839 6885 office 415 816 9967 cell Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate

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[Foundation-l] Working for the man ...
by ???? 06 Mar '11

06 Mar '11

So how cool is this? http://copyright.co.tv/ Refresh the page, click a few links, ... anyone see any attribution? Teofilo check your moral rights, I think they have been mislaid.

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Re: [Foundation-l] [Chapters] Fwd: [Wikimedia Announcements] Chapter report Wikimedia Nederland, February 2011
by Lodewijk 05 Mar '11

05 Mar '11

Hi, We sent information around about Wiki Loves Monuments a few times on several lists, but it is also available on WIkimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011 . It would be great if you could find enough volunteers to let the Czech Republic participate! The strategy weekend was indeed no entertainment and a lot of working on the Wikimedia Nederland strategy. It was working groups, general discussions etc. Unfortunately I am not able to report on the details (yet) The board interest meeting is a concept we introduced last year to lower the threshold for people to candidate themselves or show interest. That way they can get their qeuestions answered before they take the decision. It also gives people an opportunity to realize that they might not be a good candidate after all if there are many better candidates. It mainly involved informal chatting and talking with current and former board members and exchanging information and experiences. Best, Lodewijk 2011/3/5 Juan de Vojníkov <juandevojnikov(a)gmail.com> > Hey Lodewijk, > > it is interesting, I haven't red about Wiki Loves Monuments yet so I hope, > I'll get it in Wroclaw! > > I would like to ask about STRATEGY WEEKEND. What does it mean? Two days > working on issue? No entertainment? > > And BOARD INTEREST MEETING, that sounds interesting! Could you tell us more > about this? Is it just about questions from potential candidates to the > board members, or how it works? > > Thanks, > > Juan de V. > WMCZ > > > > _______________________________________________ > Chapters mailing list > Chapters(a)wikimedia.ch > http://lists.wikimedia.ch/listinfo/chapters >

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[Foundation-l] Raising funds without being quite so annoying to readers
by WereSpielChequers 05 Mar '11

05 Mar '11

I appreciate that we may only be able to exclude donors who are logged in readers from banner ads. But it is better in my view to say "Yes we can do that, but you would have to tell us your username and be logged in to avoid ads" than to tell them "Sorry we can't switch off those ads". WereSpielChequers > > Message: 8 > Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2011 14:12:07 +0000 > From: Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Raising funds without being quite so > annoying to readers > On 5 March 2011 14:05, WereSpielChequers <werespielchequers(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> Picking up on the comment by Tobias about less intrusive fundraising, >> I would make sure we are pursuing the following: >> >> 1 Build up a past donors database, communicate with them effectively >> and then as long as they donate annually make sure they aren't >> irritated by ads for people who haven't donated at all. (I gather >> something is now being done here, but I know it wasn't in the past). > > The first part is certainly being done. The second part is impossible. > How are we supposed to know if a reader has previously donated? All we > have is their IP address, which could very easily have changed since > they donated. > >

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[Foundation-l] Moral rights
by Teofilo 05 Mar '11

05 Mar '11

French authorship rights law: Article L121-1 An author shall enjoy the right to respect for his name, his authorship and his work. This right shall attach to his person. It shall be perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible. It may be transmitted mortis causa to the heirs of the author. Exercise may be conferred on another person under the provisions of a will. http://195.83.177.9/code/liste.phtml?lang=uk&c=36&r=2497 "perpetual, inalienable and imprescriptible" means that they cannot be waived. It also means that they are enshrined in French law as dearly as human rights. In my opinion, the people who want to attack this, are on a sloppery slope where the next step is when they request you to waive your human rights.

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Re: [Foundation-l] Wikisource's translation efforts, Babel and Translate extensions
by Samuel Klein 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

A few nice translation extensions have become mature recently, and are being considered for use on the Projects: John Vandenberg commented recently that Wikisource has been looking to have the Babel extension installed, and Siebrand notes the Translate extension is ready for wider use, say on Meta or Mediawiki.org: Siebrand: > have a look at kde.userbase.org for a real-life example of a page translation > implementation in a MediaWiki wiki[1]. A description of the features and > process is available at translatewiki.net[2]. [1] http://userbase.kde.org/index.php?title=Special%3ALanguageStats&code=nl [2] https://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:Page_translation_feature > what's keeping it [from being used] currently lies outside translatewiki.net's staff span > of control (community voice and WMF resources). For anyone who currently works on direct translations (of help messages, primary sources, &c), check out the kde example above. On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 11:01 PM, John Vandenberg <jayvdb(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 12:59 AM, Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> John, if you don't mind, can we move this thread to foundation-l? > sure. > >> On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 5:16 AM, John Vandenberg <jayvdb(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>> There is also interest in the English Wikisource community. >>> The babel extension doesnt break anything, so I think en.ws would be >>> happy to try it. >> >> Yes. That would be grand. > > I have started a formal vote in the existing discussion > > https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikisource/en/wiki/Wikisource:Scriptorium#Babe… > >>>English Wikisource is starting to focus on this for 2011, and knows it >>>needs better software. >>> >>>http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:WikiProject_Translation >>> >>>We are considering developing this functionality on top of the >>>proofread page extension that we use. >>> >>>http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ProofreadPage >> >> That's great. Wikisource needs its own wiki newspaper to cover the >> cool things happening there :) > > we used to have a nice newsletter. > http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:News/Archives > > and the multilingual > http://wikisource.org/wiki/Wikisource:News > >> Main namespace pages on all language Wikisources, rather than being >> separate language projects, would usually be exact translations of one >> another... so a future sort of Translate extension might be >> implemented on all of them. > > Yea, the primary gap is the ability to translate between subdomains, > whereas extension:translate currently only works on a single project. > This gap might be reduced by enabling scary page transclusion between > wikisource projects for only the 'Page' namespace... -- Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266

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[Foundation-l] retire the administrator privilege
by Amir E. Aharoni 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

In his 10th anniversary address Jimmy Wales says: "Today is a great moment to reflect on where we've been." What my reflection brings up is that the single thing that probably raised more controversy among the widest range of Wikimedians is not the content of articles about sex, celebrities or geopolitical and linguistic conflicts, but the procedures of appointing administrators. It should have never been a big deal, but it is, in all projects in all languages. The "administrator" privilege lumps together several very different permissions: * rollback * blocking and unblocking * deleting and restoring pages and versions of pages * viewing deleted versions of pages * protect and unprotect pages and edit protected pages * some PendingChanges/FlaggedRevisions-related permissions, which i haven't quite figured out yet :) Now i, in general, think that these permissions should be given liberally to as many reasonable Wikimedians as possible. I always believed in it, and since most of these actions became visible in the watchlist a few years ago, this belief became even stronger. But some re-thinking is needed. The administrator privilege, as it is now, should be retired and broken up to several separate privileges: * block/unblock * protect, unprotect, edit protected, config PendingChanges on the page * edit highly technical pages - the MediaWiki: namespace, common.css, etc. * revert, delete/undelete, view deleted The permission to revert, delete and undelete unprotected pages can be given to those users who can create and move pages ("autoconfirmed"). There is no big functional difference between deleting a page and deleting a paragraph in an existing page or doing a major re-write. The difference between reverting and undoing is a matter of civility and a lot of uncivil things can be done without permissions anyway. Limiting these actions only to certain users is quite pointless. Viewing deleted pages shouldn't be a big deal either. Deletion is not so much eliminating non-notable topics and nonsense from existence, as about separating them from encyclopedic articles. It shouldn't be a big deal to let bored people read them somewhere. Eliminating egregiously offensive and illegal content, major copyright violations and BLP issues can be accomplished today with the oversight permission. Controlling Pending Changes, although i haven't figured out all of its intricacies, is essentially an improved version of page protection. It makes sense to give this permission to (many) selected people. It will probably evolve over time, and i believe that it will evolve more organically if conceptually separated from blocking and deletion. Another comment about protection is that protecting system messages (the MediaWiki: namespace) and sensitive CSS and JS pages (commons.css etc.) is very different from protecting vandalism-prone articles (Obama etc.). The protection of these technical pages and sensitive articles should be a different concept. The permission to block should be a separate one. Separating the discussions about giving users the permission to protect pages and to block vandals will not stop the holy wars, but it will focus them. There will be no more comments such as: * "User:PhDhistorian may be a good editor who understands Verifiability and who can be trusted to edit sensitive BLP articles, but he has personal grudges with User:FatMadonna and he may block her, so he shouldn't be given the Administrator privilege." * "User:VandalFighterGrrrl is excellent at patrolling RC, but she's too inclusionist and shouldn't be given the right to decide about content protection." All of the above is formulated in the English Wikipedia terms. I believe that the English Wikipedia policies for deletion, protection and blocking make a lot of sense and should be adopted by all Wikipedias, but this obviously can't be forced on any Wikipedia. Other projects may have very different understanding of these processes and it's OK. I'm only talking about the technical separation of the privileges. Now, fight. -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com "We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace." - T. Moore

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[Foundation-l] Is the WMF spending its (our or our donors) money irrationally?
by WereSpielChequers 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

Re the "numerous complains from other volunteers who thought that WMF is spending its money irrationally." that vvv has heard. Any charity has pretty much by definition an obligation to use the money it is entrusted with rationally and appropriately. In the case of the WMF there has been a lot of flak on this list because of a rather trendy sounding job title and a vague job ad. Personally I think that vague job descriptions are a mildly questionable but routine tactic that many not for profits use to maximise what they can get their staff to do. As for the big financial decisions, I tend to the view that locating our sole data centre in a state known for its Earthquakes was a brave decision, and creating a secondary datacentre an expensive but logical one. I take some comfort from the fact that the debate about use of funds has mostly been about relatively small parts of the budget, and that the big important decisions are mostly uncontentious. Though I welcome such globalisation measures as the Indian and possible middle East offices, I do wonder at the planned total headcount, and I hope that of all the things that came out of the Strategy project, one featured proposal http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Keep_the_servers_running is given due pre-eminence in all WMF planning. But overall my impression is that the WMF spends money rationally, I do see quite a few tests, innovations and new ventures, which I consider a healthy sign. The acid test will be whether the foundation is able to work out which of those are worth continuing, which merit expansion and building on, which need tweaking and which need to be closed down and learned from. WereSpielChequers > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 15:17:33 +0300 > From: Victor Vasiliev <vasilvv(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening > To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List > <foundation-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > Message-ID: > <AANLkTimYYXa85bO5yXrjzBAfWaUCsUbU77TVEYRuvhyt(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 11:26 PM, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> You appear to be generalising from your personal preferences to the >> world here. This is a common fallacy and a really bad idea in general. > > I have heard numerous complains from other volunteers who thought that > WMF is spending its money irrationally. So I believe those "personal > preferences" are widespread enough. > > --vvv > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2011 13:41:06 +0100

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[Foundation-l] FCForum Declaration: Sustainable Models for Creativity
by Milos Rancic 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

I think WMF should endorse it. Catalan Wikipedia already did. http://fcforum.net/sustainable-models-for-creativity/declaration

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[Foundation-l] WMF's Mid Year Financial Statements (July - December 2010)
by Tony Le 03 Mar '11

03 Mar '11

Hello All, It is my pleasure to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation's Mid Year Financial Statements for the period July 1 through December 31, 2010 are now posted to the WMF's website along with the answers to the anticipated frequently asked questions at: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Financial_reports#2010.E2.80.932011_fis… Here is a snapshot of our financials highlight: The Wikimedia Foundation's financial situation is strong. Revenue has exceeded the mid-year plan. This is primarily due to another strong online fundraiser campaign. Spending is below plan due primarily to slower hiring and the timing of the capital expenditures for the data center build-out in Virginia. By the fiscal year-end, the total planned capital expenditures will be spent or maybe slightly over plan. Please don't hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns. Best, -- Tony Le Controller Wikimedia Foundation Ph: 415-839-6885 ext 6749 Fax: 415-882-0495 tle(a)wikimedia.org

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[Foundation-l] Knowledge block: From being searched by user to pushing to user
by Mingli Yuan 03 Mar '11

03 Mar '11

The main functionality of an encyclopedia is help people find background knowledge for their questions. Wikipedia as an encyclopedia still keep this functionality as the main usage pattern, if I am not wrong. But we can still observed other usage patterns, for example in the Mainpage and Portals, the changes on them reflect the news outside or editing progress inside. And gradually even rss file was generated by bot to broadcast these changes. I call this pattern a pushing pattern. Let's back to the mission of Wikimedia movement: making knowledge reach all the people on the planet. Why can we not push knowledge to the people? I know, from the most latin-language-version point of view, this idea is not very attractive, because Wikipedia is already the 5 biggest website on the planet. But as the case for Chinese Wikipedia, we still at the poor position of 50th~100th popular website. That is why I start my work on wikiedge.org, a re-mix website for good wikipedia content. I don't want stop at this higher level but I will propose a low level idea: the concept of knowledge block. In one word: knowledge block is a data exchange format to enable broadcasting of good wikimedia content. For example, the data exchange format would be: * title * permalink of the article * leading sentence * abstract * tags * categories * the main photos * related photos If the community process (in generating dyk, itn, otd, feature and featurpic) and supporting technology could provide these meta date, we could: * twitter: leading sentence + permalink + photos * an online magazine: abstract + photos + fulltext * a blog: abstract + photos + fulltext + categories + tags * ... We could push our knowledge into many different channels. It need the community and technology guys to wrok together to implement the idea. And I want to make this real in Chinese Wikipedia. Thanks for comments, critics and advice. Regards, Mingli

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[Foundation-l] open meeting: March 5
by phoebe ayers 02 Mar '11

02 Mar '11

All, In the continuing experiment to revive regular IRC community meetings, I have proposed that the next meeting be this Saturday, March 5: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_meetings#March_5.2C_2011 And in the interests of rotating times and making it available to all parts of the world, I'd like to propose 11:00UTC -- that time should work pretty well for everywhere except the Americas. (other suggested times included 09:00UTC and 12:00UTC, so 11:00 kinda splits the difference. Pls comment on talk.). So: Please forward to your relevant communities, and add your agenda items (and sign up if you can make it) here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_meetings I'd like to note that I am personally not imagining these meetings as a place to ask questions and get answers from the staff and/or the Board (note that 11:00UTC excludes participation from San Francisco), but rather as a way for different parts of our community to talk with each other, present projects, discuss issues of concern, etc. Last time we had a good and wide-ranging meeting covering many topics (log is on meta). (Also, I myself will be traveling next Saturday and may not be able to attend. So if someone could volunteer to moderate, that'd be awesome). Comments, complaints and other ideas welcome, as always. -- phoebe -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at> gmail.com *

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[Foundation-l] participation in Indic-language wikis
by phoebe ayers 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

Shiju Alex from Malayalam Wikipedia did an analysis of the Indic-language wikis & their active community sizes: http://shijualex.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/indian-language-wikipedias-2010-s… It's a really interesting study, and a good reminder of how far we have to go with the smaller wikis. -- phoebe -- * I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers <at> gmail.com *

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Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening
by WJhonson＠aol.com 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

In a message dated 3/1/2011 12:08:25 PM Pacific Standard Time, wikipedia(a)frontier.com writes: > If > people actually understood how collaboration on a wiki works, it would > be much easier for them to accept the projects for what they are, rather > than creating drama about things they aren't. Then we could focus more > on dealing with the drama on the projects themselves. > I think you miss the ball. It's not about understanding on a cerebral level. We all have collaborated IRL on various things. Very few of us, previously, have collaborated in a massively multi-player video game. Most of the time you fight each other, or the orcs, you don't collaborate on building a house or something. It's a new experience for most persons, and I don't think you can get the full flavor with charts and graphs. You're going to need to document and recount some of the drama itself, without downplaying what actually occurred and why. Some personality types are not suited for MMORG collaboration, and we shouldn't make it seem like all are. W

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[Foundation-l] Language committee meeting in May - open discussion
by Amir E. Aharoni 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

Hello all, The Wikimedia Language committee members are going to meet in May. I created a new page in Meta for the open discussion of this meeting: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Language_committee/May_2011_meeting Everyone is welcome to influence this meeting by proposing to discuss. Please edit this page and propose your ideas. Thanks, -- Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי http://aharoni.wordpress.com "We're living in pieces, I want to live in peace." - T. Moore

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[Foundation-l] New members of Language committee
by Milos Rancic 28 Feb '11

28 Feb '11

I am glad to announce that Language committee is stronger for three new members. By the time of getting their applications, the list is: Ζαχαρίας Διακονικολάου (Zaharias Diakonikolau) (meta:User:ZaDiak) * languages spoken: el, en-4, de-2, grc-2, pnt-1 * living in: Europe, Greece, Rhodes * reason for inclusion: A couple of months ago Language committee announced that it is searching for members from the [types of] projects which don't have Wikipedia-like dynamics. Zaharias has passed as an applicant from Wikiversity (he is admin at Beta Wikiversity and bureaucrat at Greek Wikiversity). However, his qualifications go further: he is actively working on creation, editing and promoting projects in various Greek languages. Knowing that he is young, he will be our long term investment, too. Oliver Stegen]] (meta:User:Baba Tabita) * languages spoken: de, en-4, sw-3 <small style="color:gray;">nl-1, fr-1</small> * living in: Africa, Kenya, Nairobi (from Europe, Germany) * reason for inclusion: Oliver is a linguist who is working for SIL on East African languages. We'll have one ultra-relevant expert in LangCom thanks to Jon Harald Søby, one of the LangCom members, who met Oliver in Nairobi. Santhosh Thottingal]] (meta:User:Santhosh.thottingal) * languages spoken: ml, hi-3, en-3, ta-2, * living in: Asia, India, Chennai (Madras) * reason for inclusion: Santhosh is a free software guru interested in languages. He will help us in articulating projects for covering language-related needs of Wikimedia projects. I want to add one more point related to Santhosh. He has passed as a LangCom member not because he is from India, but because he has relevant expertise and right attitude. Although he speaks three Indian languages, he has become a member of LangCom because he is a free software guru interested in languages. Before Santhosh's application, we would have been happy to see anyone with this qualification and this attitude, no matter of location of birth or residence. However, Bishakha's question and subsequent conversation helped, as it gave impulse to Santhosh to submit the application. And that brings to my mind that it would be good to pass the whole world periodically and raise the geographical equality issue. And it is not a joke. That's obviously giving people courage, or at least the idea, that they have the same right to become members of any Wikimedia body, as any Westerner has. Sometimes the qualifications won't be relevant for particular position, sometimes they will.

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(no subject)
by Bence Damokos 28 Feb '11

28 Feb '11

Don�t be frigid, my sweet!. http://naaldendraadborduuratelier.nl/links.php?omaSID=404

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[Foundation-l] The Signpost – Volume 7, Issue 9 – 28 February 2011
by Wikipedia Signpost 28 Feb '11

28 Feb '11

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Wikimedia-l March 2011