Wikimedia-l December 2012

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137 participants
116 discussions

Why you're not seeing banners
by Zack Exley 04 Dec '12

04 Dec '12

We've heard from a few people wondering why they're no longer seeing fundraising banners on Wikipedia. An announcement about this was buried in another thread, so I'll repeat it here. We're now showing banners only to people (more accurately: browsers) who have never seen them before. If you really want to see a banner, clear your Wikimedia cookies and you'll be able to see what's running. If you're seeing banners more than once on the same computer and browser, please let us know so that we can figure out why that's happening. >From December 26 to Dec 31 we'll begin showing banners again to everyone for a final push to the year end goal. -- Zack Exley Chief Revenue Officer Wikimedia Foundation

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Please have a look at the new list of successful grant applications!
by John Andersson 04 Dec '12

04 Dec '12

Hi everybody, Today I created a page on Outreach called List of successful grant applications. I hope that you will add your Chapter's success stories there! Based on what grant applications we know have worked in other countries we can copy the successful ones when we apply for external funding. This will help speed things up and hence, increase our efficiency and our external funding. This would be especially valuable for smaller Chapters. If you have suggestions on how to improve the page I encourage you to be bold! So please add your examples there and let the successful examples of other Chapters inspire you! All the best, John - - - - John Andersson Wikimedia Sweden Event Manager Europeana Awareness Phone: +46(0)73-3965189 Email: john.andersson(a)wikimedia.se Skype: johnandersson86 Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @wikieuropeana Visit http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Projekt:Europeana_Awareness/English for more information about our project!

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF narrowing focus (was Re: Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 105, Issue 1)
by ENWP Pine 04 Dec '12

04 Dec '12

Thanks Sue. I am cautious when there are specific cuts such as Fellowships in exchange for indeterminate benefits. That makes a cost-benefit analysis difficult to do. Maybe this is a good tradeoff, but from the information that's publicly available, I'm still particularly concerned about the loss of the Fellowships. Could those be funded by increasing the amount of the fundraising goal? Some of the other possible tradeoffs and outsourcing do make sense to me. The loss of the fellowships is my main concern. Looking at the bright side, I would be very glad if one of the benefits from narrowing focus is that the progress of the Visual Editor is hastened. Thanks, Pine > > From: Sue Gardner <sgardner(a)wikimedia.org> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 105, Issue 1 > Message-ID: > <CAGZ0=LNMvd+mYRLyRxOVxcFMPcHhhD4iUaxodgFF6dw=Mmdrbw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hi Pine, > > We haven't articulated specific and measurable benefits: that's why you > haven't gotten an answer to your question. That's because the Narrowing > Focus exercise is not a one-off immediate-term event: it's a longer-term > decision which will have multiple implications in this year and in future > years. > > The Board approved the general principle: that narrowing focus would > benefit the organization, which had been spread too thinly. But, the > precise implications won't be known until the process begins to play out. > For example, we've made a decision to outsource some of the WMF work > associated with Wikimania, but until we define the terms of the > outsourcing, we can't know what the exact implications will be. (Because we > don't know what it will cost, or what work the contractor/consultant will > be able to do. We *will* know those things in future, and I could make > educated guesses about them now, but we can't know with certainty until we > run an RFP process or similar.) > > Upshot: this is a long-term-focused decision, and it'll take a while for > the implications to begin to play out. I've told the Board we shouldn't > expect to see too much in the way of benefits in 2012-13 (the current > fiscal year) because there will be work required to execute the various > components of it, which will offset whatever gain we might otherwise have > seen this year. We may see a little pay-off this year, but mostly it will > start to happen in 2023-14. > > Thanks, > Sue > On Dec 2, 2012 3:56 PM, "ENWP Pine" <deyntestiss(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Tilman, > > > > Thanks, I always like reading these reports. > > > > Again, I'd like to ask what specific and measurable benefits the "changing > > focus" changes will accomplish. I've been asking this for awhile. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Pine > > > > > Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:55:37 -0800 > > > From: Tilman Bayer <tbayer(a)wikimedia.org> > > > To: wikimediaannounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > > Subject: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation > > > Report, October 2012 > > > Message-ID: > > > <CAPDdKA5QRw_+kn=Pdb9Ryc9= > > VpOeZTxXbGFz5KWnCPHee7me8Q(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > please find below the WMF report for October 2012, in plain text. > > > > > > As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta: > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_October_2012 > > > > > > and the reports are being posted on the Wikimedia blog, too: > > > https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/ > > > > > > As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary. > > > Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay > > > updated, by providing a translation: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2012 > > > Many thanks those who have translated the September "Highlights" into > > > Arabic, Breton, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Piedmontese, Russian, > > > Ukrainian, Chinese and Telugu! > > > > > > While still focussing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a > > > small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole movement. > > > Suggestions for the soon to be published November issue are welcome > > > until Wednesday (December 5) at > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights > > > > > > Regards, Tilman > > > > > > -- > > >

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"putting profit before knowledge"
by Richard Symonds 04 Dec '12

04 Dec '12

I was going to send this just to comcom, but I think all of us should read it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-20576409 A small shop in Delhi is being sued for copyright infringement, for copying academic textbooks for students. The action is being taken by three leading international publishers. Students - and some authors - have accused the publishers of putting profit before knowledge. But the publishers say they had no alternative. Richard Symonds Wikimedia UK 0207 065 0992 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*

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[Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Winners Announced in World's Largest Photo Contest, Wiki Loves Monuments
by Jay Walsh 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

(This release is also posted online at http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Announcement_of_Wiki_Lov…) *Winners Announced in World’s Largest Photo Contest, Wiki Loves Monuments **International jury selects top 15 photos from more than 350,000 photos worldwide San Francisco, California and Utrecht, the Netherlands - 3 December 2012 -- The international jury for Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 announced the 15 winning photographs from the world’s largest photo contest, which ran from September 1st through 30th. More than 15,000 photographers uploaded more than 350,000 freely-licensed photographs of historic buildings, monuments and cultural heritage sites in 35 countries to Wikimedia Commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org) for use on Wikipedia and other free-knowledge projects. The grand-prize winning photograph depicts Safdarjung's Tomb and marble mausoleum in New Delhi, India, and was taken by Pranav Singh. The tomb was built in 1754 in the late Mughal Empire style as tribute to the prime minister for Muhammad Shah, the Mughal emperor from 1719 to 1748. As noted in the jury report, “With gravity and a perfect sense for the angle of view and light, this picture presents the object - the architecture and light forming a stage for the tomb, focusing on the details of the stone carving.” (Photo link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tomb_of_Safdarjung,_New_Delhi.jpg) Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 more than doubled the photo total from 2011, when 5,000 photographers from 18 European countries uploaded 168,208 photos. In 2012, volunteer Wikipedians in 35 countries organized the contest nationally, with the 324 winning photos from national contests considered by an international jury for the top prize. The grand prize is a trip to Hong Kong for a photo tour as part of the Wikimania 2013 conference. “We have a beautiful selection of images representing the world’s heritage” says Lodewijk Gelauff, one of the international coordinators of the contest. “I’m so proud of the hundreds of volunteer Wikipedians who helped organize the contest in their countries and around the world. Not only do we have hundreds of thousands of free images that anyone can use, but we also have a great set of heritage lists on Wikipedia, which give an overview of more than 1 million monuments globally. That leaves plenty of unphotographed monuments for next year!” The top 13 photos will be displayed in a travelling international exhibition, and will be showcased in a special Wiki Loves Monuments calendar for 2013. Other top photographs: The other finalists represent countries from four continents, including South America, North America, Asia and Europe. 2nd Place - Aqueduct of Segovia in Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain. Photographer: David Corral Gadea. The Aqueduct of Segovia is one of the most significant and best-preserved monuments left by the Romans on the Iberian Peninsula. (Photo link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Acueducto_de_Segovia_01.jpg) 3rd Place - Ifugao Rice Terraces in Batad, Ifugao, Philippines. Photographer: Captaincid. Built over 2,000 years ago, the Rice Terraces of Batad make up one of the four clusters of rice terraces in Ifugao province that are identified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Photo link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Batad_Rice_Terraces_after_the_rain.…) 4th Place - Château de Maintenon in Eure-et-Loir, France. Photographer: Selbymay. The château, developed from the original castle, is situated in the commune of Maintenon in the Eure-et-Loir region of France. It is best known as being the private residence of the second spouse of Louis XIV, Madame de Maintenon. (Photo link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maintenon_-_Chateau_03.jpg) 5th Place - Teatro Comunale di Ferrara in Ferrara, Italy. Photographer: Andrea Parisi. The Rotonda Foschini, the internal court of the Teatro Comunale (''city theatre''), in Ferrara was built at the end of the 18th century. (Photo link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Teatro_Comunale.jpg) Jury Report Read the full jury report, including the top 42 photos, here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_international_j… Related blog posts and announcements *http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_winners (2012 contest finalists) *http://blog.wikimedia.org/c/community/wiki-loves-monuments/ (coverage on Wikimedia Foundation blog) *http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/WLM_photo_contest_launches_August_2012 (initial press release) More information *International contest: http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org *Statistics: http://toolserver.org/~emijrp/wlm/stats.php About Wikipedia Wikipedia and the related sites operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 488 million unique visitors per month, making them the 5th most popular web property worldwide (comScore, October 2012). Available in 285 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 24 million articles contributed by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Media contacts for international contest Lodewijk Gelauff and Barbara Fischer Phone:+49 (0) 30 219 158 26 18 Email: press(a)wikilovesmonuments.org Media contact at the Wikimedia Foundation Matthew Roth Phone: 415-839-6885 x6635 Email: mroth(a)wikimedia.org (to stop receiving press releases from the Wikimedia Foundation, reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line) _______________________________________________ Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l

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Wikimedia Österreich - General Assembly
by Manuel Schneider 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

Dear all, last weekend Wikimedia Österreich (Austria) had its General Assembly in Linz. A new board has been elected: * President: Kurt Kulac (as before) * Vice President: Alexander Wagner (new) - Christoph Breitler didn't recandidate * Secretary: Beppo Stuhl (as before) * Vice Secretary: Michael Karolzak (new) - Ingo Allmer didn't recandidate * Treasurer: Reiner Strubert (as before) * Vice Treasurer: Michael Kranewitter (as before) * Adviser: Andrea Kareth (new) - Denis Barthel didn't recandidate * Adviser: Bernhard Wallisch (new) - Manuel Schneider didn't recandidate - WCA Council Member This General Assembly was also an opportunity to meet Claudia Garád, our Director who started her work on October 1st. There were some changes in the bylaws: * the seat of Wikimedia Österreich moves from Graz to Wien, where we rented an office a few weeks ago * Members who didn't pay their membersgip fee despite a reminder until the General Assembly have no voting right. They can regain it by clearing the membership fee with one of the treasurers. * several cosmetic changes with no change in the meaning The WCA Council Member, formerly appointed by the board, has been now approved by the General Assembly. Activity and Financial reports, motions and bylaw changes can be found here (in german): http://mitglieder.wikimedia.at/Archiv Translations of the Activity and Financial reports to english will be started soon. Every board and staff member can be reached under firstname.lastname(a)wikimedia.at. For general inquiries the association (board and staff) can be reached under <verein(a)wikimedia.at>. If you have a confidential inquiry you can reach only the board under <vorstand(a)wikimedia.at>. Thanks for your attention and cooperation, Manuel -- Wikimedia CH - Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens Lausanne, +41 (21) 34066-22 - www.wikimedia.ch

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Wikimedia Polska annual report
by Tomasz Ganicz 03 Dec '12

03 Dec '12

Hi, We just published on meta our yeary report (November 2011-Novemeber 2012): https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Polska… Cheers, -- Tomek "Polimerek" Ganicz http://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Polimerek http://www.ganicz.pl/poli/ http://www.cbmm.lodz.pl/work.php?id=29&title=tomasz-ganicz

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 105, Issue 1
by ENWP Pine 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

Tilman, Thanks, I always like reading these reports. Again, I'd like to ask what specific and measurable benefits the "changing focus" changes will accomplish. I've been asking this for awhile. Thanks, Pine > Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:55:37 -0800 > From: Tilman Bayer <tbayer(a)wikimedia.org> > To: wikimediaannounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Subject: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation > Report, October 2012 > Message-ID: > <CAPDdKA5QRw_+kn=Pdb9Ryc9=VpOeZTxXbGFz5KWnCPHee7me8Q(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" > > Hi all, > > please find below the WMF report for October 2012, in plain text. > > As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_October_2012 > > and the reports are being posted on the Wikimedia blog, too: > https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/ > > As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary. > Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay > updated, by providing a translation: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_October_2012 > Many thanks those who have translated the September "Highlights" into > Arabic, Breton, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Piedmontese, Russian, > Ukrainian, Chinese and Telugu! > > While still focussing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a > small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole movement. > Suggestions for the soon to be published November issue are welcome > until Wednesday (December 5) at > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights > > Regards, Tilman > > -- >

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New Board of Wikimedia Hungary
by Bence Damokos 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

Hi all, I just wanted to give you a short update on Wikimedia Hungary. Yesterday we held an AGM followed by an open wikimeetup in Budapest. At the AGM a new board was elected: * Péter Gervai, (User:grin), president (reelected) * Mrs. Tamás Harza (User:Replicarter), vicepresident-treasurer (reelected) * Balázs Viczián (User:Vince), executive vice president ("promoted") * Dávid Rózsa (User:Vungadu), board member (newly elected, possibly taking on the additional role of spokesman) * Máté Forgács (User:Matteo55), board member (newly elected) We also approved the 2013 programme plan[1] in its current form that had been recommended for funding by the FDC. In addition the AGM approved a further 250 000 HUF to be spent on creating an award to honour those who have furthered the movement in Hungary. The important elements of the plan are that we will try to continue our successful programmes, build our capacity by opening an office with a full-time employee and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hungarian Wikipedia. At the meetup that traditionally follows our AGMs, we gave out the prizes of our successful literature themed contest (with 47 participants, 25% of whom were new editors, and 127 new articles created) and celebrated the 4th birthday of Wikimedia Hungary with a cake. Best regards, Bence Damokos Former VP Wikimedia Hungary [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9dia_Magyarorsz%C3%A1g/2013_Progra…

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Russian Wikipedia goes on strike
by abi yoyo 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

Tim Starling wrote: > According to ru.wp Arbcom member DR, the danger to Wikipedia was > overstated, and the text of the proposed law was misrepresented. I think that the interpretation to the bill given by DR is incorrect. In fact the proposed bill was not only about child pornography and extremism, but also about drugs and, about “information, prompting children to commit actions, making threat to their life and health”. That was a very loose clause, that could ban virtually anything. After the blackout this clause was removed from the bill and it is a clear achievement of the strike. On the other hand the final version of the bill contains another clause, that is even more hazardous to us. It is about “information of methods of producing and use of narcotic substances, … of methods and places of cultivation of narcotic plants”. We do have information of drug synthesis on Wikipedia, ways of its use (e.g. marijuana) and we do have thorough instructions of marijuana cultivation on wikibooks. That is why our achievements are ambiguous. On the one hand we have a removal of a loose clause about information harmful to children, but on the otherwe now have another clause that is even more dangerous. That is why we are still trying to do what we can via our contacts within the authorities to revise the passed bill. But that is not all. The most important issue is extremism. According to the bill, the materials, that are banned for distribution in Russia should be included to the register of banned information on the ground of the court decision, banning the distribution of that information in Russia. We already have such court decisions and a list of extremist materials, distribution of which is prohibited in Russia. That list contains some really nasty materials, as e.g. nazi propaganda, but also Islamic texts (including those of famous non-terrorist Islamic authors e.g. Said Nursî), Saentologist, Jehova’s witnesses , Falun Gong, letters and materials of opposition in Russia, works of contemporary art, etc. We *do have* banned extremist materials in Wikipedia. E.g. this image: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Файл:Александр_Савко_Путешествия_Микки_Мауса_п… искусства.jpeg is considered extremist and is banned for distribution in Russia. (Hopefully it was uploaded two years before it was regulated as banned by the court). This letter in wikisource is also considered extremist: http://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/Всем,_кто_сочувствует_жертвам_бесланского_тер…! This is enough for banning the IPs of Wikimedia projects in Russia. And I am really afraid of this. I guess DR is aware of discussion on this list, but anyway I will inform him of it. Maybe he has something to add. > According to Levg in his Arbcom application, again via Google > Translate, "It should be noted that there are no objective reasons for > such a 'sprint survey' did not exist, to discuss the bill on second > reading has been known since at least last Friday." That is our fault that we could not manage to get the information in time. The first hearing was on Friday, but the community and myself got to know about the problem only on Monday, 9th. What for me personally I haven’t read the news on the weekend (yes, it is bad, that I relaxed on the weekend and haven’t read the news), and I failed to get to know about the problem in time. I guess it is also true for others. If we start to organize on Friday, the result would be better. It is a fault, but anyway it was not a deliberate fault, as nobody has informed the community earlier.

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Wikimedia-l December 2012