This paper (first reference) is the result of a class project I was part of
almost two years ago for CSCI 5417 Information Retrieval Systems. It builds
on a class project I did in CSCI 5832 Natural Language Processing and which
I presented at Wikimania '07. The project was very late as we didn't send
the final paper in until the day before new years. This technical report was
never really announced that I recall so I thought it would be interesting to
look briefly at the results. The goal of this paper was to break articles
down into surface features and latent features and then use those to study
the rating system being used, predict article quality and rank results in a
search engine. We used the [[random forests]] classifier which allowed us to
analyze the contribution of each feature to performance by looking directly
at the weights that were assigned. While the surface analysis was performed
on the whole english wikipedia, the latent analysis was performed on the
simple english wikipedia (it is more expensive to compute). = Surface
features = * Readability measures are the single best predictor of quality
that I have found, as defined by the Wikipedia Editorial Team (WET). The
[[Automated Readability Index]], [[Gunning Fog Index]] and [[Flesch-Kincaid
Grade Level]] were the strongest predictors, followed by length of article
html, number of paragraphs, [[Flesh Reading Ease]], [[Smog Grading]], number
of internal links, [[Laesbarhedsindex Readability Formula]], number of words
and number of references. Weakly predictive were number of to be's, number
of sentences, [[Coleman-Liau Index]], number of templates, PageRank, number
of external links, number of relative links. Not predictive (overall - see
the end of section 2 for the per-rating score breakdown): Number of h2 or
h3's, number of conjunctions, number of images*, average word length, number
of h4's, number of prepositions, number of pronouns, number of interlanguage
links, average syllables per word, number of nominalizations, article age
(based on page id), proportion of questions, average sentence length. :*
Number of images was actually by far the single strongest predictor of any
class, but only for Featured articles. Because it was so good at picking out
featured articles and somewhat good at picking out A and G articles the
classifier was confused in so many cases that the overall contribution of
this feature to classification performance is zero. :* Number of external
links is strongly predictive of Featured articles. :* The B class is highly
distinctive. It has a strong "signature," with high predictive value
assigned to many features. The Featured class is also very distinctive. F, B
and S (Stop/Stub) contain the most information.
:* A is the least distinct class, not being very different from F or G. =
Latent features = The algorithm used for latent analysis, which is an
analysis of the occurence of words in every document with respect to the
link structure of the encyclopedia ("concepts"), is [[Latent Dirichlet
Allocation]]. This part of the analysis was done by CS PhD student Praful
Mangalath. An example of what can be done with the result of this analysis
is that you provide a word (a search query) such as "hippie". You can then
look at the weight of every article for the word hippie. You can pick the
article with the largest weight, and then look at its link network. You can
pick out the articles that this article links to and/or which link to this
article that are also weighted strongly for the word hippie, while also
contributing maximally to this articles "hippieness". We tried this query in
our system (LDA), Google (site:en.wikipedia.org hippie), and the Simple
English Wikipedia's Lucene search engine. The breakdown of articles occuring
in the top ten search results for this word for those engines is: * LDA
only: [[Acid rock]], [[Aldeburgh Festival]], [[Anne Murray]], [[Carl
Radle]], [[Harry Nilsson]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Phil Spector]], [[Plastic
Ono Band]], [[Rock and Roll]], [[Salvador Allende]], [[Smothers brothers]],
[[Stanley Kubrick]]. * Google only: [[Glam Rock]], [[South Park]]. * Simple
only: [[African Americans]], [[Charles Manson]], [[Counterculture]], [[Drug
use]], [[Flower Power]], [[Nuclear weapons]], [[Phish]], [[Sexual
liberation]], [[Summer of Love]] * LDA & Google & Simple: [[Hippie]],
[[Human Be-in]], [[Students for a democratic society]], [[Woodstock
festival]] * LDA & Google: [[Psychedelic Pop]] * Google & Simple: [[Lysergic
acid diethylamide]], [[Summer of Love]] ( See the paper for the articles
produced for the keywords philosophy and economics ) = Discussion /
Conclusion = * The results of the latent analysis are totally up to your
perception. But what is interesting is that the LDA features predict the WET
ratings of quality just as well as the surface level features. Both feature
sets (surface and latent) both pull out all almost of the information that
the rating system bears. * The rating system devised by the WET is not
distinctive. You can best tell the difference between, grouped together,
Featured, A and Good articles vs B articles. Featured, A and Good articles
are also quite distinctive (Figure 1). Note that in this study we didn't
look at Start's and Stubs, but in earlier paper we did. :* This is
interesting when compared to this recent entry on the YouTube blog. "Five
Stars Dominate Ratings"
http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-ratings.html…
I think a sane, well researched (with actual subjects) rating system
is
well within the purview of the Usability Initiative. Helping people find and
create good content is what Wikipedia is all about. Having a solid rating
system allows you to reorganized the user interface, the Wikipedia
namespace, and the main namespace around good content and bad content as
needed. If you don't have a solid, information bearing rating system you
don't know what good content really is (really bad content is easy to spot).
:* My Wikimania talk was all about gathering data from people about articles
and using that to train machines to automatically pick out good content. You
ask people questions along dimensions that make sense to people, and give
the machine access to other surface features (such as a statistical measure
of readability, or length) and latent features (such as can be derived from
document word occurence and encyclopedia link structure). I referenced page
262 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to give an example of the
kind of qualitative features I would ask people. It really depends on what
features end up bearing information, to be tested in "the lab". Each word is
an example dimension of quality: We have "*unity, vividness, authority,
economy, sensitivity, clarity, emphasis, flow, suspense, brilliance,
precision, proportion, depth and so on.*" You then use surface and latent
features to predict these values for all articles. You can also say, when a
person rates this article as high on the x scale, they also mean that it has
has this much of these surface and these latent features.
= References =
- DeHoust, C., Mangalath, P., Mingus., B. (2008). *Improving search in
Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery*. Technical Report.
PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/6/68/DeHoustMangalat…>
- Rassbach, L., Mingus., B, Blackford, T. (2007). *Exploring the
feasibility of automatically rating online article quality*. Technical
Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/d/d3/RassbachPincock…>
Hoi,
I have asked and received permission to forward to you all this most
excellent bit of news.
The linguist list, is a most excellent resource for people interested in the
field of linguistics. As I mentioned some time ago they have had a funding
drive and in that funding drive they asked for a certain amount of money in
a given amount of days and they would then have a project on Wikipedia to
learn what needs doing to get better coverage for the field of linguistics.
What you will read in this mail that the total community of linguists are
asked to cooperate. I am really thrilled as it will also get us more
linguists interested in what we do. My hope is that a fraction will be
interested in the languages that they care for and help it become more
relevant. As a member of the "language prevention committee", I love to get
more knowledgeable people involved in our smaller projects. If it means that
we get more requests for more projects we will really feel embarrassed with
all the new projects we will have to approve because of the quality of the
Incubator content and the quality of the linguistic arguments why we should
approve yet another language :)
NB Is this not a really clever way of raising money; give us this much in
this time frame and we will then do this as a bonus...
Thanks,
GerardM
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: LINGUIST Network <linguist(a)linguistlist.org>
Date: Jun 18, 2007 6:53 PM
Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers
To: LINGUIST(a)listserv.linguistlist.org
LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831. Mon Jun 18 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.
Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers
Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar(a)linguistlist.org>
Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry(a)linguistlist.org>
Reviews: Laura Welcher, Rosetta Project
<reviews(a)linguistlist.org>
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/
The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University,
and donations from subscribers and publishers.
Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer <sawyer(a)linguistlist.org>
================================================================
To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html
===========================Directory==============================
1)
Date: 18-Jun-2007
From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org >
Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:49:35
From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org >
Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers
Dear subscribers,
As you may recall, one of our Fund Drive 2007 campaigns was called the
"Wikipedia Update Vote." We asked our viewers to consider earmarking their
donations to organize an update project on linguistics entries in the
English-language Wikipedia. You can find more background information on this
at:
http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/wikipedia/index.cfm.
The speed with which we met our goal, thanks to the interest and generosity
of
our readers, was a sure sign that the linguistics community was enthusiastic
about the idea. Now that summer is upon us, and some of you may have a bit
more
leisure time, we are hoping that you will be able to help us get started on
the
Wikipedia project. The LINGUIST List's role in this project is a purely
organizational one. We will:
*Help, with your input, to identify major gaps in the Wikipedia materials or
pages that need improvement;
*Compile a list of linguistics pages that Wikipedia editors have identified
as
"in need of attention from an expert on the subject" or " does not cite any
references or sources," etc;
*Send out periodical calls for volunteer contributors on specific topics or
articles;
*Provide simple instructions on how to upload your entries into Wikipedia;
*Keep track of our project Wikipedians;
*Keep track of revisions and new entries;
*Work with Wikimedia Foundation to publicize the linguistics community's
efforts.
We hope you are as enthusiastic about this effort as we are. Just to help us
all
get started looking at Wikipedia more critically, and to easily identify an
area
needing improvement, we suggest that you take a look at the List of
Linguists
page at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguists. M
Many people are not listed there; others need to have more facts and
information
added. If you would like to participate in this exciting update effort,
please
respond by sending an email to LINGUIST Editor Hannah Morales at
hannah(a)linguistlist.org, suggesting what your role might be or which
linguistics
entries you feel should be updated or added. Some linguists who saw our
campaign
on the Internet have already written us with specific suggestions, which we
will
share with you soon.
This update project will take major time and effort on all our parts. The
end
result will be a much richer internet resource of information on the breadth
and
depth of the field of linguistics. Our efforts should also stimulate
prospective
students to consider studying linguistics and to educate a wider public on
what
we do. Please consider participating.
Sincerely,
Hannah Morales
Editor, Wikipedia Update Project
Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable
-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831
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.
Forwarding questions from Research-l with permission, with the hope that these will spark discussion here on Wikimedia-l.
RJensen:
"Comments: I have not seen any editor make actual use of the Article
Feedback tool -- are there examples? Yes Wikipedians are very proud
of their vast half-billion-person audience. However they do not ask
"what features are most useful for a high school student or teacher/
a university student/ etc""
Pine:
This is a very interesting question. What have been the benefits of AFT5? I
have seen complaints about spam and suppressible material being written in
AFT5. What benefits has it had?
Thanks,
Pine
*Hi everyone,
It's been a bit since I last emailed this list (or any list, for that
matter!)... you may remember me, I worked at the Foundation last year in
the Community Department, working with Philippe on any number of issues,
as well as with the OTRS team. I've come back to work on a short term
project with the Foundation, and I have to say it's great to be back!
(and a great break from my Master's thesis!)
We're getting ready to run the next version of the Editor Survey, for
August 2012. This will be the third incarnation we've run since 2011.
As with the prior incarnations of the survey, we'll be looking at a
variety of topics, this time with the goal of not only understanding
your needs and pressing issues while interacting with fellow editors,
but also focusing on editors' satisfaction with the work of the Foundation.
The last time we ran an editor survey, it was completed by over 6,000
respondents. When you break that down, it means that each minute of
time demanded by the survey corresponds to 100 hours of Wikipedians'
time. We want to make sure that this time is spent wisely, ensuring
that the questions we have are worded clearly, don't cause confusion,
and will generate meaningful answers. So we'd like to ask you to take a
look at the survey, and give us feedback on the questions. You can find
them here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Editor_Survey_August_201…
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Research:Wikipedia_Editor_Surv…>
... and please leave your feedback on the talk page there so we can keep
the discussion in one place :)
You can find out more information about the survey here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_Editor_Survey_August_2012
Also, we are planning an IRC Office Hour on the survey, this **Tuesday,
July 31 at 1700 UTC.** (See
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hoursfor general information
about IRC Office hours)
I know there has been some discussion about offering Office Hours in a
broader range of times, and I know this time may not be the greatest for
some... but this was the best time we could find currently.
Thanks everyone!!
-Christine
Wikimedia Foundation*
Hi,
Jessie started to work on a page that shown breakdown of the scholarships
given in 2012, by the WMF and the chapters - and the cost.
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania/Scholarships/2012
I think it's great, but we need to share much more information about "how
much Wikimania cost to the movement".
Wikimania is our biggest and most expensive event\project - and the costs
spread around movement. Beside scholarships, the chapters and the WMF
spending money on their staff and boards - and this also need to
be transparent. When we know Wikimedia Israel gave 4 scholarships for
people from Israel, the WMF gave another two - this is not the full
picture. WMIL also sent paid for the travel of one board member. In some
others chapters the numbers are much bigger (staff+board).
Also, we have WMF and Chapters support to the conference itself.
I published here Wikimania 2011 costs & income:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania/2011/Budget
I'm not asking everyone now to start digging for their costs in 2011, but I
think we can start do it from this year.
I posted here WMIL travel costs:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania/2012/Budget/Chapters
I'll be happy if the chapters and the WMF can post their costs also
and I'm encouraging Wikimania 2012 local team also to post
their conference costs and incomes.
I think this transparency is important, and this knowledge about the total
costs to the movement is also important to others who planning Wikimania in
the future.
Itzik
WMIL
Dear fellow Wikimedians,
Some of you already know me from my work as an event and project
manager at Wikimedia Deutschland. Today I am writing to let you know
that my working area will change within the next months: We are
setting up an “International Affairs Unit” and I will become a liaison
for the collaboration between Wikimedia Deutschland and the
communities, the Wikimedia Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation. The
position will be officially launched on January 1, 2013, but I am
already starting to work on the first ideas and tasks.
I have published a blog post where I briefly introduce our plans and
motives, ask for your support and invite you to get involved. [1]
(Full-text below, but for the fancy version with links and a nice
picture, please visit our blog :))
I am very curious about your expectations, comments and wishes. You
can reach me via this list or via email, join the discussion about our
annual plan [2], leave a comment on our blog or on my talk page [3],
find me on IRC (#wikimedia-de, Nicole_WMDE) or meet me in our office
or at one of the future meetups. I am really looking forward to a
fruitful and exciting teamwork.
Best regards,
Nicole
[1] http://blog.wikimedia.de/2012/09/26/free-knowledge-across-borders/
[2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Deutschland/2013_annual_plan_draft…
[3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nicole_Ebber_(WMDE)
______________________
Free Knowledge across borders
Some of you already know me from my work as an event and project
manager at Wikimedia Deutschland. I am writing this blog post to let
you know that my working area will change within the next months: We
are setting up an International Affairs Unit and I will become a
liaison for the collaboration between Wikimedia Deutschland and the
communities, the Wikimedia Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation. The
position will be officially launched on January 1, 2013, but I am
already starting to work on the first ideas and tasks.
I would like to briefly introduce our plans and motives, and ask for
your support and invite you to get involved.
>From international events…
I have been working at Wikimedia Deutschland since March 2010, when my
job started with two of my all-time favourite events: The Wikimedia
Conference and the Hackathon aka Developers’ Workshop.
During the last 2.5 years, I have met many international Wikimedians
and am so happy to learn so much about our global movement. I am still
deeply impressed by the enthusiastic people from all around the world
who work together for our shared goal: Free Knowledge!
When participating at Wikimedia events, the most interesting aspects
for me are the active contribution and sustainable networking. In the
future, I would like to work more focussed on these issues.
…to international collaboration
The emphasis of my work within the new unit will lie in the following:
1. Monitor the international activities, networks and contacts and
make them available for reuse for our local activities and
communities. Publish this information in German on our blog, on
mailing lists and in the international portal (coming soon) on DEWP.
2. Utilise international expertise from other chapters communities and
the WMF for our work – and vice versa. For example, we can adapt
topics like Open Educational Resources and Diversity in Wikipedia to
our local acitivities, while the experience from our education
department can be valuable for other chapters, too.
3. Cooperate with other like-minded organisations for activities
beyond a local scope. For example, we want to contribute to the
European chapters’ visibility in Brussels and I will coordinate with
other stakeholders to bundle their interests and concerns regarding
international agreements or conditions for free and open projects.
My first steps
Within the next weeks and months, I will go more into detail about
these first activities; but I would like to share a rough overview
with you first. I do this at a very early stage of planning because I
am really looking forward to your comments and ideas.
* Wikimedia Deutschland is part of the international Wikimedia
movement. We share our know-how, initiate international exchange
programmes as well as events and support the development and
collaboration among chapters and like-minded organisations.
* We support the establishment of the Wikimedia Chapters Association
(WCA) and work closely together with our council member, Markus
Glaser.
* Some of our info materials are already published in English (monthly
and yearly reports, some brochures, annual plan. We will provide
toolkits, best practises and reports and enable others to use them for
their own work. Using channels like Meta and Outreach Wiki, Wikipedia
Signpost, the WMF’s blog and publishing English articles on our own
blog should help us spread the word and others to reuse our materials.
* We help those interested in the development of the Wikimedia
projects to make their voice heard. By making international issues
more visible within the German language projects and facilitating the
discussions, we hope to avoid potential conflicts and come up with
constructive solutions.
* Together with everyone interested in international movement affairs,
I would like to establish a portal in the German language Wikipedia.
This platform should provide background information and updates on
topics like FDC, WCA, WMF, Board of Trustees as well as cool and bold
projects from other chapters, organisations and communities.
* As you might have already guessed, I am still very much into events.
:) I am planning to invite all those interested in shaping our
international commitment to a meeting (nice working title: “camp
international”). The date is not yet fixed, more will be announced.
Ideas welcome!
Be part of it!
If you ask yourself: Wow, how could can one person take care of all
those tasks? I must admit: I won’t do this all on my own. My job is to
enable and support the work of my colleagues and the internationally
active community members.
This new unit is a great opportunity for Wikimedia Deutschland and for
me personally. Whew! But it is also a huge challenge that we can only
rise to meet with your collaboration, ideas and feedback. I am very
curious about your expectations, comments and wishes. You can reach
contact me via email, leave a comment on my talk page, find me on IRC
(#wikimedia-de, Nicole_WMDE) or meet me in our office or at one of the
future meetups. I am really looking forward to a productive and
exciting teamwork!
--
Nicole Ebber
Projektmanagerin
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | NEU: Obentrautstr. 72 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. +49 30 219158 26-0
http://wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg
unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das
Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.
Hi all,
please find below the WMF report for August 2012, in plain text.
As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_August_2012
and the reports are 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,_August_2012
Translations of the July "Highlights" are still ongoing as well; many
thanks those who have completed translations into Czech, Spanish,
French, Romanian, Russian 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 upcoming September issue are welcome at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights
(until October 4).
Regards, Tilman
--
Wikimedia Foundation Report, August 2012
<Video: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_September_4,_2…
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities
meeting covering the month of August (September 4, 2012)>
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 Wiki Loves Monuments app enables the first mobile
contributions to Wikimedia projects
o 3.2 Language support tools released in "Project Milkshake"
o 3.3 Request for Comment on legal fees assistance program
o 3.4 Pilot project on Arabic Wikipedia increases contributions by
new editors
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 Operations
o 4.2 Features Engineering
o 4.3 Internationalization and Localization engineering
o 4.4 Mobile Engineering
o 4.5 Platform Engineering
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Annual Fundraiser
* 6 Global Development
o 6.1 Global Development Highlights
o 6.2 Mobile and Business Development
o 6.3 Global Learning and Grantmaking
+ 6.3.1 Learning
+ 6.3.2 Funds Dissemination
+ 6.3.3 Grants Awarded and Executed
+ 6.3.4 US Cultural Partnerships
o 6.4 Catalyst Programs
+ 6.4.1 Brazil Catalyst Project
# 6.4.1.1 Brazil Education program
# 6.4.1.2 National Program, Brazil
+ 6.4.2 India Program
o 6.5 Education Program
o 6.6 Fellowships
o 6.7 Editor Growth and Contribution Program
o 6.8 Communications
+ 6.8.1 Major announcements
+ 6.8.2 Major Storylines through August
+ 6.8.3 Other worthwhile reads
+ 6.8.4 Wikipedia Signpost
+ 6.8.5 WMF Blog posts
+ 6.8.6 Media Contact, August 2012
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 Staff Changes
o 7.2 Statistics
o 7.3 Department Updates
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal and Community Advocacy
* 10 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…
Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting, September 4, 2012>
Global unique visitors for July:
*451.82 million* (-3.80% compared with June; +14.81% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release August data
later in September)
Page requests for August:
*18.2 billion* (+2.6% compared with July; +20.7% compared with the
previous year)
(Server log data
<http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>,
all Wikimedia Foundation projects including mobile access)
Active Registered Editors for July 2012 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*80,465* (+2.59% compared with June / +1.16% compared with the
previous year)
(Database data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia
Foundation projects. Note: We recently refined this metric
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/31/improving-the-accuracy-of-the-active-…>
to take into account Wikimedia Commons and activity across several
projects.)
*Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF
projects) for July 2012:
http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/
(Definitions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Metric_definitions>)
== Financials ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_July_2012_…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of July 31, 2012>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_July_2012…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of July 31, 2012>
(Financial information is only available for July 2012 at the time of
this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date July 31, 2012.
Revenue $346,647
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group $1,145,753
Fundraiser Group $221,223
Global Development Group $541,308
Governance Group $96,465
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group $185,852
Finance/HR/Admin Group $413,077
Total Expenses $2,603,678
Total surplus/(loss) ($2,257,031)
* Revenue for the month-to-date and year-to-date is $347K vs plan of
$1.5MM, approximately $1.1M or 76% under plan, primarily due to $1M
from Sloan Foundation budgeted for July but actually received in August.
* Expenses for the month-to-date and year-to-date is $2.6M vs plan of
$3.2M, approximately $639K or 20% under than plan, primarily due to
lower personnel related expenses and awards and grants associated
with Wikimania DC that had been reflected in FY 11-12.
* Cash position is $23.6M as of July 31, 2012, which is approximately
6.7 months of expenses.
== Highlights ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:4_Monument_Detail_-_Rialto.png>
Screenshot of the Wiki Loves Monuments app>
=== Wiki Loves Monuments app enables the first mobile contributions to
Wikimedia projects ===
In preparation for September's "Wiki Loves Monuments
<http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org/>", the worldwide contest to
contribute freely licensed photos of cultural heritage sites to
Wikimedia Commons, the mobile team released the new Wiki Loves Monuments
app
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/09/01/wiki-loves-monuments-for-mobile-is-he…>
for Android. Users can find nearby monuments, or search for them on a
list. One can take photos from within the app and directly upload them
to Wikimedia Commons. This is the first time that a mobile contribution
mechanism is officially supported. Others ways of contributing to
Wikimedia projects using mobile devices are being considered, too.
=== Language support tools released in "Project Milkshake" ===
The Internationalisation/Localisation (i18n/l10n) team reported progress
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/14/internationalisation-language-selecto…>
on its Project Milkshake <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project_Milkshake>,
an effort to release its existing internationalisation-related
JavaScript components as standard jQuery
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jQuery> libraries. They include an i18n
framework that supports parameter replacements and grammar-, plural-,
and gender-dependent translations, a library to support WebFonts (fonts
that do not need to be installed on the reader's computer), and a
library to provide text input methods in the browser.
=== Request for Comment on legal fees assistance program ===
In a Request for Comment (RfC)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Request_for_comment/Legal_Fees_Assistance_P…>,
the
Foundation proposes a program intended to help pay for the legal defense
fees of eligible users in specified support roles - such as certain
community administrator, arbitrator, email response, or project
governance functions - if a lawsuit is brought against them in relation
to their activities in these roles.
=== Pilot project on Arabic Wikipedia increases contributions by new
editors ===
On the Arabic Wikipedia, a new "contribution portal" was created in
June, as a pilot project within the Editor Growth and Contribution
Program <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Growth_and_Contribution_Program>.
It offers simple
visual tutorials for six basic editing tasks, such as fixing a typo or
creating a new article. It has already increased the ratio of new users
who start contributing, according to an analysis of the first phase (in
English
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/15/pilot-project-arabic-wikipedia-move-n…>
and Arabic
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/15/pilot-project-arabic-wikipedia-move-n…>).
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Contribution_Portal_-_Phase_0_(Arab…>
Contribution portal on the Arabic Wikipedia (phase 0)>
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Engineering Department's activities for August
2012 can be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2012/August
Department Highlights
Major news in August include:
* Progress by the Internationalization team on the Universal language
selector & /Milkshake/
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/14/internationalisation-language-selecto…>,
and WebFonts
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/24/webfonts-in-uls-translation-rally/>;
* Changes in our analytics system to improve the accuracy of the
active editors metric
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/31/improving-the-accuracy-of-the-active-…>;
* Major work on the Wiki Loves Monuments
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/09/01/wiki-loves-monuments-for-mobile-is-he…>
app preparatory to the official launch on September 1 (see also
general "Highlights" section).
=== Operations ===
*Site infrastructure*
We built additional MySQL servers for each of the clusters in
Ashburn, all in preparation for the primary data center migration in
the coming quarter. A database tree chart
<http://noc.wikimedia.org/dbtree/> provides the latest information
on our database clusters. We also successfully updated and deployed
the NetApp storage servers
<http://torrus.wikimedia.org/torrus/Storage?path=/Storage/>, and
enabled replication from Tampa to Ashburn.
*Network Infrastructure*
The usual traffic surge due to the new school year caused an
increase in package loss on our Tampa internal network. We upgraded
the links between the racks, and installed a new passive optics
(CWDM) system between the 2 floors of the Tampa datacenter hosting
our servers, giving us effectively a 4X capacity increase.
*Object Store/Swift <http://wikitech.wikimedia.org/view/Swift>*
'Originals' (original multimedia files that are uploaded) were
successfully copied over to the Swift cluster from the legacy NFS
servers. In addition to serving thumbnails (which was completed last
month), Swift is now also the primary object store for Originals.
=== Features Engineering
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Features_engineering> ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…
Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting, September 4, 2012
(presentation on Editor engagement experiments)>
*Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid>*
The Parsoid team reached a major milestone in August by implementing
a template output encapsulation algorithm, and started to use it to
support expanded template round-tripping. In parallel with this and
the usual smaller tweaks, work on a C++ port of the parser was
started. The port is expected to allow an efficient integration with
PHP and Lua, improve performance and allow the parallelization of
the parser in the longer term.
*Article feedback <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback>*
This month, we developed a range of new features
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5/Feature_Requireme…>
for Article Feedback
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5>, which is now
deployed on 10% of the English Encyclopedia. We are now in our
productization phase (support for more platforms, scalability, code
re-factoring, localization, metrics, mobile) and are aiming for a
full release to 100% of English Wikipedia by the end of October 2012
— with other wiki projects starting later this year.
*Page Curation <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Page_Curation>*
We deployed a 'pre-release' version of Page Curation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Page_Curation> on the English
Wikipedia. This new product includes two main features: the New
Pages Feed, a dynamic list of new pages for review by community
patrollers, and the Curation Toolbar, an optional panel on article
pages, which enables editors to quickly review these pages. We are
now preparing for a full release of Page Curation on the English
Wikipedia at the end of September 2012.
=== Internationalization and Localization engineering
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Internationalization_and_Localizat…>
===
*Internationalization and localization tools
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization_tools>*
The team continued to work on the Universal Language Selector
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Universal_Language_Selector> (ULS): the
display settings dialog was completed and is now able to show and
set WebFonts. The lists of languages were tweaked to emphasize those
likely to be chosen by the user, based on their location and past
selections. Translation memory
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Extension:Translate/Translation_memories>
support was deployed on Meta and other wikis with the translation
extension enabled, and CLDR plurals support was merged into the core
master. User experience <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Translation_UX>
testing of the Translate extension
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Translate> is in progress.
=== Mobile Engineering
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
*Wiki Loves Monuments App
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_mobile_application>*
The mobile team released three new betas for the WLM app and
published the last one on Google Play
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wikipedia.wlm>.
We finalized many new features like saving for later, showing
current location, and cleaned up data issues. The contest started on
September 1st. (see also general "Highlights" section).
=== Platform Engineering
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Platform_Engineering> ===
*Git conversion <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Git/Conversion>*
We fixed issues upstream, and cleaned up the Gerrit installation on
Labs to more accurately mirror production—also cleaning up the
production setup along the way. In September, we'll be upgrading to
Gerrit 2.5, which brings a bunch of new features (like plugins), and
getting repositories replicated out to GitHub.
*Admin tools development
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Admin_tools_development>*
We added two new major features to the AbuseFilter extension
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:AbuseFilter>, global rules and
global throttling. These features will allow the creation of filters
that apply to all Wikimedia wikis, which is effective for stopping
cross-wiki spambots.
*Summer of Code 2012 <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code_2012>*
Eight of Wikimedia's nine Summer of Code students passed. Their
achievements
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code_Past_Projects#2012> have
already led to improvements in the Wikimedia Incubator, and
improvements to Semantic MediaWiki and UploadWizard will reach users
soon.
== Fundraising ==
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
Planned a "Thank you event" at Googleplex for September for Google
employees who give to Wikimedia.
Sara Lasner completed a East Coast trip to meet with donors.
Worked with Morgan Stanley to be included in their
communications/recommendations to the donor advised funds.
=== Annual Fundraiser ===
Ran a week long fundraising test on Spanish Wikipedia in preparation
for the annual campaign. Variables tested included: banner and
donation page messages, ask amounts, form field variations. Results
from the test are still being analyzed and will be posted on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2012/We_Need_A_Breakthrough>.
Storytelling interviews that were recorded on video at Wikimania
2012 are currently being edited with the goal of creating a short
educational video about Wikipedia.
Launched Amazon Payments ewallet as a donation option for USA donors
Translation of fundraising messages in various languges increased,
with Joseph Seddon improving outreach.
Prepared for an upcoming Italian fundraising test.
Weekly testing in the US continued: Fundraising 2012/We Need A
Breakthrough
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2012/We_Need_A_Breakthrough>
== Global Development ==
=== Global Development Highlights ===
* Barry Newstead stepped down as Chief Global Development Officer. He
left the Wikimedia Foundation at the end of August to relocate to
Australia for personal reasons:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2012-August/121639.html
* Frank Schulenburg and Anasuya Sengupta will serve as interim leaders
of the department until a new CGDO is found:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2012-August/121640.html
* A beta version of the *Global Development dashboard* allows project
owners to evaluate the impact of their work on an ongoing basis.
* Wikipedia Zero launched in Cameroon.
* FDC nominations closed on August 15 with 42 nominations for FDC
members and 13 for Ombudsperson.
=== Mobile and Business Development ===
* Wikipedia Zero launched in Cameroon with Orange and in Montenegro
with Telenor. Total of 7 country launches to date.
* Continued launch preparation for additional forthcoming TBA
Wikipedia Zero partners, along with planning of pilot program for
Wikipedia by text message.
* Negotiation discussions proceeded with potential new Wikipedia Zero
partners in Asia and Africa.
=== Global Learning and Grantmaking ===
*The GLEE team: Global Grantmaking, Learning and Evaluation Enterprise*
==== Learning ====
* Beta version of the *Global Development dashboard*
<http://global-dev.wmflabs.org/> to allow project owners to easily
track their projects, to be transparent with their work, and to
evaluate impact on an ongoing basis: project owners can easily
create visualizations and have access to information they need.
* Developing more robust ways of designing project pilots within the
Global Development Team.
* Evaluations of Brazil
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Brazil_Program/Education_program/Learning/B…>
and Cairo
<http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cairo_Pilot_%E2%80%93_final_report>
Education pilots
* Evaluation <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania/Scholarships> of
Wikimania Scholarships process to re-think the overall process and
create a more effective program.
==== Funds Dissemination ====
* The FDC portal <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal> was
launched on August 1st with
support from Heather Walls and Bridgespan.
* Work continues on key documents related to the FDC process: the
Proposal form and the Staff Assessment form were reviewed by the
community and finalized.
* Bridgespan and the FDC team have been working on orientation
training materials, continuous improvement materials, and most
importantly - a process document for how the FDC might finalise
their recommendations for Round 1.
* Nominations and selection process: posted messages on 600 village
pumps and put a CentralNotice up for several days before nominations
closed on 15 August, with 42 nominations for FDC members and 13 for
Ombudsperson. Criteria for selection include /Wikimedia history,
Non-WM history, Alignment with the (FDC) criteria [in the
framework], Overall portfolio mix [languages, region, gender,
chapter/wikiproject/community experience etc.]/.
==== Grants Awarded and Executed ====
* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_ZA/Wiki_Loves_Monuments
* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_RS/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_in_Serbia_…
* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Wikimedia_Slovakia/Wikipedia_workshop…
==== US Cultural Partnerships ====
* The US Cultural Partnerships Coordinator Mid-Year Report is now
published: WP:GLAM/US/Mid-Year Report
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:GLAM/US/Mid-Year_Report>
=== Catalyst Programs ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_WikiSampa_August_2012_-_27.JPG>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_WikiSampa_August_2012_-_17.JPG>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_WikiSampa_August_2012_-_40.JPG>
==== Brazil Catalyst Project ====
===== Brazil Education program =====
* 30 participated in an Education Program Workshop in São Paulo:
professors, teaching assistants, ambassadors, Wikipedia volunteers
who learned how to edit Wikipedia and about their roles as campus
ambassadors. Professors worked on planning and methodologies to
develop the program within their courses, and attended a dinner to
share and learn from past experiences.
* 8 professors are involved: 6 professors from São Paulo area, 1 from
Rio, 1 from Porto Alegre. 7 courses will start when the strike ends.
* Planning of the upcoming professor orientation in Rio de Janeiro: A
workshop for professors will be held on 22 September at PUC-Rio;
over the last couple of weeks, we worked on finding a location for
the event. A draft schedule
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia_Discuss%C3%A3o:Wikip%C3%A9d…>
can be found on the wiki.
* Start of term survey: We conducted a survey among professors. Based
on the preliminary results, we've been following up with Professors
regarding the design of course pages
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Wikip%C3%A9dia_na_Universid…>.
* Meetings with Frank and possible partners: We've been exploring a
potential partnership opportunity with UniRio; we've also met with a
group of professors at COPPE-UFRJ and gave a presentation about the
Education Program; meetings with professors have surfaced a high
level of enthusiasm about the program
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_WikiSampa_August_2012_-_41.JPG>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:14_WikiSampa_August_2012_-_41.JPG>
Community gathering in São Paulo
* Brazil team and volunteers have been working on Portuguese tutorials
online and in print to support selected courses and collaborators on
other activities: Guia do Estudante
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Wikip%C3%A9dia_na_Universid…>,
Guia do Professor
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Wikip%C3%A9dia_na_Universid…>
* Community gatherings in São Paulo and Rio, volunteers are working on
a proposal for bringing the Education Program to Brazilian high schools.
===== National Program, Brazil =====
* Data analyst and experiment consultant job description
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk%3APrograma_Catalisador_do…>
finalized
* Gathering and analyzing data regarding experiment developed by the
community in the first semester, working on metrics and tools to
analyze a campaign community is developing to bring IPs into
creating accounts, gathering information and references to debate
possible experiments on the use of CAPTCHA in the Portuguese Wikipedia:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Programa_Catalisador_do_Brasil/Planejam…
* Discussions and information gathering continue on how to establish
an office in Brazil.
* New articles on the Portuguese Wikipedia have been growing
constantly, and the growth of new and active editors have remained
steady (unlike the decrease of growth rates seen during 2011, active
editors growth has been small but consistent in the last 4 months).
Small growth of 0.5% in active editors in comparison to July in 2011
and 52% growth in the rate of new articles per day
(https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoM2xDBi-taQdE…)
==== India Program ====
* Supported the first Punjabi Wikipedia workshops at Patiala and Amritsar
* Typing tool enhancement for Punjabi wikipedia
* Plan for video tutorial program, How-to-edit-Nepali-Wikipedia video,
How-to-edit-Hindi-Wikipedia video
* Chandigarh: Workshops: Punjabi Wikipedia workshop in Amritsar, 2
workshops in British Library, Chandigarh and Wikipedia Club
Chandigarh
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Club_Chandigarh>
announced, Facebook group
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/WikiClubChandigarh> with workshop
support system, meetings with curator of Chandigarh Museum for
potential GLAM project, professors at Panjab University in Chandigarh
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:How_to_write_in_Nepali_wiki.ogv>
How to edit Nepali Wikipedia>
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:How_to_contribute_to_Hindi_Wikipedi…>
How to edit Hindi Wikipedia>
=== Education Program ===
* *New on-wiki Education newsletter debuts*: At the Wikipedia in
education session at Wikimania's unconference, volunteers around the
world agreed to start a new monthly newsletter about Wikipedia's use
in education for Wikimedians. The newsletter, delivered on talk
pages, is designed to keep Wikimedians running programs or those
interested in starting a program up to date about what's happening
in different education initiatives around the world. /This Month in
Education/ will come out on the 15th of each month. August issue:
<http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Newsletter/August_2012>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Professor_and_Ambassador_Orientatio…
Professor and Ambassador Orientation, São Paulo>
* *Brazil Pilot kicks off second phase*: On August 11, the second
phase of the Education Pilot in Brazil began with a workshop in São
Paulo for orienting new professors and new Ambassadors, hosted by
Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. Participants included
seven new professors, four interested ones who might join the
program in 2013, and dozens of new Campus Ambassadors trained by
experienced Campus Ambassadors and Wikipedians. Education Program
Director Frank Schulenburg traveled to Brazil to participate in the
workshop, and participants were excited to get started on working
with Wikipedia in education in Brazil.
* *ASA Annual Meeting features Wikipedia initiative*: Wikimedia
Foundation staff Annie Lin and Jami Mathewson traveled to Denver,
Colorado, in mid August to attend the American Sociological
Association's Annual Meeting. ASA has joined other academic
organizations in starting a Wikipedia initiative to encourage
sociology professors to edit and have students edit Wikipedia
articles to improve information available about sociology.
Instructor and Ambassador Piotr Konieczny helped out at the booth,
and hundreds of people learned more about using Wikipedia in the
classroom. <http://www.asanet.org/about/wiki_Initiative.cfm>
* *Journal article shows four case studies*: A journal article
published in E-Learning and Digital Media last month describes how
four professors who participated in the United States Education
Program pilot used Wikipedia in their classrooms. UC Berkeley's
Brian Carver, Georgetown's Rochelle Davis and Robin Kelley, and
Michigan State's Jonathan Obar discuss their experiences using
Wikipedia as a teaching tool and why they feel like it is a
worthwhile endeavor for other professors in the article titled
"Assigning Students to Edit Wikipedia: four case studies."
<http://www.wwwords.co.uk/rss/abstract.asp?j=elea&aid=5094&doi=1>
=== Fellowships ===
* *Fellowship reviews* are underway to support the professional
development of all current WMF fellows. A process for fellows to
identify mentors is expected to be launched in September.
* Phase 2 of the *Teahouse* project continued this month with a focus
on making it easier for new editors to find the Teahouse and for
experienced editors to participate as hosts. As a result of July's
successful experiment
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Teahouse/Invites> with
bot-delivered Teahouse invitations, automated invites have now been
approved for an extended trial. Guest visits, profile-creation, and
questions have increased by 50%, thanks to the small set of
improvements that have been piloted thus far.
* A sprint focused on hosting
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Teahouse/Invites>, with the aim
of building better systems to engage new *Teahouse hosts*, surface
host activity, and make helping in the Teahouse easier to do is
nearly complete. Host resources
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse/Host_lounge> have been
simplified, a new host-creation process
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse/Host_start> is live.
User feedback so far is positive, and we'll be measuring changes to
host activity in September to determine the impact of these changes.
* *Dispute Resolution*: A 1-month trial of process improvements for
filing, tracking, routing and resolving disputes ran in the Dispute
Resolution Notice board in August. Mid-month stats have been
reported
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_Resolution_Improvement_Proj…>,
and the full month's results will be compiled soon.
* *Help page redesign*: A full report of usability tests ran on
existing help pages is being compiled and new designs
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing> are being
finalized with community input in preparation for a second round of
usability testing.
* *Small Wiki Editor Engagement Project*: Step-by-step tutorials
<https://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%87%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AA…>
to help new editors get started on Bangla Wikipedia are being
developed with feedback from the Bangla community. These will be
rolled up into a contribution campaign next month in an experiment
to increase the number of active Bangla editors.
* *WikiWomen's Collaborative*: A new gender gap project
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:WikiWomen%27s_Collaborative> is
being planned with community input. The WikiWomen's Collaborative is
aiming to launch in September with a set of experiments in
lightweight social media campaigns tied to clear calls to action for
women to edit Wikipedia, and supported by a variety of new-editor
resources and community building activities.
=== Editor Growth and Contribution Program ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Editor_Growth_and_Contribution_Prog…
Logo of the Editor Growth and Contribution Program>
* A blog post
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/15/pilot-project-arabic-wikipedia-move-ne…>
on the outcomes of the first phase pilot of the Contribution portal
was published. According to a preliminary analysis, the pilot
appears to have a positive effect on the ratio of new editors who
make contributions to Wikipedia. (see also general "Highlights"
section)
* A new design of the contribution portal
<https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9…>
at Arabic Wikipedia was launched with a new logo emphasizing the
concept of the portal as being a gateway to welcome participation in
Wikipedia.
=== Communications ===
Work in August was largely focussed on preparations for a series of
partnership and project announcements, several of which will be pushed
to September. Work on the Editors Survey, including translations and
technical implementation continued - the survey should launch in early
September. The team also worked closely with volunteers on several
public initiatives, including the global launch of Wiki Loves Monuments.
Communications relocates to the Legal and Community Advocacy section of
WMF starting in September. A big 'thank you' to all of the Global Dev
team for being great colleagues!
==== Major announcements ====
Participants in world’s largest photo contest – Wiki Loves Monuments
2012 – will upload images under free license for use on Wikipedia.
(August 29, 2012)
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/WLM_photo_contest_launc…
==== Major Storylines through August ====
Sue Gardner named on of the World's 100 most powerful women in Forbes
Magazine (August 24, 2012)
WMF ED Sue Gardner made Forbes' annual list of the world's 100 most
powerful women, which includes global political figures, tech leaders,
celebrities and NGO/Non-profit founders. As the only Canadian in the
entire top 100, the news struck a strong chord in north of the US. The
news also included a video interview and feature interview with Sue
online and in print.
http://www.forbes.com/power-women/listhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/08/22/sue-gardner-wikipedias-e…http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1246413--sue-gardner-only-canadian-…http://www.canadianbusiness.com/blog/performance/96358--canadian-sue-gardne…
Brief WP outage makes a splash (August 6, 2012)
Wide international media coverage of a roughly hour-long WP outage due
ultimately to a severed cable near our Tampa data center. Media seemed
to enjoy the over-simplified suggestion that all the world's knowledge
could be robbed from the Internet due to a misplaced shovel or a lawnmower.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/aug/06/wikipedia-outage-after-ser…
(AFP coverage)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g5KhqeV7xp2eEu8pxfK0nh1x…http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/08/06/wikipedia-is-down-good-thing-its-s…
Speculation on WP's coverage of VP race (August 6, 2012)
Predominantly US politic media speculated widely that Wikipedia would be
the best place to look for an indication of US Presidential candidate
Mitt Romney's VP running mate. Humorist Steven Colbert added more fuel
to the speculation, although the coverage was not as relevant as 2008
when then VP nominee Sarah Palin's article was substantially improved
prior to that announcement.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/08/06/want_to_guess_romneys_running_…http://techpresident.com/news/22680/how-spot-romneys-vice-president-pick-ad…http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/why-wikipedia-isnt-the-veep-ora…
==== Other worthwhile reads ====
Orange to push use of Wikipedia in Kenya
http://www.the-star.co.ke/business/local/90436-orange-pushes-use-of-wikiped…
U of U Professor Ditches Term Papers for Wikipedia Articles
http://kcpw.org/blog/local-news/2012-08-21/u-of-u-professor-ditches-term-pa…
*On WP's new TOS* (Putting An End To The Biggest Lie On The Internet -
on the new TOS;DR project)
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/13/putting-an-end-to-the-biggest-lie-on-the-i…
==== Wikipedia Signpost ====
For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the
community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for August 2012:
* Volume 8, Issue 33, 6 August 2012
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-08…>
* Volume 8, Issue 34, 13 August 2012
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-08…>
* Volume 8, Issue 35, 20 August 2012
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-08…>
* Volume 8, Issue 36, 27 August 2012
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-08…>
==== WMF Blog posts ====
Twenty-one blog posts went out in August, 2012, including a continued
push to solicit and post in other project languages
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/>.
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/
Selections from Wikimedia Blog
Discussions and planning for a Ghanaian Wikimedia chapter
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/31/ghanaian-wikimedia-chapter/
Hungarian Wikipedians go camping again!
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/28/hungarian-wikipedians-go-camping-agai…
Seven years after /Nature/, pilot study compares Wikipedia favorably to
other encyclopedias in three languages
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/08/02/seven-years-after-nature-pilot-study-…
==== Media Contact, August 2012 ====
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#August_2012
== Human Resources ==
HR focused on supporting the organization in completing the Foundation's
annual review cycle of performance reviews for all employees and
launched a review process for Fellows in the Fellowship program. An
initial draft of an employee engagement survey was completed, and is in
process of revision for a late September rollout.
=== Staff Changes ===
New Hire
No new hires
Conversions
* Daisy Chen, Paralegal (Legal and Community Advocacy)
* Andrew Bogott, DevOps Engineer (Engineering)
* Chad Horohoe, Software Developer (Engineering)
* Chris Johnson, Data-center Engineer (Engineering)
* Faidon Liambotis, Operations Engineer - Labs (Engineering)
* Daniel Zahn, Operations Engineer (Engineering)
New contractors
* Lauren Bockneck (Administration)
* Stephanie Coates (Fundraiser)
* John Grande (Administration)
* Srikanth Lakshmanan (Engineering)
* Timothy Sandole (Fundraiser)
Contracts Extended
* Antoine Musso (Engineering)
* Sam Reed (Engineering)
* Erik Zachte (Engineering)
Contracts Ended
* Claude Boulingui
* Jan Gerber
* Brittany Gipson
* Lindsey Smith
* Jon Harald Søby
Departure
* Karyn Gladstone
* Ben Hartshorne
* Barry Newstead
Department Changes
* Winifred Olliff filled the requisition for Grants Administrator
within Global Development.
New Postings
* IT Intern
* Engineering Recruiter
* Volunteer Engineering Coordinator
* Visual Designer
* Grants Administrator
* Product Manager (Mobile)
* Project Assistant
* Senior Program Officer, Funds Dissemination Committee
* Communications Intern
* Software Developer - Fundraising
RFP
* Git and Gerrit software development
=== Statistics ===
Total Requisitions Filled
August Actual: 120
August Total Plan: 138
August Filled: 6, Month Attrition: 4,
YTD Filled: 14, YTD Attrition: 6
Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end
54
=== Department Updates ===
Real-time feed for HR updates
http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork
== Finance and Administration ==
* We have been working with a consultant on space optimization, so we
can accommodate new hires without adding space in the near future.
The first step in this process has been changes to the cubicle
layout on the 6th floor.
* The audit of the Wikimedia Foundation for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 2012 has been started, with the audit scheduled to be
presented to the Wikimedia Foundation Audit Committee by the end of
September.
* The Wikimedia Foundation has issued an RFP for audit and tax
services for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013. Any inquiries on
this RFP should be directed to gbyrd at wikimedia.org.
== Legal and Community Advocacy ==
* Cease and desist stats:
o Opened 8 cases
o Closed 7 cases
o 13 letters sent
o Total cases open 50
o Helped community member recover @wikinews Twitter account
* Contract Metrics:
o 28 - submitted
o 34 - completed
* Trademark Metrics:
o 24 - submitted
o 7 - approved
o 11 - pending
o 4 - denied
o 2 - request withdrawn
* Two new LCA Community Programs
o Legal Fee Defense Fund RfC Started
+ The Request for Comment (RfC)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Request_for_comment/Legal_Fees_Assistance_P…>
outlines a program designed to assist community
functionaries with legal fees in the event of a lawsuit
brought against them in relation to their activities as
functionaries. The RfC sets forth the details of the program
and the applicable guidelines. LCA is hoping it will close
favorably in early October and go for board approval at the
October board meeting. (see also general "Highlights"
section)
o Advocacy Advisory Group Established
+ This group will provide a community venue to discuss
political and legislative developments worldwide that affect
our mission, such as censorship laws and proposals that seek
to restrict a free and open Internet.
+ Anyone can join the list, bring up topics for discussion,
and participate.
+ In response to community and OTRS requests, the legal team
took actions regarding to the Pulp-pedia spoof website that
attempts to mirror Wikipedia, however includes modified
content that is in some cases profane, defamatory or
otherwise harmful. We will continue to seek a final resolution.
* Wikilegal:
o Copyright of X-Ray Images
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikilegal/Copyright_of_X-Ray_Images>
- Peter
o The 9th Circuit and Works Published Without Formalities
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikilegal/The_9th_Circuit_and_Works_Publish…>
- Peter
o Copyright of Images of Memorials in the US
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikilegal/Copyright_of_Images_of_Memorials_…>
- Peter
== Visitors and Guests ==
1. Pete Forsyth (WikiStrategies)
2. Shane Cragun (Ascent Advisor)
3. Juan Riboldi (Ascent Advisor)
4. Shawn Ram (Aon Risk Solutions)
5. Bruce Eberly (Aon Risk Solutions)
6. Brent Rieth (Aon Risk Solutions)
7. Shelley Yim (Aon Risk Solutions)
8. Brent Rieth (Aon)
9. Christine Moellenberndt (Consultant to the LCA Team)
10. Elizabeth MH (Consultant to the LCA Team)
11. Kat Walsh (WMF Board of Trustees member)
12. Tim Vollmer (Creative Commons)
13. Mark Oppenheim (m/Oppenheim Associates)
14. Jimmy Schulz (German Parliament)
15. Kevin McCracken (Social Imprints)
16. Daniel Phifer (Social Imprints)
17. Brian Lee (Forte Systems)
18. Evan Priestley (Phabricator)
19. James Gleick (Author)
20. User:WhatamIdoing (Wikipedian)
21. Akshaya Iyengar (Donor from the 2011 fundraising campaign)
22. Shruti Yadav (Student)
23. Nash Hurley (Vital Environments)
24. Taylor Keep (Vital Environments)
25. Claudio Martonfy (Vital Environments)
26. Jonathan Werner (Vital Environments)
27. Leah Nichols (Vital Environments)
28. Shawn Pierce and guest (Google)
29. Desigan Chinniah (Mozilla Firefox)
30. Valerie Aurora (The Ada Initiative)
31. Kathy Ramsey (The Ada Initiative)
32. Lisa Grossman (m/Oppenheim Associates)
33. JK Werner and Grant Joung (ThoughtWorks)
34. Sara Crouse (Creative Commons)
35. Anna Daniel (Creative Commons)
36. Greg Grossmeier (Creative Commons)
37. Elliot Harmon (Creative Commons)
38. Cathy Casserly (Creative Commons)
39. Luis (User:Hispalois)
40. Laura Lanzerotti (Bridgespan Group)
41. Libbie Landles-Dowling (Bridgespan Group)
42. Oliver Keyes (remote contractor)
43. Chad Horohoe (remote contractor)
44. Diederik van Liere (remote contractor)
45. Gina Otto (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
46. Christine Bronstein (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
47. Shannon Farley (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
48. Pia Infante (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
49. Abby Goldberg (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
50. Megan Cayler (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
51. Sarah Selim (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
52. Blair Palmer (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
53. Pema Teeter (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
54. Sara Litke (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
55. Deborah Holmes (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
56. Sheila Bapat (WMF/Spark/Op-Ed event visitor)
57. Ryota Tamaki (Nikkei)
58. Micah Alpern (LinkedIn)
59. Jack Herrick (WikiHow)
60. Cathy Ferrari (Monahan Pacific)
61. Brian Lee (Forte)
62. Sizhe Liu (KPMG)
63. Daniel Hennigan (KPMG)
64. Charlie Hou (Huawei)
65. Yiren Huang (Huawei)
66. Charlie Dong (Huawei)
67. Asheesh Laruia (OpenHatch)
68. Jonathan Effrat (Google)
69. Mike Rhodes (Cooley LLP)
70. Patrick Gunn (Cooley LLP)
71. Ray Sardo (Cooley LLP)
72. Mike Schwartz (Wikia)
73. Andrzej Swędrzyński (Wikia)
74. Joe Arnold (Swiftstack)
75. Pieter Stal, EVP Global Account Management (Global Collect)
76. Patricia Reed, Account Manager (Global Collect)
77. Andrzeg Swedrzynsui (Wikia)
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
_______________________________________________
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
.png){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
