This is great news. Congratulations to those who worked on this grant proposal. I'm always glad to hear that progress continues to be made at making Wikimedia content more accessible and/or editable on mobile.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alexandre Hannud Abdo <abdo at member.fsf.org>
Date: 2013/1/17
Subject: [Wikimedia Brasil] Fwd: Demand justice for Aaron Swartz
To: Wikimedia BR <wikimediabr-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Ni! Friends,
I just received this email from Demand Progress and Lawrence Lessig, in
response to Aaron Swartz's tragic passing. Click here to support Aaron's
Law and the effort to achieve justice for Aaron:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/aaron_justice/?referring_akid=1969.159…
We spent yesterday burying and mourning our friend Aaron. We're sad,
we're tired, we're frustrated -- and we're angry at a system that let
this happen to Aaron. Now we want to set upon honoring his life's work
and helping to make sure that such a travesty is never repeated.
We and Aaron's friends and family have been in touch with lawmakers to
ask for help, and several of them -- who've worked with Aaron and Demand
Progress on SOPA and other issues -- are beginning to take action. We're
asking them to help rein in a criminal justice system run amok, wherein
authorities are encouraged to bring frivolous charges and hold decades
of jail time over the heads of people who are accused of committing
victimless crimes.
1) Representative Zoe Lofgren has introduced what's been named "Aaron's
Law." It would fix a key part of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
(CFAA), which is one of the statutes under which Aaron was indicted. We
need to pass Aaron's Law AND further amend the CFAA.
The CFAA makes violations of a website's terms of service agreement or
user agreement -- that fine print you never read before you check the
box next to it -- a FELONY, potentially punishable by many years in
prison. That's how over-broad this dangerous statute is, and one way it
lets showboating prosecutors file charges against people who've done
nothing wrong.
Aaron's Law would decriminalize violating these agreements: They're
essentially contracts, and as with other contracts, disputes about them
should be settled in civil courts rather than in out of control criminal
trials under threat of decades of prison time.
Aaron's Law alone wouldn't have saved Aaron -- there is still more to do
to make sure that victimless computer activities are not charged as
felonies -- but this is a solid start that we can pass now and it's a
law he wanted to change. Then we'll keep pushing forward.
Click here to join us in demanding justice for Aaron:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/aaron_justice/?referring_akid=1969.159…
2) Additionally, we asked Congressman Darrell Issa -- who controls the
powerful Oversight Committee -- to open an investigation into
prosecutorial misconduct in Aaron's case.
Amazingly, he's already responded and is sending an investigator to the
office of the U.S. Attorney who was pressing charges against Aaron.
We want the inquiry to proceed, and to be broadened to include a more
thorough investigation into rampant over-prosecution of alleged crimes
with no victims -- as in the case of what Aaron was accused of. And we
want those who abused their power to be held to account.
We loved Aaron -- so many people loved Aaron -- and his death is tragic.
We and others who were close to him are overwhelmed by the outpouring of
support, and the calls for justice. Thank you for joining us in that fight.
Click here to join us in demanding justice for Aaron:
http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/aaron_justice/?referring_akid=1969.159…
-Demand Progress
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MZMcBride wrote:
>...
> Given the mention of global citizen journalists in the blog post, I was a
> little surprised to not see a mention of Wikinews. Some collaboration
> between the Wikinewsies and the Global Voices folks might be good to
> explore. (I'll admit that I'm still somewhat trying to wrap my head around
> what Global Voices exactly is, but a collaboration between the two seemed
> like it might have promise....
Global Voices a blog aggregator focusing on the developing world
started by Harvard's Ethan Zuckerman and former CNN bureau chief
Rebecca MacKinnon. Their FAQ is far better than their about page or
the press release:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/about/faq-frequently-asked-questions/
I agree mentioning Wikinews would have been a great idea, in
particular because Global Voices' blogs' content is the sort of thing
which almost always gets immediately reverted from Wikipedia if it's
at all controversial (I saw such a revert of a Global Voices blog
re-post on a Shell abuse in Nigeria just yesterday) in a way that less
reliable but popular US and UK blogs such as Slashdot rarely are.
Global Voices occasionally cites Wikinews and Wikinewsies:
http://globalvoicesonline.org/?s=wikinews
So I trust this bodes well for the (originally 2008) proposal to fund
Wikinews reporters which has surfaced from the community in various
forms through the years -- e.g.
http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Reporter_Reimbursement_Program
-- but has never received the merest hint of support from the
Foundation.
Now that will certainly change. Right?
Hi all,
I am happy to inform you that the Affiliations Committee has approved the
formation of two Wikimedia User Groups this week: MediaWiki Group San
Francisco and MediaWiki Group Promotion.
These are the first of the new types of affiliates recognized under the new
framework approved last year.
A little bit of background:
== MediaWiki Group San Francisco ==
MediaWiki Group San
Francisco<http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups/Proposals/San_Francisco>is
a local group of MediaWiki developers and other interested people,
focused on outreach and coordination of ad-hoc activities in the San
Francisco Bay Area of the United States.
It is currently being led by Quim Gil, a WMF employee tasked with
encouraging the formation of MediaWiki groups and a further eight
Wikimedians have signed up. If you are in the area and are interested in
participating, sign up on the linked page or get in contact with the group
on their talk page.
The Affiliations Committee's initial recognition is valid until 31 December
2013.
== MediaWiki Group Promotion ==
MediaWiki Group
Promotion<http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups/Proposals/Promotion>is
a MediaWiki Group with a thematic focus on promoting MediaWiki both
through offline events, designing merchandise and collaborative online work
improving outreach materials.
The group is co-led by Quim Gil and User:Varnent, a US-based volunteer
developer, with seven further members signed up (from different parts of
the world). If you are interested in their work, feel free to join them, by
signing up on the page and engaging on the talk page.
The Affiliations Committee's initial recognition is valid until 31 December
2013.
== Wikimedia User Groups ==
Wikimedia User Groups are one of the three new types of affiliations
created last year to empower volunteers wanting to conduct offline work.
User group status is meant to be an easy form of affiliation, where the
main requirements are an agreed goal, plans for offline work, at least
three people participating and a public wiki page with all the relevant
information).
User groups are by default non-incorporated, although they may choose to
incorporate (this is not the case with these two groups).
One of the requirements of the status, and especially of its renewal is to
publish a short report of activities at least once a year.
Under the movement roles
recommendations<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_affiliation_models/User_Groups>,
user groups are to be recognized in a quick and easy process directly by
the Affiliations Committee, for a fixed, renewable time-period and they are
to enjoy limited trademark use and simplified access to grants.
== MediaWiki Groups ==
Both groups belong to the specialized subgroup of MediaWiki
Groups<http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups> proposed
by the Engineering department of WMF – under the coordination of Quim Gil –
as a way to encourage the development of the volunteer developer
communities, in a way similar to other user groups in the open source
movement. Upon consultation with the community the model was harmonized
with the existing Wikimedia User Group model.
Thus MediaWiki Groups form a subset of Wikimedia User Groups in a way,
where the group agrees to fulfill a number of additional criteria listed at
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Groups (most importantly, a clear local or
thematic focus, and a consultation with the developer community in addition
to the criteria<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requirements_for_future_user_groups>of
becoming a Wikimedia User Group).
MediaWiki Groups are recognized if they meet these additional requirements
as well as the requirements of regular user groups. Quim Gil has been
invited to the Affiliations Committee to advise the Committee on meeting
the former requirements and to relay any relevant information arising out
of the consultations in the developer community.
(In the current cases, the Committee has in addition reviewed the relevant
discussions directly, due to the involvement of Quim as the initial
promoters of the groups.)
Best regards,
Bence Damokos
Chair, Affiliatons Committee
On Jan 15, 2013, at 9:52 PM, wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org wrote:
Congrats, Siko and Katy!
So glad to hear you'll be spearheading these important initiatives.
Siko, I'm thrilled that we'll keep working together in your new role.
Katy, welcome aboard! Look forward to meeting with you next week ...
Onward!
Fabrice
>
> Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:51:31 -0800
> From: Anasuya Sengupta <asengupta(a)wikimedia.org>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Welcome: Siko Bouterse and Katy Love join the
> Grantmaking team at WMF
> Message-ID:
> <CAKK0PRy76bXwTzexQvsNrJcdmTh7J0_+pESyyi3a52OvEPrg5g(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Dear all,
>
> As you know, we recently re-named the Global Development department at the
> Wikimedia Foundation, as the Grantmaking and Programs department. The
> Grantmaking team is committed to supporting our community and meeting our
> shared goals at the different levels of contribution - whether individuals,
> groups or organisations - and we will be working with you over the next
> few months to deepen our strategies for doing so, and for evaluating our
> impact.
>
> In the meantime, however, I am delighted to announce some changes to the
> Grantmaking team that reflect this commitment. Siko Bouterse [1] needs no
> introduction to most of you, having worked at WMF since 2011, most recently
> coordinating the Fellowships program. Siko is coming on to the Grantmaking
> team as Head of Individual Engagement Grants, a program that will support
> individual or small team projects for online impact. This is to be launched
> later today... watch out for Siko's announcement and details of the
> program, coming soon to a wiki near you. Siko will also shortly be taking
> on the responsibility for the Participation Support Program (which WMF and
> WMDE fund together), and supporting the documentation and analysis of our
> project-based grants. We are really pleased to have Siko's experience and
> insights on our team.
>
> Katy Love is new to the team, the organisation and the movement, but I have
> no doubt that her experience and insights, as well, will help us be more
> effective. Katy has just joined us as the Senior Program Officer for the
> Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) [2] with a passion for strategic and
> impactful grantmaking, participatory collaborative work, and transparent
> decision-making. Her background spans philanthropic activities and NGO
> programs, systems, and operations. She spent the last four years at CARE
> International with the Emergency Capacity Building Project, a collaboration
> between six of the largest NGOs, aimed at improving humanitarian response.
>
> Please join me in welcoming them to our team!
>
> Warmly,
> Anasuya
>
> [1] http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:Sbouterse
> [2] http://hire.jobvite.com/Jobvite/Job.aspx?j=owwHWfwp&c=qSa9VfwQ
>
> --
> ***Anasuya Sengupta
> Senior Director of Grantmaking
> Wikimedia Foundation*
> *
> *
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
> the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
>
Hello everyone,
We've today published a call for papers for our GLAM-Wiki conference which
takes place in London in April. We’re looking for proposals for
presentations, workshop proposals, or panel discussions, lasting up to an
hour (which would include questions).
Take a look at our blog post <http://bit.ly/XeBoio> on this for full
details of how to get involved.
Thanks and regards,
Stevie
--
Stevie Benton
Communications Organiser
Wikimedia UK+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
@StevieBenton
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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Some friends asked me today about the Wikivoyage launch, and the reasoning behind it.
I hopped over to https://blog.wikimedia.org/ and found... nothing.
Then I went to https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room and also found... nothing.
Any reason why the Foundation hasn't published anything about the official launch of Wikivoyage? It'd be quite useful to be able to point my enquiring friends to "oh, this is what the Foundation are saying about it", but apparently the Foundation aren't saying anything about it.
--
Tom Morris
<http://tommorris.org/>