Hi Garfield,
Would you please find out how much the CFAA and CALEA amendements
would be expected to cost readers, editors, and the Foundation
compared to what SOPA or PIPA would have cost if they had passed, and
let the wikimedia-l and advocacy advisors lists know?
Best regards,
James Salsman
Hello Tilman,
Thanks for composing the report and sending it.
In section 9.2.6 I saw the Wikipedia Signpost. Perhaps it is also possible and interesting to add another newsletter that describes a mayor field of interest for Wikimedias in the world. For two years and three months now we publish every month a newsletter about what happened in the Wikimedias regarding GLAM in the past month. Each month the new edition can be found on http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter
At the moment I am at GLAM WIKI conference (organized by Wikimedia UK) in London, together with more than hundred other participants, with one of them Kat Walsh.
If there are any questions or wishes to help out, please let me know.
Greetings,
Romaine
---
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Romaine
> Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:55:48 -0700
> From: Tilman Bayer <tbayer(a)wikimedia.org>
> To: wikimediaannounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Cc: Staff All <wmfall(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia
> Foundation
> Report, March 2013
> Message-ID:
>
> <CAPDdKA5Yj6GR9YamGhdCoDni+SY6Sc_Mp4_B_TCz+4c0zRDj-g(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi all,
>
> please find below the WMF report for March 2013, in plain
> text.
>
> As always, the editable and formatted version has been
> published on Meta:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_March_2013
>
> 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,_March_2013
>
> Many thanks to those who have translated the February
> "Highlights"
> into Asturian, Catalan, Danish, German, Spanish, Maltese,
> Russian and
> Simplified Chinese (and partially into some other languages
> like
> French, Italian, Norwegian Bokmål andTraditional Chinese)!
>
> 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 April issue are welcome until
> May 1 at
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights#Movement_news_ite…
> .
>
> Regards, Tilman
>
>
>
> --
>
> Wikimedia Foundation Report, March 2013
>
> <Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_April_4…>
> Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and
> activities meeting
> covering the month of March
>
> Contents
>
> * 1 Data and Trends
> * 2 Financials
> * 3 Highlights
> o 3.1 Lua speeds up pages and empowers
> Wikimedia's technical
> contributors
> o 3.2 Mobile uploads launch for apps
> and the mobile web
> o 3.3 First Individual Engagement
> Grants awarded to innovative
> community projects
> o 3.4 Wikipedia Zero wins award,
> reaches new users
> o 3.5 Ombudsmen meet, might expand
> mandate
> * 4 Engineering
> o 4.1 VisualEditor
> o 4.2 Editor engagement
> o 4.3 Mobile
> o 4.4 Other engineering news
> * 5 Fundraising
> o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
> o 5.2 Annual Fundraiser
> * 6 Grantmaking and Programs
> o 6.1 Strategic Goals Metrics
> o 6.2 Grantmaking
> + 6.2.1 Funds
> Dissemination Committee (FDC)
> + 6.2.2 WMF Grant
> requests approved in March 2013
> + 6.2.3 WMF Grant reports
> accepted in March 2013
> + 6.2.4 Participation
> Support requests approved in March 2013
> + 6.2.5 Individual
> Engagement Grants
> + 6.2.6 Editor Growth and
> Contribution Program
> + 6.2.7 Wikimania
> Support
> + 6.2.8 Brazil
> # 6.2.8.1
> Institutional Partnerships
> # 6.2.8.2
> Hirings
> # 6.2.8.3
> Data & Experiments
> # 6.2.8.4
> Education
> # 6.2.8.5
> Online tutorials
> # 6.2.8.6
> Communications
> # 6.2.8.7
> Medicin Wikiproject
> # 6.2.8.8
> Community and High School
> o 6.3 Programs
> + 6.3.1 Wikipedia Zero
> + 6.3.2 Global Education
> o 6.4 Learning & Evaluation
> * 7 Human Resources
> o 7.1 Staff Changes
> o 7.2 Statistics
> o 7.3 Department Updates
> * 8 Finance and Administration
> * 9 Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications
> Department
> o 9.1 LCA Report, March 2013
> + 9.1.1 Contract Metrics
> + 9.1.2 Trademark
> Metrics
> + 9.1.3 Domains Obtained
> + 9.1.4 Coming &
> Going
> + 9.1.5 Other Activities
> o 9.2 Communications Report, March
> 2013
> + 9.2.1 Major
> announcements
> + 9.2.2 Major Storylines
> through March
> + 9.2.3 Other worthwhile
> reads
> + 9.2.4 WMF Blog posts
> + 9.2.5 Media Contact
> + 9.2.6 Wikipedia
> Signpost
> * 10 Office of the Executive Director
> * 11 Visitors and Guests
>
>
> == Data and Trends ==
>
> Global unique visitors for February:
>
> *483 million* (-1.12% compared with January;
> +1.53% compared with
> the previous year)
> (comScore data
> <http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors>
> for all
> Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will
> release March data
> later in April)
>
> Page requests for March:
>
> *21.5 billion* (-1.1% compared with February;
> +24.8% 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 February 2013 (>= 5
> mainspace edits/month,
> excluding bots):
>
> *78,083* (-7.53% compared with January /
> -2.43% compared with the
> previous year)
> (Database data
> <http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>,
> all Wikimedia
> Foundation projects.
>
> *Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and
> trends about WMF
> projects) for February 2013:
>
> 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_February_2…>
> Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of
> February 28,
> 2013
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_February_…>
> Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of
> February 28, 2013
>
> (Financial information is only available through February
> 2013 at the
> time of this report.)
>
> All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date
> and
> Year-To-Date February 28, 2013.
>
> Revenue $35,650,340
> *Expenses:*
> Engineering Group $9,379,205
> Fundraising Group $2,411,055
> Grantmaking & Programs Group
> $3,935,546
> Governance Group $504,987
> Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group
> $2,029,585
> Finance/HR/Admin Group $3,702,999
> Total Expenses $21,963,377
> Total surplus $13,686,963
>
> * Revenue for the month of February is $1.89MM vs
> plan of $276K,
> approximately $1.61MM or 585% over plan.
>
> * Year-to-date revenue is $35.65MM vs plan of
> $30.46MM, approximately
> $5.19MM or 17% over plan.
>
> * Expenses for the month of February is $4.25MM vs
> plan of $4.03MM,
> approximately $215K or 5% over plan, primarily
> due to higher capital
> expenses offset by lower personnel expenses,
> internet hosting, and
> grant expenses.
>
> * Year-to-date expenses is $21.96MM vs plan of
> $25.94MM, approximately
> $3.98MM or 15% under plan, primarily due to
> personnel expenses,
> capital expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants
> executed, WMF project
> grants, and travel expenses partially offset
> by higher legal
> expenses and bank fees.
>
> * Cash position is $40.68MM as of February 28, 2013.
>
>
> == Highlights ==
>
>
> === Lua speeds up pages and empowers Wikimedia's technical
> contributors ===
>
> On March 13
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/lua-templates-faster-more-flexible-pa…>,
> Lua <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lua_(programming_language)>
> was enabled for
> templates on all Wikimedia wikis. The existing syntax for
> wikitext
> templates is complicated and limited: it does not offer
> loops
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_(computing)>, for
> example. With Lua,
> editors can now use a real programming language
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/14/what-lua-scripting-means-wikimedia-op…>,
> in which they can also contribute to programming projects
> outside
> Wikimedia. For Wikimedia wikis, Lua means a big performance
> gain in
> widely used templates, such as citations. For example, 300
> citations on
> an English Wikipedia article now render in 3 seconds instead
> of 18
> seconds
> <https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1gMw12QMPn0Xj_5tiUi1…>.
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_web_upload_button.PNG>
> The new image upload button in an article on the mobile
> version of the
> English Wikipedia
>
>
> === Mobile uploads launch for apps and the mobile web ===
>
> On the mobile version of Wikipedia, smartphone users can now
> easily
> upload a lead image
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/28/add-an-image-to-this-article-uploads-…>
> to Wikipedia articles that lack one. Also in March, the
> Mobile team
> released a dedicated app for Wikimedia Commons
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/putting-commons-contributions-in-your…>,
> allowing media uploads from Android and iOS devices.
>
>
> === First Individual Engagement Grants awarded to innovative
> community
> projects ===
>
> The recipients of the first Individual Engagements Grants
> were announced
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/29/wikimedia-individual-engagement-grant…>
> on March 29. These grants fund projects by individuals or
> small teams
> for a duration of six months. Among the largest of the eight
> funded
> grants are "The Wikipedia Library
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library>"
> ($7500), which aims to give
> editors access to reliable sources, donated by publishers,
> "The
> Wikipedia Adventure
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Adventure>"
> ($10,000), an on-wiki game for new editors, and a project
> to
> collaboratively define a vision for the future of
> Wikisource
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource_strategic_v…>
> (10,000 Euros).
>
>
> === Wikipedia Zero wins award, reaches new users ===
>
> Wikipedia Zero, which gives people around the world mobile
> access to
> Wikipedia free of data charges, won the 2013 SXSW
> Interactive “Activism”
> award
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/wikipedia-zero-wins-2013-sxsw-interac…>,
> beating four other finalists. Also in March, Wikipedia Zero
> became
> available to more than 55 million additional subscribers in
> Russia, as
> part of a partnership with Beeline (VimpelCom). This was the
> biggest
> launch for the Wikipedia Zero team to date. The same month,
> a new
> Wikipedia Zero partnership with Axiata Group was announced
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/axiata-wikipedia-zero-partnership/>,
> which will expand the program in Indonesia, Malaysia,
> Cambodia, Sri
> Lanka and Bangladesh this year.
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia-Ombudsman-Commission-Publ…>
> Four of the Ombudsmen during their visit at the WMF office
>
>
> === Ombudsmen meet, might expand mandate ===
>
> In March, the Foundation's LCA <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LCA>
> team hosted five out of seven
> members of the Ombudsmen Commission in San Francisco, where
> these
> community members from around the world met with each other
> in person
> for the first time
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/01/privacy-policy-complaints-on-wikipedi…>.
> They consulted with various WMF departments and provided
> input regarding
> privacy topics and the work of administrators. Formed in
> 2006, the
> Ombudsmen Commission is currently tasked with investigating
> complaints
> of alleged Privacy policy
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy>
> violations on behalf
> of
> the Board of Trustees. It has been proposed that the
> Commission should
> also be allowed to handle complaints about the global
> CheckUser policy
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CheckUser_policy>
> and Oversight
> policy <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Oversight_policy>.
> An RfC (request for comment) about this is being prepared.
>
>
> == Engineering ==
>
> A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for
> March 2013 can
> be found at:
>
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2013/March
>
> Department Highlights
>
>
> <Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sneak_Preview_-_Wikipedia_VisualEdi…>
> "A Sneak Preview of the Wikipedia VisualEditor", narrated by
> Trevor
> Parscal (uploaded March 1, 2013)
>
>
> === VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> ===
>
> /(Accessible introduction to what the Visual Editor is
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/12/07/inventing-as-we-go-building-a-visual-…>)/
>
> In March, part of the team worked on infrastructure for the
> major new
> features that they'll be adding in the coming months. We aim
> for
> VisualEditor to be the default way all users edit our sites
> by July
> 2013, so it needs to let everyone edit the majority of
> content without
> needing to use the usual "wikitext" editor. This will mean
> adding
> support for references, (at least) basic templates,
> categories and
> images, each of which is a very large piece of work. This
> month the team
> primarily worked on draft designs and initial code to ensure
> users can
> edit categories and templates.
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:VisualEditor-Parsoid_-…>
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor-Parsoid_-_2012-13_Q3_q…>
> Slides from the VisualEditor/Parsoid quarterly review (see
> also slides
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor_-_2013-04_Metrics_deck.pdf>
> from the monthly metrics meeting)
>
> The VisualEditor team undertook its first ever "Quarterly
> Review
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>"
> (minutes
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>),
> whose slides
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor-Parsoid_-_2012-13_Q3_q…>
> detail these designs, the work done to date and expectations
> for the
> near future. The alpha version of VisualEditor on
> mediawiki.org and the
> English Wikipedia was updated twice, adding better input and
> selection
> support, fixing a number of bugs, and restructuring the
> back-end so that
> the new features will be simpler to create.
>
> The Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> team (who
> are creating
> the parsing program <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing> that
> translates
> plain wikitext into HTML annotated for easy editing, and
> /vice-versa/)
> continued writing specifications, fixing bugs, and improving
> how Parsoid
> deals with different human languages, newlines and
> whitespace, and
> transclusion. They wrote a blog post explaining their
> challenges
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/04/parsoid-how-wikipedia-catches-up-with…>.
> And late in March, C. Scott Ananian joined us as a
> contractor. Welcome!
>
>
> === Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement>
> ===
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
>
> Fabrice Florin presenting about Notifications (slides
> <https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1cknqzVqRBPffahIBWc_…>)
>
> In March, the editor engagement features team worked on
> three projects:
> Notifications, Article Feedback and Flow.
>
> For Notifications (formerly code-named 'Echo'), we developed
> a range of
> new features, including: the 'thanks' and 'user rights'
> notifications,
> as well as HTML email notifications. We also started to
> collect our
> first metrics and prepared a socialization plan for our
> upcoming release
> on the English Wikipedia later this month.
>
> For Article Feedback, we deployed a new version of the tool
> on the
> French and German Wikipedias, for evaluation by their
> communities. Final
> features include 'discuss on talk page' and 'auto-archive.
> The tool was
> temporarily turned off on the English Wikipedia, where we
> expect to
> re-deploy it on an opt-in basis as soon as practical.
>
> Design work continued on Flow. We continued creating a
> "Portal" that
> will engage discussion about Flow at three locations
> (mediawiki.org,
> meta, and the English Wikipedia), and performing research.
>
> The Editor Engagement Experiments
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editor_Engagement_Experiments>
> team largely
> placed other projects – such as guided tours
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/guided_tours>,
> EventLogging
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/EventLogging>, and
> others – on hold to focus
> on two key initiatives: the "Getting Started
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GettingStarted>"
> process for
> onboarding new Wikipedians
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/onboarding_new_Wikipedians>,
> and on making the
> redesign of account creation and login
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/account_creation_user_experience>
> a permanent,
> internationalized part of MediaWiki core.
>
> For the Getting Started project, the team launched a new
> version on
> English Wikipedia, which included a new landing page with
> additional
> types of tasks suggested for brand new editors to try. The
> list of tasks
> is now generated by a basic recommender system
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Onboarding_new_Wikipedians/Recommender_system>
> built by Ori Livneh, which gathers, filters, and delivered a
> fresh list
> of tasks automatically for every editor. This new backend
> paves the way
> for releasing the "getting started" feature on other
> projects, after
> we've completed data analysis and testing to understand
> which kinds of
> tasks are ideal for first time editors. Additionally, Matt
> Flaschen
> collaborated with the Editor Engagement Features team to
> build
> notifications <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Echo> to welcome new
> editors and
> invite them to contribute via the Getting Started.
>
> For the account creation and login work, S Page, Munaf
> Assaf, and the
> rest of the team rebuilt our design to work with MediaWiki
> core, and
> solicited reviews from outside the team. We currently plan
> to launch
> both interface redesigns on an opt-in basis in April, to
> have editors
> test the localization and other functional aspects of the
> forms via a
> URL parameter, before we enable them as default.
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
>
> Maryana Pinchuk presenting mobile image uploads (slides)
> <https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1EW-Io5mTXeNwaPBGvAe…>
>
>
> === Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering>
> ===
>
> We have a stable version of the mobile-optimized website,
> which everyone
> on a smartphone uses by default, and we have a beta version
> that
> logged-in Wikimedia users can opt to use to see features
> we're still
> building. When functionality is polished enough, we promote
> it from the
> beta site to the stable site. In March, we added the ability
> to easily
> upload a lead image
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/28/add-an-image-to-this-article-uploads-…>
> to articles that lack one in the stable version of the
> mobile site. We
> also helped users by giving them a temporary fix to an issue
> we
> discovered that made logging in hard or impossible for some
> users of
> newer mobile web browsers; that problem had prevented a
> number of users
> from being able to upload photos via the mobile site. We are
> now well on
> our way to reach our goal of 1000 unique uploaders/month by
> the end of
> June 2013. Check out the mobile app dashboard
> <http://mobile-reportcard.wmflabs.org/>
> to see mobile contributions via
> the website and via apps.
>
> Also: we've added thumbnails of lead images from articles in
> the mobile
> watchlist view, as well as a "last modified" timestamp on
> articles in
> the stable version of the mobile site. We are currently
> focusing on some
> performance enhancements for the mobile site. In April we
> will graduate
> the "uploads dashboard" feature from beta to stable, will
> further refine
> our photo upload features, and will let beta site users see
> and use a
> feature to identify articles on subjects near your current
> location.
>
> The Mobile team that makes dedicated Wikimedia mobile apps
> have created
> an initial version of the Commons photo uploader app
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/putting-commons-contributions-in-your…>
> for Android; it is available for download in Google Play.
> The iOS
> version is still in beta, but should be available in the
> Apple app store
> next month.
>
> In March, Wikipedia Zero
> <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mobile_partnerships>
> added new telecom
> partners (such as Axiata Group Berhad
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/axiata-wikipedia-zero-partnership/>),
> fixed some technical problems, and onboarded new staff. We
> also won an
> SXSW Interactive "Activism" award for Wikipedia Zero
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/wikipedia-zero-wins-2013-sxsw-interac…>.
> (see also the general "Highlights" section)
>
> Max Semenik, Arthur Richards and Faidon Liambotis held an
> OpenStreetMaps
> mini-hackathon at Open Source Days 2013 in Copenhagen
> <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Events/Wikimedia_Mapping_Event_2013>.
> During
> the event, they agreed on an implementation strategy for a
> future WMF
> mapping cluster. The cluster would serve OSM "tiles" and
> thus help
> integrate OSM functionality better into Wikimedia sites, and
> help with
> our mobile apps which already make use of OSM data.
>
>
> === Other engineering news ===
>
> * Lua scripting
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/lua-templates-faster-more-flexible-pa…>
> has launched on all WMF wikis, making
> templates faster and making
> pages more flexible. You can read that post to
> understand what to do
> on your wiki to take advantage of this, and
> you can also read about
> the implications for Wikimedia's future
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/14/what-lua-scripting-means-wikimedia-op…>
> (see also general "Highlights" section)
> * We redesigned the Translate interface
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/25/redesigning-the-translation-experienc…>
> and made other progress
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/12/new-release-of-the-mediawiki-language…>
> on translation and language-related tools.
> * We have fresh, friendly instructions on reporting a
> technical
> problem
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/18/how-to-create-a-good-first-bug-report/>
> and invite you to help prioritize problems to
> fix
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/help-wikimedia-squash-software-bugs/>.
> * Our designers are collaborating with the Noun
> Project
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/the-noun-project-and-the-wikimedia-fo…>
> towards creating an "Encyclopedia Collection"
> of free icons.
> * Our Operations group (the systems administrators
> who keep our
> servers running) has started a twice-monthly
> meeting with other
> engineering teams, to keep communication
> flowing about requirements
> and possible upcoming problems or
> infrastructure needs.
> * The User Metrics API <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User_Metrics>
> launched; it's a service that allows
> researchers to perform cohort
> analysis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohort_study> on
> various data
> sets, making it easier to measure the effects
> of programs and
> platform experiments among discrete sets of
> users. The Analytics
> group <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics>, which
> works on software
> to make statistics about Wikimedia available,
> is currently working
> on improving the web-based user interface, to
> make it available for
> use outside of Wikimedia Foundation staff in
> the coming months.
>
>
> == Fundraising ==
>
> Department highlight
>
> * The fundraising team ramped up testing in languages
> and countries
> that were not included in the year-end 2012
> campaign, raising
> approximately $5 million USD.
>
>
> === Major Gifts and Foundations ===
>
> * Received a $250,000 grant from Peter Baldwin and
> Lisbet Rausing.
>
>
> === Annual Fundraiser ===
>
> * The fundraising team ran banners in languages and
> countries that
> were not included in the year-end 2012
> campaign (US, UK, Canada,
> Australia, New Zealand, France, Switzerland,
> Germany). Approximately
> $5 million USD was raised from this campaign
> in the month of March.
> Banners were taken down on March 31, 2013. Any
> future testing will
> be announced on the Fundraising 2013
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2013>
> page
> on Meta.
> * Patricia Pena visited India and researched user
> feedback and
> possible opportunities for local processing in
> the country. We
> interviewed roughly 20 donors and networked
> with over 20 Indian
> payment providers.
> * The fundraising tech team continued to add new
> payment options
> including Boletos for Brazil and Direct Debit
> for Spain,
> Netherlands, and Austria. In addition, the
> team added the option to
> make a recurring credit card donation for
> countries where this was
> not previously offered.
> * Megan Hernandez, Katie Horn, and Bryony Jones
> visited Japan, a top
> donor country, and met with 3-5 Japanese
> donors every day during the
> week of March 11. The team tested 10 different
> messages and designs
> and developed a high performing fundraising
> banner.
> * Victor Grigas produced brief video introductions to
> the VisualEditor
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sneak_Preview_-_Wikipedia_VisualEdi…>
> (see above)
> and the Wikipedia Education Program
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wikipedia_Education_Program.webm>
> (see below).
>
>
> == Grantmaking and Programs ==
>
> Department Highlights
>
> * Launched Wikipedia Zero with Beeline (Vimpelcom) in
> Russia, largest
> single operator to date (55+ million
> subscsribers)
> * First round of Individual Engagement Grants (IEG)
> approved and
> announced
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/29/wikimedia-individual-engagement-grant…>!
> * Round 2 2012-2013 proposals to the Funds
> Dissemination Committee
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals>
> were
> submitted on 1 March 2013 and have
> been open to community review from 1 March to
> 31 March.
>
>
> === Strategic Goals Metrics ===
>
> Metric Value MoM
> MoM% Chart
> Global South Active Editors (5+ edits in main namespace)
> 15.5k -317
> -2.0% Decrease [1]
> <http://gp.wmflabs.org/graphs/global_north_south_active_editors>
>
>
> === Grantmaking ===
>
>
> ==== Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) ====
>
> * Proposals for Round 2 2012-2013 were submitted on 1
> March 2013. 4
> proposals were submitted (presented
> alphabetically) :
> o Wikimedia Czech Republic
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
> o Wikimédia France
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
> o Wikimedia Hong Kong
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
> o Wikimedia Norge
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
> * *Community review:* From 1 March until 31 March,
> members of the
> Wikimedia community commented on the four
> funding proposals
> submitted to the FDC
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals>
> (Wikimédia
> France
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>,
> Wikimedia Hong Kong
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>,
> Wikimedia Norge
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>,
> and Wikimedia Czech Republic
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>)
> during the one-month open comment / community
> review period.
> Comments and questions were submitted for each
> proposal: each
> proposal discussion page had at least 20
> distinct authors and at
> most 34 distinct authors. 111 was the maximum
> total number of edits
> made on the discussion pages of any proposal,
> and 79 was the minimum
> total number. The comments addressed many
> topics, including
> expressing overall support or concern for a
> proposal, questioning
> the specifics of financial tables, stating
> concerns about an
> entity's plans to hire staff, and requesting
> more information about
> specific programs. Questions and comments from
> the community will be
> summarized and reflected in the FDC staff
> assessments published on
> April 8, and will be considered by the FDC
> when it deliberates in
> Milan in late April.
> * The Progress report form
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Progress_report_form>
> was
> finalized and made ready for use by entities
> funded in 2012-2013
> Round 1 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round1>,
> who will
> submit their first progress reports before 30
> April 2013. Entities
> may submit their reports from their proposal
> hub pages in the FDC
> portal.
>
>
> ==== WMF Grant requests approved in March 2013 ====
>
> * Grants:WM IN/Program Grant Quarter 1 2013
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/Program_Grant_Quarter_1_2013>:
> Grant to support
> the activities of Wikimedia India during the
> first quarter of 2013.
> * Grants:WM Wikisym/2013 WikiSym OpenSym Conference
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_Wikisym/2013_WikiSym_OpenSym_Conf…>:
> Grant to
> support the annual WikiSym conference.
> * Grants:Jackson Peebles/Video and Interactive
> Tutorials
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Jackson_Peebles/Video_and_Interactiv…>:
> Jackson will use screen capture software to
> author video tutorials
> with potential interactivity for certain
> Wikipedia tools and processes.
> * FF portal/Recommendations/Fotofahrt im
> Heißluftballon
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FF_portal/Recommendations/Fotofahrt_im_Hei%…>:
> Flow funding request to support aerial
> photography projects in Germany.
> * FF portal/Recommendations/Faculty of Economics
> Skopje
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FF_portal/Recommendations/Faculty_of_Econom…>:
> Flow
> funding request to support Wikipedia education
> activities at the
> Faculty of Economics in Skopje.
>
>
> ==== WMF Grant reports accepted in March 2013 ====
>
> * Grants:Abbas Mahmood - Creative Commons Community
> in Kenya/CC Kenya
> Formative Meeting/Report
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Abbas_Mahmood_-_Creative_Commons_Com…>
> * Grants:WM US-DC/Wiki Loves Monuments 2012
> USA/Report
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_US-DC/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_U…>
> * Grants:WM US-DC/Events 2012/Report
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_US-DC/Events_2012/Report>
> * Grants:WM ZA/Wiki Loves Monuments/Report
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_ZA/Wiki_Loves_Monuments/Report>
> * Grants:WM IN/Bootstrap Grant/Report
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/Bootstrap_Grant/Report>
> * Grants:WM HU/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report/Q4
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_HU/Annual_Program_Plan_2012/Repor…>
> * Grants:WM NL/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report/Q4
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_NL/Annual_Program_Plan_2012/Repor…>
> * Grants:WM SE/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report/Q4
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_SE/Annual_Program_Plan_2012/Repor…>
>
> Contractor Kevin Gorman has published a review of the
> Wikimedia
> Foundation’s grants program
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Retrospective_2009-2012>
> from
> fiscal year 2009-2010 through fiscal year 2011-2012.
>
>
> ==== Participation Support requests approved in March 2013
> ====
>
> * Participation:SarahStierch/NMLA Conference
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:SarahStierch/NMLA_Conference>
> * Participation:Thelmadatter/Seminar on the
> Acquisition of Latin
> American Library Materials
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Thelmadatter/Seminar_on_the_A…>
> * Participation:Umbrellas000/US OpenGLAM Launch
> Weekend, Open
> Knowledge Foundation
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Umbrellas000/US_OpenGLAM_Laun…>
> * Participation:Bdcousineau/US OpenGLAM Launch Event
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Bdcousineau/US_OpenGLAM_Launc…>
> * Participation:Hlong-lib/US OpenGLAM Launch Weekend,
> Open Knowledge
> Foundation
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Hlong-lib/US_OpenGLAM_Launch_…>
> * Participation:Tedder/Legislative Data and Wikipedia
> Conference
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Tedder/Legislative_Data_and_W…>
> * Participation:Cryptic C62/Legislative Data
> Workshop
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Cryptic_C62/Legislative_Data_…>
> * Participation:Lpagola/LibreGraphicsMeeting
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Lpagola/LibreGraphicsMeeting>
>
>
> ==== Individual Engagement Grants ====
>
> The IEG Committee completed its review, and WMF announced
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/29/wikimedia-individual-engagement-grant…>
> that all 8 recommended projects have been selected
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-engaging>
> for round 1 funding.
>
> The selected projects are:
>
> * Build an effective method of publicity in PRChina
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Build_an_effective_method_of_pub…>,
> led
> by zh:User:AddisWang <https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:AddisWang>,
> funded at $350. Addis and a small team of
> volunteers based in
> mainland China will be experimenting with
> social media campaigns to
> grow awareness of Wikipedia in China.
> * Replay Edits
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Replay_Edits>,
> led by
> w:User:Jeph_paul <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeph_paul>,
> funded at
> $500. Jeph is building a MediaWiki gadget that
> creates a visual
> playback of the edit history of a Wikipedia
> article, allowing users
> to see an article’s change over time.
> * The Wikipedia Library
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library>,
> funded at $7500 and The Wikipedia Adventure
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Adventure>,
> funded at $10,000, will
> both be led by w:User:Ocaasi <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ocaasi>.
> For the Wikipedia Library, Ocaasi will be
> building and consolidating
> partnerships with reference providers donating
> access to reliable
> sources for Wikipedia editors, and improving
> the systems for
> managing these programs. The Wikipedia
> Adventure is an on-wiki game
> that will be piloted on English Wikipedia
> using the Guided Tours
> extension to determine whether this type of
> interactive learning is
> an effective engagement strategy for new
> editors.
> * Consolidate wikiArS to involve art schools
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Consolidate_wikiArS_to_involve_a…>,
> led
> by w:User:Dvdgmz <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dvdgmz>, funded
> at
> 7810 Euros. The WikiArS outreach program
> builds partnerships with
> art and design schools to teach students to
> create images for
> donation to Wikimedia Commons and for use in
> Wikipedia articles.
> This grant will support focused
> experimentation in the existing
> Catalan program’s models that can allow the
> initiative to scale and
> to be sustained as an international program.
> * Elaborate Wikisource strategic vision
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource_strategic_v…>,
> led by
> User:Micru <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Micru> and
> User:Aubrey <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Aubrey>,
> funded at 10,000 Euros. This project brings
> together the global
> Wikisource community and other stakeholders to
> define a vision for
> the project’s future. They’ll begin work
> on near-term goals that can
> be accomplished by volunteers on-wiki, and
> investigate paths forward
> for longer-term improvements to Wikisource.
> * MediaWiki data browser
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/MediaWiki_data_browser>,
> led by User:Yaron K.
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yaron_K.>,
> partially funded at
> $15,000 in order to pilot the initial concept.
> Yaron’s project will
> create a framework to allow any user to easily
> generate apps or
> websites to browse sets of structured data
> that exist on Wikipedia
> and other projects running on MediaWiki.
> * MediaWiki and Javanese script
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/MediaWiki_and_Javanese_script>,
> led by
> User:Bennylin <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bennylin>, has
> been provisionally approved
> for funding at $3000, provided that a couple
> of dependencies
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:IEG/MediaWiki_and_Javanese_scri…>
> can be satisfied. This project will provide
> technical support using
> a “train-the-trainers” model that teaches
> volunteers how to use
> Javanese script online, facilitating the
> transcription of Javanese
> texts to projects like Javanese Wikisource.
>
>
> ==== 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 landing page
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tambayan_Philippines/Get_started>
> for
> Geo-targeted Editors Participation
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Geo-targeted_Editors_Participation>
> was created on English Wikipedia, and an invitation to edit
> was
> displayed using the geo-targeted centranl notice to readers
> from the
> Philippines, where readers were encouraged to registed an
> account and
> were surfaced random stub articles about local topics to
> improve.
>
>
> ==== Wikimania Support ====
>
> * Hired Ellie Young, Contractor to take the lead on
> orchestrating
> Wikimania! Welcome, Ellie!
> * Finalizing review of Wikimania Scholarship
> applications. Over 1200
> applicants with 660 who made it into round 2
> of the review process
> (i.e., non-spam). Committee of 9 voting
> members thoroughly reviewed
> and scored applicants. Anticipated ~100
> scholarships through WMF.
>
>
> ==== Brazil ====
>
>
> ===== Institutional Partnerships =====
>
> A debate on governance with Ação Educativa, WMF and a
> member of the
> community took place, to trigger a debate on meta. The
> report on the
> meeting has been published
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programa_Catalisador_do_Brasil/Planejamento…>
> and is now open for debate.
>
>
> ===== Hirings =====
>
> * Job positions of the Brazilian Wikipedia Education
> Program for
> substituting the current contractor opened!
> (with coverage by big
> media, thanks to Tom)
>
>
> ===== Data & Experiments =====
>
> * Translation of the Meta Page Research:Data
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Data>
> into Portuguese is ongoing
> <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal_de…>.
> * Prototype of the Data Center
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal…>
> has been developed and is being debated: the
> proposal is to have a
> central page with data and tutorials for
> anyone to work on data
> creation and analysis.
> * IRC meetings
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Projetos/Wikip%C3%A9dia/Reu…>
> to debate proposals for Analyses and Data
> Center page
> * Henrique’s onboarding in SF: Henrique attended
> the Python conference
> and various meetings in SF as part of his
> onboarding.
> * An initial proposal for data analyses and
> experiments
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programa_Catalisador_do_Brasil/Planejamento…>
> has been published on Meta and is being
> debated.
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikip%C3%A9dia_na_Universidade_-_FG…>
> Wikipédia na Universidade - FGV SP (direito)
>
>
> ===== Education =====
>
> Partnerships with universities
>
> * FGV SP (Getulio Vargas Foundation): A lecture at
> FGV Law School in
> São Paulo for about 70 people has taken
> place, with the
> participation of a WMF team and one volunteer.
> The university has
> tried to implement actitivies at Wikipedia but
> faced difficulties in
> having the content accepted. They’re
> restructuring the project with
> our support now.
> * Gama Filho: several videos <http://www.youtube.com/wikipediapt> to
> invite students from the University to engage
> in the translation
> course/partnership with the Wikimedia
> Foundation have been produced.
>
>
> ===== Online tutorials =====
>
> We’ve catalyzed and provided a first translation version
> for online
> tutorials <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Training>.
> The
> community has imported the pages and is customizing the
> material.
>
>
> ===== Communications =====
>
> * The community has approved the recreation of
> communications channels
> as blogs
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Esplanada/propostas#Blog_da…>
> - though the br.wikimedia claims it should be
> under their website
> <http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:%C3%81gora/Blog_Wikimedia/Wikip%C3%A…>.
> We should run a test on the Correio da
> Wikipédia
> <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Correio_da_Wikip%C3%A9dia>
> for one month and check the signpost
> distribution system and would
> publish that on br.wikimedia too, for
> customization.
> * Catalyzed initiative of a journalist volunteer who
> started
> interviewing volunteers
> <http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:%C3%81gora#Entrevista_com_editores>
> to write stories about them
>
>
> ===== Medicin Wikiproject =====
>
> * Bot: improvements have been made and it’s ready
> to be tested on the
> real environment by the community (request for
> bot approval
> <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Rob%C3%B4s/Pedidos_de_aprova%C…>)
>
>
> ===== Community and High School =====
>
> * The bridge reported last month built between the
> community and High
> School Peretz became the subject of an
> article
> <http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/tec/1251093-colegio-em-sp-estimula-alunos-a-ed…>
> in Folha de S.Paulo <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folha_de_S._Paulo>.
> The
> newspaper has also produced an online
> tutorial
> <http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/tec/1251021-gravada-aprenda-a-editar-artigos-e…>.
>
>
> === Programs ===
>
>
> ==== Wikipedia Zero ====
>
> /(see also general "Highlights" section)/
>
> * Launched Wikipedia Zero with Beeline (Vimpelcom) in
> Russia, largest
> single operator to date (55+ million
> subscribers)
> * Completed partnership contract and announcement
> with Axiata,
> expanding partner base of Wikipedia Zero to
> 410 million subscribers
> * Wikipedia Zero received the 2013 SXSW Interactive
> Award for "Activism"
>
> <Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wikipedia_Education_Program.webm>
> The Wikipedia Education Program, in video form! (narrated by
> Annie Lin
> and LiAnna Davis)
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
>
> Rod Dunican presenting about the impact of the Education
> Program (slides
> <https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1UYnRWTJ18JGCfeb747L…>)
>
>
> ==== Global Education ====
>
> Highlights:
>
> * Egypt term wrapped up with a celebration conference
> in Cairo.
> * Classes started in Egypt, Jordan, and Algeria, as
> part of the
> Wikipedia Education Program Arab World
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ar:%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF…>.
> * Volunteers proposed new thematic organization to
> run U.S. and Canada
> Education Programs, the Wiki Education
> Foundation
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Education_Foundation>.
>
> Egypt program celebrates end of second term
>
> The second term of the Wikipedia Education Program in Egypt
> wrapped up
> with a celebration conference at Cairo University. Dr. Abeer
> Abd
> El-Hafez, a professor of Spanish from Cairo University,
> opened the
> conference and spoke about the spirit of the program and its
> importance
> in the lives of students and teachers in terms of skills
> development and
> new experiences. Faris El-Gwely, the education program
> consultant who
> runs the program in Egypt, shared results from the second
> term, and the
> best students and Ambassadors from the program received
> certificates
> recognizing their hard work. Students and professors also
> shared
> information about their experiences in the program. Check
> out photos
> from the event.
> <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Second_Celebration_Conference,_…>
>
> U.S. student shares special Wikipedia story
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Article_Photo.jpg>
> Jacqueline McCrory
>
> University of San Francisco master's student Jacqueline
> McCrory wrote
> the Wikipedia article on habitat conservation plans for her
> class with
> Professor Aaron Frank in spring 2012 — and was then
> astonished to
> discover that she'd been assigned to read the article in a
> different
> class in fall 2012! Jacqueline talks about how her Wikipedia
> article
> experience gave her additional responsibility at work and
> kudos from
> professors in her department in a post on the Wikimedia
> Foundation blog.
> Read the post.
> <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/student-assigned-to-read-a-wikipedia-a…>
>
> Quebec professor's work featured in WMF blog
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lauriers_C%C3%A9gep_de_Chicoutimi06…>
> Simon Villeneuve's students
>
> Professor Simon Villeneuve of physics and astronomy at
> Cégep de
> Chicoutimi, a college in Quebec, has been using Wikipedia as
> a teaching
> tool in his classroom since 2008. Overall, his students have
> created
> more than 150 articles on the French Wikipedia on topics
> related to
> astronomy and physics, and Simon has learned a lot about the
> best ways
> of doing Wikipedia assignments. Read a post he wrote for the
> Wikimedia
> blog about his work.
> <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/07/quebec-school-project-improves-french-…>
>
> News coverage highlights Poland, Ukraine programs
>
> An article in the Global Post highlights the work being done
> in Poland
> and Ukraine related to the Wikipedia Education Program. The
> Ukraine
> program ran a pilot last term that produced 23 improved
> articles. The
> Poland program is working with a university to replace a
> bachelor's
> thesis with a Wikipedia article. Learn more by reading the
> article.
> <http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130313/wikipedia-aca…>
>
> Education project improves Catalan Wikipedia
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sagrada_Familia_nave_roof_detail.jpg>
> Sagrada Familia nave roof detail, an example of modernism in
> Barcelona.
>
> Esther Solé from Amical Viquipèdia wrote a post for the
> Wikimedia
> Foundation blog about the "Viquimoderisme" project to
> improve articles
> related to modernism on the Catalan Wikipedia. Around 100
> art history
> students at the University of Barcelona are working with
> researchers to
> create new articles on Catalan modernism, a topic important
> to the
> cultural history of Catalonia. Esther's report highlights
> their
> learnings from the initial phase, and they're currently
> embarking on the
> second phase, in which a museum in Barcelona will also offer
> students
> access to resources they can use in their articles. Read
> more about the
> project. <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/21/viquimodernisme/>
>
> Online student trainings deemed a success
>
> A post on the Wikimedia Foundation blog highlights the
> successful
> development of an online training for students piloted on
> the English
> Wikipedia with the United States and Canada programs. In the
> post,
> author Sage Ross describes how early feedback and user
> testing has led
> to iterative improvements to the content of the training.
> This term,
> more than 400 students (about one third of all students
> participating in
> the program) have successfully completed the training. Read
> more about
> the online training.
> <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/20/online-training-for-newcomers/>
>
> Education Program featured in video
>
> Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager LiAnna
> Davis and
> former Program Manager Annie Lin were featured in a video
> describing the
> basics of the education program. In the short video, Annie
> and LiAnna
> describe how the program works and talk about the impact the
> program has
> had in the last three years. Watch the video.
> <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/wikipedia-education-program-video/>
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Professor_Ruy_de_Queiroz.jpg>
> Professor Ruy de Queiroz
>
> Brazil professor featured on Wikimedia blog
>
> Professor Ruy de Queiroz of Brazil is one of the pioneers of
> using
> Wikipedia in his classroom. In 2005, he was browsing the
> Portuguese
> Wikipedia in logic and theory of computation — his study
> areas — and
> found the Portuguese version lacking in comparison to the
> English
> version. Over the last seven years, he and his students have
> added
> content to more than 125 articles on the Portuguese
> Wikipedia in an
> effort to improve access to information. Read more about his
> work.
> <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/26/ruy-de-queiroz-profile/>
>
>
> === Learning & Evaluation ===
>
> * Working with the Analytics and E3 teams to expand
> the UserMetrics
> API tool to address the needs of the G&P
> partners at large
> * Plagarism study along with the Wikipedia Education
> team, working on
> tools to be able to query based on article
> categories, editor type,
> and contribution types
> * Program mapping study, creating database of all
> funding mapped to
> programs. Thanks to volunteer Rosie Lewis for
> this awesome work!
>
>
> == Human Resources ==
>
> <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
>
> Gayle Karen Young presenting about hirings in the first
> quarter (slides
> <https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NHoqUo8prz3GGWluoar3Y5hj5MvXMkf-YTS…>)
>
> In March, HR has made some changes to our benefits
> providers, namely a
> broker change and a flexplan provider change. HR also hosted
> the second
> remote employee task force meeting with a focus on improving
> in-office
> technology for better remote participation, which Office IT
> has been
> assiduously improving. We have also been working on
> analyzing our
> compensation structure, and our 401k committee has been
> working to add
> new low fee index funds and find a new plan advisor.
>
>
> === Staff Changes ===
>
> New Requisitions Filled
>
> * Adam Baso, Senior Software Developer (Engineering)
> * Yuri Astrakhan, Senior Software Developer
> (Engineering)
>
> New Contractors
>
> * Dan DeJarnatt (HR)
> * Kristan Johnson (Fundraiser)
> * Meron Kristos (Finance)
> * Andrey Valkov (Fundraiser)
> * Ellie Young (Grantmaking & Programs)
>
> Contract Extended
>
> * Oona Castro (Grantmaking & Programs)
> * Jeroen DeDauw (Engineering)
>
> Departures
>
> * Peter Gehres (continuing as contractor)
> * Svetlana Istrati
> * Patrick Reilly
>
> Contracts Ended
>
> * Zoe Bernard
> * Darrin Fox
> * Aaron Halfaker
> * Ian Poirier
> * Jawad Qadir
> * Mike Wang
> * Anita Whites
>
> New Postings
>
> * A/P Clerk
> * Communications Volunteer
> * Development Associate
> * Software Engineer | Language Engineering
> * WordPress Developer (Contract)
>
>
> === Statistics ===
>
> Total Requisitions Filled
> March Actual: 134
> March Total Plan: 175
> March Filled: 2, Month Attrition: 3,
> YTD Filled: 43, YTD Attrition: 21
> 6 Position canceled for FY
>
> Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end
> 34 (8 of which are on hold)
>
>
> === Department Updates ===
>
> Real-time feed for HR updates
>
> http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork
>
>
> == Finance and Administration ==
>
> * Review of FDC round 2 proposals for the FDC.
> * Completed Wikimedia Argentina site visit report
> which will be
> presented to the WMF Audit Committee at their
> summer meeting.
> * Completed Version 1 of the WMF annual plan, which
> is now being
> reviewed by the WMF Senior Level Team and the
> WMF Board of Trustees.
> * Reviewing options for Foreign Exchange management
> beyond the big
> international banks to receive and distribute
> funds for the global
> movement.
>
>
> == Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department
> ==
>
>
> === LCA Report, March 2013 ===
>
>
> ==== Contract Metrics ====
>
> * Submitted : 17
> * Completed : 20
>
>
> ==== Trademark Metrics ====
>
> * Submitted : 26
> * Approved : 2
> * Pending : 20
> * Denied : 3
> * Approval not needed : 1
>
>
> ==== Domains Obtained ====
>
> * wikipedia.us
> * wikipedia.is
> * softwarewikipedia.com
> * wikispecies.org
> * wikimedia.gr
>
>
> ==== Coming & Going ====
>
> * Two legal interns’ spring internships are coming
> to an end. Thanks
> to Ava Miller and Megumi Yukie for all of
> their help this semester!
> * One of our contract attorneys, Ian Poirier, left
> the Foundation for
> a permanent opportunity and we wish him the
> best in his new job!
> * We welcome Elaine Wallace, a talented and
> experienced attorney who
> will be volunteering her time with us over the
> next few months.
>
>
> ==== Other Activities ====
>
> * Community Advocacy hosted a meeting in the office
> of 5 out of 7 of
> the Ombudsman Commission both to facilitate
> their work with each
> other and their assistance with various staff
> on WMF initiatives
> (see also general "Highlights" section)
> * Community Advocacy set up the first of a series of
> phone calls for
> WMF management with highly connected community
> members around the world.
> * Legal continues to work through the trademark
> registration process
> to protect our marks around the world.
>
>
> === Communications Report, March 2013 ===
>
> In March we successfully issued another major announcement
> for Wikipedia
> Zero, highlighting a partnership with Axiata that will bring
> WP Zero to
> countries in Southeast Asia. We also worked closely with the
> executive
> team on news of Sue Gardner's upcoming departure from the
> Foundation.
> The team is also rotating our group of Communications
> volunteers, and
> hoping to bring in about four new volunteers to help us with
> day to day
> media monitoring and reporting.
>
>
> ==== Major announcements ====
>
> /Axiata partners with the Wikimedia Foundation to offer free
> mobile
> Wikipedia access through Wikipedia Zero
> <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Axiata_partners_with_th…>/
>
> 18 March 2013 - Axiata Group Berhad and the
> Wikimedia Foundation
> today announced a partnership to offer
> Wikipedia on mobile devices
> free of data charges to Axiata customers
> throughout Asia.
>
>
> ==== Major Storylines through March ====
>
> /WMF ED Sue Gardner to leave Foundation/ (Mar 27, 2013)
>
> This month’s major news story focused on Sue Gardner’s
> announcement that
> she would be stepping down later this year once a successor
> for her
> position has been identified, to focus on defending the free
> and open
> Internet. Mostly positive-tone coverage of the news largely
> followed a
> highly visible story published by the NY Times shortly after
> Sue made
> the announcement on the WM Blog and on public and community
> mailing lists.
>
> (blog post)
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/27/sue-gardner-departure-announcement/
> http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/a-driving-force-behind-wik…
> http://www.stern.de/digital/online/fuehrungssuche-beim-online-lexikon-wikip…
> http://www.webpronews.com/sue-gardner-to-depart-wikimedia-foundation-uncomf…
>
> /BP Edits to WP make headlines/ (Mar 20, 2103)
>
> A flawed CNET story from mid-March sparked substantial
> coverage of a BP
> staffer’s presence on English Wikipedia. The original
> story accused the
> staffer of rewriting a number of BP related articles.
> Subsequent
> coverage was mostly critical of BP for its actions. Some
> coverage
> speculated that the BP staffer may have operated within the
> approved
> ‘policies’ around COI editing.
>
> http://prweek.tumblr.com/post/45989772176/wikipedia-editors-have-accused-a-…
> http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/bp-accused-of-rewriting-wikipedia-…
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/bp-wikipedia-page_n_2923363.html
> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/bp_edited_its_own_environmental_record_on_w…
>
> /Wikipedia Zero / Axiata / SXSW/ (Mar 8, 2013)
>
> In early March Wikipedia Zero was honored with its first
> major accolade,
> the SXSW Interactive award. Later in March Wikipedia Zero
> launched its
> first major initiative in southeast Asia, further extending
> the number
> of global customers who will be able to access WP without
> data charges
> into the hundreds of millions.
>
> http://www.informationweek.in/Mobile/13-03-21/How_Wikipedia_plans_to_use_mo…
> http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/sxsw-wikipedia-for-non-smartpho…
>
>
> ==== Other worthwhile reads ====
>
> How Jimmy Wales’ Wikipedia Harnessed the Web as a Force
> for Good | Wired
> | March 2003
>
> http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/03/jimmy-wales-wikipedia/
>
> Jane Goodall apologizes for plagiarizing Wikipedia | March
> 22
>
> http://www.dailydot.com/culture/jane-goodall-plagiarized-wikipedia/
>
> Wikipedia, meet Lua! | March 18
> (blog post)
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/14/what-lua-scripting-means-wikimedia-op…
> http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/18/wikipedia-crowdsourcing-site-performance-…
> http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Wikimedia-adopts-Lua-for-page-genera…
>
>
> ==== WMF Blog posts ====
>
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/
>
> Thirty-two blog posts in March, with bilingual posts
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/>
> in German, Dutch,
> Portuguese, Catalan, Czech, and French. Some highlights:
>
> * *Parsoid: How Wikipedia catches up with the web
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/04/parsoid-how-wikipedia-catches-up-with…>*
>
> * *WikiAfrica project welcomes and trains
> Cameroonians to contribute
> to Wikimedia sites
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/15/wikiafrica-space/>*
>
> * *Evaluating the success of Wikimedia Czech
> Republic’s Mediagrant
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/18/evaluating-czech-mediagrant/>*
>
> * *The recent UK report and movement governance
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/movement-governance-recommendations/>*
>
>
> ==== Media Contact ====
>
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#March_2013
>
>
> ==== Wikipedia Signpost ====
>
> For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the
> community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for
> March 2013:
>
> * Volume 9, Issue 9
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
> 04 March 2013
> * Volume 9, Issue 10
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
> 11 March 2013
> * Volume 9, Issue 11
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
> 18 March 2013
> * Volume 9, Issue 12
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
> 25 March 2013
>
>
> == Office of the Executive Director ==
>
> Sue Gardner announced
> <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/27/sue-gardner-departure-announcement/>
> that she plans to leave her position as Executive Director
> of the
> Wikimedia Foundation, to focus on defending the free and
> open Internet.
> She will remain fully engaged as Executive Director until
> her successor
> has been recruited, which is expected to take at least six
> months.
>
>
> == Visitors and Guests ==
>
> Visitors and guests to the WMF office in March 2013:
>
> 1. Teemu Leinonen (Aalto University)
> 2. Ken Collier (Thoughtworks)
> 3. Dan Garry (Ombudsmen Commission)
> 4. Lev Gloukhenki (Ombudsmen Commission)
> 5. Leif Larsen (Ombudsmen Commission)
> 6. Thomas Goldammer (Ombudsmen Commission)
> 7. User:Erzbischof (Ombudsmen Commission)
> 8. Erin Reading (NPS)
> 9. Gershon Bialer (EventLogging Workshop)
> 10. Mlitn (EventLogging Workshop)
> 11. Piotr Bablok (EventLogging Workshop)
> 12. Jonathan March (EventLogging Workshop)
> 13. Valerie Ball (KPMG)
> 14. Gour Lentell (BiNu)
> 15. Ton Chookhare (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 16. Franzi Mare (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 17. Nikita Kiselev (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 18. Thomas Malec (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 19. Julio Santil (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 20. Joseph Zhou (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 21. Vishel Shah (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 22. Lauren Fernandez (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 23. Abigail Feuer (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 24. Sarah Walker (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 25. Adi Rubinovich (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
> 26. John McLear (Etherpad Project)
> 27. Idoia Valencia (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 28. Mikel Garcia (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 29. Borja Pinedo (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 30. Patrizia Varela (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 31. Eneko Sieso (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 32. Asier Lopez (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 33. Beñat Egaña (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 34. Lucia Vazquez (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 35. Goio Arana (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 36. Tomas Tamayo (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 37. Jon Jimenez (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
> 38. Kim Dodson (consultants)
> 39. Randall Benson (consultants)
> 40. Mark Oppenheim (m|Oppenheim)
> 41. Mikel Gazzia (SMASH co-op)
> 42. Christine Cavanaugh-Simmons (CCS Consulting Inc)
> 43. Deb Wolter (Red Bamboo Consulting)
> 44. Mary Gardiner (TAI)
> 45. Simon Turkalj (Simon Turkalj Associates)
> 46. Patrick Dippery (COO and Co-Founder, Collabriv)
> 47. Nimish Gautam (visitor)
> 48. Thomas Shaffer (Change.org)
> 49. Patrick Chen (Change.org)
> 50. William Adams (Full Circle Group)
> 51. Glenn Turner (Advanced Mobile Notary)
> 52. Simon Cross and guest (Praekelt foundation)
> 53. Drew Paroski (Facebook)
> 54. Grant Joung (Thoughtworks)
> 55. Brian Bocchino (Gravity People)
> 56. Roman Garcia (User:Blurpeace
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Blurpeace>)
> 57. August Wissmath (volunteer)
> 58. Philip Steele (Pension Architects)
> 59. Michael Rom (Pension Architects)
> 60. Kunal Mehta (User:legoktm <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Legoktm>)
> 61. Brian Behlendorf (Cofounder of the Apache Software
> Foundation and
> Board Member of the Mozilla Foundation)
> 62. Liliana Bounegru (DataDrivenJournalism.net, European
> Journalism Centre)
> 63. Mat Dryhurst (Director of Public Programming, Gray Area
> Foundation
> for the Arts)
> 64. Jonathan Gray (Director of Policy and Ideas, Open
> Knowledge Foundation)
> 65. Jay Nath (SF Mayor's Chief Innovation Officer)
> 66. Timothy Vollmer (Manager of Policy and Data, Creative
> Commons)
> 67. Gregg Servis (Full Circle Group)
> 68. Brett Victor (guest speaker)
> 69. Andrew Lih (Author and guest speaker)
> 70. Doug Hessel (Johnson & Dugan)
> 71. Virginia Sutton (Johnson & Dugan)
> 72. Linda Lam (Johnson & Dugan)
> 73. Andrea De Ville (Radford)
> 74. Zachary Osman (Radford)
>
> --
> Tilman Bayer
> Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
> Wikimedia Foundation
> IRC (Freenode): HaeB
>
We are researchers from different parts of the world and conducted a study on
the world’s biggest bogus computer science conference WORLDCOMP
( http://sites.google.com/site/worlddump1 ) organized by Prof. Hamid Arabnia
from University of Georgia, USA.
We submitted a fake paper to WORLDCOMP 2011 and again (the
same paper with a modified title) to WORLDCOMP 2012. This paper
had numerous fundamental mistakes. Sample statements from
that paper include:
(1). Binary logic is fuzzy logic and vice versa
(2). Pascal developed fuzzy logic
(3). Object oriented languages do not exhibit any polymorphism or inheritance
(4). TCP and IP are synonyms and are part of OSI model
(5). Distributed systems deal with only one computer
(6). Laptop is an example for a super computer
(7). Operating system is an example for computer hardware
Also, our paper did not express any conceptual meaning. However, it
was accepted both the times without any modifications (and without
any reviews) and we were invited to submit the final paper and a
payment of $500+ fee to present the paper. We decided to use the
fee for better purposes than making Prof. Hamid Arabnia (Chairman
of WORLDCOMP) rich. After that, we received few reminders from
WORLDCOMP to pay the fee but we never responded.
We MUST say that you should look at the above website if you have any thoughts
to submit a paper to WORLDCOMP. DBLP and other indexing agencies
have stopped indexing WORLDCOMP’s proceedings since 2011 due to its fakeness.
See http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/icai/index.html for of one of the
conferences of WORLDCOMP and notice that there is no listing after 2010. See
http://sites.google.com/site/dumpconf for comments from well-known researchers
about WORLDCOMP. If WORLDCOMP is not fake then why did DBLP suddenly stopped
listing the proceedings after?
The status of your WORLDCOMP papers can be changed from “scientific”
to “other” (i.e., junk or non-technical) at any time. See the comments
http://www.mail-archive.com/tccc@lists.cs.columbia.edu/msg05168.html
of a respected researcher on this. Better not to have a paper than
having it in WORLDCOMP and spoil the resume and peace of mind forever!
Our study revealed that WORLDCOMP is a money making business,
using University of Georgia mask, for Prof. Hamid Arabnia. He is throwing
out a small chunk of that money (around 20 dollars per paper published
in WORLDCOMP’s proceedings) to his puppet (Mr. Ashu Solo or A.M.G. Solo)
who publicizes WORLDCOMP and also defends it at various forums, using
fake/anonymous names. The puppet uses fake names and defames other conferences
to divert traffic to WORLDCOMP. He also makes anonymous phone calls and
threatens the critiques of WORLDCOMP (see Item 7 in Section 5 of
http://sites.google.com/site/dumpconf ).That is, the puppet does all
his best to get a maximum number of papers published at WORLDCOMP to
get more money into his (and Prof. Hamid Arabnia’s) pockets.
Monte Carlo Resort (the venue of WORLDCOMP until 2012) has refused to
provide the venue for WORLDCOMP’13 because of the fears of their image
being tarnished due to WORLDCOMP’s fraudulent activities. WORLDCOMP’13
will be held at a different resort.
WORLDCOMP will not be held after 2013.
The paper submission deadline for WORLDCOMP’13 was March 18 and it was
extended to April 6 and now it is extended to April 20 (it may be extended
again) but still there are no committee members, no reviewers, and there is no
conference Chairman. The only contact details available on WORLDCOMP’s
website is just an email address! Prof. Hamid Arabnia expends the deadline
to get more papers (means, more registration fee into his pocket!).
Let us make a direct request to Prof. Hamid arabnia: publish all reviews for
all the papers (after blocking identifiable details) since 2000 conference.
Reveal the names and affiliations of all the reviewers (for each year)
and how many papers each reviewer had reviewed on average. We also request
him to look at the Open Challenge at https://sites.google.com/site/moneycomp1
Sorry for posting to multiple lists. Spreading the word is the only way to stop
this bogus conference. Please forward this message to other mailing lists and people.
We are shocked with Prof. Hamid Arabnia and his puppet’s activities
http://worldcomp-fake-bogus.blogspot.com Search Google using the
keyword worldcomp fake for additional links.
Hi all,
please find below the WMF report for March 2013, in plain text.
As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_March_2013
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,_March_2013
Many thanks to those who have translated the February "Highlights"
into Asturian, Catalan, Danish, German, Spanish, Maltese, Russian and
Simplified Chinese (and partially into some other languages like
French, Italian, Norwegian Bokmål andTraditional Chinese)!
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 April issue are welcome until May 1 at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights#Movement_news_ite…
.
Regards, Tilman
--
Wikimedia Foundation Report, March 2013
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_April_4…>
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting
covering the month of March
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 Lua speeds up pages and empowers Wikimedia's technical
contributors
o 3.2 Mobile uploads launch for apps and the mobile web
o 3.3 First Individual Engagement Grants awarded to innovative
community projects
o 3.4 Wikipedia Zero wins award, reaches new users
o 3.5 Ombudsmen meet, might expand mandate
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 VisualEditor
o 4.2 Editor engagement
o 4.3 Mobile
o 4.4 Other engineering news
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Annual Fundraiser
* 6 Grantmaking and Programs
o 6.1 Strategic Goals Metrics
o 6.2 Grantmaking
+ 6.2.1 Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC)
+ 6.2.2 WMF Grant requests approved in March 2013
+ 6.2.3 WMF Grant reports accepted in March 2013
+ 6.2.4 Participation Support requests approved in March 2013
+ 6.2.5 Individual Engagement Grants
+ 6.2.6 Editor Growth and Contribution Program
+ 6.2.7 Wikimania Support
+ 6.2.8 Brazil
# 6.2.8.1 Institutional Partnerships
# 6.2.8.2 Hirings
# 6.2.8.3 Data & Experiments
# 6.2.8.4 Education
# 6.2.8.5 Online tutorials
# 6.2.8.6 Communications
# 6.2.8.7 Medicin Wikiproject
# 6.2.8.8 Community and High School
o 6.3 Programs
+ 6.3.1 Wikipedia Zero
+ 6.3.2 Global Education
o 6.4 Learning & Evaluation
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 Staff Changes
o 7.2 Statistics
o 7.3 Department Updates
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department
o 9.1 LCA Report, March 2013
+ 9.1.1 Contract Metrics
+ 9.1.2 Trademark Metrics
+ 9.1.3 Domains Obtained
+ 9.1.4 Coming & Going
+ 9.1.5 Other Activities
o 9.2 Communications Report, March 2013
+ 9.2.1 Major announcements
+ 9.2.2 Major Storylines through March
+ 9.2.3 Other worthwhile reads
+ 9.2.4 WMF Blog posts
+ 9.2.5 Media Contact
+ 9.2.6 Wikipedia Signpost
* 10 Office of the Executive Director
* 11 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
Global unique visitors for February:
*483 million* (-1.12% compared with January; +1.53% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release March data
later in April)
Page requests for March:
*21.5 billion* (-1.1% compared with February; +24.8% 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 February 2013 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*78,083* (-7.53% compared with January / -2.43% compared with the
previous year)
(Database data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia
Foundation projects.
*Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF
projects) for February 2013:
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_February_2…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of February 28,
2013
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_February_…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of February 28, 2013
(Financial information is only available through February 2013 at the
time of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date February 28, 2013.
Revenue $35,650,340
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group $9,379,205
Fundraising Group $2,411,055
Grantmaking & Programs Group $3,935,546
Governance Group $504,987
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group $2,029,585
Finance/HR/Admin Group $3,702,999
Total Expenses $21,963,377
Total surplus $13,686,963
* Revenue for the month of February is $1.89MM vs plan of $276K,
approximately $1.61MM or 585% over plan.
* Year-to-date revenue is $35.65MM vs plan of $30.46MM, approximately
$5.19MM or 17% over plan.
* Expenses for the month of February is $4.25MM vs plan of $4.03MM,
approximately $215K or 5% over plan, primarily due to higher capital
expenses offset by lower personnel expenses, internet hosting, and
grant expenses.
* Year-to-date expenses is $21.96MM vs plan of $25.94MM, approximately
$3.98MM or 15% under plan, primarily due to personnel expenses,
capital expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants executed, WMF project
grants, and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal
expenses and bank fees.
* Cash position is $40.68MM as of February 28, 2013.
== Highlights ==
=== Lua speeds up pages and empowers Wikimedia's technical contributors ===
On March 13
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/lua-templates-faster-more-flexible-pa…>,
Lua <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lua_(programming_language)> was enabled for
templates on all Wikimedia wikis. The existing syntax for wikitext
templates is complicated and limited: it does not offer loops
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loop_(computing)>, for example. With Lua,
editors can now use a real programming language
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/14/what-lua-scripting-means-wikimedia-op…>,
in which they can also contribute to programming projects outside
Wikimedia. For Wikimedia wikis, Lua means a big performance gain in
widely used templates, such as citations. For example, 300 citations on
an English Wikipedia article now render in 3 seconds instead of 18
seconds
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1gMw12QMPn0Xj_5tiUi1…>.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_web_upload_button.PNG>
The new image upload button in an article on the mobile version of the
English Wikipedia
=== Mobile uploads launch for apps and the mobile web ===
On the mobile version of Wikipedia, smartphone users can now easily
upload a lead image
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/28/add-an-image-to-this-article-uploads-…>
to Wikipedia articles that lack one. Also in March, the Mobile team
released a dedicated app for Wikimedia Commons
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/putting-commons-contributions-in-your…>,
allowing media uploads from Android and iOS devices.
=== First Individual Engagement Grants awarded to innovative community
projects ===
The recipients of the first Individual Engagements Grants were announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/29/wikimedia-individual-engagement-grant…>
on March 29. These grants fund projects by individuals or small teams
for a duration of six months. Among the largest of the eight funded
grants are "The Wikipedia Library
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library>"
($7500), which aims to give
editors access to reliable sources, donated by publishers, "The
Wikipedia Adventure
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Adventure>"
($10,000), an on-wiki game for new editors, and a project to
collaboratively define a vision for the future of Wikisource
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource_strategic_v…>
(10,000 Euros).
=== Wikipedia Zero wins award, reaches new users ===
Wikipedia Zero, which gives people around the world mobile access to
Wikipedia free of data charges, won the 2013 SXSW Interactive “Activism”
award
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/wikipedia-zero-wins-2013-sxsw-interac…>,
beating four other finalists. Also in March, Wikipedia Zero became
available to more than 55 million additional subscribers in Russia, as
part of a partnership with Beeline (VimpelCom). This was the biggest
launch for the Wikipedia Zero team to date. The same month, a new
Wikipedia Zero partnership with Axiata Group was announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/axiata-wikipedia-zero-partnership/>,
which will expand the program in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri
Lanka and Bangladesh this year.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia-Ombudsman-Commission-Publ…>
Four of the Ombudsmen during their visit at the WMF office
=== Ombudsmen meet, might expand mandate ===
In March, the Foundation's LCA <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LCA>
team hosted five out of seven
members of the Ombudsmen Commission in San Francisco, where these
community members from around the world met with each other in person
for the first time
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/01/privacy-policy-complaints-on-wikipedi…>.
They consulted with various WMF departments and provided input regarding
privacy topics and the work of administrators. Formed in 2006, the
Ombudsmen Commission is currently tasked with investigating complaints
of alleged Privacy policy
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy> violations on behalf
of
the Board of Trustees. It has been proposed that the Commission should
also be allowed to handle complaints about the global CheckUser policy
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CheckUser_policy> and Oversight
policy <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Oversight_policy>.
An RfC (request for comment) about this is being prepared.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for March 2013 can
be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2013/March
Department Highlights
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sneak_Preview_-_Wikipedia_VisualEdi…>
"A Sneak Preview of the Wikipedia VisualEditor", narrated by Trevor
Parscal (uploaded March 1, 2013)
=== VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> ===
/(Accessible introduction to what the Visual Editor is
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/12/07/inventing-as-we-go-building-a-visual-…>)/
In March, part of the team worked on infrastructure for the major new
features that they'll be adding in the coming months. We aim for
VisualEditor to be the default way all users edit our sites by July
2013, so it needs to let everyone edit the majority of content without
needing to use the usual "wikitext" editor. This will mean adding
support for references, (at least) basic templates, categories and
images, each of which is a very large piece of work. This month the team
primarily worked on draft designs and initial code to ensure users can
edit categories and templates.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:VisualEditor-Parsoid_-…>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor-Parsoid_-_2012-13_Q3_q…>
Slides from the VisualEditor/Parsoid quarterly review (see also slides
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor_-_2013-04_Metrics_deck.pdf>
from the monthly metrics meeting)
The VisualEditor team undertook its first ever "Quarterly Review
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>"
(minutes
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>),
whose slides
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VisualEditor-Parsoid_-_2012-13_Q3_q…>
detail these designs, the work done to date and expectations for the
near future. The alpha version of VisualEditor on mediawiki.org and the
English Wikipedia was updated twice, adding better input and selection
support, fixing a number of bugs, and restructuring the back-end so that
the new features will be simpler to create.
The Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> team (who are creating
the parsing program <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing> that translates
plain wikitext into HTML annotated for easy editing, and /vice-versa/)
continued writing specifications, fixing bugs, and improving how Parsoid
deals with different human languages, newlines and whitespace, and
transclusion. They wrote a blog post explaining their challenges
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/04/parsoid-how-wikipedia-catches-up-with…>.
And late in March, C. Scott Ananian joined us as a contractor. Welcome!
=== Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
Fabrice Florin presenting about Notifications (slides
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1cknqzVqRBPffahIBWc_…>)
In March, the editor engagement features team worked on three projects:
Notifications, Article Feedback and Flow.
For Notifications (formerly code-named 'Echo'), we developed a range of
new features, including: the 'thanks' and 'user rights' notifications,
as well as HTML email notifications. We also started to collect our
first metrics and prepared a socialization plan for our upcoming release
on the English Wikipedia later this month.
For Article Feedback, we deployed a new version of the tool on the
French and German Wikipedias, for evaluation by their communities. Final
features include 'discuss on talk page' and 'auto-archive. The tool was
temporarily turned off on the English Wikipedia, where we expect to
re-deploy it on an opt-in basis as soon as practical.
Design work continued on Flow. We continued creating a "Portal" that
will engage discussion about Flow at three locations (mediawiki.org,
meta, and the English Wikipedia), and performing research.
The Editor Engagement Experiments
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editor_Engagement_Experiments> team largely
placed other projects – such as guided tours
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/guided_tours>, EventLogging
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/EventLogging>, and others – on hold to focus
on two key initiatives: the "Getting Started
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GettingStarted>" process for
onboarding new Wikipedians
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/onboarding_new_Wikipedians>, and on making the
redesign of account creation and login
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/account_creation_user_experience> a permanent,
internationalized part of MediaWiki core.
For the Getting Started project, the team launched a new version on
English Wikipedia, which included a new landing page with additional
types of tasks suggested for brand new editors to try. The list of tasks
is now generated by a basic recommender system
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Onboarding_new_Wikipedians/Recommender_system>
built by Ori Livneh, which gathers, filters, and delivered a fresh list
of tasks automatically for every editor. This new backend paves the way
for releasing the "getting started" feature on other projects, after
we've completed data analysis and testing to understand which kinds of
tasks are ideal for first time editors. Additionally, Matt Flaschen
collaborated with the Editor Engagement Features team to build
notifications <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Echo> to welcome new editors and
invite them to contribute via the Getting Started.
For the account creation and login work, S Page, Munaf Assaf, and the
rest of the team rebuilt our design to work with MediaWiki core, and
solicited reviews from outside the team. We currently plan to launch
both interface redesigns on an opt-in basis in April, to have editors
test the localization and other functional aspects of the forms via a
URL parameter, before we enable them as default.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
Maryana Pinchuk presenting mobile image uploads (slides)
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1EW-Io5mTXeNwaPBGvAe…>
=== Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
We have a stable version of the mobile-optimized website, which everyone
on a smartphone uses by default, and we have a beta version that
logged-in Wikimedia users can opt to use to see features we're still
building. When functionality is polished enough, we promote it from the
beta site to the stable site. In March, we added the ability to easily
upload a lead image
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/28/add-an-image-to-this-article-uploads-…>
to articles that lack one in the stable version of the mobile site. We
also helped users by giving them a temporary fix to an issue we
discovered that made logging in hard or impossible for some users of
newer mobile web browsers; that problem had prevented a number of users
from being able to upload photos via the mobile site. We are now well on
our way to reach our goal of 1000 unique uploaders/month by the end of
June 2013. Check out the mobile app dashboard
<http://mobile-reportcard.wmflabs.org/> to see mobile contributions via
the website and via apps.
Also: we've added thumbnails of lead images from articles in the mobile
watchlist view, as well as a "last modified" timestamp on articles in
the stable version of the mobile site. We are currently focusing on some
performance enhancements for the mobile site. In April we will graduate
the "uploads dashboard" feature from beta to stable, will further refine
our photo upload features, and will let beta site users see and use a
feature to identify articles on subjects near your current location.
The Mobile team that makes dedicated Wikimedia mobile apps have created
an initial version of the Commons photo uploader app
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/putting-commons-contributions-in-your…>
for Android; it is available for download in Google Play. The iOS
version is still in beta, but should be available in the Apple app store
next month.
In March, Wikipedia Zero
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mobile_partnerships> added new telecom
partners (such as Axiata Group Berhad
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/axiata-wikipedia-zero-partnership/>),
fixed some technical problems, and onboarded new staff. We also won an
SXSW Interactive "Activism" award for Wikipedia Zero
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/wikipedia-zero-wins-2013-sxsw-interac…>.
(see also the general "Highlights" section)
Max Semenik, Arthur Richards and Faidon Liambotis held an OpenStreetMaps
mini-hackathon at Open Source Days 2013 in Copenhagen
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Events/Wikimedia_Mapping_Event_2013>. During
the event, they agreed on an implementation strategy for a future WMF
mapping cluster. The cluster would serve OSM "tiles" and thus help
integrate OSM functionality better into Wikimedia sites, and help with
our mobile apps which already make use of OSM data.
=== Other engineering news ===
* Lua scripting
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/11/lua-templates-faster-more-flexible-pa…>
has launched on all WMF wikis, making templates faster and making
pages more flexible. You can read that post to understand what to do
on your wiki to take advantage of this, and you can also read about
the implications for Wikimedia's future
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/14/what-lua-scripting-means-wikimedia-op…>
(see also general "Highlights" section)
* We redesigned the Translate interface
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/25/redesigning-the-translation-experienc…>
and made other progress
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/12/new-release-of-the-mediawiki-language…>
on translation and language-related tools.
* We have fresh, friendly instructions on reporting a technical
problem
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/18/how-to-create-a-good-first-bug-report/>
and invite you to help prioritize problems to fix
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/help-wikimedia-squash-software-bugs/>.
* Our designers are collaborating with the Noun Project
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/the-noun-project-and-the-wikimedia-fo…>
towards creating an "Encyclopedia Collection" of free icons.
* Our Operations group (the systems administrators who keep our
servers running) has started a twice-monthly meeting with other
engineering teams, to keep communication flowing about requirements
and possible upcoming problems or infrastructure needs.
* The User Metrics API <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User_Metrics>
launched; it's a service that allows researchers to perform cohort
analysis <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohort_study> on various data
sets, making it easier to measure the effects of programs and
platform experiments among discrete sets of users. The Analytics
group <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics>, which works on software
to make statistics about Wikimedia available, is currently working
on improving the web-based user interface, to make it available for
use outside of Wikimedia Foundation staff in the coming months.
== Fundraising ==
Department highlight
* The fundraising team ramped up testing in languages and countries
that were not included in the year-end 2012 campaign, raising
approximately $5 million USD.
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* Received a $250,000 grant from Peter Baldwin and Lisbet Rausing.
=== Annual Fundraiser ===
* The fundraising team ran banners in languages and countries that
were not included in the year-end 2012 campaign (US, UK, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Germany). Approximately
$5 million USD was raised from this campaign in the month of March.
Banners were taken down on March 31, 2013. Any future testing will
be announced on the Fundraising 2013
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2013> page
on Meta.
* Patricia Pena visited India and researched user feedback and
possible opportunities for local processing in the country. We
interviewed roughly 20 donors and networked with over 20 Indian
payment providers.
* The fundraising tech team continued to add new payment options
including Boletos for Brazil and Direct Debit for Spain,
Netherlands, and Austria. In addition, the team added the option to
make a recurring credit card donation for countries where this was
not previously offered.
* Megan Hernandez, Katie Horn, and Bryony Jones visited Japan, a top
donor country, and met with 3-5 Japanese donors every day during the
week of March 11. The team tested 10 different messages and designs
and developed a high performing fundraising banner.
* Victor Grigas produced brief video introductions to the VisualEditor
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sneak_Preview_-_Wikipedia_VisualEdi…>
(see above)
and the Wikipedia Education Program
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wikipedia_Education_Program.webm>
(see below).
== Grantmaking and Programs ==
Department Highlights
* Launched Wikipedia Zero with Beeline (Vimpelcom) in Russia, largest
single operator to date (55+ million subscsribers)
* First round of Individual Engagement Grants (IEG) approved and
announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/29/wikimedia-individual-engagement-grant…>!
* Round 2 2012-2013 proposals to the Funds Dissemination Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals> were
submitted on 1 March 2013 and have
been open to community review from 1 March to 31 March.
=== Strategic Goals Metrics ===
Metric Value MoM MoM% Chart
Global South Active Editors (5+ edits in main namespace) 15.5k -317
-2.0% Decrease [1]
<http://gp.wmflabs.org/graphs/global_north_south_active_editors>
=== Grantmaking ===
==== Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) ====
* Proposals for Round 2 2012-2013 were submitted on 1 March 2013. 4
proposals were submitted (presented alphabetically) :
o Wikimedia Czech Republic
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimédia France
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimedia Hong Kong
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimedia Norge
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/Wikim…>
* *Community review:* From 1 March until 31 March, members of the
Wikimedia community commented on the four funding proposals
submitted to the FDC
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals> (Wikimédia
France
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>,
Wikimedia Hong Kong
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>,
Wikimedia Norge
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>,
and Wikimedia Czech Republic
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round2/…>)
during the one-month open comment / community review period.
Comments and questions were submitted for each proposal: each
proposal discussion page had at least 20 distinct authors and at
most 34 distinct authors. 111 was the maximum total number of edits
made on the discussion pages of any proposal, and 79 was the minimum
total number. The comments addressed many topics, including
expressing overall support or concern for a proposal, questioning
the specifics of financial tables, stating concerns about an
entity's plans to hire staff, and requesting more information about
specific programs. Questions and comments from the community will be
summarized and reflected in the FDC staff assessments published on
April 8, and will be considered by the FDC when it deliberates in
Milan in late April.
* The Progress report form
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Progress_report_form> was
finalized and made ready for use by entities funded in 2012-2013
Round 1 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2012-2013_round1>,
who will
submit their first progress reports before 30 April 2013. Entities
may submit their reports from their proposal hub pages in the FDC
portal.
==== WMF Grant requests approved in March 2013 ====
* Grants:WM IN/Program Grant Quarter 1 2013
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/Program_Grant_Quarter_1_2013>:
Grant to support
the activities of Wikimedia India during the first quarter of 2013.
* Grants:WM Wikisym/2013 WikiSym OpenSym Conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_Wikisym/2013_WikiSym_OpenSym_Conf…>:
Grant to
support the annual WikiSym conference.
* Grants:Jackson Peebles/Video and Interactive Tutorials
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Jackson_Peebles/Video_and_Interactiv…>:
Jackson will use screen capture software to author video tutorials
with potential interactivity for certain Wikipedia tools and processes.
* FF portal/Recommendations/Fotofahrt im Heißluftballon
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FF_portal/Recommendations/Fotofahrt_im_Hei%…>:
Flow funding request to support aerial photography projects in Germany.
* FF portal/Recommendations/Faculty of Economics Skopje
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FF_portal/Recommendations/Faculty_of_Econom…>:
Flow
funding request to support Wikipedia education activities at the
Faculty of Economics in Skopje.
==== WMF Grant reports accepted in March 2013 ====
* Grants:Abbas Mahmood - Creative Commons Community in Kenya/CC Kenya
Formative Meeting/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Abbas_Mahmood_-_Creative_Commons_Com…>
* Grants:WM US-DC/Wiki Loves Monuments 2012 USA/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_US-DC/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_U…>
* Grants:WM US-DC/Events 2012/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_US-DC/Events_2012/Report>
* Grants:WM ZA/Wiki Loves Monuments/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_ZA/Wiki_Loves_Monuments/Report>
* Grants:WM IN/Bootstrap Grant/Report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/Bootstrap_Grant/Report>
* Grants:WM HU/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report/Q4
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_HU/Annual_Program_Plan_2012/Repor…>
* Grants:WM NL/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report/Q4
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_NL/Annual_Program_Plan_2012/Repor…>
* Grants:WM SE/Annual Program Plan 2012/Report/Q4
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_SE/Annual_Program_Plan_2012/Repor…>
Contractor Kevin Gorman has published a review of the Wikimedia
Foundation’s grants program
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Retrospective_2009-2012> from
fiscal year 2009-2010 through fiscal year 2011-2012.
==== Participation Support requests approved in March 2013 ====
* Participation:SarahStierch/NMLA Conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:SarahStierch/NMLA_Conference>
* Participation:Thelmadatter/Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin
American Library Materials
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Thelmadatter/Seminar_on_the_A…>
* Participation:Umbrellas000/US OpenGLAM Launch Weekend, Open
Knowledge Foundation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Umbrellas000/US_OpenGLAM_Laun…>
* Participation:Bdcousineau/US OpenGLAM Launch Event
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Bdcousineau/US_OpenGLAM_Launc…>
* Participation:Hlong-lib/US OpenGLAM Launch Weekend, Open Knowledge
Foundation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Hlong-lib/US_OpenGLAM_Launch_…>
* Participation:Tedder/Legislative Data and Wikipedia Conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Tedder/Legislative_Data_and_W…>
* Participation:Cryptic C62/Legislative Data Workshop
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Cryptic_C62/Legislative_Data_…>
* Participation:Lpagola/LibreGraphicsMeeting
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Lpagola/LibreGraphicsMeeting>
==== Individual Engagement Grants ====
The IEG Committee completed its review, and WMF announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/29/wikimedia-individual-engagement-grant…>
that all 8 recommended projects have been selected
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-engaging> for round 1 funding.
The selected projects are:
* Build an effective method of publicity in PRChina
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Build_an_effective_method_of_pub…>,
led
by zh:User:AddisWang <https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:AddisWang>,
funded at $350. Addis and a small team of volunteers based in
mainland China will be experimenting with social media campaigns to
grow awareness of Wikipedia in China.
* Replay Edits
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Replay_Edits>, led by
w:User:Jeph_paul <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeph_paul>, funded at
$500. Jeph is building a MediaWiki gadget that creates a visual
playback of the edit history of a Wikipedia article, allowing users
to see an article’s change over time.
* The Wikipedia Library
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library>,
funded at $7500 and The Wikipedia Adventure
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Adventure>,
funded at $10,000, will
both be led by w:User:Ocaasi <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ocaasi>.
For the Wikipedia Library, Ocaasi will be building and consolidating
partnerships with reference providers donating access to reliable
sources for Wikipedia editors, and improving the systems for
managing these programs. The Wikipedia Adventure is an on-wiki game
that will be piloted on English Wikipedia using the Guided Tours
extension to determine whether this type of interactive learning is
an effective engagement strategy for new editors.
* Consolidate wikiArS to involve art schools
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Consolidate_wikiArS_to_involve_a…>,
led
by w:User:Dvdgmz <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Dvdgmz>, funded at
7810 Euros. The WikiArS outreach program builds partnerships with
art and design schools to teach students to create images for
donation to Wikimedia Commons and for use in Wikipedia articles.
This grant will support focused experimentation in the existing
Catalan program’s models that can allow the initiative to scale and
to be sustained as an international program.
* Elaborate Wikisource strategic vision
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource_strategic_v…>,
led by
User:Micru <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Micru> and
User:Aubrey <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Aubrey>,
funded at 10,000 Euros. This project brings together the global
Wikisource community and other stakeholders to define a vision for
the project’s future. They’ll begin work on near-term goals that can
be accomplished by volunteers on-wiki, and investigate paths forward
for longer-term improvements to Wikisource.
* MediaWiki data browser
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/MediaWiki_data_browser>,
led by User:Yaron K.
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Yaron_K.>, partially funded at
$15,000 in order to pilot the initial concept. Yaron’s project will
create a framework to allow any user to easily generate apps or
websites to browse sets of structured data that exist on Wikipedia
and other projects running on MediaWiki.
* MediaWiki and Javanese script
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/MediaWiki_and_Javanese_script>,
led by
User:Bennylin <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bennylin>, has
been provisionally approved
for funding at $3000, provided that a couple of dependencies
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:IEG/MediaWiki_and_Javanese_scri…>
can be satisfied. This project will provide technical support using
a “train-the-trainers” model that teaches volunteers how to use
Javanese script online, facilitating the transcription of Javanese
texts to projects like Javanese Wikisource.
==== 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 landing page
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tambayan_Philippines/Get_started> for
Geo-targeted Editors Participation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Geo-targeted_Editors_Participation>
was created on English Wikipedia, and an invitation to edit was
displayed using the geo-targeted centranl notice to readers from the
Philippines, where readers were encouraged to registed an account and
were surfaced random stub articles about local topics to improve.
==== Wikimania Support ====
* Hired Ellie Young, Contractor to take the lead on orchestrating
Wikimania! Welcome, Ellie!
* Finalizing review of Wikimania Scholarship applications. Over 1200
applicants with 660 who made it into round 2 of the review process
(i.e., non-spam). Committee of 9 voting members thoroughly reviewed
and scored applicants. Anticipated ~100 scholarships through WMF.
==== Brazil ====
===== Institutional Partnerships =====
A debate on governance with Ação Educativa, WMF and a member of the
community took place, to trigger a debate on meta. The report on the
meeting has been published
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programa_Catalisador_do_Brasil/Planejamento…>
and is now open for debate.
===== Hirings =====
* Job positions of the Brazilian Wikipedia Education Program for
substituting the current contractor opened! (with coverage by big
media, thanks to Tom)
===== Data & Experiments =====
* Translation of the Meta Page Research:Data
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Data>
into Portuguese is ongoing
<https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal_de…>.
* Prototype of the Data Center
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal…>
has been developed and is being debated: the proposal is to have a
central page with data and tutorials for anyone to work on data
creation and analysis.
* IRC meetings
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Projetos/Wikip%C3%A9dia/Reu…>
to debate proposals for Analyses and Data Center page
* Henrique’s onboarding in SF: Henrique attended the Python conference
and various meetings in SF as part of his onboarding.
* An initial proposal for data analyses and experiments
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programa_Catalisador_do_Brasil/Planejamento…>
has been published on Meta and is being debated.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikip%C3%A9dia_na_Universidade_-_FG…>
Wikipédia na Universidade - FGV SP (direito)
===== Education =====
Partnerships with universities
* FGV SP (Getulio Vargas Foundation): A lecture at FGV Law School in
São Paulo for about 70 people has taken place, with the
participation of a WMF team and one volunteer. The university has
tried to implement actitivies at Wikipedia but faced difficulties in
having the content accepted. They’re restructuring the project with
our support now.
* Gama Filho: several videos <http://www.youtube.com/wikipediapt> to
invite students from the University to engage in the translation
course/partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation have been produced.
===== Online tutorials =====
We’ve catalyzed and provided a first translation version for online
tutorials <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Training>. The
community has imported the pages and is customizing the material.
===== Communications =====
* The community has approved the recreation of communications channels
as blogs
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Esplanada/propostas#Blog_da…>
- though the br.wikimedia claims it should be under their website
<http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:%C3%81gora/Blog_Wikimedia/Wikip%C3%A…>.
We should run a test on the Correio da Wikipédia
<https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Correio_da_Wikip%C3%A9dia>
for one month and check the signpost distribution system and would
publish that on br.wikimedia too, for customization.
* Catalyzed initiative of a journalist volunteer who started
interviewing volunteers
<http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:%C3%81gora#Entrevista_com_editores>
to write stories about them
===== Medicin Wikiproject =====
* Bot: improvements have been made and it’s ready to be tested on the
real environment by the community (request for bot approval
<https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Rob%C3%B4s/Pedidos_de_aprova%C…>)
===== Community and High School =====
* The bridge reported last month built between the community and High
School Peretz became the subject of an article
<http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/tec/1251093-colegio-em-sp-estimula-alunos-a-ed…>
in Folha de S.Paulo <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folha_de_S._Paulo>. The
newspaper has also produced an online tutorial
<http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/tec/1251021-gravada-aprenda-a-editar-artigos-e…>.
=== Programs ===
==== Wikipedia Zero ====
/(see also general "Highlights" section)/
* Launched Wikipedia Zero with Beeline (Vimpelcom) in Russia, largest
single operator to date (55+ million subscribers)
* Completed partnership contract and announcement with Axiata,
expanding partner base of Wikipedia Zero to 410 million subscribers
* Wikipedia Zero received the 2013 SXSW Interactive Award for "Activism"
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wikipedia_Education_Program.webm>
The Wikipedia Education Program, in video form! (narrated by Annie Lin
and LiAnna Davis)
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
Rod Dunican presenting about the impact of the Education Program (slides
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1UYnRWTJ18JGCfeb747L…>)
==== Global Education ====
Highlights:
* Egypt term wrapped up with a celebration conference in Cairo.
* Classes started in Egypt, Jordan, and Algeria, as part of the
Wikipedia Education Program Arab World
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ar:%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF…>.
* Volunteers proposed new thematic organization to run U.S. and Canada
Education Programs, the Wiki Education Foundation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Education_Foundation>.
Egypt program celebrates end of second term
The second term of the Wikipedia Education Program in Egypt wrapped up
with a celebration conference at Cairo University. Dr. Abeer Abd
El-Hafez, a professor of Spanish from Cairo University, opened the
conference and spoke about the spirit of the program and its importance
in the lives of students and teachers in terms of skills development and
new experiences. Faris El-Gwely, the education program consultant who
runs the program in Egypt, shared results from the second term, and the
best students and Ambassadors from the program received certificates
recognizing their hard work. Students and professors also shared
information about their experiences in the program. Check out photos
from the event.
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Second_Celebration_Conference,_…>
U.S. student shares special Wikipedia story
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Article_Photo.jpg>
Jacqueline McCrory
University of San Francisco master's student Jacqueline McCrory wrote
the Wikipedia article on habitat conservation plans for her class with
Professor Aaron Frank in spring 2012 — and was then astonished to
discover that she'd been assigned to read the article in a different
class in fall 2012! Jacqueline talks about how her Wikipedia article
experience gave her additional responsibility at work and kudos from
professors in her department in a post on the Wikimedia Foundation blog.
Read the post.
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/13/student-assigned-to-read-a-wikipedia-a…>
Quebec professor's work featured in WMF blog
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lauriers_C%C3%A9gep_de_Chicoutimi06…>
Simon Villeneuve's students
Professor Simon Villeneuve of physics and astronomy at Cégep de
Chicoutimi, a college in Quebec, has been using Wikipedia as a teaching
tool in his classroom since 2008. Overall, his students have created
more than 150 articles on the French Wikipedia on topics related to
astronomy and physics, and Simon has learned a lot about the best ways
of doing Wikipedia assignments. Read a post he wrote for the Wikimedia
blog about his work.
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/07/quebec-school-project-improves-french-…>
News coverage highlights Poland, Ukraine programs
An article in the Global Post highlights the work being done in Poland
and Ukraine related to the Wikipedia Education Program. The Ukraine
program ran a pilot last term that produced 23 improved articles. The
Poland program is working with a university to replace a bachelor's
thesis with a Wikipedia article. Learn more by reading the article.
<http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130313/wikipedia-aca…>
Education project improves Catalan Wikipedia
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sagrada_Familia_nave_roof_detail.jpg>
Sagrada Familia nave roof detail, an example of modernism in Barcelona.
Esther Solé from Amical Viquipèdia wrote a post for the Wikimedia
Foundation blog about the "Viquimoderisme" project to improve articles
related to modernism on the Catalan Wikipedia. Around 100 art history
students at the University of Barcelona are working with researchers to
create new articles on Catalan modernism, a topic important to the
cultural history of Catalonia. Esther's report highlights their
learnings from the initial phase, and they're currently embarking on the
second phase, in which a museum in Barcelona will also offer students
access to resources they can use in their articles. Read more about the
project. <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/21/viquimodernisme/>
Online student trainings deemed a success
A post on the Wikimedia Foundation blog highlights the successful
development of an online training for students piloted on the English
Wikipedia with the United States and Canada programs. In the post,
author Sage Ross describes how early feedback and user testing has led
to iterative improvements to the content of the training. This term,
more than 400 students (about one third of all students participating in
the program) have successfully completed the training. Read more about
the online training.
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/20/online-training-for-newcomers/>
Education Program featured in video
Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager LiAnna Davis and
former Program Manager Annie Lin were featured in a video describing the
basics of the education program. In the short video, Annie and LiAnna
describe how the program works and talk about the impact the program has
had in the last three years. Watch the video.
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/wikipedia-education-program-video/>
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Professor_Ruy_de_Queiroz.jpg>
Professor Ruy de Queiroz
Brazil professor featured on Wikimedia blog
Professor Ruy de Queiroz of Brazil is one of the pioneers of using
Wikipedia in his classroom. In 2005, he was browsing the Portuguese
Wikipedia in logic and theory of computation — his study areas — and
found the Portuguese version lacking in comparison to the English
version. Over the last seven years, he and his students have added
content to more than 125 articles on the Portuguese Wikipedia in an
effort to improve access to information. Read more about his work.
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/26/ruy-de-queiroz-profile/>
=== Learning & Evaluation ===
* Working with the Analytics and E3 teams to expand the UserMetrics
API tool to address the needs of the G&P partners at large
* Plagarism study along with the Wikipedia Education team, working on
tools to be able to query based on article categories, editor type,
and contribution types
* Program mapping study, creating database of all funding mapped to
programs. Thanks to volunteer Rosie Lewis for this awesome work!
== Human Resources ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…>
Gayle Karen Young presenting about hirings in the first quarter (slides
<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NHoqUo8prz3GGWluoar3Y5hj5MvXMkf-YTS…>)
In March, HR has made some changes to our benefits providers, namely a
broker change and a flexplan provider change. HR also hosted the second
remote employee task force meeting with a focus on improving in-office
technology for better remote participation, which Office IT has been
assiduously improving. We have also been working on analyzing our
compensation structure, and our 401k committee has been working to add
new low fee index funds and find a new plan advisor.
=== Staff Changes ===
New Requisitions Filled
* Adam Baso, Senior Software Developer (Engineering)
* Yuri Astrakhan, Senior Software Developer (Engineering)
New Contractors
* Dan DeJarnatt (HR)
* Kristan Johnson (Fundraiser)
* Meron Kristos (Finance)
* Andrey Valkov (Fundraiser)
* Ellie Young (Grantmaking & Programs)
Contract Extended
* Oona Castro (Grantmaking & Programs)
* Jeroen DeDauw (Engineering)
Departures
* Peter Gehres (continuing as contractor)
* Svetlana Istrati
* Patrick Reilly
Contracts Ended
* Zoe Bernard
* Darrin Fox
* Aaron Halfaker
* Ian Poirier
* Jawad Qadir
* Mike Wang
* Anita Whites
New Postings
* A/P Clerk
* Communications Volunteer
* Development Associate
* Software Engineer | Language Engineering
* WordPress Developer (Contract)
=== Statistics ===
Total Requisitions Filled
March Actual: 134
March Total Plan: 175
March Filled: 2, Month Attrition: 3,
YTD Filled: 43, YTD Attrition: 21
6 Position canceled for FY
Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end
34 (8 of which are on hold)
=== Department Updates ===
Real-time feed for HR updates
http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork
== Finance and Administration ==
* Review of FDC round 2 proposals for the FDC.
* Completed Wikimedia Argentina site visit report which will be
presented to the WMF Audit Committee at their summer meeting.
* Completed Version 1 of the WMF annual plan, which is now being
reviewed by the WMF Senior Level Team and the WMF Board of Trustees.
* Reviewing options for Foreign Exchange management beyond the big
international banks to receive and distribute funds for the global
movement.
== Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department ==
=== LCA Report, March 2013 ===
==== Contract Metrics ====
* Submitted : 17
* Completed : 20
==== Trademark Metrics ====
* Submitted : 26
* Approved : 2
* Pending : 20
* Denied : 3
* Approval not needed : 1
==== Domains Obtained ====
* wikipedia.us
* wikipedia.is
* softwarewikipedia.com
* wikispecies.org
* wikimedia.gr
==== Coming & Going ====
* Two legal interns’ spring internships are coming to an end. Thanks
to Ava Miller and Megumi Yukie for all of their help this semester!
* One of our contract attorneys, Ian Poirier, left the Foundation for
a permanent opportunity and we wish him the best in his new job!
* We welcome Elaine Wallace, a talented and experienced attorney who
will be volunteering her time with us over the next few months.
==== Other Activities ====
* Community Advocacy hosted a meeting in the office of 5 out of 7 of
the Ombudsman Commission both to facilitate their work with each
other and their assistance with various staff on WMF initiatives
(see also general "Highlights" section)
* Community Advocacy set up the first of a series of phone calls for
WMF management with highly connected community members around the world.
* Legal continues to work through the trademark registration process
to protect our marks around the world.
=== Communications Report, March 2013 ===
In March we successfully issued another major announcement for Wikipedia
Zero, highlighting a partnership with Axiata that will bring WP Zero to
countries in Southeast Asia. We also worked closely with the executive
team on news of Sue Gardner's upcoming departure from the Foundation.
The team is also rotating our group of Communications volunteers, and
hoping to bring in about four new volunteers to help us with day to day
media monitoring and reporting.
==== Major announcements ====
/Axiata partners with the Wikimedia Foundation to offer free mobile
Wikipedia access through Wikipedia Zero
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Axiata_partners_with_th…>/
18 March 2013 - Axiata Group Berhad and the Wikimedia Foundation
today announced a partnership to offer Wikipedia on mobile devices
free of data charges to Axiata customers throughout Asia.
==== Major Storylines through March ====
/WMF ED Sue Gardner to leave Foundation/ (Mar 27, 2013)
This month’s major news story focused on Sue Gardner’s announcement that
she would be stepping down later this year once a successor for her
position has been identified, to focus on defending the free and open
Internet. Mostly positive-tone coverage of the news largely followed a
highly visible story published by the NY Times shortly after Sue made
the announcement on the WM Blog and on public and community mailing lists.
(blog post)
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/27/sue-gardner-departure-announcement/http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/a-driving-force-behind-wik…http://www.stern.de/digital/online/fuehrungssuche-beim-online-lexikon-wikip…http://www.webpronews.com/sue-gardner-to-depart-wikimedia-foundation-uncomf…
/BP Edits to WP make headlines/ (Mar 20, 2103)
A flawed CNET story from mid-March sparked substantial coverage of a BP
staffer’s presence on English Wikipedia. The original story accused the
staffer of rewriting a number of BP related articles. Subsequent
coverage was mostly critical of BP for its actions. Some coverage
speculated that the BP staffer may have operated within the approved
‘policies’ around COI editing.
http://prweek.tumblr.com/post/45989772176/wikipedia-editors-have-accused-a-…http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/bp-accused-of-rewriting-wikipedia-…http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/bp-wikipedia-page_n_2923363.htmlhttp://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/bp_edited_its_own_environmental_record_on_w…
/Wikipedia Zero / Axiata / SXSW/ (Mar 8, 2013)
In early March Wikipedia Zero was honored with its first major accolade,
the SXSW Interactive award. Later in March Wikipedia Zero launched its
first major initiative in southeast Asia, further extending the number
of global customers who will be able to access WP without data charges
into the hundreds of millions.
http://www.informationweek.in/Mobile/13-03-21/How_Wikipedia_plans_to_use_mo…http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/sxsw-wikipedia-for-non-smartpho…
==== Other worthwhile reads ====
How Jimmy Wales’ Wikipedia Harnessed the Web as a Force for Good | Wired
| March 2003
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/03/jimmy-wales-wikipedia/
Jane Goodall apologizes for plagiarizing Wikipedia | March 22
http://www.dailydot.com/culture/jane-goodall-plagiarized-wikipedia/
Wikipedia, meet Lua! | March 18
(blog post)
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/14/what-lua-scripting-means-wikimedia-op…http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/18/wikipedia-crowdsourcing-site-performance-…http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Wikimedia-adopts-Lua-for-page-genera…
==== WMF Blog posts ====
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/
Thirty-two blog posts in March, with bilingual posts
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/> in German, Dutch,
Portuguese, Catalan, Czech, and French. Some highlights:
* *Parsoid: How Wikipedia catches up with the web
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/04/parsoid-how-wikipedia-catches-up-with…>*
* *WikiAfrica project welcomes and trains Cameroonians to contribute
to Wikimedia sites
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/15/wikiafrica-space/>*
* *Evaluating the success of Wikimedia Czech Republic’s Mediagrant
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/18/evaluating-czech-mediagrant/>*
* *The recent UK report and movement governance
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/19/movement-governance-recommendations/>*
==== Media Contact ====
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#March_2013
==== Wikipedia Signpost ====
For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the
community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for March 2013:
* Volume 9, Issue 9
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
04 March 2013
* Volume 9, Issue 10
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
11 March 2013
* Volume 9, Issue 11
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
18 March 2013
* Volume 9, Issue 12
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-03…>,
25 March 2013
== Office of the Executive Director ==
Sue Gardner announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/27/sue-gardner-departure-announcement/>
that she plans to leave her position as Executive Director of the
Wikimedia Foundation, to focus on defending the free and open Internet.
She will remain fully engaged as Executive Director until her successor
has been recruited, which is expected to take at least six months.
== Visitors and Guests ==
Visitors and guests to the WMF office in March 2013:
1. Teemu Leinonen (Aalto University)
2. Ken Collier (Thoughtworks)
3. Dan Garry (Ombudsmen Commission)
4. Lev Gloukhenki (Ombudsmen Commission)
5. Leif Larsen (Ombudsmen Commission)
6. Thomas Goldammer (Ombudsmen Commission)
7. User:Erzbischof (Ombudsmen Commission)
8. Erin Reading (NPS)
9. Gershon Bialer (EventLogging Workshop)
10. Mlitn (EventLogging Workshop)
11. Piotr Bablok (EventLogging Workshop)
12. Jonathan March (EventLogging Workshop)
13. Valerie Ball (KPMG)
14. Gour Lentell (BiNu)
15. Ton Chookhare (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
16. Franzi Mare (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
17. Nikita Kiselev (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
18. Thomas Malec (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
19. Julio Santil (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
20. Joseph Zhou (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
21. Vishel Shah (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
22. Lauren Fernandez (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
23. Abigail Feuer (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
24. Sarah Walker (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
25. Adi Rubinovich (UC Berkeley Haas MBA Tour)
26. John McLear (Etherpad Project)
27. Idoia Valencia (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
28. Mikel Garcia (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
29. Borja Pinedo (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
30. Patrizia Varela (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
31. Eneko Sieso (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
32. Asier Lopez (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
33. Beñat Egaña (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
34. Lucia Vazquez (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
35. Goio Arana (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
36. Tomas Tamayo (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
37. Jon Jimenez (Mondragon Unibertsitatea)
38. Kim Dodson (consultants)
39. Randall Benson (consultants)
40. Mark Oppenheim (m|Oppenheim)
41. Mikel Gazzia (SMASH co-op)
42. Christine Cavanaugh-Simmons (CCS Consulting Inc)
43. Deb Wolter (Red Bamboo Consulting)
44. Mary Gardiner (TAI)
45. Simon Turkalj (Simon Turkalj Associates)
46. Patrick Dippery (COO and Co-Founder, Collabriv)
47. Nimish Gautam (visitor)
48. Thomas Shaffer (Change.org)
49. Patrick Chen (Change.org)
50. William Adams (Full Circle Group)
51. Glenn Turner (Advanced Mobile Notary)
52. Simon Cross and guest (Praekelt foundation)
53. Drew Paroski (Facebook)
54. Grant Joung (Thoughtworks)
55. Brian Bocchino (Gravity People)
56. Roman Garcia (User:Blurpeace
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Blurpeace>)
57. August Wissmath (volunteer)
58. Philip Steele (Pension Architects)
59. Michael Rom (Pension Architects)
60. Kunal Mehta (User:legoktm <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Legoktm>)
61. Brian Behlendorf (Cofounder of the Apache Software Foundation and
Board Member of the Mozilla Foundation)
62. Liliana Bounegru (DataDrivenJournalism.net, European Journalism Centre)
63. Mat Dryhurst (Director of Public Programming, Gray Area Foundation
for the Arts)
64. Jonathan Gray (Director of Policy and Ideas, Open Knowledge Foundation)
65. Jay Nath (SF Mayor's Chief Innovation Officer)
66. Timothy Vollmer (Manager of Policy and Data, Creative Commons)
67. Gregg Servis (Full Circle Group)
68. Brett Victor (guest speaker)
69. Andrew Lih (Author and guest speaker)
70. Doug Hessel (Johnson & Dugan)
71. Virginia Sutton (Johnson & Dugan)
72. Linda Lam (Johnson & Dugan)
73. Andrea De Ville (Radford)
74. Zachary Osman (Radford)
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
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Dear all,
some friends and I were translating this nice diagram bellow focused on
open government and I just had an idea. If you were going to add WMF in the
middle of this diagram, where would be each element of the Wikimedia
movement? Just a thought experiment. :)
Tom [image: Imagem inline 1]
--
Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
OKFN Brasil - Rede pelo Conhecimento Livre
http://br.okfn.org
*Sorry for crossposting*
Bern, 12.04.2013 - The Swiss Federal Archives and Wikimedia CH are joining
forces to review source materials from the Federal Archives and publish
them online. To this end, the post of a “Wikipedian in Residence” is now
being advertised via Wikimedia. The first joint project will provide access
to a photographic collection on the First World War.
2013 sees the start of a new collaboration between the Swiss Federal
Archives and Wikimedia – two organisations committed to free access to
knowledge. With a view to publishing freely usable, “public domain” source
materials from the Federal Archives holdings online via Wikimedia – such as
Wikipedia, Wikisource and Wikiversity – a “Wikipedian in Residence” will be
working in the Federal Archives over the next few months.
Wikimedia has been gathering experience with the “Wikipedian in Residence”
concept internationally since 2010, at institutions such as the Museum of
Modern Art in New York, the British Library in London and the US National
Archives near Washington. The Federal Archives partnership is the first
collaboration with a GLAM (*Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums*)
institution in Switzerland.
The initial goal is to make more than 5,000 digitised photographs from a
collection on the First World War searchable and freely accessible via
Wikimedia by autumn 2013, providing researchers with a fascinating, well
catalogued and freely accessible body of materials just in time for the
centenary of the war’s outbreak in 1914.
As a guest of the Federal Archives, the Wikipedian in Residence will
promote entries in the online encyclopaedia that relate to the Federal
Archives and their holdings, and publish material under open-content
licences. Links between the Federal Archives and the Wikipedia community
will also be expanded.
The Federal Archives and Wikimedia CH will report on the collaboration and
its results at regular intervals.
The advertisement for the post of “Wikipedian in
Residence”<http://members.wikimedia.ch/images/c/c7/Job-Advertisement-WiR.pdf>
Français:
http://www.bar.admin.ch/aktuell/00431/01503/index.html?lang=fr&msg-id=48486
Deutsch:
http://www.bar.admin.ch/aktuell/00431/01503/index.html?lang=de&msg-id=48486
Italiano:
http://www.bar.admin.ch/aktuell/00431/01503/index.html?lang=it&msg-id=48486
---
Charles ANDRES, Chairman
Wikimedia CH <http://www.wikimedia.ch/>- Association for the advancement
of free knowledge
Skype: charles.andres.wmch
IRC://irc.freenode.net/wikimedia-ch
fyi
Please help making sure the gadgets & templates developers plus the
admins and other contributors to the tech avantgarde of your projects
are aware of this. In an ideal world all of them would follow wikitech-l
but this is probably not the case today. Thank you!
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Sponsoring travel to Wikimedia Hackathon
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:05:53 -0700
From: Quim Gil <qgil(a)wikimedia.org>
Organization: Wikimedia Foundation
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi, you have probably heard about
Wikimedia Hackathon
24-26 May in Amsterdam (Netherlands)
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Hackathon_2013
There are about 100 participants registered, and we have some room for
more. Registration is free but you need to sign up. There is also some
travel sponsorship budget left after a first round of approvals.
If your free software contributions and your Wikimedia love is more
valuable than the money you have in the bank, you can just register and
apply for scholarship. Please include public URLs where we can see your
open source licensed contributions (code, pixels, wise words...). A CV
alone won't cut it, no matter how many avatars appear to endorse your
skills.
Hurry up! The organizers are reviewing applications as they come.
--
Quim Gil
Technical Contributor Coordinator @ Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil
C'est très interessant. Est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un qui l'a appliqué au Wikipédia anglais? Merci pour ce travail excellent!
Kei
Sent from my HTC One™ S on T-Mobile. America’s First Nationwide 4G Network.
----- Reply message -----
From: "Plyd" <wiki.vincent(a)amplyd.com>
To: "wikimedia-l" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: The value of Wikipedia for the economy
Date: Thu, Apr 11, 2013 11:55 AM
Hi,
It looks like nobody received this email, so I try again!
Vincent
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Plyd <wiki.vincent(a)amplyd.com>
Date: Tue, Apr 9, 2013 at 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: The value of Wikipedia for the economy
To: Plyd <wiki.vincent(a)amplyd.com>
Cc: "lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org" <lodewijk(a)effeietsanders.org>, "
wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org" <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>,
Sébastien Beyou <seb35wikipedia(a)gmail.com>
Le mardi 9 avril 2013, Plyd a écrit :
Hello,
> Thanks Seb35 for pointing me this email.
>
> I did a study last year about the value of Wikipedia, as a thesis for my
> diploma in HEC Paris. Here is the link below. It is written in french and I
> used French Wikipedia as an example, but the methods used are the same for
> all languages.
>
> I was looking for indicators on "how to value the job of wikipedians" so
> my prefered indicator was the increase of pageviews. For a glam giving its
> material, saying how many views it generated is the best convincing
> argument imho.
>
> But I searched for a lots of different valuations, with each their own
> limits. As an example :
> - advertisement value : more or less the market value if a private company
> would like to make an offer to the foundation, best evaluation is with a
> simple ratio of pageviews * average page view value.
> $8 per 1000 pageviews => $1 600 000 000 per year for all wikipedia
> with discounted cash flow method (with the internet growth prediction), I
> get a $8 800 000 000 value. (2% of Apple Market Capitalisation)
> limitation : the value of wikipedia relays in its contributors and if it
> was sold, no more contributors would keep writing (and a fork would be done)
> limitation : the pageview value given by the foundation includes bots...
>
> - "how much would it cost to write Wikipedia" ? I used the indicator of
> freelance journalist paid at the "word" and I multiplied by the monthly
> size increase of Wikipedia.
> limitation : of course the choice of journalist is discutable, it's not
> the same job, but it is close enough to be compared.
> I used 57,74€ for 1500 signs (a value found in france), which gave me €32
> 000 000 per month value for french wikipedia, so with a €3000 monthly cost,
> it gives 900 employees for french wikipedia.
>
> - I also calculated with a "time spent" indicator, calculated with
> wikiscan.org (15 minutes max per contribution), which gaves me a more or
> less same result : 900 full-time contributors on fr.wikipedia.org
>
> Thesis:
> http://www.amplyd.com/these/Valorisation%20du%20b%C3%A9n%C3%A9volat%20sur%2…
>
> Slides for a Wikimedia France presentation:
> http://www.amplyd.com/these/Valorisation%20du%20b%C3%A9n%C3%A9volat%20sur%2…
>
> Don't hesitate to ask questions !
>
> Plyd
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Seb35 <seb35wikipedia(a)gmail.com>
> Date: 2013/4/8
> Subject: Valeur de Wikipédia
> To: Plyd <wiki.vincent(a)amplyd.com>
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Si tu veux parler de ton étude de la valeur de Wikipédia, il en est
> question sur wikimedia-l (pas lu, juste vu le titre), ça intéressera
> sûrement Lodewijk.
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/**pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-**
> April/125050.html<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-April/125050.html>
>
> Seb
>
>
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Dear all,
please find Wikimedia Deutschland's monthly report for March 2013 on Meta.
You can find out more about the symposium "Wikidata meets Archeology" which
took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the newly-launched project
"Chapters Dialogue" which will coordinate communication between Wikimedia
chapters and, of course, much more.
Here's the link:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Deutsch…
Best,
Katja
--
Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
-------------------------------------
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Obentrautstraße 72 | 10963 Berlin
Telefon 030 - 219 158 26-0
www.wikimedia.de
Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch an der Menge allen
Wissens frei teilhaben kann. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
http://spenden.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.
I would love to see a Wiki project map out the global economy. In an
organized format all local/country economic data would be collected. All
authors would be required to write articles according to a standardized
format. The model revolves around publicly released economic data: GDP,
employment, industries, corporations, fiscal policy, etc. Economists and
volunteers can help determine which economic data accounts are most
appropriate to be required under the standardized format.
There is nothing in the world that resembles this model. There is no Wiki
that allows economists to add economic data under a standardized format.
I have already written the article for 'Economy of the United States'. It
is 7 pages long. This article contains what I believe is the most important
economic data available to the public. The data is almost entirely in table
format. Citations include the U.S. Census Bureau, the World Bank, Bureau of
Economic Analysis, Yahoo Finance, CNN'S Money's Fortune 500 list, U.S.
treasury releases, Federal Reserve websites, company annual reports and the
IMF. The file can be seen at the Wikimedia Commons:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Economy.pdf
The Contents of the U.S. Economy article are: 1. States, 2. Industries, 3.
Corporations, 4. Employment, 5. Fiscal Budget, 6. Monetary Policy, 7.
Creditors, 8. Cities, 9. International Accounts 9. History
All articles would be standardized and connected in an organized network.
This model would go down to the most local level. All 196 countries would
have a standardized country article to have the same exact format. This
project would evolve as economists determine better ways to present the
data.
The 'Economy of ______' pages are very educational and are an awesome
collection of economic data. I think that these articles would be greatly
improved if they were modified to become more uniform. This would allow for
greater comparability. I believe that these pages would be improved with a
standardized and simplified format. This would allow for greater
comparability and public understanding of the economy.
Below are the Wikipedia Contents of the four biggest economy articles. As
you can see, the Contents are inconsistent between them. I believe this can
be fixed with my Wiki project proposal.
Economy of the United States 1 History 2 Overview 3 Employment 4 Research,
development, and entrepreneurship 5 Income and wealth 6 Financial position
7 Industry Sectors 8 Notable companies and markets 9 Energy,
transportation, and telecommunications 10 Finance 11 Health care 12
International trade 13 Currency and central bank 14 Law and government 15
See also 16 References 17 External links
Economy of China 1 History 2 Government role 3 Regional economies 4
Development 5 Macroeconomic trends 6 Financial and banking system 7
Industry Sectors 8 Labor and welfare 9 External trade 10 Foreign investment
11 Demographics 12 Transportation and infrastructure 13 Science and
technology 14 See also 15 References 16 External links
Economy of Japan 1 Economic history 2 Infrastructure 3 Macro-economic trend
4 Services 5 Industry 6 Mining and petroleum exploration 7 Agriculture 8
Labor force 9 Law and government 10 Culture 11 Other economic indicators 12
See also 13 Notes 14 External links
Economy of Germany 1 History 2 Macroeconomic data 3 Economic region 4
Natural resources 5 Sectors 6 Infrastructure 7 Technology 8 See also 9
References 10 External links
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