<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Europe_location_Baltic_states.png>
Hello!
Today the writing weeks about the Baltic region have started on the Dutch
Wikipedia!
Several times a year, especially during holidays, we organize on the Dutch
Wikipedia writing weeks to focus much of our attention to a specific region
in the world that can use some improvements, based on reasons. This edition
is about the Baltic region, because on 1 January Latvia becomes the
president of the Council of the European Union and Lithuania becomes member
of the Eurozone and adopts the Euro as currency. But what do we know about
these countries?
Everyone can participate in writing about Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and
the Kaliningrad Oblast. We work on both improving existing articles as
writing new articles.
The Dutch project page is at
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikiproject/Schrijfweek/Baltische_re…
Got interested?
You can create a project page on your wiki and copy the initiative.
You can also just start writing or improving articles.
Be welcome! Let's make Wikipedia better!!
Romaine
Hi everyone,
I’m happy to share the first-ever Wikimedia year-in-review video,
Wikipedia: #Edit2014.
Wikimedia Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Edit_2014.webm
Youtube:
http://youtu.be/ci0Pihl2zXY
Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/114673230
It’s the story of 2014 through the lens of Wikimedia in under 3 minutes.
(We know we didn’t get it all!)
We're about to launch this to the rest of the world, on the WMF blog, on
social media, and to the press. The whole point of the production is we
want the world to get a sense of what it feels like to press edit for the
first time, and what it’s like to contribute to something that millions of
people use, love, and rely on. We hope you like it.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this. It’s based entirely on
what YOU contributed to the projects -- images you uploaded and video you
migrated to Commons. It’s based on the texts of books and documents on
Wikisource and the Wikipedia articles that you wrote. And thanks to
everyone who volunteered and shared feedback with us while we were editing
to make it sound and feel like Wikipedia. I talked to many people in
putting this together, so thank you all.
If you want to contribute to this particular effort, you can of course
share this video, but what would be even better is if you could translate
the captions into more languages so that even more people can understand
it. We’ll migrate the captions from Commons to YouTube and Vimeo as they
come in. (BTW does anyone know why YouTube or Vimeo doesn’t have open
captions? Maybe once we have this captioned in 50 languages, we can use it
to advocate that they should.)
We’re already thinking of ways to open up this process for even more
collaboration next year. We put this together in about eight weeks, so we
had a pretty big time constraint for making it an open process from the
beginning.
We’re publishing two blog posts on the topic shortly and will send them as
soon as they’re out.
Thanks! :)
Victor & the WMF Communications team
--
*Victor Grigas*
Storyteller <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Knv6D6Thi0>
Wikimedia Foundation
vgrigas(a)wikimedia.org
https://donate.wikimedia.org/
This announcement is also available online here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/12/17/wikipedias-first-ever-annual-video-re…
Wikipedia: #Edit2014 is available online here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Edit_2014.webm and
http://youtu.be/ci0Pihl2zXY
*Wikipedia’s first-ever annual video reflects contributions from people
around the world*
Today, the Wikimedia Foundation released its first ever year in review
video, chronicling the celebration, pain, fear, resilience, and discovery
that came to characterize 2014. More than anything, it celebrates those who
come to Wikipedia to learn and understand the complexity of our world, and
those who edit and contribute information so that others might do the same.
In watching the video, you embark on a journey through the world and
Wikipedia, revisiting what you read and edited this year. From the FIFA
World Cup to the Indian general elections, and the Ice Bucket Challenge to
Ebola in West Africa, we follow threads of discovery through Wikipedia’s
vast constellation of knowledge, finding opportunities to contribute along
the way. We venture from Sochi to outer space in less than three minutes.
Wikipedia is among the most popular sites in the world, but the Wikimedia
Foundation (WMF) is a small non-profit. The video was put together on a
shoestring budget, and in less than two months, through the generous
collaboration and contributions of Wikimedians and Wikipedia supporters.
The Wikimedia Foundation’s storyteller and video producer, Victor Grigas
said, “We had to get creative to make this happen, we couldn’t just throw
money at it. This video was made with everyday tools: a computer, an
internet connection, lots of deep, patient thinking, research and
collaboration, and the free content that ordinary people uploaded to
Wikipedia.”
Every piece of imagery and video we use was uploaded by you. Wikimedia’s
commitment to open access and free information meant we could only use
freely licensed photos and videos when producing this video. While the
Foundation may have edited the video, contributions came from users around
the world.
You will see many amazing freely licensed images in the video — beautiful
photographs of monuments, recordings of major world events from citizen
journalists. At the same time, you will also see some grainy and dated
images — such as those used to illustrate West Africa’s struggle with the
deadly Ebola outbreak. The images used to illustrate that segment date back
to 1976, from an outbreak in Zaire. Although other, more recent freely
licensed images are available, most addressed things such as proper use of
personal protective equipment or laboratory facilities, rather than the
immediate impact on human lives.
With hundreds of millions of people relying on Wikipedia to learn and
understand more about the world around them, the instance of Ebola
highlights the immense need for freely licensed images of important world
events. We encourage people everywhere to freely license and share images
and photographs of the notable people, places, or historic events — and in
doing so, help make the sum of all knowledge available to everyone. You can
upload your pictures Wikimedia Commons (Wikipedia’s central media
repository) under a free license.
While Ebola’s treatment in this video underscores the continuing need for
people to contribute freely licensed images, it is also an inspiring true
story about collaboration. As the Ebola outbreak raged, devastating the
lives of people in numerous countries, Wikimedians looked for ways to
contribute. Together with Translators Without Borders and the medical
professionals at the WikiProject Med Foundation, volunteers translated the
article on Ebola into more than fifty languages, including numerous African
languages. In October, The New York Times reported that Wikipedia had
emerged as a trusted internet source for Ebola information.
Wikipedia reflects the world around us. With each new event, it changes and
grows, accommodating our human triumphs and losses. It is the largest
collaborative knowledge project in human history, and it is made possible
by even the tiniest of contributions from people around the world. Join us
in rediscovering 2014, and consider contributing to Wikipedia’s boundless
knowledge.
Together, we edit our common history.
Katherine Maher
Chief Communications Officer
Wikimedia Foundation
--
Juliet Barbara
Senior Communications Manager I Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street I San Francisco, CA 94105
jbarbara(a)wikimedia.org I +1 (512) 750-5677
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
_______________________________________________
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https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
I felt kind of meh about the previous thread, so I'm forking it.
geni wrote:
>2)Large number of semi automated deletion notices. This is going to happen
>whatever you do unless you ban all uploads from people who aren't
>qualified intellectual property lawyers. Eh just look at your average
>en.wikipedia talk page for a semi active editor.
An alternate solution would be to ban automated notices. :-) Or at least
make them far less obnoxious. Saying "if you look over here, you'll see
the same or worse" is a pretty poor argument, in my opinion.
>3)Lack of positive feedback. I'm not sure there is any way around this.
>Automated notices that image you uploaded is being used on project Y would
>get annoying for some users. I guess having it as a well advertised
>feature that people could turn on would be an option.
It's a great option if we want most users to not use the feature. User
defaults are _hugely_ important. Most users (probably over 90%) have few
uploads, so consequently looking at the default from this perspective
alone, it makes sense to enable media usage notifications by default (at
least in-site notices, maybe not e-mail notices). We could even (smartly)
disable media usage notifications at a particular upload threshold (e.g.,
if you have greater than 1,000 uploads, you probably don't want the
notices). There are a few edge cases here, such as an image being added to
a template, but these are likely solvable.
>Use by third parties is even harder to track. Short of googling your nic+
>"CC-BY-SA" and the like. Even that only turns up a limited subset of
>users mind.
Eh, if they're hotlinking from Commons, we presumably have HTTP referers
in the server access logs. Otherwise, there are services (Google Images,
TinEye, etc.) that can perform reverse image searches. These aren't
trivial technical problems, but they're also not insurmountable. Now,
whether investing in such a "thanks for your upload, look where it's being
used!" service is worth the cost, given the benefit, is a separate
question, as always.
For Commons, my personal view is that I'd like to see its search
functionality suck a lot less. Commons search needs:
* search by tag (which we have already with categories, but we're
apparently supposed to wait until the magical future of Wikidata);
* search by color; and
* search by file size and type.
As much as the term is an awful buzzword, Commons could also do with
additional gamification, from what I've seen. If we can set up an easy
keyword/tagging system, having users help us sort and tag media would be
amazing. Building up and tearing down a queue is still not trivial. :-(
Commons also needs at least four in-browser editors (for rasterized
images, vector graphics, audio files, and videos) and additional supported
file upload types (e.g., .ico would be great to have). And much more.
Currently we have a database of free media, but I think it'd be really
cool if we made it dramatically easier to find, re-use, and re-mix this
media. And, for better or worse, we know we cannot hope that the
Wikimedia Foundation alone will fix these problems.
>4)third parties choosing other projects. Thing is for large dumps of
>poorly curated content with messy copyright issues things like the
>internet archive are probably a better match.
This is a nasty cop-out. We already do this in a limited fashion, but we
need to get better about soliciting and accepting donations to Commons.
There's definitely a shared interest in preserving and promoting all kinds
of media that we're not doing very well to capture and utilize. There are
at least two broad categories I see that could make donations: GLAMs and
individuals who have an article that currently has no image or a bad image.
>5)Some commons admins are behaving problematically. Yes but I'm not sure
>what to do about that.
Eh, I think Commons certainly has its share of bad admins, but I'm not
sure it's the admins who are the problem. As you say, broader
clarification about what is and isn't acceptable at Commons would probably
be helpful to have.
It's likely better to spend time and energy focused on the tasks discussed
in this e-mail or elsewhere across Wikimedia. I think doing so will
actually move Commons forward. Not that it's bad to occasionally vent
frustrations, but we can do better (in more ways than one!).
MZMcBride
Dear Wikimedia India Chapter members and other interested stakeholders in
the list,
Dear members,
At the outset, on behalf of Wikimedia India Executive Committee for
2013-14, I would like to thank you all for the support for the Chapter
during the past year, as we strive hard to complete the difficult phase of
the Chapter. I am glad to report that the huddle phase is now complete, as
the Chapter is financially healthy, staffed and has conducted AGM and
Elections for EC of six vacancies successfully. I would like to place on
record my thanks to all co-founders and EC team members,volunteers from
members and community, , WMF staff,WMF board members and partners and
consultants for all the contributions and support towards reaching this
important milestone.
Last weekend we had inducted the newly elected EC members with an EC
induction program at Bangalore. As part of it, we have completed the office
bearer elections for the 2014-15. I would like to introduce the new team
that has taken charge.
The results of the office bearer elections are as follows:
- Dr. Abhiraj Suryawanshi : President
- Jayanta Nath : Secretary
- Sanket Oswal : Treasurer
- Priyanka Tiwari : Member
- Yohann Varun Thomas : Member
- Dr. Ekbal Bappukunju : Member
- Nikhil Kawale : Member
We are confident that under the new EC's leadership Wikimedia Movement and
Chapter in India will grow to greater heights in the year to come. We
request you all to extend the support and actively engage with Wikimedia
India to achieve the vision of sharing free knowledge with every one for
building a Knowledge Society.
Please join me in wishing the new team all success.
Cheers
Jayanta Nath
Secretary,Wikimedia India
Greetings, Wikimedia colleagues:
Many thanks to all who have participated in the organizational
effectiveness tool so far. The questionnaire is still active and *the date
for responding has been extended to 29 December:*
*Link to take questionnaire (can be used once per IP address, but more
links can be requested): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OEQuestionnaire
*User guide:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Tool/User_guide
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Tool/User_guide>
*Questionnaire text:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Tool/Questionn…
*Learning center:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Learning_center
We want to highlight some support materials we have developed in the past
few weeks, including a presentation about how to use the tool, and a list
of questions and answers about the tool:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Tool/Support.
These support materials will be evolving as different questions and needs
come up, and we hope they will be helpful in understanding how the tool
works and sharing that information within your organization.
Please note that this tool is built for user groups as well as formal
organizations like chapters and thematic organizations. The purpose of the
tool is to help groups assess their own effectiveness, and build a plan for
leveraging their strengths and building capacity in areas where they may
have capacity gaps. Results will be compiled in an aggregate report, but
specific results for each organization will not be shared publicly or with
the Wikimedia Foundation. See Anasuya's announcement quoted below for more
details about the purpose of the tool.
If you are curious about participating but have concerns or need additional
support, please contact us at orgeffectiveness(a)wikimedia.org (this Email
address will reach me). If your questions aren't yet addressed in the FAQ,
please add them to the support discussion page, or contact us by Email.
Thanks again to all who have participated so far, and to those who have
already offered helpful feedback about the tool!
Cheers,
Winifred
On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 1:56 PM, Anasuya Sengupta <asengupta(a)wikimedia.org>
wrote:
>
> tl;dr Request for Wikimedia organizations to take a survey on
> organizational effectiveness, that will help us understand and support each
> other better: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OEQuestionnaire
>
>
> Dear friends and colleagues of the Wikimedia movement:
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation's Grantmaking team has initiated a project with
> TCC Group - a consulting firm focused on social impact - and the larger
> Wikimedia communities, to help Wikimedia organizations of all shapes and
> sizes (including user groups, chapters, and thematic organizations), to
> improve their effectiveness and their ability to have impact for the
> movement. The project was initiated in response to growing interest and
> conversations by volunteers and organizations, to better understand how
> organizations in particular have impact in the Wikimedia movement, which is
> unique in that it is online, growing extraordinarily fast, and created and
> supported almost entirely by volunteers.
>
> The project seeks to help Wikimedia organizations better understand 1) how
> impact is defined from an organizational perspective in their contexts, 2)
> what strategies Wikimedia organizations use to achieve that impact, and 3)
> what resources and skills Wikimedia organizations may need to be more
> effective in the strategies they choose to pursue.
>
> In the first “impact” stage of the project, TCC interviewed several
> organizations, administered an impact survey to all organizations, and
> attended Wikimania 2014 in London where the project was discussed with
> AffCom, an informal organizational effectiveness working group, the FDC and
> other grantmaking committees, as well as many other individuals in the
> movement. TCC also conducted in-depth research on three organizations,
> resulting in case studies illustrating different organizational models
> leading to impact. Many thanks to those of you who took your valuable time
> to participate in one or more of these exchanges; Wikimedians around the
> globe created the foundation for this work.
>
> The second and third stages of the project involve development of an
> online organizational effectiveness questionnaire, a user guide to help
> organizations interpret their results, and an organizational effectiveness
> learning center, which may help organizations think about the different
> strategies they are using and how they could build specific capacities to
> be more successful with those strategies.
>
> *Learning center:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Learning_center.
>
>
> *User guide:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Tool/User_guide
>
> *Questionnaire text:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Organizational_effectiveness/Tool/Questionn…
>
> *Link to take questionnaire (can be used once per IP address, but more
> links can be requested): https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OEQuestionnaire
>
> The learning center is intended to be a base from which Wikimedia
> organizations can grow their knowledge and share their own experiences and
> best practices. TCC worked closely with a handful of Wikimedia volunteers
> from different organizations to design the Questionnaire you are about to
> take.
>
> Wikimedia Foundation has provided funding for this project and has
> consulted closely with TCC over the course of the engagement. Please note
> that the questionnaire is not intended to be a test of individual
> organizations in any way; the Foundation will not be provided with
> individual organization results. As part of this consultation, TCC will
> aggregate findings from the movement-wide Organizational Effectiveness
> Questionnaire and provide them to the Foundation’s grantmaking team, along
> with a “capacity building roadmap” to help the team - and the wider
> movement - think about how organizations can build capacity for specific
> program strategies.
>
>
> *We request that you respond to the questionnaire by December 21st*, so
> that TCC can collate the results and share it with all of us early in the
> new year. Please let us know if you have any difficulties or questions: the
> WMF contact for this process is Winifred Olliff. Please contact us with
> questions or suggestions at <orgeffectiveness(a)wikimedia.org>.
>
>
> Many thanks to all who offered their time and expertise to the different
> stages of this project. We hope this tool will be useful to you in your
> work, and we welcome your continued feedback.
>
> Warm regards and looking forward to our continued work together!
> Anasuya
>
> --
>
>
> *Anasuya SenguptaSenior Director of GrantmakingWikimedia Foundation*
>
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
> the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
>
>
>
>
--
Winifred Olliff
FDC Support Team
Wikimedia Foundation
