Hi everyone,
I am delighted to announce that as of last week, Birgit Müller is
Wikimedia Deutschland’s Community Liaison for the German community.
Birgit will assist the German Wikimedia communities on questions
concerning introductions of software tools and administrative changes in
the projects. Past conversations, discussions and conflicts have shown
that our presence can be helpful for all involved parties and should be
taken to a continuous level.
As a new member of Wikimedia Deutschland’s Volunteer Support Department,
reporting to me, Birgit will take care of these issues continuously from
now on.
We are glad to have her aboard. Please join me in welcoming her to the
Wikimedia world!
Best regards,
Denis Barthel
--
Head of Volunteer Support Dept.
Team Communitys
(Bereichsleitung)
Fon +49 30 219 158 26 31
Mobil +49 172 23 13 811
E-Mail: denis.barthel(a)wikimedia.de
--
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 260
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.
Hello friends,
The Funds Dissemination Committee meets twice annually to help make
decisions about how to effectively allocate movement funds to achieve the
Wikimedia movement's mission, vision, and strategy. [1]
On behalf of the committee, I am pleased to announce that Round 2 2013-2014
recommendations to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees have now been
posted on Meta [2]:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2013-2014_rou…
The WMF Board will make their decision on these recommendations by 1 July
2014.
For the second round of this fiscal year, the committee received four
proposals. [3] These four proposals came from two chapters, WMF and one
non-Wikimedia organization, totaling requests of '''$1.56''' million USD.
Prior to our face-to-face deliberations in Frankfurt from 21st-24th May,
the FDC reviewed the proposals in careful detail, aided by staff
assessments and analysis on programs, finances, grant compliance and
history, as well as community comments on the proposals. Staff presented an
overview of these findings to the FDC during the deliberations. The FDC and
FDC staff also asked clarifying questions to the entities on the proposal
form discussion pages during the four-week community review period (and
prior to the publishing of staff assessments), and observed the discussions
about the proposals.
The committee thanks all organizations that submitted proposals, as it
required significant effort to both create the proposal and to respond to
the questions and feedback from the community, FDC, and FDC staff. We
sincerely appreciate them all for this work.
For formal complaints or appeals about the recommendations, there is a
separate process that entities should follow. Note that at the request of
many stakeholders, we are clarifying the complaints and appeals terminology
so that complaints are made about the process to the ombudsperson and
appeals on the recommendations are made to the WMF Board representatives.
These are further explained below:
Any organization that would like to submit an appeal on the FDC’s Round 2
recommendation should submit it to the Board representatives to the FDC by
'''end of day UTC 8 June 2014''' in accordance with the appeal process
outlined in the FDC Framework. The process is as follows:
Appeals to the WMF Board on the recommendations of the FDC (formerly called
complaints, terminology changed to avoid further confusion):
* A formal appeal to challenge the FDC’s recommendation should be in the
form of a 500-or-fewer word summary directed to the two non-voting WMF
Board representatives to the FDC (Patricio Lorente and Bishakha Datta).
* The appeal should be submitted on-wiki through the FDC portal page
designated for this purpose. [4]
* Formal appeals can be submitted only by the Board Chair of a
funding-seeking organization.
* Formal appeals must be filed within seven days of the deadline for
submission of the FDC slate of recommendations to the WMF Board, even if
the recommendations are published before the deadline for the
recommendations i.e. end-of-day '''1 June 2014'''. The deadline for appeals
is the end-of-day UTC on '''8 June 2014'''.
* These board representatives will present the appeal to the WMF Board at
the same time as the Board considers the FDC recommendation. Responses to
an appeal will be made alongside the overall decision on the FDC
recommendations, i.e. by end-of-day UTC '''1 July 2014'''.
* Any planned or approved disbursements to the organization filing an
appeal will be put on hold until the appeal is resolved.
* If the WMF Board's consideration of the appeal results in an amendment of
the FDC's recommendations (which is expected only in extraordinary
circumstances), the WMF Board may choose to release extra funds from the
WMF reserves to provide additional funds not allocated by the FDC's initial
recommendation.
* The Ombudsperson, as well as members of the WMF Board other than the
Board representatives, may participate in the investigation if approved by
the Chair of the WMF Board.
Complaints to the ombudsperson about the FDC process (formerly called
appeals):
* A complaint about the FDC process can be filed by anyone with the
Ombudsperson and can be made any time during a particular round of the FDC
process (e.g. in this instance, from start '''1 April 2014''').
* The complaint should be submitted on wiki, through the FDC portal page
designated for this purpose [5]
* The ombudsperson will receive and publicly document the complaint, and
investigate the complaint, as needed.
On behalf of the FDC,
"pundit" Dariusz Jemielniak (FDC Chair)
[1]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_…
[2]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2013-2014_rou…
[3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals
[4]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Appeals_to_the_Board_on_the_recom…
[5]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Complaints_about_the_FDC_process
[[Category:2013-2014 Round 2]]
Hi all,
please find below the WMF report for April 2014, in plain text.
As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_April_2014
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,_April_2014
Many thanks to those who have translated the March "Highlights" into
Bosnian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Dutch,
Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Sardinian, Ukrainian and Chinese (and
partially into some other languages like Norwegian Bokmål and Polish)!
While still focusing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a
small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole movement.
Suggestions for the upcoming May issue are welcome until June 4 at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights#Movement_news_ite…
.
Regards, Tilman
--
Wikimedia Foundation Report, April 2014
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_May_1,_…>
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting
covering the month of April
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2014-05-01>
(May 1, 2014)
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center
o 3.2 New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites
o 3.3 New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 VisualEditor
o 4.2 Editor engagement
o 4.3 Mobile
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Online Fundraising
* 6 Grantmaking
o 6.1 Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee)
o 6.2 Project and Event Grants
+ 6.2.1 Grants funded in April 2014
+ 6.2.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.3 Travel and Participation Support
+ 6.3.1 Request awarded in April 2014
+ 6.3.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.4 Individual Engagement Grants
+ 6.4.1 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.5 Wikimania
o 6.6 Learning and Evaluation
+ 6.6.1 Program Evaluation
o 6.7 Wikipedia Education Program
+ 6.7.1 Global programs
+ 6.7.2 Arab world programs
+ 6.7.3 Communications
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 April Staff Changes
o 7.2 April Statistics
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal and Community Advocacy
o 9.1 LCA Report, April 2014
+ 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
* 10 Communications Report, April 2014
o 10.1 Major Announcements
o 10.2 Major Storylines through April
o 10.3 Other worthwhile reads
o 10.4 WMF Blog posts
o 10.5 Media Contact
o 10.6 Wikipedia Signpost
o 10.7 Communications Design
* 11 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
Global unique visitors for March:
*495 million* (+4.44% compared with February; -4.33% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release April data
later in May)
Page requests for April:
*20.697 billion* (-1.6% compared with March; -0.6% compared with the
previous year)
(Server log data
<http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>,
all Wikimedia Foundation content projects including mobile access,
but excluding Wikidata <https://www.wikidata.org> and the Wikipedia
main portal page <https://www.wikipedia.org/>.)
Active Registered Editors for March 2014 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*79,352* (+4.59% compared with February / -2.84% 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):
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_March_2014…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of March 31, 2014
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_March_201…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of March 31, 2014
(Financial information is only available through March 2014 at the time
of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date March 31, 2014.
Revenue 40,957,259
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group 12,358,813
Fundraising Group 2,989,855
Grantmaking Group 1,198,163
Programs Group 1,358,725
Grants 3,961,161
Governance Group 582,854
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group 2,831,941
Finance/HR/Admin Group 5,034,754
Total Expenses 30,316,266
Total surplus (10,640,993)
/in US dollars/
* Revenue for the month of March is $1.71MM versus plan of $0.01MM,
approximately $1.70MM or 29,215% over plan.
* Year-to-date revenue is $40.96MM versus plan of $45.05MM,
approximately $4.09MM or 9% under plan.
* Expenses for the month of March is $3.22MM versus plan of $4.57MM,
approximately $1.35MM or 30% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants, payment processing
fees, and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal fees and
outside contract services.
* Year-to-date expenses is $30.32MM versus plan of $36.37MM,
approximately $6.05MM or 17% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees,
payment processing fees, staff development expenses, grants and
travel expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services.
* Cash and Investments - $50.69MM as of March 31, 2014.
== Highlights ==
=== Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center ===
The Wikimedia Labs <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs> platform
enables volunteers to host software tools to support the community's
work, and to get involved in the technical operations of Wikimedia
servers. As part of the Foundation's ongoing work to reduce reliance on
the old data center in Tampa, Florida (USA), Labs was moved to the new
data center
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
in Ashburn, Virginia in April, completing several months of work by WMF
staff and by volunteers who operate Labs projects. Among the advantages
is the switch to a new file system (NFS) which is much more reliable
that the one used used for Labs in the old data center (GlusterFS, which
had caused most of the Labs failures and downtime in the preceding
months). Also, in the new data center, many Labs projects are now using
the internal Labs web proxy, which provides several benefits including
HTTPS access and increased user data privacy. The Toolserver, the
predecessor of the "Tool Labs" part of Wikimedia Labs, is planned to
shut down on June 30.
=== New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites ===
The Foundation's multimedia team released Media Viewer v0.2
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/About_Media_Viewer> on 14 pilot
sites in April, in preparation for a wider deployment
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Release_Plan> in May.
The overall response was favorable, and a growing majority of survey
respondents <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Survey>
was finding this new multimedia browser useful. The team also developed
a set of metrics dashboards
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv> to track how
often MediaViewer and its various features are used, and how fast it
performs over the Internet, as well as local metrics dashboards
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Metrics> for selected sites: first
results showed a decline in image load time
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#overall_network_perfor…>,
and suggest that Media Viewer loads faster
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#media_viewer_vs_file_p…>
than the old file description pages.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lila_Tretikov_16_April_2014_(1).jpg>
Lila Tretikov
=== New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maher,_Katherine_April_2014.jpg>
Katherine Maher
In April, preparations took place to welcome the Foundation's incoming
executive director Lila Tretikov
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:LilaTretikov>, who was announced on
May 1
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/05/01/wmf_announces_new_ed_lila_tretikov/>.
She will succeed Sue Gardner on June 1, who will move into a new role as
special adviser. Lila Tretikov was born in the Soviet Union and moved to
the United States as a teenager. She has been working for technology
companies, primarily in open source, in the San Francisco Bay Area for
the past 15 years, most recently at SugarCRM
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SugarCRM>.
Also in April, Katherine Maher was announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/katherine-maher-joins-foundation-chie…>
as the Foundation's new Chief Communications Officer.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for April 2014 can
be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2014/April
Department Highlights
Major news in April include:
* the change of format
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/mediawiki-localization-file-format-ch…>
of MediaWiki localization files from PHP to JSON, and the associated
modernization of the LocalisationUpdate extension
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/03/modernising-mediawikis-localisation-u…>;
* the move of Wikimedia Labs
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
to a new data center (see also general "Highlights" section
);
* the “Heartbleed” security vulnerability
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/wikimedias-response-to-the-heartbleed…>
and how the Wikimedia Foundation's team responded to it;
* an explanation of how the Mobile team uses Trello
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/agile-and-trello-the-planning-cycle/>
to plan their development sprints.
=== VisualEditor
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Portal>
===
In April, the VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> team
worked to improve the *stability* of the editor, adding some *new
features* and improving *usability* so that users can create and edit
pages more swiftly and intuitively with VisualEditor than before. When
users edit *templates*, only a few parameters are now shown at first
rather than all possible ones (some often-used templates like those for
citations or infoboxes can have dozens of parameters). It now also feels
more natural to set the *size of images*, and the *page settings* tool
includes the complete set of page options. The next version of the
*citation dialog* was tested and simplified; "suggested" parameters are
now always added, like "required" ones. Finally, a careful audit of all
Wikimedia wikis led to fixing broken *local community-written code*, to
ensure that VisualEditor runs on all of them.
The Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> team continued to fix
bugs and tweak code; Parsoid is the parsing program that works behind
the scenes of VisualEditor to convert wikitext to annotated HTML, and
vice versa. Two areas in particular received a lot of attention:
*templates encapsulation* and *link handling*. Template encapsulation
refers to how content generated by wiki templates is tagged as such, in
order for the post-editing wikitext to be consistent; this is
particularly important for templates that interact with tables. We fixed
many issues with how links are handled, notably image links and their
edge cases. In addition to bug fixes, we also improved Parsoid's
*performance*: some pages like /Barack Obama
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>/ should now parse 30% faster than
before. Last, April saw additional progress providing support for visual
editing of transclusion parameters.
=== Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> ===
This month, the Flow <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow> team focused on
behind-the-scenes changes to improve *moderation* and *history viewing*,
as well as implementing new JavaScript interface templates to make Flow
*more responsive* and *easier to add new features* onto. We released the
ability to *close and summarize topics*, which will allow users to
manage active discussions and end ones that have come to a resolution.
Flow is now the *default discussion tool* for many Beta Features
discussions on mediawiki.org, and the team is accepting requests to
enable Flow on more pages on that wiki to test complex multi-user
discussions.
The Growth <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth> team started to focus on a
new experimental area: *anonymous editor acquisition
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/anonymous_editor_acquisition>*. The team
prepared its first two experimental interface changes, aimed at asking
anonymous editors to register accounts
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Anonymous_editor_acquisition/Signup_invites>
(expected to be launched in early May). The team also will be conducting
basic research into the role anonymous editors play in Wikipedia − more
at Research:Anonymous phenomena
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_phenomena> and
Research:Anonymous editor acquisition
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_editor_acquisition>.
=== Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014-05-01_Mobile_Metrics.pdf?page=…>
Presentation slides on mobile usage (by the Analytics team, from the
monthly metrics meeting)
The Mobile Apps <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps> team continued
to work on the *rebooted Wikipedia App for Android and iOS*. The team
focused on bug fixes, editing refinements, and interface improvements.
Several issues related to keyboard, navigation bar, edit summary, and
abuse filter were fixed. The app now uses the newly-created Wikifont,
which reduced the size of the app and the number of images used Articles
should now look even closer to their mobile web counterparts.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_new_user_profile_page_gives_you…>
The new user profile page gives a quick summary of the user's edit history
The Mobile web <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_web_projects> team added
*history and contributions pages*, as well as an updated *watchlist*
view, for all users. We also released two new features geared toward
"humanizing" Wikipedia for readers and new editors: a prominent "last
modified" banner that indicates when articles haven't been edited in a
while and may need some attention, and a user profile feature to provide
a mobile-friendly snapshot of users' contributions and activity. For
*tablets*, we updated typography and layout and worked on adding the
ability to add and modify links via VisualEditor in beta, in preparation
for redirecting tablets to the mobile site later this quarter.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Zero_Update_Metrics_May_2…>
Presentation slides on Wikipedia Zero from the monthly metrics meeting
The Wikipedia Zero <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> team
continued to set up the *Partners portal* and work on graceful reduction
of *image quality*. We continued analytics work on data from the
*SMS/USSD pilot* program, and generated custom *pageview analyses* for
an operator to distinguish traffic by high level device access
characteristics.
Additionally, the team worked on the alpha version of the Android
Wikipedia app, as well as on the URL format for the forthcoming iOS
Wikipedia app to ensure pageview logging.
Mobile carrier IPKO joined the Wikipedia Zero program in *Kosovo*,
bringing us to a total of *28 partners in 26 countries*. We delivered
*68 million free page views* in April. We *visited South Africa* to meet
with MTN (current Wikipedia Zero partner), prospective partners, members
of Wikimedia South Africa and the Singenjongo High School. This trip was
part of a broader strategy to promote Wikipedia in our partners'
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and education initiatives,
increasing awareness and impact locally. We are identifying new
collaboration opportunities with MTN and local organizations, including
the Wikimedia chapter in South Africa and other mission-aligned
nonprofits. Additionally, we will continue to support the local
initiative created by Sinenjongo High School teachers and students.
== Fundraising ==
Department Highlights
* Members of the fundraising team responded to questions regarding the
WMF's FDC proposal on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…>.
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* The Foundations and Major Gifts Team raised *over $1 million* in April.
* Begun planning for a London *event for Wikimania sponsors*,
scheduled for June 25th.
=== Online Fundraising ===
* The online fundraising team ran *banner tests in the Netherlands and
Austria*. Approximately $700,000 USD was raised in April
(preliminary numbers as donations are still settling).
* The team prepared *translations* of fundraising messages into
multiple languages for upcoming international banner campaigns. If
you would like to help with the translation process, please get
involved <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/Translation>.
* The Wikimedia Merchandise team launched a redesign of the *Wikimedia
Shop* <https://shop.wikimedia.org/>.
== Grantmaking ==
Department highlights
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grantmaking_Quarterly_Review,_Apr_2…>
Slides from the Grantmaking Quarterly Review, Apr 2014.
* Held quarterly review. See the *quarterly review minutes and slides
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>*.
* *4 proposals for annual plan grants were submitted* by the 1 April
2014 deadline and reviewed by the community until 30 April.
=== Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee) ===
* *4 proposals
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2>*
for
annual plan grants are submitted by the 1 April 2014 deadline for
2013-2014 Round 2; reviewed by the community until 30 April:
o The Centre for Internet and Society, ~US$297,831 requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GWikimedia Foundation Report,
April 2014
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_May_1,_…>
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting
covering the month of April
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2014-05-01>
(May 1, 2014)
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center
o 3.2 New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites
o 3.3 New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 VisualEditor
o 4.2 Editor engagement
o 4.3 Mobile
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Online Fundraising
* 6 Grantmaking
o 6.1 Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee)
o 6.2 Project and Event Grants
+ 6.2.1 Grants funded in April 2014
+ 6.2.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.3 Travel and Participation Support
+ 6.3.1 Request awarded in April 2014
+ 6.3.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.4 Individual Engagement Grants
+ 6.4.1 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.5 Wikimania
o 6.6 Learning and Evaluation
+ 6.6.1 Program Evaluation
o 6.7 Wikipedia Education Program
+ 6.7.1 Global programs
+ 6.7.2 Arab world programs
+ 6.7.3 Communications
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 April Staff Changes
o 7.2 April Statistics
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal and Community Advocacy
o 9.1 LCA Report, April 2014
+ 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
* 10 Communications Report, April 2014
o 10.1 Major Announcements
o 10.2 Major Storylines through April
o 10.3 Other worthwhile reads
o 10.4 WMF Blog posts
o 10.5 Media Contact
o 10.6 Wikipedia Signpost
o 10.7 Communications Design
* 11 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
Global unique visitors for March:
*495 million* (+4.44% compared with February; -4.33% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release April data
later in May)
Page requests for April:
*20.697 billion* (-1.6% compared with March; -0.6% compared with the
previous year)
(Server log data
<http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>,
all Wikimedia Foundation content projects including mobile access,
but excluding Wikidata <https://www.wikidata.org> and the Wikipedia
main portal page <https://www.wikipedia.org/>.)
Active Registered Editors for March 2014 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*79,352* (+4.59% compared with February / -2.84% 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):
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_March_2014…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of March 31, 2014
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_March_201…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of March 31, 2014
(Financial information is only available through March 2014 at the time
of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date March 31, 2014.
Revenue 40,957,259
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group 12,358,813
Fundraising Group 2,989,855
Grantmaking Group 1,198,163
Programs Group 1,358,725
Grants 3,961,161
Governance Group 582,854
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group 2,831,941
Finance/HR/Admin Group 5,034,754
Total Expenses 30,316,266
Total surplus (10,640,993)
/in US dollars/
* Revenue for the month of March is $1.71MM versus plan of $0.01MM,
approximately $1.70MM or 29,215% over plan.
* Year-to-date revenue is $40.96MM versus plan of $45.05MM,
approximately $4.09MM or 9% under plan.
* Expenses for the month of March is $3.22MM versus plan of $4.57MM,
approximately $1.35MM or 30% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants, payment processing
fees, and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal fees and
outside contract services.
* Year-to-date expenses is $30.32MM versus plan of $36.37MM,
approximately $6.05MM or 17% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees,
payment processing fees, staff development expenses, grants and
travel expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services.
* Cash and Investments - $50.69MM as of March 31, 2014.
== Highlights ==
=== Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center ===
The Wikimedia Labs <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs> platform
enables volunteers to host software tools to support the community's
work, and to get involved in the technical operations of Wikimedia
servers. As part of the Foundation's ongoing work to reduce reliance on
the old data center in Tampa, Florida (USA), Labs was moved to the new
data center
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
in Ashburn, Virginia in April, completing several months of work by WMF
staff and by volunteers who operate Labs projects. Among the advantages
is the switch to a new file system (NFS) which is much more reliable
that the one used used for Labs in the old data center (GlusterFS, which
had caused most of the Labs failures and downtime in the preceding
months). Also, in the new data center, many Labs projects are now using
the internal Labs web proxy, which provides several benefits including
HTTPS access and increased user data privacy. The Toolserver, the
predecessor of the "Tool Labs" part of Wikimedia Labs, is planned to
shut down on June 30.
=== New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites ===
The Foundation's multimedia team released Media Viewer v0.2
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/About_Media_Viewer> on 14 pilot
sites in April, in preparation for a wider deployment
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Release_Plan> in May.
The overall response was favorable, and a growing majority of survey
respondents <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Survey>
was finding this new multimedia browser useful. The team also developed
a set of metrics dashboards
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv> to track how
often MediaViewer and its various features are used, and how fast it
performs over the Internet, as well as local metrics dashboards
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Metrics> for selected sites: first
results showed a decline in image load time
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#overall_network_perfor…>,
and suggest that Media Viewer loads faster
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#media_viewer_vs_file_p…>
than the old file description pages.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lila_Tretikov_16_April_2014_(1).jpg>
Lila Tretikov
=== New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maher,_Katherine_April_2014.jpg>
Katherine Maher
In April, preparations took place to welcome the Foundation's incoming
executive director Lila Tretikov
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:LilaTretikov>, who was announced on
May 1
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/05/01/wmf_announces_new_ed_lila_tretikov/>.
She will succeed Sue Gardner on June 1, who will move into a new role as
special adviser. Lila Tretikov was born in the Soviet Union and moved to
the United States as a teenager. She has been working for technology
companies, primarily in open source, in the San Francisco Bay Area for
the past 15 years, most recently at SugarCRM
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SugarCRM>.
Also in April, Katherine Maher was announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/katherine-maher-joins-foundation-chie…>
as the Foundation's new Chief Communications Officer.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for April 2014 can
be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2014/April
Department Highlights
Major news in April include:
* the change of format
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/mediawiki-localization-file-format-ch…>
of MediaWiki localization files from PHP to JSON, and the associated
modernization of the LocalisationUpdate extension
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/03/modernising-mediawikis-localisation-u…>;
* the move of Wikimedia Labs
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
to a new data center (see also general "Highlights" section
);
* the “Heartbleed” security vulnerability
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/wikimedias-response-to-the-heartbleed…>
and how the Wikimedia Foundation's team responded to it;
* an explanation of how the Mobile team uses Trello
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/agile-and-trello-the-planning-cycle/>
to plan their development sprints.
=== VisualEditor
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Portal>
===
In April, the VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> team
worked to improve the *stability* of the editor, adding some *new
features* and improving *usability* so that users can create and edit
pages more swiftly and intuitively with VisualEditor than before. When
users edit *templates*, only a few parameters are now shown at first
rather than all possible ones (some often-used templates like those for
citations or infoboxes can have dozens of parameters). It now also feels
more natural to set the *size of images*, and the *page settings* tool
includes the complete set of page options. The next version of the
*citation dialog* was tested and simplified; "suggested" parameters are
now always added, like "required" ones. Finally, a careful audit of all
Wikimedia wikis led to fixing broken *local community-written code*, to
ensure that VisualEditor runs on all of them.
The Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> team continued to fix
bugs and tweak code; Parsoid is the parsing program that works behind
the scenes of VisualEditor to convert wikitext to annotated HTML, and
vice versa. Two areas in particular received a lot of attention:
*templates encapsulation* and *link handling*. Template encapsulation
refers to how content generated by wiki templates is tagged as such, in
order for the post-editing wikitext to be consistent; this is
particularly important for templates that interact with tables. We fixed
many issues with how links are handled, notably image links and their
edge cases. In addition to bug fixes, we also improved Parsoid's
*performance*: some pages like /Barack Obama
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>/ should now parse 30% faster than
before. Last, April saw additional progress providing support for visual
editing of transclusion parameters.
=== Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> ===
This month, the Flow <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow> team focused on
behind-the-scenes changes to improve *moderation* and *history viewing*,
as well as implementing new JavaScript interface templates to make Flow
*more responsive* and *easier to add new features* onto. We released the
ability to *close and summarize topics*, which will allow users to
manage active discussions and end ones that have come to a resolution.
Flow is now the *default discussion tool* for many Beta Features
discussions on mediawiki.org, and the team is accepting requests to
enable Flow on more pages on that wiki to test complex multi-user
discussions.
The Growth <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth> team started to focus on a
new experimental area: *anonymous editor acquisition
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/anonymous_editor_acquisition>*. The team
prepared its first two experimental interface changes, aimed at asking
anonymous editors to register accounts
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Anonymous_editor_acquisition/Signup_invites>
(expected to be launched in early May). The team also will be conducting
basic research into the role anonymous editors play in Wikipedia − more
at Research:Anonymous phenomena
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_phenomena> and
Research:Anonymous editor acquisition
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_editor_acquisition>.
=== Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014-05-01_Mobile_Metrics.pdf?page=…>
Presentation slides on mobile usage (by the Analytics team, from the
monthly metrics meeting)
The Mobile Apps <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps> team continued
to work on the *rebooted Wikipedia App for Android and iOS*. The team
focused on bug fixes, editing refinements, and interface improvements.
Several issues related to keyboard, navigation bar, edit summary, and
abuse filter were fixed. The app now uses the newly-created Wikifont,
which reduced the size of the app and the number of images used Articles
should now look even closer to their mobile web counterparts.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_new_user_profile_page_gives_you…>
The new user profile page gives a quick summary of the user's edit history
The Mobile web <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_web_projects> team added
*history and contributions pages*, as well as an updated *watchlist*
view, for all users. We also released two new features geared toward
"humanizing" Wikipedia for readers and new editors: a prominent "last
modified" banner that indicates when articles haven't been edited in a
while and may need some attention, and a user profile feature to provide
a mobile-friendly snapshot of users' contributions and activity. For
*tablets*, we updated typography and layout and worked on adding the
ability to add and modify links via VisualEditor in beta, in preparation
for redirecting tablets to the mobile site later this quarter.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Zero_Update_Metrics_May_2…>
Presentation slides on Wikipedia Zero from the monthly metrics meeting
The Wikipedia Zero <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> team
continued to set up the *Partners portal* and work on graceful reduction
of *image quality*. We continued analytics work on data from the
*SMS/USSD pilot* program, and generated custom *pageview analyses* for
an operator to distinguish traffic by high level device access
characteristics.
Additionally, the team worked on the alpha version of the Android
Wikipedia app, as well as on the URL format for the forthcoming iOS
Wikipedia app to ensure pageview logging.
Mobile carrier IPKO joined the Wikipedia Zero program in *Kosovo*,
bringing us to a total of *28 partners in 26 countries*. We delivered
*68 million free page views* in April. We *visited South Africa* to meet
with MTN (current Wikipedia Zero partner), prospective partners, members
of Wikimedia South Africa and the Singenjongo High School. This trip was
part of a broader strategy to promote Wikipedia in our partners'
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and education initiatives,
increasing awareness and impact locally. We are identifying new
collaboration opportunities with MTN and local organizations, including
the Wikimedia chapter in South Africa and other mission-aligned
nonprofits. Additionally, we will continue to support the local
initiative created by Sinenjongo High School teachers and students.
== Fundraising ==
Department Highlights
* Members of the fundraising team responded to questions regarding the
WMF's FDC proposal on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…>.
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* The Foundations and Major Gifts Team raised *over $1 million* in April.
* Begun planning for a London *event for Wikimania sponsors*,
scheduled for June 25th.
=== Online Fundraising ===
* The online fundraising team ran *banner tests in the Netherlands and
Austria*. Approximately $700,000 USD was raised in April
(preliminary numbers as donations are still settling).
* The team prepared *translations* of fundraising messages into
multiple languages for upcoming international banner campaigns. If
you would like to help with the translation process, please get
involved <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wrants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre…>
o Wikimedia Foundation, No dollar amount requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimédia France, ~US$826,062 requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimedia Norge, ~US$432,060 requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
* *Progress reports* for 2013-2014 Round 1 Quarter 1
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Annual_plan_grant_progress_report_…>
were submitted by 30 April.
* WMDE and WMUK submitted *impact reports* for 2012-2013 Round 1:
o WMUK
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/WMUK/…>
o Wikimedia Deutschland
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/Wikim…>
* Results from *survey* on 2013-2014 Round 1 of the FDC process are
published (see [[#Learning and Evaluation|]] for more information).
* FDC members attend the *Wikimedia Conference* in Berlin, Germany and
offer an information session and a session to share feedback.
* WMDE, chapters, and other community members were invited to assess
*WMF's annual plan* as part of the proposal process.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Indaba_2014.jpeg>
Logo of the "Wiki Indaba" conference ("Under the Baobab")
=== Project and Event Grants ===
* *5 new members* joined the Grant Advisory Committee.
* *4 new requests* were funded and *4 reports* were accepted in April
2014.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_Catholic_church_of_municipali…>
A Roman Catholic church in the municipality of Loon which was destroyed
in the Bohol earthquake <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Bohol_earthquake>
less than three weeks after this photo was uploaded as part of Wiki
Loves Monuments Philippines
==== Grants funded in April 2014 ====
* Wiki-Indaba-2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_ZA/Wiki-Indaba-2014>:
To
support the first conference of Wikimedians across Africa to discuss
strategy, best practices, and promote community building.
* Wikipedia:Rintis
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Wiki-ID/Wikipedia:Rintis>: To
support
Wiki-ID to conduct a series of outreach workshops and edit-a-thons
in Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia.
* Wiki Loves Earth 2014 in Macedonia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Shared_Knowledge/Wiki_Loves_Earth_20…>:
To support the implementation of Wiki Loves Earth 2014 in Macedonia.
* Wiki Camp <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_AM/Wiki_Camp>:
To support a summer Wiki
Camp for active high school editors in Armenia.
==== Reports accepted in April 2014 ====
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Volontaires_-_Wikimedia_Stall_-_38t…>
Volunteers at the 38th International Kolkata Book Fair (said to be
Asia's largest book fair)
* Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 - Philippines
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_PH/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013>
* Turkic speaking wikimedians conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WikiBilim/Turkic_speaking_wikime…>
* Kolkata Book Fair 2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Jayanta_Nath_-_Kolkata_Wiki_Comm…>
* Wiki Loves Monuments international team
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_internation…>
=== Travel and Participation Support ===
* *1 new request* was funded and *2 reports* were accepted in April 2014.
* A worksprint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Build/Spring_2014_sprint>
has begun
to improve the program's pages and workflows. The aim of the sprint
is to *improve the applicant experience* based on learning
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Analysis> from the
program's first 2 years, making
it easier for more people to get involved. Dustin York joined the
sprint team in April as a temporary design contractor who hopes to
bring more joy to the program's interactions. The redesign sprint is
expected to run April - July.
==== Request awarded in April 2014 ====
* OpenStack Summit Atlanta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Ryan_lane/OpenStack_Summit_Atlan…>:
a request to
fund Ryan Lane’s representation of Wikimedia at the design summit in
order for OpenStack to continue giving Wikimedia’s software use and
interests continued consideration, especially with regard to the
future direction of the software. OpenStack is the base
infrastructure for Wikimedia Labs.
==== Reports accepted in April 2014 ====
* OSGEO Cluj <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Strainu/OSGEO_Cluj/Report>
* Free Minds free People and IDEC 2013
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Futureimperfect/_Free_Minds_free…>
=== Individual Engagement Grants ===
* We completed *eligibility checks* on round 1 2014 proposals, and 18
proposals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-join>
moved forward into a 2 weeks
comment period in which input was solicited from the community and
other stakeholders. The IEG committee is now scoring proposals,
according to a newly updated rubric
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Committee/Workroom#review-rubric>.
Committee
scores and qualitative feedback will be shared back on proposals in
early May, while WMF due diligence on recommended proposals begins.
* A worksprint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Build/March-June_2014_sprint…>
is underway
on *IdeaLab*, to make it easier to engage in this space. As of April
1, Jeph Paul <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeph_paul> joined the
sprint team as a short-term contractor, to build gadgets and other
tools for use in IdeaLab, other grantmaking spaces, and beyond. The
worksprint is expected to continue through July.
* In other individual grants news, 2 Arabic Wikipedians joined the
*Arabic pilot* team to serve as volunteer coordinators in the Arabic
Wikipedia Library
<https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/wp:%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF…>.
The Library build was completed in April from a kit on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Kit>, and
we're nearly ready to begin
processing Arabic Wikipedians' requests for books and journals.
Although we'd expected to launch the pilot program in April,
payments methods for the countries we aim to serve with this pilot
have been an ongoing challenge. We hope to have this resolved soon
and launch in early May instead.
* IEG program head Siko Bouterse is laying plans to *travel to Jordan*
in May as part of an Education Program Hackathon, in order to attend
a meet-up with Arabic Wikipedians to discuss the pilot and other
opportunities for supporting individual contributors through grants
and other resources.
==== Reports accepted in April 2014 ====
* Visual editor-gadgets compatibility - Midpoint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Visual_editor-_gadgets_compatibi…>
(blog post
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/22/visualeditor-gadgets/>)
* Women Scientists Workshop Development - Midpoint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Women_Scientists_Workshop_Develo…>
* What is about - C'est quoi. A series of communication tools about
Wikipedia. Cameroon pilot project - Midpoint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/What_is_about_-_C%27est_quoi._A_…>
=== Wikimania ===
* Wikimedia Mexico's proposal
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Mexico_City>
to host *Wikimania in 2015* has been accepted. The conference is
expected to be held in Mexico City in summer 2013.
* The Wikimania scholarships committee finished scoring the hundreds
of *scholarship* applications from Wikimedians hoping to attend
Wikimania in London in August 2014. The list of over 100 selected
scholars has been finalized and recipients will soon be notified.
=== Learning and Evaluation ===
* *Grantmaking Evaluation*:
o Overall Grantmaking: Held Quarterly Review on January - March
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>.
Key *focus areas*:
+ Increase support to individuals
+ Publish program evaluation reports
+ Optimize grantmaking requirements
+ Integrate new team
o Annual Plan Grants: Round 1 2013-14 *Process review* published
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_continuo…>.
o Pilot Experiment: Arabic Wikipedia Library
<https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/wp:%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF…>
(see IEG section)
* Grantmaking Operations:
o Fluxx <https://wmf.fluxx.io/>, the *grant management platform*,
was launched and new grant requests are being processed using it.
o Created a prototype to visualize the number of users from top 10
countries that contribute to target Wikipedias in the *Global
South*.
o IdeaLab sprint ongoing
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Build/March-June_2014_sprint…>
(see
IEG section)
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visualizing_Wikipedia_Communities_u…>
Slides of the "Visualizing Wikipedia Communities using Gephi" presentation
* *Capacity building*: Led several presentation at the *Wikimedia
Conference* in Berlin, including those listed below in Program
Evaluation, as well as:
o Presented at the WMF *Research&Data showcase* for April 2014
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Research_and_Data/Showcase#April_2…>
o "Ideas to Experiments
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/22>":
Session on
process of *ideas to solve problems*, and how to experiment with
them.
o "Your organization and hiring staff
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/10>":
talking
through current research on the *hiring of first employees*
within Wikimedia, as well as why a group should or should not
consider it
* External Grantmaking Outreach:
o Participated in *Network Evaluation Convening* at Packard
Foundation. Part of brainstorming group discussing preliminary
methods of evaluating networks of contributors funded through
grants.
o Participated in the *"Embrace Complexity" meeting*
<http://www.geofunders.org/events/upcoming-events/event/24>
hosted by GEO (Grantmakers for Effective Organizations)
* *Governance*
o With Legal, organized a workshop on *COI guidelines*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/12>
o With Legal, compiled research around *purchasing power* parity
and regulations around *transfering funds* into certain countries
* *Organizational effectiveness and development*
o Gave presentation at the Berlin *Wikimedia Conference* (see above)
o Launch of organizational *effectiveness survey* work alongside
members of WMF Board, some Wikimedia Chapters, and AffCom.
Survey on governance to be distributed in early May
o Final report delivered from consultancy TCC, working on
benchmarking the way *other organizations think about
organizational effectiveness* and design. Public report forthcoming.
==== Program Evaluation ====
In addition to participating with the full Learning and Evaluation team
in a *strategy session* related to our integration under Grantmaking,
the program evaluation and design team members:
* Completed, and posted, the *Wikipedia Education Program report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library/WEP>*
on Meta as the final
one in the Program Evaluation Reports beta series.
* Attended the *Wikimedia Conference* 2014 in Berlin and presented
pre-conference and conference sessions on program evaluation:
o A full-day
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News/Wikimedia_C…>
workshop facilitating dialogue about *evaluation fears and
hopes, roles and responsibilities*, and program leader
strategies as well as presenting content on the Stages and Types
of Program Evaluation (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stages_and_Types_of_Evaluation.pdf>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1CJE9lm3wkOUsWch_I06…>);
Theory of Change and Logic Models (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theory_of_Change_and_Logic_Models_-…>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1mOZvUjX6AACDX1x9gig…>),
and Data Sources (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_Sources_-_Gathering_Evidence_o…>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1yJiCFVCRtY0BZuI1jJD…>),
including a brief overview of Wikimetrics (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimetrics_Overview.pdf>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xfDMMvZjTkUVf4VS8t2zJaHqrf6T5NvU7Wj…>);
o A half-day
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News/Wikimedia_C…>
of pre-conference workshop sessions on program evaluation: first
a workshop on *designing effective questions* (workshop slides:
PDF <Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Designing_Effective_Questions.pdf>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1__RUpU0IHnqWnyyC6O8lDmwZ7xoRME8Co3e…>)
followed by a brainstorming session on the current metrics and gaps.
o Two Wikimedia Conference sessions: a presentation and
conversation session, titled *"How to measure blood, sweat, and
tears?"* (session documentation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/18>)
and a
demonstration session on evaluation data and tracking tools,
titled *"An Overview of tracking and reporting points and
Wikimetrics"*. (session documentation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/19>)
* Participated in reviewing the round II *annual plan grant proposals*
related to program evaluation strategy as well as the measures and
targets presented.
* Developed and added a *learning module* on Designing Effective
Questions
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Learning_modules…>
to the
learning modules library (this is an expanded version of the
workshop presentation)
* Hired Edward Galvez as staff in the position of *Program Evaluation
Associate*.
* Program Evaluation session slides from the Wikimedia Conference
*
Stages and Types of Evaluation.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stages_and_Types_of_Evaluation.pdf>
*
Theory of Change and Logic Models - The Logic Model as an Evaluation
Planning Tool.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theory_of_Change_and_Logic_Models_-…>
*
Data Sources - Gathering Evidence of your Program Story.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_Sources_-_Gathering_Evidence_o…>
*
Wikimetrics Overview.pdf <Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimetrics_Overview.pdf>
*
Designing Effective Questions.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Designing_Effective_Questions.pdf>
=== Wikipedia Education Program ===
* Floor Koudijs, *Global Education Program Manager*, transitioned from
contractor to employee of the Wikimedia Foundation.
==== Global programs ====
* The Wikipedia Education Program continues its support for the
*Education Cooperative
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Newsletter/March_2014/…>*,
a group of program leaders with experience in using Wikipedia in
education. Coop members, together with the Wikipedia Education
Program team, are currently working on four initial areas for the
Coop: Communications, Resources, Recognition and Mentoring.
* The Program team is establishing a *baseline of Wikipedia in
education initiatives* worldwide. The team is conducting a large
outreach effort to more than 60 programs worldwide that are using
Wikipedia in education. Currently, the outreach consists of
one-on-one talks with all program leaders to understand their
educational initiatives, activities, goals, and potential support needs.
* Rod Dunican, Director of the Wikipedia Education Program, traveled
to the *Wikimedia Conference* in Berlin to meet with several
educational program leaders who are interested and active in education.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cairo_4th_56.jpg>
Students celebrate their contributions to the Arabic Wikipedia on April
27, 2014 at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt
==== Arab world programs ====
* Tighe Flanagan, Wikipedia Education Program Manger for the Arab
world, conducted a working visit to *King Saud University* in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, emphasizing a need to move student translation
work online.
* Dr. Mohammed Alghbban, Regional Ambassador for the Wikipedia
Education Program in Saudi Arabia, organized a meeting with Dr.
Mansour M. Alghamdi, head of digital content and publishing
<http://publications.kacst.edu.sa/> at the *King Abdulaziz City for
Science and Technology*, to see how they can support local efforts
for Arabic content on Wikipedia.
* Led by Samir Sharbaty, students and professors put on a *celebration
conference* for the Wikipedia Education Program in Egypt hosted by
Ain Shams University on April 27, celebrating 7.3 million bytes of
new Arabic content from 98 students. See photos on Commons
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Fourth_Celebration_Conference,_…>.
* WEP Ambassadors are actively working to get a version of the
*Wikipedia Training
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Training>* up on Arabic
Wikipedia,
as well as continuing to improve the usage of the *education
extension <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ar:Special:Courses:>* to track
courses and student activity.
* A new *mailing list* was created to discuss ideas and coordinate
efforts around Wikipedia and education in Saudi Arabia
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education-sa>.
==== Communications ====
* Sage Ross posted an update on recent improvements to the *course
page system*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/technical_updat…>.
* The Education Coop sent out the April 2014 edition
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/April_2014> of
the This Month in Education *newsletter*.
== Human Resources ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:May_2014_WMF_HR_Metrics_Slides.pdf>
HR presentation slides from the May 1 metrics meeting
April continued to be about supporting the *ED and VPE searches*, as
well as the *annual plan* and staff planning. We also *on-boarded* nine
FT staff, and are working now on over six for May. We launched the next
round of the WikiLead program for *leadership development*, including a
three-day training offsite. We continued to work on *staff handbook*
edits, to reduce the legal speak and increase the core, cultural
aspects. The team began the prep work for the annual staff *performance
reviews*, which will take place in June. The team is also excitedly
wrapping up recruiting for our *Benefits and Wellness Coordinator* and
the *Recruiting Coordinator*, with ongoing recruiting for the
*Recruiting Manager*. And of course, ongoing work around benefits and
immigration.
=== April Staff Changes ===
New Requisitions Filled
* Katherine Maher (Communications)
* Dmitry Brant (Engineering)
* Danny Horn (Engineering)
* Giuseppe Lavagetto (Engineering)
* Sarah Rodlund (F&A)
Conversions (Contractor to Requisition)
* Edward Galvez (Grants)
* Floor Koudjis (Grants)
* Patrick Earley (LCA)
Requisition Department Changes
* (none)
Requisition Departures
* Kenan Wang (Engineering)
* Sara Lasner (Fundraising)
* Ingrid Flores (Grants)
New Interns
* (none)
New Contractors
* Jeph Alapat (Grants)
* Dustin York (Grants)
Contracts Ended
* Ryan Lane
* Donna Peterson
=== April Statistics ===
Total Requisitions Filled
April Actual: 168 (was 163)
April Total Plan: 187
April Filled: 8, Month Attrition: 3,
FYTD Filled: 49, FYTD Attrition: 26
Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end
28 → reflects 4 total out of plan req#s 193-196 (for finance)
== Finance and Administration ==
* Funds being held in the *short term reserve fund* total $21.4
million. Estimated annual income on the short term reserve fund is
$756,045 or 3.5% per year gross of fees.
* An RFP for *investment advisory services* will be released in May.
* WMF has signed a contract with the HUB (a *coworking space*) to
provide staff, based in New York, London and other locations, as an
option for a space outside of their home to work, meet and collaborate.
== Legal and Community Advocacy ==
=== LCA Report, April 2014 ===
Throughout April LCA continued its support of the Wikimedia projects
through ongoing *litigation and community support*.
* Michelle, Yana, Stephen, and Luis attended the *Wikimedia
Conference* in Berlin
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014> to discuss
topics surrounding COIs, trademarks, movement roles, advocacy and
privacy.
* Michelle published a blog
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/25/what-when-someone-asks-your-informatio…>
announcing the release of our *Requests for User Information
Guidelines and Procedures
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Requests_for_user_information_procedur…>*.
These guidelines inform third parties who seek our users' nonpublic
information of the stringent requirements they must meet before the
Wikimedia Foundation will consider releasing any user's nonpublic
information. It's worth noting that most organizations refer to
these kinds of guidelines as "law enforcement guidelines". However,
our guidelines are broader -- they are directed not just at law
enforcement, but any third party who attempts to compel user
information from the Foundation, so our process and requirements are
transparent and consistent for all.
* Our deputy legal counsel, *Luis Villa*, was also featured in a
Wikimedia blog post ("Luis Villa: I wanted to be an internet lawyer
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/16/luis-villa-i-wanted-to-be-an-internet…>")
that highlighted his substantial internet experience.
==== Contract Metrics ====
* Submitted : 34
* Completed : 36
==== Trademark Metrics ====
* Submitted : 14
* Approved: 1
* Pending : 6
* Denied: 2
* Approval not needed : 5
==== Domains Obtained ====
wikipedia.expert, wiki-pedia.net, wikimedia.community,
wikipedia.community, wiktionary.community, wikiversity.community,
wikipedia.community, wikimediacommons.community, wikinews.community,
wikisource.community, wiki.community, wiki-pedia.org, wekipedia.com,
wikkipedia.org, wikimediacommons.uk, wikimediauk.uk
==== Coming & Going ====
* *Anna Koval* left the LCA team to join the Wikipedia Education
Program team.
* *Patrick Earley* transitioned from the Community Liaison team to
Community Advocacy.
==== Other Activities ====
* Manprit Brar, a fellow in the legal team, published a blog post
entitled *Supporting innovation beyond the traditional IP regime:
Using Wikipedia as a model
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/11/supporting-innovation-beyond-the-tradi…>*.
This blog post highlighted the ideas discussed during Yale's
Innovation Law Beyond IP conference, which Manprit attended, and how
Wikimedia projects already incorporate some of those ideas successfully.
== Communications Report, April 2014 ==
April started with the *Belfer Center* still in the news, as Sue issued
a statement on April 1st addressing concerns about this 2012 program. On
April 10th, WMF responded to the OpenSSL *Heartbleed* vulnerability with
a statement on the blog that was translated into 19 different languages
by volunteers with the support of the Communications team. The sudden
death of Wikipedian *Adrianne Wadewitz* on April on 8th after a climbing
accident was covered extensively by the media, with obituaries appearing
in the New York Times and the Sydney Morning Herald, among others.
Katherine Maher, the *new Chief Communications Officer*, started on
April 14th. The Foundation *hosted a camera crew* from CBS National News
to film b-roll for a future segment on Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia, and the
movement. We supported the *community review of the 2013/14 round 2 FDC
proposals* with banner messages on all projects that were translated by
volunteers into over 50 languages, and assisted the Fundraising
department in organizing responses to questions about the *Foundation's
own FDC proposal*. The team spent significant time preparing
communications documents for the May 1st announcement of the new
*incoming executive director*, Lila Tretikov.
=== Major Announcements ===
No major announcements in April.
=== Major Storylines through April ===
Adrianne Wadewitz
Adrianne Wadewitz, 37, prolific Wikipedia editor, dies after rock
climbing accident.
The New York Times (19 April, 2014). [1]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/business/media/adrianne-wadewitz-37-wikip…>
BuzzFeed (21 April, 2014). [2]
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/prolific-wikipedia-editor-adrianne-wadewitz-di…>
Washington Post (25 April, 2014). [3]
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/adrianne-wadewitz-wikipedia-contribu…>
Hillsborough vandalism
Wikipedia edits (vandalism) performed from U.K. government computers.
Daily Mail (24 April, 2014). [4]
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2612727/Hillsborough-slur…>
The Huffington Post - United Kingdom (25 April, 2014). [5]
<http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/24/hillsborough-disaster-wikipedia-…>
BBC (25 April, 2014) [6] <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27165732>
The Telegraph (26 April, 2014). [7]
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/10790012/Wikipedia-edits-pe…>
Bitcoin
Jimmy Wales reveals he is “cautious” about accepting Bitcoin donations.
CoinDesk (14 April, 2014). [8]
<http://www.coindesk.com/jimmy-wales-reveals-wikimedia-cautious-accepting-bi…>
PFhub (14 April, 2014). [9]
<http://www.pfhub.com/wikimedias-jimmy-wales-reveals-he-is-cautious-about-bi…>
CoinReport (14 April, 2014) [10]
<https://coinreport.net/jimmy-wales-bitcoin-drive-back-cautious/>
Heartbleed security bug
The Heartbleed bug made headlines when it affected many top websites
including Wikipedia.
International Business Times (28 April, 2014). [11]
<http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/549813/20140428/heartbleed-bug-vulnerability…>
RedOrbit (30 April, 2014). [12]
<http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1113134201/security-patches-not-eno…>
=== Other worthwhile reads ===
Wikipedia seems more useful at tracking flu trends than Google.
BusinessWeek (17 April, 2014) [13]
<http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-17/the-flu-tricked-google-dot-…>
Yahoo (17 April, 2014) [14]
<https://news.yahoo.com/big-data-flu-wikipedia-track-influenza-215029183.html>
Popular Mechanics (17 April, 2014) [15]
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/wikipedia-searches-…>
=== WMF Blog posts ===
Blog.wikimedia.org published 27 posts in April 2014
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/4/>. Four posts were multilingual
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/>, with translations
in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Ukranian, Dutch, Asturian,
German, Indonesian, Russian, Hungarian, Malay, Tamil, Japanese, Korean,
Czech, Chinese, Catalan and Odia.
Some highlights from the blog include:
*Wikimedia’s response to the Heartbleed security vulnerability
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/wikimedias-response-to-the-heartbleed…>*
(April 10, 2014).
*Katherine Maher joins the Wikimedia Foundation as Chief
Communications Officer
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/katherine-maher-joins-foundation-chie…>*
(April 15, 2014)
*Luis Villa: I wanted to be an internet lawyer
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/16/luis-villa-i-wanted-to-be-an-internet…>*
(April 16, 2014).
*What happens when someone asks us for your information?
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/25/what-when-someone-asks-your-informati…>*
(WMF releases the Requests for User Information Procedures
Guidelines) (April 25, 2014).
*Are you the next Wikipedia visiting scholar?
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/25/are-you-the-next-wikipedia-visiting-s…>*
(April 25, 2014).
=== Media Contact ===
Media contact through April 2014: wmf:Press room/Media Contact#April
2014 <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#April_2014>
=== Wikipedia Signpost ===
For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the
community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for April 2014:
* Volume 10, Issue 13
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
02 April 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 14
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
09 April 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 15
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
23 April 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 16
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
30 April 2014
=== Communications Design ===
We began work with a contractor to redesign the *Travel and
Participation Support application* experience with Grantmaking. We also
created a new gadget for Meta-wiki to make it easier for people to
endorse *learning patterns, ideas and grant projects*.
We are redesigning the *Wikipedia Zero* landing page for more focus and
a clear message - to coincide with an upcoming petition.
Communications, Design and Legal are preparing for a community
discussion around new *visual links* for all of the projects.
== Visitors and Guests ==
Visitors and guests to the WMF office in April 2014:
1. Elizabeth Crampton (ReachOut)
2. Christine Cavanaugh (CCSC Inc.)
3. Marieke Spence (TCC Group)
4. Julie Simpson (TCC Group)
5. Tom Hehir (CCSC Inc.)
6. Toni Maraviglia (Eneza)
7. Camille Preston (Aim Leadership)
8. Roger Gu (Coinbase)
9. Adam White (Coinbase)
10. Wilson Fang (Sari.PH)
11. Ibrahim Bernardo (Sari.PH)
12. Owen Davis (Wikia Inc.)
13. Mike Schwartz (Wikia Inc.)
14. Elie Chidiak (Brazilian State Government)
15. Jean Paul Brzezinski (Brazilian State Government)
16. Bryan Van Dyk (Getty Images)
17. David Browning (CBS News)
18. Jonathan Schienberg (CBS News)
19. Simon Phipps (TIS Bolzano)
20. Patrick Ohivewein (TIS Bolzano)
21. Sandy Kirchlechner (TIS Bolzano)
22. Cecilia Doliana (TIS Bolzano)
23. Daniela Di Iulio (TIS Bolzano)
24. Lucia Granziol (TIS Bolzano)
25. Giorgia Pallaro (TIS Bolzano)
26. Eaven Horter (JP Morgan)
27. Dan Ohgi (JP Morgan)
28. Rich Slinn (JP Morgan)
29. Alexis Rossi (Internet Archive)
30. Aalok Patel (Lever)
31. Sarah Nahm (Lever)
32. Wayne Mackintosh (OER Foundation)
33. Katherine Kuhns (SVIC)
34. Lisa Jacobs (SF Law)
35. Didem Ersoz (Mozilla)
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
_______________________________________________
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WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l
Hi all,
It is with great pleasure that I can announce that the Affiliations
Committee has selected Greg Varnum as its vice chair for the next year.
He ran on a platform of helping the committee improve communication with
the WMF Board (and other stakeholders) and shifting the committee's work
toward a more active capacity building role.
You can learn more about Greg at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Members#Current_memb…
down).
The appointing resolution has been posted at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Vice_Cha…
Best regards,
Bence Damokos,
Affiliations Committee
@WikimediaAffCom
Is the following a full statement of Wikipedia's Child Protection
Policy, reflecting all responsibilities that the Wikipedia community
and the Wikimedia Foundation have taken on to protect children in all
of the projects they are involved with and/or sponsor?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Child_protection
Are there any other *published* policies of WP or the WMF pertaining
to child protection that I might have missed?
I know that this is a very politically charged issue in the WP
community. I'd appreciate a high light:heat ratio if anyone has
comments beyond links to current policy statements.
Thanks!
,Wil
I will say, in Lila's defense, that I've been impressed with what I've seen of her in public. (:
However, Wil, I agree with points others have made. I'm concerned that you're going to create drama with what you're doing here, and make Lila's and WMF's jobs more complicated. I am assuming good faith that you are well-intentioned, but I am worried, not so much for your sake but for the community's, Lila's, and WMF's.
I would like to show you some options for places where the style of conversation you are using would be a better fit, where you can ask questions and have discussions, and which are less politically sensitive than this list is. Of course you are welcome on this list if you have cross-wiki suggestions or can't get questions answered elsewhere, and I respect your right to free speech, but I would ask you to consider these suggestions.
On English Wikipedia, you will find friendly and helpful people at our Teahouse. [1] For questions and realtime help you can also visit #wikipedia-en-help on Freenode IRC.
If you want to get to know Wikipedians, I suggest that you join local volunteer meetups such Wiknic if there is one in your area. In those circumstances most people are happy to socialize. [2] If you are able to attend WikiConference USA in New York, I think you would enjoy it. [3]
If you want to have electronic conversations that are more chatty and less formal than the discussions on this list, I suggest IRC. #wikipedia-en is a high profile channel and many of the questions that you asked here could be discussed in there. And as I said above, for realtime help you can visit #wikipedia-en-help. However, I ask as a personal favor that you don't have conversations in #wikimedia-office which is the main WMF channel. I can't stop you from talking there any more than I can take away your free speech rights, but I think any communications in there from you would create more complications.
I feel it's ok for you or any Wikipedian in good standing to talk on WO if they want, but engaging in semi-official diplomacy is a very different matter, if that's what you're doing (I haven't checked your edits and I don't want to). There may come a time when you have the community's trust and can act in
high-profile ways with the support of the community, but at the moment the discussion on this email list tells me that your actions are creating complications to the start of Lila's tenure in ways that have me worried. To use an analogy, imagine Michelle Obama saying in public that her personal opinion is that Barack Obama should have diplomatic talks with <insert hostile country here> or revoke <insert executive order here>, or that she personally has been conducting outreach to <insert hostile country here> without going through the State Department. That would create complications for Barack Obama and lots of other people, even though Michelle has a right to communicate her views.
I am available to answer questions if you have any for me. You can ask on my Meta talk page, on my English Wikipedia talk page, through email, or set up a time to meet me on IRC or Skype. I'm sure other participants in this discussion would also be willing to talk with you in places other than this list.
If I have misunderstood your position please correct me. I appreciate your interest in Wikipedia and I hope you will be a net positive to the community. (:
Pine
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wicnik
[3] http://wikiconferenceusa.org/wiki/Main_Page
Just joined this list and not sure my 1st message got through
This is to let everybody know that the
Fund Dissemination Committee Advisory Group
aka the FDC AG
will be meeting Sunday thru Monday
The purpose is to review the set up and operations of the
Funds Dissemination Committee and give a recommendation on this
to the Executive Director (as mandated by the resolution creating the FDC)
see our page on meta
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/FDC_Advisory_…
and feel free to send info, opinions etc. to that talk page.
If all the similar abbreviations above confuse you, the idea is this:
we'd like to know what you think about the FDC, the committee set up
by the board 2 years ago to recommend sending funds to
chapters and groups. And what should be the future of that
committee.
The second committee (the FDC AG) will discuss your
ideas and make a recommendation to the ED.
Wil Sinclair wrote:
>
> I personally care more about the message than the messenger
If only more people thought that way! Sometimes I feel like I have to
explain things to people like they were five because I confused them
with technical topics several years ago. People tell me to shut up all
the time, and often for the flimsiest of reasons. Like on the
advocacy_advisors list it turns out I was "moderated" because I was
supposedly off topic, but the moderator who took that unilateral
action won't tell me which posts were off topic or how to appeal, and
supposedly all of my posts there are going to be evaluated on a
case-by-case basis for topicality and those deemed topical will be
allowed. Even though both of those held for moderation since this
happened haven't been posted, and there have been no reasons offered
as to why they were not on topic.
Back before 2007, it seemed like there was going to be a never-ending
growth of editors, but when that turned into a slow decline, none of
the Foundation's strategic policy objectives changed. So now we are
still trying like mad to get the rights to copy marginally free works
that very few people have any interest in, but not lifting a finger to
help the typical potential editor, for whom life just keeps getting
worse in the current political climate. The Foundation has a lot of
resources and a lot of smart people, and I won't re-hash the list of
my suggestions now, but soon my associates and I will be able to use
the algorithms in http://arxiv.org/pdf/1202.0500v1.pdf to perform an
independent and transparent community support survey of updated
strategic objectives in support of community health.
Maybe the German Chapter's apparent refocus on supporting editors will help.
How about a race: Foundation staff verses community volunteers, to be
the first to perform a comprehensive editor support strategy survey?
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