Hi
I started writing some common thoughts on WMF fundraising, particularly the
whole notion of advertising. I've always thought of evaluating WMF as just
another advertiser that uses banners. I started this essay on Meta[1].
We certainly claim to be free from advertisement. How about we consider for
a moment that WMF is our biggest client - utilizing banners on every
project in any country, at any time, for as long as it wants -
hypotheticals mostly ;). What standards would we hold ourselves up to? The
truth, verifiability and neutrality of Wikipedia, or standards spurious
enough to be brought in front of a judge for false and misleading
advertisement.
Sponsors and advertisers, even agencies, do hold themselves up to certain
standards in terms of their messaging. There are boundaries and legalities
that ad campaigns tend to blur but they are open to be challenged in a
court. What about those standards for our banners - Do we lie, mislead, do
we make emotionally manipulative asks and form narratives that are really
not connected with what we do. From establishing urgency through "urgent
appeal from our founder", to stating that the funds are "needed" to keep
wikipedia online, to all those fuzzy, warm donor stories from India and the
developing world. In fact, there is a trend to use narratives from the east
and developing countries, to make a personal ask accompanying pictures -
making it all emotionally impactful. (If you look at fundraising by region
- India, South Africa, make up around 5-10% of the revenues. So basically,
it is about selling emotional narratives from developing countries to more
affluent countries.)
How about we compare ourselves to the leaders of banner based ads. The
spammers of the world, those peddling porn, viagra and gambling sites would
be the king of banner clickthroughs, no? The biggest experts at banner
design, placement and messaging. Would their teams be solely focused on
data and making incremental changes to maximize their revenue - does the
underlying message/product matter to them? does it matter to us? I wonder
if they A/B test everything too.
Anyway, some thoughts to ponder over the weekend for me. I say all that
without focusing on anyone and realizing well, that there have been a lot
of changes in leadership during this time. But I see the fundraising
campaign itself, as if it is on a rail track headed one-way faster and
faster - to what end I wonder.
Regards
Theo
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_as_an_advertiser
Dear Wikimedia friends,
We have just published our report of the Program and Engagement
Coordination for the Wikimedia Conference. It covers the first six
months of our experiment. (Spoiler: We consider this experiment a
success.)
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_DE/Wikimedia_Conference_2015/…
With this report – as well as the two previous ones – we share our
experiences and learnings in a quite extensive manner so that people
can learn from and build upon it. Besides these reports, we also
strive to share our learnings in presentations, talks or personal
conversations. We appreciate any feedback or recommendation regarding
the Program and Engagement Coordination, because we strongly believe
in the power of being learning partners in the movement.
Happy reading!
Nicole & Cornelius
For the timeline of the 2016 conference, please see here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2016
--
Nicole Ebber
Referentin Internationale Beziehungen
Adviser to the ED, International Relations
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 26-0 | http://wikimedia.de
Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch an der Menge allen
Wissens frei teilhaben kann. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
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.
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Hi everybody,
You may have seen the blog post
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/05/join-wikinobel-2015/> already, but
I'd like to remind you that the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced
tomorrow, and like last year, Wikimedia Norge and the Nobel Peace Center
are hosting an editathon as the prize is announced, aiming to update
Wikipedias in various languages as soon as possible, and provide sources
about the winner(s).
We will meet in the Nobel Peace Center at 10:00 local time (09:00 UTC), and
the prize will be announced one hour later. Like last year, we will use the
IRC channel #wikinobel (webchat link <https://webchat.freenode.net/>), and
will also tweet from the event using the hashtag #wikinobel
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/wikinobel> (also on Instagram at #wikinobel
<https://instagram.com/explore/tags/wikinobel/>).
Please join us, and feel free to spread this message to your local
community.
--
mvh
Jon Harald Søby <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jon_Harald_S%C3%B8by>
Hello, Wikimedians!
I want to share with you that the community review period for the Annual
Plan Grants (APG) program is underway for eleven proposals. These
organizations are requesting unrestricted funding to support their annual
plans, including both programmatic and operational costs. These requests in
Round 1 total roughly US$4.2 million, out of US$6 million available in both
rounds this year. In mid-November, Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), [1]
a volunteer committee made up of members of the Wikimedia community, will
convene. They will meet in San Francisco to discuss these proposals in
detail and make a recommendation to the WMF Board of Trustees on use of
these funds.
>From now until 30 October, we invite everyone to review the proposals, and
to provide thoughts and ask questions on the discussion pages of the
proposals. You can begin your exploration of the proposals on the community
review landing page here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016_round1/Commu….
About community review: Annual plan grant proposals are submitted to the
FDC on 1 October. That is followed by a 30-day open comment period. During
this community review, all are invited to provide input on and ask
questions about specific proposals on the discussion pages of the proposal
forms. Applicants are also asked to respond to input and questions during
this period, although they are not able to change the proposal form itself
after the submission date.
The FDC follows the discussion pages of the proposals in preparation for
their deliberations in November. These questions, comments and responses
are an input to their collaborative decision-making process. While anyone
can comment on proposals after the open comment period closes on 30
October, the FDC may not be able to take comments made after this period
into consideration when making its decisions about funding.
How to join in the review: Please visit the community review page [2] to
view the proposals being considered and follow the instructions on that
page. The proposals are only available in English, but your comments on the
discussion pages do not need to be in English.
Why your feedback matters: We hope that this open comment period will add
to an in-depth and robust review of each proposal. The community review
process also helps make our grantmaking transparent and collaborative. The
FDC and the WMF staff value feedback and insights from the Wikimedia
community in making its funding recommendations.
You can find more information about the APG program, the FDC or the
upcoming milestones on our portal. [3] Please let us know if you have any
questions, concerns, or feedback about the process. You can reach the FDC
support staff can be reached at FDCsupport(a)wikimedia.org
Warm regards,
Katy Love
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_Dissemination_Committee
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016_round1/Commu…
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Information
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All,
I want to share an update about the WMF’s product leadership. As of today,
Wes Moran has stepped into the role of Vice President of Product. In this
role, he’ll oversee the Foundation’s product across all audience verticals,
reporting to me. Please join me in welcoming Wes into this new role.
Wes has more than 17 years of experience in product design and development,
with expertise in open source communities, user-centered design,
interaction design, user experience, user research and testing, product
management, and more. Since joining the Foundation, he led the
newly-created Discovery team to focus on user needs, transparency, and
accountability, and worked closely with our colleagues at Wikimedia
Deutschland on key projects such as Wikidata. He has been an invaluable
resource as we have continued to recruit for a Chief Technology Officer,
working with Terry and myself to cover critical leadership responsibilities.
With this change, Tomasz Finc, Katie Horn, Toby Negrin, and Trevor Parscal
will report to Wes. Tomasz will now lead the Discovery team. Tomasz has
been Director of Discovery and helped build and lead development of this
new team. He has served in many leadership capacities over his 7 years here
at the foundation and joined us from Amazon where he worked with the A9
search team. Please join me in congratulating Wes and Tomasz.
~~~~Lila
Hi everyone,
Pleased to e-meet you. I’m Mikayla Lynch, associate manager at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and founder of the Guggenheim Wikipedia Initiative. I’m writing to formally invite you to the Guggenheim Museum for our upcoming Wikipedia editathon—or, #guggathon—a day of Wikipedia editing, and public programming dedicated to creating, updating, and improving articles related women in architecture. The Guggenheim, in collaboration with the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, Harvard’s Women in Design, and WikiD: Women Wikipedia Design, is hosting a daylong editathon at the Guggenheim that will include programming, an editing training, and an architectural tour of the museum. All are invited, with no specialized knowledge of the subject or Wikipedia editing experience required. Please bring your laptop and power cord; we will provide research resources, WiFi, and a list of suggested topics on hand.
For more information about the #guggathon, please visit guggenheim.org/guggathon<http://guggenheim.org/guggathon> or follow #guggathon on Twitter.
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2015
Time: 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST
Location: 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY
Sackler Center, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
NYC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Women_in_Architecture
Global: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Women_in_Architecture
If you can’t join in person, find a local chapter<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Women_in_Architecture> or sign up remotely and join the global virtual efforts<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NYC/Women_in_Architecture#Re…> along with our partners, Women in Red<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Women_in_Red/3>.
Warmly,
Mikayla
Mikayla Lynch
Associate Manager, Foundation
Global Communications
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
345 Hudson Street, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10014
o: 212-360-4270
Hi all,
We've just published "#FREEBASSEL: Free culture advocate who built 3D
renderings of Palmyra missing in Syria
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/08/bassel-missing-syria/>" to the
Wikimedia blog.
In short, Bassel Khartabil, an open-source advocate who has been imprisoned
in Syria for three years, was moved to an undisclosed location last
weekend. His friends and family fear for his safety.
I'd like to ask the people on these lists to get the word out on social
media (please retweet this ASAP
<https://twitter.com/Wikipedia/status/652164523671990272>) and/or translate
the post. Any languages are welcome.
Thanks, everyone.
--
Ed Erhart
Editorial Associate
Wikimedia Foundation
All,
The University of Edinburgh has today started advertising for a part time
Wikimedian in Residence post:
http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/AMB999/wikimedian-in-residence-fixed-term-part-ti…
To quote from it directly:
Do you have an eye for detail and a love of facts? Are you an experienced
> Wikimedian with experience working with the Wikimedia community? What would
> you do to engage our staff and students in editing, contributing and
> sharing open knowledge? We are recruiting a Wikimedian in Residence to work
> in Information Services alongside our learning technologists, archivists,
> librarians and information literacy teams. Following our first successful
> editathon events we now need your help to establish a network of
> Wikimedians on campus and to embed digital skills and open knowledge
> activities in learning and teaching across the University.
>
I will also send this to the UK list, but I know many Scottish Wikimedians
don't follow that list as closely as Wikimedia-l :-)
Good luck to those who apply - any questions will have to go to the
University directly, as they're running the recruitment process themselves.
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
Just a reminder that WikiConference USA will be from October 9-11, in
Washington DC at the National Archives.
The main McGowan theater sessions will be live streamed via YouTube. If all
goes well, we'll have the other sessions recorded for release later.
Schedule: http://wikiconferenceusa.org/wiki/2015/Schedule
-Andrew
Jan,
It's has been wonderful working with you. Thank you for your commitment and
your hard work over the last few years.
Best of luck with your new endeavors and do stay in touch,
Vänliga hälsningar,
Jessica
On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 1:00 PM, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
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> 1. Re: I'll be moving on (aude)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 8 Oct 2015 06:24:05 -0400
> From: aude <aude.wiki(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] I'll be moving on
> Message-ID:
> <CAE4hJ8ex5d1LBtOEO8wTSDE2N2Bq63Wgzx2BnBP2FYy0T=
> Gd1Q(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 4:22 AM, Jan Ainali <jan.ainali(a)wikimedia.se>
> wrote:
>
> > All,
> >
> > For the last three years I have been the Executive Director for Wikimedia
> > Sverige. Before that I have been Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary of the
> > board (at different times) and have been involved since the founding of
> the
> > chapter in 2007. It is perhaps even an understatement to say that the
> > chapter has been a big part of my life. I have had the opportunity to be
> > part of a fantastic journey from starting the first chapter’s activities
> to
> > today, with stable strategic activities, seven people in the office, and
> a
> > diversified board. It has been an awesome time in my life and I have met
> > and worked with some truly wonderful persons along the way, and I am
> > thankful to all of you that have made it so inspiring. But now, as my
> > contract is about to come to an end, I feel that it is time for me to
> move
> > on to new endeavours. I am confident that the chapter is already in good
> > hands, with a professional board and an office with experienced staff
> > members and functional processes, but I’ll be around until at least the
> > beginning of January to make it a smooth transition.
> >
> > I will obviously always be a wikimedian at heart and probably pick up on
> my
> > editing again and I will also stay subscribed to most mailing lists. If
> not
> > earlier, I’ll see you in Esino Lario.
> >
>
> Huge thanks for everything you have done to help grow the chapter and
> provide leadership!
>
> I am very impressed and inspired by all the great stuff Wikimedia Sverige
> has been doing, including Wikidata-related (e.g. the menu challenge and
> visualiztion challenge) and GLAM initatives.
>
> I am sure the chapter will do just fine with new leadership, and would be
> great to have you back as a community person. :)
>
> (PS. and was cool to visit on Monday and see the office. even more
> impressed now and appreciate being welcomed there)
>
> Cheers,
> Katie
>
>
>
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > *Jan Ainali*
> > Executive director, Wikimedia Sverige <http://wikimedia.se>
> >
> >
> >
> > *Tänk dig en värld där varje människa har fri tillgång till
> mänsklighetens
> > samlade kunskap. Det är det vi gör.*
> > Bli medlem. <http://blimedlem.wikimedia.se>
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
> --
> @wikimediadc / @wikidata
>
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> End of Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 139, Issue 29
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Jessica Robell
Sr. Global Campaign Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate.
<https://donate.wikimedia.org/>*