Wikimedia-l February 2015

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

134 participants
107 discussions

Board of Trustee elections
by Itzik - Wikimedia Israel 29 Apr '15

29 Apr '15

Hey, Don't worry, we indeed have a lot of time till the next elections, but as this issue had been raised during the last elections - and we decided that we can't change the rules few weeks before the elections, now I want to raise the discussion enough time before. According to the current rules [1], in order to influence and vote in the elections, you need to be active editor, developer or WMF staff/contractor. Last year this issue concern some of us. The foundation is not small organizations as it been before, and by comparison, the number of people participating in the elections every year is not high. For example, last elections there were 1809 valid votes. By comparison, the number of WMF staff this days is 218, what makes there voting power 12% of the total voters last year. This consider to be a great amount of power when we are talking about elections (In the last election you would have around 650 votes in order to be elected...) Wikimedia thematic organizations staff and contractors for example don't have the same privilege to vote only because they are employees of the movement, only if they are editors as well. The question - what make the WMF staff different, and if this is not a little bit problematic that the staff have such power to decide on their direct board, but in general - the board of the whole movement. Do we need to give the same privilege also to all the staff in our movement? Should we limited the elections to staff (both WMF and chapters) that are active editors or developers as additional to their work in the movement? I'll be happy to hear yours input. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2013/Vote_Qu… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2013/Results *Regards,Itzik Edri* Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel +972-(0)-54-5878078 | http://www.wikimedia.org.il Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment!

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Timothy Sandole and (apparently) $53, 690 of WMF funding
by Fæ 30 Mar '15

30 Mar '15

Re: http://twkozlowski.net/the-pot-and-the-kettle-the-wikimedia-way/ Two questions: 1. Where can I find a response from either the WMF board or WMF funding/finance to the criticisms of a lack of transparency or the apparent failure of the project to deliver value for the donor's money as raised in this blog post? 2. Where can I read an officially recognized report for the outcomes of this project in terms of value for Wikimedia projects? Obviously we do not want to rely on second-hand analysis when reports to the WMF are a requirement for such projects. Thanks, Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

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Most obnoxious banner yet
by David Gerard 21 Mar '15

21 Mar '15

Really. Who thought it was a good idea to MAKE THE BANNER FOLLOW YOU DOWN THE PAGE? There must be an identifiable person who actually said "yes, this is a good decision, I shall make this decision." - d.

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Data privacy, encrypted links and recent change captures
by John Vandenberg 10 Mar '15

10 Mar '15

We know NSA wants Wikipedia data, as Wikipedia is listed in one of the NSA slides: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KS8-001.jpg That slide is about HTTP, and the tech staff are moving the user/reader base to HTTPS. As we learn more about the NSA programs, we need to consider vectors other than HTTP for the NSA to obtain the data they want. And the userbase needs to be aware of the current risks. One question from the "Dells are backdored"[sic] thread that is worth separate consideration is: Are the Wikimedia transit links encrypted, especially for database replication? MySQL has replication over SSL, so I assume the answer is Yes. If not, is this necessary or useful, and feasible ? However we also need to consider that SSL and other encryption may be useless against NSA/etc, which means replicating non-public data should be avoided wherever possible, as it becomes a single point of failure. Given how public our system is, we don't have a lot of non-public data, so we might be able to design the architecture so that information isnt replicated, and also ensure it isnt accessed over insecure links. I think the only parts of the dataset that are private & valuable are * passwords/login cookies, * checkuser info - IPs and useragents, * WMF analytics, which includes readers iirc, and * hidden/deleted edits * private wikis and mailing lists Have I missed any? Are passwords and/or checkuser info replicated? Is there a data policy on WMF analytics data which prevents it flowing over insecure links, and limits what is collected and ensures destruction of the data within reasonable timeframes? i.e. how about not using cookies to track analytics of readers who are on HTTP instead of HTTPS? The private wikis can be restricted to https, depending on the value of the data on those wikis in the wrong hands. The private mailing lists will be harder to secure, and at least the English Wikipedia arbcom list contain a lot of valuable data about contributors. Regarding hidden/deleted edits, the replication isnt the only source of this data. All edits are also exposed via Recent Changes (https/api/etc) as they occur, and the value of these edits is determined by the fact they are hidden afterwards (e.g. don't appear in dumps). Is there any way to control who is effectively capturing all edits via Recent Changes? -- John Vandenberg

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Invitation to WMF February 2015 Metrics & Activities Meeting: Thursday, March 5, 19:00 UTC
by Praveena Maharaj 05 Mar '15

05 Mar '15

Dear all, The next WMF metrics and activities will take place on Thursday, March 5, 2015 at 7:00 PM UTC (11 AM PST). The IRC channel is #wikimedia-office on irc.freenode.net and the meeting will be broadcast as a live YouTube stream. Each month at the metrics meeting, we will: * Welcome recent hires * Present reports/updates that are focused on a key theme or topic. For March, we will do a combined update of VisualEditor & Mobile. * Engage in questions/discussions Please review https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_ meetings for further information about how to participate. We'll post the video recording publicly after the meeting. Thank you, Praveena -- Praveena Maharaj Executive Assistant to the VP of Product & Strategy and the VP of Engineering Wikimedia Foundation \\ www.wikimediafoundation.org

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EU copyright rules are maladapted to the increase of cross-border cultural exchange on the web
by Cristian Consonni 04 Mar '15

04 Mar '15

Hi, Julia Reda, a MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for the German Pirate Party has released a report[1] regarding copyright in the EU and demanding "an ambitious reform agenda for the overhaul of EU copyright"[2]. A shorter version with the most important points is the press release: [2] https://juliareda.eu/2015/01/press-release-eu-copyright-report/ This work has followed the public consultation on copyright that many people (and also associations, including some Wikimedia chapters) have answered[3] in the past months. >From [1] you can also see the work of Dimitar Dimitrov and the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU[4], and of other free knowledge organisations in Europe as the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) and "La Quadrature du Net" from France. Well done, Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU! Cristian [1]https://juliareda.eu/2015/01/report-eu-copyright-rules-maladapted-to-the-web/ [2] https://juliareda.eu/2015/01/press-release-eu-copyright-report/ [3] https://juliareda.eu/2014/08/the-european-copyright-divide/ [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Statement_of_Intent

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Wikimedia OTRS Annual Report
by pajz 03 Mar '15

03 Mar '15

Hi everyone, it is my pleasure to announce the release of the 2014 annual report on Wikimedia's OTRS and specifically the Volunteer Response Team's activities. Please find it at https://tools.wmflabs.org/otrsreports/annual/2014 If you have any questions or comments, please leave them at <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:OTRS/Reports/2014>. About OTRS/the Volunteer Response Team: The Volunteer Response Team is the group of volunteers that handles email traffic related to the Wikimedia projects, from general inquiries to file permission emails. The software they use is called OTRS, and our installation of OTRS is also used by several other users within our movement, including chapters, WMF staff, oversighters, Wikimania organizers etc. For more information, see <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS>. On behalf of the OTRS administrators, Patrik (User:Pajz)

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Getting Wikipedia whitelisted for Twitter DMs
by Andy Mabbett 03 Mar '15

03 Mar '15

For some months, Twitter have been blocking most URLs in their direct messages (DMs), supposedly as an anti-spam measure. Do we have someone who has a contact there, who could ask them to whitelist Wikimedia project URLs in DMs? -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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Events and editathons with journalists
by Andrea Zanni 01 Mar '15

01 Mar '15

Dear all, I was wondering if anyone, in the Wikimedia movement, has done editathons and wiki-events with *journalists*. In April, Wikimedia Italia will host a workshop at the International Journalism Festival, and we'd welcome tips and suggestions. Cheers Aubrey

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10th anniversary celebration of Bengali Wikipedia
by Hasive, Nurunnaby 28 Feb '15

28 Feb '15

Dear All, We're happy to share with you that Bengali Wikipedia has completed it's 10 year journey a few months back. To celebrate this historic milestone We the poeple from Bengali Wikimedia Community and Wikimedia Bangladesh is going to arrange a Gala event on February 26, 2015 at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka. The event is supported by Grameenphone (It is a joint venture between Telenor and Grameen Telecom Corporation), is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh. We are so happy that *Jimmy Wales* is going to join with us as a chief guest. We are excited to have him with us and hope to share the program details with you soon. BTW, This visit is the first visit of Jimbo in Bangladesh. Note: This event is a part of the series program, we'll arrange another two days conference probably the last week of March. Cheers. -- *Hasive * Global User: Hasive <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Hasive> Administrator | Bengali Wikipedia <http://bn.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:Hasive> Member | GAC Committee, Wikimedia Foundation <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Grant_Advisory_Committee> Member | IEG Committee, Wikimedia Foundation <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/People> Director | Wikimedia Bangladesh Operations Committee <http://www.wikimedia.org.bd> fb.com/nhasive | @nhasive <http://www.twitter.com/nhasive> | Skype: nhasive | www.nhasive.com

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Wikimedia-l February 2015