Wikimedia-l July 2016

wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org

115 participants
64 discussions

Recognition of Ohio Wikimedians User Group
by Carlos M. Colina 26 Jul '16

26 Jul '16

Dear all, On behalf of the Affiliations Committee, I am glad to announce the recognition of the newest Wikimedia User Group in the United States: Ohio Wikimedians User Group [1]. Their focus of activities is in the state of Ohio, supporting and helping develop the local community of wikimedians. It is worth noting that some of the founding members of the group have been members of Wikipedia Connection[2], a Ohio State University student organization devoted to contribute to Wikipedia, who have been joined by other wikimedians from Ohio to create this new User Group. Welcome to the family! 1: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Wikimedians_User_Group 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Connection -- "*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain." Carlos M. Colina Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve <http://wikimedia.org.ve> Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee Phone: +972-52-4869915 Twitter: @maor_x El logotipo y el nombre de Wikimedia, Wikimedia Venezuela, Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Incubator, Wiktionary y otros proyectos relacionados son marcas registradas usadas bajo permiso expreso de su titular, la Fundación Wikimedia, Inc., una organización sin fines de lucro. Otros nombres y marcas pertenecen a sus respectivos propietarios. Asociación Civil Wikimedia Venezuela (Wikimedia Venezuela) | RIF.: J-40129321-2 | Los Teques, Estado Miranda. Venezuela

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Suggesting moderation
by Asaf Bartov 26 Jul '16

26 Jul '16

A meta-question: I am wondering whether, if one thinks a user on this list should be moderated, it is better to discuss it privately with the list admins (who, if convinced, could announce the moderation publicly, or not), or publicly on this list (explicitly inviting more opinions, being transparent about my position regarding moderating the user, but also embarrassing the user whatever the outcome). Thoughts? A. -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Elections Committee
by WereSpielChequers 26 Jul '16

26 Jul '16

Pine has a point. We all know that the founder seat will go eventually. Whether it goes on the death or incapacity of the founder or earlier is a valid question for the board and the community. I'm not convinced that an elections committee should be deciding which posts to elect, and even if such governance issues do fall into its remit they should probably focus on how to elect first. So I'd say this should be a board decision. As for the arguments to retain a founder seat for the next few decades, I suggest that those who favour such a position try to couch their arguments in terms of institutional knowledge, the value of an element of continuity and the positives for the community to still retain such a link with our founder. Then hope that the incidents of a few months ago fade in memory and are not repeated. There is a case to be made for a founder seat, but as with any argument in this community there are ways to argue respectfully and effectively, and there are arguments that undermine your cause and weaken your reputation. WereSpielChequers On 26 July 2016 at 06:39, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to > wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > wikimedia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-l digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > > 2. Re: New Elections Committee (Pine W) > 3. Re: New Elections Committee (Gerard Meijssen) > > > > > > Message: 2 > Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2016 21:53:59 -0700 > From: Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] New Elections Committee > Message-ID: > <CAF= > dyJiVboVVoZNjXC-Uf7jSy54MWcCxYTva3CcqfpHCe_nnCw(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Hi BGC, > > I asked a question earlier in this thread which seems to have been > overlooked. Is the BGC (or the Board as a whole) considering whether the > Founder's seat will become an elected seat in the forseeable future? > > Pine > > On Jul 20, 2016 21:20, "Pine W" <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com> wrote: >

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] WikiVoyage Europe available on Android
by Roland Unger 26 Jul '16

26 Jul '16

Dear all, of course, offline Wikivoyage is a really nice tool. You can use it everywhere -- for instance in desert regions without any online connection. And it's a good replacement for heavy guide books. But why there are no similar tools in other languages than English, why not in German or French? It is very important to have up to date guides. But the last Kiwix archives were made in the beginning of May. In former times they were created monthly. For instance, in this three-months period about 20.000 updates were made in the German edition of Wikivoyage. Best regards Roland Stephane Coillet-Matillon wrote: > Dear all, > > With Summer vacations in full swing, we’ve just released an offline > version of WikiVoyage specifically dedicated to Europe! > > The app runs on Android and can be found at the Google Store [1]. > Other regions will follow, this is a first shot at getting something > rather lightweight and region-specific. > > Feel free to download, rate… and go visit something! > > Best regards, > Stephane > > > > [1] > https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikivoya… > > > > -- > Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & so much more > * Web: http://www.kiwix.org > * Twitter: @KiwixOffline <https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline> > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] June minutes from the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
by Robert Rohde 25 Jul '16

25 Jul '16

L8 v6d44oh On Jul 23, 2016 2:54 AM, "Stephen LaPorte" <slaporte(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: Hi all, The Board of Trustees have published minutes from the summer Board meeting on June 22-23 and the Board meeting on June 29 to discuss the endowment. You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the Foundation Wiki: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06 https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06-29 Best, Stephen -- Stephen LaPorte Senior Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation *NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.* _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l

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StrepHit IEG renewal: call for support
by Marco Fossati 24 Jul '16

24 Jul '16

[Begging pardon if you read this multiple times] Dear all, Remember StrepHit [1], the Natural Language Processing pipeline that extracts structured data from raw text and produces Wikidata [2] statements with reference URLs? StrepHit got funded for 6 months by a Wikimedia IEG [3]. Its datasets are now uploaded to the *primary sources tool* [4, 5]: the goal of the tool is to provide a standard workflow for data donations to Wikidata. Now, we believe that the primary sources tool *really needs lots of improvements*, which we have been collecting in a request for comment [5]. That's why we opened a renewal request for the StrepHit IEG [6]. If you like the idea, please endorse the renewal! Best regards, Marco Fossati [1] https://github.com/Wikidata/StrepHit [2] https://www.wikidata.org [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/StrepHit:_Wikidata_Statements_Va… [4] https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Primary_sources_tool [5] https://github.com/Wikidata/primarysources [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/StrepHit:_Wikidata_Statements_Va…

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] [Wikimania Committee] Wikimania 2018
by Dariusz Jemielniak 23 Jul '16

23 Jul '16

On Sat, Jul 23, 2016 at 6:43 PM, Florence Devouard <fdevouard(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > We have listened to a lot of community members, both those present at > Wikimania 2016 and more widely, and decided overall that, given there was > strong desire for holding Wikimania every year, we should continue to do > so. This means that we need to pick a team and location for hosting > Wikimania in July/August 2018 soon. One word: wow!!! dariusz

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] June minutes from the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
by Pine W 23 Jul '16

23 Jul '16

Thanks Stephen. A brief question to the Board: the board minutes say, "After discussion, the Board identified three goals. First, the Board is responsible for maintaining the long-term plan for the organization. The long-term plan is designed in partnership with the executive staff, and also needs to be set in coordination with other Wikimedia stakeholders. The Chair of the Board and the Executive Director are responsible for leading this goal within the Board. Second, the Board has a strong interest in improving its internal governance. The Board discussed some potential areas for improvement, including ensuring Board continuity. The Chair of the Board Governance Committee is responsible for improvements to internal governance. Third, the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director. The Chair is responsible for this goal, with the support of the Human Resources Committee." After the events in the past year, I question whether the statement "...the role of the Board is to support and empower the Executive Director" captures the full scope of the Board's role here. It seems to me that it's the Board's job to supervise the ED, which hopefully includes supporting him/her but also may include providing direction or removing him/her. I personally feel that Katherine is doing well and this is not intended to express skepticism about her, but being the ED of an organization is not a blank check, and I hope that the Board also takes a proactive role in the supervision of the ED. After the events in the past year, I hope that the Board will be diligent on this point from now on. Thanks, Pine On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 5:53 PM, Stephen LaPorte <slaporte(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hi all, > > The Board of Trustees have published minutes from the summer Board meeting > on June 22-23 and the Board meeting on June 29 to discuss the endowment. > You can find the meeting minutes and accompanying documents on the > Foundation Wiki: > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06 > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2016-06-29 > > Best, > Stephen > > -- > Stephen LaPorte > Senior Legal Counsel > Wikimedia Foundation > > *NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and > ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, > community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. > For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.* > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list > WikimediaAnnounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaannounce-l > >

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2016 call for Board Governance Committee Volunteer and Advisory members [UPD]
by Nataliia Tymkiv 22 Jul '16

22 Jul '16

Dear all, I want to thank you for reading my letter, asking additional questions, forwarding it to relevant people/lists etc. I am very grateful to all those who offered their help and applied. And I am very thankful to all those, who has chosen not to apply if they were not sure they are ready to commit. Sometimes it takes even more courage to not voice one’s opinion and do not promise things one does not really want to to do or has time for, but feels that there is some pressure to volunteer. {{Thank you}} very much! Now I shall be working on the shortlist and interviews are to be over by July 31st. Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv On Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 7:38 PM, Nataliia Tymkiv <ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Dear all, > > This letter is a public call for interested people to serve as Board > Governance Committee (BGC) Volunteer and Advisory members. The BGC can have > non-voting members participate in the Committee on an annual basis [1]. > This opportunity has never been used by the BGC before, so we decided to > frame the process the same way that Audit Committee had in April [2]. > > The BGC has identified our priorities for the next 12 months. The minutes > of our first meeting are published here [3]. Please read the document and > think if you can help / support to reach them (and what tasks exactly you > would like to work on). > > We need people who are interested in results and constructive work, not in > “one more hat to wear”, so you need to be seriously committed and be aware > that if your participation does not add value, we shall remove you from > this position. > > *To submit your candidacy, please send to me at this email address > (ntymkiv at wikimedia.org <http://wikimedia.org> <mailto:ntymkiv at > wikimedia.org <http://wikimedia.org>>) your resume, the top 3 reasons why > you want to do this and the top 3 things you will add to the Board > Governance Committee. Please also indicate the priorities you would like to > work on and/or other things that (to your mind) we failed to include there.* > > The selection criteria: > > - 2+ years of being a board member (Wikimedia affiliates / other > comparable organizations; experience in a large NGO would be a bonus) > > - Solid understanding of the mission of Wikimedia Foundation, general > understanding of the Movement, and the Foundation's affiliates and partners > and willingness to be a trusted advisor to the Board of Trustees > > - Capacity to commit an estimated 20-30 hours annually to attend both > quarterly and other ad-hoc meetings, prepare or review required materials, > and interact with committee, staff and/or board as required > > - Prior executive experience (CEO, Finance, HR, Operations roles etc) > would be a bonus > > - Demonstrated track record of involvement with the Wikimedia movement > outside one's own affiliate or community (would be a bonus) > > The timeline for the selection process (tight so as to have selected > volunteers attend the next meeting): > > - Candidates submit their interest and the above information to me no > later than July 21 > - The BGC will interview top candidates by July 31 > - The BGC will select the candidates by August 05 > - Selected candidates join the committee by August 15 and attend the next > Committee meeting. > > Please forward this letter to any list you think is appropriate and > directly to people who may be interested. > > Best regards, > antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv > > [1] > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Approving_the_revised_Board… > [2] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-April/083638.html > > [3] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Commi… > > This message is available on Meta-Wiki: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Commi… > < > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Commi… > > >

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With my thanks to everyone ...
by Geoff Brigham 21 Jul '16

21 Jul '16

Hi all, Over the past five years, I’ve been honored to serve as the General Counsel and Secretary of the Wikimedia Foundation. This job has been amazing, and I’m grateful to everyone who has made it so rewarding. It's now time for my next step, so, in the coming days, I will be leaving the Foundation to pursue a new career opportunity. I depart with such love for the mission, the Foundation, the Wikimedia communities, and my colleagues at work. I thank my past and present bosses as well as the Board for their support and guidance. I stand in awe of the volunteer writers, editors, and photographers who contribute every day to the Wikimedia projects. And I will hold special to my heart my past and current teams, including legal and community advocacy. :) You have taught, given, and enriched me so much. After my departure, Michelle Paulson will serve as interim head of Legal, and, subject to Board approval, Stephen LaPorte will serve as interim Secretary to the Board. I can happily report that they have the experience and expertise to ensure a smooth and professional transition. The future of the Foundation under Katherine's leadership is exciting. Having had the pleasure of working for her, I know Katherine will take the Foundation to its next level in promoting and defending the outstanding mission and values of the Wikimedia movement. Although I'm delighted about my next opportunity, I will miss this new chapter in the Foundation's story. My last day at the Foundation will be July 18th. After that, I will take a month off to recharge my batteries, and then I start my new gig at YouTube in the Bay Area. There, I will serve as Director of YouTube Trust & Safety, managing global teams for policy, legal, and anti-abuse operations. As with Wikimedia, I look forward to learning from those teams and tackling together a new set of exciting, novel challenges. For those who want to stay in touch, please do! My personal email is: geoffrey.r.brigham(a)gmail.com. With respect, admiration, and gratitude, Geoff

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