Hi. Everybody is invited. SF's is today, Sunday afternoon, as are several
others. For details, to RSVP, and to see the other US Birthday
celebrations, go here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/SF/Wikipedia_Day_2017
These are drop-in, drop-out events.
Cheers! Wayne Calhoon, co-organizer for SF
925-899-4051
[[User:Checkingfax]]
Hi,
I would like to get more opinions about what to do with files such as
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Education_and_WGIG.pdf
This is a draft from a United Nations conference which mentions Wikipedia
(the first and only AFAIK), and as such, an important historical document.
It doesn't have a formal license, but there is no real copyright issue.
Where and how should we keep such files?
Regards,
Yann Forget
Hi all,
I am pleased to announce the launch of the Wiki Speaks Your Language [1]
initiative with the goal of enriching the Wikimedia projects with freely
licensed audio and video files documenting spoken examples of every
language, language variety and dialect in the world.
The idea originates from the curiosity of many readers viewing language
articles not only to read about the language but also to hear how does it
sound. In most of the cases, our language articles lack such files and
readers usually end up searching videos on YouTube, notwithstanding that we
have the capacity as a movement and the resources to meet their wish.
The initiative lists three possible ways of acquiring freely licensed audio
and video files:
1) by adapting existing files on Wikimedia Commons (mostly from the Spoken
Wikipedia projects [2]);
2) by liberating existing files from the repositories of GLAM and
educational institutions; and
3) by engaging Wikimedia communities, GLAM and educational institutions in
the recording of new files.
In the first phase, the plan is to work with the available resources we
have and adapt the existing videos from the Spoken Wikipedia projects (there
are some useful tips [3] on what the existing files should be adapted to).
I will be very thankful if members of this list help in spreading the word
about the initiative through other channels to the communities and`other
parties in our movement.
Best regards,
Kiril
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Speaks_Your_Language
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikisound
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Speaks_Your_
Language/Tips#Qualities_of_files
All,
I've begun using tor+https://mirrors.wikimedia.org/... for debian based
systems and it's working great. No need to add apt.conf.d
customizations or anything. Unfortunately, I'm unable to find an
up-to-date https mirror of the Linux Mint repos. mirrors.kernel.org has
one, but it isn't kept up to date, and their SSL certs require some
fiddling to work. (disable hostname verification :( )
Would the mirrors.wikimedia.org maintainers mind mirroring the Linux
Mint repos? The setup info is here:
https://linuxmint.com/mirrors.php
It takes about 25GB, and they request that it be sync'd twice per day.
For background, I've included my
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
------------------8<------------------------------
deb tor+https://mirrors.kernel.org/linuxmint-packages/ serena main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
deb tor+https://ubuntu.wikimedia.org/ubuntu/ xenial main restricted universe multiverse
deb tor+https://ubuntu.wikimedia.org/ubuntu/ xenial-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb tor+https://ubuntu.wikimedia.org/ubuntu/ xenial-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb tor+https://ubuntu.wikimedia.org/ubuntu/ xenial-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb tor+https://ubuntu.wikimedia.org/ubuntu/ xenial partner
------------------8<------------------------------
I'd like to change the first line to point towards mirrors.wm.o as well.
thx,
Jason.
Hi all,
I want to share a few thoughts on the paid editing issue. First of all, we
do have the ability to enforce our terms of use. If there are cases where
you're encountering a severe problem with paid editing and community
efforts are not able to solve it, please get in touch with us via
legal(a)wikimedia.org and we can discuss how we can provide support depending
on the details of the case. With apologies, I'm not able to discuss details
of any specific cases here because we don't want to reveal information
about ongoing or future investigations or legal actions.
In general, I do want to say a few words about the role of legal tools in
these kinds of cases. Legal actions are a blunt instrument: courts use the
same solutions to every problem, and have not kept up with the speed of
modern technology. So we are interested in helping to improve community
systems and technological tools (like tools to help admins investigate and
block problematic users) that can make it so that legal action isn't
necessary in many cases.
I also want to note that we've been working on a longer statement outlining
some of our thoughts about our role in dealing with paid editing concerns
and some ways the communities can effectively approach these issues as
well. We plan to post this on-wiki soon.
Lastly, let me say thank you to all the community members who help out with
these issues. We really appreciate everyone who reports cases to us and
helps us take action where we are able, such as reporting some job postings
on third-party sites.
Best,
Jacob Rogers
--
Jacob Rogers
Legal Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation
NOTICE: This message might have confidential or legally privileged
information in it. If you have received this message by accident, please
delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the
Wikimedia Foundation, for legal/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>.
Hello Wikimedia community,
It’s our delight to inform you that we received a US$3,015,000 grant from
the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation> [1] to expedite
development of structured data on Commons. The grant will be given over the
course of three years, and will allow us to develop a team, in
collaboration with the Wikidata team at Wikimedia Deutschland, that can
focus on integrating the structured data features of Wikidata into
describing the media files on Commons.
This work will allow us to expedite features both on the Wikidata
development roadmap, and in other products supported by the Wikimedia
Foundation. The grant also provides funding to ensure that movement
stakeholders, like Wiki Loves Monuments and GLAM-Wiki program leaders, and
external partners who contribute heavily to Commons, such as GLAMs, can be
involved in the development.
We have drafted a high level overview of the grant and its scope, available
on Commons
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data/Sloan_Grant>
[2]. A blog post about the grant is also available on the Wikimedia blog
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/01/09/sloan-foundation-structured-data>
[3].
We are currently in the process of identifying the technical lead for the
project. If you have questions, Alex Stinson, the Foundation’s GLAM-Wiki
strategist, will be leading the community engagement and communications for
the project until we hire a community liaison as part of the grant. Stay
tuned for more details about the project in the coming months.
We’re excited to be able to support this project, and look forward to your
participation in its development.
Thank you,
Wes Moran and Maggie Dennis
*Wes Moran, Vice President of Product*
*Maggie Dennis, Interim Chief of Community Engagement *
*Wikimedia Foundation*
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data/Sloan_Grant
[3] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/01/09/sloan-foundation-structured-data
Hi all,
Last week's update was late, this one is early - the Foundation staff are
together this week for the Developers Summit and All Hands meeting the next
two days, so we'll be doing more stuff face to face, learning and sharing.
So, with no further ado:
As I mentioned in past updates, we have been working to identify the
external experts which will serve as the Lead Architects for this process.
I am very excited to introduce you to williamsworks
<http://williamsworks.com/>!
williamsworks[1] has more than a decade of experience working with
nonprofits, companies, and philanthropists around the world. Their team is
made up of folks with deep experience in philanthropy, communications,
public policy, and global development. They are based out of Seattle, with
a global team in places such as Nairobi and Berlin. We're going to be
working with a dedicated team, including their founder, Whitney Williams,
on this process.
williamsworks will be responsible for coordinating all the various moving
parts and needs of the strategy process. They'll be working closely with
folks in the Foundation, community, and myself to help us identify the
information we need and the conversations we need. They'll be leading us
through parsing information and making decisions to help us arrive at a
shared direction.
To begin this work process, I'm delighted that they'll be joining us at
this week's All Hands. They've been meeting with teams from across the
Foundation today in order to get to know folks. Tomorrow and Friday they'll
be here to listen and learn about our culture and mission.
Over the past few weeks, we evaluated williamsworks among other candidates
according criteria that reflects our needs as a movement. This included
whether the candidate had created successful organizational or movement
strategies before, whether they demonstrated a strong understanding of the
need to build an inclusive process, and whether the candidate had
international and nonprofit experience. (More specific criteria is outlined
on Meta-Wiki.[2])
The next step is building out and confirming the core team facilitating the
work ahead. Please stay tuned to this list and the Movement Strategy Portal
on Meta-Wiki for more details.[3]
Katherine
PS. A version of this message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Updates/11…
[1] http://williamsworks.com
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Team#Crite…
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017
--
Katherine Maher
Wikimedia Foundation
149 New Montgomery Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
+1 (415) 839-6885 ext. 6635
+1 (415) 712 4873
kmaher(a)wikimedia.org
Hi all,
Scholarship applications for Wikimania 2017 which is being held in
Montréal, Canada on August 11–13, 2017 are now being accepted. Applications
are open until Monday, 20 February 2017 23:59 UTC.
Applicants will be able to apply for a partial or full scholarship. A full
scholarship will cover the cost of an individual's round-trip travel,
shared accommodation, and conference registration fees as arranged by the
Wikimedia Foundation. A partial scholarship will cover conference
registration fees and shared accommodation.
Applicants will be rated using a pre-determined selection process and
selection criteria established by the Scholarship Committee and the
Wikimedia Foundation, who will determine which applications are successful.
To learn more about Wikimania 2017 scholarships, please visit:
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships
To apply for a scholarship, fill out the multi-language application form
on: https://scholarships.wikimedia.org/apply
It is highly recommended that applicants review all the material on the
Scholarships page and the associated FAQ ( https://wikimania2017.
wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships/FAQ ) before submitting an application.
If you have any questions, please contact:
wikimania-scholarships at wikimedia.org
<wikimania-scholarships(a)wikimedia.org>
or leave a message at:
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Scholarships
Please help us spread the word!
Best regards,
for the Scholarship Committee
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarship_committee
Specifically in response to Pete's questions about documents:
We have posted the Grant application materials on Foundation Wiki, with a
section linking to them on the Commons Grant Information page.[1]
Cheers,
Alex Stinson
[1]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data/Sloan_Grant#What…
> Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2017 12:52:57 -0800
> From: Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Exciting update about development of
> structured data on Commons
> Message-ID:
> <CAGWts0GK8VErKG7tuPN3hQDHHXvq2_1RbYqh_xJp0+6W03=inQ@mail.
> gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> Structured data on Commons is a huge and important area -- for one thing,
> the whole Media Viewer project would have gone much more smoothly if there
> were underlying structured data to rely on. Kudos to WMF and Sloan for the
> focus on this issue!
>
> If I'm not mistaken, this is by far the most extravagant restricted grant
> in the history of the WMF. I believe the Stanton Foundation's usability
> grant ($890k in 2008)[1] and Public Policy Initiative grant ($1.2 million
> in 2010)[2] are the only ones that comes close. In the past, WMF board
> members have expressed great skepticism about -- specifically -- the Sloan
> Foundation's influence, when it sought to place an observer in WMF board
> meetings. A former WMF Executive Director has written at length about the
> dangers of restricted grants.
>
> It appears there is a new theory in play around restricted grants. Will
> somebody be expressing it publicly? Will the past practice of publishing
> the details of the grant expectations be followed?[3]
>
> -Pete
> --
> [[User:Peteforsyth]]
>
> [1] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2008/12/03/improved-usability-
> in-our-future/
> [2]
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/May_
> 2010_Wikimedia_Foundation_will_engage_academic_experts_
> and_students_to_improve_public_policy_information
> [3]
> https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_Policy_
> Initiative_project_details
>
> On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 11:48 AM, Wes Moran <wmoran(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
> > Hello Wikimedia community,
> >
> > It’s our delight to inform you that we received a US$3,015,000 grant from
> > the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
> > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation> [1] to
> expedite
> > development of structured data on Commons. The grant will be given over
> the
> > course of three years, and will allow us to develop a team, in
> > collaboration with the Wikidata team at Wikimedia Deutschland, that can
> > focus on integrating the structured data features of Wikidata into
> > describing the media files on Commons.
> >
> > This work will allow us to expedite features both on the Wikidata
> > development roadmap, and in other products supported by the Wikimedia
> > Foundation. The grant also provides funding to ensure that movement
> > stakeholders, like Wiki Loves Monuments and GLAM-Wiki program leaders,
> and
> > external partners who contribute heavily to Commons, such as GLAMs, can
> be
> > involved in the development.
> >
> > We have drafted a high level overview of the grant and its scope,
> available
> > on Commons
> > <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data/Sloan_Grant>
> > [2]. A blog post about the grant is also available on the Wikimedia blog
> > <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/01/09/sloan-foundation-structured-data>
> > [3].
> >
> > We are currently in the process of identifying the technical lead for the
> > project. If you have questions, Alex Stinson, the Foundation’s GLAM-Wiki
> > strategist, will be leading the community engagement and communications
> for
> > the project until we hire a community liaison as part of the grant. Stay
> > tuned for more details about the project in the coming months.
> >
> > We’re excited to be able to support this project, and look forward to
> your
> > participation in its development.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Wes Moran and Maggie Dennis
> >
> > *Wes Moran, Vice President of Product*
> > *Maggie Dennis, Interim Chief of Community Engagement *
> > *Wikimedia Foundation*
> >
> > [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation
> > [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data/
> Sloan_Grant
> > [3] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/01/09/sloan-foundation-
> structured-data
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 154, Issue 19
> ********************************************
>
--
Alex Stinson
GLAM-Wiki Strategist
Wikimedia Foundation
Twitter:@glamwiki/@sadads
Learn more about how the communities behind Wikipedia, Wikidata and other
Wikimedia projects partner with cultural heritage organizations:
http://glamwiki.org