Hi everyone,
By now you will all have heard that Wes has decided to find a new adventure and will be leaving the Foundation. I wanted to take a moment and offer my sincere thanks to him not only for his contribution to the Foundation and the Movement these past two years (which has been enormous) but also for his amazing support to me personally as I came into the CTO role and began to find my feet. I could not have wished for a better partner and I am truly sad that he chosen to follow a path outside the Foundation. But as I have told him, jobs may come and go but friendships last a lifetime and I know we will be friends for a long time! Wes, you are a man of exceptional grace and I look forward to continuing to work with you in the movement.
I also wanted to say that in the time I have been in the Foundation I have come to know and admire what Toby Negrin and his team has achieved. Toby, you have shown great leadership and your drive for results is benefiting our communities day in day out. I look forward to working with you as you step in the acting Product leadership role.
We have exciting times ahead of us. With the movement strategy coming down the pike later in the year, we will get the engineering side of the house ready to support it. And in the meantime we have so many great opportunities to build on our strengths to server the movement and our communities better. This is a great time to be here!
Warm regards,
Victoria
Hello everyone,
After a great deal of consideration, I have decided that I need to take a
different path for my life and I am moving on from the Wikimedia
Foundation. I have struggled with this decision as I have great admiration
for the mission and the people here. I have great appreciation for how we
worked together over the past two years, and great pride in what we have
accomplished. The wide range of experiences have been amazing, and it feels
like many more years than just two.
I am looking at a departure date of Feb 28th. Until that time, I will be
supporting the Product teams through the first draft of Annual Planning.
Katherine Maher, Victoria Coleman and I will work together with people
across the Product and Technology departments, to develop a transition plan
that is in the best interest of the teams I support, the Foundation, and
our movement.
Toby Negrin, currently the Head of Reading, will take over as acting
leadership for Product on 2/28. He has been working closely with me on many
of the key programs and initiatives our department has been planning. He
and the rest of Product leadership will continue with our Annual Planning
efforts and conclude the 2016-17 goals and programs.
It has been such a deep honor to work with the folks in Technology and
Product. I started here with Discovery, and have a special respect for what
that team has accomplished as it evolved. The opportunity to lead Product,
work with chapters like Wikimedia Deutschland, engage with the communities,
and collaborate at the C-level was exciting and humbling. I was happy to
work with the Product teams as they evolved into audiences and ultimately a
Product organization focused on users and their needs. A testament to their
excellent work is summarized in our 2016 Product summary
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Product/2016_Product_Summary>
[1]. Working with the folks in Technology to find our CTO was exciting,
challenging, and illuminating. It was a wonderful and unexpected path that
would not have been possible without the great support of that team. There
are so many partnerships both with teams and individuals across this
organization and other organizations that I had the chance to engage and
work together with.
I have a great deal of respect and confidence in all of you to propel us
through the Movement, Foundation and team strategies and goals in the next
two years. Similarly I am proud of the stands we take and voices we lend as
we all work to protect and project freedom, and the public availability of
the sum of all knowledge. I hope to help support that as a volunteer in
whatever way I can.
Thank you,
Wes
Vice President of Product, Wikimedia Foundation
[1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Product/2016_Product_Summary
Early notification about potential server ops that may result in temporary
read-only status or downtime.
Pine
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Whatamidoing (WMF)/Sherry Snyder <ssnyder(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 6:01 PM
Subject: [GLAM] Possible editing outages during April
To: "glam(a)lists.wikimedia.org" <glam(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
This is early warning of some planned server operations, as an outage can
cause a severe disruption on a short workshop:
In April 2016, the Technology Operations team at the WMF did some work on
the servers that run Wikipedia and the other wikis. This resulted in all
editing being stopped at all wikis for about half an hour on two different
days.
A similar project is currently expected sometime in April 2017. I do not
have specific dates or times yet. However, I expect the first editing
disruption to happen during the first half of April and the second to be
about two weeks afterwards.
They are hoping that the editing outages will be shorter this time (perhaps
15 to 30 minutes). The time of day is undecided; however, it will almost
certainly be when most of the Ops staff is online (afternoon in Europe and
Africa/morning in the Americas).
Last year, the official schedule was kept at https://wikitech.wikimedia.
org/wiki/Switch_Datacenter and the same page may be used again. *If you
are scheduling short workshops during April, then please consider checking
that schedule* or checking with me before you finalize your plans. If you
need to reach me, then I am currently subscribed to the GLAM mailing list,
and you can always leave a note on my talk page at https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/User_talk:Whatamidoing_(WMF)
--
Sherry Snyder (WhatamIdoing)
Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation
_______________________________________________
GLAM mailing list
GLAM(a)lists.wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/glam
Dear Friends,
On 9th February 2017, Wikipedians in Bhubaneswar celebrated the first
anniversary of Bhubaneswar WikiTungi.
WikiTungi [1] is a city based Wikipedia community formed to help the
Wikipedians in the city to meet, share and learn. The Odia community's
WikiTungi is a based in two cities, Puri and Bhubaneswar. While Wikimedians
in Puri conduct meetups bi-monthly, Bhubaneswar Wikimedians meet once a
month. In every meetup, Wikimedians exchange their resources with each
other, helping address their doubts and queries regarding their problems
and projects.
During the first anniversary meeting of the Bhubaneswar WikiTungi, The
community members came up with few ideas to implement it as a best practice
in the Wikipedia movement.
*The Tungi members will invite one of the global community leaders for a
Skype or hangout session.
* Discuss the best practice from the global community and discuss them with
the community.
*Updating the minutes of the meeting and sharing them with the other
community members.
*Updating the learning and evaluation team about the new learning of the
community every month.
*The community will also send Postcards as a souvenir to the participants
of the global community for the online sessions.
We invite you to join us for the hangout sessions and share your best
practice with the Tungi members[2]. Please feel free to suggest us more
ideas.
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiTungi
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiTungi#Join_Us
Thanks and Regards
-----------
*Sailesh Patnaik* "*ଶୈଳେଶ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ*"
*LinkedIn* : https://www.linkedin.com/in/sailesh-patnaik-551a10b4
*Twitter* : @saileshpat
English text follows.
Bonjour les francophones! Le Wiki de Wikimania 2017 à Montréal a
besoin d'aide de volontaires pour assurer la traduction vers le
français. Les équipes organisationnelles sont au dur labeur de tout
mettre en place mais la mise à jour des pages en français prends un
retard énorme particulièrement regrettable du fait que la treizième
Wikimania est également la première où le français tient un place
d'honneur.
Si vous lisez bien l'anglais et avez quelques minutes de votre temps a
donner, traduisez quelques fragments de pages[1]! En particulier, les
pages pour les bourses[2] et les soumissions[3] sont particulièrement
importantes pour permettre au francophones de participer pleinement!
Merci!
--
Greetings! The Wikimania 2017 wiki needs volunteer help to ensure
translation to French is achieved timely. The organising teams are hard
work setting everying up, but updating the French traductions have
fallen behind - which is particularly regrettable since the thirteenth
Wikimania is also the first where French is put into the spotlight.
If you have skill at translating to French and have a few minutes of
your time to give, please help translate a few page fragments[1]! The
pages for scholarships[2] and submissions[3] are especially critical to
allow the francophone community to participate fully!
Thanks!
-- Coren / Marc
Wikimania 2017
[1]
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Translate?language=fr&filt…
[2]
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Translate?language=fr&grou…
[3]
https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Translate?language=fr&grou…
Hi all!
A somewhat shorter email this week:
*First, thank you!*
Thanks to everyone who commented on the prototypes from the Community
Process Steering Committee.[1] As a reminder, these are draft proposals for
*how* we structure the upcoming strategy discussion. The goal is to be
inclusive of our whole movement, and give participants many ways to
participate, on- and off-wiki.
Prior to starting this work, we heard from many people that they wanted to
be involved in designing the process, not just the strategy itself. This is
that opportunity! Please make sure to comment if you are interested in
sharing your ideas. We welcome everyone’s input and hope to hear from many
more of you.
*Summary of this past week*
Track A (Organized community groups) and Track B (Individual contributors).
- We posted the second version of process prototypes for Track A & Track
B on Meta,[1] incorporating suggestions from the Steering Committee. Main
improvements included:
- Adding more support, including a designated Track A lead
- Adding a Beta rollout to the Track A design (20 February−1 March)
for groups to test and give feedback on the toolkit
- Expanding the timeframe for the first round of discussion.
- We have begun building a facilitator toolkit and context for group
discussions, based on input from the Community Process Steering Committee.
- We are discussing how to reach more people, more effectively. Our goal
is to inform as many members of the movement about upcoming strategy as
possible, so community members are aware of the ways they can participate.
We’re working to identify how to do this.
- We have requested the Community Process Steering Committee extend
their engagement period by two weeks, to provide additional input on the
toolkit and discussions framing.
- The Community Engagement department is reviewing candidates for the
Language Specialist Strategy Coordinators. We have many strong candidates,
but have some gaps. Please help us find candidates [2] for:
- Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Vietnamese, Malayalam
Track C (High reach markets) and Track D (Low reach markets)
- We discussed potential Track C leads and scheduled time with extended
strategy group to better define Track C.
- Juliet Barbara, Toby Negrin, and Caitlin Virtue from the Foundation
will help lead Track D. We’ll share more information soon about how you can
participate in its development and implementation. More information will be
posted on Meta-Wiki.[3]
- The C and D working groups began reaching out to experts and advisors
for insights on opportunities for the movement.
- The working groups are developing methods for identifying like-minded
organizations and experts in knowledge to engage in upcoming Track C and D
discussions.
*Next steps*
- Finalize the process for Tracks A & B, incorporating your input.
- Finalize the plan for each Track's first phase of movement-wide
discussions - including selection of topics and questions to help
facilitate effective discussions.
- Finish initial version of facilitator toolkit for group beta testing.
- Propose initial framing for discussions for review by the Community
Process Steering Committee
- Confirm all track leads and groups, related responsibilities, and
necessary support.
- Propose objectives for Wikimedia Conference 2017 in Berlin and begin
designing the strategy track with conference facilitators.
- Build to launch strategy, notifying as many community members as
possible.
In the spirit of informing more people, we will send a brief, monthly
update message tomorrow to a wide variety of community lists and forums.
Alright, that’s it! But before I go, please check out the prototype designs
on Meta-Wiki, and leave comments.[1] This is your opportunity!
Happy Weekend,
Katherine
PS. A version of this message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki.[4]
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Process/De…
[2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Work_with_us
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/People
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Updates/10…
[5] Dear wmfall, I don't like cited links, either.
--
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
We've just had a bit of turnover of our list administrators. In order
to get moderation going smoothly again, I've added Asaf Bartov as an
admin. I don't think that decision will be controversial.
Richard has resigned for his own reasons, after putting in more than
his fair share of work here. Thehelpfulone has been removed following
a prolonged silence.
I would like a third active moderator. You can volunteer on this
thread, or send a message to wikimedia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org.
This should be No Big Deal, and while there are technically no
requirements, getting the reference is a bonus.
Austin
Hi, Assaf. Is there any chance for English subtitles in the future? Thanks.
Igal
2017-02-10 14:00 GMT+02:00 <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>:
> 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
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>
> 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:
>
> 1. Re: [Wikitech-l] Tech Talk: A Gentle Introduction to Wikidata
> for Absolute Beginners [including non-techies!] (Asaf Bartov)
> 2. Re: [Wikitech-l] Tech Talk: A Gentle Introduction to Wikidata
> for Absolute Beginners [including non-techies!] (Jane Darnell)
>
>
> ---------- הודעה שהועברה ----------
> From: Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>
> To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikimedia
> Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc:
> Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 06:32:37 +0000
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikitech-l] Tech Talk: A Gentle Introduction
> to Wikidata for Absolute Beginners [including non-techies!]
> Here's the (3-hour) footage of the detailed Wikidata tutorial delivered
> today:
>
> on Commons:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Gentle_
> Introduction_to_Wikidata_for_Absolute_Beginners_(including_
> non-techies!).webm
>
> on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVrAx3AmUvA
>
> the slides:
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikidata_-_A_Gentle_
> Introduction_for_Complete_Beginners_(WMF_February_2017).pdf
>
> It covers what Wikidata is (00:00), how to contribute new data to Wikidata
> (1:09:34), how to create an entirely new item on Wikidata (1:27:07), how to
> embed data from Wikidata into pages on other wikis (1:52:54), tools like
> the Wikidata Game (1:39:20), Article Placeholder (2:01:01), Reasonator
> (2:54:15) and Mix-and-match (2:57:05), and how to query Wikidata (including
> SPARQL examples) (starting 2:05:05).
>
> Share and enjoy. :)
>
> A.
>
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 4:35 PM Rachel Farrand <rfarrand(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Please join for the following talk:
> >
> > *Tech Talk**:* A Gentle Introduction to Wikidata for Absolute Beginners
> > [including non-techies!]
> > *Presenter:* Asaf Bartov
> > *Date:* February 09, 2017
> > *Time: *19:00 UTC
> > <
> > https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=
> Tech+Talk%3A+A+Gentle+Introduction+to+Wikidata+for+Absolute+Beginners+%
> 5Bincluding+non-techies%21%5D+&iso=20170209T19&p1=1440&ah=3
> > >
> > Link to live YouTube stream <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVrAx3AmUvA
> >
> > *IRC channel for questions/discussion:* #wikimedia-office
> >
> > *Summary: *This talk will introduce you to the Wikimedia Movement's
> latest
> > major wiki project: Wikidata. We will cover what Wikidata is, how to
> > contribute, how to embed Wikidata into articles on other wikis, tools
> like
> > the Wikidata Game, and how to query Wikidata (including SPARQL examples).
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikitech-l mailing list
> > Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
>
>
>
> ---------- הודעה שהועברה ----------
> From: Jane Darnell <jane023(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2017 07:41:55 +0100
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikitech-l] Tech Talk: A Gentle Introduction
> to Wikidata for Absolute Beginners [including non-techies!]
> Great job, thanks Asaf. Any chance this can be transcripted for
> translation? I don't even know how. Also this should be annotated for
> specific how-to pieces (or maybe someone can make derivative files for e.g.
> the query editor)
> >From any page, someone should be able to click through to another page
> (Youtube, Commons webm, Commons slides)
>
> On Fri, Feb 10, 2017 at 7:32 AM, Asaf Bartov <abartov(a)wikimedia.org>
> wrote:
>
> > Here's the (3-hour) footage of the detailed Wikidata tutorial delivered
> > today:
> >
> > on Commons:
> > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Gentle_
> > Introduction_to_Wikidata_for_Absolute_Beginners_(including_
> > non-techies!).webm
> >
> > on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVrAx3AmUvA
> >
> > the slides:
> > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikidata_-_A_Gentle_
> > Introduction_for_Complete_Beginners_(WMF_February_2017).pdf
> >
> > It covers what Wikidata is (00:00), how to contribute new data to
> Wikidata
> > (1:09:34), how to create an entirely new item on Wikidata (1:27:07), how
> to
> > embed data from Wikidata into pages on other wikis (1:52:54), tools like
> > the Wikidata Game (1:39:20), Article Placeholder (2:01:01), Reasonator
> > (2:54:15) and Mix-and-match (2:57:05), and how to query Wikidata
> (including
> > SPARQL examples) (starting 2:05:05).
> >
> > Share and enjoy. :)
> >
> > A.
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 4:35 PM Rachel Farrand <rfarrand(a)wikimedia.org>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Please join for the following talk:
> > >
> > > *Tech Talk**:* A Gentle Introduction to Wikidata for Absolute Beginners
> > > [including non-techies!]
> > > *Presenter:* Asaf Bartov
> > > *Date:* February 09, 2017
> > > *Time: *19:00 UTC
> > > <
> > > https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=
> > Tech+Talk%3A+A+Gentle+Introduction+to+Wikidata+for+Absolute+Beginners+%
> > 5Bincluding+non-techies%21%5D+&iso=20170209T19&p1=1440&ah=3
> > > >
> > > Link to live YouTube stream <https://www.youtube.com/
> watch?v=eVrAx3AmUvA
> > >
> > > *IRC channel for questions/discussion:* #wikimedia-office
> > >
> > > *Summary: *This talk will introduce you to the Wikimedia Movement's
> > latest
> > > major wiki project: Wikidata. We will cover what Wikidata is, how to
> > > contribute, how to embed Wikidata into articles on other wikis, tools
> > like
> > > the Wikidata Game, and how to query Wikidata (including SPARQL
> examples).
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Wikitech-l mailing list
> > > Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > 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>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
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> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
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>
Dear all,
I am happy to announce that applications to attend WikiCite ‘17 officially open
today <https://goo.gl/forms/Kb9Wl6Xfw2EmFqEr2>.
About the event
WikiCite 2017 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite_2017> is a 3-day
conference, summit and hack day to be hosted in Vienna, Austria, on May
23-25, 2017. It expands on efforts started last year at WikiCite 2016
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite_2016/Report> to design a central
bibliographic repository, as well as tools and strategies to improve
information quality and verifiability in Wikimedia projects.
Our goal is to bring together Wikimedia contributors, data modelers,
information and library science experts, software engineers, designers and
academic researchers who have experience working with Wikipedia's citations
and bibliographic data.
WikiCite 2017 will be a venue to:
-
Day 1. (Conference) – present progress on existing work and initiatives
for citations and bibliographic data across Wikimedia projects
-
Day 2. (Summit) – discuss technical, social, outreach and policy
directions
-
Day 3. (Hack) – get together to build, based on new ideas and
applications
More information on the event can be found here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite_2017>:
How to apply
Participation for this year's event is limited to 100 individuals. In order
to be considered for participation, please fill out the following form
<https://goo.gl/forms/Kb9Wl6Xfw2EmFqEr2> and provide us with some
information about yourself, your interests, and expected contribution.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT THE FINAL REGISTRATION FORM. Your application will
be reviewed and the organizing committee will extend an invitation by March
10, 2017. This application form is to determine the best mix of attendees.
Not everyone who applies will receive an invitation, but there will be a
waitlist.
Important dates
-
February 9, 2017: applications open
-
February 27, 2017: applications close, waitlist opens
-
March 10, 2017: all final notifications of acceptance are issued,
waitlist processing begins
-
March 31, 2017: attendee list is finalized
Travel support
Like last year, limited funding to cover travel costs of prospective
participants will be available. Requests for travel support should be
submitted via the application form <https://goo.gl/forms/Kb9Wl6Xfw2EmFqEr2>.
We will confirm by March 10, if we can provide you with travel support.
Contact
For any question, you can contact the organizing committee via:
wikicite(a)wikimedia.org
We look forward to seeing you in Vienna!
The WikiCite 2017 organizing committee
Dario Taraborelli
Jonathan Dugan
Lydia Pintscher
Daniel Mietchen
Cameron Neylon
*Dario Taraborelli *Director, Head of Research, Wikimedia Foundation
wikimediafoundation.org • nitens.org • @readermeter
<http://twitter.com/readermeter>
