May 2017 - Wikimedia-l - lists.wikimedia.org

New WM-IT board
by Giuseppe Profiti 25 May '17

25 May '17

Dear all, Wikimedia Italy had its AGM on April 8. During this meeting, the 2016 Annual Report was approved, and a new Board was elected. Three positions were up for contest and two new people were elected, while one was reconfirmed. On the same day, the Board appointed the different roles: * Lorenzo Losa - president * Paola Liliana Buttiglione - vice-president (newly elected) * Giuseppe Profti - secretary (newly elected) * Saverio Giulio Malatesta - treasurer (reconfirmed) * Luca Martinelli - projects coordinator Few words about the new entries: * Paola Liliana is an archaeologist working on local development by promotion of cultural heritage * Giuseppe is a long time Wikipedian, former regional coordinator for Wikimedia Italy, researcher and teacher in Computer Science * Saverio is an archaeologist, extremely interested about open culture, and already stepped in as treasurer since December 2016, when the previous treasurer (Simone Cortesi) resigned. As for the non-contestant, Lorenzo has been president for the last year and is quite involved into the Wikimedia community (i.e. FDC), while Luca (yet another long-time Wikipedian) served in the board for the last three years, firstly as secretary, and from last year as projects coordinator. We are sorry to be this late in announcing the new Board, but these months were packed with events and activities. :) Kind regards, Giuseppe (on behalf of WM-IT Board)

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Update on Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA
by James Buatti 24 May '17

24 May '17

Hello everybody, The Foundation is pleased to announce an update in Wikimedia Foundation v. National Security Agency,[1] our challenge to the U.S. National Security Agency’s “Upstream”[2] mass surveillance practices. We filed[3] the suit back in March 2015 to protect the privacy and free expression rights of Wikimedia readers, editors, and contributors. The U.S. government moved to dismiss the case, and in October 2015, the District Court granted that motion.[4] Soon after, we appealed.[5] This morning, the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals[6] ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation can proceed with the suit. The opinion[7] partially vacated and remanded the District Court ruling, which found that the Wikimedia Foundation and our eight co-plaintiffs lacked legal standing[8] to bring the case. The Fourth Circuit panel vacated this ruling as to the Wikimedia Foundation; two of the judges held that we have established standing, although the other plaintiffs have not. The final judge would have found standing for all the plaintiffs. This means our case can proceed, but not with the other plaintiffs. This is an important step in the fight against government mass surveillance, and a victory for the privacy and free expression rights of Wikimedia users. We are carefully reviewing the decision, along with our counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)[9] to identify next steps for our case. For the immediate time being, the case has been remanded back to the District Court of Maryland for further proceedings. We will keep you posted on the next steps. For more information, please see today’s blog about the case,[10] as well as our Wikimedia Foundation v. NSA resource page.[11] Best, Jim Buatti Legal Counsel [1] https://policy.wikimedia.org/stopsurveillance/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstream_collection [3] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/ [ <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/>4] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/10/23/wikimedia-v-nsa-lawsuit-dismissal/ [ <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/>5] <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/03/10/wikimedia-v-nsa/> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/02/17/wikimedia-nsa-appeal-filed/ [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Fourth… [ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Fourth…> 7] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Fourth…> https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/73._4th_cir_opinion… [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_(law) [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_Liberties_Union [10] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/05/23/wikimedia-nsa-appeal-standing/ [11] https://policy.wikimedia.org/stopsurveillance/ -- James Buatti Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Jbuatti(a)wikimedia.org 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. For legal reasons, I may only serve as an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation. This means I may not give legal advice to or serve as a lawyer for community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.

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Wikimedia genealogy and historical research software - a proposal for HRE
by Michael Maggs 24 May '17

24 May '17

There has been quite bit of discussion over the years about how the Wikimedia movement could engage with those who have research interests in family history or genealogy, and a centralised discussion page [1] has been set up on Meta. I am posting to ask whether there would be Wikimedian developers who would be interested in joining an open source project to create a free platform independent application called History Research Environment [2] (‘HRE’) for the serious genealogist or historical researcher. Considerable effort has been put into high-level planning over several years, and we are now ready to start writing code. While the proposed software is not currently an official Wikimedia project, if there is enough interest we are open to it becoming integrated or affiliated in some way. The plan is, in any event, that the software should be interoperable with Wikidata to allow (subject to the agreement of the Wikidata community) the exchange of a variety of structured data including verified and fully sourced family trees. I'd be happy to answer queries. Michael Maggs [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_genealogy_project [2] https://historyresearchenvironment.org (please excuse cross-posting for greater visibility, as the [wikimedia-genealogy] mailing list still has very few subscribers)

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Mozilla, funded by advertisers, starts opposing privacy regulations
by James Salsman 23 May '17

23 May '17

Here is an interesting quote of a Mozilla Foundation lawyer from https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/05/11/mozilla_wants_eu_to_slow_down_its_… "draft Regulation imposes very specific restrictions on the technology industry that may challenge the business models of some ISPs. In some areas, obligations are proscriptive, undermining the principle of technological neutrality that this legislation needs to withstand the test of time in a rapidly changing environment" Is it appropriate for the Wikimedia Foundation to respond to this sort of thing? Mozilla is almost entirely funded by ad-supported businesses at present.

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Recognition of the Wikimedia Tool Developers Group
by Kirill Lokshin 22 May '17

22 May '17

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized the Wikimedia Tool Developers Group [1] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group is international cooperative of developers who create freely-licensed tools for improving the Wikimedia projects. Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group! Regards, Kirill Lokshin Chair, Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Tool_Developers_Group

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Fwd: Code of Conduct Committee for Wikimedia technical spaces constituted!
by Quim Gil 20 May '17

20 May '17

Hi, as promised, here is the last update about the constitution of the Code of Conduct Committee for Wikimedia technical spaces, happening today. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Quim Gil <qgil(a)wikimedia.org> Date: Sat, May 20, 2017 at 10:35 AM Subject: Code of Conduct Committee for Wikimedia technical spaces constituted! To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, MediaWiki announcements and site admin list <mediawiki-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Development and Operations Engineers <engineering(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikimedia Labs <labs-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, "A mailing list for the Analytics Team at WMF and everybody who has an interest in Wikipedia and analytics." <analytics(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Research into Wikimedia content and communities <wiki-research-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, "A list for the design team." <design(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, pywikibot(a)lists.wikimedia.org Hello everybody, The Code of Conduct Committee <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Code_of_Conduct/Committee_members> bootstrapping process has been completed. Some intermediate updates were posted in phab:T159923 <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T159923>. Starting today, the Code of Conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces is enforced by the new Committe formed by Amir Sarabadani (Ladsgroup <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Ladsgroup>), Lucie-Aimée Kaffee ( Frimelle <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Frimelle>), Nuria Ruiz ( Nurieta <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Nurieta>), Sébastien Santoro ( Dereckson <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Dereckson>), and Tony Thomas (01tonythomas <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:01tonythomas>). Congratulations to them, to the additional five auxiliary members <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Code_of_Conduct/Committee_members#Auxiliary> (Απεργός, Léna, Florianschmidtwelzow, Huji, Matanya), and to everybody else who contributed to this process! Source: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Code_of_Conduct# Process_completed.2C_CoC_Commitee_constituted -- Quim Gil Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil

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Naive questions: what could do the movement with 1B dollars/euros?
by David Cuenca Tudela 19 May '17

19 May '17

Are there any activities that could have a meaningful impact if we ask donors for such amount of seed money? Are there reasons to do so? Do we have the guts to do so? Do we have the organizational capital to handle it? Or can we get there soon? Do we have the moral right to take a lead in the world and ask for as much resources as needed? Is our leader and our members willing to take big undertakings? Are most of us ready to live in fear while the values that we cherry most would crumble under our own eyes? Would it matter much if we as a movement would disappear? Or is it a struggle always a positive answer against the shadows in the world? Can we offer anything else in this world than truth, free knowledge, and an open inclusive environment? Would you take best wishes from a stranger like me? Micru

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[Wikimedia Announcements] FDC elections: Call for candidates
by Delphine Ménard 19 May '17

19 May '17

*[TL;DR]* FDC elections are coming up. If you want to run or know someone who would be good on the FDC or as an ombudsperson, please see https://meta.wikimedia. org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2017 ======== Dear Wikimedians, As you may know, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) [1] is a volunteer committee that makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees on how to spend funds to achieve the movement’s goals. Each year, the FDC meets twice in person to deliberate on annual plan grant proposals submitted by affiliates and aligned partners of the Wikimedia movement. Allocated through a participatory, transparent, collaborative grantmaking process, these funds are used by organizations to expand and deepen participation and enable the creation and curation of quality content on Wikimedia projects. As foreseen in the FDC framework [2], five seats on the committee are open to election this year, as is the position of the ombudsperson. Serving on this committee is an opportunity to deepen your engagement in the movement, build your leadership and experience, and work closely with other colleagues who are interested in helping the movement achieve more impact. The commitments are significant: you will be expected to come to at least two face-to-face meetings each year that last up to 5 days, in addition to reviewing more than 15 proposals and significant background documents each year. For most committee members, participation in the meetings also includes significant international travel. Note that the committee will meet for a four/five-day period mid-November, possibly in San Francisco, so you must be available during this period. The other mandatory face to face meeting usually happens around mid-May. We're looking for a diverse group of people with the following attributes: * Experience directing or evaluating programs, within or outside of the Wikimedia movement; * Expertise with grants (you have received or managed grant funds or you have experience making grants); * Knowledge and understanding of, and personal credibility within the Wikimedia movement and on the Wikimedia projects (that is, experience with Wikimedia programs, Wikimedia organizations, or on-wiki leadership roles); * We seek gender, geographic and linguistic diversity on the committee, as well as experience with diverse roles within the Wikimedia movement (e.g. content contributors, program leaders, user group leaders, functionaries, chapter board members) * To find more information about eligibility requirements, how to nominate candidates, or to publish your self-nomination, please visit the election homepage: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2017 Please reach out to me with any questions about these elections or the work the FDC does. Cheers, Delphine Ménard [1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Funds_ Dissemination_Committee [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_ Dissemination_Committee/Framework_for_the_Creation_ and_Initial_Operation_of_the_FDC -- Delphine Ménard Program Officer Wikimedia Foundation User:Delphine_(WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Delphine_(WMF)> _______________________________________________ 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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FDC elections: Call for candidates
by Delphine Ménard 19 May '17

19 May '17

*[TL;DR]* FDC elections are coming up. If you want to run or know someone who would be good on the FDC or as an ombudsperson, please see https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2017 ======== Dear Wikimedians, As you may know, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) [1] is a volunteer committee that makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees on how to spend funds to achieve the movement’s goals. Each year, the FDC meets twice in person to deliberate on annual plan grant proposals submitted by affiliates and aligned partners of the Wikimedia movement. Allocated through a participatory, transparent, collaborative grantmaking process, these funds are used by organizations to expand and deepen participation and enable the creation and curation of quality content on Wikimedia projects. As foreseen in the FDC framework [2], five seats on the committee are open to election this year, as is the position of the ombudsperson. Serving on this committee is an opportunity to deepen your engagement in the movement, build your leadership and experience, and work closely with other colleagues who are interested in helping the movement achieve more impact. The commitments are significant: you will be expected to come to at least two face-to-face meetings each year that last up to 5 days, in addition to reviewing more than 15 proposals and significant background documents each year. For most committee members, participation in the meetings also includes significant international travel. Note that the committee will meet for a four/five-day period mid-November, possibly in San Francisco, so you must be available during this period. The other mandatory face to face meeting usually happens around mid-May. We're looking for a diverse group of people with the following attributes: * Experience directing or evaluating programs, within or outside of the Wikimedia movement; * Expertise with grants (you have received or managed grant funds or you have experience making grants); * Knowledge and understanding of, and personal credibility within the Wikimedia movement and on the Wikimedia projects (that is, experience with Wikimedia programs, Wikimedia organizations, or on-wiki leadership roles); * We seek gender, geographic and linguistic diversity on the committee, as well as experience with diverse roles within the Wikimedia movement (e.g. content contributors, program leaders, user group leaders, functionaries, chapter board members) * To find more information about eligibility requirements, how to nominate candidates, or to publish your self-nomination, please visit the election homepage: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections_2017 Please reach out to me with any questions about these elections or the work the FDC does. Cheers, Delphine Ménard [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Funds_Dissemination_Comm… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Funds_Dissemination_Committee/Fr… -- Delphine Ménard Program Officer Wikimedia Foundation User:Delphine_(WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Delphine_(WMF)>

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Funds Dissemination Committee Recommendations - Round 2 of 2016-17
by Risker 19 May '17

19 May '17

Dear Wikimedians, The Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) meets twice a year to make recommendations about how to effectively allocate movement funds to achieve the Wikimedia movement's mission, vision, and strategy. This is now the 9th round of allocations made by the FDC, and we met in person from May 12-14, 2017 in Warsaw to deliberate on 4 proposals submitted this round, as well as to provide feedback on the Wikimedia Foundation draft Annual Plan. We would like to thank all of the participating organizations for the hard work they put into this round’s proposals. Our recommendations for Round 2 2016-2017 on the annual plan grants to the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees have now been posted on Meta.[1] The Board will review our deliberations and make a decision by July 1, 2017. We received grant requests for approximately USD 1,430,000 this round. Before we met, committee members reviewed all of the proposals and documents submitted. We were assisted in this review with input from the FDC staff assessments which included analysis on impact, finances, and programs, as well as community comments on the proposals. As you may know, there is a formal process to submit complaints or appeals about these recommendations. Here are the steps for both: Any organization that would like to submit an appeal on the FDC’s Round 1 recommendation should submit it to the Board representatives to the FDC by 23:59 UTC on 8 June 2017 in accord with the appeal process outlined in the FDC Framework [2]. A formal appeal to challenge the FDC’s recommendation should be in the form of a 500-or-fewer word summary directed to the two non-voting WMF Board representatives to the FDC, Dariusz Jemielniak and Christophe Henner. The appeal should be submitted on-wiki, and must be submitted by the Board Chair of a funding-seeking applicant. The Wikimedia Foundation Board will publish its decision on this and all recommendations by July 1, 2017. Anyone can file a complaint about the FDC process [3] with the Ombudsperson at any time. The complaint should be submitted on wiki, as well. The Ombudsperson will publicly document the complaint, and investigate as needed. On behalf of the FDC, Anne Clin / Risker FDC Chair [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_recommendations/2016-2017_ro… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Appeals_to_the_Board_on_the_ recommendations_of_the_FDC [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Complaints_ about_the_FDC_process

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May 18: Update on Wikimedia movement strategy process (#17)
by Katherine Maher 19 May '17

19 May '17

Hi all, *Summary: Cycle 2 discussions continue! Lisa Seitz-Gruwell joined the core team as coach. * Cycle 2 discussions are actively underway on Meta-Wiki,[1] on more than a dozen local wikis, on other channels such as WhatsApp and Telegram, and in offline locations around the world.[2] These discussions are focused on the 5 top themes: * Healthy, inclusive communities [3] * The augmented age [4] * A truly global movement [5] * The most respected source of knowledge [6] * Engaging in the knowledge ecosystem [7] We have begun posting the first insights from the conversations we are having with outside experts and partners. They are available on the strategy portal on Meta-Wiki so that people can discuss how these insights might impact the themes being discussed.[8] We’ve received very helpful feedback from members of the community on translating and framing these themes so they make more sense to more people. As such, we are working on some slight wording changes to help make each theme description easier to understand and translate across languages. Those changes will be on Meta-Wiki within the week.[1] Of course, you can find more information about each of these themes, their discussions, and how to participate on the movement strategy portal on Meta-Wiki.[2] The movement strategy process continues to grow and gain momentum! This is all thanks to your participation. To help with internal coordination of this growing process, I have asked our capable and talented Chief Advancement Officer, Lisa Seitz-Gruwell, to join the core team as a coach for the team and working groups. She’ll be helping make sure people have the information and support they need so they can focus on getting great work done. I appreciate Lisa's willingness to join the effort as we continue to scale up, in response to your participation! *In other (election) news...* I want to say thank you to the more than 5,000 community members who participated in this year's community selection process for the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees![9] As we await the results, please remember that you can still consider candidacy for the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) or FDC Ombudsperson. There are five open seats on the FDC, plus the Ombudsperson position - and we would especially like to encourage candidates from communities, languages, and geographies that are not currently represented! [10] Remember, even if you are not interested in running for the FDC, you can still ask questions of the candidates. [10] Kwaheri! (Swahili translation: “Goodbye!”) Katherine PS. A version of this message is available for translation on Meta-Wiki.[11] [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2 [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Participate [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2/He… [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2/Th… [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2/A_… [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2/Th… [7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2/En… [8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Cycle_2/Re… [9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2017/Board_o… [10] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2017/Funds_D… [11] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Updates/18… -- 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

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Invitation to WMF May 2017 Metrics & Activities Meeting: Thursday, May 25, 18:00 UTC
by Lena Traer 19 May '17

19 May '17

Hello everyone, The next Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting will take place on Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 6:00 PM UTC (11 AM PDT). The IRC channel is #wikimedia-office on irc.freenode.net, and the meeting will be broadcast as a live YouTube stream.[1] During the May metrics meeting, we'll hear research and stories about developing an inclusive Wikimedia movement. We'll explore some of our challenges to becoming an inclusive movement, and what people around the movement are doing to create a more inclusive, welcoming space where everyone can participate. Meeting agenda: * Welcomes, theme introduction * Movement update * New filters for edit review * The Keilana effect * Executive update * Questions and discussion * Wikilove Please review https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_metrics_and_activities… for further information about the meeting and how to participate. We’ll post the video recording publicly after the meeting. Thank you, Lena [1] https://youtu.be/rAGwQdLyFb4 Lena Traer Project Assistant // Communications // Advancement Wikimedia Foundation

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Update on Wikimania '17 - Scholarships, Registration, Submissions
by Ellie Young 17 May '17

17 May '17

For the past several years anyone who gets a scholarship has to agree to the release of their user name in their acceptance of the award. On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 7:07 AM, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja < pavanaja(a)vishvakannada.com> wrote: > Hi, > > > > Long back when I asked for list of scholarship awardees, with their > usernames, someone answered saying that the usernames of scholarship > awardees can’t be disclosed. How come they have been disclosed now? > > > > Regards, > > Pavanaja > > > > > > *From:* Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] *On > Behalf Of *Ellie Young > *Sent:* 17 May 2017 12:49 AM > *To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription); Wikimedia Mailing List > *Subject:* [Wikimania-l] Update on Wikimania '17 - Scholarships, > Registration, Submissions > > > > Here's an update on various activities pertaining to our the upcoming > Wikimania '17 which is being held August 9-13 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. > > > > WMF Scholarship Program: 110 people were offered and subsequently > accepted a full or partial scholarship to attend. The awardees are listed > by user names and the list is posted here: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Wikimania_scholars > > > > Submissions: The program committee has just finished it's review and > deliberations. Rejections and acceptance emails are going out this week > and next. We expect to post the program by the end of this month. > > > > Registration and accommodation information is now up for everyone at: > > > > https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration > > https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Accommodation > > > > If you are a scholarship or other WMF funded attendee (staff, contractor, > board, etc), please wait until you hear from the WMF with your registration > and accommodation instructions. > > > > If you have any questions about the conference, please email > wikimania-info(a)wikimedia.org > > > > Please spread the word!!!! > > > > Thanks, Ellie > > > > > > -- > > Ellie Young > > Events Manager > > Wikimedia Foundation > > eyoung(a)wikimedia.org > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > > -- Ellie Young Events Manager Wikimedia Foundation eyoung(a)wikimedia.org c. 510 701 8649

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New Board WMNL
by Frans Grijzenhout 17 May '17

17 May '17

Dear all, Wikimedia Netherlands had its AGM on April 22. During this meeting the annual Report 2016 was approved and a new Board was elected. On May 13 the new Board held its first official meeting and the different portfolios were reassigned. Frans Grijzenhout - chair Justus de Bruijn - secretary Marike van Roon - education program Harriet de Man - institutional relations Bart Nieuwenhuis - treasurer Mike Nicolaye (new board member) - community liaison Michel Wesseling (new board member) - sponsoring and outreach Mike is an active, long-time Wikipedian and Michel Wesseling is an information professional. We are very happy that these new board members are willing to share their experience with WMNL. We also want to thank Jan Anton Brouwer who did an exellent job as our treasurer over the past 3 years. Kind regards, Frans *Frans Grijzenhout*, voorzitter / chair +31 6 5333 9499 - http://www.wikimedia.nl/ -- *Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland* *Postadres*: *Bezoekadres:* Postbus 167 Mariaplaats 3 3500 AD Utrecht 3511 LH Utrecht Kamer van Koophandel 17189036

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Widespread perfomance issues
by Cristian Consonni 17 May '17

17 May '17

Hi, At Wikimedia Italia have been contacted in the last few minutes because Wikipedia seems unreachable and very slow from Italy. The status pages for servers and services signals several perfomance issues: https://status.wikimedia.org/ Does somebody know what's going on? Thank you. Cristian

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Update on Wikimania '17 - Scholarships, Registration, Submissions
by Jonathan Cardy 17 May '17

17 May '17

Hi Dr Pavanaja, Back in April you asked for a list of scholarship applicants and people explained why we only publicise the list of people who are awarded a grant, not the people whose applications are declined. The list of people awarded a grant has been published, your request for a list of applicants has not and hopefully won't ever be published. Nothing has changed. If people apply for a scholarship and are declined that remains a private matter between the applicant and the scholarship committee, unless of course the applicant chooses to say that they applied and didn't get a scholarship. Regards Jonathan This was your email in April. >>> >>> I would like WMF to make the list of applicants, their contributions, the weightage used for each kind of contribution and the final list of scholarship awardees in a table form. Since WMF is run by the contributions of the volunteers, such a transparency is definitely needed from WMF. I hope WMF will oblige. >>> >>> Regards, >>> Pavanaja > On 17 May 2017, at 06:07, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja <pavanaja(a)vishvakannada.com> wrote: > > Hi, > > Long back when I asked for list of scholarship awardees, with their usernames, someone answered saying that the usernames of scholarship awardees can’t be disclosed. How come they have been disclosed now? > > Regards, > Pavanaja > > > From: Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Ellie Young > Sent: 17 May 2017 12:49 AM > To: Wikimania general list (open subscription); Wikimedia Mailing List > Subject: [Wikimania-l] Update on Wikimania '17 - Scholarships, Registration, Submissions > > Here's an update on various activities pertaining to our the upcoming Wikimania '17 which is being held August 9-13 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. > > WMF Scholarship Program: 110 people were offered and subsequently accepted a full or partial scholarship to attend. The awardees are listed by user names and the list is posted here: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Wikimania_scholars > > Submissions: The program committee has just finished it's review and deliberations. Rejections and acceptance emails are going out this week and next. We expect to post the program by the end of this month. > > Registration and accommodation information is now up for everyone at: > > https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration > https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Accommodation > > If you are a scholarship or other WMF funded attendee (staff, contractor, board, etc), please wait until you hear from the WMF with your registration and accommodation instructions. > > If you have any questions about the conference, please email wikimania-info(a)wikimedia.org > > Please spread the word!!!! > > Thanks, Ellie > > > -- > Ellie Young > Events Manager > Wikimedia Foundation > eyoung(a)wikimedia.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Update on Wikimania '17 - Scholarships, Registration, Submissions
by Adrian Raddatz 17 May '17

17 May '17

You must have received faulty information. The recipients have always been revealed, at least in past years. Adrian Raddatz On Tue, May 16, 2017 at 10:07 PM, Dr. U.B. Pavanaja < pavanaja(a)vishvakannada.com> wrote: > Hi, > > > > Long back when I asked for list of scholarship awardees, with their > usernames, someone answered saying that the usernames of scholarship > awardees can’t be disclosed. How come they have been disclosed now? > > > > Regards, > > Pavanaja > > > > > > *From:* Wikimania-l [mailto:wikimania-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] *On > Behalf Of *Ellie Young > *Sent:* 17 May 2017 12:49 AM > *To:* Wikimania general list (open subscription); Wikimedia Mailing List > *Subject:* [Wikimania-l] Update on Wikimania '17 - Scholarships, > Registration, Submissions > > > > Here's an update on various activities pertaining to our the upcoming > Wikimania '17 which is being held August 9-13 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. > > > > WMF Scholarship Program: 110 people were offered and subsequently > accepted a full or partial scholarship to attend. The awardees are listed > by user names and the list is posted here: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Wikimania_scholars > > > > Submissions: The program committee has just finished it's review and > deliberations. Rejections and acceptance emails are going out this week > and next. We expect to post the program by the end of this month. > > > > Registration and accommodation information is now up for everyone at: > > > > https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration > > https://wikimania2017.wikimedia.org/wiki/Accommodation > > > > If you are a scholarship or other WMF funded attendee (staff, contractor, > board, etc), please wait until you hear from the WMF with your registration > and accommodation instructions. > > > > If you have any questions about the conference, please email > wikimania-info(a)wikimedia.org > > > > Please spread the word!!!! > > > > Thanks, Ellie > > > > > > -- > > Ellie Young > > Events Manager > > Wikimedia Foundation > > eyoung(a)wikimedia.org > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimania-l mailing list > Wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l > >

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What's making you happy this week? (Week of 14 May 2017)
by Pine W 17 May '17

17 May '17

I was glad to read in the WMF Blog <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/05/15/atikamekw-wikipedia-initiative/> of an initiative by Wikimedia Canada and several partners to support Atikamekw Wikipedia <https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/atj/Otitikowin>. I feel that documenting, preserving, and sharing rare and/or endangered languages are particularly good use cases for Wiktionary, Wikipedia, and Wikidata. What's making you happy this week? Pine

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Closure of Beta Wikiversity
by Milos Rancic 17 May '17

17 May '17

There is the proposal for moving Beta Wikiversity into the Incubator [1]. According to the Closing project policy [2], the decision about closing projects is something done by particular members of the Language committee (while the Board could veto the decision). However, this is an unusual request with the positive positive outcome and I would like to hear wider community explicitly again. My position is -- and unless I get good arguments against I would send it to the Board -- that Beta Wikiversity should be closed, as it's a generator of projects lead by lunatics. "Academic freedom" has not been fruitful and any new request for Wikiversity should pass regular Incubator rules, inside of the curator environment fully trusted by the Language committee. The decision would be to move relevant content to the Incubator and let Incubator curators decide if any of the Beta Wikiversity admins should have adminship transferred. Beta Wikiversity would be closed and after some time (a year or two), it should be deleted. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects/Move_Beta_Wi… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Closing_projects_policy -- Milos

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Proposed projects
by George Ho 17 May '17

17 May '17

Ongoing proposals that still receive majority support: NonFreeWiki: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/NonFreeWiki Wikidirectory: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikidirectory Wikigames (2): https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikigames_(2) WikiJournal: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiJournal

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[Wikimedia Announcements] [PRESS RELEASE] Wikimedia Foundation welcomes Eileen Hershenov as General Counsel
by Samantha Lien 16 May '17

16 May '17

This press release is available online here: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Foundation_we… And as a blog post on the Wikimedia blog here: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/05/16/eileen-hershenov/ *Wikimedia Foundation welcomes Eileen Hershenov as General Counsel * *Experienced general counsel brings nearly three decades of leadership in media, intellectual property, civil liberties, and not-for-profit law* (San Francisco, California) May 16, 2017 - The Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to announce that Eileen Hershenov has joined the organization as General Counsel. Eileen brings nearly 30 years of experience in media and intellectual property law, civil rights and civil liberties law, not-for-profit law and governance, and privacy and cyber-security. Throughout her career, she has worked with mission-driven organizations to promote equality, free expression, and openness. The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. Together, Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects are visited by more than a billion unique devices every month. The Wikimedia Foundation is driven by its mission to build a world in which every single person can freely share in the sum of all human knowledge. As General Counsel, Eileen will lead an experienced team of attorneys and public policy experts to defend the Wikimedia projects, communities, and Foundation. She will be responsible for maintaining and developing the legal infrastructure, policy, and relevant legal defenses for the Wikimedia Foundation. She will also advise the Foundation on ethical and policy positions around access to knowledge, freedom of speech, privacy, copyright, and other issues relevant to the Wikimedia movement. “Eileen is deeply committed to the values that make the Wikimedia movement possible: free expression, access to knowledge, and a secure, open internet,” said Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. “Her knowledge, passion, and leadership make her an excellent addition to the Wikimedia Foundation and our global community.” Previously, Eileen served as the founding general counsel for Consumers Union, the not-for-profit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine and ConsumerReports.org. In that role, in addition to defending against legal attacks on the organization’s product reviews and investigative journalism, she was part of the executive leadership team charged with rethinking the organization’s approach to public policy and advocacy. Eileen supported the work of tens of thousands of volunteers who advocated for healthcare reform and net neutrality, among other issues. She also played a lead role in developing and implementing Consumer Reports’ evolving business policies, which are designed to ensure and protect the organization’s independence from commercial influence and special interests. Prior to joining Consumers Union, Eileen spent 11 years at the Open Society Foundations, where she served as General Counsel to the global foundation network. In this position, Eileen led the development of an in-house legal counsel department, overseeing the legal work of the foundations in more than 30 countries. Her work with the Open Society Foundations supported the efforts of local advocates in the former Soviet Union, Central Europe, as well as in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. During her time at the Open Society Foundations, Eileen also served as the founding general counsel for Central European University, the first U.S.-accredited liberal arts university located in a former communist country. “Wikimedia is a shining example of what’s possible when the values of the free and open internet are preserved,” Eileen said. “I’ve spent much of my career supporting many of the same principles that have allowed Wikipedia to flourish. I’m thrilled to join a global movement of people who are committed to these values.” Eileen began her career in public interest as an organizer and advocate for victims of toxic substances who were denied court access to seek restitution. Her legal work for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) marked the start of her passion for supporting free expression, free access, and freedom of association. She currently serves on the boards of a number of public interest justice organizations, including the advisory board of the Future of Privacy Forum, and the governing board of the Appleseed Foundation. Eileen received her BA in Economics from Yale College, and graduated from Yale Law School. She currently lives in the state of New York with her family, and will be relocating to the Bay Area this summer. *About the Wikimedia Foundation* The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports and operates Wikipedia and its sister free knowledge projects. Wikipedia is the world’s free knowledge resource, spanning more than 40 million articles across nearly 300 languages. Every month, more than 200,000 people edit Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, collectively creating and improving knowledge that is accessed by more than 1 billion unique devices every month. This all makes Wikipedia one of the most popular web properties in the world. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charity funded primarily through donations and grants. *About Wikipedia* Wikipedia is the world’s free knowledge resource. It is a collaborative creation that has been added to and edited by millions of people from around the globe since it was created in 2001: anyone can edit it, at any time. Wikipedia is offered in hundreds of languages containing a total of more than 40 million articles. Wikimedia and its sister projects are the largest collection of free knowledge in human history. *Wikimedia Foundation press contact* Juliet Barbara jbarbara(a)wikimedia.org (415) 839-6885 -- *Samantha Lien* Communications Manager Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94105 (To be unsubscribed from this press release distribution list, please reply to communications(a)wikimedia.org with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line) _______________________________________________ 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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The Mind of the Universe: public broadcaster works with Wikimedia movement
by Wikimedia Nederland 16 May '17

16 May '17

Hello all, We would like to share with you: Dutch public broadcaster VPRO and the Institute for Sound and Vision are cooperating with the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Nederland to make unique footage about groundbreaking sciene available. The Mind of the Universe <https://www.vpro.nl/mindenglish> is an international tv series and open source digital platform <http://www.themindoftheuniverse.org/> about the rapid evolution of our knowledge. Through interviews with groundbreaking scientists, it provides a glimpse of tomorrow’s world, The interviews were produced in 2015, 2016 and 2017 by Dutch public broadcaster VPRO for a tv series, VPRO decided from the start that all materials (including footage not used for the documentary) would be made available under an open license. The platform Mind of the Universe Open Science TV <http://www.themindoftheuniverse.org/> provides access to all this material. It also has transcripts of the interviews, which are searchable by keyword. All materials can be downloaded and re-used, as they were published under a CC-BY-SA license. With the help of a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, and working closely with Wikimedia Nederland, the Institute for Sound and Vision will host a series of events to promote use Mind of the Universe material throughout the Wikimedia projects. They will also produce a white paper to share their experiences and promote the concept of CC-BY-SA licensing among public broadcasters worldwide. For the Wikimedia projects the Mind of the Universe material is a valuable contribution: it is professionally made material, featuring the leading scientists of today explaining the state of research in their fields of work. The material also includes footage of research facilities, including some which had never before allowed cameras inside. Kind regards, Wikimedia Nederland

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Met Open Access Artworks Challenge
by Pharos 15 May '17

15 May '17

The Met Open Access Artworks Challenge is an international initiative from May 15-June 30, 2017 to add Creative Commons Zero images of public domain artworks from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art to new and existing Wikipedia articles. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Met_Open_Access_Artworks_Challenge Here is my new tool to generate draft articles on artworks using Wikidata (need help implementing it in more languages!): https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Met_Open_Access_Artworks_Challenge/Artworks And you can sign up as a participant here, earn prizes and share the project: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Met_Open_Access_Artworks_ Challenge/Participants Thanks, Pharos

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Passing of vi:User:Lê Thy
by Minh Nguyen 15 May '17

15 May '17

The Vietnamese Wikipedia community is saddened to learn that Lê Thy [1], until recently one of our administrators, has passed away after a fight with cancer. [2][3] Thy wrote about Vietnam's modern history, amassing over 12,000 edits over two years. Outside of Wikipedia, he was a restaurant owner and avid cyclist. Our condolences to his family. May he rest in peace. [1] https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A0nh_vi%C3%AAn:L%C3%AA_Thy [2] https://www.facebook.com/phuongnamnb/posts/1587796554565783 [3] https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%E1%BA%A3o_lu%E1%BA%ADn_Th%C3%A0nh_vi%C3%AA… -- Minh Nguyen [[User:Mxn]]

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Bhubaneswar Heritage Edit-a-thon
by Sailesh Patnaik 15 May '17

15 May '17

Hello all! Greetings from Odia Wikipedia community! I am happy to share that the Odia Wikipedians have succesfully forged a partnership with Bhubaneswar Development Authority to conduct the Bhubaneswar Heritage edit-a-thon. This edit-a-thon is aimed to improve Bhubaneswar's digital presence – and establish Bhubaneswar as a QRpedia city. With this edit-a-thon, Bhubaneswar will be the first city in India to install QRpedia codes in all of its heritage monuments. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bhubaneswar_Heritage_Edit-a-thon(page under construction) Bhubaneswar, also known as the "Temple City of India" has nearly 300 ancient temples of the Kalinga style architecture that dates back to the late 6th century. This edit-a-thon will happen in two phases, In the first phase, the BDA will release images and information of all state and ASI-protected monuments under CC license to improve Wikipedia articles. The second phase will be for unprotected monuments. This edit-a-thon will take place globally in the month of August or September. The BDA will provide souvenirs from Odisha to the Top 3 International and National (Indian) contributors. I request interested Wikimedians to please sign up for this edit-a-thon and help Odia Wikipedians to make this project a success. I will update other details on the User Talk page of interested volunteers. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bhubaneswar_Heritage_Edit-a-thon/Participan… Thanks and Regards -- ----------- *Sailesh Patnaik* "*ଶୈଳେଶ ପଟ୍ଟନାୟକ*" Programme Associate, Access To Knowledge Centre for Internet and Society Phone: +91-7537097770 *LinkedIn* : https://www.linkedin.com/in/sailesh-patnaik-551a10b4 *Twitter* : @saileshpat "Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality"

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