Wikimedia-l July 2017

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95 participants
69 discussions

Wikimedia Sverige vs. the Visual Copyright Society in Sweden (BUS)
by John Andersson 08 Jul '17

08 Jul '17

Today we received some bad news in Sweden. The Swedish Patent and Market Court ruled against Wikimedia Sverige in a lawsuit filed by Visual Copyright Society in Sweden <http://bus.se/en> (BUS). The case concerns images of public art online, more specifically in the case of our website Offentligkonst.se <http://offentligkonst.se/>, a service created by Wikimedia Sverige using images from Wikimedia Commons. The ruling means that Freedom of Panorama is eroded and the public space is diminished. It is a detrimental loss for our projects. Next we will talk to our lawyers and WMF legal team to see what our remaining legal options are. Our lawyers however believe that success is not very likely if we would decide to move forward. Intensive efforts to advocate for our elected officials to change the outdated and problematic clauses in Swedish copyright law will be initiated during the year. We have also started a crowdfunding campaign to cover some of the cost of the legal expenses and fines of about 750,000 SEK stated in the verdict (around 89,000 USD) and for future national and international lobbying efforts. Please consider making a donation at http://wikimedia.se/en/donera, <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>ev <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>en <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera> i <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>f <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>it <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera> i <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>s <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>a <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>sy <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>mb <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>ol <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>ic <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera> s <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>um <http://wikimedia.se/en/donera>. Simply add “BUS” in the comment, and all the money will be used for these costs. Some useful links (in Swedish): - The legal argumentation from the court: <http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/Domstolar/hogstadomstolen/Avgoranden/2016/201…> http://www.bildupphovsratt.se/sites/default/files/upload/ stockholms_tr_pmt_8448-14_dom_2017-07-06.pdf <http://www.bildupphovsratt.se/sites/default/files/upload/stockholms_tr_pmt_…> <http://www.hogstadomstolen.se/Domstolar/hogstadomstolen/Avgoranden/2016/201…> - Our press release: <http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressreleases/hoegsta-domstolen-vaeljer-att-kr…> https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/wikimedia-sverige/ pressreleases/domslut-krymper-det-offentliga-rummet-i-sverige-2054679 <https://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/wikimedia-sverige/pressreleases/domslut-krymp…> <http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressreleases/hoegsta-domstolen-vaeljer-att-kr…> - A timeline of what has happened: https://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/ Offentligkonst.se/Stämning Best, John - - - - John Andersson Executive Director Wikimedia Sverige Phone: +46(0)73-3965189 <073-396%2051%2089> Email: john.andersson(a)wikimedia.se Skype: johnandersson86

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2014–16 audit of the WMF communications strategy
by Andreas Kolbe 07 Jul '17

07 Jul '17

For the past couple of days, there has been a discussion[1] of the 2014–16 audit of the WMF communications strategy[2] and the associated recommendations for WMF messaging in the Wikipedia Weekly Facebook group. The audit was performed by, or in collaboration with, political consultants MinassianMedia. I found some of the audit's recommendations troubling, and have summarised my concerns on the related talk page on Meta.[3] I'd welcome comments from volunteers and staff with an interest in Wikimedia Foundation messaging. Cheers, Andreas [1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediaweekly/permalink/1366566440057850/ [2] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/4/4a/Wikimedia_Foundation… [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Communications/Wikimedia_Foundation_me…

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All mails going to Spam for Live users?
by Rehman Abubakr 06 Jul '17

06 Jul '17

Hi, All emails from Wikimedia-l started to automatically drop into my Spam folder as of a few days ago. I use an "@live.com" email address (from Microsoft Outlook). Anyone else facing this? Thanks and regards, User:Rehman<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rehman>

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Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan FY2017-2018
by Katherine Maher 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

Hi everyone, I'm pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation's Annual Plan is now on Meta.[1] This year we are continuing to adhere to the three strategic priorities laid out in the 2016-2018 interim strategic plan: reach, communities, and knowledge. Across the organization, we've introduced cross-departmental programs and planning, with a holistic approach to program support that draws on our community, technical, and other capacities. We feel that this new approach creates stronger and better outcomes for programs, and is also clearer as to what the Foundation is prioritizing. Some examples of these cross-departmental programs include New Readers, Structured Data, and Community Health, which have been discussed on this list and on wiki throughout the past year. Throughout the rest of the organization and department programs, we're continuing to invest in the areas we identified through the 2016-2018 interim strategic plan, as well as core work such as operational improvements, deepening diversity and inclusion, improving privacy and security, and funding the Wikimedia endowment. Thank you all for your support over the past year. Your participation in the movement strategy process launched this year is deeply appreciated, and it is remarkable to think that next year's plan will begin to incorporate the directions we design together. In the meanwhile, I'm looking forward to your feedback on this year's proposed plan during this open comment period. Yours, Katherine [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_ Plan/2017-2018/Draft -- 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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Fwd: [Wikitech-l] Changes in the Contributors Team
by Pine W 03 Jul '17

03 Jul '17

Forwarding. This email may be of interest to folks are interested in translations, language engineering, and contributors' interfaces. Pine ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Trevor Parscal <tparscal(a)wikimedia.org> Date: Mon, Jul 3, 2017 at 12:46 PM Subject: [Wikitech-l] Changes in the Contributors Team To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Wikimedia Developers, With the change to a new annual plan and fiscal year, we’ve made some changes to how the Contributors team, formerly known as the Editing department, is organized. I believe these changes will help us better serve our communities and make judicious use of donor funds, by making our teams more capable of taking on large projects while maintaining production software. I also believe these changes will better support for our staff by helping many of them who have been wearing many hats for a long time achieve greater focus. The first and most significant change is that the Language and Collaboration teams have merged to become the Global Collaboration team. Runa Bhattacharjee, who has managed the Language team since 2014, will manage the new combined team. Roan Kattouw, who has led and managed the Collaboration team for the past two years, has now taken off his people manager hat, and is now focused on being the Lead Engineer of the new team. By merging, this new team will have the ability to incorporate engineering, design, QA and community engagement more fluidly, meeting the specific needs of each project and allowing team members to share their individual expertise to a greater number of products. Additionally, as Toby mentioned last month, the Dan Garry has joined the team responsible for editing tools like VisualEditor, allowing James to step away from his 5-year stint as the Product Manager for VisualEditor and focus on leading product for Contributors. With this change comes a new name for the VisualEditor team, which is now (back to being called) the Editing team. It will likely take some time for these changes to fully propagate through all the wikis and development tools and many staff are currently in transitional roles. If you have any questions about these changes, please let me know and I’ll do my best to help you. Thanks, Trevor Parscal -- - Trevor _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l

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Better public reporting for WMF $1m or $2m+ projects
by Fæ 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

Could an unpaid volunteer who is not a WMF employee, or contractor, or consultant, please have a go at answering my polite request for links to "monthly or quarterly financial reports" from a few days ago, below? I don't think this needs any time from employees to confirm whether published versions exist or don't exist, and I don't want to be publicly shamed for asking a question.[1] I have searched through the WMF web pages with regard to the 2017 movement strategy,[2] but have yet to find any references or evidence that there are regular reports of when or how the budgeted $2.5 million is being spent. Considering the large size of this project, and especially the significant sums of money going to consultants, I am sure everyone can appreciate there is bound to be interest from the wider community in the progress of the spend and any unplanned spend. I would expect that the strategy project has regular monthly tracked spending reports, certainly I would find it hard to believe that the WMF CEO and CFO do not require that level of tracking and reporting. If nothing is published, then that would be a jolly good thing for our movement to push for improved /public/ governance of $1m+ projects, especially those with large sums going to consultants chosen using non-open bid procedures, to deliver better transparency in line with our movement values. The cost of this improvement would be zero. There can be no doubt that summary reports already exist and there is unlikely to be any reason for secrecy that would convince the community that when spending very large sums of donated money, we can be ethically transparent and accountable, but be unable to answer these simple questions publicly. Should the WMF CEO feel that publishing monthly or quarterly reports on $1m+ projects is a pointless burden, then perhaps the CEO and WMF board could agree at what level of spend there should be better transparency, perhaps any identifiable programme spending more than $2m? Raising as a separate thread, as we have probably drifted away from Pine's original question and intent.[3] Links: 1. https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-June/087910.html Statement from Greg and Anna. 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017 Strategy pages on Meta. 3. https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-June/087854.html Pine's question. Thanks, Fae On 27 June 2017 at 12:31, Fæ <faewik(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On 27 June 2017 at 04:33, Anna Stillwell <astillwell(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > ... >>> * How much is this timeline extension projected to cost, and from what >>> source are the funds being drawn? (Note that this doesn't assume that the >>> decision was a bad one, but I very much want to know the source of the >>> funds and how much is likely to be drawn from it.) >> >> We've got this covered, Pine. We are fiscally managing this process and all >> of our contracts well. Thank you for your concern. >> >>> * Could you also discuss what measures are being taken to control costs in >>> the strategy process? >>> >> >> We have plenty of measures in place to monitor costs (e.g., we don't need >> to control them because they are not out of control, we are within our >> budget). Also, describing financial metrics at any lower level of detail >> would be a waste of the strategy budget since we are within it. >> >> Always good to hear from you, >> /a > > Anna, > > I'd love to examine the more detailed monthly or quarterly financial > reports that demonstrate your assurance, and can be both examined and > understood by volunteers like us. Could you provide a link to them > please? No doubt the WMF wrote transparency and accountability right > into the contracts, so that being transparent and accountable is not > considered a "waste of the strategy budget" but instead is an activity > absolutely critical to its success. > > Thanks, > Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

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What's making you happy this week? (Week of 2 July 2017)
by Pine W 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

Cascadia Wikimedians User Group is getting near to finishing the reports and accounting for a WMF grant. I'm hoping that the current grant will be "closed" in mid-July and that the organization will move forward later this year with a new plan for outreach activities. Additionally, I had a conversation with two people last week who liked a Wikiemdia-related idea that I've been contemplating. I hope to have another conversation with them in the future when my schedule is more accommodating. What's making you happy this week? Pine

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New bureau for the Board of Wikimédia France
by Édouard Hue 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

Dear Wikimedians, This e-mail to let you know of some changes in the Board of trustees of Wikimédia France. Our Chair, Émeric Vallespi, got elected as deputy Member of Parliament during the French legislative elections in June. Although this position does not entail an active role in Parliament, Émeric has accepted a full-time position on his MP’s staff. Therefore, in accordance with conflict of interests policy at WMFr and in view of his new job, Émeric resigned from the chair position. He remains a member of the Board but his role in our lobbying activities will be restricted regarding his position in politics. New officers have been elected and our Board is now composed as following: - Samuel Le Goff - Chair ; - Marie-Alice Mathis - Vice-Chair ; - Édouard Hue - Secretary ; - Guillaume Goursat - Treasurer ; - Louise Merzeau ; - Florian Pépellin ; - Florence Raymond ; - Émeric Vallespi. On behalf of Wikimédia France Board of Trustees, With our best regards, -- Édouard Hue Secretary of Wikimédia France

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What's making you happy this week? (Week of 25 June 2017)
by Pine W 02 Jul '17

02 Jul '17

I like a tool for Wikidata that Hay created which is called VizQuery. More information about it is below. What's making you happy this week? Pine ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Hay (Husky) <huskyr(a)gmail.com> Date: Tue, Jun 20, 2017 at 4:10 PM Subject: [Wikidata] A visual way to query Wikidata To: "Discussion list for the Wikidata project." < wikidata(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Hey everyone, i've made a tool that allows you to query Wikidata in a visual way without using SPARQL. It's called VizQuery: http://tools.wmflabs.org/hay/vizquery/ The possibilities of using Wikidata to do interesting queries are endless, and the current query service allows for very powerful queries indeed. However, i feel that for the general public, especially those who are not that technical, it might be a bit overwhelming and difficult for them to learn a complex language such as SPARQL. To make people familiar with the concept of queries i believe a somewhat less intimidating approach might be useful, hence this tool. VizQuery is only capable of doing a subset of possible queries. It's basically simple triples, variables (prefixed with '?') and literals (between "quotes"). You can do pretty powerful queries with only those things though. For example, here's a query with vegetarians who are married to a vegetarian: http://bit.ly/2sydpmW Under the hood VizQuery uses Ruben Verborgh's SPARQL.js library to convert between JSON and SPARQL, so theoretically every SPARQL query you could do in the regular query service can be done in VizQuery. However, many queries won't work because the visual interface only supports a subset of options: it's pretty hard to create user-friendly GUI representations of many of the complex SPARQL features. :) Anyway, i'd like to hear what you think. Bugs, feature request and pull requests are also welcome on my Github page: https://github.com/hay/wiki-tools Kind regards, -- Hay _______________________________________________ Wikidata mailing list Wikidata(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikidata

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Wikimedia-l July 2017