Hi,
A few days ago, the Israeli parliament, with the support of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, blocked a legal change on that would have
given the LGBT community the right to become parents. The new law denies
state-supported surrogacy to LGBT couples and single men.
In response, Israel’s LGBT Task Force called publicly for a strike on
Sunday, "The LGBT community is calling upon you, the LGBT and community
supporters, to join us in a one-day nationwide strike on Sunday, July 22,
Tisha Be’av".
During the last few days, a huge list of big companies and organizations in
Israel *publicized *their support and joined the strike by allowing their
employees to take a paid day off work to join the nationwide protest.
This morning, the board of Wikimedia Israel, alongside with other
organizations joined this call and published this announcement:
https://www.facebook.com/WikimediaIL/posts/1716487061739276https://twitter.com/WikimediaIL/status/1020214512392302592
<https://www.facebook.com/WikimediaIL/posts/1716487061739276>
*"Wikimedia Israel supports the just struggle for full equality, led by the
Israeli LGTBQ community.*
*Equality to every woman and man, regardless of gender, sexual preference,
religion, origin, or disability is a central value in the international
Wikimedia Movement. *
*The current outcry for the right for parenthood, indiscriminate medical
treatment, and protection against violent statements by public figures
against the LGTBQ community, is a part of the grand and continuous struggle
for full rights and legitimacy to the Israeli LGTBQ community, and we
support them in their struggle."*
*Itzik Edri*
Chairperson
itzik(a)wikimedia.org.il
+972-54-5878078
Dear Wikimedia friends,
Wikimedia Deutschland is happy to announce the date of the next
Wikimedia Conference: From 29 to 31 March 2019, we will welcome
representatives from Wikimedia Affiliates and partners, from the
Wikimedia Foundation as well as its committees in Berlin. We will
closely coordinate with the WMF’s teams for all things logistics,
program and funding, and are thankful for their support.
Based on our key takeaways from our 2015–2017 report,[1] conversations
at and after the Wikimedia Conference 2018 as well on the WMCON
Follow-Up Day at Wikimania 2018, we will modify the main focus of the
Wikimedia Conference: The next conference will focus on the Movement
Strategy process and movement governance for the organized part of the
movement in general. The program will be designed according to the
status and needs of the ongoing Movement Strategy process. In addition
to that, we will work with organizers of regional and thematic events
to develop a clear vision of contextualized and regionalized learning
opportunities in the Wikimedia movement. We want to thank everyone for
their valuable feedback on this major modification of this event.
I’d like to use this opportunity to announce another update: After
eight Wikimedia Conferences, I will step back from leading the event
and am happy to hand over to two well experienced colleagues:
Cornelius Kibelka, Program and Engagement Coordinator of the
conference, will take over all program related responsibilities.
Daniela Gentner, Logistics and Event coordinator of the conference,
will be responsible for entire logistics and event management of the
Wikimedia Conference.
Within the next months they will share more updates on the eligibility
criteria, the program set-up and the new application phase for the
Visiting Wikimedian program.[2] Stay tuned for updates!
If you have questions or ideas to share, feel free to reach out via
the usual channels or talk to Cornelius or me at the Wikimania closing
party in Cape Town.
Nicole
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference/2015–2017_Report
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Visiting_Wikimedian
--
Nicole Ebber
Adviser International Relations
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
http://wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.
V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts
Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig
anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin,
Steuernummer 27/029/42207.
+1
On 22 July 2018 at 10:02, Andrea Zanni <zanni.andrea84(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I'll ask forgiveness in advance for starting a probable flame.
>
> I support WMIL stance: equity is absolutely within our Wikimedia
> values, and supporting LGBTQ rights is always a good thing.
>
> But I cannot help but see the enormity of omission here: the Israeli
> government just passed a law proclaming Israel a "Jewish"
> nation-state¹, and it's bombing for the n-th time Gaza, where over 1
> million people are sieged.
>
> It saddens me a bit that WMIL is getting political, stepping "outside"
> our wiki box for a good but still controversial topic, with a minor
> impact, while major things are happening. Purely in terms of numbers
> the scale of the latter are huge: the scale of the first much smaller.
> I see a double standard (Jewish LGBQTs important; Arab-Israelis non
> important) which is directly against the equity we we're talking about
> in the first place.
>
> Again, sorry,
> but I couldn't shut up this time.
>
> Aubrey
>
> ¹ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/middleeast/israel-
> law-jews-arabic.html
>
> On 7/21/18, Chris Keating <chriskeatingwiki(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 10:23 AM Shlomi Fish <shlomif(a)shlomifish.org>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Hi Itzik,
> >>
> >>
> >> I do not oppose the LGBT movement, but please explain how an official
> >> support
> >> of that falls under the global Wikimedia project's mission, and does not
> >> dilute our policy of avoiding having a stance on issues that are
> unrelated
> >> to
> >> it?
> >
> > I mean... yeah.
> >
> > As an LGBT Wikimedian I entirely support changing this law, and I can
> > completely understand staff members wanting to take part in the
> > demonstrations, and the organisation wanting to support them in doing
> > that.
> >
> > But I really don't see why Wikimedia Israel should formally involve
> > itself in a general social-policy issue that's nothing specifically to
> > do with our mission. We need to be careful not to try to be a
> > general-purpose progressive movement.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Chris
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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/
> 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>
>
This press release is also available on the Wikimedia blog here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/20/wikimania-2018/
*Wikipedia volunteers and free knowledge leaders gather in Cape Town for
the first annual “Wikimania” conference in sub-saharan Africa*
*First ever Wikimania in sub-Saharan Africa will be held in Cape Town,
bringing together more than 700 people to discuss how to improve the
diversity of knowledge represented on Wikipedia and Wikimedia sites.*
*Key participants include Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Katherine
Maher, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, as well as notable thought leaders
from across Africa and the world.*
*(Cape Town, South Africa) 20 July 2018* — More than 700 attendees from
nearly 80 countries gathered today for the start of Wikimania 2018—the
annual conference celebrating Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects, the
Wikimedia free knowledge movement, and the community of volunteers who make
them possible. This marks the 14th annual Wikimania, which takes place
18–22 July at the Southern Sun Cape Sun Hotel in Cape Town, where
volunteers will come together to discuss and share ideas around the future
of Wikipedia and free knowledge globally.
The event kicked off with an opening ceremony featuring a special
presentation by a group of local Sinenjongo high school students welcoming
conference attendees to Cape Town. It continued with remarks by Douglas
Scott, President of Wikimedia ZA, the local South African Wikimedia
affiliate and lead local organizer of this year’s conference who introduced
this year’s conference theme: Bridging knowledge gaps, the ubuntu way
forward, which aims to address gaps in knowledge, particularly those about
African people, cultures, and languages, on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia
projects. As part of this week’s centennial celebration to commemorate the
birth of Nelson Mandela, Scott announced a partnership with the Nelson
Mandela Foundation to make the inspirational writings of the former South
African President’s 1962 diary available to the world on Wikimedia Commons
and Wikisource.
Throughout this year’s Wikimania, attendees will explore sessions related
to development of Wikimedia projects in Africa, global collaborations to
support the advancement of free knowledge, and opportunities to partner
with galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs). Wikimania 2018 is
co-organized by the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia ZA.
Wikimania 2018 will also bring together a diverse mix of attendees,
including seasoned volunteer editors; researchers and data scientists;
members from the medical community; librarians; and other free knowledge
leaders. Confirmed keynote speakers include internet geographist Dr. Martin
Dittus, who will be speaking on economic development, labour, power,
participation, and representation, Joy Buolamwini, a noted artificial
intelligence expert fighting to remove bias in machine learning, and
Professor Sean Jacobs, an esteemed data scientist in digital culture and
digital geography, alongside Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director,
Katherine Maher, and Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales. All plenary sessions
will be live streamed and available for public viewing online. More
information and links to livestream session are available here. [1]
“Wikipedia today is already fascinating and expansive. But it does not
begin to represent the entirety of the world we live in — so much of the
rich history, diversity of language, culture, and peoples of Africa is
missing from the site,” said Katherine Maher, Executive Director of the
Wikimedia Foundation. “We are honored to be hosted by Cape Town for this
year’s Wikimania, the first ever in sub-saharan Africa, and look forward to
speaking with our global communities, South Africans, and more about how we
can begin to hear the critical perspectives that are missing from Wikipedia
today.”
As part of the Wikimania press conference held on Friday, Katherine was
joined by Banks Baker, Head of Global Product Partnerships – Search
Content at Google, to announce the outcome of a recent collaboration
between the Wikimedia Foundation and Google to expand and improve the
representation of knowledge in Indic languages on Wikipedia, called Project
Tiger. Through the project, both organizations, working in close
collaboration with the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), Wikimedia
India chapter (WMIN) and local volunteers, hosted a pilot program to
increase locally relevant content available in 12 Indic languages on
Wikipedia.
Google provided Chromebooks and internet access to support volunteer
editors with content creation as well as insights into popular search
topics on Google that lack information in Indian languages online. Through
a three month writing competition, volunteers created nearly 4,500 new
Wikipedia articles across 12 languages, nearly double the initial
benchmarks for the project. Based on this initial success of the pilot
program, Google and the Wikimedia Foundation will hear feedback from
volunteers about the program in a session on Sunday at Wikimania and
further explore future implementation of these types of programs with other
volunteer communities.
The annual Wikimania gathering will also provide an opportunity for
volunteers to discuss Wikimedia’s future as part of Wikimedia 2030, a
global consultation to define the future of the Wikimedia movement.
Challenges with software localisation, the structure of data, and even
newforms of knowledge that Wikimedia has defined as “verifiable”
(text-based, rather than oral, for example) are some of the issues the
movement is grappling with as it moves actively towards incorporating more
diverse forms of knowledge within Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects.
Wikimania also offers conference-goers time to experience the unique
culture of Cape Town and join in the celebrations of Nelson Mandela’s 100th
birthday. The conference’s theme, “Bridging knowledge gaps—the ubuntu way
forward,” captures this spirit and finds its roots in the philosophy and
way of life ubuntu.
“Ubuntu is summarised as the philosophy of ‘I am because you are,’ or
alternatively ‘the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all
humanity,'” explained Wikimedia South Africa President, Douglas Scott.
“Volunteer community-driven projects like Wikipedia and what we are hoping
to achieve at Wikimania in Cape Town capture this ethos well. Wikimedia
South Africa is honored to have this opportunity to share this spirit with
our friends and colleagues around the world.”
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports
Wikipedia, the Wikimedia free knowledge projects, and its mission of free
knowledge for every single person.
To learn more about the conference, please visit:
wikimania2018.wikimedia.org.
You can follow the conference on #Wikimania as well as on:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikimania/
Twitter https://twitter.com/wikimania
[1] https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Program#Remote_attendance
About the Wikimedia Foundation
The Wikimedia Foundation is the nonprofit organization that supports
Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge projects. Our vision is a
world in which every single human can freely share in the sum of all
knowledge. We believe that everyone has the potential to contribute
something to our shared knowledge, and that everyone should be able to
access that knowledge freely. We host Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects,
build software experiences for reading, contributing, and sharing Wikimedia
content, support the volunteer communities and partners who make Wikimedia
possible, and advocate for policies that enable Wikimedia and free
knowledge to thrive.
The Wikimedia Foundation is a charitable, not-for-profit organization that
relies on donations. We receive financial support from millions of
individuals around the world, with an average donation of about $15. We
also receive donations through institutional grants and gifts. The
Wikimedia Foundation is a United States 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization
with offices in San Francisco, California, USA.
About Wikimedia South Africa
Wikimedia ZA is the non-profit volunteer-driven South African Wikimedia
chapter. It exists to promote the free knowledge movement in the country
by supporting Wikipedia editors, contributions to Wikimedia projects such
as Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, and increase access to free knowledge
sources. Membership is open to anyone based in South Africa with an
interest in participating in the free knowledge movement. Wikimedia ZA is
the local host of Wikimania 2018.
About Wikimania
Wikimania is the annual conference centered on the Wikimedia projects
(Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia free knowledge websites) and the
Wikimedia community of volunteers who contribute to them. It features
presentations on Wikimedia projects, other wikis, free and open source
software, free knowledge and free content, and the social and technical
aspects which relate to these topics. Wikimania 2018 marks the 14th year of
the conference.
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 nearly 300 languages containing a total of
more than 46 million articles, and viewed more than 15 billion times every
month. It is the largest, collaborative collection of free knowledge in
human history, and today its content is contributed and edited by a
community of more than 200,000 volunteer editors each month.
In case of any queries, please contact:
Sascha Polkey
Rabbit in a Hat Communications
sascha(a)rabbitinahat.co.za
Tel: +27 83 414 04552/ 21 300 0052
Kui Kinyanjui
Vice President, Communications
Wikimedia Foundation
press(a)wikimedia.org
--
*Samantha Lien*
Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
1Montgomery Street
Suite 1600
San Francisco, CA 94104
(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
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This press release is also available online at the Wikimedia blog:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/07/20/wikimedia-foundation-announces-tanya-…
*Wikimedia Foundation announces Tanya Capuano as new Trustee, alongside
leadership appointments at 14th annual Wikimania*
*Tanya Capuano brings deep expertise in technology, organizational
strategy, and financial planning and analysis to the Wikimedia Foundation
Board of Trustees*
(San Francisco, California and Cape Town, South Africa) — 20 July 2018 This
week, the Wikimedia Foundation announced a new member and leadership
appointments to its Board of Trustees. Tanya Pine Capuano, recently Chief
Financial Officer of the digital marketing company G5 in Bend, Oregon, will
be the newest member of the Board of Trustees. The Board also appointed
María Sefidari as Chair, and Christophe Henner as Vice Chair to lead the
Board of Trustees. The announcement was made at the 2018 Wikimania
conference, the annual celebration of Wikipedia, free knowledge, and the
global Wikimedia community, held this year in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees oversees the Wikimedia
Foundation and its work, and serves as the organization’s ultimate
corporate authority. As an incoming Trustee, Tanya will serve a three year
term effective immediately.
Tanya replaces the role formerly held by Kelly Battles whose term on the
Board concludes this month along with longtime member Alice Wiegand. The
Board thanks its outgoing Trustees for their service to the Board and the
Wikimedia movement and mission.
Tanya has wide-ranging experience including strategy, mergers and
acquisitions, and financial planning and analysis in technology from her
roles at Intuit, Hewlett-Packard and G5. She has also served on several
nonprofit Boards supporting education including Education Pioneers, Los
Altos Educational Foundation, and “I Have a Dream” Foundation’s San
Francisco chapter, which she also co-founded.
In addition to her deep commitment to education, especially expanding
access to higher education, Tanya brings with her a passion for Wikimedia’s
values and vision.
Tanya joins Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Board Chair María Sefidari, Vice
Chair Christophe Henner, and Board members Esra’a Al Shafei, Raju
Narisetti, Dr. James Heilman, Dr. Dariusz Jemielniak, and Nataliia Tymkiv.
Newly appointed Board Chair, María Sefidari, succeeds Christopher Henner,
who will serve as Vice Chair, the role María previously held. María is a
professor in the Digital Communications, Culture and Citizenship Master’s
degree program of Rey Juan Carlos University at the MediaLab-Prado. Born in
Madrid, Spain, where she still lives today, María served on the Wikimedia
Foundation Board from 2013 to 2015 and re-joined the Board in 2016.
“The Wikimedia movement has been an important part of my life for over a
decade and it is a great honor to be able to serve it as Chair of the
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees,” María said. “The Wikimedia 2030
movement strategy we are in the midst of developing is the most significant
and expansive discussion about our long-term future we have undertaken
since our founding. We have much to accomplish in the upcoming year to be
ready to implement our new strategy, and I am thrilled to able to
contribute as Board Chair.”
The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
* María Sefidari, Board Chair
* Christophe Henner, Vice Chair
* Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia
* Dr. Dariusz Jemielniak
* Esra’a Al Shafei
* Dr. James Heilman
* Nataliia Tymkiv
* Raju Narisetti
* Tanya Capuano
About Tanya Capuano
Tanya Pine Capuano most recently was the chief financial officer (CFO) of
the digital marketing company G5 in Bend, Oregon.
Originally from San Jose, California, she has wide-ranging experience
including strategy and financial planning and analysis in technology. In
addition to her recent role at G5, she previously held leadership positions
at Intuit, Hewlett-Packard and APM Management Consultants/CSC Healthcare.
She has also supported numerous education initiatives throughout her
career; including serving on the Boards of Education Pioneers, Los Altos
Educational Foundation, and “I Have a Dream” Foundation San Francisco, an
organization whose San Francisco chapter she co-founded.
She is very involved with Stanford University alumni life, having earned a
bachelor’s in economics, a master’s in education, and a Master of Business
Administration from the university. After graduating, she worked as the
university’s Director of Alumni Relations for the Graduate School of
Education and Development Director for the Initiative on Improving K-12
Education. She has also served on the board of the Stanford University
Graduate School of Business Alumni Association.
Tanya lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two
teenagers. They enjoy traveling as a family and experiencing the great
outdoors.
About María Sefidari
María Sefidari Huici is a professor in the Digital Communications, Culture
and Citizenship Master’s degree program of Rey Juan Carlos University at
the MediaLab-Prado.
Born in Madrid, Spain, where she still lives today, María graduated with a
Psychology degree from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and later a
Master’s degree in Management and Tourism at the Business faculty of the
same university. She was a 2014 Techweek Women’s Leadership Fellow, which
showcases, celebrates, and supports emerging female leaders in business and
technology.
María started contributing to the Wikimedia projects in 2006, and has since
served in many different roles across the Wikimedia movement. Maria was a
founding member of Wikimedia España and Wikimujeres Grupo de Usuarias, and
also created Spanish Wikipedia’s LGBT Wikiproject. She has served on
several Wikimedia governance committees, including the Affiliations and
Individual Engagement Grants committees. In her time on the Affiliations
Committee, María served as the first Treasurer of the committee,
effectively overseeing and monitoring disbursement of the committee’s
budget. From 2013 to 2015, she was also a member of the Wikimedia
Foundation Board.
María re-joined the Wikimedia Foundation Board in 2016 to fill an
community-nominated seat vacancy, and was later re-confirmed for a second
term in August 2017.
In her spare time, María travels around the world, runs wiki-workshops to
engage new editors, and supports Real Madrid Club de Fútbol.
About Christophe Henner
Christophe Henner is the former Board Chair of Wikimedia France and current
Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Blade Group, a cloud computing company
headquartered in France. At Blade, Christophe is scaling up operations to
support the company’s transition from a start-up to a global company.
Originally from Lavaur, Christophe studied economics and law at the
University of Toulouse. He has deep and varied experience across the
marketing sector, holding a variety of leadership positions including Head
of Marketing at the online media group, L’Odyssée Interactive, Chief
Marketing Officer at an international digital media group, Webedia, and
later deputy Chief Executive Officer of Webedia’s gaming division.
Christophe has been an active member of the Wikimedia community for more
than 12 years. In 2007, he joined the Board of Wikimedia France and has
remained an active Board member in various positions for the past ten
years. Nearly three of those years on the Board were spent in leadership
roles, including Chair and Vice Chair of the Board.
During his time on the Board, Christophe helped lead Wikimedia France
through a significant period of growth. This included leading the
development of the chapter’s brand and supporting the development of a
clear organizational strategy and vision for the chapter.
Wikimedia Foundation press contact
Kui Kinyanjui
Vice President of Communications
press(a)wikimedia.org
--
*Samantha Lien*
Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
1Montgomery Street
Suite 1600
San Francisco, CA 94104
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Dear Wikimedians,
In 2017, the Wikimedia movement began a collaborative process to define
what we want to build or achieve together by 2030. After eight months of
discussion, across languages, geographies, and contexts, the outcome
was a Strategic
Direction
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Strategy/Wikimedia_movem…>
focused on knowledge as a service and knowledge equity:
“By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the
ecosystem of free knowledge, and anyone who shares our vision will be able
to join us.[1]”
Now our task as a movement is to apply the Strategic Direction to our own
work. We need to answer questions that define our path forward: What kind
of structures are ideal for achieving our strategic direction? What
resources and capacities do we need to develop? How do we relate to each
other and make decisions as a movement? How do we manage change in a
healthy, sustainable way?
Over the next year, the Wikimedia movement will engage in a structured,
distributed process to answer these questions. The process will be
structured around Working Groups who will develop guidance in key Thematic
Areas.[2]
The Board of Trustees is committed to the Movement Strategy process and
each of us will join one of the Working Groups:
-
Roles & Responsibilities: Nataliia
-
Revenue Streams: Tanya
-
Resource Allocation: María
-
Partnerships: Raju
-
Community Health: James
-
Product & Technology: Christophe
-
Capacity Building: Dariusz
-
Diversity: Esra’a
-
Advocacy: Jimmy
We will play two specific roles in this process:
1.
Individually, as members of the Working Groups
2.
1.
participate mindfully in ourtheir individual capacity,
2.
bring our their content expertise and experience to the discussion,
3.
ensure the information flow from the Working Group to the Board,
4.
support an effective, and inclusive process.
3.
Collectively, as the Board of Trustees
4.
1.
review recommendations from each Working Group and provide feedback,
2.
resolve difficult questions as required and adhere to decisions made,
3.
delegate approval of recommendations to an appropriate community
mechanism whenever possible (such as endorsement or consensus),
4.
make decisions when there is no other mechanism to make the decision,
5.
accept the recommendations that are consistent with the movement’s
values, the Strategic Direction as well as law and other compliance
requirements,
6.
direct resources, budgets and capacities for the implementation of
approved recommendations.
This statement captures the perspective of the Board of Trustees, and we
believe that the process is a unique opportunity for the movement to build
and shape our future together. We will participate in strategy
conversations and sessions at Wikimania[3], and look forward to
contributing throughout the process together with many of you. We encourage
those who are attending Wikimania to also join these conversations and all
Wikimedians to participate in all the upcoming strategic conversations and
consultations.
On behalf of the Board,
María Sefidari
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Strategy/Wikimedia_movem…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Working…
[3] https://wikimania2018.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_2030#Schedule
I'm forwarding my Movement Strategy proposals for wider comment.
Best regards,
Jim
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Salsman <jsalsman(a)gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 25, 2018 at 8:06 PM
Subject: Movement Strategy Working Group goal proposals some of which
overlap Thematic Areas
To: kvaidla(a)wikimedia.org
Cc: Nicole Ebber <nicole.ebber(a)wikimedia.de>, Ad Huikeshoven
<ad.huikeshoven(a)gmail.com>, Pine W <wiki.pine(a)gmail.com>
Hi Kaarel,
Thank you for facilitating the Movement Strategy teleconference.
As promised, here are the Working Group proposals I would like to
make, each of which is listed with the applicable Thematic Area(s)
from the abbreviations below. I hope this helps resolve the issue of
how to assign questions which overlap in different Areas.
[R&R] [COM] [DIV] [ADV] Movement leaders need to advocate for policies
which directly support the informed, healthy, and abundant
availability of community volunteers. I.e.
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2018-June/090494.html
;
[R&R] [REV] [ADV] CFO should be trying to achieve capital appreciation
instead of cash retention, the former being a refinement of the
latter, and our investments should be consistent with our principles
-- https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2018-January/089458.html
-- and -- https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Jimbo_Wales/Archive_22…
;
[R&R] [PAR] [T&P] [CAP] intelligibility remediation on Wiktionary as a
Foundation
technology development project http://j.mp/scraise ;
[R&R] [COM] [T&P] [CAP] [DIV] [ADV] we should not be logging
personally identifiable information which might increase our subpoena
burden or result in privacy violation incidents. Fuzzing geolocation
is okay, but we should not be transmitting IP addresses into logs
across even a LAN, for example, and we certainly shouldn't be
purchasing hardware with backdoor coprocessors wasting electricity and
exposing us to government or similar intrusions
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/analytics/2017-January/005696.html
;
[R&R] [RES] [COM] [CAP] [DIV] [ADV] we need to make sure our economics
articles aren't pro-austerity or pro-trickle down --
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2018-May/090181.html
-- and, e.g. --
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wiki-research-l/2018-April/006256.html
;
[R&R] [RES] [COM] [T&P] [CAP] [DIV] we need to provide more
telepresence opportunities for participation -- I do not have a
current URL for the best telepresence robots, but e.g. Amazon likely
does -- I do note that the Smithsonian recently started featuring a
robot docent ;
[R&R] [RES] [PAR] [COM] [DIV] [ADV] we should add an essay contest
into the Education program
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/education/2018-May/002002.html ;
[R&R] [RES] [COM] [DIV] [ADV] we should be demanding compulsory
royalties for Wikipedians --
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/publicpolicy/2016-December/001559.html
;
[R&R] [REV] [PAR] [CAP] We should grow the Endowment with exclusive
fundraiser galas competing with the World Economic Forum for the most
exclusive fundraising events; and
(via Pine) [R&R] [RES] [COM] [CAP] Working Groups should be allowed to
make exceptions to the hour requirements in pursuit of expertise and
diversity -- Kaarel, you mentioned you have already added language to
address this issue.
Please let me know your thoughts.
Best regards,
Jim
P.S. Thematic areas and abbreviations:
[R&R] Roles & Responsibilities
[REV] Revenue Streams
[RES] Resource Allocation
[PAR] Partnerships
[COM] Community Health
[T&P] Technology & Product
[CAP] Capacity Building
[DIV] Diversity
[ADV] Advocacy
*Hello everyone,I am happy to make some announcements about the Wikimedia
Foundation Board of Trustees. As of today, Tanya Capuano has formally
joined the Board. Tanya is an experienced financial professional who has
worked as a Vice President of Finance for Intuit, and more recently as CFO
for the software firm G5. She is passionate about education, having served
on the boards of various educational nonprofits.Tanya will enrich the
financial and accounting skills critical to the oversight of the Foundation
and to her role as Chair of the Foundation’s Audit Committee, to which she
was also elected today. Please join me in warming welcoming her in the
Wikimedia movement. As Tanya joins us, we also see Kelly Battles and Alice
Wiegand, two very valuable trustees, leave us as their terms of service
come to a close. Both of them have been stellar trustees who helped the
board and the Foundation grow and become a more robust organisation.Kelly
and Alice, you have brought so much to the Foundation and to the movement,
and it has been an immense pleasure serving with you. I can only hope, as
has often been the case with other former trustees, our movement will be
lucky enough we keep seeing both of you around and that you keep on
bringing your experience, skills, and wisdom to all of us. As you might
have noticed we still are one trustee short, with a total of nine. We are
currently searching for a tenth Trustee, with a technology and platform
background; you can read the profile here on Commons
<https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Board_Recruiting_Candid…>.
Today the Board also voted to appoint María Sefidari as Chair and
Christophe Henner as Vice Chair. After serving as Chair for two terms, I
decided to step down and support María as Chair, hopefully as effectively
as she served me and the organization when she was my Vice Chair. María and
I both have a long history of involvement in the Wikimedia community, and
prior to coming to the Foundation, held leadership roles in local Wikimedia
organizations.In addition, the Board re-elected Nataliia Tymkiv as Chair of
the Board Governance Committee, supported by BGC members James Heilman and
Dariusz Jemielniak, and alternates Raju Narisetti and María. We also
elected Raju as Chair of the Human Resources Committee, with members María
and Dariusz. Finally, as noted, we elected Tanya Capuano as Chair of the
Audit Committee, with Christophe and Raju as members and María and Jimmy as
alternates. More about Christophe, María, and the Committee Chairs are
below. I hope you will join me in congratulating them on their new
positions and wish them success in their terms ahead.On a more personal
note, I would like to thank everyone for the last two years. This is not
farewell, but the last two years have been a roller coaster and I am proud
I had the chance to serve as Chair and helped us building up the future of
the movement. We have achieved a lot in the last 24 months, and the best is
yet to come!ChristopheAbout Tanya CapuanoTanya Pine Capuano most recently
was the chief financial officer (CFO) of the data-driven marketing company
G5 in Bend, Oregon. Originally from San Jose, California, she has
wide-ranging experience including strategy and financial planning and
analysis in technology. In addition to her recent role at G5, she has also
worked for Hewlett-Packard and Intuit.She has also supported numerous
education initiatives throughout her career; including serving on the
boards of Education Pioneers, Los Altos Educational Foundation, and “I Have
a Dream” Foundation San Francisco, an organization whose San Francisco
chapter she co-founded.She is very involved with Stanford University alumni
life, having earned a bachelor's in economics, a master's in education, and
a master of business administration from the university. After graduating,
she worked as the university’s Director of Alumni Relations and Development
Director for the Initiative on Improving K-12 Education. She has also
served on the board of the Stanford University Graduate School of
Business.Tanya lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two
children. They enjoy traveling as a family and outdoor sports.About María
SefidariMaría Sefidari Huici is a professor in the Digital Communications,
Culture and Citizenship Master's degree program of Rey Juan Carlos *
Christophe HENNER
Stool of the board of trustees
chenner(a)wikimedia.org
+33650664739
twitter *@schiste* skype *christophe_henner*
yes, it is an old issue, what you say it's right but I would be more optimistic.
To summarize my view (I couls send you more information privately)
1. Wikidata largely reflected what Wikipedia indicated, and that was not the right way to make it grow, but that was also the past. At the moment, the reference of the content is increasing, the clean-up too. In some areas, wikidata items are also created before the wikipedia articles nowadays.
2. new tools are great and will do a lot, but it's users who do the real tricks. You have to start to bring local users to wikidata, show them how it can be used (automatic infoboxes, fast creation of stubs, automatic lists, detecing missing images). They will start to fix the issues, curating their wikipedia, wikidata and also indirectly influence the other ones.
3. IMHO, the wikidata ecosystem is not so bad, it could have more expert users with real knowledge of topics, but commons with millions of automatically imported files, and tons of poorly described and uncategorized images faces a much worse perspective. You need more tools there than on wikidata, at the moment, if you want to keep some balanced workflow. What is really missing on wikidata are mostly active projects to coordinate and catalyze the ongoing efforts. This one https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Ancient_Greece made miracles, for example. But I couldn't find one about peer-reviewed researchers or photographers to name a few, at least in the past months. Investing on this aspect would not change the final situation on wikidata (that will be positive for me), but it would speed up the process. it will also influence much more the content on local wikis because it will bring content-related users closer together and increase their wikidata literacy with lower effort.
4. In the end, even with a good high quality wikidata platform, there will always be communities that will not integrated in wikidata massively... but that's also a good thing for pluralism. You can't assume that a discrepancy is always a clue for a mistake (I am sure the examples of your experience are, of course), on the long term some of them are simply effects of gray areas that need to wait to be resolved even at the level of the sources. Insome fields, such as taxonomy, there is some confusion and asymmetric organization of the content and will never be solved easily. But in the other areas they probably will.
Alex
Il Domenica 15 Luglio 2018 22:37, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen(a)gmail.com> ha scritto:
Hoi,
Wikidata is a reflection of all the Wikimedia projects, particularly the
Wikipedias. Both Wikidata and Wikipedia are secondary sources and when two
Wikipedias have opposing information on singular information, it is a cop
out to state both "opinions" on Wikidata and leave it at that.
Given that Wikidata largely reflects what a Wikipedia indicates, it is
important to curate such differences. The first thing to consider is are we
interested at all in knowing about "false facts" and then how we can
indicate differences to our editing and reading community.
I have been editing about Africa for a long time now and I find that the
content about Africa is woefully underdeveloped. Best Wikipedia practice
has it that cities and villages are linked to "administrative territorial
entities" like provinces and districts and I have added such relations from
primary to secondary entities. Adding such information to villages and
cities as well is too much for me. The basic principle is that I am being
bold in doing so. I do relate to existing items and I have curated a lot of
crap data so far. The result is that Wikidata in places differs
considerably from Wikipedias, particularly the English Wikipedia.
As topics like the ones about Africa are severely underdeveloped, just
adding new data is a 100% improvement even when arguably adding sources is
a good thing. By being bold, by starting from a Wikipedia as a base line,
it is important to note that not adding sources is established practice in
Wikidata.
The issue I raise is that when "another" Wikipedia considers its
information superior, it is all too easy to make accusations of adding
"fake facts" particularly when it is not obvious that the "other" Wikipedia
provides better information. To counter such insular behaviour, it becomes
relevant to consider how we can indicate discrepancies between stated facts
in any Wikimedia project vis a vis Wikidata. Obviously it would be
wonderful when the total of all our projects are considered in a
visualisation.
Particularly when a subject is of little interest to our current editor
community, the data in the Wikipedias and by inference in Wikidata is weak.
Many of the subjects, Africa just as one example, are relevant to a public,
both a reading and editing public, that we want to develop. Without tools
that help us curate our differences we will rely on insular opinions and
every project is only a part of what we aim to achieve in all our projects.
We will have a hard time growing our audience.
NB this is an old, old issue and it is not going away.
Thanks,
GerardM
https://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2016/01/wikipedia-lowest-hanging-fruit…
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