Hi everyone!
I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized
[1] the Wikimedians of Santali Language User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User
Group. The group aims to develop content on the Santali Wikipedia, as well
as content related to the Santali language, literature and culture on other
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/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/Recognit…
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Santali_Language_User_Group
Hello,
Something I am sensing from multiple sources, sometimes more through
implication than specific statements, is that there is a sense of turmoil
in WMF. I think that some amounts of internal politics and staff turnover
are normal, but over the past few months I am sensing an increase in
internal turmoil. I am noticing the departures of some staff people that I
personally like and respect. I am wondering if WMF Talent and Culture or
maybe someone on the ED's office would be willing to comment regarding
these issues. I'm not intending to add additional stress to people who are
generally competent and are trying to do good work. I would like to better
understand the degree of turmoil (perhaps my impressions are incorrect),
what might be causing the turmoil, and whether the turmoil is good or bad.
Hopefully any increase in turmoil is temporary, but I am somewhat
concerned. If staff are focused too much on internal WMF issues then this
may affect their productivity on projects that support the community, and
having highly stressed or discouraged staff would be a problem.
Thank you,
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
Hi everyone,
We recently held the harmonization sprint in Tunis [1], where
representatives from each working group met in person to continue bringing
nine separate sets of draft recommendations into one set. The event also
brought together staff members from the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia
Deutschland, the WMF Chair of the Board of Trustees, and members of the
core team. A longer narrative report will be published in the coming weeks;
in the meantime, see a short day-by-day report on Meta, photos on commons
[2], and check out the hashtag #hs2030 on Twitter [3].
In the lead up to the meeting, the working groups were busy refining their
draft recommendations based on feedback received at in person events from
Wikimedians across the movement as well as on wiki, via email, and on
social media since March of this year. They had also begun identifying
overlaps in each other’s recommendations and content. A second iteration of
draft recommendations [4] was published on Meta just before the sprint for
the communities’ information.
At the sprint, we continued to group recommendations based on
commonalities. From there, we looked at what kinds of structures would need
to be in place to deliver the Wikimedia 2030 vision. A first, rough
grouping of recommendations came together at the sprint. But what became
clear during the event was that before it’s possible to create a coherent
and actionable set of recommendations, fundamental principles that underpin
the path towards 2030 need to be formalized.
The core team is currently processing the discussion materials and
outcomes. Analysis of the current draft recommendations will continue so as
to create one unified set. The timeline will shift and we are looking into
options for another round of community input.
I would like to make clear that the reason we were not able to achieve our
initial goal in Tunis was due to a lack of clarity and guidance on the core
team’s part. Still, the time was not wasted and important, honest
conversations were had. The working group members, as ever, devoted an
enormous amount of energy and care in the lead up to and during the event,
and demonstrated their deep understanding of the challenges and
opportunities in our movement. We are extremely grateful for all their
effort. In short, the harmonization sprint underlined the high level of
work and dedication every single working group member has put into getting
the movement strategy to its current point, and the passion to shape the
future of the diverse and inclusive movement we envision.
We have valuable lessons to take from this event and incorporate into the
overall process and the next steps. We will share these with you all as
soon as possible. If you have questions in the meantime, please feel free
to reach out to me.
Best regards,
Nicole
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme…
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimedia_2030_Harmonization_Sp…
[3] https://twitter.com/search?q=%23hs2030
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme…
--
Nicole Ebber
Adviser International Relations
Program Manager Wikimedia 2030 Movement Strategy
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 26-0
https://wikimedia.de
Unsere Vision ist eine Welt, in der alle Menschen am Wissen der Menschheit
teilhaben, es nutzen und mehren können. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
https://spenden.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.
*"A Wikilibrarian's story"*
(The text in this section was copied from *Books & Bytes*, Issue 35,
July–August 2019
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter/July-Augus…>;
see the page history on Meta for attribution.)
One's advent into the world of Wikimedia projects is almost always a
noteworthy account. Here we share one such account of a librarian who was
introduced to Wikipedia in an unusual way and began their adventure trying
to better understand Wikipedia and now helps others understand it too!
*Laurie Bridges is an Instruction and Outreach Librarian at Oregon State
University in the US. She was introduced to Wikipedia by her son: at age 9,
he was assigned a class project to research and present about a species of
frog, and was told to only use Wikipedia for his research. When he related
this to her, she thought, "If 9-year-olds are being introduced to research
using Wikipedia, I better learn more about Wikipedia". So she got involved
because she wanted to better understand the resource her son, and the
students at her university, use. She explains:*
Students and faculty are familiar with [Wikipedia] because many use it
daily, although they do not cite it in their papers. As a librarian I teach
about information literacy and help students and faculty with their
research. Wikipedia is a familiar website that I can use to teach
information literacy and afterwards students and faculty leave equipped
with a better understanding of how the information source works. Students
are used to teachers and professors saying, "Don't use Wikipedia." However,
this dismissive statement doesn't teach the students how, why, or when they
can use Wikipedia or other online resources. We are living in a time of
misinformation and I want students to understand the information they are
using and become critical consumers of that information. Using Wikipedia to
teach students about information literacy is fun! In addition, it's
fulfilling because I can see students' excitement as they learn more about
Wikipedia, a website they use on a daily basis. I've found teaching with
Wikipedia to be so rewarding that I want to spread the word.
Finally, if librarians don't teach students about Wikipedia and what it is
(or isn't), who is going to teach them? I'd like to see more activity and
interest from librarians related to Wikipedia. This is why whenever I get a
chance, I will introduce other librarians to … the Wikimedia Movement. Last
year I received a scholarship to attend Wikimedia + Education in San
Sebastián, Spain. I was only one of two librarians in attendance (in
addition to Basque librarians who were volunteering at the event). It was a
great learning opportunity and I connected with so many enthusiastic
educators. I'd love to see enough interest from librarians to host a
Wikimedia + Libraries conference! That would be a great conference!
*The change of seasons*
There are a variety of ways to define seasons
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Season>, including meteorologically and
culturally. For those in the northern hemisphere, the autumnal equinox was
on 23 September this year; the autumnal equinox marks the transition from
astronomical summer to astronomical autumn. For those in the southern
hemisphere, 23 September was the spring equinox, which marked the
transition from astronomical winter to astronomical spring.
Awhile back I learned of a Scandinavian practice called kulning
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulning>, which involves using songs to call
herds of cattle over long distances. Here is a video (YouTube link)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc7F_qv3eI8> that shows cattle being
summoned out of the field with a kulning call for the last time of the year
in September 2017.
Here are a few music selections for the transition from summer to fall:
* "Summer End | Chill & Jazzhop", by Fantastic Music (YouTube link)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icS__xweWnU>
* "Summer's Gone", by Bob Bradley & Thomas Balmforth (YouTube link)
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uyuLrJZ4IM>
And for the transition from winter to spring:
(The performances linked below feature John Harrison on the violin,
and the Wichita
State University <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wichita_State_University>
Chamber Players. The conductor was Robert Turizziani. The performance
rights release was received by Wikimedia Commons via OTRS
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS>.)
* Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "*La primavera*" (Spring) —
Movement 1: Allegro from *The Four Seasons*, composed by Antonio Vivaldi
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:01_-_Vivaldi_Spring_mvt_1_Allegro_-…>
* Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "*La primavera*" (Spring) —
Movement 2: Largo from *The Four Seasons, *composed by Antonio Vivaldi
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:02_-_Vivaldi_Spring_mvt_2_Largo_-_J…>
* Concerto No. 1 in E major, Op. 8, RV 269, "*La primavera*" (Spring) —
Movement 3: Allegro from *The Four Seasons*, composed by Antonio Vivaldi
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:02_-_Vivaldi_Spring_mvt_2_Largo_-_J…>
Closing comments
Translations of the subject line of this email would be appreciated on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations>. Thanks to
User:Julle <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Julle> for the Swedish
translation.
What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.
Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_user_information_procedu…
What do you tell non-US authorities who ask if their local courts can
submit orders allowing Wikimedia to release information?
Are there relevant international treaties in place that would mean
that a foreign request from certain countries would be sufficient?
- d.
Hello everyone,
Wikimedia has listed seven projects in Outreachy Round 19:
https://www.outreachy.org/apply/project-selection/#wikimedia :)
One of these projects is documentation-related, one related to quality
assurance and remaining five are coding projects:
1. A system for releasing data dumps from a classifier detecting
unsourced sentences in Wikipedia, mentored by *Sam Walton, Miriam Redi
and Guilherme Gonçalves*
2. Convert Campaign pages to React, mentored by *Khyati Soneji and Sage
Ross*
3. Create command-line runner for MediaWiki maintenance tasks, mentored
by *Will Doran*
4. Create regression automated tests for Special:Homepage functionality
testing, mentored by *Elena Tonkovidova*
5. Documentation improvements to the ~20 top 100 most viewed MediaWiki
Action API pages on-wiki, mentored by *Jerop Brenda*
6. Improve MediaWiki Action API Integration Tests, mentored by *Kate
Chapman, Clara Andrew-Wani and Daniel Kinzler*
7. Improvements and User Testing of Wiki Education Dashboard Android
App, mentored by *Ujjwal Agrawal and Sage Ross*
Only applicants with an account on the Outreachy site
<https://outreachy.org> will be able to see the details of these projects.
You can learn more about the timeline, roles, and responsibilities of
participants and mentors, and ways to get in touch with the coordinators
here: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Round_19. You can also view
these projects under "Featured projects" column here on Phabricator:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/view/4265/.
Spread the news among your friends both in the Wikimedia world and outside
and encourage them to apply :)
If you have any questions, please reach out to me!
Cheers,
Srishti
*Srishti Sethi*
Developer Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>