July 2019 - Wikimedia-l - lists.wikimedia.org

[Foundation-l] Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery
by Brian J Mingus 10 Sep '22

10 Sep '22

This paper (first reference) is the result of a class project I was part of almost two years ago for CSCI 5417 Information Retrieval Systems. It builds on a class project I did in CSCI 5832 Natural Language Processing and which I presented at Wikimania '07. The project was very late as we didn't send the final paper in until the day before new years. This technical report was never really announced that I recall so I thought it would be interesting to look briefly at the results. The goal of this paper was to break articles down into surface features and latent features and then use those to study the rating system being used, predict article quality and rank results in a search engine. We used the [[random forests]] classifier which allowed us to analyze the contribution of each feature to performance by looking directly at the weights that were assigned. While the surface analysis was performed on the whole english wikipedia, the latent analysis was performed on the simple english wikipedia (it is more expensive to compute). = Surface features = * Readability measures are the single best predictor of quality that I have found, as defined by the Wikipedia Editorial Team (WET). The [[Automated Readability Index]], [[Gunning Fog Index]] and [[Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level]] were the strongest predictors, followed by length of article html, number of paragraphs, [[Flesh Reading Ease]], [[Smog Grading]], number of internal links, [[Laesbarhedsindex Readability Formula]], number of words and number of references. Weakly predictive were number of to be's, number of sentences, [[Coleman-Liau Index]], number of templates, PageRank, number of external links, number of relative links. Not predictive (overall - see the end of section 2 for the per-rating score breakdown): Number of h2 or h3's, number of conjunctions, number of images*, average word length, number of h4's, number of prepositions, number of pronouns, number of interlanguage links, average syllables per word, number of nominalizations, article age (based on page id), proportion of questions, average sentence length. :* Number of images was actually by far the single strongest predictor of any class, but only for Featured articles. Because it was so good at picking out featured articles and somewhat good at picking out A and G articles the classifier was confused in so many cases that the overall contribution of this feature to classification performance is zero. :* Number of external links is strongly predictive of Featured articles. :* The B class is highly distinctive. It has a strong "signature," with high predictive value assigned to many features. The Featured class is also very distinctive. F, B and S (Stop/Stub) contain the most information. :* A is the least distinct class, not being very different from F or G. = Latent features = The algorithm used for latent analysis, which is an analysis of the occurence of words in every document with respect to the link structure of the encyclopedia ("concepts"), is [[Latent Dirichlet Allocation]]. This part of the analysis was done by CS PhD student Praful Mangalath. An example of what can be done with the result of this analysis is that you provide a word (a search query) such as "hippie". You can then look at the weight of every article for the word hippie. You can pick the article with the largest weight, and then look at its link network. You can pick out the articles that this article links to and/or which link to this article that are also weighted strongly for the word hippie, while also contributing maximally to this articles "hippieness". We tried this query in our system (LDA), Google (site:en.wikipedia.org hippie), and the Simple English Wikipedia's Lucene search engine. The breakdown of articles occuring in the top ten search results for this word for those engines is: * LDA only: [[Acid rock]], [[Aldeburgh Festival]], [[Anne Murray]], [[Carl Radle]], [[Harry Nilsson]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Phil Spector]], [[Plastic Ono Band]], [[Rock and Roll]], [[Salvador Allende]], [[Smothers brothers]], [[Stanley Kubrick]]. * Google only: [[Glam Rock]], [[South Park]]. * Simple only: [[African Americans]], [[Charles Manson]], [[Counterculture]], [[Drug use]], [[Flower Power]], [[Nuclear weapons]], [[Phish]], [[Sexual liberation]], [[Summer of Love]] * LDA & Google & Simple: [[Hippie]], [[Human Be-in]], [[Students for a democratic society]], [[Woodstock festival]] * LDA & Google: [[Psychedelic Pop]] * Google & Simple: [[Lysergic acid diethylamide]], [[Summer of Love]] ( See the paper for the articles produced for the keywords philosophy and economics ) = Discussion / Conclusion = * The results of the latent analysis are totally up to your perception. But what is interesting is that the LDA features predict the WET ratings of quality just as well as the surface level features. Both feature sets (surface and latent) both pull out all almost of the information that the rating system bears. * The rating system devised by the WET is not distinctive. You can best tell the difference between, grouped together, Featured, A and Good articles vs B articles. Featured, A and Good articles are also quite distinctive (Figure 1). Note that in this study we didn't look at Start's and Stubs, but in earlier paper we did. :* This is interesting when compared to this recent entry on the YouTube blog. "Five Stars Dominate Ratings" http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-ratings.html… I think a sane, well researched (with actual subjects) rating system is well within the purview of the Usability Initiative. Helping people find and create good content is what Wikipedia is all about. Having a solid rating system allows you to reorganized the user interface, the Wikipedia namespace, and the main namespace around good content and bad content as needed. If you don't have a solid, information bearing rating system you don't know what good content really is (really bad content is easy to spot). :* My Wikimania talk was all about gathering data from people about articles and using that to train machines to automatically pick out good content. You ask people questions along dimensions that make sense to people, and give the machine access to other surface features (such as a statistical measure of readability, or length) and latent features (such as can be derived from document word occurence and encyclopedia link structure). I referenced page 262 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to give an example of the kind of qualitative features I would ask people. It really depends on what features end up bearing information, to be tested in "the lab". Each word is an example dimension of quality: We have "*unity, vividness, authority, economy, sensitivity, clarity, emphasis, flow, suspense, brilliance, precision, proportion, depth and so on.*" You then use surface and latent features to predict these values for all articles. You can also say, when a person rates this article as high on the x scale, they also mean that it has has this much of these surface and these latent features. = References = - DeHoust, C., Mangalath, P., Mingus., B. (2008). *Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery*. Technical Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/6/68/DeHoustMangalat…> - Rassbach, L., Mingus., B, Blackford, T. (2007). *Exploring the feasibility of automatically rating online article quality*. Technical Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/d/d3/RassbachPincock…>

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers
by GerardM 09 Aug '22

09 Aug '22

Hoi, I have asked and received permission to forward to you all this most excellent bit of news. The linguist list, is a most excellent resource for people interested in the field of linguistics. As I mentioned some time ago they have had a funding drive and in that funding drive they asked for a certain amount of money in a given amount of days and they would then have a project on Wikipedia to learn what needs doing to get better coverage for the field of linguistics. What you will read in this mail that the total community of linguists are asked to cooperate. I am really thrilled as it will also get us more linguists interested in what we do. My hope is that a fraction will be interested in the languages that they care for and help it become more relevant. As a member of the "language prevention committee", I love to get more knowledgeable people involved in our smaller projects. If it means that we get more requests for more projects we will really feel embarrassed with all the new projects we will have to approve because of the quality of the Incubator content and the quality of the linguistic arguments why we should approve yet another language :) NB Is this not a really clever way of raising money; give us this much in this time frame and we will then do this as a bonus... Thanks, GerardM ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: LINGUIST Network <linguist(a)linguistlist.org> Date: Jun 18, 2007 6:53 PM Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers To: LINGUIST(a)listserv.linguistlist.org LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831. Mon Jun 18 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875. Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar(a)linguistlist.org> Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry(a)linguistlist.org> Reviews: Laura Welcher, Rosetta Project <reviews(a)linguistlist.org> Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/ The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, and donations from subscribers and publishers. Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer <sawyer(a)linguistlist.org> ================================================================ To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html ===========================Directory============================== 1) Date: 18-Jun-2007 From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org > Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers -------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:49:35 From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org > Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers Dear subscribers, As you may recall, one of our Fund Drive 2007 campaigns was called the "Wikipedia Update Vote." We asked our viewers to consider earmarking their donations to organize an update project on linguistics entries in the English-language Wikipedia. You can find more background information on this at: http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/wikipedia/index.cfm. The speed with which we met our goal, thanks to the interest and generosity of our readers, was a sure sign that the linguistics community was enthusiastic about the idea. Now that summer is upon us, and some of you may have a bit more leisure time, we are hoping that you will be able to help us get started on the Wikipedia project. The LINGUIST List's role in this project is a purely organizational one. We will: *Help, with your input, to identify major gaps in the Wikipedia materials or pages that need improvement; *Compile a list of linguistics pages that Wikipedia editors have identified as "in need of attention from an expert on the subject" or " does not cite any references or sources," etc; *Send out periodical calls for volunteer contributors on specific topics or articles; *Provide simple instructions on how to upload your entries into Wikipedia; *Keep track of our project Wikipedians; *Keep track of revisions and new entries; *Work with Wikimedia Foundation to publicize the linguistics community's efforts. We hope you are as enthusiastic about this effort as we are. Just to help us all get started looking at Wikipedia more critically, and to easily identify an area needing improvement, we suggest that you take a look at the List of Linguists page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguists. M Many people are not listed there; others need to have more facts and information added. If you would like to participate in this exciting update effort, please respond by sending an email to LINGUIST Editor Hannah Morales at hannah(a)linguistlist.org, suggesting what your role might be or which linguistics entries you feel should be updated or added. Some linguists who saw our campaign on the Internet have already written us with specific suggestions, which we will share with you soon. This update project will take major time and effort on all our parts. The end result will be a much richer internet resource of information on the breadth and depth of the field of linguistics. Our efforts should also stimulate prospective students to consider studying linguistics and to educate a wider public on what we do. Please consider participating. Sincerely, Hannah Morales Editor, Wikipedia Update Project Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable ----------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Politics
by Bill Takatoshi 25 Apr '20

25 Apr '20

>>> The people who are loudest in their demands for consensus >>> do not represent the Wikimedia movement. >> >> The voices loudest for the WMF doing something against the >> Trump administration are not representative of the Wikimedia >> movement either.... > > Is the Community Process Steering Committee currently > prepared to "engage more 'quiet' members of our community" > with a statistically robust snap survey to resolve this question? Anyone can go to Recent Changes and send a SurveyMonkey link to the most recent few hundred editors with contributions at least a year old, to get an accurate answer. Will a respected member of the community please do this? I would like to know what the actual editing community thinks of the travel ban and their idea of an appropriate response. I don't want to see community governance by opt-in participation in obscure RFCs. I would offer to do this myself, but I value keeping my real name unassociated with my enwiki userid. -Will

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fallout from 2018 Wikimedian of the Year announcement
by Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin 07 Apr '20

07 Apr '20

Dear colleagues, This is a request for your input and possible ideas (if any) regarding my management of the fallout from Jimmy's announcing myself as a 2018 Wikimedian of the Year. Emails below are a copy of my ongoing consultations with Wikimedia Foundation staff and other Wikimedians I personally know, as well as a report on what's already brewing in my region of Russia after this unexpected outcome. I would be grateful, if you can advise me on how to properly steer the enthusiasm of behalf of regional government, mass-media, NGOs, etc. which have just discovered about the possibility of participation in Wikimedia movement (think anything from U.S. is not getting much in-depth coverage in Russian by sources that regional public figures, NGOs, teachers or general regional journalists read) & are now placing great hopes on teaching whole of Tatarstan about how to Wiki & also engaging all Tatars globally (3/4 outside of Tatarstan, 1/5 outside of Russia). regards, farhad Updates: * Selet WikiSchool got presented to wider public @ the press-conference for Tatar-speaking journalists (July 31), at the poster session in the framework of the World Congress of Tatars Youth Forum (Aug.3), and later at a Tatar projects fair in the Downtown park of Kazan (Aug.5) * Contribution of those writing into Wikipedia in Tatar was recognized by choosing myself as one of the current year's "For the great service to Tatar nation" medal recipients. (Aug.3) * We recorded a 40 min interview in Turkish (Aug.4, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK3tFBWMWcs ) * We didn't yet meet the President of the Republic (his schedule changed once again), but I got another firm request to meet with the Minister for Youth Affairs (another good acquaintance of mine, ex-member of local Comedy Club type activity), as well as with the Head of World Congress of Tatars' Executive Bureau, and more TV & written press interviews are lining up. * I am trying to manage these guys' optimism & desire to move quickly, keeping in mind they are not really familiar with the Wiki-way or our communities' policies & practices * Bashkir (ba) & Sakha (sah) communities have shared advice about how to assure that local Wikimedia community stays clearly independent in a cultural environment where neither Education, nor GLAM programs will attract local partners unless those have a strong support of the regional or federal government entities. * Looking forward to meet with my Wikimania-2017 roommate from the Philippines in Singapore on Aug.16 to collect some more input from Asia -------- Пересылаемое сообщение-------- 03.08.2018, 19:35, "Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin" <frhd(a)yandex.com>: Thursday, 2 August 2018 Republic of Tatarstan Ministry for Informatization & Communication @ IT-park, Kazan 18:00-20:50 Meeting with Tatarstan Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Informatization & Communications Roman Shaykhutdinov http://mic.tatarstan.ru/eng/minister.htm on opportunities Wikimedia projects & popularization thereof among the population of the Republic can bring for Tatarstan In attendance: * Almaz A. Valiullin, Director General of Tatarstan Center for Information Technologies http://mic.tatarstan.ru/eng/valiullin.htm * Tatyana S. Kamaletdinova, CEO of Tatarstan Center for Information Technologies http://mic.tatarstan.ru/eng/kamaletdinova.htm * Anna V. Yakovleva, Head of Ministry's Press-Service http://mic.tatarstan.ru/rus/about/structure_new?department_id=80576 * Farkhad N. Fatkullin, 2018 Wikimedian of the Year, Wikimedia Russia member https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Frhdkazan Agenda: 1. Content creation contests 2. Education projects 3. How can these be organized in a systemic way, engaging students throughout all municipal districts of Tatarstan & Tatar diaspora globally, and assessing effectiveness of measures 4. Larger Tatar language internet development, promoting content creation in the language 5. .tatar domain 6. ContentTranslation 7. Generating lists for content creation 8. Free licenses 9. Wikidata 10. Regional educational Wiki-seminar for beginners, introduction & orientation 11. Smartphone oriented educational projects around Tatar & Tatar Wikipedia (beginning with Tatar version of www.kakprav.com & on to WOK Master type ) 12. OSM in Tatar 13. The way forward: visiting WMF to discover other opportunities, MoU with WMF? Decided: 1. Almaz Valiullin to head the Working Group on behalf of the Ministry 2. Next meeting set for / around 20th of August 3. Minister requested his staff to draft documents regarding moving all Regional & Municipal budget funded websites to CC-BY type free licenses 4. Minister proposed every organization website place a link to a Wikipedia article about it (in Tatar, Russian or English, depending on the language used) 5. Help is requested about developing simple samples or article creation guidelines for various institutions of Tatarstan & diaspora organizations to learn what is considered appropriate by Wiki-community & how should representatives of respective entities 6. Annual Tatar Internet Awards Ceremony to include awards to leading editors of Wikimedia projects in Tatar 7. Help is requested to develop a framework of Wikipedia Article Contests for Secondary School Children of Tatastan, with article quality assessment schemes (prizes & organization to be funded by Tatarstan goverment, promotion in local mass-media, schools & etc.) 8. Help is requested to develop a framework for a sustainable functioning of a Tatarstan & Tatar language oriented Wikimedia thematic organization to be responsible for systemic work around developing & promoting Wikimedia projects in Tatar, as well as Tatarstan-oriented content creation for various Wikis 9. Readiness to consider awarding *.tatar domain names to those, who develop attractive projects in Tatar that can't be hosted on Wikimedia platform or otherwise need a Tatar digital identity 10. Help is requested regarding drafting a program proposal, necessary budget & expected results for a Tatarstan oriented introductory Wiki-seminar, open for a wide public 11. Help is requested to provide links to Wikidata educational materials, Practical Use Cases & expert responses to the Deputy Minister (in English) 12. Help is requested in organizing a learning visit to WMF Headquarters during Tatarstan Delegation annual fall visit to Silicon Valley & other places in U.S. to discover other opportunities -- Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan 03.08.2018, 11:42, "Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin" <frhd(a)yandex.com>: > Hi Nochole & Kui, > > Thank you for your responses & readiness to help. > > Events on the ground are developing following predictable course - we had a very constructive 3 hour long discussion last night with Tatarstan's Deputy Prime Minister (IT minister) & his team, whilst earlier Thursday I got an invite to meet with another Deputy Prime Minister (President of the National Council of Trustees for the World Congress of Tatars Association). > > More TV & magazine interviews are expected, some in detail articles in Russian promoting Wikimedia projects are in the pipelines (expecting to see the texts for necessary corrections & adding links to respective WMRU, Meta, WMF & related independent media articles (thanks to ComCom). > > I hope to find time to prepare & email both you (in English) & IT ministry's Working Group (in Russian) my summary of yesterday late evening meeting, with attendees, topics discussed, request & proposals, etc. They want to move as fast as possible, because this will help them to meet promoting Tatar language use online task they are charged with by the region's President. > > Just a few to begin with: > * Ready to move all regional and municipal government websites into CC-BY, add links to respective WP articles from all these > * Willing to have Tatarstan & Tatar language oriented thematic organization in place to work with secondary schools & Universities, GLAMS, diaspora > * Ready to sponsor prizes for article writing contests (either through WMRU or this new entity) > * Requesting guidance from myself & Wikimedia community on what's the best way to make this all successful > * Interested in supporting WMRU organized general public educational Wiki-Seminar in Tatarstan Academy of Sciences or other respected facility with a large conference hall open to all public (September-October?) > * Willing to visit WMF headquarters in November to meet, learn more about what's there (I admit I don't read all mailing lists or Meta discussions, don't have time to see all wonderful YouTube videos available, haven't yet have time to visit a single Wikimedia Conference) & possibly sign MoUs or whatever that would help speed up Wikimedia acceptance & popularity growth among the population of the region. > > I am in touch with Wikimedia RU & Wikimedia Languages of Russia Community's regarding ongoing developments, benefiting from collective wisdom of Wikimedians I know. > > Should you be ready to bring any ideas to the table, please shoot them my way. > > regards, > farhad > > -- > Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan > > 02.08.2018, 16:35, "Nichole Saad" <nsaad(a)wikimedia.org>: >> Hi Farhad, >> >> First, congratulations on being named "Wikimedian of the Year!" We have received your letter, and are looking forward to engage with your ideas. Realistically, I'll be able to provide a more in depth response early next week. >> >> best regards, >> >> Nichole >> >> On Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 2:45 PM Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin <frhd(a)yandex.com> wrote: >>> Dear Sirs, >>> >>> This is from Farhad, User:frhdkazan (ComCom member, now a.k.a. 2018 Wikimedian of the Year) with some proposals about how to leverage a fleeting opportunity I got. Please read the text below this letter ASAP & think how you can help seize the moment. I'm looking forward to first ideas within 24 hours from now. >>> >>> Any support of yours would be greatly appreciated. >>> Thanks a million. >>> regards, >>> farhad >>> >>> P.S. More on where I'm coming from can later be discovered @ http://frhd.narod.ru/resume-en.htm (dated, stopped my retainer contract with the Office of Tatarstan President in September 2013) & more up-to-date but in Russian @ http://sikzn.narod.ru/index/0-4 . I have previously translated & provided digital media with the link to Russian text of Wikimedia Blog post about Jess Wade https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/?curid=176108 , & now contacted Asian colleagues to get similar content about Nahid Sultan & Wikimedia Bangladesh. Also on my agenda is to record a video-interview in Turkish for Wikimedia Turkey's communication campaign - I speak the language & we are in touch with Turkish community. I also need to get back to interpreting into Russian videos of Wikimania-2018 available on YouTube - maybe later this week, before I join my family for a few days off & then a week-long interpretation assignment in Singapore. >>> >>> -- >>> Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan >>> >>> TRIGGER >>> Following Jimmy's unexpected pass during Wikimania-2018 Closing Ceremony, I became an instant celebrity of sort - myself alone I've seen over 40 articles with positive PR about Wikipedia & wider body of Wikimedia projects, >>> * one by RT in Russian collecting over 1.1 million Facebook likes in under 8 hours from publication >>> * short positive ones from Russian Federation government's Official gazette & Russkiy Mir Foundation >>> * first ever mention that people can donate to Wikimedia Russia volunteers organization for us to be able to fund local Wiki-seminars, conferences & contests (WMF is not funding Wikimedia Russia & can't allow us to use donate link from Russian Wikipedia or place a link to "Thank you, but we don't accept donations from Russia" page where users from Russia are being routed >>> * about to get one with links published to various WMF & Wikimedia Russia projects, including promoting free licenses, Education & GLAM programs, etc. >>> I'm periodically collecting these @ https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Википедия:Безнең_турында_матбугатта#Ел_викиме… when time permits, but there's more in my Facebook Messenger. >>> >>> CONTEXT >>> This is also generating very positive attention on behalf of the Republic of Tatarstan government, as well as our regional NGO partner, Selet Youth Education Foundation, with whom yet unrecognized Tatar Wikimedians are jointly running Selet WikiSchool project. https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/May_2018/Selet_WikiSchool The latter want to introduce this joint initiative, as well as Wikimedia Russia executive director Stanislav Kozlovsky (Ph.D. in Psychology, Researcher & a Senior lecturer at Moscow State University) and myself to the President of Tatarstan during his visit to their Annual International Forum of Tatar-speaking High-School Age Youth on August 6th. Unrelated to that I was yesterday called up by a good acquaintance of mine (Tatarstan Vice Prime-Minister, Minister for IT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Shaykhutdinov ), who invited me to have a talk with him tomorrow about how promoting Wikimedia projects in wider Tatar-speaking world (only about 25% of Tatars live in Tatarstan) can help him get whatever current President wants him to do to develop Tatar language use online. There are some other Tatarstan Prime-Minister Office level things in the pipeline, & I am also waiting for a call from Russian Federation ex-IT Minister https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Nikiforov , whom I know from his years in Tatarstan government as well (until 2012). FYI: Wikimedia movement is still unknown in Russia, with local mass media outlets are predominantly speaking about Wikipedia in Russian when there is some lapse that can be exploited to show one's Russian patriotism & thus score some points (basically same political circus, as what we are seeing in U.S. with Russia-collusion story in the overdrive, just opposite direction), and here we get something to reverse the situation big time, explaining to the wide public that it's not only Ok, but even desirable they engage with Wikimedia projects. >>> >>> IDEA >>> Keeping in mind that Tatarstan President is the head of both Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group & Association of Innovative Regions of Russia, Jimmy gave me a-hell-of-an-opportunity for an elevator pitch for Wikimedia movement in Russia and some adjacent counties (think Turkey & Central Asia), and I would really hate seeing it go unused. I will do my part here (about CC-BY for regional government controlled websites, Wikipedia Education Program as an extracurricular activity in all secondary school & universities, GLAM, as well as some locally funded carrots for participants), but I also want your help in driving this to a home-run. Every fall Tatarstan President & the delegation is visiting Silicon Valley & other places of interest in U.S. & it would be great if we could set-up a physical visit to Wikimedia Foundation, with a first hand presentation of best international practices the movement if proud of & have some MoU on cooperation signed (as a bureaucratic basis for continuing the conversation) with either some department in Tatarstan government, just like the one you signed with the Mexican Ministry of Culture www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/secretaria-de-cultura-y-wikimedia-firman-con…. To set the context, Tatarstan has such formal documents with a number of American companies & institutions, with our private English-speaking IT Univesity @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innopolis having been developed jointly with Carnegie Mellon University (with consultancy fees paid by Tatastan), we have Russia's first publicly funded hospital certified to be meeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Commission requirements & plenty of U.S. investors @ our https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabuga_Special_Economic_Zone . On top of this, we could benefit from having Selet Youth Educational movement http://selet.biz/en/ to embrace Wiki even further, so maybe a similar MoU on collaboration between them and Wikiedu.org signed simultaneously would be great (I met LiAnna and Jami in Montreal last year & was really impressed with what these guys are doing). >>> >>> REQUEST >>> Please shoot something my way before the same time tomorrow, for me to handle the meeting with Tatarstan Deputy Prime Minister more effectively to progressively open other opportunities I've touched on. On top of what I described above & my last year's ideas @ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Frhdkazan/Wiki4RegionalDevt (in Russian), I'll be bringing to the table topics of: >>> * Wikidata >>> * OSM, as well as a >>> * WOK-like project for all things in Tatar (I was contacted by a local 9th grader who, on his own initiative with a help of a teacher, did something similar for students who want to train for Russian-language SAT/ACT type exam www.kakprav.com & now offered to develop such or bigger thing for Tatar). For more on WOK, see https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/01/wikipedia-wok-seek-nigerian-content-onl… >>> * whatever else you or anybody else can help me think of until then & or later opportunities >> >> -- >> Nichole Saad >> Wikimedia Foundation | Senior Program Manager, Education >> nsaad(a)wikimedia.org >> user: NSaad (WMF) -------- Конец пересылаемого сообщения -------- -- Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan

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Fresh data on the gender gap in content
by Asaf Bartov 11 Feb '20

11 Feb '20

Hullo everyone. I was asked by a volunteer for help getting stats on the gender gap in content on a certain Wikipedia, and came up with simple Wikidata Query Service[1] queries that pulled the total number of articles on a given Wikipedia about men and about women, to calculate *the proportion of articles about women out of all articles about humans*. Then I was curious about how that wiki compared to other wikis, so I ran the queries on a bunch of languages, and gathered the results into a table, here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ijon/Content_gap (please see the *caveat* there.) I don't have time to fully write-up everything I find interesting in those results, but I will quickly point out the following: 1. The Nepali statistic is simply astonishing! There must be a story there. I'm keen on learning more about this, if anyone can shed light. 2. Evidently, ~13%-17% seems like a robust average of the proportion of articles about women among all biographies. 3. among the top 10 largest wikis, Japanese is the least imbalanced. Good job, Japanese Wikipedians! I wonder if you have a good sense of what drives this relatively better balance. (my instinctive guess is pop culture coverage.) 4. among the top 10 largest wikis, Russian is the most imbalanced. 5. I intend to re-generate these stats every two months or so, to eventually have some sense of trends and changes. 6. Your efforts, particularly on small-to-medium wikis, can really make a dent in these numbers! For example, it seems I am personally responsible[2] for almost 1% of the coverage of women on Hebrew Wikipedia! :) 7. I encourage you to share these numbers with your communities. Perhaps you'd like to overtake the wiki just above yours? :) 8. I'm happy to add additional languages to the table, by request. Or you can do it yourself, too. :) A. [1] https://query.wikidata.org/ [2] Yay #100wikidays :) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/100wikidays -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org

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How diverse are your readers?
by Leila Zia 18 Oct '19

18 Oct '19

Hi all, As I mentioned in an earlier thread [1], we will be running reader surveys across a number of Wikipedia languages to learn about the reader needs and motivations in these languages as well as some of their demographic information (and perhaps the correlations between demographics and user motivations and characteristics). If your language community is interested to have statistics on the distribution of reader gender, age, education, native language, and geographic region (rural/urban) in your language (and depending on how much data we collect in your language, perhaps more insights), this is your chance to indicate interest at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Characterizing_Wikipedia_Read… I initially communicated 2019-02-15 as the deadline to sign up. Since then, we have run a pilot test on enwiki and we are investigating some of the results to see if any changes in the survey questions are needed. You have now time until 2019-03-15 to indicate interest. As always: this call is primarily a service to your language community. If you like it, take action on it. If you don't, no action is needed. :) Best, Leila [1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2019-February/091762.html

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Universal forced HTTPS backdoor in Kazakhstan
by Yury Bulka 27 Aug '19

27 Aug '19

I'm sure many have heard about this: https://thehackernews.com/2019/07/kazakhstan-https-security-certificate.html Essentially, the government in Kazakhstan started forcing citizens into installing a root TLS certificate on their devices that would allow the government to intercept, decrypt and manipulate all HTTPS traffic. Without the centificate, it seems, citizens can't access HTTPS pages (at least on some ISPs). I think this has serious implications for Wikipedia & Wikimedia, as not only they would be easily able to see which articles people read, but also steal login credentials, depseudonymize people and even hijack admin accounts. Another danger is that if this effort by Kazakhstan will succeed, other governments may start doing the same. I wonder if WMF has any position on this yet? Best, Yury.

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Research + Chapters, User Groups, Affiliates at Wikimania
by Leila Zia 09 Aug '19

09 Aug '19

Hi all, My apologies for posting this message here as I don't know of a better place to reach out to many chapters, user groups and affiliates at once. This message is for these groups [0] and in case their representatives will be attending Wikimania 2019. ------- One of the empowering aspects of attending Wikimania for me in the past years has been to be able to connect to many of you in person: to build lasting relationships, to understand the challenges that you face in your Wikimedia related efforts, and brainstorm with you about how/if research can help you answer some of your open questions. These conversations have been a source of inspiration for at least a few projects that the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation has picked up over the past years [1]. As our team is planning for our presence in Wikimania 2019 [2], I only hope that we can have even more of this kind of interaction together while we're in Stockholm. To this end and in order to make the best use of our collective time together, I'd like to propose an experimental meet-up during this year's Wikimania where the interested representatives of chapters, user groups, affiliates and the members of the Research team to meet. In order to organize this session, we need your input and I have put together a few questions at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1YZmgxkJJA2lO6jl_nmOL9pwhbNu5GKV… that I'd appreciate if you answer if you find the idea of meeting up interesting. If you do not want to go to the link above and still want to provide your input, please send your responses to the questions at the end of this email to me privately. Whether the meet-up idea ends up being a useful one for you or not will be determined by your responses. Independent of that, I look forward to touch-basing with many of you soon. :) Best, Leila [0] From earlier conversations with chapters, user groups, and affiliates I've got the impression that it's useful to have a dedicated session focused on these groups and their needs/perspectives. This being said, this is not a hard rule. :) If you are not a representative of these groups and you'd like to attend, you're welcome to. Please fill out the survey. [1] https://research.wikimedia.org/projects.html [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T229267 ---- Survey questions if you don't want to fill out the survey by going to the link provided in this email: Description: [The following is a tentative description of the event and it may change based on your responses to this survey. The agenda for the meet up will be finalized on 2019-08-07.] Let's use the opportunity of being in Wikimania to get together and discuss the following and beyond: * [10-min] An update about what the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation has done since we met last year in Wikimania. We will provide updates on "Addressing Knowledge Gaps" and research contributions to "Knowledge Integrity". * [5-min] What stopped us from doing more? What challenges did we face? * [15-min] Let's talk longer term: what does it take to have a global network of researchers around Wikimedia projects? Why is having such a network important? Can we work together on this? * [30-min or more] What are some of the most pressing needs/questions that chapters, affiliates, and user groups face? (with an eye for converting them to research questions.) * ... ------- To learn more about the Research team at Wikimedia Foundation and what we do, please visit https://research.wikimedia.org/ . ------- Question 1. Are you interested to attend a meet-up with Wikimedia Foundation's Research team? Question 2. If your answer to the above question is Yes or Maybe, please let us know which affiliate, user group or chapter do you represent or are a member of? Question 3. What is a good outcome of the meet-up for you if you choose to attend it? Question 4. If you have specific times and days that you cannot attend the meet-up, please indicate them below. Question 5. Anything else you'd like to share with us and we should take into account when planning for this event? -- Leila Zia Principal Research Scientist, Head of Research Wikimedia Foundation

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Introducing our newest thematic organisation, Wikimedia Medicine
by Kirill Lokshin 05 Aug '19

05 Aug '19

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has approved the recognition of Wikimedia Medicine [1] as a Wikimedia thematic organisation. Over the past several years, Wikimedia Medicine has successfully planned and executed a significant program portfolio, attracting new contributors and forming partnerships with both movement affiliates and external institutional partners around the world. Wikimedia Medicine is an ambitious, innovative, and highly effective organization that has demonstrated a substantial record of independent programmatic impact and continues to foster innovation and collaboration with numerous other entities across the Wikimedia movement. Wikimedia Medicine's efforts to deliver critical medical information to underserved and underrepresented communities reflect the principles of infrastructure and inclusiveness espoused in the Wikimedia movement strategic direction, and represent a key potential area of growth for emerging movement communities. The recognition of Wikimedia Medicine as a Wikimedia thematic organisation reinforces the our movement’s shared commitment to this direction, and will support Wikimedia Medicine's future partnerships with high-profile government institutions and NGOs. Wikimedia Medicine is our first truly global thematic organisation, and we hope that this recognition will be the first of many as our community of globally-focused Wikimedia user groups continues to evolve. I want to thank everyone who has been involved with setting up the new thematic organisation, and recognize their commitment and patience over the past year as we've worked through the thematic organisation recognition process. Please join me in congratulating the entire Wikimedia Medicine team for their accomplishment! Regards, Kirill Lokshin Chair, Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Project_Med

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Announcement from the Board of Wikimedia Belgium (WMBE)
by Geert Van Pamel 03 Aug '19

03 Aug '19

Romaine has decided to step down as Board member of Wikimedia Belgium (WMBE). Following an international escalating conflict and an unauthorized email, he has been feeling stressed and prefers to live in a safe environment, and give priority to his own health. [1] It is important to provide a safe environment for all volunteers. As such the board of Wikimedia Belgium, based on a proposal of the General Assembly, has requested the Affiliate Chairs to vote to request an Internal audit (based on international best practices/standards/norms) of major WMF procedures. [2] WMBE sincerely thanks Romaine for co-founding Wikimedia Belgium and for his valued work during his years as Board member. WMBE regrets having lost one of her most active Board members. It is a loss for the association, our partners in Belgium and abroad, and for the Wikimedia community as a whole. [3] The WMBE Board temporarily assigns the Treasurer function to the Chair until a new candidate is found. The WMBE statutes allow the Board to assign technical functions outside of the Board. We would welcome candidates. [4] We hope we can return to a safe environment, and that the focus goes back to where WMBE was founded for: activities to get more free knowledge. -- The Board of Wikimedia Belgium (WMBE) -- Geert Van Pamel, Chair of Wikimedia Belgium [1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2019-June/092878.html [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Request_for_WMF_Internal_audits_and_appeal_… [3] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2019-June/092909.html [4] http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/tsv_pdf/2014/10/17/14190820.pdf

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Belated update from Wikimedia Portugal
by GoEthe.wiki 03 Aug '19

03 Aug '19

Dear all, This message was supposed to be sent sometime ago, but might still be relevant for those that like closure. Wikimedia Portugal has signed a new chapter agreement with the Wikimedia Foundation in January, and this has been ratified by our XII General Assembly in April. In this same General Assembly, we have also made some changes to the our internal regulations (https://pt.wikimedia.org/wiki/Regulamento_Interno/2019) to prevent future challenges as the ones that led to the issues last year. This changes include making explicit the option for associates to receive notices for General Assemblies by email and allowing General Assemblies to be conducted via videoconference as well as in-person. We have also clarified our disciplinary procedures. But more currently, we have announced today, together with Wikimedia Spain, the winners of Wiki Loves Earth 2019 in Portugal and Spain. See: http://blog.wikimedia.pt/2019/07/finalistas-do-wiki-loves-earth-2019-em-por… Best regards, Gonçalo Themudo *Presidente* *Wikimedia Portugal* *Email: *goethe.wiki(a)gmail.com *Website: *http://pt.wikimedia.org <https://sites.google.com/view/themudo> *Imagine um mundo onde cada ser humano pode partilhar livremente a soma de todo o conhecimento, na sua própria língua.*

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Introducing our newest chapter, Wikimedia Colombia
by Kirill Lokshin 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has approved the recognition of Wikimedia Colombia [1] as a Wikimedia chapter. Over the past five years, Wikimedia Colombia has successfully planned and executed a significant portfolio of innovative and effective programs, attracting new contributors, forming partnerships with local institutions, promoting the Wikimedia movement throughout the Republic of Colombia, and demonstrating a substantial record of programmatic impact. It is our hope that recognition as a Wikimedia chapter will empower the Wikimedia Colombia community to continue fostering the Wikimedia movement in Colombia and enable them to more effectively engage with government entities and other partners. We additionally hope that Wikimedia Colombia will prove to be a source of inspiration and support for emerging Wikimedia communities in the surrounding geographic areas, furthering affiliate development across northern South America and Central America. I want to thank everyone who has been involved with setting up the new chapter, and recognize their commitment and patience over the past two years as we've worked through the chapter recognition process. Please join me in congratulating the entire Wikimedia Colombia team for their accomplishment! Regards, Kirill Lokshin Chair, Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Colombia

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Recognition of the Wikimedians of the Caribbean User Group
by Kirill Lokshin 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] the Wikimedians of the Caribbean User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to support Wikimedia projects and activities among the peoples of the Caribbean and the Caribbean Diaspora. 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/Caribbean_Wikimedians_User_Group

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Recognition of the Wikipedians of Goa User Group
by Kirill Lokshin 01 Aug '19

01 Aug '19

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] the Wikipedians of Goa User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to build content related to Goa in all possible languages, to conduct Wikipedia-related training in Goa, and to help build and sustain the Konkani Wikipedia. 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/Wikipedians_of_Goa_User_Group

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Vad glädjer dig den här veckan? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 28 July 2019)
by Pine W 30 Jul '19

30 Jul '19

Hello colleagues, This week I would like to share a reflection, "On gratitude and love <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Johan_(WMF)/On_gratitude_and_love>", by Johan (WMF) <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Johan_(WMF)>. --- "I’ve always appreciated my fellow Wikimedians. But when I do my normal editing, in my spare time, I respect them as my peers. I’m constantly grateful for the work Tegel does to keep Swedish Wikipedia free from spam and vandalism. In awe of Yger’s ambitious projects related to Swedish geography and administrative districts. Impressed by ArildV’s illustrations. Still miss cooperating with Åsa L on the Swedish science fiction articles. But in my work for the Foundation, there’s a shift – a feeling of being privileged to be part of this project full time. "Take Tech News, for example. Most weeks I write Tech News, a weekly technical newsletter, in an attempt to make it possible to get a quick overview of important technical changes that will affect Wikimedia contributors. Every week it is translated and distributed in a number of languages, typically 15–20 and every week I try to use the thanks function to unobtrusively show my appreciation. The act becomes routine: open the history of every language, thank the person, go to the next translation, thank, thank, thank, thank, thank. But every week that action is fuelled by a profound feeling of gratitude. Years into writing the newsletter I still count myself fortunate to get to work with a group of people who, in many cases, week after week turn up to help Wikimedians be aware of how the tools they use keep being developed. There’s no simple way to tell a pseudonymous user – potentially someone you’ve hardly interacted with except through the thanks button – the deep affection you have for the usernames who turn up to make the translations for the various Wikimedia communities, how much you care about them. But as a collective, they remain one of my favourite group of persons in the world. Every week, I use the same words to thank them. It’s a copy and paste. I hardly read the words. But every week, I mean them. If someone goes on hiatus for a few months and comes back, it makes me genuinely happy, like seeing an old friend again. "I despair at times, of course, like almost everyone else who spends a fair chunk of their life thinking about the wikis. I sometimes think we fail to live up to our principles of civility and assuming good faith. I sometimes think we’re making it far too difficult to edit. I sometimes fear we’re not preparing for the world of tomorrow, given that we still edit in a desktop-first mindset when most of our readers access our information in other ways. It’s no fun being met with a lack of assumption of good faith when working on a project that’s crept into almost every aspect of my life and been part of me since my teens. But most of these things are normal parts of being a very small cog in a big machine. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of us, trying to make the wikis a better place. I’m just one of them. "It should become mundane, I suppose. I’ve been editing since 2004, been working for the Foundation since 2015. I’ve seen the good and bad parts of the communities, the beautiful and the ugly. The magic should fade. But it doesn’t, because Wikimedians don’t stop doing wonderful things in the name of creating a repository of knowledge, there to be used by anyone with internet access and even for some without. "And I continue to be grateful. Not always for specific details of my work, because the job is like any other job full of things one gets paid to do because one wouldn’t want to do it for free. But for being part of this. For working with the Wikimedia communities." --- What's making you happy this week? You are welcome to comment in any language. Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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What's making you happy this week? (Week of 21 July 2019)
by Pine W 26 Jul '19

26 Jul '19

I apologize for the lateness of this week's email. I would like to highlight the recognition of the Dehalvi Wikimedia Community User Group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dehalvi_Wikimedia_User_Group> and Wikimedia Community User Group Math <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Math>. (I wish that I could translate this email's subject line into Urdu. Regrettably, I have doubts regarding the automated translation. I would be appreciative if anyone would like to share a manual translation of the subject line into Urdu.) I thought that this thread on Wikitech-l was interesting: "Difference between #goal and #epic <https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2019-July/092299.html>". Last week there were at least two notable anniversaries in space exploration. 1. 20 July 1969 was the date that astronauts on the Apollo 11 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11> spaceflight landed on Earth's moon <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon>. 2. 23 July 1995 was when two astronomers, one of them being an amateur astronomer <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_astronomer>, first discovered Comet Hale–Bopp <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale%E2%80%93Bopp>. I enjoy looking at English Wikipedia featured pictures, including these subcategories of space featured pictures: * Looking out <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_pictures/Space/Looking_out> * Understanding <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_pictures/Space/Understandi…> * Getting there <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_pictures/Space/Getting_the…> * Looking back <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_pictures/Space/Looking_back> * Panorama <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_pictures/Space/Panorama> My guess is that many of us have looked up at the sky at night and thought about the moon, the stars, and the planets. Maybe you have seen shooting stars <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cosmic_Fireball_Falling_Over_ALMA.jpg>, comets like Hale–Bopp, or the Milky Way <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beneath_the_Milky_Way.jpg>. If you have the opportunity to try astronomy or night photography <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Astronoomiahuvilised.jpg>, I encourage you to do so. I would like to close this email with two quotes. First, the famous quote by astronaut Neil Armstrong as he first set foot on the Moon: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frase_de_Neil_Armstrong.ogg>." Second, a quote by amateur astronomer Thomas Bopp <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bopp>: " I--I'll never give up looking at the skies. There's so many beautiful things there. And I love to share that with people." What's making you happy this week? You are welcome to comment in any language Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Invitation to the July 2019 Wikimedia Monthly Activities Meeting: Thursday, July 25th, 18:00 UTC
by Sasha Redkina 26 Jul '19

26 Jul '19

Hello everyone, The next Wikimedia Monthly Activities meeting will take place on Thursday, July 25th, 2019 at 18:00 UTC (11 AM PDT). The IRC channel is #wikimedia-office on https://webchat.freenode.net, and the meeting will be broadcast as a live YouTube stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHnso8LvL_Q We’ll post the video recording publicly after the meeting. Agenda Facilitator: TBA - Welcome and introduction to agenda - 2 minutes - Movement update - 3 minutes - Talk Pages Consultation presentation - 10 minutes - Wikimedia Foundation updated website design demonstration - 10 minutes - Wikimedia movement strategy update - 15 minutes - Questions and discussion - 10 minutes - Wikilove - 5 minutes Please review the meeting's Meta-Wiki page for further information about the meeting and how to participate: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_monthly_activities_meetings Thank you! Sasha Redkina Front Office Coordinator *The Wikimedia Foundation* www.wikimediafoundation.org

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Changes to Rapid Grants - Effective August 1, 2019
by Woubzena Jifar 25 Jul '19

25 Jul '19

Hello all, Hope this email finds you well. We are sending this message to select community mailing lists and all previous recipients of Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grants. As you know the Rapid Grants Program <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid> [1] has played an important role in helping our communities to grow. The number of grants we have given out grew by 30% between FY16 -17 to this fiscal year, and they grew by 55% when measured by the total amount disbursed. (See the spending analysis <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_spending_analysis> [2] for reference.*) While communities have valued these flexible funding opportunities, on our part, it hasn’t been easy to measure and track their impact. We therefore will be implementing a number of changes in Fiscal Year 19/20, starting *August 1 2019*, to sharpen the focus and impact of rapid grants, whilst at the same time maintaining the quick and flexible funding options for community: 1) In the months specified below, we will prioritize support to *contests and campaigns* which have been an exciting source of growth in editorship, innovative participation and content generation by communities. These months will be solely dedicated to different contests and campaigns throughout the year: - *August*: only receiving proposals for *Wiki Loves Monuments* - *September*: only receiving proposals for *Awareness Grants* (campaign) - *December*: only receiving proposals for *Wiki Loves Africa * - *January*: only receiving proposals for *Art + Feminism* (campaign) - *March*: only receiving proposals for *Wiki Loves Earth* 2) Outside the months specified above, proposals are welcomed in all other categories: edit-a-thons, contests, photowalks, general promotion campaigns, and video campaigns. For added flexibility, we will also consider proposals outside of these categories, such as software development. However, we will no longer be providing rapid grants for travel support, equipment purchase or meetups. 3) We will evaluate each batch of grants once a month and accept the best proposals in alignment with the Wikimedia Foundation’s medium-term goals. We will share the evaluation for the Rapid Grants Program that led us to sharpen the focus for the program once the evaluation is completed by September 30, 2019. In addition to these changes, we’ve also considered comments around Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grants eligibility criteria and have clarified these criteria. Please take the time to re-familiarize yourselves with the Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grants Guidelines and Criteria <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid/Learn> [4] page. The Wikimedia Foundation’s Medium-term <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019> [3] plan goals are set out here for information. If you have any questions, please email us at <rapidgrants(a)wikimedia.org>. Best regards, Woubzena *Please note that we have not yet put out the final FY 2018-19 numbers and we’re basing this calculation based on up to date internal numbers of 184 grants and $270,194. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_spending_analysis [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019 [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid/Learn Woubzena Jifar (pronouns - she/her/hers) Program Officer, Rapid Grants User: WJifar (WMF) Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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[Wikimedia Announcements] Wikimedia Foundation's final Medium Term Plan and FY2019-2020 Annual Plan
by Maria Cruz 24 Jul '19

24 Jul '19

Hello everyone, After opening a community comment period in early April this year, collecting and incorporating that feedback, we are happy to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees has approved our Medium Term Plan for 2019-2023! You can view the final version here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019 This process wouldn’t have been possible without communities’ participation, and we want to thank each of you for taking the time away from doing your favorite thing on the wikis to comment on our organization’s plan for the next 5 years. This new process, which we implemented for the first time this year, allows us to plan for a longer time frame It also gives us a more flexible structure for annual planning that allows us to incorporate recommendations from the movement strategy. Today, we are publishing both the Wikimedia Foundation’s Medium-term Plan and our annual budget and plan for the fiscal year 2019-20. This 2019-20 plan is the first instance in this new planning process, and over the next 5 years, we will continue to create plans that focus on the priorities we identified. We will review the progress towards our annual goals on a quarterly basis, and continue to share these reports publicly. We hope to continue these conversations and collaboration as we work towards our strategic direction. Cheers, *María Cruz * \\ Communications and Outreach manager, Community Engagement \\ Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. mcruz(a)wikimedia.org | Twitter: @marianarra_ <https://twitter.com/marianarra_> _______________________________________________ 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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An update on the ECHR filing to lift the Wikipedia block in Turkey
by Gregory Varnum 22 Jul '19

22 Jul '19

Hello! I am writing to provide an update on the status of the petition that the Wikimedia Foundation filed with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in May to lift the more than two-year block of Wikipedia in Turkey.[1] As you may know, many petitions brought before the ECHR are not granted a hearing by the Court, and, even when the hearing is granted, the process of reaching a resolution can take years. We understood these considerations when we filed the petition, but were hopeful that the Court would recognize the public importance of the case. The ECHR has acted extremely quickly in this case. On July 2, the Court responded to the petition by giving the case “priority treatment”, and sending official correspondence to us and to Turkish authorities with notification of this designation. The Government of Turkey now has until October 24 to respond by submitting their own observations on the case to the Court. We feel this is a clear indication that the case is being taken seriously. You can read more information on the Wikimedia Foundation website: https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/07/22/our-legal-case-against-turk… We invite you to join us in sharing this news within your networks. You can do so on social media by retweeting @Wikipedia and sharing messages of your own. We have also posted a social media toolkit on Meta-Wiki with hashtags, draft messages, and graphics (coming later today) for folks to utilize: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Unblock_campaigns We are optimistic about this development and look forward to sharing any future updates with you. -greg [1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2019/05/23/wikimedia-foundation-petiti… -- Gregory Varnum (pronouns - he/his/him) Communications Strategist Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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New Wikiclubs in Tavush province
by Wikimedia Armenia Board 22 Jul '19

22 Jul '19

Dear all, I am glad to inform you that a memorandum has been signed between Wikimedia Armenia Scientific-Educational NGO and Tavush Province Administration of the Republic of Armenia, according to which the latter is obliged to 1. Support the establishment and regular work of Wikiclubs in Tavush region 2. Equip the Wikiclubs with notebooks, provide with fast and consistent internet 3. Encourage the implementation of Wiki projects in the learning process and the active participation of teachers and students in projects carried out by Wikimedia Armenia 4. Spread information on events carried out by Wikimedia Armenia among teachers of the region 5. Support other educational initiatives accomplished by Wikimedia Armenia This arrangement allows Wikimedia Armenian to increase the number of its Wikiclubs, spread and develop the Wiki movement in Tavush region, and contribute to expanding educational opportunities. At the moment there are 7 Wikiclubs (Gosh, Archis, Sarigyugh, Kirants, Lusahovit and two clubs in Noyemberyan) in Tavush region. It is anticipated to gradually establish Wikiclubs in all communities of the region. Wikimedia Armenia NGO Chair of the Board Vahagn Piliposyan

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Recognition of the Dehalvi Wikimedia Community User Group
by Kirill Lokshin 19 Jul '19

19 Jul '19

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] the Dehalvi Wikimedia Community User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to promote Urdu-language Wikimedia projects in India. 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/Dehalvi_Wikimedia_User_Group

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CEE Meeting 2019 registration is extended until August 3
by Ivana Madžarević 19 Jul '19

19 Jul '19

Hello everyone, I would like to inform you that* the deadline for the CEE Meeting 2019 registration is extended until August 3! * Although we have announced that here will be no extension of deadline, we'll do that due to a lot of suggestion from the communities. Some of the CEE communities need more time to choose their representatives and unfortunately that caused small number of registered participants so far. I will use this opportunity to strongly suggest to the all of the delegates to register in timely manner. You can find more details on the following links: - Registration form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeRR002uKE4lrzJYTt4qJ9uhioFI7bLmiq… - CEE Meeting meta page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2019 *Please note that there will be no more extensions and that only those who register until August 3 will be taken into account. * Feel free to reach out if you need assistance or additional information. Best, Ивана Маџаревић менаџер пројеката и заједнице, Викимедија Србије p: 011 3348 468 m: 060 74 54 773 a: Дечанска 4/3, Београд s: rs.wikimedia.org e: ivana.madzarevic(a)vikimedija.org *Замислите свет у коме свака особа на планети има слободан приступ целокупном људском знању. То је оно на чему ми радимо.*

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Movement Strategy: Community conversations on- and offline; Wikimania
by Nicole Ebber 18 Jul '19

18 Jul '19

Dear fellow Wikimedians, Working groups are busy analyzing community conversations and are integrating insights from these as well as expert feedback and input into their work. From this, they have started to put ideas and concepts together and are turning these into draft recommendations for structural changes that will help us advance in our strategic direction: To become the support system for the whole free knowledge movement. These drafts will be published for movement input in August. Affiliate communities across the globe have begun launching strategy salons to share their ideas about the future of our movement. The diverse range of perspectives being shared here is enriching the conversations that working groups are having. And we have added another opportunity to get involved in the community conversations: online surveys. == Wikimedia 2030 @ Wikimania 2019 == Visit the Wikimedia 2030 space [1] at Wikimania! The space will be a lively hub of discussions about building the future of our movement. Representatives from each working group will host public discussion sessions with the community to learn from them and review the draft recommendations for each thematic area in person. We will also host meet-ups in the main conference hotel on the Friday and Saturday evenings, where we’ve got more fun things planned. We are currently putting the finishing touches on the program and more updates on all of this will follow in the coming weeks. == Talking movement strategy around the globe == >From South East Asia to Africa and beyond: Movement strategy is all about generating global engagement and discussions about our future. Over 30 community members from across the Asia-Pacific region came together to discuss our shared future at the ESEAP Strategy Summit in Bangkok. Our call for strategy salon grant proposals resulted in 44 grants being awarded, and strategy-focused events have recently been held in Cameroon, Uganda, and Morocco. Upcoming salons will take place in Estonia, Bangladesh, Venezuela, and the Levant. In addition, the Capacity Building (see blog post)[2] and Roles and Responsibilities working groups have held in-person meetings in Singapore and in Utrecht to work on drafting recommendations. And there’s more to come: the Resource Allocation working group will meet this week in Madrid and Community Health will come together next week in Amman. And you can share your thoughts and ideas at anytime and from anywhere on Meta [3] as part of the ongoing community conversations. == Take part in movement strategy online surveys == If you prefer to participate anonymously or could not join any of your community’s or group’s conversations yet, an additional way to get involved is to take part in our online survey [4]. Here, you can share your perspectives about the structural part of our movement, particularly in relation to your local or thematic context. There are surveys for each of the nine thematic areas, and the surveys are available in a number of languages. Following a soft launch to test the questions and quality of the translations, we now encourage the wider movement to take part and contribute to ongoing global discussions. == Community conversations report for June is now live == If you want to get a good snapshot of the ideas, opinions, and thoughts that have been put forward in all of these discussions, then we have a reading recommendation for you: the June community conversations report [5]! The report offers a summary of all the input gathered during discussions that happened on Meta, at regional salons, and during conversations facilitated by the strategy liaisons. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to get in touch. Best wishes, Nicole [1] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2019:Wikimedia_2030 [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Blog_po… [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Partici… [4] https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d718KRfJ5W3OVYV and https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9cyOksUM4rJVt6DHLEjZ7xo7IL7BMS-_… [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Reports… -- 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.

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Recognition of Wikimedia Community User Group Math
by Kirill Lokshin 18 Jul '19

18 Jul '19

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] Wikimedia Community User Group Math [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to coordinate global activities to improve the display and retrieval of mathematical expressions, with the long-term objective of making mathematical knowledge better accessible to every human being. 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/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Math

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda 2018/2019 Report
by Asaf Bartov 18 Jul '19

18 Jul '19

Congratulations, Erina and WCUG Uganda, on a clear and informative report! One area to consider improving would be on-wiki contributions by the core user group volunteers. Cheers, A. On Mon, Jul 15, 2019 at 9:14 PM Erina Mukuta <erinamukuta(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > *To whom it may concern* > below is the link to the over due annual report for the mentioned usergroup > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/2018-2019_Annual_Report > > Kind regards > -- > > *Erina Mukuta*Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda > Tel: *+256774424843* > skype: mukuta.erina twitter: > @erinamukuta > *https://wikiuganda.wordpress.com/ <https://wikiuganda.wordpress.com/>* > > *https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Erinamukuta > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Erinamukuta>* > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org

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[Wikimedia Research Showcase] July 17, 2019 at 11:30 AM PDT, 18:30 UTC
by Janna Layton 17 Jul '19

17 Jul '19

Hi all, The next Research Showcase will be live-streamed next Wednesday, July 17, at 11:30 AM PDT/18:30 UTC. YouTube stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9vvwV5KfW4 As usual, you can join the conversation on IRC at #wikimedia-research. You can also watch our past research showcases here: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Showcase This month's presentations: Characterizing Incivility on Wikipedia Elizabeth Whittaker, University of Michigan School of Information In a society whose citizens have a variety of viewpoints, there is a question of how citizens can govern themselves in ways that allow these viewpoints to co-exist. Online deliberation has been posited as a problem solving mechanism in this context, and civility can be thought of as a mechanism that facilitates this deliberation. Civility can thus be thought of as a method of interaction that encourages collaboration, while incivility disrupts collaboration. However, it is important to note that the nature of online civility is shaped by its history and the technical architecture scaffolding it. Civility as a concept has been used both to promote equal deliberation and to exclude the marginalized from deliberation, so we should be careful to ensure that our conceptualizations of incivility reflect what we intend them to in order to avoid unintentionally reinforcing inequality. To this end, we examined Wikipedia editors’ perceptions of interactions that disrupt collaboration through 15 semi-structured interviews. Wikipedia is a highly deliberative platform, as editors need to reach consensus about what will appear on the article page, a process that often involves deliberation to coordinate, and any disruption to this process should be apparent. We found that incivility on Wikipedia typically occurs in one of three ways: through weaponization of Wikipedia’s policies, weaponization of Wikipedia’s technical features, and through more typical vitriolic content. These methods of incivility were gendered, and had the practical effect of discouraging women from editing. We implicate this pattern as one of the underlying causes of Wikipedia’s gender gap. Hidden Gems in the Wikipedia Discussions: The Wikipedians’ Rationales Lu Xiao, Syracuse University School of Information Studies I will present a series of completed and ongoing studies that are aimed at understanding the role of the Wikipedians’ rationales in Wikipedia discussions. We define a rationale as one’s justification of her viewpoint and suggestions. Our studies demonstrate the potential of leveraging the Wikipedians’ rationales in discussions as resources for future decision-making and as resources for eliciting knowledge about the community’s norms, practices and policies. Viewed as rich digital traces in these environments, we consider them to be beneficial for the community members, such as helping newcomers familiarize themselves on the commonly accepted justificatory reasoning styles. We call for more research attention to the discussion content from this rationale study perspective. -- Janna Layton (she, her) Administrative Assistant - Audiences & Technology Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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WikiIndaba conference announcement
by Bobby Shabangu 17 Jul '19

17 Jul '19

Dear all, We would like to inform you that after long deliberations between the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and the WikiIndaba Steering Committee (WISCom) we have reached an agreement that the suitable dates to host the WikiIndaba conference 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria will be from 8 - 10 November. We know that this news will disappoint many of you, who were gearing up for the meeting. Unfortunately, operational difficulties created some delays. We have discussed this with the staff of the WMF, and all agree that a postponement will give us some extra time to ensure that a quality event is planned for all. WikiIndaba conference is a key pillar in the Wikimedia movement strategic direction, and an important platform for the African Wikimedia community. WISCom and the WMF continue to support Wikimedia Nigeria as the host and venue for the conference. We greatly appreciate your support and understanding, and we hope to see you at WikiIndaba! Kind regards, Bobby Shabangu

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Fram en.wp office yearlock block
by Techman224 17 Jul '19

17 Jul '19

Forwarding to WIkimedia-l since WikiEN-l is relatively dead. Since this message, an Arbcom member (SilkTork) stated that they weren't consulted, nor did this action was the result of Arbcom forwarding a concern to the office. [1] The only non-response excuse from the WMF [2] was that "local communities consistently struggle to uphold not just their own autonomous rules but the Terms of Use, too.” even though there were no complaints on-wiki nor to Arbcom privately. The on-wiki discussion is taking place at the Bureaucrats and the Arbcom noticeboards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bureaucrats%27_noticeboard#User:Fra… <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bureaucrats'_noticeboard#User:Fram_banned_for_1_year_by_WMF_office> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration_Committee/Noticebo…'s_ban [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration_Commi… <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Arbitration_Commi…> [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bureaucrats%27_noticeboard#Statemen… Techman224 > Begin forwarded message: > > From: George Herbert <george.herbert(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [WikiEN-l] Fram en.wp office yearlock block > Date: June 10, 2019 at 8:54:34 PM CDT > To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > Reply-To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > > In case you're not following on-wiki - Office S&T blocked English Wikipedia > user / administrator Fram for a year and desysopped, for unspecified > reasons in the Office purview. There was a brief statement here from > Office regarding it which gave no details other than that normal policy and > procedures for Office actions were followed, which under normal > circumstances preclude public comments. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bureaucrats%27_noticeboard#User:Fra… > > Several people on Arbcom and board have commented they're making private > inquiries under normal reporting and communication channels, due to the > oddity and essentially uniqueness of the action. > > There was an initial surge of dismay which has mellowed IMHO into "Ok, > responsible people following up". > > I understand the sensitivity of some of the topics under Office actions, > having done OTRS and other various had-to-stay-private stuff myself at > times in the past. A high profile investigation target is most unusual but > not unheard of. > > I did send email to Fram earlier today asking if they had any public > comment, no reply as yet. > > > -- > -george william herbert > george.herbert(a)gmail.com > _______________________________________________ > WikiEN-l mailing list > WikiEN-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l

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Open Letter to Affiliations Committee : Wikimedia India's Demand For A Fair And Transparent Hearing
by Abhinav srivastava 16 Jul '19

16 Jul '19

Dear Friends From Affcom, I am posting an open public request for your notice of Suspension moved at Wikimedia India (WMIN) which we continue to contest and to our ignored demand of having a public hearing as shared with you all over mail and shared again here under Annexure [A]. You have taken an official position on suspension without even hearing us even once, unexplained accusations have been provided and we continue to believe Affcom has been insufficiently investigating facts before making judgements. We repeatedly over and over again provided justifications over Mail but you never took them to your notice and only over calls you heard us, provided your rationale for expectation gaps but never took our oral commentary which refutes your claims,in any action, anywhere. Now you say WMIN won’t remain a Chapter after 14th September and be transformed into a User Group. Republic of India happens to be one of the only few countries where besides volunteer driven Chapter and User Groups has a full-time staff based WMF’s Allied Organisation CIS-A2K [1]. Wikimedia India activities [2] may be less due to no source of funds [3] however, Community Members from India put their efforts, strive hard to take the movement ahead. Whether it be the previous financial year or the present, no Wikimedia Foundation Grants like Rapid Grant, Project Grant etc have been applied by Wikimedia India members to support any Chapter activity. They remain self-financed. We received your notice last year when Wikimedia India was contesting a dispute with CIS-A2K over attribution grabbing for our self-financed projects and ignoring Chapter at important National level initiaves [4]. While working with virtually no source of funds and struggles with WMF’s Allied Organisation, your notice of suspension was the least bad we could have had. We continue to contest your suspension notice. It was Suo Moto (on its own) decision making and as found and re-stated above and below in detail, there were gaps and misunderstanding in your basis. We also continue to contest there has been a Rush-to-decision making. No written responses via Mail to Chapter’s clarification are being provided and invitation for calls are initiated where brief responses are shared on a Cloud Document. It has been subsequently found by both parties on there being gaps in communication. However, even after clarity during call, Affcom has not taken any action over them. The basis of your suspension notice has been shared here for the wider audience. 1. Legal Structure : Affcom asked Wikimedia India to resolve and obtain its necessary license in order to obtain funds. At present, as per Government of India restrictions it is difficult to obtain foreign funding. Wikimedia India informed the Affcom on roughly 13,000 Non-Government Organisations (NGO)s [5] are struggling with a similar crisis to which Affcom responded, “reconsider applying for a User Group.” and “no evidence that the current organization’s leadership will be able to drive this problem toward resolution”. Chapter efforts and commitment in resolving the said crisis cannot be dusted in few words. A Government restrictive policy which has an impact on 13,000 NGOs and Affcom finding flaws in WMIN Board Members capability. WMIN would leave it for public interpretation. Why not a capability audit for hosting zero-budget activities? While most of the time are being spent on resolving the said crisis, WMIN continues to undertake activities as listed. Taking the Open Knowledge Movement forward remains a commitment for the Chapter irrespective of whatsoever political climate may remain. Affcom was asked two questions respectively in this regard however no response has been attained. The questions are 1. Would zero-budget activities, those self-financed not meet sufficiency ? Please elaborate for us to stand better and to improve upon. 2. Would resolving Legal Structure and being able to receive WMF Grants be a necessary criteria for WMIN to meet sufficiency or continued activities not meet the fulfilment criteria? (2) Open Governance : Affcom informed Chapter that a member needs to be in physical presence at the Chapter Assembly to cast vote and raise voice and asked The Chapter to change its bylaws. This information is anything but false. This was communicated during the Call but Affcom did not bring anything in action. Also, as per the Chapter Agreement between WMF and WMIN, a copy of bylaws was provided in English Language to WMF. The bylaws were approved by the then Chapter’s Council. No evidence has been brought to notice on WMIN violating the Clause 7.2 of the Chapter’s Agreement, “The Wikimedia Chapter shall be required to advise the Foundation of any planned or actual change in the bylaws or status of the Chapter which might affect the Foundation or the continued existence or effectiveness of this Agreement.” (3) Active Contributor Involvement :The November 10 email carried the statement, “The chapter lacks broad and diverse membership, community representation, as well as buy-in and involvement “ and “Membership seems to be sourced through university leadership rather than through open community participation and representation.” Chapter till date received no evidence or logic construction on how the said argument was reached. Later during the call, Affcom did acknowledge that there has been a communication gap. Chapter further floated the idea of sharing the Member’s data base after discussing privacy policy over them. (4) Capacity : WMIN was able to submit its annual reports on 21st December, 2018 (3.5 months late) due to a notice by Income-Tax department which caused delay in preparing our Financial reports. Although we do not have any annual grants or use any money to support any activity, as per Chapter’s agreement, affiliate is required to submit Financial Results. Meanwhile, WMIN reported its activities on every quarterly basis and shared it with the wider Indian community via India Mailing List and also other channels [6], [7], [8],[9]. Annual activity report is a compilation from the quarterly reports. Affcom claimed via Cloud document that no high level response submitted and repeated delay is not accepted. WMIN informed Affcom that previous delay needs to be looked at independently from earlier financial period and suspension notice (WMIN then had a grant), but we received no response. (5) Organizational Best Practices : Affcom asked us to ‘Resolve’ issues relating to Organizational Best Practices, however, no information had been received on respective deliverables not been met. The November 10, email carried the statement, “There are concerns about whether” referring that Affcom was also not sure themselves. WMIN shared the best practices after placing it in front of the community on member’s mailing list for more than 15 days. To this Affcom responded that you are late with your submission hence we are terminating your contract. They never shared an evidence and when WMIN took its time placed it in-front of the community and then submitted, they said delayed and instead of sending their response in writing over mail they again invited us for a call. We continue to insist on providing a written response via Mail but no action. (6) Action Plan : Affcom asked us to submit an Action Plan and we kept asking what deliverable are needed. We cannot commit on resolving Government restrictions within a said timeline as more than 13,000 NGOs struggle with the similar crisis. We emphasised again and again we have been running zero-budget activities and working for the movement. We asked them to review Organizational Best Practices, based on gaps we could have taken things into consideration. They rather said, you have missed the deadline, so WMIN has to be closed now. To sum up, Affcom friends, you made up your own decision, you made up you own hearing and you made up your own decision. It was a monologue masked in the name of a dialogue. I encourage you all to be in our boots someday, hosting activities on zero-budget, fighting with the Government bureaucracy to attain some funding as a help, the challenge of having a staff-based organisation in parallel, struggle with self-financing activities and most importantly working with Affcom to save yourself from their de-recognition threats. If you believe you are correct, please abide to the request made under Annexure [A] and put everything in public domain. Let community read for themselves and decide. If Affcom is more transparent about its investigation and actions then community would be able to better understand the work and provide an opinion. Regards, Abhinav ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K [2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-April/013994.ht… \ [3] Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act, 1960 compliance do not permit India Chapter to receive money from its primary fiscal sponsor, Wikimedia Foundation. [4] Board of Directors at CIS, acknowledged in March, 2019 for a compliant made in August, 2018 for CIS-A2K Staff not doing their duty to the order. [5] https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/07/democracies-need-a-little-help-from-th… [6] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-July/013030.html [7] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-October/013089.… [8] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-January/013188.… [9] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-April/013295.ht… --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annexure [A] Reallocating the Affcom - WMIN Communication To Meta : No communications over email, video call, social media, instant messaging, or anywhere but wiki! While this would not just be aligned with the editing spirit, it would promote greater transparency and also helpful for us to communicate the message to our community members. While, we understand Affcom had been advocating the same, however, taking care of privacy concerns, do let us. Once we hear from Affcom on having no privacy concerns, we may reallocate the discussions. If there a consent to this, would request a green light also for 1. Archiving the entire email conversation over a cloud document and linking it to the relevant Meta page. 2. Documenting Internet Calls in an attempt to resolve communication gaps and linking them to Meta page for greater transparency. 3. Based on Principal of Free Speech, allowing anybody to use the discussion page for expression of their views. 4. Any Volunteer is free to translate the text into the language of their choice. 5. Upload All PDF sent via Mails to Commons and link them to the Meta Page. 6. All relevant customs and procedures which exist for any Meta page to be in action.

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ما الذي يمنحك السعادة هذا الأسبوع؟ / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 14 July 2019)
by Pine W 14 Jul '19

14 Jul '19

Winners of the Wiki Loves Africa 2019 campaign on Commons were announced <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2019/Winners>. These articles were linked from the most recent *Books and Bytes* newsletter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter/March-Apri…> of The Wikipedia Library <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library>: * "Teaching intelligence: putting Wikipedia at the heart of a class <https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/teaching-intelligence-putting-wik…>", by Caroline Ball * "Integrating Wikidata at the Library of Congress <https://blogs.loc.gov/thesignal/2019/05/integrating-wikidata-at-the-library…>", by Matt Miller Alexandros Kosiaris (WMF) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:AKosiaris_(WMF)> presented a Wikimedia Tech Talk, 2019 Episode 6, "A Deployment Pipeline Overview <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0FTcG7PxzI>". What's making you happy this week? You are welcome to comment in any language. Any corrections to the Arabic translation of this email's subject line would be appreciated. Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Fwd: Wiki Loves Pride--Extended to July 31!
by Pharos 12 Jul '19

12 Jul '19

Wanted to share this with the global list, the Wiki Loves Pride campaign for LGBT content has now been extended to July 31! You can participate in the three pillars/sub-contests here, see below for more details: art.wikilovespride.org health.wikilovespride.org photo.wikilovespride.org And let us know if you could use assistance adapting anything to your language Wikipedia. Thanks, Pharos ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Wexelbaum, Rachel S. <rswexelbaum(a)stcloudstate.edu> Date: Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 5:48 PM Subject: [Wikimedia-US-MN] Wiki Loves Pride--Extended to July 31! To: wikimedia-us-mn(a)lists.wikimedia.org <wikimedia-us-mn(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikimedia Affiliates <all-affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Hello All, *All Wiki Loves Pride campaigns and contests will run until July 31st! *Here is how you can get involved-- ***Art Contest with the Metropolitan Museum of Art*** art.wikilovespride.org <https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fart.wikilo…> We've created a custom tool to help new artwork article pages by LGBT artists: lgbt.mbabel.org <https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flgbt.mbabe…> As well a tools to find artworks not yet translated into your language: translate.lgbt.mbabel.org <https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ftranslate.…> ***Health Contest*** health.wikilovespride.org <https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhealth.wik…> ***Photography Contest*** photo.wikilovespride.org <https://nam05.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fphoto.wiki…> Please contact User:Pharos on wiki or at pharosofalexandria(a)gmail.com for more information about the contests or campaigns. Please contact User:RachelWex on wiki or rswexelbaum(a)stcloudstate.edu, or DM to @wikilgbt if you would like to promote your Wiki Loves Pride editathons, events, or give shoutouts to those who edit loud and proud. Happy editing and photo shooting! Rachel and Richard Rachel Wexelbaum, MLIS Associate Professor Collection Management Librarian St Cloud State University 720 4th Avenue South Saint Cloud, MN 56301 (320) 308-4756 Follow the Library On: [image: Facebook] <https://mail.stcloudstate.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=J7AH6MboSUCANRqXQWUU8H-9fD22…> [image: Twitter Icon] <https://mail.stcloudstate.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=J7AH6MboSUCANRqXQWUU8H-9fD22…> [image: Pinterest Icon] <https://mail.stcloudstate.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=J7AH6MboSUCANRqXQWUU8H-9fD22…> [image: Instagram Icon] <https://mail.stcloudstate.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=J7AH6MboSUCANRqXQWUU8H-9fD22…> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-us-mn mailing list Wikimedia-us-mn(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-us-mn

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Announcing winners: Wiki Loves Africa 2019
by Isla Haddow-Flood 12 Jul '19

12 Jul '19

Dear Wikimedians Wiki In Africa is pleased to announce the winners for Wiki Loves Africa 2019. The theme this year was PLAY! and the winners are ... 1. 1st place prize goes to the photo, Playing in the Nuba Mountains by Marco Gualazzini <https://www.facebook.com/marcogualazziniphotography/?eid=ARCWkEiohZz7M2dgX5…> taken in South Sudan. 2. 2nd Prize goes to Peekaboo by Summer Kamal <https://www.facebook.com/summer.kamal?eid=ARBl82A9IkJFlY-VM_v5plk2hiWfJWfV6…>taken in Egypt. 3. 3rd prize goes to My Skills (Teenagers in the street) by Mohamed Hozyen Ahmed (also from Egypt). 4. The prize for Women in Sport goes to Girls Wrestling by Yvonne Youmbi from Cameroon. 5. The prize for capturing a traditional form of play goes to Horses at Fantasia by Sofiane Mohammed Amri in Algeria. You can view the winning images on Commons here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa_2019/Winners You can view the full range of images submitted here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_from_Wiki_Loves_Africa_2… Congratulations to all the prize winner! The organisers would like to thank Erina Muhame for managing the jury process and the jurors for their amazing work!! Thanks also to all the Wikimedians (usergroups and volunteers) across Africa who hosted events that both explained and encouraged contribution. Warmest regards Isla and Florence (Usernames: Islahaddow and Anthere) --

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Books & Bytes – Issue 34, May – June 2019
by UY Scuti 12 Jul '19

12 Jul '19

*Books & Bytes – Issue 34, May – June 2019* Highlights: - Partnership updates - #1Lib1Ref - Wikimedia and Libraries User Group update - Global branches update - Bytes in brief *F*rench* version of Books & Bytes is now available on meta!* Read the full newsletter at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter/May-June_2… For more updates, follow us on Twitter <https://twitter.com/wikilibrary>, Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/TheWikiLibrary/> and join the Facebook group <https://www.facebook.com/groups/WikiLibrary/> The Wikipedia Library Team http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library Books & Bytes is a bi-monthly newsletter of The Wikipedia Library, focusing on recent, ongoing and upcoming activities and events in TWL and relevant topic areas. Read our previous newsletters here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter> and subscribe <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter/Sign_up>!

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An updated design for the Wikimedia Foundation website
by Gregory Varnum 12 Jul '19

12 Jul '19

Hello! Today, we are thrilled to share an updated visual design style on the Wikimedia Foundation website (wikimediafoundation.org)! This updated design was developed by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Product design team. We worked on feedback from Meta-Wiki, emails, Phabricator, and hundreds of conversations paired with user testing with people in the target audiences for the website. We are incredibly appreciative of the great care that team has taken in making strategic, data-led design decisions and really helping us amplify the website's ability to convey our story to people generally unfamiliar with Wikimedia. We have also expanded on the information about the website on its Meta-Wiki page,[1] and updated the public mirror of the code base to reflect the technical changes made to the site for this updated design.[2] Thank you to the now hundreds of people that have been involved in helping us build a website for the Foundation which we can be proud of! -greg & the Wikimedia Foundation Communication team = A bit more about the site = == How is the site doing? == Since the site's soft launch in July 2018, traffic has continued to increase. There has also been a significant increase in donations collected via this website. Two key audiences, potential staff and partners, have shared positive feedback on the site’s content and organization, enabling them to find jobs and contact key teams respectively. Additionally, user testing has shown a positive response to the content and overall architecture of the site. == What brought us here == The Wikimedia Foundation Communications department has been collecting feedback on the Foundation's website since late 2016 and beginning in early 2017 has been working on addressing the backlog of issues related to the website. The original Foundation site, launched in 2004, did not have a clear audience, and as a result was not effectively serving any of the hundreds of uses people saw for it. Maintaining the site's content beyond English had become a growing problem - leaving visitors with different information, depending on which language they were using, on basic details like our address and executive staff. Additionally, the site had over 17,000 pages - a vast majority of which were either out of date or no longer in use. In 2017-18, the Communications department ran a "Discovery" process to help inform our decision making. This process included reviews of methods used by other organizations, assessment of our current communication channels, collecting feedback at Wikimania, and interviews with dozens of volunteers, donors, contractors, and staff. The resulting report[3] and recommendations helped identify the objectives and audiences of the website,[1] and were utilized throughout the initial design and development of the new website. Shortly after the soft launch, the department began working with the Product department's design team to perform user testing, process feedback collected in the weeks following the soft launch, and collect additional feedback to help us make informed decisions. They helped us collect and process feedback from hundreds of individuals within and outside of the movement. Based on feedback, they conducted user testing and developed the updated design we deployed this morning. We will continue to use a data and feedback informed decision making in managing the site. Given the external audience nature of the site, it has consistently proven important to take the time to collect feedback and data from a wide variety of sources - including volunteers, press, donors, partner organizations, and readers of the projects. == What comes next == More languages! The Communications department will continue to work on content development and expanding translations to additional languages. If you are interested in our plans for translations, please check out the information shared recently about the Organization communications translators group.[5] == Providing feedback == The Communications department will continue to monitor the talk page for the Foundation's website on Meta-Wiki.[6] Additionally, I will be attending Wikimania in Stockholm and available to chat with folks.[7] [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_website [2] https://github.com/wikimedia/wikimediafoundation-org [3] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/1/1b/Wikimedia_Foundation… [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Organization_communications_… [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_website [7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimania_2019 -- Gregory Varnum (pronouns - he/his/him) Communications Strategist Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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Что делает тебя счастливый на этой неде́ле / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 7 July 2019)
by Pine W 11 Jul '19

11 Jul '19

This past weekend I took time offline to go bicycling <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling>, including bicycling on part of the Burke-Gilman Trail <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke-Gilman_Trail>. There are photos of the trail and surrounding scenery on Commons <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Burke-Gilman_Trail>, and there is also a Wikidata item for the trail <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4998920>. I think that time offline for reflection was good. I had in-person conversations that helped me to process recent events on English Wikipedia. This recent Picture of the Day on Commons <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%AF%D0%BD%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8…> appeals to me. Quoting from the file description page: "Sunrise on the Sea of Japan <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Japan>. The two islands visible from distance are Sibiryakov Island (right) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibiryakov_Island_(Primorsky_Krai)> and Antipenko Island (left). The photo was taken south of Slavyanka <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavyanka,_Primorsky_Krai>, Khasansky District of Primorsky Krai, Russia." What's making you happy this week? You are welcome to comment in any language. Any corrections to the Russian translation of this email's subject line would be appreciated. Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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[Wikimedia Announcements] This Month in GLAM: June 2019
by The 'This Month in GLAM' team 10 Jul '19

10 Jul '19

*This Month in GLAM* is a monthly newsletter documenting recent happenings within the GLAM project, such as content donations, residencies, events and more. GLAM is an acronym of *G*alleries, *L*ibraries, *A*rchives and *M*useums. You can find more information on the project at glamwiki.org. *This Month in GLAM – Issue VI, Volume IX – June 2019* ------------------------------ Armenia report: Third round of cooperation with Hovhannes Toumanian Museum http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Armen… Australia report: Toodyaypedia, City of Canning, WoW2019, and the Pilbara http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Austr… Brazil report: Partnership with Football Museum brings visibility to entries about women’s soccer on Wikipedia http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Brazi… Côte d'Ivoire report: #1Lib1Ref edit-athons and restrospective of +190 articles improved http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Côte_d'Ivoire_report France report: Regular workshops http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Franc… Indonesia report: Introduction to Wikimedia Commons and Structured data http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Indon… Mexico report: Wiki Loves Mexico http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Mexic… Netherlands report: Image donation; Wiki goes Caribbean meeting on slavery and plantations in Suriname; Dutch open public library data; Field study collaboration Wikimedia and Libraries http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Nethe… Norway report: The International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019 http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Norwa… Poland report: Documentary photographs from National Archives and WikiPlato http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Polan… Serbia report: Continuation of residences http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Serbi… Sweden report: Wikidata imports; Data roundtripping project http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Swede… UK report: Oxford and Coventry Updates http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/UK_re… USA report: LGBTQ+ Pride http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/USA_r… Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons report: Development updates; GLAM focus area at the Wikimania Hackathon http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Struc… Wikidata report: Want new tools? We've got 'em! http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Wikid… Calendar: July's GLAM events http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Contents/Events ------------------------------ About *This Month in GLAM* http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/About Single page view http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/June_2019/Single Twitter http://twitter.com/ThisMonthinGLAM Add your story / Work on the next edition http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter/Newsroom -- Romaine For the *This Month in GLAM* team http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM/Newsletter _______________________________________________ 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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Banning real identities
by Thomas Townsend 09 Jul '19

09 Jul '19

All, In an attempt to move the discussion on from unprofitable and inappropriate speculations about information shared in confidence, let's look at one of the aspects that is made public. When the WMF issues a WMF Global Ban in line with https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Global_Ban_Policy it has been in the habit of doing so by login identity or pseudonym as at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Global_Ban_Policy/List This makes perfect sense in terms of blocking users from logging in, but the bans are not only issued against individuals personally rather than specific account names ("A Foundation global ban is placed against an individual instead of against a specific username") but applies to real-world activities such as events and meetings ("as well as any in-person events hosted, sponsored or funded by the Foundation") for which people tyoically register and pay under a real name. Has the time not come to for WMF Global Bans to name people under their real names, where known? In answer to one likely objection: this is not outing, since that applies only to members of the Wikimedia community. People subject to WMF Global Bans are no longer members of that community: the ban pernamentaly and irrevocably removes them from membership ("Foundation global bans are final; they are not appealable, not negotiable and not reversible."). The Turnip

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Open Letter to Affiliations Committee : Wikimedia India's Demand For A Fair And Transparent Hearing
by effe iets anders 09 Jul '19

09 Jul '19

Thanks Abhinav for your email. I'm having a hard time splitting the email out in a) what is the exact and complete set of reasons that Affcom put the chapter on suspension. b) what additional complaints are part of the big picture. c) what is the response from WMIN. I realize it is really hard for you to separate these components, because you have been living this discusion for the past 8 months (at least), if I read this correctly. You mention that AffCom has not heard your objections, but from the rest of your email, it sounds more like they heard your responses (you mention both written and oral communication), but they hold a different opinion on the value of those objections. That may be because of a different set of expectations. I know these discussions are always painful for everyone, and I'm confident that AffCom does not enjoy suspending chapters. While this is no legal procedure, it is their job to make the best decision both for the movement as a whole and the Wikimedia movement in India. Anyhow, I was unable to find the resolution that explains this decision, so it's hard to really understand it. I do hope that you and affcom will be able to work towards a solution together - probably by addressing the underlying concerns. Best, Lodewijk On Mon, Jul 8, 2019 at 4:19 PM ravinder jadeja <tnkpndy(a)gmail.com> wrote: > It is such a long message and what I understand a very painful one for the > writer. Asking Affcom to come in public with data is a right demand > everyone can read then. > > I know FCRA is very tough thing today and I feel sorry reading that point > > What is this problem with CIS I am new and would like to know. > > On Tue, 9 Jul 2019 at 00:04, Subhashish Panigrahi <psubhashish(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Forwarding esp. for those Indian Wikimedians who are on the Wikimedia-l >> list >> >> Subha >> >> ---------- Forwarded message --------- >> From: Abhinav srivastava <abhinav619(a)gmail.com> >> Date: Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 2:20 PM >> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Open Letter to Affiliations Committee : Wikimedia >> India's Demand For A Fair And Transparent Hearing >> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> >> >> >> Dear Friends From Affcom, >> >> I am posting an open public request for your notice of Suspension moved at >> Wikimedia India (WMIN) which we continue to contest and to our ignored >> demand of having a public hearing as shared with you all over mail and >> shared again here under Annexure [A]. You have taken an official position >> on suspension without even hearing us even once, unexplained accusations >> have been provided and we continue to believe Affcom has been >> insufficiently investigating facts before making judgements. We repeatedly >> over and over again provided justifications over Mail but you never took >> them to your notice and only over calls you heard us, provided your >> rationale for expectation gaps but never took our oral commentary which >> refutes your claims,in any action, anywhere. Now you say WMIN won’t remain >> a Chapter after 14th September and be transformed into a User Group. >> >> Republic of India happens to be one of the only few countries where >> besides >> volunteer driven Chapter and User Groups has a full-time staff based WMF’s >> Allied Organisation CIS-A2K [1]. Wikimedia India activities [2] may be >> less >> due to no source of funds [3] however, Community Members from India put >> their efforts, strive hard to take the movement ahead. Whether it be the >> previous financial year or the present, no Wikimedia Foundation Grants >> like >> Rapid Grant, Project Grant etc have been applied by Wikimedia India >> members >> to support any Chapter activity. They remain self-financed. We received >> your notice last year when Wikimedia India was contesting a dispute with >> CIS-A2K over attribution grabbing for our self-financed projects and >> ignoring Chapter at important National level initiaves [4]. While working >> with virtually no source of funds and struggles with WMF’s Allied >> Organisation, your notice of suspension was the least bad we could have >> had. >> >> We continue to contest your suspension notice. It was Suo Moto (on its >> own) >> decision making and as found and re-stated above and below in detail, >> there >> were gaps and misunderstanding in your basis. We also continue to contest >> there has been a Rush-to-decision making. No written responses via Mail to >> Chapter’s clarification are being provided and invitation for calls are >> initiated where brief responses are shared on a Cloud Document. It has >> been >> subsequently found by both parties on there being gaps in communication. >> However, even after clarity during call, Affcom has not taken any action >> over them. >> >> The basis of your suspension notice has been shared here for the wider >> audience. >> >> >> 1. >> >> Legal Structure : Affcom asked Wikimedia India to resolve and obtain >> its >> necessary license in order to obtain funds. At present, as per >> Government >> of India restrictions it is difficult to obtain foreign funding. >> Wikimedia >> India informed the Affcom on roughly 13,000 Non-Government >> Organisations >> (NGO)s [5] are struggling with a similar crisis to which Affcom >> responded, “reconsider applying for a User Group.” and “no evidence >> that >> the current organization’s leadership will be able to drive this >> problem >> toward resolution”. Chapter efforts and commitment in resolving the >> said >> crisis cannot be dusted in few words. A Government restrictive policy >> which >> has an impact on 13,000 NGOs and Affcom finding flaws in WMIN Board >> Members >> capability. WMIN would leave it for public interpretation. >> >> >> Why not a capability audit for hosting zero-budget activities? While most >> of the time are being spent on resolving the said crisis, WMIN continues >> to >> undertake activities as listed. Taking the Open Knowledge Movement forward >> remains a commitment for the Chapter irrespective of whatsoever political >> climate may remain. Affcom was asked two questions respectively in this >> regard however no response has been attained. The questions are >> >> >> >> 1. >> >> Would zero-budget activities, those self-financed not meet sufficiency >> ? >> Please elaborate for us to stand better and to improve upon. >> 2. >> >> Would resolving Legal Structure and being able to receive WMF Grants be >> a necessary criteria for WMIN to meet sufficiency or continued >> activities >> not meet the fulfilment criteria? >> >> >> (2) Open Governance : Affcom informed Chapter that a member needs to be in >> physical presence at the Chapter Assembly to cast vote and raise voice and >> asked The Chapter to change its bylaws. This information is anything but >> false. This was communicated during the Call but Affcom did not bring >> anything in action. Also, as per the Chapter Agreement between WMF and >> WMIN, a copy of bylaws was provided in English Language to WMF. The bylaws >> were approved by the then Chapter’s Council. No evidence has been brought >> to notice on WMIN violating the Clause 7.2 of the Chapter’s Agreement, >> >> “The Wikimedia Chapter shall be required to advise the Foundation of any >> planned or actual change in the bylaws or status of the Chapter which >> might >> affect the Foundation or the continued existence or effectiveness of this >> Agreement.” >> >> >> >> (3) Active Contributor Involvement :The November 10 email carried the >> statement, “The chapter lacks broad and diverse membership, community >> representation, as well as buy-in and involvement “ and “Membership seems >> to be sourced through university leadership rather than through open >> community participation and representation.” Chapter till date received >> no >> evidence or logic construction on how the said argument was reached. Later >> during the call, Affcom did acknowledge that there has been a >> communication >> gap. Chapter further floated the idea of sharing the Member’s data base >> after discussing privacy policy over them. >> >> >> >> (4) Capacity : WMIN was able to submit its annual reports on 21st >> December, >> 2018 (3.5 months late) due to a notice by Income-Tax department which >> caused delay in preparing our Financial reports. Although we do not have >> any annual grants or use any money to support any activity, as per >> Chapter’s agreement, affiliate is required to submit Financial Results. >> Meanwhile, WMIN reported its activities on every quarterly basis and >> shared >> it with the wider Indian community via India Mailing List and also other >> channels [6], [7], [8],[9]. Annual activity report is a compilation from >> the quarterly reports. >> >> >> >> Affcom claimed via Cloud document that no high level response submitted >> and >> repeated delay is not accepted. WMIN informed Affcom that previous delay >> needs to be looked at independently from earlier financial period and >> suspension notice (WMIN then had a grant), but we received no response. >> >> >> >> (5) Organizational Best Practices : Affcom asked us to ‘Resolve’ issues >> relating to Organizational Best Practices, however, no information had >> been >> received on respective deliverables not been met. The November 10, email >> carried the statement, “There are concerns about whether” referring that >> Affcom was also not sure themselves. WMIN shared the best practices after >> placing it in front of the community on member’s mailing list for more >> than >> 15 days. To this Affcom responded that you are late with your submission >> hence we are terminating your contract. They never shared an evidence and >> when WMIN took its time placed it in-front of the community and then >> submitted, they said delayed and instead of sending their response in >> writing over mail they again invited us for a call. We continue to insist >> on providing a written response via Mail but no action. >> >> >> >> (6) Action Plan : Affcom asked us to submit an Action Plan and we kept >> asking what deliverable are needed. We cannot commit on resolving >> Government restrictions within a said timeline as more than 13,000 NGOs >> struggle with the similar crisis. We emphasised again and again we have >> been running zero-budget activities and working for the movement. We asked >> them to review Organizational Best Practices, based on gaps we could have >> taken things into consideration. They rather said, you have missed the >> deadline, so WMIN has to be closed now. >> >> >> >> To sum up, Affcom friends, you made up your own decision, you made up you >> own hearing and you made up your own decision. It was a monologue masked >> in >> the name of a dialogue. >> >> >> >> I encourage you all to be in our boots someday, hosting activities on >> zero-budget, fighting with the Government bureaucracy to attain some >> funding as a help, the challenge of having a staff-based organisation in >> parallel, struggle with self-financing activities and most importantly >> working with Affcom to save yourself from their de-recognition threats. >> >> >> >> If you believe you are correct, please abide to the request made under >> Annexure [A] and put everything in public domain. Let community read for >> themselves and decide. If Affcom is more transparent about its >> investigation and actions then community would be able to better >> understand >> the work and provide an opinion. >> >> >> Regards, >> Abhinav >> >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CIS-A2K >> >> [2] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2019-April/013994.ht… >> \ >> >> [3] Foreign Currency (Regulation) Act, 1960 compliance do not permit India >> Chapter to receive money from its primary fiscal sponsor, Wikimedia >> Foundation. >> >> [4] Board of Directors at CIS, acknowledged in March, 2019 for a compliant >> made in August, 2018 for CIS-A2K Staff not doing their duty to the order. >> >> [5] >> >> https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/07/democracies-need-a-little-help-from-th… >> >> [6] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-July/013030.html >> >> [7] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2017-October/013089.… >> >> [8] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-January/013188.… >> >> [9] >> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2018-April/013295.ht… >> >> >> >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> Annexure >> >> [A] Reallocating the Affcom - WMIN Communication To Meta : No >> communications over email, video call, social media, instant messaging, or >> anywhere but wiki! While this would not just be aligned with the editing >> spirit, it would promote greater transparency and also helpful for us to >> communicate the message to our community members. While, we understand >> Affcom had been advocating the same, however, taking care of privacy >> concerns, do let us. Once we hear from Affcom on having no privacy >> concerns, we may reallocate the discussions. >> >> If there a consent to this, would request a green light also for >> >> 1. >> >> Archiving the entire email conversation over a cloud document and >> linking it to the relevant Meta page. >> 2. >> >> Documenting Internet Calls in an attempt to resolve communication gaps >> and linking them to Meta page for greater transparency. >> 3. >> >> Based on Principal of Free Speech, allowing anybody to use the >> discussion page for expression of their views. >> 4. >> >> Any Volunteer is free to translate the text into the language of their >> choice. >> 5. >> >> Upload All PDF sent via Mails to Commons and link them to the Meta >> Page. >> 6. >> >> All relevant customs and procedures which exist for any Meta page to be >> in action. >> _______________________________________________ >> 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> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >

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Feedback for chapter: "Collaborating on the sum of all knowledge across languages"
by Denny Vrandečić 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Hi all! I really try not to spam the chat too much with pointers to my work on the Abstract Wikipedia, but this one is probably also interesting for Wikidata contributors. It is the draft for a chapter submitted to Koerner and Reagle's Wikipedia@20 book, and talks about knowledge diversity under the light of centralisation through projects such as Wikidata. Public commenting phase is open until July 19, and very welcome: "Collaborating on the sum of all knowledge across languages" About the book: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia@20 Link to chapter: https://wikipedia20.pubpub.org/pub/vyf7ksah Cheers, Denny

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fram en.wp office yearlock block
by WereSpielChequers 06 Jul '19

06 Jul '19

Agreeing/asserting that the English Language Wikipedia has a toxic editing environment is easy. Defining the problem and suggesting solutions has historically been rather more difficult. Just watch the latest threads at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Civility for examples. On the English Wikipedia this is clearer than on some projects because we have annual Arbcom elections, and a candidate can always criticise the sitting arbs by saying "of the cases accepted and rejected over the last year or two, ignoring those where we know there was private information, these are the cases where I would have differed from the existing arbs. I would have voted to accept cases xxxxxxxxxxxx,xxxxxxxx and xxxxxxxx and these are the ones where i would have supported a stricter sanction zzzz, zzzzz" Alternatively you can make suggestions as to how you would change the community to make it a less toxic environment, in the past I have argued for, among other things: 1. A different way of handling edit warring that doesn't go so quickly to blocks. 2. A pause in the speedy deletion process for goodfaith article creations so G3 and G10 would still be deleted as quickly as admins find them but A7s could stick around for at least 24 hours 3. Software changes to resolve more edit conflicts without losing edits. None of these have been rejected because people actually want a toxic environment. But people have different definitions of toxicity, for example some people think that everyone who loses an edit due to an edit conflict understands that this is an IT problem, and are unaware of incidents where people have assumed that this is conflict with the person whose edit one the conflict. Others just don't see deletionism as toxic, some deletionists even consider inclusionism toxic and get upset at editors who decline deletion tags that are almost but not quite correct. My suspicion is that the intersection of "everything you submit may be ruthlessly edited" a large community where you frequently encounter people you haven't dealt with before, cultural nuances between different versions of English and a large proportion of people who are not editing in their native language makes the English Wikipedia less congenial than some other Wikis. For example, someone who comes from a straight talking culture might think me as euphemistic and possibly sarcastic, even when I think I'm being nuanced and diplomatic. Specifically in the case of the Fram ban, the WMF should have communicated before their first 12 month block the specific behaviours that the WMF would no longer tolerate on EN Wikipedia. At least part of their problem was that their first 12 month ban was for undisclosed reasons. Some Wikipedians didn't want the WMF setting new behavioural rules on Wikipedia. But other Wikipedians might have agreed with the WMF if only we knew what the new rules were. It is a bit like enforcing speed limits, I might support lowering the speed limits where I live, but I wouldn't support empowering a traffic cop to issue traffic fines for an undisclosed reason where I and other motorists were having to speculate whether there was now an invisible but enforced stop sign at junction x, or an invisible but enforced parking restriction on street y. It is deeply ironic that in trying to combat toxic behaviour the WMF itself behaved in a toxic way. Jonathan > > Hoi, > > I am astounded that you write as if the WMF is at fault in this. What I > > find is that in stead of pointing to the WMF, it is first and foremost > the > > community of the English Wikipedia who accepted the unacceptable and > > finally has to deal with consequences. True to form, no reflection on > en.wp > > practices and the blame is conveniently put elsewhere. > > Thanks, > > GerardM > > > >

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Wikimedia Armenia NGO Assembly
by Wikimedia Armenia Board 04 Jul '19

04 Jul '19

I am writing to inform you that Wikimedia Armenia Scientific-Educational Non-Governmental Organization’s regular Assembly took place on the 24th of June during which the members of the organization elected the vital bodies of the organization, that is the Board, the Supervisory Committee and the President of the organization in a close, secret ballot. The General Assembly was organized according to the legislation of the Republic of Armenia and in the atmosphere of healthy and constructive debate. The Assembly elected Marsela Khurshudyan, Tigran Azizbekyanand Vahagn Piliposyan as Board members, David Poghosyan, Narek Avetisyan and Vardan Mnatsakanyan as Supervisory Committee members, and Susanna Mkrtchyan as the President of the organization. During the first session, Vahagn Piliposyan was elected as the chair of the Board and Tigran Azizbekyan was elected as the secretary of the Board. All the results of the Assembly were notified to the members of the organization, the staff, and other stakeholders. I am happy to inform you that the new Board has adopted a new working style of transparency and publicity․ All the protocols <https://am.wikimedia.org/wiki/%D4%BD%D5%B8%D6%80%D5%B0%D5%B8%D6%82%D6%80%D5…> of the Board and all the information <https://am.wikimedia.org/wiki/%D4%BD%D5%B8%D6%80%D5%B0%D5%B8%D6%82%D6%80%D5…> about work meetings will be available on the website (soon in English too). P.S. I am attaching two documents concerning this matter; one of them is the original Armenian version of the protocol and the other one is the short English version of it. Wikimedia Armenia NGO’s Chair of the Board Vahagn Piliposyan

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Wikimedia DC Statement on Terms of Use Enforcement
by Robert Fernandez 01 Jul '19

01 Jul '19

https://wikimediadc.org/wiki/Press:Statement_on_Terms_of_Use_enforcement June 30, 2019 Wikimedia District of Columbia is deeply concerned by recent events that have occurred on the English Wikipedia, including community controversy regarding a ban imposed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Protecting editors from harassment is crucial to the continued success of the Wikimedia movement. Many of us have been targets of harassment as a result of our contributions to the Wikimedia projects, and have witnessed harassment of our colleagues, and we are grateful to the Wikimedia Foundation's Trust & Safety team for their support in those incidents. We make no judgement on the case at the center of the current controversy as the Foundation—as per long-standing practice to protect the privacy of all concerned—did not identify the specifics of the behavior publicly. We are not endorsing or opposing a specific case, policy, or process. However, in light of these events, we publicly affirm our support for the following principles: - We support the Wikimedia Foundation's efforts in general to make the English Wikipedia welcoming and accessible to people of all backgrounds and gender identities. - We believe there are circumstances where the Wikimedia Foundation should take action against individual editors who violate the Terms of Use when it is necessary to protect people of all backgrounds and gender identities. - We support collaboration between the Foundation and the English Wikipedia community to inform the policies and processes surrounding these efforts. - We oppose the use of discriminatory, racist, and homophobic language in all Wikimedia discussions, and encourage the community to avoid it, regardless of context or intent. Board of Directors Wikimedia District of Columbia

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Co sprawia, że jesteś szczęśliwy w tym tygodniu? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 30 June 2019)
by Pine W 01 Jul '19

01 Jul '19

At the moment I am not particularly happy, but I am grateful. I feel that the English Wikiquote of the day for 30 June 2019 <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wikiquote:Quote_of_the_day/June#30> is appropriate to share for contemplation in the context of current tensions <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Community_response_to_the_Wikimedia…> . "What I'm saying here is not, I agree, poetry, as poems should be written rarely and reluctantly, under unbearable duress and only with the hope that good spirits, not evil ones, choose us for their instrument." — Czesław Miłosz <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz>, Polish writer, diplomat, and recipient of a Nobel Prize in Literature I am grateful for hundreds of colleagues who have participated generously, courageously, and in good faith to advocate for what they believe are the best interests of the Wikiverse projects. (I request that in this thread we avoid advocating for particular outcomes so that we remain on topic.) What's making you grateful or happy this week? You are welcome to comment in any language. Pine ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )

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Wikimedia-l July 2019