I have another question about that document:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal/Foundation_Policy_and_Political_Assoc…
In particular, I believe this part is out of date:
> Legislative Activities (Lobbying)
>
> At the federal level, there are serious restrictions on lobbying, including “direct” and “grassroots” efforts:
>
> Direct lobbying consists of “attempts to influence a legislative body through communication with a member or employee of a legislative body, or with a government official who participates in formulating legislation.”
> Grassroots lobbying consists of “attempts to influence legislation by attempting to affect the opinion of the public with respect to the legislation and encouraging the audience to take action with respect to the legislation. In either case, the communications must refer to and reflect a view on the legislation.”
I believe there has since been case law from the Supreme Court
allowing nonprofits including advocacy organizations, churches, and
civic groups, to communicate with legislators and attempt to influence
public opinion. I note that the irs.gov links from those paragraphs
are now dead.
Please correct me if I am mistaken.
On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 11:19 AM James Salsman <jsalsman(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal/Foundation_Policy_and_Political_Assoc…
>
> On Sat, Apr 25, 2020 at 8:45 AM Andy Mabbett <andy(a)pigsonthewing.org.uk> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, 24 Apr 2020 at 07:27, Yair Rand <yyairrand(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Also importantly, the Foundation's Policy and Political Association
> > > Guideline, which was written by WMF Legal in the aftermath of SOPA
> >
> > Link, please.
> >
> > --
> > Andy Mabbett@pigsonthewing
> > http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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>
Hello,
I am writing to invite anyone to join the next online meeting of Wikimedia
Café on Saturday 25 April 2020 4:30 PM UTC. Details for joining are at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Café
----> (video room open at that time) https://virginia.zoom.us/my/wikilgbt
The agenda for this month includes discussing maps on Wikipedia and
Wikimedia community fundraising outside the Wikimedia Foundation.
Wikimedia Café is a modest, one-hour, monthly online meeting which for the
past few months has had fewer than 10 attendees. At these meetings anyone
can propose to discuss any topic of broad Wikimedia community interest, as
if we all were able to meet in person over coffee. The meetings themselves
are an experiment in small group Wikimedia community conversation with
video chat, phone access options, and online shared notetaking. Please see
WikiProject Remote Event Participation for more information about this
general style of online event.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiProject_remote_event_participation
- Anyone interested in joining may do so.
- Anyone interested in reading notes of past meetings can find them on
the meta page.
- If there is anyone who wants to get their ideas published in the wiki
world, consider looking at how this Café works, because voice chat with
notetaking could be a way to organize your own wiki community.
Thanks Pine for performing as host in this and thanks to anyone who submits
topics for discussion or who is able to join.
--
Lane Rasberry
user:bluerasberry on Wikipedia
206.801.0814
lane(a)bluerasberry.com
Dear all,
>From 8 March to 8 April, the second edition of the WikiGap Challenge
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge> took place. The WikiGap
Challenge is a challenge aiming to create or improve articles about women
on Wikipedia. It is a part of the WikiGap campaign, organized by Wikimedia
Sverige, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish embassies and
Wikimedia affiliates across the world. This year, we teamed up with the UN
Human Rights office, who proposed a list of 20 women human rights defenders
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/List> that had no
Wikipedia articles (or in only a very few languages). These articles gave
bonus points in the challenge.
It took some extra time this year to finalize the results from the WikiGap
Challenge <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge>, but now
we’re done! And I must confess that we are quite happy with the results.
General outcome
-
72 competitors with actual edits (90 signed up)
-
3,224 articles created or improved.
-
461 Wikidata objects improved
-
Edits made in 38 languages.
-
Editors have contributed 61,591,425 bytes, or roughly 61,5 megabytes.
Human Rights articles
-
There are 20 women in the list.
-
338 articles were created about these women during the challenge.
-
The articles have in total been created in 32 different languages.
-
The article about Bogaletch Gebre
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogaletch_Gebre> is available in the
highest amount of languages, 24 languages.
-
Anna Sharyhina has the largest total size among all languages, with
192,918 bytes (192kb).
-
The largest individual article is the article about Anna Sharyhina in
Ukrainian
<https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D1%96%D0%BD%D0…>
.
We can now also announce that the winner of the WikiGap Challenge this year
is Andriy Gritsenko – who also won last year! During the WikiGap Challenge
2020, Andriy wrote or improved 416 articles about women during the month.
You can read more on his motivation and engagement in a piece on our blog:
[link]
Andriy gets to visit the UN Human Rights office in Geneva when the world so
permits, as the first prize. Congrats, Andriy!
His entries, and the rest of the top 10, can be found here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/Results
We also wrote a piece on the Wikimedia Sverige blog about it, which can be
found here:
https://wikimedia.se/2020/04/24/vem-blev-vinnare-i-wikigap-challenge-2020/
Best,
*Eric Luth*
Projektledare engagemang och påverkan | Project Manager, Involvement and
Advocacy
Wikimedia Sverige
eric.luth(a)wikimedia.se
+46 (0) 765 55 50 95
Stöd fri kunskap, bli medlem i Wikimedia Sverige.
Läs mer på blimedlem.wikimedia.se
My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy regarding a
proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded research...
---
Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world. Each month
200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public
information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are loaded
by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA licensing
as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access scholarly
research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds of
millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper research.
Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader landscape
of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to verify
the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through citations
readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the books,
scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article.
A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in Wikipedia
found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely available on
the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of public
education and digital literacy.
Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus. By April
2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views.
Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000 articles and 1
billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been ranked as
one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on the entire
internet.
References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia. Indeed,
Wikipedia's medical content is supported by 757,855 references in English
and 1,596,528 in other languages, for a total of 2,354,383 across all
languages. In English 168,985 have a PMID while 261,850 do in other
languages. This means at least 430,835 references are journal articles.
What happens when those journal articles lie behind a paywall? The public
suffers from a dearth of good information to make decisions about their
lives as independent citizens and members of a global community.
As founder of The Wikipedia Library, I arranged partnerships with dozens of
leading scholarly journals, to give Wikipedia editors free access to their
reliable content and so they would be able to do effective and rigorous
research. This time-intensive process took 6 years to amass access to only
1/5th of the most highly regarded academic publications. Frankly, Wikipedia
editors--volunteers who selflessly give of their intelligence and passion
to educate--should not have to beg and borrow to access publicly-funded
research. Readers should not hit paywalls when they are seeking
citizen-supported knowledge.
I implore you to make the bold but entirely reasonable decision and ensure
that taxpayers have access to the vital scientific and scholarly studies
that they themselves fund. This is not only sensible, it is essential to
civic health, societal progress, and human flourishing.
Sincerely,
Jake Orlowitz
Founder of The Wikipedia Library
---
"Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code
Resulting From Federally Funded Research"
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for…
*Dear all/A chairdeThe Call for Papers or Participation in the 2020
virtual/remote Celtic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2020> closes on
Thursday 30 April at midnight. The event will centre around 9-10 July with
workshops, help desks and other events taking place throughout the week.We
are looking for your most imaginative ideas for how we can host a variety
of interesting, engaging, and enlightening talks, workshops, presentations,
and events. We are looking for those with Wikimedia experience to share to
use their new virtual hosting and facilitating skills with those in Ireland
and beyond to bring those new events to Celtic Knot 2020.*
*Is there a new event format you have been experimenting with for your
language or other community?*
*Have you found the best platform to run a workshop, helpdesk, or learning
environment?Has a virtual/remote format you’ve developed, and you want to
showcase it to others?Are you a Wikidata, Commons, Translation Tool, or
other wizard, and you want to help new editors get involved through Celtic
Knot?Have you been trying something so innovative that you would like to
share with the Wikimedia community?Then submit a proposal here
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference_2020#Submissions>
to bring that event to Celtic Knot 2020 to work with those engaged with
minority languages. The submission formats are guidance, please feel free
to propose something that will suit your submission for a workshop, virtual
round table, interactive event or helpdesk.We look forward to hearing from
you!From the organization team,Wikimedia UK (Daria Cybulska, Director of
Programmes)Wikimedia Community Ireland (Rebecca O’Neill, Project
Coordinator)*
--
PhD in Digital Media
Project Coordinator Wikimedia Community Ireland <http://wikimedia.ie>
She/Her
Hi everyone,
Yesterday, the 2030 Brand Movement Project presented the unified concept
that will guide the upcoming branding proposals. Thanks to the 224
attendees who watched the presentation live! Participants brought a great
stream of comments and questions (averaging 8 per minute!) that helped
clarify important points.
The unified concept, “interconnection”, was arrived at after many community
workshops, exercises, and conversations. “Interconnection” distills the 23
distinct concepts generated in workshops into a single word that links
together the insights and definitions from the participants, and at the
same time adds more meaning to the answer to the question who are we? This
concept will not be a public or visible part of branding, but rather a
guiding idea.
Take a look at the video explaining interconnection as a unified concept
[1].
You can watch the full presentation video, together with the lively
discussion that accompanied it [2]. Most of the questions were answered
during the presentation (including questions about the project scope, the
upcoming naming convention proposals, and the RfC), but there wasn't enough
time to answer them all. Questions are being compiled on the Brand Network
talk page on Meta [3].
The team will be hosting a follow-up office hour next week to answer the
rest of the questions. Participation details will be shared on the Brand
Network talk page. The session will be recorded and shared, and answers
will be covered on the project pages. If you have a different question
you’d like to ask, feel free to add it to the page or bring it to the
office hour.
PS: As soon as these videos are ready for Commons we will upload them
there, and we will notify about this on the Brand Network talk page as well.
Thanks,
Samir & the Brand Project team
[1]
https://brandingwikipedia.org/2020/04/16/our-unified-concept-interconnectio…
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS72O6Si94Q
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Brand_Network#Unified_concept:_Interco…
Samir Elsharbaty (he/him)
Community Brand and Marketing coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Thanks Tito, Pete and Shani...
There is a formal comment period open until May 6. The U.S. government is
accepting letters or briefs from any individual or organization.
I've shared my own in the hopes others will do something similar.
If it hasn't already, the Wikimedia Foundation's Research and Public Policy
teams should seriously consider a submission.
It would also be appropriate for Wikimedia affiliates with any U.S.
presence, such as Wiki Project Med, to submit their own letters.
Submission is simple and instructions are here:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for…
This is a unique opportunity to shift funding and scholarly communications
policy. We shouldn't waste it.
Jake Orlowitz
Founder of the Wikipedia Library
On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 2:54 PM <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Send Wikimedia-l mailing list submissions to
> wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
> wikimedia-l-owner(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Wikimedia-l digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy (Pete Forsyth)
> 2. Re: Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy (Shani Evenstein)
> 3. Re: Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy (Yaroslav Blanter)
> 4. Re: Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy (James Heilman)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 13:26:29 -0700
> From: Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAGWts0H0n3m7kNTzQ6oAQu2Yx_94rTnyxz2_FpDvRTd50e-Jkw(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Jake,
>
> How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this?
>
> -Pete
> --
> Pete Forsyth
> User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc.
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta <trulytito(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for sharing.
> > Regards.
> > User:Titodutta
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz <jorlowitz(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy
> regarding
> > a
> > > proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded
> research...
> > >
> > > ---
> > >
> > > Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world. Each
> > month
> > > 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public
> > > information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are
> loaded
> > > by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
> > >
> > > Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA
> licensing
> > > as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
> > > Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access
> scholarly
> > > research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds of
> > > millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper research.
> > >
> > > Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader
> > landscape
> > > of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to
> > verify
> > > the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through citations
> > > readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the books,
> > > scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article.
> > >
> > > A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in
> > Wikipedia
> > > found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
> > > publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely available
> > on
> > > the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of
> public
> > > education and digital literacy.
> > >
> > > Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus. By
> > April
> > > 2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views.
> > > Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000 articles and
> 1
> > > billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been ranked
> as
> > > one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on the
> > entire
> > > internet.
> > >
> > > References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia. Indeed,
> > > Wikipedia's medical content is supported by 757,855 references in
> English
> > > and 1,596,528 in other languages, for a total of 2,354,383 across all
> > > languages. In English 168,985 have a PMID while 261,850 do in other
> > > languages. This means at least 430,835 references are journal articles.
> > >
> > > What happens when those journal articles lie behind a paywall? The
> public
> > > suffers from a dearth of good information to make decisions about their
> > > lives as independent citizens and members of a global community.
> > >
> > > As founder of The Wikipedia Library, I arranged partnerships with
> dozens
> > of
> > > leading scholarly journals, to give Wikipedia editors free access to
> > their
> > > reliable content and so they would be able to do effective and rigorous
> > > research. This time-intensive process took 6 years to amass access to
> > only
> > > 1/5th of the most highly regarded academic publications. Frankly,
> > Wikipedia
> > > editors--volunteers who selflessly give of their intelligence and
> passion
> > > to educate--should not have to beg and borrow to access publicly-funded
> > > research. Readers should not hit paywalls when they are seeking
> > > citizen-supported knowledge.
> > >
> > > I implore you to make the bold but entirely reasonable decision and
> > ensure
> > > that taxpayers have access to the vital scientific and scholarly
> studies
> > > that they themselves fund. This is not only sensible, it is essential
> to
> > > civic health, societal progress, and human flourishing.
> > >
> > >
> > > Sincerely,
> > > Jake Orlowitz
> > > Founder of The Wikipedia Library
> > >
> > >
> > > ---
> > >
> > > "Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code
> > > Resulting From Federally Funded Research"
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for…
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 23:33:01 +0300
> From: Shani Evenstein <shani.even(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAEPMZQU4BXENOKT38hj619NQNCui6nd2PypGzphDSch0AbLhuA(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Jake, well written and nicely put.
> Is this online somewhere, where we can share it further?
>
> Best,
> Shani.
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------
> *Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
>
> * Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
> * EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler School
> of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
>
> * PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
> * Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow.
> * OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair
> <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495> on Technology,
> Internationalization
> and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
> <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495>.
>
> * Member of the Board of Trustees
> <https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>,
> Wikimedia
> Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>.
> * Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
> <http://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580428621>.
> * Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda <http://benyehuda.org>.
>
> +972-525640648
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:27 PM Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Jake,
> >
> > How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this?
> >
> > -Pete
> > --
> > Pete Forsyth
> > User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc.
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta <trulytito(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hello,
> > > Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for sharing.
> > > Regards.
> > > User:Titodutta
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz <jorlowitz(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy
> > regarding
> > > a
> > > > proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded
> > research...
> > > >
> > > > ---
> > > >
> > > > Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world. Each
> > > month
> > > > 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public
> > > > information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are
> > loaded
> > > > by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
> > > >
> > > > Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA
> > licensing
> > > > as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
> > > > Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access
> > scholarly
> > > > research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds of
> > > > millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper research.
> > > >
> > > > Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader
> > > landscape
> > > > of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to
> > > verify
> > > > the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through
> citations
> > > > readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the
> books,
> > > > scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article.
> > > >
> > > > A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in
> > > Wikipedia
> > > > found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
> > > > publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely
> available
> > > on
> > > > the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of
> > public
> > > > education and digital literacy.
> > > >
> > > > Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus. By
> > > April
> > > > 2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views.
> > > > Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000 articles
> and
> > 1
> > > > billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been ranked
> > as
> > > > one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on the
> > > entire
> > > > internet.
> > > >
> > > > References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia. Indeed,
> > > > Wikipedia's medical content is supported by 757,855 references in
> > English
> > > > and 1,596,528 in other languages, for a total of 2,354,383 across all
> > > > languages. In English 168,985 have a PMID while 261,850 do in other
> > > > languages. This means at least 430,835 references are journal
> articles.
> > > >
> > > > What happens when those journal articles lie behind a paywall? The
> > public
> > > > suffers from a dearth of good information to make decisions about
> their
> > > > lives as independent citizens and members of a global community.
> > > >
> > > > As founder of The Wikipedia Library, I arranged partnerships with
> > dozens
> > > of
> > > > leading scholarly journals, to give Wikipedia editors free access to
> > > their
> > > > reliable content and so they would be able to do effective and
> rigorous
> > > > research. This time-intensive process took 6 years to amass access to
> > > only
> > > > 1/5th of the most highly regarded academic publications. Frankly,
> > > Wikipedia
> > > > editors--volunteers who selflessly give of their intelligence and
> > passion
> > > > to educate--should not have to beg and borrow to access
> publicly-funded
> > > > research. Readers should not hit paywalls when they are seeking
> > > > citizen-supported knowledge.
> > > >
> > > > I implore you to make the bold but entirely reasonable decision and
> > > ensure
> > > > that taxpayers have access to the vital scientific and scholarly
> > studies
> > > > that they themselves fund. This is not only sensible, it is essential
> > to
> > > > civic health, societal progress, and human flourishing.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Sincerely,
> > > > Jake Orlowitz
> > > > Founder of The Wikipedia Library
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > ---
> > > >
> > > > "Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and Code
> > > > Resulting From Federally Funded Research"
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for…
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 22:50:57 +0200
> From: Yaroslav Blanter <ymbalt(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy
> Message-ID:
> <
> CAM-kgDMd3XBcR00Dfjs0FzjyxjqzohicJ_FdwgO+Dbb_43_F_w(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> As an actively publishing researcher, I just know that mandating open
> access publishing would mean that the author pays the (huge) publication
> fee rather than the library pays the subscription. In an ideal world, the
> universities would refund the fees, and will get subsidy from the
> governments, In our real world, the researchers will have to pay everything
> out of their own pocket, with some of them losing all possibilities to
> publish, for the lack of funds. I tried to raise this before, and the
> universal reply was that this is my problem, not the problem of the
> society. I do not expect anything else this time.
>
> Cheers
> Yaroslav
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 10:34 PM Shani Evenstein <shani.even(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Jake, well written and nicely put.
> > Is this online somewhere, where we can share it further?
> >
> > Best,
> > Shani.
> >
> >
> > -----------------------------------------------
> > *Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
> >
> > * Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
> > * EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler
> School
> > of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
> >
> > * PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
> > * Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow.
> > * OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair
> > <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495> on Technology,
> > Internationalization
> > and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
> > <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495>.
> >
> > * Member of the Board of Trustees
> > <https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>,
> > Wikimedia
> > Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>.
> > * Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
> > <http://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580428621>.
> > * Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda <http://benyehuda.org>.
> >
> > +972-525640648
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:27 PM Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Jake,
> > >
> > > How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this?
> > >
> > > -Pete
> > > --
> > > Pete Forsyth
> > > User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta <trulytito(a)gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > > Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for
> sharing.
> > > > Regards.
> > > > User:Titodutta
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz <jorlowitz(a)gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy
> > > regarding
> > > > a
> > > > > proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded
> > > research...
> > > > >
> > > > > ---
> > > > >
> > > > > Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world.
> Each
> > > > month
> > > > > 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public
> > > > > information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are
> > > loaded
> > > > > by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
> > > > >
> > > > > Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA
> > > licensing
> > > > > as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
> > > > > Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access
> > > scholarly
> > > > > research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds
> of
> > > > > millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper
> research.
> > > > >
> > > > > Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader
> > > > landscape
> > > > > of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to
> > > > verify
> > > > > the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through
> > citations
> > > > > readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the
> > books,
> > > > > scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article.
> > > > >
> > > > > A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in
> > > > Wikipedia
> > > > > found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
> > > > > publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely
> > available
> > > > on
> > > > > the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of
> > > public
> > > > > education and digital literacy.
> > > > >
> > > > > Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus.
> By
> > > > April
> > > > > 2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views.
> > > > > Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000 articles
> > and
> > > 1
> > > > > billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been
> ranked
> > > as
> > > > > one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on the
> > > > entire
> > > > > internet.
> > > > >
> > > > > References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia.
> Indeed,
> > > > > Wikipedia's medical content is supported by 757,855 references in
> > > English
> > > > > and 1,596,528 in other languages, for a total of 2,354,383 across
> all
> > > > > languages. In English 168,985 have a PMID while 261,850 do in other
> > > > > languages. This means at least 430,835 references are journal
> > articles.
> > > > >
> > > > > What happens when those journal articles lie behind a paywall? The
> > > public
> > > > > suffers from a dearth of good information to make decisions about
> > their
> > > > > lives as independent citizens and members of a global community.
> > > > >
> > > > > As founder of The Wikipedia Library, I arranged partnerships with
> > > dozens
> > > > of
> > > > > leading scholarly journals, to give Wikipedia editors free access
> to
> > > > their
> > > > > reliable content and so they would be able to do effective and
> > rigorous
> > > > > research. This time-intensive process took 6 years to amass access
> to
> > > > only
> > > > > 1/5th of the most highly regarded academic publications. Frankly,
> > > > Wikipedia
> > > > > editors--volunteers who selflessly give of their intelligence and
> > > passion
> > > > > to educate--should not have to beg and borrow to access
> > publicly-funded
> > > > > research. Readers should not hit paywalls when they are seeking
> > > > > citizen-supported knowledge.
> > > > >
> > > > > I implore you to make the bold but entirely reasonable decision and
> > > > ensure
> > > > > that taxpayers have access to the vital scientific and scholarly
> > > studies
> > > > > that they themselves fund. This is not only sensible, it is
> essential
> > > to
> > > > > civic health, societal progress, and human flourishing.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Sincerely,
> > > > > Jake Orlowitz
> > > > > Founder of The Wikipedia Library
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > ---
> > > > >
> > > > > "Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and
> Code
> > > > > Resulting From Federally Funded Research"
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for…
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > > Unsubscribe:
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org
> ?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > _______________________________________________
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2020 15:54:03 -0600
> From: James Heilman <jmh649(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy
> Message-ID:
> <CAF1en7UeExtKLH9skVK+cRU_RPCBbuSF4yYZX98=
> PYyDW_c-gQ(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> We within the Wikimedia movement have a open access journal without any
> publication fees. https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/WikiJournal_User_Group
> There
> are also other platinum open access publishers.
>
> James
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 2:52 PM Yaroslav Blanter <ymbalt(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > As an actively publishing researcher, I just know that mandating open
> > access publishing would mean that the author pays the (huge) publication
> > fee rather than the library pays the subscription. In an ideal world, the
> > universities would refund the fees, and will get subsidy from the
> > governments, In our real world, the researchers will have to pay
> everything
> > out of their own pocket, with some of them losing all possibilities to
> > publish, for the lack of funds. I tried to raise this before, and the
> > universal reply was that this is my problem, not the problem of the
> > society. I do not expect anything else this time.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Yaroslav
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 10:34 PM Shani Evenstein <shani.even(a)gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Jake, well written and nicely put.
> > > Is this online somewhere, where we can share it further?
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > Shani.
> > >
> > >
> > > -----------------------------------------------
> > > *Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
> > >
> > > * Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
> > > * EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler
> > School
> > > of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
> > >
> > > * PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
> > > * Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow.
> > > * OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair
> > > <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495> on Technology,
> > > Internationalization
> > > and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
> > > <https://education.tau.ac.il/node/3495>.
> > >
> > > * Member of the Board of Trustees
> > > <https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>,
> > > Wikimedia
> > > Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>.
> > > * Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
> > > <http://www.israelgives.org/amuta/580428621>.
> > > * Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda <http://benyehuda.org>.
> > >
> > > +972-525640648
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:27 PM Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth(a)gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Jake,
> > > >
> > > > How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this?
> > > >
> > > > -Pete
> > > > --
> > > > Pete Forsyth
> > > > User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc.
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta <trulytito(a)gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Hello,
> > > > > Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for
> > sharing.
> > > > > Regards.
> > > > > User:Titodutta
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz <jorlowitz(a)gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy
> > > > regarding
> > > > > a
> > > > > > proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded
> > > > research...
> > > > > >
> > > > > > ---
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world.
> > Each
> > > > > month
> > > > > > 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital
> public
> > > > > > information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages
> are
> > > > loaded
> > > > > > by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA
> > > > licensing
> > > > > > as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
> > > > > > Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access
> > > > scholarly
> > > > > > research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then
> hundreds
> > of
> > > > > > millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper
> > research.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader
> > > > > landscape
> > > > > > of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers
> to
> > > > > verify
> > > > > > the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through
> > > citations
> > > > > > readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the
> > > books,
> > > > > > scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an
> article.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in
> > > > > Wikipedia
> > > > > > found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
> > > > > > publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely
> > > available
> > > > > on
> > > > > > the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy
> of
> > > > public
> > > > > > education and digital literacy.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus.
> > By
> > > > > April
> > > > > > 2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views.
> > > > > > Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000
> articles
> > > and
> > > > 1
> > > > > > billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been
> > ranked
> > > > as
> > > > > > one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on
> the
> > > > > entire
> > > > > > internet.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia.
> > Indeed,
> > > > > > Wikipedia's medical content is supported by 757,855 references in
> > > > English
> > > > > > and 1,596,528 in other languages, for a total of 2,354,383 across
> > all
> > > > > > languages. In English 168,985 have a PMID while 261,850 do in
> other
> > > > > > languages. This means at least 430,835 references are journal
> > > articles.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > What happens when those journal articles lie behind a paywall?
> The
> > > > public
> > > > > > suffers from a dearth of good information to make decisions about
> > > their
> > > > > > lives as independent citizens and members of a global community.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > As founder of The Wikipedia Library, I arranged partnerships with
> > > > dozens
> > > > > of
> > > > > > leading scholarly journals, to give Wikipedia editors free access
> > to
> > > > > their
> > > > > > reliable content and so they would be able to do effective and
> > > rigorous
> > > > > > research. This time-intensive process took 6 years to amass
> access
> > to
> > > > > only
> > > > > > 1/5th of the most highly regarded academic publications. Frankly,
> > > > > Wikipedia
> > > > > > editors--volunteers who selflessly give of their intelligence and
> > > > passion
> > > > > > to educate--should not have to beg and borrow to access
> > > publicly-funded
> > > > > > research. Readers should not hit paywalls when they are seeking
> > > > > > citizen-supported knowledge.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I implore you to make the bold but entirely reasonable decision
> and
> > > > > ensure
> > > > > > that taxpayers have access to the vital scientific and scholarly
> > > > studies
> > > > > > that they themselves fund. This is not only sensible, it is
> > essential
> > > > to
> > > > > > civic health, societal progress, and human flourishing.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Sincerely,
> > > > > > Jake Orlowitz
> > > > > > Founder of The Wikipedia Library
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > ---
> > > > > >
> > > > > > "Public Access to Peer-Reviewed Scholarly Publications, Data and
> > Code
> > > > > > Resulting From Federally Funded Research"
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/02/19/2020-03189/request-for…
> > > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > > > Unsubscribe:
> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org
> > ?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > > Unsubscribe:
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org
> ?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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>
>
>
>
> --
> James Heilman
> MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Subject: Digest Footer
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of Wikimedia-l Digest, Vol 193, Issue 30
> ********************************************
>
I would like to share our experience earlier this week with the WikiSeder,
a secular celebration of wiki wisdom and free culture for the age of the
quarantini.
As we pass through our current plague, we came together from our lockdowns
to retell stories of liberation and crisis overcome through fellowship and
information-sharing, with some light-hearted discussion of strategy and
barnstar culture too.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiSeder
Hosted by Wikimedia NYC and friends on the Wikipedia Weekly Network, which
was recently revived as a livestream channel to help bring together our
community in the current crisis.
You can view the entirety on YouTube and other platforms, coming soon to
Commons!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCvt2DowhM0
Thanks,
Richard
(User:Pharos)
As some of you know, I have been working on the idea of a multilingual
Wikipedia for a few years now. Two other publications on this are here, I
have bothered you with mails about it here previously too:
https://research.google/pubs/pub48057/https://wikipedia20.pubpub.org/pub/vyf7ksah
I've also been giving talks about the topic in several places about this
idea, some of them have also been recorded:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzVA7YLwhTEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLiJ6E9sG6U&list=PLQVG_tuf3Q2fji-CwqEDRJpZu…
I gathered some awesome feedback in those few years (also from some members
of this list, thank you!), and I also implemented a few prototypes trying
out the idea, learning a lot from that.
All of this has helped to sharpen the idea and come up with a more concrete
proposal. In short, the proposal is that we do a two-step approach: first,
allow for capturing Wikipedia content in an abstract notation, and second,
allow for creating functions that translate this abstract notation into
natural language (For simplicity, I gave this two steps names, Abstract
Wikipedia for step 1, and Wikilambda for step 2. I realize that both names
are not perfect, but that is just one of the many things that we can figure
out together on the way).
I wrote up this proposal in a paper, which I uploaded to my Website almost
two weeks ago, and I also submitted it to Arxiv. And as soon as it was
published on Arxiv, I wanted to share it with you and see what you folks
think (I wanted to wait for it as Arxiv would allow the URLs to remains
table - my Website has gone down before and might so again).
https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.04733
The new proposal is much more concrete than the previous proposals (and
therefore there is much more to criticize). Also, obviously, nothing of
this is set in stone, and just like the names, I am very much looking
forward to hear suggestions for how to improve the whole thing, and I will
blatantly steal every good idea and proposal. I am not even sure what a
good venue for this discussion is, I guess, eventually it should be on
Meta?, but also about that I would like to hear proposals.
Abstract Wikipedia is a proposed extension to Wikidata that would capture
the content next to the Wikidata items. Think of it as a new namespace,
where we could create, maintain, and collaborate on the abstract content.
Similar to the Wikidata-bridge, there should be a way to allow
contributions from the Wikipedias to flow back without too much friction.
The individual Wikipedias - and I cannot stress this enough - have the
choice to use some or any or all or none of the content from Abstract
Wikipedia, but I most definitely do not expect the content of the current
Wikipedias to be replaced by this. In fact, I have no doubt that any decent
article in any language Wikipedia will remain superior to the outcome of
the proposed new architecture by far. This is a proposal for the places
where the current system left us with gaps, not a proposal to turn the
parts that are already brilliant today dull and terrible tomorrow.
Wikilambda is a proposed new Wikimedia project that allows us to share in a
new form of knowledge assets, functions. You can think of it as similar to
Modules or Templates, but a bit extended, with places for tests, different
languages, evaluation, and also for all kind of functions, not only those
that are immediately useful for one of the Wikimedia projects, and most
importantly, shared among the projects. So one of the first goals would be
to increasingly allow fo a place to have global templates, another idea
that has been discussed and asked for for a very long time. Wikilambda,
just as Wikidata, is expected to start as a project supporting the
immediate needs of the sister projects, and over time to grow to a project
that stands on its own merits as well.
We don't really have an effective process for starting new projects, so I
am trying to follow a similar path that we took for Wikidata back then. And
back then it all started with Markus Krötzsch, me and others talking about
the idea to anyone who would listen until everyone was bored of hearing it,
trying out prototypes, and then talking about it even more, and improving
all of it constantly based on your feedback. And then making increasingly
concrete proposals until we managed to show some kind of consensus from the
communities, you, and the Foundation to actually do it. And then, well, do
it.
So, I've done some of the talking, with researchers, with the public, with
some of you, and also with folks at the Foundation, to figure out what next
steps could be, and how this can be made to work. Here's a more concrete
proposal. Now I am here to see whether we can find consensus and be bold. I
want to hear from you. I want to hear what you think what the right place
is to discuss this (here, this list? Another mailing list? Meta? Wikidata?
Some Telegram or Facebook group? (OK, I was joking about the latter)).
Which parts of the proposal are good and which need improvement? Where is
more detail or clarification needed to allow for a meaningful discussion?
Just as with Wikipedia and Wikidata and our other projects, this is a crazy
idea at first. Maybe even more crazy than our other projects. And the only
way there is a chance of us being successful is, if, eventually, thousands
of us work together on it. The only way this worked in the past is by being
open, start out collaboratively, discuss the path forward, and work towards
creating the project together.
Stay safe,
Denny
_by_Sir_Hubert_von_Herkomer.jpg){kind=link}
_(7109809349).jpg){kind=link}
