Dear Wikimedians,
We have now published the digest of Wikimedia Clinic #002[1]. If you missed
previous announcements about the Wikimedia Clinic idea, please see its page
on Meta[2].
As announced, it contains a compact summary of the topics discussed,
augmented by links and some follow-up information that was not available
during the call. I invite you to skim the topic list and see if there's
something of interest for you.
Upcoming Wikimedia Clinic calls are:
Call #004 - Sunday(!), June 28th, 17:30 UTC [3]
Call #005 - Wednesday, July 1st, 17:30 UTC [4]
Also, we are experimenting with a Wikimedia Clinic in Spanish! It is still
being scheduled, and I will keep you posted as soon as the date and time
are known. That call will be held primarily in Spanish (everyone is
welcome, of course), and will welcome discussions in Spanish.
Cheers,
Asaf
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics/002
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics
[3] https://meet.google.com/wcu-arcq-jxg
[4] https://meet.google.com/eqo-qokn-mwj
Asaf Bartov (he/him/his)
Senior Program Officer, Emerging Wikimedia Communities
Wikimedia Foundation <https://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
Hello Everyone,
There are some new updates and opportunities to engage with the Brand
project. Thank you to Lodewijk for bringing some attention to a few of
these opportunities. We were actively drafting this update for this group
when your email went out.
As Zack indicated in September,[1] we have been regularly discussing with
the members of the brand network (which people can still join )[2] ideas
around an evolved brand system with "Wikipedia" as a center point. To
assist in this evolution of the movement brand, we chose to partner with
Snøhetta,[3] an internationally renowned design firm known for working on
complex and multi-stakeholder projects like the modern Library of
Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) and the 9/11 Memorial in New York
City. Snøhetta has been tasked with figuring out precisely what this
improved brand system will look like. They will release a proposed naming
convention for movement-wide feedback in April, and a proposed design for
movement-wide feedback in May. [4] The result of this process will be a new
branding system that will be opt-in for affiliates.
In order to have enough knowledge and context to arrive at these proposals,
Snøhetta is reviewing feedback from the many points at which it has already
been given, and has created a process with built-in community involvement. The
process thus far has included workshops in Norway, India and online with 97
volunteers from the brand network (movement affiliates, volunteers,
foundation staff, and board members) reflecting 41 nations. At the
workshops, community participants were asked to break into small groups to
answer the question "Who are we?". Through these workshops, groups
developed rich concepts* that they think best represent who we are as a
movement.
Now, we would like to invite you to review the 23 concepts that came out of
the community workshops by “liking” and providing feedback on the one(s)
you think best represent the Wikimedia movement. You can click on any
concept to see an expanded explanation and photos of the actual concepts
built or selected by workshop participants.
Approximate time to complete this exercise is around 10-15 min.
https://brandingwikipedia.org/concepts/
Feel free to leave feedback directly on Snøhetta’s website, on the project
talk page on Meta [5], or on the Brand Network [2], which will also be
available on Meta starting next month.
Snøhetta will use the feedback from the concepts to develop one single
concept to act as a tool that will help guide the proposals around naming
(expected for April) and around design (expected around May). They are
scheduled to begin reviewing feedback on Tuesday, 17 March, but can
continue taking feedback for a few more days if there is interest.
We also invite you to share what free knowledge means to you in Snøhetta's
open exercise. Please take a moment and share your thoughts in any of the
channels mentioned.
https://brandingwikipedia.org/2020/02/17/what-does-free-knowledge-mean-to-y…
Finally, we want to acknowledge that we have feedback, from various points
in this process so far, from several communities and in several areas of
the wikis, including Meta. We understand that some people believe that we
don’t need this project. Our shared vision is for every single human being
to freely share in the sum of all knowledge -- and that means billions of
people. There are many people and cultures we still need to reach and
include. We will need a strong well known brand to achieve the goals the
movement has set for itself and we have a lot of work to do to get us there.
Want to learn more? Check out the project hub at brandingwikipedia.org and
the project page on Meta [5]. Participate in discussions on the project
talk page, or by joining the Brand Network [2]. Also feel free to drop us a
note at brandproject(a)wikimedia.org if you have questions.
Thanks!
Essie Zar
(from the movement brand identity project team)
[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2019-September/093382.html
[2] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediabrandnetwork/
[3] https://snohetta.com/
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_moveme…
[5]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_moveme…
* What is a concept?
A tool making the complex more understandable.
Concepts make complex subjects more understandable. They manage to
consolidate vast amounts of facts, data and details into a singular
definition in its context. By creating concepts we allow ourselves to
acknowledge the complexity yet dare to step away from differences and look
for similarities that binds it all together.
--
*Essie Zar* (she/her)
Brand Manager
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi all,
The Wikipedia Library team at the Wikimedia Foundation is pleased to
announce new technical improvements to the Library Card platform and the
addition of 6 new publisher collections. If you’re an active editor who
would find free access to paywalled reliable sources useful for your
contributions, log in now to see what you can access:
https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/
More than half of the publishers available through the library can now be
accessed directly through the Library Card platform, rather than requiring
an individual account to be set up and maintained for each. Additionally,
the Library Bundle provides immediate access to 60% of our content with no
application required!
We’re also excited to announce that 6 new publishers have joined the
program, including ProQuest, Springer Nature, and the Central and Eastern
European Online Library.
You can read more about these changes in the blog post we just published:
https://space.wmflabs.org/2020/06/24/simplifying-your-research-needs-the-wi…
We hope you find these resources useful, and would love to hear your
feedback at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Library_Card_platform/Authentication-b…
Best,
Sam
--
Sam Walton
Product Manager, The Wikipedia Library
Wikimedia Foundation
swalton(a)wikimedia.org
Hi everyone,
This is an invitation to join the monthly education office hours! The o
ffice hours are a dedicated time and an online space to have conversations
and discussions related to Wikimedia and education activities, listen and
learn from each other's projects and activities. Join us for the month of
June on 25th June 2020 at 12:00 PM UTC.
You can find details to join the meeting here:
https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Hours/June_25_20…
Looking forward to seeing you all then, Please let me know if you have any
questions.
Do you want to reach out to the education team for a 1:1 consultation?
Request for a slot for Education Office Space (
ttps://outreach.wikimedia. org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Space
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Space> ) by
filling this google form ( http://bit.ly/EduOfficeSpace )
Dhanyabaad!
--
*Sailesh Patnaik*
Program Coordinator, Education
Dear Wikimedians,
On June 6-8, 2020 Wikimedia Armenia’s snap Assembly was held online, the
agenda of which was the adoption of the new charter, the election of the
Board members, and the Supervisory Committee. All this was done within the
framework of the organization's reforms.
The majority of eighty-eight members of Wikimedia Armenia voted for all
suggested issues by open and transparent vote. The new charter was
approved, which was developed within 5 months by the members of the
organization and lawyers and was based on the conclusion of the governance
audit conducted in Wikimedia Armenia, our research and discussions. Narek
Avetisyan and Davit Poghosyan were elected as members of the Board, and
Davit Arevyan and Norayr Baghdasaryan were elected as members of the
Supervisory Committee. All the selected candidates have a great
contribution to the development of various Wiki projects and Wikimedia
Armenia.
As a result, the Board of Wikimedia Armenia consists of four members:
Vahagn Piliposyan (the Chair of the Board), Tigran Azizbekyan (Secretary of
the Board), Narek Avetisyan and David Poghosyan. The Supervisory Committee
consists of three members: Vardan Mnatsakanyan (the Chair of the
Committee), Norayr Baghdasaryan (the Secretary of the Committee), and David
Arevyan. Currently, the President of Wikimedia Armenia is Susanna Mkrtchyan
who was elected during the previous Assembly.
“Wikimedia Armenia” NGO’s Chair of the Board
Vahagn Piliposyan
Dear fellow Wikimedians,
On Sunday, Wikimedia Deutschland held its 25th and first-ever virtual
general assembly with over 250 members attending.
Our members elected a new Supervisory Board, which consists of 7 elected
members:
* Lukas Mezger (chair, re-elected)
* Daniel Reisener (treasurer, re-elected)
* Sabria David (re-elected)
* Kilian Kluge (re-elected)
* Christina Dinar
* Valerie Mocker
* Alice Wiegand
Christina Dinar and Valerie Mocker are new to the board, so please join me
in welcoming them as well as in welcoming back Alice Wiegand. We are
particularly pleased that our measures to increase gender diversity have
been successful and that our elected board now consists of four women and
three men.
I would like to wholeheartedly thank our departing elected board members
Harald Krichel, Peter Dewald, and Marcus Cyron, and our departing appointed
members Helene Hahn and Mirjam Stegherr for the great work and their
commitment to Wikimedia Deutschland over the past years.
Sabine Zepp and Lenia Zinßer were elected as auditors. I would like to
express my gratitude to our departing auditors Daniel Baur, who has been
serving the association over so many years, and Lena Stammler.
The general assembly also changed our bylaws to allow for virtual board
meetings and remote board votes. Additionally, our members added a new rule
concerning appointed officers to ensure that at least one third of the
board is of non-male or non-female gender. The general assembly also
approved changes to our strategy and formally approved of the board’s and
the executive director’s actions for 2019.
The new board will reconvene shortly to discuss Movement Strategy matters,
among others, and I am very much looking forward to working together with
the new team.
Kind regards,
Lukas
Dear all,
As Acting Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees since March
[1] I take full responsibility for this situation. I am truly sorry for all
the frustration this whole situation has caused to volunteers, who have
engaged in discussions expressing their concerns, and to the staff, who
have been working and not really sure if that is really the direction the
Board is prepared to seriously consider, or if it is just an exercise on
our part. As Chair of the Board, I recognize the Board owes clear
information to the communities and guidance to the staff.
In 2017, the Board approved the 2030 Movement Strategic Direction,
recognizing the strategic importance of growing the reach of the Wikimedia
projects to new languages, communities, and geographies, as part of our
global mission. In June 2018, the Board approved a Foundation Annual Plan
that included research into the Wikimedia and Wikipedia brands to
understand how they could be tools in helping us reach these goals.
In November 2018 [2], the staff presented research to the Board about the
Wikipedia and Wikimedia brands. I personally, even though a relatively long
term Wikipedian (and a bit less long term Wikimedian), was basically
convinced by the findings that a rebranding is needed and beneficial for
our mission and global vision, and furthermore that it should be based on
the Wikipedia brand. The information presented there also convinced the
Board that the team should continue their work, but as you can see from the
minutes the Board believed that communication is crucial, but already a
possibility for a new name for the Wikimedia Foundation was seriously
considered [3].
And I am going to be frank here - intuitively taking the name of something
like “Wikipedia Foundation” makes a lot of sense, whether or not it makes
sense upon deeper consideration. But, of course, no one was planning to
just rename the organisation, more conversations were needed. It was
convincing enough for us (the Board) to approve the budget for this
initiative.
The Board has received regular updates about the Brand work along the way,
including approving continued work in the 2019 and 2020 annual plans.
However, the Board has not yet had a very serious, frank conversation about
what the Board will do when the work is finished, including how to balance
feedback from many communities, and the importance of reaching new
communities. The Board also has not yet received a final report, as the
exploratory project was and still is ongoing.
The process itself, even though the brand project team has designed its
process to be inclusive and transparent, has created bitterness in some
volunteers, some of whom feel they were led on or even actively
manipulated. I am sure there was no intent to do that. But, for instance,
people do point to a reported KPI (key performance indicator) in the
previous survey as an alleged attempt at deceiving either the community or
the Board. The Board did not make its decision to support the brand project
based on that number, nor does the clarification of that number or removal
of that KPI influence the Board’s support for the project. Good-faith
mistakes should not undermine trust in our colleagues’ intentions or the
purpose of an entire process. But this “elephant in the room” feeling is
hurting all of us - both volunteers and staff, so I acknowledge that this
created a lot of bitterness.
I want us to take a step back and try to have an honest and constructive
conversation on what our future work will be together. I know there is
mistrust towards the Wikimedia Foundation acting in good faith, I also know
the staff members feel intimidated when talking with the communities, so it
is really difficult to have a frank dialog. We are all in this vicious
circle - we do not trust each other, so we do not talk honestly; we do not
talk honestly so we cannot build that trust. I truly want that to change.
So I am going to be as direct as possible about the Board’s perspective.
The executive statement says, “A rebrand will happen. This has already been
decided by the Board” [4]. What does it mean? The brand project was
approved by the Board in 2018. Rebrand may include: names, logos,
“taglines,” colours, typography, or any combination of the above. An
outcome of the project will be a set of recommended new branding
practices.The Board has not approved any specific recommendations yet.
However, it is important to be clear: the Board absolutely can change the
name of the Wikimedia Foundation, even to the “Wikipedia Foundation,” if it
decides.
Has the Board made the decision to change the name of Wikimedia Foundation
yet? No, the Board has not. In 2018, the Board agreed that the name of the
Wikimedia Foundation does not help us with our strategic goals. From
2018-2020, the Board has been reviewing research and participating in the
brand process with the goal of finding a better name. The Board has not yet
made a decision to change the name to another name, as the Board has not
yet had a final report on the results of the Brand Project, or the
opportunity to discuss the findings and tradeoffs, and make a decision for
what the Board will do. The Board conversation about this is planned to
happen during the August meeting.
Did the Board want to possibly have the rebranding (if approved) to take
place before Wikipedia’s 20th birthday in January 2021? Yes, in a way. The
resolution [5] talks about the work being done by then, but it is indeed
unclear whether the changing of the brand was included or just the
completion of the research by the Foundation. The timeline can still change
if the Board decides it.
Should the Board be clearer in what the Board is directing the Wikimedia
Foundation to do? Yes, I believe so. Some of this unclarity and
misalignment is the cause of all this unfortunate frustration.
What are the possible outcomes for the August Board meeting on branding?
The Board can 1) stop the project, 2) pause the work being done or 3)
continue with it.
Does the Board still want you to take the survey [6] then? Yes. The
currently open survey [6] is intended to find the best possible outcome if
the Foundation's (!) branding were centered around Wikipedia, and your
voice is needed. It is an opportunity to provide constructive feedback on
those alternatives. If you are engaging in discussions around it, please be
kind to each other.
Do all organisations in our movement have to have a uniform name? Per the
Board’s resolution from 2013
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-11#Movement_roles> [7]
- yes, but it was a decision made at that time when the Board believed
there was a chance to increase visibility and recognition of Wikimedia as a
brand. It is 2020 now, and it may be the right time to loosen up on this
approach and allow all organisations in the movement to use different names
[8], best suited for their local context. Or keep uniform names, but allow
using any of our brands for fundraising purposes. Or something else. The
Board does have a sense that there is a need to be much more
outward-looking and optimize our key assets, including our brands, for the
challenges to come.
All across the Movement we have a lot to do to accomplish our 2030 goals
and build out our movement strategy. And that work can be done as the
Wikimedia Movement, Wikimedia communities, and the Foundation even with a
new name, depending on our needs.
Stay safe,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Acting Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
[1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2020-02#Board_Business
[2]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Wikimedia_brand_strategy_proposal…
[3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2018-11-9,10,11#Branding
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_moveme…
[5]
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Brand_Project_Support_(May…
[6] 2030 Movement Brand Project: Naming Convention Proposals Survey:
https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9G2dN7P0T7gPqpD
[7] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-11#Movement_roles
[8]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_movement_affiliates/Naming_guidel…
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*
Dear Wikimedians,
We have ended the emergency moderation of the mailing list
We did our best to process the moderation queue at least several times a
day, but are happy to return the list to regular operation.
Asaf
in behalf of the list admins
HI,
My native language is French, automatic translation into English.
This message follows the numerous detection of false 404 links by the Internet Archive robot because it is blacklisted on a lot of servers. Small details concerning the archiving service of Wikiwix ( https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:De_kroeg#Internet_Archive_Bot )
It is based solely on this Javascript to be implemented since 2008 in French Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadget-ArchiveLinks.js
The advantage of this solution makes it possible to add other archiving sources, and does not modify the content of Wikipedia articles.
New links are detected by 3 different means:
• Annual recovery: https://dumps.wikimedia.org/backup-index.html,
• Recovery on IRC and on the WEB of Recents Changes.
And we also recommend clicking on the archive link as soon as the source is added by a contributor, this immediately generates storage of the link and allows you to test the rendering of the archived page.
In addition to fighting 404 errors, this solution also offers the advantage of protecting against changes in content that may appear in the pages to be archived.
Wikiwix strictly respects copyright, archiving is only done with the author's approval using the noarchive tag.
Since 2015, I have been alerting about the deployment of the IA robot: 2015: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist_Survey_2015/Bots_and_gad…: the bot solution with modification of the template cache is currently exclusive to WayBackMachine, 2017: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussion_user:Pmartin#I_left_you_a_message! : attempted collaboration abort by the bot trainer and bot stopped following numerous false detections on page 404.
The role of IABOT is to detect the links present in Wikipedia which are in errors 404, to find an archive in priority on the WayBack Machine, and to modify the articles to replace the dead link there.
This process is not good because IABOT only allows one archive url to be stored on all the languages, which greatly favors the Wayback Machine, to the detriment of the different versions of the page. While the template should link to a page that would list all of the possible archives for a 404 page.
A week has been planned for the end of July 2020 to resolve the few stabilization problems that Wikiwix currently encounters, linked to the new solution which consumes only 30 euros of electricity per month, we can also support this week for a deployment of the solution on the NL part of Wikipedia.
Could someone stop this bots, otherwise the false detection of links will become contagious for all projects?
Pascal Martin
Dear Wikimedians,
A quick reminder that we will be having another Wikimedia Clinic open call
today, in about three hours, at 08:00 UTC.
The Wikimedia Clinics calls are open video calls (using Google Meet) where
any active Wikimedian is welcome to attend and ask questions or ask for
advice about whatever Wikimedia-related goal or problem they're working
on.You can also just share what you're working on and invite feedback, even
if you don't have a specific question. Or people can just connect to hang
out, or to offer their own experience to the people asking questions.
It's relaxed and informal. The calls are a Friendly space
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Friendly_space_policy>. Attendees are
expected to:
- Listen with patience and respect.
- Share your experience, but remember others' contexts are very diverse,
and may not match yours.
- Be of service.
The Google Meet link is https://meet.google.com/hmb-hfjk-jtk
NOTE: I know the Branding project is still a topic of interest and debate
for many of you. While you are welcome to bring it up during a clinic and
share thoughts with each other, I'm afraid this upcoming call won't have
new information from WMF's side beyond the last communication from the
Board, and those interested in further engagement on the topic would be
able to get more answers on the same general channels on Meta and the
Wikimedia-l mailing list they have already been using. Again, the topic is
not taboo on the Wikimedia Clinic, but I do want to set expectations for
people who may only attend hoping to hear new information about it.
Cheers,
A.
Asaf Bartov (he/him/his)
Senior Program Officer, Emerging Wikimedia Communities
Wikimedia Foundation <https://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