OTRS is an important part of our activity, and is akey interface
between our volunteers and key partner institutions, as well as (often
notable) individuals.
By its very nature, much of what OTRS agents do cannot be as
transparent as the rest of our activities, being rightly held as
confidential.
For that reason it is essential that what can be, is as transparent as possible.
Back in February, an issue arose [1] where it became known that an
OTRS agent was rejecting images supplied by individuals at the request
of Wikidata volunteers, to illustrate Wikidata items, apparently
because that individual misunderstood and was mis-applying Commons
policy.
During the discussion of that case, on the OTRS noticeboard on
Commons, I raised ten questions [2]:
1. what are OTRS' rules and policies?
2. where are those rules and policies documented, and why are they not public?
3. where are those rules and policies discussed and decided?
4. what is the process for getting those rules and policies changed
(or reworded for clarity)?
5. how is OTRS overseen, and who by?
6. what is the approval process for an individual to become an OTRS agent?
7. what is the process for the community to remove an individual's
OTRS permissions, if they fail to uphold or abide by policy?
8. if an individual has been acting contrary to policy, what is the
process for reviewing and if necessary overturning their past actions
(including contacting and apologising to their correspondents)?
9. which individuals can make someone an OTRS agent, or remove their
permissions?
10. how are the individuals in #9 appointed and overseen?
Some discussion ensued, and an email was reportedly posted to the
closed OTRS mailing list asking for input, but after several months
(indeed, nigh on half a year), THE QUESTIONS HAVE NOT YET BEEN
ANSWERED [*] (the discussion has even had to be restored from the
page's archives).
How the OTRS system operates remains opaque to most Wikimedians.
How can we get answers to these vital questions?
[Please preferably reply in the OTRS noticeboard thread if possible.
Where discussion does take place on this mailing list, please add key
points to the noticeboard thread]
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS/Noticeboard#OTRS_&_Wikidata
[2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS/Noticeboard#questions
[*] A single link was provided, to
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/OTRS - which is a
set of 214 pages
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
Hey all,
Just a heads up. Through the summer the WMF fundraising team will be
running system and content tests in preparation for the end of year
fundraiser on the English Wikipedia.
The first test is scheduled for 1500 UTC Wednesday 8 July.
* If you need to report a bug or technical issue, please create a
phabricator ticket:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/maniphest/task/edit/form/1/?template=1188…
.
* If you see a donor on a talk page, OTRS or social media having
difficulties in donating or reporting any issues, please refer them to
''donate at wikimedia.org''.
* Here is also the ever present fundraising IRC channel to raise urgent
technical issues: #wikimedia-fundraising
http://webchat.freenode.net?channels=%23wikimedia-fundraising&uio=d4
If you have specific ideas to share, please feel invited to add them to our
fundraising ideas page
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2020-21_Fundraising_ideas
Thank you in advance for your help, support and feedback.
--
Seddon
*Community and Audience Engagement Associate*
*Advancement (Fundraising), Wikimedia Foundation*
Front page:
> This wiki was unsuccessful in achieving its original goals (see https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-Wikipedia-and-Citizend…). A dedicated few writers have continued working in the wiki, improving articles that they believe are useful, and which for various reasons probably could not be written in Wikipedia. On or about Sept. 30, 2020, we plan to end Citizendium as a public "open" project, yet (possibly) keep the wiki running and editable by a combination of donations and subscriptions. How this might occur is still being examined.
Original announcement
https://en.citizendium.org/wiki?title=Welcome_to_Citizendium&diff=100864611…
basically - nobody's editing anything any more, and the money's running out.
- d.
Dear all,
There is currently a community open letter on renaming [[m:COLOR]] that
requests a pause to renaming activities being pursued by the Wikimedia
Foundation 2030 Brand Project. The open letter focuses on concerns about
the process and not about specific naming choices.
Individual editors and affiliates (via their designated representative) can
sign with their logged-in account to show support.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_open_letter_on_renaming
Coming up: There is currently a branding survey that runs until July 7
(link below). There is concern that the consultation process and options on
the survey do not adequately reflect community sentiment, given the effect
name changes for the foundation and movement would have. This was a major
motivation for the open letter.
Thanks go out to more than 70 participants from Wikimedia affiliates who
took part in our recent meetings to discuss the brand project issue. The
result was more than a dozen editors who help create the open letter.
With 50 major chapters and affiliates and 600+ individuals signing the
statement, we are seeing great interest in this issue.
Regards,
-Andrew (User:Fuzheado)
LINKS:
Community Open Letter on Renaming (COLOR) on meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_open_letter_on_renaming
2030 Brand Project main page:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_moveme…
Brand survey for individuals:
https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9G2dN7P0T7gPqpD
(If there are options you would like to highlight outside of the three
provided, it is possible to write in your own options and views at the end
of the survey)
Brand survey for affiliates:
A link should have been sent to the affiliate liaisons or affiliate
contacts. If you have not received any correspondence, please contact Essie
Zar (ezar -at- wikimedia.org) of WMF.
English Wikipedia Signpost article about the issue and a Q&A interview with
the document writers and collaborators:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2020-06-28/Inter…
Hi everyone,
I am happy to share that we have published Wikimedia Deutschland's
Annual Report 2019 in English.[1] It does not only look pretty nice,
it also features our work in the fields of technology, volunteers,
movement, and general frameworks as well as our finances. Take a look!
Best wishes,
Nicole
[1] https://www.wikimedia.de/2019/en/homepage/
--
Nicole Ebber
Director International Relations
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Phone: +49 30 219 158 26-0
https://wikimedia.de
Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia,
Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German):
https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/
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.
Hello all,
A few important updates on the Universal Code of Conduct project.[1] Given
some of the concerns raised recently about the pace and timing of important
discussions and decisions, we feel it’s important to recognize the strain
that current events have placed on all of us. After hearing concerns from
community members that the UCoC timeline is too condensed, we have decided
with Board support to extend the drafting period and final review of the
draft UCoC until the end of September. We appreciate the honest feedback on
your needs, and want to make sure this process allows as many people as
possible to contribute their thoughts, concerns, and expertise. An updated
timeline for the project is available on Meta. [2]
Today, we are beginning the process of forming a Drafting Committee for the
Universal Code of Conduct. If you are interested, please read the
following important information for candidates:
-
Who will be on the committee? - five or six volunteers, at least one
representative from a Movement affiliate, and four or five Foundation staff
members (depending on how many candidates apply)
-
When will the committee be active? - July 22 - September 30
-
What will they do? Read background material and draft a Universal Code
of Conduct that will provide a minimum baseline guiding the behaviour of
every contributor to the Wikimedia movement.
-
How will they work? The committee will meet online and work on shared
documents, starting from the Contributor’s Covenant [3] as a starting
text. A facilitation team will help them to organize the work, and experts
in different areas will be available to provide support.
-
How much time should I plan to spend per week? There will be online
meetings (2-4 hours per week), as well as background reading in the early
phase resulting in up to 6 hours each week.
-
What skills should I bring to the process? Ideally you would have
experience in policy drafting, experience in cooperating online and in
writing in English. We would also love our candidates to have empathy; for
example, experience mentoring, resolving difficult disputes, and
communicating with compassion are valuable. More information is available
on the Meta page. [4]
-
How will the committee members be selected? The Trust and Safety Team
[5] together with the Legal Team [6] of the Wikimedia Foundation will vet
all candidates. Then, the Vice president of Community Resilience and
Sustainability, Maggie Dennis [7], will choose committee members based on
the level of skills and experience of candidates in combination with
diversity factors. Ideally we will be able to form a competent committee
that reflects the diversity of the movement not only in the usual
demographic areas like language, geographic location, gender, age, but
also in wiki specific areas like the project size of their home wiki and
roles in the Wikimedia movement.
If you are interested in applying, please let us know before July 15 by
signing up on the Meta page [8] or mail to Christel Steigenberger. [9]
Please include information about the roles you hold or have held in
Wikimedia or similar organizations, your username, your userpage of your
home wiki and relevant links demonstrating your experience. Feel free to
add any additional information that will help us make an informed choice.
Please forward this message to any volunteers you think might be
interested, and encourage them to apply and help us spread the word.
Thank you,
Patrick
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct#Timeline
[3]
https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct/code_of_co…
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committee
[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trust_and_Safety
[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal
[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mdennis_(WMF)
[8]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe…
[9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:EmailUser/CSteigenberger_(WMF)
--
Patrick Earley
Policy Manager, Trust and Safety
Wikimedia Foundation
pearley(a)wikimedia.org
Dear Wikimedians,
The digest from Wikimedia Clinic[0] #004 has been published[1]. For your
convenience, here is a list of the topic titles discussed:
* Community friction in outreach on Turkish Wikipedia
* Announcement about Celtic Knot 2020 Conference (Virtual)
* Consultations between the WMF and the meta Community
* Translation of the {{Cite Q|...}} from English to Spanish?
* International conflict observatory
* Can you recall a great talk or presentation outside Wikimedia that really
inspired your Wikimedia work?
If any of this interests you, I encourage you to read the digest[1].
And here's a reminder that you are invited to attend Clinic #005, about to
take place at 17:30 UTC (in under three hours as of this posting), at the
Google Meet link below[2].
Also, we have just scheduled an experiment-within-an-experiment, a
Wikimedia Clinic *en espanol*, for July 16th at 18:00 UTC. That call will
take place mostly in Spanish. Everyone is welcome. See the main meta
page[0] for the link.
Cheers,
A.
[0] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics/004
[2] 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