March 2021 - Wikimedia-l - lists.wikimedia.org

The Wikimedia Enterprise API project
by Liam Wyatt 11 Feb '23

11 Feb '23

Dear all, Over the last few months, a small team at the Wikimedia Foundation has been working on a project that has been discussed by many people in our movement for many years: building ‘enterprise grade’ services for the high-volume commercial reusers of Wikimedia content. I am pleased to say that in a remarkably short amount of time (considering the complexity of the issues: technical, strategic, legal, and financial) we now have something worthy of showing to the community, and we are asking for your feedback. Allow me to introduce you to the Wikimedia Enterprise API project – formerly codenamed “okapi”. While the general idea for Wikimedia Enterprise predates the current movement strategy process, its recommendations identify an enterprise API as one possible solution to both “Increase the sustainability of our movement” and “Improve User Experience.”[0] That is, to simultaneously create a new revenue stream to protect Wikimedia’s sustainability, and improve the quality and quantity of Wikimedia content available to our many readers who do not visit our websites directly (including more consistent attribution). Moreover, it does so in a way that is true to our movement’s culture: with open source software, financial transparency, non-exclusive contracts or content, no restrictions on existing services, and free access for Wikimedia volunteers who need it. The team believes we are on target to achieve those goals and so we have written a lot of documentation to get your feedback about our progress and where it could be further improved before the actual product is ‘launched’ in the next few months. We have been helped in this process over the last several months by approximately 100 individual volunteers (from many corners of the wikiverse) and representatives of affiliate organisations who have reviewed our plans and provided invaluable direction, pointing out weaknesses and opportunities, or areas lacking clarity and documentation in our drafts. Thank you to everyone who has shared your time and expertise to help prepare this new initiative. A essay describing the “why?” and the “how?” of this project is now on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Essay Also now published on Meta are an extensive FAQ, operating principles, and technical documentation on MediaWiki.org. You can read these at [1] [2] and [3] respectively. Much of this documentation is already available in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. The Wikimedia Enterprise team is particularly interested in your feedback on how we have designed the checks and balances to this project - to ensure it is as successful as possible at achieving those two goals described above while staying true to the movement’s values and culture. For example: Is everything covered appropriately in the “Principles” list? Is the technical documentation on MediaWiki.org clear? Are the explanations in the “FAQ” about free-access for community, or project’s legal structure, or the financial transparency (etc.) sufficiently detailed? Meet the team and Ask Us Anything: The central place to provide written feedback about the project in general is on the talkpage of the documentation on Meta at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise On this Friday (March 19) we will be hosting two “Office hours” conversations where anyone can come and give feedback or ask questions: - 13:00 UTC via Zoom at https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95580273732 - 22:00 UTC via Zoom at https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/92565175760 (note: this is Saturday in Asia/Oceania) Other “office hours” meetings can be arranged on-request on a technical platform of your choosing; and we will organise more calls in the future. We will also be attending the next SWAN meetings (on March 21) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network, and also the next of the Wikimedia Clinics https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics Moreover, we would be very happy to accept any invitation to attend an existing group call that would like to discuss this topic (e.g. an affiliate’s members’ meeting). On behalf of the Wikimedia Enterprise team, Peace, Love & Metadata -- Liam Wyatt [Wittylama], Wikimedia Enterprise project community liaison. [0] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme… [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/FAQ [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Principles [3] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise *Liam Wyatt [Wittylama]* WikiCite <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite> Program Manager & Wikimedia Enterprise <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Okapi> Community Liaison Wikimedia Foundation

8 17

[Foundation-l] Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery
by Brian J Mingus 09 Sep '22

09 Sep '22

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

3 2

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

09 Aug '22

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

3 2

WMF transfers $8.7 million to "Wikimedia Knowledge Equity Fund"
by Yair Rand 02 Jun '21

02 Jun '21

According to the recent Independent Auditors' Report of the WMF [1], at some point prior to the end of June 2020, an entity called the "Wikimedia Knowledge Equity Fund" was established, and $8.723 million was transferred to it by the WMF, in the form of an unconditional grant. The Fund is "managed and controlled by Tides Advocacy" (a 501(c)(4) advocacy nonprofit previously led by the WMF's current General Counsel/Board Secretary, who served as CEO, Board Secretary, and Treasurer there). Given that a Google search for "Wikimedia Knowledge Equity Fund" yields zero results prior to the release of the report, it is clear that the WMF kept this significant move completely secret for over five months, perhaps over a year. The Report FAQ additionally emphasizes that the WMF "has no right of return to the grant funds provided, with the exception of unexpended funds." The WMF unilaterally and secretly transferred nearly $9 million of movement funds to an outside organization not recognized by the Affiliations Committee. No mention of the grant was made in any Board resolutions or minutes from the relevant time period. The amount was not mentioned in the public annual plan, which set out rather less than this amount for the entire grantmaking budget for the year. No application was made through any of the various Wikimedia grants processes. No further information has been provided on the administration of this new Fund, or on the text of the grant agreement. I am appalled. -- Yair Rand [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/f/f7/Wikimedia_Foundation…

19 38

Farewell video for Katherine Maher
by Nadee Gunasena 23 Apr '21

23 Apr '21

Hello all, As many of you know, Katherine Maher, the ED of the Wikimedia Foundation, will be stepping down next month. Her last day is April 15. While Katherine will continue to be a part of our movement, we wanted to find a way to celebrate her and send her off. We’ll be putting together a video montage of farewell wishes from the movement. For anyone that would like to participate, you can record a short video with your message for Katherine via your phone or computer by going to the Tribute webpage [1]. Please keep your message under 30 seconds! The deadline to submit a video is Monday, April 12.* If you have questions, please reach out. Best, Nadee Gunasena [1] https://www.tribute.co/katherine-maher/ *Tribute is a third party service based in the United States, with its own terms of service <https://www.tribute.co/termsofservice/> and privacy policy <https://www.tribute.co/privacy/>. Please review their terms and privacy policy before submitting your video. In order to submit your video, you may need to provide Tribute with a name and email address. If you are not comfortable submitting your real name or email, we recommend using a username or pseudonym instead. By submitting a video, you are giving the Foundation consent to include your segment in a video montage that will be shared with Katherine. -- *Nadee Gunasena* Executive Communications Manager Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> ᐧ

4 5

WUG WMSVK's fundraising with questionable circumstances
by Michal Matúšov 08 Apr '21

08 Apr '21

Hi. Please, help protect the trustworthiness of the Wikimedia movement in Slovakia - help WUG WMSVK to do a mass fundraising only after it will have solved its governance issues (and stop it from using Wikipedia's site notices until that). The Wikimedia User Group Wikimedians of Slovakia (WUG WMSVK) is currently using Sitenotice and Anonnotice of Slovak Wikipedia for local fundraising. While I appreciate the effort for a non-WMF revenue source, it is not a good timing right now. Currently, WUG WMSVK is still under investigation of AffCom for their governance issues and is recovering too slowly from repeated bylaws violations done in the past under lead of current Chair Matej Grochal and current Vice-Chair Radoslava Semanová. Much of it is published on [1]. Some non-public violations will be published after a 6 months period of AffCom investigations (which is going to end sometime before 16th of June). The use of Sitenotice and Anonnotice is based on skwiki Village Pump request from the Vice-Chair Dávid Štefan done 23th March 2021 [2] and executed by WUG WMSVK's Chair himself less than 3 day later [3]. This is a clear example of Conflict of Interests - Matej Grochal mixing his role of WUG WMSVK's Chair and skwiki's admin (that part would be OK, according to me, if the activation of site noticies would be done by some other admin). The time for Community reaction was very little (less than 3 days). The community reaction is very weak, but at this point clearly against such use. I have right now contacted AffCom. But they are a volunteer based committee with meetings once in a month, so it is probable that they would react too slowly (like, AffCom haven't reacted until now to my message about probable bylaws violation of WUG WMSVK from 3 weeks ago, even despite my personal calls). [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Slovakia/history#2019 [2] https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/7180661 [3] https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Diff/7182017 I hope for quick reaction Best regards KuboF Hromoslav

2 2

Surveys using third party tools on Wikimedia projects
by Fæ 02 Apr '21

02 Apr '21

As a consequence of the promotion of a Google forms based survey this week by a WMF representative, a proposal on Wikimedia Commons has been started to ban the promotion of surveys which rely on third party sites like Google Forms.[1] Launched today, but already it appears likely that this proposal will have a consensus to support. Considering that Commons is one of our largest Wikimedia projects, there are potential repercussions of banning the on-wiki promotion of surveys which use Google products or other closed source third party products like SurveyMonkey. Feedback is most welcome on the proposal discussion, or on this list for handling impact, solutions, recommended alternatives that already exist, or the future role of the WMF to support research and surveys for the WMF and affiliates by using forking open source software and self-hosting and self-managing data "locally". Links 1. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump/Proposals#Use_of_of… Thanks Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae #WearAMask

20 30

Logo of MediaWiki has changed
by Amir Sarabadani 01 Apr '21

01 Apr '21

Hello, After more than one year of design, discussion, vote, iteration, and months of legal work, I’m happy to announce that the logo of MediaWiki has been officially changed. This applies to both the software and logo of https://mediawiki.org. The old logo of MediaWiki was adopted slightly more than fifteen years ago. This logo was featuring the nice concept of a sunflower representing diversity, constant growth and also wilderness. However, with years, the logo became outdated and we realized that it had several problems, including but not limited to: - It was a bitmap picture so it’s unusable in large sizes - Its high details (“too realistic”) made it unusable in small sizes - Its fixed and realistic style made it hard to have variations or adaptations Most, virtually all, software products use a simpler and more abstract form following basic logo design guidelines and best-practices to avoid above (and more) issues. For example, docker, kubernetes, Ubuntu, Vue.js, React, Apache Kafka and many more. You can find the discussion of changing the logo in https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Project:Proposal_for_changing_logo_of_MediaW… . As you can see on this page, a lot of interesting practical and theoretical exchanges happened, leading to the final vote and decision. The new logo represents a collection of projects built on our engine: each petal is one of the many wikis that we support, and the lack of an explicit core shows that we are part of these projects, as well as and they are part of MediaWiki. The new logo also reflects the fact that evolution never stops, and like the petals of a flower, the development of each project, the growth of each community built on our engine allows everyone else to grow. The designer of the new logo is [[User:Serhio Magpie]]. With the nice abstraction baked-in, you can use it in large or small sizes or you can adapt it for different usecases (there’s one already for mediawiki on docker: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T274678). There is a logo guideline for MediaWiki now: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:MediaWiki_logo_guidelines We already deployed changes to mediawiki.org and landed related patches on master, meaning from 1.36 release onwards, it’ll come with the new logo. You can follow the work of rolling it out in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T268230. I humbly ask Wikimedians to update their wikis, for example usages on the main pages, Wikipedia articles, templates, and more. You can use the logos in this category on Commons. The files are already protected against upload vandalism. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:MediaWiki_logo_(2020) A big thank you to all who helped this project to finish. From designers, community members, people who voted and discussed it intensively for months, Wikimedia Legal for doing all the necessary work for transferring the rights, clearing it and filing it for trademark. And many many more people. Best -- Amir (he/him)

10 12

Report of grants given out by the Wikimedia Foundation in 2019−2020
by Guillaume Paumier 31 Mar '21

31 Mar '21

Hi folks, I wanted to share the link to a report covering grants given out by the Wikimedia Foundation during the 2019−2020 fiscal year. This was inspired by the Fundraising reports that fundraising teams have prepared for many years. The intent is to publish similar yearly reports for grantmaking going forward. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grantmaking/Reports/2019-2020 Questions and comments are welcome, preferably on the talk page. -- Guillaume Paumier (he/him)

3 2

Introducing 'Wiki for X'
by Tulsi Bhagat 30 Mar '21

30 Mar '21

Hello, Greetings! I hope you're doing well. I would like to introduce 'Wiki for X', a new general format for naming various sorts of Wikimedia community events and outreach campaigns; For instance, we have 'Wiki Loves X' as such 'Wiki for X', where X is whatever the coordinators wish to call the campaign. This is because i believe change is necessary. I hope we can create some brand new impactful ideas for outreach campaigns across the globe with this new general format. With regard to, I've organized Wiki For COVID-19 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_For_COVID-19> on Jun 01-Sep 30 2020 and I see there's another event WikiForHumanRights <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiForHumanRights> starting on April 15-March 15 2021 to celebrate Earth Day. Can we please give continuity to this new general format? I really appreciate your input and opinions on this. Thank you for your consideration! Kind regards, Tulsi

3 2

Open Meeting of the Wikipedia & Education User Group - you are invited!
by Ziko van Dijk 30 Mar '21

30 Mar '21

Dear friends of free knowledge and education, On Tuesday, March 30th 2021, we will have our next Open Meeting! Please feel welcome to join us at 4:00pm UTC. See for your own timezone: https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1617120044 This is the link to the meeting room: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87586733540?pwd=SVp0YmZrTEtlWWxxT3Y2UjZxNnFkZz09 We will discuss the shutdown of the WMF's Outreach Wiki and other topics. Our special guest will be Mossab Banat who will talk about content in Arab language. He is a passionate Wikipedian, physician and Wikipedia Education Program team leader at Hashemite University in Jordan. He is an editor and admin at Arabic Wikipedia. He also a board member at Wikimedia medicine and associate editor at wikijournal of Medicine. He founded a wiki club under the name of Digital Arabic Content Club at the same university. Currently mossab works as Teaching and Research Assistant at the Hashemite and as representative of graduate students at the University council. I myself will present a plan for a discussion on ethical questions. When we use wikis for educational goals, we have not only to follow the rules of the wiki (or an institution we work with). We want to make sure that no harm is done - to the wiki or to the learners or others involved. We want to give educators and others guidelines or recommendations on how to deal with ethical questions and how to avoid problems. So, we hope for a large crowd at our meeting which will last for one hour and a half. Kind regards, Ziko van Dijk secretary, Wikipedia & Education User Group (EduWiki UG) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_%26_Education_User_Group

1 1

Join us for the Latin America regional education meeting
by Sailesh Patnaik 29 Mar '21

29 Mar '21

Estimados y estimadas Wikimedistas, Les escribo para invitarles a la segunda reunión regional de Wikimedia y educación[1]. Este mes será nuestra primera reunión para Latinoamérica y tendrá lugar el 31 de marzo 2021 a las 14:00 UTC. Esta reunión es una oportunidad para aprender y compartir proyectos, herramientas, o ideas con la comunidad de Wikimedia y educación de la región. Será liderada en español por Jose Reyes, Oficial de Educación de Wikimedia México, y parte del equipo de EWOC como especialista de comunidades de la región. En esta reunión regional de educación para Latinoamérica contaremos con las presentaciones de: - José Reyes, sobre el estado de programas de educación en México - Novedades desde Wikimedia Argentina - Y la experiencia del programa ¡Leamos Wikipedia! en Bolivia Si tienes otros temas, ideas, o preguntas que quieras añadir a la agenda, puedes dejarlas aquí[5] y trataremos de incluirlas durante la reunión. ¡Esperamos verles ahí! Cordialmente, José, equipo EWOC, Sailesh, y equipo de Educación de la Wikimedia Foundation --- Dear Wikimedians, I am writing this email to invite you all to the second regional education meeting[1]. This month we are starting with our community members based in the Latin America region[2]. You can use these regional office hours as an opportunity to learn and share your projects, tools, or ideas with the education community from the region. These regional education meetings are planned by the community specialists of the EduWiki Outreach Collaborators (EWOC)[3] and the Education team. We are using this as an opportunity to strengthen the EduWiki network, explore collaboration opportunities, and identify common practices or challenges that are faced by our community members in different regions of the world. We are launching these regional office hours as a pilot initiative to complement our general monthly office hours[4], we encourage you to participate, share your ideas, and help this become a fully community-led initiative. Our first LatAm regional education meeting will take place on 31st March 2021 at 14:00 UTC, it will be led in Spanish by José Reyes, Education Program Manager of Wikimedia Mexico and EWOC community specialist for the region. At this LatAm regional education meeting, we will hear from: - Jose on the state of education in Mexico - Some updates from Wikimedia Argentina - And the experience of running Reading Wikipedia in the classroom program by Wikimedistas de Bolivia. If you have other ideas, topics, or questions you want to ask, you can add them to the agenda here[5]. We will try to answer them during the meeting. We are looking forward to seeing you there! Best! José, EWOC community specialist team, Sailesh, and Education team [1] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Hours/Regional_M… [2] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Hours/Regional_M… [3] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/EduWiki_Outreach_Collaborators [4] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Hours [5] https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Hours/Regional_M… -- Sailesh Patnaik (He/Him) Program Associate, Education Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

2 3

Test Mailman3 in production
by Amir Sarabadani 26 Mar '21

26 Mar '21

Hello, tl;dr: https://lists-next.wikimedia.org is running mailman3. Please help us test the software before we upgrade the real mailing list server. Kunal and I have been working on deploying the new mailman (version 3) to replace mailman2 serving https://lists.wikimedia.org and powering all of our mailing lists. Mailman2 is a dinosaur that should have gone extinct years ago. Pretty old user interface (especially for admins and moderators), storing passwords in plain text, lack of any database (everything is file on disk), pretty old code, lack of ability to search in archives or send email from web interface, running on EOL python (python2), encoding issues with non-Latin languages, hard to redact archives, and the list goes on and on. The new version has been developed/puppetized/tested in the Cloud and is now ready for proper testing! Give it a try: https://lists-next.wikimedia.org. We have created some mailing lists you can join and can test. If you want to test the experience as a list administrator/moderator, we can give those permissions out as well. WARNING: All data on the lists-next server will be deleted after the test period is over. We will also need help updating documentation on wikis and elsewhere. If you find any bugs/issues (yay!), please file a ticket in the “Wikimedia-Mailing-lists” Phabricator project and we’ll check it out. In the coming days/weeks will also import some public mailing lists from the old version to the new version to check archive size, search index size, and other aspects. There are other TODOs left as well like monitoring, logging, anti-abuse, etc. Slowly and after testing (hopefully soon), we expect to deploy this on lists.wikimedia.org and mailing lists one by one or in batches can be upgraded to the 21st century. The overall task tracking this project is T52864 <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T52864> and a big thank you people who are helping this move forward. Regards, Kunal and Amir

7 9

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Is it time for a Global Username Policy that is similar to Global Rename Policy?
by xavier.aranda＠colectic.coop 26 Mar '21

26 Mar '21

Hola! Aquesta adreÃ§a no es troba en funcionament actualment, podeu contactar amb nosaltres escrivint a hola(a)colectic.coop

1 0

Is it time for a Global Username Policy that is similar to Global Rename Policy?
by William Chan 26 Mar '21

26 Mar '21

Hi, I have observed that there is a global renaming policy but a global username policy is absent? As we all know that usernames are global following SUL, and literally the same username will be used across multiple wikis. So, a very simple question is raised: shall there be a draft of the global username policies, considering usernames are now global? Also, also due to SUL, it seems that username blacklists should be put at a global scale, or it may just be not logical as one may just escape one wiki's username blacklist through creating it at another project, and use SUL to circumvent such block. I hope for broad input, considering this may mean a broad policy change, and what I have in my mind is just a very primary idea to install a Global Username Policy that acts similar to the current Global Rename Policy that is in enforcement. P.S. I put it here before placing it on meta RFC is not to avoid circumvention but hope to seek more input instead of just bumping a very large policy change without any external input. Regards, William User:1233

3 2

Training series for event organizers: Incorporate faciliation into your events
by Rachel Farrand 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

Hello! The WMF Community Events team are proposing a short training series *for Wikimedia community event organizers* (volunteers and affiliate staff) where we will bring in *an expert facilitator and event producer both with international event experience to discuss the importance of incorporating quality facilitation into your events and how to do it.* This will likely be a two part series of 75 - 90 minute sessions where *each session will include training, active facilitation practice and modeling, and some discussion around how this fits specifically into the Wikimedia context and how this can help strengthen your community building efforts with diverse, multi-modal facilitation best practices*. Depending on the interests of the participants we will focus more heavily on in person or remote events - but both event types will be covered. Please read more about this training series and express interest here *before April 2: * https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Events_Team_Portal/FacilitationSeries Questions welcome on the talk page! -- Rachel Farrand Senior Program Officer Community Events Team Wikimedia Foundation

1 0

Share special moments from your Wikipedia 20 celebration!
by Lena Traer 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

Hi everyone, We have started a Wikipedia 20 Scrapbook on meta wiki [1]. This is a space where we all can document the celebration events we held or are planning to hold to celebrate Wikipedia 20. You can add any photos you have of your event, share a moment, a link to the event page, screenshots of your virtual event, a photo of your cake or anything else you want to post in the scrapbook to document your celebration. There is a link in the header with instructions on how to add a new section for your event. You can also find sample image galleries on the page. We look forward to seeing all the wonderful images and memories from the celebrations around the world! We also wanted to remind you that Rapid Grants are available to support your Wikipedia 20 planned events. For events taking place in May, please submit your grant application by 15 April, and for events taking place through the end of July 2021, please submit your application no later than 15 June 2021. You can find more information on Rapid Grants for Wikipedia 20 and the application form on meta.[2] Best, Lena and the Wikipedia 20 team [1] <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_20> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_20/Scrapbook [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_20/Grants Lena Traer (she/her) Creative Project Manager Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

1 0

Evaluating ideal use of prizes or rewards for campaigns
by Felix Nartey 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

Dear Community, (apologies for cross-posting!) Prizes or awards are key to volunteer organisations such as Wikimedia. It's one way of providing motivation or encouraging continuous participation. Even so, it's often very hard to decide on what could be an ideal prize for a campaign. We have been hearing lots of questions from organizers about appropriate criteria, types and amounts as prizes for a campaign. The Wikimedia Foundation Campaigns Team invites you to our next virtual office hour on 25th March at 3:00pm UTC via zoom[1] to discuss this topic with organizers experienced at using prizes as part of competitions.[2] The Campaigns Office hour is an opportunity to learn about how others have organized content campaigns, new or emerging tools and tactics, and ask questions about how campaigns have been implemented by other organizers. The goal of this office hour will be to evaluate organizer concerns and challenges, with a particular focus on helping photography campaigns and content writing campaigns in creating consistent prize philosophies within the Wikimedia Movement. Our recent office hour explained the 2021 WikiForHumanRights Campaign dubbed “Right to a Healthy Environment” (watch video).[3] We talked about decentralized activities around the theme and how to access mentoring and rapid grants. Join us for the next office hour: - 25th March at 3:00pm UTC - Via Zoom - https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95921708595 <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95921708595&sa=D&s…> - Topic: Evaluating ideal use of prizes or rewards for campaigns Looking forward to learning, discussing and sharing with you! Cheers, Felix Nartey [1] - https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95921708595 <https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95921708595&sa=D&s…> [2] - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Campaigns/Foundation_Campaigns_Team#Office_… [3] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_QEE60hcFk -- Felix Nartey Senior Program Officer, Campaigns Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

1 1

Call for Feedback: Community Board seats - Main Report draft comment period
by Jackie Koerner 24 Mar '21

24 Mar '21

Hi everyone! We have concluded the Call for Feedback: Community Board seats. Thank you everyone who participated. During the Call for Feedback period from February 1 to March 14, a team of 10 facilitators organized open and inclusive community discussions to gather feedback about ideas for trustee selection processes for community-and-affiliate Board seats. Some facilitators had a regional focus; some had a language focus. The intention was for the combined facilitation team to obtain a fair representation of the movement’s diversity and create a report for the Board. The facilitation team used the Weekly Reports as the main source of information to create the main report. [1] *A draft of the Call for Feedback: Community Board seats main report is now available. It will be available for community comment until Sunday, March 28. *[2] After the community comment period the facilitation team will send the main report to the Board. The feedback in the main report informs the Board’s decision about these potential changes to trustee selection processes, procedures, and tools to meet the goals of the Board. Please reach out if you have any questions or comments. Best, -- *Jackie Koerner* *she/her* Board Governance Facilitator *English language and Meta-Wiki* [1] Weekly Reports https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees/Call… [2] Main Report https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees/Call…

1 0

Arctic Knot Conference: Call for submissions
by Jon Harald Søby 24 Mar '21

24 Mar '21

Hello, everybody! The Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Knot_Conference_2021> will take place online 24–25 June 2021. At the Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference we want to look at the future of indigenous and underrepresented languages and their presence and use on the Wikimedia projects. The conference will provide space and focus for indigenous and underrepresented language communities to connect, learn from each other, and collaborate. The *call for submissions <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Knot_Conference_2021/Call_for_submis…>* is now open (until 15 April)! With 20 billion page views every month, Wikipedia is one of the first stops when people search for information. It is a cornerstone of the digital age, but the information within it is not evenly represented across languages. The Wikimedia movement is about to start implementing the 2030 movement strategy <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_2030>, and the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages <https://en.unesco.org/news/upcoming-decade-indigenous-languages-2022-2032-f…> will start in 2022. The Decade of Indigenous Languages points to the potential of digital technologies in supporting the use and preservation of indigenous languages. These two milestones give us the opportunity to look into our future efforts for language diversity on the Wikimedia projects, and during the conference discuss how we can work together to make indigenous and underrepresented language communities grow. More information about the conference will be shared on the Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference page over the next few weeks. Registration will open in May. We hope you will join the conference! The Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference is part of the Wikimedia UK Celtic Knot <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Knot_Conference> series of conferences. Arctic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference is led by Wikimedia Norge in collaboration with The Arctic University of Norway <https://en.uit.no/startsida>, Wikimedia UK <https://wikimedia.org.uk/> and Wikimedia Deutschland <https://www.wikimedia.de/>, and will focus on Arctic and Sámi languages. We are also happy to have Wikitongues <https://wikitongues.org/> and Art+Feminism <https://artandfeminism.org/> as part of the organization team for the conference. We hope to see many of you there! -- *Jon Harald Søby* Prosjektleder / Prosjektleiar / Prošeaktajođiheaddji / Project Manager Wikimedia Norge / Wikimedia Noreg / Wikimedia Norga +47 977 67 510 jhsoby(a)wikimedia.no

1 0

Join us for the Education office hours of March 2021
by Sailesh Patnaik 23 Mar '21

23 Mar '21

Dear Wikimedians, Join us for this months' education office hours on 23rd March at 12:00 UTC <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1616500849>! The office hours is a dedicated online space to have conversations and discussions related to Wikimedia and education activities, listen and learn from each other's projects and experiences. This month we are looking forward to sharing updates from the education team. and also to learn from your work. You can find more details and the agenda of the meeting here: https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/About/Office_Hours/March_23_2… Looking forward to seeing you 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 consultation for your education work ( 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 (He/Him) Program Associate, Education Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

1 1

Call for Applications - UCoC Phase 2 Drafting Committee
by Christel Steigenberger 22 Mar '21

22 Mar '21

Dear all, Do you care about safety, inclusivity, and friendliness in the Wikimedia movement? Are you interested in the guidelines and policies that guide it? Do you have any experience with how they are applied? Do you have ideas about well-functioning enforcement pathways in general? This is your chance to get involved! We are looking for volunteers to join the Drafting Committee for the guidelines of enforcement for the Universal Code of Conduct. If you are interested, please read the following important information for candidates and our essay on an ideal committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe…> [1]. - Who will be on the committee? - eight or nine volunteers, two or three affiliate staff members, and three or four Foundation staff members (depending on how many candidates apply) - When will the committee be active? - April 26 - November 30, 2021. Please be aware that we will prioritize a comprehensive community review over a hard deadline, so the active period for the committee might get extended. There will be a break in Committee duties for a rest period while community discussions are active. For a more detailed timeline see here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe…> [2]. - What will they do? Understand the current Universal Code of Conduct <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct> [3]. Read background material and draft the enforcement strategies for the Universal Code of Conduct that will outline pathways of implementation. See more information here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct> [4]. - How will they work? They will meet online and work on shared documents. A facilitation team will help them to organize the work, and experts in different areas will be available to provide support. Sessions will include a combination of teamwork and asynchronous work and will have elements of multimedia, facilitated activities, discussion and collaborative work. - How much time should I plan to spend per week? There will be online meetings (1-2 hours per week), as well as background reading in the early phases resulting in up to 5-8 hours each week. There will be a full break and a period of reduced activity over the summer. For more details see the timeline here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe…> [2]. - What skills should I bring to the process? Ideally you would have experience in policy drafting as well as in the application of policies and enforcement of rules, experience in cooperating online and in writing in English. We would also love our candidates to have empathy; for example, experience in mentoring, resolving difficult disputes, and communicating with compassion are valuable. Experience applying a trauma-informed lens and working within anti-racist and anti-oppresisve frameworks would be highly valued. - How will the committee members be selected? The Trust and Safety Team <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Trust_and_Safety> [5] together with the Legal Team <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal> [6] of the Wikimedia Foundation will vet all candidates. Then, the Vice president of Community Resilience and Sustainability, Maggie Dennis <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mdennis_(WMF)> [7], will choose committee members based on the level of skills and experience of candidates in combination with diversity factors. If you are interested in applying, please let us know before April 19 by signing up below or mail to Christel Steigenberger <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:EmailUser/CSteigenberger_(WMF)> [8]. Please include your username and link to your userpage of your home wiki and provide links demonstrating your experience. Let us know about the roles you hold or held in Wikimedia or similar organizations. Feel free to add any additional information that will help us make an informed choice. Please forward this message to any volunteers or affiliate staff members you think might be interested, and encourage them to apply and help us spread the word. We also welcome your help translating this message on meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe…> [9]. Looking forward to hearing from you, Christel Steigenberger Senior Trust and Safety Specialist [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe… [3] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct [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/Special:EmailUser/CSteigenberger_(WMF) [9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Drafting_committe… Christel Steigenberger (she/her) Senior Trust and Safety Specialist Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

1 0

Invitation: Virtual Meeting of the Commons Photographers User Group (March 20)
by Frank Schulenburg 17 Mar '21

17 Mar '21

Dear all, This Saturday, March 20, the Commons Photographers will host their first virtual meeting of 2021. External guest Ben Horne will talk about large format wilderness photography, followed by a question-and-answer session. Ben shoots 8×10 film and he's YouTube's first, and longest active landscape photography vlogger. If you're interested in learning more about large format photography ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_format), please sign up here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commons_Photographers_User_Group… Also, if you haven't seen it yet, here's what our members shared as their "most memorable shot" of 2020: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commons_Photographers_User_Group… You can learn more about our group's activities in our most recent annual report: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commons_Photographers_User_Group… And, just in case, if you're interested in joining, please add your name to our membership list: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Commons_Photographers_User_Group… All the best, Frank

1 0

[Wikimedia Research Showcase] March 17: Curiosity
by Janna Layton 17 Mar '21

17 Mar '21

In this showcase, Prof. Danielle Bassett will present recent work studying individual and collective curiosity as network building processes using Wikipedia. Date/Time: March 17, 16:30 UTC (9:30am PT/12:30pm ET/17:30pm CET) Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw2s_Y4J2tI Speaker: Danielle Bassett (University of Pennsylvania) Title: The curious human Abstract: The human mind is curious. It is strange, remarkable, and mystifying; it is eager, probing, questioning. Despite its pervasiveness and its relevance for our well-being, scientific studies of human curiosity that bridge both the organ of curiosity and the object of curiosity remain in their infancy. In this talk, I will integrate historical, philosophical, and psychological perspectives with techniques from applied mathematics and statistical physics to study individual and collective curiosity. In the former, I will evaluate how humans walk on the knowledge network of Wikipedia during unconstrained browsing. In doing so, we will capture idiosyncratic forms of curiosity that span multiple millennia, cultures, languages, and timescales. In the latter, I will consider the fruition of collective curiosity in the building of scientific knowledge as encoded in Wikipedia. Throughout, I will make a case for the position that individual and collective curiosity are both network building processes, providing a connective counterpoint to the common acquisitional account of curiosity in humans. Related papers: Hunters, busybodies, and the knowledge network building associated with curiosity. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/undy4 The network structure of scientific revolutions. http://arxiv.org/abs/2010.08381 https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Showcase#March_2021 -- Janna Layton (she/her) Administrative Associate - Product & Technology Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

2 3

Wikimedia Ukraine AGM results: New Board, Annual report, etc
by Bohdan Melnychuk 16 Mar '21

16 Mar '21

1 0

WMF Community Events office hours: March 18
by Rachel Farrand 16 Mar '21

16 Mar '21

Hello everyone! The Wikimedia Foundation Community Events Team <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Events_team> will continue hosting monthly office hours for any community members who are interested. This is a place where movement event organizers can join and share ideas and lessons with each other for upcoming and past events. This iteration of the office hours will take place on Thursday March 18, 2021 at 14:00 UTC <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1616076055>and will last for an hour. Find the link to join on meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Events_team/OfficeHour…>. *This month is open with no pre-set topic. You are welcome to bring any questions or discussion points related to community events that you like and we will keep the hour informal. * You can find more information about upcoming officer hours and add your comments and questions here and on the talk page: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Events_team/OfficeHours Please pass this invite to others who may be interested in joining! We hope to see you there! If you would like to host a specific topic or event debrief at a future office hours please let me know! -- Rachel Farrand Senior Program Officer Community Events Team Wikimedia Foundation

1 0

Invitation for Wikimedia Research Office hours March 16, 2021
by Martin Gerlach 16 Mar '21

16 Mar '21

Hi all, Join the Research Team at the Wikimedia Foundation [1] for their monthly Office hours on 2021-03-16 at 16:00-17:00 UTC (9am PT/5pm CET). To participate, join the video-call via this link [2]. There is no set agenda - feel free to add your item to the list of topics in the etherpad [3] (You can do this after you join the meeting, too.), otherwise you are welcome to also just hang out. More detailed information (e.g. about how to attend) can be found here [4]. Through these office hours, we aim to make ourselves more available to answer some of the research related questions that you as Wikimedia volunteer editors, organizers, affiliates, staff, and researchers face in your projects and initiatives. Some example cases we hope to be able to support you in: - You have a specific research related question that you suspect you should be able to answer with the publicly available data and you don’t know how to find an answer for it, or you just need some more help with it. For example, how can I compute the ratio of anonymous to registered editors in my wiki? - You run into repetitive or very manual work as part of your Wikimedia contributions and you wish to find out if there are ways to use machines to improve your workflows. These types of conversations can sometimes be harder to find an answer for during an office hour, however, discussing them can help us understand your challenges better and we may find ways to work with each other to support you in addressing it in the future. - You want to learn what the Research team at the Wikimedia Foundation does and how we can potentially support you. Specifically for affiliates: if you are interested in building relationships with the academic institutions in your country, we would love to talk with you and learn more. We have a series of programs that aim to expand the network of Wikimedia researchers globally and we would love to collaborate with those of you interested more closely in this space. - You want to talk with us about one of our existing programs [5]. Hope to see many of you, Martin (WMF Research Team) [1] https://research.wikimedia.org/team.html [2] https://meet.jit.si/WMF-Research-Office-Hours [3] https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/Research-Analytics-Office-hours [4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Office_hours [5] https://research.wikimedia.org/projects.html -- Martin Gerlach Research Scientist Wikimedia Foundation

1 1

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Cloud] [Cloud-announce] New Wikireplicas available, timeline update, and Quarry migration
by Joaquin Oltra Hernandez 15 Mar '21

15 Mar '21

Hi, These changes are not arbitrary, they are a necessity to keep the replicas functioning. With the growth experienced in the last years (commons, wikidata) the current technology used by Wikireplicas is not feasible. I’ve outlined more technical details in a cloud mailing list response: [1] We have been keeping track of all the code posted that uses cross-wiki joins, and are planning to analyze more from logs. [2] was made to figure out common use cases and possibilities to enable them. If you need help evaluating how you will be affected or migrating your code please reach out in the #wikimedia-cloud IRC channel, cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org mailing list or make a task in Phabricator #Data-Services [3]. [1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/cloud/2021-March/001436.html [2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T215858 [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/board/2874/ On Sun, Mar 14, 2021 at 12:15 AM Daniel Schwen <lists(a)schwen.de> wrote: > This is the next step after disallowing user databases on replicas. It > broke some of my tools but I recently rewrote them to move joining logic > into my application. I also replicate small amounts of data (e.g. page > titles for a subset of pages) into my user db for joins. > I found it quite off-putting at first. Volunteers are effectively forced > to do substantial amounts of extra work after creating tools that "work > perfectly fine". > But I can understand the need to provide more scalable infrastructure with > the ever growing projects. > > On Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 3:46 PM Yetkin Sakal via Cloud < > cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote: > >> I completely agree with Maarten. It would be a step backward to stop >> supporting cross-database joins on wiki replicas. This is a breaking change >> and should not be applied unless a feasible solution to the problem is >> found. >> On Saturday, March 13, 2021, 8:17:39 PM GMT+3, Maarten Dammers < >> maarten(a)mdammers.nl> wrote: >> >> >> Hi Joaquin, >> >> Completely nothing was done with the community input about not being able >> to do cross wiki joins anymore [1]. In the past the WMF would do something >> with community input. I guess the new strategy is to just give the >> appearance of community input to legitimize a decision. Nice way to >> alienate the volunteers. >> >> Maarten >> >> [1] >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/cloud/2020-November/thread.html#1309 >> On 12-03-2021 19:16, Joaquin Oltra Hernandez wrote: >> >> TLDR: >> - Instead of `*.db.svc.eqiad.wmflabs` use `*.db.svc.wikimedia.cloud` to >> use the new replicas >> - Quarry will migrate March 23 to use the new cluster >> - In a ~month (April 15) the old cluster will start retiring. See >> https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#Timeli… >> for more details >> >> Hi everyone, >> >> I'm happy to announce that the new replicas cluster is available for use >> after a few weeks open for testing. >> >> To use the new cluster, you will only need to change the hostname when >> connecting to the databases. Instead of `*.db.svc.eqiad.wmflabs` you can >> use `*.db.svc.wikimedia.cloud`. See: >> >> - >> https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#New_ho… >> - >> https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#How_ca… >> - https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Toolforge/Database >> >> >> This brings us to the timeline updates: >> >> https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#Timeli… >> >> - March 2021 >> - Announce new cluster domains for all users - March 12 >> - Migrate Quarry to use the new cluster - March 23 >> - April 2021 >> - PAWS migration - Estimated first week of April >> - Migrate the old cluster to utilize new replication hosts. Replication >> may stop. - April 15 >> - Redirect old hostnames to the new cluster - April 28 >> >> Quarry is ready so it will transition first to use the new replicas. This >> will happen on March 23, at which point we will deploy the changes and >> update the docs. We are publishing a note on Tech news but if there are >> other venues where this information would be useful please help us spread >> the word. >> >> PAWS is in the process of being migrated. We estimate it could be ready >> to use the new cluster at the beginning of April, and will publish more >> details as soon as we know. >> >> On April 15 the old cluster will be moved under the new replication >> hosts, at which point there may be side effects and replication may stop. >> We recommend you update your code earlier to use the new hostnames to >> verify things are working normally. >> >> Not long after, the old hostnames (`*.db.svc.eqiad.wmflabs`) will be >> redirected to the new ones (`*.db.svc.wikimedia.cloud`), at which point the >> old cluster will effectively be inaccessible. >> >> >> If you have questions or need help please reply to >> cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org, join the #wikimedia-cloud IRC channel, or >> open a ticket in Phabricator with the Data-Services tag. >> >> Thanks, >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia Cloud Services announce mailing listCloud-announce(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-announce@lists.wikimedia.org)https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud-announce >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia Cloud Services mailing listCloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-l@lists.wikimedia.org)https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia Cloud Services mailing list >> Cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org) >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia Cloud Services mailing list >> Cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org) >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud >> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia Cloud Services mailing list > Cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org) > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud > -- Joaquin Oltra Hernandez Developer Advocate - Wikimedia Foundation

1 0

Proofread contest in collaboration with British Library on Bengali Wikisource
by Bodhisattwa Mandal 15 Mar '21

15 Mar '21

Hello, We are happy to announce that the West Bengal Wikimedians User Group [1] will run a proofread contest [2] from 15 March 2021 to 14 April 2021 on Bengali Wikisource in collaboration with Two Centuries of Indian Print project (TCIP) [3] of British Library. The TCIP project officials are uploading the public domain books under their collection on Wikimedia Commons [4]. From the user group, we are working on the next steps like renaming files, indexing, metadata related work on Wikidata etc. and will be organizing the event. The top five winners will receive T-shirts and/or books from the user group and digital certificates from British Library. Regards, Bodhisattwa On behalf of West Bengal Wikimedians User Group [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/West_Bengal_Wikimedians [2] https://bn.wikisource.org/s/gpia [3] https://www.bl.uk/projects/two-centuries-of-indian-print [4] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Two_Centuries_of_Indian_Print

1 1

Authorities in Myanmar blocks all languages of Wikipedia, says internet freedom watchdog = Qiuwen
by 《求闻》编译组／Qiuwen WMCug 13 Mar '21

13 Mar '21

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Qiuwen) - NetBlocks, the internet freedom advocacy group, says Wikipedia was blocked in Myanmar by the authorities. NetBlocks confirms "all language editions of Wikipedia" were down in Myanmar starting Thursday morning local time. In a tweet [1], Netblocks said, this is "part of a widening post-coup internet censorship regime imposed by the military junta." Netblocks provided additional information in a picture attached to the tweet, suggests that they have tested the connectivity of Wikipedia in English and French, Wikidata, and wikimedia.org, with none of them accessible. This may intimate that it is highly that the Burmese authorities not only blocked "all language editions of Wikipedia," but all Wikimedia projects, as a whole. The picture also suggests that Wikipedia remains inaccessible across four different internet service providers in Myanmar. It is likely that the Burmese authorities are blocking Wikimedia projects using the same tactic seen in China and some other countries, which is by blocking the main IP address Wikipedia and its sister projects uses. All Wikimedia projects share the same IP address, which makes it an easy target by censors to implement a block. Qiuwen noticed that starting from February 19th, there was a noticeable increase of edits made from IP addresses that were likely to be used for VPNs on Burmese Wikipedia, signaling locals may have to use VPNs to get onto Wikipedia already. On Friday evening local time, an administrator posted a message on the Village Pump of Burmese Wikipedia, explaining the use of "IP block exemption," a special MediaWiki flag, similar to rollback and patrol, allowing users with the flag to edit from VPNs. A similar banner was also set up, visible on every page of Burmese Wikipedia. The "IP block exemption" flag is widely issued to users of Chinese Wikipedia, and previously, users of Turkish Wikipedia, who needed VPNs to access. Internet blackouts are increasingly common in Myanmar and across the world. The military shut down the internet before they attempted the coup on February \1st, and the military authority has blocked or temporarily blocked Facebook and other social media platforms starting February 3rd. Usages of VPNs reportedly skyrocketed for locals eager to access blocked websites. NetBlocks says the authorities have been implementing an "internet curfew," as the internet shut down during the nights. This also means Myanmar has joined an increasingly bigger club of countries that had blocked Wikipedia. Its recent members include Iran, which blocked Wikipedia for around 24 hours in March 2020, and Venezuela in January 2019. In countries such as Iran, Internet blackouts also interfered with the Wikimedia movement, such as Iran's week-long blackout in November 2019 had delayed the Wikipedia Asian Month edit-a-thon. China, the "permanent member" of the club, blocked Wikipedia since 2015. It is not clear whether or not the block on Wikimedia projects will be lifted in the future, similar to what the Iranian and Turkish authorities had done. The Wikimedia Foundation has yet to comment on the block. Myanmar Wikimedia Community User Group, the Wikimedia user group representing Myanmar, has also yet to comment. Their Facebook page was last updated on January 16th, two weeks before the military coup. ---- Qiuwen is a news service operated by the Wikimedians of Mainland China user group[2]. Follow us for the latest Wikimedia news in greater China. CC BY-SA 4.0 Follow us on Telegram: https://t.me/Qiuwen [1]: https://twitter.com/netblocks/status/1362814793502097409 [2]: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Mainland_China

6 5

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Cloud] [Cloud-announce] New Wikireplicas available, timeline update, and Quarry migration
by Maarten Dammers 13 Mar '21

13 Mar '21

Hi Joaquin, Completely nothing was done with the community input about not being able to do cross wiki joins anymore [1]. In the past the WMF would do something with community input. I guess the new strategy is to just give the appearance of community input to legitimize a decision. Nice way to alienate the volunteers. Maarten [1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/cloud/2020-November/thread.html#1309 On 12-03-2021 19:16, Joaquin Oltra Hernandez wrote: > TLDR: > - Instead of `*.db.svc.eqiad.wmflabs` use `*.db.svc.wikimedia.cloud` > to use the new replicas > - Quarry will migrate March 23 to use the new cluster > - In a ~month (April 15) the old cluster will start retiring. See > https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#Timeli… > for more details > > Hi everyone, > > I'm happy to announce that the new replicas cluster is available for > use after a few weeks open for testing. > > To use the new cluster, you will only need to change the hostname when > connecting to the databases. Instead of `*.db.svc.eqiad.wmflabs` you > can use `*.db.svc.wikimedia.cloud`. See: > > - > https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#New_ho… > - > https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#How_ca… > - https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Toolforge/Database > > > This brings us to the timeline updates: > https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/News/Wiki_Replicas_2020_Redesign#Timeli… > > - March 2021 > - Announce new cluster domains for all users - March 12 > - Migrate Quarry to use the new cluster - March 23 > - April 2021 > - PAWS migration - Estimated first week of April > - Migrate the old cluster to utilize new replication hosts. > Replication may stop. - April 15 > - Redirect old hostnames to the new cluster - April 28 > > Quarry is ready so it will transition first to use the new replicas. > This will happen on March 23, at which point we will deploy the > changes and update the docs. We are publishing a note on Tech news but > if there are other venues where this information would be useful > please help us spread the word. > > PAWS is in the process of being migrated. We estimate it could be > ready to use the new cluster at the beginning of April, and will > publish more details as soon as we know. > > On April 15 the old cluster will be moved under the new replication > hosts, at which point there may be side effects and replication may stop. > We recommend you update your code earlier to use the new hostnames to > verify things are working normally. > > Not long after, the old hostnames (`*.db.svc.eqiad.wmflabs`) will be > redirected to the new ones (`*.db.svc.wikimedia.cloud`), at which > point the old cluster will effectively be inaccessible. > > > If you have questions or need help please reply to > cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:cloud@lists.wikimedia.org>, join the > #wikimedia-cloud IRC channel, or open a ticket in Phabricator with > the Data-Services tag. > > Thanks, > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia Cloud Services announce mailing list > Cloud-announce(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-announce(a)lists.wikimedia.org) > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud-announce > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia Cloud Services mailing list > Cloud(a)lists.wikimedia.org (formerly labs-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org) > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/cloud

1 0

2020 Annual Report for Wiki Project Med
by James Heilman 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

Hey All The annual report for 2020 for Wiki Project Med Foundation can be found here https://mdwiki.org/wiki/WikiProjectMed:WMMED/Reports/2020 Best -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

1 0

Movement Strategy Global Conversations: Lessons Learned published!
by Cornelius Kibelka 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

Hi friends, Over November, December and January, the Movement Strategy team at the Wikimedia Foundation organized -- for the first time ever -- an virtual events series in which the Wikimedia communities on a global level were invited to prioritize initiatives from the Movement Strategy recommendations for the upcoming 18 month. More than 600 people in total participated in these events. Kaarel already shared the content-related reports on what has happened at these events. Today, I wanted to share some additional material: A report that covers extensively on how we organized this event series, mostly from a logistical, technical, and operational perspective: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Transit… >From what we know, these were the largest online events the Wikimedia Foundation has organized so far, and we wanted to share as many lessons learned as possible on how to organize virtual events, so that others can pick up from what we did. Also, the pandemic is far from over and we all will have to learn better on how to organize virtual and, especially, hybrid events in the upcoming future. Happy reading & sharing, Cornelius -- Cornelius Kibelka (he/him) Event Coordinator Movement Strategy 2030.wikimedia.org <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate. <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>* <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

2 1

WikiForHumanRights at Campaign Team Office Hours and upcoming WMSusDev meeting
by Alex Stinson 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

Dear Community, As we announced during December,[1] this year’s WikiForHumanRights campaign will be arriving for Earth Day this year: April 15-May 15. The theme is “Right to a Healthy Environment” -- connecting the 20th Birthday “Human” theme with the global conversations about COVID-19, environmental crisis, like climate change, and human rights.You can learn more about the theme at our under-development home page. [2] The campaign will have two parts: a challenge, like the WikiGap Challenge, and decentralized digital and in-person events (where COVID-19 risk assessments allow). We need your help organizing the decentralized events -- and will be supporting development of activities through mentoring and rapid grants. Do you want to be part of organizing? The Campaigns Team at the Wikimedia Foundation invites you to: - the upcoming Wikimedians for Sustainable Development meeting on 21 February at 11:00am UTC [3] - Our next virtual office hour on 25 February 2021 at 3:00pm UTC via zoom.[4] If you are interested, but can’t attend the meeting: you can also join the Wikimedians for Sustainable Development communication channels for general updates [5] or the WikiForHumanRights telegram channel, where we will share more updates for organizers [6]. Please forward this information to movement organizers who you think will be interested. Looking forward to talking with you soon! Alex Stinson [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2020/12/10/wikiforhumanrights-2021-help-share-hu… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiForHumanRights [3 ] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_for_Sustainable_Development/Nex… [4] See https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Campaigns/Foundation_Campaigns_Team#Office_… or https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/97336292017 [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_for_Sustainable_Development#Com… [6] https://t.me/joinchat/Ifp3xRo2fEIk_ecpZLdTEg -- Alex Stinson Senior Program Strategist Wikimedia Foundation Twitter: @sadads Learn more about how the communities behind Wikipedia, Wikidata and other Wikimedia projects partner with cultural heritage organizations: https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM

1 3

WikiGap Challenge
by Eric Luth 12 Mar '21

12 Mar '21

Hi everyone, On International Women's Day, we launched this year's edition of the global WikiGap Challenge <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge>. Anyone, who wants to write articles about women on Wikipedia, is welcome to join. This year, we teamed up with the UN Human Rights Office, which proposed a list of women active within the field of human rights. These articles <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/List> yield bonus points in the challenge. The challenge runs until 8 April. If you think of someone you think would be interested in joining, feel free to forward the invitation. The winner receives some really nice prizes <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/Prizes>. Wish you all a great weekend! 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

1 0

[Wikimedia Announcements] This Month in GLAM: February 2021
by The 'This Month in GLAM' team 11 Mar '21

11 Mar '21

1 0

Grants video tutorials no longer available
by Strainu 11 Mar '21

11 Mar '21

Hey folks, I'm not sure where should I direct my question, but the video grant tutorials linked from https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Tutorial seem to be offline since at least early 2020. Is there any way to retrieve them? Strainu

1 0

WMF Chief of Staff transition
by Ryan Merkley 10 Mar '21

10 Mar '21

Dear colleagues, With the transition well underway for the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, it is time for me to begin my own transition from the organization. I shared with our executive team earlier this month that I will be departing on 1 April 2021. There is never a perfect time to leave an organization. It’s difficult to step away from this important work, and a community of colleagues, collaborators, and friends that I admire and appreciate. However, after successfully delivering two major strategic projects on behalf of the Foundation, notably the final movement strategy recommendations and coordinating the Foundation’s programme to combat disinformation, and with Katherine's departure as our CEO — the timing feels right. I want to afford the next chief executive the opportunity to select a chief of staff who has as close a working dynamic as Katherine and I have shared. Many of you know me from our work together in the free and open movement over many years — we’ve discussed the future of the web over a good coffee at MozFest, debated copyright reform and license terms at CC Summits, or worked to reshape our global movements in Berlin, Stockholm, Esino Lario, Tunis, and online. Over the past decade, it’s been a real joy to have so many conversations about the future we want to build together, and then to actually go out and work on it. The Wikimedia communities are at the center of the world’s most powerful collective act, and it’s been thrilling to be a part of it with you. For me, this most recent role in our open community was an opportunity to make a lasting impact on the future of free knowledge. It has been a tremendous honor to get to know our communities more deeply through the movement strategy process, and support this work to develop the strategy towards tangible actions that are now being implemented across our movement. It was exactly a year ago today that a small group of us met in New York City to finalize the draft recommendations, and today there are concrete commitments and an incredible momentum towards a new model of distributed, community-led governance that I know will reshape the movement forever. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have done this work with our movement, and for the collaboration and friendships that developed along the way. I’m also proud of our work together to combat disinformation. Wikimedians have been fighting disinformation together for 20 years — it’s a core value and approach. But this year brought unprecedented threats, and as always, communities stepped up to lead. At the Foundation, we came together with community members to make sure we had a coordinated approach to defend the projects against disinformation around COVID-19 and the US elections last fall. The experience of the disinformation taskforce taught us several valuable lessons that are informing how we understand and prepare for threats to the quality of knowledge on our projects. This is a movement built on the promise of radical collaboration. What I will miss most are the people that I have had the privilege to work with during my time here. I’m not certain what is next for me, but I have some conversations in the works and hope to have more to say soon. I will continue to be a part of this Big Open movement, and look forward to seeing you again — online or (fingers crossed) in person. With gratitude, Ryan Ryan Merkley (he/him) Chief of Staff and Board Liaison Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

2 1

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wiki Loves Monuments] Next year: my role
by Olushola Olaniyan 09 Mar '21

09 Mar '21

Apologies for cross posting!!! We write to invite all photographers and photo enthusiasts on this platform to the maiden edition of #WikiPhotoTalk. The event was designed to support, create awareness for open knowledge in photography and better provide more visibility for African photographers featuring top photographers and image practitioners across Africa to share knowledge, experience and help to proffer solutions to likely topical local issues around photography in Africa. It’s free but mandatory to register here: http://bit.ly/wikiphototalk <http://bit.ly/wikiphototalk?fbclid=IwAR3oc5RXGPkBd0JpQcLkZsz50blh1eJ9SFoRTA…> Thanks and looking forward to seeing you all as we advance Photography knowledge in Africa. Stay Safe! Olaniyan Olushola

1 0

Wikimedia Norway General assembly
by Sigrun Espe 09 Mar '21

09 Mar '21

Hi, Wikimedia Norge held its general assembly on Saturday, March 6th. The meeting was all-digital, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is the board for 2021-22: - Sigrun Espe (User:Sigrunespe), chair, term: 2020-2022 - Andrea Hegdahl Tiltnes (User:AndreaHT), second chair, term: 2021-2023 - Tore Sætre (User:Toresetre), term: 2021-2023 - Trond Trosterud (User:Trondtr). term: 2021-2023 - Hilde Blix (User:Hildeblix), term: 2020–2022 - Fredrik Ljone, term 2021-2023 - Stian Amadeus Antonsen, deputy board member, term: 2021-2022 All board members, except deputies, are normally elected for a two-year term. Sigrun Espe and Hilde Blix were therefore not up for election this year. We have expanded the board with one member, and have recruited two persons who are new to our organisation, Fredrik Ljone and Stian Antonsen. Three board members wished to continue on, and were re-elected. We hope this will both ensure continuity in our organisation and give us some new impulses and experiences. A big thanks to all the volunteers who take on responsibilities and drive the organisation forward, and to our amazing staff at Wikimedia Norge. I am excited to be starting my second year as chair of the board of Wikimedia Norway, and hope to keep on learning and expanding my knowledge of the world of Wikimedia, both in Norway and internationally. The minutes from the general assembly can be read here (in Norwegian): https://no.wikimedia.org/wiki/%C3%85rsm%C3%B8te_2021/Protokoll#Underskrevet… Best wishes, Sigrun Espe Chair of the board Wikimedia Norge / Wikimedia Noreg / Wikimedia Norga +47 990 44 666 sigrun(a)wikimedia.no

1 0

Project Grants Open Call February 15 - March 16, 2021
by Rupika Sharma 08 Mar '21

08 Mar '21

Hello everyone, This is a reminder for the next open call for the Project Grants focused on research and software proposals started today i.e. February 15 with a submission deadline of March 16, 2021. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project>. For this round, we invite you to propose grant applications that fall under research and software categories. We offer the following resources to help you plan your project and complete a grant proposal: *Weekly proposals clinics via Hangouts during the Open Call. Join us for real-time discussions with Program Officers and select thematic experts and get live feedback about your Project Grants proposal. We’ll answer questions and help you make your proposal better.< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project#Upcoming_events> *Video tutorials for writing a strong application:< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Tutorial> *General planning page for Project Grants:< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Plan> *Program guidelines and criteria:< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Learn> *Program officers are also available to offer individualized proposal support upon request. We are excited to see your grant ideas that will support our community and make an impact on the future of Wikimedia projects. Put your idea into motion, and submit your proposal by March 16, 2021! < https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Apply> Please feel free to get in touch with questions about getting started with your grant application. We have an open call ongoing for Project Grants Committee - if you are interested in serving on the Committee, please apply through this link< https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Committee/Candidates>. We are in particular need of software experts; research experts also are welcome to apply for the role in the committee. Contact us at projectgrants(a)wikimedia.org if you would like feedback or more information. Best regards, Rupika *Rupika Sharma* Junior Program Officer Wikimedia Foundation Grants Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

2 2

Annual Report for Wiki Cemeteries User Group
by Maor Malul 07 Mar '21

07 Mar '21

Dear all, Please find below the link to the first annual activity report of Wiki Cemeteries User Group for 2020. Regards, Maor https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Cemeteries_User_Group/Report_2020 -- *"Jülüjain wane mmakat ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."* Maor Malul Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve Member, Wikimedia Israel | www.wikimedia.org.il Member, Wiki Cemeteries User Group Phone: +972-52-4869915 Twitter: @maor_x

1 0

Four panel discussions - Call for Feedback: Community Board seats final sprint
by Jackie Koerner 05 Mar '21

05 Mar '21

Hi all, The facilitation team for the Call for Feedback: Community Board seats invites you to a round of panel sessions next week, in the last days of the Call for feedback: Community Board seats. [1], [2] *Skills for Board work Friday, March 12, 18:00 UTC *Support for candidates Saturday, March 13, 12:00 UTC *Board - Global Council - Hubs Saturday, March 13, 16:00 UTC *Regional diversity Sunday, March 14 13:00 UTC We are confirming guests and times, and we are updating the wiki pages accordingly. Expect 90-minute sessions with video recording: 45 minutes for a panel to dive deep into possible scenarios followed by 45 minutes to continue the conversation with open mic for all participants. You can share your questions and comments now on the panel Talk pages. We hope to see you there! Best, -- *Jackie Koerner* *she/her* Communication Facilitator, Board Governance *English language communities and Meta-Wiki* [1] Call for Feedback: Community Board seats https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees/Call… [2] Four panel discussions https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees/Call…

1 0

Community Resources Team New Grants Strategy Proposal [Request for Feedback]
by Kassia Echavarri-Queen 04 Mar '21

04 Mar '21

Dear Friends/Wikimedians, The Community Resources team announced in January the intention and process to review its current grants programs (Annual Plan Grants, Simple Annual Plan Grants, Project Grants and Rapid Grants) to ensure we are aligning with the strategic direction[1] of the Wikimedia movement, with a focus on knowledge equity[1] and building a thriving movement[2]. Now that we have finished our needs review, key stakeholders discussions, community brainstorms, and grantee surveys, we are excited to share with you the draft proposal[1] that has resulted from this work. We are requesting your feedback on how the proposed grant programs would impact you and how well they align with our movement strategy, which can be provided in the following ways: Complete a feedback form[3] Participate in office hours[3] Discuss on-wiki[4] E-mail the Community Resources team (<communityresources(a)wikimedia.org>) More information about these options can be found on our feedback page.[3] After one month when the planned feedback period is over, the Community Resources team will review all community input and make final adjustments to complete the redesign. In April 2021, the Community Resources team will review and incorporate suggested changes and send a final proposal for endorsement and approval by the leadership of the Wikimedia Foundation. Working with all our communities to update our grants programs is essential to ensuring that they are useful and address real needs for our communities. Thank you for all of the participation that has brought us to this point in the journey. We look forward to the continued engagement in this next step and listening to your ideas. On behalf of the Community Resources team, Kassia [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20 [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/… https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunc… [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunc… [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Re…

1 0

Board Ratification of Universal Code of Conduct
by María Sefidari 03 Mar '21

03 Mar '21

Hi everyone, I’m pleased to announce that the Board of Trustees has unanimously approved a Universal Code of Conduct for the Wikimedia projects and movement.[1] A Universal Code of Conduct was one of the final recommendations of the Movement Strategy 2030 process - a multi-year, participatory community effort to define the future of our movement. The final Universal Code of Conduct seeks to address disparities in conduct policies across our hundreds of projects and communities, by creating a binding minimum set of standards for conduct on the Wikimedia projects that directly address many of the challenges that contributors face. The Board is deeply grateful to the communities who have grappled with these challenging topics. Over the past six months, communities around the world have participated in conversations and consultations to help build this code collectively, including local discussions in 19 languages, surveys, discussions on Meta, and policy drafting by a committee of volunteers and staff. The document presented to us reflects a significant investment of time and effort by many of you, and especially by the joint staff/volunteer committee who created the base draft after reviewing input collected from community outreach efforts. We also appreciate the dedication of the Foundation, and its Trust & Safety policy team, in getting us to this phase. This was the first phase of our Universal Code of Conduct - from here, the Trust & Safety team will begin consultations on how best to enforce this code. In the coming weeks, they will follow-up with more instructions on how you can participate in discussions around enforcing the new code. Over the next few months, they will be facilitating consultation discussions in many local languages, with our affiliates, and on Meta to support a new volunteer/staff committee in drafting enforcement pathways. For more information on the process, timeline, and how to participate in this next phase, please review the Universal Code of Conduct page on Meta.[2] The Universal Code of Conduct represents an essential step towards our vision of a world in which all people can participate in the sum of all knowledge. Together, we have built something extraordinary. Today, we celebrate this milestone in making our movement a safer space for contribution for all. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, María Sefidari Board Chair [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Draft_review [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct

17 20

Invitation: UCoC Discussions @ Tue 9 Mar 2021 9pm - 10pm (SAST) (wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org)
by bobbyshabangu＠gmail.com 03 Mar '21

03 Mar '21

You have been invited to the following event. Title: UCoC Discussions When: Tue 9 Mar 2021 9pm – 10pm South Africa Standard Time Joining info: Join with Google Meet https://meet.google.com/pdj-rbqd-kqe?hs=224 Calendar: wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Who: * bobbyshabangu(a)gmail.com- organiser * msalman-ctr(a)wikimedia.org * wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org * douglas.i.scott(a)gmail.com * wikimedia-za-board(a)lists.wikimedia.org Event details: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=VIEW&eid=NDRtazRhcHRkdDho… Invitation from Google Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ You are receiving this courtesy email at the account wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org because you are an attendee of this event. To stop receiving future updates for this event, decline this event. Alternatively, you can sign up for a Google Account at https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ and control your notification settings for your entire calendar. Forwarding this invitation could allow any recipient to send a response to the organiser and be added to the guest list, invite others regardless of their own invitation status or to modify your RSVP. Learn more at https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37135#forwarding

1 0

Wikimedia Morocco 2020 Annual Report is out!
by Anass Sedrati 02 Mar '21

02 Mar '21

Hello dear Wikimedians, We are very excited to finally share with you the report of Wikimedia Morocco User group, detailing the different activities in which group members participated, as well as information about different projects that were conducted online in the country in parallel with Covid-19 restrictions, and the very unusual situation that every person in the world had to confront. Please find the report (and some nice pictures) at this link <https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Wikimedia_Morocco._2020…>, as well as a PDF version of it attached to this email. If you have any questions or would like to know more about activities in Morocco, or would like to partner with us, do not hesitate to contact us at: wikimaug(a)gmail.com Thank you, and have a wonderful evening (or any part of the day depending on where you are!) Best regards, -- ----------------------------------------------------- *Anass SEDRATI*

1 0

Txikipedia APP launched
by Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga 01 Mar '21

01 Mar '21

Dear all, It has been three years since Basque wikimedians launched Txikipedia<http://txikipedia.eus>, the children version of our most famous Encyclopedia. Txikipedia, small and free, has grown to nearly 3.000 articles and lots of education projects are being made at schools to enhance, create and learn Txikipedia. Last year we launched an App for Android<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ewke.txikipedia> and iOS<https://apps.apple.com/us/app/txikipedia/id1523433958> to help children finding the content they want. Today, we have launched a national advertisement campaign to promote both Txikipedia and the App. A long video, jingles at radio and a small ad at television will be broadcasted in the forthcoming days. Because "parenthood is difficult. With Txikipedia is a little bit easier". Banners at media, Txikipedia based questions inside chidren TV shows and a powerful social media campaign will booster our app and project. We have partnered with Hiru Damatxo<http://www.hirudamatxo.eus/#> idea factory to create an idea calling parents to install the app in their children's mobiles/tablets, so they can safely find information designed for their age. Because parenthood is difficult, but with Txikipedia is a little bit easier. You can help us spreading the word: * YouTube video (eu, en subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSL8APE-4gk * Relevant tweet: https://twitter.com/euwikipedia/status/1366298410513440770 * Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EuskarazkoWikipedia/posts/1306344716418604 Thanks! Galder

3 2

Update: Wikimedia Endowment reaching the next planned stage
by Lisa Gruwell 01 Mar '21

01 Mar '21

Hi all - I have some good news to share. Five years ago, we launched the Wikimedia Endowment <https://wikimediaendowment.org/> as a permanent safekeeping fund to enable us to fulfill the part of our mission that says we will provide support to the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Mission_statement>. Our goal was to raise an initial USD $100 million for the Endowment by 2026, after which income earned from investing the fund <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment#Endowment_Investment_Po…>would become a new stream of financial support for Wikimedia projects. Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters and the hard work of the staff and the Endowment Board, the Endowment now holds $90 million. We anticipate that we will surpass the $100 million goal next fiscal year. At the outset, the Endowment was established as a Collective Action Fund at Tides Foundation, with the plan to move it to a permanent structure as the fund neared critical mass. In preparation for the approaching $100 million milestone, we are now beginning the work of taking the Endowment to its next stage of maturity: establishing it as an independent public charity with the mission of providing financial support for the Wikimedia projects. We are grateful to the future-focused community members who began considering the idea of an endowment years ago, to those who participated in community conversations on meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Endowment_Essay> to help us think through initial decisions regarding its launch, to the WMF Board that gave the Endowment its full support, and especially to the Endowment Board <https://wikimediaendowment.org/#undefined>who, among many other things, introduced us to their friends and opened their homes to host fundraising events for us. While we look forward to celebrating the achievement of the $100 million milestone in the next year, the work of growing the Endowment will not be over. Our direct fundraising efforts will continue, as will our pursuit of planned gifts (such as gifts in wills and other legacy gifts). To date, we have over 1,000 members of the Wikimedia Legacy Society – donors who have agreed to leave a portion of their estate to the Wikimedia Endowment. Their long-term commitment is a sign of deep respect for the work of our volunteer communities and of a desire to help us reach the ambitious 2030 Strategic Direction. As we move forward in these efforts, you can follow updates on meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment>, and we welcome your questions on the Endowment’s Talk page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Endowment>. We started this endowment conversation with the community on that page five years ago and that is the best place to continue it as we move into this next phase. Thank you to everyone who has helped bring us to this point in the road. Best regards, Lisa Gruwell Chief Advancement Officer -- Lisa Seitz Gruwell Chief Advancement Officer Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

2 1

2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

Wikimedia-l March 2021