Dear All,
There is one last bit of news I would like to share following the Board
meeting update.
After ~ 8 years on the Board of Trustees at the Wikimedia Foundation - a
long time! - I have notified the Board that I am stepping down as Chair and
trustee, effective end of day today.
As all of you know, the community-selected seats were due to expire last
year and were extended at the request of the Board to see through these
difficult and unprecedented times. Now, after chairing the last meeting of
the fiscal year and having the call for candidates for the upcoming
elections approved, it is the least disruptive moment for me to step down.
The Foundation has asked me to consider an advisory role to support
Movement Strategy and the onboarding of new trustees and the new CEO/ED, to
help support leadership and this strategic transition. Nataliia Tymkiv,
currently Vice Chair, will act as Chair until a new one is elected by the
Board ensuring continuity.
Hopefully this news will not come as too much of a surprise. I am grateful
to the community members who lent me their trust and support to become a
trustee on two different occasions, to the staff, and to the trustees for
their confidence in me in the different leadership positions I have held
within the Board - first as committee chair, then two terms as Vice Chair,
and two terms as Chair.
Together we have accomplished many things during this time, but if I had to
single out only a few they would be the following: launching the Movement
Strategy process, engaging in the most ambitious governance reform in the
history of the Board, and working to ensure the stability and
sustainability of the Foundation. It has been a time of change, of
discussing strategy and our future, and deciding together what the path
forward should be.
Of course, the work is never finished - it will be the task of the Board to
continue what has been done and face the newer and complex challenges that
will no doubt arise. I hope that we will see many of the women of the
movement and people from the Global South as candidates in the upcoming
community elections - I know there are many qualified people ready to step
into these important roles. I look forward to supporting an increasingly
capable and diverse Board.
Be safe and well everyone.
Tupananchiskama,
María
--
María Sefidari Huici
Chair of the Board
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Congratulations to all winners and the organisers for successfully organising the event.
Stay safe and healthy.
Namaste,
Rajeeb.
(Sent from my iPhone pardon the brevity).
> On 04-Jun-2021, at 8:23 PM, Eric Luth <eric.luth(a)wikimedia.se> wrote:
>
Hi all,
After calculating and validating the results, the organizers of WikiGap
Challenge 2021 have now published the results and winners! You can read
more here:
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/06/04/this-is-the-winner-of-wikigap-challen…
In short, the user Tuga1143 received the most points in the challenge,
after having created or improved 429 articles in Portuguese! Kushared and
Armineaghayan shared the first place for the newly launched "Best Article"
challenge, focusing on qualitative improvements; Kushared for their article
on Frida Kahlo in Kurdish Sorani, and Armineaghayan for their article on
Vera Kholodnaya in Armenian. You can see these and more results here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/Results
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/Results>
In total, almost 100 participants registered, and created or improved 2,940
articles! We got help from the UN Human Rights office to propose a list of
29 women human rights defenders
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiGap_Challenge/List> that yielded bonus
points. The WikiGap Challenge resulted in 337 articles about these women,
in 30 different languages!
Thanks to all the participants, for making a substantial impact on
Wikipedia, and congratulations to the winners!
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
Hi all,
On June 1st and 2nd, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees had our
regular meeting for Quarter 4 (April – June) of the Foundation’s fiscal
year. We will have more details about what transpired at the meeting once
the minutes have been prepared and approved, but we wanted to quickly
release this brief update on some key topics and decisions:
- We have unanimously approved the Call for Candidates for the 2021
selection process for Community-and Affiliate selected Trustees. There is a
revised timeline that accommodates the implementation of single
transferable vote in the SecurePoll extension, as follows:
- June 9 - 29: Call for candidates
- June 30 - July 2: Announcement of confirmed candidates
- July 7 - August 3: Candidates campaign and answer questions
- August 4 - 17: Voting
- August 18 - 24: Vote counting and processing
- August 25: Announcement of vote results
- August 25 - 31: Foundation vetting of selected candidates
- September: Board appoints selected candidates
More information on the process will follow over the next few weeks.
- We have unanimously approved a committee evolution plan to maintain
and improve the Board’s effectiveness, to be implemented in stages.
- We have unanimously approved the donation of $5 million in FY 2020-21
to the Wikimedia Endowment.
- We have reviewed the proposed Annual Plan for the Foundation for
2021/22, and unanimously authorised the Audit Committee to approve minor
adjustments to the 2021-22 fiscal year budget in response to Board input
during the June meeting. More information on the Annual Plan will follow
once the Audit Committee has met.
- We also unanimously approved the minutes from the previous Board
meeting, to be published on Foundation-Wiki.
On behalf of the Board,
María
--
María Sefidari Huici
Chair of the Board
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello, everyone.
TLDR:
The Board of Trustees’ Community Affairs Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
(CAC) is hosting its first office hour on May 13, 2021 at 19:00 UTC (check
for your local time <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1620928828>)!
Now in more details:
What are we announcing?
The CAC is a new Board of Trustees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_of_Trustees>
committee established to assess, explore and address current and future
community-related efforts. The Committee's Charter
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Affairs_Committee_Charter>
lists its full responsibilities, with the first 3 being a priority for this
coming year.
As part of our commitment to foster better communications with the
Wikimedia Movement Community, and based on feedback received from community
members requesting more availability from the Board of Trustees, the CAC
will be hosting its first Office hours.
When & Where?
The Office hours will be held on May 13 2021, at 19:00 UTC (check for your
local time <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1620928828>) via Zoom. At least
3 Trustees, as well as relevant WMF staff will be in attendance. The
session will be streamed live and recorded, so those who cannot participate
live will be able to watch later.
How will it work?
The meeting will last for 60 minutes and an additional 30 minutes of an
“open room”. The first 60 minutes will be divided into 45 minutes of
structured Q & A (based on either updates from the CAC and questions sent
by the community in advance). The final 15 minutes will be in the “ask us
anything” format, with live participation. We will be monitoring live
YouTube, Wikipedia Weekly Facebook group
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/553393111375191> and the Wikimedia General
Chat Telegram group <https://t.me/WikimediaGeneral> and the talk page on
Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>.
The structure is meant to enable the CAC to not only update the community
on current matters the Board is working on, but also hear directly from the
community, which will help inform the Committee’s future work.
Setting the agenda with your Questions
In order to be as efficient as possible, and since we anticipate that some
questions will require answers from WMF Staff, we are encouraging community
members to send questions in advance. Please send all questions to
askcac(a)wikimedia.org, by Friday, May 7th (midnight, whatever time zone you
may be in). The office hour agenda will be based on the main topics related
to the questions received. We will share this agenda on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
on May 12, including final names of Trustees in attendance.
How to register?
For security reasons and specifically to avoid Zoombombing
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoombombing>, we will be sending the Zoom
link only to people who have registered in advance close to the meeting. In
order to register, please send an email to askcac(a)wikimedia.org, indicating
your name, username, affiliation if you have any. The title should be:
“Registration for the May 13th CAC Office Hours”.
Please note --
-
This is the first time that the Board is attempting something of the
sort. This is an experiment. We’ll see how it goes - how many people are
interested in attending, timing, translation needs etc -- and make
decisions about future meetings / changes to format accordingly.
-
The session will be moderated based on the Universal Code of Conduct
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct>
-
Universally blocked users will not be allowed in the room, but can still
participate by watching live and sending questions in real-time.
Please help us spread the word by sharing this message with your local /
online communities.
Hoping to see as many of you as possible,
Shani Evenstein Sigalov
Chair, Community Affairs Committee
Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation.
Shani Evenstein Sigalov
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/profile/shani-evenstein-sigalov/>
Board of Trustees
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi all,
As Creative Commons is celebrating its 20th year, I am honored to serve on
the Program Committee for the 2021 CC Summit (with some great WikiFriends)
and happy to share that the call for proposals
<https://creativecommons.org/2021/06/02/the-2021-cc-global-summit-call-for-p…>
is
now open!
The program tracks <https://summit.creativecommons.org/2021-summit-program/>
are:
- *Creators of the Commons* – The faces, work, and stories of those
building the Commons
- *Powering the Commons** – *Exploring the tools, technology, and
communities that power the Commons
-
*Open Education and Open Scholarship* *– *Supporting and empowering
communities that practice open access to education and scholarship
-
*Open Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums* – Improving and
expanding open access to cultural heritage + Hack4OpenGLAM
- *Policy and Advocacy promoting the Commons* – Strategies for legal
action and copyright reform
Would be wonderful to have a strong Wiki presence there and celebrate with
our colleagues from CC. So please share, apply and engage. :)
Cheers,
Shani.
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…
Hi,
As the original deadline for submissions in the individuals track had been
11 June as per diff.wikimedia.org
<http://web.archive.org/web/20210522003342/https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/0…>,
this
means that the deadline was extended to 18 June to harmoni(z|s)e with the
one for the movement groups and affiliates track, right?
Best,
Martin
Am Di., 1. Juni 2021 um 12:03 Uhr schrieb Winnie kabintie <kabinte(a)gmail.com
>:
>
> Hello-hello!
>
> This is to remind you that if you would wish to host a session during
> Wikimania 2021 you have until 18th June to submit your proposal.
>
> Below are some links to guide you through;
>
> - Program Submissions
> <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submissions>
> - Session Submission Guidelines
> <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Submission_Guidelines>
> - FAQ <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania:2021_FAQ>
>
>
> We look forward to receiving your submissions and suggestions to make the
> first Virtual Wikimania a memorable event.
>
> Best Wishes,
> Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
> Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimania-l mailing list -- wikimania-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimania-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
--
Martin Rulsch
Team Ideenförderung
Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23–24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 26-0
https://wikimedia.de
Bleiben Sie auf dem neuesten Stand! Aktuelle Nachrichten und spannende
Geschichten rund um Wikimedia, Wikipedia und Freies Wissen im Newsletter: Zur
Anmeldung <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>.
Unsere Vision ist eine Welt, in der alle Menschen am Wissens der Menschheit
teilhaben, es nutzen und mehren können. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
https://spenden.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter
der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207.
Dear Wikimedians,
As you know, today is my last day as the Executive Director of Wikimedia
Deutschland.
What an incredible journey it has been. When I started in 2012, I couldn’t
have even dreamed of all the things I would experience, what I would do,
whom I would meet, where I would go, and what I would learn. And then it
all turned out to be even more intense, more magical, and more fulfilling
than I had thought or could have imagined in my boldest dreams.
In 2012, when Pavel Richter brought me into the organisation to build up
the Wikidata team and to bootstrap the project together with Denny
Vrandečić, I already had a slight notion that something huge that was about
to emerge; “Wikidata, the next big thing” still echoes in my ears today.
The vision of this free and open knowledge base excited and inspired me
from day one. It was an honour for me to establish the initial Wikidata
team and later to build the software development department at Wikimedia
Deutschland. I could really follow my passion to bring people together,
empowering them, promoting their strengths and challenging them to be
innovative, to try new things off the beaten track.
Then in 2016, a whole new phase began when I was appointed as Executive
Director. Over these four and a half years, Wikimedia Deutschland has grown
considerably: our staff has doubled to 150 and we now have over 85,000
members. Together with a large and successful community, we work as a
strong and respected partner together with educational and cultural
institutions, politics, media and digital civil society to liberate
knowledge. Alongside these audience groups in Germany, the Wikimedia
Movement - you! - has always been one of the most exciting and relevant
stakeholders. I am therefore particularly pleased that we and our members
unanimously decided in 2017 to support the 2030 Strategic Direction and its
implementation, that we were able to play a strong role in the development
of the recommendations, and that we are now continuing to pursue the
implementation with all our might.
I have had the great privilege of getting to know and learning from many of
you personally. The vast array of experience that Wikimedians bring to the
Movement, the rich ideas, and the people at the heart of it all are truly
extraordinary. In each Wikimedian I’ve met, I’ve felt the passion for the
overarching theme of our common vision. The spark in your eyes when you
start speaking about your favourite topics, be it the encyclopedia,
technology, governance, photos, food, commas, fondue, karaoke – it’s
impressive and a memory that I am glad will remain with me forever. What
each of you bring to this Movement is inspiring and truly special - and
that’s what makes this movement more than the sum of its parts.
It never gets boring in the wikiverse. There is always something new coming
along, be it in movement strategy, in our programs, or in how we work
together and grow our reach. At times, it can take awhile to get things
done. But that is often because we want to make sure everyone has a say and
has the opportunity to shape how we do things. It is a testament to the
respect Wikimedians have for each other and each other’s perspectives.
Wikimedians are very thoughtful: we take care of each other and treat each
other's needs and opinions as one of the highest goods.
Wikimedia is one of the strongest and last-standing proponents of the free
and open internet, one that continues to work toward making digital society
better for the sake of humanity.
Don’t give up this fight, don’t lose hope, be bold, unite – the world needs
you!
Yours sincerely,
Abraham
--
Geschäftsführender Vorstand / Executive Director
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 26-0
http://wikimedia.de
Dear fellow Wikimedians,
In January, Abraham Taherivand informed you that he had decided not to
renew his contract with Wikimedia Deutschland. Today, I am excited to
announce that our search for a new Executive Director has been successful:
Christian Humborg will take over office at Wikimedia Deutschland from 1
June.
One of the most important tasks of the Wikimedia Deutschland Executive
Board is the appointment of the Executive Director. My colleagues and I are
very pleased to have found such a fantastic candidate for the vacant
position. Christian impressed us with his bold ideas and visions, his
leadership experience at the head of influential civil society
organisations and his passion for the liberation of knowledge. He clearly
prevailed among the 59 applicants. The search was managed by our
Supervisory Board and Abraham with the support of an external executive
search firm.
Christian knows the Wikimedia Movement and our commitment to free knowledge
well – because he has helped shape both since 2016 as deputy executive
director and head of finance at Wikimedia Deutschland. Before that, he was
the executive director of the anti-corruption organisation Transparency
International Germany, helped establish the non-profit investigative
journalism centre Correctiv and was awarded the Grimme Online Award as a
member of the journalism collective carta.info. He is the right fit for the
future of Wikimedia Deutschland.
At this point, on behalf of our entire Board, I would like to express my
heartfelt thanks to Abraham, who has achieved so much as Executive Director
over the last four years. He has set important strategic impulses that will
be decisive for the future success of Wikimedia in the world. Abraham
joined Wikimedia Deutschland in 2012 and has since strengthened the
organisation in every respect and positioned it very well for this
handover. Thank you for your great commitment!
It is to Abraham’s credit that he discussed his decision with the Board at
an early stage and thus made a well thought-out search process possible.
Together, we are now working on a good transition.
We are looking forward to continuing the success of the last four years
together with Christian, to tackling new projects, to implementing the 2030
strategy – and to liberating a few more pieces of knowledge together every
day.
Kind regards,
Lukas
--
Dr. Lukas Mezger
Vorsitzender des Präsidiums / chair of the Supervisory Board
Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
Tel. (030) 219 158 260 – (0151) 268 63 931
http://wikimedia.de
Bleiben Sie auf dem neuesten Stand! Aktuelle Nachrichten und spannende
Geschichten rund um Wikimedia, Wikipedia und Freies Wissen im Newsletter: Zur
Anmeldung <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>.
Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch an der Menge allen
Wissens frei teilhaben kann. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
http://spenden.wikimedia.de
Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter
der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207