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
Dear friends and colleagues
Please permit me to publicise an academic conference that we're holding at
Hong Kong Baptist University on 15-17 December 2021.
The conference will be an ideal forum in which to discuss research
methodologies, issues of collaborativity, theoretical frameworks that have
proven valuable for the study of Wikipedia translation, the use of
Wikipedia in the translation classroom and by translation professionals,
and the nature of Wikipedia translation and how it differs not only from
other more traditional types of translation but also from other newly
emerging types. While the conference's main focus is interlingual
translation within the online encyclopaedia, we are also interested
in research into the multilingual Wikipedia that makes no explicit
reference to translation issues.
The conference will be online, face-to-face or mixed mode, depending on
prevailing circumstances. Please see the conference website at
https://ctn.hkbu.edu.hk/wikiconf2021/ for full details and the Call for
Papers.
I hope to see some of you there!
Mark
Professor Mark Shuttleworth 夏致遠
Department of Translation, Interpreting and Intercultural Studies
Hong Kong Baptist University
Phone: +852 3411 6641
http://www.tran.hkbu.edu.hkhttps://ctn.hkbu.edu.hk/wikiconf2021/
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Hello, all. :)
I hope and trust that everyone is keeping well during these times!
I’m Maggie Dennis, Vice President of the Community Resilience &
Sustainability group of Wikimedia Foundation, within the Legal department.
I wanted to announce with pleasure that Maria Sefidari has agreed to
consult with the Foundation on Movement Strategy and the ongoing Board
evolution for the upcoming year. Many of us know María from her role as the
chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, from which she
provided invaluable leadership in governance, oversight, and fundraising.
Others may know her from her volunteer work as User:Raystorm
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Raystorm>, in which she has a broad
range of experience.
María, based in Spain, commenced her assignment with the Foundation this
week. We intend to tap into her expertise and knowledge of the Foundation
to support a successful implementation of the Movement’s Strategy and to
tap into new opportunities. (With her Board work, she will be supporting
Quim Gil’s team with the Board election and helping Margo Lee in improving
onboarding, documentation practices, and training.) María will report to me
as part of our Community Resilience & Sustainability group. I’m excited
that she accepted our offer for a more hands-on assignment, particularly
given how important all of the work she’ll be supporting is. :) With more
than 15 years of Wikimedia experience, her contributions in the next phase
will be a tremendous benefit to me and my team as we continue settling into
our own work on Movement Strategy.
Those of you who are involved with Movement Strategy are used to seeing her
at related meetings and still will. :) I anticipate María will be joining
one or more of the Movement Strategy global conversations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Updates/June_15,_2021>
this weekend. Advertisement alert: maybe you can, too? Here’s more detail
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Updates/June_15,_2021>!
I myself will be attending at least one of those sessions and look forward
to seeing some of you there.
Warm regards,
Maggie
--
Maggie Dennis
She/her/hers
Vice President, Community Resilience & Sustainability
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Dear Wikimedians,
Last year, the Education team at the Wikimedia Foundation launched a pilot
teacher training program that helped teachers use Wikipedia in their
classrooms. Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/our-work/education/reading-wikipedia-in-the…>
provided a professional development opportunity to over 500 teachers in
Bolivia, Morocco, and the Philippines with a localized curriculum and
resources aligned with UNESCO’s Media and Information Literacy framework.
Throughout this 9-week program, teachers developed vital media and
information literacy skills for the 21st century, including understanding
how information is produced, accessing and evaluating content online, and
identifying biases and knowledge gaps. All through the power of Wikipedia
<https://www.k12digest.com/changing-the-narrative-the-power-of-wikipedia-to-…>!
You can read more details about the pilot program and its impact in our
final report
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reading_Wikipedia_Final_Report.pdf>
[1].
Now, we are opening up the opportunity to more Wikimedians, mission-aligned
organizations, and individuals to participate in a Training of Trainers
(ToT). By the end of the ToT, participants will be certified to lead
training for Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom. They will be able to adapt
& implement the Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom program in their local
contexts to help teachers use Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool. Participants
who successfully complete the ToT will also have access to a pool of
funding that can support their local activities. You can learn more about
the ToT timeline and curriculum on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Reading_Wikipedia_in_the_Classroo…>
.
We think you or members of your community would be a great fit! We invite
you to attend an information session on Thursday, July 29 at 13:00 UTC via
Zoom <https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95280050770>. The team will share more
detailed information, answer questions, and announce the open call for
applications. If you have any questions ahead of this event, please don’t
hesitate to reach out to the team at education(a)wikimedia.org
We look forward to seeing you at the information session!
--the Education Team
[1]The program report
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reading_Wikipedia_Final_Report.pdf>
shows us how teachers’ attitudes towards Wikipedia changed as they moved
through the curriculum, responded to practical assignments and reflection
questions, and participated in synchronous sessions led by local
coordinators of the program. For example, one of the participating teachers
from Bolivia said that at first he “thought that Wikipedia was a platform
like Google, but now I value all the volunteer work done by the community
behind it”. The program model also supported members of the local Wikimedia
affiliates to improve their capacity to organize and lead education
initiatives. Currently, the Wikimedians of Bolivia
<https://twitter.com/wikimedia_bo/status/1415057167804162049> user group is
launching the second edition of the program! The resources
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Reading_Wikipedia_in_the_classr…>
created for the program are available on Wikimedia Commons in English,
Spanish, Arabic, and Tagalog, and they are free for anybody to use, adapt
and share.
--
Sailesh Patnaik (He/Him)
Program Officer, Education
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear Wikimedians,
Wiki Indaba is the official regional conference of the Wikimedia Foundation
for Africans both within and in the diaspora with interest in African
continent in addition to other open knowledge activators who are aligned
with the open information sharing mission.Topics of presentation and
dialogue include Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia, other wikis,
open-source software, free knowledge, free content and how these projects
affect the African continent.
The 2020 edition of the conference was supposed to be held in Kampala,
Uganda but was postponed and will instead be held as a virtual event hosted
by the Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda from 5th - 7th November 2021
Whether you are a community member of one of the Wikimedia projects (such
as Wikipedia, Wikidata or others), or a fellow open content creator or
consumer, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) in Uganda welcomes your
participation in this survey to identify themes and topics that would not
only be inclusive but also be of interest to you and your community.
Please give us your feedback by filling this survey http://shorturl.at/ltPR7
not later than 12th August 2021
Kind regards,
Geoffrey Kateregga
Communications Lead,
Virtual Wiki Indaba 2021
Hello all,
We invite you all to sign up for Toolhub's Quality Signal sessions!
Toolhub <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Toolhub> [1] is a
community-authored catalog of Wikimedia tools. On Toolhub, you will be able
to discover new tools in the Wikimedia ecosystem, promote their use in your
wiki community, and help improve them by contributing data. Toolhub's first
release is planned around Wikimania 2021.
The Toolhub team is currently working on identifying quality indicators
through conversations with tool users and developers. As a tool user, how
do you know which tool is reliable, useful, and safe to use? As a tool
maintainer, what makes it attractive to you to contribute to an existing
tool? What information are you looking for to decide whether to join a tool
project? We hope that these sessions will help gather quality indicators
for tools and provide valuable insight toward developing new features to
convey the quality.
Want to organize a quality signal session in your community in August/early
September? Please get in touch on the talk page or sign-up for an already
planned session by adding your name below it: <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Toolhub/The_Quality_Signal_Sessions> [2].
Your feedback, thoughts, ideas would be valuable!
If you are attending Wikimania, we are running a few introductions and a
feedback session as part of the unconference. Learn more here: <
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Unconference/Toolhub> [3].
Cheers,
Srishti
On behalf of the Toolhub team
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Toolhub
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Toolhub/The_Quality_Signal_Sessions
[3] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Unconference/Toolhub
*Srishti Sethi*
Senior Developer Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello all,
This email is a reminder to start proposing projects and sessions for this
year’s Wikimania hackathon, taking place on August 13th (the first day of
Wikimania). You may have already seen the announcement email last week with
all the details.
This year’s hackathon will take place in a 24 hrs format covering all time
zones. You can start proposing a session or a project by following the
guidelines here: <
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Hackathon#Propose_a_project_or_a_…>
[1].
We also encourage folks to reuse the video of a previously recorded session
(in lecture format) to organize a watch party-style session. And, you can
pause during or after for questions and discussions. That way, you have to
do less prep, and one can watch your session at any time during the event.
There isn't a specific focus area proposed this time, so your session or
project needn't fit under a theme. Anything that involves MediaWiki
development or covers a technical area in the Wikimedia ecosystem. Plus, we
welcome sessions that would be helpful to newcomers–new to the event, our
technical spaces, or projects.
If you have any questions, feel free to use the related talk page to
contact the organizing team or join the community conversation on Telegram:
<https://t.me/wikimaniachat> [2].
We look forward to your participation!
Cheers,
Srishti
On behalf of the Wikimania Hackathon organizing team
[1]
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Hackathon#Propose_a_project_or_a_…
[2] https://t.me/wikimaniachat
*Srishti Sethi*
Senior Developer Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi all,
Join the Research Team at the Wikimedia Foundation [1] for their monthly
Office hours this Tuesday, 2021-08-03, at 16:00-17:00 UTC (9am PT/6pm
CEST).
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 on behalf of the WMF Research Team
[1] https://research.wikimedia.org
[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
Chers Wikimédiens,
Wiki Indaba est la conférence régionale officielle de la Wikimedia
Foundation pour les Africains de l'intérieur et de la diaspora qui
s'intéressent au continent africain, ainsi que pour d'autres activateurs de
la connaissance ouverte qui sont alignés sur la mission de partage de
l'information ouverte. Les sujets de présentation et de dialogue
comprennent les projets Wikimedia tels que Wikipedia, d'autres wikis, les
logiciels libres, la connaissance libre, le contenu libre et la façon dont
ces projets affectent le continent africain.
L'édition 2020 de la conférence devait se tenir à Kampala, en Ouganda, mais
elle a été reportée et se déroulera sous la forme d'un événement virtuel
organisé par le Wikimedia Community User Group Uganda du 5 au 7 novembre
2021.
Que vous soyez un membre de la communauté de l'un des projets Wikimedia
(tels que Wikipedia, Wikidata ou autres), ou un autre créateur ou
consommateur de contenu ouvert, le comité d'organisation local (LOC) en
Ouganda vous invite à participer à cette enquête afin d'identifier les
thèmes et les sujets qui seraient non seulement inclusifs, mais aussi
d'intérêt pour vous et votre communauté.
Veuillez nous faire part de vos commentaires au plus tard le 12 août 2021
en remplissant cette enquête http://shorturl.at/ltPR7
Sincères amitiés,
Geoffrey Kateregga
Responsable communication,
Wiki virtuel Indaba 2021