Dear All,
On behalf of the Foundation Board, I’m writing to share with you that Chief
Creative Officer Heather Walls and Chief Technology Officer Grant Ingersoll
will be leaving the Wikimedia Foundation, at the end of July.
We, along with the Foundation Transition Team, have been working with them
for several weeks on a smooth transition in their respective functions. We
are grateful to them for their service and dedication to the Foundation and
the movement. In their time with us, both Heather and Grant have used their
unique talents and skills to preserve and provide free knowledge to the
world while also elevating the voices of community members around the globe.
Heather has been with the Foundation for almost ten years, driving creative
and communication efforts. In that time we’ve seen a revolution in how our
projects are perceived by the world. She has played a pivotal role at the
Foundation, shaping its identity and strengthening our mission to be a
trusted and valued resource for sharing and accessing knowledge globally.
Heather brought communities around the world closer together by developing
and executing innovative means of communications and leading campaigns that
helped grow our community and elevated the voices of our community
members. Most recently, on Wikipedia’s 20th Birthday, she, with her team,
connected people in more than 70 countries so that we could celebrate “20
Years Human” and our important movement together.
In her words:
“There is nothing that can sum up nearly a decade with Wikimedians. The
joy, the conflict, the evolution, and the unchanging. I’ve seen things
change for the better; focused effort to bring more equity into our
movement including a ground-breaking global code of conduct—and I’ve seen
things stay the same in ways that matter; Wikimedians holding true to their
values in face of new challenges like censorship and misinformation. As I
reflect on the past almost 10 years, I am amazed by the pace and strength
of our growth and the evolution of our brand from an internet experiment to
one of the most trusted places on the web. It was a pleasure to see this
work reach a pinnacle during Wikipedia’s 20th Birthday celebrations, with
headlines, brand partnerships, and community events that shine a light on
how far we’ve come. My appreciation of the people I have met through this
journey and the incredible team I leave behind, is immense.”
Grant, who joined the Foundation two years ago and was based in North
Carolina, worked to strengthen Wikimedia’s online infrastructure to
increase its reliability and to ensure that people around the globe could
access free knowledge whenever they needed it. While Grant and his growing
team work largely behind the scenes, they are the reason we have the
platform and ability to elevate the voices of our community members and
provide free knowledge to the world.
In Grant's words:
“My last two years serving the free knowledge movement have been incredibly
rewarding and challenging. I’m so proud of what the Foundation Technology
team has accomplished, especially with the unique set of challenges this
year has brought. There is never a perfect time to leave, but I am
confident that this work is in the most capable hands. It’s been a
privilege to support my team as they have worked side-by-side with movement
volunteers to strengthen our online infrastructure and ensure that
Wikimedia remains a trusted source for open knowledge. Together, we evolved
and scaled our platform to ensure that people across the globe have 24/7,
uninterrupted access to our information when they need it most.”
While transitions are always challenging, they are also a natural part of
evolution and growth of organizations. The Foundation's Transition team -
Amanda, Jaime, and Robyn - is working closely with the Board Transition
Committee, as well as other relevant Board Committees, to ensure smooth
operations during this period. We remain very confident that together,
along with our communities, we can build a future for the Foundation that
will better serve our important movement goals and strategy. As we work
through the transition, including the ongoing process of identifying the
next CEO/ED, we will continue to provide relevant updates.
In the meantime, on behalf of the Board, please join me in wishing Grant
and Heather the best of luck.
Best,
Raju
--
Raju Narisetti
Home TimeZone: EST
My working day may not be your working day. Please don’t feel obliged to
reply to this email outside of your normal working hours.
*Have you considered supporting Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is a non-profit website which provides free, open, reliable
knowledge to hundreds of millions of people around the world every single
day.
https://donate.wikimedia.org *
Dear Wikimedia community, dear friends,
Wikimedia Germany’s Education, Science and Culture Team would like to
invite you - people from communities, affiliates, scholars, volunteers,
editors - to share experiences and perspectives from your engagement with,
and work on knowledge equity.
*What?*
Any individual or collective activity, project, publication and idea
addressing knowledge equity in the context of advancing open knowledge
within the Wikimedia Movement.
*How?*
Please list your activity in our meta page
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Deutschland/Movement_Strategy_and…>.
*What's next?*
We will first review all your contributions and get in touch to discuss
ideas and next steps around how to amplify our collective interest in
knowledge equity theory and practices.
Feel free to leave us your comments on meta or get in touch:
science(a)wikimedia.de
With best wishes from Berlin, Germany
WMDE's Education, Science and Culture Team
Hello everyone,
The Wikimedia Foundation has submitted our annual Form 990 for the Fiscal
Year 2019-20 to the US Internal Revenue Service
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Service> (IRS) and posted
on-wiki[1]. The Form 990 is the annual financial reporting, known as an
“information return,” which the IRS requires nonprofit organizations in the
United States to file.
In addition to posting the Form 990 on-wiki, we have also posted an
accompanying page with answers to frequently asked questions related to the
form and information we reported.[2]
Here are a few key highlights on this year’s Form 990:
- The Wikimedia Foundation's total revenue for fiscal year
2019-2020 was US $124.6 million. Our total expenses during this period were
US $112.2 million and our total net assets at the end of the fiscal year
were US $180.3 million.
- At the end of our fiscal year 2019-2020, our revenue exceeded our
expenses by US $12.5 million, which increased our operating reserve to
$179.7 million, or the equivalent of 19-20 months of expenses per the
fiscal year 2020-2021 annual plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/…>.
As reported under our prior Form 990, we have been maintaining the
operating reserve at 17-18 months. Our goal is to have sufficient reserve
funds to conservatively provide at least 12-18 months of operating expenses
in order to mitigate against unforeseen risk, secure operational stability,
and ensure the overall financial health of the organization, in particular,
with the COVID-19 pandemic which brings a significant amount of volatility
and uncertainty for a majority of businesses, including non-profit
organizations. This principle is consistent with many other financially
stable, non-profit organizations that are rated by Charity Navigator
<https://www.charitynavigator.org/>. With a stable and secure reserve, we
have the ability to fund specific Wikimedia Movement investment
opportunities that may arise.
- During the fiscal year 2019-2020, we continued to experience
growth in our fundraising revenue and success that was attributed to our
fundraising campaigns.
- We continue to invest in programmatic activities and evaluate to
ensure that our allocation percentage is at or above the standard benchmark
of 65%. During the fiscal year 2019-2020, we invested 75% in programmatic
activities, 14% in Management & General activities, and 11% in fundraising
activities. For fiscal year 2020-2021, we continued to maintain our
commitment to our programmatic activities and projected to invest above the
standard benchmark in our total spending.
- Our expenses increased due to the investment to support our
medium term plan and priorities, that are outlined in the Annual Plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Medium-term_plan_2019/…>.
The major programmatic areas are to evolve our systems and structures and
to grow new contributors and content along with supporting a thriving
movement and global advocacy.
- Our Governance, Management, and Disclosure practices are
committed to maintaining best practices for non-profit charitable
organizations, we’ve achieved a score of 100% from Charity Navigator for
our accountability and transparency and meet the IRS requirements as
applicable.
Through reports and discussions like these, the Wikimedia Foundation will
continue to strive to provide a responsible level of transparency and
accountability. I imagine there are other questions, and I invite you to
review the on-wiki FAQ[2], or post your questions on the discussion page
should you have any.
Thank you to the Foundation's Audit Committee for their oversight and our
Staff for their work in developing this year's Form 990 and related
communications for filing and public disclosure.
Best Regards and Be Well,
Jaime
[1] - https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/
[2] -
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2019_Wikimedia_…
Jaime Villagomez
Chief Financial Officer
Wikimedia Foundation <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/>*
Hello all,
The July Research Showcase will take place on July 21, 16:30 UTC (9:30am
PT/ 12:30pm ET/ 18:30pm CEST). The theme is the effects of campaigns to
close content gaps on Wikipedia, and speakers will be Kai Zhu from McGill
University and Isabelle Langrock from the University of Pennsylvania.
Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otN3H-hIImQ
Talk 1
Speaker: Kai Zhu (McGill University, Canada)
Title: Addressing Information Poverty on Wikipedia
Abstract: Open collaboration platforms have fundamentally changed the way
that knowledge is produced, disseminated, and consumed. In these systems,
contributions arise organically with little to no central governance.
Although such decentralization provides many benefits, a lack of broad
oversight and coordination can leave questions of information poverty and
skewness to the mercy of the system’s natural dynamics. Unfortunately, we
still lack a basic understanding of the dynamics at play in these systems
and specifically, how contribution and attention interact and propagate
through information networks. We leverage a large-scale natural experiment
to study how exogenous content contributions to Wikipedia articles affect
the attention that they attract and how that attention spills over to other
articles in the network. Results reveal that exogenously added content
leads to significant, substantial, and long-term increases in both content
consumption and subsequent contributions. Furthermore, we find significant
attention spillover to downstream hyperlinked articles. Through both
analytical estimation and empirically informed simulation, we evaluate
policies to harness this attention contagion to address the problem of
information poverty and skewness. We find that harnessing attention
contagion can lead to as much as a twofold increase in the total attention
flow to clusters of disadvantaged articles. Our findings have important
policy implications for open collaboration platforms and information
networks.
Talk 2
Speaker: Isabelle Langrock (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Title: Quantifying and Assessing the Impact of Two Feminist Interventions
Abstract: Wikipedia has a well-known gender divide affecting its
biographical content. This bias not only shapes social perceptions of
knowledge, but it can also propagate beyond the platform as its contents
are leveraged to correct misinformation, train machine-learning tools, and
enhance search engine results. What happens when feminist movements
intervene to try to close existing gaps? In this talk, we present a recent
study of two popular feminist interventions designed to counteract digital
knowledge inequality. Our findings show that the interventions are
successful at adding content about women that would otherwise be missing,
but they are less successful at addressing several structural biases that
limit the visibility of women within Wikipedia. We argue for more granular
and cumulative analysis of gender divides in collaborative environments and
identify key areas of support that can further aid the feminist movements
in closing Wikipedia’s gender gaps.
--
Janna Layton (she/her)
Administrative Associate - Product & Technology
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear Community Members,
We are pleased to inform you that the first round of scholarships to
facilitate attendance for this year's virtual Wikimania has been accepted
and the funds are being distributed.
As previously announced, the scholarships for the 2021 Wikimania are only
being channeled through affiliates. This was a complex decision and
something that we will build on for next year. Individuals who are not in a
community with an affiliate but would wish to receive support like data,
mobile top-off, and childcare can request a nearby affiliate for support.
We have so far received 22 Scholarship applications.
We appeal to all affiliates to be supportive of nearby regional communities
that may need help and reach out to the COT should there be need for
further guidance. Scholarship applications close on 31 July 2021
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Scholarships>.(
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2021/Scholarships)
Digital Assets
We also invite you to work with this Wikimania’s digital assets, which
include high-resolution graphics and virtual backgrounds. Access the
digital assets HERE
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikimania_2021_symbols> and
have fun.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.
Hello everyone!
We are glad to inform you about the Wiki Loves Africa 2021-WPWP campaign
prize categories.
Every year, thousands of images are uploaded to Wikimedia Commons
database as part of the
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Africa Wiki Loves
Africa photo contest.
Most of these images end up on...let's say English Wikipedia, but we
believe it would be great to use these same images in the equivalent
articles in different languages!
So this year, we invite you to take some time to use Wiki Loves Africa
images to illustrate Wikipedia articles in various languages. And there
are prizes for the most involved!
1st prize - US $100 gift card
1st to 3rd prizes - WLA souvenirs (if the post office is more efficient
than it has been in the recent 18 months...)
All Wiki Loves Africa years are eligible (All pictures are available
here
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Loves_Africa_All_Images)...
BUT the first prize will consider edits made to any language except
English and French.
To be eligible:
* you must add #WLA as a hashtag to your edit (as well as #WPWP)
* you must have registered your account before January 2021
* you must have made at least 300 mainspace edits to any language
Wikipedia before 1st June 2021.
To get more information and also see suggested images for improving
various language wikis, please click
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Africa_2021/WPWP
Ensure the WPWP campaign guidelines are followed too
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Pages_Wanting_Photos_2021
Regards,
[[User:Ceslause]]
Dear Wikimedians,
The Community Resources team is excited to announce on Diff
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/07/15/community-resources-announces-new-fun…>
the launch of the new Wikimedia funding strategy focused on decentralized
decision-making, regional committees and reaching underrepresented
communities [1]. Over the last 10 months we have worked together with
communities to discuss, understand and develop an approach that addresses
their needs and moves us towards the realization of the 2030 strategic
direction [2]. Thank you for all of your participation to make this a
reality.
The three new funding programs:
The Wikimedia Community Fund
-
The Community Fund is a unified program with flexible support and
funding for Wikimedians working on knowledge equity aligned with the
movement’s strategic direction.
The Wikimedia Alliances Fund
-
The Alliances Fund, for mission-aligned organizations in
underrepresented communities who want to collaborate and amplify our work.
The Wikimedia Research and Technology Fund
-
The Research and Technology Fund for improving technology, tools, and
research to nurture a more responsive and accessible environment for
contributions.
This people-centred approach is built on the principles of equity &
empowerment, collaboration & cooperation, and the promotion of innovation
and learning.
Our team has also adapted to provide consistent regional support and the
establishment of a learning mindset for the funding approach. We know this
is just the beginning and it will be an iterative process. As we implement
and learn we will adapt. We also understand the worldwide impact of the
continuing COVID pandemic and our first priority is to be in solidarity and
have flexibility with communities around the world.
The three programs will be introduced in a phased approach throughout the
year. We will first launch with the Wikimedia Community Fund now in July.
We invite you to learn more about the programs on our meta page [3].
We have hosted a series of office hours throughout June and July [4] and
will continue in the coming weeks to discuss the new programs. Each program
officer is also reaching out and answering questions with individual
grantees as part of the transition process.
Office Hours:
-
03:00 UTC – 2021-07-23 (Asia-Pacific friendly time)
-
18:00 UTC – 2021-07-23 (Europe-Africa-Americas friendly time)
We thank you again for all of the collaboration to arrive at this new
strategy and we are excited to begin this journey together.
Wishing everyone the best,
Kassia on behalf of the Community Resources team
1.
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/07/15/community-resources-announces-new-fun…
2.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunc…
3.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start
4.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Resources/Grants_Strategy_Relaunc…
--
Kassia Echavarri-Queen (She/Her)
Director, Community Investment
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi there!
I'm happy to share Wikimedia Venezuela's 2020 Annual Report. [1]
Take a look!
[1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Venezuela/Reportes/2020/en
Greetings!
Ybsen Manuel Lucero | Board Member
A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela - J-40129321-2
+584126055242
http://wikimedia.org.ve/ | http://twitter.com/wikimedia_ve
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Dear Community Members,
We are pleased to announce that a hackathon
<https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Hackathon> will take place on
the first day of Wikimania (August 13th). During the 24 hours covering all
time zones, we aim to provide a space where the technical community as well
as others interested, including newcomers, can gather. We also aim to
onboard people who would like to get involved in Mediawiki development and
the tools ecosystem.
We see Hackathon as a space for experiments. With an open schedule and a
light, self-organized mindset, the hackathon day is the perfect opportunity
for you to try new projects, formats or to gather people and start working
on a new idea.
To learn more about this year’s hackathon, discover how to start a project,
or book a slot in the program, please visit this page:
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2021:Hackathon
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 (see
link <https://t.me/wikimaniachat>).
Session Submissions Updates
A first round of acceptances for the session submissions have been sent out
already and respective community members notified via email. In response to
so many great submissions, we have largely expanded the available virtual
space at Wikimania. However, this is quite a complex and time-consuming
task. We thank you for your patience and will continue to communicate the
results over the next few days.
Wikimania 2021 Registration is Open. Please register HERE
<https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wikimania-2021-tickets-161884957265> if you
haven’t done so already.
Best Wishes,
Winnie Kabintie (User:Ms_Kabintie
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ms_Kabintie>), on behalf of the
Wikimania 2021 Core Organizing Team.