(In French below)
Dear Wikimedia community,
As some of you may have noticed from my interventions during the global
conversations, I am not a fan of elections. Like my compatriot David Van
Reybrouck
(https://www.polemia.com/contre-les-elections-de-david-van-reybrouck), I
am an advocate of direct democracy and consensus, and when this is not
possible, I am in favor of drawing lots for candidates with short and
non-repeatable mandates.
So, you may wonder why I have proposed myself as a candidate for the
current elections of new board members of the Wikimedia Foundation?
The answer is that it is for me a nice way to discover how these
elections work, but also and above all, it seemed to me to be a nice
opportunity to raise within our community some questions that worry me a
lot.
Unfortunately, I see that my candidacy has an opposite effect than the
one I hoped for. I had indeed wanted to launch a debate about the
Wikimedia Enterprise project in the form of a call for comments. But
this one seems to be compromised because of my lack of understanding of
the project, but also because of my candidacy to the board. See :
-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Wikimedia_Enterprise
-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Requests_for_comment/Wikimedia_Enterpr…
-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Requests_for_deletion#Requests_for_com…
My approach may be clumsy and certainly original, but it starts from a
good background. I want to help our movement to make good decisions at
the beginning of discussions that I think are important.
I am therefore sending you this message in order to receive opinions and
advice regarding this situation. I wonder indeed if it would not be
useful that I withdraw my candidacy to the board of directors to be able
to continue the debates that I would like to launch more serenely? It is
just an idea, because I am afraid that it would complicate the voting
process, which has already been postponed once. I thank you already for
the help you could give to this situation.
Sincerely,
Lionel Scheepmans
_Chère communauté Wikimédia,_
_Comme certains d'entre vous l'auront peut-être remarqué lors de mes
interventions durant les conversations mondiales, je ne suis pas un
adepte des élections. Comme mon compatriote David Van Reybrouck
(https://www.polemia.com/contre-les-elections-de-david-van-reybrouck),
je suis un partisan de la démocratie directe et du consensus et quand
cela n'est pas possible, je suis favorable au tirage au sort des
candidats avec mandats de courtes durées et non reproductibles._
_Vous vous demandez alors certainement pourquoi dans ce cas, je me suis
proposé candidat pour les actuelles élections des nouveaux membres du
conseil d'administration de la fondation Wikimedia ?_
_La réponse est que c'est pour moi une belle façon de découvrir le
fonctionnement de ces élections, mais aussi et surtout, cela me semblait
être une belle occasion pour soulever au sein de notre communauté des
questions qui m'inquiètent beaucoup._
_Malheureusement, je constate que ma candidature a un effet inverse à ce
celui espéré. J'avais en effet envie de lancer un débat concernant le
projet Wikimedia Enterprise sous forme d'appel à commentaires. Mais
celui-ci semble compromis en raison de mon manque de compréhension du
projet, mais aussi en raison de ma candidature au conseil
d'administration. Voir :_
_-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Wikimedia_Enterprise_
_-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Requests_for_comment/Wikimedia_Enterpr…
_-
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Requests_for_deletion#Requests_for_com…
_Ma démarche est peut-être maladroite et certainement originale, mais
elle part d'un bon fond. Celui d'aider notre mouvement à prendre de
bonnes décisions au départ de discussions qui me semble importante._
_Je vous adresse donc ce message dans le but de recevoir des avis et
conseil par rapport à cette situation. Je me demande effectivement s'il
ne serait pas utile que je retire ma candidature au conseil
d'administration pour pouvoir poursuivre les débats que je voudrais
lancer plus sereinement ? C'est juste une idée, car j'ai peur que cela
complique le déroulement du scrutin qui déjà fut reporté une fois. Je
vous remercie déjà pour l'aide que vous pourriez apporter à cette
situation._
_Bien cordialement,_
Lionel Scheepmans
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
Dear everyone,
We are happy to share that Houcemeddine Turki, Wojciech Pędzich, Linar
Khalitov and Mardetanha are new members who have been appointed to the
Affiliations Committee.
Here are Houcemeddine Turki, Wojciech Pędzich, Linar Khalitov and Mohsen in
their own words:
1.
Houcemeddine Turki:
I am Houcemeddine Turki. I speak Tunisian Arabic as a native language.
However, I am keen on other varieties of Arabic including Modern Standard
Arabic, Algerian Arabic, Libyan Arabic, Egyptian Arabic and North Levantine
Arabic. I speak French and English as an upper-intermediate user (CEFR B2)
and Italian as an elementary user (CEFR A2) and I am a beginner in German
and Maltese (CEFR A1). So, I consider myself as a polyglot. In my real
life, I am a medical student and a research assistant in Biomedical Data
Science, Computational Linguistics, Library and Information Science and
Semantic Web at University of Sfax, Tunisia. As a Wikimedia volunteer, I
have been a Wikipedian between 2009 and 2019 before shifting all my
interest to Wikidata. I am mainly interested in developing tools and
efficient methods to ameliorate reference support and data quality of
Wikimedia projects and in ameliorating the coverage of regional and
scholarly topics in Wikipedia and in sister projects.
1.
Wojciech Pędzich:
I feel I can enrich the AffCom with my experience as Wikimedia Polska's
functionary and the functionary of the Wikimedia projects. I have a
background in English and in organisational management, with my M. Sc. on
content creation limitations on Wikipedia; I have also made a failed
attempt at a Ph. D. in leadership in open collaboration projects. I am also
a translator, including of Wikimedia and open collaboration-related books.
1.
Linar Khalitov:
I am a long-term Wikimedian mainly active in Russian Wikipedia and
Commons. I started contributing in 2007, and during that time, I have been
in different roles: sysop and bureaucrat in ru.wiki, OTRS member, sysop on
Commons (still keep the status), ombudsman, member of IEG and PEG (still
hold position), Wikimedia RU member (still there). I am also an active bot
owner with more than 1 mln edits on the bot account.
I am based in Kazan, Russia, have a financial degree and have practically
finished my EMBA in London Business School (graduation in July 2021). I
know English, Russian and Tatar languages (though my English is better
despite being a Tatar native). I have a full-time executive job in Russia.
Still, I am sure that I will be available enough as my MBA finishes, and my
grant committee participation will be over soon, too, due to the relaunch
of the grant approach by WMF.
I believe in the mission of Wikimedia movement and have always tried to
help and participate in promoting knowledge. I am sure that there is much
work to do as even in my region (European part of Russia) most people still
don't understand how Wikimedia projects operate, what benefits they provide
and how others can contribute. I think that chapters are the way of
promoting Wikimedia values around the globe and want to dedicate my
experience and knowledge in helping chapters to build sustainable models.
1.
Mardetanha:
Having joined wikimedia in 2005, I have been more serious about
contributing in 2007. Since then, I have been full time Wikimedian,
actively involved in many projects and in different languages, and been an
administrator for many, including Meta and Commons. After graduating, I
worked in a different field, but I have a background in engineering.
Currently, I'm living in Zanjan, Iran. Farsi and Azerbaijani are my native
languages. Additionally, I know English well, have extensive knowledge of
Turkish, and I am familiar with many Iranian language. My belief has always
been that affiliates are the heart of our movement, so the stronger the
affiliates, the greater the movement overall, In light of this, I feel
compelled to join AffCom and strengthen the movement.
Please join me in welcoming the newly-appointed members of AffCom.
*Kindly,---*
*Mehman Ibragimov*
*Vice-Chair*
*Affiliations Committee
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee>*