Hello all,
This might not be relevant for all, but since we are a global movement
striving for equity between all humans, I would like to share a reflection
regarding the situation of some of us, and the challenges that are
unfortunately not yet solved, although we are familiar with them since
years.
As you know, the Wikimedia summit is happening soon, and our user group
(Wikimedia Morocco User group) had a member invited to attend it in person.
As soon as he knew about his participation, our member started preparing
his documentation and went to book a time at the German embassy. To his
surprise, the first appointments were until October (while the conference
is in September). This resulted in this member not being able to attend the
summit in-person, as well as all our user group (as this is not
person-dependent, but systemic, so anyone living in Morocco and applying
for a visa will not get it before October).
Unfortunately, this issue is not an exception. It is almost the rule. In
every Wikimedia conference, there are people not able to attend because of
Visa issues, yet it is not properly addressed.
Many of the challenges in our movement are addressed or at least discussed
in different forums and strategies. However, it feels that the equity in
participating in-person for Visa required participants is not a priority.
Usually, invites come at a time that does not really allow a good
preparation of the documentation (and embassy appointments), and there is
no support with the embassies, so inexperienced volunteers are left to
themselves dealing with very official instances, who just simply reject
their applications or give them appointments within months from now.
I am sharing these personal reflections after witnessing several problems
that happened to many members through time with the same issue. I would
like to know how this can be better solved in the future? Can conferences
prepare documentation 6 months before they start? Can the WMF give official
support and help contacting embassies? Is there any way to address this in
a good manner?
I feel really sad that there is no equity in this matter. I know that it is
naïve to think about a world without borders, but isn't our Wikimedia
movement supposed to support everyone? How can we be better at this?
P.S: This post is not about myself or situation, but rather a reflection
after talking with many people facing this issue in my region, and who
missed so many events because of Visas. I don't want them to miss events
again in the future! Is it possible?
Thank you all for taking the time to read this, and I wish you a good
Tuesday!
Best regards,
--
-----------------------------------------------------
*Anass SEDRATI*
Hello! I am nofacehellas, and I am brand new to wikipedia in general, but I have particular interest in getting on this list because I am very active in all |-related discussions, and I feel ready to speak up and advance my philosophy and journalism skills! If anyone can help me or send me a message so I can get some help navigating the site I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thanks,
Korryn
I'm sorry to hear about this. We all lose out when a multi national event
excludes large parts of the world.
This has come up in the past several times and some partial solutions have
been discussed.
We need to build in enough time in the process for people who need visas to
get them after they know they have a place at the conference.
We need to prefer venues that are in countries with relatively open borders
(the first Wikimania I attended was in Argentina).
If we must sometimes hold events in hard to enter countries such as the UK
and US we should try to alternate them with more open countries such as
Argentina and Mexico - I think we've also held Wikimania in Egypt and
Taiwan.
It would be good if the WMF were able to prioritise scholarships for people
who were unable to take up a scholarship the previous year due to visa
problems.
The cost and difficulty of getting visas needs to be high in the evaluation
criteria of different potential venues.
Regards
WSC
On Tue, 16 Aug 2022 at 13:05, <wikimedia-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Reflections about Visa situation for Wikimedians (Anass Sedrati)
> 2. Re: Reflections about Visa situation for Wikimedians (Mardetanha)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2022 12:13:09 +0200
> From: Anass Sedrati <sedranas(a)gmail.com>
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Reflections about Visa situation for
> Wikimedians
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Message-ID:
> <CALH7XPvFP03Qb=
> jTAJZrRYY2JDjn53PKueef29acuHUh_jpHRw(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
> boundary="000000000000f4dad705e65900a7"
>
> Hello all,
>
> This might not be relevant for all, but since we are a global movement
> striving for equity between all humans, I would like to share a reflection
> regarding the situation of some of us, and the challenges that are
> unfortunately not yet solved, although we are familiar with them since
> years.
>
> As you know, the Wikimedia summit is happening soon, and our user group
> (Wikimedia Morocco User group) had a member invited to attend it in person.
> As soon as he knew about his participation, our member started preparing
> his documentation and went to book a time at the German embassy. To his
> surprise, the first appointments were until October (while the conference
> is in September). This resulted in this member not being able to attend the
> summit in-person, as well as all our user group (as this is not
> person-dependent, but systemic, so anyone living in Morocco and applying
> for a visa will not get it before October).
>
> Unfortunately, this issue is not an exception. It is almost the rule. In
> every Wikimedia conference, there are people not able to attend because of
> Visa issues, yet it is not properly addressed.
>
> Many of the challenges in our movement are addressed or at least discussed
> in different forums and strategies. However, it feels that the equity in
> participating in-person for Visa required participants is not a priority.
> Usually, invites come at a time that does not really allow a good
> preparation of the documentation (and embassy appointments), and there is
> no support with the embassies, so inexperienced volunteers are left to
> themselves dealing with very official instances, who just simply reject
> their applications or give them appointments within months from now.
>
> I am sharing these personal reflections after witnessing several problems
> that happened to many members through time with the same issue. I would
> like to know how this can be better solved in the future? Can conferences
> prepare documentation 6 months before they start? Can the WMF give official
> support and help contacting embassies? Is there any way to address this in
> a good manner?
>
> I feel really sad that there is no equity in this matter. I know that it is
> naïve to think about a world without borders, but isn't our Wikimedia
> movement supposed to support everyone? How can we be better at this?
>
> P.S: This post is not about myself or situation, but rather a reflection
> after talking with many people facing this issue in my region, and who
> missed so many events because of Visas. I don't want them to miss events
> again in the future! Is it possible?
>
> Thank you all for taking the time to read this, and I wish you a good
> Tuesday!
>
> Best regards,
> --
> -----------------------------------------------------
> *Anass SEDRATI*
>
Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the new images from
the Webb telescope. They are truly incredible.
In response to Lodewijk's question, the Foundation's Communications
Department manages the English Wikipedia social media accounts (on Facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/wikipedia/>, Twitter
<https://twitter.com/Wikipedia>, and Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/Wikipedia/?hl=en>), as well as the Wikimedia
Foundation accounts. There is more information about that on Meta-Wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Social_media>.
We try to plan the content calendar about one to two weeks in advance, but
we stay flexible to react to current events and Wikimedia news. We always
welcome ideas for articles and content to share from both the Wikimedia
Foundation and Wikipedia channels. You can share ideas with us at any time
via this Google Form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSchEZ_-8jCJP6E6UQguy_MjOYgoNUfSyzN…>.
Amplifying the work of volunteers in the movement is important to us, and
we value suggestions on opportunities for us to do this further.
Regarding the Webb telescope news, we are planning to share the related
Wikipedia article as this Friday's Article of the Week
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Social_media/Article_of_the_week> on
Wikipedia's social media channels, and to highlight that the images are
available on Commons. Every Friday, we share an article that is relevant to
current global events and conversations (e.g. we shared about Hajj
<https://twitter.com/Wikipedia/status/1545492143023820813> last week), so
we thought the Webb telescope would be a perfect fit for this week.
We also look for opportunities to retweet posts from others related to
Wikimedia and current topics. For example, we just shared this post from
Wikimedia Chile <https://twitter.com/Wikipedia/status/1546936039968743425>
about the Webb images. With this approach, we can share about the same
topic in multiple ways, from a range of perspectives, and celebrate
community groups. Another way is by sharing blog posts and media coverage
that mention us.
With that in mind, another idea I would like to propose is a blog post on
Diff <https://diff.wikimedia.org/> that tells the story of how Wikimedia
communities responded to the release of the images and made sure
information and the photos were quickly available on Wikimedia projects.
This is just an idea. If anyone is interested in writing that blog, please
let us know! We can then amplify the post on social media to bring it more
visibility.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
Lauren
*Lauren Dickinson (she/her)*
Senior Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
On Tue, Jul 12, 2022 at 1:43 PM effe iets anders <effeietsanders(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
> How is @Wikipedia (and similar accounts) being managed right now? I'm
> mostly curious about the process how the tweets are decided upon - is this
> a staff-driven process or is there some community engagement? Is it planned
> out long in advance, or reactive (or somewhere in between)?
>
> Are there opportunities to better bolster the strengths of our community?
>
> Lodewijk
>
> On Tue, Jul 12, 2022 at 9:30 AM Samuel Klein <meta.sj(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> We should all be answering questions :) The public interest will only
>> grow with the glorious images coming out today.
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 12, 2022 at 10:45 AM Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga <
>> galder158(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Good day,
>>> Yesterday, the James Webb telescope published its first image, called
>>> "Webb's Frist Deep Field" (
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webb%27s_First_Deep_Field). An article
>>> about the image existis in 14 languages. The tweet announcing it has
>>> collected in less than a day more than 77.000 RTs and 275.000 likes (
>>> https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1546621080298835970). The main
>>> object of the image didn't have any article at any Wikipedia (not an item
>>> at Wikidata) yesterday. Now we have an article in 8 languages:
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMACS_J0723.3-7327 and a category in
>>> Commons.
>>>
>>> Well, the Wikipedia twitter handle didn't tweet anything about this
>>> achievement, and didn't give any contest to the image. (
>>> https://twitter.com/wikipedia).
>>>
>>> We could be answering questions. "By 2030, Wikimedia will become the
>>> essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge". We could be
>>> centering free knowledge at Wikimedia.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Galder
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines
>>> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
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>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Samuel Klein @metasj w:user:sj +1 617 529 4266
>> _______________________________________________
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> _______________________________________________
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The Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Resources team and the Northern and
Western Europe (NWE) Committee invite you to apply to become a committee
member in the Northern and Western Europe (NWE) region. The NWE Committee
supports the Wikimedia Foundation Funds [1] programs' participatory
grantmaking practice. *The deadline for applying is September 4, 2022*.
The NWE Committee reviews grant proposals from affiliates and other
community members within the NWE region who are seeking grant funding from
the Wikimedia Foundation. Committee responsibilities include: providing
thought partnership to help support applicants and strengthen their
strategy and proposals; evaluating and recommending promising proposals for
funding; and helping recruit and spread the word about grants. Orientation
and training is provided for new members.
Serving committee members will have the opportunity to advise on funding
decisions and proactively share recommendations and mentorship to support
grantees in the Northern and Western Europe region in their development,
growth, and sustainability strategies; that contribute to a world in which
every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. You
will also strengthen your capacity in participatory decision-making
processes while learning about our community's incredible work and the
different contexts that influence their work.
You can read more about the open call for NWE Committee members, including
eligibility requirements, roles and responsibilities, our approaching to
grantmaking and more, at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Regions/Northern_and_Western_Europe/…
You can read more about all Regional Funding Committees, at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Committees
You can read about the current NWE Committee specifically at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Regions/Northern_and_Western_Europe
You can apply as a candidate for the NWE committee at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Regions/Northern_and_Western_Europe/…
Deadline for submitting committee candidacy:
* September 4, 2022
Please reach out to nwe_fund(a)wikimedia.org for questions about the NWE
Committee.
Warm regards,
The NWE Regional Funding Committee and
Marti Johnson, Program Officer for Wikimedia Foundation Funds in Northern
and Western Europe region
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Start
*Marti Johnson*
*Pronouns: she/her/hersLead Program Officer*
*Wikimedia Community Fund, Northern and Western Europe*
*Wikimedia Foundation <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home>*
*1 Montgomery, Ste. 1600*
*San Francisco, CA 94104*
+1 415-839-6885
Skype: Mjohnson_WMF
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia
<https://donate.wikimedia.org/>
_______________________________________________
Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia community. For more information about Wikimedia-l:
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To unsubscribe send an email to wikimediaannounce-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Hi Wikimania Hackathon Attendees!
It has been such fun getting to know you all over the past 2 days. Thank
you to everyone who worked on projects and hosted sessions!
There is one more Hackathon Event- the Final Showcase! It will take place
at 15:55–16:45 UTC August 14. Please consider presenting what you worked
on! You can do so by adding information to this Etherpad: <
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wikimania2022-hackathon-showcase>
Finally, we would love your feedback on this event! If you have ideas,
things you liked, or things you’d like to see changed, this is your chance
to share that so we can improve in the future. <
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/2022WikimaniaHackathon-FB>
If you have any other questions, please leave a comment on the talk page or
on Telegram/IRC.
Hope to see you there!
The Developer Advocacy Team
Hello Wikimedia community,
I posted a message on Wikidata's project chat explaining that I would
like to stop working on Wikidata integration in OpenRefine (which also
applies to Wikimedia / Wikibase integration in general):
Wikidata integration in OpenRefine: could this be your project?
<https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Project_chat#Wikidata_integration_in…>
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Project_chat#Wikidata_integration_in…
I do intend to keep working on OpenRefine and focus my work on the core
tool. I am by far not the only contributor to Wikibase integration, but
I want to make it clear that I am keen to let other contributors take
the lead on this, because I do not have enough time myself to grow this
part of the tool as much as it deserves.
As I explain in Wikidata's project chat, I think this is a really nice
project to work on, and you will be supported by Sandra Fauconnier, our
project director, who is a keen Wikimedian.
So: the floor is yours!
If you are interested in the topic, join us today in our Wikimania
hackathon session:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T314803
Cheers,
Antonin
Hi all,
I am reaching out to you today with an update about the timing of the voting for the Board of Trustees election.
As many of you are already aware, this year we are offering an Election Compass to help voters identify the alignment of candidates on some key topics. Several candidates requested an extension of the character limitation on their responses expanding on their positions, and the Elections Committee felt their reasoning was consistent with the goals of a fair and equitable election process.
To ensure that the longer statements can be translated in time for the election, the Elections Committee and Board Selection Task Force decided to delay the opening of the Board of Trustees election by one week - a time proposed as ideal by staff working to support the election.
Although it is not expected that everyone will want to use the Election Compass to inform their voting decision, the Elections Committee felt it was more appropriate to open the voting period with essential translations for community members across languages to use if they wish to make this important decision.
The voting will open on August 23 at 00:00 UTC and close on September 6 at 23:59 UTC.
Best regards,
Matanya, on behalf of the Elections Committee
Hello all,
The Wikimania Hackathon is August 12-14, just over 2 weeks away! Details
are listed below.
Registration
Registration for the Wikimania Hackathon has now opened [1]! To
register, submit
your information to the Wikimania organizers, which will give you access to
the Wikimania platform [2]. You can also optionally add your name to
the participants
page on the Wikimania wiki [3].
Platform
The Hackathon will take place virtually on Pheedloop, the Wikimania
platform [4]. This platform complies with WCAG 2.1 AA, and will support
screen readers, font adjustments, and many other accessibility features.
Video sessions will be held in Jitsi through this platform.
Format of the event
The Hackathon consists of events spread over three days [5]:
-
On the first day, there will be a pre-Hacking showcase to share project
ideas and find collaborators. Anyone can present a project, and anyone can
come as an observer.
-
Throughout the next two days, there will be open hacking, social events,
and technical sessions. Anyone can offer a session; just claim a slot on
the schedule!
-
Finally, there will be a final showcase to share the projects worked on
during the Hackathon.
Preparing for the Hackathon
There are many ways to take part in the event. Think about what project you
might want to work on (see examples from past Hackathons [6]), add your
idea to Phabricator [7], and consider presenting at the pre-Hacking
showcase. Host a session by adding information to the schedule [5]. Check
out information for newcomers [8]. And don’t forget to register [2]!
Best wishes,
Haley and the Developer Advocacy Team
[1] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon
[2] https://pheedloop.com/register/wikimania2022/attendee/
[3] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon/Participants
[4]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2022/07/20/the-platform-powering-wikimania-2022/
[5] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon/Schedule
[6] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Hackathon_2022/Showcase
[7] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/project/board/6030/
[8] https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hackathon/Newcomers