Colleagues! I’m here to present you our annual report for 2022. This year was very difficult for us in many different levels. In a situation of ongoing war and government campain to disown Wikimedia movement and claim us as a treat we continued our efforts to enlarge representation of our culture in the Wikimedia projects. You can review report here https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/North-West_Russia_Wiki-Historians_User_Grou…
--
Nikolai Bulykin (User:Красный)
A few months ago, Revital Poleg, Wikimedia Israel ED, informed the board
that she had decided to retire. Revital joined Wikimedia Israel after long
and extensive career years in the private, public, political and social
sectors. She held a number of positions as a diplomat, as Chief of Staff
for the Knesset Speaker, as one of the founders of the Peres Peace Center,
and in her previous position as the Head of the Jewish Agency Mission to
Brazil. It was a great privilege that she decided that her last position
would be at Wikimedia Israel.
Revital joined Wikimedia Israel just a month before Covid-19 changed
everything that we knew about our operations, our employees, our
volunteers, and our fundraising. With a very short transition, she managed
to stabilize the organization, adopt many of our programs and activities
into the "new" digital way, accomplish our annual plan and targets, and
more. And in two years of economic uncertainty and changes in the policy
and focus of many of the philanthropic funds and private donors - she
succeeded in meeting the fundraising goals and ensuring the ongoing
activities of the organization.
Revital’s role in WMIL was beyond that of an employee, but a true leader
and belief in Wikimedia’s values and mission. Her round-the-clock
investment and great love for the movement, organization, its employees,
and volunteers, serve proof.
The Board, and I personally, would like to thank Revital for her great
contribution that brought us! May this retirement be the best part of your
life.
While Revital is leaving, On behalf of our board, I am delighted to
announce that *Michal Wander Schwarz*, will be the new Executive Director
of Wikimedia Israel (yes, also our first ED before Revital was named
Michal!).
Michal has nearly twenty years of experience in non-profit organizations -
she founded and managed the Interdisciplinary Center for At-Risk Children
and Youth Studies at Tel Aviv University. She was later the director of the
cultural services department in her hometown, where she implemented a new
vision and strategic plan for the city’s culture that was executed by
forming community teams of volunteers and consultants and initiating
partnerships with the business sector. In her last position, Michal served
as the developer and founder of community centers while serving as the
director of operations and fundraising.
Michal will officially enter her new role on Jan 25th.
Good luck Michal!
*Itzik Edri*
Chairperson (volunteer)
itzik(a)wikimedia.org.il
+972-54-5878078
Dear fellow Wikimedians,
I came to Wikimedia 3.5 years ago to build our global advocacy profile,
transform our legal team to further support the Foundation’s global
ambitions, partner with the Board to reform its Governance practices, and
ensure that the Foundation was ready to meet regulatory requirements
arising across the world. I am very proud of how much of this has been
accomplished, even in the midst of significant organizational change and
transition.
When Maryana joined in January, I began a long-term conversation with her
about how I could set her up for success as our new CEO, while also
identifying a capable successor for the General Counsel role. We have been
working on this plan together for the past year so that I could oversee a
robust succession plan while also planning ahead for more time to begin
exploring my next adventure. As you know, we appointed Stephen LaPorte as
Deputy General Counsel in July. He will succeed me as the Foundation’s
next General Counsel on February 1, 2023.
I am so excited about the chapter ahead for all of us, and for the role
that Wikimedia has to play in advancing the mission of free knowledge and
open access across the world. When I reflect back on my time at the
Foundation, I am proud of so many things:
- In late 2020, I was asked by the Board of Trustees to provide
leadership at a critical time for the organization and to help us navigate
our path forward. This period for the transition team was rewarding and
challenging, but it certainly took its toll!
- Growing our global advocacy team from a mention in the medium-term
plan into a small and very mighty team.
- We commissioned the first Human rights impact assessment, developed a
Human Rights policy & responded to several situations with real-world
implications.
- Numerous Litigation fights and victories.
- Supporting the board of trustees in their own journey to optimize
their governance of the Foundation.
It has been an honor to serve and lead our amazing Legal team. Though my
role will shift, I will continue to be a Wikimedian, cheering the movement
on toward future success because the world needs us now more than ever!
In solidarity,
Amanda (she/they)
General Counsel, Wikimedia Foundation
--
Amanda Keton (she/they)
General Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
*NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you
have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the
mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical
reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer>.*
Hello everyone,
Over the last couple of days, there have been several media reports about
the Foundation’s most recent office action, taken on December 6
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org…>.
More are certain to follow. These media reports are based on a release from
SMEX and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) that contains many
material inaccuracies. Some of the errors will be obvious to our community
- for perhaps the most obvious, the report states that the 16 users are all
based in Saudi Arabia . This is unlikely to be the case. While we do not
know where these volunteers actually reside, the bans of any volunteers who
may have been Saudi were part of a much broader action globally banning 16
editors across the MENA region. Indeed, many of them are not active in the
Arabic language projects. These organizations did not share the statement
with the Foundation, and “sources of knowledge” as cited in their release
can get things wrong. In addition, we do not have staff in the country
named and never have, contrary to a message put out by the same groups on
social media.
As we noted in December in our statement, we are unable to discuss
Foundation office actions in detail. The Foundation always lists accounts
banned as a result of its investigations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Global_Ban_Policy#List_of_global_bans_p…>.
It is our goal to be as transparent as we can be within essential
protection policies, which is why we do not ban in secret, but instead
disclose accounts impacted and (when large numbers are involved) have
disclosed the rationale.
The roots of our December action stretch back over several years. We were
initially contacted by outside experts who made us aware about concerns
they had about Farsi Wikipedia. We can’t comment on that report right now,
but it will be published by that organization soon. This report not only
contributed to our August 23, 2021 modification of our non-disclosure
agreement
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Confidentiality_agreement_for_…>
to make it harder for rights-holders to be coerced, but led to further
evaluation of issues across MENA. The December bans were the culmination of
those evaluations.
Wikimedia is, as mentioned above, an open knowledge platform, and it
thrives on open participation. Investigations and global bans are not
things that any of us take lightly, but the Foundation is committed to
supporting the knowledge-sharing models that have created so many valuable
information resources in hundreds of languages across the world. Our first
line of defense of our Terms of Use
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use#4._Refraining_from_Certain_Act…>
are our volunteers themselves. Where issues present a credible threat of
harm to our users and to the security of Wikimedia platforms, we will do
the best we can to protect both.
We trust and hope that our communities understand that misinformation about
this action has the potential to cause harm to the individuals involved. We
believe in the incredible value produced by our volunteers across the
globe, but even so we recognize that being found in contravention of a
website’s Terms of Use — even in a manner that organization finds serious
enough to warrant a ban — is not the equivalent of being convicted of any
crime. Accordingly, we ask you to please be conscious of the real people
involved, in the spirit of our long established respect for living people
on our sites
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Biographies_of_living_peop…>.
We realize that it is tempting to speculate, but we do ask you all to
recall that people’s employment options, their relationships, and even
their physical safety may be compromised by speculation.
If anyone feels unsafe on Wikimedia projects, please use the local
community processes or contact us. The Foundation and community will work
together or in parallel to enhance the safety of all volunteers. To contact
the Trust & Safety team please email ca(a)wikimedia.org .
Best regards,
WMF Office/Trust and Safety
Hey All
Please find linked our yearly report
<https://mdwiki.org/wiki/WikiProjectMed:WMMED/Reports/2022> on activities
and financials for WPMEDF.
Let us know if you're interested in collaborating or joining us.
Best
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
Hi all,
Please find the WMSUG 2022 report here.
Highlights have been the creation of an mailinglist for the group (beyond the stewards internal lists), a test phase for a decision process among stewards and the first participation of the group at a Wikimedia Summit. All of these are signs for an increase of internal governance and communications, but there are still many steps to be taken. The group, remains unique in its setup as the only user group which represents an onwiki user group.
Best,Martin/DerHexer, co-contact
Dear all,
Wikimania is an extraordinary event: consider hosting it!!
By December 16th express your interest in hosting Wikimania in 2024, 2025 and beyond
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Expressions_of_Interest <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Expressions_of_Interest>
You don’t need to have a venue secured or event logistics in place, that’s something we will work on together. At this point, we are primarily seeking your expression of interest. Hosting an international event with the size and magnitude of Wikimania – and now with added distributed and hybrid participation models – is complicated. With resources from the Foundation and guidance from the Wikimania Steering Committee, you will also have access to professional event organizers on the ground that can support this work. We also plan for an overlap with the current Wikimania 2023 organizing team to build in plenty of time for learning and collaboration.
Looking forward to discuss with you new locations for our future Wikimanias
Best regards,
Iolanda, on behalf of the Wikimania Steering Committee
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee#Members <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee#Members>