Dear Wikimedians,
Wikimania 2023 – whether we participated virtually or in Singapore – was a reminder of the power of diversity and collaboration, and so many future possibilities when Wikimedians come together. For the Wikimania Steering Committee, it was great to experience the new regional collaboration model of organizing Wikimania and to see the benefits of overlapping organizers learning from each other, as with the 2023 ESEAP <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ESEAP_Hub> [1] and the 2024 CEE <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Hub> teams [2]. In this spirit, it brings us much excitement to announce the organizers of Wikimania in 2025 and 2026.
Wikimania 2025 will be hosted by a collaboration of volunteers and affiliates in East Africa (EARTH <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EA_Regional_and_Thematic_Hub_(EARTH)>) [3], with extended support from the Wiki Indaba Steering Committee (WISCom <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba_Steering_Committee>) [4] and other Wikimedians from across the continent. Hosting Wikimania will be beneficial for energizing new and active communities in the region and will foster content growth and enhance contributions across the continent. This will mark the 20th Wikimania – a significant milestone as only the second to be held in Sub-Saharan Africa and the first in East Africa. The exact city will be selected in the coming months based on careful assessments of political and social developments and discussions with Wikimedia groups and local experts.
Wikimania 2026 will be organized by a collaboration of French-speaking Wikimedia groups and hosted in Paris – a first for Wikimédia France and the WikiFranca <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFranca/en> communities [5]. This special Wikimania will celebrate the 25th anniversary of multiple Wikipedia editions including Basque, Catalan, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, and Spanish, as well as English and more. We will have a novel opportunity to celebrate this incredible milestone together as a global community in Paris.
Get involved, learn more – Wikimania is co-created with Wikimedians from around the world and there is something to do for everyone. Wikimania 2024 <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Wikimania> [6] will take place in Poland – preparations are already under way and a call for volunteers will be launched soon. So please contribute however you can. We will also continue to expand hybrid and virtual participation and greater on-demand content. Stay tuned.
Selecting locations this far in advance means better choice of venues, more time for visa processes, less pressure for organizers, and greater learning and partnership opportunities. If you have any questions or comments, are interested in hosting a future Wikimania, or want to join the Wikimania Steering Committee, please reach out to us on wiki <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee> [7] or at wikimania(a)wikimedia.org <mailto:wikimania@wikimedia.org>. For more information, visit Diff <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/09/24/announcing-the-locations-of-wikimania…> [8].
The Wikimania Steering Committee is pleased to make this announcement in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation, the East Africa Regional and Thematic Hub (EARTH), the Wiki Indaba Steering Committee (WISCom), WikiFranca, and Wikimédia France.
On behalf of the Wikimania Steering Committee,
Iolanda
[1] The ESEAP hub, hosts of Wikimania 2023 – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/ESEAP_Hub
[2] The CEE hub, hosts of Wikimania 2024 – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Hub
[3] The East Africa Regional and Thematic Hub (EARTH) – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EA_Regional_and_Thematic_Hub_(EARTH)
[4] The Wiki Indaba Steering Committee – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Indaba_Steering_Committee
[5] WikiFranca – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFranca/en
[6] Wikimania 2024, watch this page – https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Wikimania
[7] The Wikimania Steering Committee of volunteers – https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_Committee
[8] This announcement and more on Diff, the Wikimedia Blog – https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/09/24/announcing-the-locations-of-wikimania…
Hi all,
With the announcement of the Knowledge Equity Fund
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Equity_Fund#:~:text=The%20Fund%20….>’s
round 2 grantees, we’ve seen a lot of questions and feedback about the
Knowledge Equity Fund, how the Committee works and how the work of the
grantees will contribute to the projects and to the movement. To help
answer these questions, the Knowledge Equity Fund Committee will host a
community conversation on Friday, October 6, 2023 at 1400 UTC
<https://savvytime.com/converter/utc/oct-6-2023/2pm> to hear ideas,
concerns, and to answer questions. The Committee would also like to hear
ideas for how the fund should be used in the upcoming third round of
grantmaking.
To register for this conversation, please email us at
EquityFund(a)wikimedia.org You can also send us questions beforehand. The
call will be held in English and we will have interpretation in Spanish; if
you would like interpretation into other languages please let us know. If
you’re not able to attend, we will also share notes and a written list of
Q&A after the call.
Thanks,
Nadee Gunasena, on behalf of the Equity Fund Committee
--
*Nadee Gunasena*
Chief of Staff
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Dear all,
Wikimedia projects would not be possible without the work of the countless
volunteers, passionately working on bringing free knowledge to the world.
Each month we WikiCelebrate
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/WikiCelebrate> one of those
volunteers and their amazing work. [1]
This weekend the CEE Meeting
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2023>[2] happened, a
great celebration and connection of the communities of Central and Eastern
Europe. There are many reasons to celebrate this event, the amazing
Georgian team that made it happen and the Wikimedians of the region. But
there is one special person which was selected by the regional community to
be celebrated: Pinky sl, a Slovenian Wikipedia editor, tech contributor,
administrator, and a Wikidata enthusiast.
The project she is most engaged in is Slovenian Wikipedia. She makes sure
that this project, despite struggling with the limited pool of technical
editors, stays in touch with technological advancements happening in the
Wikimedia movement. She works on templates, modules and takes care of pages
dedicated to guidelines and assisting users. But her main goal is achieving
a better integration of Wikidata, into the Slovenian Wikipedia.
When it comes to Wikipedia’s future, she is optimistic. In her own words:
“I’m excited to see how we can continue to make knowledge accessible to
all. And you know what’s really tickling my curiosity? How on earth are we
going to let AI join the Wikimedia party?”.
Visit herWikiCelebrate [3] page to learn more about Pinky sl and
congratulate her. You can also read about her on Diff [4].
You can also nominate other Wikimedians of exceptional contributions and
help us find other people worth celebrating.
Happy celebrating!
Natalia and Mehrdad
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/WikiCelebrate
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CEE_Meeting_2023
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/WikiCelebrate/Pinky_sl
[4]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/09/18/hygrometer-snails-and-global-database…
--
*Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska* (she/her)
Senior Global Movement Communications Specialist (European Region)
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi all,
The next Research Showcase, focused on *Rules on Wikipedia*, will be
live-streamed on Wednesday, September 20, at 9:30 AM PST / 16:30 UTC. Find
your local time here <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1695227400>.
YouTube stream: https://youtube.com/live/h89l9JWZBCU?feature=share
<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://youtube.com/live/h89l9JWZBCU?feature%3…>.
As usual, you can join the conversation in the YouTube chat as soon as the
showcase goes live.
This month's presentations:
Variation and overlap in the peer production of community rules: the case
of five WikipediasBy *Sohyeon Hwang, Northwestern University*
In this talk, I present work analyzing the rules and rule-making on
Wikipedia. The governance of many online communities relies on rules
created by participants. However, work predominantly focuses on efforts
within a single community or on a platform as a whole. Here we investigate
the comparative and relational dimensions of online self-governance in a
set of similar communities by looking at the five largest language editions
of Wikipedia. Using exhaustive trace data spanning almost 20 years since
their founding, we examine patterns in rule-making and overlaps in rule
sets. Our findings show that language editions have similar trajectories of
rule-making activity, replicating and extending a rich body of work that
have focused on English-language Wikipedia alone. We also find that the
language editions have increasingly unique rule sets, even as editing
activity concentrates on rules shared between them. The results suggest
that self-governing communities aligned in key ways may share a common core
of rules and rule-making practices even as they develop and sustain
institutional variations.
Wikipedia Community Policies and Experiential Epistemology: Critical
Information Literacy, Social Justice, and Inclusive PracticesBy *Zachary J.
McDowell, University of Illinois at Chicago*Drawing from a meta-analysis of
research on learning outcomes in Wikipedia-based education, this
presentation addresses Wikipedia community policies and practices through
the Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education from the
Association of College and Research Libraries’ (ACRL). Wikipedia-based
educational practices, which promote newcomers’ active engagement in the
encyclopedia, have been shown to support experiential learnings in critical
information literacy, communication and research outcomes, and social
justice. Exploring the connections between participation in Wikipedia and
transferable skills for information literacy in the context of the current
new media landscape, this presentation grapples with new questions for the
future of information literacies alongside the implications of large
language models (LLMs), systemic biases, and the representation and
inclusion of non-western and indigenous knowledge sources.
You can also watch our past research showcases here:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Shshowcase
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Research/Showcase>
Best,
Kinneret
--
Kinneret Gordon
Lead Research Community Officer
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi,
TLDR: There is now a tool that gives you list of articles to improve or
create based on WikiProjects of English Wikipedia. For example, articles of
top importance in WikiProject Mathematics that are missing or short in
Azeri Wikipedia:
https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=az&topic=Mathematics&importance=Top
(I'm sorry for spamming your mailboxes, but I couldn't find a place to
bring this up that would be more fitting.)
This tool basically gets the list of articles of a given wikiproject of a
given importance and tells you which ones are missing are below 10K bytes
in the given target language.
For example:
- For WikiProject Physics and target of Hungarian Wikipedia, you get [2]
saying article of Speed is missing while existing in 79 wikis and article
of Molekulapálya [3] is the shortest article of this importance with ~700
bytes.
- For Wikiproject Poland and target of Dutch Wikipedia, you get [1]
saying article of "Ignacy Mościcki" is missing in Dutch Wikipedia while
existing in 38 other languages (and many more articles to create or improve)
- For Wikiproject Computer Science and target of Vietnamese Wikipedia,
you get [4] saying article of "Alonzo Church" exists in 50 wikipedias but
not in Vietnamese Wikipedia (and more articles to create or improve in
field of computer science)
- and many more but you get the idea.
It is not perfect, for example the concept of importance and what articles
belong to them is not perfect but it's better than nothing.
I personally find this useful in events and editathons where a newcomer
asks "I'm interested in topic X what can I do?" and you can give them at
least something to work on. Or for small or medium wikis to find gaps in
their content in given topics.
Noting that there are more than 2,800 WikiProjects in English Wikipedia,
the topics to pick are quite broad. From Olivia Roderigo [5] to Rome [6] to
Soap Operas [7] to Trains [8]. Hope that'd be useful for you.
If anyone is feeling comfortable to help maintain or add features to it,
please let me know. I wrote this in four or five hours, it's quite basic
and more of a PoC of what it could become.
[1] https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=nl&topic=Poland&importance=Top
[2] https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=hu&topic=Physics&importance=Top
[3] https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molekulap%C3%A1lya
[4]:
https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=vi&topic=Computer+science&importance=T…
[5]
https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=fa&topic=Olivia+Rodrigo&importance=Top
[6] https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=fa&topic=Rome&importance=Top
[7] https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=fa&topic=Soap+Operas&importance=Top
[8] https://whattodo.toolforge.org/?lang=fa&topic=Trains&importance=Top
Best
--
Amir (he/him)
Die WikiCon 2023 der deutschsprachigen Communitys findet vom *29. September
bis 1. Oktober* im oberösterreichischen Linz in hybrider Form statt. Die
Anmeldung <http://anmeldung.wikicon.org/> zur Online-Teilnahme ist noch bis
zum *27. September *möglich.
Vor ein paar Wochen haben wir unser Programm vorgestellt
<https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezial:Permanenter_Link/237367888#WikiCon_20…!>.
Rund 75 % wird dieses Jahr online übertragen werden – damit wird die
WikiCon digitaler als zuvor. Für jeden Geschmack ist sicher etwas dabei!
Wnme für das Orga-Team
wikicon.org
Dear Wikimedians,
We are thrilled to invite you to join us for our forthcoming *WIR
Anglophone and Francophone conferences,* alongside a series of engaging *WIR
webinars*.
CfA WIR Anglophone Conference 2023
🗣️ Theme: "Empowering a Sustainable African Presence on Wikipedia:
Capacity Building and Collaborative Approaches "
Join us for the September edition of the Code for Africa #WIR international
conference. Distinguished Speakers *Oby Ezeilo (Founder, Wiki for Senior
Citizens Network, Nigeria) and Romeo Ronald (Team leader, Wikimedia
Community User Group, South Sudan)* will share insights on how to empower a
sustainable African presence on Wikipedia.
-
Language: English
-
Date: Monday,18th September 2023
-
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM UTC
-
Zoom Link: Join here
<https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81304556344?pwd=QUY5MnV6RXJMRk4ra25KbFJMVy9ZUT09>
(No registration required)
-
Meeting ID: 813 0455 6344
-
Passcode: 765006
Conférence WIR Francophone CfA 2023
🗣️ Thème : "Renforcer une présence africaine durable sur Wikipedia :
Renforcement des capacités et approches collaboratives"
Rejoignez-nous pour l'édition de septembre de la conférence internationale
Code for Africa #WIR. Nous accueillerons *Ceslause Ogbonnaya (Chef de
projet, Wiki in Africa) et Aristide KOUAME (Chef de projet, Wikimedia
Community User Group Côte d'Ivoire) *qui partageront leurs stratégies et
expériences sur le renforcement d'une présence africaine forte sur
Wikipedia grâce au renforcement des capacités et aux approches
collaboratives.
-
Langue : Français
-
Date : Mardi, 19 septembre 2023
-
Heure : 12h00 - 13h30 UTC
-
Lien Zoom :
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82428943014?pwd=VjdCYkhnamZiRDgzV3RxREJuRGtJQT09
-
ID de réunion : 824 2894 3014
-
Code secret : 952570 (Aucune inscription requise)
Upcoming CfA Anglophone Webinars
Join us for more insightful webinars:
Topics
-
Wed. 20th September: Customising Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Meta-Wiki Page
by Rhoda James
-
October 13: Categorisation on Wikipedia and Wiki Commons by Iwuala Lucy
-
October 25: Mastering Info-boxes & Enhancing Articles with Short
Descriptions by Daniel Obiokeke
Registration: Register now
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScPOQ3Rg18Rd3v8VQkyavjHT2EJe216PYZ…>
- Time: 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM UTC. (Kindly adjust the time according to
your local time zone)
- Note: All registered participants will receive a Google calendar
invite for the webinars.
Happy Weekend,
Bukola James <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Bukky658>
Community Coordinator,
Code for Africa <http://codeforafrica.org/> (Knowledge Team/ WiRs
Initiatives)
Hello everyone,
TLDR; Wikimedia is participating in the Outreachy Round 27 internship
program <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Round_27 > [1].
Outreachy's goal is to support people from groups underrepresented in the
technology industry. Interns will work remotely with mentors from our
community. We are seeking mentors to propose projects that Outreachy
interns can work on during their internship. If you have some ideas for coding
or non-coding (design, documentation, translation, outreach, research)
projects, share them by Sept. 29, 2023 at 4 pm UTC here as a subtask of
this parent task: <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T343871 > [2]
Program Timeline
As a mentor, you engage potential candidates in the application period
between October–November (winter round) and help them make small
contributions to your project. You work more closely with the accepted
candidates during the internship period between December–March (winter
round).
Important dates are:
-
Aug. 22, 2023 at 4pm UTC - Live Q&A for Outreachy mentors
<https://www.youtube.com/@outreachyinternships>
-
September 29, 2023 at 4pm UTC - Project submission deadline
<https://www.outreachy.org/communities/cfp/wikimedia/>
Guidelines for Crafting Project Proposals
* Follow this task description template when you propose a project in
Phabricator: <
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects> [3]. You
can also use this workboard to pick an idea if you don't have one already.
Add #Outreachy (Round 27) tag.
* Project should require an experienced developer ~15 days and a newcomer
~3 months to complete.
* Each project should have at least two mentors, including one with a
technical background.
* Ideally, the project has no tight deadlines, a moderate learning curve,
and fewer dependencies on Wikimedia's core infrastructure. Projects
addressing the needs of a language community are most welcome.
Learn more about the roles and responsibilities of mentors on
MediaWiki.org: <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors> [4][5]
Cheers,
Onyinye & Sheila (Wikimedia Org Admins for Outreachy Round 27)
[1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Round_27
[2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T343871
[3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects/
[4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors
[ 5] https://www.outreachy.org/mentor/mentor-faq