July 2024 - Wikimedia-l - lists.wikimedia.org

February 2024 Update
by Maryana Iskander 30 Sep '25

30 Sep '25

This message will be translated into other languages on Meta-wiki <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…> ‎العربية • español • français • português • Deutsch• 中文 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…> You can help with more languages <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…> Hi everyone, Since joining the Foundation I have tried to regularly write to you <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…> here and elsewhere, and I wanted to share a few updates since my last letter. In October 2023 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…>, I reflected that we were in a period of compounded challenges across the world with escalating wars, conflict, and climate reminding us each week that global volatility and uncertainty was on the rise. That feels even more true now. My instinct then was to ask us to make more time to talk to each other and to try and pull closer together. This feels even more needed now. I noted that the return of in-person gatherings has been essential for a subset of our volunteers, providing spaces for reconnecting, recharging and working through difficult issues together in the same room. Foundation leadership has also been working harder to share organizational news and have individualized conversations on-wiki and in other digital forums. Our goal has been to put more effort and intentionality into communicating the right information, at the right time, and in the right way, even knowing that we can never meet everyone's expectations. Most importantly, we had to keep talking to each other – formally and informally – throughout the year. This was the basis of an open invitation to Talking: 2024 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…>, an effort designed to listen intently to what is on your minds now, to share progress at the Foundation, and to also reflect on the needs for multi-year strategic plans. (A reminder that our priorities for long-range planning <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…...>, informed by movement strategy, are Wikimedia’s financial model, product/technology needs, and roles/responsibilities.) So far, Wikimedia Foundation Trustees, executives, and staff have hosted 130 conversations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…> on-wiki, with individuals, and in small groups. These conversations have stretched across all regions of the world. We have learned from prolific community members to recent newcomers, from technical volunteers to stewards, event organizers, and affiliate leaders. Since these discussions were intended to improve deliberations at the Board’s strategic planning retreat next week, here is a summary of some of the feedback I've heard so far! Continue focusing the Foundation on supporting product/technology needs. As early as my first letter to you in January 2022, <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chi…> I understood that the central role of the Wikimedia Foundation is in enabling our projects, which is core to every aspect of our movement's mission. This was reinforced in most of the Talking:2024 conversations that we hosted over the last five months – from the need for the Foundation to remain focused on upgrading technical infrastructure to supporting volunteer needs for tool maintenance and metrics. Our annual planning continues to center the Foundation’s product and technology priorities. More deliberate conversations are taking place at the Foundation about what a multi-generational view of Wikimedia projects requires of us all. For me, this remains perhaps the most critical topic for our strategic efforts as we make tangible and practical a mission <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Mission> that calls for our work to continue in perpetuity. Recent discussions on this mailing list remind me that we can’t get to everything fast enough, but we continue to move more in the right direction. Chief Product & Technology Officer Selena Deckelmann recently shared <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/02/20/thinking-about-annual-planning-in-the…> that: “In the last couple of months, we shipped changes that enabled a better backbone for PageTriage <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:PageTriage>, and worked closely with volunteer developers to ensure future sustainability. Going forward, we have a number of initiatives ranging from projects like Edit Check <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Edit_check>, Discussion Tools <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DiscussionTools>, Dark mode <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/11/24/dark-mode-is-coming/>, Patrolling on Android <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/Android>, Watchlist on iOS <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Team/iOS>, Automoderator <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Moderator_Tools/Automoderator>, Community Configuration <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth/Community_configuration>, the Wikimedia Commons Upload Wizard <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Upload_Wizard>, and others. We've resolved over 600 volunteer-reported issues in Phabricator in the last 6 months, and we're using research methods that solicit prototypes directly from volunteers <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/Accessibility_for_reading/Commun…> for informing typography decision making. And we're learning not just the basics of font size and spacing, we're also getting important information about context, devices and cultural aspects of the use of Wikipedia which are vital for helping make our software easier to use as how people use and access it changes (and it has changed a lot over 20 years!).” She has also already published draft objectives for the product and tech teams, and your input and on-wiki comments are always welcome <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Ann…> . ‘Human-led, tech-enabled’ means that the humans still lead. While tech featured prominently in most of these conversations, there remains no doubt that Wikimedia is a human-led movement (“It’s all about people.”). This led to exploring even more solutions that can address a familiar dilemma about how to balance the needs of existing editors with initiatives to welcome newcomers (“It’s always the war between ‘we need to protect the existing content’ and ‘do we care about new users with a tolerance for errors.’”). While some shared wonderful stories of their own journeys (“I wanna say that the Newcomer tools have been a really great project and very glad to see that energy was expensed there”), there was vocal urgency about the sustainability of the projects for generations to come (“We are sending away people who could be helpful to the projects”). In this regard, several discussions highlighted the value of the Universal Code of Conduct <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Universal_Code_of_Conduct> as a “game changer” in signaling to all communities that they are actively invited and welcomed to safely contribute to the mission of free knowledge, while still acknowledging there is more to do (“It’s probably a good thing, but I don’t know if it will solve what I have faced.”). I learned in my initial listening tour that we have to make all contributions count <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Chief_Executive_Office…>, and all contributors feel welcomed. I found that the Talking:2024 conversations deepened my own understanding of the peer support and mentorship needed for volunteers to thrive as active community members. (One example are these reflections <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Clovermoss/Editor_reflections> where 140 other editors participated). Finally, our human-led values came up in several conversations about Wikimedia’s role in shaping the next generation of artificial intelligence, a topic of ongoing discussion in the world <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/magazine/wikipedia-ai-chatgpt.html?unloc…>, in our communities <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Future_Audiences>, and at the Foundation. This is complemented by ongoing discussions about the role of AI-generated content on our platform by various project communities. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Large_language_model_policy)> A recent effort to contribute to a shared research agenda on AI <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Artificial_intelligence/…>can be found here – including the need for more research to understand human motivation to contribute to the knowledge commons – it was created by a small group working in the open who rushed to publish a ‘bad first draft’ that will benefit from more input. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Talk:Artificial_intellig…> Can our financial model provide more certainty, and also force difficult trade-offs? In my last letter, <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…> I shared that future projections indicate that, for a range of reasons, fundraising online and through banners may not continue to grow at the same rate as in past years. We have several long-term initiatives underway to help mitigate this risk and also diversify our revenue streams, including the Wikimedia Endowment <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Endowment> and Wikimedia Enterprise <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Enterprise>. Over the past two years, we have slowed the rate of growth <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Ann…> for the Foundation itself, while increasing financial resources <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Ann…> that support other movement entities. The Talking:2024 conversations provided a space for movement entities to share a need for multi-year financial certainty in their support from the Foundation, which we will take into our planning for next year. Other conversations highlighted the need to continue prioritizing limited resources and being more explicit about trade-offs (“[We must] use the money we have as wisely as we can”). These discussions have already improved the thinking for the Foundation’s current and upcoming planning cycles. <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/01/31/progress-on-the-plan-how-the-wikimedi…> Movement roles need more clarity. The task of defining a Movement Charter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter> came up in several conversations with contributors of all kinds. These ranged from reflections about movement strategy recommendations and principles (“Will it always be first come, first served in this movement?”) to questions about the purpose of different structures (“What decisions do we need the global council to make? Why are decisions moving from one center to another?” “We are taking a hammer to solve this issue when they are simple screws.”). Unsurprisingly, there were varying perspectives (“The editing community in many regions doesn’t see an immediate benefit in affiliates, hubs, or other governance structures.” “The community still feels unheard by the Foundation.” “The good work that affiliates do in certain regions is commendable, especially where those affiliates are deeply engaged with the community.”) And a deep recognition of the complex task at hand (“The community is so huge and it’s hard to tie everyone together.” “How do we make change in the movement in a way that is understandable and doesn’t scare people.” “There has to be control and risk management with empowering the community, inviting everyone, and trying to grow while protecting what we have meticulously built over the past 23 years.”). Considering the investment of time and resources going into the charter, we need to make sure that this effort will provide us all with clearer strategic direction on what is needed to serve the future needs of our movement, and meet the expectations of a rapidly changing world around us. The Wikimedia Foundation recently shared these questions <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Wikimedia_Foundation_…> with the Movement Charter Drafting Committee to identify areas of key focus and concern. We will continue to review and comment on new drafts as they are produced in the weeks and months ahead. The Board of Trustees will dedicate time at its next Open Conversation with Trustees on March 21 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…> to talk more about this process and the Foundation’s hopes for a Movement Charter. +++ Talking: 2024 kicked off a useful check-in to hear how we are collectively doing, and it continues. Your voice and contributions would help add to the feedback we have already received—whether that is on-wiki, in 1:1 conversations, in small groups, in person. What we learn will continue to inform the Foundation's long-term planning. Please consider joining a conversation <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation_Com…'s_talk> . For me, each conversation has been a reminder that what drives this movement is the people. We remain at a pivotal moment, where the world needs Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects more than ever. As one of you shared, “I feel like there is a way because we have made a way, an experience of community that connects people across the world.” As always, I welcome your feedback either on my talk page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User_talk:MIskander-WMF> or emailing me directly at miskander(a)wikimedia.org. Maryana Maryana Iskander, Wikimedia Foundation CEO

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We need more interactive content: we are doing it wrong
by Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga 01 Feb '25

01 Feb '25

Dear wikimedians, Nearly one year ago, the Graphs extension was disabled from all wikis, because there was a security issue that should be solved (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T334940). A wide team from the WMF worked on a solution for some weeks, but after Northern Hemisphere spring ended, summer came, then the monsoon season, and now it is again summer in the Southern Hemisphere... and Graphs are still disabled. All the solutions proposed have been dismissed, but every two months there's a proposal to make a new roadmap to solve the issue. We have plenty of roadmaps, but no vehicle to reach our destination. Seven years ago, we were discussing our Strategy for 2030. We used thousands of volunteer hours, thousands of staff hours and millions of dollars to build a really well-balanced strategy. There we concluded that "By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge". We also made some recommendations to improve the User Experience (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Improve_U…) and claimed that we wanted to Innovate in Free Knowledge (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Innovate_…). Well, the situation is now worse than it was seven years ago, let me give some examples: * Graph extension is used in thousands of pages, some of them highly relevant, as COVID or Climate Change information. There are thousands of graphs broken now, and the only partial solution give is loading these graphs as images, instead of promoting an interactive solution. * Meanwhile, a place like Our World in Data has been publishing data and interactive content with a compatible license for years. (Remember, "By 2030, Wikimedia will become the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge"). Trying to add this data and graphs to Wikimedia projects has been done by WikiMed, and it is technically possible, but still blocked to deploy (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T303853). * Wolfram Alpha is like a light year ahead us on giving interactive solutions to knowledge questions, even the silliest ones (https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=how+many+oranges+fit+in+the+Earth%3F). We have good technical articles about a lot of things, but sometimes "becoming the essential infrastructure of the ecosystem of free knowledge" needs to provide solutions to exact problems, like the answer to an equation, and how to solve it. That's also "free knowledge". * Brilliant (https://brilliant.org/) is brilliant if you want to learn lots of things, like geometry or programming. Way better than Wikipedia. But... you need to pay for it. How could we even try if we can't add anything interactive to our platforms? * We can build interactive timelines using Wikidata, but we can't embed them at Wikipedia. Weird, because I can do it in any external page. Hopefully, Histropedia will do it better. http://histropedia.com/<http://histropedia.com/> * We could have something very special: inline links in video and audio subtitles. We used to have them, but the new video infrastructure doesn't allow it. Imagine a world where you can watch a video and link a link in the subtitles just to know more about that. * ... The list can go on an on ("which phase the moon is today?"), but I think that the idea is clear. We could have interactive content, but we are going in the opposite direction, and every year we are further from our goal, because other platforms are doing it better, way better. And this seems like some wild ideas, but then I read the 2023-2024 annual plan section called "Wiki Experiences" (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024/…) and it looks like we should be going there. But we aren't. I'm sorry if this e-mail feels bitter. My experience in the last years is that we are now further of what we need that we were before, even if many chapters and volunteers are trying to overturn it. Thank to everyone who have been trying. Galder

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Feedback invited on proposed requirements for affiliates & user groups recognition changes
by Nataliia Tymkiv 18 Nov '24

18 Nov '24

Dear all, I would like to share with you the outputs of the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Strategy process [1], and to invite you to give feedback on the proposed changes to requirements for all affiliates & to user groups recognition process (more below). The 2017 Strategic Direction <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017> says that we, the Wikimedia Movement, would build “the services and structures that enable others to … advance our world by collecting knowledge that fully represents human diversity” while carrying on “our mission of developing content”. As Wikimedia affiliates are a key and integral part of the Wikimedia movement and have knowledge and expertise to share, the movement’s success depends greatly on affiliates as they help people join us in doing mission-aligned work. The Wikimedia Foundation Affiliates Strategy report [2] identified a need to streamline the role of the Affiliations Committee (AffCom) on recognition of Wikimedia Affiliates, and identified issues with the current state of the process. After conversations with AffCom, the Board liaisons to AffCom identified two areas for improvement. These areas are about the relevant work and mandate of the Board related to affiliate recognition: 1) requirements for affiliates; and 2) improving the workflows around the process for the creation and recognition of a user group. The proposal on Meta [3] is suggesting to change the requirements for all existing Wikimedia affiliates, not just the legal entities. There are ten proposed criteria for a healthy affiliate. Examples include focusing on continuity by being an active group and welcoming new users, having good governance, and actively delivering on mission goals. Compliance with these requirements would be self-reported by the affiliates. The Board liaisons will work with the Affiliations Committee to publish a resolution outlining how affiliates would be expected to fulfill these requirements to remain in good standing. Throughout the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliate Strategy process, there was also feedback about user groups. Initially, user groups were meant as a first step toward creating chapters or thematic organizations. Over the years, user groups have evolved and there are now legally incorporated user groups, user groups with boards, etc. Getting started does need to be easy, but also needs to make sense, and so there is a proposal for changes to the current workflow. The recommendations [3] include an outline of the sequential steps of a revised process. The feedback can be given from today up till March 20, 2024 (Anywhere on Earth). Hopefully a fairly long feedback period will allow affiliates to consult with their membership, thinking it through practically. To provide your feedback, please review the page here, on Meta, [3] and leave comments on the talk page. Alternatively, you can join an open call (February 14 and 28 at 14:00 to 14:30 UTC) or request a conversation as a part of Talking:2024 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>. You can use the Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee/Talking: 2024#Let’s Talk|Let’s Talk <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…'s_talk> feature to sign up for a time to speak with me and other trustees about this conversation or any other topic regarding the Wikimedia Foundation Board, Movement Strategy, and more. Note: New user group applications will be placed on hold for the duration of this conversation – but the ones received before will be reviewed according to the current process. Best regards, Nat & Mike & Lorenzo Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Liaisons to the Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Wiki… [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Affiliates_Strategy/Re… Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!*

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Wikidata’s 12th birthday & decentralized events in October 2024
by Léa Lacroix 26 Aug '24

26 Aug '24

Hello all, Every year, the month of October is dedicated to celebrating Wikidata’s birthday, as our favorite Wikimedia project went live on October 29th, 2012. Since then, we’ve been celebrating together the achievements of the community, bringing together active editors and newcomers, and taking this opportunity to do outreach and bring more people onboard. This year, for Wikidata’s 12th birthday, we would love to see many decentralized community events taking place all around the world in October and November. Whether you are involved in a local chapter or user group, or in touch with another organization that could organize an event, or simply interested in connecting with other Wikidata editors, we invite you to start thinking about organizing a Wikidata birthday event in the upcoming months! On the Twelfth Birthday page <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Twelfth_Birthday>, you will find more information about the birthday and how to organize an event. Wikidata birthday decentralized events are organized by local groups within the Wikidata community, onsite as well as online. They can take many forms and can be adapted to the wishes, languages, favorite topics and interests of the local group. It can be for example: - A meetup / get together with your local/regional community to share a piece of birthday cake ; - An online editing campaign to improve Wikidata together on a specific topic ; - A moment dedicated to celebrating Wikidata’s birthday during a Wikimedia conference ; - A “translathon” to improve the labels of Wikidata in your language ; - A workshop in a library or university to get more people aware of Wikidata ; - A livestream presentation to showcase interesting tools ; - …and many other things! On the How to run an event page <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Twelfth_Birthday/Run_an_event>, you will find many other examples of events, and you can take inspiration from the past years and what other people have been organizing. You will also find a communication kit with visuals that you can use to communicate about your event, and instructions on how to add your event to the global schedule. If you are planning an event for Wikidata’s birthday, you may need some financial support in order to run the event smoothly. On the Funding page <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Twelfth_Birthday/Run_an_event/Funding>, you will find some useful information about how to get funding, to help your participants join or to provide equipment or refreshments. What is new this year: Wikimedia Deutschland will run an experiment on providing microgrants to fund projects related to the Wikidata birthday. These grants, of a maximum amount of 1,000€, will be provided to the selected projects after an application process that is running until September 1st. You also have the option to ask for WMF’s Rapid Fund if the amount or eligibility criteria work better for you. You will find all the information about how to apply and what to prepare on the Funding page <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Twelfth_Birthday/Run_an_event/Funding> . If you are interested in organizing an event, we strongly encourage you to do it together with other people. We suggest that you reach out to your local affiliate to get logistical and communication support, or to other Wikidata editors who share similar interests, for example your favorite WikiProject. You are also very welcome to join the Wikidata Events Telegram group <https://t.me/joinchat/HGjGexK8LA2wJZEk1x1p_A>, in which you will find other community organizers who have been running events in the past and can answer your questions or provide inspiration. On top of that, we are running organizers office hours <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Twelfth_Birthday/Run_an_event#Connec…> from July to October: you can join these online meetings to connect with other organizers and ask questions to the coordination team. I’m looking forward to hearing about your Wikidata birthday events, and I’m available at lea.lacroix_ext(a)wikimedia.de if you have any questions. Best, -- Léa Lacroix Community Engagement & Events Consultant Contractor for Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.

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Internet shutdown in Bangladesh
by Farah Jack Mustaklem 13 Aug '24

13 Aug '24

Dear fellow Wikimedians, Following the violent and deadly repression of student protesters in Bangladesh <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Bangladesh_quota_reform_movement> that has claimed the lives of about 150 people, the Bangladeshi government has shut down the Internet throughout the country. The Internet shutdown began on the 18th of July and remains in place to this day <https://mastodon.social/@netblocks/112830348166788483>. This has affected access to Wikipedia and other sources of free knowledge. Traffic to the Bangla Wikipedia has dropped to less than half the usual rate <https://stats.wikimedia.org/#/bn.wikipedia.org/reading/total-page-views/nor…> . Several organizations of the #KeepItOn coalition (which includes the Wikimedia Foundation) have signed an appeal <https://www.accessnow.org/press-release/keepiton-restore-internet-during-st…> to the Bangladeshi authorities to restore the Internet. I wish our Wikimedian colleagues a speedy return to their online activities, and most importantly safety in these troubling times. Farah

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Meetup about Video in Wikimania 2024
by Butch Bustria 08 Aug '24

08 Aug '24

Hi Folks, You are all invited to the Wikimania 2024 meetup about video. Thursday, 8 August 17:00 – 18:00 local time Belgrade Room 8, ICC, Katowice, Poland https://wikimania.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Meetups/Commons_Video_Meetup It is an open room for those who are interested. Kind regards, Butch Bustria

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Announcing the opening of voting for the U4C Special Election
by kpeterzell＠wikimedia.org 06 Aug '24

06 Aug '24

Dear all, I am writing to you to let you know the voting period for the Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is open now through 10 August, 2024. Read the information on the voting page on Meta-wiki to learn more about voting and voter eligibility [1]. The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. Community members were invited to submit their applications for the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, please review the U4C Charter [2]. Please share this message with members of your community so they can participate as well. 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… In cooperation with the U4C, Keegan Peterzell Committee Support, Wikimedia Foundation

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Recognition of Wikimedians of Singapore User Group
by Affiliations Committee 02 Aug '24

02 Aug '24

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] Wikimedians of Singapore User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to promote Wikipedia and various Singapore Wikimedia projects throughout Singapore, as well as Collaborate with other regional affiliates in the ESEAP Hub and worldwide. Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group! Regards, Jeffrey Keefer Chair, Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/2024/Rec… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Singapore_User_Group

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Recognition of Wikimedistas Wayuu
by Affiliations Committee 30 Jul '24

30 Jul '24

Hello everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] Wikimedistas Wayuu [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to promote the development and creation of content in the Wayuunaiki language in the northwest of Venezuela and the northeast of Colombia. Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group! Regards, Jeffrey Keefer Chair, Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/2024/Rec… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiMedistas_Way%C3%BAu

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Blocking anonymous IP addresses
by Robert Levenstein 30 Jul '24

30 Jul '24

Dear Wikimedia Community: I am writing to express my concerns about the current practices regarding the blocking of anonymous IP addresses on Wikimedia projects. While I fully understand and support the necessity of preventing trolls, disinformation, and vandalism, I believe that the approach to blocking anonymous addresses may need reconsideration. It appears that IP addresses are sometimes blocked preemptively, based on the possibility of misuse, without concrete evidence of abusive activity. This practice, while well-intentioned, can inadvertently discourage genuine contributors who prefer or need to edit anonymously. The potential for such contributors to be excluded from participating in the Wikimedia projects is a serious issue that warrants attention. I believe it is essential for our community to find a balance between safeguarding the integrity of our content and maintaining an open, inclusive environment for all contributors. I urge the community to review and discuss these policies to ensure they are both effective and fair. Thank you for considering these concerns. I look forward to a constructive discussion on how we can address this issue together. Regards, Robert Levenstein

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CEE Newsletter - July 2024 Issue Now Available!
by Toni Ristovski 30 Jul '24

30 Jul '24

Good morning, We're excited to announce the release of the *July 2024 issue of the CEE Newsletter*! Once again we have captivating stories, community highlights, and collaborative achievements from across the Central and Eastern Europe region in the Wikimedia movement. Read the Newsletter here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CEE/Newsletter/July_2024> *In This Issue:* - *International Updates:* Stay informed with the "Wikimedia International Update Corner", covering key developments, events and initiatives in the international Wikimedia space for 2024. - *CEE in the News:* Discover notable mentions of CEE region activities in "This month in Education" and "This month in GLAM" newsletters. - *Reader's Digest:* Catch up on the latest insights and stories from around the globe with the "Reader’s Digest". - *Open calls and consultations: *Voice your opinion! These topics are open to discussion. Also, please take a look at the open calls and apply! - *Updates from Communities:* Learn about the successful second quarter of Wikimedia MKD and the first half of 2024 of Wikimedia Ukraine, read more about the Third Ionian Wikithon 2024, review activities in the past months of the Wikimedia Serbia, read the report from the event in the Buffer Zone on Cyprus, discover the new area of focus for Wikimedia Poland, and many more community updates. - We hope you enjoy this issue and find inspiration in the diverse stories and impactful work being done by our CEE communities. Thank you for being a part of our journey toward promoting free knowledge and collaboration. You can read the full newsletter here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CEE/Newsletter/July_2024>. We hope you enjoy the inspiring stories and achievements showcased by our vibrant CEE communities. Happy reading! Toni Ristovski | Тони Ристовски *CEE HUB | Program Officer* Tel. +389 72 565 409 Web. www.wmceehub.org

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Recognition of Wikimedia Community of Togo User Group
by Affiliations Committee 30 Jul '24

30 Jul '24

Hi everyone! I'm very happy to announce that the Affiliations Committee has recognized [1] Wikimedia Community of Togo User Group [2] as a Wikimedia User Group. The group aims to contribute to the creation of free knowledge in Togo. Please join me in congratulating the members of this new user group! Regards, Jeffrey Keefer Chair, Affiliations Committee [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Affiliations_Committee/Resolutions/2024/Rec… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_of_Togo_User_Group

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Wikimedia Movement Charter ratification voting results
by Charter Electoral Commission 28 Jul '24

28 Jul '24

Hello everyone, After carefully tallying both individual and affiliate votes, the Charter Electoral Commission is pleased to announce the final results of the Wikimedia Movement Charter voting. As communicated by the Charter Electoral Commission <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Thank_you_for_your_pa…!>, we reached the quorum for both Affiliate and individual votes by the time the vote closed on July 9, 23:59 UTC. We thank all 2,451 individuals and 129 Affiliate representatives who voted in the ratification process. Your votes and comments are invaluable for the future steps in Movement Strategy. The final results of the Wikimedia Movement Charter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter> ratification voting held between 25 June and 9 July 2024 are as follows: Individual vote: Out of 2,451 individuals who voted as of July 9 23:59 (UTC), 2,446 have been accepted as valid votes. Among these, 1,710 voted “yes”; 623 voted “no”; and 113 selected “–” (neutral). Because the neutral votes don’t count towards the total number of votes cast, 73.30% voted to approve the Charter (1710/2333), while 26.70% voted to reject the Charter (623/2333). Affiliates vote: Out of 129 Affiliates designated voters who voted as of July 9 23:59 (UTC), 129 votes are confirmed as valid votes. Among these, 93 voted “yes”; 18 voted “no”; and 18 selected “–” (neutral). Because the neutral votes don’t count towards the total number of votes cast, 83.78% voted to approve the Charter (93/111), while 16.22% voted to reject the Charter (18/111). Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees voted not to ratify the proposed Charter during their special Board meeting on July 8, 2024. The Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, Natalia Tymkiv, shared the result of the vote, the resolution, meeting minutes and proposed next steps <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Boar…> . With this, the Wikimedia Movement Charter in its current revision is not ratified. We thank you for your participation in this important moment in our movement’s governance. The Charter Electoral Commission, Abhinav619, Borschts, Iwuala Lucy, Tochiprecious, Der-Wir-Ing

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[Movement Charter ratification] Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) meeting on 28 July (Sunday)
by Wikipedysta Nadzik 27 Jul '24

27 Jul '24

Hello everyone, *Strategic Wikimedia Affiliates Network (SWAN) meeting on 28 July* At this meeting, we will focus on the results of the Movement Charter ratification <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Ratification/Voting>. We will also discuss the aftermath of the Board of Trustees' decision to veto the Movement Charter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Boar…>, including their recent proposals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Boar…>. We will also cover updates about the upcoming Wikimania 2024 <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2024>. *There are two meeting times to cater to two major time zone blocks.* The two times are: - – *03:00 UTC*, 2024-07-28 (Asia-Pacific friendly time) – Check your timezone <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1722135600> - – *16:00 UTC*, 2024-07-28 (Europe-Africa-Americas friendly time) – Check your timezone <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1722182400> *The agenda is:* - Movement Charter ratification <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Ratification> results - Brief overview of where we are now - Discussing results - Community and affiliate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Drafting_Committee/Announc…> – *73.30% and 83.78% in favour* - Board of Trustees <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Boar…> – *8.33% in favour* - Exploring next steps - Recent BoT proposals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Boar…> - Wikimania 2024 <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2024> updates *For the signup and meeting link*, go to the SWAN page at Meta-wiki: - https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network/2024… Cheers, -- Maciej Artur Nadzikiewicz (He/him) Wikimania 2024 Poland – Team Lead Wikimedia Europe Board Member Wikipedia Administrator User:Nadzik <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nadzik>

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Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group Annual Report
by User:511KeV 27 Jul '24

27 Jul '24

Dear Wikimedians, On behalf of the Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Wikimedians_User_Group>, I am pleased to announce that our annual activity report for the fiscal year 2023-2024 has been published on Meta-Wiki. You can access the report here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Wikimedians_User_Group/Annual_Repo…> . We welcome your feedback and look forward to collaborating with affiliates and individuals. Additionally, we extend our heartfelt thanks to every member of the Kashmiri Wikimedia community, Wikimedia staff, and all those working towards the betterment of the Kashmiri language and the wider Wikimedia movement. Best regards, 511KeV <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:511KeV> Kashmiri Wikimedians User Group

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Invitation to join DCW Conversation Hour July 2024
by Namrah 27 Jul '24

27 Jul '24

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Movement Charter voting feedback (unsorted comments) and ratification clarification
by Charter Electoral Commission 26 Jul '24

26 Jul '24

Hi everyone, I’m just following up here, because it has been brought to our attention that not everyone has access to the SecurePoll data dump, and therefore are missing the feedback that was collected through the voting ballots for the recent Movement Charter ratification vote. Voter feedback Staff has now listed all comments (65 comments from the affiliates voters <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Ratification/Voting/Result…> and 447 comments from the individual voters <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Ratification/Voting/Result…>) on Meta-wiki. They are displayed in sortable tables, but since this is the raw data, especially the page with comments from individuals, it can take some time to load. We are also still working on a summary of this feedback that will be published before we come together at Wikimania, yet we know that some of you want to prepare now and not wait for the publication of this piece, so we are publishing the comments first. Ratification quorum, turnout and threshold (clarification) After the publication of the results of the affiliate and individual votes, we also noticed some discussion about the participation quorum and the approval threshold of the ratification vote. We’d like to take this opportunity to clarify the process: - The participation quorum is how many people should cast any sort of vote (yes/no/neutral). After the April 2023 feedback round, we realized, both from comments and from experience in the Universal Code of Conduct votings, a minimum % based on previous single-choice votes made sense. Initially, we were operating from the assumption that the individual voter eligibility pool would be around 60-70K individuals, similar to previous Board elections. However, when we generated the voter list, it came out to be around 117K individuals. Here, a small change made all the difference: in previous elections (that had 60-70K eligible voters), the voting criteria allowed for a duration of 6 months (in the 2022 Board elections, it was Jan 2022 - July 2022 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2022/Voter_e…>) to make 20 edits, whereas the voter criteria for this ratification vote allowed for a duration of 2 years (May 2022 to May 2024 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Ratification/Voting/Eligib…>) to make 20 edits, deeming more voters to be eligible to vote. To maintain the same number of voters (>2400), we changed the percentage from 4%, to a threshold of 2% of the eligible voter pool. - The voter turnout was lower than in WMF Board of Trustees elections, because of the topic of the vote (not everyone would have been as familiar with the concept of a Movement Charter, as they are with the bi-annually occurring Board of Trustee elections), and also largely because the extraordinary mechanism of mass-emailing all eligible voters was not used. The choice not to use this tool was a deliberate decision by the MCDC, made early on in the drafting process and in collaboration with WMF's communications department, because while very effective in getting people's attention, mass mailing is considered a rather intrusive method of communication and is only to be used in exceptional circumstances. - The approval threshold is how many voted in support of ratification. Originally, the ratification methodology placed this as 50%+1, but after feedback from the community, it was increased to 55% (but complemented with the addition of the quorum as described in the first bullet above). It was further agreed upon between the MCDC and CEC, and communicated to the community, that a neutral (–) vote counted as participation, but not towards the approval threshold; a neutral vote would not count in favor of or in opposition to ratification. Had we, as some proposed, counted the neutral vote anyway, the results of the votes would have been the following: - Individual vote = 1710 “yes” votes / 2446 total votes = 69.91% approval - Affiliate vote = 93 “yes” votes / 129 total votes = 72.09% approval Both of the votes would still pass the approval threshold if we counted the neutral votes in the total. We hope the information in this email provides additional clarity and context. On behalf of the MCDC and CEC, Borschts

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Last day to register for Wikimania 2024 (in person)!
by Wikipedysta Nadzik 26 Jul '24

26 Jul '24

Hello all! If you are planning to attend Wikimania 2024 in person, today is the last day to register <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Registration>! Wikimania 2024 will be held from 7 to 10 August in person at the Katowice International Conference Centre <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Congress_Centre_in_Katowice> and online on Eventyay, an open-source virtual and hybrid event platform. You can register for online attendance until the event ends. We look forward to seeing you all at Wikimania 2024 <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Wikimania>, and we cannot wait to welcome you to Poland! If you want to let others know you will be attending, feel free to add yourself to the attendees list <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Attendance>! On behalf of the Wikimania 2024 Core Organizing Team <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Organisers>, -- Maciej Artur Nadzikiewicz (He/him) Wikimania 2024 Katowice – Team Lead Wikimedia Europe Board Member Wikipedia Administrator User:Nadzik <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nadzik>

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Re: Internet shutdown in Bangladesh
by Ricky Gaines 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Dear Farah, Thank you for your message. We have been following recent news from Bangladesh, including internet disruptions. As you noted, the Wikimedia Foundation is a member of the KeepItOn Coalition <https://www.accessnow.org/campaign/keepiton/>, which is a group of like-minded organizations that collectively work towards protecting freedom of expression - among other human rights - by tracking and advocating against internet shutdowns and sharing important information and data in near-real time as it becomes available. Our own data confirmed that traffic to Wikimedia projects drastically declined during the period of the reported shutdown, with a 99.8% drop in page views as compared to the previous week. However, traffic to the Wikimedia projects appears to have returned to near-normal levels as of 01:00 UTC on 24 July and the traffic pattern since then shows a steady upward trend. Foundation staff have also been in touch with some Wikimedians to check on their safety and we have seen messages from others on community channels. The Foundation will continue to monitor events in Bangladesh in the coming days and remain in contact with our volunteers. As the situation evolves, we are resharing this guide to internet outages <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/10/25/the-internet-outages-guide/> and other digital security resources <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Legal/Community_Resili…>. Volunteers experiencing safety threats can reach out to emergency(a)wikimedia.org. Please do what is needed to remain safe. Thank you, Ricky Gaines Human Rights Policy & Advocacy Lead Wikimedia Foundation

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[Survey] Invitation: Let’s Connect Feedback Survey 2024 [EN, ES, FR, PT, AR]
by Justice Okai-Allotey 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Dear Let’s Connectors, On behalf of the whole Let's Connect team, we wanted to send you this email. We want to invite you to participate in our evaluation survey to get a better understanding of how you have participated, what is working and what we need to do better! Please respond by August 2nd, 2024. Please follow this link to fill in the evaluation survey, which takes around 10 minutes and is mobile friendly: Lets Connect Feedback Survey 2024 <https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m>. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Arabic. You can also copy and paste the following URL into your internet browser: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m. This survey is guided by the following privacy statement. <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Let%27s_Connect_Participants%27…> Best, Let’s Connect Working Group [French] [Enquête] Invitation : Enquête de rétroaction de Let's Connect 2024 Chers Connecteurs Let's, Au nom de toute l'équipe de Let's Connect, nous tenions à vous envoyer ce message. Après plus de deux ans d'existence, je vous invite à participer à notre enquête d'évaluation afin de mieux comprendre comment vous avez participé, ce qui fonctionne et ce que nous devons améliorer! Veuillez répondre avant le 2 août 2024. Veuillez suivre ce lien pour répondre à l'enquête d'évaluation, qui prend environ 10 minutes et qui est adaptée aux téléphones portables : Lets Connect Feedback Survey 2024 <https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m>. L'enquête est disponible en anglais, espagnol, portugais, français et arabe. Vous pouvez également copier et coller l'URL suivante dans votre navigateur internet : https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m. Cette enquête est guidée par la déclaration de confidentialité suivante <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Let%27s_Connect_Participants%27…> . Meilleur, Groupe de travail "Let's Connect [Spanish] [Encuesta] Invitación: Encuesta Let's Connect 2024 Estimados Let's Connectors, En nombre de todo el equipo de Let's Connect, queríamos enviaros este mensaje. Después de más de dos años de existencia, me dirijo a vosotros para invitaros a participar en nuestra encuesta de evaluación para conocer mejor cómo habéis participado, qué está funcionando y qué necesitamos mejorar. Por favor, responda antes del 2 de agosto de 2024 Por favor, siga este enlace para rellenar la encuesta de evaluación, que dura unos 10 minutos y es apta para móviles: Lets Connect Feedback Survey 2024 <https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m>. La encuesta está disponible en inglés, español, portugués, francés y árabe. También puede copiar y pegar la siguiente URL en su navegador de Internet: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m. Esta encuesta se rige por la siguiente declaración de privacidad <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Let%27s_Connect_Participants%27…> . Lo mejor, Grupo de Trabajo "Conectemos [Portuguese] [Inquérito] Convite: Inquérito de Feedback Let's Connect 2024 Caros conectores da Let's Connect, Em nome de toda a equipa da Let's Connect, gostaríamos de vos enviar esta mensagem. Após mais de dois anos de existência, estou a contactar-vos para vos convidar a participar no nosso inquérito de avaliação, a fim de compreender melhor a vossa participação, o que está a funcionar e o que temos de melhorar! Responder até 2 de agosto de 2024. Siga esta ligação para preencher o inquérito de avaliação, que demora cerca de 10 minutos e é compatível com dispositivos móveis: Lets Connect Feedback Survey 2024 <https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m>. O inquérito está disponível em inglês, espanhol, português, francês e árabe. Também pode copiar e colar o seguinte URL no seu navegador de Internet: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m. Este inquérito é orientado pela seguinte declaração de privacidade <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Let%27s_Connect_Participants%27…> . Melhor, Grupo de Trabalho Vamos Conectar [Arabic] [استطلاع] دعوة: استطلاع آراء المشاركين في برنامج "لنتواصل" 2024 أعزائنا أعضاء برنامج "لنتواصل" الكرام، بعد التحية، نرسل لكم هذا البريد الإلكتروني نيابةً عن أعضاء فريق برنامج "لنتواصل" بأكمله. بعد مرور أكثر من عامين على إطلاع البرنامج، ندعوكم أخيرًا للمشاركة في الاستطلاع لتقييم برنامج "لنتواصل"، إذ يساعدنا الاستطلاع على معرفة أفضل الطرق لمشاركتكم معنا وما المطلوب لتطوير البرنامج على أحسن وجه! يُرجى الرد بحلول 2 أغسطس 2024 يُرجى زيارة الرابط الآتي للمشاركة في الاستطلاع الذي قد يستغرق حوالي 10 دقائق. ويمكنكم المشاركة عبر الهاتف المحمول: استبيان آراء المشاركين في "لنتواصل 2024" <https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m>. الاستطلاع متاح باللغات العربية والإنجليزية والإسبانية والبرتغالية والفرنسية. كما يمكنكم نسخ ولصق عنوان الـ URL التالي في متصفح الإنترنت الخاص بك: https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_82MA60i4qV3mu4m. يتبع هذا الاستطلاع بيان الخصوصية التالي <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Let%27s_Connect_Participants%27…> . كل الشكر والتقدير، فريق عمل برنامج "لنتواصل" [image: unnamed (1).png] -- [image: Mailsuite] Sent with Mailsuite · Unsubscribe <https://mailtrack.io/en/privacy/opt-out/unsubscribe/3d924c1423a4efa1db8a553…> 07/25/24, 08:05:33 PM

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WIKI MENTOR AFRICA (WMA) SESSION - CONTRIBUTING/WRITING FOR OPEN SOURCE THROUGH ARTICLES
by Abasili Nkemjika Kingsley 25 Jul '24

25 Jul '24

Greetings Dear Wikimedians, Do you wish to learn how to contribute or write for Open Source through articles? Join WMA session on 2nd & 3rd August 2024 at 16:00 UTC where our guest Abigail an SWE expert will be talking to us about contributing to Open Source. Register here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:WMA_-_Writing_for_Open_Source_and_Con… Don't miss out on this! Thank you and kind regards, Kingsley Nkem FOR: IGBO WIKIMEDIANS USER GROUP

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Next Episode of WikiAfrica Hour "Bringing people together: Africa Baraza & Wiki Causerie" JOIN US!
by Donia ElDomiaty 24 Jul '24

24 Jul '24

Dear Wikimedians, We hope this email finds you well. We invite you to join the next episode of WikiAfrica Hour "Bringing people together: Africa Baraza & Wiki Causerie ” We are very excited to discuss this topic with the episode guests and your joining is very valuable. What can you expect from the episode? This episode will discuss: - The need for platforms like Africa Baraza and Wiki Causerie in our movement. - The successes these platforms achieved and the challenges they faced - Expectations we can have for them (what the future may be?) Who are the guest speakers? - Guests include Mahuton Possoupe and Abiba Pauline from Wiki Causerie, Winnie Kabintie and former WikiAfrica Hour host Ceslause Ogbonnaya from Afrika Baraza, and Anusha Alikhan from the Wikimedia communications team. Hosting them: Tochi Precious When and where will the episode take place? Data: Friday 26th July Time: 16:00 UTC <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1722009600> Join us LIVE on Youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpSxfniwjs4>. You can also register in the event tool here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:WAH_Episode_37_-_Bringing_people_toge…> Looking forward to seeing you! -- *Donia* WikiAfrica Hour Production Coordinator & Wiki In Africa Tools Community Facilitator

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[Wikimedia Research Showcase] Machine Translation on Wikipedia- July 24 at 16:30 UTC
by Kinneret Gordon 24 Jul '24

24 Jul '24

Hi all, The next Research Showcase will be live-streamed next Wednesday, July 24, at 9:30 AM PST / 16:30 UTC. Find your local time here <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1721838600>. The theme for this showcase is *Machine Translation on Wikipedia*. You are welcome to watch via the YouTube stream: https://www.youtube.com/live/O7AqvHgqUVk. As usual, you can join the conversation in the YouTube chat as soon as the showcase goes live. This month's presentations: The Promise and Pitfalls of AI Technology in Bridging Digital Language DivideBy *Kai Zhu, Bocconi University*Machine translation technologies have the potential to bridge knowledge gaps across languages, promoting more inclusive access to information regardless of native languages. This study examines the impact of integrating Google Translate into Wikipedia's Content Translation system in January 2019. Employing a natural experiment design and difference-in-differences strategy, we analyze how this translation technology shock influenced the dynamics of content production and accessibility on Wikipedia across over a hundred languages. We find that this technology integration leads to a 149% increase in content production through translation, driven by existing editors becoming more productive as well as an expansion of the editor base. Moreover, we observe that machine translation enhances the propagation of biographical and geographical information, helping to close these knowledge gaps in the multilingual context. However, our findings also underscore the need for continued efforts to mitigate the preexisting systemic barriers. Our study contributes to our knowledge on the evolving role of artificial intelligence in shaping knowledge dissemination through enhanced language translation capabilities.Implications of Using Inorganic Content in Arabic Wikipedia EditionsBy *Saied Alshahrani and Jeanna Matthews, Clarkson University*Wikipedia articles (content pages) are one of the widely utilized training corpora for NLP tasks and systems, yet these articles are not always created, generated, or even edited organically by native speakers; some are automatically created, generated, or translated using Wikipedia bots or off-the-shelf translation tools like Google Translate without human revision or supervision. We first analyzed the three Arabic Wikipedia editions, Arabic (AR), Egyptian Arabic (ARZ), and Moroccan Arabic (ARY), and found that these Arabic Wikipedia editions suffer from a few serious issues, like large-scale automatic creations and translations from English to Arabic, all without human involvement, generating content (articles) that lack not only linguistic richness and diversity but also content that lacks cultural richness and meaningful representation of the Arabic language and its native speakers. We second studied the performance implications of using such inorganic, unrepresentative articles to train NLP tasks or systems, where we intrinsically evaluated the performance of two main NLP upstream tasks, namely word representation and language modeling, using word analogy and fill-mask evaluations. We found that most of the models trained on the organic and representative content outperformed or, at worst, performed on par with the models trained with inorganic content generated using bots or translated using templates included, demonstrating that training on unrepresentative content not only impacts the representation of native speakers but also impacts the performance of NLP tasks or systems. We recommend avoiding utilizing the automatically created, generated, or translated articles on Wikipedia when the task is a representation-based task, like measuring opinions, sentiments, or perspectives of native speakers, and also suggest that when registered users employ automated creation or translation, their contributions should be marked differently than “registered user” for better transparency; perhaps “registered user (automation-assisted)”. Best,Kinneret

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Welcome to Swahili and Igbo Office Hour
by Abasili Nkemjika Kingsley 23 Jul '24

23 Jul '24

Greetings Dear Wikimedians, Ndewo nu! Join us for an open and interactive office hour call with the Igbo and Swahili Wikipedia communities! We'll discuss about the new CampaignEvents extension recently enabled on Swahili Wikipedia and introduce an exciting new tool we're working on – the Invitation List. This tool aims to help event organizers reach out to users who might be interested in their events. Date & Time: Friday, 26th July 2024 - 17:00UTC We want to hear your thoughts and feedback to make these tools even better! To attend this event, please register here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Event:Campaign_Product_Office_Hour_Call_wit… Thank you and kind regards, Kingsley Nkem FOR: IGBO WIKIMEDIANS USER GROUP

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A new Signpost issue is out
by Andreas Kolbe 22 Jul '24

22 Jul '24

The Signpost – Volume 20, Issue 10 – 22 July 2024 ------------------------------ Discussion report: Internet users flock to Wikipedia to debate its image policy over Trump raised-fist photo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/Discu… News and notes: Wikimedia community votes to ratify Movement Charter; Wikimedia Foundation opposes ratification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/News_… News from the WMF: Wikimedia Foundation Board resolution and vote on the proposed Movement Charter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/News_… Essay: Reflections on editing and obsession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/Essay In the media: What's on Putin's fork, the court's docket, and in Harrison's book? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/In_th… Obituary: JamesR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/Obitu… Crossword: Vaguely bird-shaped crossword https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/Cross… Humour: Joe Biden withdraws RfA, Donald Trump selects co-nom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2024-07-22/Humour Single-page view https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost/Single https://facebook.com/wikisignpost https://twitter.com/wikisignpost https://wikis.world/@WikiSignpost

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Reminder: Civility on the Mailing List
by joalpe＠gmail.com 19 Jul '24

19 Jul '24

Dear Contributors to the Mailing List, I hope this message finds you well. I want to take a moment to signal important guidelines about communication on our mailing list, especially in light of the recent discussions on the Movement Charter. I am writing in my capacity as volunteer moderator of the Wikimedia-l, after consulting with other moderators. First and foremost, civility and respectful communication are the cornerstones of our community. We value diverse opinions and encourage healthy debate, but it is essential that we express ourselves in a manner that fosters constructive dialogue, in accordance to expectations included in our Universal Code of Conduct and Friendly Space Policy. Personal attacks, disrespectful language, or any form of hostility have no place in our discussions. Additionally, I'd like to remind everyone that Board members, like all volunteers, dedicate their time and effort to support our community. While they may express personal opinions, it's crucial to recognize that these opinions do not always reflect official stands unless explicitly stated otherwise. All members, including Board members, have the right to speak as individuals on Wikimedia-l. They should not stop doing so nor be attacked for doing so. As we continue to engage in discussions on this mailing list, let's strive to maintain an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding. Let's focus on the issues at hand rather than engaging in personal attacks. Best regards, João Alexandre Peschanski Wikimedia-l Moderator

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Wikisource Conference 2025: Call for volunteers!
by Nanour Garabedian 19 Jul '24

19 Jul '24

Dear Wikimedian,We're thrilled to announce the Wikisource Conference 2025 in Indonesia! This global gathering of Wikisourcers - enthusiasts, contributors, and partners - promises to be a landmark event.This marks the first Wikisource Conference since Vienna in 2015! The 2025 gathering signifies a significant moment for the global Wikisource community. This year's theme, "Wikisource: Transform & Preserve Heritage Digitally" underscores the importance of inclusivity and collaboration in enriching Wikisource.The conference offers a unique opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, address challenges, strengthen local and multilingual communities, and champion open access.We're calling for passionate Wikimedians to join the following committees: - Program Team: Help shape the agenda and ensure a stimulating and engaging conference experience. - Scholarship Team: Oversee the scholarship program, making the conference accessible to a wider audience. - Communication Team: Develop a comprehensive communication strategy to promote the conference. We're looking for individuals with: - A strong commitment to Wikisource and its mission. - Experience in event planning, project management, communication, and writing/editing. - A collaborative spirit and a passion for working with others. You can find the form [Form <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mtFobETUhAjLMEf63RWJGWF7YAO48TBWegCXhePLjs…>]. Please complete it thoroughly so we can better understand your interest.We look forward to hearing from you! Note: While committee membership does not guarantee conference attendance, it offers an exciting opportunity to play a vital role in shaping this conference or event. Best regards, NANöR, on behalf of Conference COT

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Results of Movement Charter ratification vote
by Movement Charter Drafting Committee 18 Jul '24

18 Jul '24

The Movement Charter Drafting Committee has received the results of the Movement Charter ratification process.[1] We thank all who participated in the process of developing the Charter, and in voting on its ratification. We thank the members of the broad and global Wikimedia community who participated in discussion and voting. Similarly, we thank the affiliates who participated in multiple rounds of review and commentary, as well as in the ratification vote. Our thanks also goes to the members of the Charter Electoral Commission and the scrutineers,[2] who ensured that the vote was conducted in a fair and inclusive manner: - Abhinav619 - Borschts - Iwuala Lucy - Tochiprecious - Der-Wir-Ing (CEC Advisor) - Superpes15 (scrutineer) - EPIC (scrutineer) - Yahya (scrutineer) - Johannnnes89 (scrutineer) The development of the Movement Charter received significant assistance from external facilitators and from support staff throughout the process. Several of those support staff have moved on to other roles within the Wikimedia community. We note in particular the following, who worked with the MCDC as we finalized the draft and completed the ratification process: - Kaarel Vaidla - Nhu Phan - Ramzy Muliawan - Natalia Szafran-Kozakowska (communications support) - Aida Akhmedova (communications support) - Joe Sutherland (SecurePoll support) - Nahid Sultan (SecurePoll support) The Movement Charter Drafting Committee will be reviewing the extensive number of comments received from both affiliates and individual voters in the next few weeks. These comments will be published, with a summary, prior to |Wikimania Katowice[3] in early August 2024. Following this review, the MCDC will publish an additional communication suggesting next steps. On behalf of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee, User:Risker/Anne Clin [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Wikimedia_Movement_Ch… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Ratification/Voting#Electo… [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2024

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Wiki Loves Sport 2024: A contest to enrich knowledge about sport
by Camelia Boban 17 Jul '24

17 Jul '24

Hello wikimedians, WikiDonne User Group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiDonne> is pleased to announce the launch of the sixth edition of Wiki Loves Sport <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Loves_Sport_2024>, which will take place from 17 July to 22 September 2024. This international contest aims to improve and expand sports-related content on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia platforms (Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikidata etc), with a particular focus on often under-represented groups and athletes (women, LGBTQIA+ community, para athletes). *Sporting events covered*: - FIBA U20 EuroBasket <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_FIBA_U20_EuroBasket> from 13 to 21 July. - EuroGames Vienna <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroGames> from 17 to 20 July. - Women's Twenty20 Asia Cup <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Women%27s_Twenty20_Asia_Cup> from 19 to 28 July. - Paris 2024 Summer Olympic games <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Summer_Olympics> from 26 July to 11 August. - US Open <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_US_Open> from 26 August to 8 September. - Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic games <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Summer_Paralympics> from 28 August to 8 September. - FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_FIFA_U-20_Women%27s_World_Cup> from 31 August to 22 September. *Participation*: The contest will take place mainly online, with the possibility of local in-person events. Users of any Wikimedia language are invited to participate and contribute. *Partners*: The contest is organized in partnership with ASSIST Associazione Nazionale Atlete <https://www.assistitaly.eu/>, supported by Wikimedia CH <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_CH> and sees since now the participation of several Wikimedia affiliates: Wikimedia Community of Tatar language User Group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_of_Tatar_language_User_…> , Wikimedians of Republic of Congo User Group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Republic_of_Congo_User_Group>, Wikimédia France <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikim%C3%A9dia_France>, Wikimedians of Cameroon User <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Cameroon_User_Group>, Wikimedians of the Uzbek Language User Group <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_the_Uzbek_Language_User_Group>, Wikimedia Serbia <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Serbia>, Wikimedia Canada <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Canada>, Wikimedia LGBT+ <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT%2B/Portal>. *Objective*: The project aims to fill content gaps related to gender, ethnic and linguistic minorities, promoting diversity in sport. Regards, Camelia -- *Camelia Boban (she/her)* *| Java EE Developer |* camelia.boban(a)gmail.com M. +39 3383385545 WikiDonne Chair & Founder | WMF Gender & Climate Change Certified Organizer | NW Europe Grants Committee *Wikipedia <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Camelia.boban> **| **WikiDonne Project <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:WikiDonne> *| *WikiDonne UG <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiDonne>* | *WikiDonne APS <https://wikidonne.org/>* WMIT - WMSE - WMCH - WMDC - WMBE - WCS-UG - WGR-UG Member

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Special Election to fill vacancies on the U4C
by kpeterzell＠wikimedia.org 17 Jul '24

17 Jul '24

Hello all, A special election has been called to fill additional vacancies on the U4C. The call to candidates phase is open now through July 19, 2024 [1]. The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) is a global group dedicated to providing an equitable and consistent implementation of the UCoC. Community members are invited to submit their applications for the U4C. For more information and the responsibilities of the U4C, please review the U4C Charter [2]. In this special election, according to chapter 2 of the U4C charter [3], there are 9 seats available on the U4C: '''four''' community-at-large seats and '''five''' regional seats to ensure the U4C represents the diversity of the movement. Additionally, no more than two members of the U4C can be elected from the same home wiki [4]. Therefore, candidates must not have English Wikipedia, German Wikipedia, or Italian Wikipedia as their home wiki. Read more and submit your application on Meta-wiki to join the U4C [5]. 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… 4. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… 5. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Universal_Code_of_Conduct/Coordinating_Comm… In coordination with the U4C, Keegan Peterzell Committee Support Wikimedia Foundation

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[Wikimedia Announcements] [Wiki Conference Nigeria] UPDATE : Call for Program Submissions Extended!
by Wilson Oluoha 16 Jul '24

16 Jul '24

Dear Colleagues, We wish to announce that the call for program submissions for Wiki Conference Nigeria 2024 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_Nigeria_2024/Scholarship> has been extended by an additional week! You now have until *July 12th 2024* to submit your proposals for presentations, workshops, and discussions. Don't miss this opportunity to share your ideas and insight with the community at the maiden edition of the conference. *To submit a proposal click: *https://forms.gle/Lhtv48FNJ1e93mQ68 We look forward to receiving your proposals! #WikiConferenceNigeria2024 #OpenKnowledge Wilson *for Comms. team* _______________________________________________ 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: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l _______________________________________________ WikimediaAnnounce-l mailing list -- wikimediaannounce-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe send an email to wikimediaannounce-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org

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Celebrating Ellie!
by Giselle Bordoy 15 Jul '24

15 Jul '24

Dear all, Wikimedia projects would not be possible without the work of the countless volunteers, passionately working on bringing free knowledge to the world. Through the year we WikiCelebrate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/WikiCelebrate> different volunteers and their amazing work.[1] This time we celebrate Ellie <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Arita07>, a Wikimedian from El Salvador. There are many reasons to celebrate Ellie, a person who is not only enriching Spanish Language Wikipedia content related to notable women from El Salvador, organizes events and activities with Wikimedistas El Salvador, but also supports people who want to join our movement. She helps newcomers to understand Wikipedia rules and policies. “I am happy editing but I am also happy teaching others how to edit, to know the platforms and the projects with the purpose of enriching the free knowledge. The most beautiful moments are when I finally publish another article, and when some of the people I have trained at a workshop publish their first article and are encouraged to teach others about the project”, she comments. Visit WikiCelebrate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Communications/WikiCel…> [2] page to learn more about Ellie and congratulate her. You can also read about her on Diff <https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/07/15/celebrating-ellie/> [3] (the post is available in English, Portuguese, Spanish). Each month we will celebrate a different Wikimedian, acknowledging the great people that have contributed so much to bringing us to where we are today, and continue to do so. We warmly invite you to write about the people celebrated each month. If you know them, share some wiki love. If there’s an outstanding Wikimedian that you think should be celebrated, recommend them <https://wikimediafoundation.limesurvey.net/WikiCelebrate>.[4] Happy celebrating Giselle and Natalia [1]https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/WikiCelebrate [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Communications/WikiCel… [3]https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/12/04/celebrating-alberto-leoncio/ [4]https://wikimediafoundation.limesurvey.net/WikiCelebrate -- Giselle Bordoy (ella/she/her) Senior Global Movement Communications Specialist (Latin America) Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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Wikimedia Foundation Board resolution and vote on the proposed Movement Charter
by Nataliia Tymkiv 12 Jul '24

12 Jul '24

Dear all, As we await the outcome from all stakeholders who voted on the draft Movement Charter ratification, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met on Monday, July 8, to discuss and cast the Foundation’s vote. *On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees I am sharing the results of that vote, the resolution, meeting minutes, and proposed next steps.* *==Draft Movement Charter== * The proposed charter represents a tremendous amount of work done by the Movement Charter Drafting Committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Drafting_Committee>, alongside several others. The creation of a charter was one of several recommendations to come from the Movement Strategy process alongside the Strategic Direction that continues to guide the Wikimedia Foundation. At the same time, the vote on the proposed charter has provided an opportunity for all of us to reflect on what has changed – and continues to change – since the original Movement Strategy process started in 2018. The Foundation has tried to consistently identify these issues in its annual plan <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2024-2025>, strategic planning priorities <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Chief_Executive_Office…>, and elsewhere <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Chief_Executive_Office…>. They include numerous and growing external threats (and some opportunities) of a rapidly changing and fragmenting internet – from the nature of search to the rise of generative AI. We have also seen an increase in global regulations of content and platforms that have an impact on our people and our projects. Furthermore, our collective resources have not been growing as quickly <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2024-2025/…> as we had seen in prior periods. This has required more clarity on priorities, trade-offs, and pragmatism. It is because of these myriad challenges and complex realities that clarifying roles and responsibilities within the Wikimedia movement is more, not less, important. That is why the Board and the Foundation have been cautiously assessing how best to move forward at this point, after providing significant support to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee in undertaking this task. Our hope is to take solutions from the intent of the draft charter and consider where a future Global Council may be able to provide benefits to us all. We believe that this can only be done through concrete, practical, and time-bound next steps, based on the areas identified in the final draft charter text, rather than a wholesale adoption of the proposed charter in its final form. *==Board resolution==* Therefore, in the Special Board meeting this week, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees voted not to ratify the proposed Charter. You can read the full Board resolution [1] and minutes of the meeting [2]. The Board also approved a way forward, including three experiments that the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia affiliates, and community members can jointly conduct in the three areas identified in the proposed Movement Charter to be taken on by a future Global Council. The outlines of the proposals are included in the resolution in the appendix [3] with concrete proposals for these key areas. These include experiments designed to test the feasibility of proposals related to resource distribution, technology advancement, and support of Wikimedia movement organizations. Solutions for these collaborative experiments should be designed for co-ownership and build on the capabilities of the entire Wikimedia movement. And the comments received with the votes during the ratification would help shape these proposals more. *==What’s next==* As of this writing, 2,451 individual voters participated and 129 affiliate votes were cast, meeting the quorum for both groups. By July 24, the outcome of these votes along with comments will be published so that any proposed next steps can benefit from the input, reflections, and recommendations of all voters. It is important to listen to the feedback that has been provided through this process before taking further steps. Following that, we shall ask for help in the coming months designing spaces on- and off-wiki to request more feedback and improvements to the specific proposals being offered to help us now move forward together. Some of this can happen at Wikimania for those planning to attend, as we shall also be offering our formal thanks at Wikimania to the Movement Charter Drafting Committee members for their work. To provide any comments in the meantime, please leave a comment on the main talk page of the appendix on Meta [4]. Alternatively, you can request a conversation with Foundation leadership as a part of Talking:2024 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>. You can also use the Let’s Talk <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…> feature to sign up for a time to speak with me and/or other trustees. [1] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Draft_Movement_Charter_and… [2] https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Minutes:2024-07-08 [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Boar… [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard… Best regards, antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in advance!*

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External threats: "from the nature of search to the rise of generative AI"
by Frank Schulenburg 11 Jul '24

11 Jul '24

Nataliia, Thank you for highlighting the external threats we’re facing in your recent email explaining why the board of the Wikimedia Foundation decided not to ratify the Movement Charter. I share your concerns about these threats and appreciate you bringing them to light. Considering that the Wikimedia Foundation has had ample time to address this issue (with generative AI becoming a topic of interest in late 2022), could you please direct me to the document describing the strategy that has been developed to mitigate these threats? Thanks again and all the best, Frank

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WIKIMOVE Podcast: Building Capacity for Tech Development
by Sissela Björk 11 Jul '24

11 Jul '24

Dear Wikimedians, The latest (and last for the season) WIKIMOVE episode has just been released! In this episode, Nikki and Eva talk about ways to distribute tech development based on projects and ideas from the global majority. Our guests describe the way they have been developing software around lexicographical data as well as community training around Wikidata, supported by a grant from Arcadia Fund acquired by Wikimedia Deutschland. You can find the episode on our website. <https://www.wikimedia.de/podcast/episode-21-building-capacity-for-tech-deve…> On our WIKIMOVE meta page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WIKIMOVE/Podcast/Season2> you find the transcript <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WIKIMOVE/Podcast/Transcript_Episode_21> of the episode and the space to recommend topics for future episodes. *Our guests are…* - *Benedict Udeh* is a member of the Igbo Wikimedia User Group and the founder of the Ig Wikidata Hub which is the Wikidata arm of the User Group. He is the founder and program coordinator for Wiki Mentor Africa. Benedict also works for WMF as a movement communications specialist. - *Raisha Abdillah* is based in Jakarta, Indonesia, and has been part of the Wikimedia Movement since 2016, starting as a Wikidata contributor. She has a background in computer engineering and has organized many Wikidata-related events in Indonesia, including workshops, talks, trainings, and meetups. Right now, she is part of the Wikidata Software Collaboration Team. - *Maria Lechner* joined Wikimedia Deutschland in July 2022. As the project manager for the multiyear project “Software Collaboration for Wikidata”, funded by the Arcadia Fund, Maria manages the project resources, communicates with stakeholders, provides support for the project partners, and documents the project process to ensure the whole Movement can learn from this prototype of a transnational software collaboration. WIKIMOVE is also available on the following platforms: Spotify <https://open.spotify.com/show/7olhgddgj7KpWGOzSkPOQJ?si=8907893eb0cd402f> | Apple Podcast <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wikimove/id1635535328>| Google Podcast <https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3…> | Soundcloud <https://soundcloud.com/user-536754242/wikimove-folge-211?si=49d8b5cbafa9413…> Deezer <https://www.deezer.com/de/show/4629487> | JioSaavn <https://www.jiosaavn.com/shows/wikimove/1/Te3xsXx-My8_> | Podchaser <https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/wikimove-4759781> | Youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JgMCaUIWYg> Your WIKIMOVE Team Nikki, Eva & Sissela -- Sissela Björk Werkstudentin Wikimedia Deutschland e. V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin Phone: +49 (0)30-577 11 62-0https://wikimedia.de Keep up to date! Current news and exciting stories about Wikimedia, Wikipedia and Free Knowledge in our newsletter (in German): Subscribe now <https://www.wikimedia.de/newsletter/>. Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us to achieve our vision!https://spenden.wikimedia.de Wikimedia Deutschland — Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e. V. Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Charlottenburg, VR 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/029/42207. Geschäftsführende Vorstände: Franziska Heine, Dr. Christian Humborg

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Thank you for your participation in the Movement Charter ratification vote!
by lucyiwuala＠gmail.com 10 Jul '24

10 Jul '24

Hello everyone, You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki [https://w.wiki/AcbV]. Please help translate to your language [https://w.wiki/AcbT] Thank you to the 2451 individuals and the 129 affiliates for participating in the Wikimedia Movement [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter] Charter ratification [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter/Ratific…] vote. Thank you to those who shared additional feedback with their vote! We will now proceed with scrutinizing the votes. The results will be published as soon as possible, no later than the end of July 2024. We will then follow up with an overview of the next steps, depending on the result of the vote. On behalf of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee and the Charter Electoral Commission, Lucy Iwuala

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Thank you for your participation in the Movement Charter ratification vote!
by Charter Electoral Commission 10 Jul '24

10 Jul '24

You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter/Draftin…>. Please help translate to your language. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Translate&group=page-M…> Hello everyone, Thank you to the 2451 individuals and the 129 affiliates for participating in the Wikimedia Movement Charter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter> ratification vote <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter/Ratific…>. Thank you to those who shared additional feedback with their vote! We will now proceed with scrutinizing the votes. The results will be published as soon as possible, no later than the end of July 2024. We will then follow up with an overview of the next steps, depending on the result of the vote. On behalf of the Movement Charter Drafting Committee and the Charter Electoral Commission, Lucy Iwuala

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You are invited to the July conversation hour with Community Resilience and Sustainability
by Jackie Koerner 09 Jul '24

09 Jul '24

Hi all, You are invited to the quarterly Conversation hour led by Maggie Dennis, Vice President of Community Resilience and Sustainability, on 11 July 2024 at 18:00 UTC <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1720720800>. Maggie and others from the team will discuss Trust and Safety, the Universal Code of Conduct, Committee Support, and Human Rights. If you are a Wikimedian in good standing (not Foundation or community banned), write to let us know you will be attending the conversation and share your questions. More information about attending this conversation hour <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Legal/Community_Resili…> and notes from previous conversation hours can be found on Meta-wiki <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CR%26S_meetings>. Best, -- Jackie Koerner (she/her) Communication Specialist, Community Resilience and Sustainability Location: Midwestern US (UTC-5/-6) Let's talk: https://calendly.com/jkoerner-wmf Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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Voting to ratify the Wikimedia Movement Charter is now open – cast your vote
by Charter Electoral Commission 08 Jul '24

08 Jul '24

*You can find this message translated into additional languages on Meta-wiki. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter/Draftin…> Please help translate to your language <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Translate&group=page-M…>* Hello everyone, The voting to ratify the *Wikimedia Movement Charter* <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter> is now open. The Wikimedia Movement Charter is a document to define roles and responsibilities for all the members and entities of the Wikimedia movement, including the creation of a new body – the Global Council – for movement governance. The final version of the Wikimedia Movement Charter is available on Meta in different languages <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter> and attached here in PDF format <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Movement_Charter_(June_20…> for your reading. Voting commenced on SecurePoll on *June 25, 2024* at *00:01 UTC* and will conclude on *July 9, 2024* at *23:59 UTC*. Please read more on the voter information and eligibility details <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Charter/Ratific…> . After reading the Charter, please *vote here* <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:SecurePoll/vote/398> and share this note further. If you have any questions about the ratification vote, please contact the Charter Electoral Commission at *cec(a)wikimedia.org* <cec(a)wikimedia.org>. Tochi Precious On behalf of the CEC,

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Register now for Wikimania 2024!
by Wikipedysta Nadzik 08 Jul '24

08 Jul '24

Hello everyone! The Core Organizing Team would like to invite you to register for Wikimania 2024 <https://wikimania-tickets.eventyay.com/wm/Wikimania/>. *You can register for the in-person event by 26 July *and for the online event anytime. Wikimania 2024 will be held 7–10 August, in person at the Katowice International Conference Centre <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Congress_Centre_in_Katowice> and online on Eventyay, an open-source virtual and hybrid event platform. Eventyay has been partnering with us to implement new features for Wikimania, and we look forward to working together to deliver an engaging virtual experience on an open-source platform <https://eventyay.com/>. Eventyay was also used last year during Wikimania 2023 when over 2000 people engaged with Wikimania remotely! We look forward to welcoming you to Katowice for Wikimania 2024! *Note: The in-person ticket is subsidized by the Wikimedia Foundation and costs 100 USD. It covers admission, the opening and closing events, lunches and coffee breaks on the core conference days and conference swag/gadgets. Scholarship recipients will receive codes to register for the in-person event. **Please refer to the registration privacy statement <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Wikimania_2024_Registration_Pri…>.* See you all at Wikimania 2024 <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Wikimania>! On behalf of the Wikimania 2024 Core Organizing Team <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Organisers>, -- Maciej Artur Nadzikiewicz (He/him) Wikimania 2024 Katowice – Team Lead Wikimedia Europe Board Member Wikipedia Administrator User:Nadzik <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Nadzik>

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Annual Reports for 2023 and 2024
by Antoni Mtavangu 05 Jul '24

05 Jul '24

Hello everyone, Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania is happy to let you know that our annual reports are ready and can be accessed through the following links below: - Annual report for the year 2024 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Tanzania/Ann…> - Annual report for the year 2023 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Tanzania/Ann…> We are looking forward to continuing working and collaborating with you all. With kind regards, [On behalf of Wikimedia Community User Group Tanzania] Antoni Mtavangu (He/Him) Cofounder-Wikimedia Tanzania <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Tanzania>

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WikiFireside Chat Episode 02 - The Movement Charter
by Philip Kopetzky 05 Jul '24

05 Jul '24

Hello! Episode 02 of the WikiFireside Chat is now out and discusses the contents of the Movement Charter, what kind of opportunities and chances it would enable, and what some of the shortcomings are. We also discuss what the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees has to say about the charter and how their reaction is not adequate considering the challenges we're facing and the time and resources spent on this process. You can listen to the episode here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFireside_Chat#Episode_02 Have a great day! Yop and Philip

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A new Signpost issue is out
by Andreas Kolbe 04 Jul '24

04 Jul '24

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Re: Mopping with the tap open
by Megan Neisler 02 Jul '24

02 Jul '24

Steven, SJ, and Petr: I’ve provided responses to the questions about the quantitative findings below. Please let me know if any additional clarification would be helpful. > “*The report says "*On mobile, edit completion rate decreased by -24.3% (-13.5pp)*" -- what's the difference between the first and (second) percentage figures?" Great question, SJ. Can you please let me know if the below helps clarify the uncertainty you were asking about above? The first percentage figure (-24.3%) indicates the relative change in percentage between the control and test groups. In other words, by what percentage (larger or smaller) did the edit completion rate observed in the test group change from the edit completion rate observed in the control group? We observed an edit completion rate of 55.6% in the control group and 42.1% in the test group. This equates to a 24.3% decrease, calculated by finding the ratio of the absolute change between the two groups (42.1% minus 55.6%) to the reference value (55.6%). The second percentage figure (-13.5pp) represents the absolute change between the control and test groups. In this case, the difference is the test edit completion rate (42.1%) minus the control edit completion rate (55.6%), which equals -13.5 percentage points. Both values are provided in the report to help clarify the degree of difference between the two numbers. But by either measure, these numbers indicate how much change we observed in edit completion rate between the test and control group. > “In other words we lose 24% of saved edits in order to decrease the revert rate by 8.6%. This tradeoff does not seem good.” The interaction between these two metrics is worthy of clarifying – thank you for drawing our collective attention to the need for us to do so, Steven. Below is an attempt to offer some additional clarity. We'd value knowing if this brings any new questions to mind… The 24% decrease observed on mobile represents the relative change in the edit completion rates observed for the control and test groups, as indicated in the clarification provided above. It does *not* reflect a decrease in the total number of saved edits. If we look at the impact on saved edits, the total number of saved new content edits on mobile decreased from 3,924 edits in the control group to 3,468 in the test group (a total decrease of 456 saved new content edits or 12% relative decrease in saved new content edits). However, Reference Check increased the number of saved new content edits on mobile with a reference from 60 edits in the control group to 1012 edits in the test group (an increase of 952 saved new content edits or 16 times more saved new content edits with a reference). See Figure 18 of the analysis report for more details [1]. The edit completion rates for this analysis were based on a specific subset of all the edits that were attempted during the A/B test. Specifically, we reviewed the proportion of all edits where a person indicated intent to save and were successfully published. We focused only on edits where a person indicated intent to save as this is the point of the workflow when Reference Check would be shown and we wanted to exclude edits abandoned for other reasons before this point. If we look at all edits that were started and then successfully published, there was no significant change in edit completion rate on mobile or desktop as Reference Check was presented to a limited number of all edits that were started. Zooming out, we seem to be aligned in thinking that it will be important for us to actively monitor changes in edit completion rate to ensure future Edit Checks do not cause significant disruption to the editor experience. In fact, we'd value knowing if there are other metrics you think we should consider monitoring. Reason being: the Editing Team is actively defining the requirements for a dashboard (https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T367130) that will help us track how edit session health evolves over time as more Checks are introduced. [1] https://mneisler.quarto.pub/reference-check-ab-test-report-2024/#number-of-…

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New podcast: WikiFireside Chat with Yop and Philip
by Philip Kopetzky 02 Jul '24

02 Jul '24

Hello all! Yop Rwang Pam and myself have started a podcast that covers discussions and processes around the 2030 strategy, Wikimedia organisations, communities, and how all of these wildly different parts fit together (or don't). The first episode of the podcast covers the basics of Wikimedia and attempts to explain who everyone is in this rather complex network of communities, affiliates, and different parts of the Wikimedia Foundation, a so-called primer episode to convey the basics so you can follow the following conversations. Episode 01 looks back at the Wikimedia Summit 2024 which happened two months ago and the implications of what the first Board of Trustee statement on the Movement Charter has/had on the overall strategy process (this episode was delayed for a months due to legal reasons). Hope you enjoy listening, you can listen to the episodes and contact Yop and me via the podcast's Meta page for feedback, suggestions or other remarks: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFireside_Chat Have a great day! Yop and Philip

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Wiki Movimento Brasil's quarterly report and learning reports
by Éder Porto 01 Jul '24

01 Jul '24

Dear friends from the Wikimedia Movement, Wiki Movimento Brasil has just released its quarterly report of activities [1]. It brings an aggregated, general report and area-specific reports. These documents are in English. Moreover, we have also published our learning reports for the semester (in Portuguese, only). They include: * what we have learned from working on the Global Majority Wikimedia Technology Priorities [2]; * an assessment of opportunities and risks of massively increasing membership constituency [3]; * the role Wikiversity may play for university research groups [4]; * a pioneering project with a state government to produce guidelines for openly sharing their cultural collections [5]; * what we have learned about continuing engagement of participants in leadership programs [6]; * a report from our experience bringing Outreachy to the Capacity Exchange development team [7]; * an account of our recent advocacy programs in promoting the wiki way in global meetings and campaigns [8]; * how we have partnered up with two municipalities to receive funding and work on bringing local knowledge to Wikimedia, and [9]; * an assessment of participatory governance to support our affiliate's mission and connection with the Portuguese-speaking community [10]. I hope you find these documents interesting. We would love to exchange about these experiences! With best regards, Éder Porto, on behalf of Wiki Movimento Brasil -- References [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024 [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [8] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024… [10] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Movement_Brazil_User_Group/Report/2024…

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Mopping with the tap open
by Romaine Wiki 01 Jul '24

01 Jul '24

In the past days, a new Wikipedia contributor edited Wikipedia and made a great contribution, except... This user added zero sources, and the article in what the edit was made was about a living person. So the verifiability is a problem and in conflict with the policy Biographies of living persons. This was just one example of thousands that have to be dealt with every day in Wikimedia. And every day the community tries to maintain the quality of Wikipedia and has to deal with this kind of edits. I asked myself the question: why did this new contributor not add any sources? I logged out, went to an article and clicked edit. Made some modifications (in the Visual Editor), and then clicked Publish changes. In the steps I took to edit the article, I got nowhere a message that Wikipedia wants to have sources for the information I added. Nowhere! I hope that every experienced user by now understands the importance of adding sources. But we cannot expect from new contributors to already know this. They need to be informed that adding sources is needed. They do not go first read the manual of Wikipedia with all the help and project pages, they just start editing right away. They think, link in many other platforms, that if they do something wrong, they get a message while editing/uploading/etc. For some strange reason, if you edit Wikipedia, you get no notification at all that you need to add sources, even while this is one of the most important pillars of Wikipedia. The result is that a lot of work of these new contributors gets lost, because the information is removed from the articles because of a lack of sources. If those new users would have got a message in the Visual Editor during the editing, a lot more contributions would be able to stay in Wikipedia, less new contributors would get demotivated, and it would reduce the workload of existing users who do the maintenance every day. As with the influx of edits without sources nothing is done, the Dutch expression "mopping with the tap open" (Dutch: dweilen met de kraan open) applies here. Romaine

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Rapid Fund and General Support Fund timelines
by Davit Saroyan 01 Jul '24

01 Jul '24

This message is also available on Meta-Wiki <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Up…> translated into Spanish <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Up…>, French <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Up…>, and Portuguese <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Up…> . Dear Wikimedia Community Members, We are writing to announce the upcoming Rapid Fund <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid> [1] and General Support Fund <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Ge…> [2] round cycles and process timelines for the coming fiscal year (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025). == Rapid Fund timelines == In mid-July, we will share information about changes happening in the Rapid Fund program. These changes are based on and in support of WMF’s Annual Plan for 2024/2025 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2024-2025/…> [3]. Our commitment is to continue providing resources to the movement under the Equity goal, while also helping the movement take specific steps towards subsidiarity in resource distribution. More details about what this entails, how it will be implemented, and the specific partners within the movement that we will be working with to realise this goal, will be shared in subsequent communications. In the upcoming fiscal year, there will be 5 Rapid Funds Cycles. You can find the timelines on Meta-Wiki <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid#Timeline> [4]. Please take note of the campaigns impacted that should be put in their application for resourcing support. If you are leading a campaign and it is missing from the list, please let us know. Rapid Fund's budget is a part of the Wikimedia Community Fund for each region. The Regional Fund Committees, along with representatives of affiliate EDs and with guidance from the Community Resources team, are currently working together to establish next year's budget regional distribution. We will announce the Rapid Fund's portion of the final regional budgets by the second half of July together with the entire Community Fund budget per region. == General Support Funds round timelines per region == General Support Funds round timelines <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Ge…> [5] are published on Meta-Wiki. Please note that in some regions we will have a different deadline for those who are submitting a simple renewal of their previous application in FY23 (2023-24) and for those who submit a newly written application. More detailed information regarding the General Support Fund, including the finalized regional budgets and any changes, will be provided in the second half of July. Please reach out to the Regional Program Officer <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Advancement/Community_…> [6] for the support you need on any of the funding programs. With kind regards, Community Resources Team 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Ge… 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2024-2025/… 4. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Rapid#Timeline 5. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Programs/Wikimedia_Community_Fund/Ge… 6. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation/Advancement/Community_…

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