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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
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
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!*
Hello,
I'm happy to announce that Wikimedia is participating in Round 29 of the
Outreachy program https://www.outreachy.org/ [1] that runs from December
2024 through March 2025! The deadline to submit projects on the Outreachy
website is September 11, 2024 at 4pm UTC and the project list will be
finalized by September 18, 2024.
We are currently gathering a list of interesting project ideas. If you have
some ideas for coding or non-coding (design, documentation, translation,
outreach, research) projects, please share them on this task:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T372834 [2].
*About the Outreachy Program*
Outreachy is a paid, remote three-month internship program. Outreachy's
goal is to support people from groups underrepresented in tech. We help
newcomers to free software and open source make their first contributions
in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS), coding, and non-coding projects
with experienced mentors.
These internships run twice a year–from May to August and December to
March. Interns are paid a stipend of USD 7000 for the three months of work.
Outreachy internship projects may include programming, user experience,
documentation, illustration, graphical design, or data science. Interns
often find employment after their internship with Outreachy sponsors or in
jobs that use the skills they learned during their internship.
Outreachy is open to applicants around the world and the program is open to
both students and non-students; complete eligibility rules
<https://www.outreachy.org/docs/applicant/> [3]. Outreachy expressly
invites the following people to apply:
- Women (both cis and trans), trans men, non-binary people, and
genderqueer people.
- Anyone who faces under-representation, systematic bias, or
discrimination in the technology industry in their country of residence.
- Residents and nationals of the United States of America of any gender
who are Black/African American, Hispanic/Latin@, Native
American/American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific
Islander.
*Tips for mentors for proposing projects*
As a mentor, you will engage with potential candidates in the application
period during October and help them make small contributions to your
project. You will work more closely with the accepted candidates during the
internship period from December through March.
Each mentor will need to submit an intern project proposal:
https://www.outreachy.org/communities/cfp/wikimedia/ [4]. The project
proposal will then be reviewed and approved by the FOSS community
coordinators. Additional co-mentors for the intern project will be able to
sign up for the project after it has been approved by the community
coordinator.
*Guidelines for Crafting Project Proposals*
- Follow this task description template when you propose a project in
Phabricator:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects [5].
- Add *Outreachy (Round 29)* tag
- Project should require an experienced developer ~15 days and a
newcomer ~3 months to complete.
- Each project should have at least two mentors, with one of them
holding a technical background.
- Ideally, the project has no tight deadlines, a moderate learning
curve, and fewer dependencies on Wikimedia's core infrastructure. Projects
addressing the needs of a language community are most welcome.
- If you don't have an idea in mind and would like to pick one from an
existing list, check out these projects:
- https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects [6]
- To learn more about the roles and responsibilities of mentors, visit
our resources on MediaWiki.org:
- https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors [7]
We look forward to your participation!
Cheers,
Deb
[1] https://www.outreachy.org/
[2] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T372834
[3] https://www.outreachy.org/docs/applicant/
[4] https://www.outreachy.org/communities/cfp/wikimedia/
[5] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects
[6] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects
[7] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors
--
deb tankersley (she/her)
senior technical program manager
Wikimedia Foundation
Hello everyone 😊
Apologies for cross-posting this but I hope this email finds you well. We
are happy to announce that we are launching the *Wiki Loves Onam 2024
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Onam_2024>* [1]
campaign, celebrating the vibrant festival of Onam in the month of
September. This campaign aims to document the diverse cultural aspects of
Onam, including its unique traditions, festivities, food, art forms, and
more on Wikimedia Commons.
We invite you to join us in enriching Wikimedia Commons with images and
information that capture the essence of Onam. From its historical
significance to the various ways it is celebrated, we encourage
participants to upload photos that showcase the beauty and diversity of
Onam festivities.
🌼 What is Onam?
*Onam *[2] is an annual harvest and cultural festival celebrated in Kerala
and certain other regions with Kerala residents, the campaign aims to
engage participants from all around the world. This campaign is not just
about uploading photos; it's about telling the story of Onam to the world.
🌸 How to participate?
Capture: Take photos showcasing different aspects of Onam – from Pookalam
(flower decorations) to traditional Onam Sadya (feasts), Vallamkali (boat
races), Pulikali (tiger dances), and more.
Upload: Visit the campaign page at Wikimedia Commons and upload your media
under the "Images from Wiki Loves Onam 2024" category. Make sure to provide
titles and good descriptions to help others find and use your contributions.
For more details and to participate, visit our event pages at:
https://w.wiki/B34P
Let's come together to create a rich visual and cultural repository that
will help preserve and share the essence of Onam with the world!
If you have any questions, please contact the organising team at the
event's talk page
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Wiki_Loves_Onam_2024> or
email us on contact(a)wikilovesonam.org
[1] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Onam_2024
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onam
Best regards,
*Jinoy*
[[User:Gnoeee]]
Behalf of Wiki Loves Onam Team
*Please don’t print this e-mail unless you really need to.Every 3000 sheets
consume a tree. Conserve Trees for a better tomorrow!*
Dear all,
I hope this email finds you well. This is a reminder about the call which
is going to happen today within 1 and half hour.
The call will focus on the Wiki Women Collective initiative.
- Saturday, August 31 · 13:30 – 14:15 UTC
- Speaker: Manavpreet Kaur
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/qvi-kczc-nif
If you are interested in Wiki Women Collective please join us at the given
link.
Regards,
Nitesh
On Sat, 31 Aug 2024 at 4:38 PM, Ester Bonet <esterbonet(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks, I will be there.
> Ester Bonet
>
>
>
>
>
> *AVÍS: És possible que hagis rebut aquest missatge fora de les hores/dies
> laborals habituals, ja que treballo com a voluntària, especialment durant
> els caps de setmana. No cal que em responguis durant els teus dies lliures.
> Gràcies per endavant!*
>
>
>
> *AVISO: Es posible que hayas recibido este mensaje fuera de tus horas/días
> laborales habituales, ya que trabajo como voluntaria, especialmente
> durante los fines de semana. **No es necesario que me respondas durante
> tus días libres**. ¡Gracias de antemano!*
>
>
>
> *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your regular
> working hours/days, as I usually work as a volunteer, specifically during
> weekends. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off.
> Thank you in advance!*
>
>
> Missatge de Nitesh Gill <nitesh(a)cis-india.org> del dia dv., 30 d’ag. 2024
> a les 18:40:
>
>> Hello Ester,
>>
>> Apologies for not replying earlier. The time for tomorrow's call is 13:30
>> to 14:15 UTC. Please Join at that time if you can.
>>
>> See you there :)
>>
>> Regards,
>> Nitesh
>>
>> On Sun, Aug 25, 2024 at 4:36 PM Ester Bonet <esterbonet(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Nitesh,
>>>
>>> I am interested in participating in the Global Call:
>>>
>>> Date: Saturday, August 31, 2024
>>>
>>> Time: 19:00 to 19:45 IST
>>>
>>> Could you confirm please, that the time 19:00 IST corresponds to 15:30
>>> UTC+2?
>>>
>>> Muchas gracias y una abrazo,
>>> Ester Bonet (User:Tiputini)
>>> On behalf of Wikimujeres UG
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *AVÍS: És possible que hagis rebut aquest missatge fora de les
>>> hores/dies laborals habituals, ja que treballo com a voluntària,
>>> especialment durant els caps de setmana. No cal que em responguis durant
>>> els teus dies lliures. Gràcies per endavant!*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *AVISO: Es posible que hayas recibido este mensaje fuera de tus
>>> horas/días laborales habituales, ya que trabajo como voluntaria,
>>> especialmente durante los fines de semana. **No es necesario que me
>>> respondas durante tus días libres**. ¡Gracias de antemano!*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your regular
>>> working hours/days, as I usually work as a volunteer, specifically during
>>> weekends. You should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off.
>>> Thank you in advance!*
>>>
>>>
>>> Missatge de Ciell Wikipedia <ciell.wikipedia(a)gmail.com> del dia dg., 25
>>> d’ag. 2024 a les 12:07:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>>>> Van: Nitesh Gill via Wikimedia-l <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>>>> Date: do 22 aug 2024 om 20:24
>>>> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Join Us for Upcoming Wiki Women Collective
>>>> Calls: South Asia and Global Calls
>>>> To: <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>>>> Cc: Nitesh Gill <nitesh(a)cis-india.org>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dear Wikimedians,
>>>>
>>>> I hope this email finds you well.
>>>>
>>>> We are writing to update you on our ongoing initiatives to enhance
>>>> support for female-related projects or ideas or programs within the
>>>> Wikimedia community. The concept of the Wiki Women Collective
>>>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Women*_Collective> group
>>>> originated at the Wiki Women Camp 2023
>>>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomenCamp_2023> and has been an
>>>> ongoing discussion ever since. Recently, the Wiki Women Collective was
>>>> officially announced during the Women Summit
>>>> <https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Program/WikiWomen_Summit>
>>>> at Wikimania 2024 in Katowice, Poland.
>>>>
>>>> While we have received some nominations on Meta
>>>> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Women_Collective/Nominations>,
>>>> it seems there may be some gaps in understanding regarding the support
>>>> groups and the Wiki Women Collective. To ensure everyone has a clear
>>>> understanding, we are extending the deadline for Wiki Women Collective
>>>> nominations, which was originally set for August 31. This extension will
>>>> give women Wikimedians more time to consider how they can contribute to and
>>>> support this initiative.
>>>>
>>>> To further clarify the purpose and goals of the Wiki Women Collective,
>>>> we are organizing two calls to engage and inform female Wikimedians:
>>>> South Asia Nomination Call:
>>>>
>>>> -
>>>>
>>>> Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024
>>>> -
>>>>
>>>> Time: 6:00 PM to 6:45 PM IST
>>>> -
>>>>
>>>> Google Meet Link: South Asia: Wiki Women Collective Nominations
>>>> Call
>>>> Thursday, August 29 · 6:00 – 6:45pm
>>>> Time zone: Asia/Kolkata
>>>> Google Meet joining info
>>>> Video call link: https://meet.google.com/dcu-krcf-xvu
>>>>
>>>> Global Call:
>>>>
>>>> -
>>>>
>>>> Date: Saturday, August 31, 2024
>>>> -
>>>>
>>>> Time: 7:00 PM to 7:45 PM IST
>>>> -
>>>>
>>>> Google Meet Link: Global Call: Wiki Women Collective Nominations
>>>> Saturday, August 31 · 7:00 – 7:45pm
>>>> Time zone: Asia/Kolkata
>>>> Google Meet joining info
>>>> Video call link: https://meet.google.com/qvi-kczc-nif
>>>>
>>>> We look forward to your participation in these calls and to hearing
>>>> your thoughts on how we can collectively support and empower women within
>>>> the Wikimedia movement.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Nitesh Gill (CIS-A2K)
>>>>
>>>> On behalf of the Support Team
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org,
>>>> guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
>>>> and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
>>>> Public archives at
>>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org…
>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Gendergap mailing list -- gendergap(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to gendergap-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>> To manage your subscription preferences, including unsubscribing,
>>>> please visit:
>>>> %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s
>>>
>>>
Hi everyone!
In the 4th episode of WikiFireside Chat, Yop, Philip and special guest
Nikki Zeuner look back at the Wikimedia Strategy, Nikki's and Yop's
experience working for two of the biggest Wikimedia organisations and what
their recommendations are for the future of Wikimedia and its strategy
process.
You can listen to the episode here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiFireside_Chat#Episode_04
Best regards,
Yop and Philip
Hi everyone,
This is our last communication as the Movement Charter Drafting Committee.
The committee will dissolve today, August 30, 2024. We will take this
opportunity to share our recommendations for the next steps concerning the
Movement Charter work.
We want to start our recommendations for next steps by encouraging everyone
to keep working on Recommendation #4 Ensure Equity in Decision-Making
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Movement_Strategy/Recomm…>(1);
we don’t need a “Movement Charter Drafting Committee” for this. It was
clear in our conversations at Wikimania that you are passionate about
governance and strategy, and you desire to move forward together.
Simultaneously, we encourage the Wikimedia Foundation to take a more
participatory and collaborative approach to Recommendation #4. The project
contributors and the affiliates are two stakeholders in the movement; the
Wikimedia Foundation is another. We need all three stakeholders to
interdependently work together as equals to create a more equitable
movement.
Regarding the three pilots from the Board’s resolution appendix
In the WMF Board’s resolution on 8 July 2024
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Draft_Movement_Charter_and…>(2),
they included three WMF-led pilot proposals that mirrored three of the
functions that were assigned to the Global Council in the final text. We
are encouraged by this alignment, and we view the proposal to test the
functions in time-bound experiments to be a step in the right direction.
However, we implore the Board to be bold and brave, and engage with and
directly involve the movement to co-create and design together – affiliates
and project contributors alike – in order to take these experiments
forward. It is contrary to the principles of equity & empowerment
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Principles#Equity_&_Empow…>(3)
and inclusivity & participation decision-making
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Principles#Inclusivity_&_…>(4)
for WMF to be the sole decision-maker on how these pilots are conducted and
if they are successful.
A core function of the proposed Global Council – future strategic planning
for the wider movement – is not addressed by the three pilots. This should
not be left behind in our changing world, and would be an appropriate field
for community-led collaborations. As such, we recommend and encourage
another pilot to be initiated by any interested stakeholders to fill this
strategic gap.
Additional recommendations
We are pleased by the update
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Late…>(5)
from Maryana reaffirming WMF’s commitment to a charter for the movement.
However, for any subsequent process to draft a Movement Charter or set up a
new governance structure to succeed in the future, we believe the following
things need to be resolved:
-
With the WMF Board Governance Committee stepping in to support the path
forward for a charter, we recommend that WMF clearly share their ideas for
a movement charter – what is the purpose of a charter? Who would it serve?
What should it look like?
-
The initial idea of a Global Council was put forward already about 20
years ago <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikicouncil>(6), yet so far,
there has not been a clear alignment across the movement to take this idea
to action. Before the MCDC started their work, there had not been a
movement-wide effort to align on what problem in our movement governance
this additional structure would solve. We therefore recommend that all
stakeholders – project contributors, affiliates, and WMF – clearly share
whether or not they support the creation of a new governance structure and
the addition of a new body like a Global Council. And if yes, their vision
of it – what are the problems and needs this new body would address? Only
after we have alignment can we take the next steps of deciding on its
structure, responsibilities and composition.
-
We recommend a review and an update to the Board liaison model to
provide more clarity on what the role and responsibilities of liaisons are,
how they interact with the committee they’re on, and what effectiveness
looks like. This should be addressed for both committees with a limited
mandate (e.g. MCDC) and committees with a continuing purpose (e.g.
Affiliations Committee).
-
We heard from the Board liaisons
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Reflections_on_the_fi…>(7)
that the movement values needed to be validated by the entire Wikimedia
Movement through a separate process. We therefore recommend that the WMF
initiates or explicitly endorses a movement-wide process to validate the
Wikimedia movement’s values.
Farewell
As we say farewell to you as the Movement Charter Drafting Committee, we
want to leave you with this: the process of drafting a charter for, with
and by the Wikimedia Movement has been an exhilarating journey. At times,
we were overwhelmed by the intensity of interactions with the movement.
From time to time, it felt like the feedback loops were never concluded and
different stakeholders kept trying to intervene and give their feedback.
Yet, this was probably the manifestation of the devotion in our movement to
get things right together. Our committee was a microcosm of the larger
movement: we represented different experiences and beliefs, we discussed
and debated different approaches and proposals, and in the end, we made
compromises to try to meet in the middle. We have learned a lot as
individuals and as a committee, and we hope you too have learned something
new during this process. Thank you again for your engagement and support
during these past few years.
For the last time,
The Movement Charter Drafting Committee
Anass Sedrati, Anne Clin, Ciell, Daria Cybulska, George Fodouop, Jorge
Vargas, Manavpreet Kaur, Michał Buczyński, Pepe Flores, Richard Knipel,
Runa Bhattacharjee.
1.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Ensure_Eq…
2.
https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Resolution:Draft_Movement_Charter_and…
3.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Principles#Equity_&_Empow…
4.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Principles#Inclusivity_&_…
5.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Late…
6.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikicouncil
7.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Movement_Charter#Reflections_on_the_fi…
*This message was also published on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Charter/Drafting_Committee/Updates…>
to allow for translations.*
Hello everyone,
Hope this message finds you well. I wanted to share some updates regarding
the Language & Internationalization newsletter, the upcoming community
meeting, and the Language Support track at Wikimania.
*Language and Internationalization Newsletter*
The fourth edition of the Language & Internationalization newsletter
(August 2024) is available at this link: <
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_and_Product_Localization/…
>.
This newsletter provides updates from the April–June 2024 quarter on new
feature development, improvements in various language-related technical
projects and support efforts, details about community meetings, and
contribution ideas for getting involved in projects.
To stay updated, you can subscribe to the newsletter on its wiki page: <
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_and_Product_Localization/…
>.
*Language Community Meeting*
The next language community meeting is scheduled in a few weeks—on August
30th at 15:00 UTC. If you're interested in joining, you can sign up on this
wiki page: <
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Language_and_Product_Localization/…
>.
This participant-driven meeting will focus on sharing language-specific
updates related to various projects, discussing technical issues related to
language wikis, and working together to find possible solutions. For
example, in the last meeting, topics included the Language Converter, the
state of language research, updates on the Incubator conversations, and
technical challenges around external links not working with special
characters on Bengali sites.
Do you have any ideas for topics to share technical updates or discuss
challenges? Please add agenda items to the document here: <
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/language-community-meeting-aug-2024>.
*Language Support Track at Wikimania*
Attending the Wikimania Hackathon in person next week? There will be a
dedicated Language Support track focusing on addressing small,
language-specific technical requests across various Wikimedia projects to
support new and existing language communities. Join us to collaborate with
interested volunteers on technical tasks, organize technical sessions, and
run a support help desk. There will also be a session for remote attendees
on using Translatewiki.net for translating Wikimedia interface messages! <
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Program/Hackathon#Language_Support>
Cheers,
Srishti
*Srishti Sethi*
Senior Developer Advocate
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>