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[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Foundation Meeting, 4 July 2004
by Angela_ 11 Jul '04

11 Jul '04

Wikimedia Foundation Meeting La Maison des Metallos, Paris, 4 July 2004. Present: Angela Beesley, Florence Nibart-Devouard and Jimmy Wales. 1) Wikimedia website 2) Developer issues 3) Grants and Official Positions 4) Trademark 5) Board members 6) AOB 1) Wikimedia website The aim of the Foundation website is to increase the visibility and transparency of the Foundation and to provide a central location and summary of all the information. It was decided to host the Wikimedia Foundation website on a separate wiki (see http://wikimedia.org/wiki). This allows other users to add translations, and to help with the addition of technical details, including page views. Some pages, such as the mission statement, will be protected and editable only by the Board. Users can suggest changes to these on Meta, and the changes will be adopted onto the main site following Board approval. A number of translations will be needed for widely spoken languages, including those which currently have only small Wikipedias, such as Spanish. Information for the press will be included in a summarized format. Efforts will be made to keep this up to date, unlike the current pages on Wikimedia. Global policies, such as privacy and terms of use, will be included on this website. While respecting the "wiki way", these will need to be approved by the board before they are changed for legal reasons. The wiki will not be open to anonymous edits and only authorized accounts will be opened. 2) Developer issues The creation of a developer committee was proposed, with one or two developers to be assigned official positions by Board. Sub-committees should be developed, such as one to discuss ways of checking performance. It was noted that Looxix had requested shell access to help with the tracking of performance related issues. Assignment of shell access was discussed and the issue of whom should be allowed to hand out such access was raised. It was proposed that when a developer committee is formed, they work on a policy to cover such issues. Plans for downtime are needed. The developers should be aware of who is responsible for ensuring downtime notices are placed on the site, and that the relevant people, such as Brion Vibber, are informed of downtime. Plans to avoid unnecessary downtime should be made. When planning the hardware architecture, it was noted that we need to think longer term about this. 3) Grants and Official Positions When making grant applications, it is important to present a united front. We should not be presenting multiple applications from different users without knowing who is sending what. We must appear to be collaborating on this, so all applications should be logged at one central location. Some grant applications require an authorized signature. It was proposed that grant applications be double signed by the person making the application and by one member of the Board. This requirement will be noted on the Wikimedia Foundation website to prevent non-authorized applications which are not made in the name of Wikimedia. The Board does not believe there should be any requirements that people be qualified in any particular field to hold an official position. We should not limit these places to professionals. 4) Trademark There is a requirement for certain standards to be met in the places our logo is used. We should aim to be NPOV rather than give the impression that the Foundation is endorsing anything. Particular care should be taken in printed versions that advertising is appropriately marked as such, and does not appear to be an endorsement. A policy for situations in which the logo may be used will be developed. This will ensure it is only used in a way which is consistent with the community's values. The situation regarding the rights to use the logo is not yet clear. Jimbo is in contact with David Friedland (Nohat) about this. It was felt important that David would not have veto rights over where the logo is used. 5) Board members Tim and Michael will have less active involvement than the other members of the Board but Jimbo stated that their presence on the Board would not mean the votes of Angela and Anthere would be automatically overridden. It was suggested that the Board should be enlarged at some point, possibly later this year, and that prominent people external to Wikipedia could be invited to hold positions on the Board. 6) AOB Jimbo will contact a German lawyer regarding the registration of the Wikimedia trademark in Germany, which someone else is currently attempting to register. Alex Roshuk is completing the forms required to gain 501(c)3 status. Approval was given for the proposed email from the German Wikipedia to wissen-de regarding our copyright violation. Daniel Mayer was appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer. He will work closely with Anthere on financial matters. Jimbo will ask Michael Davis to take on the role of treasurer. Michael will have the role of overseeing the finances at the end of the year, and occasionally during the year, but Anthere will be responsible for this on a more day-to-day basis. ----

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[Foundation-l] Status of logo copyright
by Angela_ 10 Jul '04

10 Jul '04

(forwarded from wikipedia-l) > --- David Friedland <david(a)nohat.net> wrote on wikipedia-l > > Before I left on my unannounced wikivacation, Jimbo > > e-mailed me about > > the copyright logo. He seemed to be under the > > impression that I had > > assigned my rights to the logo to the Wikimedia > > foundation, but I don't > > believe that I had. > > > > I am happy to assign my copyrights over the logo to > > the Wikimedia > > Foundation. However, I am unsure how to do that in a > > binding way. > > Furthermore, I don't believe that the Foundation > > actually owns any > > copyrights yet and I have some questions about how > > this will be handled. > > Has anyone else assigned their copyrights to the > > Foundation? Are there > > policies about how the foundation is going to handle > > the copyrights it > > holds? What benefit would there be to my assigning > > the copyright to the > > foundation rather than just licensing it at no cost > > for various purposes? > > > > As I said, I am happy to assign the copyrights to > > the foundation, but I > > want to be sure of what I am doing before I jump in > > and do it, because > > there are no "take-backs" in the world of copyright. > > > > - David Friedland David, it's great to hear you are happy to do this. As far as I know, the only copyrights assigned to the Foundation so far are those of Jimbo and certain edits by Bomis staff. The Foundation doesn't currently have any policies on the handling of its copyrights. I don't know how binding making an informal assignment on the mailing list would be; perhaps a lawyer could advise whether you need to physically sign something. In terms of benefits, for the Foundation, owning the copyright would be easier than having a licence, as it means it is free to do what it likes with the logo, rather than having any restrictions that might cause problems later on. I'm not sure what the benefits to you are though, other than not having to worry about writing a licence, and not having the Foundation bothering you in years to come about whether they can use the logo for some purpose not originally mentioned in the licence. Angela (just my thoughts, not on behalf of Wikimedia)

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[Foundation-l] Re: NEH grant
by Michael Snow 10 Jul '04

10 Jul '04

Daniel Mayer wrote: >--- Michael Snow <wikipedia at earthlink.net <http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l>> wrote: >> ... >> However, it would be nice to see more frequent updates just about >> fundraising progress, which is what this suggestion focuses on. Those >> who are particularly interested in this should be encouraged to donate >> the funds necessary so that we can start paying Mav a salary. Otherwise, >> it's unfair to expect anyone to assume that burden. > >Actually please don't donate money for that - giving me money will not increase >the number of hours in the day or reduce the number of hours I need to sleep >(Wikipedia/Wikimedia is nearly a second full time job for me). Also, doing so >would only add a small incentive for me to do more work in this area since I >strongly suspect that such pay would pale in comparison to what I now receive >as a GIS specialist (thus I would have to keep my day job). A full time server >admin is far more important. > Sorry, I meant that to be tongue-in-cheek, not as a particularly serious suggestion (yet). My point was mostly that if people have expectations like that, they need to consider whether they're prepared to contribute what's necessary to make it possible. There's only so much you can "require" from volunteers. And I agree that for the future day when we start hiring salaried employees, a server admin is a bigger priority. --Michael Snow

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[Foundation-l] Re: NEH grant
by Michael Snow 09 Jul '04

09 Jul '04

Anthere wrote: > Christopher Mahan wrote: > >> I too wish to express my misgivings at getting the grant. There's >> always strings attached, and targets have to be met, and so on. Who's >> gonna run it? Who's gonna keep track of the money, the milestones, >> etc... >> >> I would rather mav publish a monthly budget and post that to the >> front page, like this: >> >> This month, we need $4000 to meet expenses. So far, users have >> contributed $2800. Thank you! >> >> If budget is met, then you write: >> This month's budget has been met. Thank you! >> >> >> It needs to be updated daily. > > I strongly disagree with this. > A budget is not something you balance week per week or even month per > month. We must plan it. In advance. A budget is something you have to > organise, to take into account structural needs, contingencies, and > see how to best use the remaining. With respect to budgets, and also with respect to the financial management involved in running a grant, Anthere is quite right. The people who have to do the actual work cannot get the job done if they have to spend half or more of their time keeping everyone constantly updated on what they're doing. However, it would be nice to see more frequent updates just about fundraising progress, which is what this suggestion focuses on. Those who are particularly interested in this should be encouraged to donate the funds necessary so that we can start paying Mav a salary. Otherwise, it's unfair to expect anyone to assume that burden. --Michael Snow

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[Foundation-l] NEH grant
by daniwo59＠aol.com 09 Jul '04

09 Jul '04

As you may know, a number of us are trying to get a two-year NEH grant for the Wikimedia Foundation. This is a grant for anything from $80-700,000 for the development of resource materials. Gentgeen has spoken with them, they are familiar with Wikipedia, and they encouraged us to apply for the grant. We are asking for $500,000. This is a lot of money, but we believe that it will cover our operating costs for 2 years, including the purchase of new servers, etc. We can do some amazing things with half a million dollars, and really help Wikipedia and the other projects to soar. To do this, however, requires a lot of help. The grant deadline is July 15, and it is already July 3. It must be in their office by then, so that means it will have to go out by Fedex from somewhere by July 13 at the latest. The proposal is complicated, and requires all sorts of documentation. No one will just give us money for the asking, and the complete proposal has to be written and approved by the community. That said, I appeal to everyone to give us a hand with this. Pick a section you want to write or edit, submit ideas, help Mav with the budget, argue about it, discuss it. This is a chance to take Wikipedia to an exciting new stage, and it is one that we should not miss. For more information, a good place to start is: http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEH_Reference_materials_grant_application Looking forward to your insights and contributions to this effort, Danny

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender
by Anthere 09 Jul '04

09 Jul '04

This problem with the adress wikilegal-l being inserted in some messages has been going on for a while now; It is a problem with gname, and I have no idea how to fix it. I just know that it makes all those prefixed messages refused by the mailing list system. I suggested that those still posting to wikilegal-l remove the adress from their mails, and only post to foundation-l, so that it does not break the gname system. But ... :-( Would anyone caring for mailing list has an idea how to fix this problem ? ----- my answer to Michael is at the end of this message :-) ant --- Mail Delivery System <MAILER-DAEMON(a)mail.wikimedia.org> wrote: > Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2004 06:11:37 +0000 (UTC) > From: MAILER-DAEMON(a)mail.wikimedia.org (Mail > Delivery System) > Subject: Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender > To: gowl-wikilegal-l(a)m.gmane.org > > This is the Postfix program at host > mail.wikimedia.org. > > I'm sorry to have to inform you that the message > returned > below could not be delivered to one or more > destinations. > > For further assistance, please send mail to > <postmaster> > > If you do so, please include this problem report. > You can > delete your own text from the message returned > below. > > The Postfix program > > <wikilegal-l(a)wikimedia.org>: unknown user: > "wikilegal-l" > > ATTACHMENT part 2 message/delivery-status > ATTACHMENT part 3 message/rfc822 > To: wikilegal-l(a)wikimedia.org > From: Anthere <anthere9(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Re: NEH grant > Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 08:13:05 +0200 > CC: foundation-l(a)wikimedia.org > > > > Michael Snow wrote: > > Anthere wrote: > > > >> Christopher Mahan wrote: > >> > >>> I too wish to express my misgivings at getting > the grant. There's > >>> always strings attached, and targets have to be > met, and so on. Who's > >>> gonna run it? Who's gonna keep track of the > money, the milestones, > >>> etc... > >>> > >>> I would rather mav publish a monthly budget and > post that to the > >>> front page, like this: > >>> > >>> This month, we need $4000 to meet expenses. So > far, users have > >>> contributed $2800. Thank you! > >>> > >>> If budget is met, then you write: > >>> This month's budget has been met. Thank you! > >>> > >>> > >>> It needs to be updated daily. > >> > >> > >> I strongly disagree with this. > >> A budget is not something you balance week per > week or even month per > >> month. We must plan it. In advance. A budget is > something you have to > >> organise, to take into account structural needs, > contingencies, and > >> see how to best use the remaining. > > > > > > With respect to budgets, and also with respect to > the financial > > management involved in running a grant, Anthere is > quite right. The > > people who have to do the actual work cannot get > the job done if they > > have to spend half or more of their time keeping > everyone constantly > > updated on what they're doing. > > > > However, it would be nice to see more frequent > updates just about > > fundraising progress, which is what this > suggestion focuses on. > > I agree. > This is planned to be on the new fundation website, > as part of the > feedback the organisation can provide donors. > > For more information about the new website content, > see > http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_website > > Please add to the page :-) > > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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[Foundation-l] Re: NEH grant
by Michael Snow 09 Jul '04

09 Jul '04

Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales wrote: >I am just now getting back into the swing of things. Are there >people who may agree or disagree with SJ's opinions here. > >Keep in mind that I have not yet reviewed the proposed grant >application, nor the requirements of the grant, etc. > While this particular grant does seem unrealistically ambitious to me at this point, just working on it is good experience for us. I don't know if we should actually submit this one, but I do expect we will eventually submit other grant applications. If this is a practice run, then it will help generate basic material for us to use again later. I've briefly looked around to get an idea of the kinds of grants we might apply for (i.e. the kind whose purpose is to foster knowledge and education generally, rather than those with an agenda to promote some particular kind of information). At least in the US, it generally seems to be required for us to qualify as a 501(c)(3) organization. I don't know much about grant-making organizations in other countries, they may or may not have similar expectations. I suppose it's possible that some places might accept an application with the assurance that we're in the process of qualifying, but I think it would be best if we can get that issue taken care of first. --Michael Snow

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[Foundation-l] Tim Starling appointed to the position of Developer Liaison
by Angela 09 Jul '04

09 Jul '04

The Wikimedia Board would like to announce that Tim Starling has been appointed to the official position of developer liaison. Brion Vibber is currently on a wikibreak, but it is expected than he might also hold an official position related to development tasks when he is back. The Board would like to encourage the creation of a developer committee whereby certain developers are assigned responsibility for ensuring that tasks, such as buying servers, are carried out in an efficient and timely way. It is expected that a number of non-official positions will be created by this committee, and that particular developers can be named in certain roles if the committee feel that would be beneficial. Tim Starling's role would include documenting the activities of this committee so the community are aware of who to contact about different issues, and to ensure smooth communication between developers. The title is not meant to imply they Tim Starling does, or is expected to do, more development work than anyone else. He will be the first point of contact between the developers and the Board. The aim of this position is to improve communication, both within the development team, and between them, the Board and the community. Angela Beesley On behalf on the Wikimedia Foundation

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[Foundation-l] Wikimedia subscription donation
by Alan Shields 08 Jul '04

08 Jul '04

I note on http://wikimediafoundation.org/fundraising that you encourage recurring donations. I've searched about but found no mention of where to set up a subscription donation, such as through Paypal. I donate through a Paypal subscription to the FreeNetProject on a monthly basis and would like to set up the same for WikiMedia. I'd post the question to the wiki, but I think this is something that a financial admin would have to do, so I'm posting here. Redirect me if need be. Thanks for all your work, Alan Shields

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[Foundation-l] Audio file from the Paris press conference
by Yann Forget 08 Jul '04

08 Jul '04

Hi all, The audio file from the press conference in Paris on July 4th is available at http://wikimedia.org/media/paris_meeting_2004.ogg It lasts 70 minutes and it makes about 47 MB. Most of it is in English and translated in French. Yann -- http://www.non-violence.org/ | Site collaboratif sur la non-violence http://www.forget-me.net/ | Alternatives sur le Net http://fr.wikipedia.org/ | Encyclopédie libre http://www.forget-me.net/pro/ | Formations et services Linux

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