Specifically related to video uploads, we had discussions on Commons on different strategic issues recently, in particular, about this. The general sentiment was, to my understanding (pls correct me if I am wrong) that Commons has no ambition to become Youtube 2.0 and we do not have any resources for this. If video upload is encouraged, very strict policies must be in force concerning of what is in the scope of Commons.

Best

Yaroslav

On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 10:05 PM Brion Vibber <bvibber@wikimedia.org> wrote:

Converting them to suitably compact files in h.264/aac in .MP4 format would be by far the simplest way. Use ffmpeg as we do on the server side for online playback.

Conforming to the arbitrary Wikimedia prohibition on h.264 you could use mpeg-4 visual instead, still in .mp4 - afaik patents are expired and it'll play in standalone files (not in HLS)

If you jump through enough hoops you might get vp9 working in HLS offline, but adaptive streaming may be irrelevant to offline use.

-- brion

On Tue, Jan 23, 2024, 12:52 PM James Heilman <jmh649@gmail.com> wrote:

It would be amazing if one could play videos on iPhones when the videos are within ZIMs in an offline environment aswell. Brion not sure what barriers there are to this currently?

James

On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 12:48 PM Paulo Santos Perneta <paulosperneta@gmail.com> wrote:

Should read 2030 Strategy, not 2023 strategy, sorry.

Paulo Santos Perneta <paulosperneta@gmail.com> escreveu (terça, 23/01/2024 à(s) 19:41):

I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. We are currently grappling with rather rudimentary approaches when it comes to uploading and reusing video and music files... 

The incredibly useful Graph has been down for quite some time. The extensive capabilities of Wikidata query representations, particularly with geolocated data on maps, appear to have barely scratched the surface. Listeria frequently experiences issues and underwent a major update that disrupted previous queries.

On a personal note, I attempted to create a dynamic digital library of works under a free license using Wikidata for our Digital Humanistics centre. However, I discovered that with the available tools, I would need to code the presentation myself, as the options for reuse outside of Wikidata were very basic.

On the whole, the Wikipedia experience remains challenging, especially for newcomers. The much wanted Visual Editor developments and improvements seem to have stopped years ago. The recent changes made by the 'Desktop Improvement' team to the default Wikipedia skin seem to be more geared towards readers than editors and have apparently worsened the overall experience, according to feedback I've received from newcomers.

These are just a few instances that have underscored, and continue to underscore, my belief that we are likely not on the path towards achieving the objectives outlined in the 2023 Strategy.

My personal impression is that the issue doesn't necessarily stem from a lack of funding to pursue these objectives but rather from the ineffective expenditure and allocation of those funds. I wish I knew how to contribute to changing or improving this situation. 

It would also be great to see a comment/opinion from current CEO Maryana Iskander on this state of affairs, and if there is some roadmap for improving it.

Best,

Paulo

Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga <galder158@hotmail.com> escreveu (terça, 23/01/2024 à(s) 11:03):

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_User_Experience) and claimed that we wanted to Innovate in Free Knowledge (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Movement_Strategy/Recommendations/Innovate_in_Free_Knowledge). 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/
• 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/Goals/Infrastructure#Bucket:_Wiki_Experiences) 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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--

James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

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