Hello everyone,
Below is the Wikimedia UK monthly reporthttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports for the period 1st to 31st October 2013. If you want to keep up with the chapter's activities as they happen, please subscribe to our bloghttp://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/ , join a UK mailing listhttps://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l, and/or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/wikimediauk. If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line on this report's talk pagehttps://wikimedia.org.uk/w/index.php?title=Talk:Reports/2013/October&action=edit&redlink=1 .
For those who prefer to view the report on wiki you can see it at https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October
Thanks and regards,
Stevie
Contents [hide https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#]
- 1 Program activitieshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Program_activities - 1.1 Communityhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Community - 1.1.1 Microgrant outcomehttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Microgrant_outcome - 1.2 GLAM activitieshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#GLAM_activities - 1.3 Education & expert outreachhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Education_.26_expert_outreach - 1.4 Training wiki-skillshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Training_wiki-skills - 1.5 Technologyhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Technology - 1.6 Other activitieshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Other_activities - 1.6.1 Wiki Loves Monumentshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Wiki_Loves_Monuments - 1.6.2 Micrograntshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Microgrants - 1.7 UK press coverage (and coverage of UK projects & activities)https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#UK_press_coverage_.28and_coverage_of_UK_projects_.26_activities.29 - 1.8 Blog posts this monthhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Blog_posts_this_month - 1.9 Upcoming activities in October and Novemberhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Upcoming_activities_in_October_and_November - 1.9.1 Octoberhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#October - 2 Administrative activitieshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Administrative_activities - 2.1 Board activitieshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Board_activities - 2.2 News from the Chief Exechttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#News_from_the_Chief_Exec - 2.3 Communicationshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Communications - 2.4 New Staffhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#New_Staff - 2.5 Fundraising and Membershiphttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Fundraising_and_Membership - 2.6 Visitors to the office this monthhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports/2013/October#Visitors_to_the_office_this_month
Program activities Community
The first Leeds meetup https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Leeds/1 started the month off with 6 signups. Meetups also took place in Londonhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/London/74 , Oxford https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Oxford/9, Manchesterhttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Manchester/20, and Edinburgh https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Edinburgh_4.
GLAM activities
October was a busy month for GLAM with multiple events for Ada Lovelace day, and a variety of other subjects from Breast cancer and Railways to paleontologists and the Bloomsbury group.
Geographically our program included our first editathon in York and a virtual event https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Pearson_Wikipedia_Editathon_Oct_2013 where most participants were not in UK.
Education & expert outreach
The afternoon in the same venue saw a Women in Science editathon, introduced by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, FRS and by Oxford's CIO, Anne Trefethen. It was supported by Martin in his Jisc capacity, but with vital assistance from Doug Taylor https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/User:RexxS and Dan Garry https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/User:Deskana. An almost entirely female group of 22 attendees, with a broad age range, created seven articles and improved fourteen morehttp://blogs.it.ox.ac.uk/adalovelace/2013/10/21/editathon-success/, and there was genuine enthusiasm for further involvement with Wikipedia. Bodelian Libraries' Liz McCarthy (whose books were incredibly useful on the day) and IT Services' Kate Lindsay wrote articles for *Guardian Higher Education Network*http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/oct/15/ada-lovelace-day-wikipedia-editathon and for the university's online magazine *Oxford Today*http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/news/2013-10-19-celebrating-women-science about the value of writing about women in STEM on Wikipedia.On Ada Lovelace Day, Oxford University hosted the first of a series of workshops on using Wikimedia to link Research Impact and Open Educationhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Expert_outreach/Jisc_Ambassador/Research_impact_and_open_education, delivered by Martin Poulter as part of the Jisc/Wikimedia UK partnershiphttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Expert_outreach/Jisc_Ambassador. The three-hour event attracted fourteen attendees, including lecturers/tutors, support staff, and one museum staff. Nine people signed up to the Wikimedia UK list of academic contacts, who are being followed up with. Requests have come from more universities for these workshops, and though the project plan is for six, the total will likely exceed that.
The Bodleian Libraries also hosted a guest blog post by Martinhttp://blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/23things/wikipedia-learning-by-sharing-knowledge/ as part of its "23 things" online course.
Martin had a brief slot in a Jisc Digital Media webinar about finding audio and video resources for educationhttp://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/surgery/session/finding-and-using-audio-and-video-resources which is archived on the JDM site. He discussed some of the strengths and weaknesses of Wikimedia Commons, and took part in a discussion about the value of freely reusable content. Other participants were highly complimentary about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement.
Training wiki-skills
Software Alliance Wales (SAW; based at Swansea University), have agreed to train their own trainers in wiki-skills. They will then train others in all parts of Wales. Each course member will be given a general outlook of Wikipedia and will then create a village stub-article on Wikipedia, in English or in Welsh; part two then looks at Infoboxes. It's possible that this may be the first time for an independent body in Britain to teach wiki-skills.
Technology
The Technology Committeehttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Technology_Committee met on 22nd October; it was the committee's fourth full meeting and the minutes are available onlinehttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/IT_Development/Progress_meetings/Minutes_22_October_2013 .
Other activities Wiki Loves Monuments
The jury http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org.uk/meet-the-jury consisted of three people with diverse backgrounds. Steve Cole has more than 40 years of experience of heritage photography and has worked with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) and English Heritage; David Iliff is a semi-professional photographer and regularly contributes to the Featured Picture process; and Alex Linghorn is a professional travel photographer and has travelled to more than 40 countries capturing images of culture and heritage.Submissions to Wiki Loves Monuments closed at 23:59 on Monday 30th September. With 12,000 photos from the UK, October was spent judging them. A team of volunteers systematically looked through all the photos to compile a long-list for the final jury. After several passes they produced a long list of nearly 500 images for consideration by the jury.
The three-man jury met at the end of the month and settled on the winners. The top three were selected, with seven Highly Commended images, and one selection for Best Documentary image. The winners can be seen herehttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:UK_Wiki_Loves_Monuments_winners_2013 .
Microgrants
Information about microgrants that are currently running, and how to submit a microgrant application of your own, are at Microgrants/Applicationshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Microgrants/Applications .
UK press coverage (and coverage of UK projects & activities)
Ada Lovelace and Wikipedia's Women - http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/oct/15/ada-lov...
Ada Lovelace Day 2013 - from nerd cabaret to womenifying Wikipedia - http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/15/nerd-cabaret-wikipedia-ada...
BBC Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 (featuring Daria Cybulska) discussing Ada Lovelace Day and Wikipedia - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03cmt4n
BBC - Wikipedia probe into paid-for 'Sockpuppet' entries - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24613608
Vice.com - is the PR industry buying influence over Wikipedia? - http://www.vice.com/read/is-the-pr-industry-buying-influence-over-wikipedia
Wall Street Journal - Wikipedia probes suspicious promotional articles - http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/10/21/wikipedia-probes-suspicious-promotion...
Independent - Wikipedia: We have blocked 250 'sock puppets' for biased editing of our pages - http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/wikipedia-we-h...
Guardian - Wikipedia cracks down on 'paid advocacy editing and sockpuppetry' - http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/22/wikipedia-ban-sock-puppet-...
PR Week - New Wikipedia editing furore provokes CIPR ire - http://www.prweek.com/article/1217351/new-wikipedia-editing-furore-provokes-...
Daily Dot - The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army - http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/wikipedia-sockpuppet-investigation-largest...
The Register - Wikipedia sockpuppetry probe puts a sock in hundreds of accounts - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/21/wikimedia_foundation_blocks_hundreds...
Ars Technica - Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/wikipedia-editors-locked-in-battl...
Washington Times - Click capitalism: PR firms cash in cleaning up clients’ Wikipedia pages - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/21/money-to-pr-firm-can-buy-goo...
Social Times - Wikipedia Continues To Clash With Wiki-PR In Losing Battle - http://socialtimes.com/wikipedia-continues-to-clash-with-wiki-pr-in-losing-b...
Time Magazine - Wikipedia Bans 250 Users for Posting Paid, Promotional Entries - http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/21/wikipedia-bans-250-users-for-posting-pai...
Venture Beat - Wikipedia shuts down 250 accounts as part of investigation against paid ‘sockpuppets’ - http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/21/wikipedia-shuts-down-250-accounts-as-part-...
Zeit Online - Wikipedia geht gegen bezahlte Manipulation vor (in German) - http://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2013-10/wikipedia-lobbyismus-sperrung-nu...
Digital Journal - Wikipedia editors report high numbers of paid-for articles - http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/360726
Kenyan Standard - Wikipedia probe into paid-for 'sockpuppet' entries - http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000095994&story_title=wikiped...
New Statesman - Keeping Wikipedia working is wearing some editors down - http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/keeping-wikipedia-working-wearing-some-e...
Slate (in French) - WIKI-PR, L'ENTREPRISE QUI FAUSSE WIKIPEDIA POUR PROMOUVOIR SES CLIENTS - http://www.slate.fr/life/79142/wikipedia-entreprise-relations-publiques
MSN Now - Wikipedia tries to fix the problem of allowing anyone to edit articles - http://now.msn.com/wikipedia-cracks-down-on-sock-puppet-network-non-neutral-...
Philip Sandifer - Wikipedia Goes All-In on Transphobia - http://www.philipsandifer.com/2013/10/wikipedia-goes-all-in-on-transphobia.h...
Blog posts this month
- Introducing Scotland’s first Wikimedian-in-Residencehttp://scot.okfn.org/2013/10/01/introducing-scotlands-first-wikimedian-in-residence/ (1 October) - The morning after the month beforehttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/the-morning-after-the-month-before/ (4 October) - Wikimedia at the Mining Institutehttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/wikimedia-at-the-mining-institute/ (8 October) - Introducing our two new trusteeshttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/introducing-our-two-new-trustees/ (9 October) - Wikimedia UK & York Museums Trust appoint Wikimedian in Residencehttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/wikimedia-uk-york-museums-trust-appoint-wikimedian-in-residence/ (14 October) - Celebrating Ada Lovelace Dayhttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/celebrating-ada-lovelace-day/ (15 October) - Wikipedia: Learning by sharing knowledgehttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/wikipedia-learning-by-sharing-knowledge/ (18 October) - Governance review – interim review and progress reporthttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/governance-review-interim-review-and-progress-report/ (21 October) - Breast cancer information on Wikipedia: making it even betterhttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/breast-cancer-information-on-wikipedia-making-it-even-better/ (24 October) - Saying ‘bonjour’ to Wikimedia Francehttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/saying-bonjour-to-wikimedia-france/ (29 October) - Announcing the winners of the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest in the UKhttps://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/10/announcing-the-winners-of-the-wiki-loves-monuments-photo-contest-in-the-uk/ (30 October)
Activities in October October
- *03* - Ada Lovelace Festival of Wikipedia workshophttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women%27s_History/Ada_Lovelace_Festival_of_Wikipedia_workshop, London & Edinburgh - *04* - Harnessing the Energy WES Conference 2013http://www.wes.org.uk/energy#Programme - Wikimedia UK present to talk about engaging with Wikipedia - *05* - Ada Lovelace Festival of Wikipedia workshophttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women%27s_History/Ada_Lovelace_Festival_of_Wikipedia_workshop, Southampton - *05* - First Leeds meetuphttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Leeds/1 - *09* - GLAM working group meeting - *11–12* - OpenGLAM conference http://openglam2013.pl/home/english, Poland. Wikimedia UK represented by Daria Cybulska to promote chapter's GLAM work - *11* - Presentation to the Office of National Statistics at the Department of Educationhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/ONS_Presentation_London, London - *11* - Medical Research Council Women in Science eventhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/MRC,_Royal_Society,_Wikimedia_UK_Women_in_Science_Wikipedia_edit-a-thons, London - *13* - London meetup https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/London/74 - *13* - Oxford meetup https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Oxford/9 - *14* - Wikipedia training for the Office of National Statisticshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/ONS_Training,_Newport - *15* - Using Wikimedia to link research impact and open educationhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Expert_outreach/Jisc_Ambassador/Research_impact_and_open_education - workshop for staff in Oxford University - *15* - Women in Science Oxford Editathon: Ada Lovelace Day 2013https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_University_of_Oxford/AdaLovelaceDay2013, Oxford University - *17* - Ada Lovelace Day London 2013 Conway Hallhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wikipedia:WikiProject_Women%27s_History/Ada_Lovelace_Day_London_2013_Conway_Hall - *19* - editathon - Bloomsbury Festivalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Literature/Bloomsbury_Group_editathon - London - *19* - Trowel Blazers: Women in archaeology, palaeontology and geologyhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Trowel_Blazers_event - Natural History Museum - London - *19* - editathon - National Railway Museumhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Railways/National_Railway_Museum_editathon - York - *20* - Manchester meetuphttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Manchester/20 - *22* - Breast Cancer Care editing sessionhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Breast_Cancer_Care_editing_session - London - *25–27* - Joint MozFest sessionhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Joint_Mozfest_proposal - *26* - Wikimedia 'pitch' at Library Camp Glasgowhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Library_Camp_Glasgow_2013, Mitchell Library - *26* - Trevor Johnson hosting a stand for WikiProject RISC OShttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Wikipedia:WikiProject_RISC_OS at RISC OS London showhttp://www.riscoslondonshow.co.uk/exhibitors.php - *27* - Manchester Girl Geeks Wikipedia editing workshophttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Wikimedia_Girl_Geek_Dinner/Manchester_October_2013 to link with the Manchester Science Festival - *27* - Edinburgh meetuphttps://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Edinburgh_4 - *28* - Kingston University Women in Science eventhttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Kingston_University_Women_in_Science_event - *30* - Martin Poulter taking part in Jisc Digital Media webinarhttp://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/blog/entry/jisc-digital-media-webinar-for-october-finding-and-using-audio-and-video-re on "Finding and Using Audio and Video Resources"
For events in December 2013 and onwards, please see Eventshttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Events .
Administrative activities Board activities
In October the WMUK board co-opted two new trustees, Carol Campbell and Kate West, bring the number of members up to seven. Carol is a former charity CEO who has worked in the hospice sector, the arts, a special school and a cathedral and Kate is an operations and resource management professional and has worked for a variety of high-profile, non-profit organisations. Their terms run until the end of September 2015.
News from the Chief Exec *For information on Jon's activities this month, see News from the Office https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/News_from_the_Office/Posts.*
Communications
Please see the above links to relevant press coverage received in October and blog posts published during the same period.
Aside from the regular comms work, the main driver of our external relations work this month was developing relations with other local and international groups of shared interest. This included the chapter being represented (by staff and volunteers) at the Open Government Partnership Summit, and presenting a session at MozFest. This work is ongoing and will continue into the new year.
If you're interested in getting more involved with our communications or have any questions or comments, please email Stevie Benton – stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk
New Staff
Stuart Prior https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/User:Stuart_Prior_(WMUK) joined the team on the 24th, his role will be to assist with the fundraising and organisation of the upcoming Wikimania 2014 in August.
Fundraising and Membership Fundraising
This month, we received £125 in one-off donations, with 5 individual donations. The average donation amount was £25 - 80% of these donors have had Gift Aid Declarations made and matched with their records. If anyone would like a full (but anonymised) csv file with more information, please get in touch with katherine.bavage[image: at]wikimedia.org.uk and let her know your requirements.
There were 4634 successful direct debits this month, bringing in a total of £18,282.77 Membership
Please see Membership/numbers by statushttps://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Membership/numbers_by_status
Visitors to the office this month
- Michelle Brook, Open Knowledge Foundation - Brian McNeil - User:Thryduulf - Nik Speller, Rare Corporates - The Wikimania volunteer team - Hannah Jones - Jasbir Saund - Simon Knight - Kate Walsh and Carol Campbell - Peter Williams - Emmanuel Engelhart - Rupert Thurner - Anisha Tailor from the Physiological Society to discuss outreach - Sarah Burnett from BCS Women before joint event - Dhaval Vyas - Leutha - Dan Garry (Deskana)