Hi, folks!
Our October events https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NC/Dorothea_Dix_Hospital_Edi… series continues next week with an online Edit-a-thon Sunday, October 19th, 3:00-4:30 PM. We'll be adding content related to the following topics:
* Dix Park in Raleigh
* Dorothea Dix Hospital
* North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
We'll be joined by an outreach librarian from the State Library of North Carolina to help us learn how to access the best sources to write about local and historical topics like these.
P.S. If you missed the free Dix Hill Asylum Dark History Walking tour last Friday, you have another chance on the 17th.
Also - we do plan to hold our regular monthly meeting this Tuesday, October 14th, 7PM. Watch for details. We'll be taking stock of this event series in progress and planning future activities.
RSVP at the link above, hope to see you then!
Yours,
Jennifer
If you, like me, will not be traveling to the Big Apple this weekend for WikiConference North America, you can still benefit from the conference. Although virtual registration has now closed, many sessions will be livestreaming.
We can also participate remotely in the WikiConference North America Editing Challenge https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2025/Editing_Challenge and be recognized with a virtual barnstar if for completing 7 out of the 15 possible challenges during time frame 00:00 AM 15 October EDT until 23:59 PM 20 October EDT. This is a great way to challenge yourself to try editing a new form of Wikimedia. Whether you are a nostalgic transplant from New York, or someone who longs to travel to NYC in the future, the challenge is also a fun way to engage with content about the city.
Thinking closer to home, join us for our NC Wikimedians Dix Park online Edit-a-thon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NC/Dorothea_Dix_Hospital_Edi… 3:00 to 4:30 on Sunday and we can help you with--at a minimum--items 8, 12, and 15.
Yours,
Jennifer
This looks like a fun project to take part in.
cheers,
Gaurav
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Rowell, Chelcie Juliet" <chelcie_rowell(a)harvard.edu>
> Subject: [GLAM] Political Buttons Research-a-Thon & Copyright-a-Thon
> Date: October 9, 2025 at 4:34:07 PM EDT
> To: "'Wikimedia & GLAM collaboration [Public]'" <glam(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Reply-To: "Wikimedia & GLAM collaboration [Public]" <glam(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> Hello, Wikimedia + GLAM folks!
>
> Ahead of state and local elections this November, the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Library is hosting two events focused on the Political Buttons at HKS Collection <https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/library-knowledge-services/col…>. The events will focus on improving collection metadata and investigating copyright status, enabling us to make collection items available on platforms beyond Harvard (e.g., ✨Wikimedia Commons✨) to expand the collection's reach and research potential.
>
> You’re invited! Please join us. The first event is in-person in the Boston area, while the second event is virtual. All are welcome at both events.
>
> At the events, you’ll...
> Research the dates associated with the buttons of candidates who have run for all levels of political office.
> Learn about copyright law and researching copyright registrations.
> Investigate the copyright status associated with these buttons.
> Help to make it much easier for people to find specific buttons in the collection.
> Enable us to make the buttons available on many more platforms beyond Harvard.
> Explore the many political campaigns run in the US over the past century.
> Learn how to register to vote in your municipal election taking place on November 4.
>
> View event details and register:
> Research-A-Thon <https://libcal.library.harvard.edu/event/14759570>: Friday, October 17, 10:30AM-2:30PM, In Person – Identify dates associated with the buttons of candidates who have run for political office.
> Copyright-A-Thon <https://libcal.library.harvard.edu/event/14759577>: Tuesday, October 28, 10:30AM-2:30PM, Virtual via Zoom – Investigate the copyright status of candidate buttons with identified dates.
>
> We look forward to seeing you there!
>
> —
> Chelcie Juliet Rowell (she, they)
> Associate Head of Digital Collections Discovery
> UX & Discovery, Harvard Library
> _______________________________________________
> GLAM mailing list -- glam(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:glam@lists.wikimedia.org>
> To unsubscribe send an email to glam-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:glam-leave@lists.wikimedia.org>
Greetings, NC Wikimedians!
The GovDirectory WikiProject https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Govdirectory will have a focus week for North Carolina, October 6th through 12th. North Carolina is currently the U.S. state being most actively developed for GovDirectory. A goal of this focus week is to help us get some US content published on GovDirectory for WikiConference North America.
We'd love to have more North Carolinians involved and contributing to this project! Some ways you can contribute will be to add and update information to the Wikidata items that are instances of state agency of North Carolina (Q133309046 https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133309046). There's lots of room to contribute whatever your interests: adding contact information, geolocations, social media accounts, and other information that can often be easily sourced from the Wikipedia page itself. Or get more ambitious and research things like main regulatory text and agency structure. And please spread the word to others who like editing about North Carolina!
Some background:
I have been working on building this Wikipedia List of North Carolina state agencies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_Carolina_state_agencies, based primarily on these lists from state government: North Carolina State Organizations A-Z https://www.nc.gov/your-government/state-organizations and Boards and Commissions https://bc.governor.nc.gov/BoardsAndCommissions, as well as pre-existing lists, categories, and pages. It's useful to understand that there is no official definition of "agency," and our intuition may not be the best guide. This list is defined broadly to include organizations that "act as agents of the state" in some way, and take a user-centered approach to what a reader might be looking for on a GovDirectory page for North Carolina.
The GovDirectory project has a data model https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Govdirectory/Data_model (entity schema) and uses Intgraality tables https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Govdirectory/United_Stat… to track progress. At this time North Carolina is tracking items that are instances of state agency of North Carolina (Q133309046 https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133309046). The best way you can help is add statements to these items based on the data model.
You're welcome to ask questions and discuss on the North Carolina Project Talk Page https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata_talk:WikiProject_Govdirectory/United….
Need a quick intro or refresher on Wikidata? Check out the Wikidata Tours https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Tours.
Every Friday, the GovDirectory project has a 9am Eastern office hour (see Events https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Govdirectory/Events page). On Friday, October 10th, this office hour will focus on North Carolina.
Yours,
Jennifer
P.S. Even if you are not traveling to WikiConference North America https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2025/Main_Page, consider registering and taking in some of the free online sessions,. It's a great way to learn more about the many ways to engage with Wikimedia. There is a GovDirectory session https://wikiconference.org/wiki/Submissions:2025/Wikidata_WikiProject_GovDi… on Friday, October 17, 11:05-11:25.
Hello, NC Wikimedians!
This afternoon we had our Kickoff / Prep Meeting for the Dix Park event series.
The next event in the series is this Friday, October 10th, 5:30 to 7:00 PM at Dix Park in Raleigh. We'll be doing the Dix Hill Asylum Dark History Tour. The walking tour is free, but you need to RSVP on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dix-hill-asylum-dark-history-tour-tickets-1005…. Next Friday, October 17th, is an alternate date you could take the tour.
Wiki Loves Monuments https://wikilovesmonuments.us fans, Dorothea Dix Hospital is a qualifying site on the National Register of Historic Places!
Here are the minutes on the Etherpad https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/nc-wikipedians-dorothea-dix-oct2025 , including presentation, dashboard (enroll!), event page (RSVP), and brainstorming ways to improve the content (add your ideas or help us implement!)
While we'll be making progress on creating and improving content throughout the event series, we'll also have a focused Editathon on Sunday, October 19th, 3:00 - 4:30 PM with a special guest from the State Library of North Carolina.
Hope you can join us!
Yours,
Jennifer
Hi, folks!
Mark your calendars, RSVP, and plan to join us online one week from today as we kick off our October event series focused on Dix Park in Raleigh!
Here are the details for our October hybrid event series focused on Dix Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/NC/Dorothea_Dix_Hospital_Edi… in Raleigh. Please plan to join us for one or all three of the following events:
* Online kickoff Sunday, October 5, 3-4:30 PM
* "Dark History" Walking Tour, Dix Park, Raleigh, Friday, October 10 5:30 - 7:00 PM (optional picnic beforehand) Sign up for the tour on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dix-hill-asylum-dark-history-tour-tickets-1005….
o Alternate date: The tour is also available Friday, October 17
* Online Edit-a-thon Sunday, October 19th 3-4:30 PM
Our goal for this event series is to improve Wikimedia content about Dix Park, the historic Dorothea Dix hospital site, and related topics. We'd also love to engage some new editors and re-engage some formerly active editors.
It's especially important that you RSVP for the (free!) tour on Eventbrite, because the tour could fill up.
Please also share the event page with your networks to encourage a good turnout! The event is beginner-friendly and has aspects that can appeal to a wide variety of interests.
Yours,
Jennifer
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Nataliia Tymkiv <ntymkiv(a)wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [All-affiliates] Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Selection - Candidate Ballot
> Date: October 3, 2025 at 12:09:38 PM MDT
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Cc: Wikimedia Affiliates <all-affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Reply-To: Wikimedia All-Affiliates <all-affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> This message is being translated into other languages on Meta-wiki. العربية • español • français • português • 中文. You can help with more languages. <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard/Octo…>
> Dear all,
>
> I am writing to you from Kyiv to follow up on the announcement made by the Elections Committee on 21 August, and to share the list of candidates for the 2025 Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees election. The voting period will be open from October 8 - October 23 and we hope that everyone who can vote will do so: you can check your voter eligibility here <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/2025/Voter_e…>.
>
> Based on the process outlined below, including mutual discussions with candidates about their own wishes to advance further in the process, the Board has unanimously decided that four candidates will be on the ballot for the 2025 elections: Bobby Shabangu, James Alexander, Michał Buczyński, and Wojciech Pędzich.
>
> We encourage all other 8 eligible candidates who submitted their candidacies this year to consider participating in future Board elections or for other leadership and governance positions in the movement. One goal of the Board is to develop these leaders for our movement, including growing future Trustees, by identifying opportunities for all volunteers who put their names forward for this and prior board elections.
>
> The steps we took to improve our processes <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Board_of_Trustees_Candidate_Re…> this year were based on more consistency and standardisation between how all candidates are seated irrespective of their pathway to joining the board (e.g., community-and-affiliate selected and board-selected). As in past years, this included background checks, media checks, reference checks, and an interview with members of the Board’s Governance Committee, but this year this was all done before the voting.
>
> The interview for any candidate joining the Board is used to assess more subjective criteria like a candidate’s judgment, discernment, discretion, and ability to engage in the duties and requirements of being a Trustee, some of which can be complex and difficult to measure. These conversations typically cover topics like conflicts of interest, fiduciary obligations of Trustees, a track record of commitment to Wikimedia’s core principles and values (e.g., upholding NPOV, managing COIs, etc.), as well as a candidate’s understanding of the Board’s Code of Conduct <https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Code_of_Conduct_of_the_Wikimed…> and other governance policies, and what these policies require of Trustees.
>
> This is based on best practices and process improvements as well as the increased stakes of achieving our mission now and into the future. Now more than ever, the Foundation needs a strongly unified board committed to collective decision-making responsibilities that can help steer the organisation and our movement through difficult global headwinds, and also at a time in which we will have leadership transitions in both the Board Chair and CEO roles.
>
> This year, these steps were taken ahead of the community voting instead of after. This change will ensure that all candidates on the ballot are ready and able to be seated. It also helps avoid a situation where the Board is unable to implement the outcome following the community vote. At the end of the voting period on October 23, following the results and scrutiny of the vote, the Board will vote to appoint the final two candidates at the December 2025 Board meeting.
>
> The process steps here explain how we arrived at this decision, including subjective assessments true for any selection process. Our decisions relate entirely to the factors listed above.
>
> We invite your questions on the talk page <https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_Boar…> of this message on Meta, and are always available for conversations with anyone who would like to speak with Foundation Trustees and executives through the Let’s Talk initiative (sign up here on Meta <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>).
>
> 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!
>
> _______________________________________________
> All-affiliates mailing list -- all-affiliates(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to all-affiliates-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org