(also posted online at
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Telenor_and_WMF_partner_…
)
*Telenor makes Wikipedia available to 135 million customers in Asia and
Europe*
San Francisco, California and Oslo, Norway -- February 28, 2012 --Telenor
Group and the Wikimedia Foundation today announced a new partnership to
offer Wikipedia free of traffic charges on mobile devices to Telenor
customers in Asia and Southeastern Europe. By making versions of Wikipedia
available to 135 million mobile customers, Telenor Group and the Wikimedia
Foundation demonstrate a shared commitment to increasing access to the free
and open knowledge available on Wikipedia.
This initiative is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's mobile strategy,
which focuses on reaching the billions of people around the world whose
primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a mobile device.
“The Wikimedia Foundation is working to remove barriers to free knowledge,
and for most people around the world right now, cost and accessibility are
the two biggest hurdles,” says Barry Newstead, Wikimedia Chief Global
Development Officer. “We applaud Telenor for joining us to deliver free
access to Wikipedia for their customers. Through this partnership, we move
a step closer to providing the sum of all knowledge to everyone in the
world.”
This partnership supports Telenor's commitment to bring more value to its
mobile customers. The company has pioneered the development of value-adding
services to rural and underserved communities in Asia. Telenor involve
millions in Asia through the I-Genius project, which has already reached
out to 300,000 Bangladeshi students and school-children with a call to
explore open knowledge on the internet.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Wikimedia
Foundation. Telenor have pioneered affordable, mobile communications across
much of Asia, and we have built a track record of offering vital services
with a significant outreach” says Kristin Skogen Lund, Executive Vice
President and Head of Digital Services at Telenor Group. “With this
agreement, we are first in Asia to bring a vast knowledge source to the
millions in underserved communities across the region.”
The 3-year partnership between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation
will cover 135 million users. The agreement is signed by seven countries:
Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Montenegro, and Serbia. By
the end of the year, more markets are expected to join. The agreement will
be implemented step by step throughout 2012, with the first markets
launching during the second quarter.
Each local Telenor affiliate will establish technical solutions together
with the Wikimedia Foundation. Customers with a Telenor SIM will be able to
access a version of the encyclopedia for as many times as they like in a
given period, at no charge, as long as they stay within Wikipedia’s pages.
For more information, read the Telnor Partnership Q&A
here<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Projects/Partnerships/Q_and_A#Telenor…>
.
*About Telenor*
http://www.telenor.com
Telenor Group is an international provider of telecom, data and media
communication services. Telenor Group has mobile operations in 11 markets
in the Nordic region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia. The company
also has an ownership stake of 36.4 percent in VimpelCom Ltd., operating in
19 markets. Headquartered in Norway, Telenor Group is one of the world’s
major mobile operators with 140 million mobile subscriptions in its
consolidated operations per Q4 2011, revenues in 2011 of NOK 99 billion,
and a workforce of approximately 30,000.
*About the Wikimedia Foundation*
http://wikimediafoundation.orghttp://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,
Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation
receive more than 482 million unique visitors per month, making them the
fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, January 2012).
Available in 282 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 20 million
articles contributed by a global volunteer community of more than 100,000
people. Based in San Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an
audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded primarily through donations and
grants.
*Press contacts*
*Telenor:
*Tor Odland
Vice President
CommunicationsTelenor Group
+47 9909 0872
tor.odland(a)telenor.com
*Wikimedia Foundation:
*Jay Walsh
Head of Communications
Wikimedia Foundation
+1 415-839-6885, ext 6609
jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org
*(To be unsubscribed from this list, reply with "unsubscribe" in the
subject line.)*
Hi all,
Greetings from Wikimedia India !!!
We are proud to announce live search for the Wikimedia projects
http://live.wikimedia.in.
The site was developed by Shrey Gokani under guidance of Wikimedia India
Chapter.
We want to thank Shrey Gokani for volunteering to do this project and
making this a reality.
We also want to thank Santhosh Thottingal and Junaid P V for the
contributions to this project.
Special thanks to Naveen Francis for leading this initiative.
How to use ?
* Select your Wikimedia Project, say “Wikipedia”
* Select language of the project to search, say “English”
* Input your search string in the Search: Box
* The site auto displays possible pages based on the string match.
* The site is also integrated with Narayam to support Indic language
search. So select the corresponding input method ( if available) while
searching on a Indic Project.
This is still a beta version and further improvements are needed.
As of now, it supports only English and Indic Language projects.
For further queries, reporting bugs and suggestions, please contact us :-
socialmedia(a)wikimedia.in
Thanks,
Tinu Cherian.
Wikimedia India
http://wiki.wikimedia.in
Dear all,
Greetings from Wikimedia India !!!
The Wikimedia Chapter (India) celebrated its first anniversary on 3rd
January 2012.
Organisational Updates Formation of Task Forces:
The formation of the different task forces are still in progress. The
various task forces are a) Fundraising, b) Special Projects, c)
Administration, d) City and Language Special Interest Groups, and e)
Communications, PR & Media Relations.
We are seeking more volunteers for the task forces. If you are interested,
please feel free to contact the respective task force stewards or find more
information here [1]
Membership:
The Chapter membership stands at 196 members as of 31 January 2012. Six new
members were added to the chapter membership in this month. We extend a
very warm welcome to the family.
Donations:
Total donations received in Jan 2012 - INR 10700
Average donations in Jan 2012 - INR 3566
FCRA:
Our application for prior permission under the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act FCRA 2010, with the Government of India is under process.
As the stated time for response is over recently, chapter will be following
up with the authorities. [ As we write this report, our application was
approved by the Government of India]
Internet Relay Chat(IRCs):
>From time to time, Wikimedia India conduct planned online IRC chat
sessions. The IRC on Jan 05, 2011 was anchored by Sudhanwa Jogalekar with
the focus on Chapter Specia Interest Groups (SIG) co-ordination [2]. The
IRC on Jan 07, 2010, anchored by Arun Ramarathnam discussed on the Jan 15th
Celebration plans, SIGs and GLAM projects. [3]
Board Meetings:
The Wikimedia Chapter Executive Committee had two tele-conference EC
meetings (dated 04 Jan and 18 Jan, 2012) in the month of January.The
Wikimedia India chapter and Wikimedia Foundation had one joint
co-ordination call on 25 Jan 2012, which was attended by Arjuna Rao
Chavala, Naveen Francis, Tinu Cherian and Hisham Mundol. The main agenda
of the call was on Chapter - Foundation India programs Collaboration
Framework .
WikiConference 2011
The Chapter and Mumbai Conference organisers are working closely for the
closure and audit of accounts related to WikiConference Mumbai 2011.
Community & Special Interest Groups. SOPA and Wikipedia Blackout: The
global community of volunteers who edit the English Wikipedia had decided
to support the protest against the introduction of the “Stop Online Piracy
Act” (SOPA) in the US House of Representatives and the “Protect IP Act” in
the US Senate. To that end, the English Wikipedia was blacked out globally
for a period of 24 hours on 18 January 2012. The black out in India
commenced at 10.30am IST on 18 January 2012. The Press release and
Communication to the members related to Wikipedia Blackout can found here
[4],[5].
Wikipedia eleventh anniversary :
Wikipedia turned eleven on the 15th of January 2012. The eleventh
anniversary of Wikipedia was celebrated in different parts of the country
[6]. More than 8 Indian cities and towns and over 200 Wikimedians & Wiki
enthusiasts celebrated this occasion of Wikipedia anniversary, around the
nation.
Some of the meetups had a Wikipedia anniversary cake to celebrate the
occasion. Google Hangout was also conducted between different cities
celebrating at the same time.
The New Wikimedia India portal ( wikimedia.in ) was launched on this day.
It is designed to provide quick and rapid access to Indic wikimedia
projects - Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource, Wikibooks, Wikinews,
Wikiquote and Commons.
A full collection of images related to the celebrations, around the nation,
can be found here [7].
Events:
A round-up of Wikimedia events, academies and initiatives around the nation
is as follows.
Wikipedia Takes Ahmedabad (3 Jan 2012): Wikipedia Takes Ahmedabad [8] is a
scavenger hunt for free content photography in Ahmedabad, Gujarat,
organised by Noopur Raval , Anirudh Bhati and Srikeit Tadepalli. The aim
of this exercise is to encourage participants to compete to take
photographs of as many local sights and city specific objects of cultural
heritage as possible for Wikipedia articles. Over 75 participants attended
and around 815 images were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons as a part of
this initiative [9].
Wikipedia Takes Mumbai II ( 28 Jan 2012) : This is the second photography
drive in Mumbai. [10] The event was led by Nikita Belavate, Anshuman
Fotedar and Karthik Nadar and other members of the Mumbai Community. Over
625 images were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons as a part of this
initiative [11]
Wiki Academies/Workshops : Several Wiki Academies were held in different
parts of the nation , organised and conducted by the Chapter, its members
,WMF India Programs and the Wikimedia community in India. .
a) Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi , Kerala (05-Jan) [12]
b) Workshop at Text100, Mumbai (webcast to Text100 Delhi and Bangalore)
(06-Jan) [13]
c) SSN College of Engineering, Chennai (11-Jan ) [14]
d) P S R Rengasamy college of engineering for women, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.
(20-Jan) [15]
e) Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, West Bengal (25-Jan) [16]
f) Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal (25-Jan) [17]
g) Amrita School of Communication, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (28-Jan) (18)
h) Jamia Millia Islamia, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Delhi
(30-Jan) [19]
i) Kerala Sahitya Academy, Trissur, Kerala (8-Jan) [20]
j) Jnana Prabodhini - Wikiacademy, Pune (15-Jan) [21]
A session on Commons was conducted for photography group called
‘Tassavurrati’. [22] They have successfully started uploading pictures of
their trips (most recent: Surajkund Mela) to the Wkimedia Commons.
Other News:
- Telugu SIG celebrated the Wikipedia day on 29 Jan 2012 at Hyderabad.
Top 10 contributors in the articles category and non article category were
recognised at the function. [23]
- Sanskrit Wikipedia saw an excellent editor growth (50%) compared to
last month, and a 234% increase in the number of edits.
- The 1st Delhi Odia Wikimeetup and Academy was conducted on 29 Jan 2012
by Odia SIG Chair and WMF India Programs Consultant , Subhashish
Panigraphi. [24]
- One of the first Assamese Wikipedia community meetup and Wikipedia
Workshop was held on Jan 29 at Guwahati University, Guwahati, Assam [25]
Milestones & Anniversaries January 2012
24
- The Sanskrit Wiktionary <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sa:> has
reached 200 entries with the addition of over a dozen entries all
apparently meaning "sun".
20
- The Divehi
Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Dv:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 100,000 page edits.
- The Assamese
Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=As:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 500 uploaded files.
17
- The Bengali
Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Bn:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 1,000 uploaded files.
- The Oriya Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Or:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 2,000 articles.
15
- The Bengali
Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Bn:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 1,000 uploaded files.
- The Urdu Wiktionary <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ur:> has reached
10,000 entries.
13
- Wikimedia Commons <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/> has reached
12,000,000 files.
- The Tamil Wikibooks<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=B:ta:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 10,000 page edits.
10
- The English
Wikibooks<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=B:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 40,000 book modules.
7
- The Marathi
Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Mr:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 100,000 total pages.
- The Assamese
Wikipedia<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=As:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 1,000 articles.
Media Coverage
There was a huge coverage for Wikipedia on Indian media in this month,
mainly related to Wikipedia Blackout. A comprehensive list of the coverage
can be found here [24]
We look forward to your continued support and active participation.
Report compiled by Executive members,SIG chairs and The Communications team.
Best,
On behalf of Wikimedia Chapter (India)
Naveen Francis
Secretary
Notes:
1) http://members.wikimedia.in/Main_Page#Task_forces
2) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Internet_Relay_Chats/Jan_05,2012
3) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Internet_Relay_Chats/Jan_07,2012
4)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Press_Releases/2012/_English_Wikipedia_to_go_dark_…
5)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Announcements/Communication_regarding_SOPA_and_Wik…
6) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Eleven
7) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_11_in_India
8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Takes_Ahmedabad
9) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ahmedabad_1
10) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Takes_Mumbai_II
11) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_Takes_Mumbai_2
12)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Cochin_University_of_Science_and_Tech…
13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Workshop/Mumbai_Workshop_2
14)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/SSN_College_of_Engineering,_Chennai
15)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/P_S_R_Rengasamy_college_of_engineering_for_women,_…
16) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Netaji_Subhash_Engineering_College
17) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Jadavpur_University
18)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Amrita_School_of_Communication,_Coimb…
19) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MDHJMI1
20) http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:WATSR2
21)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Pune/W11_celebration_Pune_wit…
22) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tassavurrati_1.jpg
23)
http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%…
24) http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MDEL1
25)
http://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A7%B1%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AA%…
24) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#Jan_2012
Jakob Hammarbäck is Wikimedia Swedens new secretary. He started his
position on Friday and is going to manage the association's daily
operations. The hiring is another step towards professionalization by
reducing the load of the board, but also a step to increase the
support to the Wikimedia community and the association's partners.
-To find new associate partners is an important work to extend the
activities. Another important task for me will be the support for
ongoing and future projects, says Jakob Hammarbäck.
During the last years Jacob Hammarbäck worked with organizational
development, both as a self-employed and as an employee of nonprofit
organizations. He also worked with usability and IT development, and
one thing he is looking forward to the new job is to work for the
continue development of Wikimedia in the future. He is placed in
Stockholm and a helping hand in the daily work operations to support
the community. Jakob will, among other things, organize the technology
pool of Wikimedia Sweden where volunteers borrow camera and video
equipment to create photos and films.
-The recruiting committee had the pleasant problem with a lot of
strong applications to consider, where Jakob finally was the best
candidate with a mixture of competence, record of results and ideals
that coincide with the association, says Jan Ainali, chairman of
Wikimedia Sweden.
Something that will be easier for the association is to work with, for
example, museums and schools that have their operations in the
daytime. Volunteers who themselves are working or attending school
during the day find it difficult to attend the meetings when the
partners have their working hours. Jakob will also involve the
community and be cohesive in the projects to be implemented this year.
-I am especially looking forward to editathons where people in a
particular area of interest meet together to update Wikipedia.
Together, it becomes an opportunity to deepen knowledge and pass it
on, says Jakob Hammarbäck.
Articles about cycling and kayaking will not get an instant facelift
although they are some of Jakob's hobbies. The secretary will not be
editing articles during working hours but make it easier for
volunteers to create articles, correct errors, take photos and create
new partnerships.
-We now take a major step in making it easier for our volunteers to do
what they are passionate about by relieving them from the
administrative burden, says Jan, and continues, Jakob has an extensive
experience in organizational development and working with volunteers,
which is exactly what Wikimedia Sweden needs at this point.
=== Contact ===
'''Jakob Hammarbäck''', Secretary Wikimedia Sweden
* telephone: 0739-237193
* e-mail: jakob.hammarback(a)wikimedia.se
'''Jan Ainali''', Chairman Wikimedia Sweden
* telephone: 076-2122776
* e-mail: jan.ainali(a)wikimedia.se
'''Axel Pettersson''', press contact Wikimedia Sweden
* telephone: 0730-59581
* e-mail: press(a)wikimedia.se
Holger Motzkau
--
Styrelseledamot, kassör
Wikimedia Sverige
Box 500
SE-101 29 Stockholm
Org.-nr. 802437-8310
http://www.wikimedia.se/
The following translation are now available for the January 2012
"Wikimedia Highlights", which combine some of the most relevant
information from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia
engineering report for January 2012 with a selection of other
important events from the Wikimedia movement. Help is welcome in
spreading the translated versions among the project communities for
these languages, where this has not already been done. Many thanks to
all translators!
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/vi
Những điểm nổi bật từ Bản báo cáo Wikimedia Foundation và phản hồi kỹ
thuật Wikimedia vào tháng 1 năm 2012, bao gồm các sự kiện quan trọng
khác của phong trào Wikimedia
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/nl
Hoogtepunten uit de Wikimedia Foundationrapportage en de Wikimedia
technische rapportage voor januari 2012, aangevuld met een selectie
van andere belangrijke gebeurtenissen binnen de Wikimediabeweging.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/it
Punti salienti dal rapporto della Wikimedia Foundation e dal rapporto
ingegneristico Wikimedia di gennaio 2012, con una selezione di altre
importanti iniziative dagli eventi di Wikimedia
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/hu
A Wikimédia Alapítvány beszámolójának és a Wikimédia mérnöki
beszámolónak fontosabb pontjai illetve más fontos események a
Wikimédia-mozgalomból 2012 januárjában.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/fr
Éclairages sur le rapport de la Fondation Wikimédia et le rapport
d’ingénierie Wikimédia pour janvier 2012, avec une sélection d’autres
évènements importants du mouvement Wikimédia.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/da
Hovedpunkter fra Wikimedia Foundations månedsrapport og Wikimedias
tekniske rapport for januar 2012 med et udvalg af andre
betydningsfulde hændelser i Wikimedia-bevægelsen
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012/ar
أهم المقتطفات من تقرير مؤسسة ويكيميديا و تقرير ويكيميديا الهندسي لشهر
يناير 2012، مع مجموعة من أهم الأحداث لحركة ويكيميديا
(Translations into other languages, such as Finnish, might become
available later this month, check
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_January_2012 ).
Suggestions for the movement news section in the upcoming Highlights
issue are welcome until March 1, see
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights .
Also a quick note that on the suggestion of users Timeshifter and
Buster Keaton, we have started a (still experimental) global
subscription service for the "Wikimedia Highlights", similar to that
of the Signpost. If you would like to receive a summary message
delivered to your user talk page on any Wikimedia project right after
each issue is published, add yourself to
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Wikimedia_H…
(at the moment this is for the English original, but eventually
subscription should become available for the translated versions as
well).
--
Tilman Bayer
Movement Communications
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
Hello all,
It’s with great pleasure that I’m announcing that Terrence (Terry) Chay is
joining the Wikimedia Foundation as Director of Features Engineering.
Terry comes to us from Automattic, where he helped improve the
WordPress.com user experience by implementing an A/B testing framework,
improving the blog domain name registration process (which contributed to
doubling the revenue for WordPress.com), creating better support mechanisms
for fist-time users, and making many other changes. In that role, he was an
individual contributor to the WordPress codebase.
Before Automattic, Terry worked as an engineering manager and software
architect for multiple start-ups and tech companies between 1999 and 2009,
most recently at Tagged and Plaxo. He has a B.S. in Physics from the
California Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Physics from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
If you’ve ever been to OSCON, you may have seen Terry present one of his
infamous PHP talks there (he’s been invited back repeatedly for some
reason). All in, he’s given more than 25 public talks about web
development. He’s also a prolific blogger and photographer (
http://terrychay.com/ ), joining the nascent photography cabal at Wikimedia.
As Director of Features Engineering, Terry will be responsible for helping
ensure the success of some of our key feature teams: the visual editor
team, the editor engagement team (including the article feedback project),
and the fundraising engineering team.
This announcement also means that Alolita Sharma will be transitioning into
a new director-level role at the Wikimedia Foundation. While we’ve not
finalized all details, the role will include responsibility for the
internationalization team, for experimental features projects and
technology evaluation. We’ll announce details about that shortly. I want to
thank Alolita for her track record of excellent leadership at Wikimedia
to-date.
Terry's first day will be February 27. Please join me in welcoming Terry to
the Wikimedia movement. :-)
All best,
Erik
--
Erik Möller
VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation
Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
.JPG){kind=link}
