WikimediaAnnounce-l May 2012

wikimediaannounce-l@lists.wikimedia.org

11 participants
18 discussions

(MEDIA ADVISORY) Wikimania, the global Wikimedia/Wikipedia conference, comes to Washington, DC, July 12-14, 2012
by Jay Walsh 31 May '12

31 May '12

(This release is also posted at https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimania_comes_to_Wash… ) *Wikimania, the global Wikimedia/Wikipedia conference, comes to Washington, DC, July 12-14, 2012* WASHINGTON, DC -- May 30, 2012 -- Wikimania 2012 is coming to Washington, DC, this summer. Wikimania has been, since 2005, the premier annual international gathering of the Wikimedia community, including experts, academics, and enthusiasts whose vision is to empower people around the world through free access to global knowledge. Wikimania has been previously held in Frankfurt, Germany; Boston, Mass.; Taipei, Taiwan; Alexandria, Egypt; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Gdańsk, Poland; and Haifa, Israel. Expected attendance this year is 1000+ global participants. *WIKIMANIA’S OPENING SESSION* On July 12, Wikimania’s opening session will feature Mary Gardiner, co-founder of the Ada Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing participation among women in open technology and culture; and Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, the world’s largest online encyclopedia with over 21million articles in 285 languages. *WIKIMANIA PROGRAM* The theme this year is “Explore. Engage. Empower.” More than 100 presentations out of 400 global submissions have been selected. Presentations are divided into five categories: Wikis, Collaboration, and the Public Sector; GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, & Museums); Culture & Community; Research, Analysis, and Education; and Technology & Infrastructure. More information is available at www.wikimania2012.org. *WHERE* George Washington University, Foggy Bottom Campus Plenary Sessions: Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St NW Breakout Sessions: Marvin Center, 800 21st St NW *WHEN* Wikimania Hackathon: July 10-11, Conference: July 12-14, Unconference: July 15 *PARTNERS & COLLABORATORS* Wikimania 2012 is organized by Wikimedia District of Columbia in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Deutschland. Collaborators for Wikimania 2012 include the US Department of State, Office of eDiplomacy; the Library of Congress; and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. *SPONSORS* Wikimania 2012 is sponsored by Google, Ask.com, Wikia, WikiHow, The Saylor Foundation, The Lounsbery Foundation, and the Encyclopedia of Life. Irene Lynch, a 78-year-old great grandmother from New Jersey, is also a sponsor. *PRESS PASSES* Press passes are available. Journalists interested in obtaining Press Credentials should contact press(a)wikimediadc.org. *About Wikimedia DC* http://wikimediadc.org/ <http://http//wikimediadc.org/> Wikimedia District of Columbia is the official regional chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation in the District, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. A non-profit educational organization, Wikimedia DC is dedicated to the advancement of general knowledge and the collection, development, and dissemination of educational content under a free license or in the public domain. *About the Wikimedia Foundation* http://wikimediafoundation.org http://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 473 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most popular web property world-wide (comScore, April 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 contact* Nicholas Michael BashourPhone: (313) 377-4589, press(a)wikimediadc.org

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The Signpost -- Volume 8, Issue 22 -- 28 May 2012
by Wikipedia Signpost 30 May '12

30 May '12

News and notes: Wikimedia endorses open-access petition to the White House; pending changes RfC ends http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28/News_a… Recent research: Supporting interlanguage collaboration; detecting reverts; Wikipedia's discourse, semantic and leadership networks, and Google's Knowledge Graph http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28/Recent… WikiProject report: Experts and enthusiasts at WikiProject Geology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28/WikiPr… Featured content: Featured content cuts the cheese http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28/Featur… Arbitration report: Fæ and GoodDay requests for arbitration, changes to evidence word limits http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28/Arbitr… Technology report: Developer divide wrangles; plus Wikimedia Zero, MediaWiki 1.20wmf4, and IPv6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28/Techno… Single page view http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost/Single PDF version http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-05-28 http://identi.ca/wikisignpost / https://twitter.com/wikisignpost -- Wikipedia Signpost Staff http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost

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The Signpost -- Volume 8, Issue 21 -- 21 May 2012
by Wikipedia Signpost 22 May '12

22 May '12

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Tilman Bayer officially joins the Wikimedia Foundation staff
by Barry Newstead (WMF) 19 May '12

19 May '12

Hi everyone, I am pleased to announce that Tilman Bayer has officially joined the Wikimedia Foundation's Global Development team as Senior Operations Analyst focused on movement communications starting this week. He has just relocated to SF after receiving his work visa. As most of you will be aware, Tilman has been working in the communications team focusing on movement communications since last July, as a remote contractor based in Germany. He has been instrumental in the enhancement to our monthly reporting, continued improvement to our blogging and the development of our last annual report among other things. Tilman and Dario Taraborelli co-founded and continues to edit the monthly Wikimedia research newsletter. In particular, I'd like to highlight his work to get our reports translated, so that they are more accessible for the whole community. In his new role as a staff member, Tilman will continue to work closely with the communications team in support of the whole foundation team, e.g. working on the WMF blog, editing the WMF monthly reports and annual report, and developing multi-lingual communications solutions . His role will now include the analysis of quantitative data and other research to understand and address movement communication challenges. He will work on projects to improve our communications systems in partnership with other groups in the Foundation. He will report to me for the short term, but will transition to reporting to our soon to be announced Director, Global Learning and Grantmaking. As User:HaeB, Tilman has been active in both the German and English Wikipedia since 2003. He was a checkuser on the German Wikipedia for half a decade, and until joining WMF last year was the editor-in-chief of the Wikipedia Signpost, the English Wikipedia's community newsletter. He holds degrees in mathematics from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bonn. Please join me in welcoming Tilman to the Wikimedia Foundation team in San Francisco. Best, Barry -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation

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Translations of the "Wikimedia Highlights" for April 2012 available in Türkçe (Turkish), தமிழ் (Tamil), Kiswahili (Swahili), Русский (Russian), Македонски (Macedonian), 日本語 (Japanese), العربية (Arabic)
by Tilman Bayer 18 May '12

18 May '12

The following translation are now available for the April 2012 "Wikimedia Highlights", which combine some of the most relevant information from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for April 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,_April_2012/ar مقتطفات من تقرير مؤسسة ويكيميديا و اتقرير لقسم التقني في ويكيميديا لشهر أبريل 2012، ومختارات من أحداث هامة من حركة ويكيميديا https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012/ja 2012年4月のウィキメディア財団報告書及びウィキメディア技報の抄録ほかウィキメディア運動の重要行事について https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012/mk Значајни новости од Извештајот на Фондацијата Викимедија и Инженерскиот извештај на Викимедија за месец април 2012 г. со избор на поважни настани во движењето Викимедија https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012/ru Важные новости из отчёта Фонда Викимедиа за апрель 2012 и технического отчёта за апрель 2012 года, с подборкой важнейших событий движения Викимедиа https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012/sw Maangazo kutoka kwa Ripoti ya Wakfa wa Wikimedia na Ripoti ya Uhasibu wa Wikimedia ya Aprili 2012, na chaguo za matukio mengine ya maana kutoka kwa harakati za Wikimedia https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012/ta ஏப்ரல் 2012க்கான விக்கிமீடியா அறக்கட்டளை அறிக்கை மற்றும் விக்கிமீடியா பொறியியல் அறிக்கை, விக்கிமீடியா இயக்கத்திலிருந்து தேர்ந்தெடுத்த மற்ற முக்கியமான நிகழ்வுகள் ஆகியவற்றிலிருந்து சிறப்பம்சங்கள் https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012/tr Nisan 2012 Wikimedia Vakfı Raporu ve Wikimedia mühendislik raporu ile diğer önemli Wikimedia hareketi etkinliklerinden oluşan bülten See for https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012 for partial translations into other languages, e.g. Italian. Of course further translations continue to be welcome. -- Tilman Bayer Movement Communications Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB

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Report on WCI 2011
by wheredevelsdare＠hotmail.com 18 May '12

18 May '12

Hi, This is to inform those interested that User:Prad2609 and I have written a report on WCI 2011 which is public on meta [1]. A warning on queries; we probably wont answer those since Prad2609 has unsubscribed from all Wikipedia mailing lists and retired and Iv got other priorities myself. Once again, we thank all those involved with WCI 2011 and thank the Indian Community which responsible for making it a resounding success. Signing off, [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_IN/WikiConference_India_2011/Report

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Announcing 2 Community Fellows
by Siko Bouterse 17 May '12

17 May '12

It is my great pleasure to introduce two new Community Fellows in the Wikimedia Fellows Program: Tanvir Rahman and Steven Zhang. Tanvir Rahman is a Wikimedian who serves the movement locally and globally, both on- and off-wiki. Tanvir has been an active editor of Bengali Wikipedia since 2009, he holds administrator rights on multiple projects and he was elected a steward in 2011. He also volunteers on the Small Wiki Monitoring Team, the Countervandalism Network, as an OTRS agent, and is a translator for translatewiki. Tanvir helped found Wikimedia Bangladesh and organizes local outreach activities to raise awareness for Wikimedia and bring new editors to the projects. In his fellowship project, Tanvir will be experimenting with on-wiki strategies to encourage and grow the editing community on small language versions of Wikipedia, with specific focus on the Bengali Wikipedia. Smaller projects have different needs and challenges than the large language communities and may require different approaches to engage with editors. By focusing on a community like Bengali Wikipedia, which has about 50 active editors per month and sees 10 new editors per month, Tanvir hopes to learn more about the basic editing infrastructure needed to encourage new editors in new or small-scale projects. Steven Zhang is a Wikipedian with a passion for resolving on-wiki disputes and helping others do the same. He has been contributing to the English Wikipedia since 2008 and has been particularly active in dispute resolution forums, including the Wikipedia Mediation Cabal. Steven is studying a Certificate IV in Mediation at Open Colleges, and over the past year he has made it his mission as a volunteer to recruit more editors to join dispute resolution efforts. In 2011, he helped create the dispute resolution notice board, an entry point for mediating disputes on the English Wikipedia. Steven has noted that there aren’t enough active participants to resolve all of the disputes that arise on Wikipedia each day, and he believes that dispute resolution processes could be streamlined to make them more accessible and efficient to all editors who need them. For his fellowship project, Steven will be analyzing community feedback and dispute resolution activity in order to build a deeper understanding of what is effective and what needs improvement in the current systems. He will also be developing a guide for new editors who want to get involved in resolving on-wiki disputes. Steven and Tanvir will be documenting their work on-wiki and on the Foundation blog. You can learn more about their projects and how to get involved by visiting: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships/Fellows Welcome, Tanvir and Steven! -- Siko Bouterse Head of Community Fellowships Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. sbouterse(a)wikimedia.org

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The Signpost -- Volume 8, Issue 20 -- 14 May 2012
by Wikipedia Signpost 15 May '12

15 May '12

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WMNL chapter reports March and April 2012
by Ziko van Dijk 13 May '12

13 May '12

Hello, Here the reports for the national Wikimedia organization of the Netherlands, March and April, together. See the links at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports#Wikimedia_Nederla… The most important event is the hiring of the first director of our organization, Sandra Rientjes. Her work started on May, 1st. Kind regards Ziko van Dijk president This is the chapter report for Wikimedia Nederland for March 2012. Cultural heritage Wiki Loves Monuments - NL is starting off again. Volunteers are being recruited, and a meeting was organized with the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed. Conferences etc. On March 24th a general assembly took place. Three of the seven board members were reelected, four people joined the board. Ziko and Paul participated in the Chapters Meeting in Berlin on 30 March - 1 April. Ziko also attended the Movement Roles meeting on 29 March and was involved in the preparing of a charter for the Wikimedia Chapters Association. Press and outreach The working group around the Wikimedia Conference NL of coming November takes shape. Most work still ahead. Other WikiSaturday on 10 and 24 March Upcoming 14 & 15 April: Onboarding weekend for the new Board 21 April: WikiSaturday 28 April: Editathon at Teylers Museum 19 May: WikiSaturday 3 June: Members' barbecue -------------------- This is the chapter report for Wikimedia Nederland for April 2012. Cultural heritage At Teylers Museum in Haarlem a Edit-a-thon took place on April 28th. Press and outreach Ziko talked with an active member about a certain project for promoting free licences. Other The board met on April 14th/15th in Soesterberg. The transition from the old to the new board took place, and the board spoke to two candidates for the new position of a director. The board decided on asking the candidate Sandra Rientjes to become director of WMNL. WikiSaturday on April 21st Upcoming 19 May: WikiSaturday 3 June: Members' barbecue 22 September: General Assembly WMNL ----------------------------------------------------------- Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland dr. Ziko van Dijk, voorzitter http://wmnederland.nl/ Wikimedia Nederland Postbus 167 3500 AD Utrecht -----------------------------------------------------------

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Wikimedia Foundation Report, April 2012
by Tilman Bayer 09 May '12

09 May '12

Hi all, please find below the WMF report for April 2012, in plain text. As always, the editable and formatted version is on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_April_2012 and the reports are posted on the Wikimedia blog, too: https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/ As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary. Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay updated, by providing a translation: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2012 Many thanks to those who translated last month's "Highlights" into Arabic, Danish, French, Italian, Macedonian, Dutch, Russian and (partially) Japanese. While still focussing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole movement. Suggestions for the upcoming May issue are welcome at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights (until June 7). Many thanks to those who suggested items for the April issue. Regards, Tilman -- Wikimedia Foundation Report, April 2012 <Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_May_3,_2012… Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting covering the month of April (May 3, 2012)> Contents * 1 Data and Trends * 2 Financials * 3 Highlights o 3.1 Expanding fundraising and affiliation models o 3.2 Indic language outreach o 3.3 Mobile pageviews target reached o 3.4 Towards a rapid software deployment cycle * 4 Technology o 4.1 Events o 4.2 Operations o 4.3 Features Engineering o 4.4 Internationalization and Editor Engagement Experiments o 4.5 Mobile engineering o 4.6 Platform Engineering * 5 Fundraising o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations o 5.2 Fundraiser * 6 Global Development o 6.1 Grants Awarded and Executed o 6.2 Fellowships + 6.2.1 Updates + 6.2.2 New Fellowships + 6.2.3 Teahouse Project o 6.3 Editor Growth and Contribution Program o 6.4 Arabic Language Initiative o 6.5 Brazil Catalyst + 6.5.1 Brazil background notes + 6.5.2 Brazil outreach + 6.5.3 Brazil program updates o 6.6 India Programs + 6.6.1 Indic Languages + 6.6.2 India Outreach # 6.6.2.1 Storytelling for community building # 6.6.2.2 Internal communications o 6.7 Wikimania Scholarships o 6.8 US Cultural Partnerships o 6.9 Mobile and Business Development o 6.10 Global development research + 6.10.1 Education program research o 6.11 Wikipedia Education Program o 6.12 Communications + 6.12.1 Major announcements + 6.12.2 Major Stories through March + 6.12.3 Other worthwhile reads + 6.12.4 Wikipedia Signpost + 6.12.5 WMF Blog posts + 6.12.6 Media Contact * 7 Human Resources o 7.1 Staff Changes o 7.2 Statistics o 7.3 Department Updates * 8 Finance and Administration * 9 Legal and Community Advocacy * 10 Visitors and Guests == Data and Trends == Global unique visitors for March: *489 million* (+2.7% compared with February; +22.3% compared with the previous year) (comScore data for all Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release April data later in May) Page requests for April: *17.3 billion* (+0.4% compared with March; +18.2% compared with the previous year) (Server log data <http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>, all Wikimedia Foundation projects including mobile access) Active Registered Editors for March 2012 (>= 5 edits/month): *85.09K* (+0.2% compared with February / -4.5% compared with the previous year) (Database data <http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia Foundation projects except for Wikimedia Commons) *Report Card* for March 2012: http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/ == Financials == (Financial information is only available for March 2012 at the time of this report.) All financial information presented is for the period of July 1, 2011 – March 31, 2012. Revenue $32,054,861 *Expenses:* Technology Group $7,788,192 Community/Fundraiser Group $3,212,763 Global Development Group $2,984,100 Governance Group $718,116 Finance/Legal/HR/Admin Group $4,607,656 Total Expenses $19,310,826 Total surplus/(loss) $12,744,035 * Revenue for the month is $1.9MM vs plan of $3.9MM, approximately $2MM or 53% under plan. * Year-to-date is $32.1MM vs plan of $28.6MM, approximately $3.5MM or 12% over plan. * Expenses for the month is $2.3MM vs plan of $2.2MM, approximately $112K or 5% lower than plan. * Year-to-date is $19.3MM vs plan of $21.1MM, approximately $1.8MM or 8% lower than plan. * Cash position is $30.6MM as of March 31, 2012 – approximately 13 months of expenses. == Highlights == === Expanding fundraising and affiliation models === After the resolutions <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolutions#March_2012> of the Wikimedia Board of Trustees at its meeting in Berlin, work is ongoing to implement a new model for distributing the money raised via Wikimedia project sites. Except the costs for the core operations and operating reserves of the WMF, all of it (including funds for chapters and non-core operations of the WMF) will be distributed <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Funds_Dissemination_Committee> based on the recommendations of the new volunteer-driven Funds Dissemination Committee <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Funds_Dissemination_Committee> (FDC). Another resolution of the Board recognizes new models of affiliation <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Recognizing_Models_of_Affili…> with the Wikimedia movement: “Movement Partners” (like-minded organizations that actively support the movement’s work), “National or Sub-national Chapters” (which includes the existing chapter model), “Thematic Organizations” (non-profits representing the movement and using the Wikimedia trademarks, which are supporting work focused on a specific topic), and “User Groups” (open membership groups which may or may not choose to incorporate). === Indic language outreach === Chief Global Development Officer Barry Newstead visited India <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/05/04/focusing-on-90-percent-of-india/> meeting Wikimedians in Bangalore and attending Wikisangamotsavam, the Malayalam community conference, as part of work to support Indic language projects. The India team is working actively with seven Indic language communities on outreach, social media strategy and initiatives to build community momentum. <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mobile_pageviews_vs_target,_Apr11-A… Page views to the Wikipedia mobile site (red: non-English versions) compared to the 2 billion target from the annual plan> === Mobile pageviews target reached === At the end of April, the Wikipedia mobile site reached the milestone of 2 billion monthly page views <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/05/03/mobile-milestone-two-billion-page-vie…> – one of the goals for the 2011/12 WMF annual plan. === Towards a rapid software deployment cycle === Wikimedia engineers have begun switching to a more rapid deployment cycle <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/12/mediawiki-1-20wmf1-deployment/>, starting to deploy the latest MediaWiki software to Wikipedia and other Wikimedia sites every two weeks. == Technology == A detailed report of the Tech Department’s activities for April 2012 can be found at: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2012/April Department Highlights Major news in April include: * Substantial work on Wikimedia engineering’s goals for the next fiscal year <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/2012-13_Goals>; * The selection of 9 Google Summer of Code <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code_2012> students and the start of their work; * The shift to a rapid deployment cycle <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/12/mediawiki-1-20wmf1-deployment/>; * A new mobile skin deployed to Wikimedia sites; * The Wikipedia mobile app for iOS switching to using OpenStreetMap data. === Operations === * *Search* — After months of preparation and refactoring work with our dated Lucene implementation at the Tampa data center, we are glad to report that Peter Youngmeister <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Pyoungmeister> (with help from Asher Feldman, Robert Stojnic <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Rainman> and Jeff Green) successfully built and deployed the new Search infrastructure at our EQIAD data center. The performance improvement is quite amazing; at the 99th percentile <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:99percentSearchLatency.png> level, search latency dropped from a high of 9 seconds to 1 second, and the average search <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AvgSearchLatency.png> is only 100ms, down from 700ms. In addition, the new infrastructure addresses some of the previous single point of failures and capacity limitations. * *Wikimedia Labs <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs>* — Ryan Lane released a new version of OpenStackManager <http://ryandlane.com/blog/2012/04/06/openstackmanager-1-4-released/>, adding project filters for all interfaces, usability fixes and a number of bug fixes. OpenStackManager <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:OpenStackManager> and LdapAuthentication <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:LdapAuthentication> were switched to Git <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Git>, allowing a few more changes to be pushed thanks to being able to keep a stable master branch. Notable changes were per-project sudo management, allowing sysadmins in a project to manage who gets which sudo permissions in a fine grained manner for their projects, and a change in how groups are added to LDAP for projects. Sara Smollett added Per-project ganglia monitoring <http://ganglia.wmflabs.org>, displaying resource graphs for instances in projects. Andrew Bogott finished work on a plugin framework for OpenStack Nova, and has added an example plugin for a SharedFS driver, which would allow us to manage gluster volumes via an API. * *Data Dumps <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WMF_Projects/Data_Dumps>* — The gluster share with the last 5 or so good dumps for all projects is ready for use by Wikimedia Labs <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs> projects. A first copy of uploaded media, accessible via rsync, was announced, and some work was done on the infrastructure to generate downloadable bundles of media per project. We’re working with the Internet Archive to produce media bundles that they can host for download as well. A new version of the dump scripts was deployed with some minor bug fixes. Christian Aistleitner wrapped up work on the PHPUnit tests for the dump maintenance scripts, and discovered a problem with the database schema, which we will need to discuss with the user community in order to find a resolution that works for everyone. === Features Engineering <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Features_engineering> === * *Visual editor <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Visual_editor>* — Roan Kattouw <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Catrope> and Trevor Parscal <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Trevor_Parscal> are rewriting the underlying data model to achieve feature compatibility with the parser and correct a variety of problems that have been previously deferred. Inez Korczynski <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Inez> and Christian Williams have been continuing their work to stabilize and integrate the content editable layer and have been working with Rob Moen <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Robmoen>, who has focused on getting the user interface elements working with the content editable layer. Gabriel Wicke <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:GWicke> has been working on improving the parser <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid>‘s ability to parse pages more quickly as well as increasing compatibility with existing features such as thumbnails. A template-heavy page like Barack Obama <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama> can now be expanded in similar time as the production parser. * *Article feedback <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback>* — Fabrice Florin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Fabrice_Florin> worked with OmniTi to develop a range of new features <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Article-Feedback-Map-04-22-800x600.…> for version 5 of the Article Feedback Tool <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5> (AFT5). This month, the team deployed the first versions of the abuse filter <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5/Feature_Requiremen…> and the relevance filter <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5/Feature_Requiremen…>, as well as new monitoring tools for editors <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5/Feature_Requiremen…>, to help surface useful suggestions and reduce the noise on the feedback page where posts are listed for each article. Pau Giner started designing a new look and feel for that feedback page, as well as a final version of the feedback form, with guidance from Brandon Harris <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Jorm_(WMF)>. We also finalized a set of special tools for oversighters <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5/Feature_Requiremen…>, as well as new feedback links <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Version_5/Feature_Requiremen…>. Dario Taraborelli <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:DarTar>, Oliver Keyes <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Okeyes_(WMF)> and Aaron Halfaker <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:EpochFail> collected and analyzed data on how prominent feedback links impact both volume <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Article_feedback/Stage_2/Volume> and quality <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Article_feedback/Stage_2/Quality_a…> of user feedback. Roan Kattouw <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Catrope> continued to review our code and help deploy weekly releases, and Matthias Mullie <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:mlitn> contributed new code for this project. We expect to complete feature development by the end of May, with full deployment in the summer. * *Article Creation Workflow <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_Creation_Workflow>* — Ian Baker <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Raindrift>, Benny Situ <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Bsitu>, Ryan Kaldari <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Kaldari> and Brandon Harris <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Jorm_(WMF)> have developed the Article Creation landing system <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_Creation_Workflow/Design>, while focusing on deploying the New Page Triage (NPT) this month. Oliver Keyes <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Okeyes_(WMF)> prepared new templates for a proposed ‘Create a Draft’ section. Fabrice Florin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Fabrice_Florin> created a workflow diagram <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New-Pages-Workflow-04-30.png> to illustrate the interdependencies between ACW and NTP. The goal is to collect and analyze usage data on ACW in May with Dario Taraborelli <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:DarTar>, in order to plan our next steps for this project, which is likely to be deployed alongside NPT in coming weeks. The current ACW prototype <http://ee-prototype.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:ArticleCreationLanding/test> is available for testing on Wikimedia Labs. === Internationalization and Editor Engagement Experiments === * *Internationalization and localization tools <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization_tools>* — The team has completed the first round of UI designs for a Universal language selector (ULS) for desktop and mobile. UI/UX team members (Pau Giner and Arun Ganesh) are now implementing a prototype to showcase the first version of ULS. The team also added keymaps for language support to Narayam <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Narayam>, added notification support to Translate <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Translate>, fixed bugs, reviewed code for localization support in MediaWiki 1.19, and discussed language support metrics. === Mobile engineering <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> === * *Mobile design <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_design>* — The final selection of section styles was supported by user experience testing. We also added switches between Mobile/Desktop view and Images on/off to the footer. These changes have now been deployed as the default view of mobile Wikipedia. The first working prototype of the new navigation UI has been completed in rough form and sent out for feedback <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/mobile-l/2012-April/005560.html>. * *Wikimedia Apps <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps>* — Yuvaraj Pandian <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Yuvipanda> released new versions <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/05/new-wikipedia-app-for-ios-and-an-updat…> of our Android app and our first ever PhoneGap version of the iOS app. Issues were identified with iOS 4.x and we released a update to fix them. Yuvaraj also continued work on the API move branch. Brion Vibber <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Brion_VIBBER> pushed out a final build of the Wikipedia App to the BlackBerry market, and started experimenting with a Windows mobile version. * *MobileFrontend <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MobileFrontend>* — Patrick <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Preilly>, Arthur Richards <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:awjrichards> and Max Semenik <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:MaxSem> continued work on moving MobileFrontend to MediaWiki core <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_support_in_MediaWiki_core>. We’ve updated its skinning, internals, and general architecture to make it more core-friendly. === Platform Engineering <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Platform_Engineering> === * *MediaWiki 1.20 <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.20/Roadmap>* — As of April 2012, core software deployments to Wikimedia sites are done from git (instead of Subversion) through incremental “wmf”-branches. The first deployment of the 1.20 release cycle, labeled 1.20wmf1 <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.20/wmf1/overview>, was deployed to all Wikimedia sites <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.20/wmf1> this month; it notably brought new diff colors for improve readability. The 1.20wmf2 <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.20/wmf2> deployment cycle began on April 30. The 1.20.0 stable tarball is expected to be released in fall of 2012. * *Lua scripting <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Lua_scripting>* — Tim Starling <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Tim_Starling> started the implementation of a replacement for MediaWiki markup-based template programming, using the Lua scripting language <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lua_(programming_language)>, embedded via the Scribunto extension <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Scribunto>. The current roadmap <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Engineering/2012-13_Goals#Site_perf…> aims for a deployment to Labs in May 2012, then to mediawiki.org; full deployment to Wikimedia sites is scheduled for 2013. Tim will lead tutorial sessions at the Berlin Hackathon 2012 <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2012>. * *Summer of Code 2012 <http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Summer_of_Code_2012/management>* — Wikimedia engineers have chosen nine students for this year’s program <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/23/wmf-selects-9-students-for-gsoc/>. For the next few weeks, until May 21st, the students and their mentors are working together to train the students in MediaWiki development, so that they’ll have all the basic domain knowledge they’ll need to succeed during the summer. == Fundraising == === Major Gifts and Foundations === * Secured a sponsorship from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation for Wikimania. * We began our push to renew Benefactors who gave in FY2010-11, but not yet in FY2011-12 by June 30. === Fundraiser === * Posted a full report from the 2011 fundraiser <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2011/report> * Researched improvements to make for the fundraiser in Spain, Italy and Belgium. Held focus groups with donors to optimize messaging, payment methods offered, donation forms and translations. * Heavy research on the new payment methods to be added in 2012. Roadmap and timeline to be released soon. * Held a one hour systems test in the US. * Continually iterating on forms and landing pages as well as the A/B testing infrastructure. * Implemented GlobalCollect recurring payments, bringing our recurring monthly income up to approximately $40K/month, nearly a half-million dollars a year. == Global Development == New fellowship launched to focus on EN:WP help pages, good progress on Teahouse projects and welcome Siko and fellows to global development team! New grants to the community in support of activities in seven countries Barry attends the Malayalam community conference in Kollam, India and visits with chapter and community in Bangalore (see also general “Highlights” section) === Grants Awarded and Executed === * WM NO/Outreach GLAM <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_NO/Outreach_GLAM> * WikiSangamotsavam 2012:Malayalam_Wiki Conference 2012 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WikiSangamotsavam_2012:Malayalam_Wik…> * WM AR/Wikigenero GroupLens Participation <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_AR/Wikigenero_GroupLens_Participa…> * Glam/Batak <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Glam/Batak> * WM US-DC/Events 2012 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_US-DC/Events_2012> * WM CA/Quebec Programs 2012 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_CA/Quebec_Programs_2012> * Sofia Zoo and Bulgarian Wikipedians/Sofia Zoo Powered by Wikimedia <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Sofia_Zoo_and_Bulgarian_Wikipedians/…> * WM CL/Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit 2012 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_CL/Ibero-American_Wikimedia_Summi…> === Fellowships === ==== Updates ==== Gender Gap – Fellow Sarah Stierch completed wrap-up documentation <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiWomen%27s_History_Month_wrap_up> of outcomes and lessons learned from WikiWomen’s History Month. ==== New Fellowships ==== * Peter Coombe was announced <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/12/help-is-on-the-way-announcing-communi…> and started work this month as our newest Wikimedia Community Fellow. Pete’s fellowship project is piloting a data-driven approach to reorganize and rewrite key help pages on English Wikipedia in order to make them more usable, particularly for new editors. His work can be followed on the Help redesign project page <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Help_pages_redesign_project>. * Two new 2012 Fellowships will be announced in May. ==== Teahouse Project ==== The Teahouse <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse> has been live on English Wikipedia for two months and we’re beginning to see evidence of the project’s impact for participating new editors. Some relevant metrics from April’s report <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Teahouse/Metrics#April_24th_metric…> include: * In April, the Teahouse had an average of 50 questions posted in the Q&A forum per week and served about 20-30 new editors visiting for the first time each week, in addition to repeat visitors (the average guest asks 1.5 questions, 22% of guests asked more than one question, and many guests return to the Teahouse more than once). The median response time for questions is 30 minutes. The project’s greatest challenge continues to be making Teahouse known to all new editors in need of help, as our hosts have capacity to assist more new editors than are making their way to the space via personal invitation. * Comparing a sample of 75 new editors who participate in the Teahouse with a control group (of equivalent size and similar first-day editing activity) points to Teahouse having a positive impact on new editor engagement: New editors who participate in Teahouse edit 10x the number of articles than the uninvited control group and make on average 6x more global edits. The average participant adds 26x more bytes of content that survive on Wikipedia (i.e. content that isn’t reverted or deleted) than the uninvited control group. * Among the 224 editors in our three experimental groups, 28% of new editors who participate in the Teahouse were still active on Wikipedia at least 10 days later, compared with 12% of new editors who receive an invitation but don’t actively participate in the Teahouse, and only 5% from a similar uninvited control group. === Editor Growth and Contribution Program === * The Global Development Department launched the Editor Growth and Contribution Program <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Growth_and_Contribution_Program> in mid-April, and announced Haitham Shammaa as program consultant. This program will focus on designing, testing, and implementing online programs to attract and retain new editors in small-to-medium sized Wikimedia projects. === Arabic Language Initiative <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Arabic_Language_Initiative> === * Haitham Shammaa visited Algeria to meet Wikipedians and other supporters who can sustain Wikipedia activities in the future. The visit included a lecture and Wikipedia workshop for students of Médéa University in northern Algeria. * Currently, we are working with a number of associates and NGOs in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia to explore the possibility of supporting Wikimedia program activities with grants. === Brazil Catalyst <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Brazil_Catalyst_Project> === Summary: A rich month for outreach and institutional relations, as well as advances in the institutional of scenario establishing the representative office in Brazil: a relatively good start in community engagement process ==== Brazil background notes ==== 1. Brazil is a huge country with 27 states: São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast have the highest populations, the strongest economies, and stronger infrastructure. 2. São Paulo also has the greatest number of Wikipedia-PT editors, followed by Rio de Janeiro. Minas Gerais curiously doesn’t play a significant role in editorship now, but should be explored. 3. Until now major work has been done with the Wikimedia Brasil community, but plan to increase focus in relationship building with the Wikipedia-PT community. ==== Brazil outreach ==== * Trip to São Paulo to talk with community members, investigate locations for the office, meet with lawyers, and meet with potential partners o Learnings: need to generate more compelling agendas for community meetings to generate more interest and also need to work with the community to find times/locations that would make it more convenient to increase attendance o Recommendations: set up a programatic agenda to organize meetings objectively to highlight their value and in advance and focus on mapping real resources based on what the community will actually do. * Trip to Uberlândia to participate in event at the Computing College of the Federal University of Uberlândia. Jonas from Recife joined the activity and contacted local editors, but no local editors showed up. o Learnings: students don’t know much about free licensing or Wikipedia, bringing volunteers to events like this fosters trustful relationships within the community. o Recommendations:follow up to encourage future participation and gather contact details of participants. * Trip to Goiânia to bring community members together and participate in an event at the Federal University of Goiânia, no community members showed up but the event was successful (popular with students and professors). o Learnings: There’s a possibility to develop the education program in the communications college of the Federal University of Goiania. We can’t miss the chance to get local editors’ contacts. Alexandre Guiote (another lecturer in the event), living in Spain, has done very interesting research on Wikipedia. o Recommendations: consider developing an education program here and maintain contacts. * Second trip to São Paulo to attend a community workshop at Casa Fora do Eixo and met with community members, as well as meet with Banco do Brazil Foundation. o Learnings: community members have a lot of knowledge (editing, licensing, etc.), but outreach methodologies might be improved to improve results. o Recommendations: work with the community to build and share methodologies and build outreach materials. ==== Brazil program updates ==== * Possible coworking places have been explored: the Hub in São Paulo seems to be the most neutral, but no decision yet * Partnerships update: Discussion of partnerships with Fiocruz (institution related to the Ministry of Health for research and development) to develop a validation process based on social participation, the National Library is excited about doing things together on access to books/reading programs and digital archives === India Programs === ==== Indic Languages ==== * Kannada: Support for translated articles enhancement project and enabling transwiki export * Assamese: Medicine project outreach support at Jorhat medical college. Ideas for 10th anniversary, Community translated outreach ppt to Assamese, Ideas and inputs for a potential Assamese Wikipedia CD project * Odia: Helping Odia community for a medical project including outreach at SCB Medical College. Supported 3 outreach events in Odisha * Hindi: conducted Hindi Wikipedia outreach at Delhi University * Bengali: support to enable sub pages in bn wikisource, support to enable proof read extension in bn wikisource * Malayalam: ad hoc support for Malayalam community conference ==== India Outreach ==== * Commons outreach handbook <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Commons_Out…> that community members can adapt/adopt * Worked on train-the-trainer program design * Documented outreach correspondence with all institutes * Supported outreach in four communities – AS, GU, MR, ML * Translation work on outreach documents being done by community members. 4 Indic languages have successfully finished translating. Communications, Wikipatrika * Work on the Wikipatrika newsletter is in progress * First set of mails to contact previous issue coordinators * Received response, initiated GU,NE,OR,AS pages on wiki * Tech news done, AS,MR done * Hope to publish it by May first week ===== Storytelling for community building ===== * Gujarati WikiSource blog post: http://blog.wikimedia.in/2012/04/04/realizing-the-dreams-of-communities-3-y… * Tamil Wiki Media contest blog post: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/20/postcard-from-the-tamil-community/ * Initiated Digital Outreach plan via Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/ * Initiated Social Media pilot plan ====== Internal communications ===== * Announcement for Communications + Outreach IRC meeting: India Program#IRC_Meetings <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program#IRC_Meetings> * Supported Malayalam community with press release draft and journalist contacts * Supported Kannada Translation project with messages for social media * Started journalist database * Contacted Indic journalists * Made brief digest to post on all village pumps * Supported Ahmedabad meetup with local press contacts * Worked on train-the-trainer program design for outreach capacity building === Wikimania Scholarships === Scholarship recipients for Wikimania were announced! We have 130 scholars from 57 countries around the world. Chapter scholarships are also being organized now. For more information, see the blog post: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/25/wikimania-2012-scholarships/ === US Cultural Partnerships === * Final preparations for the American Association of Museums conference <http://www.aam-us.org/am12/>, which took place April 29 – May 2. Wikimedia will be represented throughout the conference, including in a traditional and a virtual Wikipedian in Residence session, a Wikipedia basics table, a nomination for QRpedia at the MUSE tech awards, and highlights in the Association of Children’s Museum’s session. * Featured on the Library of Congress blog in the post “Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums with Wikipedia (GLAM-Wiki): Insights Interview with Lori Phillips <http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2012/04/galleries-libraries-archiv…>“ * Coordination and updates to the GLAM/US portal <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLAM/US> in preparation for the American Association of Museums conference * Ongoing coordination with US cultural organizations, including support and advisement for early stages of planning processes. (Partnerships not yet publicly announced.) * Ongoing coordination on recommendations for technical tools from cultural professionals * Preparations for the Wikipedia Lounge at the MuseumNext <http://www.museumnext.org/conference/conference.html> conference in Barcelona in May and session proposal writing and coordination for the Museum Computer Network <http://mcn.edu/> conference === Mobile and Business Development === This month has been primarily dedicated to testing and implementation of our new Free Access to Mobile Wikipedia programs with Orange and Telenor. This has been a very complicated process as we work through bugs and other technical problems but we have made great progress with our first territories. We’ve spent most of this month on working through browser support issues, landing pages, translation, banners, caching issues, etc. * Orange status update: Tunisia and Uganda are both live, although features still need to be implemented * Telenor status update: Digi Malaysia is ready from a technical perspective. Currently preparing for a market launch. === Global development research === * Editor Survey: results from the December Editor Survey are available: http://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/december-2011-editor-survey/ Our gender ratio held steady with only 9% of editors being women. We also found that compared to other countries US fares better on the gender divide, 14% of editors from US being women compared to other countries for which we had a significant sample. Outreach results * First report from outreach events was delivered to the India team. ==== Education program research ==== A quantitative analysis undertaken by Ayush Khanna and Mani Pande from the Global Development Research and Analytics team shows that Wikipedia Education Program participants from the United States added more than three times as much quality content as regular new users to the English Wikipedia. The data also shows that students who are introduced to editing Wikipedia through the U.S. Education Program are just as likely to continue editing as any other newcomer. Read more on the Wikimedia Foundation blog: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/19/wikipedia-education-program-stats-fall… === Wikipedia Education Program === * In order to determine the future of U.S. and Canada education programs, we invited Wikipedia Ambassadors, class instructors, and the Wikipedia community to contribute to an on-wiki application process for joining a “Working Group” that will meet in July 2012 for a kick-off meeting of the planning process. This is the first step in a year-long open and collaborative process to make the U.S. and Canada program more volunteer-driven and to discuss the creation of the Education Program Structure that will be in charge of the day-to-day operations of the program. More information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Education_Working_Group * Students at universities in the United States and Canada found that contributing to Wikipedia as a class assignment through the Wikipedia Education Program improved their media literacy and technology skills, according to survey results from the Fall 2011 term. About two-thirds of the respondents agreed that doing a Wikipedia assignment was a beneficial experience, with almost 20 percent of them strongly in favor of a Wikipedia assignment in place of a traditional term paper. See more of the survey results: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/23/students-see-benefits-from-wikipedia-a… * University of Massachusetts at Amherst professor Edward Erikson wrote a post for the Wikimedia Foundation blog explaining why he is glad he is asking students to contribute to Wikipedia. He argues that Wikipedia is part of the classroom whether the professor likes it or not, and by making Wikipedia the destination rather than the route, students have a better learning experience. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/02/wikipedia-in-my-classroom/ * Canadian class adds two Good Articles: University of Alberta – Augustana Psychology Professor Paula Marentette asked her students to expand two articles on course-related topics this year for her Language Acquisition class. The result? The seven students in her class worked together to get two articles, “Vocabulary development <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulary_development>” and “Joint attention <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_attention>,” to Good Article status on the English Wikipedia. In a blog post published on the Wikimedia Foundation blog, the students describe their reaction to the assignment, and Dr. Marentette describes the learning outcomes for her students: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/30/psychology-class-collaborates-on-two-g… * A lot has happened in the Cairo Pilot, with students contributing on-wiki at an increasing pace. Campus Ambassadors conducted several workshops this month, and some outstanding student articles are now live on the Arabic Wikipedia. Updates with the program are documented in detail on the Arabic Wikipedia <http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%…>. Annie is also putting together a document with more updates about the Cairo Pilot as a whole and each class individually (coming soon, in next month’s GD report). * More than 200 students and faculty members at Ain Shams University in Cairo showed up to an in-person outreach event organized by Wikipedia Ambassadors from the Cairo Pilot and a local student group. Attendees learned how the Arabic Wikipedia works and how they could contribute to it. Check out the group’s photo album to see photos from this successful event <http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.356259634425418.99070.242387659145…> * Brazil education pilot continues with first semester: Report on the current status of the classes <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Brazil_Program/Reports/2012-semester01> we are working with in the first semester of 2012 in Brazil === Communications === No major new projects, announcements, or media issues unfolded in April. Tech press and culture blogs, as well as some main stream media, continued to focus on the Wikipedia blackout and post-SOPA musings. The communications team, along with the Wikimedia blogging and social media teams have been putting considerable work into an effort to increase the number and quality of Wikimedia blog postings. This month 37 posts hit the blog, including deeper profiles of active Wikipedians and media creators from Wikimedia Commons. Over the next few months we hope to bring a basic metrics/traffic measurement tool back to the blog, bring in new volunteer contributors, and revise the structure and design of the blog to create a more engaging front page. ==== Major announcements ==== No major press releases or announcements in April. ==== Major stories through March ==== *PRSA on Wikipedia accuracy* (April 17, 2012) In April, The Public Relations Society of America published a study by Marcia W. DiStaso, Assistant Professor of PR at Penn State University, surveying the wide range of views of PR practitioners and their experiences with Wikipedia. The original summary incorrectly asserted that ’60% of Wikipedia articles are wrong’ – an error that was repeated across dozens of global main stream media press (the actual claim was “60% of respondents found errors with their company’s articles”). PRSA, at the urging of Wikimedia community members, revised the study headline and press release (thank you!). (updated PRSA survey data: http://media.prsa.org/article_display.cfm?article_id=2582) http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/04/60-percent-wikipedia-entr… http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/04/wikipedia-survey-shows-60-pe… *Wikipedia Zero gaining attention in Africa* (April 5, 2012) February’s announcement from Orange and the Wikimedia Foundation about providing free access to Wikipedia on mobile devices in specific markets is beginning to get positive attention in the region. Regional programs advertising the service are appearing as Orange affiliates expand the program. http://bikyamasr.com/65057/ugandans-access-wikipedia-for-free-through-orang… http://allafrica.com/stories/201204220118.html *Wikipedia mobile switches to OpenStreetMap* (April 5, 2012) A large number of tech press picked up on the fact that a revised Wikipedia mobile app chose Openstreetmaps over Google maps in a recent update. (original blog post https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/05/new-wikipedia-app-for-ios-and-an-upda… ) http://9to5google.com/2012/04/05/wikipedia-dumps-google-maps-for-openstreet… http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57410234-93/wikipedia-dumps-google-maps/ http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/7/2931320/wikipedia-updates-mobile-apps-drop… ==== Other worthwhile reads ==== Clips from the Malayalam Wikipedia gathering in April http://ibnlive.in.com/news/malayalam-wikipedia-could-be-emulated/253196-60-… http://ibnlive.in.com/news/youths-come-forward-to-fill-up-odia-wikipedia/24… Download all of Wikipedia (from https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/09/download-the-text-of-the-entire-engli…) http://www.webpronews.com/download-wikipedia-in-english-all-9-7gb-of-it-201… Sarah Stierch on bringing women to Wikipedia in the Smithsonian http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/aroundthemall/2012/04/how-many-women-does-i… Guardian on the ‘mapping Wikipedia’ project http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2012/apr/04/wikipedia-w… AllAfrica.com on the recent visit of Jimmy Wales http://allafrica.com/stories/201204090023.html The UCLA ‘Daily Bruin’ on the Foundation’s Wikipedia Education Program http://www.dailybruin.com/index.php/article/2012/04/professors_students_wor… FastCompany also reported on the Wikipedia Education Program http://www.fastcompany.com/1830315/wikipedia-education-program-college-univ… ==== Wikipedia Signpost ==== * Volume 8, Issue 18 – 30 April 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-04-…> * Volume 8, Issue 17 – 23 April 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-04-…> * Volume 8, Issue 16 – 16 April 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-04-…> * Volume 8, Issue 15 – 09 April 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-04-…> * Volume 8, Issue 14 – 02 April 2012 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2012-04-…> ==== WMF Blog posts ==== http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/ ==== Media Contact ==== https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#April_2012 == Human Resources == <Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_extended_HR_vi…> “Work with Wikimedia” outreach video produced for the HR department, featuring WMF employees> This month, HR is experimenting with new metrics and presentation styles, depicting better views of Foundation staff and contractor composition as well as beginning to report on recruiting metrics. On the jobs.wikimedia.org site, we premiered a new video created with the support of the Communications team. Victor Grigas and Matthew Roth did a fabulous job. See http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Work_with_us We are still in the midst of implementing our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) system. We are set to complete that by end of June. We completed our bi-annual assessment of exempt/non-exempt employees. In terms of new policy, we initiated out a comprehensive Paid Time Off Policy, with an Immigration policy set to roll out next week. These policies will all be codified in an updated employee handbook. In the arena of benefits delivery, we kicked off a new 401K committee comprised of employees interested in managing and diversifying the retirement options for the organization. HR is sponsoring the work of a qualitative, anthropological analysis of culture and also leadership profiling. This will support later work in leadership development. We have also initiated a coaching program for WMF managers. === Staff Changes === New Hire * Renee Bracey Sherman, Development Associate (Fundraising) * Andrew Otto, Software Developer – Analytics (Engineering) * Chris Steipp, Security Engineer (Engineering) New Other Position Hires * Mathias Mullie, Contractor, Software Developer, Features (Engineering) * Haitham Shammaa, Contractor, program consultant for the Editor Growth and Contribution Program (Global Development) Conversions * Rob Moen, Software Developer Front-end (Engineering) Promotions * Sumana Harihareswara, Engineering Community Manager (Engineering) New Contractors * Daisy Chen (Legal and Community Advocacy) * Arun Ganesh (Engineering) * Faidon Liampotis (Engineering) * Tauhida Parveen (Engineering) * Ricardo Saavedra (Fundraiser) * Sandra Senderovich (Fundraiser) Contract Extended * Rayne MacGeorge (IT) Exit * Nimish Gautam * Dana Isokawa Contract Ended * Farhan Choudary * Emmanuel Engelhart === Statistics === Total Requisitions Filled: Actual: 106 April Plan: 115 April Filled: 6, April Attrition: 2 YTD Filled: 48, YTD Attrition: 16 Remaining open requisitions to fiscal year end: 16 === Department Updates === Department Changes, effective April 15, 2012 * Siko Bouterse joins Global Development * Karyn Gladstone, Ryan Faulkner, Maryana Pinchuk and Steven Walling join Engineering Real-time feed for HR updates: http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork == Finance and Administration == Independent contractors traveling on business for the Wikimedia Foundation, outside their home country now have limited medical and travel coverage. Our search for a Director of Administration is continuing with final interviews in process. We are beginning to look at the option of doing online expense reimbursements for employee exepenses. Based on feedback received on her IRC office hours, the Chief Talent and Culture Officer is looking at socially responsible options for investing some of the reserve for the Foundation. == Legal and Community Advocacy == * Updated terms of use becomes effective May 25, 2012. <http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/New_Terms_of_use/en> * Proactive trademark actions (e.g., successful challenge to third-party “Wikimedia UK” use & and winning globe logo in Mexico) and trademark review for Wikidata * Finalizing decision on appropriate license for Wikidata (probably CC0) * Kelly Kay, Deputy General Counsel, will represent WMF at the Open Source Initiative. * Discovered and worked through backlog of trademark requests sent to wrong email address * Two strong candidates identified for the junior legal counsel, including an active Wikimedian. Final decision: likely by May 15. * Welcome to the newest Arbitration Committee, English Wikinews * Working on electronic contract storage and approval process * Agreed to support the Free Culture Conservacy through endorsement * After winning signature issue as expected, we decided <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Loriot_Signature_Background#Case_…> not to pursue appeal on German Loriot case regarding the stamps and public domain issue. * Reappointed the ombudsman commission <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ombudsman_commission> * Ongoing legal and community work on a wide variety of issues and topics, including AFT5, CC 4.0, litigation, trademark portfolio, new fundraising agreement, template agreements, FDC, Wikipedia town, budget, privacy, internal policies, board issues and governance, etc. * Daisy Chen joined as a paralegal (temporary contract) to help handle workload. * New interns expected to start end of May. Our last semester interns have left (except for Stephen), and we wish them well. They did a great job. New full-time summer interns will be from Harvard, Stanford, and University of Minnesota. * This month’s posted discussions on topics of community interest: o CISPA <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/CISPA> (not yet updated to reflect the final print of the bill) o SABAM v. Netlog <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/SABAM_v._Netlog> o Copyright status of flags and logos from international organizations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Flags_and_logo…> o Moral right of integrity <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Moral_right_of…> o Copyright on utility items <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Copyright_on_u…> * Metrics: o Number of contracts in April – 14 (159 contracts to date in FY 2011/12) o Number of trademark issues in April – 61 + Number of backlogged trademark issues that were sent through to the team in April (included in above total count) – 50 + Approved – 7 + Denied – 8 + Request Withdrawn – 7 + Pending – 34 + Approval not needed – 2 + No known response – 1 + Closed due to lack of response – 2 == Visitors and Guests == 1. Tammy Davidson (Chartis) 2. Jennifer Hills (Chartis) 3. Yanina Budkin (World Bank Senior Communications Officer for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay) 4. Gabriele Niola (Italian tech journalist for Punto Informatico and Wired Italy) 5. Elisa Manheim (Institute for International Education) 6. Matjaz Panjan (Fulbright scholar, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) 7. Cristiano Boccolini (Fulbright scholar, UC Berkeley) 8. Alona Sekan (Fulbright scholar, US Department of Agriculture, Western Research Regional Center, Agricultural Research Service) 9. Phoebe Ayers (board member) 10. Tom Simonite (Computing Editor, MIT Technology Review) 11. Frieder Bronner (writing dissertation on parts of Wikipedia) 12. Matt Zimmerman (Technical Leader of Ubuntu) 13. Craig Newmark (Craigslist founder, visitor for Ushahidi brownbag) 14. Dan Perkel (visitor for Ushahidi brownbag) 15. Megan Finn (visitor for Ushahidi brownbag) 16. Nick Arnett (visitor for Ushahidi brownbag) 17. Aakash Desai (Product Manager, Mozilla) 18. Raj Ramabadran (Microsoft) 19. John P. Alioto (Microsoft) 20. Randall Benson (Benson Consulting) 21. Aaron Halfaker (WMF Research Analyst) 22. Ryan Merkeley (COO of Mozilla Foundation) 23. Faidon Laimbotis (visiting contractor) 24. Laura Lanzerotti (Bridgespan Group) 25. Libbie Landles-Dowling (Bridgespan Group) 26. Daniel Stid (Bridgespan Group) 27. Meera Chary (Bridgespan Group) 28. Divya Narayanan (Bridgespan Group) 29. Deborah Bezona (D. Bezona & Company) 30. Kelley Cope (Sitzmann, Morris and Lavis) 31. Alice Komarnicki (Sitzmann, Morris and Lavis) 32. Sandy Urgel (Sitzmann, Morris and Lavis) 33. Kate Antonini (First Data) 34. Patricia Brizio (First Data) 35. Thomas Tucker (First Data) 36. Anne Hiaring Hocking (Hiaring Smith) 37. Vijay Toke (Hiaring Smith) 38. David Evan Harris (Global Lives Project and Institute for the Future) 39. Gavin McConnon (BoxPay) 40. Kyle Hitchcox (BoxPay) 41. Aaron Nobles (BoxPay) 42. Tim Otten (CiviCRM) 43. Anand Gupta (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 44. Benedikt Lotter (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 45. Brandon Paton (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 46. Brianna Smrke (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 47. Charlie Javice (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 48. Charlie Stigler (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 49. Chris Olah (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 50. Clay Allsopp (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 51. Connor Zwick (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 52. Dylan Field (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 53. Eric Chang (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 54. Henry Lui (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 55. Ilya Vakhutinsky (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 56. Isaac Dietrich (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 57. Jimmy Koppel (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 58. Jon Lim (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 59. Kettner Griswold (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 60. Kevin Ma (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 61. Lindsay Haskell (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 62. Michael Moore-Jones (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 63. Noor Siddiqui (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 64. Omar Rizwan (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 65. Oskar Niburski (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 66. Param Jaggi (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 67. Paul Sebexen (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 68. Rebekah Austin (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 69. Rijul Gupta (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 70. Ritik Malhotra (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 71. Ryan Lelek (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 72. Saku Panditharantne (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 73. Samir Devalaraja (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 74. Semon Rezchikov (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 75. Shai Kiriati (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 76. Spencer Hewett (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 77. Tara Seshan (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 78. Taylor Wilson (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 79. Tony Ho (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 80. Vaibhav Kumar (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 81. Vijay Viswanathan (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 82. Wole Idowu (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 83. Yoonseo Kang (Thiel 20Under20 Finalists) 84. Maggie Dennis (visiting staff) 85. Sumana Harihareswara (remote staff) 86. Daniel Phifer and Kevin McCracken (Social Imprints) 87. Christina Dragwidge (Arthur J. Gallagher) 88. Henrik Bennetsen 89. Majd Abbar, Qatar Foundation 90. Ginny Jarrett (AJLI) 91. Alice Gardner-Boreta (AJLI) 92. Jodi Penn (AJLI) 93. Eileen Goodwin (AJLI) 94. Cynthia Foster (AJLI) 95. Olivia Thomas (AJLI) 96. Becker Holland (AJLI) 97. Delly Beekman (AJLI) 98. Sandra Thomas (AJLI) 99. Sarah Berthelot (AJLI) 100. Laurel Lee-Alexander (AJLI) 101. Liz Murley (AJLI) 102. Julie Siebel (AJLI) 103. Karla Wallace (AJLI) 104. Toni Freeman (AJLI) 105. Mary Jo Hunt (AJLI) 106. Kathy Rabon (AJLI) 107. Deann Cook (AJLI) 108. Liz Davis (AJLI) 109. Subha Lembach (AJLI) 110. Gwin Londrigan (AJLI) 111. Karen Miller (AJLI) 112. Terri Nass Reeder (AJLI) 113. Dona Ponepinto (AJLI) 114. Diann Rohde (AJLI) 115. Evelyn Zabo (AJLI) 116. Susan Danish (AJLI) 117. Anne Dalton (AJLI) 118. Maureen Mackey (AJLI) 119. Janine le Sueur (AJLI) 120. Carrie Holmes (AJLI) 121. Heather Mcleod-Grant (AJLI) 122. Rebecca Petzel (AJLI) 123. Kristin Cobble (AJLI) 124. Kat Walsh (Board Member) 125. Arthur Richards (Remote staff) 126. Martin Kalfatovic (Smithsonian) 127. Chris Freeland (Missouri Botanical Garden) 128. Diane Peters (Creative Commons) 129. Marion Strecker (Brazilian journalist) 130. Michiel Minderhoud (Mobile Code Challenge Winner) -- Tilman Bayer Movement Communications Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB

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WikimediaAnnounce-l May 2012