Forwarding this announcement from the Wikimedia blog:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/31/wikimedia-foundation-chief-communicat…
Announcing the search for the Wikimedia Foundation’s Chief Communications
Officer
A few weeks ago, Jay Walsh stepped down as head of Communications for the
Wikimedia Foundation. I was sad to see Jay leave — for nearly six years
he’s guided WMF communications activities with unerring judgement and
poise. He’s been a trusted colleague and a good friend to the movement.
Today, we’re announcing an international search for his replacement: a
Chief Communications Officer (CCO) to lead the WMF’s small communications
team.
It’s a unique job. Wikipedia is super-famous and the press and general
public are highly interested in us. We’re likelier to turn down press
opportunities than to seek them out. Unusually for an organization
representing a famous brand, we tend to speak freely, rather than aiming to
restrict access to information about us, and we do it in collaboration with
a decentralized global network of volunteer spokespeople. We don’t try to
significantly control or shape people’s perceptions of Wikipedia because we
believe brand perception emerges organically out of users’ day-to-day
experiences with a product. People love Wikipedia, and so do we: that means
we’ve got no reason to be overly controlling about our public image.
We want a CCO who believes in the WMF vision and shares our values. He or
she will manage communications at the WMF and across the projects we
operate, ensuring a fast and easy flow of information in multiple
languages, both internally within the Wikimedia movement and externally
with the press, readers, donors and general public. The full CCO job
description, including required qualifications, can be found here.
To help in the recruitment process, we’ve engaged Chaloner Associates, an
executive search firm specializing in communications roles. If you’re
interested in the role, or want to suggest potential candidates, you can
write to Amy Segelin (amy(a)chaloner.com) or Kassie Wilner (
kassie(a)chaloner.com) at Chaloner. You can also apply online here. If you’re
a Wikimedia community member, please say that in your application since
it’s a plus for us. Also please note we don’t discriminate on the basis of
ethnic origin, nationality, religion, political perspective, sex, age,
disability, gender identity or sexual orientation, and we particularly
value international experience and fluency in languages in addition to
English.
We expect to begin interviewing candidates in December, and hope to have a
new CCO in place in January.
Please join me in thanking Jay for his many years of service to the
Wikimedia movement, and please share this post with your networks.
Thanks,
Sue Gardner
--
Matthew Roth
Global Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
+1.415.839.6885 ext 6635
www.wikimediafoundation.orghttps://blog.wikimedia.org
Hi all,
the new bulletin from Wikimedia Italia (#63) is available. This time
we wrote about Members' Meeting, Iberoconf2013, Wikimania 2013 local
Report, and of course past and future appointments.
As usual a link has been added to meta, at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Italia…
; more-or-less raw text of the bulletin follows below.
ciao, .mau.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
== Members' Meeting - October 2013 ==
Saturday, October 19th we held the
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_ottobre_2013
second annual meeting of Wikimedia Italia], at the Biblioteca Sala
Borsa in Bologna. The regular memebers' meeting was preceded in the
morning by a public meeting on '''Libraries and Wikipedia: encounters
and possibilities'''. The speakers (Luca De Biase, Frieda Brioschi,
Andrea Zanni, Virginia Gentilini, Piero Grandesso) emphasized the
crucial role of libraries and institutions in interpreting the change
in progress in the knowledge, change that passes through the web.
In the afternoon there was the meeting itself, characterized by a very
heartfelt participation, thanks to the presence of new members and
intrigued supporters. As usual, the
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_ottobre_2013/Verba…
'''resolutions'''] approved in previous months by the Board were
presented and voted: the most significant note is the intake as
part-time secretary of Alessandra Gasparini and the agreement with the
National Central Library of Florence.
Highlights of the subsequent discussion, were the opportunity to
incorporate the (not yet existing) Italian chapter of
[http://blog.openstreetmap.it/ Open Street Map] within Wikimedia Italy
and the candidacy of Esino Lario as a place to
[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Esino_Lario host
Wikimania 2015 edition]. Following a really felt discussion, both
proposals were approved (the first unanimously, the second by a
majority vote).
Afterwards, Emma Tracanella (''Director of Wiki Loves Monuments
Italy'') told about the 2013 edition of Wiki Loves Monuments Italia,
flanked by Nemo whose support has been instrumental in the
organization of the competition. In conclusion, some observations were
made on the other projects the Association schedules for 2014. Please
refer to the [http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Assemblea_WMI_ottobre_2013/Verba…
report] (prepared by MLWatts, elected secretary of the meeting) for
full details.
Wikimedia Italia sincerely thanks all those who participated and
contributed with their help to the success of the meeting.
== Iberoconf2013 ==
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Iberocoop '''Iberocoop'''] is the
co-operative that puts together the working groups of the Wikimedia
movement operating in Latin America, Spain, Portugal and Italy. From
12 to 15 October 2013 the third meeting of the chapters involved was
held in Mexico City:
[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Iberocoop:Encuentro_Wikimedia_Iberoamericano…
Iberoconf2013]. On behalf of Wikimedia Italia participated
[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Atropine Atropine], who recounted
in a very thoroughly report what happened during the conference. The
main topics covered were the future of Iberocoop and its internal
organization, Wiki Loves Monuments, educational projects and the
possible future meeting, Iberoconf2014 in Uruguay. Carmen Alcazar of
Wikimedia Mexico was appointed as a new coordinator, with the
technical support of Wikimedia Argentina.
For full details, see
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Iberocoop/Iberoconf_2013
the report of Atropine], who in conclusion said: "What I have seen
during this Iberoconf is that people really want to do things and to
show that Iberoconf is an effective and replicable entity."
== Wikimania 2013 local Report==
The report for Wikimania 2013 is finally
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Wikimania_2013 on line].
Many Italian members took part to Wikimania: eight of them, in
particular, have benefited from '''WMI sponsorships''' for the
participation. The sponsorship program's main objective is to
encourage and Italian Wikipedians and Wikimedians to take part in
rallies, in order to promote the
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Siti_WMF projects of Wikimedia Italia].
Moreoverm there is the desire to enrich each meeting with the
enthusiasm and experience of different groups of the Wikimedia
movement. At the end of an event, all those who have benefited from
the stock market are asked by WMI to tell their impressions and a list
of meetings attended. On the
[http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Associazione:Wikimania_2013#Relazioni_dei_par…
dedicated page] you can find and read all the reports.
== Past appointments ==
=== Social Innovation CAMP in Florence ===
[http://www.sicampfirenze.org/ SICamp], organized by the newborn
[http://www.impacthub.net/ Impact Hub] of Florence, was an occasion
for young start-ups to meet, an opportunity to "accelerate" their
ideas confronting others and also meet with potential investors.
Wikimedia Italy was present (with [[Utente:Laurentius|Laurentius]] and
[[Utente:Aubrey|Aubrey]]) to bring the experience of collaborative
communities, free licenses and crowdsourcing. The three days were
extremely interesting: our representatives had the opportunity to
show everybody open source projects such as Open Street Map, which at
least two start-ups will try to incorporate into their services.
=== Bibliohackathon in Florence ===
[[File:Messiti Sannita e Andrea.JPG|thumb|160px|left|Messiti]]
On October 26, a
[https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:GLAM/Biblioteche/Bibliohackaton
Bibliohackathon] was held at the National Central Library of Florence
(BNCF), organized by the Library itself and Wikimedia Italia: the
initative was of course born in the group
[https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:GLAM/Biblioteche
GLAM/Libraries]. The aim of the meeting was twofold: to let the
activities of the group be known and to offer an opportunity for
deepening of the ongoing activities. The meeting was opened by the
organizers '''Giovanni Bergamin''' (representing the BNCF) and
'''Andrea Zanni''' and '''Cristian Consonni''' (Wikimedia Italia).
The first intervention was that of '''Marco Masucci''' of
[http://www.liberainformatica.it/ Informatica libera] (Free Computer
Science) about Free Software; then [[utente:sannita|'''Luca
Martinelli''']] illustrated the potential of [http://www.wikidata.org
Wikidata].
'''Raffaele Messuti''' then introduced the software
[http://OpenRefine.org OpenRefine]; following it, '''Maurizio
Napolitano''' told about the [http://OpenStreetMap.org OpenStreetMap]
project, pointing out how many different and unexpected feature could
arise from it. '''Anna Lucarelli''' of the National Library closed the
morning session, illustrating the relationships created in recent
months between Wikipedia entries and the BNCF Thesaurus.
The day's program can be seen
[https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:GLAM/Biblioteche/Bibliohackaton#Prog…
here].
(Photo: ''Messuti explains to Andrea and Sannita the functionalities
of OpenRefine'' by Giaccai, [CC-BY-SA 2.5]).
== Future Appointments ==
* November 4, Mestre: the meetings organized by the Library VEZ of
Mestre start. The meetings are parte of the '''Wiki VEZ project''',
toward the creation of article in the Italian Wikipedia about Venice
and its mainland. The dates are 4-11-18-27 November and 4 December
2013: the last round will sport an Editathon about the glass of
Murano, at the conclusion of which some participants will be selected
to do an internship in some Murano glassworks. Go to the
[http://sbuvenezia.comune.venezia.it/easyne2/LYT.aspx?Code=bcve&IDLYT=1211&S…
event page] for schedules, details and entry form.
* November 7, Treviso: the meeting for the librarians '''New libraries
for new readers''' is approaching! The meeting is organized by the
province of Treviso for the 2013 edition of
[http://www.venetolettura.it/ Veneto Lettura]. The meeting includes an
intervention of our
[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Virginia_Gentilini Virginia
Gentilini] on "Libraries and Wikipedia". Details and timetables are
available at the
[http://www.venetolettura.it/eventi/nuove-biblioteche-per-nuovi-lettori/
reference page] on the site.
* November 12, Milan: [http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Utente:Frieda
Frieda Brioschi] (''President of Wikimedia Italia''), together with
Carlo Freccero and Alessandra Ghisleri, will be a host of the event
'''New Media e informazione''', with Jacopo Tondelli as moderator. The
meeting, which is part of the project Fuorigeco, will be held at The
Hub Milano, from 19 to 21.
* November 14, Stra (VE): for the Week of the enterprise culture of
Confindustria, the [http://www.museodellacalzatura.it/ Museo Rossimoda
of the shoe], together with [http://www.europeanafashion.eu/ Europeana
Fashion], organizes at its headquarters in Villa Foscarini Rossi an
[https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:GLAM/Europeana_Fashion_Edithaton_2013
edithaton]. Privileged recipients: students of the University of Padua
and the IUAV of Venice whose studies are related to marketing and
fashion design. Hours 10-16. For Wikimedia Italy
[http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Virginia_Gentilini Virginia
Gentilini] will attend.
* November 16, Ivrea: at [http://85.40.171.220/moodle202/ Officina H]
the meeting [http://www.didatticaaperta.it/ '''Didattica Aperta''']
(Open Education) is scheduled. The theme of the meeting is "Free
access to software and knowledge in the School and University". The
event will provide an opportunity to discuss sharing of knowledge and
free resources in training. The invitation is extended to everybody,
but places are limited. To register, simply fill out the
[http://www.didatticaaperta.it/registrazione-2013 form on the site].
== News from Wiki World ==
* Wikimedia Foundation announced that it has launched an investigation
on the accounts who write and edit Wikipedia articles for promotional
purposes. Sue Gardner, retiring Executive Director, wrote a
[http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/21/sue-gardner-response-paid-advocacy-edi…
post on the blog of the Foundation]; in Italy some media wrote about
the question: [http://www.corriere.it/tecnologia/social/13_ottobre_22/wikipedia-socket-pup…
Corriere.it], [http://www.tomshw.it/cont/news/wikipedia-in-guerra-di-trincea-contro-gli-ar…
Tom's Hardware],
[http://punto-informatico.it/3915669/PI/News/wikipedia-intrusione-delle-pr.a…
Punto Informatico].
* On the blog of Wikimedia Foundation the October report for
[http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/15/october-report-on-wikisource/
Wikisource strategic vision] project was just published. Among the
participants there is the Head of Wikimedia Italia projects, Andrea
Zanni.
Dear friends,
Here is the Wikimedia España (Spain, ES) Report of Activities for the
months of July, August and September 2013. It is also avaliable, as all the
precedent, in Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Espa%C…<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Espa%C3…>
Best regards,
--
Jorge A. Sierra
Presidente
Wikimedia España
http://www.wikimedia.org.es
July
- 4.07.2013: Meeting with María Calzada, profesor of UJI. Evaluation of
the 3rd year of using Wikipedia in a subject of Translation degree.
- 8-31.07.2013: Courses on "Wikis in education: an introduction" in
Universidad de Cádiz (4 sessions). It includes a lesson on "Wikipedia
edition" (Free resources updated for the course: slides and
exercises<https://github.com/DrPantera/wikis4education/tree/master/uca-2012_07>
).
- 11.07.2013: Presentation of a paper about UCAC2/wikiArS
project<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:UCAC2>in "X
Jornadas Internacionales de Innovación Universitaria" conference
about educational innovation in Madrid.
Proceedings<http://www.uem.es/myfiles/pageposts/jiu/jiu2013/pdf/x_jiiu_2013.pdf?#page=9…>(pages
917-924)
- 15.07.2013: Meeting with Fundació Isonomia to explain the gender gap
in Wikimedia, show activities done by other chapters and talk about doing
activities next year.
- 19.07.2013: Collaboration in newspaper article about Wikipedia
conflicts for El Confidencial Opus Dei y Athletic de Bilbao, entre los
artículos más controvertidos de
Wikipedia<http://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/2013-07-19/opus-dei-y-athletic-de-…>
- 27.07.2013: Photographic coverage of music festival *Músicos en la
naturaleza 2013*. Pictures of Deep Purple, Loquillo and Bebe.
[1]<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:M%C3%BAsicos_en_la_naturaleza_2…>
August
- 08-11.08.2013: Participation of 7 members of the chapter in Wikimania
with intensive exchange with members of other chapters, along with an
extensive summary of everything that happened there in order to keep all
chapters members informed.
- 09-10.08.2013: Co-organisation of a photowikimeetup on-site in Hong
Kong<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Photowikimeetup_in_Hong_Kong_duri…>by
"Poco a poco" (WMES member) to take pictures of the city, as well as
of
monuments for WLM13.
- 11.08.2013: Attendance to the Iberocoop meeting on-site in Hong Kong.
- 11.08.2013: Talk by David Gómez about wikiArS in
Edu-III<http://wikimania2013.wikimedia.org/wiki/Submissions/wikiArS,_involving_art_…>(Wikimania)
- 11.08.2013: Interview to Jorge Sierra, president of Wikimedia España,
for El Confidencial (newspaper) "Hay empresas que pagan por hablar bien
de ellas, pero siempre se
detecta"<http://www.elconfidencial.com/tecnologia/2013-08-11/hay-empresas-que-pagan-…>
- 16.08.2013:
Agreement<http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiproyecto:Colaboraci%C3%B3n_con_la_UPM_sobr…>between
the departament of applied physics of the Telecommunications ETSI
of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and Wikimedia España. The first
agreement comprises the improvement of the 10 most visited articles about
physics in the Wikipedia in Spanish that need to be expanded or improved
(wording or references). Discussion is going on to expand and formalize the
collaboration.
- 28.08.2013: We were able to register the Internet domain
wikimedia.esafter several years
- 01-30.08.2013: Organization of Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 in Spain
- Collaboration with Quo (magazine) in a report about conflicts in
Wikipedia <http://www.quo.es/tecnologia/errores-wikipedia>
September
- 09.09.2013: Meeting with Eugenio Monesma, film producer and director,
and owner of the largest ethnographic archive in Spain.
- 10.09.2013: Interview to Jorge Sierra, president of Wikimedia España,
for La Vanguardia (newspaper) "Mis alumnos me han entregado a veces
trabajos copiados de Wikipedia escritos por
mí"<http://www.lavanguardia.com/internet/20130910/54380178639/entrevista-jorge-…>
- 13.09.2013: Meeting with Fundació Globalis
- 13.09.2013: Photographic coverage of a stage of Vuelta a España 2013.
[2]<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vuelta_a_Espa%C3%B1a_2013_-_Sup…>
- 14.09.2013: Photographic coverage of the football match between
Atlético de Madrid and UD Almería, of the Liga (Spanish Premier League).
[3]<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Atl%C3%A9tico_de_Madrid_vs_UD_A…>
- 17.09.2013: Meeting with María Calzada, professor of "Traducción e
interpretación" to prepare the new year of Wikipedia project *Aprendices
de traducción con la Wikipedia*
[4]<https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Proyecto_educativo/Aprendices_de_tr…>
- 17.09.2013: Meeting with Vila-real Town council to organize Wikimedia
Conference and GM of WMES in Vila-real.
- 17.09.2013: Radio interview in Radio Intereconomía.
- 18.09.2013: Participation in the *UPM: Convocatoria ETSI de
Telecomunicación: Edición Wikipedia 2013_14*, an event to give students
of the Politecnic University of Madrid a introduction to the edition in
Wikimedia.
- 24.09.2013: Press conference at Vila-real city hall about Wikimedia
Conference in Vila-real
- 24.09.2013: Radio interview in Radio Vila-real
[5]<http://www.radiovila-real.es/protagonistes-del-24-de-septiembre-de-2013/>
- 24.09.2013: Radio interview in Onda Cero
- 27.09.2013: Workshop about Wikimedia projects in Vila-real
- 28.09.2013: Photo hunting in Vila-real
- 28.09.2013: Wikimedia and education Conference in Vila-real, with two
talks and one debate, in Vila-real
- 29.09.2013: III General Assembly of WMES in Vila-real
- 30.09.2013: Finishing upload campaign for WLM 2013.
- During the month; wikiArS online work. David Gómez. Adaptation of
UploadWizard for wikiArS using Campaign:
Campaign:wikiArS<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Campaign:wikiArS>,
creation of mechanisms to create
assignments<http://wiki.wikimedia.org.es/priv/index.php?title=Outreach:WikiArS/assignme…>,
and other improvements of templates, categories and documentation in
Commons, and Outreach.
The Chapters report for Wikimedia Sverige has now been published on our
wiki:
https://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_reports/2013-09
*HIGHLIGHTS:*
- The Gothenburg Book fair, which featured a community driven project
taking pictures and making interviews conducted by 11 volunteers, as well
as presentations on Wikipedia in Education and Copyright.
- The final delivery of the brochure Free public information to each of
the Members of Parliament.
- The chapter and Wikipedia were mentioned five times in the
Governmental budget proposition for 2014.
- Our board member Ylva Pettersson was awarded second prize in The
Innovative Teacher Award for her and her students' work with creating
articles, videos, music and photos for Wikipedia in a project on local
history.
*GROWTH:*
- Editors involved in chapter activities: 26
- Media uploaded helped by chapter resources:
555<http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=categorymembers&cm…>
- Media viewed:
1,824,524<http://tools.wmflabs.org/glamtools/baglama.php?group=Media+created+by+techn…>
- Persons engaged in workshops and seminars: 118
- Persons reached in presentations: >425
- Number of events held (edit-a-thons, workshops, seminars,
presentations, other): 18
- New chapter members: 5
- Facebook page likes: +20 (756 in total)
*Best regards,
Jan Ainali*
CEO, Wikimedia Sverige <http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Huvudsida>
+46 729 67 29 48
This release is also available online at
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Airtel_joins_Wikipedia_…
Airtel Partners With Wikimedia Foundation to Bring Free Access to Wikipedia
to 70 Million People in 17 Countries
Partnership will introduce innovative ways to access Wikipedia on mobile
devices in Sub-Saharan Africa
* Airtel customers to access multilingual content on Wikipedia mobile site
free of data charges
* First-of-its-kind pilot initiative in Africa will provide free access to
Wikipedia via text messages (SMS and USSD)
Nairobi, Kenya and San Francisco, California, October 24, 2013 -- Airtel,
and the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, today
announced a strategic partnership to provide Airtel's customers access to
the knowledge and information available on Wikipedia through their mobile
phones free of data charges.
This partnership is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's Wikipedia Zero
program, which focuses on reaching the billions of people around the world
whose primary opportunity to access the internet is via a mobile device.
The partnership between Airtel and the Wikimedia Foundation will help
provide Wikipedia to 70 million new users in the region, starting in Kenya.
Airtel customers with Internet-enabled handsets can now access the
Wikipedia mobile site on their mobile browsers without incurring data
charges by going to m.wikipedia.org
For customers who do not have Internet-enabled handsets, Airtel will offer
Wikipedia by text message as a pilot program in Kenya. This unique service
will allow customers to search Wikipedia using a plain text menu, without
the need for a mobile browser. The service, available for GSM subscribers,
utilizes USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology and
allows users to dial *515# to search Wikipedia and receive article
summaries via SMS.
"We are thrilled that Airtel has joined us in removing two major barriers
to accessing Wikipedia on mobile phones. Not only are we making it freely
available on the mobile web but we are are also launching our first
Wikipedia via text service that will allow people without data enabled
phones to access Wikipedia," said Kul Takanao Wadhwa, Head of Mobile,
Wikimedia Foundation. "Improving access to the Wikimedia projects in
Sub-Saharan Africa is a strategic priority for the Wikimedia Foundation and
this partnership is another step forward in our mission to enable everyone
on the planet to access free knowledge."
Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer, Airtel Africa said "Airtel is
committed to using its infrastructure to expand knowledge across the
countries that it operates in. Due to the fact that most of the population
has access to a cell phone, it is the best way to reach out and educate our
communities. We will offer this service free of charge to our customers to
enable access to all."
About Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with
operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New
Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers
globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings
include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line
services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services
including national & international long distance services to carriers. In
the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile
commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 276 million customers across its
operations at the end of August 2013. To learn more, please visit:
www.airtel.com.
Airtel Africa media contact
Michael Okwiri
Vice President
Corporate Communications
Airtel Africa (Nairobi, Kenya)
Email: michael.okwiri(a)airtel.com
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 500 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most
popular web property world-wide (comScore, August 2013). Available in 287
languages, Wikipedia contains more than 29 million articles contributed by
a global volunteer community of roughly 80,000 people. Based in San
Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3)
charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.
Wikimedia Foundation media contact
Matthew Roth
Communications
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6635 (San Francisco, California)
mroth(a)wikimedia.org
To be removed from the Wikimedia Foundation press release list, reply to
this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
This statement is also available online:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Sue_Gardner_statement_p…
Statement from Sue Gardner, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation,
in response to paid advocacy editing and sockpuppetry
Editors on the English Wikipedia are currently investigating allegations of
suspicious edits and sockpuppetry (i.e. using online identities for
purposes of deception). At this point, as reported, it looks like a number
of user accounts -- perhaps as many as several hundred -- may have been
paid to write articles on Wikipedia promoting organizations or products,
and have been violating numerous site policies and guidelines, including
prohibitions against sockpuppetry and undisclosed conflicts of interest. As
a result, Wikipedians aiming to protect the projects against non-neutral
editing have blocked or banned more than 250 user accounts.
The Wikimedia Foundation takes this issue seriously and has been following
it closely.
With a half a billion readers, Wikipedia is an important informational
resource for people all over the world. Our readers know Wikipedia's not
perfect, but they also know that it has their best interests at heart, and
is never trying to sell them a product or propagandize them in any way. Our
goal is to provide neutral, reliable information for our readers, and
anything that threatens that is a serious problem. We are actively
examining this situation and exploring our options.
In the wake of the investigation, editors have expressed shock and dismay.
We understand their reaction and share their concerns. We are grateful to
the editors who've been doing the difficult, painstaking work of trying to
figure out what's happening here.
Editing-for-pay has been a divisive topic inside Wikipedia for many years,
particularly when the edits to articles are promotional in nature. Unlike a
university professor editing Wikipedia articles in their area of expertise,
paid editing for promotional purposes, or paid advocacy editing as we call
it, is extremely problematic. We consider it a "black hat" practice. Paid
advocacy editing violates the core principles that have made Wikipedia so
valuable for so many people.
What is clear to everyone is that all material on Wikipedia needs to adhere
to Wikipedia's editorial policies, including those on neutrality and
verifiability. It is also clear that companies that engage in unethical
practices on Wikipedia risk seriously damaging their own reputations. In
general, companies engaging in self-promotional activities on Wikipedia
have come under heavy criticism from the press and the general public, with
their actions widely viewed as inconsistent with Wikipedia's educational
mission.
Being deceptive in your editing by using sockpuppets or misrepresenting
your affiliation with a company is against Wikipedia policy and is
prohibited by our Terms of Use. We urge companies to conduct themselves
ethically, to be transparent about what they're doing on Wikipedia, and to
adhere to all site policies and practices.
The Wikimedia Foundation is closely monitoring this ongoing investigation
and we are currently assessing all the options at our disposal. We will
have more to say in the coming weeks.
About the Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org<br/>
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 500 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most
popular web property world-wide (comScore, August 2013). Available in 287
languages, Wikipedia contains more than 29 million articles contributed by
a global volunteer community of roughly 80,000 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
Matthew Roth
Global Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
Tel. +1 415-839-6885 x6635
mroth{{at}}wikimedia.org
To unsubscribe from the Wikimedia Foundation press release list, reply with
"unsubscribe" to this email.
The Wikimedia Nederland report for September is available:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Nederl…
It is also included as text in this message.
COMMUNITY: supporting and mobilising volunteers and editors
-
Our two-weekly Wiki-Saturdays remain successful: on a Wiki-Saturday the
WMNL office is open for members of the community as a venue for meetings, a
quiet place to work on projects or just to have a coffee and a chat with
fellow Wikimedians. In September, the office was open twice, hosting
volunteers and board members working on our annual conference, wiki loves
monuments and the annual work plan 2014.
-
Preparations for the Wikimedia Nederland Conference (November 2,
Utrecht) are in full swing. WMF chair of the Board Jan Bart de Vreede has
agreed to give the keynote speech. See for conference programme:
http://www.wikimediaconferentie.nl/
-
There was a Wikipedia Café in Amsterdam on September 6. Four community
members attended.
WORK: content, collaboration and activity development
-
Wiki Loves Monuments. September is Wiki Loves
Monuments<http://www.wikilovesmonuments.nl/>month. There were
photo-safari’s (Wiki Takes) in Groningen, Nijmegen and
The Hague. One of our volunteers arranged a special tour of Kasteel de Haar
so that photographs could be taken inside the castle.
-
World War II. A group of active community members has decided to focus
on World War II. We cooperated with the National Committee for the
Commemoration of World War II earlier this year in a small pilot-project to
gather photographs of war monuments for Wikimedia Commons. We are looking
to expand this cooperation.
-
Fashion edit-a-thon Antwerpen. The MoMu fashion museum hosted an Europeana
Fashion Edit-a-thon<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nl:Wikipedia:GLAM/MoMu_Fashion_edit-a-thon_20…>in
Antwerp. Around 25
participants<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nl:Wikipedia:GLAM/MoMu_Fashion_edit-a-thon_20…>worked
on
articles<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nl:Wikipedia:GLAM/MoMu_Fashion_edit-a-thon_20…>and
a special tour through the museum was given.
-
Public Libraries. BiSC Utrecht <http://www.biscutrecht.nl/>, the service
organisation for libraries in the province of Utrecht, and Wikimedia
Nederland organised a workshop for libraries. The goal of the workshop was
to generate ideas for cooperation. The workshop was inspired by the
earlier Wiki
Loves Bieb <http://www.wikilovesbieb.nl/> project.
-
25/9 Creative Commons Conference. Wikimedia Nederland attended the
celebration of 10 years of Creative Commons in the Netherlands. The future
of the licenses and their use was being discussed at the event.
-
ECNC. Volunteers of Wikimedia Nederland supported the ECNC photo
competition <http://www.ecnc.org/photo-competition/> by setting up
the upload
wizard<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:UploadWizard%3Fcampaign%3DECNC-B…>.
One of the goals for Wikimedia Nederland to support this competition is to
see if and how we can support initiatives by other organisations that lead
to more content on commons and/or other Wikimedia projects.
-
Tropenmuseum. The
Tropenmuseum<http://www.tropenmuseum.com/smartsite.shtml?ch=TMU&id=5853>is
looking for the fourth Dutch Wikipedian in Residence (job
description in
Dutch<https://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Vacature_Wikipedian-in-Residence_op_expeditie>)
for their project about
expeditions<https://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/De_grote_Wikipedia_Expeditie>
.
Money
-
WMNL submitted its application for FDC
funding<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/Wikim…>in
time of the October 1 deadline. We are requesting € 356,068, a 20%
increase on the 2013 FDC allocation.
GLOBAL: International collaboration
-
Board member international affairs Ziko van Dijk visited the
Wikipedia-Stammtisch in Bochum (DE)
-
Wiki Loves Monuments International: WMNL is acting as fiscal sponsor to
the Wiki Loves Monuments International team, taking care of accounting and
payments.
-
Kira Kraemer (WMDE) visited the WMNL offices as part of the Chapters
Dialogue programme. She interviewed representatives of board, community and
staff.
ORGANISATION: board, management and support
-
The board met in Utrecht on September 5.
-
The Algemene Ledenvergadering (General Assembly) took place on September
21 (the second in 2013). Main points on the agenda were the Annual Workplan
and Budget 2014. Both were approved by the members.
Sandra Rientjes
Directeur/Executive Director Wikimedia Nederland
tel. (+31) (0)6 31786379
*Postadres*: * Bezoekadres:*
Postbus 167 Mariaplaats 3
3500 AD Utrecht Utrecht
Dear fellows,
The following message is just to keep you informed about the activities
developed in September by Amical Wikimedia.
Kind regards,
David Parreño Mont
User:Davidpar
(As a member of Amical Wikimedia)
----
*Source:* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Amical_Wikimedia/September_2013
GLAM-WIKI
- Current Wikipedians-in-Residence: ESM at Museu d'Art Jaume Morera,
Galazan at Museu d'Història de Catalunya, Marionaaragay at Museu de la
Música de Barcelona, Glòria Guirao at Fundació Suñol and David Parreño Mont
at Network of Public Libraries of the Government of Catalonia.
- September 3rd. Meeting with the cultural dept of the Town council of
Barcelona. Kippelboy
- September 9th. Meeting with Catalan Women Institute (Institut Català
de la Dona) for drafting our 2014 partenrship program. Kippelboy
- September 10th. Promotional video recording for our project WikiLoves
Libraries. (presenting it on the Basque Country in October). Kippelboy
- September 16th. Wikimedia Commons 4h course to Barcelona Town Council
Museum Proffessional. 7 attendees. Kippelboy
- September 16th. Meeting with Barcelona Town Council members: Drafting
a WikiLovesMonuments exhibit in Barcelona. Kippelboy
- September 17th. Meeting with Política Lingüística (Linguistic Council
of Government). Barcelona
- September 18th. GLAMWiki introduction to the Fundació Bosch i
Cardellach in Sabadell. Kippelboy
- September 19th. Follow up meeting with leaders librarians of the Wiki
Loves Biblioteques CAT (Wiki Loves Catalan Libraries) project. Kippelboy
- September 26th. Meeting with Victor Balaguer Museum. Looking for a
Wikipedian in Residence and a Content Donation. Agreement done. Kippelboy
- September 26th. Wiki Loves Libraries meeting. Agreement for new
Wikipedian in Residence. Will be Davidpar. Kippelboy
Wiki Loves Monuments
- Organization of the photo contest on cultural heritage Wiki Loves
Monuments at the Catalan-speaking territories.
Further activitites:
- September, 15th. Andorran Photowalk[1]
- September, 21th. Wiki Takes Mollerussa[2], driven by the Mascançà
Research Center. ESM
- September, 24th. Wiki Takes Olesa, driven by Santa Oliva Library.
Kippelboy
- September, 28th. Wiki Takes Sant Feliu de Guíxols, driven by Sant
Feliu de Guíxols Library. Kippelboy
Open Data
- September, 17th. Presentation of the project: "Corporate social
responsibility and Wikipedia" Where workers of the Natural environment dept
of the Government of Catalonia are invited to edit Wikipedia on their Spare
time. Kippelboy
- September 28th. Conference: "Wikipedia and Open Data. The
democratization of knowledge" during Catosfera[3] (Catalan internet users
conference) in Granollers. Arnaugir
Education
- September, 12 th. First meeting among Amical volunteers for drafting
the new wikiclassics project. Kippelboy Barcelona Marionaaragay
- September, 23rd. WikiClassics meeting with a Latin language teacher of
the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Kippelboy Marionaaragay
- September, 25th. Drafting a new Fungus Wikiproejct with a Fungus
doctorate of the University of Barcelona. Kippelboy Vàngelis Villar
- September 26th: Beginning of work with philology students from UB
(University of Barcelona), they will analyze the linguistic quality of
several articles during their career project. Barcelona
Organization
- Amical Wikimedia publishes the 2014-2018 strategy plan and the 2014
roadmap.
- September 25th: Monthly IRC meeting with Amical members. Discussion of
the roadmap.
- Drafting of Amical's FDC proposal for 2014.[4] Arnaugir, Kippelboy,
Josepnogue
Media
- Wiki Loves Monuments media coverage: Ràdio Televisió Andorra,
Barcelona TV, El Periòdic d'Andorra, Bondia.ad, Agència de Notícies
Andorrana, El Economista, Europa Press, Llibertat.cat, Nació Digital,
Xarxanet, Agència Catalana de Notícies, VilaWeb Mollerussa, Andorra TV.
Davidpar
- Reports on Catalan Wikipedia: Xarxanet ("Catalan Wikipedia, a great
example of voluntary and collaborative"), Regió 7 ("Wikipedia with V").
- Interview with Quim Gil at *El Periódico de Catalunya*.
- STIC Award coverage: Imatica.org, GironaNotícies.cat, Agència Catalana
de Notícies, Racó Català, NacióGranollers, Nació Granollers, Ara, El
Periódico de Catalunya, Núvol.com, Nació Digital, VOTV. Davidpar
Research
- Writing of the reseach: *Joan Miró in Wikipedia: a comparative analysis
*, by Kippelboy and ESM.
Other
- Amical Wikimedia organizes the summer WikiChallenge in order to
improve the grammar and spelling of 2000 wikipedia articles. 31
participants. Finished on September 15th
- Attendance to Open Knowledge Conference about Open Data in Geneva,
Switzerland. Arnaugir
- September 28th. Stic.cat association gives its annual Special prize to
Amical Wikimedia during the Premis Blocs Catalunya 2013. Arnaugir collects
the prize and gives a short talk.
[1] https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquip%C3%A8dia:Photowalk_Andorr%C3%A0
[2] https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viquip%C3%A8dia:Wiki_Takes_Mollerussa
[3] http://2013.catosfera.cat/
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals/2013-2014_round1/Amica…