WikimediaAnnounce-l May 2013

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WMIT bulletin no. 53 - May 29, 2013
by .mau. (maurizio codogno) 13 Jun '13

13 Jun '13

Hi all, the new bulletin from Wikimedia Italia (#53) is available. This time we write about Amsterdam Hackathon 2013, the contest Veneto in Wikipedia, searches for people, and our next appointments. As usual a link has been added to meta, at Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Italia ; more-or-less raw text of the bulletin follows below. ciao, .mau. > > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __NOTOC__ [[Image:Wikimedia news1.png|400px|center]] {{titolo errato|titolo=Wikimedia news}}{{WMNpubblico|53|May 29, 2013}} ---- [[File:Wikimedia_Hackathon_2013.jpg|thumb|400px|center| "Working Group" - By Sebastiaan ter Burg from Utrecht, The Netherlands (Wikimedia Hackathon 2013) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons]] == Amsterdam Hackathon 2013 == Over the weekend from May 24 to 26, the [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Amsterdam_Hackathon_2013 Wikimedia Hackathon 2013] was held in Amsterdam. The annual gathering, which brings together all Wikimedian interested in the development of MediaWiki and other Wikimedia projects, was organized by Wikimedia Nederland and was held at the [http://www.stayokay.com/en/hostel/amsterdam-zeeburg Stayokay hostel]. There were about a hundred Wikimedian; the participants appreciate the Dutch organization which was impeccable. [[:it:Utente:CristianCantoro|Cristian]] (''vicepresident of Wikimedia Italia'') was present on behalf of Wikimedia Italia and [[:commons:Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013/Who's_who | Wiki Loves Monuments international group]]. In addition to numerous other projects, [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs Wikimedia Labs] were presented: tjey are the new infrastructure that will manage the development of new tools for Wikimedia sites. == Wikimedia Italia is hiring == Are you determined, do you like to work in teams, to interact with the public? Are you willing to learn some new computer program?! Then read [http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Ricerca_collaboratori the announcement for a secretarial employee] published by Wikimedia Italia. Our staff is growing! All specifications can be found on the dedicated page: here we anticipate that the workplace is in Monza (with occasional short trips) and that the type of commitment required will be 20 hours per week (horizontal or vertical part-time). The announcement is aimed at candidates of both sexes (L.125/91) and will remain valid until 15 June 2013. If you are interested, send your CV and a presentation letter to the email address lavoro(a)wikimedia.it. == Veneto in Wikipedia == [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progetto:Coordinamento/Scuole/Autori_in_Wikipe… Veneto in Wikipedia] is a competition, organized by our member Professor Corrado Petrucco from the University of Padua together with Enrica Pagano and Simonetta Boscolo in collaboration with Wikimedia Italia, planned to invite classes of students of schools of all levels to create or improve entries on Wikipedia. Monday, June 3 a meeting will be held for the closure of the project. [[:it:User:Cotton| Cotton]] will participate for Wikimedia Italia: Cotton will talk in particular about the criteria used for the evaluation of new entries in Wikipedia created by the children. At the conclusion of the meeting the best work will be awarded. The event will take place from 16:00 at the "Einaudi Gramsci" institute (via delle Palme, 1 35137 Padova); [http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/File:Locandina_veneto_in_wikipedia.pdf here] the complete program. == Wikimedia Foundation is looking for Italian-speaking people == The Engineering and Product Developement department of the Wikimedia Foundation is looking for two or thres [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/66337 Community Liaison, Product Development], i.e. representatives of the local Wikimedian community who will act as intermediaries between users and the engineering team, supporting them in the activation phase of new extensions on the sites of projects of the Wikimedia Foundation. This would be a task for a period of about 3 months, which requires a minimum commitment of 15 hours per week. In particular the urgent need at the moment is on the launch of [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor Visual Editor] on Wikipedia in different languages; they will need, for example, to explain to their community the news and manage useful feedback tools significant to the computer development department. Basic requirements are knowledge of the English language (as well as Italian), years of experience as active users on Wikimedia sites (not just Wikipedia) and excellent communication skills. To apply, you must write to Philippe Beaudette at pbeaudette(a)wikimedia.org. Read through the requirements and then, if you know you have a few free hours to devote each day, you can apply or invite some Wikimedian friend to do so. == Pages most seen on Italian Wikipedia == The list with the [http://stats.grok.se/it/top most visited articles in Italian Wikipedia] has just be updated. Reading it provided an insight on how users make use of the free encyclopedia. In April, for example, Italian politics and television series are the most browsed categories of voices. == Next appointments == * '''May 30, Crema''': [[:it:Utente:Virginia_Gentilini|Virginia Gentilini]] will speak at the conference [http://opac.provincia.cremona.it/library/home-RBC/viaggio-nel-mondo-del-lib…'' Librarians tell themselves: challenges, opportunities and alliances''] organized by the Cremona Libraries' Network, talking of the relationship between Wikipedia and the world of libraries. What does it mean to be ''Wikipedian librarians''? Citing his personal experience, Virginia will attempt to answer this question, revealing the possible future developments of the librarian's role and its relationship with users. The meeting ([http://opac.provincia.cremona.it/sites/brescia/assets/UFF.-BIBLIOTECHE-CREM… here] the full program) will begin at 9:30 am and will take place at the S. Pietro da Cemmo Hall of the S. Agostino Augustine (Museo Civico - piazza Winifred Terni de Gregory). You can [http://opac.provincia.cremona.it/library/home-RBC/form-iscrizione-convegno/ register online]. Other information may be obtained by phone (0372/406283) or e-mail: cultura(a)provincia.cremona.it. *''June 8, Bologna''': after the success of the meeting of May 4, it was decided to replicate the laboratory on Wikipedia aimed at beginners. The course, part of the cycle [http://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/eventi/23821 Wikipedia in the Library], is free and will be held again by [[:it:Utente:P tasso|P tasso]]. The appointment is at 15:00 in the Sala Internet (hall of Bramante) of [http://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/home.php Salaborsa Library] of Bologna. *'''10 June, Bologna''': [[:it:User:Virginia_Gentilini | Virginia Gentilini]] and [[:it:User:Atropine | Atropine]] will hold an introductory meeting on Wikipedia at the center of documentation of the Arcigay in Bologna, "Il Cassero", starting at about 17.00. This will be an informal chat in the hope of establishing a more structured collaboration in the future. The official website of the center is [http://www.cassero.it/ www.cassero.it], but it is currently under renovation, so we suggest you also check their [https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cassero-LGBT-center/192581134090979 official facebook page] for all the updates. *''' 27 May and 3 June, Bagno a Ripoli (FI)''': at the [http://biblioteca.comune.bagno-a-ripoli.fi.it/opencms/opencms/Contenuti/Cat… Municipal Library], introductory course to Wikipedia for users (from 16.30 to 18.30). Teacher: [[:it:Utente:Giaccai|Susanna Giaccai]]. *'''5 And 12 June, Borgo San Lorenzo (Florence)''': introductory course to Wikipedia for librarians, at the computer room at the Union of Municipalities of Montana Mugello (from 9 to 13). Teacher: [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Giaccai Susanna Giaccai].

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Minutes from the April 18-19, 2013 Board Meeting
by Stephen LaPorte 31 May '13

31 May '13

Hello all, The minutes of the WMF Board Meeting on April 18-19, 2013 have been approved and published: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2013-04-18 The meeting's agenda included: * Reports from the Audit Committee and Board Governance Committee * Approving the resolution on Potential Conflicts of Interest (available here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Guidelines_on_potential_conf… ) * Appointing Bishakha Datta to the Board Governance Committee * An update on the Annual Plan * Guidance for the Funds Dissemination Committee ("FDC") * The Wikimedia Foundation's participation in the FDC * Discussing a Strategy Committee proposal * Discussing guiding principles (available at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sue_Gardner/Wikimedia_Foundation_Guidin… ) * Discussing editor retention * Discussing an update to the bylaws * Approving a revised Board Governance Committee charter (available here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Approving_the_revised_Board_… ) * Discussing the trustee candidate search * Discussing the Executive Director transition Additionally, minutes from the Board Governance Committee's Meeting on April 17, 2013 are available here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WMF_Board_Governance_Committee/Minutes_04-17… -- Stephen LaPorte Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation *For legal reasons, I may only serve as an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation. This means I may not give legal advice to or serve as a lawyer for community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity.*

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Chapter report for Wikimedia Sverige April 2013
by Jan Ainali 31 May '13

31 May '13

The Chapter report for Wikimedia Sverige April 2013 kan now be found on our chapter wiki: http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Chapters_reports/2013-04 *Best regards,* *Jan Ainali* CEO, Wikimedia Sverige <http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Huvudsida> +46 - 729 - 67 29 48

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The Signpost -- Volume 9, Issue 21 -- 27 May 2013
by Wikipedia Signpost 31 May '13

31 May '13

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Wikimedia Foundation Report, April 2013
by Tilman Bayer 25 May '13

25 May '13

Hi all, please find below the WMF report for April 2013, in plain text. As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_April_2013 and the reports are being 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_2013 Many thanks to those who have translated the March "Highlights" into Asturian, Catalan, Danish, German, Spanish, Dutch and Simplified Chinese (and partially into some other languages like Emiliàn, Italian, Polish and Turkish)! 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 until June 5 at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights . Regards, Tilman -- Wikimedia Foundation Report, April 2013 <Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_May_2,_…> Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting covering the month of April <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2013-05-02> (May 2, 2013) Contents * 1 Data and Trends * 2 Financials * 3 Highlights o 3.1 New notifications system launches on the English Wikipedia o 3.2 Wikidata's content can now be used on all Wikipedias o 3.3 Wikimedia Commons app announced for iOS and Android o 3.4 Funds Disseminations Committee (FDC) publishes its recommendations about $1.2 million o 3.5 New conflict of interest guidelines * 4 Engineering o 4.1 VisualEditor o 4.2 Editor engagement o 4.3 Mobile * 5 Fundraising o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations o 5.2 Annual Fundraiser * 6 Grantmaking and Programs o 6.1 Strategic Goals Metrics o 6.2 Grantmaking + 6.2.1 Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) + 6.2.2 WMF Grant requests approved in April 2013 + 6.2.3 Participation Support requests approved in April 2013 + 6.2.4 Individual Engagement Grants + 6.2.5 Editor Growth and Contribution Program + 6.2.6 Brazil # 6.2.6.1 Institutional Partnerships # 6.2.6.2 Data & Experiments # 6.2.6.3 Education * 6.2.6.3.1 Partnerships with universities * 6.2.6.3.2 Events * 6.2.6.3.3 Medicin Wikiproject o 6.3 Programs + 6.3.1 Program Evaluation and Design + 6.3.2 Mobile + 6.3.3 Global Education o 6.4 Learning and Evaluation * 7 Human Resources o 7.1 Staff Changes o 7.2 Statistics o 7.3 Department Updates * 8 Finance and Administration * 9 Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department o 9.1 LCA Report, April 2013 + 9.1.1 Contract Metrics + 9.1.2 Trademark Metrics + 9.1.3 Domains Acquired + 9.1.4 Coming & Going + 9.1.5 Other Activities o 9.2 Communications Report, April 2013 + 9.2.1 Major announcements + 9.2.2 Major Storylines through March + 9.2.3 Other worthwhile reads + 9.2.4 WMF Blog posts + 9.2.5 Media Contact + 9.2.6 Wikipedia Signpost * 10 Visitors and Guests == Data and Trends == Global unique visitors for March: *517 million* (+7.17% compared with February; +5.76% compared with the previous year) (comScore data <http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release April data later in May) Page requests for April: *20.8 billion* (-3.4% compared with March; +20.1% 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 2013 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month, excluding bots): *82,105* (+5.67% compared with February / +2.15% compared with the previous year) (Database data <http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia Foundation projects.) *Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF projects) for March 2013: http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/ (Definitions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Metric_definitions>) == Financials == <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_March_2013…> Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of March 31, 2013 <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_March_201…> Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of March 31, 2013 (Financial information is only available through March 2013 at the time of this report.) All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and Year-To-Date March 31, 2013. Revenue $41,573,672 *Expenses:* Engineering Group $10,569,516 Fundraising Group $2,915,969 Grantmaking & Programs Group $4,565,386 Governance Group $555,937 Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group $2,263,477 Finance/HR/Admin Group $4,187,115 Total Expenses $25,057,400 Total surplus $16,516,272 * Revenue for the month of March is $5.92MM versus plan of $5.28MM, approximately $647K or 12% over plan. * Year-to-date revenue is $41.57MM versus plan of $35.74MM, approximately $5.83MM or 16% over plan. * Expenses for the month of March is $3.09MM versus plan of $4.04MM, approximately $943K or 23% under plan, primarily due to lower personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, and grant expenses offset by higher bank fees. * Year-to-date expenses is $25.06MM versus plan of $29.97MM, approximately $4.92MM or 16% under plan, primarily due to personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants executed, WMF project grants, and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal expenses and bank fees. * Cash position is $41.02MM as of March 31, 2013. == Highlights == <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Notifications-Flyout-Screenshot-Clo…> Screenshot: This user has received four new notifications === New notifications system launches on the English Wikipedia === On April 30, the Foundation's Editor Engagement Team activated the Notifications system (also known as Echo <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Echo>) on the English Wikipedia. It inform editors about new activity on the wiki that affects them, for example when they receive a message on their user page, or when one of their edits is reverted, or when another user thanks them for an edit. The Notifications system is still being tested and modified based on community feedback. Later, it will be made available on other language versions of Wikipedia, and on other Wikimedia projects. <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GeneaWiki_screenshot_Bach.png> Family tree of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach, generated <http://toolserver.org/~magnus/ts2/geneawiki/?q=Q1339> from Wikidata by the "GeneaWiki" tool === Wikidata's content can now be used on all Wikipedias === Wikidata <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/> has now begun to serve all language versions of Wikipedia <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/the-wikidata-revolution/> as a common source of structured data that can be used any Wikipedia article, e.g. in infoboxes. Wikidata's machine-readable knowledge database already contains over 11 million items. They can also be queried, evaluated and edited with the help of a growing collection of tools <http://blog.wikimedia.de/2013/05/06/the-wikidata-tool-ecosystem/>. === Wikimedia Commons app announced for iOS and Android === The Wikimedia Commons mobile app was officially announced in April <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/29/announcing-the-official-commons-app-f…>, allowing quick and easy image uploads directly from mobile devices. It is available for both iOS and Android devices. Mobile users who don't have the app installed can still upload images from the mobile web version <https://m.wikipedia.org/> of all Wikimedia projects. === Funds Disseminations Committee (FDC) publishes its recommendations about $1.2 million === Launched in 2012, the Funds Dissemination Committee is a group of Wikimedia volunteers tasked with helping to decide about the use of movement funds. On April 28 <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-April/125489.html>, after a period of evaluation by supporting staff and public review by the community, it published its recommendations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2012-2013_ro…> to the Wikimedia Board of Trustees about the second round of funding requests, by four organizations: Wikimedia Czech Republic (requested: $14,084.50, recommended: $0), Wikimedia Hong Kong (requested: $211,660.26, recommended: $0), Wikimedia Norway (requested: $235,715, recommended: $140,000), and Wikimedia France (requested: $747,259, recommended: $525,000). === New conflict of interest guidelines === With an immediate effective date, the Board of Trustees approved Wikimedia guidelines on the disclosure of potential and actual conflicts of interest in requesting and allocating movement resources <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Guidelines_on_potential_conflicts_of_i…> (such as financial grants). Input provided by the community during a six-week consultation period greatly improved the original version. == Engineering == A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for April 2013 can be found at: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2013/April Department Highlights <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Translation-ux-slides.pdf?page=9> Presentation slides about the new translation user interface (speaker notes <https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_DqIn9nl7NfqOBWbCo6T5pmOStgg44Cc5zA…>) Major news in April include: * the start of recruitment for a multimedia engineering team <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/08/breaking-through-walls-of-text-richer…>; * a better translation interface <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/09/language-engineering-sprint-update-tr…>, a new home page for translators <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/22/a-new-translation-home-page-the-maven…> and a language outreach program <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/26/join-the-language-mavens/>; * the release of Kiwix of Android <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/17/carry-the-entirety-of-wikipedia-in-yo…>, an app to download and view Wikimedia content offline on mobile devices; * the migration of Wikidata, and the English and German Wikipedias, to the MariaDB <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/22/wikipedia-adopts-mariadb/> database system; * the second phase of Wikidata <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/the-wikidata-revolution/>, whose content can now be displayed in Wikipedia articles; * the deployment of VisualEditor's first version <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/visualeditor-alpha-in-15-languages/> to 14 more language versions of Wikipedia; * the first release of Notifications <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/05/02/notifications-launch-english-wikipedi…> (Echo) on the English Wikipedia; * a new login and account creation interface <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/try-new-login-accountcreation/>; * the ramp-up of technical mentorship programs <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/26/floss-internship-programs-as-catalyst…>; * the launch of an official Wikimedia Commons app for iOS and Android <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/29/announcing-the-official-commons-app-f…>. === VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> === In April, the VisualEditor team continued to work on major new features that will be added in the coming months. The goal is for VisualEditor to become the default editor for all Wikipedia users in July 2013, capable of letting them edit the majority of content without needing to use the legacy wikitext editor. The team has focused on four substantial areas of work: adding support for references, templates, categories and media items, all of which are currently disabled for editing in VisualEditor. Editing around images is now designed and partially implemented in our experimental code, and editing around categories is almost complete and nearly ready for activation. The early ("alpha") version of VisualEditor currently enabled on a few select sites was updated three times in April, adding speed and interface improvements, fixing bugs and making deeper changes behind the scenes to better support the new features. We also were able to enable the alpha version of VisualEditor on fourteen more Wikipedias as an opt-in <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/visualeditor-alpha-in-15-languages/>. This has encouraged feedback from the community on what works and is broken, and identifying language- and locale-specific issues that are now being fixed. As for the Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> (the program that serves as translator <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/03/04/parsoid-how-wikipedia-catches-up-with…> between wikitext code and annotated HTML, behind the scenes of VisualEditor), the team successfully activated the cumulative work done over the last four months. This includes support for non-English wikis, a rewritten system to reduce artifacts when editing with VisualEditor, support for basic template parameter editing, and a long list of other fixes and improvements. Several other features for the July target are on track. Specifications to support more features were written and are currently being implemented. This includes images and thumbnails, whose options for embedding in wiki pages will soon be ready. The team also continued to evaluate the performance of Parsoid. Caching was developed to minimize the server load, and new servers were ordered. === Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> === In April, the Editor engagement team (E2) activated the Notifications <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Echo_(Notifications)> feature on the English Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Notifications> and mediawiki.org. This first version aims to inform users about new activity that affects them on Wikipedia, such as talk page messages, page reviews, mentions, edit reverts and thanks. The team developed a new feature that lets users mark all notifications as read, and updated the fly-out and archive page. The development of metrics dashboards also started. The final version of Article Feedback v5 (a quality assessment feature) was activated on the English <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ArticleFeedbackv5>, French <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/fr:Sp%C3%A9cial:ArticleFeedbackv5> and German <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/de:Spezial:Artikelr%C3%BCckmeldungen_v5> Wikipedias. A number of bugs were fixed, the feedback page was simplified, and other features such as feedback links and auto-archival were finalized. Development for this feature is now wrapping up. <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…> Brandon Harris demonstrating Flow Design continues for the first version of Flow <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow>, a feed-like interface to enable users to better interact with their projects. An interactive prototype <http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/design/2013-April/000495.html> is being built to help describe multiple functions. The Editor Engagement Experiments team (E3) focused on its redesign of the account creation and log-in interface <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/try-new-login-accountcreation/>. The first phase of the launch invited editors and readers on all Wikimedia projects to test the new forms on an opt-in basis, to identify bugs and localization issues across wikis. The new interface is expected to replace the legacy version in May. For the /Onboarding new Wikipedians <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Onboarding_new_Wikipedians>/ project, the E3 team completed quantitative analysis <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:OB4> of the latest version of the /GettingStarted/ landing page, and began prototyping a new version and a navigation system, which will be used for usability testing prior to further development. The launch is expected in early May as well. === Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> === An official Wikimedia Commons app <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Apps/Commons> for smartphones was released for both iOS and Android devices <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/29/announcing-the-official-commons-app-f…> in April. The team also added support for categories. Work on Wikipedia Zero <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> mostly happened behind the scenes this month, with changes made to the configuration system to better support carrier preferences. The team also experimented with a log-in/sign-up call to action for logged-out users from the in-article upload feature <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_design/Uploads> on the mobile site. This resulted in a spike in new contributors, but the quality of their uploads was lower than anticipated, and the quantity of inappropriate uploads was a burden on the Commons community. The call to action was therefore disabled, and uploading reserved to existing users, leading to a vast improvement in the quality of the uploads: 3/4th of the files are retained on Commons, as compared to less than 1/4 when brand-new users were uploading. To create a more focused uploading workflow, and let mobile uploaders discover more articles to illustrate, a /Nearby <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Nearby>/ view was added to the beta site, showing users a list of articles near them and highlighting the ones that need images. This feature is expected to be activated on the full mobile web site next month. == Fundraising == === Major Gifts and Foundations === * Switched our caging service from Merkle to Arizona Lockbox. They will now process the collection, depositing, and processing of our checks. * Completed a quarterly report to the FDC. * Attended the Hewlett Foundation Grantees Conference for OER. === Annual Fundraiser === * Drafted and translated a survey to evaluate Wikipedia readers' perceptions of fundraising banners. * Analyzed donation data from the international fundraiser in March. * Analyzed success rate for donations over the past year. * Changed international processing acquirer via Global Collect (adding 60+ currencies in the future). * Prepared sample reports from our AB testing system <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/08/intro-to-the-statistics-of-ab-testing…> to post publicly. * In early April, we launched samarium (our new public data provider) in conjunction with Randall Munroe <http://www.xkcd.com/1193/> (of XKCD fame). * Supported the mobile team to document work with Wikipedia Zero negotiations (see also below); examples: <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nairobi_-_Wikipedia_Zero_-_258A9822…> Photo for Wikipedia Zero campaign: A fruit vendor in Nairobi, Kenya displays the phone she uses <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannesburg_-_Wikipedia_Zero_-_258…> Photo for Wikipedia Zero campaign: A cellphone repair and sales kiosk in Johannesburg, South Africa == Grantmaking and Programs == Department Highlights * New Program Evaluation and Design team established: In April, the new Program Evaluation and Design team has been established. Sarah Stierch joined the team as Program Evaluation Community Coordinator and Jaime Anstee joined the team as Program Evaluation Specialist. * The seven members of the FDC met face-to-face to deliberate on four proposals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/Proposals>. Following extensive review prior to the meetings and intense face-to-face discussion, they made their Round 2 recommendations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal/FDC_recommendations/2012-2013_ro…> to the Board of Trustees. On Sunday, April 28, they announced their recommendations to the community on the FDC portal <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/FDC_portal> and on mailing lists. The Board of Trustees will make a final decision about these recommendations by June 1, 2013. === Strategic Goals Metrics === Metric Value MoM MoM% Chart Global South Active Editors (5+ edits in main namespace) 15.9k +392 +2.5% Increase [1] <http://gp.wmflabs.org/graphs/global_north_south_active_editors> === Grantmaking === <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Funds_Dissemination_Committee_Updat…> Presentation slides from the metrics meeting <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Foundation_Monthly_Metric…> Katy Love presenting about the FDC recommendations ==== Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) ==== * The FDC members and FDC staff joined the Wikimedia conference in Milan prior to their face-to-face deliberations. They co-led three conference sessions related to the FDC. One session focused on the differences between the WMF grants programs, another shared the basics about the FDC's process and ways of working, and the last was a chance to share and solicit feedback from Round 1 learning. Minutes from these meetings <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2013/Schedule> are available. These sessions provided constructive feedback for the FDC to consider as they review the application process, portal, and all the associated forms, and they continue to welcome additional feedback from applicants and the community. * Elections <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_elections/FDC_election…> for two members of the FDC and the ombudsperson will be held in May and June. Applications are accepted on Meta from 24 April to 17 May. ==== WMF Grant requests approved in April 2013 ==== * Grants:User:Dimi z - WMBE/Start-up Grant - WMBE <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:User:Dimi_z_-_WMBE/Start-up_Grant_-_…> * Grants:User:HstryQT - GLAMWiki US Consortium/Advisory Group Meeting <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:User:HstryQT_-_GLAMWiki_US_Consortiu…> ==== Participation Support requests approved in April 2013 ==== * No new requests were approved in April. * Reports accepted in April: o Participation:Umbrellas000/US OpenGLAM Launch Weekend, Open Knowledge Foundation/Report <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Umbrellas000/US_OpenGLAM_Laun…> o Participation:Tedder/Legislative Data and Wikipedia Conference/Report <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Tedder/Legislative_Data_and_W…> o Participation:Hlong-lib/US_OpenGLAM Launch Weekend, Open Knowledge Foundation/Report <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Hlong-lib/US_OpenGLAM_Launch_…> o Participation:Bdcousineau/US OpenGLAM Launch Event/Report <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Participation:Bdcousineau/US_OpenGLAM_Launc…> ==== Individual Engagement Grants ==== <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_IEGrants_April_2013_metrics.pdf…> Presentation slides from the metrics meeting * 7 IEGrantees got setup and began work on their projects this month! Their progress will be chronicled regularly at: o Grants:IEG/Build an effective method of publicity in PRChina/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Build_an_effective_method_of_pub…> o Grants:IEG/Consolidate wikiArS to involve art schools/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Consolidate_wikiArS_to_involve_a…> o Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource strategic vision/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_Wikisource_strategic_v…> o Grants:IEG/MediaWiki data browser/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/MediaWiki_data_browser/Timeline> o Grants:IEG/Replay Edits/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Replay_Edits/Timeline> o Grants:IEG/The Wikipedia Adventure/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Adventure/Timeline> o Grants:IEG/The Wikipedia Library/Timeline <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library/Timeline> * A review of round 1 is in progress, to help us prioritize iterations on program pages and processes in preparation for round 2. o Working with Grantmaking Learning and Evaluation unit, we deployed 2 IEG participants surveys targeting IEG committee members and anyone who submitted an IEG proposal. Survey results and a list of recommendations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Feedback/round_1_2013> based on the findings have been posted to meta. o Overall satisfaction with the experience of participating in the IEG pilot is high. 81% of proposers say they'll consider reapplying in the future, and 94% would recommend colleagues apply. 90% of the committee will consider serving again in the future and all would think about recommending that others serve. Areas for improvement we've identified include building out tips and guidelines for proposers based on past examples of selected and unselected proposals, providing more and earlier qualitative feedback to proposers through continued focus on IdeaLab sprints and other community/committee engagement strategies, and upgrading the review tools. o Committee discussion <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Committee/Workroom/Reflections> of proposed process changes is ongoing. ==== Editor Growth and Contribution Program ==== <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Editor_Growth_and_Contribution_Prog…> Logo of the Editor Growth and Contribution Program An experimental project on Geo-targeted Editors Participation has concluded, and its outcomes and learning have been shared in a summary report <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Growth_and_Contribution_Program/Geo-…>. The experiment ultimately did not result in increased contribution to articles by new editors. However, we do believe there are learnings from this experiment that could be useful for future experiments to build on. ==== Brazil ==== ===== Institutional Partnerships ===== Travel of Ação Educativa representative to the Education Meeting at the Wikimedia Conference in order to allow learnings about the movement and the program, as well as to introduce Ação Educativa’s vision on Education to the Wikimedia movement. Started discussing specific ideas and principles of a partnership with Ação Educativa to become a project to be presented to WMF <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programa_Catalisador_do_Brasil/Planejamento…>. ===== Data & Experiments ===== * Translation of the Meta Page Research:Data <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Data> into Portuguese is ongoing <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal_de…>. * Developments on 2 prototypes of the Data Center: defined with the community the main areas to be covered <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal_de…> and how to display data <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Portal_de…>. * IRC Meetings to debate proposals for Analyses and Data Center page: w:pt:Wikipédia:Projetos/Wikipédia/Reuniões <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pt:Wikip%C3%A9dia:Projetos/Wikip%C3%A9dia/Reu…> * Research released: o Geo localization comparison for contributions to Wikipedia <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usu%C3%A1rio(a):HAndrade_(WMF)/A%C3%A7%C3%B5e…> o Annual stats for the Portuguese Wikipedia <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usu%C3%A1rio(a):HAndrade_(WMF)/Estat%C3%ADsti…> * Ongoing researches: o Vandalism profile, impact and occurance <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usu%C3%A1rio(a):HAndrade_(WMF)/Pesquisa_Vanda…> (important to note this will cover the period in which the emergency mode of CAPTCHA was removed from the Portuguese Wikipedia by the Mediawiki community) * Research in the planning phase: o Opinion survey <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Central_de_pesquisas/Pesquisa_…> led by a volunteer with the catalyst program team support. The research aims at identifying the main problems the community currently see on the Portuguese Wikipedia: ===== Education ===== <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikip%C3%A9dia_na_Universidade-_os_…> "Wikipédia na Universidade: os 5 pilares da Wikipédia" ( a video explaining Wikipedia's "Five Pillars") ====== Partnerships with universities ====== * Gama Filho university: tutorial videos have been produced for the translation course (these are being uploaded to Commons, too <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:V%C3%ADdeos_para_curso_de_tradu…>): o Wikipédia na Universidade: os 5 pilares da Wikipédia <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcDict3z8h8> o Wikipédia na Universidade: página da disciplina <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv3tT3iLe-4> o Wikipédia na Univesidade: usando uma página de testes <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXTyZ1J1lxk> o Introdução ao Projeto Wikipédia na Universidade <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c88mRu_wm8Q> o Explicação sobre os projetos Wikimedia <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZz-9r_zZqA> o WIkipédia na Universidade: Verificabilidade <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stywbDpa-uA> o Wikipéda na Universidade: usando sua página de testes para a tradução <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv6bp9pfW28> o Wikipédia na Universidade: chegando na página de tradução e navegando por ela <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2pJmGTs93s> o Wikipédia na Universidade: orientação e os 5 pilares <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pH0_JNg9FE> o Wikipédia na Universidade: navegando pelos WikiProjetos <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOtsmaZgEEI> o Wikipédia na Universidade: recursos e onde obter ajuda <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4whASxvHUU> * Gama Filho university: definition of articles to be translated <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia_Discuss%C3%A3o:Wikip%C3%A9dia_…> ====== Events ====== * Participation of Everton in the Education Program meeting at the Wikimedia Conference, in Milan ====== Medicin Wikiproject ====== * Suggest bot <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usu%C3%A1rio(a):Wikiprojetosbot> released (only waiting final approval to run regularly) === Programs === ==== Program Evaluation and Design ==== * In April, the *new Program Evaluation and Design team* has been established. Sarah Stierch, long-term Wikipedian and free culture advocate, joined the team as Program Evaluation Community Coordinator. In this role, she will act as the community liaison for people who have questions about program evaluation. Sarah will facilitate discussions online and also ensure that community members have appropriate communication channels at hand to share learnings, updates and progress reports with each other. Jaime Anstee, former employee of the Center for Program Evaluation at the University of Nevada, joined the team as Program Evaluation Specialist. Jaime earned her Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno’s Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Social Psychology and has extensive training and experience in program evaluation design and analysis. Jaime's background and professional areas of expertise include: program evaluation, decision-making, research design and analysis, intergroup dynamics, and cultural psychology. As Program Evaluation Specialist, she will empower program leaders across countries to successfully self-evaluate their programmatic activities. She will also collect, analyze, interpret, and summarize self-evaluation results, synthesizes the outcome and create written reports that will be published on Meta. Both Sarah and Jaime will report directly to Frank Schulenburg, Sr. Director of Programs. * Frank Schulenburg attended the *Wikimedia Conference* in Milan, Italy. As part of a 45-minutes workshop, he facilitated a discussion with chapters' members about the basics of program evaluation and design. The session provided answers to questions like "What is program evaluation?", "What are the benefits of evaluating programs?", and "How can evaluation drive the impact of programs?". Frank also outlined the two-year goals of the new Program Evaluation and Design team and announced the upcoming workshop for program leaders, to be held in late June 2013. Besides staging the workshop, Frank also engaged with a number of chapter's representatives in one-on-one conversations about programs and program evaluation. * Also in April, Frank Schulenburg worked with the Wikimedia Foundation's Education Program team on a *self-evaluation of the team's Egypt Education Program*. With support from the Foundation's Analytics team, LiAnna Davis and Rod Dunican created the first iteration of a self-evaluation report and successfully tested the new UserMetrics API. The self-evaluation report will be developed further over the course of the next months and is intended to be published on Meta as a first, tentative sample report that will help program leaders across countries understand how to write their own self-evaluation reports. As a result of this process, the Foundation's Analytics team could increase the stability of the UserMetrics API and gathered feedback on how the tool can be improved further. * In late April, the Program Evaluation and Design team embarked on planning the *first program evaluation workshop <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/05/09/program-evaluation-workshop-budapest/>* for people who are running programs within the Wikimedia movement. The workshop will be held in late June in Budapest, Hungary. Wikimédia Magyarország, the Hungarian Wikimedia Chapter, kindly agreed to help with organizing this event. More information about the workshop will be made publicly available in early May. ==== Mobile ==== * In April, the *Wikipedia Zero team met up with mobile operators in Africa* to discuss launching two different projects. Our proposal to conduct a pilot of our Wikipedia-via-text service was discussed and we reached a verbal agreement to launch pilots with two mobile operators within the next few months. * During this trip, we also were able to reach agreements with several mobile operators to move ahead with *additional Wikipedia Zero deployments in Africa*. * Our new engineer, Yuri Astrakhan, met with our South African technical partner to help contribute to the *SMS/USSD pilot program*. He worked with their engineers to learn the system and set up the necessary features to collect the analytics data for the upcoming pilots. * Our new engineers have been busy fixing our backlog of bugs, partner launches, and preparing the code base with an improved architecture. This architectural change acts as the foundation of *a web portal, which will allow the Zero program to scale* in a far more automated way than is currently possible. <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannesburg_-_Wikimedia_Zero_-_258…> Wikipedia Zero campaign in Johannesburg <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannesburg_-_Wikimedia_Zero_-_258…> Kul Wadhwa demonstrating Wikipedia Zero <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johannesburg_-_Wikipedia_Zero_-_258…> Meeting about Wikipedia Zero in Johannesburg <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nairobi_-_Wikipedia_Zero_-_258A9458…> Meeting about Wikipedia Zero in Nairobi ==== Global Education ==== Wikipedia Education Program meetings in Milan <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Education_Workshop_group_…> Education Program Leaders Workshop group photo * Facilitated two days of educational program meetings in Milan, meeting with program leads for 25 Wikipedia Education program from around the world. * Met with several participants in the Arab Wikipedia Education program (see Arab World information below), meeting with our respresentative from Egypt and professors from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. * Discussed the transitional activities for the Brazil education program, discussing the overall program and how we can support a smooth transition. * Program leaders shared about their program and in the process we discovered new programs that we did not know were in operation. * Participants exchanged ideas on how to better share experiences and materials across countries so that they could learn from each others' successes and challenges. * Notes from the meeting. <https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/Education_P…> US/Canada * Supported student editors during their main assignment edits of the semester. Facilitated communication with relevant Wikipedia editors/Ambassadors. * Began recruiting and on-boarding professors who had indicated working with the Education Program during the Fall 2013 semester. * Implemented a redesign of the support materials and information for program participants. Working to create a central location for all volunteers, professors, and students to find the necessary information. * Worked with a group of volunteers to apply for a grant as well as thematic organization affiliation for the proposed non-profit that aims to take over program activity for the Fall 2013 term. * Ambassadors and other volunteers began discussion of how to scale the volunteer support to more professors in an online space. <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Education_Program_Arab_Wo…> Slides from the metrics meeting presentation about the Education Program in the Arab World Arab World * Saudi Arabia: We agreed to work with two professors of translation at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. They will start in mid-May. * Jordan: Faris traveled to Jordan to officially kick off program and train Ambassadors. Volunteer leaders in Jordan are working to create a Wikipedia summer camp that includes students and Ambassadors in Jordan (at Isra University and high schools). The main goal of this camp is to add additional content and photos through a competition among editors. Isra University will coordinate with King Saud University (Saudi Arabia) soon to make a joint camp between the countries. * Egypt: Classes started at four universities (Ain Shams, Cairo, Damanhour, and Kafr El-Sheikh), and students seem to be doing well, especially in the Faculty of the Arts at Ain Shams University. * Algeria: Students started to edit articles in the Arabic Wikipedia, and they are looking at ways of expanding the program in the future. Communications * Drafted "Welcome to Commons" brochure copy, revised it based on community feedback, and initiated graphic design phase. * Extended Education Program extension roadmap, began working with Features team to plan implementation. * Developed and deployed more flexible and easy-to-use templates for creating, editing and porting Education Program trainings. * Piloted the User Metrics API tool for a preliminary draft of a program evaluation report on the Egypt program. * Facilitated three blog posts on the Foundation blog: o Teaching rural teachers in Namibia how to edit Wikipedia <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/02/wikipedia-education-program-namibia/> o Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences+Wikipedia = True! <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/04/sweden-agricultural-sciences-collabora…> o Education program leaders gather to share experiences <http://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/26/education-program-leaders-gather-to-sh…> * Released two newsletters: o 2 April 2013 <https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/News/2_Apri…> o 16 April 2013 <https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/News/16_Apr…> === Learning and Evaluation === L&E's main focuses throughout April were around gathering and incorporating feedback, preparing evaluation materials to guide decision-making for FDC, and gathering community input into initial stages of L&E design. * *IEG (Individual Engagement Grants) Performance Management*: developed and distributed IEG survey to all applicants and recipients in order to gather useful feedback in the evolving model. * *FDC Performance Management*: analyzed the results of the process survey from Round 1 of the FDC applications and shared the results publicly at the Wikimedia Conference in Milan, Italy. These survey results were shared coupled with a session gathering additional input and feedback into the overall FDC process from entities present at the conference. Also, deployment of a survey to gather feedback from Round 2 of the deilberations. Partner * *Strategy development and sharing*: Hosted an IRC office hour <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2013-04-15jw> with some community members getting initial input into the thinking behind the L&E unit. Also, created and delivered a first overview session with the FDC at the Milan Round 2 Deliberations, explaining how L&E should and would be incorporated into the overall grantmaking process. * *"Toolkit" development*: one of the main goals of the L&E team is to provide non-monetary tools to our movement partners to better understand and improve the work they are doing. We are creating the first useful prototypes of these help materials, including: o *How to develop and use surveys <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grantmaking_and_Programs/Learning_%26_Evalu…>* (next step: set-up templates on specific tools to provide to our grant recipients) o *User Metrics API <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User_Metrics>*: tool to track the activity of cohorts of individuals. Evan Rosen took ownership of this over from Ryan Faulkner, who left WMF. We are spending time understanding the code base behind the tool, as well as planning out how it could evolve to be the most helpful and stable for broader use across the movement entities o *Visualization of geo-data*: we are working with Analytics on bringing graph creation options back into Limn - the WMF visualization software. Yay! Paired with the geo-location databases we have developed, this is the first time our movement partners in specific countries can see directly the editorship of their countries over time. Next steps are to prototype and expand the datasources available. o Initial conversations around the direction of the *L&E "portal"* and also the future of the *IdeaLab*. o *Program and Organizational Mapping*: worked with Rosie Lewis to develop a database collecting all the money we have spent across the movement and the programs they are executing. See Overview presentation <https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1ryaMZz8TQuc-qfGjY0f…> for more details == Human Resources == HR activity for the month was relatively routine. HR has augmented its staff training options by providing courses on communications/presentation skills and (upcoming) negotiation. === Staff Changes === New Requisitions Filled * Jaime Anstee, Program Evaluation Specialist (Grantmaking & Programs) * Erik Bernhardson, Software Engineer (Engineering) * Brandon Black, Dev Ops Engineers/Site Reliability (Engineering) * Jan Eissfeldt, Community Advocate (Legal & Community Advocacy) * Monte Hurd, Software Developer Apps (Engineering) * Robert Miller, Facilities & Equipment Coordinator (Administration) * Sarah Stierch, Program Evaluation Community Coordinator (Grantmaking & Programs) * Julie Trias, IT Administrator (Administration) Communications Interns * Candace Metoyer * Sarah Mitroff * Donna Peterson New Contractors * Limayli Huguet (Administration) * Yukari Mitsuhashi (Fundraising) * Michael Ray (Administration) * Janet Renteria (Administration) * Adrian Rounce (Engineering) Contracts Extended * Nischay Nahata (Engineering) * Timo Tijhof (Engineering) Departures * Munaf Assaf * Christine Bocknek * Ryan Faulkner * Joslyn Lewis Contracts Ended * Stephanie Coates * Cristiana Coimbra * LaTrisha Hollines * Ava Miller * Shankar Narayan * Heather O'Malley * Alice Roberts * Joseph Silverman * Elena Strelnikova * Megumi Yukie New Postings * Software Engineer – Fundraising * Director of Technical Operations * UX Designer * Legal Intern (Fall) * Part-Time HR Administrative Assistant === Statistics === Total Requisitions Filled April Actual: 138 April Total Plan: 174 April Filled: 8, Month Attrition: 4, YTD Filled: 51, YTD Attrition: 25 2 Positions canceled for FY (decreased from 6 canceled previous month) Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end 34 (reflects 2 canceled positions for FY) === Department Updates === Real-time feed for HR updates http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork == Finance and Administration == Support to the FDC in providing financial analysis of FDC applications in Round 2 with both written reports and during the FDC meeting in Milan. Prepared Version 2 of the WMF Annual Plan for FY 13-14. Received transfers from the payment processing chapters Wikimedia Germany and Wikimedia France. == Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department == === LCA Report, April 2013 === ==== Contract Metrics ==== * Submitted : 22 * Completed : 16 ==== Trademark Metrics ==== * Submitted : 15 * Approved : 1 * Pending : 13 * Denied : 1 ==== Domains Acquired ==== * aboutwikipedia.com * aboutwikipedia.org * wikimedia.co.nz * wikimediaa.org * wikimediac.com * wikipedia-foundation.com * wikipediacontent.com * wikipediacontent.org * toollabs.org * wikimediamail.org * wikimediamail.com * wikispecies.org * wikimediastories.com * wikimediastories.net * wikimediastories.org * border-wikipedia.de * wikipedia.is * wikipedia.us ==== Coming & Going ==== * Community Advocacy welcomed aboard its first Community Advocate (international) in the person of Jan Eissfeldt, who will be focused on German- and Spanish-language projects. They hope to hire one more person soon. <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COI_Slides_(April_Metrics_Meeting).…> Presentation slides about the new guidelines on potential conflicts of interest ==== Other Activities ==== * With an immediate effective date, the Board approved Wikimedia guidelines on the disclosure of potential and actual conflicts of interest in requesting and allocating movement resources <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Guidelines_on_potential_conflicts_of_i…>. Thanks to the community for their input, which greatly improved the original version. * Proposed amendment to WMF bylaws under community consultation <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_bylaws/May_2013_-…>. Final vote by Board is scheduled for May 4, 2013. * Strong support, including hiring and briefing of top counsel in Paris, to monitor situation in France where officials threatened a volunteer with detention if he refused to delete an article. We are hoping for an amical resolution. See Legal and Community Advocacy/Statement on France <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Statement_on_F…>. * Strong overall legal support, including: Milan board and FDC meetings; drafting of primer for legal interns; drafting of a WMF contracts drafting handbook; and finalizing legal strategy and budget for FY 2013-14. === Communications Report, April 2013 === April was a high-activity month for Communications, particularly with the media focus on the French DCRI’s detainment of a Wikipedian and the substantial interest in the Wikipedia discussion about the American women novelists category. The team also dedicated efforts to finishing key steps in the WP Editor Survey report and refined plans to expand the functionality of the Wikimedia Blog. ==== Major announcements ==== "The Wikidata revolution is here: enabling structured data on Wikipedia <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/The_Wikidata_Revolution>’’ (25 April 2013) A year after its announcement as the first new Wikimedia project since 2006, Wikidata has now begun to serve the over 280 language versions of Wikipedia as a common source of structured data that can be used in more than 25 million articles of the free encyclopedia. ==== Major Storylines through March ==== ‘’American women novelists on Wikipedia makes headlines’’ (late April, 2013) An op-ed in the New York Times from late April highlighted category optimization efforts on the Wikipedia category page ‘American novelists’ - efforts that the writer (and later a wide range of mainstream media) insists amount to sexism and segregation. Media coverage has been mostly negative, with some neutral to positive stories highlighting the Wikipedia discussion about the changes and encouraging women to get involved. http://www.forbes.com/sites/deannazandt/2013/04/26/yes-wikipedia-is-sexist-… http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/wikipedias-sexism-toward-f… http://jezebel.com/wikipedia-is-quietly-moving-women-off-their-american-no-… ‘’DCRI threatens French Wikipedian over military site article’’ (6 April, 2013) The major press story for the Wikimedia movement through April focused on the DCRI’s (France’s secret service) efforts to remove a French Wikipedia article, fr:Station hertzienne militaire de Pierre-sur-Haute <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_hertzienne_militaire_de_Pierre-sur-Ha…>, from the site by detaining a French Wikipedia admin. The admin, who had never been involved with the article, faced legal repercussions if he failed to comply with an order to delete the article. International media coverage was critical of DCRI’s efforts and largely supportive of Wikipedia’s non-censorship stance. http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/affaire-dcri-wikipedia-interview-exclusive-d… http://www.laquadrature.net/node/6533 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/07/french-secret-service-wikipedia… ‘’Russian gov’t threatens WP block over articles’’ In early April Russian Wikipedians discovered that the Russian government had placed Wikipedia, as well as dozens of other websites accessible in Russia, on a blacklist due to publication of content deemed illegal in the country (primarily drug and suicide related articles). Media coverage was largely positive, focusing on the censorship threat to Wikipedia and the other projects. (blog post from Wikimedia Russia) http://www.wikimedia.ru/blog/2013/04/08/15blacklisted/ http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/04/10/russian-censors-partially-acquiesc… http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130409/180529815.html http://rbth.ru/news/2013/04/05/russian_media_regulator_confirms_wikipedia_b… ==== Other worthwhile reads ==== * *From Brazil to Wikipedia | Foreign Affairs | April 21 <http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/139332/yuri-takhteyev/from-brazil-to…>* * *Iranian official explains ban on Ahmadinejad's Wikipedia page | Azernews | April 10 <http://www.azernews.az/region/52016.html>* * *Being 'Wikipedian' trumps party affiliation, study finds | LA Times | April 3 <http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-wikipedia-democrat…>* ==== WMF Blog posts ==== Twenty five blog posts in April <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/>, with bilingual posts <https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/> in Arabic, Catalan, French, German, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Swedish. Some highlights from the month: * *Breaking through walls of text: How we will create a richer Wikimedia experience <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/08/breaking-through-walls-of-text-richer…>* * *Wikimedia projects reach more than 500 million people per month <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/19/wikimedia-projects-500-million/>* * *Wikipedia Adopts MariaDB <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/22/wikipedia-adopts-mariadb/>* * *Try the new login and account creation on Wikimedia projects <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/04/25/try-new-login-accountcreation/>* ==== Media Contact ==== https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#April_2013 ==== Wikipedia Signpost ==== For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for April 2013: * Volume 9, Issue 13 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-04…>, 1 April 2013 * Volume 9, Issue 14 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-04…>, 8 April 2013 * Volume 9, Issue 15 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-04…>, 15 April 2013 * Volume 9, Issue 16 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2013-04…>, 22 April 2013 == Visitors and Guests == Visitors and guests to the WMF office in April 2013: 1. Eli Goldberg (Microsoft) 2. Nina O'Neil (Microsoft) 3. Robert Rodriguez-Lawson (Microsoft) 4. Danese Cooper (OSHWA) 5. Alicia Gibb (OSHWA) 6. Nathan Seidle (OSHWA) 7. Windell Oskay (OSHWA) 8. Ted Pefferman (HP) 9. Rob Poole (HP) 10. Blaine Cook (author of OAuth) 11. Brian Wolff (volunteer) 12. Randall Benson (consultant) 13. Kim Dodson (consultant) 14. Jake Orlowitz (Wikipedian, tech talk speaker) 15. Nebojsa Ciric (Google) 16. Jungshik Shin (Google) 17. Norbert Lindenberg (Mozilla) 18. Stevie Benton (Wikimedia UK) 19. Kanika Thapar (Oxford) 20. Mohit Menta (Oxford) 21. Deb Wolter (Red Bamboo Consulting) 22. Kathey Ramsey (TAI) 23. Kellee Browe (TAI) 24. Shane Snow (Contently) 25. John Hazard (Contently) 26. Katherine Bavage (WMUK) 27. Sarah Pearson (Creative Commons) 28. Peter Krautzberger (MathJax) 29. Albert Szulman (Be-Bound) -- Tilman Bayer Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications) Wikimedia Foundation IRC (Freenode): HaeB

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The Signpost – Volume 9, Issue 20 – 20 May 2013
by Wikipedia Signpost 23 May '13

23 May '13

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[PRESS RELEASE] Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director search
by Matthew Roth 22 May '13

22 May '13

This press release is also available online here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/The_search_for_our_next_… The Wikimedia Foundation announces search for new Executive Director to lead the Wikimedia movement SAN FRANCISCO, California -- 22 May 2013 -- The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia and its sister projects, has kicked off its global search for a new Executive Director to lead the organization through its next phase of innovation and growth. The new Executive Director will lead a thriving international organization that operates the number five most-popular web property in the world. The Wikimedia Foundation operates free knowledge projects used by more than half a billion people. Wikipedia contains more than 25 million volunteer-authored articles in 285 languages. The Wikimedia Foundation is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual, educational content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. "About six weeks ago, the Wikimedia Foundation's Executive Director Sue Gardner told us she will be stepping down from her role," said Kat Walsh, Chair of the Board of Trustees. "We're really going to miss her, but I'm happy to say she'll be staying on until we find her successor, and we're now ready to kick off an international search to find that person." The Executive Director provides the leadership and strategy for the Wikimedia Foundation and manages its day-to-day operations and activities. He or she is responsible for modernizing the user experience and nurturing, growing and diversifying the community of people who write our projects. He or she also ensures that our grantmaking supports innovation across the Wikimedia movement and enables contributor growth in underrepresented demographics and geographies. To support the process, the Wikimedia Foundation has retained the search firm m/Oppenheim Associates to assist in finding and screening candidates. The search process is expected to unfold over the next three to six months, with a new Executive Director targeted to be in place October 2013. The Executive Director opportunity can be found at: http://jobs.wikimedia.org For more information about the opportunity please email info(at) moppenheim.com. 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 517 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most popular web property worldwide (comScore, March 2013). Available in 285 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 25 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) mroth(at)wikimedia.org Reply with "unsubscribe" in the subject line to be removed from the Wikimedia Foundation press release list.

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Wikimedia Foundation's search for a new ED kicks off
by Jay Walsh 21 May '13

21 May '13

Dear all, This afternoon Kat Walsh, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Wikimedia Foundation announced the kick-off of the search for the next ED of the Wikimedia Foundation: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/05/21/search-for-next-wikimedia-foundation-… Please take a moment to read through Kat's note, and please support this process by sharing the news of the ED search throughout your networks (be they digital or analog :). We are hoping to get significant, international coverage of this opportunity, something that will help us reach a wide range of amazing candidates. We'll also be sharing the opportunity via twitter/identi.ca (@wikipedia and @wikimedia) and on Facebook and LinkedIn. Thanks for your help, Jay Walsh --- https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/05/21/search-for-next-wikimedia-foundation-… Kicking off the search for our next Executive Director Posted by Kat Walsh on May 21, 2013 Today we launch our search for the next Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation. About six weeks ago, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Executive Director Sue Gardner told us she will be stepping down from her role. Happily, she is staying on until we find her successor, and we are now launching that search. It will be a challenge to find someone who is able to fill Sue’s shoes, but I am glad to say that the Board of Trustees, Sue and the senior staff of the Wikimedia Foundation are aligned in our quest for a successor who will build on Sue’s considerable accomplishments, and steer the Wikimedia Foundation toward even greater success in the future. The Wikimedia Foundation is the internationally-active San Francisco-based non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It supports a global community of tens of thousands of volunteers in collecting, developing, and making the sum of all the world’s knowledge freely available. Over half a billion people use Wikipedia and its sister projects every month. We are the fifth most popular website in the world, and the only donor-supported site in the top 100. We’re widely recognized as the most influential and important organization in the free knowledge movement. Our Executive Director reports to the Board of Trustees and acts in partnership with the global volunteer community, providing the leadership and setting the strategy for the Wikimedia Foundation, while managing its day-to-day operations and activities. The Executive Director is responsible for modernizing the user experience and nurturing, growing and diversifying the community of people who write our projects. He or she also ensures our grantmaking supports innovation across the Wikimedia movement and enables contributor growth in underrepresented demographics and geographies. Our Executive Director needs to understand and advance the Wikimedia movement’s core values. They need to have proven management skills in technology and product development in order to effectively lead a high-traffic website, and have experience designing and implementing planning processes with a high built-in assumption of fast and iterative change. He or she will need to have exceptional communication skills, and possess both a drive to achieve transformative results and a deep respect for collaborative processes. The Executive Director’s ability to effect change in partnership with Wikimedia’s community will be decisive not just to their success, but to Wikimedia’s lasting impact. It’s impossible to know where our next Executive Director will come from: there is no career path that makes running the Wikimedia Foundation somebody’s obvious next step. The right person might or might not currently work at a big web site. They might or might not be in the non-profit sector. They could have a background in education, or product development, or media, or community development, or something entirely different. They may live in the United States, or outside it. In this search, we want to cast a wide net for candidates, so that we can find the person with the rare mix of skills, experiences and values needed for this important role. If you’re reading this post you know how much the work of the Wikimedia Foundation matters. I’m asking you for your help in spreading the news of this unique opportunity. Please share this post widely in your networks. For more information, to suggest potential candidates or to put yourself forward, please write to info(a)moppenheim.com. Some details on the recruitment: We have retained the search firm m/Oppenheim Associates to assist in finding and screening candidates. We’ve worked successfully with m/Oppenheim in the past to fill senior roles at the Foundation. They know us well, and we trust they’ll do a great job with this hire. The full position description is available on the Wikimedia Foundation site, hosted at jobs.wikimedia.org. The hiring process will unfold over the next three to six months; we hope to have a new Executive Director in place by October. That said, we’re going to take the time we need to find the best possible candidate. We are glad to restate that our current Executive Director, Sue Gardner, will stay with us throughout the recruitment process until we have a new Executive Director in place. Following initial screening of the candidates a short-list of applicants will be interviewed by Board members and members of the senior staff, and we will encourage them to get involved with the Wikimedia community (if they aren’t already) to learn more about our movement. (We would also encourage anyone interested in the role to take a look at our guiding principles, or to pick up one of the books documenting and describing the Wikimedia movement.) We’ve set up some pages on meta wiki, the central collaboration wiki, where Wikimedia community members can find more information and also get involved in a public discussion about the role and the recruitment process. Thanks in advance for helping spread the word about this rare and important opportunity. Kat Walsh Chair, Board of Trustees, Wikimedia Foundation -- Jay Walsh Senior Director, Communications WikimediaFoundation.org blog.wikimedia.org +1 (415) 839 6885 x 6609, @jansonw

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Wikimedia Nederland monthly report for April
by Sandra Rientjes 20 May '13

20 May '13

April was a busy month for Wikimedia Nederland. Our report is available on meta: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Nederla… It is also included as text in this message. We have changed the structure of our monthly report to match our Annual Plan 2013 and our FDC application. COMMUNITY: supporting and mobilising volunteers and editors - Wikimedia Nederland Conferentie Preparations have begun for the annual Wikimedia Nederland Conference which will take place on November 2. One of the themes will be 'editor diversity' - we are cooperating with WMDE who will be holding an international event on that topic a week later on November 9. We are still looking for volunteers to take charge of programming and publicity. - Wikipedia Training National Museum of Ethnology A basic editing training was given to students and employees of the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden by volunteers Erik Zachte, Hay Kranen and Boardmember Hans Muller.WORK: content, collaboration and activity development - WIki Loves Monuments The Wiki Loves Monuments team is preparing for the 2013 competition. This year, the focus will also be on municipal monuments and we are looking for funds to organise a combined Wiki Loves Monuments - editor training - publicity event in Den Haag. Wikimedia NL volunteer Els Arends published an article in the magazine 'Monumenten' about Wiki Loves Monuments, encouraging people to get involved. - Wikipedian in Residence at National Library and Archives The National Archives and National Library are going to hire a Wikipedian in Residence, a first for the Netherlands! This promises to be the start of a wider ranging cooperation between WMNL and these two national institutions. Focus of the cooperation will be improving content and recruiting editors. - CoSyne: final presentation to European Commission WMNL Board member Frans Grijzenhout attended the final presentation of the CoSyne <http://cosyne.eu/index.php/Main_Page> project to the European Commission in Luxembourg. WMNL's involvement was appreciated by the other partners in this project. - Wiki loves sound Wiki Loves Sound is a new initiative to promote use of sound in Wikimedia projects. In April, 1838 of the 2300+ sounds donated by The Netherlands Institute For Sound and Vision were uploaded to Commons and 50+ sounds were added to Wikipedia pages during an editathon. A Dutch spoken instructional video about adding sounds was made. - Wikivoyage Field research for Wikivoyage was carried out by students of the Nijenrode Business School. Reports and recommendations to be expected in May.WMNL: participation and support - The WMNL newsletter was distributed to members, donors and other interested parties. RESOURCES: Strong and sustainable financial position - Finalising Q1 report The first quarterly report following our FDC application was completed on time.GLOBAL: International collaboration *NB: reports by WMNL volunteers, board and staff who have attended international events can be found on the WMNL Wiki <http://nl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Internationaal>* - Milano Wikimedia Conference WMNL Chair Ziko van Dijk, Treasurer Ad Huikeshoven and Executive Director Sandra Rientjes attended the Milano Wikimedia Conference. WMNL volunteer Lodewijk was also there on behalf of the Wiki Loves Monuments International coordination group. - EU policy working group meeting On April 6 and 7, representatives of WM-chapters met in Brussels to discuss EU-policy affecting copyright and internet freedom. Lodewijk and Romaine represented WMNL. A full report<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_Policy/Big_Fat_Brussels_Meeting/minutes> of the meeting is available on Meta. - GLAM-Wiki Volunteers Lodewijk, Romaine and Maarten attended the Glam WIki event in London, as did GLAM coordinator Sebastiaan ter Burg. - International Amsterdam Hackathon preparations Preparations for the International Hackathon picked up pace in April with the programme being finalised and arrangements made to support visa applications and travel. It is expected that 140 participants will gather in Amsterdam, May 24-26.ORGANISATION: board, management and support - Board retreat weekend 6-7 April Board and Executive Director attended a two-day meeting, following the Board elections in March. Topics on the agenda were: division of tasks within the Board, cooperation and communication, recruiting new volunteers. - Hiring part-time staff member for finances Tom Kisters will start work on May 1. He will work on finances and office management. Sandra Rientjes Directeur/Executive Director Wikimedia Nederland tel. (+31) (0)6 31786379 *Postadres*: * Bezoekadres:* Postbus 167 Mariaplaats 3 3500 AD Utrecht Utrecht

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Hiring Community Liaisons (Contract)
by Howie Fung 18 May '13

18 May '13

* Hey all, For the last 18 months, the Engineering & Product Development department has been experimenting with the role of “Community Liaison, Product Development” - a staff member embedded in the Product team and tasked with factoring community concerns into our software development process, keeping editors informed about what we’re doing, and maintaining a dialogue between those who write code and those who write articles. While there is always room for improvement, I think this role has shown a lot of promise. We have a number of large projects coming down the pipeline (e.g., visual editor, discussion systems) and we need more help reaching out to our contributor communities, especially our non-English speaking projects, as our outreach there has traditionally been challenged. We’d like to recruit a small number of English-speaking or multilingual editors to do the Community Liaison job with different development teams and focuses. In particular we’re looking for people with a strong history of contributions to our projects who can provide sound and reasoned judgment and are trusted to do so by their community. Speaking other languages in addition to English is a major plus, as one of the objectives here is to ensure we can properly interact with and support non-English projects. I’ve included the full job description below. Our immediate need is for help with the Visual Editor. We’d like to hire a few community liaisons to help inform different Wikipedia language communities of the upcoming launch, create spaces for feedback and discussion, synthesize feedback for the Visual Editor team, and other activities required to support the Visual Editor launch later this year. If this is a role that would interest you, please e-mail Philippe Beaudette at pbeaudette(a)wikimedia.org<https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=pbeaudette@wikimedia.org>. And if you know someone else who might fit the role, let them know about it :-). We’re provisionally interested in hiring 2-3 liaisons, at an hourly rate commensurate with experience. This can be a part-time role, but we’ll need at least 15 hours/week for the length of the engagement (minimum 3 months). Please do apply if you think it’s a role that suits you, and if you find places we haven’t notified, spread the word! Thanks. Howie * _________________________ Howie Fung Director of Product Development Wikimedia Foundation * Community Liaison Job Description Background Information and Statement of Purpose The Wikimedia Foundation’s Engineering & Product Development Department is looking at ways to more effectively incorporate broad community perspectives in decisions and hold dialogues with our editors about the scope, pace and features of upcoming changes to Wikimedia projects. As part of this, it is hiring additional Community Liaisons from our volunteer community. Scope of Work Support and improve our ongoing software development projects, in particular: - Building up a network of volunteers from both English language and non-English language wikis, increasing the number of projects we can interact with; - Engaging the community in the software development process, by acting as a conduit for community questions, bugs and and feature requests, talking to editors about our work and how they can participate in it effectively, and recruiting them for workgroups and studies; - Being available from time to time to provide expertise and knowledge about our projects, including but not limited to training externally-sourced staff in the way our projects work, answering their questions, and providing expert advice on an ad-hoc basis; - Ensuring that our community is represented in the decision-making process and that our planned software adequately reflects user needs; - Monitoring Wikimedia projects, with the assistance of a network of volunteers, for emerging issues that have an impact on Engineering programmes; and - Other duties as needed. Requirements Effective Community Liaisons will be: - Experienced users of Wikimedia projects, capable of representing our community within the Foundation and vice-versa. - Strong communicators (both verbally and with the written word), able to explain our products to different groups of users with different levels of technical understanding. - Able to focus on the larger picture, understanding which concerns and views are widespread and which are marginal or individual. - Approachable, as both users and product developers must be able to trust these people for the relationship to function. - Self-motivated - they will be given important projects and expected to execute with little to no supervision. - Strongly empathetic - they excel at understanding the perspectives of others and bridging the gap between different approaches to the world. - Willing and able to remain resilient in the face of frustration from our users, in order to get the job done. Pluses Other positive attributes or areas of knowledge include: - Diverse language skills. While the Wikimedia Foundation communicates internally in English, we aim to be able to talk to our different communities natively. - Experience with the software development process. You will be thrown into teams that are actively working on new features; having a background that reduces the slope of your learning curve is a plus. - Familiarity with multiple Wikimedia projects is a major plus; we are about more than just Wikipedia. *

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WikimediaAnnounce-l May 2013