Hello,
Universal Language Selector (ULS) - the MediaWiki extension for
language settings is ready to be rolled out for the first phase of
deployment. This extension combines the features from the earlier
MediaWiki extensions Narayam and WebFonts, to provide a more flexible
method of configuring language settings. Starting June 11th 2013, ULS
will be deployed over 5 phases, starting with 84 wikis who have
already been informed of the impending change.
We inadvertently missed out sending the original announcement to this
mailing list. My apologies for that.
Please find the original message below to know more about the
deployment plan. More information about the Universal Language
Selector can be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Universal_Language_Selector
Thank you.
regards
Runa
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Runa Bhattacharjee <rbhattacharjee(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 6, 2013 at 1:22 AM
Subject: [X-POST] Universal Language Selector(ULS) Deployment - Phase 1
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, Wikimedia
Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, MediaWiki
internationalisation <mediawiki-i18n(a)lists.wikimedia.org>,
wikitech-ambassadors(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Cc: wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Hello,
The Universal Language Selector (ULS)[1] provides a flexible way to
configure and deliver language settings like interface language,
fonts, and input methods (keyboard mappings). It combines the features
of two earlier Mediawiki extensions Narayam[2] and WebFonts[3]. From
June 11, 2013 on, ULS will be made available to all Wikimedia wikis in
5 phases[4].
# Phase 1: In the first phase, ULS will replace the Narayam and
WebFonts extensions on 84 wikis[5]. User preferences from the replaced
extensions will not be preserved. Affected communities will be
informed by the Wikimedia Language Engineering team of the upcoming
change.
# Phase 2: In the 5 weeks that follow, ULS will be deployed on
Wikipedias in size 11-20,
# Phase 3: All projects without language versions
# Phase 4: English language Wikipedia
# Phase 5: All other wikis
The ULS can be visible in two ways:
1. In the sidebar for wikis with language versions, like Wikipedia, or
2. In the personal toolbar at the top of wiki pages for wikis without
language versions, like Wikimedia Commons and Meta-Wiki.
Based on the geographic location of users, the initial set of language
preferences is presented. Users can set the input methods and fonts to
that they want to use. Logged-in users can also change the language
for the MediaWiki menu items.
ULS is already available on several Wikimedia wikis like Wikimedia
Commons[6] and Meta-Wiki[7]. The beta installation of English
Wikipedia on Wikimedia Labs[8] shows what will be available as the
look and feel. A cog icon is present in the “Languages” section of the
sidebar menu. Clicking the cog icon opens the Language settings panel
that can be used to set the display and input settings.
Please have a look at the Universal Language Selector feature
description[9] or the Frequently Asked Questions[10] for more detailed
information.
Thank you.
regards
Runa
[1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:UniversalLanguageSelector
[2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Narayam
[3] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:WebFonts
[4] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/UniversalLanguageSelector/Deployment/Planning
[5] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/UniversalLanguageSelector/Deployment/Plannin…
[6] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
[7] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
[8] http://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/
[9] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Universal_Language_Selector
[10] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Universal_Language_Selector/FAQ
--
Language Engineering - Outreach and QA Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Runab_WMF
--
Language Engineering - Outreach and QA Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation
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.*
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/6533http://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.htmlhttp://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
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.orghttp://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,
Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation
receive more than 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.
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.orgblog.wikimedia.org
+1 (415) 839 6885 x 6609, @jansonw
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