Hello everyone,
I'm currently in discussion with the BBC about how we might develop come
useful collaborations, including a potential memorandum of understanding.
How do people feel about Wikimedia UK working with the BBC and do you have
any ideas for potential projects? There's a page with some notes at
https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Potential_memorandum_of_understanding_and_col…
so
please take a look. If the discussion could take place on the talk page
that would be very helpful.
Thanks and regards,
Stevie
--
Stevie Benton
Head of External Relations
Wikimedia UK
+44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
@StevieBenton
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England
and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513.
Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street,
London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a
global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the
Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal
control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
Hey all.
If you haven't seen it already, UK Wikimedians, and the chapter, will
probably be interested in [1], a proposal to film, photograph, and
talk to MEPs.
Having only had a brief glance over the email, it seems like a very
credible opportunity that Wikimedia UK will want to support in spirit,
if not in more concrete terms. I post an extract below.
I apologise if someone has already posted this, but I can't recall anything.
Best,
Harry
----
Harry Burt (User:Jarry1250)
[1] http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/418449
"After contacting the European
Parliament I was able to get their approval, the support by the parties and
a date [to meet, photograph and film with MEPs in February].
... [The 2014 European]
elections are a great
opportunity to raise awareness on our material we have in Wikipedia and on
Commons. It is also an excellent opportunity to bring together volunteers
in doing our core work together, maybe we can transfer the idea of
Parliament Projects to other countries. Volunteers get the opportunity to
learn from each other - the EP is a very challenging project, having more
than 700 MEPs to be handled within a few days."
Hi Michal
I have picked up on your initiative, and have made a proposal on Commons:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hosting_of_content_released_to_the_globa…
Could you take a look at it?
Michael
_____
Michael Maggs
Chair, WMUK.
On 29 Dec 2013, at 05:19, Michal Lester <mlester(a)wikimedia.org.il> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> As some of you know, images are been deleted in the past month from
> WikiCommons due to a change in the ruling of the United States Supreme
> Court. (The case of Golan v. Holder, confirming the legality of the URAA,
> has restored copyright status to foreign works that were placed in the
> public domain after January 1, 1996). Court ruling brought WikiCommons
> volunteers to delete images that do not meet the new guideline.
> Consequently, Israeli images were deleted even though the Israeli law
> releases them into the public domain.
>
> We wrote to the legal department of the Foundation to alert about the
> situation. The department has posted a legal
> opinion<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikilegal/Use_of_Foreign_Works_Restored_und…>
> on
> the subject following our inquiry.
>
> WMIL is going to turn to the Minister of Justice and seek for written
> statement that confirm that images released by the State of Israel to the
> public domain may be used freely around the world. We hope that WikiCommons
> operators rely on the letter and will not delete more images.
>
> It will be great if other chapters will update if they encountered the
> problem and what you intend to do.
>
>
> All the best
>
> Michal
> --
>
> Michal Lester
>
> Executive Director
>
> Wikimedia Israel
>
> http://www.wikimedia.org.il/ 050-8996046
>
> *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> sum of all knowledge. **That's our commitment.*
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
Please see here
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Hosting_of_content_released_to_the_globa…
for a new Commons policy proposal.
Obvious first candidates are the government-generated works of the UK, Canada and Israel, but there will certainly be other countries that could take advantage of the policy, if approved, to save many files from imminent deletion.
Michael
On 29 Dec 2013, at 22:43, Klaus Graf <klausgraf(a)googlemail.com> wrote:
> Can nobody stop the URAA Copyright trolls mass deleting perfect fine files
> on Commons?
>
> I think it would be the best if _all_ URAA affected files would be kept
> until a DMCA take down notice.
>
> But in the case of in the country of origin PD works which are foreign
> government works it is needed that the WMF clearly speaks out that such
> works could be accepted on Commons even when a written statement of the
> foreign government doesn't exist.
>
> See for Canada's crown copyright
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/File:Burlingto…
>
> Klaus Graf
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimedia-l mailing list
> Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
Yes, I am working on this now, and will put up a proposal to amend policy on Commons in the next day or two. It is of particular relevance to UK Crown Copyright works.
Michael
On 30 Dec 2013, at 14:56, Fæ <faewik+commons(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> The URAA is rather more than theoretical. There is more milage in
> developing a defensive approach for orphan works. Again I think an
> inclusive discussion on Commons is more useful if anyone intends to
> progress this.
>
> Fae
> On 30 Dec 2013 14:04, "Newyorkbrad" <newyorkbrad(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have no role or participation on Commons, but from my work on English WP
>> I'm aware of the very real copyright status of "free as a practical matter
>> although someone could theoretically make a disputed technical argument
>> otherwise."
>>
>> One solution, where there is a good-faith argument the image is free and no
>> rights-holder claiming otherwise, would be a disclaimer. Perhaps something
>> along the lines of "It is believed this image is in the public domain [or,
>> the status of this image depends on resolution of an open legal issue, or
>> whatever] and therefore eligible for inclusion on Wikimedia Commons and for
>> re-use. However, it is possible that the free status of this image could be
>> disputed because [brief explanation of reason]. Potential re-users should
>> therefore proceed cautiously."
>>
>> I hasten to add that this would be appropriate only where the impediment to
>> freedom is seen as mostly theoretical, not to screw over legitimate claims
>> by rightsholders or by people with privacy interests implicated by the
>> image.
>>
>> Newyorkbrad
We are now dotting the 'i's and crossing the 't's on QRpedia. The next
question is how do we make sure the community benefits from it? Do we need
training, events etc? We have already started a FAQ page to help those who
want to use it but is there more we can do?
Can we get some ideas going?
--
*Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK*. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169
tweet @jonatreesdavies
Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990.
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
Do any of you have experience of the commercial scanning and OCR of
old books? Costs, reliability, recommended suppliers, etc?
As series of books in which I'm interested fall out of copyright on
1st January, and I'd like to have them digitised and available as
ebooks. I don't think I'd have the time to scan them, page by page,
but I would be willing to organise someone else doing so, to proof
read and upload to Wikisource.
Which brings me to my next point: is there a good tutorial for
uploading works to Wikisource? Or possibly some training available?
--
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
As many of you will be aware, there has for some time been a discussion on
the Water cooler regarding how best to engage with everyone from
well-established members to potential contributors, and ensure there is
space to have robust discussion about WMUK and its operations, as well as a
space in which to ask questions and talk about our activities and projects.
As a step forward, we've now split the Water cooler into two pages:
. The Water cooler, which keeps its original name and intention - a
place for discussion about our activities. This can be found under the 'get
involved' section on the sidebar.
. The Engine room, which is a space to discuss and debate WMUK
operational matters. This can be found under the 'organisation' section on
the sidebar
I've now gone through the process of moving threads regarding WMUK
operational matters to the newly created Engine room
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room> , while keeping threads
around our activities and getting involved on the Water cooler
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Water_cooler> page. This will be our
first attempt at creating different spaces for different types of
discussion, and we're still working on the headers for these pages (the divs
now inserted at the top of the page). If you watch the Water cooler
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Water_cooler> you may also want to add
the Engine room <https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room> to your
watch list. I've also moved the Water cooler
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Water_cooler> up to the "get involved"
section on the sidebar. The new Engine room
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room> can be found under
"organisation" on the sidebar. If you think I've incorrectly moved
something, or have a suggestion for how we should define and describe these
places do let us know (ideally here
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Engine_room#Getting_us_started> in the
Engine room). Finally, I look forward to seeing people engage on both pages.
Cheers Sjgknight <https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/User:Sjgknight> (talk
<https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Sjgknight&action=
edit&redlink=1> ) 21:27, 20 December 2013 (UTC)
Cheers
Simon
