Wikimediauk-l February 2019

wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org

15 participants
12 discussions

Cambridge meetup 3 March
by Charles Matthews 14 Mar '19

14 Mar '19

Another in the series of meetups in the Makespace community workshop in central Cambridge, this time on a Sunday: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Cambridge/40 The initial workshop will be on the software being developed for the ScienceSource project. From 3 pm it will be a normal meetup, if that's not an oxymoron. Hope to see you there. Charles

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Conway Hall + April London Meetup
by Stuart Prior 08 Mar '19

08 Mar '19

Hello all, We recently had a conversation with the library at Conway Hall <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway_Hall_Ethical_Society>, who are currently digitising some of their vast collection of pamphlets, and we are steering them towards open licenses and how best to work with Wikimedia. Given its location in Holborn, and the location of the regular London meetup, it could be that these two things work together. We suggested to them that they could open up on that Sunday and anyone who usually attends the meetup would be welcome to head over, be show the collection and building, and possibly help get them on the way to freeing up their collection. Not confirmed as yet, but it would be good to get some feedback from our side. They have a great library, and as a building it's interesting in itself, with the great and the good being present over the years. Muddy Waters, Ben Gurion, a who's who of British politics, and a little known band called "Ugly Rumours <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_Rumours_(band)>". I'll be adding something to the meetup page about this too, as and when things are set. Best Stuart -- *Stuart Prior* *Project Coordinator* *Wikimedia UK* +44 20 372 0769 +44 7879 015 385 (text me otherwise I might screen the call) Wikimedia UK is the national chapter for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement. We rely on donations from individuals to support our work to make knowledge open for all. Have you considered supporting Wikimedia? https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ <https://maps.google.com/?q=5+-+11+Lavington+Street,+London+SE1+0NZ&entry=gm…> . 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.*

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UK Wiki
by Lucy Crompton-Reid 05 Mar '19

05 Mar '19

Hi all Thanks for your contributions and discussions on here this week. It's clear that as an organisation we need to reflect on how we're engaging with the volunteer community, and there has already been quite a lot of internal discussion about this over the past few months. I would encourage you, if you can, to attend the meeting on 30th January to help develop our next three year strategy; however please be assured that in the draft version I'm working on (based on the 2018 board away day, and to give us a starting point for discussions) there is a greater focus on both volunteers and technology, which of course underpin all of our activities. I'm sorry that the issue about recent changes and watchlists on the main Wiki has not yet been resolved. Our technical contractor has been working to debug this however he has not yet been successful and needs more time to try to ascertain and address the problem. Obviously if anyone has any practical suggestions of what the issue might be and how it could be fixed then please feel free to get in touch :) As some of you know, Wikimedia UK has worked with the support of two technical contractors - both from the Wikimedia community - for a number of years, however one of them had to step away from the role in September and it has taken a little time to find a replacement (although we have now done so). This means that the remaining contractor (Tom Morton) has been working on his own, and we have needed to try to prioritise his workload. In the past few months we have undertaken quite a big, although not outwardly visible, technical project, which has been to migrate all of our websites to new host servers. In doing this, we needed to employ a specialist consultancy to upgrade and migrate the Wikimedia CiviCRM installation such that it could be moved onto the new hosting platform, which has been a high priority for us as CiviCRM is so central to our work with volunteers, members and donors on a day-to-day basis. Tom has worked with the consultancy on this but has also been required to fix a number of other issues including QRpedia (which still has some bugs), the Board Wiki, and problems with MediaWiki and the visual editor. I'm not trying to excuse the fact that there are still unresolved technical issues, just to put this into context and explain what else has been going on in the past month or so. Chris, you asked what concrete actions we are putting into place to ensure this doesn't happen again. These include the appointment of another technical contractor who will support Tom in resolving outstanding and urgent technical issues in the short term, but in the medium term will also work with us and the community to identify our priorities going forward. In the next few weeks, Davina and I are also meeting with several board members to scope out the charity's technical ambitions (which I hope we will also discuss on 30th), and in December I submitted a provisional budget to the board for 2019/20, with a view to presenting an updated budget at the March meeting that supports these plans. There is more to do, of course, but hopefully these things will all make a positive difference. Thanks and best wishes Lucy -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 203 372 0762 *Wikimedia UK* is the national chapter for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement, and a registered charity. We rely on donations from individuals to support our work to make knowledge open for all. Have you considered supporting Wikimedia? https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827 Registered Charity No.1144513 Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ 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.

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International Women’s Day, 8 March 2019
by MCANDREW Ewan 27 Feb '19

27 Feb '19

Dear all, The University of Edinburgh's Information Services Group are celebrating International Women’s Day on 8th March by renaming the Boardroom in Argyle House after Brenda Moon, the first woman to head up a research university library when she was Librarian here at the University of Edinburgh in the 1980s and 90s. Brenda played a major role in bringing the University into the digital age, as Edinburgh became the first major university library in the UK to tackle and deliver a computer-based service. Two events will coincide with the launch of the Brenda Moon Room: our Wikimedian in Residence will be hosting a Wikipedia-editing session for staff, students and friends of the University to create Wikipedia entries for notable women currently missing from the encyclopaedia site, and at the Main Library, LTW Equality and Diversity Images Intern Francesca Vavotici will be hosting a ‘Sketch-a-thon’ using images from the Centre for Research Collections’ Special Collections. All artistic abilities welcome! Wikipedia Editathon – Women of Edinburgh: This event is open to staff, students and friends of the University and is an opportunity to help add more notable women associated with Edinburgh to Wikipedia, where only 18% of the English Wikipedia's biographies are about women. Time: 11:00am – 5pm Venue: Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh EH3 9DR More info and booking link here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh/Internation… Wikipedia:University of Edinburgh/International Women's Day 2019<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh/Internation…> en.wikipedia.org Booking. Booking is not yet open but please save the date.; What do I need? Please bring a laptop as desktop computers will not be provided. You can also Create a Wikipedia account ahead of the event.. About the event. Join us to celebrate lives & contributions of the suffragettes and all the incredible women missing from Wikipedia! Sketch-a-thon: Learn about the lives of some of the incredible women in the archives of the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh, while putting your creative side to use in a relaxed learning environment! This event will enable you to portray the work of pioneering women through a series of fun, fast-paced challenges that will help you flex your sketching muscles and experiment with daring colour-combinations, silly caricatures and speedy doodles. No drawing experience is necessary to join us, and all students and staff are welcome. Materials will be provided, but please do feel free to bring your own coloured pencils or felt-tip pens if you wish. More info and booking link here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-womens-day-sketchathon-tickets… The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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Wikimedia UK Community Leaders Survey 2019
by Sara Thomas 26 Feb '19

26 Feb '19

Afternoon all, The 2019 Community Leaders Survey - formerly known as the Volunteers Survey - was sent out today. It's aimed at those who volunteer with Wikimedia UK (trainers, speakers, event organisers etc), as well as contacts at partner organisations such as libraries & universities, and the data collected is used to help us both to improve the experience of our volunteers/partners, and report back to our funders. If you haven't received the email, but think that you should have done, please drop me a line - I'll make sure that you get it, and I'll update the database... For the sake of everyone's inboxes, I'd ask that you please reply just to me and not the whole mailing list. All the best, love from a very sunny Glasgow, Sara -- Dr Sara Thomas Scotland Programme Coordinator, Wikimedia UK https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Wikimedia_in_Scotland *Normal office hours are Monday, Tuesday afternoons, and Wednesday-Friday until the end of March 2019.* *Wikimedia UK* is the national chapter for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement. We rely on donations from individuals to support our work to make knowledge open for all. Have you considered supporting Wikimedia? https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. (England & Wales), SC048644 (Scotland). Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ <https://maps.google.com/?q=5+-+11+Lavington+Street,+London+SE1+0NZ&entry=gm…> . 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.*

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Today's flypast over Sheffield, & "Mi Amigo" memorial
by Andy Mabbett 22 Feb '19

22 Feb '19

There's been a lot of coverage of today's flypast, in the news and social media. The latter includes posts from a number of social media accounts belonging to the US government As anyone been able to determine which images or videos were made by them, and are thus PD-gov-US? Do we have anyone in the area who can photograph the monument, and its environs, once the attention dies down? We need: * close ups of the monument, and the individual brass plaques * wide shots of the monument, showing the new flag-post and the American Red Oaks * the treeline, showing the latter * the pavilion, now a cafe, which was apparently mentioned in the pilot's posthumous medal citation * steppung-st9nes between the pavilion and monument -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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Coventry Wikimedian in Residence
by John Lubbock 21 Feb '19

21 Feb '19

Coventry University's Disruptive Media Learning Lab are hiring a Wikimedian in Residence. "To provide advice and technical knowledge to facilitate and develop a sustainable relationship between Coventry University Group and Wikipedia through a range of activities with staff, students and the public. To establish a network of Wikimedians (students and staff) on campus and to embed digital fluency and open knowledge activities, such as thematic editathons and subject based projects, in learning and teaching across the University. To help the University to understand how its collections, knowledge creation and public engagement activities can enhance, broaden and improve the quality of Wikipedia articles and content on the other Wikimedia projects such as Wikidata and WikiCommons." You can see the job description here: https://www.coventry.ac.uk/globalassets/media/global/job-descriptions/req00… John Lubbock Communications Coordinator Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 203 372 0767 Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Office 1, Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ. Wikimedia UK is the national chapter of the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement. We rely on donations from individuals to support our work to make knowledge open for all. Have you considered supporting Wikimedia UK? Donate here <https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk>. 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.*

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LSHTM workshop Tuesday - places available
by Charles Matthews 18 Feb '19

18 Feb '19

I'm giving a workshop on the state of my WiR work on Tuesday at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 10 to 1 pm. This is an internal event there, but I have learned just now that there are places available. The title is "Wikidata and ScienceSource: open critical bibliography for medicine on the Semantic Web". It assumes no prior knowledge of Wikidata, but as you'd expect from the venue will have a slant towards tropical diseases, more particularly neglected tropical diseases. New software will be shown. I think it would be a reasonable introduction to both Wikidata and WikiCite, and what sort of traction they are getting. It is hosted by a librarian at the LSHTM. If you'd like to attend, please let me know offlist, by Monday morning. Happy to answer questions about the programme. Charles

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Membership numbers - an update
by Lucy Crompton-Reid 12 Feb '19

12 Feb '19

Dear all As has been raised on this mailing list quite recently, Wikimedia UK has been rather remiss at updating the membership numbers of the charity on the relevant page (due to a change in staffing). We have decided to move to doing this quarterly and numbers from the past two quarters are available here: https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Membership/Numbers As has been previously noted by myself and others, the reason for the jump in members in May/June 2017 is that the board and I were getting concerned about the low number of members and did a membership 'push'. As well as promoting membership through our social media channels I did two other things: 1. Contacted all previous members of the charity whose membership had lapsed, encouraging them to renew 2. Contacted all active donors to the charity, inviting them to become members Since that 'push', numbers have remained relatively steady at just above the 500 mark; although of course this involves a degree of turnover as some memberships lapse and new members sign up. Thanks and best wishes Lucy -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 203 372 0762 *Wikimedia UK* is the national chapter for the global Wikimedia open knowledge movement, and a registered charity. We rely on donations from individuals to support our work to make knowledge open for all. Have you considered supporting Wikimedia? https://donate.wikimedia.org.uk Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827 Registered Charity No.1144513 Registered Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ 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.

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Manchester meetup
by Chris McKenna 09 Feb '19

09 Feb '19

Just some advance notice that I am organising a meetup in Manchester on Sunday 9 June - details are at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Manchester/36 The provisional venue is The Waterhouse on Princess Street. This is set as provisional because it's a Weatherspoons pub, and I know some people would prefer altneratives - the selection is due soley to it being the venue of the previous two (at least) meets in the city and the suitable venue in the city I've been to*, so if you know of any equal or better alternatives please suggest them on the talk page. *Of the three others, one is too small by an order of magnitude, one is a hotel bar that I'm not certain is open to non-residents and the third is the worst live music venue I think I've ever been to (or at least it was 10 years ago). ---- Chris McKenna cmckenna(a)sucs.org www.sucs.org/~cmckenna The essential things in life are seen not with the eyes, but with the heart Antoine de Saint Exupery

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Wikimediauk-l February 2019