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Last call for the Wikisource & Wikidata Showcase at Repo Fringe 2016 - 1st & 2nd August 2016
by MCANDREW Ewan 26 Jul '16

26 Jul '16

**Apologies for cross posting** Please disseminate to interested parties. With less than a week to go until Repository Fringe 2016 takes place in Edinburgh on 1st & 2nd August 2016, registrations are filling up fast and we have a packed programme which will hopefully pique your interest! Find out more about some of our programme items below – the full programme<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/programme/> is available online. Register now!<http://www.epay.ed.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=80&c…> <http://www.epay.ed.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=80&c…> Registration for Repo Fringe closes on Thursday 28th July 2016 so please book soon to be assured of your place. <http://www.epay.ed.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=80&c…> Programme Hot Pick - Wikidata & Wikisource Showcase Our Tuesday programme features a mammoth Wikidata & Wikisource Showcase hosted by Histropedia’s Navino Evans, the Bodleian Library’s Wikimedian in Residence, Martin Poulter, and the University of Edinburgh’s Wikimedian in Residence, Ewan McAndrew. More information about the Showcase<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/wikidata-wikisource-showcase/> and what the sessions will cover which is available online now and is summarised here: 10am-11.05am Wikisource showcase - “It’s not what you do, it’s what it does to you.” Libraries are under threat as never before with an estimated 450 closures in the last six years (Flood, 2016). Safeguarding digital heritage and ‘the democracy of reading’ (Smith in Shaffi, 2015) therefore has never been more important. In this first session of our three showcase events for Repository Fringe 2016, we will introduce you to Wikisource: Wikimedia’s free library of openly-licensed source texts. “Libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.” (Neil Gaiman, 2013) In this session we will explain: · Why Wikisource is receiving increased attention & affection. · How it adds value to the collections of libraries & archives. · The crucial role Wikisource plays in raising the visibility, accessibility & appreciation of out-of-copyright texts & their authors. · How Wikisource links to its sister projects: Wikipedia, Wikicommons and Wikidata. “Quotations or images from centuries ago can still touch or inspire, and as readers share this reaction online, the interested audience grows. The Wikimedia projects make it easy for people to enjoy and share out-of-copyright text, creating and satisfying a modern curiosity about past authors.”(Poulter, 2015) What will the session include? · An introduction to what Wikisource is and how you can engage with it. · A practical activity where you will learn how to navigate Wikisource and proofread a page of text. · An introduction to how Wikisource links with Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia), Wikicommons (the free media repository) & Wikidata (the free repository of structured data). · Examples demonstrating how texts can be uploaded, transcribed and proofread. · Examples demonstrating how everyone - libraries & archives in particular - can involve people around the world in having authentic contact with the past through Wikisource. Like every Wikimedia project, Wikisource is free to use by absolutely anyone so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites. Anyone interested in libraries, archives & open knowledge repositories of all kinds should come away excited about the possibilities Wikisource, and its sister projects, offer! What should I bring? Bring a laptop if possible as this will be needed when we learn to navigate our way around Wikisource and for the practical demonstration of proofreading a page of Wikisource text. In addition, please have a think if there are copyright-free source texts you would like to see transcribed to Wikisource. It would also be a huge help if you could create an account<https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=W…> on Wikisource before arriving (if you have ever edited Wikipedia before, you can use the same login details) References Flood, Alison (2016). "Joanna Trollope: 'UK cannot afford to close one single public library'"<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/13/joanna-trollope-uk-not-afford-…>. the Guardian. Shaffi, Sarah (2015)."Smith warns library closures threat to 'democracy of reading' | The Bookseller"<http://www.thebookseller.com/news/smith-warns-closure-libraries-threat-demo…>. www.thebookseller.com. Gaiman, Neil (2013). "Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming"<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-r…>. the Guardian. Poulter, Martin (2015)."The Shiver: communion with the past in a digital age | Wikimedia UK Blog"<https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2016/04/the-shiver-communion-with-the-past-in…>. blog.wikimedia.org.uk. 11.30am-12.45am Wikidata showcase – The Possities are endless Wikidata - “the source for open structured data on the web and for facts within Wikipedia.” (Wallis, 2014) Wikidata is a free and open data repository of the world’s knowledge. Wikidata differs from its sister project Wikipedia in that it is completely language independent and its structured data can be read and edited by both humans and machines alike. Using Wikidata, information on Wikipedia can be queried & visualised as never before. This alone has generated enormous excitement in its users but the sheer versatility of how this data can be used is only just beginning to be understood & explored. Did You Know: The answers provided by Google’s ‘Knowledge Graph’ panels were powered by its own structured data repository, Freebase, until Google decided to wind down Freebase in 2015 in favour of migrating their data to Wikidata & supporting Wikidata instead. In this session we will explain why Wikidata is so special, why its users are so excited by the possibilities it offers, why it may overtake Wikipedia in years to come as the project to watch and how it is quietly on course to change the world. What will the session include? · A practical activity where you will learn the ‘nuts & bolts’ of how to use and edit Wikidata, and help shape the future of open knowledge! · An introduction to methods for accessing the data in Wikidata. Wikidata is completely free to use in every imaginable way; from educational projects to full-scale commercial software applications – what will you do with it? · A showcase selection of the most exciting applications and visualisations that have already been built on Wikidata. Who should attend? Absolutely anyone can use Wikidata for something, so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites. Anyone interested in open knowledge, academic research, application development or data visualisation should come away buzzing with exciting new ideas! What should I bring? Bring a laptop if possible as this will be needed when we learn to use and edit Wikidata. It would also be a huge help if you could create an account<https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=W…> on Wikidata before the arriving (if you have ever edited Wikipedia before, you can use the same login details) References Wallis, Richard (2014). "Google Sunsets Freebase – Good News For Wikidata? – Data Liberate"<http://dataliberate.com/2014/12/17/google-sunsets-freebase-good-news-for-wi…>. 2.15pm-3pm Wikidata Advanced Tools workshop This session will be a practical introduction to using some of the most powerful tools built around Wikidata. You will learn how to: · Query Wikidata using their SPARQL endpoint · Create visualisations from live data, such as interactive maps, timelines, and bubble charts. · Use editing tools that allow you to make automated Wikidata edits based on SPARQL queries, Wikipedia categories, or tables in a spreadsheet. Who should attend? Absolutely anyone can use Wikidata for something, so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites. Anyone interested in open knowledge, academic research, application development or data visualisation should come away buzzing with exciting new ideas! Registration for Repo Fringe closes on Thursday 28th July 2016 so please book soon to be assured of your place.<http://www.epay.ed.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=80&c…> Kind regards Ewan McAndrew Wikimedian in Residence Tel: 07719 330076 Email: ewan.mcandrew(a)ed.ac.uk Working hours are 2.5 days per week, usually Monday, Tuesday & Thursday. Wikipedia Project Page for the residency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh, Learning, Teaching & Web Services, Hugh Robson Building, 15 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD. www.ed.ac.uk The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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Wikimedia UK's members elect new trustees
by Michael Maggs 26 Jul '16

26 Jul '16

I am very pleased to announce (somewhat belatedly - sorry) that at our annual general meeting on Saturday 9 July members of Wikimedia UK elected two new trustees to the board. Please join me in offering a very warm welcome to Lorna Campbell and Jordan Landes. Lorna is OER Liaison at Open Scotland, University of Edinburgh; Jordan is Research Librarian, Senate House Library, London. Existing trustees Greyham Dawes (treasurer) and Josie Fraser were re-elected. Two trustees have stepped down from the board: Chris Keating and Gill Hamilton. We thank them for their exceptional expertise, commitment and diligence, and we wish them well for the future. With these changes, the new board is as follows: Michael Maggs (board chair, and chair of governance committee) Carol Campbell (vice chair, chair of audit and risk committee, governance committee) Greyham Dawes (treasurer, governance committee, audit and risk committee) Kate West (governance committee, audit and risk committee) Doug Taylor Nick Poole Nancy Bell Josie Fraser Lorna Campbell Jordan Landes The new board will formally meet for the first time on Saturday 10 September at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, where officer roles will be reviewed. Please join me in welcoming the new board. Michael Maggs Chair, Wikimedia UK

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The West Country Challenge
by Rod Ward 18 Jul '16

18 Jul '16

I understand Wikimedia UK has supported The West Country Challenge in terms of amazon vouchers for prizes. The details of the competition which will take place from 8 - 298 August are at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_England/The_West_Country _Challenge Any help with promoting it so that we get as many participants as possible would be great - any of course those of you on this mailing list would be very welcome. Rod

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Chilcot Report uses OGL
by とある白い猫 14 Jul '16

14 Jul '16

Hello, It can be argued that the current copyright obfuscates the general public's access to the report. I feel it is in the public's best interest to have this monolith of documentation on a more user friendly venue such as Wikisource where it can be more manageable and digestible. I do feel that any single email from us would be promptly ignored as there probably is a large volume of emails. It may be prudent to either start a petition (for the Parliament) or ask a few MPs to raise the copyright issue in the Parliament. I may be late to the game but I do have a few copyright concerns which may have been already addressed. I would most sincerely apologize if there is duplication. I have identified a number of copyright issues with the report. First of, the websites terms and conditions do not explicitly release the works under a free license.[1] It seems to be more concerned with misrepresentation than commercial considerations. This implies authors could be persuaded to release their work under a free license. For the purpose of our use, the site should explicitly mention a free license. Moreover it mentions BSkyB, BBC and ITN as copyright holders of some of the documents. Any migration to Wikisource must filter out such content.[1] Lastly there are a number of now declassified documents that provide vital evidence to reinforce the reports findings, these too need to be freely licensed. -- とある白い猫 (To Aru Shiroi Neko) [1] http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/terms-conditions/

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Wikisource & Wikidata Showcase as part of Repository Fringe 2016: 1st-2nd August
by MCANDREW Ewan 13 Jul '16

13 Jul '16

**Apologies for cross posting** With just under 3 weeks to go until Repository Fringe takes place in Edinburgh on 1st & 2nd August 2016, registrations are filling up fast and we have a packed programme which will hopefully pique your interest and send you flocking to join the Scottish capital at its most vibrant time of year! Find out more about some of our programme items below – the full programme<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/programme/> is available online. Register now!<http://www.epay.ed.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=2&deptid=80&c…> Programme Hot Pick - Wikidata & Wikisource Showcase Our Tuesday programme features a mammoth Wikidata & Wikisource Showcase hosted by Histropedia’s Navino Evans, the Bodleian Library’s Wikimedian in Residence, Martin Poulter, and the University of Edinburgh’s Wikimedian in Residence, Ewan McAndrew. More information about the Showcase<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/wikidata-wikisource-showcase/> and what the sessions will cover which is available online now and is summarised here: 10am-11.05am Wikisource showcase - “It’s not what you do, it’s what it does to you.” Libraries are under threat as never before with an estimated 450 closures in the last six years (Flood, 2016). Safeguarding digital heritage and ‘the democracy of reading’ (Smith in Shaffi, 2015) therefore has never been more important. In this first session of our three showcase events for Repository Fringe 2016, we will introduce you to Wikisource: Wikimedia’s free library of openly-licensed source texts. “Libraries are about freedom. Freedom to read, freedom of ideas, freedom of communication. They are about education (which is not a process that finishes the day we leave school or university), about entertainment, about making safe spaces, and about access to information.” (Neil Gaiman, 2013) In this session we will explain: · Why Wikisource is receiving increased attention & affection. · How it adds value to the collections of libraries & archives. · The crucial role Wikisource plays in raising the visibility, accessibility & appreciation of out-of-copyright texts & their authors. · How Wikisource links to its sister projects: Wikipedia, Wikicommons and Wikidata. “Quotations or images from centuries ago can still touch or inspire, and as readers share this reaction online, the interested audience grows. The Wikimedia projects make it easy for people to enjoy and share out-of-copyright text, creating and satisfying a modern curiosity about past authors.”(Poulter, 2015) What will the session include? · An introduction to what Wikisource is and how you can engage with it. · A practical activity where you will learn how to navigate Wikisource and proofread a page of text. · An introduction to how Wikisource links with Wikipedia (the free encyclopaedia), Wikicommons (the free media repository) & Wikidata (the free repository of structured data). · Examples demonstrating how texts can be uploaded, transcribed and proofread. · Examples demonstrating how everyone - libraries & archives in particular - can involve people around the world in having authentic contact with the past through Wikisource. Like every Wikimedia project, Wikisource is free to use by absolutely anyone so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites. Anyone interested in libraries, archives & open knowledge repositories of all kinds should come away excited about the possibilities Wikisource, and its sister projects, offer! What should I bring? Bring a laptop if possible as this will be needed when we learn to navigate our way around Wikisource and for the practical demonstration of proofreading a page of Wikisource text. In addition, please have a think if there are copyright-free source texts you would like to see transcribed to Wikisource. It would also be a huge help if you could create an account<https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=W…> on Wikisource before arriving (if you have ever edited Wikipedia before, you can use the same login details) References Flood, Alison (2016). "Joanna Trollope: 'UK cannot afford to close one single public library'"<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/13/joanna-trollope-uk-not-afford-…>. the Guardian. Shaffi, Sarah (2015)."Smith warns library closures threat to 'democracy of reading' | The Bookseller"<http://www.thebookseller.com/news/smith-warns-closure-libraries-threat-demo…>. www.thebookseller.com. Gaiman, Neil (2013). "Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming"<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-r…>. the Guardian. Poulter, Martin (2015)."The Shiver: communion with the past in a digital age | Wikimedia UK Blog"<https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2016/04/the-shiver-communion-with-the-past-in…>. blog.wikimedia.org.uk. 11.30am-12.45am Wikidata showcase – The Possities are endless Wikidata - “the source for open structured data on the web and for facts within Wikipedia.” (Wallis, 2014) Wikidata is a free and open data repository of the world’s knowledge. Wikidata differs from its sister project Wikipedia in that it is completely language independent and its structured data can be read and edited by both humans and machines alike. Using Wikidata, information on Wikipedia can be queried & visualised as never before. This alone has generated enormous excitement in its users but the sheer versatility of how this data can be used is only just beginning to be understood & explored. Did You Know: The answers provided by Google’s ‘Knowledge Graph’ panels were powered by its own structured data repository, Freebase, until Google decided to wind down Freebase in 2015 in favour of migrating their data to Wikidata & supporting Wikidata instead. In this session we will explain why Wikidata is so special, why its users are so excited by the possibilities it offers, why it may overtake Wikipedia in years to come as the project to watch and how it is quietly on course to change the world. What will the session include? · A practical activity where you will learn the ‘nuts & bolts’ of how to use and edit Wikidata, and help shape the future of open knowledge! · An introduction to methods for accessing the data in Wikidata. Wikidata is completely free to use in every imaginable way; from educational projects to full-scale commercial software applications – what will you do with it? · A showcase selection of the most exciting applications and visualisations that have already been built on Wikidata. Who should attend? Absolutely anyone can use Wikidata for something, so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites. Anyone interested in open knowledge, academic research, application development or data visualisation should come away buzzing with exciting new ideas! What should I bring? Bring a laptop if possible as this will be needed when we learn to use and edit Wikidata. It would also be a huge help if you could create an account<https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CreateAccount&returnto=W…> on Wikidata before the arriving (if you have ever edited Wikipedia before, you can use the same login details) References Wallis, Richard (2014). "Google Sunsets Freebase – Good News For Wikidata? – Data Liberate"<http://dataliberate.com/2014/12/17/google-sunsets-freebase-good-news-for-wi…>. 2.15pm-3pm Wikidata Advanced Tools workshop This session will be a practical introduction to using some of the most powerful tools built around Wikidata. You will learn how to: · Query Wikidata using their SPARQL endpoint · Create visualisations from live data, such as interactive maps, timelines, and bubble charts. · Use editing tools that allow you to make automated Wikidata edits based on SPARQL queries, Wikipedia categories, or tables in a spreadsheet. Who should attend? Absolutely anyone can use Wikidata for something, so people of all disciplines and walks of life are encouraged to attend this session. Basic knowledge of using the internet will be needed to get involved in the practical activity, but there are no other pre-requisites. Anyone interested in open knowledge, academic research, application development or data visualisation should come away buzzing with exciting new ideas! *** Use EPrints? Les Carr will be doing a bumper user group session which also looks at brainstorming ‘flavours’ for bespoke repositories, followed up by a second session looking ahead to the future of EPrints in Version 4.0 and the new ideas from the COAR Future Repositories. More information to come shortly… *** Submit a Poster We are still looking for poster submissions from people who have something to tell the world about. Posters can relate either to one of this year’s conference themes<http://rfringe16.blogs.edina.ac.uk/sample-page/> or to repository management in general. If you would like to submit a poster, please email your proposed title and an abstract of up to 200 words to explain the aim of your poster to repofringe(a)gmail.com. <mailto:repofringe@gmail.com> The submission deadline is 15th July 2016. Kind regards, Ewan McAndrew Wikimedian in Residence Tel: 07719 330076 Email: ewan.mcandrew(a)ed.ac.uk Working hours are 2.5 days per week, usually Monday, Tuesday & Thursday. Wikipedia Project Page for the residency: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:University_of_Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh, Learning, Teaching & Web Services, Hugh Robson Building, 15 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD. www.ed.ac.uk The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

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QRPedia down?
by Andy Mabbett 12 Jul '16

12 Jul '16

The URL: http://qrwp.org/The_Son_of_Man returns (for me) Sorry, but Wikipedia does not have the page "The_Son_of_Man" in your language (en). Please try reading the Google auto-translated version. Or read in one of the following languages: - The_Son_of_Man with the last line linked to: https://qrwp.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man which times out. Yet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son_of_Man returns the expected article. What's broken? -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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AGM and trustee elections
by Lucy Crompton-Reid 11 Jul '16

11 Jul '16

Dear all Many thanks to those of you who attended Saturday's meetup and AGM, and also to everyone who voted by proxy. I thought it was a great day and the feedback (from forms completed on the day) seems to be very positive. Thanks again to Andy Mabbett and others for your involvement in the day, particularly those of you who gave talks or ran training. I'm delighted that the four trustees standing for election were all voted onto the board! These are Greyham Dawes and Josie Fraser - both of whom are existing trustees - and newcomers Lorna Campbell and Jordan Landes. I'm sure they will all make a valuable addition to the board of trustees at Wikimedia UK. I also wanted to reiterate my congratulations to *Martin Poulter*, our Wikimedian of the Year; *Lorna Campbell* and *Melissa Highton*, who received our Partnership of the Year award, and *Nav Evans*, who received an Honourable Mention. All were very well deserved. I am on annual leave from tomorrow until Wednesday 27th July (inclusive) and probably be won't be able to respond personally to any comments/questions on the above over the next few weeks - so If you don't hear from me, that's why. Best wishes Lucy -- Lucy Crompton-Reid Chief Executive Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 207 065 0991 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. 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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Fwd: [Talk-GB] Night Time Aerial Imagery?!?
by Andy Mabbett 11 Jul '16

11 Jul '16

I'm forwarding this from the OSM list, as it's likely to be of interest. Perhaps we should be bringing these images into Commons. Paging Fae... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Grant Slater <openstreetmap(a)firefishy.com> Date: 10 July 2016 at 22:45 Subject: [Talk-GB] Night Time Aerial Imagery?!? To: osm-gb <talk-gb(a)openstreetmap.org> Hi OSM-GB, The Environment Agency recently release a massive trove of Open Data, which I am slowly started to process. One of the smaller and quicker to process datasets is the Night Time aerial imagery which I've now tiled and put online here: http://ea.openstreetmap.org.uk/ Birmingham: http://ea.openstreetmap.org.uk/#zoom=12&lat=52.4831&lon=-1.8772 Peterborough: http://ea.openstreetmap.org.uk/#zoom=13&lat=52.5743&lon=-0.2588 Northhampton: http://ea.openstreetmap.org.uk/#zoom=13&lat=52.2458&lon=-0.8871 Swindon: http://ea.openstreetmap.org.uk/#zoom=13&lat=51.5793&lon=-1.7931 London (Mostly South): http://ea.openstreetmap.org.uk/#zoom=11&lat=51.5266&lon=-0.0636 Unsure how useful the Night Time aerial imagery is for OpenStreetMap proposes, but it sure does look good ;-) Kind regards, Grant _______________________________________________ Talk-GB mailing list Talk-GB(a)openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-gb -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

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An invitation to the Oak
by WereSpielChequers 11 Jul '16

11 Jul '16

Dear all, Yesterday's London meetup had at least fourteen people with three or four new or newish faces. We had four people who'd recently returned from Wikimania at Esino Lario in Italy and they all gave some very positive feedback about the venue, the event and much that happened there. For once the WMF related discussion was all very positive with some hope for the new CEO and Chair. Other discussion ranged from some possible events, and an update on what's happened on wiki recently for a returnee who'd last been active in 2012, Unusually for a London meetup, politics was also a significant topic at least at one end of the table. As you'd expect of Londoners there were far more Remainers than Brexiters, but for a post referendum discussion it was quite nuanced with some people for whom it had been a complex decision, and of course there was discussion about the On wiki impact unusually we had British stories in the traffic report!. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2016-07-04/Traff…> Our next London meetup is on Sunday the 14th of Augus <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/London/109>t. You would all be very welcome Regards ~~~~

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"Friendly and inclusive", and Brexit at Wikimania
by Deryck Chan 11 Jul '16

11 Jul '16

I apologise for the somewhat emotionally charged post. Please read to the end and I promise my argument will come together... Wikimania 2016 gave me more emotional hot air than any other previous Wikimania except the one I organised (2013). But unusually, the hot air didn't arise from disputes about Wikimedia chapter governance or conference (dis)organisation. It was about Brexit. (For the record, I thought Wikimania Esino was amazingly well-operated.) Before Wikimania, I had already set out my attitude towards Brexit on a Facebook note. I've reposted it on my user-space on the Wikimania 2016 wiki so I won't repeat my arguments at length: https://wikimania2016.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Deryck_Chan/The_reluctant_Rem… The title of my post gives it away - I'm lukewarm towards Brexit. At Wikimania, the topic of Brexit naturally brought itself up in many mealtime conversations between me and Wikimaniacs from other EU countries. My opinion on the matter often took conversations towards unhappy disagreement, and I would feel excluded from subsequent conversation on the same table. I've never felt so rejected at Wikimania. Most heated debate at Wikimania I was involved in took the form of "us vs. y'all", so as inflamed as a debate may have been, there would be a "my side". But not this time. My unusual perspective as a non-white British (and EU, until UK formally withdraws) citizen meant that I had a perspective that was shared by very few others at Wikimania. It was like "me vs everyone else". I felt disenfranchised enough by the referendum debate itself as a non-white citizen of the UK. I felt sad enough that I voted Remain but Leave won. I wanted to share the little bit of hope I still had about the future, on the day Leave was declared victorious, and wasn't appreciated. I shared my feelings with Daria Cybulska (WMUK staff, Polish origin) and she reminded me to be "sensitive" of other people in discussion... an instruction I immediately fell foul of in that discussion, as I forgot that the UK's withdrawal from the EU will mean fewer opportunities for people with similar backgrounds to Daria, as much as the EU's protectionist tendencies have been reducing the opportunities for people with similar backgrounds to me. Okay, enough Brexit chat. I promised my argument would come together. In her Wikimania keynote, Katherine Maher said one of the things WMF would prioritise in the next year is to make our communities a "friendly and inclusive space". I'm a six-time Wikimaniac; and in-person meetings are known to facilitate more amicable debates than online discussions. But because of my unique background, even I fell foul of the standards of sensitivity in communication, and as a result felt unwelcome. Now imagine someone from a far-flung corner of Wikimedia-sphere joining Wikimania for the first time. Or a prospective new editor from a far-flung corner of Earth clicking [edit] for the first time. When there's disagreement in which the newcomer has a unique perspective, will they feel included? I don't claim to have the magic bullet. But thanks to Brexit happening during Wikimania 2016, now I understand the sheer magnitude of the problem. I feel encouraged that Katherine and the WMF are making it a leading priority for the next year to foster a "friendly and inclusive" community atmosphere. I'm not sure which one is easier to solve: the political mess of today's Europe, or the hostile mess of online communities. But for both, I shall remain hopeful and do my part to make our communities better. Deryck

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