Hello,
The Wikimedia Board Election Steering Committee invites all community
members to endorse candidates they support. Endorsements may be submitted
on meta now till next Saturday, 23:59 June 23, 2007.
Each qualified community member can submit up to three endorsements.
Please note several things:
- Only confirmed candidates are listed by Election Committee or its
delegate, so the list can be updated during the endorsements phase.
- You need an account on meta, not just the project that you are
qualified to vote under, unless you meet the criteria on meta too.
- Please link your meta user page and your home wiki page. Detailed
procedure can be found on the meta endorsement page.
All information is available on meta at:
On endorsements:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Endorsements/en
On candidates each:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Candidates/en
Election general: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/en
FAQ: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/FAQ/en
Questions about election are welcome at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Board_elections/2007/FAQ
Thanks to devoted volunteering translators, those pages are also
available in some languages other than English. We thank those
translators as well editors who have helped to disseminate the news
about this Election, including the latest sitenotice updates on several wikis.
Please consider forwarding to the project(s) you take part in
as well the mailing list(s) you belong to.
Sitenotice update and localization would also be appreciated.
Thank you for your attention, we look forward to your participation.
--
KIZU Naoko
Wikimedia Board Election Steering Committee, Chair
Hello all,
I am writing to introduce a number of changes to #wikipedia. The aim
of this is to improve the channel's image and to make it more useful
for everyone. The changes are being initiated this afternoon (GMT) and
I hope to have them done pretty quickly.
1: New contacts
The channel will now be managed by Mark_Ryan and Dmcdevit (their IRC
nicks, as most of us probably know them). At the moment it's pretty ad
hoc and so we (the [[m:IRC Group Contacts]]) that it might be a good
idea to put someone and a deputy very clearly with the responsibility
so that we don't get "who do I go to for this...?" with the response
"not me" from everyone, a common online scenario, or so I've observed.
2: New guidelines/rules
Together with some community input (although of course more is
welcomed - it's a wiki, so let's take advantage of that) we have
written some new guidelines for user and operator conduct at
<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_guidelines/wikipedia>. These are a
lot more enforcable than the old ones. The key thing is that operators
will try and resolve issues with words rather than powers whenever
possible.
3: New operators
We realised that the op list was becoming a bit messy. Additionally,
we're not sure that all operators are in agreement on the above
guidelines. We decided that it would be a bit pointless to ask them to
enforce guidelines they didn't support and do so using methods they
preferred not to use and so we have opted to clear out the access list
and start afresh. We welcome new applications from our experienced
operators to rejoin the team. On this note we are going to be a little
more formal on application for this, as only the contacts named above
will have the authority to manage the ops team. The key thing with all
these changes is to make #wikimedia-ops more useful, and to ensure
that operators use words rather than technological 'force' wherever
possible (as a rule of thumb, in the majority of cases where their
intervention is required). We aim to keep a list on meta of these ops
too to make it easier for people to get in touch with them.
You may be wondering if this applies to places other than #wikipedia:
not now, but we are considering rolling it out elsewhere if it proves
a success. Stay tuned!
Thank you for your support.
Yours,
Sean Whitton
Wikimedia IRC Group Contact
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Sean_Whitton
--
—Sean Whitton (seanw)
<sean(a)silentflame.com>
http://seanwhitton.com/
*There are at least 2 major character errors in the current Wikipedia
puzzle-globe logo, and other minor problems.
*[[User talk:Ambuj.Saxena/Wikipedia-logo]] is the most centralized
discussion/link compilation that I know of. (There's even a petition
at that link's projectpage)
*Nohat has explained the problems with correcting the errors. But
noone seems to have a solution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Ambuj.Saxena/Wikipedia-logo#Changing…
*'''Somebody with patience and brains (there are many
ramifications/implications, from the practical to the legal, to be
considered), and either delegating or computer-graphics skills, needs
to adopt this problem as a personal mission, lest it remain unsolved
for another year'''.
(copied from [[Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)#Wikipedia Logo - errors]].)
It's been mentioned at various VPump pages, relevant userpages, and
metapages, over the past few months, to no avail. I'm not sure
how/where else to get this issue the attention it seems to need (and I
don't have the background to spearhead the effort). Any assistance
would be appreciated.
Quiddity
Dear Wikimedians,
The local information pages (including "about Taipei", and "local
transportation") have been completed on the official website of Wikimania
2007. Please take a look and I think many questions will be solved after you
read them.
http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Local_information
Translation to other languages is welcome too.
Cheers,
Theodoranian
Posting on behalf of Election Commttee,
--
KIZU Naoko
aphaia(a)gmail.com
* Vox populi, vox dei *
-----------------------
Dear all,
We, the election committee, hereby announce the opening of a new
election for members of the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees.
At least three positions will be filled from this election, with the
elected members serving a two year term.
It is important to note that election processes are slightly different
this year than in previous years: all candidates should be certain to
thoroughly read the FAQ at:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/en
>From today, June 10th, we're accepting candidates for the Board of Trustees. If
you're interested, you must make a candidate statement and list
yourself on http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Candidates/en
We also need the help or translators for the elections, so if you're
fluent in any language other than English, and willing to help, please
list yourself here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/Translations
If you have any questions, please first read the FAQ, then list your
questions to the talk page:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/FAQ/en
The official announcement is available on Meta:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2007/en
We are confident that this election will draw very qualified
candidates, and we wish them the best of luck.
Regards,
Kizu Naoko (Aphaia)
Newyorkbrad
Philippe Beaudette
Jon Harald Søby
Wikimedia Board Election Steering Committee, 2007
Recently I got a request to not use Russian but Ukrainian text for the
summaries of the interwiki bot at the Ukrainian Wikipedia. This has
now been done, but I can imagine there are more languages that would
like to have their own language, or perhaps another choice of
alternative language than the one I have made. If you want summaries
in your own language on your Wikipedia for the bot, please send me a
message with these summaries.
The following languages already have translations:
af,ar,br,ca,cs,da,de,el,en,eo,es,eu,fa,fi,fr,he,hr,ia,is,it,ka,ksh,lt,mzn,nds,nds-nl,nl,
nn,no,os,pl,pt,ro,ru,sk,sl,sr,sv,uk
Of the other languages, the language used for the summaries is:
Arabic is used by ku,so
German is used by als,bar,hsb,lb
Esperanto is used by io,nov
Spanish is used by an,ast,ay,ceb,gl,gn,lad,nah,pag,qu,tl,war
Farsi is used by glk
French is used by co,frp,ht,ie,kab,ln,lo,nrm,oc,vi,wa
Hebrew is used by yi
Croatian is used by bs,mk,sh
Italian is used by eml,lij,lmo,nap,pms,rm,roa-tara,sc,scn,vec
Lithuanian is used by bat-smg
Dutch is used by fy,li,pap,vls,zea
Norse (bokmal) is used by se
Portuguese is used by tet
Romanian is used by mo,roa-rup
Russian is used by av,be,be-x-old,bxr,cv,got,hy,kk,ky,lbe,ru-sib,tk,tt,udm,xal
All languages not mentioned in the above use English.
If you want a localization in your language, please send me the
replacements for the texts "robot", "Adding", "Removing" and
"Modifying". If there is no local replacement needed, but you do think
that you would do better with some other language, just state which
(if any) language(s) should be preferred to English.
--
Andre Engels, andreengels(a)gmail.com
ICQ: 6260644 -- Skype: a_engels
In some of the non-English Wikipedias, the variable {{SITENAME}}
produces "Wikipedia" in English rather than in local language.
To avoid English name in local Wikipedias, some of the localizers used
the local name replacing the variable {{SITENAME}} in the system
messages in the MediaWiki namespace. The result of this is that
third-party MediaWiki installs that use non-English locale get these
hardcoded local names in various places of the site (even in e-mails
from those MediaWiki installs, in some cases).
The solution would be:
1. To change the value of the {{SITENAME}} variable in various
non-English language Wikipedias to the respective local name.
2. To change back the system messages in non-English to use {{SITENAME}}.
As for changing the system messages back to {{SITENAME}}, this needs
to be brought to the attention of local Wikipedias sysops. I can
manage this in Telugu Wikipedia.
How to change the value {{SITENAME}} for a particular Wikipedia?
Should I file a bug in MediaZilla? Or there any way?
Thanks,
Veeven.
--
http://veeven.com/
Internet Marketing 3 Simple Business Success
Internet marketing experts first start using Onsite Optimization and using
the right keywords using keywords in your titles, descriptions and heading
tags. Simply placing more keywords selectively in certain areas on the page
is key.
Keyword density should be 5 to 6 %, do not over load key phrases. But good
Internet marketing experts will place keywords and use anchor text to help
you rank and convert sales.
Use anchor text towards the top of pages. This anchor text or link should be
a keyword. Then place that anchor text to go to a page that is optimized for
that key phrase.
Second is off site optimization, which is Internet marketing most important
technique. Internet marketers use link building. There are a couple simple
ways to link build.
Content and Article Promotion, Directory submissions, paid links, and rss
feeds. This is all you really need to focus on for links. And lastly SEO
Experts create business blogs that will also promote a site.
Third technique is building more pages and use good content. Have a web
designer create a web page or content management system for you or purchase
one online.
The more good pages you create the better opportunity you can have for bring
traffic. But important step for Internet marketing is good content. Them
related contented that focuses on a problem and offers a solution with you
link in the middle.
Once you understand your low hanging fruit you can really blast past your
competition. So blast your unique content and market and solve solutions for
peoples problems. Then simply have a link and call to action.
Syndicate your great content to niche directories and article directories.
Good Internet marketing experts promote website but more they promote great
content.
How does one get content out quickly?
Again stream the process using tools. Automate as much as you can? not the
content but the process of syndicating. For good article promotion you
should submit to major article directories. SEO or Search Engine Marketing
can be successful by just taking care of these steps. When you promote
articles you get to send them to millions of sites. These sites are articles
sites. The content or article you send should have one link. That link is a
link back and now you are link building. So go out there start article
promotion.
One important Step to understand, remember Google is getting smarter. Google
is now researching phrases and keyword density more closely. The databases
store the relevancy and details about phrase matching. This will get you
penalized so beware of the phrase matching which will be coming and knocking
out a lot of spammers.
Call us at : 1-866-268-5588
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/SOSChildrenUK2007
It's sorta related to the 0.5 CD, but with a particular aim in mind.
SOS Children did most of the work, WMF says "here's a logo and
blessings."
Andrew Cates happens to be en:wp admin [[User:BozMo]] as well :-)
- d.
SOS Children UK and the Wikimedia Foundation announce the launch of
the Wikipedia Selection for Schools
29th May 2007: SOS Children UK, in coordination with the Wikimedia
Foundation, have launched the Wikipedia Selection for Schools. The
Selection DVD has the content of a 15 volume encyclopaedia - with
24,000 pictures, 14 million words and articles on 4,625 topics. It
includes the best of Wikipedia, and many thousands of pages of extra
material specifically selected to be of interest to children aged 8-17
who follow the UK National Curriculum and similar curricula elsewhere
in the world.
Florence Devouard, chair of the Wikimedia Foundation, said: "The
Wikimedia Foundation aims to encourage the development and
distribution of reference content to the public free of charge: this
project is an excellent example of free resources being offered to a
particular audience which we warmly encourage, and are proud to
support."
Dr Andrew Cates, CEO of SOS Children (and himself a Wikipedia
administrator) said: "Wikipedia offers a fantastic learning resource.
We are delighted to have been able to play a part in increasing the
number of children who will be able to benefit from it. We are
indebted to the volunteers in our offices and on Wikipedia who helped
check articles and to the Wikipedia community for their help with this
project."
The Selection can easily be run on school intranets or in remote
locations in the developing world where Internet access is a problem.
A pilot version of this release has already been distributed to
schools in South Africa by the Shuttleworth Foundation. It is intended
to extend and update the Selection periodically.
SOS Children is best known as the world's largest orphan charity (UK
Charity No. 1069204) but is also a very large educational charity
running 192 schools with 91,000 pupils in the developing world. See
www.soschildren.org
The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is a US non-profit charitable
organisation dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and
distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full
content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. The
Wikimedia Foundation operates some of the largest collaboratively
edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, one of
the 10 most visited websites in the world.
Summary points:
* The selection is organised around National Curriculum subjects
* The articles have been cleaned up and checked for suitability
for and usefulness to children
* Website: http://schools-wikipedia.org ;
* Downloads
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/charity-news/wikipedia-for-schools.h…
* Available for free as BitTorrent full download (3.5GB with full
size images) standard download (1GB with only thumbnail images) or on
DVD from the charity's offices in Cambridge.
There has been recent public discussion, started by the Education
Secretary, on the suitability of Wikipedia for UK schools. Many
articles on the live Wikipedia website are of acceptable quality and
accuracy. This Selection aims to correct the remaining criticisms made
of Wikipedia as a school resource:
* the Selection has been screened;
* the Selection cannot be vandalized;
* children cannot "meet" adults there;
* there are no very explicit articles or content. (The most
detailed article is
http://schools-wikipedia.org/wp/b/Birth_control.htm , which has been
kept technical and neutral).
Note: The Wikipedia Selection for Schools is a separate project from
the recent 0.5 Release Version of Wikipedia, although they share
technology and volunteers. The Selection is about twice the size, and
aims to give a fairly complete selection of articles of direct
interest to school children or of direct relevance to the National
Curriculum. It is entirely free, and has no commercial advertising.
Contact:
* David Gerard, UK media contact, Wikimedia Foundation:
wp(a)davidgerard.co.uk, +44 7733 223584
* Andrew Cates, CEO, SOS Children UK: andrew(a)soschildren.org, +44
1223 365589 mobile 07963 986751
* Chrissy Davey, Press Officer, SOS Children UK:
chrissy(a)soschildren.org, +44 1223 365589