Dear Wikitech,
I am writing to followup on this email thread from March when we Introduced
the Wikimedia Enterprise API
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2021/03/16/introducing-the-wikimedia-enterprise-api/>
and began community conversations about the project’s development. I have
just published an update on Wikimedia-l
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/MVU4DGEM42QTC5JMSG7W7GIUN4J65555/>and
on the Meta talkpage
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise#Update>
discussing various new documents and noting in particular that the
project’s commercial launch will be next week. You can read the details at
either of those links if you are interested.
On this mailing list I wanted to draw attention to the information in that
update which is of particular relevance to the technical community:
You will soon be able to access a copy of the Enterprise dataset, refreshed
each fortnight, at the Wikimedia dumps portal <http://dumps.wikimedia.org>.
Furthermore a ‘daily dump + hourly diff’ version is also already available, via
Wikimedia Cloud Services
<https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Cloud_Services_Introduction> to
any users of Toolforge, Cloud VPS, or PAWS. Both of these are provided to
anyone, for free (in both ‘gratis’ and ‘libre’ senses of the word).
Software development updates are published monthly on our page on MediaWiki
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise#Updates> (as is the API
documentation
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Documentation>). The
work is coordinated on our Phabricator board
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/wikimedia_enterprise/>.
Finally, If you would like to meet with, and ask any questions of, the
Enterprise team (a.k.a. “Office hours”), the next public meeting is on Friday
October 22 @ 1500 UTC on Zoom:
.
Sincerely,
Liam Wyatt [Wittylama]
On Tue, 16 Mar 2021 at 17:08, Liam Wyatt <lwyatt-ctr(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
Dear Wikitech/Wikitech-Ambassadors,
Over the last few months, a small team at the Wikimedia Foundation has
been working on a project that has been discussed by many people in our
movement for many years: building ‘enterprise grade’ services for the
high-volume commercial reusers of Wikimedia content. I am pleased to say
that in a remarkably short amount of time (considering the complexity of
the issues: technical, strategic, legal, and financial) we now have
something worthy of showing to the community, and we are asking for your
feedback. Allow me to introduce you to the Wikimedia Enterprise API project
– formerly codenamed “okapi”.
While the general idea for Wikimedia Enterprise predates the current
movement strategy process, its recommendations [0] identify an enterprise
API as one possible solution to both “Increase the sustainability of our
movement” and “Improve User Experience.” That is, to simultaneously
create a new revenue stream to protect Wikimedia’s sustainability, and
improve the quality and quantity of Wikimedia content available to our many
readers who do not visit our websites directly (including more consistent
attribution). Moreover, it does so in a way that is true to our movement’s
culture: with open source software, financial transparency, non-exclusive
contracts or content, no restrictions on existing services, and free access
for Wikimedia volunteers who need it.
The team believes we are on target to achieve those goals and so we have
written a lot of documentation you get your feedback about our progress and
where it could be further improved before the actual product is ‘launched’
in the next few months. We have been helped in this process over the last
several months by the approximately 100 individual volunteers (from many
corners of the wikiverse) and representatives of affiliate organisations
who have reviewed our plans and provided invaluable direction. Pointing out
weaknesses and opportunities, or areas lacking clarity and documentation in
our drafts.
A essay describing the “why?” and the “how?” of this project is now on
Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Essay
Also now published on Meta are an extensive FAQ [1] and operating
principles [2]. Much of this documentation is already available in French,
German, Italian, and Spanish.
For technical specifics, the new documentation on
MediaWiki.org describes
the product strategy and roadmap, work currently underway, design
documents, as well as infrastructure decisions and future plans:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise
The team is particularly interested in your feedback on how we have
designed the checks and balances to this project - to ensure it is as
successful as possible at achieving those two goals described above while
staying true to the movement’s values and culture. For example: Is
everything covered appropriately in the “Principles” list? Is the technical
documentation on
MediaWiki.org clear? Are the explanations in the “FAQ”
about free-access for community, or project’s legal structure, or the
financial transparency (etc.) sufficiently detailed?
Meet the team and Ask Us Anything:
The central place to provide written feedback about the project in general
is on the talkpage of the documentation on Meta at:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise
Equally, for technical comments or questions the talkpage on
MediaWiki.org:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Enterprise>
On this Friday (March 19) we will be hosting two “Office hours”
conversations where anyone can come and give feedback or ask questions:
- 13:00 UTC via Zoom at
https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/95580273732
- 22:00 UTC via Zoom at
https://wikimedia.zoom.us/j/92565175760 (note:
this is Saturday in Asia/Oceania)
Other “office hours” meetings can be arranged on-request on a technical
platform of your choosing; and we will organise more calls in the future.
We will also be attending the next SWAN meetings (on March 21)
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Wikimedia_Affiliates_Network,
and also the next of the Wikimedia Clinics
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Clinics
Moreover, we would be very happy to accept any invitation to attend an
existing group call that would like to discuss this topic (e.g. an
affiliate’s members’ meeting).
On behalf of the Wikimedia Enterprise team,
*Liam Wyatt [Wittylama]*
WikiCite <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite> Program Manager &
Wikimedia
Enterprise <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Okapi> Community Liaison
Wikimedia Foundation
[0]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20/Recomme…
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/FAQ
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Enterprise/Principles