[Wikimedia-l] Outage: what I'm telling the press

Mon Aug 6 21:11:19 UTC 2012

Thanks for the nice reply, Andreas. You get bonus points for liking barges!
I think that in this case, the problem is due to the journalist, rather
than David's quotes. I've seen the emails he sent to our communications
organiser, Stevie, keeping him up to date, and the journalist did a rather
rushed job. Not to bad-mouth him, of course: but it's clear that he had a
deadline to work to.

We've all had things taken out of context, even by the nicest journalists -
I still remember the Wikipedia Review thread where two Wikipedia
Review-ians saw my flat on the BBC, and genuinely offered, in private, to
come round and help me fix it up, so shocked they were at the "squalor".
The fact was, I had stripped half of the wallpaper, and lived nextdoor to
Wormwood Scrubs prison - and the BBC journalist decided to emphasise those
points, rather than my immaculate cravat and waistcoat (
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12172367)

I can't speak for the rest of the movement, but WMUK is planning to keep 6
months reserves. I believe good practice for a UK charity is anywhere from
six to twelve months reserves. Certainly, though, we need to keep an eye on
the movement's reserves, and ensure that either we shorten the fundraiser
appropriately, or fund educational outreach programmes as needed,
worldwide.

And, to those critics and supporters lurking around: we could really use
your help coming up with crazy, unusual, innovative ways to spend £10k.
This year, we launched Monmouthpedia - bringing an entire town together to
write about where they live. It wasn't without faults: but the idea, and
the project, were a complete success. Next year, we might shorten the
fundraiser by a few hours - or we might come up with a completely
off-the-wall project that shows what crowdsourcing can really do. Put your
ideas up at http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2013_Activity_Plan/Ideas, no
matter how daft they are. The WMUK board will look at them, love them, and
laugh at them, as appropriate. WMUK might not approve any of them: but
Monmouthpedia was started when one man stood up at the back of a museum and
said, "why not do that with a whole town?". And we did, and we generated
worldwide media coverage, spread the idea of Monmouth around the world, and
won 'Best Chapter Project' at Wikimania 2012. *Add your ideas, folks!* Please
:-)

Richard Symonds
Wikimedia UK
0207 065 0992
Disclaimer viewable at
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia:Email_disclaimer
Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk

On 6 August 2012 21:50, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Richard, that is fine. But surely you can see that it's inappropriate to
> have the BBC imply, on a day when we have an outage, that we're strapped
> for cash to keep Wikipedia running, holding the site together "with gaffer
> tape and string", and need donations, while in fact we have built up
> reserves of $27.7 million, equivalent to a full year's spending at
> 2011-2012 levels, and Wikimedians struggle to come up with zany ideas on
> how to spend £10k. Nothing against barges, and canals ... I love them.
>
> By the way, any further ideas for a Wikimedia UK project can be added to
> this page:
>
> http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2013_Activity_Plan/Ideas
>
> Andreas
>
> On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 9:36 PM, Richard Symonds <
> richard.symonds at wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > Andreas,
> >
> > That idea - my idea - is taken wildly out-of-context, and I feel I have
> to
> > step in and defend it. We were all asked to come up with a crazy idea
> that
> > could costs about £10k as part of a brainstorming session - the canal
> boat
> > idea was my contribution. As you know, I know a fair bit about
> narrowboats,
> > and when asked to come up with a crazy idea, it's usually where I start.
> > There's nothing wrong with liking boats. It's a running joke with me (and
> > my picture on ED is of me in a sailor suit...)
> >
> > It wasn't long ago that people on the WMUK list were suggesting ideas
> like
> > funding open-source ocean-going ROVs, to take photos of shipwrecks -
> while
> > not all of these ideas are workable, I think it's fantastic that we're
> > having such creative ideas. Innovation is a fantastic thing: just because
> > something is wacky and zany, doesn't mean that it's a waste of money;
> > equally just because something isn't feeding African orphans, doesn't
> mean
> > it's not a charitable endeavour. There are UK charities out there that
> > exist just to fund donkeys, or of course charities like KCM Europe (
> > http://www.kcm.org.uk/) which exist for the advancement of religion. It
> is
> > a matter of personal choice for the donor as to where a donor's money
> goes.
> > I am confident that this year, we'll be raising money for some fantastic
> > projects - a larger version of Monmouthpedia, or a new digitization
> project
> > with the National Archives - or maybe even the next Wikidata.
> >
> > To conclude, I want to share my own feelings on who I donate to: I donate
> > to several charities, one of which is a homelessness charity who have
> > helped me and my loved ones greatly in the past. The others are all
> > education charities. This is because it's my belief that, in the long
> term,
> > free education for all is the best way to solve world poverty, world
> hunger
> > and conflict. You might disagree - I daresay many people would - but I
> feel
> > that if only we were all as wise as a wise old owl, the world would be a
> > much, much better place.
> >
> >
> > Richard Symonds
> > (Wikimedia UK staff, but with my volunteer hat on).
> >
> >
> >
> > On 6 August 2012 21:06, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 8:54 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 6 August 2012 20:43, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > David, the BBC says you told them the following:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > See, this is where you part ways with how the media works. These days
> > > > I count it as a win if anything in quotes uses words I've ever used
> in
> > > > my life.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Well, glad to hear the words gaffer tape and string never crossed your
> > > lips, then. I still think you should call them and disabuse them of
> their
> > > notion that WMF is desperately short of cash.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 8:47 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com
> >
> > >  wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 6 August 2012 20:43, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > Could you get back to the BBC, please, David, and tell them that
> they
> > > > > somehow seem to have gotten hold of the wrong end of the stick
> here?
> > > And
> > > > > could you drop the "gaffer tape and string" jokes next time round?
> > > >
> > > > We operate the fifth most visited website in the world on an
> > > > operations budget of a few million dollars. It is you that has the
> > > > wrong end of the stick...
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > $35 million is not "a few million dollars". Wikipedia was indeed run
> on a
> > > budget of a few million dollars a few years ago, but that's no longer
> the
> > > case. And the chapters are having to come up with creative ideas to
> spend
> > > their money. One of the latest suggestions raised by a Wikimedia UK
> staff
> > > member was that ...
> > >
> > > ---o0o---
> > >
> > > We could put a volunteer or two on a specially fitted-out (and
> > > Wikipedia-liveried?) live-aboard boat for the summer, and have them map
> > the
> > > canal network - taking photos of every building, every lock, and even
> > > taking video footage of sections of the trip from a roof-mounted
> camera.
> > A
> > > GPS system would trace the entire route for Open Street Map. British
> > > Waterways may also be interested, as we'd essentially be doing a
> > > mini-survey of the network, including all the structures, for them. We
> > > could fit the inside of the barge with a small supply of educational
> > > materials and a marquis for stopping the 'wiki-barge' in towns along
> the
> > > way.*What would we need?* - A narrowboat, to hire, for the summer -
> needs
> > > to be quite small. Two volunteers, technically minded, at least one of
> > whom
> > > knows about narrowboats. GPS equipment (possibly able to loan from OSM
> or
> > > British Waterways?). A 3G internet connection (wouldn't work
> everywhere,
> > > but would work when near a village/town). A camera (and possibly a
> > > video-camera). Lots of hard drive space. Expenses for the volunteers
> > > aboard. Brochures/booklets.
> > >
> > > ---o0o---
> > >
> > > All fine and dandy, but then let's please do our best to ensure that
> the
> > > BBC don't print "gaffer tape and string" sob stories about us. The
> tenner
> > > that someone in India sends us might indeed be better spent on a local
> > > charity there that actually feeds someone, or keeps someone healthy.
> > > _______________________________________________
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