Hi all,
please find below the WMF report for February 2014, in plain text.
As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_February_2014
and the reports are being posted on the Wikimedia blog, too: https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/
As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary. Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay updated, by providing a translation: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_February_2014
Many thanks to those who have translated the January "Highlights" into Czech, French, Indonesian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Ukrainian, and Simplified and Traditional Chinese (and partially into Korean, Dutch, Russian and some other languages)!
Apologies for the unusually late posting of the February report. The March report should go out shortly.
Regards, Tilman
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Wikimedia Foundation Report, February 2014
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_March_6,... Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting covering the month of February https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2014-03-06 (March 6, 2014)
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends * 2 Financials * 3 Highlights o 3.1 Frank Schulenburg named executive director of the new Wiki Education Foundation, which supports Wikipedia courses in the US and Canada o 3.2 New Media Viewer: A better way to view images o 3.3 Discussion about disclosure requirements for paid editing, and about the new privacy policy * 4 Engineering o 4.1 VisualEditor o 4.2 Editor engagement o 4.3 Mobile * 5 Fundraising o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations o 5.2 Online Fundraising * 6 Grantmaking o 6.1 Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee) o 6.2 Project and Event Grants + 6.2.1 Grants funded in February 2014 + 6.2.2 Reports accepted in February 2014 o 6.3 Travel & Participation Support + 6.3.1 Requests funded in February 2014 + 6.3.2 Reports accepted in February 2014 o 6.4 Individual Engagement Grants + 6.4.1 Grants started in February 2014 + 6.4.2 Grants funded in February 2014 + 6.4.3 Reports accepted in February 2014 o 6.5 Grantmaking Learning and Evaluation, and Program Evaluation & Design o 6.6 Wikipedia Education Program + 6.6.1 Global programs + 6.6.2 Arab world programs + 6.6.3 Communications * 7 Human Resources o 7.1 February Staff Changes o 7.2 February Statistics * 8 Finance and Administration * 9 Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department o 9.1 LCA Report, February 2014 + 9.1.1 Contract Metrics + 9.1.2 Trademark Metrics + 9.1.3 Domains Obtained + 9.1.4 Coming & Going + 9.1.5 Other Activities # 9.1.5.1 Legal # 9.1.5.2 CA o 9.2 Communications Report, February 2014 + 9.2.1 Major announcements + 9.2.2 Major Storylines through February + 9.2.3 Other worthwhile reads + 9.2.4 WMF Blog posts + 9.2.5 Media Contact + 9.2.6 Wikipedia Signpost * 10 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Total_Active_Editors_Wiktionary_Wiki... Total Active Editors for Wiktionary, Wikivoyage (reconstituted) and Wikisource, 2002-2013 (from presentation slides https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:ListFiles&offset=201403070000000&limit=4&user=DarTar)
Global unique visitors for January:
*495 million* +1.05% compared with December; +1.41% compared with the previous year) (comScore data http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors for all Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release February data later in March)
Page requests for February:
*21.001 billion* (+1.6% compared with January; -3.5% compared with the previous year) (Server log data http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm, all Wikimedia Foundation content projects including mobile access, but excluding Wikidata https://www.wikidata.org and the Wikipedia main portal page https://www.wikipedia.org/.)
Active Registered Editors for January 2014 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month, excluding bots):
*81,821* (+8.24% compared with December / -2.92% compared with the previous year) (Database data http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors, all Wikimedia Foundation projects.)
*Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF projects):
http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/
(Definitions https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Metric_definitions)
== Financials ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_January_201... Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of January 31, 2014 <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_January_20... Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of January 31, 2014
(Financial information is only available through January 2014 at the time of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and Year-To-Date January 31, 2014.
Revenue 38,169,215 *Expenses:* Engineering Group 9,278,563 Fundraising Group 2,535,021 Grantmaking Group 951,930 Programs Group 1,044,778 Grants 2,378,690 Governance Group 415,129 Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group 2,057,675 Finance/HR/Admin Group 4,084,665 Total Expenses 22,746,451 Total surplus (15,422,764) /in US dollars/
* Revenue for the month of January is $3.42MM versus plan of $0.01MM, approximately $3.41MM or 58,335% over plan. * Year-to-date revenue is $38.17MM versus plan of $45.04MM, approximately $6.87MM or 15% under plan. * Expenses for the month of January is $3.97MM versus plan of $4.53MM, approximately $559K or 12% under plan, primarily due to lower personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees, grants and travel expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services and payment processing fees. * Year-to-date expenses is $22.75MM versus plan of $27.39MM, approximately $4.64MM or 17% under plan, primarily due to lower personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees, payment processing fees, staff development expenses, grants, and travel expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services and recruiting fees. * Cash position is $54.67MM as of January 31, 2014.
== Highlights ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WEFBelow.svg%3E Logo of the new Wiki Education Foundation
=== Frank Schulenburg named executive director of the new Wiki Education Foundation, which supports Wikipedia courses in the US and Canada ===
The Wikipedia Education Program, where university students contribute to Wikipedia as a course assignment, began in 2010 as a pilot project run by the Wikimedia Foundation (the "Public Policy Initiative" which focused on the subject of US public policy). Since then, the program has expanded worldwide. In the United States and Canada alone, more than 6,000 students have contributed to Wikipedia as part of the program, adding the equivalent of 36,600 printed pages to Wikipedia and significantly increasing the amount of high-quality content.
The global Wikipedia Education Program will continue to be supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. But in 2012, the Wikimedia Foundation began a process to hand over cooperations with educators and institutions in the US and Canada to a new non-profit organization, the "Wiki Education Foundation https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Education_Foundation", created in late 2013. In February, the new organization appointed https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Frank_Schulenburg_named_executive_director_of_new_WEF its first executive director: Frank Schulenburg https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Frank_Schulenburg_(Wiki_Ed), a long-time German Wikipedian and Commons contributor who left his position https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/QA_Frank_Schulenburg_announcement_February_2014 as head of the Wikimedia Foundation's program department for the new job.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Multimedia_Roundtable_3.pdf?page=21%... Media Viewer (early sketch explaining how it works)
=== New Media Viewer: A better way to view images ===
The Multimedia Team invited https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/27/help-test-media-viewer/ community members to test a beta version of Media Viewer, a new tool for viewing images and other multimedia content. Currently, when a reader clicks on a thumbnail in an article, they are taken to a separate page showing the image in medium size, surrounded by a lot of text information which can be confusing. Media Viewer shows images in a larger size, as an overlay on the current page.
At the end of February, when the invitation was made, over 12,000 beta testers had already activated Media Viewer as part of the Beta Features https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage:Beta_Features program. The rollout of Media Viewer to the first wikis was scheduled for April https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Release_Plan.
=== Discussion about disclosure requirements for paid editing, and about the new privacy policy ===
The Wikimedia Foundation's Legal Department is drafting a proposed amendment to the Terms of Use to address further undisclosed paid editing. Contributing to the Wikimedia projects to serve the interests of a paying client while concealing the paid affiliation has led to situations that the community considers problematic. The LCA team published a draft for a community discussion https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use/Paid_contributions_amendment. The discussion received significant response, and continued through March 21, 2014.
The department also announced the conclusion of the community consultations about the new Privacy Policy https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy (after discussions that lasted over 8 months), together with the accompanying Data retention guidelines https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data_retention_guidelines, and the Access to Nonpublic Information Policy https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_to_nonpublic_information_policy, whose consultation lasted over 5 months. These policies will be reviewed by the Board in April 2014.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for February 2014 can be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2014/February
Department Highlights
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Media_Viewer_v0.2_Slides_-_WMF_Metri... Presentation slides about Media Viewer
Major news in February include:
* a call for volunteers to test the upcoming multimedia viewer https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/27/help-test-media-viewer/; * improvements to VisualEditor's media and template editors; * the launch of the Flow discussion system on two pilot talk pages on the English Wikipedia; * the launch of guided tours to 31 more language versions of Wikipedia, including all of the top 10 projects by number of page views; * improvements to the tools and process used to deploy code to Wikimedia production sites; * the release of the first archive of the entire English Wikipedia with thumbnails http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/offline-l/2014-March/001238.html, for offline use.
=== VisualEditor https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Portal ===
In February, the VisualEditor https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor team continued their work on improving the stability and performance of this visual tool to edit wiki pages; they also added some new features and simplifications. It is now easier to edit media items: users can set the position, alt text, size and type for most kinds of media item. When adding links, redirects and disambiguation pages are now highlighted to help editors select the right link, and changing the format or style of some text was tweaked to make editing clearer and more obvious. Adding and editing template usages is now a little smoother, auto-focusing on parameters and making them clearer to use. Page settings have expanded to set redirects, page indexing and new section edit link options. The extensive work to make insertion of "citation" references based on templates quick, obvious and simple neared completion. The deployed version of the code was updated four times in the regular releases.
The Parsoid https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid team continued with bug fixes https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid/Deployments and improved image support in this parsing program that converts wikitext to annotated HTML, behind the scenes of VisualEditor.
Part of the team has continued to mentor two Outreach Program for Women https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/FOSS_Outreach_Program_for_Women/Round_7 (OPW) interns; this program ends mid-March. Others are mentoring a group of students in a Facebook Open Academy https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Facebook_Open_Academy project to build a Cassandra storage back-end for the Parsoid round-trip test server.
We have a first version of a Debian package for Parsoid ready. This package is yet to find a home base (repository) from which it can be installed. This will soon make the installation of Parsoid as easy as |apt-get install parsoid|.
=== Editor engagement https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement ===
This month, the new Flow https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow discussion system was launched on the talk pages of two English Wikipedia WikiProjects that volunteered to be a part of the first trial, WikiProject Breakfast https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Breakfast and WikiProject Hampshire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Hampshire. We've continued to iterate on the front-end design of the discussion system based on user feedback, releasing a new appearance during the trial and starting work on a front-end rewrite for better cross-browser and mobile compatibility (to be released sometime in March). We also spent time making sure Flow integrates better with vital MediaWiki tools and processes (e.g., suppression and checkuser) and improving the handling of permalink URLs.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Growth_Quarterly_Review_(February_20... Slides of the quarterly review of the Growth team
In February, the Growth https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth team first focused on releasing the new Wikipedia onboarding experience https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Onboarding_new_Wikipedians on additional projects. The GettingStarted https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GettingStarted extension was deployed to 30 Wikipedias, including all of the top 10 projects by number of page views. This marks the first time its task suggestions and guided tours were available outside English projects. The GuidedTour https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GuidedTour extension was also deployed to those projects (as a dependency of GettingStarted), as well as the Czech Wikipedia and se.wikimedia.org. Late in the month, the team also presented its work at its first Quarterly Review of the 2014 calendar year (see slides and minutes https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_reviews/Growth/February_2014).
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Metrics_Meeting_-_March_20... Demonstration of editing on a tablet
=== Mobile https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering ===
The Wikimedia Apps https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps team primarily worked on basic editing functionality (using wikitext) for both logged-in and logged-out users, as well as account creation and login.
The Mobile web projects https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_web_projects team has been working on bringing VisualEditor to tablets; the functionality is currently in alpha. Once this feature is available, tablet devices will be redirected to the mobile site. Work has notably focused on "inspectors" (like the dialog used to add and edit a link) and fixing bugs.
During the last month, the Wikipedia Zero https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero engineering team added zero-data charge rating for secure HTTPS connections for select carriers, in cooperation with the Operations team. In collaboration with the Mobile Apps team, we integrated Wikipedia Zero into the forthcoming rebooted versions of the Android and iOS apps. We updated the legacy Firefox OS app with bugfixes from January, and prepared other bugfixes as well. Discussion with the Operations team and Platform Engineering continued on how to best implement the Wikipedia Zero portal. The team also continued the discussion on core ResourceLoader features, in support of a proof of concept HTML5 webapp. We also started work to make contributory features present for Wikipedia Zero users. Last but not least, we performed extensive analytics work on pageviews and page bandwidth consumption.
/(The Wikipedia Zero team led by Carolynne Schloeder, formerly situated in the Programs department, became part of the Engineering department in February, see announcement Q&A https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/QA_Frank_Schulenburg_announcement_February_2014)/
In February, we launched Wikipedia Zero with MTN South Africa (Opera Mini browser only). MTN South Africa responded directly to the kids of Sinenjongo High School with an open letter to the students and the youth of South Africa. They said they agree that Wikipedia could give a boost to their education system, and that offering Wikipedia Zero is a small thing that could change everything (see video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc2lVRtWEvM on YouTube). We also launched Wikipedia Zero with Safaricom, the largest operator in Kenya. We now have three partners in Kenya, covering 90% of all mobile subscribers. South Africa is our 23rd country to launch, and Safaricom is our 27th operator partner. The Mobile Partnerships team attended Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where we met with existing operator partners, prospective partners and tech companies who want to support the mission. At the conference, our Wikipedia Text pilot with Airtel Kenya and the Praekelt Foundation was nominated as a finalist for the GSMA Global Mobile awards in the education category.
== Fundraising ==
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* Received a *$100,000 gift* from an anonymous donor. * All *Annual reports https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Annual_report* sent out to major donors.
=== Online Fundraising ===
* The online fundraising team ran *banner campaigns* in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden. Roughly $850,000 was raised in February (preliminary numbers as donations are still settling). * The team prepared *translations of fundraising messages* into multiple languages for upcoming international banner campaigns. If you would like to help with the translation process, please get involved https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/Translation * *Pats Pena was promoted* to Senior Global Fundraising Operations Manager.
== Grantmaking ==
Department highlights
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IEG_barnstar_2.png%3E IEG round 1 2014 open call!
* 9 requests funded and 3 reports accepted in February 2014. * *Open call http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/28/individual-engagement-grants-call-for-proposals/ for round 1 2014* Individual Engagement Grant proposals and committee members is underway! Proposals are due 31 March 2014: Grants:IEG https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG * The *APG proposal form has been revised* and is now available to 2013-2014 Round 2 entities: Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Proposal_form https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Proposal_form. This is in preparation for the upcoming proposal submission date on 1 April 2014 for 2013-2014 Round 2.
=== Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee) ===
* *Impact report form* has been revised and is now available to 2012-2013 Round 1 entities, which may now create an impact report form using the proposal hub page: Impact report form https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Impact_report_form. This is in preparation for the upcoming impact report submission date on 31 March for entities receiving grants in 2012-2013 Round 1 that have completed in December 2013. * The *proposal form* has been revised and is now available to 2013-2014 Round 2 entities: Proposal_form https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Proposal_form. This is in preparation for the upcoming proposal submission date on 1 April 2014 for 2013-2014 Round 2. * *Staff comments on WMF's impact report form https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/Wikimedia_Foundation/Impact_report_form* have been published. * Dates of the *FDC deliberations* for 2013-2014 Round 2 and the FDC Advisory Group have been confirmed: 21-25 May in Frankfurt (FDC), Germany; 25-26 May in Frankfurt Germany (FDAG). Preparations are now underway. * No grants were funded and no reports were received in February 2014 through the Annual Plan Grants program.
=== Project and Event Grants ===
* 5 PEG requests funded; 2 reports accepted
==== Grants funded in February 2014 ====
* WMFI - 2014 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_FI/WMFI_2014 : to support *Wikimedia Finland's 2014 programs*, including a focus on developing the Wikimaps project. * WMEE - 2014 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_EE/2014 : to support *Wikimedia Estonia's 2014 programs*, including outreach events, WLM, WLE, WEP, writing competitions, and more. * Programs in Ukraine 2014 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_UA/Programs_in_Ukraine_2014 : to support *Wikimedia Ukraine's 2014 programs*, including WLM, WEP, wikiexpeditions, and more. * Minority Translate https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Kruusam%C3%A4gi/Minority_Translate : to support the development of a *translation tool targeted at small language Wikipedias*. * Wikimedians to the Games https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_UA/Wikimedians_to_the_Games : to support Wikimedia Ukraine volunteers to attend the *Sochi Paralympics games* and increase coverage of disabled athletes on Wikipedia.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLM_ZA_awards_2013f.JPG%3E The Wiki Loves Monuments South Africa 2013 awards gala in Johannesburg, South Africa.
==== Reports accepted in February 2014 ====
* Report of *WikiConference Yerevan 2013* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_AM/WikiConference_Yerevan_2013/Report was accepted on 18 February 2014. * Report of WLM-ZA-2013 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_ZA/WLM-ZA-2013/Report (*Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 in South Africa*) was accepted on 27 February 2014.
=== Travel & Participation Support ===
* 4 requests funded; 1 report accepted * Planning for *redesign* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Build/Spring_2014_sprint to simplify and improve TPS pages is underway, with improvements to be launched as soon as March. Improvements to the reporting process and to backend administrative processes are also being planned.
==== Requests funded in February 2014 ====
* LibreGraphicsMeeting https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Rodelar/LibreGraphicsMeeting: a request for two Wikimedians to attend the *Libre Graphics Meeting to present on WikiArS* (one Wikimedian also attended last year's meeting through the TPS program). * Harsh4101991/FOSSASIA https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Harsh4101991/FOSSASIA, Rahul21/FOSSASIA https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Rahul21/FOSSASIA, FOSS_Asia_2014 https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Rjain/FOSS_Asia_2014: three requests for Wikimedians to present their work at *FOSS Asia in Phnom Penh*.
==== Reports accepted in February 2014 ====
* *FOSDEM* - Report https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Harsh4101991/FOSDEM/Report
=== Individual Engagement Grants ===
* Open call http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/28/individual-engagement-grants-call-for-proposals/ for round 1 2014 Individual Engagement Grant proposals and committee members is underway! Proposals are due 31 March 2014: Grants:IEG https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG * In preparation for the open call, the IEG, IdeaLab and Grants:Start pages on Meta-wiki were set up for *internationalization* this month, thanks to Jon Harald Søby https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jon_Harald_S%C3%B8by who was engaged as a contractor to work on this project. All pages are now available for volunteer translation in the Translate Extension, expanding the global reach of these programs. * Sprint planning https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Build/March-June_2014_sprint_plan is underway to *improve IdeaLab*. The sprint will run April through June, and focuses on incorporating new features to make it easier to create, join, and endorse ideas, as well as match project needs to people's skills. * In cooperation with WMF technical staff, we've developed a proposal https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mentorship_programs/Possible_projects#A_system_for_reviewing_funding_requests for a *OPW or GSoC student to work on building a system for scoring* grant proposals and scholarship applications. * In other individual grantmaking news: In consultation with the Arabic Wikipedia community, planning https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/ARWP_small_individual_grants_pilot is underway for a join microgrants pilot between WMF grantmaking and The Wikipedia Library. This pilot will fund *books and other reliable sources for Arabic editors*, via a new Wikipedia Library hub https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D9%85%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A8%D8%A9_%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7 currently being built on Arabic Wikipedia.
==== Grants started in February 2014 ====
* The *Wikidata Toolkit* IEG https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Wikidata_Toolkit project kicked off this month, with a team assembled at TU Dresden.
==== Grants funded in February 2014 ====
* No new IEGs were funded in February 2014
==== Reports accepted in February 2014 ====
* No new IEG reports were accepted in February 2014
=== Grantmaking Learning and Evaluation, and Program Evaluation & Design ===
/(The Program Evaluation and Design group, formerly situated in the Programs department, became part of the Grantmaking department in February, see announcement Q&A https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/QA_Frank_Schulenburg_announcement_February_2014)/
* Concluded the alpha *test of Fluxx http://fluxx.io/, the grantmaking software*, and worked collaboratively with Fluxx labs to fix the reported bugs and enhance the user experience based on the current workflow of WMF grants programs. * Started a community discussion on ArWp to set up *a new micro-grants program pilot https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/ARWP_small_individual_grants_pilot* that would directly support the needs of individual contributors via microgrants from the Wikimedia Foundation for access to sources. * Prepared development work on *Wikimetrics* (with Analytics), with a contract starting 3/3/2014. * In partnership with IEG, set up three Grantmaking portals (IEG, IdeaLab, and Grants:Start) for *translation*. Developed best practices and a workflow for separating translatable content from template structure and style in grantmaking portals (see Translatable Content Template https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template:TCT). * In partnership with IEG, began to draft *IdeaLab sprint planning https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Build/March-June_2014_sprint_plan*. Focusing on technical requirements and impact evaluation criteria. * Grants Programs: o Annual Plan Grants: published *cost-benefit survey results https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_continuous_improvement_of_the_FDC_process/Cost-Benefit_Survey* o Project & Event Grants: Launched work with consultancy "Inspire" to *map out the spending over time* and prepare potential framework * Released revised and expanded *learning module for Wikimetrics https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Learning_modules/1Wikimetrics_Training_Overview* * Developed plans for pre-conference workshop sessions for *Wikimedia Conference 2014* https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News#upcoming-events * Hosted two evaluation and learning *virtual meet-ups*: o The first presented by Jaime Anstee: "Program tracking and reporting toolkit" (February 13, At least 9 program leaders, 4 GLEE, and 4 PE&D team members attended live; current youtube view count: 24) View the toolkit https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library/Tracking_and_Reporting_Toolkit or the recording https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmQ50zm_CtA o The second presented by Jessie Wild and Siko Bouterse: "How to be a Star IEG Grantee" (February 19), attended by at least 7 program leaders, 5 from GLEE, and 1 PE&D member (view count at 25) View the report https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Learning/Round_1_2013/Impact or the recording https://plus.google.com/events/c5sud44lefi4nv9cpqu4hck9qec
=== Wikipedia Education Program ===
/(The Educations Program team became part of the Grantmaking department in February, following Frank Schulenburg's departure to head the new Wiki Education Foundation, see announcement Q&A https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/QA_Frank_Schulenburg_announcement_February_2014)/
==== Global programs ====
* *Floor Koudijs* has joined the Wikipedia Education Program team at the Wikimedia Foundation as a contractor to support with *program management activities*. She's a native of the Netherlands and has worked for the Dutch National Government as a program manager with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Justice. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and daughter, and is looking forward to learning about the Wikimedia world and helping support Wikipedia Education Program activities around the globe. * Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager LiAnna Davis is working with volunteers to plan the *Future of Education track at Wikimania* 2014. Interested parties are invited to join in the planning stages https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fringe/Future_of_Education_Hack/Planning. * Before switching focus to *editor campaigns https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Editor_campaigns*, Developer Andrew Russell Green and Communications Contractor Sage Ross streamlined the *editing interface for course pages* and enabled editing by any user for the main text area of course pages. Andrew and Sage also began mentoring Facebook Open Academy students who are working on additional features for course pages.
==== Arab world programs ====
* The fall 2013 terms in *Egypt and Jordan* finished up, with 109 students in Egypt contributing over 7 million bytes of new content to the Arabic Wikipedia and 88 Students in Jordan adding approximately 1.2 million bytes. The Wikipedia Education Program continues to have a majority of female participants, with *88.9% and 68.8% female students* in Egypt and Jordan, respectively. * The *Wikipedia Training Center for Translation* at King Saud University announced a new faculty leader with the election of a new department chair at the College of Languages and Translation. * Graduate *students at Durham University in the UK will be translating* articles from English to the Arabic Wikipedia, and their course page is available in English https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:School_and_university_projects/University_of_Durham_A_E_Translation and Arabic https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7:%D8%A8%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AC_%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7_%D9%84%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85/%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%AC_%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%A9%D8%8C_%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bytes_contributed_per_semester_in_th... In the seven terms of the Wikipedia Education Program in the United States and Canada, students have added 55 million bytes of content to the English Wikipedia, much of it high quality.
==== Communications ====
* We released Scribus source files for Editing Wikipedia <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Editing_Wikipedia_brochure_EN.pdf%3E and several other *outreach brochures*, and completed the localization guide https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Localization_guidelines_(Bookshelf)/Editing_Wikipedia for Editing Wikipedia. * Five *blog posts*: o Student editors in the US and Canada add more content than ever in fall 2013 https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/04/wikipedia-education-program-us-canada-fall-2013/, 4 February o Louisiana State University faculty member supports student Wikipedia editing https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/10/louisiana-state-university-faculty-member-supports-student-wikipedia-editing/, 10 February o Frank Schulenburg named executive director of Wiki Education Foundation https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/12/frank-schulenburg-named-executive-director-of-wiki-education-foundation/, 12 February o Wiki-Med: The Story of the First Full Wikipedia Course in Israel https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/13/wiki-med-israel-wikipedia-education-course/, 13 February o Editing about Mexican laws in Greater Mexico City https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/20/wikimedia-mexico-education-program/, 20 February * Two *newsletters*: o 4 February https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/News/4_February_2014 o 18 February https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/News/18_February_2014
== Human Resources ==
HR has been busy in February building staff projections for *annual planning*, supporting work on the board deck for the February *board meeting*, and continuing with *executive recruiting*. We have also supported Administration in *office security* issues. We did a training on resiliency with the *community liaisons* and conducted a bi-annual *C-level retreat* for the WMF executive team to align on strategic priorities for the upcoming year.
=== February Staff Changes ===
New Requisitions Filled
* Leila Zia, Data Engineer (Engineering)
Conversions (Contractor to Requisition)
* Emily Blanchard, Technical Recruiter, (Human Resources) * Heather McAndrew, Recruiter, (Human Resources) * Oliver Keyes, Business Analyst (Engineering)
Requisition Department Changes
/none/
Requisition Departures
* Frank Schulenburg * Diederik Van Liere * Josh VanDavier
New Interns
* Ambrosia Lobo (Administration) * Marshall Olin (Legal) * Jessica Tam (Legal)
New Contractors
* Floor Koudijs (Grantmaking) * Rachel Stallman (Administration) * Karen Zwicker (Administration) * Anthony Byrd (Administration)
Contracts Ended
* Leslie Carr * Joshua Errett * Mike Hoover * Rubina Kwon * Yuan Li
Real-time feed for HR updates
https://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork or https://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork
=== February Statistics ===
Total Requisitions Filled February Actual: 163 February Total Plan: 184 → , Month Plan Hire: 1 (for finance) February Filled: 4, Month Attrition: 3, FYTD Filled: 38, FYTD Attrition: 20
Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end 34 → reflects 3 total out of plan requisitions (for finance)
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Metrics_Meeting_-_March_20... Director of Administration Lynette Logan summarizing results of a staff discussion on space requirements in the WMF office
== Finance and Administration ==
* Working on *Annual Planning* and getting ready for submission of our *FDC application* on April 1. * WMF has $13.4 million in *investments* with a projected annual income of $400,000. * Completed *on-site financial reviews* for WMDE, WMIN and CIS, with an additional site visit to WMHU.
== Legal, Community Advocacy, and Communications Department ==
=== LCA Report, February 2014 ===
The LCA team was proud to announce the conclusion of the *community consultations for the proposed Privacy Policy https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/14/a-proposal-for-wikimedias-new-privacy-policy/, Access to Nonpublic Information Policy https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/14/a-new-access-to-nonpublic-information/, and Data Retention Guidelines https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Data_retention_guidelines* (see also general "Highlights" section). These important policies protect and govern the information of over twenty million registered users https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedians#Number_of_editors and 490 million monthly unique visitors http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/, so input from the community was invaluble. We would like to thank the many community members who participated in the discussions. We received hundreds of questions, comments, and suggestions. In fact, the discussions totaled approximately 195,000 words, making it longer than the Fellowship of the Ring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring! The Privacy Policy https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Privacy_policy, whose consultation lasted over 8 months, and Access to Nonpublic Information Policy https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Access_to_nonpublic_information_policy, whose consultation lasted over 5 months, are scheduled to be reviewed for adoption by the Board in April 2014.
==== Contract Metrics ====
* Submitted : 34 * Completed : 28
==== Trademark Metrics ====
* Submitted : 20 * Approved: 5 * Pending : 8 * Denied: 1 * Approval not needed : 6
==== Domains Obtained ====
wikimedia.voyage, wikivoyage.voyage, winkipedia.com
==== Coming & Going ====
LCA welcomed Marshall Olin, a 3rd year law student from Santa Clara University, and Shaila Nathu, a 2nd year law student from UC Hastings, as new *spring legal interns*.
LCA said goodbye to *Rubina Kwon*, who has been with the Foundation since the Fall of 2012, first as a legal intern, then as a contract attorney. Rubina was an extremely valued member of the legal team and we wish her the best of luck!
==== Other Activities ====
===== Legal =====
* The LCA team published a draft amendment to the terms of use for a community discussion https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use/Paid_contributions_amendment to clarify *disclosure requirements for paid edits*. The discussion received significant response, and was continuing through March 21, 2014. * The LCA team launched a *new trademark policy* that was approved by the Board of Trustees on February 1 https://blog.wikimedia.org//2014/02/12/launching-an-unconventional-trademark-policy-for-open-collaboration/, after completing a lengthy community consultation. * In response to community questions, the LCA team published some research on some of the impacts of *server locations* on free knowledge https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Wikimedia_Server_Location_and_Free_Knowledge. * LCA worked hard with the rest of the *Wikipedia Zero* team to finalize the partnership agreement with MTN to provide mobile users in South Africa free access to Wikipedia. * LCA provided supported through its Legal Fees Assistance Program https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy/Legal_Fees_Assistance_Program for WMFblog:/2014/02/14/wikimedia-foundation-supports-wikipedia-user-subject-to-defamation-lawsuit-in-greece/ a Greek Wikipedia user who was targeted by a '''defamation lawsuit in Greece''' https://blog.wikimedia.org//2014/02/14/wikimedia-foundation-supports-wikipedia-user-subject-to-defamation-lawsuit-in-greece/_a_Greek_Wikipedia_user_who_was_targeted_by_a_%27%27%27defamation_lawsuit_in_Greece%27%27%27. * Yana Welinder spoke at a panel on *Net Neutrality at RightsCon http://rightscon.org*. * Luis Villa and Andrei Voinigescu attended a meeting of the Advisory Board of the *Defensive Patent License http://defensivepatentlicense.com/*, in preparation for that document’s launch in November. Discussion topics included how the DPL can learn from free and open licenses in areas like versioning and governance. * Yana attended a *workshop on Intermediary Liability* with Stanford Center for Internet & Society http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/focus-areas/intermediary-liability. * Yana and Stephen spoke about *open source trademark practices* at Santa Clara Law School for Works-in-Progress IP 2014 http://law.scu.edu/hightech/wipip2014/.
===== CA =====
* *Maggie visited* home office for her quarterly time with us; led a great discussion with the legal team, met with some of the other staff, and attended training. * The *Emergency response team* met with a psychologist to spend time thinking about self-care for those who respond to critical incidents. * Ongoing development of *lca-tools* continues, as does our long term plan to move our *record database* off the office IT network. * We continue to support the legal team in the communication about the proposed *terms of use amendment*.
=== Communications Report, February 2014 ===
Another busy month for the communications department. We worked with The Economist on a feature story about Wikipedia, and the WMF Leadership Guide was completed and printed. We also wrapped up work on a major document outlining the various work streams at WMF, picked up again on the preparations to relaunch the blog, helped the legal team with on-going issues in Finland and Greece, and supported the launch of Wikipedia Zero with MTN in South Africa.
==== Major announcements ====
*Frank Schulenburg named executive director of new Wiki Education Foundation https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Frank_Schulenburg_named_executive_director_of_new_WEF* (12 February, 2014)
==== Major Storylines through February ====
MTN Group to provide free Wikipedia via Wikipedia Zero (14 February, 2014). MTN Group was the latest Wikipedia Zero partner to announce their participation in the program, and the first to extend the service to South Africans. They kicked off the news with a YouTube video issued as part of a ‘NekNomination’ challenge in the country, and specifically mentioned their inspiration to participate due to the appeal letter from the learners of Sinenjongo High school. BizTech Africa [1] http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/neknomination-leads-free-mobile-wikipedia-sa/7712/#.UxZ1MmTrXgo HumanIPO [2] http://www.humanipo.com/news/40001/mtn-to-provide-free-wikipedia/
Art + Feminism Edit-a-thon (05 February, 2014). A multi-national edit-a-thon event encouraging women to get involved with Wikipedia made media outlets around the world in February. Outlets promoted upcoming events and touted the effort as part of a response to the lack of women participating in Wikipedia. Jezebel [3] http://groupthink.jezebel.com/wikipedia-art-and-feminism-edit-a-thon-1500101783 The Daily Beast [4] http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2014/02/05/wikipedia-meets-feminism.html NY Mag [5] http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/02/closing-wikipedias-gender-gap-reluctantly.html
Finnish police examine Wikipedia’s fundraising activities. The National Police Board demanded clarification from the website as they assessed whether Wikipedia’s campaign to collect donations was a break in Finland’s fundraising laws (08 February, 2014). YLE News [6] http://yle.fi/uutiset/finnish_police_examine_wikipedias_fundraising_activities/7077584 Helsinki Times [7] https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/9302-finnish-police-looking-into-wikipedia-s-plea-for-donations.html
Wikimedia Foundation supports Wikipedia user subject to defamation lawsuit in Greece. (18 February, 2014). Media covered the recent news of a Greek Wikipedian facing a defamation lawsuit in February. Media coverage was mostly supportive of the user’s efforts, and highlighted the Foundation’s role in providing legal support to the user. Ars Technica [8] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/02/wikipedia-mounts-courtroom-defense-for-editor-sued-by-politician/ WMF Blog [9] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/14/wikimedia-foundation-supports-wikipedia-user-subject-to-defamation-lawsuit-in-greece/
Change in paid editing rule (26 February, 2014). PR Week [10] http://www.prweekus.com/wikimedia-puts-change-to-paid-editing-rule-up-for-vote/article/335803/ Forbes [11] http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhumphrey/2014/02/26/wikipedia-nobly-confronts-an-ethics-issue-but-it-still-has-a-bigger-sexist-one/
==== Other worthwhile reads ====
New open source software tracks Wikipedia bot activity (13 February, 2014). Newsweek [12] http://www.newsweek.com/wikipedia-edited-bots-thats-good-thing-230234 MIT Technology Review [13] http://www.technologyreview.com/view/524751/the-shadowy-world-of-wikipedias-editing-bots/ NDTV [14] http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/new-app-tracks-wikipedia-edits-by-internet-bots-and-humans-487577
Printing all of Wikipedia on 1,000 books (19 February, 2014). ABC News [15] http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/printing-all-wikipedia-1-000-books-its-not-joke-n33916 Indiegogo [16] http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-wikipedia-books-project
Wikipedian Ihor Kostenko dies on the Maidan Nezalezhnosti square during protests in Kiev, Ukraine (24 February, 2014). WMF Blog [17] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/24/wikipedia-ihor-kostenko-dies/
==== WMF Blog posts ====
Blog.wikimedia.org published 25 posts in February 2014 https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/2/. Four posts were multilingual https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/, including versions in Spanish, Chinese, German and Ukrainian.
Some highlights from the blog:
*Launching an unconventional trademark policy for open collaboration https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/12/launching-an-unconventional-trademark-policy-for-open-collaboration/* (February 12, 2014).
*Wikipedia’s Art & Feminism Edit-A-Thon and the Gender Gap https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/19/wikipedias-art-feminism-edit-a-thon/* (February 19, 2014).
*Editing about Mexican laws in greater Mexico City https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/20/wikimedia-mexico-education-program/* (February 20, 2014).
*Saqib Qayyum’s journey across Pakistan https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/26/journey-across-pakistan-saqib-qayyum/* (February 26, 2014).
==== Media Contact ====
Media contact through February 2014: wmf:Press room/Media Contact#February 2014 https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#February_2014
==== Wikipedia Signpost ====
For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for February 2014:
* Volume 10, Issue 6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-02-12, 12 February 2014 * Volume 10, Issue 7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-02-19, 19 February 2014 * Volume 10, Issue 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-02-26, 26 February 2014
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Park_Sang_Hak_and_Kang_Chol_Hwan_at_... North Korean human rights activists Park Sang-hak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Sang-hak (center) and Kang Chol-hwan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kang_Chol-hwan (right), with interpreters, at a Q&A with Wikimedia Foundation staff in the WMF office <Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gayle_Karen_Young_and_Park_Sang_Hak_... Park Sang-hak (center) after a Q&A with Wikimedia Foundation staff organized by WMF Chief Talent and Culture Officer Gayle Karen Young (left). Park Sang-hak has been organizing activities to provide North Korean citizens with information via balloons carrying, among other things, USB sticks with content from the Korean-language Wikipedia.
== Visitors and Guests ==
Visitors and guests to the WMF office in February 2014:
1. Natasha Bottari (Chase) 2. Ante Ukalovic (Infobip) 3. Jelena Keča (Infobip) 4. Shannon Farley (Spark) 5. Mike Ossipoff (comScore) 6. Beena Sharma (CIMGlobal) 7. Tom Hehir (CCSC Inc.) 8. Jeff Sheinbein (Social Imprints) 9. Kirk Arthur (USSS) 10. James Hare (Wikimedia DC) 11. Mike Schwartz (Wikia) 12. Vera Shur (VITAL Environments) 13. Lauren Tonokawa (Energy Excelerator) 14. Jarrod Lopiccolo (Noble Studios) 15. Daniel Mietchen (OKF-DE) 16. Matthias Schade (HU-Berlin) 17. Sherry Leung (Simon Fraser University) 18. Graham Ulvestad (Fluxx) 19. Kerrin Mitchell (Fluxx) 20. Catherine Thomas-Smith (UC San Diego) 21. Tony Gallippi (Bitpay) 22. John Dreyzehner (Bitpay) 23. Mike Rose (WA Law) 24. Isabella Bagueros (Twitter) 25. Park Sang-hak (North Korean human rights activist) 26. Kang Chol-hwan (North Korean human rights activist) 27. Thor Halvorssen (Human Rights Foundation) 28. Alex Gladstein (Human Rights Foundation)