FYI, Isaac ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Samantha Lien" <sl...@wikimedia.org> Date: Feb 16, 2018 10:39 PM Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Update on Wikimedia partnerships To: "Wikimedia Mailing List" <wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org> Cc:
Sending in a re-formatted version: > > Hi everyone, > > As we consider the new strategic direction we identified from Wikimedia > 2030[1], the Foundation is evolving how we work with partners to address > barriers to participating in free knowledge around the world. > > After careful evaluation, we’ve decided to discontinue the Wikipedia Zero > program[2] as one of the partnership approaches we offer. Over the course > of this year, we won’t be taking on any new Wikipedia Zero partnerships, > and current partnerships will expire. > > The Wikipedia Zero program was first created to address one barrier to > participating in free knowledge globally: high mobile data costs. Through > the program, we partnered with mobile operators to waive mobile data fees > for their customers to freely access Wikipedia on mobile devices. In the > program’s six year tenure, we have partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72 > countries to provide access to Wikipedia to more than 800 million people > free of mobile data charges. As stewards of Wikipedia Zero, I want to > congratulate and thank the Global Reach team for the success of this > program during its tenure, and for their leadership in continuing to > support new and meaningful partnerships aligned with our movement’s values > and vision. > > In the past couple of years, we identified a few developments that have > impacted Wikipedia Zero’s continued relevance. Beginning in 2016, we’ve > seen a significant drop off in adoption and interest in Wikipedia Zero, and > as a result, our reach today stands at a quarter of where it was at its > peak. During this time, we also conducted research[3] to better understand > the full scope of barriers to using Wikipedia around the world. For > example, awareness is one of the key issues we identified - even when > people have smartphones and use Facebook, Google, or WhatsApp, many of > those same people have never heard of Wikipedia. In addition, limited > local language content is another barrier we identified that inhibits the > discovery and use of our projects. > > We’ve had initial success with projects and partnerships[4] designed to > build awareness in parts of the world where Wikipedia is not widely known > or used. These successes have given us several ideas for where we may take > our partnership work next, and over the coming year, we will explore other > ways we can leverage the findings from our research and the Wikipedia Zero > program to direct future work with partners. > > We remain committed to creating impactful partnerships that align with our > own values and direction for the Wikimedia movement’s future. We look > forward to sharing more information and updates on our work with partners > in the coming year. > > Thank you, > Lisa > > We’ve also published a blog post about this announcement here: > https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/02/16/partnerships-new-approach/ > > [1] > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Direction > [2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero > [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Reach/Insights and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers > [4] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/21/nigeria-wikipedia-awareness/ > > On Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 1:11 PM, Lisa Gruwell <lgruw...@wikimedia.org> > wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > From: Lisa Gruwell <lgruw...@wikimedia.org> > > Date: Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 1:08 PM > > Subject: Update on Wikimedia partnerships > > To: "Staff (All)" <wmf...@lists.wikimedia.org> > > > > > > *Hi everyone,As we consider the new strategic direction we identified > from > > Wikimedia 2030[1], the Foundation is evolving how we work with partners > to > > address barriers to participating in free knowledge around the world. > After > > careful evaluation, we’ve decided to discontinue the Wikipedia Zero > > program[2] as one of the partnership approaches we offer. Over the course > > of this year, we won’t be taking on any new Wikipedia Zero partnerships, > > and current partnerships will expire. The Wikipedia Zero program was > first > > created to address one barrier to participating in free knowledge > globally: > > high mobile data costs. Through the program, we partnered with mobile > > operators to waive mobile data fees for their customers to freely access > > Wikipedia on mobile devices. In the program’s six year tenure, we have > > partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72 countries to provide access to > > Wikipedia to more than 800 million people free of mobile data charges. As > > stewards of Wikipedia Zero, I want to congratulate and thank the Global > > Reach team for the success of this program during its tenure, and for > their > > leadership in continuing to support new and meaningful partnerships > aligned > > with our movement’s values and vision. In the past couple of years, we > > identified a few developments that have impacted Wikipedia Zero’s > continued > > relevance. Beginning in 2016, we’ve seen a significant drop off in > adoption > > and interest in Wikipedia Zero, and as a result, our reach today stands > at > > a quarter of where it was at its peak. During this time, we also > conducted > > research[3] to better understand the full scope of barriers to using > > Wikipedia around the world. For example, awareness is one of the key > issues > > we identified - even when people have smartphones and use Facebook, > Google, > > or WhatsApp, many of those same people have never heard of Wikipedia. In > > addition, limited local language content is another barrier we identified > > that inhibits the discovery and use of our projects. We’ve had initial > > success with projects and partnerships[4] designed to build awareness in > > parts of the world where Wikipedia is not widely known or used. These > > successes have given us several ideas for where we may take our > partnership > > work next, and over the coming year, we will explore other ways we can > > leverage the findings from our research and the Wikipedia Zero program to > > direct future work with partners. We remain committed to creating > impactful > > partnerships that align with our own values and direction for the > Wikimedia > > movement’s future. We look forward to sharing more information and > updates > > on our work with partners in the coming year. Thank you, LisaWe’ve also > > published a blog post about this announcement here: > > https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/02/16/partnerships-new-approach/ > > <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/02/16/partnerships-new-approach/>[1] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_ > movement/2017/Direction > > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_ > > movement/2017/Direction>[2] > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero > > <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero>[3] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Reach/Insights > > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Reach/Insights> and > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers > > <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers>[4] > > https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/21/nigeria-wikipedia-awareness/ > > <https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/21/nigeria-wikipedia-awareness/>* > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > > wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > -- > *Samantha Lien* > Communications Manager > Wikimedia Foundation > 1Montgomery Street > Suite 1600 > San Francisco, CA 94104 > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/ > wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: wikimedi...@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
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