[Foundation-l] Year: 2012 Week: 4 Number: 132
____ _ _ _ _ / / /\ \ \(_)| | __(_) (_) _ _____ \ \/ \/ /| || |/ /| ||_ /| || '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ / | ||| | / / | || | | || __/ \/ \/ |_||_|\_\|_|/___||_||_| |_| \___| .org Year: 2012 Week: 4 Number: 132 An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community === The EN Wikipedia goes offline for 24 hours === The community of the English language Wikipedia has decided to blackout the English Wikipedia for 24 hours. A sort of strike thus. The blackout goes in to effect from 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18. The blackout is a protest against the proposed law of the United States of America Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The protest is there because the proposed law is could harm the operation of community driven website like Wikipedia. The decision of the Community of the English language Wikipedia is supported by the Wikimedia Foundation. This in the first time the English Wikipedia - the oldest and most popular of all Wikipedias - does something like this. The Italian language Wikipedia did this a couple of months ago. Other language Wikipedias have indicated to show support by displaying a banner but not also go dark. Also non-Wikimedia websites will take part but not all by going dark. Google will put a link on there homepage about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOPA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/01/16/wikipedias-community-calls-for-anti-sopa-blackout-january-18/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-01-16/Special_report http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-01-16/News_and_notes http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/58755 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech http://www.sopastrike.com/ -- websites that join the strike @@Wikizine-seeks-editors--@@ Editor(s): Walter Contact: http://report.wikizine.org Website: http://www.wikizine.org Gophersite: gopher://gopher.wikizine.org @@---Wikizine-loves-feedback--@@ Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy, validity and especially but not limited to, correct grammar and spelling. Satisfaction is not guaranteed. Some content can be highly inspired or directly copied from other sources. Those sources are listed above at Sources-Attributions. Wikizine.org is published by [[meta:user:Walter]]. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Wikizine - Anno Domini MMXII Week II Number CXXXI
____ _ _ _ _ / / /\ \ \(_)| | __(_) (_) _ _____ \ \/ \/ /| || |/ /| ||_ /| || '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ / | ||| | / / | || | | || __/ \/ \/ |_||_|\_\|_|/___||_||_| |_| \___| .org Anno Domini MMXII Week II Number CXXXI An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community === Foundation === [Terms Of Use] - On websites the Terms of Use are what most of us frequently indicate to agree with but never reed. Also Wikipedia has a Terms of Use. A Terms of use for Wikipedia came only to existence years after its founding and remained very basic. Until now. In original Wikimedia style a new Terms Of use have been written by the community at Meta. It is more extensive then the current but it remains, for a Terms of Use, relative short and very readable. The WMF board still needs to approve it before it can replaces the current Terms of Use. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/12/31/terms-of-use/ http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Terms_of_use -- New Terms of Use (final community draft) [The Annual Fundraiser] - Despite the economic problems of the world - the Wikimedia Foundation did it again. The goal is every year higher but the donations follow. The WMF has raised the new record amount of 20 million US dollar in the fundraiser that just now ended. The miracle of the WMF business model to just ask for money keeps working. But even a miracle needs some help. Last year the WMF spend 1,8 USD $ on fundraising. The operating budget of the WMF will increase in spending in 2011-12 compared with 2010-11 with $9.8 million. 28.3 million USD will be the current budget. The gap between the raised amount and the budget is closed by several grants and continuous donations. 44% of the budget will go to running the actual web-infrastructure. 24% will go to management, finance and administration. A tiny fraction smaller, 23% of the budget, is under the label Other programs. The Community department and the Global Development department falls under that slice. The rest are fundraising costs. Best read the annual plan if you wish to know more. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/01/02/wikimedia-fundraiser-concludes-with-record-breaking-donations/ http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2011-2012_Annual_Plan_Questions_and_Answers [Grant of $3.6 Million] - The Stanton Foundation -, a long term funder of the WMF, donated $3.6 million USD (2,61 Million EUR) to the Wikimedia Foundation. This is the largest grant ever received by the WMF. http://tinyurl.com/3qv5grb === Technical news === [https] - It was already possible to login to the projects by means of a secure connection but that was by means of a https://secure.wikimedia.org; -type of link. Now the usable links work. Just add the s to the protocol. This works on all Wikimedia wikis. Using https is not yet the default option when you login. If you wish to use it you need to enter it manually. https://en.wikipedia.org [Article Feedback] - A new article feedback system is in testing at EN Wikipedia. A previous version used a star-system the the reader could give to articles. The new one uses a different approach. It does not asks to give points but the give real textual reader feedback. More like a very easy comment function like on blogs and news sites. Only are the comments not posted. Currently the collected data is only for testing and not public. The idea is that editors will be able to assess the feedback in the future. The test runs on limited number of articles on EN Wikipedia. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/12/20/a-new-way-to-contribute-to-wikipedia/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29 -- example article with the new feedback function === Movement === [Al Jazeera] - The media company Al Jazeera, mostly know for its television stations, is releasing a large part of the pictures and video's the make under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0). This is very, very great news. Wikinews and Wikipedia now have access to recent quality material for there articles about topics that would be nearly impossible otherwise. http://cc.aljazeera.net/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/aljazeeraenglish/sets/ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Files_from_Al_Jazeera === Media === [Wikipedia Vs. Britannica] - It is not original but always interesting to read; compare the articles of Wikipedia with those of Britannica and other classic sources by academics. The reaserch is published in the peer-reviewed medical journal Psychological Medicine. To read the actual article you can buy the article for $45 or rent it for $5,99. Luckily the Singpost is not so silly. http://tinyurl.com/6mzosac -- free read
[Foundation-l] Wikizine News - Year: 2011 Week: 40 Number: 130
Wikizine.org's __ /\ \ \ ___ __ __ ___ / \/ // _ \\ \ /\ / // __| / /\ /| __/ \ V V / \__ \ \_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ |___/ EDITION Year: 2011 Week: 40Number: 130 An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community === Movement === [30 September] - The last day of the project Wiki Loves Monuments for this year is September 30th. So if you still have pictures of monuments, it is not yet to late to share them on Commons and maybe win a prize. Currently there are already more then 125,000 new pictures added to commons in this one month of Wikimedia Loves Monuments. Yes - 125,000 - that is correct. And ... one country is {{done}} - Andorra has now 100% of the monuments photographed! http://www.wikilovesmonuments.eu http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2011 [Image filter] - Discussion about ethical problems with image filter implementation on Wikisource started by John Vanderberg, one of the most active Wikisource editors and the chair of Wikimedia Australia. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Image_filter_on_Wikisource === Technical news === [Automatic photo orientation] - Brion Vibber informs us about automatic photo orientation in MediaWiki 1.18. At least if the orientation information is available in the EXIF-information. http://leuksman.com/log/2011/09/23/automatic-photo-orientation-in-mediawiki-1-18/ [New look on statistics] - Erik Zachte created a new new look for Wikimedia statistics. Interpretation of data in editorial of this week's Opinion edition. http://infodisiac.com/blog/2011/09/summary-reports-for-all-wikimedia-wikis/ [Wikimedia India conference] - India Hackathon 2011 will be held during Wikimedia India conference (18-20 November). http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/25/india-hackathon-2011/ === Foundation === [Google Summer of Code] - Sumana Harihareswara, WMF's Volunteer Development Coordinator, published a report on Wikimedia-related projects from the Google Summer of Code. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/22/gsoc-students-reach-project-milestones/ http://code.google.com/soc/ [Jon Harald Søby becomes Community Fellow] - Jon’s fellowship will run until February 2012. His project priorities include recruiting and coordinating more translators for more languages, building pages and processes that make it easier for new volunteers to get started, and improving systems for producing high-quality translations. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/27/announcing-community-fellow-jon-harald-soby/ https://sugar.corp.wikimedia.org/translators/translators.php?referrer=wikizine -- Sign up to be a translator Jimmy Wales [London startup competition] - Jimmy is leading the jury for a new startup funding event kicking off in London this December. http://thenextweb.com/uk/2011/09/22/wikipedia-co-founder-jimmy-wales-heads-up-new-london-startup-competition/ [On Wikipedia and Facebook] - Jimmy on Wikipedia and Facebook for The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/wikipedia-jimmy-wales_n_982243.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/27/wales_no_outing_wikipedia_on_facebook/ [Why 'like' button isn't enough?] - Jimmy thinks that the 'like' button isn't enough. http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/fast-chat-jimmy-wales-135257 === Chapters === [Wikimedia India] - Wikimedia India opened blog. http://wikimedia.in/?p=26 [Wikimedia Germany] - Wikimedia Germany published the book Alles über Wikipedia – und die Menschen hinter der größten Enzyklopädie der Welt, which is the first ever book in the catalogue of a traditional German publisher that is published under a free license. http://wikimedia.de/wiki/Wikipedia_Buch http://philippebeaudette.com/great-news-from-wikimedia-deutschland/ [Wikimedia Poland] - Wikimedia Poland celebrated 10 years of the Polish Wikipedia. The Polish media covered the event. http://www.poland.pl/news/article,Polish_Wikipedia_is_10_Years_Old,id,461162.htm http://www.thenews.pl/1/12/Artykul/55748,Polish-Wikipedia-marks-10th-anniversary [Wiki Loves Monuments] - Wiki Loves Monuments officially ends on 30 September, although there will be some events after the official end. http://zikoblog.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/wiki-loves-monuments-comes-to-a-close/ [Wiki Takes Cologne] - Wiki took Cologne, Germany in one of the last events of this year's Wiki Loves Monuments campaign. Jimmy Wales got Leonardo Award in Cologne. http://www.wikilovesmonuments.eu/2011/09/25/wiki-loves-monuments-cologne-koeln/ http://blog.wikimedia.de/2011/09/25/wiki-loves-monuments-koln/ (in German)
[Foundation-l] Wikizine News - Year: 2011 Week: 39 Number: 129
Wikizine.org's __ /\ \ \ ___ __ __ ___ / \/ // _ \\ \ /\ / // __| / /\ /| __/ \ V V / \__ \ \_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ |___/ EDITION Year: 2011 Week: 39 Number: 129 An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community === Technical news === [Babel on all Wikis] - There are a great deal of templates and signs that one can put on there user page. One of the most useful are the Babel-templates that indicate the knowledge of different languages. Now is there an extension active on all wikis for that. No need to manually setup all those templates on all wikis. The structure is easy; see the excellent blog posting of Mister Internationalisation himself - Gerard Meijssen. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/21/babel-extension-live-on-the-wmf-projects/ [New mobile gateway] - There is a new mobile gateway active for the Wikipedias. The the other projects will follow. This is provided by new extension of MediaWiki 1.17, the software our wikis are using. This replaces the old mobile gateway. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/14/new-mobile-site-launched-on-wikipedia-soon-for-sister-wikis-too/ http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:MobileFrontend [MediaWiki 1.8] - As announced in the TechFlash upgrade of the wikis is in progress. New functions in MediaWiki 1.8 include; - Support for gender-specific user pages: languages that have different words for User whether the user is male or female will be able to show the male or the female version, if the user has specified their gender in their preferences. - MediaWiki 1.18 will make it easier for left-to-right and right-to-left text to coexist on the same page. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/16/mediawiki118iscomin/ [Fundraiser-time?] - You could encounter the well known gigantic donation banner personal appeal by But no, it is not again the big fundraiser event. But only a banner test. If you see it then you where lucky. It is only at EN Wikipedia for anonymous users and generally only in certain countries. The tests are currently being conducted for 1 hour once a week. The real fundraiser will proably be in November. But, test or not, donations are welcome. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2011 [Techs share knowledge] - Running a massive infrastructure like the WMF is using also mean that collect knowledge how to do that. In line with the mission of the WMF detailed information about the configuration of the system has been released so that others can learn from it. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/19/ever-wondered-how-the-wikimedia-servers-are-configured/ [Operations Engineer goals] - In another post, Ryan Lane gives a longer story about his goals for the past year. http://ryandlane.com/blog/2011/09/19/ive-been-with-the-wikimedia-foundation-for-a-year-have-i-met-my-goals/ === Request for help === [Petition to UNSECO] - Wikimedia Foundation, with full support of founder Jimmy Wales, is asking to support the request to the UNESCO to recognize Wikipedia as the first digital World Cultural Heritage Site. Over 51,000 people have signed the petition already. Your are suggested to spread the word of this petition (after you signed) by all the communication channels of the modern day. If you sign the petition need to confirm by a link send by e-mail http://wikipedia.de/wke/Main_Page [Sign-up for translation] - Frequently there are messages that need to be translated in, if possible, all the languages of the projects. If you like to volunteer to be a translator you can register yourself (see link) so when you are needed you can be contacted. https://sugar.corp.wikimedia.org/translators/translators.php?referrer=wikizine === Bureaucracy === [Stewards election] - You can vote in the election for new stewards until 6 October. According to the present situation, 9 Wikimedians have a good chance to become stewards: Axpde, Bencmq, Bennylin, Quadell, Quentinv57, Teles, Trijnstel, Vituzzu and Wikitanvir. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2011-2 http://toolserver.org/~stewardbots/elections.php === Movement === [German Wikipedia] - On 15 September a poll on the German Wikipedia questioning participants about the proposed image filter was closed. German Wikipedians rejected implementation of an image filter on the German Wikipedia by a 86.23% majority (430 votes, 357 against, 57 in favour, 16 neutral). http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-September/068502.html http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meinungsbilder/Einf%C3%BChrung_pers%C3%B6nlicher_Bildfilter (proposal, arguments
[Foundation-l] Wikizine Opinion - Year: 2011 Week: 38 Number: 128 BIS
** Wikizine.org's ___ _ _ /___\ _ __ (_) _ __ (_) ___ _ __ // //| '_ \ | || '_ \ | | / _ \ | '_ \ / \_// | |_) || || | | || || (_) || | | | \___/ | .__/ |_||_| |_||_| \___/ |_| |_| |_| Year: 2011 Week: 38 Number: 128 BIS ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Wikizine needs YOU! === Wikipedia has already changed the world. Wikimedia movement is at the beginning of that task. To push the movement into that direction, Wikizine needs your '''bold''' ideas and personal perspectives! Send your ideas to us or simply add them into the appropriate section. What YOU think can change the world! [Name] - Working title of this edition is Wikizine Talk Edition because we didn't have better idea. Send us suggestions for the name! === Contents === Editorial Personal perspective In the news From Wikipedia === Editorial by Milos === As you could read in Wikizine 127 [1], I took initiative and began a Wikizine revival. You may notice some changes and I can say that there will be more changes, as such changes keep all of us alive. Editorial is one of those changes and it will have two main parts: (1) presentation of one of the Wikizine feature and (2) analysis of the most important event from the previous week or two. Opinion or Talk Edition of Wikizine will be published on Friday and ?previous week? means approximately Friday-Thursday time frame. Last week had begun with such intensity, I thought I could close this edition by Monday. [1] http://en.wikizine.org/2011/09/year-2011-week-36-number-126.html (Un)acceptible Foundation influence on chapters On August 27th, almost 20 days before the conclusion of this edition, CasteloBranco, a member of the initiative for Wikimedia Brazil, sent an email to foundation-l [1] with the description of agreement inside of Brazilian Wikimedian community about chapter creation. That was the main obstacle toward formalizing the chapter, as Brazilian Wikimedians didn?t feel comfortable with the idea of having a formal organization. That day five more Wikimedians discussed the outlines of this agreement on foundation-l, including a note from Ray Saintonge that it?s not the best idea to have a Wikimedia Foundation appointee in chapter?s Board (as suggested by WM Brazil?s agreement). For five days discussion was dead, when Jimmy Wales said that having a WMF appointee is, actually, a good idea. That sparked long discussions on both foundation-l and internal-l (the latter one is a non-public list of the core of Wikimedia movement). A number of chapters representatives felt offended by the idea of having a WMF appointee on their boards. [1] http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/wiki/foundation/246958 Image filter retrospective (from spring 2008 to early 2011) For those who have forgotten what?s behind the image filter ?referendum?, here is a retrospective. The initial point of the drama started on 7 May 2008 [4]. Because of religion, of course. US-based ?social conservative? site WorldNetDaily reported Wikipedia [5] because of the cover art for the Scorpions? album Virgin Killer [6]. According to Concerned Women of America, another ?social conservative? group, ?Wikipedia is helping to further facilitate perversion and pedophilia.? On 5 December 2008, in the moment of madness, worthy of the best of surreal poetry, Internet Watch Foundaiton (IWF) [7], the association of UK internet providers, listed Wikipedia as a child pornography site [8] because of the same album cover [6]. It seems that IWF needed just four days to find someone who knows what Wikipedia is. IWF reversed their blacklisting on 9 December. In a moment of desperate need for self-promotion, Larry Sanger [9], known because he didn?t believe that his project (Wikipedia, for which has sometimes been described as a co-founder), would succeed and not so known because of a number of failed projects, reported Wikipedia to the FBI [10] on 10 April 2010 because, of course, ?child pornography?. Just a short 17 days later, Fox News discovered the hot news and published it [11] in a well known form of spreading FUD to everything which doesn?t fit to their retarded worldview. The action of the IWF prompted discussions on Wikimedia Commons in 2008. However, just after the Commons community declined to change well defined policy toward images, which are handled based on their quality, not the biased opinion on content, on May 6th, 2010 Jimmy Wales started to delete not just poor quality Second Life animated pornography, but artworks, as well. That sparked a huge revolt among editors [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. At the other side, the action was praised by Fox News, of course [21]. Between May
[Foundation-l] Year: 2011 Week: 36 Number: 125
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2011 Week: 36 Number: 125 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Community === [Stewards election] - Candidate submission will last up to September 7th. Voting will be held between September 15th and October 6th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2011-2 [Writing contest] - In 2004 the Dutch language Wikipedia was the first Wikipedia to organize a writing contest. Now at the 1th of September already the 8th edition will start and run for 2 months. Users can work alone or in a team on an article of their choice. At the end the jury will award the prizes to the winners; an image of the trophy they can put on their user pages. http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Schrijfwedstrijd [Research committee] - Next Research committee meeting will be held on September 2nd. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_Committee/Meetings/Meeting_2011-09-02 [Project closures] - Scots Wikipedia proposed for closure; proposal rejected during the same day. Proposals for Inuktitut and Old English Wikipedias closure rejected, while proposal for Asturianu Wikibooks closure accepted using the standard procedure. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects/Closure_of_Scots_Wikipedia http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects/Closure_of_Inuktitut_Wikipedia_2 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects/Closure_of_Inuktitut_Wikipedia_2 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects/Closure_of_Old_English_Wikipedia http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_closing_projects/Closure_of_Asturianu_Wikibooks http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Closing_projects_policy === Other news === [WikiLoves Monuments] - Have a date with a monument and send the proof to Commons! And, you never know, you may win one of many nice prizes. WikiLoves Monuments is project in 18 European countries to get quality pictures of important items of cultural heritage. It is organized by national groups, with the exception of the program representing the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg - which is one project that crosses state lines and includes several languages. The project takes the form of an image contest. The user needs to upload their pictures to Commons in September. A national jury, depending on the country where the monument is located, will judge and proclaim the winners and award prizes. But the best prize is to get freely licensed pictures of our heritage out there. http://www.wikilovesmonuments.eu/ --- see menu at the right for list of participating country's http://tinyurl.com/3bzt2oc -- Wikimedia Germany about WikiLoves Monuments (google translation) === Technical news === [AbuseFilter] - this is an extension for MediaWiki, which helps prevent vandalism on wikis, and is now active on all wikis. Before you needed to ask (via a bugzilla request) to enable it for your wiki. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/08/24/filter-preventing-abusive-edits-all-wikis/ http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/54632 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Edit_filter -- documentation about it === Foundation === [Results are in] - ... of the editor survey of April 2011. The actual report is available as a PDF on Meta. But there is also an extensive summary on Meta. And if that is also too long to read for you - check out the Wikipedia Signpost - they will probably give a short summary of it. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/08/29/report-for-editor-survey-april-2011/ http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Survey_2011 -- actual report here! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Editor_Survey_2011/Executive_Summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost === Chapters === [Wikipedia.no] - YES! - The Chapter Wikimedia Norway has unanimously decide to make the domain wikipedia.no a portal page instead of pointing it to the bokmål version of Wikipedia. In many countries the first thing internet users enter is name+national TLD when they look for a website. By sharing this important internet real estate other, mostly very small, Wikipedias in languages of that county get exposure to visitors. Others, like wikipedia.be and wikipedia.be made this change long ago. Some, like wikipedia.de , choose not to. http://www.wikipedia.no http://tinyurl.com/3l7cchr -- WM Norway press release about it (Google translation) [Chapters Planet] - There are many WM Chapters so a special blog aggregator for all the postings by them seemed to be a good idea. User Bence, a student in
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2011 Week: 4 Number: 123
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2011 Week: 4 Number: 123 ** When you thought you were relieved of it... // === 2010 === [News of the Wiki: year 2010] - Wikizine totally failed at informing you about Wikimedia news last year. This was regrettable but unavoidable due the lack of active staff. Fortunately, The Signpost looks better than ever and provides an excellent overview about the main topics of the past year in the Wikimedia world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-01-03/2010_in_review === Technical news === [Virginia Data Center] - the WMF has rented space in a data center in Virginia, USA. Installation of the hardware has been scheduled for February 2011. This location will soon become the main WMF data center. http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/WMF_Projects/Data_Center_Virginia [Article feedback] - a function to give readers the option of rating the quality of an article has been activated on a few pages of the English Wikipedia. The test showed that anonymous users give a much higher score than registered users. It started in September 2010 and is ongoing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion -- an article with the feedback function enabled http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback/Public_Policy_Pilot_Phase_2 [WMF Engineering Update] - an extensive overview of technical news, events and more. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2011/01/wmf-engineering-update/#more-1268 === Request for help === [Keep your news clippings] - Do you see an article about Wikipedia in a newspaper or other printed media? Keep it. Contact your local chapter (if it exists) to ask if they can keep it safe for your local community. When there is no chapter, just keep it yourself -- especially if you are from a small language Wikipedia. Every article that appears in print is something to collect. === Foundation === [Founder] - A video message from Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to the world http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalesCalltoAction.ogv === Agenda === [StrataConf 2011] - February 1-3, 2011, Santa Clara, California ? Many Wikimedians will be attending the O'Reilly conference, and there will be a an informal meetup with foundation staff member Erik Zachte on Wikimedia Data. http://strataconf.com/strata2011 [FOSDEM] - February 5-6, Brussels, Belgium ? Tomasz Finc, Arthur Richards, and Roan Kattouw will be at FOSDEM 2011 this year. They will be speaking about data collection at Wikimedia. http://www.fosdem.org/2011/ === Community === [Celebrations] - A collection of photos from many Wikipedia 10 community events are available on the Ten Wikipedia. All of these photos, especially the international birthday cakes, are very nice and worth a look. Online you could see that there was something special at the English Wikipedia which used the special Wiki10 logo, and at the Dutch Wikipedia which used the old Wikipedia logo for one day. http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_gallery#Wikipedia_10_Cakes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2011-01-17/News_and_notes -- report about Wiki10 by the Signpost === Media === [10 years] - There has been a huge amount of media coverage. A very long - and totaly incomplete - list of links to articles can be found at the Ten Wikipedia. There has been also radio and television interviews, not only with WMF key figures but also with regular users. http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_coverage [A few links] - A very small selection of recent articles about the 10th anniversary of Wikipedia. For more, see above. http://www.wired.co.uk/topics/wikipedia-week http://chronicle.com/article/Wikipedia-Comes-of-Age/125899/ http://www.slate.com/id/2281294/ === Other news === [Translating EN WP] - A common misconception is that the many language editions of Wikipedia are actually translations of the English Wikipedia. In the case of Thai, however, this is correct. Asia Online created a complete translation of EN Wikipedia to the Thai language. This was done through advanced machine translation and a staff of 10 proofreaders. http://www.globalwatchtower.com/2011/01/13/asia-online-thai-wikipedia/ === Did you know ... === ... there are two Spanish language Wikipedias? The ES Wikipedia forked to an independent project in the early days of Wikipedia: Enciclopedia Libre Universal en Español. At first the new project was very successful, but ES Wikipedia overtook the fork in 2004. A couple of days ago the Spanish language Wikipedia passed the 700,000 article mark and remains the 7th largest Wikipedia. The fork is still bravely
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2011 Week: 2 Number: 122
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2011 Week: 2 Number: 122 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Community === [Wikipedia-day] - Once more it is almost the most important holiday of the year: Wikipedia day. Now Saturday we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the project. The start of the very first Wikipedia, the English language Wikipedia. But this is also a day of celebration for all the other many projects and language editions who form the Wikimedia-family; Wiktionary, Wikinews, Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikiversity, Wikispecies, Commons 10 years. 400 million unique visitors a month. 80,000 active volunteer editors. 17 million articles (wikipedia's only). A very successful fundraiser ( $US 16 million). Time to celebrate! - And how to do that? - With a special celebration-wiki; http://ten.wikipedia.org/ There are many Wikimeets and events world-wide. Check the celebration-wiki for an event near you. Wikipedia will also come these day extra in the news so watch those news reports on TV and newspapers to see what the traditional media write about our project. === Wikimedia news === [Steward elections] - Call for candidates for the upcoming steward-election. Stewards perform technical tasks on all Wikimedia wikis. Sort of über admin. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2011 [Wikimania 2011] - Applications are open until the end of the month for a subsidy to go to Wikimania 2011 in Israel. http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Scholarships === Quote === Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That?s our commitment. Jimmy Wales // Editor(s): Walter Contact: walter AT wikizine DOT org Website: http://www.wikizine.org // Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy, validity and especially but not limited to, correct grammar and spelling. Satisfaction is not guaranteed. Wikizine.org is published by [[meta:user:Walter]]. Wikizine is published as long as there is noteworthy news (and time) Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html and also the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ ___ To unsubscribe; mailto:requ...@wikizine.org?subject=unsubscribe ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Anno Domini MMX Week III Number CXXI
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Anno Domini MMX Week III Number CXXI ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Flagged revisions] - status information about flagged revisions and how the English Wikipedia is going to use it. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2010/01/flagged-revisions-your-questions-answered/ [10gbit/sec] - on the 11th of January Wikimedia's world-wide five-minute-average transmission rate crossed 10gbit/sec. This peak rate was achieved while serving roughly 91,725 requests per second. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/46655 [Wikipedia and Google] - A custom Google skin for Wikipedia is created. It provides advanced Google/Wikipedia search options. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/10/26/google-experiments-with-new-ways-to-search-wikipedia/ === Foundation === [Stewards] - Candidate submissions are open for the function of Steward. A steward is a user who has the administrative user rights to grant and revoke all existing user levels on all Wikimedia Foundation projects. It can be compared with a super-bureaucrat. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Stewards/elections_2010/Guidelines#Candidates -- until 28th January [WMF fundraiser] - it has come and is gone again. The Wikimedia Foundation was able to raise just over $8 million USD. In Euro it 5,5 million. In any case it was the most successful fundraiser to date. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/2009_Fundraiser_Closing_Release [WMF move] - The Wikimedia Foundation started in Saint-Petersburg, Florida. And moved in early 2008 to San Francisco, California. A couple of months ago the WMF moved again to a larger office in the neighborhood of the old office. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/10/27/wikimedia-finds-a-new-home/ === Community === [Commons] - Post of Erik about how the contend imported on Commons from partnerships have been used on the projects. http://article.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/43645 [Wiki jobs] - If you work on a WMF project and do your best, maybe, just maybe, you will be offered a job. That was the case with [[user:Mike Halterman]] from EN Wikinews. His work on Wikinews attracted the attention of a new magazine starting up in Tampa, Florida, USA, This user did had a journalistic background but this online work at Wikinews was the ticket. Nine months after being hired as a writer, Mike Halterman is now lead editor of OMG! Magazine. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/User:Mike_Halterman http://omgmag.com === Awards === [PL Wiki] - Polish Wikipedia has been awarded a Jan ?ukasiewicz special award for social innovation in the application of IT by the Polish IT Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Informatyczne). The award has been received by Pawe? Jochym, a co-founder of pl.wiki, and Prof. Janusz Ency Doro?y?ski, an active Polish Wikimedian and a member of the Society. === Media === [A editor story] - A nice article about one of the many people working on the wiki http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102204715.html === Other news === [Wikitravel] - has changed there license to Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. This is the same license as the Wikimedia Foundation is using for most projects. http://wikitravel.org/en/Wikitravel:License_upgrade [Upcoming holiday] - 25th of January Magnus Manske Day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Magnus_Manske_Day === Editorial notice === So, this was the first Wikizine of 2010 (and it was not even a good one). It has been a couple of months since the previous Wikizine. There was a short revival of Wikizine in the period of August, September and October. And now this edition in January. I can not make any promises for a next edition. Maybe until Wikizine 121, Greetings, User:Walter // Editor(s): Walter, Casey Corrector(s): Thanks to: Erik, Jay, Cary, George Herbert, Frank, Magnus Manske, Jyothis, Amgine, Sage, Jay, Tim, Marlita, Kat, David, Wpedzich, Naoko, Kul, Evan Contact: reply or http://report.wikizine.org Website: http://www.wikizine.org // Wikizine.org makes no guarantee of accuracy, validity and especially but not limited to, correct grammar and spelling. Satisfaction is not guaranteed. Wikizine.org is published by [[meta:user:Walter]]. Wikizine is published as long as there is noteworthy news (and time) Content is available under the GNU Free Documentation License http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html and also the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 36 Number: 117
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 36 Number: 117 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Software updates] - Brion is in the process of updating the Wikimedia sites with several weeks of new updates. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-September/045179.html [Mobile survey] - the Wikipedia Mobile team is running a survey, hoping to get feedback on their progress so far and suggestions for future additions. http://bit ly/LBXdK http://m.wikipedia.org/ [Sever donations] - do you know of a non-profit that needs servers? The Wikimedia Foundation is donating 35 servers (over 3 years old) that aren't fast enough to run our sites anymore, but would probably work fine for smaller projects. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/09/server-donation-time-again/ [TIFF support] - the tech team is adding full TIFF support in the near future. This support will help MediaWiki render TIFF images (an image format widely used by museums and in scientific research) so that users can view them in their browsers. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/09/full-tiff-support-is-comming/ === Foundation === [Board Minutes] - the minutes for the April and June Board meetings have now been published. You can view them on foundationwiki. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/April_3-5,_2009 http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/June_16,_2009 [Wikimedia IRC meeting] - the new three new Board members held an introductory meeting on IRC where they introduced themselves and answered questions. A full log is available on Meta and minutes are to come. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-September/054870.html http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_meetings/September_11,_2009#Meeting_information_.26_Attendees [Report to the Board] - Sue Gardner, the Executive Director, published her Report to the Board for the month of June. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-September/054904.html [Foundation-l LSS] - The latest summary for foundation-l has been posted on Meta-Wiki, thanks to Phoebe. In addition, you can now also follow updates to the LLS on identi.ca, either from the site there or via RSS. http://identi.ca/listsummaryservice http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LSS/foundation-l-archives/2009_August_1-31 [Orange Poland] - the Orange partnership has expanded into Poland. Unfortunately, though, there were a few issues with local press during the launch (see the foundation-l post). http://wikipedia.wp.pl/ http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-September/054946.html [Usability Beta Status] - Naoko Komura, Program Manager for the Usability Initiative, gave an update on the status of the usability updates (the Try Beta link). She also included statistics on how often they were enabled/kept enabled. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/09/14/usability-beta-status/ -- blog post [Omidyar Grant] - the Wikipedia Signpost has an article further explaining the nature of the Omidyar Grant of US$2 million to the Wikimedia Foundation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-09-14/News_and_notes [Job openings] - the Wikimedia Foundation has three job openings, as of press time, including a software developer, project manager, and development associate. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings [Transcom] - the translation committee has released another newsletter summarizing open requests. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/translators-l/2009-September/001004.html === Legal === [WMIT being sued] - Wikimedia Italia, the Italian chapter, has been sued for ?20,000,000 over a possibly defamatory article. WMIT is in no way connected to the article or edits in question, but they still have to pay the legal fees and fight a court battle due to the Italian legal system. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Gianfranco/Wikimedia_Italia_sued_for_20,000,000_%E2%82%AC -- unofficial summary (en) http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bar/Discussioni/Sabato_19,_a_Roma,_abbiamo_bisogno_di_te -- community notification (it) === Community === [University course about WP] - a university course solely devoted to Wikipedia has recently been started in Sweden. http://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Press_release_August_30,_2009 [Translatewiki.net update] - Gerard and Niko both published blog posts giving updates on Translatewiki, the site for translations of the MediaWiki software. http://ultimategerardm.blogspot.com/2009/09/translatewikinet-update.html
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 34-35 Number: 116
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 34-35 Number: 116 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Tech Update] - Brion posted an update on the status of a few projects, before shipping off to Wikimania. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/08/weekly-wiki-tech-update-pre-wikimania-edition/ [Commons: ImageAnnotator] - Wikimedia Commons added a new gadget: an Image Annotator, where users can place comments *onto* images (like flickr). http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Gadget-ImageAnnotator [Bugs] - Trevor Parscal, of the Usability Project, gave an update on the Usability Beta by saying that more than 40,000 users have now participated in the process. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/08/squashing-the-bugs/ [iPhone app released] - the Wikimedia Foundation released its own official iPhone/iPod application for Wikipedia, in addition to the regular mobile interface. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/wikipedia_lauches_official_iphone_app_-_but_its_no.php http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_iPhone_app http://m.wikipedia.org/ [SmartWikiSearch] - Smart Wiki Search, a concept similarity search, tries to make your Wikipedia search experience better by finding other Wikipedia pages that discuss the same or similar concepts to the one you searched for. http://www.smartwikisearch.com/ === Request for help === [Wikipedia Signpost RfC] - the Wikipedia Signpost, the English Wikipedia's newspaper, is looking for comments about what is their mission, purpose and where they should go from here. Feedback is appreciated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Wikipedia_Signpost/About#Where_does_the_Signpost_go_from_here.3F [Multimedia Usability Meeting] - we previously reported on the upcoming Multimedia Usability Project by Wikimedia France, suggestions and feedback are being requested on Meta-Wiki. There is also a planning event to take place in October 2009. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Usability_Project_Meeting_October_2009 === Proposals === === Policy === === Foundation === [Report to the Board] - Sue Gardner, the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, published her report to the board for May 2009. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-August/054008.html [New labs sites] - two new labs sites have been created to test out the flagged revisions and reader feedback extensions. In general, Wikimedia Labs is the name given to sites created to test out new extensions before they are used on Wikimedia wikis. http://flaggedrevs.labs.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page http://readerfeedback.labs.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page [Hewlett Foundation grant] - the Wikimedia Foundation received a US$500,000 grant towards operational support from Hewlett Foundation. The grant's purpose is to allow the Foundation expand its work bringing free educational content to everyone on the planet. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Hewlett_Foundation_grant_August_2009 [Omidyar Network Grant] - the Omidyar Network gave a grant of up to $2 million over two years to the Wikimedia Foundation. The grant will support Wikimedia's key goals: to bring free educational content to every person on the planet, to engage and empower more people to author that content and to continually increase the quality and breadth of the information provided through Wikimedia?s projects. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Omidyar_Network_Grant_August_2009 http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Omidyar_Network_Grant_August_2009QA [New board members/officers] - at Wikimania, the Board of Trustees officially accepted the results of the election, welcoming Samuel Klein (Sj) and thanking Domas for his service. Kat Walsh has also taken the position of executive secretary. In addition to these community-selected board members, an expertise seat was filled with Matt Halprin. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-August/054318.html http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/user:Mhalprin -- biography of Matt === Legal === === Agenda === === Community === [Wikimania 2009] - Wikimania 2009, the international Wikimedia conference, ended this week in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Even if you were not there, you can enjoy it too with twitter, flickr photos, and presentation videos. http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23wikimania+OR+%23wikimania2009 -- twitter for #wikimania2009 or #wikimania http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/wikimania2009/ -- flickr
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 33 Number: 115
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 33 Number: 115 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Tech Update] - the sysadmins posted a tech update of what happened last week and what will be coming up this week and beyond. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/08/weekly-wiki-tech-update/ -- techblog post [clone $brion;] - Brion Vibber, the current Foundation CTO, announced that they want to split his position into two. There will be a new Chief Technical Officer and Brion will become the Senior Software Architect; more information about the responsibilities of each can be found on the blog post. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/08/cto-position-split/ -- techblog post [Try Beta] - Have you noticed the new ?Try Beta? link at the top of Wikimedia project sites? The usability team is proud to introduce the new skin, Vector, and the newly enhanced edit toolbar. Check it out and give them your feedback! http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/08/try-the-usability-beta/ -- techblog post [pl.wp: Report a Problem] - The Polish Wikipedia has put together a neat little pop-up tool for reporting errors in articles. (The Zg?o? b??d link in the sidebar.) http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2009-August/102708.html -- post on wikien-l [MW.org: FlaggedRevs] - MediaWiki.org is currently testing out Flagged Revisions in their Manual and Help namespaces. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-July/043806.html -- reason for FlaggedRevs http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-August/044582.html -- brion telling about it being enabled [Image Annotations] - a hack for Wikimedia Commons allows for image annotations, just like Flickr has them, be sure to check it out! http://ur1.ca/8tik -- example image http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Gadget-ImageAnnotator -- help page [MediaWiki Wave] - a new project, MediaWiki Wave, has been launched. It attempts to find a way for Google Wave, a communication and collaboration tool in development, to work with and make the best of MediaWiki. http://mediawikiwave.blogspot.com/ -- blog http://code.google.com/p/mediawikiwave/ -- project code === Request for help === [BBC Wikimania] - this is a weird request for help, because it doesn't come from the community. The BBC's Digital Revolution, an open and collaborative documentary on the way the web is changing our lives, wants to come to Wikimania 2009 but can't make it! They're looking for people to film some content for them, are you going to Wikimania and interested? Visit the blog post for more information and contact them ASAP. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/digitalrevolution/2009/08/wikimania-2009-are-you-going-w.shtml === Proposals === [Global sysop opt-out] - a new proposal about global sysops has been created and feedback is requested! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_sysops/opt-out_proposal === Foundation === [Report to the Board] - Sue Gardner, the Executive Director, has published her report to the Board of Trustees for April 2009. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-August/053920.html [Board Election Results] - the results of the Board of Trustees elections have been released; the three winners are: Ting Chen (Wing), Kat Walsh (Mindspillage), and Samuel Klein (Sj). The Election Committee started a post-mortem section to collect commentary for future elections. Your comments on what went wrong and what went right will be highly appreciated. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Results/en -- results http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Board_elections/2009#Post_mortem -- post mortem === Agenda === [IN: WP Takes Chennai] - Are you in India? Love Wikipedia? Got a camera? Then participate in 'Wikipedia Takes Chennai' this Sunday (August 16). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Takes_Chennai === Community === [WMFR: Multimedia Usability] - Wikimédia France has announced a new Multimedia Usability Project. It is intended to support and compliment the Wikimedia Foundation's project funded by the Foundation. http://blog.wikimedia.fr/lancement-du-multimedia-usability-project-822 http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/02/ford-foundation-awards-300k-grant-for-wikimedia-commons/ -- WMF project [MW Translation Rally] - Translatewiki.net, the site that coordinates translations of the MediaWiki software, is running a translation rally. Contribute 500 MediaWiki translations and share in 1,000 Euro! http://translatewiki.net/wiki/Project:Rally-2009-08
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 32 Number: 114
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 32 Number: 114 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Full downtime] - All of Wikimedia's services (sites, mailing lists, etc.) were down on July 31 at 12:00 (UTC) to allow the primary router at the Tampa hosting facility to be rebooted. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/pmtpa-router-reboot-scheduled-downtime/ http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-July/044406.html http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CentralNotice/Downtime [SysAdminDay] - System Administrator Appreciation Day was held on July 31st; it's the day where you appreciate and thank all the system administrators who make your lives easier! http://www.sysadminday.com/ [Override this function] - on August 6, users were temporarily getting the message 'Override this function' when visiting pages on Wikipedia, due to a server only partially getting an update. The issue was supposedly fixed but the sysadmins are still getting reports, it needs further investigation of the problem. https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20081 === Request for help === [WikimediaMobile] - Wikimedia Mobile, the mobile interface for Wikipedia, has started accepting translations on betawiki. Help is greatly appreciated in localizing it for your local Wikipedia. http://m.wikipedia.org/ http://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:Wikimedia_mobile [Flickr tool maintainers] - Bryan Tong Minh posted a request for co-maintainers for his flickr tools on the toolserver. The bots are written in Python and use the mwclient library to edit and upload. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/commons-l/2009-August/004976.html [Best practices team] - Best practice in public outreach is a collection of articles describing experiences in winning new volunteers, partners, content and audiences. The group will help coordinate the creation and enhancement of the best practices documentation pages on Meta-Wiki, which will help share the knowledge about engaging new target groups or deepening relationships to new Wikimedians. Volunteers are needed! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Best_practices_documentation_team [BLP task force] - Cary Bass is in the process of launching a new task force on Biographies of Living People (as a result of the board resolution on the subject). The task force will be focusing on the English Wikipedia, but its recommendations and guidelines will probably be useful on other projects too. Volunteers are needed, see the blog post for more information. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2009-August/102667.html -- call for volunteers http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Biographies_of_living_people -- resolution === Proposals === [Strategic Proposals (Call)] - the Strategic Planning team has sent out a call for proposals. They'd like to encourage people to put their ideas into proposals for what the Wikimedia movement should be doing over the next five years. What's more is that you can write it in the language of your choice. === Foundation === [Guidestar] - the Wikimedia Foundation has finally received a profile on GuideStar, one of the largest American databases for non-profits. Be sure to visit the profile and write a review! http://tinyurl.com/wmfGuidestar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuideStar -- article on the site [Usability: Babaco] - the Usability team is preparing for its next release and has some new designs and ideas that need feedback from users, community members, and interested parties. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/29/the-abcs-of-usability/ -- blog post http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Babaco_Designs -- designs [Transcom newsletter] - the Translation committee (the people whose job it is to coordinate translations of Wikimedia Foundation-related items) has released its newsletter, which is a summary of open requests. If you speak another language, please look and see if there's anywhere that you can help out! http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/translators-l/2009-July/000982.html [LSS: foundation-l] - a new list summary of foundation-l posts between July 16-31 has been published. Phoebe has also posted a request for help, reminding others that she's not the only one who can do it and there are other lists that could be summarized too! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LSS/foundation-l-archives/2009_July_16-31 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LSS -- main LSS page === Legal === [EFFNPG update] - Another update on the National Portrait Gallery legal issue, the Electronic Frontier
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 32 Number: 114
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 32 Number: 114 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Full downtime] - All of Wikimedia's services (sites, mailing lists, etc.) were down on July 31 at 12:00 (UTC) to allow the primary router at the Tampa hosting facility to be rebooted. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/pmtpa-router-reboot-scheduled-downtime/ http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-July/044406.html http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CentralNotice/Downtime [SysAdminDay] - System Administrator Appreciation Day was held on July 31st; it's the day where you appreciate and thank all the system administrators who make your lives easier! http://www.sysadminday.com/ [Override this function] - on August 6, users were temporarily getting the message 'Override this function' when visiting pages on Wikipedia, due to a server only partially getting an update. The issue was supposedly fixed but the sysadmins are still getting reports, it needs further investigation of the problem. https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20081 === Request for help === [WikimediaMobile] - Wikimedia Mobile, the mobile interface for Wikipedia, has started accepting translations on betawiki. Help is greatly appreciated in localizing it for your local Wikipedia. http://m.wikipedia.org/ http://translatewiki.net/wiki/Translating:Wikimedia_mobile [Flickr tool maintainers] - Bryan Tong Minh posted a request for co-maintainers for his flickr tools on the toolserver. The bots are written in Python and use the mwclient library to edit and upload. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/commons-l/2009-August/004976.html [Best practices team] - Best practice in public outreach is a collection of articles describing experiences in winning new volunteers, partners, content and audiences. The group will help coordinate the creation and enhancement of the best practices documentation pages on Meta-Wiki, which will help share the knowledge about engaging new target groups or deepening relationships to new Wikimedians. Volunteers are needed! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Best_practices_documentation_team [BLP task force] - Cary Bass is in the process of launching a new task force on Biographies of Living People (as a result of the board resolution on the subject). The task force will be focusing on the English Wikipedia, but its recommendations and guidelines will probably be useful on other projects too. Volunteers are needed, see the blog post for more information. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2009-August/102667.html -- call for volunteers http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Biographies_of_living_people -- resolution === Proposals === [Strategic Proposals (Call)] - the Strategic Planning team has sent out a call for proposals. They'd like to encourage people to put their ideas into proposals for what the Wikimedia movement should be doing over the next five years. What's more is that you can write it in the language of your choice. === Foundation === [Guidestar] - the Wikimedia Foundation has finally received a profile on GuideStar, one of the largest American databases for non-profits. Be sure to visit the profile and write a review! http://tinyurl.com/wmfGuidestar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuideStar -- article on the site [Usability: Babaco] - the Usability team is preparing for its next release and has some new designs and ideas that need feedback from users, community members, and interested parties. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/29/the-abcs-of-usability/ -- blog post http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Babaco_Designs -- designs [Transcom newsletter] - the Translation committee (the people whose job it is to coordinate translations of Wikimedia Foundation-related items) has released its newsletter, which is a summary of open requests. If you speak another language, please look and see if there's anywhere that you can help out! http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/translators-l/2009-July/000982.html [LSS: foundation-l] - a new list summary of foundation-l posts between July 16-31 has been published. Phoebe has also posted a request for help, reminding others that she's not the only one who can do it and there are other lists that could be summarized too! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LSS/foundation-l-archives/2009_July_16-31 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LSS -- main LSS page === Legal === [EFFNPG update] - Another update on the National Portrait Gallery legal issue, the Electronic Frontier
[Foundation-l] Year: 2009 Week: 31 Number: 113
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 31 Number: 113 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [arwp: New namespace] - the Arabic Wikipedia Community has agreed to create a new namespace called Supplement. It will contain most of date pages (days, months, years, decades, etc.), disambiguation pages and lists to give the exactly number of encyclopedic articles. There are about 6000 pages that will be moved to the new namespace. It may be possible that your community would like to apply the same idea. https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=19357 -- bug report http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project:Supplement -- guideline of namespace [Commons: Off-site archive] - A off site archive for Commons and the XML snapshots will be added. Thanks are due to eBart consulting and User:Milosh for proving a backup server and storage array at their colocation facility in Europe. This server will store archives of our publicly available data of Wikimedia Commons and the XML snapshots. http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/were-adding-an-off-site-archive-for-commons-and-the-xml-snapshots/ -- techblog post [Passwords plz] - Watchlistr.com was an outside site that asked for Wikimedia passwords in order aggregate user watchlists across all projects for them. Although in this case it did not have a malicious intent, use of external sites asking for passwords place in risk the accounts used. Users are asked not to share their user password with any external site. Not even toolserver tools are allowed to request your password for any service. The site has now been shut down, and further analysis revealed that it had important vulnerabilities. Magnus Manske has created an alternative tool for people to use if they liked this feature. http://www.watchlistr.com/ http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-July/044238.html -- initial thread http://magnusmanske.de/MetaWatchlist/ -- alternative proposed by Magnus [TS: Multi-maintainer tools] - the toolserver is pushing multi-maintainer tools and will be actively discouraging single maintainer ones. They want to encourage collaboration amongst toolserver users and make tools last even when one of the users disappears. http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.toolserver/1515 [SVN account requests] - there's a new process for requesting SVN accounts to the MediaWiki source code. Brion announced that he'll be going through the queue every week, so if you have request throw them up on MediaWiki wiki. ;-) http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.science.linguistics.wikipedia.technical/44683 -- mailing list post http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Commit_access_requests -- requests === Proposals === [Geonotice + Wikinews/Commons?] - Sage Ross recently proposed something interesting: using an opt-in geonotice (notice that displays based on the location of your IP) to show local reporting or photographing opportunities. Hopefully this will help with one of the great frustrations that inhibit original reporting. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2009-July/044367.html === Foundation === [Board elections: Voting] - the Foundation's Board elections has finally entered into the voting phase (voting is open until August 10) and translation is continuing. Visit the Meta pages for election information (including a Questions page), the Wikipedia Signpost also has interviews with the candidates. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009#voters -- voter requirements http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Translation -- translation page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-07-27/Board_elections#Candidate_interviews -- signpost interviews [More donation buttons] - the second round of donation button designs has been posted, feedback is appreciated to determine which designs we'll end up using! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/Donation_buttons_upgrade [Audit Committee] - the new members of the 2009-2010 Audit Committee have been announced. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-July/053280.html -- foundation-l post [wm2009: Registration] - Media Registration for Wikimania 2009 has opened. For regular registration, there is a new update: it is also possible to extend your stay past the Wikimania dates, but you need to contact the hotel directly. http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration#Accommodations -- extending stay options
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 30 Number: 112
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 30 Number: 112 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Media server problems] - there were some media load problems on all the sites, which caused extreme slowness or temporary inaccessibility. The sysadmins took advantage of this downtime to redo the way we access media files internally which will help reduce the impact on the rest of the site when load problems on the file servers occur, and also spreads out the load among multiple servers to improve things even more. They had to shut off all uploads for a while to get this done! http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/intermittent-media-server-load-problems/ http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/uploads-temporarily-offline-for-site-fix/ [Wikipedia Weekly interviews the Usability Team] - Wikipedia Weekly, a podcast for and by Wikimedians, interviewed the Usability team. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikipediaWeekly/Episode76 http://wikipediaweekly.org/2009/07/09/episode-76-usability/ [MediaWiki:Sharedupload change] - MediaWiki:Sharedupload became MediaWiki:Sharedupload-desc-here. Admins in other projects should rename the first one to the second in order to customize messages for images from Commons. (That's the text shown when a Commons image is shown on another project: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doorknob_buddhist_temple_detail_amk.jpg ) === Request for help === [Translation of the week] -- the Translation of the Week needs help! If you speak another language and would like to translate History of pizza into your language, TOTW is for you. ;-) http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Translation_of_the_week === Foundation === [Board elections] - the candidate deadline for the elections to the Board of Trustees has been extended to July 27 due to some technical issues for which the CentralNotice had to be turned off. The questioning of the candidates has also begun and translation is ongoing. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Candidates -- candidates http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Candidates/Questions -- questions http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Translation -- translation [New Strategic Planning Staff] - the Foundation announced that they filled two positions for their Strategic Planning project. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-July/053165.html -- project manager http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-July/053168.html -- facilitator [National Portrait Gallery] - the English National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London (UK) has threatened to sue a U.S. citizen, Derrick Coetzee. The legal letter followed claims that he had breached the Gallery's copyright in several thousand photographs of works of art uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, a free online media repository. More information in the extremely detailed Wikinews article. *Update*: The WMF and NPG have entered into good-faith negotiations, according to Erik Moeller. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/U.K._National_Portrait_Gallery_threatens_U.S._citizen_with_legal_action_over_Wikimedia_images http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/16/protecting-the-public-domain-and-sharing-our-cultural-heritage/ -- WMF blog post http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-07-13/Copyright_threat -- summary by the signpost [Academy: NIH] - the Wikimedia Foundation announced and had its first Wikipedia Academy (outreach event to teach people to become contributors) in the United States this week. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/NIH_and_WMF_announce_first_WP_Academy_July_2009 -- press release http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23nihwiki -- twitter coverage from the event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academy/NIH_2009 -- project writeup [Advisory Board changes] - Angela, chair of the Advisory Board, has updated the Advisory Board page to show that 8 members have left, bringing the current total to 15 advisory board members. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/?diff=39660 [Fundraising 2008: Post-Mortem] - Rand Montoya, the Foundation's Head of Community Giving, has posed a post-mortem (basically what went wrong, what went right and what can we do better?) on the 2008 Fundraising Drive. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2008#Post_Mortem_for_the_2008_Annual_Fundraiser === Community === [Board elections: Inspiration] - some Wikimedians suggested that it might be better if prospective candidates knew *why* they should run for board member; what's it
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 30 Number: 112
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 30 Number: 112 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Media server problems] - there were some media load problems on all the sites, which caused extreme slowness or temporary inaccessibility. The sysadmins took advantage of this downtime to redo the way we access media files internally which will help reduce the impact on the rest of the site when load problems on the file servers occur, and also spreads out the load among multiple servers to improve things even more. They had to shut off all uploads for a while to get this done! http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/intermittent-media-server-load-problems/ http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/uploads-temporarily-offline-for-site-fix/ [Wikipedia Weekly interviews the Usability Team] - Wikipedia Weekly, a podcast for and by Wikimedians, interviewed the Usability team. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikipediaWeekly/Episode76 http://wikipediaweekly.org/2009/07/09/episode-76-usability/ [MediaWiki:Sharedupload change] - MediaWiki:Sharedupload became MediaWiki:Sharedupload-desc-here. Admins in other projects should rename the first one to the second in order to customize messages for images from Commons. (That's the text shown when a Commons image is shown on another project: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Doorknob_buddhist_temple_detail_amk.jpg ) === Request for help === [Translation of the week] -- the Translation of the Week needs help! If you speak another language and would like to translate History of pizza into your language, TOTW is for you. ;-) http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Translation_of_the_week === Foundation === [Board elections] - the candidate deadline for the elections to the Board of Trustees has been extended to July 27 due to some technical issues for which the CentralNotice had to be turned off. The questioning of the candidates has also begun and translation is ongoing. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Candidates -- candidates http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Candidates/Questions -- questions http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Translation -- translation [New Strategic Planning Staff] - the Foundation announced that they filled two positions for their Strategic Planning project. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-July/053165.html -- project manager http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-July/053168.html -- facilitator [National Portrait Gallery] - the English National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London (UK) has threatened to sue a U.S. citizen, Derrick Coetzee. The legal letter followed claims that he had breached the Gallery's copyright in several thousand photographs of works of art uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons, a free online media repository. More information in the extremely detailed Wikinews article. *Update*: The WMF and NPG have entered into good-faith negotiations, according to Erik Moeller. http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/U.K._National_Portrait_Gallery_threatens_U.S._citizen_with_legal_action_over_Wikimedia_images http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/16/protecting-the-public-domain-and-sharing-our-cultural-heritage/ -- WMF blog post http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2009-07-13/Copyright_threat -- summary by the signpost [Academy: NIH] - the Wikimedia Foundation announced and had its first Wikipedia Academy (outreach event to teach people to become contributors) in the United States this week. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/NIH_and_WMF_announce_first_WP_Academy_July_2009 -- press release http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23nihwiki -- twitter coverage from the event http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academy/NIH_2009 -- project writeup [Advisory Board changes] - Angela, chair of the Advisory Board, has updated the Advisory Board page to show that 8 members have left, bringing the current total to 15 advisory board members. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/?diff=39660 [Fundraising 2008: Post-Mortem] - Rand Montoya, the Foundation's Head of Community Giving, has posed a post-mortem (basically what went wrong, what went right and what can we do better?) on the 2008 Fundraising Drive. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2008#Post_Mortem_for_the_2008_Annual_Fundraiser === Community === [Board elections: Inspiration] - some Wikimedians suggested that it might be better if prospective candidates knew *why* they should run for board member; what's it
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 28 Number: 111
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 28 Number: 111 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Proposals === [Logo Wiktionary] - End of 2006 a winner of a new logo selection process was declared for Wiktionary. Some Wiktionary accepted and used the new logo, others did not. (like the English Wiktionary). In any case once more a new logo selection process is in motion on Meta for Wiktionary. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary/logo -- we have a winner (2006) http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary/logo/refresh -- new logo Wiktionary 2009 === Foundation === [Board elections] - the Wikimedia Foundation Board is holding its community elections again, this time for 3 board seats (the next regular election will be in two years). Candidates are being accepted until July 20. Help is needed with translating many pages for the election. (including the CentralNotice displayed all over Wikimedia's sites)! http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Candidates/en -- candidates http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009/Translation -- translation [Annual Plan] - the Foundation has published its 2009-2010 Annual Plan and a set of Questions Answers to go along with it. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/foundation/a/a3/2009-10_Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan_FINAL_July2.pdf -- annual plan (pdf) http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2009-2010_Annual_Plan_Questions_and_Answers -- QA [wm2009: Registration] - registration for Wikimania 2009 in Buenos Aires is now open! If you register before July 30, it's US$15 cheaper. (= US$45) http://wikimania2009.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration [Orange] - In April the Wikimedia Foundation announced a partnership with the telecommunications company Orange. The Spanish Wikipedia is now being showcased on the Spanish Orange site. http://wikipedia.orange.es http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Orange_and_Wikimedia_announce_partnership_April_2009 -- original press release [New chapters] - the Board recently approved three new Wikimedia chapters: Wikimedia Danmark (Denmark), Wikimedia Portugal, and Wikimedia Ukraine. This brings the total number of chapters to 24. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2009-July/052936.html http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolutions#July_2009 === Agenda === [fossevents] - a new site (run by the same people who run IRC network Wikimedia uses, Freenode) just opened up that showcases FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) Events around the world, big and small. Be sure to add your upcoming Wikimedia events and look for others that interest you! http://fossevents.org === Community === [New Wikipedia] - The founding of Wikipedia, the large Western language Wikipedias, may seem to lay in the distant past, new Wikipedia's are still founded. The Mari Wikipedia is the newest family member. http://mhr.wikipedia.org http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari_language [GLAM] - in the lead up to GLAM-WIKI (August 6-7), Wikimedia Australia is holding an editors' challenge (like a friendly competition) with the overall theme of Australian GLAM (GLAM stands for Galleries, Libraries, Archives Museums). The idea is to pick your own editing theme and submit it, along with the edits you make related to it. Prizes will be awarded for the most extensive, creative, impressive, novel, broad, deep, etc. edits. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Australia/GLAM_challenge -- GLAM challenge http://glam.wikimedia.org.au/ -- GLAM wiki [WMDE: ED/Vision] - we previously noted that Wikimedia Deutschland was looking for a new Executive Director; they've finally found one after a year! The new director is Pavel Richter (w:de:User:Schreibvieh) and he was the unanimous choice of both the search committee and the board. Sebastian, chair of WMDE's board and the current director, also published a blog post describing the newly defined vision for Wikimedia's first and largest chapter. http://blog.wikimedia.de/2009/07/02/neuer-geschaftsfuhrer/ -- blog announcing ED (German) http://blog.wikimedia.de/2009/07/06/eine-vision-fur-wikimedia-deutschland/ -- blog discussing vision (German) [ENWP: 3 million?] - What will the 3 millionth article on the English Wikipedia be? A few community members are making guesses on what article that will be, be sure to add your guess too! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Three-millionth_topic_pool [India: Meetup] - everyone seems to be linking to a report on the third Bangalore, India meetup. The meetup seems like it was
[Foundation-l] EN Wikizine - Year: 2009 Week: 27 Number: 110
** ____ _ __ _ / / /\ \ (_) | _(_)___(_)_ __ ___ \ \/ \/ / | |/ / |_ / | '_ \ / _ \ \ /\ /| | | |/ /| | | | | __/ \/ \/ |_|_|\_\_/___|_|_| |_|\___| .org Year: 2009 Week: 27 Number: 110 ** An independent internal news bulletin for the members of the Wikimedia community // === Technical news === [Michael Jackson Kills WP] - Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, died this week and nearly took Wikipedia down with him (as well as many other websites). Wikimedia sites were unresponsive for a whole due to the large number of page hits. The Michael Jackson article got nearly 6 *million* hits on June 26, more than the Main Page. In the evening of the 2th July (UTC) WikipediaCo was virtually down because of power outage of the European servers. The remaining servers choked on the additional traffic routed to them. http://stats.grok.se/en/200906/Michael_Jackson -- page hit statistics http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/06/current-events/ -- techblog explanation of issues http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/News_of_Michael_Jackson's_death_overloads_Internet_sites_and_sparks_hoaxes -- wikinews article http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/power-outage-in-wikimedias-european-servers/ -- wiki down [Usability] - the Usability team has released its first set of usability improvement (the acai release) for testing. As of press time, the new vector skin has been made available on all wikis for users who select it from their preferences, please help test the new features! http://techblog.wikimedia.org/2009/06/first-usability-release-is-coming-up-soon/ -- blog post http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Releases#Acai -- acai release description [Usability BIS] - one aspect is already live by default; the new design of the search results. Just use the internal search and see. http://usability.wikimedia.org/wiki/Designs#Search_Results === Request for help === [Fundraising 2009] - the Wikimedia Foundation is preparing for its next fundraiser and would like feedback from the community on some of the pages it has developed so far. In addition to the creation of a new survey that they would like comments on, the Foundation is also trying to enhance the visibility of the donate button. The new buttons will be placed on the skin and will be viewable on every page. There are also several design proposals that need community input! http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/06/25/would-you-press-this-button/ -- blog post about it http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/Donation_buttons_upgrade -- buttons http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2009/Survey -- survey === Foundation === [Licensing] - The licensing update changes have now been rolled out to all languages and projects, with the new license being featured in the footer and new interface items to translate for your wiki. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/06/30/licensing-update-rolled-out-in-all-wikimedia-wikis/ -- blog post http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/translators-l/2009-June/000959.html -- translation steps http://tinyurl.com/LU-interface-trans -- betawiki trans interface [Board election] - Once again an election for the board of trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation is coming up. It is for 3 seats this time. But before there can be elections there must be someone to vote for. Submissions of candidacy are open between 6th and 20th July. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_elections/2009 [New grant: Commons] - the Wikimedia Foundation was just awarded a US$300,000 grant that will research problems with and design new tools/fix current tools for uploading files to the global Wikimedia image repository, the Wikimedia Commons. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/07/02/ford-foundation-awards-300k-grant-for-wikimedia-commons/ -- blog post http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Ford_Foundation_Grant_July_2009 -- press release http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:WMF_Ford_Multimedia_Participation_Project.pdf -- full grant proposal [Job: Bookshelf] - as a further development from the Scribus operator volunteer position noted in Wikizine a few months ago, a new job opening has been posted for project manager of the Bookshelf project. The Bookshelf project strives to develop a slate of basic educational materials (print, online and video) to attract new authors and editors to Wikipedia. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/Project_Manager_Bookshelf -- job opening http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_outreach/Get_involved -- volunteer position, scribus operator === Community === [David Rohde] - it turns out that Wikipedia, along with tons of other media outlets, kept the kidnapping of journalist David Rohde out of its article on him. This has caused a few