Re: [Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: New editor engagement experiments team!
On Apr 5, 2012 2:42 PM, Jan Kučera kozuc...@gmail.com wrote: You are still doomed as WMF with your new job probram unless you allow remote work or start a reasonable grant-program to general public... you will never find the best talents in a limited space... (mainly US now) go to the full globe instead... I think your understanding is outdated. The Foundation has quite a few remote workers. I can count 20-30 people not based in San Francisco just by scanning the staff and contractors page. 2012/3/28 birgitte...@yahoo.com: It seems to me that there has been a quite a variety of results to booster activities, and that the poorest results have come from random educators who decide to make a Wikipedia class project without consulting any veteran editors rather than from people more thoroughly exposed to the sausage factory nature of wikis. I don't doubt that outreach can be done very poorly, I just don't really expect future programs, especially ones with old hats on board, to make the same mistakes past programs have already discovered for us. As far I can determine, contributors fall along a full spectrum without any sort clear way to claim at what point an individual has become an official editor, nor when one might have forfeited such a status. I think that biggest difference in our viewpoints stems from your belief that there ever has been some sort of natural ecosystem of contributor motivations and that activities not intended to promote a specific viewpoint are somehow artificial. In a way, all of it was always artificial, or else it is really all quite natural given the nature of the system. I can't manage to find those labels meaningful. Nor can I find any objective criteria that would make sense to populate two categories of contributors in the way you speak of one side being boosted over the other by outreach. It is however the most natural thing in all of humanity to transform a complex system down into some sort of false dichotomy. To transform a truly varied world into us and them. I dislike the necessity of suggesting that your position may be partially supported by a failure of critical thinking. However I am at a loss as to what your other side could be, besides that they are not us. Also while I understand that the last bit is a sort of talking point for your position, I cannot see why the statistical goals are not understood as indicative of significant qualities. It is like complaining a sports team signed a big contract with star player just for the sake of statistics. Statistics are how you take measure of meaning over time or across groups. Birgitte SB On Mar 25, 2012, at 9:23 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Thanks for this email Birgitte. I greatly enjoyed reading it, it give insight in not just your own motivation, but mine and several others who have come to know. I apologize for my following lengthy response as well. This is a well-articulated, reasoned response, that should stand apart from the ongoing discussion. This does not mean I don't disagree with some of your points in the discussion. I believe we have two fundamentally different perspectives o this. It shapes our opinion of where we are and where we are heading towards. The central difference resides on the difference between an editor and a member of the crowd. I do not believe every individuals can become an editor. I should make a clear distinction here that I am referring to active editors, not just every reader who can incidentally make as correction to never repeat again. The edits stand on their own, the individuals might not. That is where we differ on, the crowd we are both referring to is composed of a large majority of those, and very few actual editors. The conversion rate between the two has been out of proportion for some time now. It may be that collected edits might be what you are referring to here, not the individual contributor. Collected edits form the wisdom of the crowd, they are irrespective of who they came from. Editors, curators, new contributors, vandals, PR agents, occupy the entire spectrum of the crowd. The issue is between the normal ecosystem that came to be on its own, and the artificial albeit temporary addition to the equation. Activities undertaken to artificially boost one side, by incentives and outreach effort, have not yielded positive results. We are having this discussion because there is a trend that has developed. The past measures have not yielded favorable results. It has contrarily, in some cases, increased the already heavy burden on one side, the backlogs have only increased through them, so have copyright violations and so on. These attempts artificially inflate and unbalance the ecosystem, by temporarily bringing in an unmotivated crowd for the sake of statistics. On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 12:07 PM, birgitte...@yahoo.com wrote: I snipped previous emails
Re: [Foundation-l] Improving Wikipedia Information graphics
On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 12:58 PM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leino...@aalto.fiwrote: Hi, I have a nice little project to share. Our graphic design students have been improving some of the information graphics in the Wikipedia articles. The work was done as part of their Information Design class. The teachers of the class wrote about the class and its results in here: http://informaatiomuotoilu.fi/2012/03/student-works-from-our-course-part-i/ I think this is a good example of running Wikipedia Education Program / Wikipedia Academy kind of activities in art and design schools. Please copy! - Teemu These are fantastic. I don't see them on (EN) articles or Commons yet, though it's easy to miss... do the students need help uploading etc? Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: New editor engagement experiments team!
On Sun, Mar 25, 2012 at 5:24 AM, En Pine deyntest...@hotmail.com wrote: MF-Warburg, at the risk of making myself sound unusually dense in front of everyone on foundation-l, I'm not yet an expert on cross-wiki Wikipedia research so I need some clarification. My understanding is that Incubator is only for entire new wikis and not experiments for current wikis, but I thought that the A/B testing is intended for implementation on the current English Wikipedia. Would I be correct in restating those sentences as a hub for A/B testing experiments with Wikipedia templates on all wikis and a page for coordinating A/B testing of user talk templates ONLY here on the Incubator for new language Wikipedias? Thanks, Pine MF-Warbug is correct. The Meta page has a list of all the tests and summarized results so far. The Incubator page is for tests on the Incubator. These specific local coordination pages are linked from Meta as well: - English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_user_warnings/Testing - German Wikipedia: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Projekt_Warnhinweise - Portuguese Wikipedia: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Projetos/Avisos_aos_usu%C3%A1rios/Testes - Commons (no tests started yet): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:WikiProject_Templates/Testing Sorry if this is confusing, but we tried to keep most of the relevant documentation to each project on that project. To answer your other question about a place to go to propose ideas for editor retention... people should do what they are most comfortable with right now, and share the link(s) widely. Even a userspace essay or notes is alright. There are also many good ideas on strategy.wikimedia.org (though they are older), and in the fellowships proposals: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships/Project_Ideas. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: New editor engagement experiments team!
On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 4:16 PM, Sarah slimvir...@gmail.com wrote: Does anyone know what kind of experiments we're talking about? I can partially clarify here... - These will not be pilot projects resembling the Global Education Program in any particular country. (Which is why it's very strange to be using it as an example in the context of this announcement and the ensuing discussion.) We won't be doing offline outreach to thousands of students or any other particular group. - These will not be large-scale new features that move quickly to permanent deployment, such as the Article Feedback Tool or PendingChanges. The best example I can give now is the A/B testing of user talk templates that Maryana and I have done. Since we'll have design and developer resources for these new experiments however, they will be different in regards to how quickly the tests happen and how tech-heavy they are. Another decent example was the Account Creation Improvement Project which happened last year, though that was another example which took longer than the timeframe we want to work on. We're still in the beginning of working on our list of experiments (we don't actually officially start until April ~16th), but by then we'll have a list of possibilities to share. Since these won't be English Wikipedia only, the documentation will be on a wiki like MediaWiki.org and Meta. If you have any strong feelings about how you'd like updates to happen or have experiment ideas, we'd be happy to hear them. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] User talk templates
These are both great questions Pine. On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 1:37 AM, En Pine deyntest...@hotmail.com wrote: First, has anyone thought about automatically adding a welcome message to the user’s talk page when they first register, not only for EN but also for Commons, Simple, and other projects? Currently we require a human to do this, which means that lots of people seem not to get welcome messages which could contain useful information, and perhaps a link to the Teahouse for EN users. Could we implement an automated post to a user’s talk page that gives the user links to WP:WELCOME, WP:HELP, the Teahouse, and/or other similar resources as soon as the user has registered? As Tim said, there is actually an extension which can do this, and it's used on several projects, including the Arabic, Hindi, Thai, Chinese, and Romanian Wikipedias (among others). Personally speaking, I think that we should treat automated welcoming of any kind with healthy skepticism. But the great part of running A/B tests (however hack-y our system is) is that we don't have to make our consensus decisions based just on gut instinct about how people will react to different communitication methods. To that end, we're currently testing a few different welcomes delivered via this extension on the Wikimedia Incubator: https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Incubator:Template_testing The reason we're doing tests at all is because in our first A/B test, we confirmed our working hypothesis that enough people read these templates to make changing their contents actually worthwhile. As others have pointed out though, it's actually more likely that people do not *really* read fully automated welcome messages from bots, so the most important thing I want to learn from the Incubator test is whether we can see any statistically significant difference in the activity of editors who receive these various welcomes. Second, has anyone looked at non-English Wikipedias, especially any that show better editor retention than EN’s, to check for best practices regarding the languages used on templates? Thanks, Pine This is a really important thing. We've done some research in prep for non-English tests we've ran, and I can give you some anecdotes etc., but no one has done a comprehensive survey. If you want to help work on one, I'm happy to start it! Last but not least, there are links to all the local coordination pages and ongoing research on Meta.[1] If you're from EN, PT, or DE Wikipedias, there are WikiProjects to join which have their own localized documentation already, and we're definitely open to doing tests on new wikis. Steven 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template_A/B_testing ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] User talk templates
On Mar 22, 2012 8:46 PM, Cynthia Ashley-Nelson cindam...@gmail.com wrote: In Twinkle, we can add a custom Welcome message. Is it possible to create a customized Welcome template that allows the user to insert a personalized message to the Twinkle interface? Or even make changes to the existing templates that allows users to insert a personal message prior to placing on the user's talk page? Yes, this not difficult at all to add to Twinkle, and if the maintainers of the gadget are willing I think this should be one of the experiments we try. The idea of prompting normal handwritten comments as part of the interface was also suggested in the feedback from our recent test of PROD and AfD templates in Twinkle. Steven On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 5:57 PM, Will Takatoshi willtakato...@gmail.com wrote: WereSpielChequers wrote: ... our steadily increasing proportion of spammers Where are you seeing that? I've been monitoring COIBot report contribution numbers and it seems about constant over the years to me. and the large increase in our proportion of vandals since 2005 The proportion of vandalism peaked in 2007 per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vandalism_statistics Has it been on the rise again? ClueBot NG's contribution's over time seemed to be relatively low before its recent outage and training reset compared to 2010. Counting ClueBot NG contributions per hour makes it seem like they are still lower than 2007 levels, but they start and stop in bursts so I can't get a good idea of the trend without more work. I want to clarify to John Vandenberg and others that I do approve of the Foundation's very important work on editor retention and recruitment, and on the current initiatives such the Article Feedback Tool which are in many ways quality-focused, but I think additional Foundation efforts on content quality are simply not necessary at least until the recruitment and retention numbers stop declining. -Will ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l -- Best regards, Cindy Ashley-Nelson Yes. *Her again.* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Cindamuse ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] User talk templates
On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 9:45 PM, Michael Snow wikipe...@frontier.comwrote: Wow, handwritten? I didn't know MediaWiki was going to skip straight past WYSIWYG to OCR. Is it time to start weeding out editors with bad penmanship? Wikipedians: they cut you no slack whatsoever for imprecise adjectives, even if it's 9:30 at night. :) Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: New editor engagement experiments team!
On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 3:49 PM, David Gerard dger...@gmail.com wrote: And it turns out the new editors often assume the templates are completely bot-generated. That is: the editors using templates are, literally, failing the Turing test. I know the solution is not to just stop using templates. I think it should be given serious consideration. I realise why Twinkle and Huggle exist, but they turn Wikipedia into a first-person shooter with the newbies as the targets. I suggest that this is not the sort of gamification that is useful. If anyone wants to help work on these template-related issues, Maryana and I are still in the midst of work on this in a couple wikis... I don't want to flood the thread with a report on its status, but let me know if you want to join in our not-so-secret effort to make the current user talk template system more human. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia Foundation Mid-Year Presentation to the Board of Trustees
On Tuesday, March 6, 2012, Liam Wyatt liamwy...@gmail.com wrote: Finally, a question. Slide 31 says that in the future the WMF will run Worldwide convenings of highly active contributors in mature Wikipedias. I know the noun a convention and I know the verb to convene but I don't recognise the noun a convening. What is it? Is it the same as a conference? -Liam Even though it is unusual, we have used the word convening intentionally, in order to differentiate from a conference (which can imply a whole host of styles of gathering, usually with multiple tracks) or a simple meetup (which sounds too unstructured). There is more documentation on Meta.[1] It's serendipitous that you should mention having the community be the solution to editor retention issues, because that is precisely our purpose with these convenings. In addition to the Arabic Wikipedia convening Abbas mentioned, Maryana and I are on the last day of a four city trip to Brazil to hold discussions with Portuguese-speaking Wikipedians. We have met with dozens of the most active contributors to PT WP and created a set of the issues everyone felt were the biggest barriers to a healthy and growing project -- focusing on things the community controls locally, such as policy, mentoring of new editors, anti vandalism work, etc., as opposed to purely technical solutions or large scale programs like the global education work. This is our first pilot convening in the Community Dept, so whether we do more is really dependent on our retrospective for this Brazil work. There's lots more forthcoming, but for now the most discussion is on Portuguese Wikipedia's *Esplanada*.[2] Steven 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_convenings 2. https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Esplanada/geral/Wikip%C3%A9dia_Encontros,_Brasil_(24jan2012) ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia (from the Chronicle) + some citation discussions
On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 10:13 AM, Andrew Lih andrew@gmail.com wrote: But I do share Mike Godwin's concerns on what this means for attracting editors and for Wikipedia's public image. This is where I disagree. But we can talk about this later. ;) Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with the localization team tomorrow
On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 2:17 PM, Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Hi all! Just a quick reminder that you're invited to join the WMF localization team at 1800 UTC tomorrow. This is happening now. :) Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with the localization team tomorrow
Hi all! Just a quick reminder that you're invited to join the WMF localization team at 1800 UTC tomorrow. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 10:46 AM Subject: IRC office hours with the localization team, on International Mother Language Day To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, I just wanted to give some advance notice about IRC office hours with the localization team [1] at the Wikimedia Foundation, which will be aptly held on International Mother Language Day.[2] Date: 2011-02-21 Time: 18.00 UTC Venue: #wikimedia-office As usual, more logistical info and time conversion links are available on Meta.[3] For a taste of what the localization team has been up to, I highly recommend the blog posts they've been writing regularly.[4] Thanks, and we'll talk to you later this month! -- Steven Walling, Wikimedia Foundation 1. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Localisation_team 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mother_Language_Day 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours 4. http://blog.wikimedia.org/c/technology/features/internationalization-and-localization/ -- Steven Walling https://wikimediafoundation.org/ ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Communicating effectively: Wikimedia needs clear language now
On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Tom Morris t...@tommorris.org wrote: Commit to clear writing by adopting a policy of copyediting almost always welcome for chapter wikis, Foundation documents and as close to everything as possible. There are volunteers in the movement who happily spend hour after hour copyediting on Wikipedia and Wikinews and Wikibooks and so on. Give them the opportunity to fix up the language used by the Foundation and the chapters. Remember: how can community members support and become more deeply involved with the work of the chapters and the Foundation if they can't understand what you are saying? First Tom, thank you for the constructive suggestions all around. If everybody came forward with criticisms that also included options for fixing things in a simple way, then Foundation-l would be a lot happier place. The only possible hitch I see in the idea to welcome more copyediting in public documents is that, unlike say the Wikipedia article about cars or the Simpsons or what have you, writing about Foundation work usually involves describing things a volunteer doesn't know about unless they were a part of doing the job. I don't mean they don't have the capability to understand, just that if you're working on something that is not common knowledge, how is it possible for random folks who come along to clarify the language? There are no reliable sources to go read and cite, because it's original research. ;-) Seems like a Catch-22 to me: documents about what we do at the Foundation are sometimes not plainly understandable, and yet you can't make them understandable unless you know what it is you're supposed to be describing. Best regards, Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours in 30 mins. with the new Legal Community Advocacy team
Hey folks, Just a reminder that in about 30 minutes, we'll be in #wikimedia-office with Geoff, Philippe and the rest of the newly-minted Legal and Community Advocacy department [1] to discuss their work. Thanks! -- Steven Walling https://wikimediafoundation.org/ 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal_and_Community_Advocacy ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours in 30 mins. with the new Legal Community Advocacy team
On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 11:04 AM, Mono monom...@gmail.com wrote: Looks like I missed this. The logs have been posted: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2012-02-10 Regards, Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] New project: WikiMake - library of free 3D models?
On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 2:10 AM, Leinonen Teemu teemu.leino...@aalto.fiwrote: Hello all, Has there been any attempt to start a Wikimedia project focusing on free 3D models? I think, right now it would be the right timing for it. The prices of 3D printers and other computer controlled machines are coming down [1] and there are growing network of FabLabs around the world providing access for public to design and fabricate their own objects.[2] I have contacts to the European Fablab folks and we probably could start with them a project on an Incubator. Best regards, - Teemu The most popular example of this kind of repository is Thingiverse,[1] run by a small NY-based company that makes 3D printers. Most of the content there is CC. Steven 1. http://www.thingiverse.com/ ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with the WMF legal team, Friday Feb. 10th
Hi all, I just wanted to let you know that this Friday at 17:00 UTC, our General Counsel Geoff Brigham and his team will be in #wikimedia-office to talk about work in the legal department. If you haven't checked the log from the first legal office hours where he discussed legal strategy in general, I highly recommend doing so.[1] :) As usual, time conversion links and other particulars are on Meta.[2] Thanks, and hopefully we'll talk to you later in the week. -- Steven Walling, Wikimedia Foundation 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2011-12-01 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with the localization team, on International Mother Language Day
Hi everyone, I just wanted to give some advance notice about IRC office hours with the localization team [1] at the Wikimedia Foundation, which will be aptly held on International Mother Language Day.[2] Date: 2011-02-21 Time: 18.00 UTC Venue: #wikimedia-office As usual, more logistical info and time conversion links are available on Meta.[3] For a taste of what the localization team has been up to, I highly recommend the blog posts they've been writing regularly.[4] Thanks, and we'll talk to you later this month! -- Steven Walling, Wikimedia Foundation 1. https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Localisation_team 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mother_Language_Day 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours 4. http://blog.wikimedia.org/c/technology/features/internationalization-and-localization/ ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Waste of money, Wikipediacentrism. - Brazil
On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 5:51 AM, Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton rodrigo.argen...@gmail.com wrote: Dear all, Well as you know, Brazil is a priority, but when spending is a waste. We have a volunteer group that operates in Brazil since 2008 in direct contact with the problems of Brazil, know much about the free national culture, know a lot about education in the country, and their projects, they can tell the reasons why Brazil has poor performance on Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation conducted several interviews with the group, I was interviewed three times and had several conversations with several different employees. Also recently a person was hired to do a search on this, already operating in Brazil. And yesterday they announced the arrival of two more employees to ask only that, again. [1] They already have the answer to these interviews, what they are asking again? And what I find worse is the fact that there is a prohibitive message for explanation of other Wikimedia projects. As for the local group that Wikipedia is not central. And there will be an office of WMF, only to activities for Wikipedia. And many Brazilians criticize the model of the WMF, and that centralization in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is only the tenth seventh most visited site in the country. Need better, yes, but the problem is the community that is not healthy, and that the WMF does not interfere on that. So it's skating, and spending resources unnecessarily. Several staff members say the Wikipedia impact is larger than the other projects. Which has more impact for you? The Movement Wikimedia projects through education, created free educational resources available in Wikibooks, and classes on Wikiversity, this could change the lives of thousands of poor children or The Movement Wikimedia succeeded in creating an encyclopaedia in Portuguese high quality Unfortunately I live in a country that 38% of teens lives in extreme poverty [2], how they want to create a program just with universities, to share knowledge if people that never walk inside one university? Or not be able to read the contents of Wikipedia because they were not properly literate. I'm not talking to literate Brazilians, I'm talking to create free educational resources, and create classes, and encourage businesses and organizations to do that change, this is a collaborative work. With the money spent to keep three people six days in Brazil from the U.S.A., we could fund a fellow to start a social work with teachers to create this material.What is the interest of the WMF on this? Our priority is Wikipedia *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. * I'll keep imagining, and having to push myself very hard to see this world. That will never be reached by Wikipedia alone.Especially in Brazil. If it were to promote Wikipedia as a site, it would be best to hire a company, not a Foundation, if that way selected, do things as a Foundation. Sorry for my English, I'm tired and I didn't review. [1] https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Esplanada/geral/Wikip%C3%A9dia_Encontros,_Brasil_%2824jan2012%29 [2] http://noticias.r7.com/brasil/noticias/adolescentes-sao-mais-pobres-que-restante-da-populacao-2030.html -- Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton Hi Rodrigo, I am going to keep my replies on Portuguese Wikipedia going forward. However, I'll try to make a short answer here too... We want this to be very different than past staff meetups or interviews that have happened in Brazil. We are not interested in the university program, the chapter, the Brazil office, or the fundraiser. That is not what Maryana and I do in the movement. We only care about hearing from the authors of Portuguese Wikipedia about what their community is like. To lump together all the projects in that discussion would be unfair, because it assumes that Wikipedia, Commons, Wikibooks, and Wikiversity are all the same. I don't have to tell you they are very different, and I think it would be impossible to talk about all of them in just a few hours at a meetup. That is why we suggested that we most want to hear about Portuguese Wikipedia and why we posted our meetup information on Portuguese Wikipedia, not any other project. If you feel it's a waste of time to get together with us and other Wikipedians just to talk about Portuguese Wikipedia, then that's okay. I don't feel that way, and I think people will be glad to have a meetup where we can focus on the encyclopedia, instead of anything else. Best regards, Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Research assistance
On Sat, Jan 21, 2012 at 5:42 AM, James Heilman jmh...@gmail.com wrote: I am applying for a summer student to do a Wikipedia Medicine research project through my department at UBC. One potentially project I am looking it is having them review all the edits made to Wikiproject Medicine articles. The student will go through each edit and a) determine if the edit is okay and revert it/fix it if it is not b) determine which edits are made from IP/new users verses long term edits c) calculate the percentage of positive/negative edits from each group d) they will be going over edits from more than one day old thus we will be able to determine how good Wikipedia is at repairing itself. I am thinking of collecting a weeks worth of edits. While we have a list here http://toolserver.org/~tim1357/cgi-bin/wikiproject_watchlist.py?template=WikiProject%20Medicineorder=desclimit=200t=0m=1b=0user=off=0cat=0hip=0q=1 if multiple edits are made to the same page in a single day it only shows the last one. Is it possible to get a list of all edits? If should be possible to work with this list if another is not available. If I am able to get approval and funding from UBC I am hoping to run a second round collecting the same data but with pending changes turned on for a week on all medical articles. This students would be required to handing all pending changes to all medical articles and will be collecting the same data as before. This will allow us to determine 1) if pending changes affects the numbers of IPs editing 2) if and to what degree pending changes reduces the visibility of poor quality content. The proposed student will be either between first and second year or second and third year medicine and will be working 40 hours per week for 6-8 weeks during the summer. If of course the last part of the project does not get approval I will still try to go ahead with the first part and will have the student join me on the Medical Translation Project as discussed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MED/Translation_project -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l Hey James, Interesting initiative! I just wanted to say that reviewing of edits by your student is the kind of qualitative coding that we've done a lot of here in the research end of the Foundation, so if you want to any assistance on either the technical end (we have a couple software options) or with anything else, we'd be happy to help. -- Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Waste of money, Wikipediacentrism. - Brazil
On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 11:51 AM, Federico Leva (Nemo) nemow...@gmail.comwrote: For people who didn't follow every single piece of the Brazilian WMF activities, could you please explain how these meetups are «very different than past staff meetups or interviews that have happened in Brazil»? Sure! Just to recap: to my remembrance the meetups that have included staff in past include... * Barry, Jessie, Kul and perhaps others who are working on the Brazil Catalyst Project [1] have spent the most time in Brazil recently in support of that work. (We aren't a part of that team, and will not be duplicating any discussions about how to organize outreach in the country.) * Matthew Roth, who was a Storyteller gathering interviews in support of the last fundraiser, interviewed several individuals in Brazil in 2011. * Carolina Rossini also interviewed community members as part of the Catalyst Project, and from my reading on them they focused not just on people's experience as editors, but also broadly about their feelings when it comes to outreach and a chapter.[2] The basic gist here is that we starting a series of small meetups focused on editor retention issues,[3] and we wanted to start with Brazil because Portuguese is a very important Wikipedia community for a lot of reasons. In the past we've also done quite a bit of research on this topic,[4] but the most important way to learn what's really different about Portuguese Wikipedia in this regard is to go and ask people. Steven 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Brazil_Catalyst_Project 2. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global/Brazil/Community_Interviews 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_convenings 4. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Portuguese_Wikipedia_trends_and_behavior ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Policies on wikimediafoundation.org
On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 4:19 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Policies#Policies lists policies of the Wikimedia Foundation. Would it make sense to sub-divide these policies into sub-lists? It seems very strange to place all of these policies next to each other in a single list. I thought about splitting between Board-approved and Otherwise. Then I considered splitting between Staff-related, Contributor-related, Meetings-related, etc., but I wasn't so sure how many of these policies actually (allegedly) apply to contributors (e.g., the whistleblower policy). Any thoughts on this? MZMcBride I think it makes sense to better delineate what applies to different groups. I'd help, but considering I actually have probably as little clue as anybody else on the topic, I'm guessing it might be a good idea to ask legal at the WMF to give us the skinny. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Stewards keeping editing rights on en.wiki for emergency edits... yeah...
On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 1:44 AM, K. Peachey p858sn...@gmail.com wrote: Can someone remind me, Which ones of these are emergency edits? (Plain text format: http://pastie.org/private/2xom9n0uxeoeodmksokxbw) I'm not a Steward so you may not have directed this at me, but I am happy to self-revert my one edit if folks have strong feelings about it. In any case, I just want to note that it's standard procedure that Stewards can still edit when a wiki is closed (see: ten.wikipedia.org for an example). Best regards, Steven Walling ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Updates on our template work at WMF
Hey all, Maryana Pinchuk and I wanted to spread the word that, similar to the fundraiser, we will be collecting the results from all our experiments with various communities on Meta. We're currently testing new user talk templates with community members from English, Portuguese, and German, have published several English Wikipedia results, and we expect to have more English and Portuguese results up very soon. Each project has its own documentation pages for this project, but we hope putting results in one place on Meta can help the different communities share lessons from their testing. If you have any questions about the results or the testing process, please let us know on-wiki. The page to follow for all these results is: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Template_A/B_testing Thanks! -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] 30 min. reminder: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
This is happening in about 30 minutes in #wikimedia-office. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 11:07 AM Subject: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, This is just a note that on Thursday the 12th, at 22:30 UTC, WMF Executive Director Sue Gardner will be in #wikimedia-office to answer your questions. We haven't set a topic as yet, so feel free to come prepared with what is of interest to you right now. As usual, time conversion links and other documentation is on Meta.[1] Talk to you then! -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] 30 min. reminder: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
On Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 8:34 PM, Abbas Mahmood abbas...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi Steven, Could you please post the logs? Thanks, Abbas. Done: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2012-01-12 Sorry for the wait. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
Hi everyone, This is just a note that on Thursday the 12th, at 22:30 UTC, WMF Executive Director Sue Gardner will be in #wikimedia-office to answer your questions. We haven't set a topic as yet, so feel free to come prepared with what is of interest to you right now. As usual, time conversion links and other documentation is on Meta.[1] Talk to you then! -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with the WMF features team, Jan. 4th 2012
Reminder that this is happening at 23:00 in #wikimedia-office. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Tue, Dec 20, 2011 at 11:58 AM Subject: IRC office hours with the WMF features team, Jan. 4th 2012 To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hey everyone, Since folks have been asking about it, I wanted to announce that the features development team at the Wikimedia Foundation will be holding an office hours (in #wikimedia-office) about the general past, present, and future of MediaWiki features being worked on here at the WMF. This will be on January 4th, 2012 at 23:00 UTC. Documentation is on Meta for time conversion and IRC how-tos.[1] -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia Summer of Research 2011 questions
On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 1:47 PM, Steven Walling steven.wall...@gmail.comwrote: Pine, I can take a whack at these, since I was one of the co-leaders of the Wikimedia Summer of Research. I'm going to answer on the talk page of the findings though, since these questions are things that will be of more use if not buried in a mailing list archive. Best regards, Just to follow up, I've answered these now that we're post-holiday in the States. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Wikimedia_Summer_of_Research_2011/Summary_of_Findings Thanks for your patience Pine. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with the Head of Reader Relations, Thursday Dec. 22nd
On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 1:38 AM, Lodewijk lodew...@effeietsanders.orgwrote: Hi Steven, is there some kind of Google Agenda of this type of meetings that I could load into my own? Then I could use that as a reminder as well. Best, Lodewijk Good idea. Right now these events live usually in the Google Calendar of myself or whomever the office hours is with (Sue etc.). I *think* if I make them public events, that there should be some way to view and duplicate them on your own calendar. If not, another workaround might be creating a separate calendar entirely for office hours which is default public, and which will have a feed anyone should be able to consume. I'll check out our options and report back, probably after the first due to holiday season. Thanks, Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia Summer of Research 2011 questions
On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 3:01 AM, En Pine deyntest...@hotmail.com wrote: I’ve read http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikimedia_Summer_of_Research_2011/Summary_of_Findingsand have some questions. 1. What was the projected total cost for this research? 2. What was the final cost? 3. What was the projected ROI, and what metrics were chosen to quantify ROI? 4. What is the ROI to date? 5. What actions have been taken based on the research results? Pine Pine, I can take a whack at these, since I was one of the co-leaders of the Wikimedia Summer of Research. I'm going to answer on the talk page of the findings though, since these questions are things that will be of more use if not buried in a mailing list archive. Best regards, Steven Walling ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with the Head of Reader Relations, Thursday Dec. 22nd
This is happening in about 30 minutes. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 4:28 PM Subject: IRC office hours with the Head of Reader Relations, Thursday Dec. 22nd To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hey all, I think most Foundation-l subscribers know Philippe Beaudette from the Foundation, but perhaps not all are aware of his title, Head of Reader Relations, or exactly what that department is and what role it fills. If you'd like to hear an update on the office of reader relations at the WMF and generally interrogate Philippe, ;) this Thursday at 0:00 UTC is your chance. Details are on Meta for how to join as well as time conversion.[1] Thanks, -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with the WMF features team, Jan. 4th 2012
Hey everyone, Since folks have been asking about it, I wanted to announce that the features development team at the Wikimedia Foundation will be holding an office hours (in #wikimedia-office) about the general past, present, and future of MediaWiki features being worked on here at the WMF. This will be on January 4th, 2012 at 23:00 UTC. Documentation is on Meta for time conversion and IRC how-tos.[1] -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with the Head of Reader Relations, Thursday Dec. 22nd
Hey all, I think most Foundation-l subscribers know Philippe Beaudette from the Foundation, but perhaps not all are aware of his title, Head of Reader Relations, or exactly what that department is and what role it fills. If you'd like to hear an update on the office of reader relations at the WMF and generally interrogate Philippe, ;) this Thursday at 0:00 UTC is your chance. Details are on Meta for how to join as well as time conversion.[1] Thanks, -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours, Thursday Dec. 15th at 18:00 UTC
Just a reminder that this is happening shortly. Thanks! Steven On Dec 12, 2011 8:35 PM, Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org wrote: Hi all, Just a quick announcement that this Thursday, December 15th, we'll have an IRC office hours with Sue Gardner at 18:00 UTC. Time conversion links and more on in the usual place on Meta.[1] We haven't set a topic yet, though with the fundraiser, questions about the SOPA bill in the U.S., and more I'm sure there will be lots to discuss. Thanks in advance, -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Terms of use : Anglo-saxon copyright law and Anglo-saxon lawyers : a disgrace for Continental Europeans
On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 8:14 AM, Teofilo teofilow...@gmail.com wrote: Perhaps the WMF should not have relied on a US lawyer alone. Perhaps a team associating a US lawyer with a continental Europe lawyer would have been better. Your notion that we just had some American lawyer with no international working experience draft the terms is incorrect. For the sake of ease, I'll quote from the mailing list announcement with details about our General Counsel: A little more about Geoff's background: Most recently, Geoff was Vice-President and Deputy General Counsel at eBay. There, he directed legal affairs in more than 15 countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, encompassing litigation, copyright and trademarks, privacy, ethics, product and site content review, policy and regulatory compliance, new market advice, contracts, governance and site security. Previously he worked for eBay in Bern, Switzerland for four years as Vice-President Senior Director, and in Paris, France for two years as Senior Compliance and Litigation Counsel. I'll add that Geoff relocated here to the WMF from Paris, where he was living when we hired him. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours, Thursday Dec. 15th at 18:00 UTC
Hi all, Just a quick announcement that this Thursday, December 15th, we'll have an IRC office hours with Sue Gardner at 18:00 UTC. Time conversion links and more on in the usual place on Meta.[1] We haven't set a topic yet, though with the fundraiser, questions about the SOPA bill in the U.S., and more I'm sure there will be lots to discuss. Thanks in advance, -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours in ~15 minutes
Just a reminder that we will be in #wikimedia-office to talk about using the Feedback Dashboard (Special:FeedbackDashboard) to respond to new editors on Wikipedia. The feature is currently enabled in Dutch and English. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours in ~15 minutes
On Sun, Dec 4, 2011 at 11:52 AM, Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Just a reminder that we will be in #wikimedia-office to talk about using the Feedback Dashboard (Special:FeedbackDashboard) to respond to new editors on Wikipedia. The feature is currently enabled in Dutch and English. Hey sorry folks, I messed up my UTC conversion. Our listed time for this office hours is two hours from now... http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=22min=00sec=0day=4month=12year=2011 Maryana and I will be hanging out in the channel until then regardless, if you had time to chat now. Thanks for your patience. -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: office hours this morning with WMF General Counsel
Hi everyone, This is a reminder that in about 20 minutes Geoff Brigham, our General Counsel, will be in #wikimedia-office to answer your questions. This is Geoff's first office hours, so please take a moment before we start to read the introduction that he wrote: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Geoffbrigham/Strategy Thanks! Steven Walling ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours this Sunday, about the FeedbackDashboard response teams
Hi, I just wanted to give anyone interested a heads up that we are holding an IRC office hours this Sunday, December 4th at 22:00 UTC. This is about the informal taskforce developing around the Special:FeedbackDashboard feature that the WMF features team has developed for collecting new editor feedback and getting it responses. The feature is currently deployed on English Wikipedia and Dutch Wikipedias, so please spread the word. Each community is in a different place right now (EN has a taskforce with 35ish members, NL just has a description page) but it would be great to have anyone interested in using this feature join us. - Office hours links: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours - English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:New_editor_feedback - Dutch Wikipedia: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciaal:FeedbackDashboard -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] First office hours for new General Counsel, Geoff Brigham
Hi everyone, I just wanted to send out a reminder that the first IRC office hours for Geoff Brigham, WMF General Counsel, will be held this coming Friday, December 2, 2011 at 18:00 UTC. Geoff would like to talk about his broad legal strategy for 2011-12, and talk specifically about what he plans to do in the coming months. It would be really great if you could join us. Docs are on Meta, as usual.[1] Thank you! -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] For Job Hunters, Digital Merit Badges
On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Fred Bauder fredb...@fairpoint.netwrote: Should we be in on this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/digital-badges-may-highlight-job-seekers-skills.html Fre I absolutely agree. There were some Wikimedians at the Mozilla Drumbeat conference last fall where there was a hackathon on the beginnings of this badge system. It's great to see that it's really maturing into something workable. I just created a Badges page on Meta to brainstorm about how and why we might create badges that follow this protocol, as well as what badges we could create for Wikimedians. Please be bold. :-) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Badges Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Update on office hours with Geoff Brigham, WMF General Counsel
Hi all, Geoff's inaugural IRC office hours, for discussion his legal strategy for 2011-12, has been moved to December 2nd because he will be traveling with Sue on her Europe trip this month. See: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Show community consensus for Wikilove
On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 7:14 AM, Möller, Carsten c.moel...@wmco.de wrote: The changes of the terms is another one. The German version was published at the end of the discussion on meta. Sorry if there wasn't wider announcement about it, but even though the terms propose only 30 days to comment, there's been no rush to close the discussion and things are continuing as before while translation goes on. Geoff (Brigham, the general counsel) is in no hurry to push through the new terms without plenty of time for comment from non-English speakers. So it's not really accurate to say the discussion is at its end. Steven Walling ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Public domain Mickey Mouse. At last.
This is pretty damn cool. I see that pretty much every project except nl wikipedia could now use this illustration... On Oct 22, 2011 4:05 PM, David Gerard dger...@gmail.com wrote: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Appreciate_America._Come_On_Gang._All_Out_for_Uncle_Sam%22_%28Mickey_Mouse%29%22_-_NARA_-_513869.tif Holy shit. - d. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Public domain Mickey Mouse. At last.
This is pretty damn cool. I see that pretty much every project except nl wikipedia could now use this illustration... On Oct 22, 2011 4:05 PM, David Gerard dger...@gmail.com wrote: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Appreciate_America._Come_On_Gang._All_Out_for_Uncle_Sam%22_%28Mickey_Mouse%29%22_-_NARA_-_513869.tif Holy shit. - d. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Public domain Mickey Mouse. At last.
On Oct 22, 2011 4:17 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter pute...@mccme.ru wrote: On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 16:11:53 -0700, Steven Walling steven.wall...@gmail.com wrote: This is pretty damn cool. I see that pretty much every project except nl wikipedia could now use this illustration... What is the problem with the Dutch Wikipedia? From what I see, the file is in use there. That's all I meant, that it's already in use there. Sorry for any confusion. Cheers Yaroslav ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: Office hours with Chief Community Officer Zack Exley, Weds. Oct. 19th
Just a reminder this is happening now in #wikimedia-office. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 11:16 AM Subject: Office hours with Chief Community Officer Zack Exley, Weds. Oct. 19th To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi all, Just a reminder that there will be an IRC office hours on Wednesday the 19th at 16:00 UTC. The guest is Chief Community Officer Zack Exley, and the topic is the upcoming annual fundraiser. We'll be in #wikimedia-office, and as usual there is info on Meta about how to join.[1] See you there, -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] New Delhi, India
On Oct 14, 2011 9:14 AM, James Heilman jmh...@gmail.com wrote: Wikimedia Canada in collaboration with Wikimedia India and the University of New Delhi is organizing a half day in New Delhi India. Anyone in the area is invited to attend. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Medicine/Delhi_2012 -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian Very cool. :) Forwarded to the Wikimedia India list. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner on Friday, Oct. 14th
Reminder that this is happening in a few moments. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 12:10 PM Subject: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner on Friday, Oct. 14th To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, Just a quick note that this Friday (Oct 14th) at 17:00 UTC, Sue Gardner will be in #wikimedia-office to have an open discussion. As usual, instructions and time conversion links are on Meta.[1] Also, for those of you who have asked about office hours with someone *other * than Sue, we heard you. The next meeting after Sue's this week is with Chief Community Officer Zack Exley, in order to discuss the annual fundraiser. After that, myself or Community Liason Maggie Dennis (User:Moonriddengirl) are happy to take requests for other senior staff. -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner on Friday, Oct. 14th
Hi everyone, Just a quick note that this Friday (Oct 14th) at 17:00 UTC, Sue Gardner will be in #wikimedia-office to have an open discussion. As usual, instructions and time conversion links are on Meta.[1] Also, for those of you who have asked about office hours with someone *other * than Sue, we heard you. The next meeting after Sue's this week is with Chief Community Officer Zack Exley, in order to discuss the annual fundraiser. After that, myself or Community Liason Maggie Dennis (User:Moonriddengirl) are happy to take requests for other senior staff. -- Steven Walling Community Organizer at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] A Wikimedia project has forked
On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 5:04 PM, John Vandenberg jay...@gmail.com wrote: I'm having a hard time remembering when a WMF led a project that had a primary stated objective to meet a need of a sister project. It would be good to compile a list of any WMF projects of this kind. maybe the WMF can have _one_ sister projects support officer (think how many dedicated _English_Wikipedia_ support staff the WMF has). There is an entire department -- Global Development -- whose current job is to support the growth of the many Indic language projects, Portuguese Wikipedia, and Arabic Wikipedia (they call that Middle East, North Africa)? Or how about the hundreds of hours spent in Tech on the new Commons UploadWizard? Those are just two examples, but more importantly: there are actually *no people at all* at the Foundation whose job description is dedicated English Wikipedia support. There are some people (like myself) who do not speak other languages, but that is a problem rather than an advantage in my work. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] A Wikimedia project has forked
On Sep 22, 2011 8:48 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote: Steven Walling wrote: On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 5:04 PM, John Vandenberg jay...@gmail.com wrote: I'm having a hard time remembering when a WMF led a project that had a primary stated objective to meet a need of a sister project. It would be good to compile a list of any WMF projects of this kind. maybe the WMF can have _one_ sister projects support officer (think how many dedicated _English_Wikipedia_ support staff the WMF has). There is an entire department -- Global Development -- whose current job is to support the growth of the many Indic language projects, Portuguese Wikipedia, and Arabic Wikipedia (they call that Middle East, North Africa)? Or how about the hundreds of hours spent in Tech on the new Commons UploadWizard? Steven, you seem to have completely missed the mark. John was responding to my comment(s) about the focus of Wikimedia being Wikipedia (mostly the English-language version) and occasionally Wikimedia Commons. John said I'm having a hard time remembering when a WMF led a project that had a primary stated objective to meet a need of a sister project. By this, he meant a project like Wikinews, Wikisource, Wikiversity or any of the other sister projects of Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Wikipedia%27s_sister_projects. The examples you gave were a few other Wikipedias and Wikimedia Commons. Is there an entire department working on Wikisource? What about Wikiversity? Wikinews? Is there a single staffer who's even thinking about any of them as part of their work? I don't know of any. And, back to the original thought: are there any Wikimedia initiatives to specifically (or primarily) improve any of these sister projects? I also don't know of any. MZMcBride Bah. My mistake. Sorry if that sounded confused, I was just reacting to the idea that there are any staff dedicated solely to English Wikipedia, which isn't true. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC
Just a quick reminder that this is tomorrow at 17:00 UTC. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:42 AM Subject: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Greetings all, I just wanted to announce that there will be an office hours with Sue Gardner in #wikimedia-office Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC. Likely topics include current events like the image filter referendum and Sue's new Executive Director's Barnstar, among many other possibilities. As usual, links to time conversion and other materials are on Meta.[1] Best regards, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC
Greetings all, I just wanted to announce that there will be an office hours with Sue Gardner in #wikimedia-office Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC. Likely topics include current events like the image filter referendum and Sue's new Executive Director's Barnstar, among many other possibilities. As usual, links to time conversion and other materials are on Meta.[1] Best regards, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC
On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:51 AM, J Alexandr Ledbury-Romanov alexandrdmitriroma...@gmail.com wrote: With absolutely no disrespect meant towards Sue, are there any plans to have Office Hours with any other members of the WMF ? We have, for example, a new General Counsel who seems to be working on a number of issues affecting the community at large. Alex With the draft of the new Terms of Use on Meta, I think it's a great idea to have one with Geoff. I'll ask him when could work. Just to be honest, we have them scheduled every month with Sue as a matter of default on her calendar, not as a conscious choice to put Sue front-and-center as the only possible office hours representative. It just takes more effort to get other folks into IRC, especially new employees who may not be familiar with it, so if you have particular suggestions please do speak up. Steven P.S. Replying from my personal account, because my staff account is set to no mail for the lists I'm already on. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 17:00 UTC
On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 11:51 AM, Fajro fai...@gmail.com wrote: The office hours always confuses me. You should put a countdown on the office hours page. Maybe this? http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Countdown -- Fajro Feel free to Be Bold and edit. :) Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Draft Terms of Use forReview
On Thu, Sep 8, 2011 at 7:01 PM, Phil Nash phn...@blueyonder.co.uk wrote: Global bans are already available; but disruptive editors on one Wiki within the WM umbrella have gone on to be constructive editors elsewhere. I seem to remember Jimbo preaching forgiveness, and I see this proposal, unless I have misunderstood it completely, as being anathema to that. The terms merely say that you *can* be banned locally or globally for violating the ToS or community-created policy, not precisely *how* or *when *that happens in every case. For local matters, they'll function exactly how they do now, and I hope it's clear that the terms set out to complement and support how the projects function individually on a day-to-day basis, not change that at all. For global issues, I think this will be worked out when there is a clear policy that lays out how global bans should work. That's why there's a red link to Global Ban Policy in the document. As usual, the devil is in the details: we could have a policy that says that anyone with a ban on two or more projects is automatically globally banned (hypothetical, not desirable at all from my POV). Or we can go the route that assumes that all governance over bans is completely local to the individual projects where a user might appear, *until* the community asks for and comes to a cross-wiki consensus on a particularly bad case that requires a global ban. Ultimately how this works needs to be decided not by the Foundation, but by community members who know better than we do about what harassment, stalking, and the cross-wiki problems look like. Also, in response to this and Milos' comments, I will say frankly that in our conversations at the Foundation we have not discussed some kind of team of staff reviewing/approving/implementing bans based on the Terms of Use as proposed. We're not Facebook. So while I agree that it's a good thing to quit making the Stewards deal with any decisions they don't want to make about global bans, like Sue said, it's not the job of the Terms to hand over volunteer functions to the Foundation. Steven P.S. It's only been a few hours and there is already a ton of useful feedback on the Talk page. \o/ Thanks to everyone who has jumped on this. You're awesome. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Summary of findings from WMF Summer of Research program now available
Greetings everyone, Now that the the WMF summer research program in the Community Department has come to a close, I wanted to point interested parties to the body of findings we've produced. We covered a lot of territory so to save you the trouble if you just want to browse, we collected our most salient results into one wiki page. - Relevant blog post here: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/09/06/summer-research-findings/ - Summary of findings on Meta, with links to further documentation: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/Research:Wikimedia_Summer_of_Research_2011/Summary_of_Findings Next steps are twofold for this program: 1. We'll be working with the Global Development team and some volunteers from the local community to extend these analyses to cover Portuguese Wikipedia, specifically to support Global Dev's work in Brazil. 2. We're choosing and implementing a platform to release not just our code, but the datasets we compiled over the summer. You'll hear more about this soon, but we're taking our time in order to decide on a solution that will work in the long term for sharing open data beyond the dumps. Last but not least, if anyone would like to have a more in-depth discussion about these findings and the research that produced them, I'm definitely open to hosting an IRC office hours with some members of the team. Just let me know if you're interested (on or offlist) and I'll set something up soon. -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Fwd: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday 8/18
Reminder that this is happening in #wikimedia-office shortly. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Tue, Aug 16, 2011 at 4:35 PM Subject: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday 8/18 To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Greetings all, Just a quick notice that this Thursday the 18th at 17:00 UTC there will be an IRC office hours with Sue Gardner. We haven't set a specific topic, so feel free to come with your burning questions in mind. ;-) As usual, instructions and other notes are available on Meta.[1] Thank you, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday 8/18
Greetings all, Just a quick notice that this Thursday the 18th at 17:00 UTC there will be an IRC office hours with Sue Gardner. We haven't set a specific topic, so feel free to come with your burning questions in mind. ;-) As usual, instructions and other notes are available on Meta.[1] Thank you, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Happening shortly: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
Hey all, Just a reminder we'll be in #wikimedia-office shortly. We'll also be joined by Maggie Dennis (AKA Moonriddengirl from English Wikipedia) our newly minted Community Liason. :) -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 8:35 PM Subject: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi all, Just some advance notice that there will be an IRC office hours in #wikimedia-office this week with Sue Gardner, on Thursday at 17:00 UTC. We haven't set a topic, but considering it's just a few days before Wikimania it might be nice to chat about that. Instructions etc. about office hours are in the usual place on Meta.[1] -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
Hi all, Just some advance notice that there will be an IRC office hours in #wikimedia-office this week with Sue Gardner, on Thursday at 17:00 UTC. We haven't set a topic, but considering it's just a few days before Wikimania it might be nice to chat about that. Instructions etc. about office hours are in the usual place on Meta.[1] -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Merge wikis
On Fri, Jul 1, 2011 at 3:34 PM, . Courcelles courcellesw...@gmail.comwrote: I couldn't agree more, now that the date has passed, so should ten.wikipedia. Outreach and Strategy have a mission, but nothing so distinct that it would be out of scope on Meta, and combining those three projects would reduce the overhead in time and process required to maintain all three/four wikis. Just to speak about tenwiki... There has been an open discussion since March (no rush to close) about what to do with the site.[1] You're all welcome to participate in that if you have an opinion about what to do. That discussion was interesting for this one, because it brings up issues such as that merging even a relatively small wiki like ten (565 content pages, 3,204 total pages) into Meta would probably take some considerable work. Best regards, Steven 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ten/wiki/WP:VP#Ideas_for_what_to_do_with_tenwiki_in_the_future ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner this week
Hi Wikimedians, Just a quick note that this Thursday, June 23rd there will be an IRC office hours with Sue Gardner at 17:00 UTC. We haven't set a topic yet, so please feel free to come with your burning questions. As usual, documentation is on Meta.[1] We look forward to chatting. :) -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] IRC office hours to discuss article feedback tool
On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 2:59 PM, Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Hi all, I just wanted to announce that this Thursday the 16th at 18:00 UTC, there will be an IRC office hours concerning the article feedback tool which is currently in experimental partial deployment on English Wikipedia.[1] I'll be moderating mainly for Erik Möller, but hopefully we'll be joined by most of the Foundation staff who've contributed to this feature. Just to clarify, we want to stick to two general topics: 1. The strategic goals the feature aims to address. In other words, its purpose. 2. Plans for developing and deploying it further. If you have bugs to report or specific design feedback, as always Bugzilla and MediaWiki.org are respectively the best places to discuss those two things. For the office hours we'd like to stick to a broader explanation of the feature and its future. As always documentation for IRC office hours is on Meta.[3] Thanks, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. Feature documentation: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedbackhttp://www.mediaiwiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Just a reminder that this is happening in about an hour. -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours to discuss article feedback tool
Hi all, I just wanted to announce that this Thursday the 16th at 18:00 UTC, there will be an IRC office hours concerning the article feedback tool which is currently in experimental partial deployment on English Wikipedia.[1] I'll be moderating mainly for Erik Möller, but hopefully we'll be joined by most of the Foundation staff who've contributed to this feature. Just to clarify, we want to stick to two general topics: 1. The strategic goals the feature aims to address. In other words, its purpose. 2. Plans for developing and deploying it further. If you have bugs to report or specific design feedback, as always Bugzilla and MediaWiki.org are respectively the best places to discuss those two things. For the office hours we'd like to stick to a broader explanation of the feature and its future. As always documentation for IRC office hours is on Meta.[3] Thanks, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. Feature documentation: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Article_feedbackhttp://www.mediaiwiki.org/wiki/Article_feedback 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Wikis and the direction hardware is taking
On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 6:16 PM, birgitte...@yahoo.com wrote: I am getting ready do to a little traveling. It works out that traveling light is going to be my best bet for various reasons. As I don't want to carry around the weight of a laptop; I have purchased a little closer to the cutting edge than I generally do. In setting up my iPad this is what shocked me. It is near impossible to edit a wiki. Well that wasn't to worrisome. I figured there's an app for that. I searched Wikipedia and was presented with a large selection of apps that basically hide the fact that the websites are even editable. They offer helpful things to using the wiki on small screen wrt to TOC and general navigation, but they also strip out all the edit links. After specifically searching for edit, I found one app that made it possible to edit from iPad without pulling my hair out. [1]. The whole trend is a bit worrisome. Ever since I got the device I really don't want to use my laptop. I thought I would hate typing anything on it. But it not bad at all (and I am the sort to make sure and buy laptops with full-size keyboards). People are going use the free apps so long as WM wikis are hard to navigate natively. We will never convert readers to editors if they reading with the editing interface stripped away. Do these apps for read-only Wikipedia even support the central-notice? I am not sure. Some seem to completely convert the website to a magazine appearance; some seem more like sleek web-browser. I can't help but think that WMF does't jump in soon with an inexpensive app which solves the difficulties of navigation while preserving the facets of the site that are important to WMF, it will be harder to recover the losses if this trend of hardware takes hold. I imagine an official WMF app would get some sort of preference when searching wikipedia in the App Store, which is why I really think the foundation might want to attend to this. BirgitteSB Birgitte, You are absolutely correct. Just as an additional option for Wikipedians who use the iPad, I'd point out this little trick that makes it easier to edit from the browser: http://blog.tommorris.org/post/5662997343/custom-css-for-wikipedia-on-ipad There are a whole host of opportunities and risks on mobile for Wikimedia. You've clearly been thinking about this, so I think it would be helpful if you could add your ideas to the relevant Talk pages on strategy wiki.[1] [2] If you could write in detail about your experiences with the iPad that would be helpful to the mobile team I'm sure, as a case study in user experience. I completely share your fears about Wikipedia in an app-centric world. In general I'm glad to say that I hear all the time at the Foundation about what the mobile team is doing. This isn't iPad-relevant per se, but they're in the middle of rewriting the mobile site and making sure that all mobile browsers actually redirect there. Another thing that will make things better is that Kul is hiring a person to develop partnerships with mobile businesses. That means that, with both app makers and big companies like carriers, we will have more of a fighting chance to make our feelings about edit buttons, donations, proper licensing attribution, and other issues heard. There are lots more, but if you have ideas please share. Steven 1. http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Product_Whitepaper 2. http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mobile ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, this Friday the 10th at 06:00 UTC
-- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 4:35 PM Subject: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, this Friday the 10th at 06:00 UTC To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, Sorry that we sent out less than a week's notice, but I wanted to extend an invitation to Sue's office hours this Friday the 10th, at 06:00 UTC.[1] We're doing it at this time specifically to meet with Wikimedians in Asia,[2] but the topic of discussion has not been set, so feel free to come with things you're interested in hearing about. Talk to you soon, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. Meta: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours 2. Conversion from UTC: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=06min=00sec=0day=10month=Juneyear=2011 Just a reminder that this is happening in a little less than 30 minutes. -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, this Friday the 10th at 06:00 UTC
Hi everyone, Sorry that we sent out less than a week's notice, but I wanted to extend an invitation to Sue's office hours this Friday the 10th, at 06:00 UTC.[1] We're doing it at this time specifically to meet with Wikimedians in Asia,[2] but the topic of discussion has not been set, so feel free to come with things you're interested in hearing about. Talk to you soon, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. Meta: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours 2. Conversion from UTC: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=06min=00sec=0day=10month=Juneyear=2011 ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Blocking of Wikipedia Pages
On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 6:06 AM, James Heilman jmh...@gmail.com wrote: My hospital IT department has become more draconian as of late. Was attempting to make changes to breast thermography an imaging technique for breast cancer to discover that websense considers it nudity. Had a discussion with IT and they concluded that they can be off no help. What sort of measures is the Wikimedia movement taking to address these sorts of issues? The work around I will be using is the running of TightVNC Portable Edition off of a USB stick to control my home computer over the cloud. -- James Heilman MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian James, Thank you for bringing this up. The impact of Internet monitoring and filters at work on Wikipedia editing is actually in the draft questions for this summer's research in the Community Dept. at the Foundation.[1] You feel free to dive in there with your thoughts, if you want to expand on them or perhaps just link to your post. 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/Research:How_does_exogenous_policy_affect_editor_work%3F Steven Walling ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Global ban - poetlister?
On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 1:33 PM, phoebe ayers phoebe.w...@gmail.com wrote: I'm glad to see this discussion made more general -- beyond this particular case, and towards the general process for how and when we can (and should) globally ban someone. I also think that we need to have a clear process that can be used -- with care, but also without requiring debate about *process* for every case. It helps everyone if there are agreed-upon minimum standards for behavior and a process for review of problems. More specifically, I think Scott's suggestions above make a lot of sense. Jumping off of this conversation, and trying to push the conversation to on-wiki ;-), I've created a page on Meta with a set of open questions... https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/Global_bans Please edit boldly! I also wanted to say that I think the views expressed by Yaroslav and Strainu earlier about participation from people who aren't English Wikipedians need to be on the top of our priority list for discussions like these. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Getting involved in a Wikimedia Foundation research project
Hi everyone, You might have heard some about it previously, but today we officially announced a new summer initiative in the Community Department,[1] where we've brought in a team of eight researchers to sprint with us for three months on some Wikipedia-focused questions, with a special focus on new editor retention as per the Board's resolution on openness. The part from our announcement that I wanted to point to in particular is: If you’re a Wikipedian who would like to get involved, we’d love to have you participate. We especially seek community members who can pragmatically align our research with the everyday realities of working on the encyclopedia, as well as think about how trends uncovered may be constructively addressed. Beyond commenting on the public documentation we're still building on Meta (see Category:Summer of Research), this means that in the next few weeks I'll be relaying an open invitation to an IRC meeting where we can discuss the project. In particular we'll be looking for feedback from people who've read our draft research questions, seen our initial results, and who (as active editors on the projects) can help us push our research forward. -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/06/01/summerofresearchannouncement/ ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, this Thursday at 17:00 UTC
Just a note that this is happening at 17:00 UTC. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, May 23, 2011 at 1:33 PM Subject: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, this Thursday at 17:00 UTC To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, Just wanted to give some prior notice that this Thursday at 17:00 UTC there will be an office hours in #wikimedia-office on freenode. Local time conversion and other links are in the usual place on Meta.[1] A topic has not yet been set, so watch the wiki page if you're interested and feel free to propose something. Thanks for reading, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, this Thursday at 17:00 UTC
Hi everyone, Just wanted to give some prior notice that this Thursday at 17:00 UTC there will be an office hours in #wikimedia-office on freenode. Local time conversion and other links are in the usual place on Meta.[1] A topic has not yet been set, so watch the wiki page if you're interested and feel free to propose something. Thanks for reading, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] CentralNotice use
On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 10:51 AM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Also, we need a page on Meta where any future requests could be placed and voted on, the current logging page for central notice could eventually be replaced with it. Just speaking for myself, I think voting to pre-approve every non-fundraising banner sounds like too much bureaucracy. I personally feel that what we need is a guideline and/or banner system that makes it crystal clear to anyone wanting to run a banner, describing in detail what is and isn't appropriate including examples. But requiring voting just to do anything makes me cringe, especially when there are several technical options for hiding banners. We should say what we want as a community, what we don't want, and then trust people to use good judgement. Just like anything else on a wiki, it's easy to take down a campaign the instant we don't want it, so if people don't use good judgement and ignore the guidelines then we can remove a banner, point to the guideline, and ask they discuss it further. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Commons as an art gallery?
On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Risker risker...@gmail.com wrote: Well, I suppose I would be happy to talk about it on the wikiif I could find the place where it's being discussed. Not at the village pump, the talk page for picture of the day, the talk page of the image, the administrator noticeboard, the Main Page talk page... Risker/Anne Ha! Exactly. I am on Commons just about every other day, and I couldn't figure out the best place to bring it up. Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours this Thursday, April 28th at 17:00 UTC
This will be happening shortly. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 11:16 AM Subject: IRC office hours this Thursday, April 28th at 17:00 UTC To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, Just a quick heads up that Sue will be having one of her regular IRC office hours in #wikimedia-office this Thursday, April 28th at 17:00 UTC. Instructions about how to join etc. are on Meta.[1] As for topics, we were thinking that it might be nice to talk about our continuing research at the Foundation on new editor retention. Other topics (Perhaps Wikimania submissions since the deadline is impending?) are welcome too. We look forward to chatting! Thanks, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] IRC office hours this Thursday, April 28th at 17:00 UTC
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 11:16 AM, Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Hi everyone, Just a quick heads up that Sue will be having one of her regular IRC office hours in #wikimedia-office this Thursday, April 28th at 17:00 UTC. Instructions about how to join etc. are on Meta.[1] As for topics, we were thinking that it might be nice to talk about our continuing research at the Foundation on new editor retention. Other topics (Perhaps Wikimania submissions since the deadline is impending?) are welcome too. We look forward to chatting! Thanks, -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Just a clarification: by Wikimania submissions, I meant submissions to the call for participation at Haifa this summer: http://wikimania2011.wikimedia.org/wiki/Call_for_Papers -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday April 14th
Reminder that this is happening in a hour or so. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 5:33 PM Subject: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner, Thursday April 14th To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, Just a notice that on Thursday the 14th at 23:00 UTC, we'll have IRC office hours with Sue Gardner in #wikimedia-office. The loose topic is new editor retention, in light of the recent resolution passed by the Board. We'd especially love to chat with people on the front lines of activities like New Page Patrol etc. As usual, instructions for when and how to participate are on Meta.[1] Thank you! -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Dynamics of Online Interactions and Behavior
On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 2:39 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dynamics_of_Online_Interactions_and_Behavior Does anyone know what this is? There was some discussion on the talk page, but that's now apparently been cleared away. It's a joint study by some researchers from Sciences Po (in Paris) and Harvard's Berkman Center. Like most other projects, you can see other details at the list of research projects on Meta.[1] The basic gist is that they're going to be running a survey for Wikipedians as part of their study. Participants will be paid (by the researchers, not the WMF) since it's quite a long survey, and there will be an option to donate your funds to the Foundation if you like. Myself and the Community Dept. are helping them with some logistics, but it's not ready to run in any form yet. They initially went to English Wikipedia's Administrators Noticeboard with the idea of sending user talk page messages via bot to invite people to participate in the survey, but the community quite correctly told them that it was not a good idea, especially at the scale of thousands of users. Eventually we will help them run a small sitenotice or watchlist notice for no more than a week to advertise the study, but it's not ready and there are other such messages going out in the near future anyway, such for Wikimania and the Foundation's own editor survey. Obviously running multiple banner or watchlist notice requests for survey participation concurrently or in short succession is a bad idea. I'll make sure either someone from the Foundation or from their research group sends out mailing list messages when there is new plans to get feedback on. Apologies if it was confusing so far. 1. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/Research/Projects Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Board Resolution: Openness
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 2:14 AM, FT2 ft2.w...@gmail.com wrote: A *click to get help from an experienced editor* button, along with the reverse suggested *An experienced editor would like to talk to you, click to accept* popup/notice, would probably work wonders in terms of support and perceived friendliness. Just adding on to MZMcBride's response (which was great, if everyone took mailing list suggestions and turned them constructive action like filing a bug, that would be awesome...) If you're interested in all the different areas that could be worked on to do something about issues like this, a good first step is browsing through the product whitepaper built by Erik, Howie, and others.[1] It specifically outlines some of these things-- include a sort of live help system -- for new editor support in terms of their potential impact and how easy they are to implement. If any of those ideas jump out at you as particularly good ones, please be bold and say so (maybe on the talk page of the whitepaper?). 1. http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Product_Whitepaper Steven ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] IRC office hours tomorrow with Sue Gardner about editor retention
On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Hi everyone, So following up on the results of the Editor Trends Study and the announcements about the topic of editor retention, I wanted to invite you all to an IRC office hours on the 31st at 17:00 UTC. On St. Patrick's Day we also had a good chat about this issue, so it would be nice to carry that forward. In addition to the usual venues, I've noted the topic on English Wikipedia pages where we've been discussing editor retention, and if you're someone who participates in work such as New Page Patrol (on any project) it would be especially great to have you there. Time conversion and other instructions are on Meta at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Thanks! Just a reminder that this will be starting in under an hour. -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours tomorrow with Sue Gardner about editor retention
Hi everyone, So following up on the results of the Editor Trends Study and the announcements about the topic of editor retention, I wanted to invite you all to an IRC office hours on the 31st at 17:00 UTC. On St. Patrick's Day we also had a good chat about this issue, so it would be nice to carry that forward. In addition to the usual venues, I've noted the topic on English Wikipedia pages where we've been discussing editor retention, and if you're someone who participates in work such as New Page Patrol (on any project) it would be especially great to have you there. Time conversion and other instructions are on Meta at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Thanks! -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Fwd: What to do with ten.wikipedia.org in the future
Cross-posting. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Mar 21, 2011 at 6:57 PM Subject: What to do with ten.wikipedia.org in the future To: wiki...@lists.wikimedia.org Hi everyone, So quite some time has passed since Wikipedia’s 10th anniversary, and now that things are starting to wind down, it’s time to consider what we want to do with ten.wikipedia.org (AKA tenwiki, if you use interwiki links). We’re in no rush to act, and I know there are a few celebrations yet to happen, but I thought it was good to start thinking about this now that we’re well past the rush of January 15th. From the start, one of the reasons I was comfortable starting “yet another wiki” was that I figured that after the anniversary was over there would be no need to leave it up indefinitely, requiring upkeep from the community and staff. There are lots ideas that have been mentioned casually. For example: at the last community IRC meeting there was a suggestion for it to be merged with Meta.[1] In general I’m agnostic on the matter, though I do a have a couple general goals... With that frame of mind, I’ve opened a discussion at the tenwiki Village Pump with some of the various options I’ve heard or thought of.[2] Please add your ideas there, especially if you’ve been a part of the crew of editors who’ve worked to maintain the site over the past several months. If you haven’t heard me say it before: thank you for helping the site grow so quickly in those past months while staying free of vandalism/spam. The whole idea would have been a disaster if it wasn't for your hard work.[3] (On a related note: Jay Walsh and I have been working on some reports to wrap up the Foundation's major work on the 10th anniversary, one of which is the start of a page about running any global, distributed event in the Wikimedia movement. Jay is currently consumed by another deadline, but we're hoping to publish that work soon.) Thanks! http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics-- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_meetings/2011-02-05 2. http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump#Ideas_for_what_to_do_with_tenwiki_in_the_future 3. http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
Reminder that this is happening in several hours. -- Forwarded message -- From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 12:04 PM Subject: IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner To: foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Hi all, Just a quick heads up that Sue Gardner will be holding an IRC office hours Friday the 18th at 04:00 UTC (conversionhttp://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=04min=00sec=0day=18month=03year=2011) in #wikimedia-office. We set it then to make it easier for those of you in Asian time zones, so we look forward to hearing from Wikimedians in India, et cetera. More info about how to join at the usual place on Meta: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours this week with Sue Gardner
Hi all, Just a quick heads up that Sue Gardner will be holding an IRC office hours Friday the 18th at 04:00 UTC (conversionhttp://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?hour=04min=00sec=0day=18month=03year=2011) in #wikimedia-office. We set it then to make it easier for those of you in Asian time zones, so we look forward to hearing from Wikimedians in India, et cetera. More info about how to join at the usual place on Meta: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Fellowships at the Wikimedia Foundation
Hi everyone, Just wanted to alert everyone that there is a new page on Meta related to fellowships at the Wikimedia Foundation,[1] a program that originally began in September 2010.[2] Other than just a public description of the program and the fellows past and present, we're starting up an experimental open proposals process for fellowships. This is very much a work in progress, but I'm excited to kick off a first stab at an open, transparent venue for soliciting new ideas that need some support from the Foundation to get off the ground. If you have questions, please put them on the Talk page on Meta, so that we can start to build an FAQ as needed. Thanks! -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1). http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Fellowships 2). http://blog.wikimedia.org/blog/2010/09/15/wikimedia-foundation-fellowship-program/ ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Friendliness: a radical proposal -- some proposed details ...
On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 2:39 PM, wjhon...@aol.com wrote: The problem with the approach that we can let the welcoming and friendliness be an emergent behaviour, is that we're already many years into this and it's simply... not. However the admin bit is an officially sanctioned method of enforcing rules. This is a lop-sided approach. To counter-balance the officially sanctioned rule enforcement, we need an *equally weighted* officially sanctioned welcoming committee type role that operates *on the level* of the editors exactly as an admin operates. A person well-suited to be an admin, is not necessarily and sometimes diametrically opposed to a person well-suited to be a welcomer. See the Wiki Guides project for an attempt to do something like what you're describing.[1] 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Guides ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder: IRC office hours with Sue Gardner today
Hi all, Sorry for the late reminder, but just wanted to let everyone know that the IRC office hours with Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner will be happening as planned at 00:00 UTC on the 25th (or the afternoon/evening of the 24th, if you're in our end of the world.) The agenda is open, and as usual times and conversion links can be found on Meta at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Thanks! -- Steven Walling Fellow at Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Fwd: IRC office hours this Friday on chapters and fundraising
Cross-posting. Begin forwarded message: From: Steven Walling swall...@wikimedia.org Date: February 15, 2011 11:37:54 AM PST To: board and officers coordination (closed subscription) Local Chapters interna...@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: IRC office hours this Friday on chapters and fundraising Hi all, This Friday at 19:00 UTC, Barry Newstead and Moushira Elamrawy will be holding a discussion about chapters and fundraising. In introducing Moushira and Asaf last week, we didn't get to spend much time talking about this issue, and we'd like a chance to have an informal chat with everyone about it. As usual instructions about when it is and how to join are on Meta at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours. If you have questions you'd like to post in advance, please feel free to use the same page for that purpose. Thanks! Steven Walling Fellow at the Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Happening now Re: IRC office hours this week
Just reminder this is going on now for the next 45 minutes or so. On Feb 7, 2011, at 10:45 AM, Steven Walling wrote: Hi everyone, This week Chief Global Development Officer Barry Newstead will be joined by Asaf Bartov (Head of Global South Relationships) and Moushira Elamrawy (Chapters Relations Manager) for two IRC office hours.[1] The topic will be chapters and global development in general. They will both be on Friday the 11th, and we're doing two in order to cover as many time zones as possible. The first is at 15:00 UTC and the second at 22:00 UTC. More information, including help on how to participate, is on Meta.[2] Thanks, and we hope to talk to you on Friday! Steven Walling Fellow at the Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaannounce-l/2011-February/000113.html 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Steven Walling Fellow at the Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] Reminder and invitation to post questions Re: IRC office hours this week
On Feb 7, 2011, at 10:45 AM, Steven Walling wrote: Hi everyone, This week Chief Global Development Officer Barry Newstead will be joined by Asaf Bartov (Head of Global South Relationships) and Moushira Elamrawy (Chapters Relations Manager) for two IRC office hours.[1] The topic will be chapters and global development in general. They will both be on Friday the 11th, and we're doing two in order to cover as many time zones as possible. The first is at 15:00 UTC and the second at 22:00 UTC. More information, including help on how to participate, is on Meta.[2] Thanks, and we hope to talk to you on Friday! Steven Walling Fellow at the Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaannounce-l/2011-February/000113.html 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Since the first of the two IRC office hours with Asaf, Barry, Moushira is at 7am our time tomorrow, I thought I would give a quick reminder now. The first point of business will be introducing the new roles for Asaf and Moushira (yay!). However, if you have other chapter or global development related questions, please feel free to post them (along with your signature, so we know who's asking) on Meta at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours Thanks again. We're looking forward to talking with you all tomorrow. Steven Walling Fellow at the Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] CC open attribute released
On Wed, Feb 9, 2011 at 12:48 PM, Teofilo teofilow...@gmail.com wrote: I have just uploaded the Firefox addon. Although it works perfectly on http://www.flickr.com/photos/75062596@N00/164893152 , it is not working perfectly on the corresponding Wikimedia Commons page at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Om%C3%B8_%26_Agers%C3%B8,_2006-06-04.jpg : the work is not properly attributed. The license is provided, but the photographer's name or user name is not mentioned. What should I or what should the Flickr upload bot owner or the Mediawiki developpers do so that the tool works perfectly on Commons ? Where is the good place to report such a bug ? http://openattribute.com/talk/ has a link to the Google Group. That's the best way to discuss an issue with the tool. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
[Foundation-l] IRC office hours this week
Hi everyone, This week Chief Global Development Officer Barry Newstead will be joined by Asaf Bartov (Head of Global South Relationships) and Moushira Elamrawy (Chapters Relations Manager) for two IRC office hours.[1] The topic will be chapters and global development in general. They will both be on Friday the 11th, and we're doing two in order to cover as many time zones as possible. The first is at 15:00 UTC and the second at 22:00 UTC. More information, including help on how to participate, is on Meta.[2] Thanks, and we hope to talk to you on Friday! Steven Walling Fellow at the Wikimedia Foundation wikimediafoundation.org 1. http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaannounce-l/2011-February/000113.html 2. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Changes to the identification policies and procedures
I would agree with you Birgitte, except that MZ talked to Christine and Philippe about the issue beforehand and was specifically asked not to post about it here until Philippe is back and any questions can be answered. To answer Elizabeth: I am listed on the staff page at wikimediafoundation.org. My fellowship is for a year and I work at the offices here in San Francisco. Fellowships are all different in length and who they work with, and that diversity is intentional, since they're project-based and different projects have different needs. On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 12:15 PM, Michael Snow wikipe...@frontier.comwrote: On 2/4/2011 11:19 AM, Birgitte SB wrote: I imagine MZMcBride's inquiries have so often been slanted as though they had originated from a hardened negative opinion, because he gets his information from the gossip network rather than the WMF. I think I am so often ignorant because I do the opposite. It seems to me, that MZMcBride has been taking pains for sometime to change the tone of his messages. I personally have noticed a continual incremental improvement on his part. It bothers me that despite what I would rate as his success in crafting a neutral and reasonable message, he is still characterized as demanding answers and chided for bringing up the issue altogether. Whatever anyone else thinks MZMcBride, I have noticed your efforts and I appreciate them a great deal. Introspection and change are hard things to do; thank you. I agree with much of Birgitte's analysis. I would add that it is not fundamentally wrong to try to surface issues from the gossip network to a more public discussion. (The gossip network is as closed and opaque a forum for discussion as any private mailing list; I'd call for it to be more open, but that would be denying human nature.) Among other things, surfacing these discussions can do the foundation a service by informing it about what matters are being discussed there. However, it does require a great deal of care to surface things in a way that is productive and informative, rather than simply poisoning the public discourse. You can see some of this in how the respectable media approach news that is thrust upon them by tabloids or internet chatter. They go to considerable lengths not to defame and try to avoid unfairly maligning or adding their own insinuations and speculation. I think the pattern of inquiries here has improved, though it could still stand further improvement. On the foundation side, meanwhile, I believe more work ought to be done to minimize the need for the gossip network as an information channel. I've repeatedly pushed for creation of a staff position specifically dedicated to communications with the community. As the current communications staff, Jay and Moka are wonderful but much more external-facing, and have their hands plenty full with just that. I've been expecting that one of the Community department positions outlined in the annual plan would cover this, and if things follow the schedule I would hope to see such a position relatively soon. --Michael Snow ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Changes to the identification policies and procedures
On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 3:22 PM, Birgitte SB birgitte...@yahoo.com wrote: My real, huge, jaw-hitting-the-floor, issue with your response is that you preferred the news about an upcoming change trickl[e] out into the community prior to an official announcement (gossip) over a posting to foundation-l. You just don't get it. I do not mean that gossip should be preferred over public announcements as standard operating procedure. Considering that I've made numerous announcements about my work to this very list (IRC office hours, 10th anniversary organizing etc.) I think that's clear. What I meant is that there is no way to prevent informal discussion about something that has yet to be announced, so there's no reason to fret over it. What I *do *find unhelpful is publicly posting about sensitive topic when you know in advance that people aren't prepared to answer questions about it yet. ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Changes to the identification policies and procedures
These changes were going to be discussed and documented in public, but they weren't announced publicly yet because staff are still in discussion on the OTRS mailing list and wiki with those volunteers about the best way for the new identification process to work. OTRS volunteers and the groups who've had to identify in the past are the ones most affected by this change, so it's prudent to discuss it with them before making any general announcement. Speaking as an OTRS volunteer not as a staff member (this initiative isn't part of my job), I think it was completely inappropriate to prematurely divulge activity in those forums. The people who are being asked to identify are working with staff to reach a consensus on the safest and most agreeable way to go forward. No one can give definitive answers about a process that isn't finalized yet, and it's been conducted in private for the last couple days out of respect for the people whose personal information is potentially involved here. On Feb 3, 2011 5:28 PM, Nathan nawr...@gmail.com wrote: Where were the changes announced, and who announced them? ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Re: [Foundation-l] Changes to the identification policies and procedures
The discussion has only been going on at the OTRS list sine February 1st. I know a public announcement is coming because it's standard operating procedure at the Foundation. Please be patient. On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 7:09 PM, MZMcBride z...@mzmcbride.com wrote: Steven Walling wrote: These changes were going to be discussed and documented in public... [...] Speaking as an OTRS volunteer not as a staff member (this initiative isn't part of my job)... I don't follow. How do you know that these changes were going to be discussed and documented in public? These changes have been discussed for at least some portion of January without any community involvement. When, exactly, was the community going be made aware that these changes were being discussed? When was the community going to be made aware that these changes had been implemented? An announcement has already been made. When was the Community Department going to involve the community (at least to give it a courtesy heads-up)? No one can give definitive answers about a process that isn't finalized yet, and it's been conducted in private for the last couple days out of respect for the people whose personal information is potentially involved here. Can you explain this further? You won't discuss an issue that involves the community because of respect for what? What you're saying makes absolutely no sense. If basic questions can't be answered about, for example, data retention after this change has been announced (and to an extent implemented), I don't see how Wikimedia is respecting its volunteers or their private information. MZMcBride ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l ___ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
