Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Update on Wikimedia partnerships

[Samantha Lien]

Sending in a re-formatted version:

Hi everyone,

As we consider the new strategic direction we identified from Wikimedia
2030[1], the Foundation is evolving how we work with partners to address
barriers to participating in free knowledge around the world.

After careful evaluation, we’ve decided to discontinue the Wikipedia Zero
program[2] as one of the partnership approaches we offer. Over the course
of this year, we won’t be taking on any new Wikipedia Zero partnerships,
and current partnerships will expire.

The Wikipedia Zero program was first created to address one barrier to
participating in free knowledge globally: high mobile data costs. Through
the program, we partnered with mobile operators to waive mobile data fees
for their customers to freely access Wikipedia on mobile devices. In the
program’s six year tenure, we have partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72
countries to provide access to Wikipedia to more than 800 million people
free of mobile data charges. As stewards of Wikipedia Zero, I want to
congratulate and thank the Global Reach team for the success of this
program during its tenure, and for their leadership in continuing to
support new and meaningful partnerships aligned with our movement’s values
and vision.

In the past couple of years, we identified a few developments that have
impacted Wikipedia Zero’s continued relevance. Beginning in 2016, we’ve
seen a significant drop off in adoption and interest in Wikipedia Zero, and
as a result, our reach today stands at a quarter of where it was at its
peak. During this time, we also conducted research[3] to better understand
the full scope of barriers to using Wikipedia around the world. For
example, awareness is one of the key issues we identified - even when
people have smartphones and use Facebook, Google, or WhatsApp, many of
those same people have never heard of Wikipedia.  In addition, limited
local language content is another barrier we identified that inhibits the
discovery and use of our projects.

We’ve had initial success with projects and partnerships[4] designed to
build awareness in parts of the world where Wikipedia is not widely known
or used. These successes have given us several ideas for where we may take
our partnership work next, and over the coming year, we will explore other
ways we can leverage the findings from our research and the Wikipedia Zero
program to direct future work with partners.

We remain committed to creating impactful partnerships that align with our
own values and direction for the Wikimedia movement’s future. We look
forward to sharing more information and updates on our work with partners
in the coming year.

Thank you,
Lisa

We’ve also published a blog post about this announcement here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/02/16/partnerships-new-approach/

[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Direction
[2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero
[3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Reach/Insights and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers
[4] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/21/nigeria-wikipedia-awareness/

On Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 1:11 PM, Lisa Gruwell 
wrote:

> -- Forwarded message --
> From: Lisa Gruwell 
> Date: Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 1:08 PM
> Subject: Update on Wikimedia partnerships
> To: "Staff (All)" 
>
>
> *Hi everyone,As we consider the new strategic direction we identified from
> Wikimedia 2030[1], the Foundation is evolving how we work with partners to
> address barriers to participating in free knowledge around the world. After
> careful evaluation, we’ve decided to discontinue the Wikipedia Zero
> program[2] as one of the partnership approaches we offer. Over the course
> of this year, we won’t be taking on any new Wikipedia Zero partnerships,
> and current partnerships will expire. The Wikipedia Zero program was first
> created to address one barrier to participating in free knowledge globally:
> high mobile data costs. Through the program, we partnered with mobile
> operators to waive mobile data fees for their customers to freely access
> Wikipedia on mobile devices. In the program’s six year tenure, we have
> partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72 countries to provide access to
> Wikipedia to more than 800 million people free of mobile data charges. As
> stewards of Wikipedia Zero, I want to congratulate and thank the Global
> Reach team for the success of this program during its tenure, and for their
> leadership in continuing to support new and meaningful partnerships aligned
> with our movement’s values and vision. In the past couple of years, we
> identified a few developments that have impacted Wikipedia Zero’s continued
> relevance. Beginning in 2016, we’ve seen a significant drop off in adoption
> and interest in Wikipedia Zero, and as a result, our reach today stands at
> a quarter of where it was at its peak. During this 

[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Update on Wikimedia partnerships

[Lisa Gruwell]

-- Forwarded message --
From: Lisa Gruwell 
Date: Fri, Feb 16, 2018 at 1:08 PM
Subject: Update on Wikimedia partnerships
To: "Staff (All)" 


*Hi everyone,As we consider the new strategic direction we identified from
Wikimedia 2030[1], the Foundation is evolving how we work with partners to
address barriers to participating in free knowledge around the world. After
careful evaluation, we’ve decided to discontinue the Wikipedia Zero
program[2] as one of the partnership approaches we offer. Over the course
of this year, we won’t be taking on any new Wikipedia Zero partnerships,
and current partnerships will expire. The Wikipedia Zero program was first
created to address one barrier to participating in free knowledge globally:
high mobile data costs. Through the program, we partnered with mobile
operators to waive mobile data fees for their customers to freely access
Wikipedia on mobile devices. In the program’s six year tenure, we have
partnered with 97 mobile carriers in 72 countries to provide access to
Wikipedia to more than 800 million people free of mobile data charges. As
stewards of Wikipedia Zero, I want to congratulate and thank the Global
Reach team for the success of this program during its tenure, and for their
leadership in continuing to support new and meaningful partnerships aligned
with our movement’s values and vision. In the past couple of years, we
identified a few developments that have impacted Wikipedia Zero’s continued
relevance. Beginning in 2016, we’ve seen a significant drop off in adoption
and interest in Wikipedia Zero, and as a result, our reach today stands at
a quarter of where it was at its peak. During this time, we also conducted
research[3] to better understand the full scope of barriers to using
Wikipedia around the world. For example, awareness is one of the key issues
we identified - even when people have smartphones and use Facebook, Google,
or WhatsApp, many of those same people have never heard of Wikipedia.  In
addition, limited local language content is another barrier we identified
that inhibits the discovery and use of our projects. We’ve had initial
success with projects and partnerships[4] designed to build awareness in
parts of the world where Wikipedia is not widely known or used. These
successes have given us several ideas for where we may take our partnership
work next, and over the coming year, we will explore other ways we can
leverage the findings from our research and the Wikipedia Zero program to
direct future work with partners. We remain committed to creating impactful
partnerships that align with our own values and direction for the Wikimedia
movement’s future. We look forward to sharing more information and updates
on our work with partners in the coming year. Thank you, LisaWe’ve also
published a blog post about this announcement here:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2018/02/16/partnerships-new-approach/
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2017/Direction
[2]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Reach/Insights
 and
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers
[4]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/09/21/nigeria-wikipedia-awareness/
*
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia and Libraries User Group Steering Committee Election

[UY Scuti]

If you are interested and are eagerly awaiting the results of this
election, the wait is over, the results are out! Head to
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Library_User_Group/Steering_committee_election_2018
to find out the winners. And don't forget to wish them good luck!

Thanks,
Aaron

On 3 February 2018 at 05:38, UY Scuti  wrote:

> Hi once again!
>
> Just a gentle reminder. If you are a member of the Wikimedia and Libraries
> User Group (joined before 21st January), and haven't yet voted on the
> steering committee election, please vote! The poll closes tomorrow.
>
> Thanks,
> Aaron
>
> On 3 January 2018 at 14:11, UY Scuti  wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone!
>>
>> As promised by the Wikipedia Library
>>  team at the inception of the Wikimedia
>> and Libraries User Group , we are
>> conducting an *open-election for the steering committee* with 5 to 8
>> positions.
>>
>> Nominations are open now and will remain open until the *9th*. If you
>> are interested in being a part of this committee, you can nominate
>> yourself
>> !
>> This position should attract Wikipedians and librarians with dedication and
>> time to lead the user group in its first year.
>>
>> The elections will happen following the nominations phase starting from *10
>> January 2018 to 23 January 2018*. Please forward your queries to
>> librar...@lists.wikimedia.org, and for private correspondence, please
>> get in touch with one of the founding members
>> 
>> .
>>
>> And finally, wishing you a prosperous and happy new year on behalf of the
>> user group founding members!
>>
>> On behalf of the user group founding members,
>>
>> Aaron (UY Scuti)
>>
>
>
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