Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: First round of Working Group members

[Ilario valdelli]

This is true,

but it's true also that the discussion is now restricted to few members 
and groups.


I can personally say that the communities (and when I speak about 
communities I speak about people not being able to speak english or not 
following the international mailing list) are ignoring partially what is 
happening, after the initial involvement in the colletion of the inputs.


Surely the Wikipedia's communities are not obliged to adopt what is 
discussed in this strategy mainly because "Wikipedia has /no central 
editorial board/"[1] and secondly because Wikipedia has not firm rules 
(5th pillar)[2] but a larger involvement of different members from the 
communities would have helped more, at least to address to the biggest 
communities some inputs coming from the strategy which is under discussion.


I agree with Karel that "/With regards to Diversity, the parameters for 
the diversity considerations//are outlined here, and do include voices 
that are not yet included in//strategic discussions/" and I like this 
sentence, but unfortunately I see the same faces in any step of this 
strategy and if the diversity is something important because the 
diversity assures also a rich and etherogeneous difference of opinions, 
I think that this is not happening and don't see a "diversity of 
opinion" represented here.


An example is the steering committee that, in my opinion should have 
been excluded from the working groups to bring "new blood in this 
process" and not to limit the discussion always to the same people and 
to the same actors.


What Micru reports is an important point and I personally have his same 
feeling not as wikimedian, but as wikipedian and as volunteer.


Kind regards

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contact_us

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars


On 25/07/2018 11:32, Frans Grijzenhout wrote:

Hi All, I cannot support the idea that the movement strategy is designed
for functionaries only. We encouraged editors and volunteers to meet and
discuss the strategy locally and also gave them (financial) support so that
they were able to attend the international conferences and take their part
in the discussions.
Frans (chair WMNL)



*Frans Grijzenhout*, voorzitter / chair
+31 6 5333 9499




---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Celebrating Wikimania 2018 online

[Paulo Santos Perneta]

Hi
​
Yaroslav ,

I'm working with Mozambique as well. I've been thinking about adding all
those divisions to Wikidata, and then generating the Wikipédia articles
from that info (not "live", though, just copying the information). I
believe it would be much quicker, and would fill and correct Wikidata
entries on the way.

If you are interested in using something like that, please drop me a note.

​All the best,

Paulo​


2018-07-26 17:25 GMT+01:00 Yaroslav Blanter :

> Hi Gerard,
>
> when you come to Mozambique, pls let me know, there are reliable sources
> down to the third level administrative divisions. For example, the two
> sources present in
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzi_District
>
> are available for every district (though I so far only added about half of
> them to the English Wikipedia articles).
>
> Cheers
> ​​
> Yaroslav
>
> On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 3:01 PM, Gerard Meijssen <
> gerard.meijs...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hoi,
> > I do blog and tweet using #AfricaGap..  At this time I am adding
> countries
> > and their "administrative and territorial entities" in Wikidata. In many
> a
> > Wikipedia, they want to have "human settlements" linked to the lowest
> level
> > and these to every time a higher level.
> >
> > What I do is add more and more countries. The information is incomplete.
> It
> > takes a lot of people and a lot of time to get this done. To gain
> > participation, I add Listeria list to a set of Wikipedias. I work on
> > cleaning up the data but there is much to be done. One of the benefits of
> > the Listeria lists for me is that I notice any and all activity. After
> > Wikimania there was a spike, thanks to some bot work.
> >
> > What I have noticed is that information on Wikipedias did not keep up
> with
> > changes that rearanged these "territories". Consequently start and end
> > dates are missing on many items. For me, the current situation is most
> > relevant and historic "territories" are not really considered by me.
> >
> > You find what I am working on here [1]. You will find much of the same
> data
> > on several (African language) Wikipedias.
> > Thanks,
> >  GerardM
> >
> >
> > [1]
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:GerardM/Africa#African_
> > geographical_subdivisions
> >
> > On 26 July 2018 at 12:33, KuboF Hromoslav 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Great idea Romaine!
> > >
> > > I am now working on Esperanto Wikivoyage (in Incubator), mostly to make
> > it
> > > fully working. Now I am finishing Europe and immediately after that I
> > will
> > > focus on Africa (not only for the Africagap and to help our colleagues
> > but
> > > also to support tourism and facilitate meetings in Africa).
> > >
> > > See you online!
> > > KuboF Hromoslav
> > >
> > >
> > > po 23. 7. 2018 o 20:25 Romaine Wiki 
> napísal(a):
> > >
> > > > The official part of Wikimania is over, this does not prevent
> ourselves
> > > > from celebrating Africa's first Wikimania online, in more particular:
> > > > writing Wikipedia articles.
> > > >
> > > > Africa is under represented in Wikipedia, by writing about it we both
> > > > celebrate our great conference as well as we work on solving the
> > > Africagap
> > > >
> > > > With some Dutchies we started the idea of having a list of like 10-20
> > > > articles of subjects from Cape Town and surrounding area. For
> example:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Well-known park in Cape Town:
> > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company%27s_Garden
> > > >
> > > > The often referred to Dassie:
> > > > https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q323847
> > > >
> > > > Input needed!
> > > >
> > > > Romaine
> > > > ___
> > > > Wikimania-l mailing list
> > > > wikimani...@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
> > > >
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > 
> > >
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Celebrating Wikimania 2018 online

[Yaroslav Blanter]

Hi Gerard,

when you come to Mozambique, pls let me know, there are reliable sources
down to the third level administrative divisions. For example, the two
sources present in

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzi_District

are available for every district (though I so far only added about half of
them to the English Wikipedia articles).

Cheers
Yaroslav

On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 3:01 PM, Gerard Meijssen 
wrote:

> Hoi,
> I do blog and tweet using #AfricaGap..  At this time I am adding countries
> and their "administrative and territorial entities" in Wikidata. In many a
> Wikipedia, they want to have "human settlements" linked to the lowest level
> and these to every time a higher level.
>
> What I do is add more and more countries. The information is incomplete. It
> takes a lot of people and a lot of time to get this done. To gain
> participation, I add Listeria list to a set of Wikipedias. I work on
> cleaning up the data but there is much to be done. One of the benefits of
> the Listeria lists for me is that I notice any and all activity. After
> Wikimania there was a spike, thanks to some bot work.
>
> What I have noticed is that information on Wikipedias did not keep up with
> changes that rearanged these "territories". Consequently start and end
> dates are missing on many items. For me, the current situation is most
> relevant and historic "territories" are not really considered by me.
>
> You find what I am working on here [1]. You will find much of the same data
> on several (African language) Wikipedias.
> Thanks,
>  GerardM
>
>
> [1]
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:GerardM/Africa#African_
> geographical_subdivisions
>
> On 26 July 2018 at 12:33, KuboF Hromoslav 
> wrote:
>
> > Great idea Romaine!
> >
> > I am now working on Esperanto Wikivoyage (in Incubator), mostly to make
> it
> > fully working. Now I am finishing Europe and immediately after that I
> will
> > focus on Africa (not only for the Africagap and to help our colleagues
> but
> > also to support tourism and facilitate meetings in Africa).
> >
> > See you online!
> > KuboF Hromoslav
> >
> >
> > po 23. 7. 2018 o 20:25 Romaine Wiki  napísal(a):
> >
> > > The official part of Wikimania is over, this does not prevent ourselves
> > > from celebrating Africa's first Wikimania online, in more particular:
> > > writing Wikipedia articles.
> > >
> > > Africa is under represented in Wikipedia, by writing about it we both
> > > celebrate our great conference as well as we work on solving the
> > Africagap
> > >
> > > With some Dutchies we started the idea of having a list of like 10-20
> > > articles of subjects from Cape Town and surrounding area. For example:
> > >
> > >
> > > Well-known park in Cape Town:
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company%27s_Garden
> > >
> > > The often referred to Dassie:
> > > https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q323847
> > >
> > > Input needed!
> > >
> > > Romaine
> > > ___
> > > Wikimania-l mailing list
> > > wikimani...@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
> > >
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> >
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipedia app

[Jan Ainali]

Well, the alt attribute is usually set in an img tag in HTML. So if you are
sharing to any place that does not render HTML (like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram etc) this is not of much help even if the app would try to set
it..

But for these places, there should be an option for easily getting the text
from the image also added in the actual status update.

Best regards,
Jan Ainali
http://ainali.com


Den tors 26 juli 2018 kl 12:37 skrev Andy Mabbett :

> On 25 July 2018 at 14:14, John Lubbock 
> wrote:
>
> > Just wanted to make you all aware of a useful new feature of the
> Wikipedia
> > mobile app. You can share text from any Wikipedia page as a nice image
>
> Unless there is also a mechanism for including the text /as text/,
> usually by using the "alt" attribute (sometimes erroneously referred
> to as "alt text", I hope people won't do this.
>
> Images of text are inaccessible to people with visual impairment (who
> use software to read text out loud); or with no image display in their
> user agent (such as the free access to Facebook provided by many
> mobile telephone providers, like those some of us used at Wikimania
> last week).
>
> --
> Andy Mabbett
> @pigsonthewing
> http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
>
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Celebrating Wikimania 2018 online

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
I do blog and tweet using #AfricaGap..  At this time I am adding countries
and their "administrative and territorial entities" in Wikidata. In many a
Wikipedia, they want to have "human settlements" linked to the lowest level
and these to every time a higher level.

What I do is add more and more countries. The information is incomplete. It
takes a lot of people and a lot of time to get this done. To gain
participation, I add Listeria list to a set of Wikipedias. I work on
cleaning up the data but there is much to be done. One of the benefits of
the Listeria lists for me is that I notice any and all activity. After
Wikimania there was a spike, thanks to some bot work.

What I have noticed is that information on Wikipedias did not keep up with
changes that rearanged these "territories". Consequently start and end
dates are missing on many items. For me, the current situation is most
relevant and historic "territories" are not really considered by me.

You find what I am working on here [1]. You will find much of the same data
on several (African language) Wikipedias.
Thanks,
 GerardM


[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:GerardM/Africa#African_geographical_subdivisions

On 26 July 2018 at 12:33, KuboF Hromoslav  wrote:

> Great idea Romaine!
>
> I am now working on Esperanto Wikivoyage (in Incubator), mostly to make it
> fully working. Now I am finishing Europe and immediately after that I will
> focus on Africa (not only for the Africagap and to help our colleagues but
> also to support tourism and facilitate meetings in Africa).
>
> See you online!
> KuboF Hromoslav
>
>
> po 23. 7. 2018 o 20:25 Romaine Wiki  napísal(a):
>
> > The official part of Wikimania is over, this does not prevent ourselves
> > from celebrating Africa's first Wikimania online, in more particular:
> > writing Wikipedia articles.
> >
> > Africa is under represented in Wikipedia, by writing about it we both
> > celebrate our great conference as well as we work on solving the
> Africagap
> >
> > With some Dutchies we started the idea of having a list of like 10-20
> > articles of subjects from Cape Town and surrounding area. For example:
> >
> >
> > Well-known park in Cape Town:
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company%27s_Garden
> >
> > The often referred to Dassie:
> > https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q323847
> >
> > Input needed!
> >
> > Romaine
> > ___
> > Wikimania-l mailing list
> > wikimani...@lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
> >
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
>
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipedia\tapp

[Andy Mabbett]

On 26 July 2018 at 13:03, Delphine Dallison
 wrote:

> I don't know if that function is included in the tool that John mentioned
> but if it doesn't I don't think it should preclude people from using it as
> you can use other strategies for making these posts available.

> Inclusion should be about expecting more, not offering less.

Indeed. And in this case, people can simply share text and links.

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipedia\tapp

[Delphine Dallison]

Hi Andy,

"Unless there is also a mechanism for including the text /as text/, usually by 
using the "alt" attribute (sometimes erroneously referred to as "alt text", I 
hope people won't do this."

Thanks for highlighting the importance of using the "alt" attribute/"alt text" 
for making images more accessible to the visually impaired. It's an important 
point to raise and we need to encourage more people to build it into their 
practise when uploading images to commons. I don't know if that function is 
included in the tool that John mentioned but if it doesn't I don't think it 
should preclude people from using it as you can use other strategies for making 
these posts available. In fact the more tools get used, the easier it is to 
make the argument for developers to build in more accessibility features. 
Inclusion should be about expecting more, not offering less.

Best wishes,

Delphine


From: Andy Mabbett
Sent: Thursday 26 July, 11:37
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipediaapp
To: Wikimedia Mailing List


On 25 July 2018 at 14:14, John Lubbock wrote: > Just wanted to make you all 
aware of a useful new feature of the Wikipedia > mobile app. You can share text 
from any Wikipedia page as a nice image Images of text are inaccessible to 
people with visual impairment (who use software to read text out loud); or with 
no image display in their user agent (such as the free access to Facebook 
provided by many mobile telephone providers, like those some of us used at 
Wikimania last week). -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing 
https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fpigsonthewing.org.uk&data=02%7C01%7Cd.dallison%40scottishlibraries.org%7C09a9db210d5442dad82908d5f2e3d53d%7C6414ad35a3824075ab2600ed2b7adb76%7C1%7C0%7C636681982703062648&sdata=Pu%2Bbyv58VGX4ZIyoYs6pnUF0RbxuWNgOwuQ9amtFSHM%3D&reserved=0
 ___ Wikimedia-l mailing list, 
guidelines at: 
https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMailing_lists%2FGuidelines&data=02%7C01%7Cd.dallison%40scottishlibraries.org%7C09a9db210d5442dad82908d5f2e3d53d%7C6414ad35a3824075ab2600ed2b7adb76%7C1%7C0%7C636681982703062648&sdata=HKDH4it3dMqRSdjSAAlQE0AzvMhlkBRwzNkA4627hMA%3D&reserved=0
 and 
https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.wikimedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWikimedia-l&data=02%7C01%7Cd.dallison%40scottishlibraries.org%7C09a9db210d5442dad82908d5f2e3d53d%7C6414ad35a3824075ab2600ed2b7adb76%7C1%7C0%7C636681982703062648&sdata=nXiEqsUFJX%2BDSWJD%2Bcxc7TmEIQCAfj0MEavJ4s6adT8%3D&reserved=0
 New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: 
https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.wikimedia.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fwikimedia-l&data=02%7C01%7Cd.dallison%40scottishlibraries.org%7C09a9db210d5442dad82908d5f2e3d53d%7C6414ad35a3824075ab2600ed2b7adb76%7C1%7C0%7C636681982703062648&sdata=8wLdUjBUR%2FyD6xQxMSdurugKo8niHK2krTEDwjCubi4%3D&reserved=0,

___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipedia app

[Andy Mabbett]

On 25 July 2018 at 14:14, John Lubbock  wrote:

> Just wanted to make you all aware of a useful new feature of the Wikipedia
> mobile app. You can share text from any Wikipedia page as a nice image

Unless there is also a mechanism for including the text /as text/,
usually by using the "alt" attribute (sometimes erroneously referred
to as "alt text", I hope people won't do this.

Images of text are inaccessible to people with visual impairment (who
use software to read text out loud); or with no image display in their
user agent (such as the free access to Facebook provided by many
mobile telephone providers, like those some of us used at Wikimania
last week).

-- 
Andy Mabbett
@pigsonthewing
http://pigsonthewing.org.uk

___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Inc. working with Go Fish Digital, a company that whitewashes Wikipedia

[Mario Gómez]

I will not post actual evidence to this mailing list. My notes as of Sunday
are already sent to functionaries and I'm sure they will act on it
themselves. As I collect more evidence, I might open a sockpuppet
investigation on English Wikipedia anyway if there is enough of it to
continue even without personal data, which is just a small part.

On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 11:29 AM,  wrote:

> Without getting into whether an outing policy exists/applies here, please
> bear in mind that if redaction is required, it is rather difficult to do it
> on a mailing list, especially a mailman mailing list like this one.
>
> i.e. Please avoid posting something here which may need redaction.
>
> On Thu, Jul 26, 2018, 16:00 Isaac Olatunde 
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Mario,
> >
> > I don't think it will be considered harassment if the information is
> posted
> > here. I believe the WP:OUTING applies to the English Wikipedia and this
> is
> > not English Wikipedia mailing list.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Isaac
> >
> > On Jul 22, 2018 5:43 PM, "Mario Gómez"  wrote:
> >
> > There, is at least, one user that works for Go Fish Digital with a
> > sockpuppet account in English Wikipedia and has denied conflict of
> interest
> > or paid editing disclosure even if he was asked too, since some user was
> > suspicious. Should I send this privately? I don't want to incur in
> spurious
> > ousting/doxxing.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Mario
> >
> > On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 12:24 AM, MZMcBride  wrote:
> >
> > > Hi.
> > >
> > > Go Fish Digital is a company that whitewashes Wikipedia. From its own
> > site:
> > >
> > > >The primary platforms that define your online reputation include:
> > > > [...]
> > > > * Wikipedia
> > > > [...]
> > > >
> > > > With Online Reputation Management, we work hard to make all of the
> > > >positive information easy to find.  At the same time, we use many
> > > >different strategies and tactics to diminish the visibility of
> negative
> > > >content, or in some cases, remove it from the web altogether.  The end
> > > >result is a positive online reputation because when people search your
> > > >name or brand, they immediately find positive content.
> > >
> > > Source: https://gofishdigital.com/online-reputation-management
> > >
> > > Wikimedia Foundation Inc. has been working with this company on search
> > > engine optimization: . I
> > have a
> > > few questions about this work.
> > >
> > > How was this vendor chosen? Which other vendors were considered?
> > >
> > > Why is this work being undertaken? At least the English Wikipedia has
> > some
> > > of the best search engine results placement of any site on the Web, so
> > I'm
> > > curious to know who's prioritizing Wikipedia's search engine
> optimization
> > > and for what reason.
> > >
> > > How is it appropriate for Wikimedia Foundation Inc. to work with a
> > company
> > > that is, by its own admission, whitewashing Wikipedia? Doesn't this
> give
> > > Go Fish Digital a ton of legitimization by now being able to say it
> works
> > > directly with Wikimedia Foundation Inc. ("with Wikipedia")?
> > >
> > > Is it appropriate to give a company that sells whitewashing Wikipedia
> > > services access to private user data, as was done in
> > >  and
> > > ? The Wikimedia Foundation
> > Inc.
> > > legal department apparently approved this access, but I'm curious to
> know
> > > why, given the company's role in selling an "Online Reputation
> > Management"
> > > product. This looks bad to me.
> > >
> > > MZMcBride
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > 
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> >  and
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> ___

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimania-l] Celebrating Wikimania 2018 online

[KuboF Hromoslav]

Great idea Romaine!

I am now working on Esperanto Wikivoyage (in Incubator), mostly to make it
fully working. Now I am finishing Europe and immediately after that I will
focus on Africa (not only for the Africagap and to help our colleagues but
also to support tourism and facilitate meetings in Africa).

See you online!
KuboF Hromoslav


po 23. 7. 2018 o 20:25 Romaine Wiki  napísal(a):

> The official part of Wikimania is over, this does not prevent ourselves
> from celebrating Africa's first Wikimania online, in more particular:
> writing Wikipedia articles.
>
> Africa is under represented in Wikipedia, by writing about it we both
> celebrate our great conference as well as we work on solving the Africagap
>
> With some Dutchies we started the idea of having a list of like 10-20
> articles of subjects from Cape Town and surrounding area. For example:
>
>
> Well-known park in Cape Town:
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company%27s_Garden
>
> The often referred to Dassie:
> https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q323847
>
> Input needed!
>
> Romaine
> ___
> Wikimania-l mailing list
> wikimani...@lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimania-l
>
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipedia app

[Sailesh Patnaik]

Hey John,

I have been using that feature from a very long time, earlier it was known
as Share a fact but now it's share an image option on Wikipedia mobile app.
I have also shared this feature with a lot of Indian Wikipedians and here
you can find a learning pattern about how this works and how we can make
use of this feature.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Learning_patterns/Using_%27Share_a_fact%27_to_engage_social_media_followers_of_small_Wikipedias

Feel free to update it :)

Thanks

On Thu, 26 Jul 2018 at 2:29 PM, John Lubbock 
wrote:

> Just wanted to make you all aware of a useful new feature of the Wikipedia
> mobile app. You can share text from any Wikipedia page as a nice image by
> highlighting it, pressing share, and then choosing the app you want to
> share it to, like Twitter. See the images attached. Hope you all find this
> useful.
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 

-- 
Sailesh Patnaik
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Inc. working with Go Fish Digital, a company that whitewashes Wikipedia

[jayvdb]

Without getting into whether an outing policy exists/applies here, please
bear in mind that if redaction is required, it is rather difficult to do it
on a mailing list, especially a mailman mailing list like this one.

i.e. Please avoid posting something here which may need redaction.

On Thu, Jul 26, 2018, 16:00 Isaac Olatunde  wrote:

> Hi Mario,
>
> I don't think it will be considered harassment if the information is posted
> here. I believe the WP:OUTING applies to the English Wikipedia and this is
> not English Wikipedia mailing list.
>
> Regards,
>
> Isaac
>
> On Jul 22, 2018 5:43 PM, "Mario Gómez"  wrote:
>
> There, is at least, one user that works for Go Fish Digital with a
> sockpuppet account in English Wikipedia and has denied conflict of interest
> or paid editing disclosure even if he was asked too, since some user was
> suspicious. Should I send this privately? I don't want to incur in spurious
> ousting/doxxing.
>
> Best,
>
> Mario
>
> On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 12:24 AM, MZMcBride  wrote:
>
> > Hi.
> >
> > Go Fish Digital is a company that whitewashes Wikipedia. From its own
> site:
> >
> > >The primary platforms that define your online reputation include:
> > > [...]
> > > * Wikipedia
> > > [...]
> > >
> > > With Online Reputation Management, we work hard to make all of the
> > >positive information easy to find.  At the same time, we use many
> > >different strategies and tactics to diminish the visibility of negative
> > >content, or in some cases, remove it from the web altogether.  The end
> > >result is a positive online reputation because when people search your
> > >name or brand, they immediately find positive content.
> >
> > Source: https://gofishdigital.com/online-reputation-management
> >
> > Wikimedia Foundation Inc. has been working with this company on search
> > engine optimization: . I
> have a
> > few questions about this work.
> >
> > How was this vendor chosen? Which other vendors were considered?
> >
> > Why is this work being undertaken? At least the English Wikipedia has
> some
> > of the best search engine results placement of any site on the Web, so
> I'm
> > curious to know who's prioritizing Wikipedia's search engine optimization
> > and for what reason.
> >
> > How is it appropriate for Wikimedia Foundation Inc. to work with a
> company
> > that is, by its own admission, whitewashing Wikipedia? Doesn't this give
> > Go Fish Digital a ton of legitimization by now being able to say it works
> > directly with Wikimedia Foundation Inc. ("with Wikipedia")?
> >
> > Is it appropriate to give a company that sells whitewashing Wikipedia
> > services access to private user data, as was done in
> >  and
> > ? The Wikimedia Foundation
> Inc.
> > legal department apparently approved this access, but I'm curious to know
> > why, given the company's role in selling an "Online Reputation
> Management"
> > product. This looks bad to me.
> >
> > MZMcBride
> >
> >
> >
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
>  and
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] adding visual search for Wikipedia

[Tomás O'Hara]

Hi, thanks for pointing out those issues. The issue of proprietary
software is the only potential showstopper, but that can be addressed
by introducing the notion of "wikimedia-friendly sharing", rather than
"unrestricted sharing". Basically, the visual search engine source
code can be copied by anyone, and the burden will be on ScrappyCito to
track down wikimedia-unfriendly organizations using the software. See
the comments-in-context below for details.

Unfortunately, there are some subjective aspects in the issues raised,
which I think are due to a misunderstanding of the system. In short,
this a general-purpose visual search front end: a search of "spirit of
wikimedia" on each system of Google, Bing, and Scrappy Search shows
which are interfaces are truly paleolithic (e.g., pre-2000)! See
http://www.scrappycito.com/bgs-spirit-of-wikipedia-24jul18.png

Sorry, for the the long delay. This was my first post to a Wikipedia
forum, and I overlooked the response. I also overlooked the initial
display of my posting, as can seen by my reposting on the 11th.
Unfortunately, I was then engulfed in an extended finalization for my
patent application.

Again more details are below to elaborate the main concerns raised.

Best,
Tom


> Tom O'Hara,
>
> I foresee several problems with your proposal.
>
> a) The Wikimedia Foundation itself spent a very large amount of money
> building something essentially the same which was rejected by the community
> and abandoned.
>  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_Engine_(Wikimedia_Foundation)
> 

That was overly ambitious, basically trying to be a search engine as
well as structured data integrator. Moreover, it was also highly
controversial due to the lack of transparency at the start. This
alienated many people in the wikimedia m community.

Furthermore, the example on the page for the Knowledge Engine  shows
that not all search result entries have associated images. For
example, both United Nations Security Council and Cyclone Pam had
images when the example screen shot was taken.

This is basically another example of a stylish visual search that only
shows a subset of the results with images in order to accommodate the
display of related information. See Danny Sullivan's critique of such
visual search engines in his Search Engine Land article.
 Danny Sullivan (2006), "Visual Search The Future? Spare Me
The Eye Candy",
 
https://searchengineland.com/visual-search-the-future-spare-me-the-eye-candy-14279

> b) Your proposal is for a proprietary software to be added to the core
> Mediawiki software of Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation is notorious for
> never using third-party proprietary software.

Does that include third-party proprietary software for which the
source code is available? The is the only substantial objection
raised. I was surprised that the Wikimedia Foundation imposing such a
stringent requirement for server software. Based on
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Guiding_Principles,
the main reason seems to be to streamline the process customizing
wikimedia content and supporting code. This is in the spirit of
unrestricted sharing.

However, I think it is reasonable for the Wikimedia Foundation to
adopt a restricted form of sharing with respect to server software,
provided the source code is available. Basically, the wikimedia
software can be downloaded and run on by anyone in good standing with
the wikimedia community. The intention will be that the software can
be used by any wikimedia-friendly organization, such as schools and
public agencies which promote open sharing. It would then be up to
ScrappyCito to track down ineligible organizations that are using the
software.

> c) The design is still in the stone age when compared to Bing/Google, so
> would not necessarily compete well to attract the target demographic.

I believe this is due to a misunderstanding. An important constraint
is that all results have image. This is not the case for Google or
Bing, especially for abstract queries. If you are referring just to
image-only results, I agree the interface is primitive with respect to
image search provided by Google or Bing. However, this is a general
purpose front end, so all results will have associated images. For
example, Google and Bing only show a few images for "boring topic",
and neither shows any for "abstruse topic": Scrappy Search always
shows images.

Moreover, this is particularly designed to take advantage of high
resolution provided by tablet. I know of no visual search engine front
end that allows users to re-arrange and re-size the results using
gestures common to modern handheld devices. Grade school students will
surely like this features; see
http://www.tomasohara.trade:9330/static/night-owl-sample.png
The interface is streamlined on smartphones, bur it nonetheless is
quite usable for casual browsing.

> d) The sea

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Foundation Inc. working with Go Fish Digital, a company that whitewashes Wikipedia

[Isaac Olatunde]

Hi Mario,

I don't think it will be considered harassment if the information is posted
here. I believe the WP:OUTING applies to the English Wikipedia and this is
not English Wikipedia mailing list.

Regards,

Isaac

On Jul 22, 2018 5:43 PM, "Mario Gómez"  wrote:

There, is at least, one user that works for Go Fish Digital with a
sockpuppet account in English Wikipedia and has denied conflict of interest
or paid editing disclosure even if he was asked too, since some user was
suspicious. Should I send this privately? I don't want to incur in spurious
ousting/doxxing.

Best,

Mario

On Sun, Jul 22, 2018 at 12:24 AM, MZMcBride  wrote:

> Hi.
>
> Go Fish Digital is a company that whitewashes Wikipedia. From its own
site:
>
> >The primary platforms that define your online reputation include:
> > [...]
> > * Wikipedia
> > [...]
> >
> > With Online Reputation Management, we work hard to make all of the
> >positive information easy to find.  At the same time, we use many
> >different strategies and tactics to diminish the visibility of negative
> >content, or in some cases, remove it from the web altogether.  The end
> >result is a positive online reputation because when people search your
> >name or brand, they immediately find positive content.
>
> Source: https://gofishdigital.com/online-reputation-management
>
> Wikimedia Foundation Inc. has been working with this company on search
> engine optimization: . I have a
> few questions about this work.
>
> How was this vendor chosen? Which other vendors were considered?
>
> Why is this work being undertaken? At least the English Wikipedia has some
> of the best search engine results placement of any site on the Web, so I'm
> curious to know who's prioritizing Wikipedia's search engine optimization
> and for what reason.
>
> How is it appropriate for Wikimedia Foundation Inc. to work with a company
> that is, by its own admission, whitewashing Wikipedia? Doesn't this give
> Go Fish Digital a ton of legitimization by now being able to say it works
> directly with Wikimedia Foundation Inc. ("with Wikipedia")?
>
> Is it appropriate to give a company that sells whitewashing Wikipedia
> services access to private user data, as was done in
>  and
> ? The Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
> legal department apparently approved this access, but I'm curious to know
> why, given the company's role in selling an "Online Reputation Management"
> product. This looks bad to me.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,

___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: First round of Working Group members

[Gerard Meijssen]

Hoi,
An other problem with participation by proxy is that you are likely to
strengthen current bias. Wikimania 2018 has come and gone and we want more
and better information about subjects like Africa, There are many
approaches possible. Crucial is what it is we are to achieve.

* Do we want a better representation on "our" Wikipedia for the subject at
hand
* Do we want sufficient information for best practices like all the places
related from lowest to highest level of administrative and territorial
representation
* Do we want the information gap that has not even one percent of humans
coming from Africa to be filled
* Do we want our projects to be available for the people in Africa
* Do we want the projects in African language to thrive

The problem is that in order to make these things happen, truly happen, you
have to make it happen. By killing Wikipedia Zero for "obvious" reasons, we
will not have a second generation of students in Africa benefiting from
what we provided. It does not matter that we celebrate the first
generation, we failed them.

When we are to celebrate African academia, it is to be found in Africa, not
on American universities. The African American have sources, our sources to
their name, making them notable. When we are to accept African academia it
should be on their terms, their notability. When we want to see African
language Wikipedias thrive, we have to invest in their education, in
African education and not start at universities but at high schools, the
children of that first and second generation. When they write articles in
their language, never mind the subject of their class, there is room for
new articles. There is room for many students, classes, schools to make a
difference.

The mayors of Africa are as notable as "our" mayors. We need pictures in a
same manner like the Geograph project in the UK. But we have to leave it to
them what they write. Without them it is not for them.

The gender gap is important and yes, it exists at least in the same measure
in Africa. However, the #AfricaGap is at least as discriminatory and they
have to come from much father behind.

When the professionals are to take care of "our" interest and make a
difference, they might find it interesting that (probably) the first GLAM
project was to share material outside of our own comfort zone. Its major
impact was Indonesia, not the Netherlands.  it might "inspire"
.
Thanks,
GerardM


On 23 July 2018 at 15:20, Paulo Santos Perneta 
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> "*Given the extensive time commitment required for participation in the
> WGs, I think that it's reasonable to  expect that a significant percentage
> of the members will be staff who are  paid to participate because the time
> commitment is probably too heavy for many volunteers *" (
> ​
> 2018-07-23 0:04 GMT+01:00
> ​​
> Pine W )
>
> Isn't that a problem of "bias by design"? If the design of the groups
> favors the participation of staffers, who are paid by the chapters to look
> after their interests, isn't this an obvious conflict of interest? Why
> would a staffer of Wikimedia Antarctida, whose relation to the Movement is
> mainly defined by the salary (s)he gets at the end of the month, paid by
> his/her chapter, be interested in participating in strategy discussions for
> other reason than to advance the points and interests of Wikimedia
> Antarctida? Even assuming those interests do not conflict with those of the
> Wikimedia Movement (which is not granted), the expected input would still
> be very limited in scope.
>
> All the best,
>
> Paulo
>
>
> ​​
> 2018-07-23 0:04 GMT+01:00
> ​​
> Pine W :
>
> > Speaking in general terms about diversity of the WGs, this is a
> challenging
> > topic even for people who have the best of intentions. What do we mean by
> > "diversity" and "bias" in regards to the composition of the WGs? That
> > discussion alone could be extensive and there might not be consensus on
> the
> > definitions.
> >
> > If the goal in general is maximum diversity on as many factors as
> possible,
> > that is a difficult goal to achieve. Given the extensive time commitment
> > required for participation in the WGs, I think that it's reasonable to
> > expect that a significant percentage of the members will be staff who are
> > paid to participate because the time commitment is probably too heavy for
> > many volunteers, and our existing volunteers already have plenty of
> > important activities to do.
> >
> > There are other ways that this phase of the strategy development process
> > could be run that would be less burdensome for volunteers - and I
> > personally would advocate for such an approach - but the downsides that I
> > could foresee are that (1) the staff involved would likely also not be
> > sufficiently diverse for the aspirations of many of us, and (2) the
> culture
> > and mindset of staff can be very different from those of the volunteers,
> so
> > there would almost inevitably be some loss in terms of the 

[Wikimedia-l] Social media cards for sharing from the Wikipedia app

[John Lubbock]

Just wanted to make you all aware of a useful new feature of the Wikipedia
mobile app. You can share text from any Wikipedia page as a nice image by
highlighting it, pressing share, and then choosing the app you want to
share it to, like Twitter. See the images attached. Hope you all find this
useful.
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: First round of Working Group members

[Felipe da Fonseca]

 Hi,

I agree with Paulo, I have applied myself for it and the answer was that
the WMF is looking for diversities ... here's a good chance ...

Best,
Felipe


2018-07-23 18:40 GMT-03:00 Paulo Santos Perneta :

> Hello Pine,
>
> I know for a fact that some of the more knowledgeable and experienced
> members of our communities have applied to those WGs - at least about 10
> candidatures have been sent. Not a single one was chosen, I believe because
> most of us are not on the "organized part of the movement", are not
> staffers nor habitués at the Wikimedia events. But every one of them is an
> active and historic member of our communities.
>
> Having someone from the Portuguese speaking communities there would be a
> big improvement already. We do exist, we're 220 million native speakers -
> almost all of them in the "Global South" - and will certainly evolve and be
> part of the process, with or without the support of the Strategy Working
> Groups. But I think we deserve some effort in order to be included and
> involved in the Wikimedia Movement Strategy process.
>
> All the best,
>
> Paulo
>
> 2018-07-23 21:02 GMT+01:00 Pine W :
>
> > Hi Paulo,
> >
> > Let me ask a question. What suggestions do you have for Nicole and Kaarel
> > about how to improve the strategy process? I hope that they will be
> > receptive to your input.
> >
> > Pine
> > ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
> > ___
> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> > wiki/Wikimedia-l
> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
> >
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/
> wiki/Wikimedia-l
> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> 
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

[Wikimedia-l] thank you for Wikimania

[phoebe ayers]

All,
A huge thanks to the Wikimedia South Africa team + the WMF logistics &
travel team + all the volunteers from around the world on the program
committee and assisting in other capacities + all of the enthusiastic
attendees - for making this a wonderful Wikimania.

We got to experience the beautiful city of Cape Town and surrounds, which
was for many attendees our first time in South Africa (or anywhere in
Africa). We met new friends and people in the movement doing amazing work
on the continent & beyond. We talked about editing the projects, about
movement strategy, about next steps. We had a fun dance party... and I know
that I, and many others, are newly inspired to work with the people I met
to improve and strengthen our projects in and about Africa and the African
diaspora.

Thanks again to the organizers (especially to Douglas Scott for hosting us
& running a week-long Wikimania and THEN leading (amazing) walking tours
for two days, to Liam Wyatt for running program logistics and getting
everything organized so that we could have a program, and to Ellie Young &
her WMF team for running things smoothly behind the scenes) -- and to
everyone who participated for making this such a great time. I encourage
everyone, whether you attended or not, to watch some talks, get inspired to
host local events and connect with the Wikimedians who presented their
projects and initiatives, and edit about South Africa!

greetings and wikilove from my last (alas) day in Capetown,
Phoebe

-- 
* I use this address for lists; send personal messages to phoebe.ayers 
gmail.com *
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Movement Strategy: First round of Working Group members

[David Cuenca Tudela]

On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 9:29 AM Jane Darnell  wrote:

> But in the past I have felt quite strongly that something was
> really really wrong, but it turned out it was just a factor of me being
> unaware of workflow difficulties experienced by others.
>

I can subscribe to the sentiment. All the criticism that I might have about
another person, or about some procedure, it is due to me not being aware of
the difficulties being experienced. This is why I am very careful when
expressing criticism because that lack of understanding is reciprocal, and
the other person might not know what is going on in me either, and might
even not realized of what from my perspective looks like an issue.

The way I describe the current governance system of the organized part of
the global movement is an "unintended oligarchy". I don't think anyone ever
wanted to have an oligarchy, but to take decisions, to be in the loop,
requires that someone must have time to spend on it, and that they are
given the trust to be in the decision-making processes. On one hand we have
a group of people who can spend time following issues (or are even paid for
it), participating in committees, going to conferences, and building
in-person trust that later on they can capitalize with easier access to
power roles. And on the other hand we have people that, as Yaroslav said,
do not participate in real-life activities and therefore they are simply
ignored and not considered for relevant roles, because they didn't build
the in-person trust or the curriculum that people in the organized part of
the movement think that it is important.

I consider impossible for any organization to escape the "iron law of
oligarchy", and that in itself is liberating, because instead of wasting
time pretending "openness" and "inclusiveness" we can focus our energies in
having the best kind of oligarchy. To guarantee some renewal and to
safeguard the trust in the movement, an effort should be made to allow
rank-and-file members both to influence decision-making (as Franz
mentioned, by giving them support and by opening discussions), and to have
a path for them to join the "ruling class" if they have some basic skills
and they are inclined to it. The first point is easier to attain than the
second, because power is self-perpetuating and people tend to give
preference to those that think like them or have a particular background or
career.

There is an interesting anecdote that happened to the economist Kenneth E.
Boulding. After graduating in Oxford he applied for a fellowship for Christ
Church, and by mistake he received the recommendation letters that he asked
from several of his economy professors. They agreed that he was brilliant
and very intelligent, but all of them concluded that "he is not one of us".
Diversity of thought is not always appreciated.

A certain homogeneity of values is necessary, because that is the basic
tenet of a cultural identity, which is required to attract and retain
volunteers with belongingness, and to inspire others with our values. Of
course those values should be reflected in everything we do, not just in
writing, but having a code in writing about governance, decision-making
procedures, dissent, diversity, etc would help to know what to expect and
it would reduce the frustration.

Cheers,
Micru
___
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,