[Wikimedia-l] Gentle Reminder: Share Your Thoughts on the African Agenda!

[Bobby Shabangu]

Dear Colleagues,

After several months of engaging and collecting inputs on the Africa Agenda
Google documents, as per the 2023 working timeline, the updated draft has
now been published on Meta
. [English and
French translations for now]

I’m inviting you all, on behalf of the team working on the Africa Agenda,
to read through the document and share your final comments or thoughts on
the discussion page

between
18 - 26 January.

Please be informed that this is the final stage of input collection and
general community review. Once this round of engagement concludes, the
additional comments and updates will be reviewed, and a final version will
be published by January 31st.

For additional information regarding the timelines and process of the
Africa Agenda, kindly refer to the FAQ section
 on the Meta
page.

Kind regards,
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: We need more interactive content: we are doing it wrong

[Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga]

Thanks for the links, Yaroslav, I'll take a look.

About the embedding, yes, you can embed an image using HTML code. You can't 
embed an image or a video using oEmbed, so you can't share a video from Commons 
in, lets's say, Facebook. And you can't just add the URL of the video in 
WordPress and play it, like millions of blogs are doing with YouTube or Vimeo 
videos. So you can't share externally a video (or an image) just using the URL, 
which is one of the main entry points YouTube is using for external playing. Is 
it technically possible to embed a video from Commons in a place which is not 
Facebook/Xitter/Mastodon... yes, it is, but coding is necessary, which is not 
how to make Commons part of the essential ecosystem of free knowledge.

In the same way, you can upload a video to Commons. We upload two every week 
for the project Ikusgela 
(https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari:Hezkuntza/Ikusgela), but it's not a simple 
process, which is the point of this message.

Thanks

Galder



From: Yaroslav Blanter 
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2024 5:59 PM
To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: We need more interactive content: we are doing it 
wrong

Dear All,

I can easily find two recent discussions which touch the topic of video on 
Commons:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump/Archive/2023/12#Prioritizing_our_technical_needs

and

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Requests_for_comment/Technical_needs_survey#No_objection,_but...

I am sure there were more.

I do not know whether videos can be embedded externally, but images certainly 
can. I for example embed them in my blog (random example: 
https://ymblanter.dreamwidth.org/146913.html; the text is in Russian which is 
irrelevant for my point). I have been doing this for years and never 
encountered any issues.

Best
Yaroslav

On Wed, Jan 24, 2024 at 8:00 AM Gnangarra 
mailto:gnanga...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Kaya

I'd like to my perspective from wikimania side the amount of effort volunteers 
and time to bring every session alive on commons is all consuming yes YouTube 
is the best place to put that content.  It gets harder the smaller the event 
is. Video needs to be addresses as a priority along with issues raise by 
galder. Simple mp4 upload option would be a starting point, surely we are big 
enough for any copyright holders to donate the licensing if wmf comes made a 
request

On Wed, 24 Jan 2024, 2:44 pm Mrb Rafi, 
mailto:mrbrafi1...@gmail.com>> wrote:
+1 to Galder.

Sharing a current situation.

A significant number of non wikimedian photographers participate in the wiki 
loves X campaigns and since the upload process in commons is complex than any 
other site, most of them feel lost and don't retain.

We are arranging wiki loves folklore in Bangladesh this year and we have 
prepared a handbook for the participants considering the above situation. The 
handbook has been uploaded to commons and now we're receiving feedback that our 
participants are feeling lost after visiting the description page, they can't 
decide how to view the pdf.

Wikimedia commons needs a user friendly and intuitive pdf viewer asap.

Best,
Rafi

On Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 4:24 AM Ivan Martínez 
mailto:gala...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Thank you Yaroslav, I would very much appreciate a link to the discussion.
By not having a Youtube 2.0 we are avoiding a Wikipedia 2.0 with pure 
encyclopaedic videos. I see a false dilemma there.

El mar, 23 ene 2024 a las 16:03, Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga 
(mailto:galder...@hotmail.com>>) escribió:
Thanks to everyone for your comments.
We don't need to worry about Commons being "Youtube 2.0", because we can't 
embed Commons video outside. Furthermore, we can't even embed Commons images or 
videos in Diff, because oEmbed is not working for Commons and Wordpress can't 
take directly images or videos from Commons. This has been known since... 2010!


  *
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T27854
  *
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T309101

Again, the problem is not about this code or that specific piece of code. The 
problem is lack of direction, ambition and goals.

Cheers,

Galder

From: James Heilman mailto:jmh...@gmail.com>>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2024 10:49 PM
To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>>
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: We need more interactive content: we are doing it 
wrong

Yes we see this sentiment regarding a number of issues in our movement. The 
existing community wants to keep certain processes more difficult / time 
consuming to make sure that those involved in the process are sufficiently 
"dedicated".

Maybe we just need a flag which can be given to allow certain folks we trust to 
use an easier process or only allow video upload by people with so many edits 
which can be removed if they misuse it?

James

On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 2:38 PM Yaroslav Blanter 
mailto:ymb...@gmail.com>> wrote:

[Wikimedia-l] Re: We need more interactive content: we are doing it wrong

[Yaroslav Blanter]

Dear All,

I can easily find two recent discussions which touch the topic of video on
Commons:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Village_pump/Archive/2023/12#Prioritizing_our_technical_needs

and

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons_talk:Requests_for_comment/Technical_needs_survey#No_objection,_but.
..

I am sure there were more.

I do not know whether videos can be embedded externally, but images
certainly can. I for example embed them in my blog (random example:
https://ymblanter.dreamwidth.org/146913.html; the text is in Russian which
is irrelevant for my point). I have been doing this for years and never
encountered any issues.

Best
Yaroslav

On Wed, Jan 24, 2024 at 8:00 AM Gnangarra  wrote:

> Kaya
>
> I'd like to my perspective from wikimania side the amount of effort
> volunteers and time to bring every session alive on commons is all
> consuming yes YouTube is the best place to put that content.  It gets
> harder the smaller the event is. Video needs to be addresses as a priority
> along with issues raise by galder. Simple mp4 upload option would be a
> starting point, surely we are big enough for any copyright holders to
> donate the licensing if wmf comes made a request
>
> On Wed, 24 Jan 2024, 2:44 pm Mrb Rafi,  wrote:
>
>> +1 to Galder.
>>
>> Sharing a current situation.
>>
>> A significant number of non wikimedian photographers participate in the
>> wiki loves X campaigns and since the upload process in commons is complex
>> than any other site, most of them feel lost and don't retain.
>>
>> We are arranging wiki loves folklore in Bangladesh this year and we have
>> prepared a handbook for the participants considering the above situation.
>> The handbook has been uploaded to commons and now we're receiving feedback
>> that our participants are feeling lost after visiting the description page,
>> they can't decide how to view the pdf.
>>
>> Wikimedia commons needs a user friendly and intuitive pdf viewer asap.
>>
>> Best,
>> Rafi
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 24, 2024, 4:24 AM Ivan Martínez  wrote:
>>
>>> Thank you Yaroslav, I would very much appreciate a link to the
>>> discussion.
>>> By not having a Youtube 2.0 we are avoiding a Wikipedia 2.0 with pure
>>> encyclopaedic videos. I see a false dilemma there.
>>>
>>> El mar, 23 ene 2024 a las 16:03, Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga (<
>>> galder...@hotmail.com>) escribió:
>>>
 Thanks to everyone for your comments.
 We don't need to worry about Commons being "Youtube 2.0", because we
 can't embed Commons video outside. Furthermore, we can't even embed Commons
 images or videos in Diff, because oEmbed is not working for Commons and
 Wordpress can't take directly images or videos from Commons. This has been
 known since... 2010!


- https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T27854
- https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T309101


 Again, the problem is not about this code or that specific piece of
 code. The problem is lack of direction, ambition and goals.

 Cheers,

 Galder
 --
 *From:* James Heilman 
 *Sent:* Tuesday, January 23, 2024 10:49 PM
 *To:* Wikimedia Mailing List 
 *Subject:* [Wikimedia-l] Re: We need more interactive content: we are
 doing it wrong

 Yes we see this sentiment regarding a number of issues in our movement.
 The existing community wants to keep certain processes more difficult /
 time consuming to make sure that those involved in the process are
 sufficiently "dedicated".

 Maybe we just need a flag which can be given to allow certain folks we
 trust to use an easier process or only allow video upload by people with so
 many edits which can be removed if they misuse it?

 James

 On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 2:38 PM Yaroslav Blanter 
 wrote:

 Specifically related to video uploads, we had discussions on Commons on
 different strategic issues recently, in particular, about this. The general
 sentiment was, to my understanding (pls correct me if I am wrong) that
 Commons has no ambition to become Youtube 2.0 and we do not have any
 resources for this. If video upload is encouraged, very strict policies
 must be in force concerning of what is in the scope of Commons.

 Best
 Yaroslav

 On Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 10:05 PM Brion Vibber 
 wrote:

 Converting them to suitably compact files in h.264/aac in .MP4 format
 would be by far the simplest way. Use ffmpeg as we do on the server side
 for online playback.

 Conforming to the arbitrary Wikimedia prohibition on h.264 you could
 use mpeg-4 visual instead, still in .mp4 - afaik patents are expired and
 it'll play in standalone files (not in HLS)

 If you jump through enough hoops you might get vp9 working in HLS
 offline, but adaptive streaming may be irrelevant to offline use.

 -- brion

 On Tue, 

[Wikimedia-l] New BoT and Charter of Wikimedia UG Georgia

[Mehman Ibragimov via Wikimedia-l]

Dear all,

On December 24, 2023, the annual scheduled meeting of the General Forum
(Forum of organization members) of Wikimedia UG Georgia [1] was held. The
main topic for discussion was the adoption of the organization's new
charter and the election of the organization's Board of Trustees according
to the new charter.

The General Forum unanimously adopted the new version of the organization's
charter [2], which the Wikimedia Foundation Affiliation Committee had
previously reviewed and confirmed. The Forum also elected [3] the following
five Wikipedians to members of the organization's Board of Trustees for 2
years (until the end of 2025):

1. David Asriashvili - Chair
2. Mariam Kvartskhava - Deputy Chair
3. Ekaterine Maisuradze - Member
4. Beka Baiashvili - Member
5. Giga Doguzovi - Member

I wish the new Board of Trustees a successful term and good luck.

On behalf of the Wikimedia Community User Group Georgia,
Mehman.

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Georgia
[2] https://ge.wikimedia.org/wiki/წესდება/en
[3]
https://ge.wikimedia.org/wiki/ვმ_საქართველო/საერთო_ფორუმი/ოქმები/2023/2023-01
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: [Wikitech-I] Call for Projects and Mentors for Google Summer of Code 2024 and Outreachy Round 28 is OPEN!

[Onyinyechi Onifade]

Hi All,

The submission deadline for projects on the Outreachy and GSOC 2024 website
is drawing near! Here’s your chance to empower new contributors and involve
them in open source projects by taking on the role of a mentor. Whether
your expertise lies in coding or non-coding areas such as design,
documentation, translation, outreach, or research, we encourage you to
share your project submissions.

To streamline the process, kindly submit your projects as sub-tasks of this
Phabricator task: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T354734 before Monday
February 5th 2024.

We’re looking forward to receiving your projects!

Regards,

Onyinye & Shiela (Wikimedia Org Admins)

On Wed, Jan 10, 2024 at 3:21 PM Onyinyechi Onifade 
wrote:

> Hello everyone,
>
> Wikimedia is gearing up to apply as a mentoring organization for Google
> Summer of Code 2024 <
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2024>[1] and Outreachy
> Round 28  [2].
> Currently, we're crafting a list of exciting project ideas for the
> application. If you have any suggestions for projects, whether coding or
> non-coding (design, documentation, translation, outreach, research),
> please share them by February 5th via this Phabricator task: <
> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T354734> [3]. Note that for non-coding
> projects eligible for Outreachy, slots are limited and will be allocated to
> mentors on a first-come, first-serve basis.
>
> Timeline
>
> In your role as a mentor, your involvement spans the application period
> for both programs, taking place from March to April. During this time,
> you'll guide candidates in making small contributions to your project and
> address any project-related queries they may have. As the application
> period concludes, you'll further intensify your collaboration with accepted
> candidates throughout the coding period, which extends from May to August.
> Your support and guidance are crucial to their success in the program.
>
> Guidelines for Crafting Project Proposals:
>
>-
>
> Follow this task description template when you propose a project in
>Phabricator: <
>https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects> [4].
>You can also use this workboard to pick an idea if you don't have one
>already. Add #Google- Summer-of-Code (2024) or #Outreachy (Round 28) tag.
>-
>
>Project should require an experienced developer ~15 days and a
>newcomer ~3 months to complete.
>-
>
>Each project should have at least two mentors, including one with a
>technical background.
>-
>
>Ideally, the project has no tight deadlines, a moderate learning
>curve, and fewer dependencies on Wikimedia's core infrastructure. Projects
>addressing the needs of a language community are most welcome.
>
>
> * Learn more about the roles and responsibilities of Mentors for both
> programs:*
>
>-
>
>Outreachy:  [5]
>-
>
>Google Summer of Code:  <
>https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/Mentors> [6]
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
>
> Links:
>
> [1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/2024
>
> [2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Round_28
>
> [3] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T354734
>
> [4] https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/outreach-programs-projects
>
> [5] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors
>
> [6] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Google_Summer_of_Code/Mentors
>
> --
> *Onyinyechi Onifade *
> Technical Community Program Manager
> Wikimedia Foundation 
>
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