Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF political activism

2020-04-23 Thread Benjamin Lees
On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 1:18 AM Gregory Varnum 
wrote:

>
> Having said that, we agree with some of the criticisms you have raised. We
> had understood the Earth Day Live campaign to be both global and
> apolitical. However, we agree that the final campaign was both more
> US-centric and more political than we had understood in advance. The banner
> is no longer running, and in the future we will do more thorough due
> diligence.
>
>
Will that due diligence include advance notice to the community?  In this
case, the Phabricator task, ,
appears to have been opened the same day that the banner was to be
deployed, meaning that nobody had any chance to voice concerns before it
went live.  For banners on the projects, we have <
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/CentralNotice/Calendar>.  I am not saying
that every change to wikimediafoundation.org needs to be screened in
advance, of course, but I think we should avoid keeping "campaign" banners
(even those which aren't expected to be controversial) hidden away until
the last minute.

Emufarmers
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF political activism

2020-04-23 Thread Gregory Varnum
Hi all,

I am responding on behalf of the Foundation in my capacity handling movement 
communications, including managing any campaigns on wikimediafoundation.org.

As others from the Foundation have stated on this mailing list in the past, 
from time to time the Wikimedia Foundation engages in public policy matters 
which are aligned with the advancement of the Wikimedia mission or our values 
as an organization.

Having said that, we agree with some of the criticisms you have raised. We had 
understood the Earth Day Live campaign to be both global and apolitical. 
However, we agree that the final campaign was both more US-centric and more 
political than we had understood in advance. The banner is no longer running, 
and in the future we will do more thorough due diligence.

We remain strongly committed to climate sustainability as a value of the 
Wikimedia Foundation. We will continue to advocate on behalf of it and other 
values that uplift and advance free knowledge globally.

I hope you all had a productive and safe Earth Day, and wish you all continued 
health and safety.

Yours,
-greg

---
Gregory Varnum
Communications Strategist
Wikimedia Foundation 
gvar...@wikimedia.org
Pronouns: He/Him/His

> On Apr 23, 2020, at 3:07 AM, RhinosF1 -  wrote:
> 
> Should this be posted on wiki for others to sign?
> 
> Samuel
> 
> On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 07:51, Fæ  wrote:
> 
>> OPEN LETTER
>> 
>> Dear Katherine Maher,
>> 
>> The WMF home website landing page (https://wikimediafoundation.org)
>> yesterday featured a full-page banner directing all visitors globally
>> to https://www.earthdaylive2020.org. This is a site used for Americal
>> political lobbying, refer to the email discussion attached.
>> 
>> Could you, or the responsible member of your management team, please
>> explain exactly how this happened?
>> 
>> There is zero doubt that this was a serious operational error, misuse
>> of WMF development time and a misuse of the Wikimedia brand. It is
>> certain that you will agree that the buck stops with the CEO. The
>> decision to use the Foundation's website for American lobbying is in
>> conflict with your not for profit status and is in conflict with the
>> charitable status promoted to donors worldwide.
>> 
>> If the management team and yourself are going to continuing political
>> lobbying and using WMF resources to raise funds for Americal political
>> organizations which have no agreed relevance to the mission of the
>> Foundation, there must be a published transparent governance review by
>> the WMF board of trustees to examine and agree on this significant
>> operational change to the public Foundation strategy and the terms for
>> the CEO.
>> 
>> Thank you in advance.
>> 
>> Link to Phabricator task to implement the banner:
>> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
>> CC: María Sefidari as WMF Chair.
>> 
>> Fae
>> 
>> On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 05:50, K. Peachey  wrote:
>>> 
>>> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
>>> 
>>> On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 09:53, Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l
>>>  wrote:
 
 Hi,
 
 It seems that they just gave a link to that website, which...eh...
 When I opened it, I heard one sentence of the stream before I stopped
>> it
 and read the rest of the webpage: "and then we give thanks to spirit,
>> for
 the air we breathe, for the earth..." After reading the rest of the
 webpage, I un-paused it, and am currently listening to a bit of
>> propaganda
 promoting unions and more extensive labor laws.
 
 The linked website is explicitly political, explicitly  on the American
 left, and explicitly in favor of certain highly contentious American
 political proposals. I would like to hear the reasoning for why that
>> link
 has been shown, and it seems to me simply unjustifiable. The WMF is the
 host of a series of community-built projects, not a political activism
 organization.
 
 Regards,
 Vermont
 
 On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 5:12 PM Ziko van Dijk 
>> wrote:
 
> Hello,
> I can confirm that I see the same also here in the Netherlands.
>> Which is
> strange, there are no general elections here before 2021...
> An explanation about this link would be interesting.
> Kind regards
> Ziko
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Am Mi., 22. Apr. 2020 um 22:50 Uhr schrieb Yair Rand <
>> yyairr...@gmail.com
>> :
> 
>> The WMF corporate site (wikimediafoundation.org) currently has a
>> full-page ad with the text "We are watching Earth Day Live today.
>> Will
>> you?". This links to an external site with the text "Click here to
>> sign
> on
>> to the US Youth Climate Strike Coalition Earth Day Demands - From
> congress
>> and the next president, we demand a People’s Bailout, a Green New
>> Deal,
> and
>> Land Back for Indigenous Peoples", and prompting readers to
>> "Pledge to
> vote
>> for 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF political activism

2020-04-23 Thread Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l
Adding onto this, it appears the WMF is proudly and publicly displayed on
the participants, which may as well be endorsements, page for Earth Day
Live: https://www.earthdaylive2020.org/get-involved/

I'm simply astounded by this. Never would I have expected the WMF to take
such a strong political position on the American left. If the WMF wants to
rethink their branding strategy towards "interconnection", perhaps stop
isolating those who disagree with the radical positions endorsed by
participating in Earth Day Live. It wasn't even a small thing on the
website; t took up the entire page, and the purpose of Earth Day Live is
explicitly not only about Earth. It has a number of other policies it
supports entirely entirely unrelated to the climate, and even includes a
call to vote in the American presidential election, by implication a
Democrat.

At the very least, someone at the WMF should respond to the concerns
outlined here.

Regards,
Vermont

On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 2:51 AM Fæ  wrote:

> OPEN LETTER
>
> Dear Katherine Maher,
>
> The WMF home website landing page (https://wikimediafoundation.org)
> yesterday featured a full-page banner directing all visitors globally
> to https://www.earthdaylive2020.org. This is a site used for Americal
> political lobbying, refer to the email discussion attached.
>
> Could you, or the responsible member of your management team, please
> explain exactly how this happened?
>
> There is zero doubt that this was a serious operational error, misuse
> of WMF development time and a misuse of the Wikimedia brand. It is
> certain that you will agree that the buck stops with the CEO. The
> decision to use the Foundation's website for American lobbying is in
> conflict with your not for profit status and is in conflict with the
> charitable status promoted to donors worldwide.
>
> If the management team and yourself are going to continuing political
> lobbying and using WMF resources to raise funds for Americal political
> organizations which have no agreed relevance to the mission of the
> Foundation, there must be a published transparent governance review by
> the WMF board of trustees to examine and agree on this significant
> operational change to the public Foundation strategy and the terms for
> the CEO.
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> Link to Phabricator task to implement the banner:
> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
> CC: María Sefidari as WMF Chair.
>
> Fae
>
> On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 05:50, K. Peachey  wrote:
> >
> > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
> >
> > On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 09:53, Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l
> >  wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > It seems that they just gave a link to that website, which...eh...
> > > When I opened it, I heard one sentence of the stream before I stopped
> it
> > > and read the rest of the webpage: "and then we give thanks to spirit,
> for
> > > the air we breathe, for the earth..." After reading the rest of the
> > > webpage, I un-paused it, and am currently listening to a bit of
> propaganda
> > > promoting unions and more extensive labor laws.
> > >
> > > The linked website is explicitly political, explicitly  on the American
> > > left, and explicitly in favor of certain highly contentious American
> > > political proposals. I would like to hear the reasoning for why that
> link
> > > has been shown, and it seems to me simply unjustifiable. The WMF is the
> > > host of a series of community-built projects, not a political activism
> > > organization.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Vermont
> > >
> > > On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 5:12 PM Ziko van Dijk 
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > > I can confirm that I see the same also here in the Netherlands.
> Which is
> > > > strange, there are no general elections here before 2021...
> > > > An explanation about this link would be interesting.
> > > > Kind regards
> > > > Ziko
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Am Mi., 22. Apr. 2020 um 22:50 Uhr schrieb Yair Rand <
> yyairr...@gmail.com
> > > > >:
> > > >
> > > > > The WMF corporate site (wikimediafoundation.org) currently has a
> > > > > full-page ad with the text "We are watching Earth Day Live today.
> Will
> > > > > you?". This links to an external site with the text "Click here to
> sign
> > > > on
> > > > > to the US Youth Climate Strike Coalition Earth Day Demands - From
> > > > congress
> > > > > and the next president, we demand a People’s Bailout, a Green New
> Deal,
> > > > and
> > > > > Land Back for Indigenous Peoples", and prompting readers to
> "Pledge to
> > > > vote
> > > > > for our future" and to subscribe to "US Climate Strike".
> > > > >
> > > > > Everyone here already knows how unacceptable this is, and why, so
> I don't
> > > > > think this requires any further explanation. The WMF should
> immediately
> > > > > take this down, and make certain that this kind of thing can't
> happen
> > > > > again. They've failed yet again at preventing inappropriate
> > > > > political activism in 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF political activism

2020-04-23 Thread RhinosF1 -
Should this be posted on wiki for others to sign?

Samuel

On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 07:51, Fæ  wrote:

> OPEN LETTER
>
> Dear Katherine Maher,
>
> The WMF home website landing page (https://wikimediafoundation.org)
> yesterday featured a full-page banner directing all visitors globally
> to https://www.earthdaylive2020.org. This is a site used for Americal
> political lobbying, refer to the email discussion attached.
>
> Could you, or the responsible member of your management team, please
> explain exactly how this happened?
>
> There is zero doubt that this was a serious operational error, misuse
> of WMF development time and a misuse of the Wikimedia brand. It is
> certain that you will agree that the buck stops with the CEO. The
> decision to use the Foundation's website for American lobbying is in
> conflict with your not for profit status and is in conflict with the
> charitable status promoted to donors worldwide.
>
> If the management team and yourself are going to continuing political
> lobbying and using WMF resources to raise funds for Americal political
> organizations which have no agreed relevance to the mission of the
> Foundation, there must be a published transparent governance review by
> the WMF board of trustees to examine and agree on this significant
> operational change to the public Foundation strategy and the terms for
> the CEO.
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> Link to Phabricator task to implement the banner:
> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
> CC: María Sefidari as WMF Chair.
>
> Fae
>
> On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 05:50, K. Peachey  wrote:
> >
> > https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
> >
> > On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 09:53, Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l
> >  wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > It seems that they just gave a link to that website, which...eh...
> > > When I opened it, I heard one sentence of the stream before I stopped
> it
> > > and read the rest of the webpage: "and then we give thanks to spirit,
> for
> > > the air we breathe, for the earth..." After reading the rest of the
> > > webpage, I un-paused it, and am currently listening to a bit of
> propaganda
> > > promoting unions and more extensive labor laws.
> > >
> > > The linked website is explicitly political, explicitly  on the American
> > > left, and explicitly in favor of certain highly contentious American
> > > political proposals. I would like to hear the reasoning for why that
> link
> > > has been shown, and it seems to me simply unjustifiable. The WMF is the
> > > host of a series of community-built projects, not a political activism
> > > organization.
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Vermont
> > >
> > > On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 5:12 PM Ziko van Dijk 
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > > I can confirm that I see the same also here in the Netherlands.
> Which is
> > > > strange, there are no general elections here before 2021...
> > > > An explanation about this link would be interesting.
> > > > Kind regards
> > > > Ziko
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Am Mi., 22. Apr. 2020 um 22:50 Uhr schrieb Yair Rand <
> yyairr...@gmail.com
> > > > >:
> > > >
> > > > > The WMF corporate site (wikimediafoundation.org) currently has a
> > > > > full-page ad with the text "We are watching Earth Day Live today.
> Will
> > > > > you?". This links to an external site with the text "Click here to
> sign
> > > > on
> > > > > to the US Youth Climate Strike Coalition Earth Day Demands - From
> > > > congress
> > > > > and the next president, we demand a People’s Bailout, a Green New
> Deal,
> > > > and
> > > > > Land Back for Indigenous Peoples", and prompting readers to
> "Pledge to
> > > > vote
> > > > > for our future" and to subscribe to "US Climate Strike".
> > > > >
> > > > > Everyone here already knows how unacceptable this is, and why, so
> I don't
> > > > > think this requires any further explanation. The WMF should
> immediately
> > > > > take this down, and make certain that this kind of thing can't
> happen
> > > > > again. They've failed yet again at preventing inappropriate
> > > > > political activism in WMF's communications, and must take serious
> action
> > > > to
> > > > > fix this constant stream of terrible failures.
> > > > >
> > > > > -- Yair Rand
> --
> fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
>
> ___
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> 

-- 
Thanks,
Samuel
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] คุณมีความสุขกับอะไรในสัปดาห์นี้? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 19 April 2020)

2020-04-23 Thread Tito Dutta
Hello, Pine, thanks for sharing the quote of Dinah Maria Craik. Very timely
and helpful. I stopped for a while after reading this quotation in your
email.

2 things I can think of, right now, which make me happy this week
a) The Wikidata COVID-19 dashboards: I saw 2 dashboards:
https://sites.google.com/view/covid19-dashboard (and another is:
https://speed.ieee.tn/)
b) Wikidata WikiProject India COVID-19 task force and their effort:
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_India/COVID-19_task_force

My good wishes,

Thanks
Tito Dutta
Note: If I don't reply to your email in 2 days, please feel free to remind
me over email or phone call.


On Fri, 24 Apr 2020 at 01:12, Yaroslav Blanter  wrote:

> I actually also had a train identified this week, by User:Altona
>   with whom I never
> interacted as far as I know.
>
> My train is from Canada, uploaded a week ago.
>
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Coast_Railway_Heritage_Park_08.jpg
>
> Best
> Yaroslav
>
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 9:35 PM Michael Peel  wrote:
>
> >
> > > On 23 Apr 2020, at 20:21, Pine W  wrote:
> > >
> > > What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
> > > language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.
> >
> > A few years ago, I took some photos of some abandoned and heavily-decayed
> > trains in Paranapiacaba, an old railway town in southern Brazil, and
> > uploaded them to Commons. This week, User:Sorocabano_32 came along and
> > identified several of them!
> >
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Siemens-Schuckert_B-B_(RFFSA)
> > These seem to be the only photos we have of this locomotive class, as
> it’s
> > the last of its kind.
> >
> > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:TUE_S%C3%A9rie_100_(EFCB)
> > <
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:TUE_S%C3%A9rie_100_%28EFCB%29>
> > It turns out these were built in the UK!
> >
> > (There are still many more still to be identified in
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vila_Ferrovi%C3%A1ria_de_Paranapiacaba
> > !)
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mike
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] คุณมีความสุขกับอะไรในสัปดาห์นี้? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 19 April 2020)

2020-04-23 Thread Yaroslav Blanter
I actually also had a train identified this week, by User:Altona
  with whom I never
interacted as far as I know.

My train is from Canada, uploaded a week ago.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West_Coast_Railway_Heritage_Park_08.jpg

Best
Yaroslav

On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 9:35 PM Michael Peel  wrote:

>
> > On 23 Apr 2020, at 20:21, Pine W  wrote:
> >
> > What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
> > language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.
>
> A few years ago, I took some photos of some abandoned and heavily-decayed
> trains in Paranapiacaba, an old railway town in southern Brazil, and
> uploaded them to Commons. This week, User:Sorocabano_32 came along and
> identified several of them!
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Siemens-Schuckert_B-B_(RFFSA)
> These seem to be the only photos we have of this locomotive class, as it’s
> the last of its kind.
>
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:TUE_S%C3%A9rie_100_(EFCB)
> 
> It turns out these were built in the UK!
>
> (There are still many more still to be identified in
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vila_Ferrovi%C3%A1ria_de_Paranapiacaba
> !)
>
> Thanks,
> Mike
> ___
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> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] คุณมีความสุขกับอะไรในสัปดาห์นี้? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 19 April 2020)

2020-04-23 Thread Michael Peel

> On 23 Apr 2020, at 20:21, Pine W  wrote:
> 
> What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
> language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.

A few years ago, I took some photos of some abandoned and heavily-decayed 
trains in Paranapiacaba, an old railway town in southern Brazil, and uploaded 
them to Commons. This week, User:Sorocabano_32 came along and identified 
several of them!

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Siemens-Schuckert_B-B_(RFFSA)
These seem to be the only photos we have of this locomotive class, as it’s the 
last of its kind.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:TUE_S%C3%A9rie_100_(EFCB)
It turns out these were built in the UK!

(There are still many more still to be identified in 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Vila_Ferrovi%C3%A1ria_de_Paranapiacaba
 !)

Thanks,
Mike
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[Wikimedia-l] คุณมีความสุขกับอะไรในสัปดาห์นี้? / What's making you happy this week? (Week of 19 April 2020)

2020-04-23 Thread Pine W
Hello colleagues,

Continued sympathies to those who are in challenging situations. Some
changes are under consideration for these emails for the purpose of
making them be more relatable to people who are in a wide variety of
circumstances. More information regarding possible changes may be
published in the next few weeks.


-- Quotes from Dinah Maria Craik --

* The English Wikiquote of the Day for 19 April 2020 was from English
author Dinah Maria Craik: "There never was night that had no morn."

* Related image of a sunrise at Akumal, Mexico:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunrise_Akumal.png

* A portrait of Craik:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dinah_Maria_Craik_(n%C3%A9e_Mulock)_by_Sir_Hubert_von_Herkomer.jpg

* Another quote from Craik: "I think, at any day throughout his long
reign, the King would sooner have lost his crown than have lost sight
of the Beautiful Mountains."

* Related image: the painting _Krishna. Spring in Kulu_, by Russian
artist and lawyer Nicholas Roerich (Никола́й Константи́нович Ре́рих),
circa 1930): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicholas_Roerich_008.jpg.


-- Visiting the Thai Wikipedia and Thailand --

In the interest of featuring languages which have not previously
appeared in "What's making you happy this week?", I decided to visit
the Thai language Wikipedia. There I learned that Thailand has two
calendar systems. [1] [2] Also, I found images from
อุทยานแห่งชาติภูซาง, known in English as Phu Sang National Park [3]
[4] , which appears to be a place that I would enjoy visiting. One of
the photos of a waterfall was a finalist for Commons Picture of the
Year in 2017.

* Picture of a hot waterfall that is in the park, Namtok Phu Sang:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phayao_phu_sang_waterfall.jpg

* Picture of a boy in a waterfall at the park. This photo was a
finalist for Commons Picture of the Year in 2017:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PhuSangWTF_01.jpg

* The animals that are depicted below are members of species that are
found in Phu Sang National Park *

* Video of a black giant squirrel:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_giant_squirrel_(Malayan_giant_squirrel)%2C_Ratufa_bicolor_-_Kaeng_Krachan_National_Park.webm

* Picture of a red muntjac:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Muntjac_(Muntiacus_muntjak_curvostylis)_(7109809349).jpg

* Picture of a Siamese hare:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Siamese_Hare,_Lepus_peguensis,_in_Kui_Buri_national_park.jpg

* Picture of a jungle cat:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jungle_Cat_on_tree_at_Sundarban,_West_Bengal,_India.jpg


-- Closing comments --

Translations of the subject line of this email would be appreciated on
Meta. [5] Thanks to User:Patsagorn Y. [6] for the Thai translation.

What’s making you happy this week? You are welcome to write in any
language. You are also welcome to start a WMYHTW thread next week.


Pine
( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_calendar

[2] 
https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%9B%E0%B8%8F%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%84%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phu_Sang_National_Park

[4] 
https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%B8%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%AB%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B8%A0%E0%B8%B9%E0%B8%8B%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%87

[5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine/WMYHTW_translations

[6] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Patsagorn_Y.

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy

2020-04-23 Thread Jane Darnell
Yes this remains a problem. The only thing I can think of is that in our 
current gig economy reputation is everything and timeliness of information 
feedback is more and more important. I think publicly funded research deserves 
both public access and proper attribution throughout the whole process and not 
just for the final publication.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Apr 20, 2020, at 10:52 PM, Yaroslav Blanter  wrote:
> 
> As an actively publishing researcher, I just know that mandating open
> access publishing would mean that the author pays the (huge) publication
> fee rather than the library pays the subscription. In an ideal world, the
> universities would refund the fees, and will get subsidy from the
> governments, In our real world, the researchers will have to pay everything
> out of their own pocket, with some of them losing all possibilities to
> publish, for the lack of funds. I tried to raise this before, and the
> universal reply was that this is my problem, not the problem of the
> society. I do not expect anything else this time.
> 
> Cheers
> Yaroslav
> 
>> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 10:34 PM Shani Evenstein 
>> wrote:
>> 
>> Jake, well written and nicely put.
>> Is this online somewhere, where we can share it further?
>> 
>> Best,
>> Shani.
>> 
>> 
>> ---
>> *Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
>> 
>> * Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
>> * EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler School
>> of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
>> 
>> * PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
>> * Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow.
>> * OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair
>>  on Technology,
>> Internationalization
>> and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
>> .
>> 
>> * Member of the Board of Trustees
>> ,
>> Wikimedia
>> Foundation .
>> * Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
>> .
>> * Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda .
>> 
>> +972-525640648
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:27 PM Pete Forsyth 
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Jake,
>>> 
>>> How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this?
>>> 
>>> -Pete
>>> --
>>> Pete Forsyth
>>> User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc.
>>> 
 On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta  wrote:
>>> 
 Hello,
 Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for sharing.
 Regards.
 User:Titodutta
 
 
 On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz 
>> wrote:
 
> My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy
>>> regarding
 a
> proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded
>>> research...
> 
> ---
> 
> Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world. Each
 month
> 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public
> information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are
>>> loaded
> by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
> 
> Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA
>>> licensing
> as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
> Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access
>>> scholarly
> research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds of
> millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper research.
> 
> Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader
 landscape
> of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to
 verify
> the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through
>> citations
> readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the
>> books,
> scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article.
> 
> A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in
 Wikipedia
> found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
> publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely
>> available
 on
> the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of
>>> public
> education and digital literacy.
> 
> Just look at the most recent global catastrophe with Coronavirus. By
 April
> 2020 the main articles on COVID-19 had received 50 million views.
> Wikipedia's medical content--made up of more than 155,000 articles
>> and
>>> 1
> billion bytes of text across more than 255 languages--has been ranked
>>> as
> one of the top-3 most viewed sources for medical information on the
 entire
> internet.
> 
> References are essential to the public's trust in Wikipedia. Indeed,
> Wikipedia's 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy

2020-04-23 Thread Peter Southwood
The entertainment industry has more influential lobbyists?
P

-Original Message-
From: Wikimedia-l [mailto:wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of 
James Salsman
Sent: 20 April 2020 23:40
To: Wikimedia Mailing List; Yaroslav Blanter
Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Comment Open on U.S. Open Access Policy

Yaroslav,

How do you feel about the system of compulsory royalties they have to pay
for both academic journals and news journalism in Germany? See e.g.
https://www.vgwort.de/die-vg-wort.html

In the U.S., we pay musicians for their works played on the radio, in
public venues, and pirated, all out of taxpayer funds. Does anyone
understand why we don't pay journalist and scientists the same way?

Best regards,
Jim


On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:52 PM Yaroslav Blanter  wrote:

> As an actively publishing researcher, I just know that mandating open
> access publishing would mean that the author pays the (huge) publication
> fee rather than the library pays the subscription. In an ideal world, the
> universities would refund the fees, and will get subsidy from the
> governments, In our real world, the researchers will have to pay everything
> out of their own pocket, with some of them losing all possibilities to
> publish, for the lack of funds. I tried to raise this before, and the
> universal reply was that this is my problem, not the problem of the
> society. I do not expect anything else this time.
>
> Cheers
> Yaroslav
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 10:34 PM Shani Evenstein 
> wrote:
>
> > Jake, well written and nicely put.
> > Is this online somewhere, where we can share it further?
> >
> > Best,
> > Shani.
> >
> >
> > ---
> > *Shani Evenstein Sigalov*
> >
> > * Lecturer, Tel Aviv University.
> > * EdTech Innovation Strategist, NY/American Medical Program, Sackler
> School
> > of Medicine, Tel Aviv University.
> >
> > * PhD Candidate, School of Education, Tel Aviv University.
> > * Azrieli Foundation Research Fellow.
> > * OER & Emerging Technologies Coordinator, UNESCO Chair
> >  on Technology,
> > Internationalization
> > and Education, School of Education, Tel Aviv University
> > .
> >
> > * Member of the Board of Trustees
> > ,
> > Wikimedia
> > Foundation .
> > * Chairperson, The Hebrew Literature Digitization Society
> > .
> > * Chief Editor, Project Ben-Yehuda .
> >
> > +972-525640648
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 11:27 PM Pete Forsyth 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Jake,
> > >
> > > How can we most effectively support your excellent effort with this?
> > >
> > > -Pete
> > > --
> > > Pete Forsyth
> > > User:Peteforsyth on Meta, English Wikisource, English Wikipedia, etc.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 1:22 PM Tito Dutta 
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hello,
> > > > Very well-written and well-supported by statistics. Thanks for
> sharing.
> > > > Regards.
> > > > User:Titodutta
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Apr 21, 2020, 1:41 AM Jake Orlowitz 
> > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > My Letter to the U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy
> > > regarding
> > > > a
> > > > > proposal for federally mandate open access to publicly-funded
> > > research...
> > > > >
> > > > > ---
> > > > >
> > > > > Wikipedia is one of the ten most popular websites in the world.
> Each
> > > > month
> > > > > 200,000 editors improve over 6 million articles. This vital public
> > > > > information is viewed on 1 billion unique devices as our pages are
> > > loaded
> > > > > by people around the globe 7,000 times per second.
> > > > >
> > > > > Wikipedia is the "free encyclopedia", both in its open CC-BY-SA
> > > licensing
> > > > > as well as the unpaid contributions of its volunteer editors. Yet
> > > > > Wikipedia's hundreds of thousands of editors struggle to access
> > > scholarly
> > > > > research. And, if they are able to read and cite it, then hundreds
> of
> > > > > millions of readers cannot verify or explore it for deeper
> research.
> > > > >
> > > > > Citations are the bridge between Wikipedia articles and a broader
> > > > landscape
> > > > > of reliable, secondary sources. Citations not only allow readers to
> > > > verify
> > > > > the reliability of the facts they find in Wikipedia; through
> > citations
> > > > > readers can also deep-dive into any given topic by exploring the
> > books,
> > > > > scholarly publications, and news stories referenced in an article.
> > > > >
> > > > > A recently released dataset of all citations with identifiers in
> > > > Wikipedia
> > > > > found that less than half of the official versions of scholarly
> > > > > publications cited with an identifier in Wikipedia are freely
> > available
> > > > on
> > > > > the web. This chasm of for editors and for readers is a tragedy of
> > > 

[Wikimedia-l] Celtic Knot Conference final call for participation

2020-04-23 Thread Rebecca O'Neill
*Dear all/A chairdeThe Call for Papers or Participation in the 2020
virtual/remote Celtic Knot Wikimedia Language Conference
 closes on
Thursday 30 April at midnight. The event will centre around 9-10 July with
workshops, help desks and other events taking place throughout the week.We
are looking for your most imaginative ideas for how we can host a variety
of interesting, engaging, and enlightening talks, workshops, presentations,
and events. We are looking for those with Wikimedia experience to share to
use their new virtual hosting and facilitating skills with those in Ireland
and beyond to bring those new events to Celtic Knot 2020.*


*Is there a new event format you have been experimenting with for your
language or other community?*




*Have you found the best platform to run a workshop, helpdesk, or learning
environment?Has a virtual/remote format you’ve developed, and you want to
showcase it to others?Are you a Wikidata, Commons, Translation Tool, or
other wizard, and you want to help new editors get involved through Celtic
Knot?Have you been trying something so innovative that you would like to
share with the Wikimedia community?Then submit a proposal here

to bring that event to Celtic Knot 2020 to work with those engaged with
minority languages. The submission formats are guidance, please feel free
to propose something that will suit your submission for a workshop, virtual
round table, interactive event or helpdesk.We look forward to hearing from
you!From the organization team,Wikimedia UK (Daria Cybulska, Director of
Programmes)Wikimedia Community Ireland (Rebecca O’Neill, Project
Coordinator)*
-- 
PhD in Digital Media
Project Coordinator Wikimedia Community Ireland 
She/Her
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[Wikimedia-l] WMF political activism

2020-04-23 Thread
OPEN LETTER

Dear Katherine Maher,

The WMF home website landing page (https://wikimediafoundation.org)
yesterday featured a full-page banner directing all visitors globally
to https://www.earthdaylive2020.org. This is a site used for Americal
political lobbying, refer to the email discussion attached.

Could you, or the responsible member of your management team, please
explain exactly how this happened?

There is zero doubt that this was a serious operational error, misuse
of WMF development time and a misuse of the Wikimedia brand. It is
certain that you will agree that the buck stops with the CEO. The
decision to use the Foundation's website for American lobbying is in
conflict with your not for profit status and is in conflict with the
charitable status promoted to donors worldwide.

If the management team and yourself are going to continuing political
lobbying and using WMF resources to raise funds for Americal political
organizations which have no agreed relevance to the mission of the
Foundation, there must be a published transparent governance review by
the WMF board of trustees to examine and agree on this significant
operational change to the public Foundation strategy and the terms for
the CEO.

Thank you in advance.

Link to Phabricator task to implement the banner:
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
CC: María Sefidari as WMF Chair.

Fae

On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 05:50, K. Peachey  wrote:
>
> https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T250508
>
> On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 09:53, Chris Gates via Wikimedia-l
>  wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > It seems that they just gave a link to that website, which...eh...
> > When I opened it, I heard one sentence of the stream before I stopped it
> > and read the rest of the webpage: "and then we give thanks to spirit, for
> > the air we breathe, for the earth..." After reading the rest of the
> > webpage, I un-paused it, and am currently listening to a bit of propaganda
> > promoting unions and more extensive labor laws.
> >
> > The linked website is explicitly political, explicitly  on the American
> > left, and explicitly in favor of certain highly contentious American
> > political proposals. I would like to hear the reasoning for why that link
> > has been shown, and it seems to me simply unjustifiable. The WMF is the
> > host of a series of community-built projects, not a political activism
> > organization.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Vermont
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 5:12 PM Ziko van Dijk  wrote:
> >
> > > Hello,
> > > I can confirm that I see the same also here in the Netherlands. Which is
> > > strange, there are no general elections here before 2021...
> > > An explanation about this link would be interesting.
> > > Kind regards
> > > Ziko
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Am Mi., 22. Apr. 2020 um 22:50 Uhr schrieb Yair Rand  > > >:
> > >
> > > > The WMF corporate site (wikimediafoundation.org) currently has a
> > > > full-page ad with the text "We are watching Earth Day Live today. Will
> > > > you?". This links to an external site with the text "Click here to sign
> > > on
> > > > to the US Youth Climate Strike Coalition Earth Day Demands - From
> > > congress
> > > > and the next president, we demand a People’s Bailout, a Green New Deal,
> > > and
> > > > Land Back for Indigenous Peoples", and prompting readers to "Pledge to
> > > vote
> > > > for our future" and to subscribe to "US Climate Strike".
> > > >
> > > > Everyone here already knows how unacceptable this is, and why, so I 
> > > > don't
> > > > think this requires any further explanation. The WMF should immediately
> > > > take this down, and make certain that this kind of thing can't happen
> > > > again. They've failed yet again at preventing inappropriate
> > > > political activism in WMF's communications, and must take serious action
> > > to
> > > > fix this constant stream of terrible failures.
> > > >
> > > > -- Yair Rand
-- 
fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae

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