[Wikimedia-l] Foundation support for Wikimedians affected by the war in Gaza and Israel

[Stephen LaPorte]

Hello everyone,

The war in Gaza and Israel and the danger it has posed and continues to
pose for community members is of deep concern. We are examining ways to
support our communities and any threats to our projects as it continues. We
wanted to provide you with an update on these efforts and direct your
attention to this Meta Wiki page

with advice to enhance the safety and well-being of individuals at risk.

The Human Rights Team 
in cooperation with other teams at the Foundation is actively monitoring
the conflict and human rights concerns for Wikimedia volunteers, while
consistently refining our safety and security plans. Proactively, we
reached out to administrators and community members of the Arabic and
Hebrew Wikipedia platforms, offering support, conducting safety check-ins,
and ensuring them of our availability to assist through the Human Rights
and Trust and Safety Teams with issues where we can support.

The Foundation has joined the #KeepItOn coalition
 to raise awareness and take
action against internet shutdowns. The Foundation is also in communication
with the Freedom Online Coalition
 about efforts to
maintain internet access in Gaza.

Additionally, we have created a comprehensive guide
 with
resources on how community members can stay connected during internet
outages.

The Foundation's Disinformation Team

and wider Trust and Safety
 are working to respond
to reports related to the conflict from the community and other
organizations. They are also monitoring pages related to the conflict,
particularly in English, Arabic, Hebrew and Farsi, for any coordinated
efforts to manipulate content. When such coordinated efforts have been
identified in the past, we have connected with local functionaries to
discuss approaches and are ready to do so again if such coordinated
activity is detected in relation to this crisis. Maintaining vigilance
against any coordinated efforts to manipulate information on Wikimedia
projects is a collective responsibility shared by both the Foundation and
Wikipedia's dedicated volunteers.

We are here to support you. You can reach the Human Rights team for
non-urgent human rights issues at talktohumanrig...@wikimedia.org or for
emergencies involving Wikimedians at humanrig...@wikimedia.org (monitored
24/7).

We encourage everyone to be cautious and alert us to any safety and human
rights concerns through private channels to avoid putting our fellow
volunteers at risk.

-- 
Stephen LaPorte (he/him/his)
General Counsel
Wikimedia Foundation


*NOTICE: As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation, for legal and ethical
reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community
members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more
on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer
.*
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming a future Trustee to the Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Christophe Henner]

Thank you for the update!

Thank you for your contribution all those years @Tanya Capuano
 ! It was great working with you all those years
ago!

Welcome Kathy, hope our movement will you give you back as much as you'll
be bringing in with you :)

--
Christophe


On Thu, 2 Nov 2023 at 18:08, Shaba 50  wrote:

>
>  Hi Antanan,
>
> Thanks for the update. We are thrilled to have Kathy join the team and
> look forward to her contributions.
>
> Best regards,
> Aliyu Shaba
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 1, 2023, 10:21 PM Nataliia Tymkiv 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am writing with an update on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>> Audit Committee Chair search process.
>>
>> You may recall that in July 2023, I wrote about the Board’s need to
>> identify a replacement for trustee and Audit Committee chair Tanya Capuano
>> [1] and the requirements that the Board had identified for the position
>> [2]. The Governance Committee conducted a search over a months-long
>> process, which included a search firm as well as a call for candidates
>> through the communities; the main components of the recruitment process are
>> described here [3]. In August at Wikimania, the Governance Committee made a
>> recommendation to the Board to move forward with the top finalist, and the
>> Board accepted it [4]. I am pleased to announce that Kathy Collins [5] will
>> be joining officially at our next Board meeting on December 6, 2023.
>>
>> Kathy has extensive financial and nonprofit governance experience that
>> she brings to this role. She has worked as a financial expert for her
>> entire career, across both higher education institutions and state and
>> federal governments in the United States. She was Vice President of Finance
>> at Rice University in Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years, a position she
>> held until last year when she retired. She has also been a trustee at Mount
>> Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she served in multiple Board
>> leadership roles including Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Finance
>> Committee and member of the Audit, Governance and Development Committees
>> and the DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) Task Force. Her
>> experience and expertise are very relevant to the challenges we  as the
>> Board are seeing for this role. Please join me in welcoming her!
>>
>> This is a planned role succession, with a very clear profile needed, and
>> as I mentioned before [4], over the past year, there have been quite a lot
>> of intentional improvements to all of our processes (e.g., recruitment,
>> appointments, onboarding, succession planning), so that Trustees with no or
>> limited Wikimedia experience can start engaging in community conferences,
>> events, and on-wiki discussions as soon as possible, and as the role of a
>> Trustee is complex, it is better if the process can start before the
>> official appointment, when already a certain level of knowledge is expected
>> to start making informed decisions.  And Kathy has wasted no time in
>> pre-onboarding to the Wikimedia Foundation and learning about the Movement
>> and Board. She has been joining the Audit and Governance Committee meetings
>> for the past few months. Kathy also will also be joining other Trustees in
>> person at the WikiConference North America event in Toronto, which will be
>> her first community event, and also an opportunity to get to know some of
>> her future colleagues on the Board better.
>>
>> I would like to thank Tanya Capuano for continuing to support the
>> Foundation while Kathy is pre-onboarded to the Audit Committee and the
>> Board. Tanya has also graciously agreed to remain an Advisor to the Audit
>> Committee after her term officially ends in December.
>>
>> Recently, Maryana Iskander announced Talking: 2024 [6], conversations to
>> share, listen, and learn with intention as we all continue to plan our
>> future as a movement. If you would like to talk to me about this or any
>> other Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees topics, you can use the Let’s
>> Talk feature to sign up for a time to speak with me [7].
>>
>> [1]
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/OG3NQUL4HKUYPRSLUKM2RI2LRXGJRG5I/
>>
>> [2]
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment
>>
>>
>> [3]
>> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Recruiting_procedure
>>
>>
>> [4]
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/PAKLDS53PN7GVLYVML6OWSTEEF5KWJ2M/
>>
>>
>> [5]
>> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/11/01/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-kathy-collins-as-new-incoming-board-trustee-and-audit-chair/
>>
>> [6]
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#October_2023_Update_and_Invitation_to_Talking:_2024
>>
>> [7]
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#Let's_talk
>>
>> Best 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming a future Trustee to the Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Shaba 50]

 Hi Antanan,

Thanks for the update. We are thrilled to have Kathy join the team and look
forward to her contributions.

Best regards,
Aliyu Shaba


On Wed, Nov 1, 2023, 10:21 PM Nataliia Tymkiv  wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am writing with an update on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
> Audit Committee Chair search process.
>
> You may recall that in July 2023, I wrote about the Board’s need to
> identify a replacement for trustee and Audit Committee chair Tanya Capuano
> [1] and the requirements that the Board had identified for the position
> [2]. The Governance Committee conducted a search over a months-long
> process, which included a search firm as well as a call for candidates
> through the communities; the main components of the recruitment process are
> described here [3]. In August at Wikimania, the Governance Committee made a
> recommendation to the Board to move forward with the top finalist, and the
> Board accepted it [4]. I am pleased to announce that Kathy Collins [5] will
> be joining officially at our next Board meeting on December 6, 2023.
>
> Kathy has extensive financial and nonprofit governance experience that she
> brings to this role. She has worked as a financial expert for her entire
> career, across both higher education institutions and state and federal
> governments in the United States. She was Vice President of Finance at Rice
> University in Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years, a position she held until
> last year when she retired. She has also been a trustee at Mount Holyoke
> College in Massachusetts, where she served in multiple Board leadership
> roles including Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Finance Committee and
> member of the Audit, Governance and Development Committees and the DEI 
> (Diversity,
> equity, and inclusion) Task Force. Her experience and expertise are very
> relevant to the challenges we  as the Board are seeing for this role.
> Please join me in welcoming her!
>
> This is a planned role succession, with a very clear profile needed, and
> as I mentioned before [4], over the past year, there have been quite a lot
> of intentional improvements to all of our processes (e.g., recruitment,
> appointments, onboarding, succession planning), so that Trustees with no or
> limited Wikimedia experience can start engaging in community conferences,
> events, and on-wiki discussions as soon as possible, and as the role of a
> Trustee is complex, it is better if the process can start before the
> official appointment, when already a certain level of knowledge is expected
> to start making informed decisions.  And Kathy has wasted no time in
> pre-onboarding to the Wikimedia Foundation and learning about the Movement
> and Board. She has been joining the Audit and Governance Committee meetings
> for the past few months. Kathy also will also be joining other Trustees in
> person at the WikiConference North America event in Toronto, which will be
> her first community event, and also an opportunity to get to know some of
> her future colleagues on the Board better.
>
> I would like to thank Tanya Capuano for continuing to support the
> Foundation while Kathy is pre-onboarded to the Audit Committee and the
> Board. Tanya has also graciously agreed to remain an Advisor to the Audit
> Committee after her term officially ends in December.
>
> Recently, Maryana Iskander announced Talking: 2024 [6], conversations to
> share, listen, and learn with intention as we all continue to plan our
> future as a movement. If you would like to talk to me about this or any
> other Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees topics, you can use the Let’s
> Talk feature to sign up for a time to speak with me [7].
>
> [1]
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/OG3NQUL4HKUYPRSLUKM2RI2LRXGJRG5I/
>
> [2]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Governance_Committee/Board_recruitment
>
>
> [3]
> https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Trustees/Recruiting_procedure
>
>
> [4]
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/thread/PAKLDS53PN7GVLYVML6OWSTEEF5KWJ2M/
>
>
> [5]
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2023/11/01/wikimedia-foundation-welcomes-kathy-collins-as-new-incoming-board-trustee-and-audit-chair/
>
> [6]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#October_2023_Update_and_Invitation_to_Talking:_2024
>
> [7]
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Committee/Talking:_2024#Let's_talk
>
> Best regards,
> antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
> Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>
> *NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
> hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
> should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
> advance!*
>
> ___
> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Welcoming a future Trustee to the Wikimedia Foundation Board

[Samuel Klein]

Wonderful news, congrats on the successful search.  And welcome, Kathy!

Sam.

(Nat: also a fan of the new Talking initiative. :)

On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 5:29 PM Kathy Collins  wrote:

>
>
> Hi all,
>
> Thank you, Nat, and to all the staff and volunteers who have shared such a
> warm welcome as I prepare to join the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
> Trustees, and to those who have given their time to sharing information and
> answering my questions.
>
>
>
> I have dedicated much of my career and my personal volunteer time to
> public, non-profit, and higher education institutions that have the mission
> of advancing knowledge and access to knowledge. As will be familiar to
> you, I have often turned to Wikipedia to read biographies, to learn about
> historical context or to get information for my travel plans, to name just
> a few of the dozen ways in which I’ve used this resource over the years. I
> understand and deeply appreciate its value in the world.
>
>
>
> As I join, my first priority will be to learn about the needs of the
> Wikimedia movement now, and the work of the Wikimedia Foundation so that I
> can positively contribute my experiences and expertise in my role as a
> Trustee and chair of the Audit Committee. The work of the Audit Committee
> helps the Board carry out its fiduciary responsibilities to advise
> leadership at the Foundation on financial plans, policies and practices and
> risk assessment. Through this work, the Board helps the Foundation to
> advance our strategic goals, and also ensures sound financial management,
> long-term planning, and clear communications surrounding the Foundation’s
> budget and financial reports.
>
>
>
> I am impressed by the scope, resilience and diligence of the Wikimedia
> movement, and the central importance of volunteers to its success. I look
> forward to attending Wikiconference North America in Toronto, and having
> this first opportunity to meet some volunteers and hear what is top of
> mind. I hope to find ways to meet more of you as I formally join the Board
> in December.
>
>
>
> I look forward to working with you,
>
> Kathy
>
> On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 4:20 PM Nataliia Tymkiv 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am writing with an update on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
>> Audit Committee Chair search process.
>>
>> You may recall that in July 2023, I wrote about the Board’s need to
>> identify a replacement for trustee and Audit Committee chair Tanya Capuano
>> [1] and the requirements that the Board had identified for the position
>> [2]. The Governance Committee conducted a search over a months-long
>> process, which included a search firm as well as a call for candidates
>> through the communities; the main components of the recruitment process are
>> described here [3]. In August at Wikimania, the Governance Committee made a
>> recommendation to the Board to move forward with the top finalist, and the
>> Board accepted it [4]. I am pleased to announce that Kathy Collins [5] will
>> be joining officially at our next Board meeting on December 6, 2023.
>>
>> Kathy has extensive financial and nonprofit governance experience that
>> she brings to this role. She has worked as a financial expert for her
>> entire career, across both higher education institutions and state and
>> federal governments in the United States. She was Vice President of Finance
>> at Rice University in Houston, Texas for nearly 20 years, a position she
>> held until last year when she retired. She has also been a trustee at Mount
>> Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she served in multiple Board
>> leadership roles including Vice Chair of the Board, Chair of the Finance
>> Committee and member of the Audit, Governance and Development Committees
>> and the DEI (Diversity, equity, and inclusion) Task Force. Her
>> experience and expertise are very relevant to the challenges we  as the
>> Board are seeing for this role. Please join me in welcoming her!
>>
>> This is a planned role succession, with a very clear profile needed, and
>> as I mentioned before [4], over the past year, there have been quite a lot
>> of intentional improvements to all of our processes (e.g., recruitment,
>> appointments, onboarding, succession planning), so that Trustees with no or
>> limited Wikimedia experience can start engaging in community conferences,
>> events, and on-wiki discussions as soon as possible, and as the role of a
>> Trustee is complex, it is better if the process can start before the
>> official appointment, when already a certain level of knowledge is expected
>> to start making informed decisions.  And Kathy has wasted no time in
>> pre-onboarding to the Wikimedia Foundation and learning about the Movement
>> and Board. She has been joining the Audit and Governance Committee meetings
>> for the past few months. Kathy also will also be joining other Trustees in
>> person at the WikiConference North America event in Toronto, which will be
>> her first community 

[Wikimedia-l] Re: Announcing the formation Wiki Club Jamia

[Wilson Oluoha]

Congratulations Aafi.

It's nice how you are keeping the global community updated.

Cheers!

Wilson

On Thu, Nov 2, 2023 at 12:53 PM Wikimedia Community Ireland <
wikimediairel...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Congratulations and welcome to the Wikimedia Family!
>
> Shannon Eichelberger
> Chair-Wikimedia Community Ireland
>
> On Wed, 1 Nov 2023 at 13:11, pavan santhosh 
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Aafi,
>>
>> I wanted to extend my congratulations on the establishment of "Wiki Club
>> Jamia" at Jamia Millia Islamia University. This initiative promises to
>> further the efforts in engaging students in the Wikimedia Movement.
>>
>> I wish Wiki Club Jamia all the best in its endeavours.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Pavan.
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 6:04 PM The Aafi  wrote:
>>
>>> Hello everyone,
>>>
>>> I am thrilled to announce the formation of "Wiki Club Jamia", an
>>> extra-curricular club at Jamia Millia Islamia University, in New Delhi,
>>> India. The club aims to engage the varsity's students in global knowledge
>>> through the Wikimedia movement.
>>>
>>> This club has been formed as a part of the Deoband Community Wikimedia
>>> 's
>>> Leadership Development and Skills Infrastructure Program and a total of
>>> seventeen students and research scholars are credited as its founders.
>>>
>>> The Chenab Times has covered this. Please take a look at the news piece
>>> 
>>>  and
>>> find the Meta-Wiki page here
>>> .
>>>
>>> Best regards
>>> Aafi
>>> ___
>>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines
>>> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
>>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
>>> Public archives at
>>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/PXKULM6LZ4F2YVT3IARXGI55YHVKU5J7/
>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Pavan Santhosh.
>> ___
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>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
>
>
>
> --
> --
> Wikimedia Community Ireland
> Chair - Shannon Eichelberger
>
> Online: Wikimedia Community Ireland 
> On Twitter: @WikimediaIE 
> On Facebook: Wikimedia Ireland 
> On Instagram: wikimediaie 
> On Meetup: Wikimedia Community Ireland Meetup
> 
> ___
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[Wikimedia-l] Re: Announcing the formation Wiki Club Jamia

[Wikimedia Community Ireland]

Congratulations and welcome to the Wikimedia Family!

Shannon Eichelberger
Chair-Wikimedia Community Ireland

On Wed, 1 Nov 2023 at 13:11, pavan santhosh 
wrote:

> Dear Aafi,
>
> I wanted to extend my congratulations on the establishment of "Wiki Club
> Jamia" at Jamia Millia Islamia University. This initiative promises to
> further the efforts in engaging students in the Wikimedia Movement.
>
> I wish Wiki Club Jamia all the best in its endeavours.
>
> Best regards,
> Pavan.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 1, 2023 at 6:04 PM The Aafi  wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> I am thrilled to announce the formation of "Wiki Club Jamia", an
>> extra-curricular club at Jamia Millia Islamia University, in New Delhi,
>> India. The club aims to engage the varsity's students in global knowledge
>> through the Wikimedia movement.
>>
>> This club has been formed as a part of the Deoband Community Wikimedia
>> 's
>> Leadership Development and Skills Infrastructure Program and a total of
>> seventeen students and research scholars are credited as its founders.
>>
>> The Chenab Times has covered this. Please take a look at the news piece
>> 
>>  and
>> find the Meta-Wiki page here
>> .
>>
>> Best regards
>> Aafi
>> ___
>> Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines
>> at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l
>> Public archives at
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/message/PXKULM6LZ4F2YVT3IARXGI55YHVKU5J7/
>> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org
>
>
>
> --
> Pavan Santhosh.
> ___
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> To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-le...@lists.wikimedia.org



-- 
--
Wikimedia Community Ireland
Chair - Shannon Eichelberger

Online: Wikimedia Community Ireland 
On Twitter: @WikimediaIE 
On Facebook: Wikimedia Ireland 
On Instagram: wikimediaie 
On Meetup: Wikimedia Community Ireland Meetup

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