Re: [Wikimedia-l] Greener travel and the ethics of carbon offset for Wikimedia community events

[Andrea Zanni]

I agree with Bence.
Right now, offsetting is cheap, likely 1-2 percentage points of the cost of
travel.
Those money could be asked directly in the grant to the WMF, for example,
because offsetting several tonnes in bulk is probably cheaper than doing it
person by person.

But carbon offsetting is just one strategy. Those money could be also
invested in charities that conserve rainforest (and thus native people, and
thus native culture > perfectly aligned with Wikimedia goals), or manage to
plant new trees and forests.

I know for sure that Wikimedia Deutschland has contacts with Ecosia¹, a
search engine that plant trees with revenue from web ads. There are surely
ways we could partner with them in reforestation projects, or other.  And
they surely know a lot more than us about carbon offsetting, so we could
just ask for suggestions.

¹ https://www.ecosia.org/


On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 10:00 AM Henry Wood 
wrote:

> Mike
>
> > Paying for carbon offsets does not further Wikimedia’s goals.
>
> Not directly, any more than paying for petrol or aviation fuel does.
> If you regard it as part of the cost of travel, and that travel does
> indeed further the Foundation's goals, then it seems reasonable to pay
> for it.
>
> Henry
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] fallout from 2018 Wikimedian of the Year announcement

[Andrea Zanni]

Il giorno mer 29 ago 2018 19:56 Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin <
f...@yandex.com> ha scritto:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> Since yesterday all subdomains hosted @ http://tatarstan.ru/ (including
> websites of the http://president.tatarstan.ru/, the Cabinet
> http://prav.tatarstan.ru/, ministries/departments, state-owned
> organizations, municipalities and Representative offices of the Republic
> around Russia and abroad) moved to Creative Commons Attribution. The only
> exceptions are those of the First (ex-) President & the Parliament, that
> already had their own unique type free licenses (in Russian, non-standard).
>
> Russian Wikinews requested me to draft an article & my counterparty at the
> Regional Ministry of InfoComm has gladly approved. I will probably need to
> find time for that today. That was the easy part. Some context: Russian
> President, Executive Branch of the Federal Government, both Chambers of the
> Federal Parliament, etc. are using Creative Commons Attribution for a while
> now, thanks to Senior Volunteers efforts of Wikimedia Russia members. I
> just communicated the benefits of this to the Regional (Republic of
> Tatarstan) Deputy Prime-Minister
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Shaykhutdinov, head of the regional
> infocomm department & he championed it far and wide within his area of
> responsibility.
>
> I started engaging high-school & university students into helping the
> Infocomm ministry people to learn what is Wikimedia like & how it works -
> Deputy Prime-Minister is interested in anything that can benefit Education,
> Heritage Outreach, etc. development in the region &  help in making culture
> of the Republic better known globally & promote Tatar language use online
> (Wikidata, GLAM, etc.). Another minister I met is excited with examples of
> Greek school children
> https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/July_2017/A_class_of_26_8-year-old_Wikipedia_article_creators
> & youth in Italy
> http://www.rivistabricks.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/BRICKS_4_2017.pdf
> & other places develop critical thinking and develop immunity to mass &
> social media stories painting the world black & white as they please
> (stories from any outlets, including the BBC or New York Times, have to be
> taken with a pinch of salt - there's no unbiased human). In parallel, we
> are starting a cooperation with private Cambridge International school in
> Kazan http://school.balacity.ru/ (the founders & the director know me,
> invited me for cooperation, key contact person was part of the meeting, I
> provided necessary initial links). I know that our youth is now inspired to
> organize a User Group, report on their Spring & Summer efforts at Wikimedia
> Conference Russia this September & take their existing Selet WikiSchool
> project even higher.
> https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/May_2018/Selet_WikiSchool
> , more stories coming.
>
> Last night WMF Partnerships agreed to support me in organizing a
> videoconference type seminar with best practices in Education/GLAM/Heritage
> promotion/Wikidata/etc. to explain locals about how great is the Wikimedia
> movement (something mainly unheard of in Russia, even though Wikipedia is
> actually used). I would love to have you, my dear international colleagues,
> to find time to connect and give a video talk on some Use Case
> implementation during the upcoming public seminar, organized in conjunction
> with Tatarstan InfoComm ministry (whenever we get the dates they will be
> able to gather local crowd in the IT-Park in downtown Kazan). I will take
> care of the simultaneous interpretation — all the necessary equipment is
> there, so I'll try to find the funding & qualified people.
>
> In parallel I'll continue working on organizing a short in-person version
> at WMF Headquarters for the President of the Republic, if and when we can
> fit it into his schedule (Tatarstan Deputy Prime-Minister - Regional
> Minister for InfoComm wanted this to take place during one of the annual
> regional government delegation visits to California). President Minnikhanov
> is a co-chair of the Association of Innovative Regions of Russia, as well
> as Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group, so I think we can use
> Jimmy's well-timed pass to score well: spreading Wikimedia movement
> popularity throughout Russia and the Islamic world even further, helping in
> unblocking Turkey in the process.
>
> "Imagine the world in which every human is a Wikimedian. That's my
> commitment!"
>
> regards,
> farhad
>
> --
> Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 /
> skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan
>
>
> 09.08.2018, 09:09, "Pine W" :
> > Hi Farhad,
> >
> > Thank you for your generosity with your time as you respond to the
> requests
> > and new opportunities.
> >
> > I like Andy's suggestions. Wikimedia Armenia crossed my mind also as
> > potentially a good organization to contact for ideas, because I have the
> > i

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Israel joins the nationwide strike to protest the exclusion of gay couples the right to become parents

[Andrea Zanni]

Hi all,
I'll ask forgiveness in advance for starting a probable flame.

I support WMIL stance: equity is absolutely within our Wikimedia
values, and supporting LGBTQ rights is always a good thing.

But I cannot help but see the enormity of omission here: the Israeli
government just passed a law proclaming Israel a "Jewish"
nation-state¹, and it's bombing for the n-th time Gaza, where over 1
million people are sieged.

It saddens me a bit that WMIL is getting political, stepping "outside"
our wiki box for a good but still controversial topic, with a minor
impact, while major things are happening. Purely in terms of numbers
the scale of the latter are huge: the scale of the first much smaller.
I see a double standard (Jewish LGBQTs important; Arab-Israelis non
important) which is directly against the equity we we're talking about
in the first place.

Again, sorry,
but I couldn't shut up this time.

Aubrey

¹ 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/middleeast/israel-law-jews-arabic.html

On 7/21/18, Chris Keating  wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 20, 2018 at 10:23 AM Shlomi Fish  wrote:
>>
>> Hi Itzik,
>>
>>
>> I do not oppose the LGBT movement, but please explain how an official
>> support
>> of that falls under the global Wikimedia project's mission, and does not
>> dilute our policy of avoiding having a stance on issues that are unrelated
>> to
>> it?
>
> I mean... yeah.
>
> As an LGBT Wikimedian I entirely support changing this law, and I can
> completely understand staff members wanting to take part in the
> demonstrations, and the organisation wanting to support them in doing
> that.
>
> But I really don't see why Wikimedia Israel should formally involve
> itself in a general social-policy issue that's nothing specifically to
> do with our mission. We need to be careful not to try to be a
> general-purpose progressive movement.
>
> Regards,
>
> Chris
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Appropriation of the Wikimedia Blog by the WMF

[Andrea Zanni]

On Sat, Jun 9, 2018 at 10:25 PM, David Cuenca Tudela 
wrote:

Dear David,
your mail is very long and dense, I don't know where to start:
so I'll start from a random point ;-)


> You say that that WMF bears responsibility in the "failure" of our
> Wikisource community project, and that it is not important now. I do not
> agree about the timing, I find it is very relevant now, because the same
> pattern that has happened before, it is happening again now. And the
> pattern is that of the individual voice vs. the organization. We are like
> ants next to a giant, we complain and say what we need, but we are so
> little in comparison that our voice doesn't reach any ears.


I don't agree with this, because I think that the WMF was the least of my
problems with Wikimedia, when I decided to take my "wiki sabbatical".
I actually have problems with the *Wikimedia movement*: with the whole
thing (volunteers, chapters, WMF, everything).
I think that our mission is so ambitious, transcendent and great that we
sometimes forget that there are some negative side-effects.
One of them we can call "volunteer burn-out", for lack of a better term,
but I think it's little bit deeper than this.
I maybe repeat myself, but: I think that if you (me) look for Meaning and
Purpose in Wikimedia, you (me) are wrong.
It's not the place where you should look for that.
I think that many of us, in certain difficult moments of our life, turn on
Wikimedia and invest a lot of time and effort there, because we feel that
it's the "right" thing to do, and maybe, secretly, we think that we'll get
some kind of reward in the future. We "invest" our time, hoping for a
return, we "expect" something (what is it I don't really know).
The harsh truth, for me, is that, often, there no sure reward to "doing
good". There's no sure and real reward in putting too much effort in
collaborative wiki projects. I think we as a movement could do more to
recognize this, to understand when people are not balanced and they "use
and abuse" wikimedia.
I remember the Dutch chapter doing something like provide counselling for
wikipedia admins, and I found that one the best ideas ever.
We can build on that and find new ways of providing support for our
volunteers.

You see, this is why I think you are conflating different problems here.
One is issues between movement and WMF, another one is "volunteer burnout".
I don't think that WMF is perfect, and as I said it played a little but
significant role in my disillusion regarding Wikimedia, but I definitely
don't think it's the culprit here for larger problems of wiki volunteer
base.
You just cannot expect too much by your work in Wikimedia: you need to
damper you expectations.
I don't think you can expect to create a real community from a bunch of
people that like to edit an encyclopedia online.
If it happens, it's great: but it's not like you can expect it. I've met
many wikimedians in my life: very few I can call "friends".
I actually discussed with my therapist abut this: I remember feeling very
lonely at wikiconferences, wondering why that was.
Wasn't I with my "people", with my "tribe", the people that shared my
delusions in a more open and better world trough online and relentless
editing of a website¹? Was I wrong not feeling "whole" in such a company,
finally in my element?

Eventually, I figured out I was wrong: I discovered that I could find
friends, but they were few. If you think about it, how many wikimedians you
know you could talk of personal stuff? For me, I count an handful.
With the rest of our community, I find myself always talking about projects
and wiki staff, which is...*work*. We talk shop when we are are discussing
wikimedia stuff.  And that's ok. For me, at least, recognizing this was a
big step.
Wikimedia doesn't *complete* me:  and there are very, very few people for I
could say this could be true (and of these few, majority is WMF, so at
least they can pay their bills with their wiki work).

This is my major source of disagreement with you.
I think you are addressing the wrong problem, because I don't think there
is a "silver bullet" in giving money to volunteers.
I'll let other more knowledgeable than me try to explain this and discuss
complex models to improve the current situation.
I don't have an answer to this specific problem: I just know that improving
the hierarchy issue in wikimedia is not gonna solve the major issue I see
at the core of your messages. This is not to say that creating Meta pages
about volunteers is a bad idea: I think it's a great one, but it will not
solve the problem I think you want to solve.

I hope this helps,

Aubrey


¹ it's a joke, I do believe this is often true, but let me use some sarcasm
from time to time ;-)

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Appropriation of the Wikimedia Blog by the WMF

[Andrea Zanni]

Hi David,
we're not good friends, we saw each other in real life very few times, in
Berlin and in Hong Kong,
but I always remember our work for the Wikisource IEG¹ one of the coolest
projects I've ever done in my life as a wikimedian.
We did well, I think, even if our results were small and there was a need
of some follow up work that didn't actually happen, even if I recall it as
a failure².
I'm writing here in the spirit of our movement: we like common things, and
I think yours is a common struggle.
I hope this little advice is at least bit helpful, and hopefully not for
you alone.

I think that you're misinterpreting the role of the Wikimedia movement in
your life.
Wikimedia can be an amazing place where you can find friends, a community
of peers, like-minded altruistic people, maybe even love,
but never, never, never *purpose*.
You can find purpose in other, more concrete and especially more close
things: family, friends, relationships, love, good careers, children, you
name it.
Wikimedia can be a great, awesome *accessory*, but it will never replace
those black holes that everyone of us stares in our lives.
Everytime I've seen this happen, everytime I've seen people trying to put
everything they had in Wikimedia, I've worried.
I know quite well this feeling: it took me quite a few years to understand
my own relationship with wikimedia was not ideal, and it was sucking life
out of me. As a chairman of a chapter I was quite stressed, and above all I
saw that wiki things constantly conflicted with other things in my life.
Eventually, I gave up, because I saw that this path as not going to end
well.

I've even seen few members of our community took their own life: some of
them were heavily invested in our wiki movement. Although I don't think
Wikimedia was the reason, I think it had became part of the problem: often,
people try to find something in Wikimedia that Wikimedia cannot actually
provide. Sometimes it's even the contrary: the more you give to wiki the
more it will ask you: we strive for "world domination", we want an
impossible thing, enormous thing all together. We want to give free access
to the all human knowledge to everyone, and we do this as a hobby.
It's a dream, and you work towards it: it's not something that you will
ever achieve. We've done incredible things in the last 18 years: but we
always get this feeling that we haven't even started yet... This leaves a
lot of room for stress, for anxiety, for not working properly and break
things.
You don't want to do that.

So, I'd encourage you (I'm encouraging everyone of us, myself included) to
pick your battles, check your priorities, start from the fundamentals:
health first, work first, daily important relationships first.
You need money to live, eat, pay your bills: don't put yourself in a worse
position than your current one.

You come first than Wikimedia. You can't do good if there's no "you" in the
first place.
I mean it.

I hope this helps,
Aubrey

¹ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Elaborate_
Wikisource_strategic_vision

² To be fair, I think we did a good job, and I think that WMF bears
responsability in the "failure" of the project. But it's not important now.

On Sat, Jun 9, 2018 at 4:23 AM, Pine W  wrote:

> Hi Micru,
>
> It sounds to me like there are a few different topics that are on your
> mind. I'm wondering if it might help to clarify the situation if we could
> meet on Hangouts for some near-real-time communication. I'd be glad to try
> to find a time to meet with you. I'll be coming and going from the Internet
> for the next few hours, and if you happen to be online then I'd be glad to
> talk with you on Hangouts for a voice conversation when we're both
> available. Please feel free to send me a text message on Hangouts if you're
> available and would be interested in having a conversation there. I may not
> respond immediately, but I should respond within half an hour of receiving
> your message.
>
> Personally, I am looking forward to seeing the new WMF website, and I
> generally have a positive view of Ed Erhart. The topic of where certain
> publications should be posted is a complicated one, and I would like to
> hear your perspective.
>
> Pine
> ( https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Pine )
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikidata] An answer to Lydia Pintscher regarding its considerations on Wikidata and CC-0

[Andrea Zanni]

Maybe, instead of thinking about CC0 vs CC-BY-SA,
we should try to think at the goal: how can we, as a movement,
"fight" the exploitation from over-the-top players of community-generated
content?

Of course, license is the primary tool every one of us thinks about.
But (and please correct me if I'm wrong) I don't think that things changed
much from when Wikidata was not here and Google just scraped/crawled
Wikipedia for their own knowledge base. Players like Google have resources
and skill to basically do what they want, and if I recall correctly they
didn't really stop with CC-BY-SA content. So license is not an obstacle for
them.

As much as I don't personally like this, my question is: Is this a real
problem?
I don't like the idea of Wikimedia communities giving content for free to
players so big that can actually profit hugely from this,
(huge profits always translates to huge power), but I really don't know
what we could do about this.

Aubrey



On Thu, Nov 30, 2017 at 11:04 AM, Amir E. Aharoni <
amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

> 2017-11-30 11:46 GMT+02:00 mathieu stumpf guntz <
> psychosl...@culture-libre.org>:
> >> Nobody suggest in no way to do license laundering nor to violates
> Wiktionaries licence,
> >
> > It's not suggestion, it's what Wikidata is already doing with Wikipedia,
> despite the initial statement of Wikidata team[1] that it wouldn't do that
> because it's illegal :
> >
> >/"Alexrk2, it is true that Wikidata under CC0 would not be allowed
> >to import content from a Share-Alike data source. Wikidata does not
> >plan to extract content out of Wikipedia at all. Wikidata will
> >provide data that can be reused in the Wikipedias./"
> >– Denny Vrandečić
> >
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikidata#Is_CC_the_
> right_license_for_data.3F
> >
> > I think that the extent to which massive import without respecting
> license of the source  should be investigated properly by the Wikimedia
> legal team, or some qualified consultants.
> >
> > In the mid time, based on its previous practises, it's clear that
> promises of Wikidata team regarding respect of licenses can not be trusted.
> So even if they suggested that that kind of massive import won't be done,
> it wouldn't be enough.
>
> This is another personal attack, and it's unnecessary and incorrect.
>
> The imports from Wikipedia were done by the Wikidata community, not by
> Wikidata team.
>
> It's too easy to speak in retrospect, but there were these plausible
> scenarios:
>
> 1. Editors who strongly care about reliable sourcing, in the style of
> English Wikipedia verifiability policies, are strongly opposed to importing
> data from Wikipedia, because by itself it's a self-reference and not a
> reliable source. If it would succeed, data would not be imported from
> Wikipedia, not because of licensing, but because of content quality. I
> remember attempts to do this, but evidently this is not what happened.
>
> 2. Editors who strongly care about the prevention of license whitewashing
> object to importing data from Wikipedia and prevent it. This also could
> happen, but it didn't.
>
> 3. Editors who are good at writing bots or making a lot of manual edits and
> love seeing Wikidata getting filled with data, import a lot of data. Like
> it or not, this happened.
>
> Could anybody know in 2012 what would actually happen? I don't know. If you
> would have asked me then, I'd possibly guess that scenarios 1 and 2 are
> likelier, but now we know that that would be very naïve.
>
> Judging by what happened in the past, I can suspect that data from
> Wiktionary will be imported anyway. Public domain or not, the bots people
> will find a way around licenses. It's a certain eventuality. The bigger
> questions are under what license will it be eventually stored, under what
> licenses will it be reused, and will this contribute to the growth of Free
> Knowledge. My intuition tells me that using more CC-BY-SA and less CC-0
> will contribute more to Free Knowledge, but what do I know.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Emerging Communities: a proposed new definition

[Andrea Zanni]

FWIW, I always liked the term "emerging communities"
because it's very broad, and it can be applied not just to countries but
also cultures, minorities, sub-communities of any sort.

For example,
I would very much like to call the Wikisource community an "emerging" one,
because it needs the exact care/attention/incubation that the WMF is trying
to provide with this program.
I know it's a bit stretched, but maybe it's a sort of helpful frame for
sister project communities.

Aubrey

On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 9:51 AM, Strainu  wrote:

> I would like to thank the Community Resources team for dropping the highly
> discriminatory division into North and South and for proposing a more
> nuanced approach.
>
> I would also urge the remaining teams within the WMF that still use the
> terms to consider less offensive alternatives suitable for their particular
> purposes.
>
> Strainu
>
> În 27 septembrie 2017 20:28:52 EEST, Asaf Bartov 
> a scris:
> >Dear Wikimedians,
> >
> >Years ago, as part of the first Strategy process of 2009-2010, a
> >distinction entered our lives, between Global North and Global South
> >countries.  That distinction was borrowed from a United Nations agency
> >named ITU, and it was used as shorthand to refer to communities the
> >Foundation considered to need additional resources and help to achieve
> >impact on our mission of creating and sharing free knowledge.
> >
> >However, the distinction was never a very good fit for us.  It was
> >based on
> >UN notions like the Human Development Index, and gave much weight to
> >nation-wide economic conditions.  Its binary nature did not allow for
> >distinguishing between countries where Wikimedia work is possible and
> >happening, albeit with difficulty, and ones where no Wikimedia work, or
> >next to none, is happening, or possible.  It also looked only at
> >geography,
> >whereas much of our work is defined by language communities and not by
> >geographies.  And it was political and alienating to many people.
> >
> >In short, it was both not as useful as we needed it to be as well as
> >unloved and rejected by many.
> >
> >The Community Resources team at the Wikimedia Foundation has been
> >thinking
> >about replacing that distinction with a more nuanced one, that would be
> >a
> >much better fit with our needs, would take into account the actual
> >state of
> >editing communities, would consider multiple axes beyond geography, and
> >would be less controversial.
> >
> >We began using the term "emerging communities" two years ago, first as
> >a
> >replacement for the term Global South, but it has always been our
> >intention
> >to define Emerging Communities ourselves.  Finishing the proposed
> >definition took a back seat for a while due to other priorities, but we
> >are
> >ready to share the proposed definition today:
> >
> >https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Engagement/
> Defining_Emerging_Communities
> >
> >
> >We welcome your thoughts, on the talk page (ideally) or on this thread.
> >The definition is already our working definition, but we are open to
> >incorporating changes to both wording and substance through October
> >31st.
> >
> >Be sure to take a look at the FAQ supplied at the bottom of the page,
> >too.
> >:)
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Asaf
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Funding the endowment

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Aug 22, 2017 at 7:38 PM, Lisa Gruwell 
wrote:

> Just jumping in with a few points of information regarding the Endowment:
>
> 1) I met with Lukas at Wikimania regarding SRI and the endowment.  As James
> indicated, the endowment is invested through the Tides Foundation and this
> is one of the areas of expertise.  We have been looking at environmental,
> social, and governance (ESG) ratings as well as how funds perform against
> the benchmarks financially.  We are going to be publishing more information
> about this soon.
>

Thank you Lisa, I stand corrected.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Funding the endowment

[Andrea Zanni]

Personally I think the endowment is a great idea,
stability and growth for our movement are paramount, IF, we use our money
in the best way we can.

I also don't really care about how big the banner is: it's a minor
inconvenience to click the "Hide" button (provided that we are able to hide
automatically the button for those who actually donated: they deserve a
bannerless page. I remember some complaints during the years about this).

What it's more important to me is where are we putting donors' money, both
in terms of endowment and actual spending.
The WMF is spending money to serve the movement, and how effective and
efficient they are
should be our only focus.

Regarding the endowment, the only little complaint I have is *where* we are
investing those money.
Reading the documentation page [1], I don't see mentioned anything
regarding
ethical or socially responsible investing (SRI).

There are many funds (of stocks or ETFs) that manage selected "ethical"
financial products:
these are also our values, and I think we should put donors' money where
our mouth is.
(I get that sometimes non-ethical investments yield more money, but at
least we should have this discussion)

Aubrey

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Endowment

On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 11:10 PM, Strainu  wrote:

> Both stability and growth come at a cost - is that cost acceptable?
> The way I understand it from the mid-year fundrasing report in
> January, the $5M were on top of the fundraising target, basically
> gathered by exposing our readers to more banners than needed. My
> opinion is that's a very high price to pay and that there should be
> more stringent rules regarding continuing fundraisers after their
> target has been reached (which in turn will probably require even
> better planning, including for the Endowment).
>
> As to whether some donor influenced the Board's decision, that
> statement looks really far-fetched based on available information. It
> sounds more like an opportunity that either appeared or was created
> after the $5M target had been set.
>
> Strainu
>
>
> 2017-08-21 23:49 GMT+03:00 James Heilman :
> > My personal position is it is critical to have a stable organization
> before
> > growing. The WMF has achieved greater stability over the last 1.5 years
> so
> > I think further growth is becoming again a good idea.
> >
> > James
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 7:48 PM, Rogol Domedonfors <
> domedonf...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I'm know that the WMF has determined that it should have some form of
> >> endowment,  The question is -- as is usual in question of this sort --
> one
> >> of balance: in this case, balance between current spending for the
> benefit
> >> of the projects today, and accumulating capital for the benefit of the
> >> projects tomorrow.  I am asking the Board to say why they decided to
> strike
> >> that balance where they did -- given the obvious need for that support
> >> right now -- and whether it is appropriate for large donors to
> apparently
> >> influence that decision.
> >>
> >> Reinhard
> >>
> >> On Mon, Aug 21, 2017 at 3:02 PM, Yaroslav Blanter 
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > I am often critical of WMF, but I can only support this decision. The
> >> idea
> >> > of creating of an environment was widely discussed in the community,
> >> > including this mailing list, and had a widespread support. WMF merely
> >> > follows the community wish in this case, and it is great to know that
> a
> >> > donor agreed to match this amount.
> >> >
> >> > Cheers
> >> > Yaroslav
> >> >
> >> > On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 12:58 PM, Vi to 
> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > Caveat: I support a definitely more frugal WMF so also the
> endowment.
> >> > >
> >> > > Try to read it from a different perspective. Before donating *lots*
> of
> >> > > money donor wants to be sure WMF will be truly committed in pursuing
> >> the
> >> > > plan of an endowment. Putting the same amount of money is a prove,
> for
> >> > > donors, WMF truly wants to create an endowment.
> >> > >
> >> > > Vito
> >> > >
> >> > > 2017-08-19 10:33 GMT+02:00 Rogol Domedonfors  >:
> >> > >
> >> > > > I was surprised to read the record
> >> > > > https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Approval_
> >> > > > of_Endowment_funding_(Fiscal_Year_2016-2017)_and_matching_$
> >> > > > 5_million_gift_from_Peter_Baldwin_and_Lisbet_Rausing
> >> > > > of the decision to place $5M into the endowment.  After the
> >> anouncement
> >> > > by
> >> > > > Lisa Gruwell on this list
> >> > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-
> >> > > > December/085712.html
> >> > > > there was a discussion of what might be done with the funds
> raised,
> >> > and a
> >> > > > number of suggestions were made for how these funds could be used
> to
> >> > > > directly support the work of the volunteers who contribute the
> >> content
> >> > to
> >> > > > the projects, such as
> >> > > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2017-
> >> > > January/

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikisource type of site for sheet music at kickstarter

[Andrea Zanni]

The English Wikisource already has the Lilypond extension to host Sheet
music:
https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Special:PagesWithProp/score&limit=500

AFAIK, though, Lilypond notation is not easy and I'm not sure how
widespread is the use of transcribing music notation in Wikisource
communities.

Aubrey

On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 7:04 AM, Tim Starling 
wrote:

> On 23/06/17 12:48, Romaine Wiki wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I came across the following Kickstarter project about sheet music. The
> > project aims for making public domain sheet musuc available and keeping
> > them open. The project is a sort of Wikisource, but then for sheet music,
> > and I think as Wikimedia movement we should support this somehow.
>
> Seems like a duplicate of Mutopia, except funded via Kickstarter. You
> give them money on Kickstarter and they download the score from IMSLP
> and transcribe it for you. This doesn't appear to be a business model
> that would benefit from our help.
>
> -- Tim Starling
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Let's set up a Tor onion service for Wikipedia

[Andrea Zanni]

Quick update,
as this story went on Motherboard
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wikipedians-want-to-to-put-wikipedia-on-the-dark-web
;-)

Aubrey


On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 12:22 PM, Cristian Consonni 
wrote:

> On 06/06/2017 02:10, Risker wrote:
> > As far as I can tell (and from comments made in the past by actual Tor
> > users), there is no problem whatsoever for Tor users to read Wikipedia
> > while using Tor.
>
> Let me put it this way, I am sure that the WMF will always do its best
> to protect the privacy of our readers and editors. Alas, I am much more
> concerned by third parties trying to snoop on our users. We also know
> that this kind of surveillance happened and that's also why the WMF is
> currently engaged in a lawsuit against the NSA.
>
> Using Tor to visit (i.e. read) wikipedia.org provides additional privacy
> and users can also circumvent blocks in their country, if necessary.
> Having an onion service gives similar benefits.
>
> Furthermore, I think it is very important that major Internet websites
> provide themselves as an onion service. Even Facebook did it (at
> https://www.facebookcorewwwi.onion/) and there are good privacy and
> censorship-circumventing reasons for this[1]. I think that the least
> difference between the "privacy enhanced" (aka dark) net and the regular
> internet there is the more people will consider to use Tor. I think this
> is a good thing.
>
> Frankly, I hate it when I hear Tor and onion services nominated by
> newspapers and newscasts only when talking about illegal activities.
> Then I remind myself that Snowden used Tor extensively and without it we
> probably would have not know about the NSA mass surveillance.
>
> I think that having an onion service may be useful, but I also think
> that we could have it just because we should.
>
> >  Editing is a completely different situation - and well it
> > should be, given the pure unadulterated trash that tends to come in
> > whenever a Tor exit node is missed in the routine lockdowns.
>
> I understand the difficulties. Again, I don't think we should conflate
> the idea of providing Wikipedia as an onion service with the issues
> related to editing Wikipedia over Tor or open proxies.
>
>
> [1]:
> https://blog.torproject.org/blog/facebook-hidden-services-and-https-certs
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Naive questions: what could do the movement with 1B dollars/euros?

[Andrea Zanni]

On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 8:18 PM, Amir E. Aharoni <
amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

> I love it, although I suspect that 1B wouldn't be enough. The industry of
> for-profit academic publishing is probably worth much more than that, and
> it won't give up easily.
>
> Not that I don't support the general idea, but the resistance will be hard.
>

I agree with you, but we're not starting from scratch.
It's more than 30 years that the Open Access movement is pushing for a new
scholarship, a lot of battles
have been won, and there is a huge amount of literature, documentation and
experience, about that.
1B is nothing, compared to the billions of profit made by the company.
But I reckon it would be enough, properly spent, to push a single point of
failure of the system.
Of course, I don't know it yet, and I don't have a plan right now.
But I'm quite confident that 1B $ could do the trick.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Naive questions: what could do the movement with 1B dollars/euros?

[Andrea Zanni]

With that amount of money,
we could probably put an end on closed science in less than a decade, and
make open access and open science the new standard.
There's already a lot of efforts going on, but incumbent publishers are
much more rich and resourceful.
Lobbying, advocacy, outreach could do a lot, from our part.
We are probably better equipped to coordinate bottom-up efforts
(hackathons, tools and whatnot), and we would be better suited for the
whole diplomatic/political/top-down side of it.

Making open science the new standard would be a goal to itself and leverage
for other results.
We'd end up with a lot more free content for Wikimedia projects, probably
better advocacy and outreach for us in Universities and research centers.
We would spread and promote the Mertonian norms of science¹, which are
already our values.
Also, there's a fair chance for this new open science standard to sustain
itself, as in the current system scientists and researchers *already* do
research, publish and review for free.²
A new paradigm for science and research could also be very important for
developing countries, in which
scientists are often required to adequate to mainstream science (eg. they
are not able to research areas which would benefit their local community,
like local diseases).

Aubrey


¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mertonian_norms
² of course they are paid by their institutions, but the "act of
publishing" and the whole scholarship workflow is "embedded" and already
paid for.

On Wed, May 17, 2017 at 7:38 PM, Amir E. Aharoni <
amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

> Heh, I remember Mr Wales asking what could the movement do with a million
> dollars some time around 2006. Is anything on the horizon?
>
> What could we do? Many things; one of them would be to get our act together
> and become a true leader in software and content localization. Currently we
> are proud about maintaining MediaWiki, a piece of software that is probably
> translated to more languages than any other, and that is great, but:
>
> 1. Our software localization tooling, excellent as it is, didn't become the
> industry standard, even though it could with better packaging. Why is it
> important? Because a Wikipedia in a given language doesn't exist in
> isolation—it exists in an environment of other programs, sites, platforms,
> and media. There was a (relatively) thriving software localization
> community in the Catalan language already in the 1990s (!), so it's not
> surprising that Catalan Wikipedia was the first to start after English, and
> is among the most successful Wikimedia projects now. Making software
> localization better for everybody will bring computer usage to the whole
> world, and we can be the leaders in it, rather than leaving it to the
> corporations.
> 2. We have the theoretical ability to write articles in any language of the
> world, but not everybody actually does it. Some language communities need
> stronger nudges than others to get going: Training about translation and
> scientific writing, developing terminology, developing spelling
> dictionaries, developing keyboards that allow convenient typing, literacy
> programs, etc. In a lot of languages the Bible is the only published book;
> this happened thanks to donations from people who want to spread their
> religion around the world. If it can be done with the Bible, it can be done
> with an encyclopedia.
> 3. We are influencing public policy in the area of copyright law, but we
> should be influencing public policy around the whole world to make
> localized computing and content more accessible. Lobbying needs resources.
> See
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Strategy/Wikimedia_
> movement/2017/Cycle_2/A_Truly_Global_Movement#Governments_
> and_computer_vendors:_Accessibility_to_localization_technology
>
>
> --
> Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
> http://aharoni.wordpress.com
> ‪“We're living in pieces,
> I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬
>
> 2017-05-17 20:08 GMT+03:00 David Cuenca Tudela :
>
> > Are there any activities that could have a meaningful impact if we ask
> > donors for such amount of seed money? Are there reasons to do so?
> >
> > Do we have the guts to do so?
> >
> > Do we have the organizational capital to handle it? Or can we get there
> > soon?
> >
> > Do we have the moral right to take a lead in the world and ask for as
> much
> > resources as needed?
> >
> > Is our leader and our members willing to take big undertakings?
> >
> > Are most of us ready to live in fear while the values that we cherry most
> > would crumble under our own eyes?
> >
> > Would it matter much if we as a movement would disappear? Or is it a
> > struggle always a positive answer against the shadows in the world?
> >
> > Can we offer anything else in this world than truth, free knowledge, and
> an
> > open inclusive environment?
> >
> > Would you take best wishes from a stranger like me?
> >
> >
> > Micru
> > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikitribune!

[Andrea Zanni]

Re: metrics and numbers,
monthly pageviews are visibile on stats.wikimedia¹, but it would be much
easier to have
a dedicated section on siteviews².

Of course, pageviews are one of the many metrics to take into consideration
while evaluation a project,
but of course it's important.

Aubrey


¹ https://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm
²
https://tools.wmflabs.org/siteviews/?platform=all-access&source=pageviews&agent=user&range=latest-20&sites=

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 12:15 PM, David Gerard  wrote:

> On 26 April 2017 at 09:23, Andrea Zanni  wrote:
>
> > Last time I remember we had a discussion¹ was September 2011 (!):
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-
> September/thread.html
>
>
> Everyone interested in Wikified news should read the Wikinews threads
> in that page.
>
> That's where the complaint that Wikinews is process-heavy comes from.
> But it really isn't process-heavy at all, if you look at the actual
> process. The blocker appears to have been insufficient or careless
> reviewers. (Japan getting a new Prime Minister apparently not being
> relevant to Wikinews because the sources weren't in English.)
>
> You'll also see numbers as to why it looks like a dead project from
> any reasonable outside perspective.
>
>
> - d.
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikitribune!

[Andrea Zanni]

Last time I remember we had a discussion¹ was September 2011 (!):
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-September/thread.html

There are several threads worth revisiting:
I was looking for an old-but-great Andrew Lih's post about Wikinews², and I
re-discovered that a project had forkedfrom Wikinews in 2011³: it was
called the http://theopenglobe.org, and (spoiler) it's now dead.

Generally speaking, I think that Jimmy experimenting with another project
speaks volume:
and I do think it's a good idea.

Simply put, we have a lot of zombie projects, and we¹ never had the will to
do the tough decision
of killing them... *or* really investing in them.
At the moment, the actual policy with sister projects (all of them, minus
Wikidata), is
"don't ask don't tell".

The communities do what they can, and what they cannot do they don't.
There is no non-volunteer development, and even no knowledge about sister
projects, both within the WMF and the rest of the movement. Wikipedians
rarely go in sister projects.

I really hope this Strategy process will be seen by the larger community as
the right chance to discuss all this. A lot of strategy statements go into
the direction "collect/provide all written and oral knowledge ever
produced", which is more or less our vision, and this is why we thought to
create non-encyclopedic projects in the first place (a image archive; a
library; a dictionary; a quote compendium; etc.).

It's probably time that we have this conversation.

Aubrey
(your friendly occasional Nemo)
Wikisource Community User Group



¹ meaning, *we* that live on these mailing lists
² this:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-September/068381.html
³
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2011-September/068290.html

On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 9:39 AM, Ariel Glenn WMF 
wrote:

> Hi Jimmy,
>
> The articles I've read on the new venture have been like appetizers,
> providing just enough information to generate a new list of questions. :-)
> So, in no particular order, here are some things that came to mind:
>
> Will the focus be investigative journalism, or "deep dives" in the manner
> of newsdeeply.com, or breaking news, or something else?
>
> AIUI, fact-checking will be done by community volunteers in the
> collaborative manner of Wikipedia; will they flag information that they
> consider to be problematic, annotate draft news articles with comments and
> questions, revise drafts themselves,...?
>
> The website shows an initial goal of ten journalists to be hired; does this
> include copy editors as well?  And more generally, how will copy editing be
> handled?
>
> With what frequency do you envision news to be published, e.g. a weekly
> magazine, a daily feed of several short pieces and one feature article,
> ...?
>
> Who will have access to journalists' notes and other raw materials?  How
> will sources be protected while permitting maximum participation of
> community volunteers in the vetting/fact-checking process?  Will there be
> provision for leakers, i.e. some sort of SecureDrop thing?  If so, how will
> that be handled?
>
> Will guides be produced around vetting of information, like e.g. the guide
> at verificationhandbook.com?  More generally, how will community members
> learn vetting and verification skills for journalism?
>
> How will good-faith disputes around fact-checking be resolved and by whom?
> How will trolls be handled?
>
> Will Wikitribune journalists collaborate with other groups doing
> like-minded work, for example bellingcat.com?
>
> I gather that there are developers working on this project too, at least on
> wordpress hacking; are they also part of the crowdfunding?  More generally,
> is budget/staffing information available or will it be soon?
>
> What roles will the four named advisors play in this project, with their
> specific skillsets?
>
> In an ever shrinking paid market for journalism, where funding is harder
> and harder to come by and many publications have closed their doors or
> turned digital-only, what are your thoughts about competing in that market,
> both as a job provider and potentially taking subscribers from other media?
>
> Please feel free to ramble on at length about these topics as much as you
> like; I'm interested in the broader picture and not just the specific
> details :-)
>
> Thanks a lot!
>
> Ariel
>
> On Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 12:59 AM, Jimmy Wales 
> wrote:
>
> >
> > Today I announced a new initiative, outside of my Wikimedia activities,
> > to combat fake news. It is important to me that I share directly with
> > all of you information about this new initiative early on.
> >
> > The new project  will use a wiki-style setup and experiment with
> > bringing together professional journalists and community contributors to
> > produce fact-checked, global news stories.  At launch, we'll be using a
> > hacked version of wordpress and we'll be evaluating whether that's the
> > right tool m

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikisource-l] interesting reading

[Andrea Zanni]

mmm, scam?

Aubrey

On Wed, Mar 15, 2017 at 10:52 AM, Wikimedia-l  wrote:

> Hi friend!
>
>
>
> I've found a nice book that makes interesting reading, please read it here 
> continue
> reading 
>
>
>
> Yours faithfully, Wikimedia-l
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Politics

[Andrea Zanni]

On Sun, Feb 5, 2017 at 10:15 AM, Yair Rand  wrote:

> "Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It
> is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to
> learn, to share our knowledge with others."
>

The point is,
you are implicitly assuming that a public park or a library,
the right to have "a temple for the mind", "a place we can all go to think,
to learn,
to share our knowledge with others",
are thing that are not inherently political.

You're simply wrong.
A public library is a very political entity, and it's modern one for
several reason: access to knowledge for everyone is something
governments/elites did not want for a very long time.
A true policy of the commons is the same thing.
If you want to bet, we could wait for a year or two and see what the Trump
administrations
will do with federal funds for public libraries and public parks...
Reactionary governments often defund public commons, because reactionary
policy is to privatize (I'm cutting things with the axe here, please bear
with me).

Also, "we can go all to think, learn and share".
Think about that word, *all*: it's not granted, and it's there for a reason.
I often think about Dorothy Counts [1], and how much did it take for her,
at 15, to go to school
and getting harassed by her whole community for days. Just for going to a
white school.

And this is just one of the countless examples in which
humans (thus, politics) didn't believe in a place where "we can go all to
think, learn and share".

I just believe that thinking our values and mission are apolitical is at
best naive,
at worst wrong and dangerous.

Aubrey

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Counts. See also
https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/1957/world-press-photo-year/douglas-martin
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Politics

[Andrea Zanni]

Having a global and diverse movement means finding value, albeit implicitly,
in diversity (of language, sex, gender, culture, pov).
The NPOV is not a "null" concept: it means giving weight to different point
of views,
merge them together to find a balanced article on something.

Mostly, we as a movement (and WMF, as staff, is part of that)
can remain apolitical: not when there are things that shake the foundations
of our values and what we believe in.

Daring to build a free, open, collective, diverse, international, neutral
encyclopedia
in a volunteer, auto-organized, bazaar-like way
is one of the *most* political and ideological statement I've ever
encountered in my life.

The MuslimBan can affect volunteers or staff at the WMF, it goes against
everything we believe in.
So, to me, a blogpost in the Wikimedia blog is the minimum we can do.
I, for one, am very proud of our staff and our ED for writing that.

Aubrey

On Thu, Feb 2, 2017 at 10:09 PM, Yair Rand  wrote:

> The Wikimedia movement is both global and very ideologically diverse, and
> has many contributors who have strong opinions in one direction or another
> on certain political issues facing their area of the world. Many of these
> contributors find it difficult to avoid using Wikimedia forums and
> institutions to discuss or advocate for issues they feel very strongly
> about. Recently, political advocacy on Wikimedia forums has risen
> substantially, especially on this mailing list.
>
> While I sympathize with the difficulties these contributors face in
> remaining silent, it is important to consider the substantial damage such
> actions can cause to the movement. We will be much worse off if half of any
> given country's political spectrum can no longer cooperate in our mission
> due to compunctions against supporting a community which hosts those who
> use the community to advocate for positions that some may find
> unacceptable. The issue of inadvertently alienating participants because of
> politics has a self-reinforcing element: As we lose contributors
> representing ideological areas, we have fewer willing to advocate for an
> environment which allows them to participate without being bombarded by
> hostile political advocacy. We are precariously close to the point of no
> return on this, but I am optimistic that the situation is recoverable.
>
> As an initial measure, I propose adding the names of a certain country's
> top political leaders to this list's spam filter. More generally, I think a
> stricter stance on avoiding political advocacy on Wikimedia projects is
> warranted.
>
> We face a somewhat more difficult situation with the Wikimedia Foundation
> itself. Partly as a result of being relatively localized within a
> geographic area and further limited to several professions, I suspect the
> Foundation tends to be more politically/ideologically homogeneous. With the
> WMF, we risk much more than just alienating much of the world, we risk our
> Neutrality.
>
> How far we must go to maintain neutrality has been a contentious issue over
> the years. Existential threats have twice been responded to with major
> community action, each with large prior discussion. (SOPA included an
> extensive discussion and a poll with more than 500 respondents.) A previous
> ED committed to firing everyone but part of the Ops team rather than accept
> advertising, should lack of funds require it. (Whether to let the WMF die
> outright rather than accept ads is as of yet unresolved.) More recently,
> the WMF has taken limited actions and stances on public policy that
> directly relate to the mission. A careful balance has been established
> between maintaining essential neutrality and dealing with direct threats to
> the projects.
>
> Three days ago, the WMF put out a statement on the Wikimedia blog
> explicitly urging a specific country to modify its refugee policy, an area
> that does not relate to our goals. There was no movement-wide prior
> discussion, or any discussion at all as far as I can tell.
>
> It is the responsibility of the Board at this point to set a policy to
> place firm restrictions on which areas the WMF can take positions. While we
> value the important contributions of the staff, they should not be able to
> override our commitment to neutrality. Our donors, editors, and other
> volunteers do not contribute so that resources and influence can be spent
> towards whatever political causes are popular within the WMF.
>
> It is the responsibility of the community to ensure that our projects
> remain apolitical. A neutral point of view is impossible if participating
> requires a certain political position.
>
> It is the responsibility of the mailing list administration and moderators
> to act against this list's rapid slide into unreadability.
>
> Thank you.
>
> -- Yair Rand
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> New 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Exciting update about development of structured data on Commons

[Andrea Zanni]

This is great news.
Very excited for the future :-)

Thanks!

Aubrey

On Mon, Jan 9, 2017 at 8:48 PM, Wes Moran  wrote:

> Hello Wikimedia community,
>
> It’s our delight to inform you that we received a US$3,015,000 grant from
> the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
>  [1] to expedite
> development of structured data on Commons. The grant will be given over the
> course of three years, and will allow us to develop a team, in
> collaboration with the Wikidata team at Wikimedia Deutschland, that can
> focus on integrating the structured data features of Wikidata into
> describing the media files on Commons.
>
> This work will allow us to expedite features both on the Wikidata
> development roadmap, and in other products supported by the Wikimedia
> Foundation. The grant also provides funding to ensure that movement
> stakeholders, like Wiki Loves Monuments and GLAM-Wiki program leaders, and
> external partners who contribute heavily to Commons, such as GLAMs, can be
> involved in the development.
>
> We have drafted a high level overview of the grant and its scope, available
> on Commons
> 
> [2]. A blog post about the grant is also available on the Wikimedia blog
> 
> [3].
>
> We are currently in the process of identifying the technical lead for the
> project. If you have questions, Alex Stinson, the Foundation’s GLAM-Wiki
> strategist, will be leading the community engagement and communications for
> the project until we hire a community liaison as part of the grant. Stay
> tuned for more details about the project in the coming months.
>
> We’re excited to be able to support this project, and look forward to your
> participation in its development.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Wes Moran and Maggie Dennis
>
> *Wes Moran, Vice President of Product*
> *Maggie Dennis, Interim Chief of Community Engagement *
> *Wikimedia Foundation*
>
> [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan_Foundation
> [2] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data/Sloan_Grant
> [3] https://blog.wikimedia.org/2017/01/09/sloan-foundation-structured-data
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Update on Wikimedia movement strategy process (#1!)

[Andrea Zanni]

Hi Katherine, thanks for the email.

Regarding the external expert for inclusive process you are looking for,
maybe this article is of help:
https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-employees-shaped-strategy-at-the-new-york-public-library

I'm posting here for everyone to see because I think is interesting for
everybody to understand
how other (similar?) communities do innovation and shape their strategy.

Regards

Aubrey


On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 3:42 AM, Katherine Maher 
wrote:

> *(Apologies for cross posting)*
>
> Hi all,
>
> Since joining the Wikimedia Foundation and movement in 2014, I have often
> heard community members, movement organizations, and staff members speak of
> a need for a clear, unifying, and inspirational strategic direction for our
> movement. These conversations tend to follow a pattern: they start by
> recognizing the incredible work of our movement over the past 15 years,
> while seeking clarity on what we do next. What do we want to achieve over
> the next 15 years? What role do we want to play in the world? How will we
> prioritize our work and resources?
>
> At the June 2016 Board of Trustees meeting, the Board identified[1] the
> development of a long-term movement strategy as one of our top priorities
> for the coming year. Coming to consensus on a long-term strategic direction
> will help us know where we are headed, which path we will take, and how we
> will ensure our work is supported.
>
> At the Foundation’s December metrics meeting this morning, Anna Stillwell
> and Lisa Gruwell shared a presentation on the work the Foundation has done
> since June to prepare for a movement strategy consultation in the coming
> year.[2] We have been working to understand past Wikimedia strategy
> efforts, estimate future budgets and timelines, and secure resources for
> the year to come. In this email, I want to present some additional detail
> on this progress, and next steps we can take together.
>
> (*Fair warning: this is a very long email.* The critical information is as
> follows: The Wikimedia Foundation Board has approved a spending resolution
> and timeline for the upcoming strategy work. We anticipate beginning broad
> community conversations on the process, goals, and themes in early 2017.
> The Foundation is looking for an external expert to work with us (community
> and staff) to support an effective, inclusive process. I’ve been remiss in
> regular updates, but we will share them going forward. And of course,
> please share your thoughts and feedback on this list and on Meta [3].)
>
>
> *Strategic direction*
> We are expecting that we will begin a movement-wide strategy discussion in
> early 2017, with a process that runs throughout the year. The goal is to
> close 2017 with clarity and consensus on a strategic direction for our
> movement, and begin planning for how we will make progress in that
> direction.
>
> We are currently doing good work across our movement, but lack a unifying
> sense of how that work coheres into something greater than its individual
> parts. Wikipedia and the sister projects are remarkable, and our community
> is responsible for their success. Our movement has done an incredible job
> spreading our values and principles around the world—but we often look
> backwards to improve on our past, rather than looking fully at both our
> past and future. There’s an opportunity for us to consider how our vision
> and mission will remain current amidst changing media, demographics, and
> technology, and how we can better coalesce our efforts (ecosystem of
> affiliates, users, experts, new users, cultural and educational
> institutions, and the Wikimedia Foundation).
>
> Additionally, we (community, affiliates, Board, and staff) are increasingly
> aware of the challenges which arise without a unified movement strategy. We
> have heard from members of the FDC, grant applicants, community leaders,
> and a growing number of affiliates that they at times struggle with
> understanding how our separate efforts tie together and where we are going
> as an overall movement. The absence of a movement strategy, in other words,
> is hampering our ability to work toward our mission. Given the importance
> of that mission, and the need to hold ourselves to the highest account on
> responsible stewardship of donor resources, this is an expensive
> opportunity cost.
>
> *Budget*
>
> At the June Board meeting, I committed to develop a proposed process and
> budget in time for the Board’s annual November Board retreat. This process
> would reflect the type of approach we might take, and be accompanied by an
> estimated budget for the associated work.
>
> To prepare, we wanted to understand past efforts at developing strategies
> for our movement. We audited these past processes (2010, 2012/Narrowing
> Focus, 2014, and some other efforts) and interviewed past participants to
> learn what worked and what did not,[4] and took stock of what was
> missing—from external expertise to audience 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Recognition of Tremendous Wiktionary User Group

[Andrea Zanni]

Kudos!
User groups for sister projects really help for advocacy and coordination
between different language communities, I'm happy the Wiktionarians chose
this path.

Aubrey

On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 10:40 AM, Carlos M. Colina 
wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I am pleased to announce, on behalf of the Affiliations Committee, the
> recognition of a new Wikimedia User Group: Tremendous Wiktionary User Group
> [1]
>
> The idea behind this new User Group is to promote and develop
> Wiktionaries, raise the awareness of this project and collaborate not just
> between wiktionaries but also with other projects such as Wikidata.
>
> Welcome, Wiktionarians!
>
> 1: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary/Tremendous_Wiktio
> nary_User_Group
>
>
> --
> "*Jülüjain wane mmakat* ein kapülain tü alijunakalirua jee wayuukanairua
> junain ekerolaa alümüin supüshuwayale etijaanaka. Ayatashi waya junain."
> Carlos M. Colina
> Socio, A.C. Wikimedia Venezuela | RIF J-40129321-2 | www.wikimedia.org.ve
> 
> Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Affiliations Committee
> Phone: +972-52-4869915
> Twitter: @maor_x
>
> El logotipo y el nombre de Wikimedia, Wikimedia Venezuela, Wikipedia,
> Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Incubator, Wiktionary y otros proyectos
> relacionados son marcas registradas usadas bajo permiso expreso de su
> titular, la Fundación Wikimedia, Inc., una organización sin fines de lucro.
> Otros nombres y marcas pertenecen a sus respectivos propietarios.
>
> Asociación Civil Wikimedia Venezuela (Wikimedia Venezuela) | RIF.:
> J-40129321-2 | Los Teques, Estado Miranda. Venezuela
> ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Direction] WMF Board of Trustees 2016 priorities

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Christophe.
Looking forward to (collectively) work on the strategy.
I personally welcome a quick and hopeful mail like this,
and I'm quite happy about where we are right now.

Aubrey



On Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 7:19 PM, Christophe Henner 
wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees met in Esino Lario during
> Wikimania. The minutes will be published in the coming days, but we deemed
> it too important to wait to share the outcome of this really great meeting.
>
> During the meeting, the Board felt that it was important to establish three
> clear priorities for the coming year: We will focus on three specific
> topics:
>
> * Improving the Board itself
>
> * Supporting the Executive Director, Katherine Maher
>
> * Fostering the creation of a strategy for the movement
>
> Every trustee acknowledges that there's a clear need for the Board to
> assume a leadership position for our movement. That being said, the eight
> of us are only temporary stewards of our positions. We need to work toward
> creating the best environment for all of us to push our mission forward.
>
> That is the reason our first topic is about Board improvement — to work to
> become the trustees you all need. The governance committee [1] is
> continuing its work on incremental improvements, as well as on defining the
> further actions we need to take.
>
> Our second priority is to support  the Executive Director. As you all know,
> the Board proposed to Katherine Maher to move from her interim ED position
> to a permanent one. We are thrilled she agreed.
>
> We must not consider this decision as the end of the process, but as a
> beginning. In order for the Wikimedia Foundation to achieve great things,
> the Board needs to be supporting the ED. This means providing her with a
> consistent and clear explanation of the intentions in our decisions, and to
> act as sparring partners to her.
>
> The HR committee[2] will work toward that end, and the Board as whole is
> ready to take any steps necessary to provide her, and the staff, with the
> best environment possible.
>
> Finally, the lack, or fuzziness, around movement strategy has been a
> pending question for years. One that we never managed to tackle. And
> perhaps because no one wanted to take on that charge. The Board of Trustees
> decided that within the next 12 months we will have to define our vision
> and strategy. A strategy that is suited with our goals, our values, and is
> inclusive of every agent of the movement.
>
> The past fifteen years were amazing. But now we have to think of the next
> fifteen years. There are many challenges  ahead of us if we want to keep on
> changing the world.
>
> We must not shy away from those challenges, nor from the decisions we have
> to make.
>
> Within the Board of Trustees, Maria Sefidari and I take the lead on  the
> necessary steps are being taken. Katherine and Foundation staff already
> have worked on the first steps to reach that goal.
>
> Our goal is to make sure we — as a movement — will have a strategy that we
> can all embrace and push forward together.
>
> As ever, decisions need action, and we will take them and share them
> quickly so that you know that we walk the talk, and we want to walk it with
> all of you.
>
> We will be happy to answer any questions you have whether on list or off
> list.
>
> Thank you to everyone for those past fifteen years, and I’m looking forward
> to what we'll achieve in the coming ones!
>
> Christophe
>
> [1]
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_Governance_Committee
>
> [2] https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/HR_Committee
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] New GLAM-Wiki Role at Wikimedia Foundation

[Andrea Zanni]

Yeah!
Happy to hear that.
More good things to come.

Aubrey

On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 7:40 PM, Patrick Earley 
wrote:

> Much support for you in your new role, Alex, and I'm sure you'll have fun
> working with all the amazing people around the world involved with GLAM
> work!
>
> On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 10:33 AM, Mardetanha 
> wrote:
>
> > I am also so happy to hear this, though I already almost knew this is
> > coming, it is very important that finally wmf now playing more attention
> to
> > GLam, hopefully with Alex we will achieve more,
> > I would to like second what shani already said, We're all behind you.
> >
> > Mardetanha
> >
> > On Fri, May 20, 2016 at 9:57 PM, Shani  wrote:
> >
> > > A historic moment in our movement.
> > > Alex, all the best in your new role!
> > > We're all behind you.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > > Shani.
> > > On 20 May 2016 20:24, "Jake Orlowitz"  wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi everyone,
> > > >
> > > > As you may have noticed in the Annual Plan, the Wikimedia Foundation
> > has
> > > > proposed more support of GLAM-Wiki. I want to happily announce that
> > *Alex
> > > > Stinson* will be expanding and transitioning his role as Wikipedia
> > > Library
> > > > Coordinator to lead this new position as *GLAM-Wiki Strategist
> *within
> > > the
> > > > Community Engagement department at WMF.  He will continue to report
> and
> > > > work closely with me in Wikipedia Library land, which I'm very happy
> > > about!
> > > >
> > > > I'll let Alex introduce himself and his thoughts on the position, why
> > it
> > > > matters, and what its goals are.
> > > >
> > > > Best,
> > > > Jake Orlowitz
> > > >
> > > > User:Ocaasi (WMF)
> > > >
> > > > Head of the Wikipedia Library
> > > >
> > > > jorlow...@wikimedia.org
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > Hi all!
> > > >
> > > > I am particularly excited to be shifting towards helping with
> GLAM-Wiki
> > > > support. I plan to bring my long history of working in Wikimedia
> > > outreach,
> > > > first as a volunteer in GLAM and the Education program and then as an
> > > > employee with the Wikipedia Library, to improve our global GLAM
> impact
> > > [1].
> > > >
> > > > As we point out in the proposed annual plan, [2] GLAM-Wiki has a long
> > > > history as a programmatic strategy for volunteers and affiliates.
> These
> > > > programs have collected some of our best content, pushed our
> > technologies
> > > > beyond their limits, and created a considerable volume of
> contributions
> > > > from both Wikimedians and experts for over 8 years.
> > > >
> > > > However, as these practices become more and more sophisticated and
> > > varied,
> > > > volunteers from smaller communities without connections to the
> leaders
> > of
> > > > successful projects have found themselves unable to replicate this
> > > success,
> > > > or replicating many of the mistakes from earlier projects.  At the
> same
> > > > time, larger initiatives have been hindered by a lack of investment
> in
> > > > infrastructure and technology.
> > > >
> > > > WMF has been a great supporter of GLAM through grants and affiliate
> > > > support, but we can do more. We haven’t provided consistent global
> > > > connection, communication and support for GLAM-Wiki resources and
> > tools.
> > > > My goal is to help GLAM spread throughout our communities and
> > potentially
> > > > tens of thousands of organizations that - as folks like Liam Wyatt
> have
> > > > been advocating from the beginning - share our same values: freely
> > > sharing
> > > > knowledge with the world.
> > > >
> > > > Below I have outlined our approach for the GLAM-Wiki Strategist role
> > > [3]. I
> > > > want to use the next few months to listen and evaluate the needs of
> the
> > > > communities actively involved in GLAM-Wiki work to make sure that I
> > > > prioritize projects correctly. I am also going to be at Wikimania,
> and
> > > have
> > > > already talked to a number of GLAM-Wiki leaders at Wikimedia
> > Conference.
> > > >
> > > > My role as strategist is to consult, collaborate, organize, and plan.
> > > So,
> > > > please reach out to me with your questions, thoughts, needs or other
> > > > feedback.
> > > >
> > > > Cheers,
> > > >
> > > > Alex Stinson
> > > >
> > > > GLAM-Wiki Strategist
> > > >
> > > > Wikimedia Foundation
> > > >
> > > > astin...@wikimedia.org
> > > >
> > > > [1] A little about me
> > > >
> > > > I have been working with the Wikipedia Library since May 2014,
> > developing
> > > > the Library’s publisher partnerships, building relationships with
> > dozens
> > > of
> > > > community and language leaders across our volunteer movement,
> crafting
> > a
> > > > broader strategy for engaging the largest libraries and international
> > > > reference networks, and project managing tool and metrics
> improvements
> > > for
> > > > our program.
> > > >
> > > > I also designed and deployed the successful #1Lib1Ref campaign (
> > > > 1lib1ref.org)
> > > > that drew nearly 30,000 viewers, 5 million twee

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Account of the events leading to James Heilman's removal

[Andrea Zanni]

Pardon my naivety,
but is it possible that "whistleblowers" didn't want the whole Board to know
their identity, because other Board members were very close to Lila?

It's pretty clear to me that there was serious fear of retribution (not
implying that
retribution was likely, just saying that the *fear* of that was real).

There is no guilt whatsoever
in being friend/close with Lila, but it just makes things *much* more
complex:
given that, whistleblowing staff probably did really want to remain
anonymous
and speak only with certain Board members.

Am I missing something?

Aubrey

On Wed, May 4, 2016 at 4:02 AM, MZMcBride  wrote:

> Tim Starling wrote:
> >Board members have a duty to act in the interests of the WMF as a
> >whole, but it does not follow that denying anonymity to whistleblowers
> >is in the best interests of the WMF. In fact, I think this Lila/KF/KE
> >case demonstrates the opposite.
> >
> >I would encourage the Board to extend the current whistleblower policy
> >to provide protection to employees making anonymous complaints via
> >certain intermediaries (such as active Board members), rather than
> >requiring complaints to be made directly to the Chair of the Board;
> >and to specify that the forwarding of such anonymous reports by Board
> >members to the Chair would be permissible.
> >
> >If we want to avoid a repeat of this affair, then employees should be
> >encouraged to communicate serious concerns to the Board as early as
> >possible.
>
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Whistleblower_policy
>
> You mention anonymous complaints and serious concerns, but the current
> whistleblower policy seems to be pretty clear that it only applies to
> laws, rules, and regulations. The text of the policy indicates, to me at
> least, that even alleged violations of other Wikimedia Foundation policies
> would not be covered by the whistleblower policy. Would you extend the
> Wikimedia Foundation whistleblower policy to cover regular (i.e.,
> non-legal and non-regulatory) grievances?
>
> My understanding is that the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees sought
> out and then appointed a tech-minded chief executive, who came from a tech
> organization, in order to "transform" the Wikimedia Foundation from an
> educational non-profit to be more like a traditional tech company. Many
> employees of the Wikimedia Foundation disagreed with this decision and the
> chief executive made a series of poor hires who ran amok (looking at you,
> Damon), but I don't think anything rose to the level of illegal behavior.
>
> From my perspective, whether rightfully or wrongfully, the staff mutinied
> and ultimately successfully deposed the appointed executive director. I
> don't see how this whistleblower policy or most variations of it that a
> typical non-profit would enact would really be applicable here.
>
> MZMcBride
>
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [recent changes]

[Andrea Zanni]

>>>I feel that Denny's decision to resign makes sense, and in no way does
this
>>>decision put a cloud over his continued involvement in our community.

Pine,
I don't necessarily disagree with you,
but you are doing a very common mistake in the Wikimedia world:
you are not taking into account people's emotions.
Making an hard decision always takes its toll, and it's all but granted
that someone wants to stay
in the same community that lacked trust in him and stressed him out for
weeks.
I personally trusted him, I felt the pain in his messages to this list in
the last months, and I'm sad he has to leave
from what I thought was an important decisive role.

Aubrey



On Sun, Apr 10, 2016 at 9:12 AM, Pine W  wrote:

> Brill,
>
> Speaking generally (meaning, not in regard to the specific situation of
> Denny), conflict of interest issues do happen on a regular basis. In my
> experience, we also generally handle them well.
>
> Having numerous business relationships and interests is common in the
> business world. Many times when there is a conflict of interest issue, it's
> sufficient to recuse from particular discussions. Sometimes, the best
> course of action is to resign from one role or another.
>
> Regarding Denny's situation specifically, after leaving the WMF board, he
> may provide valuable input and may in some ways be more effective because
> he will have stepped away from numerous COI issues.
>
> I feel that Denny's decision to resign makes sense, and in no way does this
> decision put a cloud over his continued involvement in our community.
>
> There are many problems in the Wikimedia universe, but I think that our COI
> policies are generally sound.
>
> Pine
>
>
>
> On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 6:48 AM, Brill Lyle  wrote:
>
> > I find this issue of Conflict of Interest exceedingly problematic.
> >
> > Almost every person working and living today will have a conflict of
> > interest somehow, especially as one becomes a contributor to any of the
> > Wikimedia projects, gets to know people, tries to organize events or
> > promote the value of Wikipedia, Wikimedia, etc. Or if you work in any
> field
> > that specializes in anything online or technical. It is an impossible
> > situation.
> >
> > I think that Wikimedia deals with this very badly -- and obviously at
> great
> > personal cost to talented, giving people. I am sorry.
> >
> > And to the bigger problem: Wikimedia loses a smart person who has loads
> of
> > ideas and expertise -- and is a contributor to Wikidata (one of the best
> &
> > most exciting projects to be visited upon Wikimedia) because of this
> arcane
> > and quite frankly needing to be re-evaluated rule? I see this as one of
> the
> > many problems of Wikimedia.
> >
> > EVERYONE has conflict of interest. We need the smartest and brightest
> minds
> > out there to contribute whatever they willingly can and will do on a
> > volunteer basis. How can they not have connections to the real world as
> > well as to online? Do we expect volunteers to be in their bunkers
> > somewhere, siloed from the world, that these clean folks are the ones to
> > move Wikimedia forward? It's laughable.
> >
> > One thing Wikimedia seems to do quite well is torture people who want to
> > contribute by rules and policies that I think, quite frankly, are
> > unworkable.
> >
> > Requiring some sort of absolute clean Conflict of Interest is an
> impossible
> > ideal. It is also obviously hurting the community.
> >
> > There is much change happening. I think it's an opportunity for newbies
> > such as myself as well as folks with longer views to make things better.
> Or
> > these mistakes will continue to plague the Wikimedia community -- and we
> > will all lose out.
> >
> > - Erika
> > *Erika Herzog*
> > Wikipedia *User:BrillLyle*  >
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 2:28 AM, Gerard Meijssen <
> gerard.meijs...@gmail.com
> > >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hoi,
> > > Denny I am sorry to have lost a friend who is on the board but I am
> happy
> > > to welcome back a friend who can now express his ideas, his notions,
> his
> > > opposition, his point of view. Yes you work for Google. For me it means
> > > that you are again in an unique position to be an ambassador for both
> > > Google and WMF in either domain.
> > >
> > > You may have gained friends while on the board, the one sad thing is
> that
> > > it came at a huge cost to you personally. Nevermind what you do, I
> trust
> > > you to do well.
> > > Thanks,
> > > Gerard
> > >
> > > On 8 April 2016 at 20:17, Denny Vrandecic 
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I exchanged a walk on part in the war for a lead role in the cage.
> > > >
> > > > I find myself tied and limited in my actions and projects. In order
> to
> > > > avoid the perception or potential for Conflict of Interests I have to
> > act
> > > > extremely carefully in far too many parts of my life. Instead of
> being
> > > able
> > > > to pursue my projects or some 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Transition plans for WMF leadership - Board Reform

[Andrea Zanni]

On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 2:48 PM, Brion Vibber  wrote:

> What I will disagree on is with the notion that the board has to take the
> org's side against the movement by definition. It is my understanding that
> the board has the role of oversight of the org -- that is, it's the board's
> job to ensure that the Foundation is effectively accomplishing the goals it
> was created to perform.
>

As much as I agree with Brion,
probably Denny's message is telling us a lot.
I haven't read carefully the WMF Board Pledge of personal commitment, but
this is not the first time this issue is discussed: see for example
Cristian mail, two months ago, tackling the very specific thing. [1]

Maybe the Board "feels" a lot of pressure about this, and this is a problem
on itself.
We all know that "toxicity" of an environment doesn't need laws or written
rules, but people being people, social pressure, etc.
If Board members feels without power, bound to the WMF and not the
Movement, that's a real problem we need to look into.

Aubrey

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2015-December/080600.html
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Transition plans for WMF leadership - Board Reform

[Andrea Zanni]

I don't really want to generate yet-another-thread,
but it seems to me that many people in this conversation don't really
understand the need of chapter-elected seats, which to me feels like "I
don't understand the need for chapters".

I have mixed feeling about this. Of course, I've been in a chapter board
member for 5 years, so I do think they are useful. Chapters, in my POV,
help Wikipedia be understood and engaged by the outside world:
institutions, GLAMs, schools, universities, normal people. They try to
bring institution in Wikipedia, as useful, free content. They talk a lot
with people, make presentations and try to explain Wikipedia. This is
something that the editing community doesn't do very often.

Also, I think is that with chapters/affiliates there is at least the
beginning of a global conversation: chapters discuss a lot with each other,
and chapter elected seats are the result of a diplomatic conversation.
Their appointed are usually more diverse than "community-selected"... Many,
for example, don't come from English Wikipedia as their mother wiki.

Maybe I'm mistaken but it seems to me that when we talk about community, we
implicitly assume that is the English Wikipedia community. This then means
there is a huge disproportion between native English speakers (US, UK,
Australia, for etc.) and the rest of the world.
As much as I understand that many editors don't feel that chapters are
relevant, at least I feel that chapters and affiliates do try to talk to
each other and build an international community and common discourse.
It is a layer on top, if you will, but it has advantages.

M2c.

Aubrey

On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 7:00 AM, Adrian Raddatz  wrote:

> I like the idea of reserved seats for the global south. I would prefer to
> still have some appointed members for expertise, but that number should be
> diminished to give the community seats a majority.
>
> Somewhat controversial: I'd prefer to scrap the affiliate - selected seats.
> Chapters vary so much in organization and effectiveness that having seats
> for them isn't ideal to me.
>
> And, of course, let's remove Jimbo's seat. He contributes little to the
> board or movement these days except for the occasional response on his talk
> page, accepting awards on our behalf, and making ridiculous public comments
> which are listened to due to his status. I actually have nothing against
> the guy personally, but I see no need for this relic of a seat to continue.
> Salam,
>
> I sincerely appreciated any effort to craft a reform for the Board of
> Trustees membership. Thank you, Dariusz and Todd. Also, apologize for
> (possibly) flawed English, since it isn't my first language :)
>
> As a volunteer from the so-called Global South community, I'm much more
> concerned about the diversity issue in the Board. The issue here is that
> geographical and linguistic groups that are significant in the current
> state of our community should be proportionally represented. We must ensure
> that their voice will be heard on deciding important issues that might also
> affect them, in one way or another. Our current Board consist of no Asian
> or African, a very disturbing reality especially if we consider the immense
> potential and rapidly growing community in these two region.
>
> Allow me to propose the Board composition I felt the most suitable to
> accommodate this issue. This Board will be comprised of fifteen members,
> all with same voting power:
>
> - One Founder's Seat, reserved for Jimbo. While I believe that some might
> found this as a strangely contrast position for any reform needed by the
> Board, I think that we still need him in the Board as the voice of
> moderation and what makes us completely unique to other Internet
> institution.
> - Six regional seats, popularly elected by the regional communities. The
> proposed "regional communities" would be North America, South and Central
> America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and
> Asia Pacific and Oceania.
> - Five at-large seats, or what we call today as community seats. Like the
> regional one, it will be popularly elected --- but by the whole community.
> - Three affiliate seats, elected by the affiliate and thematic
> organizations.
>
> Yes, there might be some flaw in this proposal. The biggest concern will be
> how to define and categorize a project into a specific "regional
> community". Maybe we could categorize the editors based on where do they
> edit (English Wikipedia editors will be voting for European seat) or where
> do they reside (which also possibly will raise question about privacy etc).
>
> Some might also question about why there is no more appointed seats. While
> I do agree with those who are saying that we need professional experts to
> sit in the Board, I believe that their power and influence should be
> nowhere more than the community to avoid another Arnnon-like controversy.
> So I would like to see them as members of the Advisory Bo

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Shared list

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 6:31 AM, Gerard Meijssen 
wrote:

> You are not the only one who is told that dissent is not appreciated. It is
> ironic that when openness and shared values are considered, these same
> values are swept under the rug when people are not in line with "common"
> thought.
>
> Apparently thoughts are not so common and certainly not universally shared.
> When community degenerates in universal enforced thought, are we still a
> community?
>


Gerard, you're only one, to my knowledge, always fulfilling the soft quota
of 30 emails per month, +1 or 2 message. In February you're already at 31
[1].

Openness and shared values, IMHO, should include also "empathy":
which means care, attention, proactive listening to others. It means say
something when you need to and carefully craft the message for others to
understand.
This both keeps a good signal/noise ratio and also it's good for a
multicultural, diverse community as we are.
It also means leaving others the space (in this case, silence) to express
themselves. I personally don't have problems with your opinions, just with
the tone and frequency of those.

Again, IMHO, the assumption that fierce, logic but aggressive debate is
welcome at anytime and anywhere is probably the biggest fallacy in the
whole Wikimedia movement (just because we're white nerdy males, and we just
roll like that).

Sorry all for the OT.

Aubrey

[1]
https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2016-February/author.html
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] An Open Letter to Wikimedia Foundation BoT

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Ido.
For what is worth, and in my personal capacity (I'm not affiliated with
Wikimedia Italia any  more) I completely second your concern,
Discussions are ongoing from months now and BoT seems frozen in silence.
People really don't understand why.

I would also like to thank you for expressing it in such a delicate, polite
but clear tone.

Aubrey

On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 11:15 AM, Ilario Valdelli 
wrote:

> Hi Ido,
> your email is interesting and reveals an important issue: the governance of
> a no for profit organization is a little bit different from that of a
> "commercial" company.
>
> In my opinion there is an unclear definition of the stakeholders and the
> definition of the importance of these stakeholders and the relations they
> have.
>
> Missing a clear definition of these entities and how they are related and
> what kind of potential conflicts can be generated by them, it can only
> drive to the current picture.
>
> Kind regards
>
> On Thu, Feb 18, 2016 at 9:04 AM, ido ivri  wrote:
>
> > Dear members of the WMF Board of Trustees,
> >
> > I’ve been following the recent events silently - from the voting out of
> > James Heilman, to the unfortunate timing of recruiting Arnnon Geshuri and
> > the lack of clear, timely communication around WMF strategy in in general
> > and specifically around the so-called “Knowledge Engine” grant, received
> by
> > the Knight Foundation.
> >
> > Even more alarming to me, is the slew of exceptional community-facing
> > employees who left (or are leaving) the Foundation, accompanied by
> muffled
> > sounds of discontent from staying Foundation employees.
> >
> > I’m breaking my silence because I’m very concerned. My concerns stem from
> > my past experiences with facilitating strategic changes and my experience
> > in grantmaking - both in and outside of the Movement.
> >
> > I’m concerned because it’s evident that the Foundation is undergoing a
> > deep, strategic change. But this change is not accompanied by the
> required
> > transparency, honesty and accountability required by the Foundation in
> > order to truly transform in a way that's beneficial for the organization
> > and its community.
> >
> > I’m concerned, because while the “Knowledge Engine” grant provides only a
> > specific example, it underlines a larger picture that is disturbing:
> > concealment (rather than openness) as a default, lack of consultation
> with
> > the community and weak, general communication around important matters
> only
> > after bad press. I also suspect that the vocal members of the community
> are
> > right, and that a $250K grant is not the issue, but it part of a bigger
> > move that will require significantly more resources for the Foundation to
> > implement.
> >
> > Lastly, I’m concerned because all this stirs no clear communication from
> > the Board of Trustees. A Board of Trustees implies there should be trust
> > between the Board and its constituents. I suspect this isn’t the case
> > anymore.
> >
> > If any APG-receiving affiliate conducted itself in such a non
> transparent,
> > dishonest manner and with lack of clear, timely communication with its
> > community and stakeholders, it would get seriously reprimanded by the
> > Foundation: its board audited, its budget cut, etc. Expecting the
> > Foundation to be held to a lower standard than any of its worldwide
> > affiliates is just hypocritical.
> >
> > I urge the Board of Trustees - Don’t forget that the community of
> > volunteers and affiliates is a major stakeholder of the Wikimedia
> > Foundation - and many of us are concerned. I think the community deserves
> > to better understand where the Wikimedia Foundation is going, and get
> > honest answers about the changes in the organization, for us to be
> trusting
> > again. Please start communicating clearly about those topics.
> >
> > With utmost respect,
> >
> > Ido (AKA AlleyCat80)
> >
> >
> > Board Member, WMIL
> >
> > Member, Simple APG & GAC.
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
>
>
>
>
> --
> Ilario Valdelli
> Wikimedia CH
> Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens
> Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre
> Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera
> Switzerland - 8008 Zürich
> Wikipedia: Ilario 
> Skype: valdelli
> Tel: +41764821371
> http://www.wikimedia.ch
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] The conversation is happening elsewhere :(

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Asaf,
I didn't know about that group.

May I also mention that the conversation is also becoming *exhausting*,
being in English and at very high level?
I know we can't do nothing about it, but it's worth noting, IMHO, that the
more we go on the fewer people with incredible stamina, analytic skills and
English proficiency will follow and engage.
Not really inclusive for Wikimedia.
I, for one, find it very hard to follow everything and participate.

Aubrey


On Wed, Feb 17, 2016 at 2:02 AM, Adam Wight  wrote:

> Thanks for the note!  Fwiw, I can't read that without a login.  Feel free
> to urge the owners to make the thread public, if base crook even supports
> such a thing.
> On Feb 16, 2016 4:47 PM, "Asaf Bartov"  wrote:
>
> > Dear colleagues,
> >
> > These are difficult and confusing times.  Many of you are puzzled or
> > receiving partial and possibly contradictory bits and pieces of news.
> >
> > As a service to the community, I feel I must point out that significantly
> > more conversation is taking place -- for whatever reason -- on the
> (public)
> > Wikipedia Weekly facebook group[1].
> >
> > Without endorsing that choice of venue (the issues with Facebook are
> fairly
> > well-known), it does appear that if you want significantly more
> > information, you should head on over there and read through the last
> couple
> > of weeks' posts. (much information is in the comments)
> >
> > (if you are inspired to collect and preserve useful information from
> there
> > on Meta, that would be best.)
> >
> > In solidarity,
> >
> >Asaf
> >
> > [1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediaweekly/
> >
> > --
> > Asaf Bartov
> > Wikimedia Foundation 
> >
> > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> > sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> > https://donate.wikimedia.org
> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Elsevier?

[Andrea Zanni]

As much as I love Jake and Alex's work,
and I think they are doing a terrific job, we still have to acknowledge
that
"playing by the rules" here is not going to change anything.
Every time the academia says "we have to think about Science!", so they
play along, keeping the system alive and well.

Without withdrawing from the current partnership, we could say publicly
that we hope they will stop suing Sci-Hub. We could write a blogpost, with
a link to Sci-hub (*blink blink*) acknowledging that is illegal but also
that serves the purpose of fighting the good fight.

As I said in previous discussion, what WMF really lacks is a precise
policy/project *in favor* of Open Access: we are not doing anything at
higher level, and very promising projects are frozen or waiting for
volunteer good will. I personally think that we are making a big mistake
thinking that the OA movement can do well without us. It's not.

Aubrey




On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 7:16 AM, David Goodman  wrote:

> We have the purpose of providing free access to information, information
> from any publicly  accessible source, paid or free. Before we had the
> Wikipedia Library, sources of information from many extremely expensive
> paid sources were not readily available to our editors except for those
> having a connection to a major university library.  Now that we do have it,
> at least some of this is accessible to at least some active editors, who
> can incorporate the information from them into our articles, and thus make
> it freely accessible to the world. That's enough justification.
>
> If all we did was re-package information that was already freely available,
> our role would be very  limited. The existence of restrictions on  access
> to limitation is of course very unfortunate. Making a change in this system
> is on of the additional purposes of Wikipedia. We do this in multiple ways.
> Among them is providing an example of open publishing; among them is
> advocacy for the lessening of copyright and other restrictions, and also
>  writing free material based on unfree. The principle of what we do is,
> what will be best for the encyclopedia.
>
> On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 12:25 AM, Keegan Peterzell 
> wrote:
>
> > Shani,
> >
> > This blog post by Jake and the Library team might suffice. It's from last
> > year and directly addresses this issue:
> >
> > http://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/09/16/open-access-in-a-closed-world/
> >
> > ~ Keegan
> >
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Keegan
> > On Feb 14, 2016 10:09 PM, "Shani"  wrote:
> >
> > > Would love to hear what the Wikipedia Library Project team has to say
> on
> > > the issue.
> > >
> > > Pinging Jake Orlowitz & Alex Stinson.
> > >
> > > Shani.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 5:46 AM, Pete Forsyth 
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > As the panel moderator, I felt there was a rather strong consensus
> > (from
> > > > the various communication channels -- wiki pages, blog & Facebook
> posts
> > > and
> > > > discussions, and the panel) that went a bit beyond what Robert said
> > > (which
> > > > is certainly an important piece.
> > > >
> > > > A number of people also felt that, while the Elsevier deal may have
> > been
> > > a
> > > > good one, there may also have been better ways to communicate it --
> and
> > > > specifically, ways to place restrictions on the kind of language
> > > (entities
> > > > like) Elsevier could use around the Wikimedia trademarks. I believe
> > this
> > > > was all absorbed by Wikipedia Library staff, and I have no doubt that
> > > > future announcements will be better suited to Wikimedia values.
> > > >
> > > > I agree with Lodewijk that strong consensus would be needed to
> overturn
> > > an
> > > > existing contract. Please note also that at least six Wikimedia
> > > volunteers
> > > > would be impacted if Wikimedia were to renege on its contract: those
> > who
> > > > have gained access to Elsevier Science Direct through the program,
> and
> > > are
> > > > presumably doing good Wikipedia work as a result. Have you checked in
> > > with
> > > > them, or looked at their work, Milos?
> > > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Elsevier_ScienceDirect
> > > >
> > > > -Pete
> > > > [[User:Peteforsyth]]
> > > >
> > > > On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 5:25 PM, Robert Fernandez <
> > > wikigamal...@gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > "No, WMF shouldn't morally support Elsevier by having any relation
> > with
> > > > > them."
> > > > >
> > > > > This was debated extensively last September.   The opinion of many,
> > > > > including myself, was that the WMF's primary commitment should be
> to
> > > the
> > > > > encyclopedia and providing editors and readers the resources to
> > improve
> > > > the
> > > > > encyclopedia, not making a moral stand against Elsevier by
> > withdrawing
> > > > > those resources.
> > > > >
> > > > > On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 5:01 PM, Milos Rancic 
> > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 10:58 PM, Gerard Meijssen
> > > > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Elsevier?

[Andrea Zanni]

As much as I'd **love** to see that,
I think it would be a very bold step from the WMF,
supporting a heroic BUT illegal operation as Sci-Hub, against a despicable
BUT legal operation like Elsevier.
If the WMF does want to be bold, this is a great battle to fight.

Aubrey

On Sun, Feb 14, 2016 at 9:41 PM, Milos Rancic  wrote:

> Is WMF or any other Wikimedia organization still engaged with them? If
> so, what's the plan to drop that toxic connection and support Sci-Hub,
> LibGen and similar projects? EFF did that two months ago [1].
>
> [1]
> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/12/what-if-elsevier-and-researchers-quit-playing-hide-and-seek
>
> --
> Milos
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Profile of Magnus Manske

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 11:58 AM, Anthony Cole  wrote:

> Most editions of most books published in the last 40 years (certainly books
> from reliable publishers) have an ISBN that identifies one edition. Most
> reliable journal articles these days have a doi. For simple citing of web
> pages, you could automatically convert bare urls to archived versions of
> the cited web page.
>


I do agree with you.
But the problem emerges if you want to cite the reference (the book, the
article) as an item.
There you have to take into account a "book model" in Wikidata, and it's
easier said than done. (scientific articles are a bit easier, and Magnus is
working on them).
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:WikiProject_Source_MetaData

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Ethics of launching Wikidata, vs. ethics of WMF plans for Wikidata

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 12:56 PM, Gerard Meijssen  wrote:

> You write about your fear, uncertainty and doubt .. Why have us waste time
> on it? Do something useful.
> Thanks,
>


I, for one, think that the mail Pete sent (both in content and tone) is
perfectly fine and helpful.
I don't know if I share his concerns about WMF plans for Wikidata, but I
perfectly agree on his position regarding Andreas' criticism on Wikidata. A
distinction was needed.
All in all, I think this thread is useful. M2c.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Profile of Magnus Manske

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 10:45 AM, Anthony Cole  wrote:

> To cite a book just add the ISBN and page number. Leave it at that; or
> perhaps you could devise a bot that follows up, converting ISBN + page
> number into a full-blown reference.
>

Most of the time, I think your approach is good enough.
But please don't assume that there is a bijection between books ("works")
and ISBNs.
* not all books have ISBNs (ISBN has been widely used from 1970s)
* that ISBNs are *always* unique (publishers reuse them to save
money)(yeah, I know)
* you often have a different ISBN for the ebook, for the paperback, for the
hardcover, of the same book etc.
* right now, we don't really know how to consistenly works to their
different editions and translations.

I'm simply stating that the reason we don't have Wikidata full of book
records is a deep one.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Profile of Magnus Manske

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Jan 26, 2016 at 8:03 AM, Gerard Meijssen 
wrote:

>- It is really laborious to add references. Many references are a book a
>publication and I give you one example of a book [1]. It takes MUCH more
>time to add a source than it is to add a statement. The book, the
> authors
>they need sources in their own right..
>


Also, Wikidata has not found a way yet to work with books.
Yes, it's relatively easy to create an item for a recent book and populate
it with a few statements relatively to the main metadata (author, year of
publishing, publisher).

What we don't have is a way to *consistently* work with books (which have
often many translations and editions). We cannot import (yet) library
catalogs in wikidata[1]. We don't even have a consistent way to link
Wikidata to Wikisource (index pages, ns0 pages).

I think this is quite relevant for the reference issue.

Aubrey


[1] there is an ongoing project with the National Library of Florence, in
Italy. We now have a script to import records in WIkibase, and will do on a
local one. Then we will approach Wikidata.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Piloting a Discourse installation for discussion (was: Better thankspam)

[Andrea Zanni]

Well,
Discourse is new but it's growing fast:
http://www.discourse.org/faq/customers/

Plus Mozilla:
https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/

and OKFN:
https://discuss.okfn.org/

I personally think that it could really help new people participate in our
discussions, so it's worth a try.

Aubrey

On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 9:34 PM, Milos Rancic  wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 9:22 PM, Andrea Zanni 
> wrote:
> > Why?
> > As a user, you would just need to login and participate, Discourse is
> like
> > a website. You don't need to install anything.
> > I don't understand your point.
>
> I am speaking as an admin, not as a user :P
>
> In brief, software is not stable. And it's not just that, but the
> developers don't know their software well enough to offer a sensible
> installation guide. I wouldn't use such software.
>
> Besides that, if there is no Docker environment (and I don't think so
> there is a Docker environment in WMF, though my information could be
> outdated), you have to create a double layer system just to install it
> according to their specification.
>
> Said so, I am sure there are masochists around, willing to install it :P
>
> --
> Milos
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Piloting a Discourse installation for discussion (was: Better thankspam)

[Andrea Zanni]

>
> I wanted to install it, so we could test it and then move to a WMF
> server. I wasn't fully demotivated after I've seen it's written in
> Ruby (nothing against syntax, but on infrastructure side it's easier
> to install .NET framework on Linux). Then they say the only way they
> support installation is via Docker.
>
> No, thanks.
>
> They obviously need to mature and produce a sensible framework for
> software installation. Until then, good old Mailman is our most
> realistic solution.
>

Why?
As a user, you would just need to login and participate, Discourse is like
a website. You don't need to install anything.
I don't understand your point.

Aubrey




> --
> Milos
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Profile of Magnus Manske

[Andrea Zanni]

I'm waiting for the day when Magnus will have a profile on the New Yorker,
but this is nice, for the time being :-)

Aubrey

On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 2:34 PM, Andrew Lih  wrote:

> There’s an excellent profile of Magnus Manske in the Wikimedia blog today.
> It’s hard to think of people more important to the movement than Magnus has
> been since 2001.
>
> Selected quotes: "...we have gone from slowdown to standstill; the
> interface has changed little in the last ten years or so, and all the
> recent changes have been fought teeth-and-claw by the communities,
> especially the larger language editions. From the Media Viewer, the Visual
> Editor, to Wikidata transclusion, all have been resisted by vocal groups of
> editors, not because they are a problem, but because they represent
> change... all websites, including Wikipedia must obey the Red Queen
> hypothesis: you have to run just to stand still. This does not only affect
> Wikipedia itself, but the entire Wikimedia ecosystem... if we wall our
> garden against change, against new users, new technologies our work of 15
> years is in danger of fading away... we are in an ideal position to try new
> things. We have nothing to lose, except a little time.”
>
> Link:
>
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/01/18/fifteen-years-wikipedia-magnus-manske/
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Monetizing Wikimedia APIs

[Andrea Zanni]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2016 at 9:59 AM, David Goodman  wrote:

> Nor am I concerned that our information might be used by people who oppose
> our
> principles. We ask just the same of our contributors--that the information
> they contribute may be used for ''any'' purpose.
>


My concern is when our CC-BY-SA (or CC0) user-generated information is not
shared-alike AND it is a cost for the movement (ie a cost in terms of
bandwidth and electricity).
If Google harvests our information, using massively the API we provide, and
they just make it a silo for them to use (for the Knowledge Graph, for
example) and this hurts us, I'm wondering if
we can do something about it. There are only very few players who can take
all our information and use it as an internal asset, enriching it and NOT
sharing it.

I don't think in binary, so for me there is no contradiction to have a
CC-BY-SA content, but some caveat for big, big, big players.
I'm not saying (nobody is) that we have to shift to a NC license. Just
that  I don't want our movement to be hurt by multi-billion dollars
companies: I'm not an expert of the commons (I bet many people in this list
are) so I'm genuinely interested in hearing opinions about this. Is such
thing as "tragedy of the digital commons"? Can Google (or Amazon or
Facebook) exploits us?

Now please tell me (gently, :-D) where is my mistake in this line of
thought.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Monetizing Wikimedia APIs

[Andrea Zanni]

Do you think?

I'm genuinely not sure.
I think that the difference in scale from what Google does with our data
and the general developer/researcher is pretty big. One million times big.
I actually think that "over-the-top" players like Google do actually
exploit free licensed materials like Wikipedia... I mean, their Knowledge
Vault is probably 100 bigger than Wikidata, but they are not supposed to
share it. It's an internal asset. And it's not matter of CC0 or CCBYSA:
they can keep it hidden.

There very, very few players who can exploit commons like this: do we
need/have the right to address this? Is it a problem?

Aubrey

On Sat, Jan 16, 2016 at 12:59 PM, Craig Franklin 
wrote:

> On 16 January 2016 at 19:23, Pete Forsyth  wrote:
>
> > I'm interested to hear some perspectives on the following line of
> thinking:
> >
> > Lisa presented some alternative strategies for revenue needs for the
> > Foundation, including the possibility of charging for premium access to
> the
> > services and APIs,
>
>
> Brace yourselves...
>
>
> > expanding major donor and foundation fundraising,
> > providing specific services for a fee, or limiting the Wikimedia
> > Foundation's growth. The Board emphasized the importance of keeping free
> > access to the existing APIs and services, keeping operational growth in
> > line with the organization's effectiveness, providing room for innovation
> > in the Foundation's activities, and other potential fundraising
> strategies.
> > The Board asked Lila to analyze and develop some of these potential
> > strategies for further discussion at a Board meeting in 2016.
> > Source: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2015-11-07
>
>
> Looking for additional revenue sources isn't a bad idea, but charging for
> premium access is likely to annoy the community to a degree that will make
> the great Visual Editor revolt look like some quiet and polite murmuring.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia's 15th BD

[Andrea Zanni]

In the tradition of originality that belongs to Wikipedians,
here for your enjoyment there is a video of a XVII century version of
"Happy Birthday, Wikimedia":
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_Birthday_Wikipedia_2016_-_Flavio_Colusso_-_WM-IT.webm

Here's the audio version:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Happy_Birthday_Wikipedia_2016_-_Flavio_Colusso_-_WM-IT_%28uncut_audio%29.oga

The song was recorded during Wiki Loves Monuments Italia ceremony on 11th
December,
which was also the ceremony for the 10th birthday of Wikimedia Italia.
It's also nice because it was the week we understood "Happy Birthday" is in
the public domain :-)

Have a nice 15th, y'all.

Aubrey



On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 3:00 PM, Andrew Lih  wrote:

> Here’s my piece talking about Wikipedia @15 that ran on The Washington Post
> this morning.
>
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/01/15/wikipedia-just-turned-15-years-old-will-it-survive-15-more/
>
> I’ll post some personal reflections later. Happy 15th all!
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 8:31 AM, Amir Ladsgroup 
> wrote:
>
> > About the celebration in Tehran, I think this video
> >  is worth
> watching
> > :)
> >
> > P.S. The hashtag we used for the celebration #wikipedia15fa is now being
> > used widely by everyone \o/
> >
> > Best
> >
> > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 2:03 PM Yusuke Matsubara  wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 5:42 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter  >
> > > wrote:
> > > > You may think by now we are in the free information world, and the
> > > players of the 1980 Japanese ice hockey team are on Wikipedia.
> > > (snip)
> > > > Japanese Wikipedia, as far as I can tell, is not better. A team of
> > > mystery persons.
> > >
> > > Try then the freely editable knowledge base. :) Two of them [1] are
> > > now on Wikidata:
> > > http://tinyurl.com/zganwzg
> > > http://tinyurl.com/jgdnxwu
> > > (click "Execute" to see the list)
> > >
> > > Happy birthday and thanks for sharing your stories - an excellent way
> > > to celebrate.
> > >
> > > -Yusuke
> > >
> > > [1] Herb Wakabayashi - apparently, a Canadian who was naturalized to
> > > Japan later - is not in the query results. That piece of information
> > > is missing on Wikidata and I couldn't find a credible source to cite
> > > immediately.
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 5:42 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter  >
> > > wrote:
> > > > On 2016-01-15 00:30, Mardetanha wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >> Dear Fellow Wikimedians
> > > >> I would like to congratulate you on Wikipedia's 15th birthday, it
> was
> > > >> historic moment for all of us, I am glad to let you know we had a
> > > >> celebration in Tehran and we were the first country to celebrate it.
> > > >> you can find images here
> > > >> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_15_in_Iran
> > > >> Mardetanha
> > > >> ___
> > > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > >> Unsubscribe:
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> > ,
> > > >>  ?subject=unsubscribe>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I feel like today is time for stories, and I guess this thread is
> > exactly
> > > > the place we can share some stories today. I wish everybody does,
> since
> > > this
> > > > is a nice way to celebrate 15y.
> > > >
> > > > It could be in principle anything remotely Wikimedia related. For
> > > example,
> > > > the highest real-life rank of a person I ever blocked on Wikipedia
> was
> > a
> > > > member of the European parliament (or someone impersonating him). But
> > > these
> > > > stories mainly reveal human stupidity, and today we want to talk more
> > on
> > > the
> > > > human knowledge. Therefore I am going to spend my daily quota of
> > > wikimedia-l
> > > > post for smth else.
> > > >
> > > > I was born in 1967 in the Soviet Union and I am coming from a
> > > pre-internet
> > > > generation. I first used internet in 1995 or so, past my PhD degree.
> > > > However, I was always interested in learning things, this is probably
> > > why I
> > > > later joined the Wikimedia movement. And I was a pretty
> > > advanced-knowledge
> > > > teenager, knowing things my peers would normally not know anything
> > about,
> > > > and I was interested in all kinds of stuff: from exact sciences to
> > > history
> > > > and languages and to geographical names. It was really painful to get
> > any
> > > > non-mainstream information. Let me give you a couple of example of
> the
> > > > problems I encountered.
> > > >
> > > > One was languages. Well, for mainstream foreign languages like
> English
> > or
> > > > German it was relatively easy to find textbooks and dictionaries.
> They
> > > were
> > > > nothing like modern means of language learning, for example the Teach
> 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Better thankspam

[Andrea Zanni]

If I'm not mistaken, we recently discussed about this. I'd love using
Discourse myself...

Aubrey
Il 15/gen/2016 06:08 "Alice Wiegand"  ha scritto:

> My experiences with discourse in a non-Wikimedia context is great.  Worth
> a try.
>
> Alice.
>
> - Ursprüngliche Nachricht -
> Von: "Samuel Klein" 
> Gesendet: ‎15.‎01.‎2016 02:46
> An: "Wikimedia Mailing List" 
> Betreff: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Better thankspam
>
> On Jan 14, 2016 8:35 PM, "Luis Villa"  wrote:
> >
> > I agree that thankspam is somewhat irritating, but it is also a good way
> to
> > make people feel welcome and appreciated. An alternative is to consider
> > moving wikimedia-l to a tool like discourse.org
>
> Thanks for that idea. Discourse looks great.  Maybe worth testing out
> casually for some wiki* discussions before deciding whether or not to try
> replacing a particular list.
>
> Sj
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Better thankspam

[Andrea Zanni]

I agree with Chris too!
Thank you Chris!

Aubrey.
Il 13/gen/2016 22:32 "Shabab Mustafa"  ha scritto:

> And "thank you" Fæ, for brining this up! [pun intended] [sarcasm alert]
> [weapons down]
>
> Pardon my poor sense of humour, but I couldn't resist! :P
>
> I believe "thank you" and "please" are magic words, specially in voluntary
> works. I agree with Chris.
> On Jan 13, 2016 5:11 PM, "Fæ"  wrote:
>
> > TL;DR
> > Can anyone suggest of a better way of publicly logging thanks, hellos
> > & goodbyes for our public email lists?
> >
> > BACKGROUND
> > Wikimedia lists are probably unique in the number of emails over a
> > year which 'thankspam'. For example there is a pattern set that an
> > awful lot of chapter representatives send public welcomes and goodbyes
> > without conveying any new information. Sometimes when my email
> > notifier shows about ten of these on the same day, I've made the
> > effort to block that thread, I don't know of a way of specifically
> > muting the notifications for these types of emails on my mobile phone.
> >
> > Though everyone could chose to send these privately rather than making
> > a public statement, I understand the motivation for "us too"s to be
> > noticed by others who are not the intended 'thanked'. On email lists
> > something like ensuring thank email subject lines have a formulaic
> > part of the title would help, so that readers can choose to mute them;
> > equivalent to marking "minor" or "bot" edits on our projects so they
> > don't get flagged in recent changes.
> >
> > This thought stirred by Ad's email, but not against the sentiment he
> > was aiming for.
> >
> > PS For those that recall my meta thanks reports, I hope to get this
> > online again soon once a related phabricator task is resolved.
> >
> > Fae
> >
> > On 13 January 2016 at 09:21, Ad Huikeshoven  wrote:
> > ...
> > > I failed to welcome incoming directors to the board of the Wikimedia
> > > Foundation and I failed to thank outgoing directors of the same board
> for
> > > the time and effort they have spent.
> > >
> > >- that you are sorry about the harm/damage/waste/confusion your
> > mistake
> > >caused (being specific would demonstrate understanding);
> > >
> > > I'm sorry for this unpolite and rude behavior.
> > ...
> > --
> > fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Announcement about changes to the Board

[Andrea Zanni]

I totally second James' invitation to avoid a certain tone, language and
conspiracy theories.
I will also add that the more those tone, language, and conspiracy theories
are used in these threads,
the *less* likely a good chunk of the community will participate in
conversation.

If we really want to be open and inclusive, please remain civil, polite and
constructive.
Wikimedia-l is not a felt as a "safe space" and this is a huge problem: at
least if we want meaningful, helpful, rich discussions.

This is not to say we do not have to clearly state what we think (and
feel): but please, let us avoid (metaphorical) pitchforks.

Thanks.

Aubrey

On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 11:39 AM, James Alexander 
wrote:

> I will admit that if I knew I would likely not be wiling to say without
> talking to others first. However I will never lie and I can honestly say
> that I do not.
>
> On Sun, Jan 10, 2016 at 2:27 AM, Fæ  wrote:
>
> > Hi James Alexander,
> >
> > Thanks for writing here. As a WMF insider, do you know who recommended
> > Arnnon to the trustees for a seat on the board?
> >
> > I can think of no reason why that should be a secret.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Fae
> >
> > On 10 January 2016 at 10:16, James Alexander 
> wrote:
> > > Oh dear god everyone... [This is in general, not any specific person]
> > >
> > > I think everyone knows there are a lot of legitimate concerns to be
> > > concerned about and certainly Arnnon's actions at Google are legitimate
> > for
> > > question however this whole "google is controlling the board/wmf" line
> of
> > > thought is turning into a huge and enormous conspiracy theory and what
> > > seems to be a giant school of red herring
> > > . We haven't quite yet
> > gotten to
> > > "Frieda has 6 letters in her name and you know what else has 6 letters
> in
> > > it's name? GOOGLE!" but we're getting damn close. If anything the only
> > > concern about google I've heard within the actual WMF is that the
> > > "Knowledge Engine" was a plan to 'compete' against google for traffic
> > (for
> > > the record my personal opinion is that would be a waste of money on
> > > something we could never succeed if true but ALSO that it isn't
> actually
> > > true at all at this point).
> > >
> > > There are a lot of people with legitimate and understandable concerns
> (in
> > > many ways I wish I could take part in the discussion but there is just
> no
> > > good way to do that) but please let's try to keep the lines of thought
> as
> > > sane as possible (which I know is the norm for all of you so I know
> it's
> > > possible). When people get worked up and there is a lack of information
> > our
> > > imagination can always get the best of us, I certainly understand that,
> > but
> > > it is rarely helpful.
> > >
> > > James
> > > User:Jamesofur
> > > User:Jalexander-WMF
> >
> > --
> > fae...@gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae
> >
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> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Quality issues

[Andrea Zanni]

I second all Lydia's answers.
Also, I do think that there is a huge difference between usability/UX
issues and core, fundamental, systemic issues.
I personally think, Andreas, that you are displaying usability issues,
which are solvable (not easy, and not trivial, but at least can be fixed).

Regarding the CC0 vs CC-BY-SA problem, I don't think a single switch
between license would solve all the attribution problem: it hasn't solved
propagation of errors in the past with Wikipedia, I don't really get how it
could solve propagation of errors for Wikidata (we do know, though, that it
would bring a hell of issues for Wikidata itaself).

Aubrey

On Sun, Dec 20, 2015 at 12:25 PM, Lydia Pintscher <
lydia.pintsc...@wikimedia.de> wrote:

> On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 4:06 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:
> > On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 11:28 AM, Andrea Zanni  >
> > wrote:
> >
> >> Andreas, you apparently did not read the following sentence:
> >> "Of course, the opposite is also true: it's a single point of openness,
> >> correction, information. "
> >>
> >
> > Andrea,
> >
> > I understand and appreciate your point, but I would like you to consider
> > that what you say may be less true of Wikidata than it is for other
> > Wikimedia wikis, for several reasons:
> >
> > Wikipedia, Wiktionary etc. are functionally open and correctable because
> > people by and large view their content on Wikipedia, Wiktionary etc.
> itself
> > (or in places where the provenance is clearly indicated, thanks to CC
> > BY-SA). The place where you read it is the same place where you can edit
> > it. There is an "Edit" tab, and it really *is* easy to change the
> content.
> > (It is certainly easy to correct a typo, which is how many of us
> started.)
>
> You are used to the edit tab being there. Someone recently said on
> Twitter this is the most displayed invisible link on the internet. All
> a matter of perspective and what we are used to ;-)
>
> > With Wikidata, this is different. Wikidata, as a semantic wiki, is
> designed
> > to be read by machines. These machines don't edit, they *propagate*.
> > Wikidata is not a site that end users--human beings--will browse and
> > consult the way people consult Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Commons, etc.
>
> Machines (with people behind them) _do_ edit Wikidata. Wikidata is
> designed to be read and written my both humans and machines. And it is
> used that way.
>
> > Wikidata is, or will be, of interest mostly to re-users--search engines
> and
> > other intermediaries who will use its machine-readable data as an input
> to
> > build and design their own content. And when they use Wikidata as an
> input,
> > they don't have to acknowledge the source.
> >
> > Allowing unattributed re-use may *seem* more open. But I contend that in
> > practice it makes Wikidata *less* open as a wiki: because when people
> don't
> > know where the information comes from, they are also unable to contribute
> > at source. The underlying Wikimedia project effectively becomes invisible
> > to them, a closed book.
> >
> > That is not good for a crowdsourced project from multiple points of view.
> >
> > Firstly, it impedes recruitment. Far fewer consumers of Wikidata
> > information will become Wikidata editors, because they will typically
> find
> > Wikidata content on other sites where Wikidata is not even mentioned.
>
> That is why I am working with re-users of Wikidata's data on this.
> They can link to Wikidata. They can build ways to let their users edit
> in-place. inventaire and Histropedia are two projects that show the
> start of this. As I wrote in my Signpost piece it needs work and
> education that is ongoing.
>
> > Secondly, it reduces transparency. Data provenance is important, as Mark
> > Graham and Heather Ford have pointed out.
> >
> > Thirdly, it fails to encourage appropriate vigilance in the consumer.
> (The
> > error propagation problems I've described in this thread all involved
> > unattributed re-use of Wikimedia content.)
> >
> > There are other reasons why Wikidata is less open, besides CC0 and the
> lack
> > of attribution.
> >
> > Wikidata is the least user-friendly Wikimedia wiki. The hurdle that
> > newbies--even experienced Wikimedians--have to overcome to contribute is
> an
> > order of magnitude higher than it is for other Wikimedia projects.
>
> Granted Wikidata isn't the most userfriendly at this point - which is
> why we are working on improvements in that area. Some of them have
> gone live 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Quality issues

[Andrea Zanni]

On Thu, Dec 17, 2015 at 3:17 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> > A single point of failure.
> >
>
> Exactly: a single point of failure. A system where a single point of
> failure can have such consequences, potentially corrupting knowledge
> forever, is a bad system. It's not robust.



Andreas, you apparently did not read the following sentence:
"Of course, the opposite is also true: it's a single point of openness,
correction, information. "

At last, I agree with Gerard:
you seem not to accept people arguments and continue to reiterate yours
again and again.
The problem, to me, is that you don't like Wikis: you don't like that they
are open, and prone to errors and vulnerable. Yet, this is our greatest
weakness and strength, at the same time.
The Wikimedia movement, at least for the last 15 years, believes in this,
is one of our pillars.
So, if you don't like it, maybe the Wikimedia movements is not suitable for
you, maybe you'd like more working in Citizendium or something. There's no
shame in it, and I really believe it: it's just a matter of choice.

I personally choose to believe in openness as a way to leverage good will
from people, willingness to share knowledge. I believe Wikidata is going in
the same direction, and I have not found evidence yet that the "power and
centralisation" of data make the openness a problem of a different
magnitudo, different from Wikipedia.

I'm happy to discuss this point specifically, as I think we can have a
reasonable and constructive debate on this.

But if you reiterate examples on Wikipedia, you lose me. We already have
taken a choice, we believe that the payoff between openness and control is
worth it.



>Are these not just well-worn platitudes? If you cared so much about
>quality, you or someone else would have fixed the Grasulf II of Friuli
>entry by now.

You are included in the set of "someone else", you found all the errors,
and you could have corrected them. You decided it was best to write a very
long mail instead of correcting them. It's you're right, but it's not the
wikimedia way.
The Wikimedia way is wonderfully explained in three magical words: so fix
it [1].


Aubrey

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Sofixit
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikisource technical issues (was Community Wishlist Survey: Top 10 wishes!)

[Andrea Zanni]

(splitting as per Richard request)

> Question for the Wikisource folks: would Project Grants be a way to get
> resources for you? If you can design a project and find people with the
> right skills, that avenue might be beneficial for you. I have a software
> developer in mind who would probably like to work with you if resources
are
> available and a project has the support of the community and WMF.
>
> Pine

Hi Pine. My personal answer to your question is: no. Because we've already
tried that, and we did barely scratch the surface of the issues.
I'm on mobile and cannot provide you details and references, but in the
past years we used both IEG and Google Summer of Code for funding
developers, and we had few successinaddressing main issues. Also, tools
that worked and were helpful are now abandoned.
What wikisource lacks is development to core software, not only external,
cool tools, which are fine but in the end don't really solve problems.

I can elaborate further and bore you with details but, ina nutshell, we
just need  commitment from people who can bring theirlines ofcode into
production. As Wikisource is formally a Wikimedia project, and provides its
tiny contribution to the mission and also to fundraising, I would expect a
commitment of this sort coming from WMF.

Aubrey




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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wmfall] Community Wishlist Survey: Top 10 wishes!

[Andrea Zanni]

On Wed, Dec 16, 2015 at 9:55 PM, Danny Horn  wrote:

> The Wikisource community did a tremendous job in showing up and giving
> support to the Wikisource proposals. The top wishes in that category got 41
> and 39 votes, which is really impressive considering the relative size of
> the projects.
>
> The discussion on using Google's OCR in Indic language Wikisource is
> especially interesting -- a lively debate about finding the right solution
> to what is clearly a deeply-felt need from a community that's working
> really hard to add their languages' knowledge to the movement. I hope that
> having that debate here is a step towards a larger discussion about how we
> can support Wikisource projects.
>


Thanks, Danny.
In the Wikisource Conference, held in Vienna from 20 to 22 November, we
discussed a lot about what Wikisource needs to reach it's full potential as
a project. We decided to agree on a priority list (here:
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wscon2015needs) and also to participate in
the Survey.

But, if you feel brave enough, there is the whole 665 lines Etherpad here:
https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/wscon2015weekend [1]

Wikisource, as a project, is completely dependent on the Proofread Page
Extension [2].
Unfortunately, the extension is maintained by volunteers only (I think,
just one: Tpt).
Also, the extension doesn't support RTL languages: so Wikisources in
arabic, hebrew, farsi, indic languages don't really work as the others.

This is to be added to the fact that there is no good embedded OCR for
Indic languages, right now.

And, finally, to the simple fact that we'd love to have the Visual Editor,
*within* the ProofreadPage Extension, as Wikisource uses a *lot* of
formatting, and that could enable many, many more users in proofreading and
validating pages.

Of course, we are a small community, but we're trying really hard to make
our case.
At the moment, to the best of my knowledge, there is no, and there's never
been, any software development dedicated to Wikisource from the WMF.

Aubrey
(also a member of the Wikisource Community User Group)


[1] I hereby claim this as the longest Etherpad written by a group of
wikimedians (~40). I hope there is a prize for it. You can even read the
Wikisource mission forged and translated in real time in 21 languages (line
564).
[2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Proofread_Page
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Quality issues

[Andrea Zanni]

On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 9:35 PM, Jane Darnell  wrote:

> Andrea,
> I totally agree on the mission/vision thing, but am not sure what you mean
> exactly by scale - do you mean that Wikidata shouldn't try to be so
> granular that it has a statement to cover each factoid in any Wikipedia
> article, or do you mean we need to talk about what constitutes notability
> in order not to grow Wikidata exponentially to the point the servers crash?
> Jane
>
>
Hi Jane, I explained myself poorly (sometime English is too difficult :-)

What I mean is that the scale of the error *could* be of another scale,
another order of magnitude.
The propagation of the error is multiplied, it's not just a single error on
a wikipage: it's an error propagated in many wikipages, and then Google,
etc.
A single point of failure.

Of course, the opposite is also true: it's a single point of openness,
correction, information.
I was just wondering if this different scale is a factor in making
Wikipedia and Wikidata different enough to accept/reject Andreas arguments.

Andrea



> On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 7:10 PM, Andrea Zanni 
> wrote:
>
> > I really feel we are drowning in a glass of water.
> > The issue of "data quality" or "reliability" that Andreas raises is well
> > known:
> > what I don't understand if the "scale" of it is much bigger on Wikidata
> > than Wikipedia,
> > and if this different scale makes it much more important. The scale of
> the
> > issue is maybe something worth discussing, and not the issue itself? Is
> the
> > fact that Wikidata is centralised different from statements on
> Wikipedia? I
> > don't know, but to me this is a more neutral and interesting question.
> >
> > I often say that the Wikimedia world made quality an "heisemberghian"
> > feature: you always have to check if it's there.
> > The point is: it's been always like this.
> > We always had to check for quality, even when we used Britannica or
> > authority controls or whatever "reliable" sources we wanted. Wikipedia,
> and
> > now Wikidata, is made for everyone to contribute, it's open and honest in
> > being open, vulnerable, prone to errors. But we are transparent, we say
> > that in advance,  we can claim any statement to the smallest detail. Of
> > course it's difficult, but we can do it. Wikidata, as Lydia said, can
> > actually have conflicting statements in every item: we "just" have to put
> > them there, as we did to Wikipedia.
> >
> > If Google uses our data and they are wrong, that's bad for them. If they
> > correct the errors and do not give us the corrections, that's bad for us
> > and not ethical from them. The point is: there is no license (for what I
> > know) that can force them to contribute to Wikidata. That is, IMHO, the
> > problem with "over-the-top" actors: they can harness collective
> intelligent
> > and "not give back." Even with CC-BY-SA, they could store (as they are
> > probably already doing) all the data in their knowledge vault, which is
> > secret as it is an incredible asset for them.
> >
> > I'd be happy to insert a new clause of "forced transparency" in CC-BY-SA
> or
> > CC0, but it's not there.
> >
> > So, as we are  working via GLAMs with Wikipedia for getting reliable
> > sources and content, we are working with them also for good statements
> and
> > data. Putting good data in Wikidata makes it better, and I don't
> understand
> > what is the problem here (I understand, again, the issue of putting too
> > much data and still having a small community).
> > For example: if we are importing different reliable databases, andthe
> > institutions behind them find it useful and helpful to have an aggregator
> > of identifiers and authority controls, what is the issue? There is value
> in
> > aggregating data, because you can spot errors and inconsistencies. It's
> not
> > easy, of course, to find a good workflow, but, again, that is *another*
> > problem.
> >
> > So, in conclusion: I find many issues in Wikidata, but not on the
> > mission/vision, just in the complexity of the project, the size of the
> > dataset, the size of the community.
> >
> > Can we talk about those?
> >
> > Aubrey
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 6:40 PM, Andreas Kolbe 
> wrote:
> >
> > > On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 5:32 PM, geni  wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 13 December 2015 at 15:57, Andreas Kolbe 
> > wrote:
> > > >

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Quality issues

[Andrea Zanni]

I really feel we are drowning in a glass of water.
The issue of "data quality" or "reliability" that Andreas raises is well
known:
what I don't understand if the "scale" of it is much bigger on Wikidata
than Wikipedia,
and if this different scale makes it much more important. The scale of the
issue is maybe something worth discussing, and not the issue itself? Is the
fact that Wikidata is centralised different from statements on Wikipedia? I
don't know, but to me this is a more neutral and interesting question.

I often say that the Wikimedia world made quality an "heisemberghian"
feature: you always have to check if it's there.
The point is: it's been always like this.
We always had to check for quality, even when we used Britannica or
authority controls or whatever "reliable" sources we wanted. Wikipedia, and
now Wikidata, is made for everyone to contribute, it's open and honest in
being open, vulnerable, prone to errors. But we are transparent, we say
that in advance,  we can claim any statement to the smallest detail. Of
course it's difficult, but we can do it. Wikidata, as Lydia said, can
actually have conflicting statements in every item: we "just" have to put
them there, as we did to Wikipedia.

If Google uses our data and they are wrong, that's bad for them. If they
correct the errors and do not give us the corrections, that's bad for us
and not ethical from them. The point is: there is no license (for what I
know) that can force them to contribute to Wikidata. That is, IMHO, the
problem with "over-the-top" actors: they can harness collective intelligent
and "not give back." Even with CC-BY-SA, they could store (as they are
probably already doing) all the data in their knowledge vault, which is
secret as it is an incredible asset for them.

I'd be happy to insert a new clause of "forced transparency" in CC-BY-SA or
CC0, but it's not there.

So, as we are  working via GLAMs with Wikipedia for getting reliable
sources and content, we are working with them also for good statements and
data. Putting good data in Wikidata makes it better, and I don't understand
what is the problem here (I understand, again, the issue of putting too
much data and still having a small community).
For example: if we are importing different reliable databases, andthe
institutions behind them find it useful and helpful to have an aggregator
of identifiers and authority controls, what is the issue? There is value in
aggregating data, because you can spot errors and inconsistencies. It's not
easy, of course, to find a good workflow, but, again, that is *another*
problem.

So, in conclusion: I find many issues in Wikidata, but not on the
mission/vision, just in the complexity of the project, the size of the
dataset, the size of the community.

Can we talk about those?

Aubrey



On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 6:40 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 5:32 PM, geni  wrote:
>
> > On 13 December 2015 at 15:57, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:
> >
> > > Jane,
> > >
> > > The issue is that you can't cite one Wikipedia article as a source in
> > > another.
> > >
> >
> >
> > However you can within the same article per [[WP:LEAD]].
> >
>
>
> Well, of course, if there are reliable sources cited in the body of the
> article that back up the statements made in the lead. You still need to
> cite a reliable source though; that's Wikipedia 101.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Quality issues

[Andrea Zanni]

On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 9:53 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> Hi Yaroslav,
>
> Thanks for the background. The "POV pushing" you describe is of course what
> Graham and Ford are examining in their paper.
>
> For what it's worth, the Wikidata item for Jerusalem[1] still contains the
> statement "capital of Israel" today.
>


Really, I do not understand the difference between this kind of problem and
Wikipedia's edit wars or conflicts.
Wikidata represents knowledge in a structured, collaborative way: both
features define it, and it seems the op-ed just doesn't like them (either
one or both).

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] (no subject)

[Andrea Zanni]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 10:09 AM, Pine W  wrote:

> Under the redesigned grants scheme, WMF Project grants might be able to
> help with this kind of software development work for Commons and/or
> Wikisource. I happen to know a developer here in Cascadia who might be
> interested, either as an individual or in association with a Wikimedia
> affiliate, in doing this kind of work on a grant or contract basis.
>
> Pinging Kacie for comment about possible grant funding. (:
>


Hi Pine, thanks for the comment.
I understand what you mean, and I do believe there is space to work on
Wikisource via grants, BUT.

But I already did a Individual Engagement Grant in 2013 (with David Cuenca)
regarding Wikisource.
It was great, but IEGs don't give you staff time. So me and David used
Google Summer of Code, and we mentored 4 projects: if I'm not mistaken,
only one was really finished, meaning it produced concrete results on
Wikisource. Others stopped before (for example, two dedicated mediawiki
extensions were not put in production). Within the IEG, we made a big
survey among Wikisource communities, to develop a wishlist and a roadmap
for WS communities. We set up a Wikisource Community User Group. We talked
and talked. Bugs were and are reported, from years. Two weeks ago, we
convened the very first internationl Wikisource conference, in Vienna,
hosted by Wikimedia Austria (3 members from WMF were there, and we had a
great and productive time, reports will follow).

I've personally been involved in all of these efforts, so I've also seen
that real impact of Wikisource infrastructure (core WS extension, design,
interface, performance, development) has been minimal. I don't really want
to have this conversation here and now, but I have had a fair amount of
experience in this to say that until the WMF (or some affiliate big enough
and high enough in the software pipeline) commit to WS, change won't
magically happen by itself. We have practically one real volunteer
developer, and he's full of work to do (also, I already asked him if he
would like to receive a grant to work on certain issues, and he can't, and
he's the only one who could do that, thanks to his unique experience).

Grant works for little things, I'm afraid. Major change requires something
else.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] (no subject)

[Andrea Zanni]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2015 at 12:03 AM, Gerard Meijssen 
wrote:

> For me Commons and Wikisource could do with an abundant sprinkling of
> improved user interface.
>

Well, of course.
But, from where I see it, this is something to be address centrally:
Commons and Wikisource communities are fairly small and at least in
Wikisource we don't have any volunteer designers or UX people. The amount
of staff time dedicated from the WMF to Wikisource is zero, from the
beginning (I don't know about Commons). So, yes, you're right, but this is
not a problem that communities can solve by themselves.

Aubrey

(sorry for the OT)
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Endowment Discussion

[Andrea Zanni]

I'm not an expert, but I like the idea of an endowment:
there are many ways to put your money to good use out there, and if we will
manage to do it ethically and in a transparent way, many good things can
happen.
Of course, "ethically" and "transparent" are crucial factors here, and a
lot of work.

Aubrey

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 4:08 PM, WereSpielChequers <
werespielchequ...@gmail.com> wrote:

> A big advantage of having an endowment would be in conversations with our
> GLAM partners.
>
> - An organisation funded by an endowment can more credibly make longer-term
> commitments than one that is not. This would be particularly attractive to
> some of our current and potential GLAM partners; "Entrust us with a copy of
> your images and metadata and we have the funding to keep it on the Internet
> for the foreseeable future" would be a very attractive commitment for us to
> be able to make. 
>
> We don't need an endowment large enough to keep the organisation going as
> is, or even the pedias being still open to edit, before we can commit that
> "the media library on Wikimedia Commons has an endowment that should
> suffice to keep it on the web or on whatever replaces the internet for the
> foreseeable future" . In a world of budget cuts and short term thinking
> this would be a very positive thing for us to be able to say to museum
> curators and similar custodians of cultural heritage. That doesn't mean we
> commit to keeping everything in a particular image release, we might well
> delete some images because our policy on copyright risk will be different
> to theirs. But if you want to keep things in existence longterm then the
> strategy used by the writers of the domesday book still works. Make several
> copies and place them with organisations that intend to be around
> for millennia to come. An endowment could mean that we become such an
> organisation. I would hope that the WMF board aims for an endowment that
> allows us to make such a commitment.
>
> An endowment so large that we no longer need an annual fundraiser would be
> a very much larger sum and harder in my view to justify. Why should this
> generation pay so that people can edit Wikipedia in 2050 without there
> being a fundraising banner?
>
> 
>
>
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2015 02:39:59 +0330
> > From: Mardetanha 
> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Endowment Discussion
> > Message-ID:
> >  > f1svhifu...@mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >
> > do we have any definite number that if reach then we would not any
> > fundraiser again in the future (I really would like to to see WMF in the
> > position in which, it would not need yearly fundraiser to stand up and
> keep
> > running ) , like 100 M mentioned in the meta page ?
> >
> > Mardetanha
> >
> > On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 4:22 PM, phoebe ayers 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 12:09 PM, Lisa Gruwell  >
> > > wrote:
> > > > Hi all-
> > > >
> > > > For several years, the Wikimedia movement has been having discussions
> > > >  about whether and when
> to
> > > begin
> > > > building an endowment. I put an essay up on meta recently in an
> attempt
> > > to
> > > > rekindle this conversation with the community.  We included launching
> > an
> > > > endowment in the FY 2015-16 annual plan.
> > >
> > > Fantastic, this is exciting news. I am very happy to see this moving
> > > forward, and will comment on the talk page of the endowment essay.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Nov 30, 2015 at 1:01 PM, Brion Vibber 
> > > wrote:
> > > > Thinking about our social responsibility as an investor is
> > > > probably worthwhile.
> > >
> > > I agree, and this is a good point to bring up.
> > >
> > > The endowment, if it's of a scale that will be effective, will have an
> > > investment manager and perhaps even an investment committee. I think
> > > directing that group to look at investment vehicles (i.e. mutual
> > > funds) with certain value guidelines in mind would be appropriate,
> > > much as we would direct them to have certain financial goals and
> > > levels of risk in mind. Figuring out what those values should be might
> > > not be so easy, but we could look at the investment policies of other
> > > large socially-minded organizations for ideas.
> > >
> > > best,
> > > Phoebe
> > >
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > 
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Tue, 1 Dec 2015 18:25:20 -0500
> > From: Risker 
> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List 
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Endowment Discus

Re: [Wikimedia-l] In Solidarity with Library Genesis and Sci-hub

[Andrea Zanni]

I don't really mind WMF working with closed-access publishers, if that
works.
What I think is that we don't put the same effort  indoing something with
the openaccess world: all the initiatives I know are volunteer-based.

Two pop up in my mind:
the Signalling Open Access project, aimed to put an icon aside every
reference in Wikipedia, to signal if the article is OA or closed. Ask
Daniel Mietchen for updates.

The other one is the possibility of uploading thousands of articles in
wikisource, directly in HTML. Remember, we have Wikipedia Zero: putting
stuff onWikisource means having a free digital library to everyone. In the
recent Wikisource conference in Vienna we talked about that too,  and rhere
is an ongoing discussion in the English Wikisource.

Both these two projects could have a huge impact on open access and in
general for our mission, but they rely on the good will and free time of
few individuals, and have done for years now.

Aubrey
Il 01/dic/2015 03:54 "John Mark Vandenberg"  ha scritto:

> On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 1:32 PM, Milos Rancic  wrote:
> > May we actually stop having anything with these pest?
> >
> > http://custodians.online/
>
> I dont believe we can stop using closed access journals, as that would
> reduce the quality of our projects, but we can use links to them as an
> opportunity to educate the public.
>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_%28idea_lab%29#Solidarity_with_Library_Genesis_and_Sci-Hub
>
> However WMF should discontinue its relationship with Elsevier and
> Taylor & Francis via the 'Wikipedia Library'.
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Elsevier_ScienceDirect
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Taylor_%26_Francis
>
> --
> John Vandenberg
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [GLAM] Video: "Wikipedia, an introduction - Erasmus Prize 2015"

[Andrea Zanni]

It's great :-)

Aubrey

On Thu, Nov 26, 2015 at 10:24 AM, Gerard Meijssen  wrote:

> Hoi,
> There was a real nice musical intermezzo, violin and piano. I spoke with
> the pianist and the violinist and they are happy when we use their music in
> our article(s) on the Erasmus prize :)
> Thanks,
>  GerardM
>
> PS nothing formal was done, but it was said all the same :)
>
> On 26 November 2015 at 09:35, Arne Wossink  wrote:
>
> > Just saw that it already has such a license.
> >
> >
> > Arne Wossink
> >
> > Projectleider / Project Lead Wikimedia Nederland
> >
> > Tel. +31 (0)6 11000505
> >
> > *Postadres*: *
> > Bezoekadres:*
> > Postbus 167Mariaplaats 3
> > 3500 AD  Utrecht Utrecht
> >
> > Op 26 november 2015 09:30 schreef Arne Wossink :
> >
> > > Is this going to be released under a CC license? Would be awesome to
> have
> > > it on Commons.
> > >
> > >
> > > Arne Wossink
> > >
> > > Projectleider / Project Lead Wikimedia Nederland
> > >
> > > Tel. +31 (0)6 11000505
> > >
> > > *Postadres*:
> > > * Bezoekadres:*
> > > Postbus 167Mariaplaats
> 3
> > > 3500 AD  Utrecht Utrecht
> > >
> > > 2015-11-26 8:21 GMT+01:00 Pine W :
> > >
> > >> Beautiful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p8wFdnPfVw
> > >>
> > >> Pine
> > >>
> > >> ___
> > >> GLAM mailing list
> > >> g...@lists.wikimedia.org
> > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/glam
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > ___
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> > 
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Free Bassel

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 3:38 PM, Gerard Meijssen
> >  wrote:
> > > Hoi,
> > > I have started a text..
> > > Thanks,
> > >  GerardM
> > >
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Banner:Free_Bassel
> > >
> > > On 24 November 2015 at 15:25, Pete Forsyth 
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> +1
> > >> Gerard, or Andrea, or anybody who knows better than myself, could you
> > start
> > >> a draft on Meta Wiki with a proposed text for a banner, and where it
> > should
> > >> link/what it should advise readers to do?
> > >> Pete
> > >> On Nov 24, 2015 3:13 AM, "Tito Dutta"  wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Sad news. Agree with everyone here that we should do something.
> > >> >
> > >> > On 24 November 2015 at 16:38, Gerard Meijssen <
> > gerard.meijs...@gmail.com
> > >> >
> > >> > wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > Hoi,
> > >> > > Tomorrow we have a platform as well at the Erasmus award ceremony
> in
> > >> > > Amsterdam. It is Wikipedia, its community that is receiving the
> > award..
> > >> > > Thanks,
> > >> > >  GerardM
> > >> > >
> > >> > > On 24 November 2015 at 12:03, Cristian Consonni <
> > >> kikkocrist...@gmail.com
> > >> > >
> > >> > > wrote:
> > >> > >
> > >> > > > 2015-11-24 10:47 GMT+01:00 Andrea Zanni <
> zanni.andre...@gmail.com
> > >:
> > >> > > > > Use the centralnotice.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > [...]
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > > A Wikipedian, a member of our community sentenced to death for
> > >> > > believing
> > >> > > > in
> > >> > > > > our Mission and Vision is something extraordinary. I
> understand
> > the
> > >> > > > caution
> > >> > > > > of setting a precedent, but I think it's worth it.
> > >> > > > >
> > >> > > > > Also, remember: we have few days before we'll ask money again
> to
> > >> all
> > >> > > the
> > >> > > > > English-speaking countries.
> > >> > > > > How could we ask for money when we are not using the power
> that
> > was
> > >> > > > > bestowed upon us by the very same spirit, love and courage
> that
> > is
> > >> > > > > condemning Bassel to death?
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > I strongly support this.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > As for the precedent, recall that the Wikimedia Foundation
> > supports
> > >> > > > the users, we did this with User:Diu in Greece:
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > >
> > >> > >
> > >> >
> > >>
> >
> https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/02/14/wikimedia-foundation-supports-wikipedia-user-subject-to-defamation-lawsuit-in-greece/
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > This is much more than a lawsuit.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > A message I do not want us to send is that if you enough force
> or
> > the
> > >> > > > threat is big enough, then we, as a movement, will be scared
> away.
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > C
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > > ___
> > >> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > >> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > >> > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > >> > > > Unsubscribe:
> > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > >> > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org
> > ?subject=unsubscribe>
> > >> > > >
> > >> > > ___
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> > https://lists.wikim

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] FDC recommendations for 2015-2016 Round 1 APG grant requests

[Andrea Zanni]

Il 25/nov/2015 05:01 "MZMcBride"  ha scritto:

> The Wikimedia Foundation has a section under "Organisation-specific
> remarks", but isn't included in the "Funding recommendations" chart and
> there's no amount requested, amount allocated, or proposal listed for the
> Wikimedia Foundation. Why is that?
>
> If Wikimedia Deutschland is required to separate out costs for Wikidata,
> does that mean that the Wikimedia Foundation is required to split out
> costs for Wikipedia and its other projects? I'd be quite curious to know
> how much money is being spent by the Wikimedia Foundation on Wiktionary or
> Wikinews or Wikiversity.
>
> I think this is a very good question. It would be very useful to know how
much the sister projects cost (in terms of energy, bandwidth). I'll add
that it would be useful to know how many donations come from theirs
banners.

I think I'm not mistaken to assume that there is no other cost involved (as
there is no software development for any of them).
Aubrey


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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Free Bassel

[Andrea Zanni]

It one day that I have this reply in my Drafts...

---

On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 6:25 PM, Samir Elsharbaty  wrote:

> Some suggestions of things we can do:
>

Use the centralnotice.

---

Gerard said it too.
I understand that this is something unprecedented, as it was the Wikipedia
"strike" for SOPA/PIPA.
I don't know how diplomacy works: but I bet everyone in the world would be
scared when Wikipedia puts something in the most visible place in the
world.
We could add a black ribbon to the logo, or use directly the CentralNotice.

I'd like to invite the Board and Lila and the whole Community to seriously
think about it.

A Wikipedian, a member of our community sentenced to death for believing in
our Mission and Vision is something extraordinary. I understand the caution
of setting a precedent, but I think it's worth it.

Also, remember: we have few days before we'll ask money again to all the
English-speaking countries.
How could we ask for money when we are not using the power that was
bestowed upon us by the very same spirit, love and courage that is
condemning Bassel to death?

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Paris

[Andrea Zanni]

Megan Hernandez, from WMF, living in Paris, is well.
I hope she don't mind me saying in public, but she was the only one I
didn't check, and replied to me few minutes ago.

Aubrey

On Sat, Nov 14, 2015 at 12:54 PM, Christophe Henner <
christophe.hen...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Drop an email to me or text me +33650664739
>
> @Milos who is it ? Can y ou share his name in private please so I can see
> if we can reach out ?
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Christophe
>
> On 14 November 2015 at 12:42, Milos Rancic  wrote:
>
> > Also, non-French Wikimedians currently in Paris: May you contact WMFR and
> > tell you are OK? (For WMFR: What's the best way to do that?)
> >
> > I see on Facebook one Wikimedian currently in "affected area" not "marked
> > as safe", so I suppose there could be others, as well.
> > On Nov 14, 2015 11:50, "Milos Rancic"  wrote:
> >
> > > Christophe, thank you for the update! It's good to hear that all of you
> > > are well!
> > > On Nov 14, 2015 11:26, "Christophe Henner" <
> christophe.hen...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Hi Everyone,
> > >>
> > >> Sorry didn't thought of coming here (long night for me had to work).
> > >>
> > >> Nathalie, WMFr ED, checked all staff in.
> > >> From all we could gather over the last hours, so far all parisians
> > >> wikimedians are ok. Can't be 100% sure as we have some who still have
> to
> > >> answer but so far so good.
> > >>
> > >> Thank you all for your kind words. It was a long night, will be a long
> > >> week-end and hard time... for the second time in the year.
> > >>
> > >> Thanks again.
> > >>
> > >> Take care of you and the people you love
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Christophe
> > >>
> > >> On 14 November 2015 at 09:51, Giuliana Mancini <
> > >> direttore-gener...@wikimedia.it> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > Dear Nathalie,
> > >> > I want to express our solidariety from Italy with all of you for the
> > >> awful
> > >> > things that happened yesterday.
> > >> > If we can do anything, here we are.
> > >> >
> > >> > Giuliana
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > Il 14/11/15 04:09, Sydney Poore ha scritto:
> > >> >
> > >> > Alex, thanks for sharing this information. My thoughts are with
> > >> Wikimedians
> > >> >> and their family and friends.
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Take care,
> > >> >> Sydney
> > >> >>
> > >> >> Sydney Poore
> > >> >> User:FloNight
> > >> >> Wikipedian in Residence
> > >> >> at Cochrane Collaboration
> > >> >>
> > >> >> On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 7:19 PM, Alex Cella 
> > >> wrote:
> > >> >>
> > >> >> All the staff is safe, I'm in touch with them.
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>> Thnaks for asking.
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>> --
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>> *Alex Cella*
> > >> >>> Finance Fellow
> > >> >>> ace...@wikimedia.org
> > >> >>> LinkedIn 
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>> Wikimedia Foundation
> > >> >>> 149 New Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA., 94105
> > >> >>> www.wikimediafoundation.org
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>> On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 4:09 PM, Milos Rancic 
> > >> wrote:
> > >> >>>
> > >> >>> May WMFR coordinate efforts to inform us if all Wikimedians from
> > Paris
> > >> 
> > >> >>> are
> > >> >>>
> > >>  live and well?
> > >>  ___
> > >>  Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
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> > >> 
> > >> >>> ___
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> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
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> > >> >>>  > ?subject=unsubscribe>
> > >> >>>
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> > >> >>
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] I'll be moving on

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Jan.
I do understand what you say, and I'm happy for you that a new chapter of
your life is beginning.
Happy editing, and happy new life.

Tack


Aubrey

On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 10:22 AM, Jan Ainali  wrote:

> All,
>
> For the last three years I have been the Executive Director for Wikimedia
> Sverige. Before that I have been Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary of the
> board (at different times) and have been involved since the founding of the
> chapter in 2007. It is perhaps even an understatement to say that the
> chapter has been a big part of my life. I have had the opportunity to be
> part of a fantastic journey from starting the first chapter’s activities to
> today, with stable strategic activities, seven people in the office, and a
> diversified board. It has been an awesome time in my life and I have met
> and worked with some truly wonderful persons along the way, and I am
> thankful to all of you that have made it so inspiring. But now, as my
> contract is about to come to an end, I feel that it is time for me to move
> on to new endeavours. I am confident that the chapter is already in good
> hands, with a professional board and an office with experienced staff
> members and functional processes, but I’ll be around until at least the
> beginning of January to make it a smooth transition.
>
> I will obviously always be a wikimedian at heart and probably pick up on my
> editing again and I will also stay subscribed to most mailing lists. If not
> earlier, I’ll see you in Esino Lario.
>
> Best regards,
>
> *Jan Ainali*
> Executive director, Wikimedia Sverige 
>
>
>
> *Tänk dig en värld där varje människa har fri tillgång till mänsklighetens
> samlade kunskap. Det är det vi gör.*
> Bli medlem. 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Biggest disappointment from Wikimania 2017

[Andrea Zanni]

Hi Yaroslav


> To be honest, I can not recollect a single instance WMF people ever
>> apologized to the community for any decision, even when it was immediately
>> clear that they screwed up badly (like removing admin rights on WMF Wiki
>> etc).
>
>
I think it's worth remembering one time they did: a month ago they, when
they decided to change the schedule of the fundraising in Italy, as it was
conflicting with Wiki Loves Monuments.

I understand your point, of course, but I think it's fair to recall the
good things as well as the bad ones, if we want to improve this
relationship.

Aubrey

>
> Yaroslav
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wiki Loves Monuments] Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy largely blocked by WMF fundraising

[Andrea Zanni]

On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 3:01 PM, Andreas Kolbe  wrote:

> Unless "just" meant something like "five hours" ago, Andrea at least only
> seems to have learned of this agreement *after* the RfC launched.
>

Yes, it was meant as "a few hours ago".
I received the mail from Lisa's before the Romaine sent his mail about the
RfC.
We just did not announce it immediately (it was Sunday, and we are in
diferent time zones, so communication is not really easy).
Mind you that we spoke the whole week and also the weekend, this is not a
decision that
the WMF has taken lightly.
I'd like to look at it as a good example of creation of consent (which
takes a lot of time and negotiation, as we all know).

Cheers

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wiki Loves Monuments] Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy largely blocked by WMF fundraising

[Andrea Zanni]

gt; > >
> > > And even after explaining the community perspective many times by
> multiple
> > > people, I still have the impression some people in WMF still do not
> really
> > > get it.
> > >
> > > I had the occasion in the past weeks that I spoke with people from WMF
> who
> > > are working for the foundation for some years, and I had to explain
> what
> > > Wiki Loves Monuments is. (And that was not the first time.) It is the
> > > largest project of the movement, recognised as largest photo contest
> in the
> > > world, and some WMF people do not know or understand. I was so
> friendly to
> > > explain it of course, but it gave mixed feelings.
> > >
> > > And even after explaining the community perspective many times by
> multiple
> > > people, they do not really get it.
> > >
> > > Lessons to be learned:
> > > * Do not assume that the fundraising team takes the best position for
> the
> > > movement, they have a target to make.
> > > * Do not assume the fundraising team plays a fair play. They have a
> lot of
> > > weight and use it.
> > > * Do not assume that their first offer (in case of a blocking banner)
> is a
> > > balanced, reasonable and well thought one.
> > > * Do not expect them to know how much the impact is of something.
> > > * Do expect them to offer empty shells/boxes/etc and are not impressed
> by
> > > those.
> > > * Say always no if they ask if a blocking banner or two banners at the
> > > same time is okay. It has a devastating effect on your results. Yes you
> > > can, some chapters did and that was taken into account seriously.
> > > * Always have the complete team involved in the communication, and even
> > > think of asking advisers (from outside WMF) for support and feedback
> on the
> > > proposals. Always have someone involved who has years of experience in
> this
> > > matter, otherwise you loose and the whole community looses.
> > >
> > > But I think the best lesson learned is: with every blocking banner, let
> > > the community publicly decide what should be chosen.
> > >
> > > Romaine
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > 2015-08-30 14:00 GMT+02:00 Steinsplitter Wiki <
> steinsplitter-w...@live.com
> > > >:
> > >
> > >> I 100% agree with rupert's thoughts.
> > >>
> > >> Wiki(p|m)edia was and is mad be volunteers, therefore volunteer first
> > >> should apply. Volunteers are contributing the content for exactly zero
> > >> dollars per hour. It is all because of free knowledge and other
> stuff, but
> > >> not about money. It looks like money is fore some people moor
> important
> > >> than free knowledge. It is frustrating...
> > >>
> > >> Regards,
> > >> Steinsplitter
> > >>
> > >> > From: rupert.thur...@gmail.com
> > >> > Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2015 21:35:46 +0200
> > >> > To: janb...@wikimedia.org; patricio.lore...@gmail.com;
> > >> me.ly...@gmail.com; ubifri...@gmail.com; jmh...@gmail.com;
> > >> dar...@alk.edu.pl; denny.vrande...@kit.edu; jwa...@wikia.com;
> > >> s...@wikimedia.org
> > >> > CC: wikilovesmonume...@lists.wikimedia.org;
> > >> wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > >> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wiki Loves Monuments] Wiki Loves
> Monuments
> > >> in Italy largely blocked by WMF fundraising
> > >> >
> > >> > dear board,
> > >> >
> > >> > allow me to directly ask you to stop these fundraising persons to
> spoil
> > >> > wiki loves monuments because of less than intelligent KPIs. WMF
> cannot
> > >> and
> > >> > should not behave like an elephant in the porcelain shop. there is a
> > >> simple
> > >> > technical solution to the problem below, to have a combined banner
> for
> > >> WLM
> > >> > and donation. it is impossible that more money at stake as is
> covered by
> > >> > the reserves, isn't it? i am really lacking words here ... the only
> > >> ones i
> > >> > could find would not be compliant with the friendly space policy.
> if we
> > >> as
> > >> > movement do not follow through the "volunteer first" rule than it is
> > >> better
> > >> > to dissolve WMF, or split it in two parts, one h

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wiki Loves Monuments] Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy largely blocked by WMF fundraising

[Andrea Zanni]

s.
We are all part of the same movement: the work of the WMF fundraising team
is strictly linked to that of the community. We would like to be confident
that what is happening now won't happen for a third time, and that in the
future we will be able to communicate more effectively and work more
collaboratively.
We really are looking forward a more effective cooperation with WMF and all
other Wikimedia Affiliates: collaboration is the very pillar of all the
Wikimedia movement.

We would like to thank all the people who supported us and gave us opinions
and advices on this mailing list and elsewhere.
We are very proud to be part of such a great community, and we would like
to see it become wider and bigger.

Andrea Zanni
for the board of Wikimedia Italia
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wiki Loves Monuments] Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy largely blocked by WMF fundraising

[Andrea Zanni]

I think Andrew is right: the WLM banner serves as a pointer, and it's very
easy to remember "go on Wikipedia and click into the banner on the top".
It's much more difficult to remember the strange name of the contest (in
Italy it's still called "Wiki Loves Monuments", even if it's English).

And of course we do not have good analytics for the banner: nobody knows
homw many page views there are in a single wiki per day, so we cannot count
the clickthroughs (which we have as the link is on a WLM landing page).

Aubrey



On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 6:02 PM, Andrew Gray 
wrote:

> On 19 August 2015 at 14:26, Sam Klein  wrote:
> > There's a more general problem here we should fix:
> >
> > We already know that effectiveness of any single banner drops off
> > dramatically after the first few views.  So there's rarely a reason to
> run
> > a continuous banner -- certainly not if there are other banners to run.
>
> I think we should be cautious about using our fundraising experience
> to predict the efficiency of 'delayed call-to-action' banners like WLM
> - to my mind they seem to function in quite different roles.
>
> The fundraising banner is calling for an immediate action. You see it,
> and you either donate or you don't. If you decide not to donate, you
> probably won't decide to donate on seeing it tomorrow, either; while
> if you have donated, you're probably not going to donate again. So the
> banner being repeated doesn't gain us much, and it has progressively
> less value on the third, fourth, fifth appearances. There are
> relatively few people who see a fundraising banner and decide "I'll
> sleep on it", then come back tomorrow and donate. And if they *do*,
> well - there's a donate link on every page, once they're looking for
> it.
>
> However, WLM is calling for a delayed action - "go off, do something,
> and come back again to tell us about it".
>
> The most desired outcome is probably that a previously uninvolved
> person will see it, click through, think "that sounds fun", and go off
> to take some photos - after all, it's running all month, they can do
> it at the weekend. A few days later they come back, and want to upload
> their photos... but if the banner's not there on Wikipedia, they won't
> really know where to go. They might not remember the name ("Wiki
> something?"), making it hard to search for the contest, and they
> probably didn't bookmark the WLM pages. There isn't anything else on
> the page that would help to take them there, and if they're not
> involved in the projects already they probably won't know where the
> information's likely to be. If we can't make sure they can find WLM
> easily when they return, then we've wasted the original call to
> action, we've wasted the potential contributions, *and*, most
> importantly, we've wasted their time and goodwill.
>
> I think this difference in intended response styles makes it hard to
> generalise from the "diminishing returns" experienced on fundraising.
> Yes, a repeated banner will get progressively diminishing
> clickthroughs. But with WLM, those second clickthroughs in some ways
> provide the "value" to the first clickthrough - they need to return to
> make the campaign a success, which isn't really a concern for
> fundraising. We need to make sure that that channel is open and
> visible in some way when they come back.
>
> Andrew.
>
> --
> - Andrew Gray
>   andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy largely blocked by WMF fundraising

[Andrea Zanni]

[sorry for cross-posting]

Hello everyone.

Thanks Romaine for bringing up this issue, because it's good to talk these
kind of things together with the whole community. It's a way to improve
collaboration, I hope.

Yes, this year WLM and FR will split banners in Semptember: we reached an
agreement in which
* 1-7 September: everyone see a WLM banner
 * 8-22 September: everyone see a fundraising banner
 * 23-30 September: the traffic will be split 50/50 between the WLM
campaign and the fundraising campaign. (50% of readers will see a
fundraising banner and 50% will see the WLM campaign.)

We asked also a bigger percentage of visibility during the last 2-3 days of
September, as they are very important days in terms of number of photo
uploads: we'll see if we manage to find an agreement also there.

I'd like to declare that the conversation with the fundraising team have
been nothing less than polite and contructive: at the same time, there *is*
a "banner conflict", and we will both suffer from this.
Last year (WLM 2014) we had the same problem, but in the end FR decided to
leave us the banner for the whole September, but the final days.

This year the conflict is on the whole month of September, and WLM in Italy
will definitely suffer (as it does also in normal conditions ;-).
This is a pity because:
* FR decided to use September months ago, and they are now in a rush and
cannot really change their plans
* WMIT decided to run WLM on September months ago as well, as it has done
for the past 4 years. WMIT also declared his plans on WLM in the FDC
appplication, reviewed in May. Knowing also that last year there was the
same issue, it's fair to say, I hope, that from WMIT part there was no lack
of communication.

I agree with Maarten that, in the end, it's WMF decision the one that
counts.
This is why we were firm in stating our position but did not put up a fight
(or a scene). We manage to reach a more favorable agreement for WLM (we
asked for the first and last week of September, as they are in our opinion
the most important).

What we plan to do now is discussing the issue also with the Funds
Dissemination Committee, as it will impact our goals and figures and
metrics. Moreover, we do have sponsors in Italy for WLM, and it will not be
easy to explain them if numbers drop dramatically.
Lorenzo will explain to you what WLM means in terms of organization and
management in Italy.

Of course, this is the last time this problem has to happen. If the WMF is
committed in running the FR banner in September in Italy (it seems it's the
most favorable month), WMIT will have to change WLM and run it in October.
I don't see other solutions.

I hope this mail cleared a bit the situation.

Cheers

Andrea Zanni
Wikimedia Italia

On Wed, Aug 19, 2015 at 10:32 AM, Peter Southwood <
peter.southw...@telkomsa.net> wrote:

> Is there not a method for time to be booked in advance for these things?
> Like a year in advance, so projects can be planned properly and not
> crippled at the last minute?
> Peter
>
> -Original Message-
> From: wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
> wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Liam Wyatt
> Sent: Tuesday, 18 August 2015 10:06 PM
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List
> Cc: Wiki Loves Monuments Photograph Competition
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wiki Loves Monuments in Italy largely blocked
> by WMF fundraising
>
> On Tuesday, 18 August 2015, attolippip  wrote:
>
> >
> > Can we get the WMF comments about it publicly?
> >
> >  The WMF Fundraising department asked me to submit my own comments and
> feedback from previous years that can be taken into account for the
> 2015-16 fundraiser at:
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/2015-16_Fundraising_ideas
>
> Some of the feedback is "perennial" - we have the same debates every year.
> But, if that is the page where the Fundraising team have requested
> comments about the forthcoming fundraiser be placed, then I suggest that
> people use it.
>
> -Liam
>
>
> --
> wittylama.com
> Peace, love & metadata
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Environmental impact of Wikipedia

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Guillaume, didn't find those.

It's kinda difficult though to find some useful numbers in those threads,
and some arguments I'm reading are completely crazy :-)
So I think it would be good to start a new thread.
Moreover, WMF is pretty bigger than it was in 2007 or 2009,
and I think a new discussion is due.
Climate change is a fact, governments are talking about that all the time,
even the pope wrote an encyclical about that!
It's an important topic, and I bet it is also for our donors.

I'm not really interested in talking about efficiency, as I take for
granted that Engineering team is trying hard to optimize the whole thing,
which is also good in terms of carbon emissions.

What are we doing, beside that?
Do we have a rough estimate of the impact of Wikipedia (authorship,
readership, servers. Not talking about plane tickets here.)?

Aubrey

On Sun, Jul 5, 2015 at 6:12 PM, Guillaume Paumier 
wrote:

> Hello Andrea,
>
> Le dimanche 5 juillet 2015, 17:45:34 Andrea Zanni a écrit :
> >
> > I tried to find the info myself, with little success:
> > I'm interested to know about the environmental impact of running
> Wikipedia
> > (carbon emissions, etc.) and what we are doing about it.
> > Sorry if I missed wikimedia-l threads, or other sources.
>
> Here are a couple of old threads to get you started:
>
> 2007: "WMF-projects: Carbon neutral/low/aware website?"
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/17517
>
> 2009: "Wikimedia and Environment"
> http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.org.wikimedia.foundation/43381
>
> The numbers discussed in those threads are undoubtedly out of date, but I
> imagine some of the arguments still apply.
>
> Hope that helps :)
>
> --
> Guillaume Paumier
>
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[Wikimedia-l] Environmental impact of Wikipedia

[Andrea Zanni]

Hello everyone.
I tried to find the info myself, with little success:
I'm interested to know about the environmental impact of running Wikipedia
(carbon emissions, etc.) and what we are doing about it.
Sorry if I missed wikimedia-l threads, or other sources.

The only thing I found regarding a green data center is a 2009 press
release [1].
If I understand correctly, it was a carbon neutral data center.

But, it was 2009. Now, it seems that we have a new data center [2][3].

I'm wondering what is the environmental impact of it, as "encironmental
impact" was in the primary requirements for the choice [3].
More generally: does the Wikimedia Foundation have a "green" policy? Do
other chapters? What can we do about it? Are we interested in doing
something about it?

IMHO, I think we should discuss this.
I remember quite vividly that a representative of Greenpeace, at Wikimania
in London, was quite clear in saying that we are not really good in this
matter.

As Wikimedia, as a whole, is more and more exposed (we now fight for the
privacy of our users, (and I'm personally very proud of it)),
and as we are the 5th website in the world, maybe it's a topic worth
talking.

Thank you

Aubrey


[1]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_Selects_EvoSwitch_June_2009
[2]
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/05/05/wikimedia-foundation-selects-cyrusone-in-dallas-as-new-data-center/
[3]
http://www.cyrusone.com/data-center-locations/dallas-data-center-carrollton/#a1
[4]
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/RFP/2013_Datacenter#Primary_Requirements
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thousands of images on Wikipedia and Commons in danger, action needed

[Andrea Zanni]

FWIW, today WIkimedia Italia had a Barcamp at the Italian Parliament to
talk about Wiki Loves Monuments, FOP (which we already don't have) and
related stuff.
Several politicians were present and we discussed also this matter.
They already alerted their MEPs.
Hopefully this will contribute to the discussion.

Aubrey

On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 7:30 PM, Yaroslav M. Blanter 
wrote:

> On 2015-06-22 19:07, Gergő Tisza wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 8:16 AM, Newyorkbrad 
>> wrote:
>>
>>  Just out of curiosity, if this legislation were to pass in Europe, and
>>> (for example) an American tourist took a photograph of a covered
>>> building in Europe and posted it when he or she arrived back in the
>>> U.S., would it be deleted on the ground that the image was non-free at
>>> the site, or kept on the ground that it was free where it was posted?
>>>
>>>
>> No one knows for sure. See
>>
>> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Freedom_of_panorama#Choice_of_law
>> ___
>>
>
> Whereas this is correct in principle, in a situation Brad describes the
> photo most certainly will be deleted. Also, I do not see how the photo is
> free in the US, due to URAA provisions.
>
> Cheers
> Yaroslav
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Renewal of the Recognition to Wikisource Community User Group

[Andrea Zanni]

Yes!

Thank you Carlos and all the AffCom for the renewal.
It's a good moment for Wikisource (as an international project), and we are
already preparing a survey for the whole community, to get feedbacks and
opinions for future projects.
We are trying really hard to coordinate and build a committed,
international community.
Also, we are setting up and international conference in Austria, this fall.

We hope that our efforts will be enough to build a strong and working
collaboration with Chapters and the Wikimedia Foundation: unfortunately,
Wikisource projects are really in need of serious development (especially
in terms of software).
The fun part is that cheap, low-hanging fruits are still to be achieved.
My favourite example is that the Wikisource Proofreading contest produces
every year thousands of proofread and validated pages, in just one week,
with little organization needed (and almost no budget). [3]

If you are interested in anything Wikisource-related, please join the
mailing list [1].
Here some stats about the global project [2].

Thanks again!

Aubrey

[1] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikisource-l
[2] http://tools.wmflabs.org/phetools/statistics.php
[3] Look at the spikes at the end of 2013 and 2014:
http://tools.wmflabs.org/phetools/graphs/Wikisource_-_validated_pages_per_day.png

On Sun, Jun 21, 2015 at 10:30 AM, James Alexander 
wrote:

>
> > On Jun 21, 2015, at 00:52, Carlos M. Colina 
> wrote:
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > On behalf of the Affiliations Committee, I am honoured to announce the
> renewal of the recognition of Wikisource Community User Group as a
> Wikimedia User Group. They have been working hard this past year and it is
> the Affiliations Committee's opinion that they meet the criteria for having
> their user group status renewed indefinitely, starting the date of
> publication of the resolution.
> >
> > Congratulations!!!
>
> Congrats! I absolutely love wikisource both as a reader and (more and
> more) as an editor. I'm excited to see the user group continuing to move
> forward.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
> James Alexander
> Legal and Community Advocacy
> Wikimedia Foundation
> +1 415-839-6885 x6716
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Farewell

[Andrea Zanni]

Goodbye Fabrice, and thank you for all your enthusiasm.
It was very appreciated :-)
Good luck!

Aubrey

On Fri, Jun 19, 2015 at 8:34 AM, Michael Jahn 
wrote:

> May your next steps be joyful, thrilling and challenging. All the best to
> you, Fabrice!
> Michael
>
> 2015-06-18 18:25 GMT+02:00 Fabrice Florin :
>
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > After three great years working at the foundation, the time has come to
> > say goodbye.
> >
> > I will be leaving WMF at the end of June, to spend more time with my
> > family, focus on personal art projects and consult part-time on worthy
> > causes.
> >
> > I would like to thank all the community and team members I have had the
> > pleasure to work with over the years. It has been an honor to serve our
> > movement together — and to help our contributors share free knowledge
> with
> > each other and the world.
> >
> > I’m particularly grateful to Katherine Maher and our WMF communications
> > team for being such wonderful collaborators. I really enjoyed working
> with
> > them to manage and edit the Wikimedia blog, help grow our team and
> publish
> > some great stories together, to celebrate the heroes of our movement.
> >
> > Going forward, WMF's Juliet Barbara will manage the Wikimedia blog, in
> > close collaboration with Ed Erhart. As many of you know, Ed is the former
> > editor-in-chief of the Wikipedia Signpost and has now joined our team for
> > the summer. I've worked with him for nearly a month now and find him
> > uniquely qualified for this project. Starting today, please contact them
> > directly with any questions about the blog (they are Cc:d on this
> message).
> >
> > After June 30, you can reach me at  — or follow
> > me on Twitter ( @fabriceflorin ) or on my blog (
> http://fabriceflorin.com
> > ).
> >
> > The last three years have been an incredible experience for me, and I am
> > grateful for all that I have learned from so many of you. You’ve been an
> > inspiration to me and I have many fond memories of our time together. I
> > wish you all the best with the next chapter of the Wikimedia movement and
> > can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with next.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> >
> > Fabrice
> >
> > ___
> >
> > Fabrice Florin
> > Movement Communications Manager
> > Wikimedia Foundation
> >
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Fabrice_Florin_(WMF)
> >
> >
> > ___
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> > 
>
>
>
>
> --
> Leiter Kommunikation
> Head of Communications
>
> Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Tempelhofer Ufer 23-24 | 10963 Berlin
> Tel. (030) 219 158 260
>
> http://wikimedia.de 
>
> Stellen Sie sich eine Welt vor, in der jeder Mensch freien Zugang zu der
> Gesamtheit des Wissens der Menschheit hat. Helfen Sie uns dabei!
>
> Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] What's cool?

[Andrea Zanni]

TL;DR: the Italian Wikisource has been indexed by a digital library
platform used by over 4500 libraries in Italy [1]. This means that over
3500 texts (proofread and/or validated) can be read by library patrons.
Many libraries will add them to the catalog too (!).


Longer and librarianer explanation. Some knowledge of Wikisource is needed
too :-)
As an employee of MediaLibrary Online, I worked in these months to get all
the metadata and index the texts from Italian Wikisource. A bit of
perspective

* All the texts have been either proofread or validated.
* They are not all whole books: we indexed the texts directly in namespace
0 (and not in the Index: namespace), in order to provide the user a better
search experience and findability.
This, in our opinion, is very important: we used the MediaWiki API to
retrieve all the data, and some HTML scraping for the rest :-)
* We link directly the EPUB generated by the awesome tool from Tpt, but
also to the page in Wikisource.
* We automatically generated the EPUB covers for every text which didn't
have one.
Ex: http://www.medialibrary.it/media/scheda.aspx?id=850275912

MediaLibraryOnline is a digital platform that provide Italian libraries
with the possibility of lend digital resource, as ebook or audiobooks.
It's not just "a portal on the Internet", but a service used and managed by
single libraries for their uses.
It also has an "Open" collection, freely accessible and downloadable for
everyone (and not only the patrons of the libraries which have access to
MediaLibrary).

I've been hired few months ago to develop such collection, and this is a
major milestone for us (and for me :-).
I'm expecially excited by the fact that now Wikisource ebooks "enter" in
the collection of libraries, and often in their very catalog.
I think it is a very good step forward for our project, and I'm eager to
replicate this project with other Wikisources as well :-)

If needed, I can explain some details.

[1]
http://www.medialibrary.it/media/ricerca.aspx?seltip=310&selarg=-1&keywords=
wikisource&x=0&y=0&portalId=1


On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 9:52 PM, Keilana  wrote:

> That's such a wonderful, sweet project! :) It seems likely infeasible for
> bigger projects but as a way to build a strong small wiki community, I
> think it's amazing!
>
> Kudos to you!
>
> -Emily
>
> On Thu, Jun 11, 2015 at 2:35 PM, attolippip  wrote:
>
> > Oh, Liam, you are right :)
> >
> > We award the "best newbie of the month" on Ukrainian Wikipedia and award
> > him/her with a can of condensed milk via post [1]
> > (we also award with a can of condensed milk the "best contributor of the
> > month", and want to do it is a few smaller wikiprojects as well
> (Wikiquote,
> > f.ex.))
> >
> > For this we create the lists with all contributions (main namespace only)
> > for all users per project per months [2] and look if the contributions
> are
> > in line with the rules (no copyright violation, vandalism etc.). Then a
> > message on the talk page with a picture of a can and after the winner
> gives
> > us his/her postal address, we send him/her the can itself :) [3]
> >
> > It is sweet. I can vouch for that :)
> >
> > [1]
> >
> >
> https://ua.wikimedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%89%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%88%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%8E
> > [2]
> >
> >
> https://ua.wikimedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%89%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%88%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%8E/bb:%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%96%D1%8F
> > [3] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Zgushchivka_poshtoyu
> >
> > Best regards,
> > antanana
> > ED of Wikimedia Ukraine
> >
> > 2015-06-11 22:04 GMT+03:00 Liam Wyatt :
> >
> > > And the award for for the first negative comment on this thread that is
> > > designed to be "about things going right" goes to Trilliam.
> > > Congratulations on being the official "party pooper" of Wikimedia-l.
> > There
> > > will be cake tomorrow.
> > >
> > > To return to nice things, and in response to the previous message by A
> > > ntanana:
> > > I learned a few months ago that in the Ukrainian Wikipedia they don't
> > give
> > > out "barnstars", the give out "cans of condensed milk"! Why? Because
> > > they're sweet :-)
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D1%96%D0%BA%D1%96%D0%BF%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%96%D1%8F:%D0%97%D0%B3%D1%83%D1%89%D1%96%D0%B2%D0%BA%D0%B0
> > >
> > >
> > > And, please correct me if I'm wrong Antanana, but you also identify the
> > > "best newbie" each month on the Ukrainian Wikipedia and physically
> send a
> > > can of condensed milk to that person in the mail?! I think that's just
> > the
> > > coolest, funnest, most unique way of celebrating new contributors I've
> > > heard of!
> > >
> > > -Liam / Wittylama.
> > >
> > > wittylama.com
> > > Peace, love & metadata
> > >
> > ___
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> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.

Re: [Wikimedia-l] While Election committee counts the votes...

[Andrea Zanni]

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 4:38 AM, Luis Villa  wrote:

> (I know some FOSS communities are having good experiences with
> discourse.org, for example.)
>

Please, please, can we do that too? :-)
FWIW, I studied Discourse a bit and I think it has enormous potential.
It is developed with the explicit goal of fostering rational discussion and
discouraging trolling and harassment and all the awful things that make the
Internet the awful place it often is.
As we are the awesome, shiny part of the Internet, we should know better.
It's worth a try.

Aubrey
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Conference 2015

[Andrea Zanni]

[sorry for cross-posting]

Hello everyone,
I would like spend a minute thanking Wikimedia Deutschland for organizing
the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin, and thanking everyone who participated
in it.

I'd like to say out loud that I really liked the atmosphere, that I enjoy
more and more the simple fact that when we are together (chapters, WMF,
affiliates, user groups, everyone) we feel like a movement, we act like a
movement, we work and eat and drink and dance together and we argue much
less than when we are online, typing in front of screens.

Yes, it not easy and cheap to travel half the world just to meet in person.
Yes, there are differences and past and present disagremeents, but when we
can actually *talk* they just fade back.

I think it is important (at least sometimes) to use wikimedia-l (as other
mailing lists) to discuss things that work :-), to express gratitude and
say out loud things that pleased us.

I, for example, learned a lot about the ongoing transformation of the
Wikimedia Foundation: many things are changing, they are working a lot, and
very often we as affiliates do not notice these things.
I saw many changes towards a better, more open and more collaborative
Foundation, and I don't know many times I heard WMF employees asking for
feedback and help.

So.
This is a open and shameless request for assumption of good faith, request
I'd like to make to all of us.
We'll have plenty of time to argue and discuss again,
but let's take a moment to celebrate what we are and the fact that with our
collaborative effort the world sucks a little less.
It's time that we rebuild the a "we", as in "We, Wikimedia".

Have a nice weekend.

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Helping Nepal Through Collaborative Mapping

[Andrea Zanni]

We're going to do one in Italy too.More info soon.

Aubrey

On Wed, Apr 29, 2015 at 11:57 AM, Jan Ainali 
wrote:

> And in the Stockholm Area:
>
> HOT Mapping for Nepal
> https://se.wikimedia.org/wiki/Projekt:HOT_2015/Jordb%C3%A4vning_i_Nepal
> Today, 17.00-21.00 CEST
>
>
>
> *Best regards,Jan Ainali*
>
> CEO, Wikimedia Sverige 
> 0729 - 67 29 48
>
>
> *Tänk dig en värld där varje människa har fri tillgång till mänsklighetens
> samlade kunskap. Det är det vi gör.*
> Bli medlem. 
>
>
> 2015-04-29 0:48 GMT+02:00 Raymond Leonard  >:
>
> > For those of us in the Seattle area:
> >
> > HOT Mapping for Nepal
> > http://www.meetup.com/MaptimeSEA/events/222141886/
> > Thursday, April 30, 2015, 6:00 PM
> >
> > Yours,
> > Peaceray
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 28, 2015 at 3:14 PM, Jake Orlowitz 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Great article about how you can use pitch in with the Humanitarian
> > > OpenStreetMaps Team (HOT) to aid Nepal rescue and recovery:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.fastcoexist.com/3045527/one-way-you-can-help-nepal-right-now-all-you-need-is-a-computer-and-a-little-time
> > >
> > > I'm going to check it out.
> > >
> > > Jake (Ocaasi)
> > > ___
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> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > 
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> > 
> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Not all pixels are created equals: introducing brand new Wikimedia France's metrics

[Andrea Zanni]

As always, every tool is developed thinking about Wikipedia and Commons,
never all the other sister projects!
What about those poor pixels?
Are they different from Commons pixels??!?!!1!

Luckily, today the WMF said otherwise:
see the "Sister projects" news here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01/News_and_notes

Aubrey


On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 10:12 PM, Pierre-Selim 
wrote:

> 2015-04-01 22:09 GMT+02:00 Marc A. Pelletier :
>
> > On 15-04-01 03:58 PM, Pierre-Selim wrote:
> > > This is only the beginning: next step is the measurement of cute
> pixels,
> > > encyclopedic pixels and amazing pixels.
> >
> > That metric is all wrong, because it presumes that all pixels are
> > equally valuable.  Surely, you should be also assigning weights to
> > pixels depending on how much information they carry - background pixels
> > out of the FOV aren't worth as much!
> >
> > Also, some historic pixels may be worth several newer ones.  Pixel
> > valuation is an art as much as it is a science.
> >
>
> Thank you for your valuable input, we will think about it for next
> iterations.
>
>
> >
> > -- Marc
> >
> > Ouais bon, poisson d'avril?  :-)
> >
>
> :-)
>
>
>
> >
> >
> >
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
>
>
>
>
> --
> Pierre-Selim
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] The Signpost, 1 April 2015

[Andrea Zanni]

Well, I was really excited about the Sister project news... :-(

(but I think it's a pretty neat joke)

Aubrey

On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 9:10 PM, Asaf Bartov  wrote:

> (reminder: This is a prank, for "April Fools Day".  Please feel free to
> ignore this issue entirely, or at any rate don't waste your time responding
> to this or getting upset/excited by it.)
>
>A.
>
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 10:06 PM, Wikipedia Signpost <
> wikipediasignp...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > News and notes: New edits-by-mail option will "revolutionize" Wikipedia
> and
> > its editor base
> >
> >
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01/News_and_notes
> >
> > Special report: Pictures of the Year 2015
> >
> >
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01/Special_report
> >
> > Featured content: Stop Press. *Marie Celeste* Mystery Solved. Crew Found
> > Hiding In Wardrobe.
> >
> >
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01/Featured_content
> >
> >
> > Single page view
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signpost/Single
> >
> > PDF version
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book:Wikipedia_Signpost/2015-04-01
> >
> >
> > http://www.facebook.com/wikisignpost / https://twitter.com/wikisignpost
> > --
> > Wikipedia Signpost Staff
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
>
>
>
>
> --
> Asaf Bartov
> Wikimedia Foundation 
>
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> https://donate.wikimedia.org
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[Wikimedia-l] Events and editathons with journalists

[Andrea Zanni]

Dear all,
I was wondering if anyone, in the Wikimedia movement,
has done editathons and wiki-events with *journalists*.
In April, Wikimedia Italia will host a workshop at the International
Journalism Festival, and we'd welcome tips and suggestions.

Cheers

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cc-by-sa 4.0, Wikimedia logos

[Andrea Zanni]

On Sat, Feb 14, 2015 at 7:29 AM, Kat Walsh  wrote:

> tl;dr: CC has its struggles but this is not something I currently see
> as a major concern.
>

Is there something we can do as
* Wikimedia movement?
* Wikimedia Foundation?

Aubrey
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Education Extension

[Andrea Zanni]

Also related...
Maybe I am not aware of an existing tool, but:
often, tutors need to control the wikiwork of some users.
This happens when we make and editathon, a course, a lesson.
Wikimetrics was supposed to help us with this, but it has weird metrics,
and nobody understands them.

Aubrey


On Tuesday, February 3, 2015, Liam Wyatt  wrote:

> On 3 February 2015 at 10:23, Fabian Tompsett <
> fabian.tomps...@wikimedia.org.uk > wrote:
>
> > We need an
> > extension where users easily can form groups (namespace Groups: or
> > something, used by an extension), where they easily can see the recent
> > changes of edits of group members only
> >
>
> Not precisely this, but related... Is there any plan to have "folders" in a
> watchlist, and then the ability to make a specific folder visible (a.k.a.
> "shared") to others?
>
> Not only would this make it easier for people with very large watchlists to
> manage their work more easily, but this would also mean that a group (e.g.
> wikiproject, edithathon participants, classroom...) could easily subscribe
> to a shared watchlist folder. This would make it easy for them to follow
> each other's edits.
> - A teacher or wiki-mentor could make a shared watchlist of their student's
> draft pages.
> - An editathon organiser could create a shared watchlist of all the
> articles within the scope of the event.
> - A wikiproject could create several shared watchlists to group related
> articles for members to more easily monitor.
> - probably many other use-cases that might emerge...
>
> Has this been discussed/suggested before?
>
> -Liam
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Commons / OTRS is broken

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Ryan for the clarification.
My question is: what could we ask, as a community, to the WMF, o to
chapters?
Is there some tool/task/workflow that could receive help from Wikimedia?
Maybe a new software, or some trusted agents in key position, or something
else.
What could speed up the volunteers work?

Aubrey


On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 11:38 AM, Rjd0060  wrote:

> James,
>
>
> I realize your tickets were already resolved but I thought I'd take a
> moment to clarify the issues that cause the delays in response.
>
>
> The Wikimedia Volunteer Response Team ("OTRS") relies on the generous work
> of hundreds of volunteers from all over the world to handle hundreds of
> thousands of e-mails each year.
>
> The scope of these tickets range from vandalism reports or technical issues
> to problems with biographies of living people and other generic edit
> requests, and dozens of other categories.  A large percentage of the
> overall tickets received are "permissions" tickets -- e-mails used to
> verify the release of content on Wikimedia sites, typically from third
> parties.
>
> Like every project that Wikimedians work on, there are various things that
> the volunteers are tasked to handle. The agents who take on this role do so
> in addition to their existing editing activities, often at the cost of
> their own free time. Due to the trust and patience required to handle these
> public-facing aspects of Wikimedia, the pool of available volunteers tends
> to be smaller than in other areas of the projects. Unfortunately, backlogs
> can occasionally crop up and take a bit of time to deal with, especially in
> the more complicated e-mails (like BLPs), that can take up to an hour to
> process. It happens on every large Wikimedia project -- where some backlogs
> never get cleared (just look at the English Wikipedia’s articles with
> unsourced statements! [1])-- so it is something I believe almost all of us
> can relate to in one way or another.
>
> We had very good queue levels for much of 2014, but began noticing an
> increase in permissions and general information tickets (specifically in
> the English language) around the end of the year. Unfortunately, the end of
> the year typically shows higher than usual response times, likely because
> of volunteer free time. While OTRS agents are very dedicated, answering
> tickets can be stressful at times, so it’s not typically the type of thing
> you’ll want to during holiday vacations. Pair those longer response times
> with an increase in tickets because of our hard-working Wikimedians adding
> content and submitting more permissions tickets in their holiday free time,
> and it creates a bit of a backlog. :-)
>
> Just as in other areas of our projects, backlogs are inevitable, especially
> in the more mundane and tougher areas. However, our dedicated pool of
> volunteers works diligently to clear these backlogs when they come up.
> While, again, it’s a tough job that’s not for everyone, we always welcome
> new applicants. Actually, we're continuously adding new agents. In 2014 we
> added 62 new community queue accounts[2] to handle general information and
> permissions inquiries. Additionally, our agent retention is better - we
> lost about half as many agents in 2014 as we did in 2013. But finally, if
> you really want to help with the backlogs, we’re always looking for great
> new team members.  Feel free to throw up an application on
> [[m:OTRS/Volunteering]] if you think you’d make a good agent and we’ll be
> happy to review it.
>
> Basically, OTRS is tough job that runs into backlogs just like any other
> part of Wikimedia. However, we’re continuously working to add more agents
> and clear those backlogs as soon as they start.
>
> I hope this helps clarify the current issues.
>
> Ryan // User:Rjd0060
>
> (OTRS admin)
>
> [1]
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:All_articles_with_unsourced_statements
>
> [2] Community queue accounts are OTRS accounts with access to queues that
> answer general information inquiries about our projects, permissions and/or
> photosubmissions tickets. Other types of accounts do not have answer these
> tickets, but instead have access to a smaller subset of queues, such as
> those related to the Foundation (e.g., donations), chapters, or advanced
> rights on the projects (e.g., oversight, stewards). See
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/OTRS/Access_policy#Community_queues for
> more information.
>
> On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 11:52 PM, James Heilman  wrote:
>
> > OTRS does not even bother replying to the consents I send them. Thus the
> > images I have received releases for get deleted. Going forwards I am
> simply
> > uploading to En Wikipedia. Not ideal but not sure what the solution is.
> >
> > --
> > James Heilman
> > MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
> >
> > The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
> > www.opentextbookofmedicine.com
> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Its not goodbye, but au revoir

[Andrea Zanni]

Goodbye Pavel,
it has been a pleasure.
And as you said last Chapters Conference,
please take care of yourself.
Of course, we hope to see you around :-)

Aubrey

On Thu, Jan 29, 2015 at 5:05 PM, Pavel Richter  wrote:

> Dear Friends of Free Knowledge,
>
> today is my last day at the office as the former Executive Director of
> Wikimedia Deutschland.
>
> For 2012 days, I had the great opportunity and the tremendous pleasure to
> work for one of the greatest causes I can think of: Free Knowledge for
> everybody. What Wikimedia does is nothing short of changing the world, one
> edit at a time.
>
> I reflect a little about this in this blog post:
> http://blog.pavelrichter.de/2012-days-later/
>
> Thank you all for the best time I had in my (professional) life. Of course,
> while I leave my job, I will not leave the Wikimedia movement. Looking
> forward to this!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Pavel
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia charity chairman resigns after pornography row

[Andrea Zanni]

I'm sorry, my bad.

Aubrey

On Sun, Jan 11, 2015 at 10:30 AM, Chris Keating 
wrote:

> As people have said - repeatedly - a bunch of trolls have set up a google
> group mailing list that appears to be Wikimedia-l and subscribed lots of
> people to it.
>
> If you're subscribed then unsubscribe yourself and report it to Google.
> There are instructions in other messages.
>
> However, please *don't* respond to messages from that fake mailing list on
> the real one, that just adds confusion and helps the trolls achieve their
> aims.
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 11, 2015 at 9:25 AM, Andrea Zanni 
> wrote:
>
> > Date of the article says 02 Aug 2012.
> > Why is this relevant now on this list?
> >
> > Aubrey
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 11, 2015 at 9:57 AM, Toby Dollmann 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Why ?
> > >
> > > Have you forgotten Section 230 of Communications Decency Act ?
> > >
> > > Toby
> > >
> > > On 1/11/15, Gerard Meijssen  wrote:
> > > > can someone shut this guy up?
> > > > Thanks,
> > > >  GerardM
> > > >
> > > > On 11 January 2015 at 07:37, Toby Dollmann 
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > >
> >
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/9447161/Wikipedia-charity-chairman-resigns-after-pornography-row.html
> > > >>
> > > >> Wikipedia charity chairman resigns after pornography row
> > > >>
> > > >> The chairman of the charity responsible for promoting Wikipedia in
> > > >> Britain has resigned after he was banned from editing the online
> > > >> encyclopaedia, following rows about the inclusion of pornography.
> > > >>
> > > >> By Christopher Williams, Technology Correspondent
> > > >> 3:55PM BST 02 Aug 2012
> > > >>
> > > >>  Ashley van Haeften resigned as chairman of Wikimedia UK today,
> citing
> > > >> concerns the controversy over his ban could cause divisions among
> > > >> Wikipedia supporters.
> > > >>
> > > >> “I have discussed this matter with [Mr van Haeften] this morning,”
> > > >> said Jon Davies, the chief executive of the charity, which
> distributes
> > > >> £1m of donations from Wikipedia supporters annually.
> > > >>
> > > >> “He is keen that there should be no division in the Wikimedia UK
> > > >> community over his role as Chair, especially at a time when so many
> > > >> great things are being achieved.
> > > >>
> > > >> “He has therefore resigned as Chair.”
> > > >>
> > > >> The Telegraph reported this week how Mr van Haeften had been banned
> > > >> indefinitely from contributing to the English version of Wikipedia
> by
> > > >> ArbCom, an elected committee of senior editors.
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> ArbCom applied the sanction after finding he mounted personal
> attacks
> > > >> on people with concerns about explicit material on Wikipedia,
> > > >> including about material he had posted. He was criticised for
> > > >> including a “highly inappropriate” link to pornography in the
> > > >> biography of a living person.
> > > >>
> > > >> Wikipedia carries a large quantity of explicit material, despite
> > > >> promoting itself as an educational website suitable for
> > > >> schoolchildren. Critics such as Larry Sanger, a co-founder of the
> > > >> website, and people attacked by Mr van Haeften, have argued for
> > > >> filters or age controls to be introduced.
> > > >>
> > > >> Mr van Haeften, who works as an IT project manager, was also found
> by
> > > >> ArbCom to have violated a series of editing rules, including by
> using
> > > >> multiple accounts to change pages after he had asked for a “clean
> > > >> start”.
> > > >>
> > > >> His resignation follows a call by members of Wikimedia UK for an
> > > >> Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the controversy. They said
> > > >> the decision of the charity’s board to keep Mr van Haeften on as
> > > >> chairman despite his ban from contributing to Wikipedia “not a
> > > >> sufficient response to this situation”.
> > > >&

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia charity chairman resigns after pornography row

[Andrea Zanni]

Date of the article says 02 Aug 2012.
Why is this relevant now on this list?

Aubrey


On Sun, Jan 11, 2015 at 9:57 AM, Toby Dollmann 
wrote:

> Why ?
>
> Have you forgotten Section 230 of Communications Decency Act ?
>
> Toby
>
> On 1/11/15, Gerard Meijssen  wrote:
> > can someone shut this guy up?
> > Thanks,
> >  GerardM
> >
> > On 11 January 2015 at 07:37, Toby Dollmann 
> wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/9447161/Wikipedia-charity-chairman-resigns-after-pornography-row.html
> >>
> >> Wikipedia charity chairman resigns after pornography row
> >>
> >> The chairman of the charity responsible for promoting Wikipedia in
> >> Britain has resigned after he was banned from editing the online
> >> encyclopaedia, following rows about the inclusion of pornography.
> >>
> >> By Christopher Williams, Technology Correspondent
> >> 3:55PM BST 02 Aug 2012
> >>
> >>  Ashley van Haeften resigned as chairman of Wikimedia UK today, citing
> >> concerns the controversy over his ban could cause divisions among
> >> Wikipedia supporters.
> >>
> >> “I have discussed this matter with [Mr van Haeften] this morning,”
> >> said Jon Davies, the chief executive of the charity, which distributes
> >> £1m of donations from Wikipedia supporters annually.
> >>
> >> “He is keen that there should be no division in the Wikimedia UK
> >> community over his role as Chair, especially at a time when so many
> >> great things are being achieved.
> >>
> >> “He has therefore resigned as Chair.”
> >>
> >> The Telegraph reported this week how Mr van Haeften had been banned
> >> indefinitely from contributing to the English version of Wikipedia by
> >> ArbCom, an elected committee of senior editors.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ArbCom applied the sanction after finding he mounted personal attacks
> >> on people with concerns about explicit material on Wikipedia,
> >> including about material he had posted. He was criticised for
> >> including a “highly inappropriate” link to pornography in the
> >> biography of a living person.
> >>
> >> Wikipedia carries a large quantity of explicit material, despite
> >> promoting itself as an educational website suitable for
> >> schoolchildren. Critics such as Larry Sanger, a co-founder of the
> >> website, and people attacked by Mr van Haeften, have argued for
> >> filters or age controls to be introduced.
> >>
> >> Mr van Haeften, who works as an IT project manager, was also found by
> >> ArbCom to have violated a series of editing rules, including by using
> >> multiple accounts to change pages after he had asked for a “clean
> >> start”.
> >>
> >> His resignation follows a call by members of Wikimedia UK for an
> >> Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the controversy. They said
> >> the decision of the charity’s board to keep Mr van Haeften on as
> >> chairman despite his ban from contributing to Wikipedia “not a
> >> sufficient response to this situation”.
> >>
> >> An EGM could still go ahead, however, as the call was for a vote on a
> >> resolution “to remove Ashley Van Haeften from the Board of Trustees of
> >> Wikimedia UK”, not only to strip him of the chairmanship.
> >>
> >> “By not resigning as chair immediately after the ArbCom decision was
> >> announced I am afraid that [Mr van Haeften] made an error which can
> >> now only be corrected by his resignation from the board altogether,”
> >> said one Wikimedia UK member.
> >>
> >> Mr van Haeften remains on the Wikimedia UK board. A new chairman will
> >> be elected at a meeting this evening.
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Is there some Wikimedia project to host contents based on original research?

[Andrea Zanni]

The Wikisource dogma is:
"If things are published and free, they belong to Wikisource".

Unfortunately, there is no Wikimedia project for original research,
Sucheta.
As an example, some years ago I wanted to host my bachelor thesis (about
Wikisource) in a fixed form on Wikisource (and I could do it), but also on
a dynamic and collaborative form on Wikibooks.
But Wikibooks is for manuals and textbooks, so it's not the right place.

IMHO, this issue will get bigger and bigger over the years, and there could
be room for another Wikimedia project that would allow open access,
collaborative peer review and editing of original research. It could be a
sort of new environment between academic publishing and Wikipedia (which
now are quite distant for several reasons).

Aubrey

On Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 2:42 PM, Richard Symonds <
richard.symo...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:

> This sounds like a Wikisource idea - do we have any wikisourcerers who can
> give their thoughts?
>
> Richard Symonds
> Wikimedia UK
> 0207 065 0992
>
> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
> Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
> Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT.
> United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
> movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
> operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
>
> *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
> over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
>
> On 5 January 2015 at 13:30, Sucheta Ghoshal 
> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > A few of my friends and I have been planning to document the history of
> > counterculture in Bengali art and literature. These friends are also
> > working in that domain professionally, and have access to a huge
> repository
> > of texts, images, and other relevant details that they are willing to
> make
> > available digitally in the form of free contents. We wish to have the
> > contents as wikis, and, pictures and video snippets that might be
> involved
> > - as properly licensed free materials. Now, the concern is if there is
> some
> > Wikimedia Project that would host contents that are based on such an
> > enormous amount of original research. Wikipedia is certainly not the
> > appropriate place. And, as there exist no earlier works on this
> particular
> > domain on the internet, references would be negligible. I was thinking
> > about Wikibooks, instead. I am not entirely sure if that fits either,
> but I
> > assume it fits better than Wikipedia, at least. The last option is to
> host
> > it ourselves with the MediaWiki setup, and I am considering it very much.
> > But, the idea essentially is to make people edit and enrich it with as
> much
> > inputs as possible. It would be really helpful, in that case, if it could
> > be placed in one of the Wikimedia projects. Suggestions, of every kind,
> > would be deeply appreciated.
> >
> > Best,
> > Sucheta
> > ___
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> > 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email

[Andrea Zanni]

I support the idea that "translation" also needs to happen between cultures
within the same language.
I made the example of the Italian because it is my own, but of course there
are other English-speaking cultures other the American one, and they would
deserve the same attention.
Of course it is difficult, and of course it would be a burden for the
Fundraising team to have different messages for different nations [1], but
I think it's worth a real effort.
The Wikimedia movement is multicultural and multilanguage. We need to keep
it that way, also in delicate but fundamental aspects as the fundraising.
As the WMF feels entitled to fundraise for the whole movement, she would
feel the responsibility of speaking the movement language (meaning, all of
them :-D).

I really don't want to give the impression of  *trashing* everything the
WMF does: I already said it, but I 'll repeat here that the Edit 2014 video
is passionate, clear, moving, inspiring and *honest*. I made me feel proud
of being part of the movement, and I think it is a great result for a 2
minutes video :-) [2]

Aubrey


[1] I'm still assuming a centralised, WMF-driven fundraising, please don't
we start with chapters fundraising in this very moment, although it could
be part of the solution).

[2] On a totally unrelated matter, I thought the same for the other
Victor's video about the kids from South Africa. (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j-ktiYTTds)
He also set a crowdfunding for actually buying the laptops (
http://www.gofundme.com/74kx3g).
It's maybe me, but I don't really understand why we don't use the
sitenotice to spread these messages.


On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 1:43 PM, Peter Southwood <
peter.southw...@telkomsa.net> wrote:
>
> Not even slightly, even though I speak English.
> Cheers,
> Peter
>
> -Original Message-
> From: wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
> wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Chris Keating
> Sent: 19 December 2014 02:41 PM
> To: Wikimedia Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
>
> Are you American?
> On 19 Dec 2014 12:35, "Peter Southwood" 
> wrote:
>
> > I can only assume this is intended as some form of humour, but I don’t
> > get it.
> > Cheers,
> > Peter
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:
> > wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of David Gerard
> > Sent: 19 December 2014 02:25 PM
> > To: Wikimedia Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
> >
> > Everyone who speaks English is American, particularly the English.
> >
> > On 19 December 2014 at 12:21, Peter Southwood <
> > peter.southw...@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> > > Are you by any chance American?
> > > Cheers,
> > > peter
> > >
> > > -Original Message-
> > > From: wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > [mailto:wikimedia-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Chris
> > > Keating
> > > Sent: 19 December 2014 01:47 PM
> > > To: Wikimedia Mailing List
> > > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email
> > >
> > > I have to say, I don't see anything remotely objectionable in that
> email.
> > > Bold italicised text on a yellow background might not win any design
> > > awards but effective fundraising often doesn't win design awards.*
> > >
> > > I am not 100% sure how much donors care how soon our fundraiser ends
> > (these days at least, a few years ago they did get fed up with the
> > perpetual Jimmy banners). However talking about that does give a sense
> > of urgency to the copy, which again is a key part of fundraising that
> > actually raises money.
> > >
> > > It is of course a reasonable point of view that the WMF and
> > > Wikimedia
> > movement have too much money and shouldn't really try to raise any
> > more. If you hold that view then I suppose it's reasonable to ask the
> > fundraising team to make their emails more inept. However, I don't
> > think that is a sensible view to take at the moment (or, probably, ever).
> > >
> > > Chris
> > >
> > > *(Actually, the only fundraising industry award I've ever been
> > > involved in winning were for things that looked very nice, but that
> > > doesn't disprove the general principle)
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 11:08 PM, Liam Wyatt 
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >> This email was sent by WMF fundraising today.
> > >> I'm embarrassed. Read the email first, then I'll tell you why, below.
> > >>
> > >> *Da:* "Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia" 
> > >> *Data:* 17 December 2014 10:15:56 pm GMT+1
> > >> *A: [email address removed]*
> > >> *Oggetto:* *Our final email*
> > >> *Rispondi a:* don...@wikimedia.org
> > >>
> > >> *If all our past donors simply gave again today, we wouldn't have
> > >> to worry about fundraising for the rest of the year.*
> > >>
> > >> Dear [name removed],
> > >>
> > >> This is the last email reminder you'll receive. We hope the
> > >> response to today's email will let us end the fundraiser. Please
> > 

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Our final email

[Andrea Zanni]

On Fri, Dec 19, 2014 at 9:44 AM, WereSpielChequers <
werespielchequ...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Two weeks ago I emailed the fundraising team with the following note,
> quietly and discretely pointing out an error in their messaging. Sadly I
> haven't had a reply and I think that in the UK they are still using the £3
> buys a coffee for a programmer line:
>
> > Aside from the incidental nature of the appeal, £3 and $3 are very
> different sums of money. When I saw $3 I thought that was an expensive way
> to buy coffees and that the WMF should invest in a kettle and some mugs.
> But £3 for a coffee, now that just looks wasteful, even to someone living
> in an expensive part of London. I dread to think what it looks like to
> someone living in other parts of England, let alone cheaper parts of the
> world. "£3 gets coffee and biscuits for a potential wikipedian coming to a
> training session", that I could defend.
> >
> > There's also the honesty/credibility factor. I doubt I am the only
> person seeing different versions of these ads including different
> currencies, if the sums are this far apart the suspicion has to be that
> none of the figures are to be trusted. Not a great help to our program of
> improving Wikipedia quality and getting such details right in our articles.



That is the problem of having the same message translate in all languages.
If you have a centralised fundraising it's inevitable.
A part for currency (which is a problem), I want to emphasize the fact that
even the best translation maybe dosen "sound right" in different languages
and cultures.

There is for example an American rhetoric that simply doesn't translate in
other languages.
I've translated (as a volunteer) several WMF messages to donors in Italian
and always felt that those messages where made for an American audience.
I would love to see an A/B test with "culture-localized" messages (I think
it is part of the "honesty discourse" above).
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikipedia: #Edit2014

[Andrea Zanni]

This is an incredible video.
Congratulations to everyone involved.

Now I need to get a tissue *sniff*.

Aubrey

On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 11:08 AM, Takashi OTA <
supertakot+foundatio...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks Asaf for quick response!
> I'll get started soon.
>
> --[[User:Takot]]
>
> On Thursday, December 18, 2014, Asaf Bartov  wrote:
>
> > Hi, Takot!
> >
> > Edit this:
> >
> >
> https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/TimedText:Wikipedia_Edit_2014.webm.ja.srt
> >
> >A.
> >
> > On Thu, Dec 18, 2014 at 1:47 AM, Takashi OTA <
> > supertakot+foundatio...@gmail.com > wrote:
> > >
> > > Thanks Victor for sharing this awesome video!
> > > It's really really awesome.
> > >
> > > BTW, could you tell me where of the commons/meta the translations have
> > been
> > > done?
> > > I'd like to fix some of the Japanese subtitles.
> > >
> > > --[[User:Takot]]
> > >
> > > On Thursday, December 18, 2014, Victor Grigas  > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi everyone,
> > > >
> > > > I'm happy to share the first-ever Wikimedia year-in-review video,
> > > > Wikipedia: #Edit2014.
> > > >
> > > > Wikimedia Commons:
> > > >
> > > > https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Edit_2014.webm
> > > >
> > > > Youtube:
> > > > http://youtu.be/ci0Pihl2zXY
> > > >
> > > > Vimeo:
> > > > https://vimeo.com/114673230
> > > >
> > > > It's the story of 2014 through the lens of Wikimedia in under 3
> > minutes.
> > > > (We know we didn't get it all!)
> > > >
> > > > We're about to launch this to the rest of the world, on the WMF blog,
> > on
> > > > social media, and to the press. The whole point of the production is
> we
> > > > want the world to get a sense of what it feels like to press edit for
> > the
> > > > first time, and what it's like to contribute to something that
> millions
> > > of
> > > > people use, love, and rely on. We hope you like it.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this. It's based
> entirely
> > on
> > > > what YOU contributed to the projects -- images you uploaded and video
> > you
> > > > migrated to Commons. It's based on the texts of books and documents
> on
> > > > Wikisource and the Wikipedia articles that you wrote. And thanks to
> > > > everyone who volunteered and shared feedback with us while we were
> > > editing
> > > > to make it sound and feel like Wikipedia. I talked to many people in
> > > > putting this together, so thank you all.
> > > >
> > > > If you want to contribute to this particular effort, you can of
> course
> > > > share this video, but what would be even better is if you could
> > translate
> > > > the captions into more languages so that even more people can
> > understand
> > > > it. We'll migrate the captions from Commons to YouTube and Vimeo as
> > they
> > > > come in. (BTW does anyone know why YouTube or Vimeo doesn't have open
> > > > captions? Maybe once we have this captioned in 50 languages, we can
> use
> > > it
> > > > to advocate that they should.)
> > > >
> > > > We're already thinking of ways to open up this process for even more
> > > > collaboration next year. We put this together in about eight weeks,
> so
> > we
> > > > had a pretty big time constraint for making it an open process from
> the
> > > > beginning.
> > > >
> > > > We're publishing two blog posts on the topic shortly and will send
> them
> > > as
> > > > soon as they're out.
> > > >
> > > > Thanks! :)
> > > >
> > > > Victor & the WMF Communications team
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > >
> > > > *Victor Grigas*
> > > > Storyteller 
> > > > Wikimedia Foundation
> > > > vgri...@wikimedia.org  
> > > > https://donate.wikimedia.org/
> > > > ___
> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Asaf Bartov
> > Wikimedia Foundation 
> >
> > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> > sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
> > https://donate.wikimedia.org
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Congratulations

[Andrea Zanni]

Thanks Ad,
and congratulation to all.
Cheers!

Aubrey


On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:29 AM, Christophe Henner <
christophe.hen...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey,
>
> I've already congratulate them in Private not to spam everyone, but your
> solution is much more clever.
>
> Congratulations to all of you :)
>
> All the best
> Le 3 déc. 2014 09:22, "Ad Huikeshoven"  a écrit :
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Several organizations have held AGMs and (re)elected boards.
> >
> > Congratulations to Wikimedia Deutschland for electing a new board. Great
> > wisdom and strength to them in their transitional period.
> >
> > Congratulations to Wikimedia Israel (WMIL) who reelected the board of
> WMIL
> > and to WMHU for reelecting a new board.
> >
> > Finally good luck to Giuliana Mancini as the new Executive Director of
> > Wikimedia Italia.
> >
> > Ad Huikeshoven
> >
> > Bestuurslid / Board member Wikimedia Nederland
> > Internationaal / International Affairs
> > Educatieprogramma / Education Program
> >
> > tel.(+31) (0)70 3608510
> > mob. (+31) (0)6 40293574
> >
> > Steun vrije kennis! Kijk op wikimedia.nl
> > 
> > *Postadres*: *
> > Bezoekadres:*
> > Postbus 167Mariaplaats 3
> > 3500 AD  Utrecht Utrecht
> >
> > ABNAMRO NL33 ABNA 0497164833 - Kamer van Koophandel 17189036
> > ___
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[Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Italia Executive Director

[Andrea Zanni]

Hello everybody,

It's with great pleasure that I announce Giuliana Mancini as the new
Executive Director of Wikimedia Italia.

It took us over 6 months to select her within a pool of 450 candidates: it
has been an incredibly hard work, and tough decisions were made.
I'd like to acknowledge that one of the most active members of the
selective committee was Alessio Guidetti aka Cotton, who recendly passed:
it saddens us to know that he won't have the chance to see her working with
us.

But this is a moment of joy, because the Wikimedia family just got a new
member.
Giuliana will help us become a more mature and structured association: her
deep experience and competence will be used to for make Wikimedia Italia
scale and increase its impact in the world of free and open knowledge.

Before being appointed Executive Director at Wikimedia Italia, in the last
12 years, she has covered several roles of increasing commitment in the
field of arts and culture. She spent 9 years in a grant making foundation
where she supervised the activities of a cello academy and the concerts of
an ensemble of classical musicians, assisting the board in setting
strategies and coordinating the comprehensive management.
She participated in the board of a company in the field of Fine Arts with a
mandate for promotion of a multimedia exhibition, creating strategic
relationship with Italian and foreigner museums.
She drafted several feasibility studies and business plans for theatres and
other cultural institutions as well as for start up companies.
She can speak English fluently and has a good understanding of Spanish and
French, and she graduated in Economics and in Law (her second degree was
completed while working).

She was officially introduced to the Wikimedia Italia assembly this
Saturday, and this is her second week of work.

Please welcome her in our incredible Wikimedia movement.

Best regards,

Andrea Zanni

-- 
Presidente
Wikimedia Italia
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia France] WikiCheese crowdfunding - Let's photograph 'em all

[Andrea Zanni]

This is the best OT in wikimedia-l ever.

Aubrey

On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 1:43 PM, Pierre-Selim  wrote:

> I recommend Trappist Rochefort 10, and gulden draak ;)
>
> Pierre-Selim
>   Message d'origine
> De: Romaine Wiki
> Envoyé: samedi 29 novembre 2014 11:46
> À: Wikimedia Mailing List
> Répondre à: Wikimedia Mailing List
> Objet: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia France] WikiCheese crowdfunding -
> Let's photograph 'em all
>
> PS: I can recommend the beers: Kriek, Framboise, Peche, and some more. But
> it is recommend to drink these in Brussels to experience the region where
> it belongs to.
>
> In London I can recommend a Honey Dew!
>
>
>
>
> 2014-11-29 11:44 GMT+01:00 Romaine Wiki :
>
> > I vote for Brussels & beer, I tasted them the past weeks and it asks for
> > more.
> >
> > The day before yesterday I heard that some beers from Brussels are
> typical
> > Brussels as the region has a special local micro climate.
> >
> > But I must say, I think it is good to document cheese, as well as other
> > food/drinks, we should have more photos with better quality. I really
> hope
> > this contributes to this.
> >
> > Romaine
> >
> > 2014-11-28 10:32 GMT+01:00 Andrea Zanni :
> >
> >> Me too me too!
> >> But before, Brussels on beer.
> >>
> >> Aubrey
> >>
> >> On Fri, Nov 28, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Craig Franklin <
> >> cfrank...@halonetwork.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Forget that, I'd like WMUK to fly me to Scotland so that I can, uh,
> >> > "research" and write about various types of whisky.
> >> >
> >> > Cheers,
> >> > Craig
> >> >
> >> > On 25 November 2014 at 18:59, Jon Davies  >
> >> > wrote:
> >> >
> >> > > And next the wine project? Count me in.
> >> > >
> >> > > On 24 November 2014 at 18:22, Christophe Henner <
> >> > > christophe.hen...@gmail.com
> >> > > > wrote:
> >> > >
> >> > > > Good news everyone,
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Cheese articles are gonna get improved!
> >> > > >
> >> > > > As french, it was dreadful for us to see so few illustrations of
> >> cheese
> >> > > on
> >> > > > Wikipedia. This is about to change.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > A group of french Wikimedians, lead by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin,
> >> designed
> >> > a
> >> > > > project to photograph many cheeses, up to 200 for the moment.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > This project is perticular as we aim to have it found through a
> >> french
> >> > > > crowdfunding platform, KissKissBankBank.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > Of course Wikimedia France could have funded it itself, but we
> >> wanted
> >> > to
> >> > > > use the project as a way to get the larger audience aware of their
> >> > > ability
> >> > > > to contribute and to give a fun image of contributing.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > The project in few words iss follow :
> >> > > > * 10 cheeses per session
> >> > > > * During the session the cheeses are photographed and their
> articles
> >> > > > improved
> >> > > > * During the sessions experimented wikimedian would train new
> >> editors
> >> > > > * At every session every participant would enjoy eating good
> cheese
> >> too
> >> > > >
> >> > > > If you want to read more, or even contribute, about the project
> you
> >> can
> >> > > go
> >> > > > on KissKissBankBank :
> >> > > > http://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/wikicheese
> >> > > >
> >> > > >
> >> > > > If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot them on or
> off
> >> > list.
> >> > > >
> >> > > > All the best,
> >> > > >
> >> > > > --
> >> > > > Christophe
> >> > > > ___
> >> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> >> > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> >> > > > Wikimedia-l

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia France] WikiCheese crowdfunding - Let's photograph 'em all

[Andrea Zanni]

Me too me too!
But before, Brussels on beer.

Aubrey

On Fri, Nov 28, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Craig Franklin 
wrote:

> Forget that, I'd like WMUK to fly me to Scotland so that I can, uh,
> "research" and write about various types of whisky.
>
> Cheers,
> Craig
>
> On 25 November 2014 at 18:59, Jon Davies 
> wrote:
>
> > And next the wine project? Count me in.
> >
> > On 24 November 2014 at 18:22, Christophe Henner <
> > christophe.hen...@gmail.com
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > Good news everyone,
> > >
> > > Cheese articles are gonna get improved!
> > >
> > > As french, it was dreadful for us to see so few illustrations of cheese
> > on
> > > Wikipedia. This is about to change.
> > >
> > > A group of french Wikimedians, lead by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin, designed
> a
> > > project to photograph many cheeses, up to 200 for the moment.
> > >
> > > This project is perticular as we aim to have it found through a french
> > > crowdfunding platform, KissKissBankBank.
> > >
> > > Of course Wikimedia France could have funded it itself, but we wanted
> to
> > > use the project as a way to get the larger audience aware of their
> > ability
> > > to contribute and to give a fun image of contributing.
> > >
> > > The project in few words iss follow :
> > > * 10 cheeses per session
> > > * During the session the cheeses are photographed and their articles
> > > improved
> > > * During the sessions experimented wikimedian would train new editors
> > > * At every session every participant would enjoy eating good cheese too
> > >
> > > If you want to read more, or even contribute, about the project you can
> > go
> > > on KissKissBankBank :
> > > http://www.kisskissbankbank.com/fr/projects/wikicheese
> > >
> > >
> > > If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot them on or off
> list.
> > >
> > > All the best,
> > >
> > > --
> > > Christophe
> > > ___
> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at:
> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines
> > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > > 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > *Jon Davies - Consultant to Wikimedia UK*.  Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169
> > tweet @jonatreesdavies
> >
> > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
> > Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
> > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A
> 4LT.
> > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
> > movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who
> > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
> > Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990.
> >
> > Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk
> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikidata-l] Birthday gift: Missing Wikipedia links (was Re: Wikidata turns two!)

[Andrea Zanni]

Hi Denny, great tool!

I really like this kind of "human computation" tools, as they are quick to
grasp and easy to perform.
The Wikidata Game from Magnus is a great example too, IMO.

I wonder: could it be hard to find a way to "count" how many merging one
accomplishes?
This would work both for an individual and to a list of usernames.

I feel it would be really good in Wikidata presentations or editathons or
outreach events:
you can let many people merge articles, and have a sort of counter
displayed which says how many are done, in real time. It's a sort of a
race/game, and it could be fun especially for young people.

I don't know, it's just an idea, but gamification kinda works :-)

Aubrey

On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 12:43 AM, Santi Navarro <
santiagonava...@wikimedia.org.es> wrote:

> James, I have a question. Should you merge the items or the tool will do
> it?
>
> El 2014-10-29 19:10, James Forrester escribió:
>
>> On Wed Oct 29 2014 at 10:56:42 Denny Vrandečić 
>> wrote:
>>
>>  There’s a small tool on WMF labs that you can use to verify the links (it
>>> displays the articles side by side from a language pair you select, and
>>> then you can confirm or contradict the merge):
>>>
>>> https://tools.wmflabs.org/yichengtry
>>>
>>>
>> This is really fun, and so useful too. Thank you so much, Denny, Jiang
>> Bian, Si Li, and Yicheng Huang – "Denny and the Googlers" is a new band
>> name if ever there was one.
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>>
>
> --
> Santiago Navarro Sanz
> Wikimedia España
> http://www.wikimedia.org.es/
>
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[Wikimedia-l] Alessio Guidetti, Cotton

[Andrea Zanni]

It is with great sorrow that Wikimedia Italia announces the death of
Alessio Guidetti, better known on the projects as Cotton. He has been
treasurer of the organization for about five years, from 2009 until last
April.

Alessio started to contribute to Wikipedia at the end of 2006: after a few
months he became already a sysop. He was a tireless translator of English
articles in the most diverse fields, and also part of the small group of
the patrollers -and, indeed, he continued his precious work until the last,
even if invisible for most of the editors.

From the moment he joined Wikimedia Italia, Alessio was very keen to
contribute effectively, guided by his well-known pragmatism. He run for the
Board: as soon as he was elected, he took the role of treasurer, a
difficult task and a fundamental one for us but little recognized. It was
Alessio who took care of the most delicate and complicated tasks, and he
did so in the years during which Wikimedia Italia was starting to grow big,
the years of our quantum leap.

This spring he decided to not run again for the Board, but he kept
collaborating with his successor for an effective -and not only formal-
handover. He took care of the accounting, donations and employees'
paychecks till his very last days. He has been an incredible help:
trustworthy, precious, always ready for a joke.

Alessio has been a pillar of Wikimedia Italia: his pragmatism, his
hardworking disposition, his sense of humor were, and are, a part of our
organization. A part of how it was born and how it is growing. A part of
what we are.

Wikimedia Italia is close to the family and the friends of Alessio in this
grievous moment.

We will terribly miss him.





Many of you have know Alessio in Wikimanias and conferences.

If you wish, you can leave a last goodbye here on his userpage:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussioni_utente:Cotton#Ciao.





Andrea Zanni

on behalf of Wikimedia Italia
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Superprotect user right, Comming to a wiki near you

[Andrea Zanni]

On Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 5:37 PM, Mike Godwin  wrote:

> Henning writes:
>
> > To describe Eric's action I am tempted to use a
> > metaphor that includes black uniforms and heavy boots. But that would
> > not be appropriately written by a German to a German.
>
> My experience over the last quarter century suggests that this
> metaphor rarely works out well.


I'm sorry, can I say "LOL"?

Cheers, Aubrey

>
>
> --Mike Godwin
>
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[Wikimedia-l] How to change the world

[Andrea Zanni]

This is a talk from Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, at
the TEDx in Oslo last year.
I thought it was worth sharing with you all:
http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Changing-the-world-through-swar

It would be really interesting to apply these methods within Chapters and
the overall Wikimedia community :-)

Hope to see you soon again,
always great to be at Wikimania.

Aubrey
Wikimedia Italia
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] The Internet's Own Boy: Aaron Swartz

[Andrea Zanni]

It seems that MayDay.us needs money:
https://mayday.us/

(I know it's political, but whoever has seen the documentary or read
Aaron's blog can understand the rationale.)
((I would ***love*** seeing the WMF step up in things like this, but I
understand it's complicated...))

Aubrey


On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 12:13 PM, Shlomi Fish  wrote:

> Hi Jake [and all],
>
> On Mon, 30 Jun 2014 23:04:57 -0700
> Jake Orlowitz  wrote:
>
> > The Aaron Swartz Documentary was released this weekend.  I don't know
> what
> > quite to say except that you should watch it, and it's free (cause it's
> > CC-licensed).
> >
> > Watch on youtube:
> > 
> >
> > Watch on internet archive: <
> > https://archive.org/details/TheInternetsOwnBoyTheStoryOfAaronSwartz>
> >
> > Purchase from Takepart.com:
> > 
> >
>
> Thanks for the recommendation - I'll consider watching it.
>
> > I don't know what the family or filmmaker would want in contributions,
> but
> > I know two organizations that would benefit from donations, now as much
> as
> > ever:
> >
> > DemandProgress:
> > 
> >
> > Electronic Frontier Foundation:
> > 
> >
>
> Does the EFF really need more money? I remember paying relatively
> generously
> for all the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Bundle s which raised
> 10s of
> millions of money for the EFF. I think many other charities (including the
> Wikimedia foundation) don't have a shortage of money either, but they do
> have
> shortage of people's (paid or volunteer) *time*.
>
> Like I note here -
>
> http://www.shlomifish.org/philosophy/philosophy/putting-all-cards-on-the-table-2013/#laziness_vs_productivity
> - most people think of laziness vs. productivity backward, because a really
> productive person has a lot of free time, while a person without free time
> is
> underproductive and lazy. This page:
>
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarah_Michelle_Gellar&oldid=615139001#Interests_and_activities
>
> notes that:
>
> [QUOTE]
> Gellar is an active advocate for various charities, including breast cancer
> research, Project Angel Food, Habitat for Humanity, and CARE. Of her
> charitable
> pursuits, she says, "I started because my mother taught me a long time ago
> that
> even when you have nothing, there's ways to give back. And what you get in
> return for that is tenfold. But it was always hard because I couldn't do a
> lot.
> I couldn't do much more than just donate money when I was on the show
> because
> there wasn't time. And now that I have the time, it's amazing."
> [/QUOTE]
>
> At the moment, I have a lot of time, but am not self-sustaining and will
> accept
> offers or one-time donations for support:
> http://www.shlomifish.org/meta/donate/ , and am also contemplating such
> future
> ventures such as Stand-up philosophy:
> https://plus.google.com/+ShlomiFish/posts/GUpTuA6641x .
>
> Government law makers and bureaucrats who prevent really productive
> individuals, organisations and even - corporations from "getting shit
> done" are
> the ultimate in laziness, time wasting, and value destruction, and our
> civilisation can prosper incredibly if we simplify the laws, depend more on
> computers to do the dirty work for us, and rethink the various
> "moral" or "ethical" fashions that we have.
>
> Stay cool and smashing and become even more so.
>
> Regards,
>
> -- Shlomi Fish ("Rindolf").
>
> P.S: if you have a problem with my post, please write it to the list or as
> a
> last resort to me in private. See the story of
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamsa_and_Bar_Kamsa for why an appeal to
> authority is antisocial and destructive. If you have a problem with me,
> tell me
> about it and I'll try to improve.
>
> --
> -
> Shlomi Fish   http://www.shlomifish.org/
> First stop for Perl beginners - http://perl-begin.org/
>
> Deletionists delete Wikipedia articles that they consider lame.
>
> Chuck Norris deletes Deletionists whom he considers lame.
>
> Please reply to list if it's a mailing list post - http://shlom.in/reply .
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] How Wikimedia could help languages to survive

[Andrea Zanni]

IMHO is easier to start a Wikisource than a Wikipedia:
you just need scans of some written works out of copyright.
It's a fisrt stemp, and a low hanging fruit.

Aubrey



On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 3:57 PM, Amir E. Aharoni <
amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

> Unicode support is not that big of a deal. It's growing all the time, and
> the Unicode standard itself is ahead of Wikipedia and will likely remain
> ahead of it for a while. The operating systems' actual support for it is
> far from perfect, but it isn't a huge in itself either.
>
> Existence of written works is not a problem in itself at all.
> Theoretically, a Wikipedia can be written completely based on
> foreign-language sources. The challenge is to actually get people who speak
> languages that don't have written works to start creating the first written
> work. It's not impossible, but it's culturally challenging.
>
>
> --
> Amir Elisha Aharoni · אָמִיר אֱלִישָׁע אַהֲרוֹנִי
> http://aharoni.wordpress.com
> ‪“We're living in pieces,
> I want to live in peace.” – T. Moore‬
>
>
> 2014-04-22 16:51 GMT+03:00 Emilio J. Rodríguez-Posada :
>
> > How many languages exist?
> >  |_ How many languages have written works?
> >  |_How many languages have UNICODE support?
> >
> > That is the max number of Wikisource projects we can create :-P
> >
> >
> > 2014-04-22 15:12 GMT+02:00 Milos Rancic :
> >
> > > On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 3:12 PM, Milos Rancic 
> wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 3:09 PM, Milos Rancic 
> > wrote:
> > > >> That means that it's the best starting point to raise that number
> from
> > > >> 157 per million to ~1000 per million. If WM UK would be successful
> in
> > > >> achieving that goal, we'd know that it's possible. And we'll have
> some
> > > >> ideas how to do that.
> > > >
> > > > In real numbers: We need there 100 active editors.
> > >
> > > Sorry, 70.
> > >
> > > ___
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