Re: [Wikimedia-l] Non-renewal of Wikimedia UK fundraiser agreement

[Steve Zhang]

I have to say I'm quite surprised by this announcement and this course of
action taken by the Foundation, though it's not the first time this has
happened, and very few chapters are left with a fundraising agreement.

I don't know the reasons this action was taken, but I am troubled. :/


On 21 May 2014 18:09, Craig Franklin  wrote:

> The Foundation acted to strip chapters of their fundraising authority at
> the first opportunity, based on what clearly seems to be a pre-determined
> ideological decision that doesn't take actual evidence into account and
> centralises movement decision making authority even further in the WMF?
>
> Colour me surprised.
>
>
> On 21 May 2014 17:10, Stevie Benton 
> wrote:
>
> > Wikimedia UK regrets to have to announce to the community that the
> > Wikimedia Foundation’s outgoing Executive Director, Sue Gardner, has
> given
> > us formal notice of her decision under her mandate from the WMF board not
> > to renew our fundraising agreement, thereby excluding us from this year’s
> > fundraiser.
> >
> > We have written an open letter to Sue about this decision. A copy of our
> > letter to Sue can be found
> > here<
> >
> https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/File:Open_letter_to_Sue_Gardner_regarding_non-renewal.pdf
> > >
> > on
> > the Wikimedia UK wiki.
> >
> > Thanks and regards,
> >
> > Stevie
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Stevie Benton
> > Head of External Relations
> > Wikimedia UK
> > +44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173
> > @StevieBenton
> >
> > 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.*
> > ___
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Israel been accepted to the Google Grants program

[Steve Zhang]

We (WMAU) have thought about it, but need to work out some details. Has
there been much success from Google Grants?

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014, Andrew Gray  wrote:

> Interesting! WM-DE and WMF have both had adword grants - looking at
> the mailing list archives, they seemed to use them for directing
> people to fundraising. Any other chapters used these?
>
> Amdrew.
>
> On 5 May 2014 13:53, Itzik Edri > wrote:
> > Hey,
> >
> > We are pleased to announce that Wikimedia Israel been accepted to the
> > Google Grants program. Google Grants is an in-kind advertising program
> that
> > awards free online advertising to nonprofits via Google AdWords up to
> > 10,000$ per month.
> >
> > This grant will help Wikimedia Israel to uses another way to reach people
> > in Israel and to invite them to learn about Wikipedia, attends editing
> > workshops and to donate to Wikipedia.
> >
> > Google is a longtime supporter of Wikimedia Israel – They sponsored Wiki
> > Loves Monuments on 2012 and 2013 and hosted many Wikimedia Israel's
> events
> > at their Google Campus in Tel Aviv (Hackathons and community meet-ups).
> >
> >
> > P.S. Happy 66th Israel's Independence Day!
> >
> >
> >
> > *Regards,Itzik Edri*
> > Chairperson, Wikimedia Israel
> > +972-(0)-54-5878078 | http://www.wikimedia.org.il
> > Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> > sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment!
> > ___
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>
>
>
> --
> - Andrew Gray
>   andrew.g...@dunelm.org.uk 
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Please welcome Lila Tretikov, the Wikimedia Foundation's new ED

[Steve Zhang]

Welcome from Australia, Lila. As you can see, us Wikimedia folk are a
welcoming bunch and eager to learn more about you :)

Sue - we will all miss you :)

Steven Zhang
President - Wikimedia Australia
On 2 May 2014 04:17, "Jan-Bart de Vreede"  wrote:

> Dear fellow community members,
>
> On behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees I am delighted to
> announce that the new Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation will
> be Lila Tretikov. Lila is a widely respected Bay Area technology leader,
> most recently with SugarCRM.
>
> As many of you know, about a year ago Sue Gardner announced she planned to
> step down as our ED. As we launched the search for her successor, we spent
> some time working through the most critical requirements for the role. We
> decided the new ED should be someone with a product/engineering background,
> ideally in an open-source or other online community context. We wanted
> someone experienced with organisations that were growing, who'd managed
> staff and budgets comparable to ours, and who had experience creating
> continuous delivery of technology improvements in an agile context. We
> wanted a person who is oriented towards collaboration, transparency and
> openness, with some experience with complex stakeholder environments, and
> with an international orientation. We knew we needed someone with courage
> and strong personal integrity, who wouldn't be intimidated by attempts to
> censor the projects.
>
> Lila is precisely what we set out to find.
>
> Lila was born in the Soviet Union and moved to the United States alone, as
> a teenager. She's been working for technology companies, primarily in open
> source, in the Bay Area for the past 15 years. In 1999 she started her
> career at Sun Microsystems. Shortly afterwards she founded GrokDigital, a
> technology and design company. She spent three years as senior director of
> development at Telespree, a company that provides cloud-based wireless data
> services for mobile carriers. For the past eight years, she was at
> SugarCRM, where she held positions of increasing responsibility as the
> organization grew, including being in charge of internal IT, marketing,
> customer support and professional services, engineering, and product
> development. She has a stellar reputation as a leader who is highly
> skilled, collaborative, open, passionate and curious.
>
> We think Lila will be a terrific fit for the ED role. The Transition Team
> (Phoebe, Alice, Kat, Sue, Erik, Geoff, Gayle and I) voted unanimously to
> recommend her to the Board, and the Board voted unanimously to accept the
> recommendation. She strikes all of us as smart, brave and unpretentious,
> and we believe she has the skills the WMF needs.
>
> Lila is going to spend the next few weeks in learning-and-listening mode,
> and will take over the ED position from Sue at the end of the month. Her
> first priority will be to immerse herself in deepening her understanding of
> the Wikimedia projects.
>
> I want to close this announcement by saying a heartfelt and deeply
> appreciative thanks to Sue, who has been the Executive Director of the
> Wikimedia Foundation for the past seven years. When the Board and I hired
> Sue in 2007, we were just a chaotic little non-profit in small-town
> Florida, with a tiny staff and not much money. Over the past seven years,
> Sue's leadership has built the Foundation into an effective, well-funded
> and well-managed organisation, with integrity and a clear sense of purpose,
> and her steady and committed presence throughout the search process was
> integral in helping us come to this excellent result. We will be forever
> grateful for her leadership and vision, and I hope we can continue to rely
> on her support in the months and years ahead.
>
> In June Sue will move into a new role as a special advisor to me and Lila.
> She'll also take a well-earned holiday, and maybe even a bit of a
> wiki-break, before beginning to think about what she's going to do next.
> Many of us will get a chance to see her in London, at Wikimania, in August.
>
> The Wikimedia Foundation is delighted to have reached such a successful
> outcome to the search. My thanks to Lisa Grossman of m/Oppenheim for
> helping us with it, and I ask you to please join me in extending a warm
> welcome to Lila Tretikov, our new ED.
>
> Jan-Bart de Vreede
> Chair
> Wikimedia Board of Trustees
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014

[Steve Zhang]

Hi Gerard,

My email is not to criticise the decision WMUK made to send more than the
majority of chapters, but to  make my view (as I was asked off list my
view, and I think given the discussion it was worth sharing on-list) that
regardless of whether the funds a chapter or organisation has at it's
disposable are infinitely small or infinitely limitless, the same thought
process should be gone through when planning expenditure. Spend each $1,000
like it's your last, essentially, consider if what it's planned to be spent
on is the best value, and whether there would be more value in spending it
on another project/item. When thats the case, then consider whether the
original proposed spending is worth it.

I recognise this hardly a universal view, nor do I expect others to replace
their view with mine. It's not my place to question the actions of board
members of other chapters, nor will I do so, but like others I felt that
now was an appropriate time to convey my point of view on spending in
general, and I have now done so.

Looking forward to seeing all of you in Berlin :)

Steve


On 2 April 2014 21:54, Gerard Meijssen  wrote:

> Hoi,
> There is a big difference between being frugal and being effective. There
> is no point to underspend when it affects effectivity in a negative manner.
> Yes, it is important that people are mindful of the sources of the money
> involved. This is as important for us as it is for a government where the
> donations are not given voluntary. More important as it is hardly possible
> to get an accounting from "civil" servants and we rely every year on
> donations.
>
> When one chapter has a budget and a plan, it is for them to exercise that
> plan. When another chapter or people in another chapter disagree, they can
> say so. However, the argument for a large delegation has been made. One
> really important fact is that some people do not benefit from going to
> conferences. They do not make the connections, they do not get the point.
> When people know this applies to them, it is an excellent argument for them
> not to go.
>
> My experience is that going to conferences can be really effective. There
> are opportunities that are hard to get in any other setting. My experience
> is that people tend to be more approachable, more humane when I have met
> them. It really helps me in what I do.
>
> Now Steve, why not address this. This is why money will be spend. It is
> realistic, effective and particularly for a new team a great opportunity to
> get to know people. My mum would applaud money spend effectively.
> Thanks,
>   GerardM
>
>
> On 2 April 2014 12:10, Steve Zhang  wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'll just start off by saying these are my own personal views and don't
> > necessarily represent the views of the rest of the WMAU committee or
> > Wikimedia Australia as a whole.
> >
> > My view on spending funds might be seen as a bit extreme, but I believe
> > that funds received through the APG process or from money received
> through
> > current or past annual WMF fundraisers is still donor money
> > , and that it does not belong to the relevant chapters
> > , and
> > as a result
> > we need to respect that when spending our
> > their
> > money.
> > Remember, most donations are less than $30 and come from everyday people.
> > When I was planning a meetup in 2012, a
> >  good friend of mine
> > reminded me about "Grandma", and to keep in mind how Grandma would feel
> > about how I spent their $30. I've kept this in mind ever since.
> >
> > This is why I feel we should always be
> > frugal with the funds
> > that we have as a movement whenever possible, and question whether the
> > proposed expenditure is really necessary. Also, how we use the funds we
> as
> > chapters already have can help or hinder future requests for funds, and
> > this is something I consider before signing off on a project or
> > expenditure.
> >
> > I'm not one to criticise others for the decisions they've made, for this
> -
> > but I think the guideline 2+1 really should be adhered to by all, and
> would
> > wonder what value there is in sending more than this along to the
> > conference on the dime of the donor. If it's acceptable for large
> chapters
> > with large reserves, it potentially puts smaller chapters at a
> disadvantage
> > or could be perceived as bias.
> >
> > With a week and a bit to go, it's not a time where this discussion will
> > mean the arrangements already made for attendees will be changed, but I
> > would hope that us as chapters would consider this more carefu

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Cost of Wikimedia Conference 2014

[Steve Zhang]

Hi all,

I'll just start off by saying these are my own personal views and don't
necessarily represent the views of the rest of the WMAU committee or
Wikimedia Australia as a whole.

My view on spending funds might be seen as a bit extreme, but I believe
that funds received through the APG process or from money received through
current or past annual WMF fundraisers is still donor money
, and that it does not belong to the relevant chapters
, and
as a result
we need to respect that when spending our
their
money.
Remember, most donations are less than $30 and come from everyday people.
When I was planning a meetup in 2012, a
 good friend of mine
reminded me about "Grandma", and to keep in mind how Grandma would feel
about how I spent their $30. I've kept this in mind ever since.

This is why I feel we should always be
frugal with the funds
that we have as a movement whenever possible, and question whether the
proposed expenditure is really necessary. Also, how we use the funds we as
chapters already have can help or hinder future requests for funds, and
this is something I consider before signing off on a project or expenditure.

I'm not one to criticise others for the decisions they've made, for this -
but I think the guideline 2+1 really should be adhered to by all, and would
wonder what value there is in sending more than this along to the
conference on the dime of the donor. If it's acceptable for large chapters
with large reserves, it potentially puts smaller chapters at a disadvantage
or could be perceived as bias.

With a week and a bit to go, it's not a time where this discussion will
mean the arrangements already made for attendees will be changed, but I
would hope that us as chapters would consider this more carefully going
forward. Might be a worthy discussion topic in Berlin.

Steve Zhang

President - Wikimedia Australia
On 02/04/2014 9:27 am, "Itzik Edri"  wrote:

> Sorry Nicole, but I'm unhappy with your answer. You are right, engagement
> on other topics is needed, but this is not means people don't have the
> right to ask questions and raise concerns.
>
> We didn't have this discussions last year, as none of the chapter sent more
> then 2+1. There were few people who came before to the Education Meeting,
> but the left and didn't attend the ChapConf. I think we deserve to know why
> this has been changed, and why no one notify or discussed about it before.
> I was member of the location committee, and I'm definitely remember we
> asked all the proposals to calculates the event costs by this "rule" of
> number of representatives from each org. More than that, when we decided to
> select Berlin, we even mentioned the fact that last years WMDE's staff and
> board was widely around, "breaking" the equality we are looking for, and
> asking to minimize WMDE's attendees to only what needed to run the
> conference.
>
> WMDE did a great step toward open discussions about the goals and the
> program of the conference, so I find it strange they didn't welcome, or
> willing to response such a crucial question that changed the status quo we
> been used to since the beginning so secretly.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 6:46 PM, Nicole Ebber  >wrote:
>
> > I am glad that 1,5 weeks before the conference, there is finally some
> > activity showing up on the lists and the meta pages. I must admit that
> > I would have really loved to see more engagement on topics like
> > conference goals and themes, support for the programme team regarding
> > programme decisions, schedule and outcomes rather than having the same
> > discussions on rules and logistics like every year before.
> >
> > There is still time (2 days) to give input to the schedule or
> > volunteer as a speaker for some of the sessions. And most importantly,
> > to start discussing and taking position towards the conference topics
> > on-wiki and internally in our home organisations.
> >
> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Programme
> >
> > Everyone interested is very welcome to provide thoughts and ideas. We
> > have three days full of exciting sessions, highly political
> > discussions and fun ahead of us, let's make the best of it together!
> >
> > I am looking forward to seeing so many of you next week in Berlin!
> >
> > Best,
> > Nicole
> >
> > On 1 April 2014 10:47, Gerard Meijssen 
> wrote:
> > > Hoi,
> > > Money entrusted to a chapter is for that chapter to spend as they see
> > fit.
> > > The notion that it is money from the "public" is not a license for
> > everyone
> > > to meddle. There are people and pl

Re: [Wikimedia-l] Update on search for the WMF Executive Director

[Steve Zhang]

Ah, alright. Thanks all, must have missed it :)


On 25 March 2014 00:10, Martijn Hoekstra  wrote:

> On Mon, Mar 24, 2014 at 1:56 PM, MZMcBride  wrote:
>
> > Steve Zhang wrote:
> > >It probably means nothing, but the other day I noticed that the
> Executive
> > >Director post had been removed from the Job Openings page on the WMF
> wiki
> > >and was curious. Has there been an update on the search for the new ED,
> > >has Sue decided to stay or was it all just a coincidence and nothing has
> > >changed? :)
> >
> > Hi.
> >
> > The job posting being taken down was already noted on Meta-Wiki.[1]
> >
> > On 10 March 2014, Jan-Bart posted a status update[2] to Meta-Wiki:
> >
> > ---
> > As mentioned before we have taken a different tactic in finding new
> > candidates and we have met with several people and we have had several
> > meetings with candidates with two or more members of the Transition Team.
> >
> > We are at a point where we have three candidates that we all feel are
> > great. We hope to speak to them in the coming week or two and hope to go
> > into the final process (reference checking, terms negotiation etc.) after
> > that. We would then likely be looking to announce the new ED in May.
> >
> > Sue touched upon this subject during the Metrics update which took place
> > on March 6th.[3] (recorded; although the whole meeting is interesting the
> > ED Search update is from the 31st minute onwards)
> >
> > Jan-Bart de Vreede
> > ---
> >
> > MZMcBride
> >
> > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/7861323#March.3F
> > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/7861348
> > [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/7792051
> >
> >
> >
> This was also touched upon in the last office hours with Gayle:
>
> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRC_office_hours/Office_hours_2014-03-13starting
> from
> * [19:12:17]  MissGayle: can you give us a brief update on the
> search for ED, since you mentioned it?
>
> --Martijn
>
>
>
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[Wikimedia-l] Update on search for the WMF Executive Director

[Steve Zhang]

Hi all,

It probably means nothing, but the other day I noticed that the Executive
Director post had been removed from the Job Openings page on the WMF wiki (
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings#Office_of_the_Executive_Director)
and was curious. Has there been an update on the search for the new ED, has
Sue decided to stay or was it all just a coincidence and nothing has
changed? :)

Steve
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[Wikimedia-l] Call for volunteers - Individual Engagement Grants Committee

[Steve Zhang]

Hi all!

At the moment, the Individual Engagement grant committee has an open call
for volunteers :) We're looking for interested individuals who can put in
some time each round (we have two rounds a year) to brainstorm with
potential grantees, and help evaluate proposals for funding.

The call for volunteers closes March 9, so if you're interested please do
consider adding your name!

More detail can be found at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Committee. We'd love to have you
on board :)

Regards,

Steven Zhang
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Steve Zhang]

Funnily enough the cost of doing so has been looked into:
http://news.com.au/technology/lehigh-university-figure-out-how-much-it-costs-to-build-death-star/story-e6frfro0-1226275852491

In short, $8,100,000,000,000,000 and would take about 800,000 years.
Probably not a viable solution :)
 On 30/01/2014 12:08 AM, "Fæ"  wrote:

> On 29 January 2014 12:21, Steve Zhang  wrote:
> > Part of me still thinks we'd be better off and it would be easier to try
> > clone Sue rather than trying to find a suitable replacement for her...
>
> Hm, clone armies. Could the WMF strategy extend to creating a Death
> Star to preserve all of human knowledge?
>
> (As a certain CEO said once; blah, blah, blah, dark side.)
>
> Fae
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Community consultation + Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director selection process

[Steve Zhang]

Part of me still thinks we'd be better off and it would be easier to try
clone Sue rather than trying to find a suitable replacement for her...
On 29/01/2014 7:03 PM, "Ting Chen"  wrote:

> Hello dear all, hello Transition Team, hello dear board,
>
> I am still willing to take the challenge.
>
> Looking into the description of the search criteria:
>
> Key to the success of the Executive Director will be a commitment to
> understand and advance Wikimedia's core values.
> - In many occasions in the past years I have demonstrated that the core
> values of our movement are part of my life. They are the values that I use
> to guide my behavior and my decisions, not only inside of the movement, but
> also in my professional work and in my personal life.
>
> The Executive Director will need to have the technology management
> and product development skills to effectively lead a high traffic website,
> and experience designing and implementing planning processes with a high
> built-in assumption of fast and iterative change.
> - In the past 16 years I worked in a company which like no other IT
> companies had decisively contributed into the establishment of standards
> and processes of the industry. I started in that company as a programmer on
> the OS (Assembler and C++) level and moved with the time into the position
> of technical lead of projects that are set into highly complicated
> political contexts. Being a subject matter expert, I am the anchor with
> facts and expertise between the different political interests and streams,
> build trust with my open and direct communication style to all groups and
> parties and move things forward by understand the background of the
> different interests and so build bridges and provide solutions that address
> those backgrounds directly. These are the skills and personal marks that
> brought me there where I am now: Into the core of those troubled projects.
>
> He or she will need to have exceptional communication skills, and to
> possess both a drive to achieve transformative results and a deep respect
> for collaborative processes. The ED's ability to effect change in
> partnership with Wikimedia's community will be decisive not just to their
> success, but to Wikimedia's lasting impact in the 21st century.
> - As I have stated in my resign letter from the board, I believe this is
> indeed the most intriguing, most urgent and most difficult part of the work
> that lay directly before us in the next decade. And for this we need, more
> than anyone else inside of the movement, an ED who is really trusted by the
> community (to which I count the readers, the editors, the affiliated
> organizations, their board and staff, the staff of the Foundation, and the
> board). Gain trust is hard work, build trust needs time. It took me long
> time, two or three years, to build that mutual trust with many of the
> people within our movement. And trust is the thing that thwart the belief
> that the process has the luxury of time. Because with the lasting of
> indecisive time the trust sinks and the anxiouty raises.
>
> As it is remarked at one point, there is no obvious career path that leads
> to this position. After seeing the result of last year's search I am
> strengthend in my belief, that I am the best fit for this position.
>
> Greetings
> Ting
>
>
>
>
>
> Am 1/21/2014 12:09 PM, schrieb Jan-Bart de Vreede:
>
>> Hey Frederico
>>
>> I will write an update for the meta page in the coming week or so but
>> just to give you a general sense of where we are at: we are trying to reach
>> potential candidates in a different way, and so far that looks like a good
>> strategy. This means more direct contact between the Foundation and
>> candidates and more pro-actively reaching out to people who initially
>> showed no interest.
>>
>> There is no scientific way to make the trade-off between
>> characteristics/skills of candidates. We might very well choose to ignore
>> an important characteristic if all the others fall into place. And it is of
>> course easier to make a trade-off on less significant characteristics and
>> skills. The decision to look for more candidates rather than make a choice
>> in December was not an easy one, but we were not willing to go for a
>> candidate who was missing too many of our desired characteristics/skills.
>> This is something that the transition team does, and its not something that
>> translates well to a table on meta.
>>
>> I am not sure what you are referring to as "avoid another fiasco", but as
>> far as I am concerned we are simply in a stage of finding new candidates
>> and trying to surface the candidate that is up to the challenge and
>> opportunity that we as a unique movement have to offer. This was always an
>> option, and we would have liked to have found someone in the first round,
>> but it wasn't to be.
>>
>> Jan-Bart de Vreede
>>
>>
>>
>> On 18 Jan 2014, at 11:08, Federico Leva (Nemo) 
>> wrote:
>>
>>  I don't know what to think abo

Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimediaau-l] Wikimedia Australia public meeting on Sunday at 4PM AEDST

[Steve Zhang]

Hi all,

Just a reminder - this meeting starts in 15 minutes.

Steve

Steven Zhang
President - Wikimedia Australia
steven.zh...@wikimedia.org.au


On 1 December 2013 12:02, Steve Zhang  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just a reminder that the below meeting will take place today at 4pm AEDST
> in the #wikimedia-au IRC channel on Freenode.
>
> There's no set agenda but it's your chance to ask questions, provide
> feedback, give ideas or just chat with other Wikimedians.
>
> Hope to see you then.
>
> Steven Zhang
> President - Wikimedia Australia
> Hope to see you there.
> On 28/11/2013 9:03 PM, "Andrew Owens"  wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Just to notify all that there will be a public meeting in the
>> #wikimedia-au IRC channel on the freenode network this coming Sunday 1
>> December at 4PM AEDST (1pm in WA, 3pm in QLD, 3:30pm in SA).
>>
>> A reminder will be sent on the day. I'd welcome suggestions on when
>> the notices and reminders should be sent out / what works best for
>> people, seeing as there'll be at least 10 more of these during the
>> term :)
>>
>> kindest regards
>>
>> Andrew Owens
>> Secretary
>> Wikimedia Australia
>>
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>>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimediaau-l] Wikimedia Australia public meeting on Sunday at 4PM AEDST

[Steve Zhang]

Hi all,

Just a reminder that the below meeting will take place today at 4pm AEDST
in the #wikimedia-au IRC channel on Freenode.

There's no set agenda but it's your chance to ask questions, provide
feedback, give ideas or just chat with other Wikimedians.

Hope to see you then.

Steven Zhang
President - Wikimedia Australia
Hope to see you there.
On 28/11/2013 9:03 PM, "Andrew Owens"  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Just to notify all that there will be a public meeting in the
> #wikimedia-au IRC channel on the freenode network this coming Sunday 1
> December at 4PM AEDST (1pm in WA, 3pm in QLD, 3:30pm in SA).
>
> A reminder will be sent on the day. I'd welcome suggestions on when
> the notices and reminders should be sent out / what works best for
> people, seeing as there'll be at least 10 more of these during the
> term :)
>
> kindest regards
>
> Andrew Owens
> Secretary
> Wikimedia Australia
>
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[Wikimedia-l] Fwd: Wikimedia Australia 2013 AGM results

[Steve Zhang]

Dear Wikimedians,



Wikimedia Australia today held their annual general meeting today and has
elected a new management committee.



President - Steven Zhang

Vice President - Gideon Digby

Secretary - Andrew Owens

Ordinary members - Robert Myers, Pru Mitchell, Charles Gregory and Michael
Billington



On behalf of the new committee, I would like thank the outgoing members of
the committee for their hard work over the years. They have shaped our
organisation in a dramatic way and we would not be the same without their
efforts.



Regards,

Steven Zhang
President - Wikimedia Australia
steven.zh...@wikimedia.org.au
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Some sad news

[Steve Zhang]

The loss of someone always hits us hard; the loss of one of us even more
so. I was lucky enough to work with Jackson, albeit briefly.  He will be
very sorely missed and I wish his family all the best during these tough
times.
On 21/11/2013 4:33 AM, "Amy Vossbrinck"  wrote:

> Never let it be said that one person can't make a difference.  Clearly this
> young man was all about reaching out to others and making an impact
> everywhere he went.  The planet and many people on it benefited from his
> kindness for the brief time he was here.
>
> Thank you, Jackson for all you gave to make the word a better place.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 20, 2013 at 9:24 AM, Jake Orlowitz 
> wrote:
>
> > User:Jackson Peebles is no longer with us, he passed away in late
> > October. Jackson was a Western Michigan University Honors student
> > studying behavioral science and biology. He worked as an ice hockey
> > referreee and volunteered with the Red Cross. His Wikipedia efforts
> > focused on counter-vandalism and adoption, "greeting new users,
> > encouraging civility, and [obsessively] reviewing recent changes".
> >
> > Jackson was a Teahouse host, an instructor in the Education Program,
> > and the lead on a Video Tutorials Project through the WMF. User:Go
> > Phightins! originaly adopted Jackson but he went on to run his own
> > adoption school and facilitated a Western Michigan University course
> > himself. Among his userboxes he said, "This user is not a Wikipedia
> > administrator but would like to be one someday."
> >
> > Jackson was born in 1992 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He graduated Mattawan
> > High School and was Senior Class President there. At Western Michigan
> > University, he was a 2011 Medallion Scholar. He worked at the Waldo
> > Library at the reference desk and volunteered for the National
> > Alliance for Mental Illness. He was one of three students in the
> > nation invited to represent the US at the International Red Cross and
> > Red Crescent’s Global Youth Conference in Vienna in 2012.
> >
> > Jackson had recently proposed a WMF Individual Engagment Grant called
> > Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship. "I think this project is incredibly
> > important and should be pursued," User:EpochFail wrote in an
> > endorsement. The grant scored highly and looked likely to be funded.
> > "A very interesting concept...may become a 'keystone piece' in the new
> > editor onboarding process." wrote one IEG committee member. Another
> > wrote, "Taking a 'Teahouse approach' in building sustained motivation
> > and preventing editor dropouts is a wonderful opportunity to develop a
> > true mentor-mentee support system that would increase the activity of
> > new contributors." Finally, "Proposers are highly qualified and driven
> > mentors with a useful background in teaching new editors and
> > understanding the learning process."
> >
> > He was excitedly planning a trip to Australia in the coming weeks.
> >
> > On Wikipedia, Jackson earned barnstars in Mentorship, Random Acts of
> > Kindness and Resilience. Friends and teachers glowingly recalled his
> > sense of humor and his hard work ethic.
> >
> > His last edit to our site was on October 21 2013, the day he died.
> > Jackson welcomed an i.p. editor to Wikipedia: "Thank you for your
> > contributions, such as the one you made to Nikah mut‘ah. I hope you
> > like the place and decide to stay."
> >
> > Please leave remembrances and condolences at
> > http://enwp.org/User_talk:Jackson_Peebes. We'll try and contact the
> > family and share your thoughts with them. You can read more
> > reflections on Jackson's amazing life there. Donations to the
> > Kalamazoo NAMI chapter would have made Jackson very happy and are the
> > family's wish.
> >
> > --Ocaasi14:26, 20 November 2013 (UTC)
> >
> > ___
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> > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l,
> > 
>
>
>
>
> --
> *Amy Vossbrinck*
> *Executive Assistant to the*
> *Chief of Finance and Administration*
> *Wikimedia Foundation*
> *149 New Montgomery Street*
> *San Francisco, CA 94105*
> *415.839.6885 ext 6628*
> *avossbri...@wikimedia.org *
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Office hours for VisualEditor

[Steve Zhang]

I have to say, I'm amazed such a long discussion has occured over a
question about the time for an office hours sessions.

*Steven Zhang*
*cro0...@gmail.com*


On 31 October 2013 09:42, Tim Starling  wrote:

> On 31/10/13 02:51, Newyorkbrad wrote:
> > In an arbitration committee election a couple of years ago, I definitely
> > recall confusion about whether a deadline of  on a given date meant
> > that the deadline expired as of the beginning of that date or the end of
> > that date.
>
> Voting periods in SecurePoll are actually half-open intervals [S, E),
> i.e. "starting at exactly time S, proceeding up to but not including
> time E". So "E = 2013-11-03 00:00:00" is actually the correct way to
> express a voting interval that includes the whole of 2013-11-02 and
> nothing after that. However, I have been browbeaten into using
> 23:59:59 in more recent elections, thus stealing a whole second of
> potential voting time from our poor voters.
>
> -- Tim Starling
>
>
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Simple English hits 100k this week

[Steve Zhang]

Wow! What a great achievement for Simple (and for you, Sarah ;-))

On Thursday, May 30, 2013, Sarah Stierch wrote:

> And...urm...I wrote the article that hit 100k. That's not the point, but,
> just felt the need to preface...
>
> http://simple.wikipedia.org/**wiki/Wikipedia:Announcements#**
> May_29.2C_2013
>
> Simple English is a Wikipedia that is for children and adults learning how
> to speak English.
>
> :)
>
> #justsayin
>
> Sarah
>
> --
> *Sarah Stierch*
> */Museumist and open culture advocate/*
> >>Visit sarahstierch.com <<
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-- 
*Steven Zhang*
*cro0...@gmail.com*
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thoughts on Admin Rights on WMF Wiki (and other things)

[Steve Zhang]

On 26 May 2013 16:53, Federico Leva (Nemo)  wrote:

> I can agree with the rest but this is interesting:
>
> Steve Zhang, 26/05/2013 08:42:
>
>> [...]
>>
>> Now, the removal of adminship of volunteer editors on the WMF wiki (among
>> other changes) happened for a reason, [...]
>>
>
> really? What reason? I've not yet heard an explanation other than "it's
> our wiki and we do whatever we wish: I'll prove you in a second!".
> I also agree that judging the decision is useless (it's not going to be
> reverted) and that it's not our job (the WMF board should do that, I
> guess), but if you know the reason then please share it because we're all
> clueless about it.
>
> Nemo
>

Gayle explained her reasons in the email she sent to this list around 3
days ago, like everyone else this is all the information I have. Whether or
not we agree with her reasons is a moot point, as she has noted that her
decision will stand. I don't think this was ever done to make community
members unhappy, and while that turned out to be one of the results, I
think we should let it go. Like many things on Wikimedia, this is a
discussion that has run its natural should be laid to rest, and we should
move on to more productive things.

Steven Zhang
cro0...@gmail.com
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Thoughts on Admin Rights on WMF Wiki (and other things)

[Steve Zhang]

On 26 May 2013 07:35, ENWP Pine  wrote:

>
> Gayle, I am going to be frank. I think I know a little more about you and
> your work than the average member of this list does. I appreciate your
> explanations and apologies, but I'm continuing to have a hard time with
> this situation. With your many years of leadership experience, and in your
> position as Chief Culture and Talent Officer, it's shocking that you would
> implement such a significant change in the unprofessional way that you did,
> and of all people I would have expected you and Philippe (Director of
> Community Advocacy) to be acutely aware of our consensus-based culture
> and how to implement changes in a diplomatic and professional way. This
> situation has been a disaster for WMF-Community relations, and I'm sorry
> to say that my feeling is that the credibility of you and Philippe has been
> harmed beyond repair. Do you think you should continue to be WMF's
> Chief Culture and Talent Officer? I have a hard time believing that you
> should continue in that role after this disaster, but I want to hear your
> point of view.
>
>
I've thought long and hard about whether to reply here, and I have decided
that I will. Our mailing lists too often become an ugly place where the
worst of us comes out for all to see. I feel that regarding this matter,
some here have stepped over the line. Having your own opinion is fine, as
is providing criticism, but attacking others (or in general, saying things
that make them feel like crap) is not. As one who has worked to resolve the
disputes of others (both on-wiki and in real life) I think it needs to be
said that the current tension that has been created needs to dissipate.
Now, the removal of adminship of volunteer editors on the WMF wiki (among
other changes) happened for a reason, and I'm not going to comment on
whether I think it was the right decision to make or not - I'm not
qualified to do that. I do think that it could have been carried out in a
better fashion, and that if the community was given more notice of the
changes, with an explanation of the reasons for making them, then the
response from the community would not have been as dramatic. But that said,
Gayle has offered her apologies. And I accept them. I think we all should.
We have all made mistakes within our time, and we should not be remembered
solely by our errors. We need to move on.

Remember, we are all working towards the same goal - a world in which every
single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. I would
invite all reading this mailing list thread to reflect on what has
happened, and the actions you have taken. Think about what you can take
away from this, and how you can use the experience to improve yourself. And
most importantly, remember that when you send someone an email, a text, a
tweet, a talk page message, that there is a real person on the receiving
end, and what you say impacts them. If you wouldn't like to be on the
receiving end of what you say, consider whether there's a better way to say
it, or say nothing at all. I think if we all did this in our day to day
lives, they would be much more happy and pleasant ones.

Regards,
*Steven Zhang*
*cro0...@gmail.com*
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