Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 10:04 PM, Michael Peel em...@mikepeel.net wrote: It's good to see an email appeal sent to editors to translate articles, although a direct email appeal to generally add information to the relevant Wikipedia might be better (we don't just want translators, we also want new content!). I'm just talking here as someone that volunteered in a first test of this feature. In that case I was asked whether I had edited Spanish Wikipedia (which I had) and then got a few recommendations for articles that could be translated from English to Spanish using the Content Translator. My edits to es.wiki are quite thematic, and the recommendations I got were very interesting to me, as an editor and as a reader. I guess a problem with this mailing (among others) is that the threshold should be more restrictive, for instances filtering out editors that never added whole sentences or paragraphs of text, avoiding the occasional editors of wrong data, images, etc, that might not know the language itself. About why focusing on translations (or, to be more precise, Content Translator), I think it is a campaign that makes sense. Most registered editors don't know about Content Translator and/or wouldn't have a clear idea of what articles to translate. In this sense, the email (that could be a message in Talk pages indeed) is very useful, even for someone like me who was well aware of Content Translator and had tried in some articles. Of course, this shouldn't stop other types of recommendations to edit away. -- Quim Gil Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
So as part of https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Increasing_article_coverage , it appears that unsolicited emails have been sent out encouraging people to translated articles into needed languages. I am all for improving article coverage, etc, but I'm concerned about the use of user account emails to send unsolicited mail that the user has not opted into. I think use of user email addresses for purposes other than the user has agreed to, is not ok. I'm not really fazed by the fact that emails were unsolicited, but by the fact that I got it in French. I don't know whether that was a glitch or a conscious decision, but my knowledge of French is somewhere around fr-0.1, and it made no sense to me why I got it in a language other than English. :) I also received an email in French about this. I presume that this is because I have made some edits to the French Wikipedia (mostly just adding photos to articles): hopefully it didn't get sent to everyone who's edited Wikipedia! It's good to see an email appeal sent to editors to translate articles, although a direct email appeal to generally add information to the relevant Wikipedia might be better (we don't just want translators, we also want new content!). Really, RCom has morphed slowly into the Research Team at the WMF + a few interested volunteers that we can manage to pull in to help us with review work (shout out to Daniel Mietchen, Nemo, Yaroslav BluRasberry). I'm sad to hear this. I thought it used to be a volunteer committee (but perhaps I'm remembering this wrong?), and turning a volunteer committee into a staff team really isn't scalable. I'm sure that there are many knowledgeable academic researchers out there that this structure will exclude. Defining it as WMF staff members and some pre-existing volunteers sounds like it's become more, rather than less, hierarchical. Thanks, Mike P.S. I like the idea of random academics. The world could do with more of these. :-) ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 11:07 AM, Brian Wolff bawo...@gmail.com wrote: So as part of https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Increasing_article_coverage , it appears that unsolicited emails have been sent out encouraging people to translated articles into needed languages. I am all for improving article coverage, etc, but I'm concerned about the use of user account emails to send unsolicited mail that the user has not opted into. I think use of user email addresses for purposes other than the user has agreed to, is not ok. I'm not really fazed by the fact that emails were unsolicited, but by the fact that I got it in French. I don't know whether that was a glitch or a conscious decision, but my knowledge of French is somewhere around fr-0.1, and it made no sense to me why I got it in a language other than English. :) Cheers, Filip Maljković ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
Filip Maljković wrote: On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 11:07 AM, Brian Wolff bawo...@gmail.com wrote: So as part of https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Increasing_article_coverage , it appears that unsolicited emails have been sent out encouraging people to translated articles into needed languages. I am all for improving article coverage, etc, but I'm concerned about the use of user account emails to send unsolicited mail that the user has not opted into. I think use of user email addresses for purposes other than the user has agreed to, is not ok. I'm not really fazed by the fact that emails were unsolicited, but by the fact that I got it in French. I don't know whether that was a glitch or a conscious decision, but my knowledge of French is somewhere around fr-0.1, and it made no sense to me why I got it in a language other than English. :) I tend to agree with Brian. I'm not sure spamming people to create articles is a reasonable approach. I'm also not sure how it's appropriate to opt users in to an experiment without their consent. Like Filip, I was confused why I received an e-mail in French. I actually figured it had something to do with imported edits, but I hadn't investigated what the e-mail was about. The text of the e-mail I received is pasted below. MZMcBride Bonjour MZMcBride, L’équipe Recherche de la Fondation Wikimédia (Wikimedia Research) travaille actuellement sur l’identification d’articles populaires et importants[1] dans certaines langues du projet Wikipédia qui n’existent pas encore sur le Wikipédia francophone. Les cinq articles suivants existent dans la version anglophone de Wikipédia et sont considérés comme étant importants pour les autres langues du projet. Au vu de votre historique de contribution à Wikipédia, nous pensons que vous êtes un(e) excellent candidat(e) pour contribuer à ces articles. Démarrer la création de l'un de ces articles serait un premier pas considérable en vue d'élargir les connaissances disponibles en français.[2] Domain privacy https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ContentTranslation?campaign=frwiki-r ecommenderto=frfrom=enpage=Domain_privacy Zango (company) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ContentTranslation?campaign=frwiki-r ecommenderto=frfrom=enpage=Zango_(company) Closed platform https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ContentTranslation?campaign=frwiki-r ecommenderto=frfrom=enpage=Closed_platform Criticism of Second Life https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ContentTranslation?campaign=frwiki-r ecommenderto=frfrom=enpage=Criticism_of_Second_Life Online producer https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:ContentTranslation?campaign=frwiki-r ecommenderto=frfrom=enpage=Online_producer Nous vous remercions d'avance pour votre aide.[3][4] Equipe de Recherche Fondation Wikimédia 149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA, 94105 415.839.6885 (Office) 1. Nous identifions les articles importants et populaires grâce à un algorithme. Cette sélection d'articles peut être un résultat personnalisé ou aléatoire. Vous pouvez en apprendre davantage sur la personnalisation et les méthodes utilisées pour trouver les articles importants à cette adresse https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Increasing_article_coverage#Metho dology. 2. Les liens pointent vers l’outil de traduction de Wikipédia (ContentTranslation Tool). Cet outil est en cours de développement par l’équipe Language Engineering de la fondation (pour l’instant en version beta dans certaines langues). En savoir plus: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Content_translation. 3. Si vous désirez plus d’informations sur ce projet de recherche, vous pouvez lire cette page https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Increasing_article_coverage (en anglais), et nous en parler sur sa page de discussion https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Increasing_article_coverage (en anglais de préférence, même si nous trouverons certainement un traducteur si vous nous écrivez en français :). 4. Votre avis est important pour nous. Faites nous part de vos impressions par courriel à l’adresse recommender-feedb...@wikimedia.org. Si vous ne souhaitez plus recevoir de courriel de Wikimedia Research, merci d’envoyer un courriel ayant pour sujet unsubscribe à l’adresse recommender-feedb...@wikimedia.org. ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
This issue is also being discussed on the Research mailing list. I have three questions: 1. Was this outreach method approved by RCom? 2. Email addresses are nonpublic information on-wiki unless they are proactively and publicly disclosed by users. Does the bulk collection of nonpublic email addresses in this manner and the bulk provision of those addresses to researchers for their use in this campaign violate the Wikimedia privacy policy? The policy states regarding email, We use your email address to let you know about things that are happening with the Foundation, the Wikimedia Sites, or the Wikimedia movement, such as telling you important information about your account, letting you know if something is changing about the Wikimedia Sites or policies, and alerting you when there has been a change to an article that you have decided to follow. The bulk scraping of email addresses from account registrations for research and outreach purposes doesn't appear to be contemplated or authorized under the privacy policy. 3. Wouldn't talk pages be a more appropriate outreach method than bulk email? Thanks, Pine ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
On 27 June 2015 at 17:28, Peter Southwood peter.southw...@telkomsa.net wrote: So that’s what that e-mail was about. I got an e-mail in French, a language which I don’t read, write, or speak. I assumed a technical or human error. Pine's questions are certainly deserving of prompt and frank answers. -- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
Hi All, Please see in-line below. -Michelle On Saturday, June 27, 2015, Leila Zia le...@wikimedia.org wrote: + Michelle Paulson On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 7:37 AM, Pine W wiki.p...@gmail.com javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','wiki.p...@gmail.com'); wrote: This issue is also being discussed on the Research mailing list. I have three questions: 1. Was this outreach method approved by RCom? No, and RCom, as far as I know has not been active in the past year or more (last meeting was on Dec. 22, 2011). This is a research from the Research team in the WMF. 2. Email addresses are nonpublic information on-wiki unless they are proactively and publicly disclosed by users. Does the bulk collection of nonpublic email addresses in this manner and the bulk provision of those addresses to researchers for their use in this campaign violate the Wikimedia privacy policy? The policy states regarding email, We use your email address to let you know about things that are happening with the Foundation, the Wikimedia Sites, or the Wikimedia movement, such as telling you important information about your account, letting you know if something is changing about the Wikimedia Sites or policies, and alerting you when there has been a change to an article that you have decided to follow. The bulk scraping of email addresses from account registrations for research and outreach purposes doesn't appear to be contemplated or authorized under the privacy policy. Michelle can help with this one as this is related to Legal. Note that it's weekend here and this may have to wait until Monday. The research team did speak to me prior to beginning this project to ensure that they complied with the WMF privacy policy. It is my view that this type of use falls within the permissible potential uses for email addresses under the policy. The examples listed in the policy are meant to be illustrative, not exclusive -- the absence of this situation as an enumerated example shouldn't be taken as a prohibition. That said, it is a new use and therefore, will and should be the subject of discussion and debate. It is such feedback and testing that will help us refine email practices to be both effective and reflective of community values. 3. Wouldn't talk pages be a more appropriate outreach method than bulk email? The reason we chose email over talk pages (or Echo notifications) is explained here https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Increasing_article_coverage#.C2.AB_recommander_par_courriel_des_articles_.C3.A0_cr.C3.A9er.E2.80.A6_.C2.BB. Hope this helps. Best, Leila Thanks, Pine ___ Wiki-research-l mailing list wiki-researc...@lists.wikimedia.org javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','wiki-researc...@lists.wikimedia.org'); https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l -- == Michelle Paulson Senior Legal Counsel Wikimedia Foundation 149 New Montgomery Street, 6th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 mpaul...@wikimedia.org 415.839.6885 ext. 6608 (Office) 415.882.0495 (Fax) *NOTICE: This message may be confidential or legally privileged. If you have received it by accident, please delete it and let us know about the mistake. As an attorney for the Wikimedia Foundation and for legal/ethical reasons, I cannot give legal advice to, or serve as a lawyer for, community members, volunteers, or staff members in their personal capacity. For more on what this means, please see our legal disclaimer https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Legal_Disclaimer.* ___ 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
Re: [Wikimedia-l] Unsolicieted email from wikimedia research
RCom, as far as I know has not been active in the past year or more (last meeting was on Dec. 22, 2011). *RCom is not dead. It changed into something less formal and less hierarchical. You can still email me and Dario to get support for your research plans. We'd still reconvene the committee if it looks like that'll help. * While RCom hasn't met in a long time, the process for subject recruitment hasn't slowed. We don't have a technical requirement that all recruitment studies must follow The Process, but I have been helping researchers document their studies and obtain feedback and sometimes consensus for more than five years now. Really, RCom has morphed slowly into the Research Team at the WMF + a few interested volunteers that we can manage to pull in to help us with review work (shout out to Daniel Mietchen, Nemo, Yaroslav BluRasberry). Within the research team, we *do* have structured processed for supporting researchers access to data and engineering support, but subject recruitment has been mostly left in my (volunteer time) hands. Regretfully, I wasn't involved in the planning of this project or I would have directed it towards best practices for minimizing disruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Research_recruitment -- e.g. an RFC. I would have also pushed Leila to find a way to make posts on talk pages work (since they are known to be generally preferable, police-able, etc.), but I can understand why concerns around privacy might be worth discussion. I regret that this discussion only happened after-the-fact as it could have informed the study design for the better. FWIW, SuggestBot posts recommendations on user talk pages and also does not filter for offensive content (to my knowledge). Finally, I think it is important to consider the source of this research work. Leila is not some random academic or industry researcher who is planning to take advantage of Wikipedians for a study, but not give back. Leila is working with a team at the WMF tasked with building better translation tools. She helped them design an experiment that would explore the effectiveness of these tools so that when something is deployed, it's actually better and we know it scientifically. A lot of the work I do with external researchers is to help make sure that their work has the potential to benefit Wikipedia/Wikipedians/Wikimedia/Open knowledge. In this case, the Leila's team is just helping the product teams engage in best practices around empirical software change practice. After all, every software deployment is an experiment that is inflicted upon you without consent. In this case, Leila's job is making sure that we know the effect before we deploy. So, what I really mean to say is: 1. You're right. We should do this better. We have a process and everyone should go through it. It might have caught some of the issues that have been raised. 2. Leila is WMF staff. She's trying to help the WMF build better software for the purpose of benefiting Wikipedians. Her team deserves some slack. The alternative of not running the study is less desirable. -Aaron On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 12:56 PM, Michelle Paulson mpaul...@wikimedia.org wrote: Hi All, Please see in-line below. -Michelle On Saturday, June 27, 2015, Leila Zia le...@wikimedia.org wrote: + Michelle Paulson On Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 7:37 AM, Pine W wiki.p...@gmail.com javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','wiki.p...@gmail.com'); wrote: This issue is also being discussed on the Research mailing list. I have three questions: 1. Was this outreach method approved by RCom? No, and RCom, as far as I know has not been active in the past year or more (last meeting was on Dec. 22, 2011). This is a research from the Research team in the WMF. 2. Email addresses are nonpublic information on-wiki unless they are proactively and publicly disclosed by users. Does the bulk collection of nonpublic email addresses in this manner and the bulk provision of those addresses to researchers for their use in this campaign violate the Wikimedia privacy policy? The policy states regarding email, We use your email address to let you know about things that are happening with the Foundation, the Wikimedia Sites, or the Wikimedia movement, such as telling you important information about your account, letting you know if something is changing about the Wikimedia Sites or policies, and alerting you when there has been a change to an article that you have decided to follow. The bulk scraping of email addresses from account registrations for research and outreach purposes doesn't appear to be contemplated or authorized under the privacy policy. Michelle can help with this one as this is related to Legal. Note that it's weekend here and this may have to wait until Monday. The research team did speak to me prior to beginning this project to ensure that they complied with
