[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Leaving the Wikimedia Foundation
Cross-posting -- Forwarded message -- From: Barry Newstead bnewst...@wikimedia.org Date: Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 11:41 AM Subject: Leaving the Wikimedia Foundation To: Announce Mailing List wikimediaannounc...@lists.wikimedia.org Dear Wikimedia friends and colleagues, It is bittersweet for me to share with all of you that I will be leaving the Wikimedia Foundation at the end of August to relocate to Australia for personal reasons. It is difficult for me to leave Wikimedia and particularly leave the Global Development team, which I’ve had the pleasure of building and leading over the past two years. I am proud of what we have accomplished in raising the priority of much of the globe within the Wikimedia movement, strengthening our mobile strategy and education program, globalizing communications, and tackling the difficult movement roles issues that I hope can be put in the past. It hasn’t been easy or uncontroversial, but I truly believe that we are heading in the right direction. One of the great joys of my work has been the opportunity to travel and meet many amazing Wikipedians and to share the Wikimedia story with the world. It is so inspiring to hear first hand how much people love our projects and the amazing things that so many people do in support of the movement. This is what helped me survive the many long flights and jetlag-filled nights. It was an honour representing the Wikimedia Foundation and often the Wikimedia movement in so many places. I am confident that the Global Development work will thrive with the team in place and with all of the dedicated community members who see us as partners. I look forward to becoming a volunteer member of the movement and supporting the work in new ways. Sue will share plans for the transition shortly. Many thanks to all who have supported me and our work. Kind regards, Barry -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! Donate to Wikimedia https://donate.wikimedia.org/ -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! Donate to Wikimedia https://donate.wikimedia.org/ ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Update on Social Media Pilot
Just a brief note on the 8% retention rate of a pilot that is not yet two months old and has the potential for significant further refinement and improvement. This is a high retention rate based on data I've seen on general outreach events, where the rates of conversion to editing are very low (generally well below 5% in the analysis we've been doing in India since January), as many people have discussed on this list and elsewhere. The Wikipedia Education Program, where students have a rather deep introduction to Wikipedia, has seen a retention rate of only 4% after the end of the course.[1] [1] Report on recent research on Wikipedia Education Program in the Signpost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-02-27/Recent_research Best, Barry -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation On Wednesday, May 30, 2012 at 8:15 AM, Theo10011 wrote: Hi Arun On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 7:54 PM, Arun Ganesh arun.plane...@gmail.com (mailto:arun.plane...@gmail.com) wrote: Hi Theo, If we are trying something in India that chaps in SF have not concentrated on, i would not necessarily label it as a negative approach. Gut instinct tells me that fb, twitter outreach might be more successful here as we are riding the social wave with people just discovering and exploring the new world that smartphones and 3g open out to them. These platforms can easily extend the social collaboration that goes on in wikipedia to an extended audience if done properly. What i think would be useful way of measuring these things is to release statistics monthly on the number of retweets or shares that could indicate the actual reach of these outreach efforts. Util then however, this is nothing to boast about. Fair enough. And that might have been more of my point that this might not be the stage to boast about yet, along with de-prioritize social media for actual ground-level community work. Second, the metrics- acquisition cost and time spent as Gautam suggested are indeed more critical here. The metrics aren't hard to analyze, they were in the original email itself, instead of looking at retweets, number of likes or members, look at how many people edit, how many actually stick around. That was, what I went by at an acquisition/conversion rate of 8%. Third, as Ravishankar asks - if it is working why not try it? - it has been tried now, and it's not working so well, was my point. The entire result of the exercise could be imitated in a single workshop or mid-size meetup in 1 day. I am not saying it is not something to keep trying, but something not focusing on as a priority. This might be something to do in addition to regular activities, but not spend already limited resources on. The priorities might need to be re-aligned. That was more or less, my motivation. Regards Theo ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org (mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org) To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikimedians work for personal satisfaction, not politics or personal gain
Hi - I was simply stating my observation that the Malayalam community seems to be a great group doing great work like many in our community. I like the fact that they don't seem to be locked up in some of the politics/disputes that happen elsewhere in the Wikimedia community around the world. That's all. More broadly, I had a terrific visit! I had very productive discussions and learned a lot with the Malayalam community at their conference. We had a great meetup in Bangalore on Sunday where we discussed several projects including Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit. I had a good meeting with Arjuna on Saturday and then Hisham and I had a good lunch with Arjuna and Arum on moving forward with opportunities for collaboration between the chapter and India Program. I also had a good day with the India Program team in Delhi on their current and upcoming work plans. Finally, Hisham and I were invited to meet with the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Internet Society in Bangalore and we had a good discussion with Sunil Abraham, their Executive Director. Needless to say, I got very little sleep jumping around the country and am quite exhausted at the moment, but it was worth the hectic travel. Many thanks to the ML community for inviting me to Kollam (I'll definitely be back to see more of Kerala), to those who came to the Bangalore meetup, to CIS, the India Program team and to Arjuna and Arun for a good discussion (and for buying lunch). Best, Barry -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation On Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 3:07 PM, Arjun Mangol Kanoth wrote: Whoa, whoa, guys, chill! No names!! The comment was perfectly normal, nothing hidden directed at anyone, and we need to stop making baseless assumptions. Man, the word 'politics' is seriously jinxed!. On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 3:02 AM, Anirudh Bhati anirudh...@gmail.com (mailto:anirudh...@gmail.com) wrote: On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 1:43 AM, Debanjan Bandyopadhyay debast...@gmail.com (mailto:debast...@gmail.com) wrote: Seriously? I don't mean to be rude here but I'd really don't think that is the way it was meant to be interpreted. I mean, if I say Ashwin is kind-hearted, doesn't mean I'm calling every other community member heartless. My two paise. For a proper interpretation, you will have to look at the statement in context and some of the discussion threads from the past few weeks. There is a difference between saying Debastein, you are amazing! and Debastein, you are not a wife-beater. The later naturally raises the presumption that you have a wife and casts doubt as to whether you really beat her? :) In any case, I would like to hear from Barry on this. Thanks. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org (mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org) To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org (mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org) To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- - Arjun ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org (mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org) To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia to be free on mobiles in Africa, Middle East (SciDev.net)
Hi Theo, Look, this is a two-way street. Ashwin made rather robust assertions along side his feedback and I think I am entitled to both clarify points and call out assertions that are unfair or unfounded IMO. The fact that I did that, shouldn't be interpreted as disrespect for a senior editor or ignoring the valid feedback in the post. It is quite possible to both respond, call out assertions AND still hear feedback. As I said at the beginning of the post to Ashwin, Please don't read my responses too personally, as I'm more focused on the themes in your comments that are persistent rather than responding personally. [1] I was seeking to illustrate these themes. In recent months, many a post on this mailing list have had some or all of the following themes (as I read them): a) assert either deep knowledge of the work that the IP team (or other groups) is doing, make demands of the team based on this incomplete knowledge and/or in a tone that asserts that the writer is somehow an authority and the team should jump at their command; b) make assumptions about people's motivations on the basis of rumour or pretty limited personal knowledge of that person c) seek to speak for community rather than for themselves when sharing opinions (I believe the norm in our movement is to speak for yourself, unless you are acting as an official spokesperson for a group) d) a general focus on criticism without the constructive element of building bridges/relationships as well as contribution to generating solutions and balancing negative feedback with positive My post sought to highlight these issues as all four came through in the post and make a few suggestions on how one might engage more constructively IMO. General thought:I belive it is time that the focus return toward more constructive engagement about the program work and challenges that we face in India and the work that many of us want to accomplish together. This can and should include engagement and feedback on the work that the IP team is doing. In this vain, I've created two new pages on Meta within the India Program area to provide a space for suggestions[2] and for appreciations/feedback[3]. This will hopeful provide a new outlet for sharing of information on a wiki, where the environment is designed for constructing work products rather than the ping-pong style of a mailing list, which IMO encourage personal squabbles that more often end in ill will than in a good exchange of ideas that help people learn and advance our shared agenda. [1] For the record, despite your assertion Theo, I do not doubt Ashwin's sincerity. He asked if I doubted and I confirmed that I did not doubt it. I felt it was useful to say that rather than ignore him and leave it ambiguous. [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Suggestions [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Programs/Appreciations_and_Feedback Best, Barry On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 3:10 AM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Barry I have to say I'm a bit surprised reading this mail from you. I really don't care about what the issue is, and what side you or anyone is, but this is not the way to address and answer feedback and queries that I've heard from others a hundred times. This is not the kind of professional tone I expected from you, some of your inline responses are uncharacteristic of you. You conflicted yourself questioning Ashwin's definition of sincerity, and then ending the email with I don't doubt your sincerity.., It seems you do. You question Ashwin's insight and motivation. I haven't read a single thing in Ashwin's email that I already didn't hear from others over the years, even before you were hired, on what the IP should focus on, what should it do, etc.. Those are still common points, and general feedback. I fail to see what provoked this kind of response. I don't know about Ashwin but I would have expected an apology after that. I took umbrage with a couple of things you said, and how you said them. My responses inline are in reaction to yours. On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:37 PM, Barry Newstead bnewst...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Who really cares, seriously! The purpose of any list is to share information openly and encourage community members to participate. It is not a credit taking exercise. Err...You should? Someone from IP attended Wikimania and the chapters meeting last year, why not add those to the list, or the ones from 2004. Global south has been the rallying cry for WMF fundraising for a few years, is this how that focus is going to get translated into? by blurring the lines between where the money is actually going. I'm not sure about your community organizing experience, but these events take a bit of effort to organize and put on, to just have them claimed by someone else, is not in the good spirit of things either. If you look more deeply, you'll see the IP team is doing work that helps move us forward. They aren't simply
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia to be free on mobiles in Africa, Middle East (SciDev.net)
to get off his shoulders. Finally, he spends an inordinate among of time on India politics (the other IP) - fighting off accusations of malintent, attacks on himself and his team members, and arguments that go nowhere about who is the boss of X. The guy is working is butt off...often seven days a week and is available at odd hours to engage with colleagues in the US and with community members around the country. It is worth stepping back and reflecting before offering personal critiques of Hisham and the IP team. One might ask oneself: do I understand the full context of the situation that this person is dealing with? There is some great research on attribution bias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attributional_bias) that is worth keeping in mind when you think you have things all figured out and are comfortable ascribing motives to people or commenting on what you think they are doing. * GLAM preservation of Indian Culture. This requires a full-time commitment. Part-time responsibility, and one-off projects simply wont do. Noopur is well-suited for this and it should be one of her major commitments. WikiPatrika some other smaller commitments may be part of her responsibilities. In the absence of concrete action on things that really need doing, and the far too large emphasis on community building by India programs, which is frankly in my opinion, none of their business, Barry, I feel skeptical about the cost to value derived by this multi-hundred thousand dollar India Program program. People in the general community may disagree with me on individual issues, but the general unhappiness of most concerned editors on Indian community are based on these lines. I respect your concerns, but I would prefer that you speak for yourself rather than invoking most concerned editors. Let's not pretend that we have any special authority to speak for the community. My view of the IP is that it will not be built in a day. We committed to a multi-year investment because it will take time to build and we would need to do a range of pilots (some successful, some not), learn from them and then build programs that work. If this work was easy, it would have been done already. I'd like nothing more than to have figured it all out in India, so that we could move on to other challenges, but that isn't what we signed up for. This is a long, hard road with elusive rewards and a lot of difficult work along the way (including building community support), but the rewards are pretty huge if we can find solutions that help build our projects in India and expand access and contribution to the sum of all knowledge. You would do well to consider from a Project Management perspective, what are the goals of the complete year for the India Program, where we want to be and the exact activities events needed for this. As of now, Hisham/India Programs seems to be functioning month-to-month, in a reactive mode. You might refer to the India Program plans on Meta ( http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program), which have been there for people to contribute to for about a year and is evolving as we learn. The team is working to this plan and is adjusting as needed based on learning from their engagement on the issues and discussions with people in the community. If you have better ideas or think that their plans can be improved, then click edit. I'm actually serious about this. There has been a ton of keys clicked in the mailing lists criticizing, but not many on contributing to the plans and helping improve them. They are on a public wiki for a reason. On my side, I have only a desire to see the community, chapter and India Program all succeed and prosper. And my support for this wish of mine is assured to all concerned. I don't doubt your sincerity. You make a lot of valuable contributions including this note. I would say that we all would benefit if you (and others) would ascribe the same sincerity to the IP team, recognize that what they (and all of us) are engaged in isn't exactly straight-forward and their goals are the same as yours. Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 4:22 AM, Barry Newstead bnewst...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Hi all, On mobile: We are working on this. Deals take time to consummate and are confidential until they are finalized with partners, but there is work going on in India and we hope to have some good stuff soon. @Ashwin: At one level I agree, but another way to think about this is as follows...It is useful to differentiate between things an editor can do and what an editor actually chooses to do. There may be thing that an editor can do, but chooses not to do that is still worth doing and India Programs can fill that gap. On Outreach, India Programs is a) helping to cross-pollinate learning across the community and take more of an analytical approach to assessing Outreach than had been done before Nitika started to really focus
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia to be free on mobiles in Africa, Middle East (SciDev.net)
Thanks Ashwin for this additional response. A couple of quick notes to close this one out. Best, Barry On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 12:37 PM, Ashwin Baindur ashwin.bain...@gmail.comwrote: Dear Barry, thank you for taking the trouble to provide a comprehensive and timely response to my critique. There is no doubt that India Programs is putting in hard work, and there are definitely good results as you pointed out and I agree with. All your points are well taken, though I am not in agreement with all of them. The direction that work should go in is a moot point of disagreement between us which could be debated further but that is not what I would like to argue about. It was basically to present a point-of-view as to how I, as an editor, see and judge things. In a sense, it is feedback. Taken as feedback. Your point about the efficacy of outreach is well taken. Pune community has indeed grown somewhat from outreach, but this has primarily been in the Marathi Wikipedia side. We have had few English editors as a result of outreach but barely enough to keep us going and definitely not enough to feel happy about. Personal experience has shown me that outreach itself is more a tool of education of the community and less that of recruitment. But it is also a little unfair to compare the efforts of we few community members doing outreach all in our precious spare time and under far greater constraints than India Program. The outreach handbook is definitely a positive step in the right direction but* *I am not quite happy about the way the outreach survey is being done. Ostensibly to measure the efficacy of the community-led outreach, no discussion of the outreach survey was done prior to it. No instructions have been given to us to follow during outreach which will provide the intellectual rigour of such an exercise. Since we have not been asked for only user names of outreach attendees but no other data, the factors affecting outreach cannot be judged. Since the methodology of carrying out outreach for this survey, has not been communicated to us, the deductions may be faulty and the data samples we provide will be skewed. The size of the sample may also be statistically inadequate. Survey is a serious business and involves all stakeholders and a proper plan is needed and executed if we are to get unbiased results. I'll ask that Mani and Nitika gets some documentation up on the approach to evaluation as well as the tool over the next couple of weeks. It is still very much a first step and there is plenty of opportunity for refinement and hope you and others will add to it. You mention that Hisham is doing the kind of engagement of higher bodies decision-makers that I have been wishing for. Perhaps this aspect has not been communicated well. We do understand that some ongoing interactions may be only referred to briefly as a matter of discretion. but definitely, the community would like to know more on these issues, and we would appreciate more information on this. I'm sure the info will be forthcoming as these conversations develop. As regards representing the voice of the community, I did not mean to imply that the community had empowered me explicitly or implicitly to represent them. That was my personal understanding of what the community feels. You are free to judge and form your own opinion based on your experience, knowledge of things and inputs from me and all other sources. In the final analysis, my views are there as feedback for you to take cognisance of or not. Hopefully, they may lead to better decisions on your side, whatever those decisions may be. Indeed, I (we) take the feedback into account and are looking for more feedback not less. I will say that there are some techniques to giving feedback that are more effective than others. Generally, focusing on specifics rather than generalities helps; avoid assumptions about motivation or state of mind, since you can't really know someone's intentions; where possible, suggest solutions; and finally to slightly reposition the point of the old song from Mary Poppins[1]: A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down...it is nice to give appreciation/praise in good balance with criticism. That helps people hear you and avoid feeling attacked. As mentioned previously, I remain a well-wisher of all Wikipedia activity, including India Program, though it may/may not be evident from my discussions above. IMO it is evident, even if it might not be elegantly put all the time. ;) Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Spoonful_of_Sugar Best, Barry -- On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 11:37 PM, Barry Newstead bnewst...@wikimedia.orgwrote: Dear Ashwin, Thanks for your message. I have to say that specific comments are much more useful than vague generalisations, because these are actionable for us and we can correct misperceptions
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia to be free on mobiles in Africa, Middle East (SciDev.net)
Hi all, On mobile: We are working on this. Deals take time to consummate and are confidential until they are finalized with partners, but there is work going on in India and we hope to have some good stuff soon. @Ashwin: At one level I agree, but another way to think about this is as follows...It is useful to differentiate between things an editor can do and what an editor actually chooses to do. There may be thing that an editor can do, but chooses not to do that is still worth doing and India Programs can fill that gap. On Outreach, India Programs is a) helping to cross-pollinate learning across the community and take more of an analytical approach to assessing Outreach than had been done before Nitika started to really focus on this; and b) bring added capacity to help us all reach more groups (look at the volume of outreach that has happened since Nitika started pushing on this theme - not pure coincidence).[1] @Srikanth: I don't think we should be ready to say there is no need for group X to focus on activity area Y, since group Z exists. Existence does not equate with satisfying all of the needs in India. India Programs will stop supporting outreach the moment the chapter or local communities feel they are fully able to met all of the demand for learning about the Wikimedia projects from groups across India. Even today, the India Program team seeks ways to support community members or the chapter to do the outreach and does outreach sessions when a) they are asked to provide support; or b) where there aren't community members ready to take the lead. General point: IMO the debates which crop up regularly on this list over who should do what is tangential to the goals we all share of strengthening our community and realizing our mission in India. The capacity represented by Existing Community + Chapter + India Programs is nowhere near the need required to reach the full potential of the movement in India, so what is there to fight over? The more appropriate question IMO to ask is: How best to work together in a way that we utilize the differing capabilities to maximum effective, given we're a long way from reaching a point where we are finished with our mission? It would also be cool if we celebrate what people actual do and debate the efficacy based on the results (since all of our work is experimental in nature and unproven at this time) rather than debate who should do the work. My 2 paise. ;) [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs Kind regards, Barry On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 11:09 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan parakara.gh...@gmail.com wrote: I agree wholeheartedly with Ashwin. India Programs need not focus on Outreach as long as the Chapter is there. In India, we see mobile operators giving free Facebook and Twitter access but not to Wiki. -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [WMFIndiaIssues-l] India-l
This list was created for WMF senior staff only for information sharing of India-related issues that might arise from time to time. It is intended to be a private list and the settings will be changed. On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 3:29 AM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: Hi I was looking through the mailing lists, and I saw this list called India-l. It seems to have only staff members subscribed. This was created recently by Melanie Brown, so I am assuming good faith and asking if I missed the announcement or it is forthcoming? Can someone clarify- * If the list is private for the India staff? if so, you might want to consider changing the archive and access settings to private. * If the list is indeed for India issues, like it says, in the description, I think its existence should at least be made public to the Indian community? and have more than 2 Indians on it. Regards Theo ___ India-l mailing list indi...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/india-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Wikimedia-in-en] WikiProject India Report for January 2012
+1 and add my thanks to AshLin. I was just discussing the question Anirudh raises with the India Programs team 12 hours ago. There are different discussions to be had wrt helping young/new editors integrate into the en:wp community. It would be good to pilot some localized outreach/mentorship approaches to see what works (and then share that across the country and beyond). Cheers, Barry On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 4:57 AM, Anirudh Bhati anirudh...@gmail.com wrote: Great report, AshLin! Loved the commentary. I think the English Wikipedia community needs a renewed focus! We should attempt to organize meetups dedicated to the English Wikipedia around the major cities of the country. This is so that we can help young editors who may or may not decide to become long-term contributors - and we shouldn't let that decision be solely based on their online interaction with enwp editors. Konarak Ratnakar has scheduled a Wikimeetup in Ahmedabad on February 19, 2012. He is a new editor who began fairly recently and is currently working on cleaning up the article on [[Gujarat]]. Thank you, once again, for helping jumpstart the English community. :-) anirudh 2012/2/15 Ashwin Baindur ash...@wikimedia.in The month of January passed quietly for WikiProject India on English Wikipedia. However elsewhere, the SOPA/PIPA discussion in the United States was the hot topic of the month andEnglish Wikipedia went dark on 18 January for 24 hours in protest against these proposed laws. At this point of time, getting the few small initiatives to keep going have been our concern. We have had [[Premchand]] as [[WP:INCOTM]] and [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]] as GA of the month. Premchand has had substantial improvement. The GA Master Class ( a hoity-toity name I picked up as an excuse for periodically giving a few hints on the Wikimedia-in-en list) for Gandhi has begun and some posts made. GA of the month is a misnomer because despites lots of edits, there is tremendous amount of work yet to be done on Gandhi. It seems that we will be doing a GA/FA a quarter instead. :( The new INCOTM of the month is [[Dance in India]]. The Offline Wikipedia for Schools project has been dawdling along and we need people to recommit themselves to this Project. Recently, I realised that the most important parts of Wikipedia which need doing are not pop corn and fast food. They require commitment and seem too much like work. They are not as much fun as editing on our favourite topics. That fact perhaps is the reason people begn working on this project and finding it is not much fun, gradually stop editing. However, lakhs of Indian children await our output so I'm requesting particiants to return and recommit. On the talk page, we have had a discussion since December and through January into February about whether caste should be mentioned in biographies. The protagonists quoting [[WP:BLP]] and [[WP:V]] took the stand that caste should not be mentioned unless it has been self-identified by the person concerned in a reliable source. Some Indian editors contested it vehemently arguing that caste pervades Indian society and binding strictures on its mention should not be placed. But when it boiled down to a poll, the majority of editors stood up for the conservative position i.e. noinclusion unless self-identified in a reliable source. An earlier discussion about which should be the languages that a title of an article should be translated into in the lead. After lots of discussion, the discussion was closed as no consensus emerged except that IPA should definitely be present for pronunciation. In this regard, I think common sense and not misplaced parochialism should help us decide which all laguanges the title should be transcribed into in the lead. In this month, we saw Swaroop Rao, aka MikeLynch or Lynch7 as he masquerades nowadays become an admin. That is great. However, I am seeing more activity overall on English Wikipedia from the habitual editors - which is a very good sign. Young former CAs are playing up too but the spectre of exams had made its presence known by end January. All in all, a fairly okay month for WikiProject India. AshLin ___ Wikimedia-in-en mailing list wikimedia-in...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-en ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Report on Wikipedia Takes Mumbai II
Great report! Sounds like a wonderful event with good advocacy on the question of maintaining respect for basic freedoms of citizens when governments take security concerns a bit too far. Warmest wishes from sunny San Francisco. Barry On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar sudhanwa@gmail.com wrote: Hi, On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 9:54 PM, Anshuman Fotedar anshuman.fote...@gmail.com wrote: Greetings! This is a short note on Wikipedia Takes Mumbai II. Forty people turned up near the Oval Maidan at Churchgate at 8 am yesterday. The landmarks that were photographed included the Babulnath Temple, Nehru Science Centre, Opera House, St Thomas Cathedral, INS Vikrant and Yazdani Bakery. After the photos had been clicked many of the participants proceeded to Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, TIFR where they were shown how to upload to Commons using both the usual upload process and by using the mediawiki-uploader mass upload script. Nikita Belavate and Karthik Nadar put in a lot of work into the event. They helped many people contribute to the Commons while having a good time, and they deserve praise for making all of this happen. Our heartfelt gratitude to Pranav Curumsey, Vickram Crishna, Dr Nagarjuna, Noopur Raval and Moksh Juneja for all the help and mentoring. Thanks to Shrinivasan T for mediawiki-uploader :) And apologies if I missed anyone out. Do visit our maintenance category WTMhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:WTM, specially created for the event. 313 pictures have been uploaded so far. Fantastic !!! I was not there in this photography event. However, getting inspiration from these pictures, I have uploaded some of the pictures I have taken during WCI. These include some night pictures from Marine Drive and the beautiful glass pane in the ocnvocation hall. Hope you will like them. I will add a few more later on. You can find it here: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ListFiles/Sudhanwa_j Will love to see more images from WTM. Best regards -Sudhanwa ps: Usually, we are supposed to ask for permission of sensitive places like temples, corporate houses etc. Even though it may be legally possible, usually, photography is not permitted/done in such places. A balance of wasting a lot of time and energy (and equipment) with the cops and security people and a few pictures is to be achieved. ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! web: www.sudhanwa.com blog: www.sudhanwa.in Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more. ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] General congrats and some data
Hi all, I just wrote an appreciation for the Mumbai photowalk, but in reading through the whole list I noted that there has been a large increase in activities in the community as a whole over the past few weeks. Some of this is probably attributable to the 11th anniversary of Wikipedia, but it is mostly attributable to the growing efforts of all of you to build our community in India, Bangledash (noting the 8th birthday of Bengali WP!). Congrats on all the events - this is the way we build a community. I'd like to add that your efforts are working, though the data I have is a bit imperfect and has some reliability issues. I measured the share of total edits to all Wikipedia projects from India in July 2010 (in preparation for my first trip to India in September 2010). The share was 1.3% of total. Our most recent analysis shows we have grown to 1.7% of edits. That is a 31% increase in share. It is even more impressive to note that this implies that total edits from India increased by 42.5% in a time period when edits worldwide increased 9%. CONGRATS team India! Warmest regards, Barry -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Analysis of IEP: Quantitative Analysis Tory Read's Report
I have responded to the question posed on the talk page [1]. For those interested in this issue, please join the discussion there. One of the big points of feedback from the en:wp community is that too much discussion happens in places like mailing lists and wikis outside of WP where few Wikipedians engage. We are responding to this feedback by centering discussions in open places on WP (while not ignoring the lists by any means). Best, Barry [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program/Analysis/Independent_Report_from_Tory_Read#Question_to_Barry On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 4:48 PM, Theo10011 de10...@gmail.com wrote: I see Tory responding to end her engagement on the issue, 2-4 days after she started responding on the talk page. I see a total of 4 edits from her this month, on the issue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program/Analysis/Independent_Report_from_Tory_Read I left a question for Barry mostly, on the talk page. Do you think it was the right decision to have Tory do this report? If you recall, I mentioned why you didn't chose a community member or even an Indian to do the report about shortcomings of the education program *for India*? maybe in addition to Tory? This was what I tried to allude to earlier- consultants, employees, generally people with paid engagement for a topic, leave after the said term of their engagement. They can not provide the ongoing discussion and engagement a community member can. I brought this exact issue up when this was first announced. Regards Theo On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 6:45 PM, Anirudh Bhati anirudh...@gmail.comwrote: FYI: Discussions on talk pages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program/Analysis/Independent_Report_from_Tory_Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program/Analysis/Quantitative_Analysis Yours sincerely, Anirudh Bhati +855 975 529 803 Skype: anirudhsbh On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 9:54 AM, Hisham his...@wikimedia.org wrote: On Jan 23, 2012, at 8:10 AM, sankarshan wrote: Is the planned schedule/calendar for the IEP available ? One that puts dates to specific phases of the exercise. Not currently, Sankarshan. Once we start the work of designing a new pilot - taking into account the learnings from the Pune Pilot. This will have detailed schedule calendar. hisham ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] What's in it for me?
This is a great question Srikanth and links to some of the thinking that Shiju just shared about the challenges for Indic language projects. [1]. My feeling is that editing Wikipedia isn't for everyone, but there are a lot of people who it is or could be for. Our challenge is to really connect with those who will find joy in the experience and not worry about those who think sharing knowledge freely is a strange form of insanity. ;) I have limited experience, but in my travels in India, I think the greatest challenge is in basic awareness of how Wikipedia works. I'd say that over 90% of non-Wikipedians in India that I've met have no idea that they can edit Wikipedia or that Wikipedia is not written by paid staff (many also have no idea we have Indic language projects, not to mention 20!). These are generally not stupid people and our challenge is to inform them. If we inform millions, we'll find thousands (that's all we really can expect from global experience) to try editing in all of our projects. So the question I've been pondering is how do we explain the basics of who we are to millions rather than to 25-50 people who might show up for a workshop. From there our challenge is to welcome those who feel like trying it out, orient them to the norms of the environment, help them when they make mistakes and encourage them to stick with it, even if they aren't perfect. As the editor trends data shows, our greatest opportunity and challenge lies in helping those who show up and want to edit...succeed! [2] There is some neat work going on to look at ways we can improve our interaction with newcomers, particularly by making their interaction feel more human-to-human rather than human-to-template.[3] My 2 paise. Best, Barry [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_Languages/Summary_of_initial_discussions_-_2011 [2] Only 10% of new editors stick around for a year these days http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enwp_retention_vs_active_editors.png and about 85% don't even last 3 months http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enwp-jan-cohorts--10-1-.png [3] An example of work that Steven and Mariana are working on building from WMF's Summer of Research: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/11/21/you-have-new-messages-improving-communication-on-wikipedia/ On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan parakara.gh...@gmail.com wrote: Oh, and by the way. Try Googling for Tamil Wedding in images. The first result should be a result of the Tamil Media Contest. Perhaps, this could be more ... Err ... Encouragement? On 12/16/11, Srikanth Ramakrishnan parakara.gh...@gmail.com wrote: Swaroop, yes I know. I personally do enjoy editing the article on my native town and adding photos about it. Wish others would follow me. Arun, that's pretty much a Commons Venture. I've tried that a lot. Most of my pictures are first page results on Google. Try Googling Nice Road or Chittode Junction. But it hasn't helped me that well. -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Webfonts deployment on Indic Wikiprojects
deployment, even from start of development. [0] http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/12/12/going-live-december-12-2011/ [1] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/30506 [2] http://www.alexa.com/topsites/category/Top/World/Tamil [3] http://translatewiki.net/wiki/WebFonts_assessment [4] http://translatewiki.net/wiki/User:Sodabottle/test1 [5] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/32775 [6] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/33024 [7] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/33025 [8] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/33018 [9] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/33027 [10] http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-November/005153.html [11] https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/32942 [12] http://tawp.in/r/2r1f -- Regards Bala Jeyaraman Srikanth.L ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Topics for my talk @wikiconference India
Thanks for the ideas for the talk folks. I'll try my best to cover the topics you suggest and hope we can have a good discussion throughout the three day conference. Thanks for the warm welcome. As always, I'm excited to be visiting...and seeing you all. Best, Barry On Sat, Nov 12, 2011 at 7:30 PM, Ravishankar ravidre...@gmail.com wrote: Barry, In last Wikimania, Jimmy Wales gave a Global Wikipedian of the year award for the phenomenal work done in Khazak Wiki. http://en.tengrinews.kz/internet/3813/ But, we couldn't learn in detail about their work. Similarly, there will be many growing global Wikipedia communities that face challenges and yet do a great work. From your experiences as a Global development officer, it will be useful for us to learn how they do it. So, in essence, I would like your talk to be about growing globall communities. Not about Indian Wiki communities :) Ravi On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM, Barry Newstead bnewst...@wikimedia.org wrote: Hi all, I'm really looking forward to Wikiconference India next week and congrats in advance to the organizers, who have put countless hours into the work of preparing this unprecedented gathering in India. The program committee invited me to do a talk on Sunday which is a great honor, thank you! I'd like to ask for your input on areas you would like me to focus on in my talk. I will have time set aside for discussion, but want to see if you have any particular interest areas that you'd like me to focus on. Thanks and see you on Friday! Barry ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] INR in 2011 Fundraising!! -- Finally
...and Victor Grigas from the fundraising team will be in India shortly (I think he arrives on Saturday) through the Wikiconference to to capture stories of Wikimedians to add more material for possible banners/appeals... On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:26 AM, Béria Lima berial...@gmail.com wrote: Already possible to see Indian people in the banners (they at least were doing test with) Achal: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/viewtemplate=B_FRDRILL6_1012_ACHAL Srikeit Tadepalli: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:NoticeTemplate/viewtemplate=B_Srikeit_BaseBanner _ *Béria Lima* http://wikimedia.pt/(351) 925 171 484 *Imagine um mundo onde é dada a qualquer pessoa a possibilidade de ter livre acesso ao somatório de todo o conhecimento humano. Ajude-nos a construir esse sonho. http://wikimedia.pt/Donativos* On 11 November 2011 19:17, Ashwin Baindur ashwin.bain...@gmail.comwrote: *We might be late this year, next year probably we could have Shiju / Santhosh / Hisham instead of Brandon on the Sitenotice banner :D ;) ;)* Nice thought! Warm regards, Ashwin Baindur -- On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:59 PM, Srikanth Lakshmanan srik@gmail.com wrote: Hello all, As most of you have known, Fundraising for 2011 have started. The one big change is INR is added to list of currencies along with atleast ~40 other currencies it seems. As such option is present only for credit cards, heard debit cards might get added in a week and inquiries are on for adding netbanking as well. If you have any suggestions specific to India, please use the local testing talk page[1]. Now that we have INR in currency, please help translate[2] into as many Indic languages. We might be late this year, next year probably we could have Shiju / Santhosh / Hisham instead of Brandon on the Sitenotice banner :D ;) ;) [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fundraising_2011/Local_testing/IN [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising_2011/Translation -- Regards Srikanth.L ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer 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! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] WikiConference
another +1. I would love to see a national conference happen later this year...and would be happy to provide support (and attend, of course!). Best, Barry On 04/14/2011 09:16 AM, Gautam John wrote: +1 and hope it happens. A couple of questions: 1. If something like this did happen in India, what kind of format would you think works? 2. What kind of event would work? 3. What kind of outcomes would we expect? Would be great to hear from you! Thank you. Best, Gautam http://social.prathambooks.org/ On 13 April 2011 18:32, Bishakha Dattabishakhada...@gmail.com wrote: Love the idea and hope it happens, Bishakha On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 3:10 PM,wheredevelsd...@hotmail.com wrote: Hi, I think it might be a good time to start an annual WikiConference in India on the lines of what Wikimedia UK has (http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_UK_2011). We are starting afresh, talks on a setup are still progressing and the future beholds. It will be a wonderful opportunity for all of us to put a face to names as well as to interact with each other and pave the way forward for Wikimedia in India. Any thoughts? Regards, User:AroundTheGlobe ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 6634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] Fwd: Registration open for the Hackathon in Berlin, May 13-15
Cross-posting to India list. Original Message Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Registration open for the Hackathon in Berlin, May 13-15 Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:15:52 +0100 From: Daniel Kinzler dan...@brightbyte.de Reply-To: Research into Wikimedia content and communities wiki-researc...@lists.wikimedia.org Organization: Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. To: mediawik...@lists.wikimedia.org, wikitec...@lists.wikimedia.org, toolserve...@lists.wikimedia.org, Research into Wikimedia content and communities wiki-researc...@lists.wikimedia.org, Wikitext-l wikitex...@lists.wikimedia.org, Sumana Harihareswara suma...@panix.com, Danese Cooper dcoo...@wikimedia.org, Erik Moeller e...@wikimedia.org, Rob Lanphier ro...@wikimedia.org CC: Nicole Ebber nicole.eb...@wikimedia.de, Pavel Richter pavel.rich...@wikimedia.de, hackat...@wikimedia.de Hi all! Wikimedia Germany invites anyone interested in improving MediaWiki to come and join us at or third developer meet-up. Like the last two years, it's going to be awesome! Unlike the last two years, there will be more hacking and less talking - it'll be a Hackathon, not a BarCamp. We'll meet on May 13 to 15, in Berlin, on the 4th floor of the betahaus coworking spacehttp://betahaus.de/. There will not be an entrance fee, but registration is mandatory and now open: http://de.amiando.com/hackathon2011. Registration will close on April 10. If you like to attend, please register in time! More information can be found at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2011. The Berlin Hackathon 2011 is an opportunity for MediaWiki hackers to come together, squash bugs and write crazy new features. Our main focus this time around will probably be: * Improving usability / accessibility * Interactive Maps * Fixing the parser * WMF Ops (new data center, virtualization) * Supporting the Wiki Loves Monuments image hunt * Squashing bugs If you have different ideas, please let us know: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Berlin_Hackathon_2011#Topics The Hackathon will be hosting the Language committee and Wiki loves Monuments group. There is a limited number of seats reserved for these groups and if you belong to one of them, you should receive an invitation code soon. If you have any doubts or questions, contact us athackat...@wikimedia.de. We’re excited to see you in Berlin, your Hackathon Team Daniel Kinzler (Program Coordinator) Nicole Ebber (Logistics) Cornelius Kibelka (Assistant) ___ Wiki-research-l mailing list wiki-researc...@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 6634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] Announcing Hisham Mundol as WMF consultant for National Programs, India
to thank everyone who helped in the selection process that identified Hisham. It was a five month process in which we made an open call for consultants (using my visit in September to drum up interest via conversations with the community and the media) in India and around the world. We had 197 applicants from a wide range of professional backgrounds. Egon Zehnder's India office, part of a leading global executive search firm, helped screen candidates and manage the process. Egon Zehnder conducted indepth interviews with 25 candidates based on the inputs from Bishakha and I who helped shortlist. I interviewed 12 candidates via Skype in the first round and then I had the help of Bishakha Datta and Achal Prabhala to interview the top seven in person in Bangalore. Our top two candidates met with Sue and Erik in Delhi and then Hisham met with the entire WMF leadership team and a broad group of staff members in San Francisco. We are very happy with the selection of Hisham. We recognize that we did not manage to hire someone from inside the Wikimedia community or the open source community. We did look for people with this background and one of our finalists was a long time open source advocate. We also engaged with a long time Wikimedian for a role, though he ultimately decided to withdraw for personal reasons. We are committed to seeing Hisham integrate himself into the community quickly and to seeing him add people to his team from the community. We hope that the community will engage actively with him to bring him into the fold. Hisham will most definitely bring fresh perspectives to the movement that will help us grow and change for the better. Please join me in welcoming Hisham to the Wikimedia movement. Note: An FAQ will follow shortly. Best, Barry [1] _http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Plan/Role_of_the_WMF_ [2] _http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2010-August/000850.html_ -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 6634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] FAQ: Consultant for National Programs, India
Here is the link to the FAQ. Feel free to add questions if you have them and I'll attempt to answer ;) http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/FAQ_Consultancy_for_National_Programs,_India -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 6634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] indiawikipedia ?
On 11/30/2010 02:32 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar wrote: On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 8:03 AM, CherianTinu Abraham tinucher...@gmail.com wrote: Please see this website http://www.indiawikipedia.com/ Do you think the website violates Wikipedia / WMF copyrights ? The site has nothing to do with Wikipedia or its cause too. Just bringing into the attention of all. Now that Mike is away, who is the next in charge for legal affairs ? This is interesting!! The whole wikipedia is about giving away, sharing what you know and the content is all under CC. But here is a strong thought to protect and hold on to the copyrights of wikipedia !! I have not checked the license of the wikipedia logos. Here is info on our marks http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Wikimedia_official_marks If they are modifiable and redistribution of modified images are allowed, will such images still remain as wikipedia property? Can I use such images/content on my website (any website for that matter) ? Not without permission Generic speaking, what happens to logos and names and other such intellectual properties in such cases? -Sudhanwa ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Malayalam Wikipedia crossed the 15, 000 article mark
Great news! Congrats. Barry On 11/10/2010 09:44 AM, BalaSundaraRaman wrote: Congrats! /???/ :) - Sundar That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted. - George Boole, quoted in Iverson's Turing Award Lecture *From:* Naveen Francis navee...@gmail.com *To:* wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *Sent:* Wed, November 10, 2010 10:58:03 PM *Subject:* [Wikimediaindia-l] Malayalam Wikipedia crossed the 15, 000 article mark Malayalam Wikipedia has crossed the 15,000 article milestone today. Congrats Malayalam wiki community !!! -- Naveen Francis ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Season's Greetings!
Happy Diwali to all! Wishing you an enjoyable festival of lights. And more photos from Commons. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Diwali Cheers, Barry On 11/04/2010 02:44 PM, Gerard Meijssen wrote: Hoi, Happy Diwali. I hope that the new year will be blessed with the same vitality that I have been witnessing with growing admiration. At this moment there are only two pictures of Diwali. If you have some pictures to share, maybe from previous years maybe pictures that you will make this year, please consider uploading them to Commons, Thanks, GerardM http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dewali_Festival On 4 November 2010 22:02, Mani Pande mpa...@wikimedia.org mailto:mpa...@wikimedia.org wrote: ??? ??? . ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? . Happy Diwali everyone. On Nov 4, 2010, at 1:59 PM, Anirudh Bhati wrote: A very happy Diwali to you all and best wishes for the new year! Yours sincerely, Anirudh Bhati 00 91 9328712208 Skype: anirudhsbh ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Aapka Apna Wikipedia
Truly a delightful article and just the sort of media coverage of our projects that we should aspire to. This article does a great job sharing the power of Wikimedia projects and celebrating the truly inspiring work of contributors and the higher cause you all serve. Warmest, Barry On 10/16/2010 05:09 AM, Bishakha Datta wrote: Message: 4 Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 05:47:43 -0600 (MDT) From: Fred Bauder fredb...@fairpoint.net mailto:fredb...@fairpoint.net Subject: [Foundation-l] Aapka Apna Wikipedia To: foundatio...@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:foundatio...@lists.wikimedia.org Delightful piece about the Tamil Wikipedia: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Aapka-Apna-Wikipedia/698406 Fred ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Tamil Wikipedia crosses the 25, 000 article mark
Congratulations! On 10/06/2010 02:16 AM, Rajesh Pandey wrote: On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 1:06 PM, Shiju Alex shijualexonl...@gmail.com mailto:shijualexonl...@gmail.com wrote: Congrats to Tamil wiki community for their hard work. And Tamil Wikipedia happens to be the 4th Indian language Wikipedia to cross the 25,000 article milestone. On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 7:41 AM, BalaSundaraRaman sundarbe...@yahoo.com mailto:sundarbe...@yahoo.com wrote: I'm pleased to inform you all that Tamil Wikipedia has crossed the 25,000 article milestone now. :-) Wow Congratulations :) - Sundar That language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted. - George Boole, quoted in Iverson's Turing Award Lecture ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Rajesh Pandey ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] Question for Hindi Wikipedians
Hi - Frank Schulenberg did an interesting analysis that looked at the proportion of people creating a new account on Wikipedia who go on to make an edit within 10 days. It was surprising to see that Hindi Wikipedia had a very different rate that some other projects (see below). Can anyone share an explanation? English 31 German 35 Russian 26 Swedish 30 Hindi 9 FYI - Frank did this for a new initiative starting in October: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Account_Creation_Improvement_Project Best, Barry Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] National Program Director, India
Dear Indian Wikimedians, I want to share with you the job description [1] we have developed for the Wikimedia Foundation's National Program Director for India. This position is among the first steps we are taking to implement our five-year strategy aimed to support all of your work to strengthen and grow the Wikimedia projects in India. We are very excited to make our first global investment in India and are optimistic about the potential for success of this pilot initiative. As you will see in the position description, we envision a range of possible activities that the Wikimedia Foundation might undertake in India. However, we will not specify the work fully until we have the opportunity to develop joint plans with the India chapter and with other community members in India. In my coming trips to India, I will engage with as many of you as possible to help shape an effective role for WMF that complements and supplements your work. In terms of the search for the Director, we have hired Egon Zehnder's (a highly regarded international search firm) with a strong Indian team to help us manage the search. Two of their partners in Mumbai and Delhi will manage the search. We are looking for an outstanding individual who has a deep commitment to our mission and to community-building in India. Ideally, our candidate will have the ability to work effectively with a wide range of Indian society and it would be great if (s)he were a Wikimedian. Our plan is to advertise the position widely in India and around the world. For Economist subscribers, you will see the position advertised this weekend along with other positions we are hiring for. Feel free to drop me a note with any suggestions or questions you might have. Best regards, Barry [1] http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/National_Program_Director,_India -- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation Tel: +1-415-839-6885 x. 634 Skype: barry.wikimedia Twitter: @bazanews ___ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
[Wikimediaindia-l] TimeOut interview and visit to India
Last week I had the opportunity to share some thoughts on the Wikimedia Foundation's upcoming work in India with a reporter from TimeOut, who had interviewed Bishakha Datta on the WMF Board. While the activities of the WMF in India have yet to be fully defined, I thought the responses to the reporter would be interesting to share with you all. They are appended below. Happy to discuss any aspect of the responses that might not be clear. In addition, I am in the process of planning my visit to INdia from 20-24 Sept. I will be in Mumbai on 20-21, Delhi on 22 and Bangalore on 23-24. My objective for the visit is to spend time with community members and the chapter representatives to discuss ways WMF can work with and along side the chapter and community to advance our shared mission in India. I will also be meeting with friends and advisors of Wikimedia and I may be conducting interviews for possible staff roles with Wikimedia in India. More on this soon. I hope to have the opportunity to spend time with as many of you as are available during this visit. Warm regards, Barry *Responses to questions from Time Out India, Aditya Kundalkar* *Prepared by Barry Newstead, Chief Global Development Officer, Wikimedia Foundation* *August 19, 2010* *Why was India chosen for Wikimedia Foundation's office?* We selected India as a priority country for investment during our five-year strategic planning process that we completed in collaboration with the Wikimedia community. India is a great fit for a number of reasons, including the large and growing population of Internet users, the existence of a committed and growing community of Wikimedia editors and volunteers in India, and the potential to better-understand important issues that would advance the Wikimedia movement globally. These areas for learning include the challenge of growing language projects that are currently small, the question of how to enable a richer mobile experience, and how to provide access to Wikipedia for people without Internet access. We see India as a great place to both advance our mission and learn. *It is the first office outside of the US, isn't it?* Yes, it will be our first office outside of the US and we are excited that India will be at the forefront of our global development activities. We are also looking forward to the official formation of Wikimedia India, an independent, local chapter, which was recently approved by our Board of Trustees and is awaiting regulatory approval. The local Wikimedia India chapter will be a close partner of ours. *Do you feel that there are too few Indian editors as compared to Indian users of Wikipedia? * It is very clear that there are too few Indian editors today, even though we do not have the data on the exact number. Wikipedia is one of the leading websites in India and while there is great knowledge available to our Indian readers, our projects are nowhere near their full potential. For example, there are 230 million speakers of Bengali worldwide, yet there are only 21,500 articles in the Bengali Wikipedia. Hindi is spoken by 550 million, yet there are only 59,300. The same is true for most of the languages of India with the exception of English. For comparison, the English Wikipedia has over 3 million articles. I would also imagine that there are many important topics of interest to Indians that are not yet well covered in the English Wikipedia, despite its size. We're interested in increasing participation from Indian editors --not matter what language they speak--English included. Our main focus in increasing the diversity of voices to the encyclopedias. *Why is that so?* We believe that the reason why we don't have enough editors is multi-faceted, but resolvable through the concerted action of our community with the support of the Wikimedia India chapter and the Wikimedia Foundation team. The number one opportunity is to make people aware that they can edit Wikipedia and help them learn how. We also have some technical challenges with Indic languages, like many websites, that we want to solve with the community to make it easier to work with. *Internet connectivity and the will to contribute seem to be the two most important things for Wikipedia's success and growth. What are the challenges you face here in India to ensure that these two factors stay strong?* We are optimistic that the Indian community will continue to grow and thrive, though we think the recipe for success will probably differ somewhat from the US or Western Europe, where Wikimedia is very mature. Our core approach of volunteer-driven editing is working in India and our focus will be on expanding that through outreach efforts to build awareness and partnerships with educational institutions, ICT programs and others. Internet connectivity is very important, of course and in India (and much of the world), we are going to have
