Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Possible news story about Wikipedia tomorrow

2018-01-17 Thread Lucy Crompton-Reid 
Good idea for a blog post - both in the light of the Russian trolls 'story'
and yesterday's coverage of the Grant Shapps report into online suicide
prevention (which was in the Independent and others but with a particular
Wikipedia angle in the Mail story)...

On 17 January 2018 at 14:45, John Lubbock 
wrote:

> I am always looking for people to write blogposts. Perhaps a few people
> could crowdsource a blogpost about how Wikipedia does quality control,
> listing various ways like human peer review, edit filters, bots, etc...
> I'm sure some of you will know how this is done better than I do.
>
> Here - I've started an open Googledoc
> .
> Anyone is free to contribute.
>
>
> 
>  Virus-free.
> www.avg.com
> 
> <#m_-8636929772461878280_m_2002940969239252742_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>
> John Lubbock
>
> Communications Coordinator
>
> Wikimedia UK
>
> +44 (0) 203 372 0767 <+44%2020%203372%200767>
>
>
>
> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
> Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Office 1,
> Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ.
>
> Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The
> Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
> Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent
> non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility
> for its contents.*
>
> On 17 January 2018 at 13:45, Charles Matthews <
> charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> On 17 January 2018 at 13:24 Harry Mitchell  wrote:
>>
>> Would it be worth Wikimedia UK's while to put out a blog post talking
>> about quality control processes (ad-hoc as they are) on Wikipedia? Not so
>> much as a direct reply -  both because these articles look like they're
>> just filling empty column inches, and because we obviously can't prove a
>> negative (that "Russian trolls" *aren't* running amok on political
>> articles). Rather as a timely reminder of what Wikipedia is about and how
>> the 'wisdom of the crowd' makes it quite difficult to grossly distort its
>> content. I could say something about what admins do, though there I'm sure
>> there are people who spend more time on politicians' biographies than I do.
>>
>> As you say, proving the negative is out of reach.
>>
>> I would say, take the lesson of https://en.wikipedia.org/wi
>> ki/Poisoning_the_well to heart. Along with straightforward lying,
>> selective quotation, guilt by association, and the reporting of rumour as
>> truth, there is a lot of it about these days.
>>
>> I'm glad to see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie has had some
>> recent attention, while we're on the topic of propaganda techniques
>> everybody should know about.
>>
>> Charles
>>
>> ___
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>>
>
>
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-- 

Lucy Crompton-Reid

Chief Executive

Wikimedia UK

+44 (0) 203 372 0762



Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ.

Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The
Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
*Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
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Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Possible news story about Wikipedia tomorrow

2018-01-17 Thread John Lubbock 
I am always looking for people to write blogposts. Perhaps a few people
could crowdsource a blogpost about how Wikipedia does quality control,
listing various ways like human peer review, edit filters, bots, etc...
I'm sure some of you will know how this is done better than I do.

Here - I've started an open Googledoc
.
Anyone is free to contribute.


Virus-free.
www.avg.com

<#m_2002940969239252742_DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>

John Lubbock

Communications Coordinator

Wikimedia UK

+44 (0) 203 372 0767



Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Office 1,
Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ.

Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The
Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
Wikipedia, amongst other projects). *Wikimedia UK is an independent
non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility
for its contents.*

On 17 January 2018 at 13:45, Charles Matthews <
charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>
> On 17 January 2018 at 13:24 Harry Mitchell  wrote:
>
> Would it be worth Wikimedia UK's while to put out a blog post talking
> about quality control processes (ad-hoc as they are) on Wikipedia? Not so
> much as a direct reply -  both because these articles look like they're
> just filling empty column inches, and because we obviously can't prove a
> negative (that "Russian trolls" *aren't* running amok on political
> articles). Rather as a timely reminder of what Wikipedia is about and how
> the 'wisdom of the crowd' makes it quite difficult to grossly distort its
> content. I could say something about what admins do, though there I'm sure
> there are people who spend more time on politicians' biographies than I do.
>
> As you say, proving the negative is out of reach.
>
> I would say, take the lesson of https://en.wikipedia.org/
> wiki/Poisoning_the_well to heart. Along with straightforward lying,
> selective quotation, guilt by association, and the reporting of rumour as
> truth, there is a lot of it about these days.
>
> I'm glad to see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie has had some recent
> attention, while we're on the topic of propaganda techniques everybody
> should know about.
>
> Charles
>
> ___
> Wikimedia UK mailing list
> wikimediau...@wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
> WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
>
___
Wikimedia UK mailing list
wikimediau...@wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk

Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Possible news story about Wikipedia tomorrow

2018-01-17 Thread Charles Matthews 

> On 17 January 2018 at 13:24 Harry Mitchell  wrote:
> 
> Would it be worth Wikimedia UK's while to put out a blog post talking
> about quality control processes (ad-hoc as they are) on Wikipedia? Not so much
> as a direct reply -  both because these articles look like they're just
> filling empty column inches, and because we obviously can't prove a negative
> (that "Russian trolls" *aren't* running amok on political articles). Rather as
> a timely reminder of what Wikipedia is about and how the 'wisdom of the crowd'
> makes it quite difficult to grossly distort its content. I could say something
> about what admins do, though there I'm sure there are people who spend more
> time on politicians' biographies than I do.
> 
> 

As you say, proving the negative is out of reach.

I would say, take the lesson of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_the_well
to heart. Along with straightforward lying, selective quotation, guilt by
association, and the reporting of rumour as truth, there is a lot of it about
these days.

I'm glad to see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_lie has had some recent
attention, while we're on the topic of propaganda techniques everybody should
know about.

Charles___
Wikimedia UK mailing list
wikimediau...@wikimedia.org
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk

Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Possible news story about Wikipedia tomorrow

2018-01-17 Thread Harry Mitchell 
Would it be worth Wikimedia UK's while to put out a blog post talking about
quality control processes (ad-hoc as they are) on Wikipedia? Not so much as
a direct reply -  both because these articles look like they're just
filling empty column inches, and because we obviously can't prove a
negative (that "Russian trolls" *aren't* running amok on political
articles). Rather as a timely reminder of what Wikipedia is about and how
the 'wisdom of the crowd' makes it quite difficult to grossly distort its
content. I could say something about what admins do, though there I'm sure
there are people who spend more time on politicians' biographies than I do.

Harry Mitchell
http://enwp.org/User:HJ
+44 (0) 7507 536 971
Skype: harry_j_mitchell

On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 10:53 AM, Lucy Crompton-Reid <
lucy.crompton-r...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:

> Hi Fae
>
> No, I don't think you misunderstood the coverage!
>
> Wikimedia UK hasn't actually responded at all to this and we didn't
> receive any enquiries - the Mail and the Sun got in touch directly with the
> Foundation who provided the statement.
>
> Cheers
> Lucy
>
> On 15 January 2018 at 10:50, Fæ  wrote:
>
>> As far as I could see this story lacked any facts, not even one tangible
>> example of attempted manipulation. I'd appreciate a link if I misunderstood
>> the press coverage.
>>
>> It might be a good use of resources to just keep saying "please provide
>> an example" before responding to what is probably itself fake news.
>> Otherwise one keeps on focusing on flying teapots rather than stuff that
>> matters for open knowledge.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Fae
>> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/LGBT+
>> http://telegram.me/wmlgbt
>>
>>
>> On 12 Jan 2018 21:48, "Lucy Crompton-Reid" > org.uk> wrote:
>>
>> Dear all
>>
>> I just wanted to give the Wikimedia UK community a heads up that
>> Wikipedia may be in the spotlight in the coming days, as the Daily Mail and
>> the Sun are planning to run a story tomorrow about how MPs have
>> (apparently) been given briefings about concerns Russian trolls are
>> planting ‘fake news’ on Wikipedia to corroborate the false information they
>> spread on Twitter. The stories are likely to say that not enough checks are
>> being done by Wikipedia to make sure the content on the site is not fake.
>>
>> I'm not personally aware of any such briefings to MPs regarding
>> Wikipedia, although the most recent oral evidence to the DCMS Fake News
>> inquiry does refer to known Russian sources on WikiLeaks (with particular
>> reference to the US election). Obviously I'm assuming that the UK press
>> will know the difference between Wikipedia and WikiLeaks, but the claims
>> are apparently linked to the inquiry and this is all I've been able to
>> uncover this evening.
>>
>> The Wikimedia Foundation press team has sent a short response to these
>> claims, as follows:
>>
>> Wikipedia’s open, transparent model is uniquely resistant to
>> misinformation. Anyone can edit Wikipedia, to fix mistakes or expand
>> articles, provided their contributions are neutral and based in reliable
>> sources. Thousands of people do just this on Wikipedia every day. Nearly
>> every edit ever made to Wikipedia is available to the public, so anyone can
>> see how an article has changed over time. Wikipedia is always improving,
>> and this open model creates accountability and means that bias tends to be
>> rooted out quickly, leading to a more balance version of the facts over
>> time.
>>
>> Best wishes
>>
>> Lucy
>>
>> --
>>
>> Lucy Crompton-Reid
>>
>> Chief Executive
>>
>> Wikimedia UK
>>
>> +44 (0) 203 372 0762
>>
>>
>>
>> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
>> Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
>> Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ.
>>
>> Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The
>> Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate
>> Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
>> *Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control
>> over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
>>
>> ___
>> Wikimedia UK mailing list
>> wikimediau...@wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
>> WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
>>
>>
>>
>> ___
>> Wikimedia UK mailing list
>> wikimediau...@wikimedia.org
>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l
>> WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Lucy Crompton-Reid
>
> Chief Executive
>
> Wikimedia UK
>
> +44 (0) 203 372 0762
>
>
>
> Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
> Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered
> Office Ground Floor, Europoint, 5 - 11 Lavington Street, London SE1 0NZ.
>
> Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of