Hi everyone,
The Community Affairs Committee of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
Trustees will be hosting the next Conversation with the Trustees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
on 18 May at 18:00 UTC (check your local time
<https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1684432847>). Save the date! The agenda
will be posted on the Meta-Wiki page closer to the meeting.
Join the trustees for 90 minutes of updates and open discussion. It will be
held on Zoom with a live YouTube stream
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajgxbZ-E9cA>. Request the Zoom link,
request interpretation, or submit questions ahead of time, email
askcac(a)wikimedia.org (as always you can also bring your questions to ask
live).
Thanks and see you there!
Elena
Elena Lappen (she/her/hers)
Lead Movement Communications Specialist
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Wikimedia,
Per the recent interest in and discussions about artificial intelligence in this mailing list, I am pleased to indicate the Wikianswers project proposal. The proposal describes some approaches for integrating these technologies (e.g., multimodal dialogue systems, chatbots, and question-answering systems) with existing Wiki platforms.
"Wikianswers would be a large-scale, user-editable cache of multimodal answers from artificial intelligence systems, e.g., one or more large language models, which tightly integrates with Wikipedia, Wikidata, and Commons."
This project proposal is described in more detail here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikianswers .
Thank you. Please feel free to review the project proposal and to comment either here or there with any opinions, questions, feedback, or suggestions.
Best regards,
Adam Sobieski
The number of accesses to the Wikipedias of de, nl and sw all show a
small increase in March and April compared with 2022 after a half big
decrease in January and February. Could this be related to the broad
introduction and use of ChatGPT at the same time period?
ChatGPT gives an excellent answer, with no use of Wikipedia, to the
question: "Who is the oldest person who has received the Nobel Prize in
chemistry?" but will the effect be that the person who put in that
question, access Wikipedia to read of him? And you get a very nice
answer from ChatGPT if you directly after the question above puts
"Include a link to Wikipedia"
Could my speculation be correct, that ChatGPT will become an important
tool to help us reach our mission, by improving the way to find
information in our projects?
Anders
Hello Wikimedians,
You are invited to the official launch of the Africa Day Campaign 2023 this
Thursday!!
In line with the African Union Day theme that seeks to document Africa’s
stories to increase the visibility of stories around Africa’s free trade, the
African Knowledge Initiative (AKI)
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Africa_Knowledge_Initiative> seeks to leverage
Wikimedia tools and platforms to breed innovative solutions to bridging the
content gap on global digital knowledge networks.
This initiative will be implemented through Open Foundation West Africa's
annual campaign, the Africa Wiki Challenge.
This year the Africa Wiki Challenge presents the Africa Day Campaign
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Africa_Day_Campaign_2023>, which aligns
with the African Union Day's theme of stories around Africa’s free trade
agenda, challenges, and benefits, among others.
Are you ready to contribute your quota in bridging the content gap on
Wikipedia??
Join the launch as an individual, group, organizer, participant, or
spectator as we officially launch the Africa Day Campaign globally !!!
*Theme: African Continental Free Trade*
*There will be interpretation for our French, Swahili and Arabic speakers
during the launch. *
Date: *Thursday 18th of May, 2023*
Time: *03:00 pm UTC*
*To confirm your attendance, kindly register by clicking the link below*
https://bit.ly/3O21U2O
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F3O21U2O%3Ffbclid%3DIw…>
*For more information visit the Africa Day MetaPage*
https://bit.ly/3VzZKcD
<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F3VzZKcD%3Ffbclid%3DIw…>
For inquiries kindly reach out to: info(a)ofwafrica.org
Make it a point to be there!
--
Eugene Makafui Masiku,
Communications Officer
Open Foundation West Africa
Can we have a "San Francisco Tea Party" telling the UK government that
Wikimedia projects would rather block access to the United Kingdom
than comply with their misguided requirements?
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: <fputz(a)wikimedia.org>
> Date: Mon, May 15, 2023, 2:56 AM
> Subject: [Publicpolicy] How the UK Online Safety Bill might impact Wikimedia
> To: <publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
> Some of you may be following the developments of the UK Online Safety Bill, others may have heard of it a year ago and ignored it since. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you may be interested in a new blog post titled "Good intentions, bad effects: Wikimedia projects and the UK’s draft Online Safety Bill." [1]
>
> In this piece, Lucy Crompton-Reid, Chief Executive of Wikimedia UK, and Phil Bradley-Schmieg, Lead Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, detail how elements of the bill may require significant changes to how Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects operate. Particular attention is given to the proposed “under-18 exclusion” rule since it has been the subject of a number of UK headlines.
>
> If you are interested in the actions that Wikimedia UK and the Foundation have taken related to the OSB, I recommend that you read Lucy's e-mail to the Wikimedia UK mailing list from April 23, 2023 [2]. I have copied her message below the line and links of this email. You can learn more about the UK OSB by reading our 'deep dive' from November 2022 [3] or 'early impressions' post from March 2022 [4].
>
> Phil and Lucy are both members of this mailing list. Your feedback is welcome; we're always keen to learn from others on this mailing list, answer questions, and to discuss how best to protect the free knowledge movement in the midst of national legislative developments.
>
> Enjoy the read!
>
> Ziski
> - - -
> [1] https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/11/good-intentions-bad-effects-wikimedia…
> [2] https://lists.wikimedia.org/postorius/lists/wikimediauk-l.lists.wikimedia.o…
> [3] https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/deep-dive-the-united-kingdoms-online-sa…
> [4] https://medium.com/wikimedia-policy/early-impressions-of-the-uk-online-safe…
> _________________________________________________
>
> Lucy Crompton-Reid via lists.wikimedia.org
> Apr 23, 2023, 10:24 AM
> to UK
>
> Dear all
>
> As I know many of you will be aware, the long heralded Online Safety Bill is now making its way through Parliament and is currently at the Committee stage in the House of Lords. The Bill will establish a new regulatory framework for online services, with Ofcom becoming the regulator. As it currently stands, the requirements of the Bill in terms of content moderation, age gating and user verification are incompatible with Wikipedia’s model, and the Wikimedia Foundation has stated that they will not be age gating the platform.
>
> Wikimedia UK has been highlighting concerns about the proposed new legislation since the Online Harms White Paper, published four years ago. We have responded to various consultations, run by Ofcom as well as the government, and met with staff from both. One of the key issues highlighted by Wikimedia UK and the Wikimedia Foundation - as well as many organisations in the civil society sector - was the requirement to remove content that was “legal but harmful”. This was fortunately dropped from the Bill as it moved through the House of Commons at the end of last year. However, there remains much cause for concern.
>
> Working closely with the Wikimedia Foundation, I have been in touch with a number of peers (members of the House of Lords) over the past few months to highlight the unintended consequences of the proposed legislation on Wikimedia, and to advocate for changes to the Bill to protect our movement and safeguard open knowledge. The Lord Moylan has tabled a series of amendments on our behalf which address some of these issues, including a proposed exemption for small, community moderated and/or public benefit websites that are currently within the scope of the Bill. It’s likely that these amendments will be debated in the House of Lords on Tuesday or Thursday next week. Today, I will be sending a written briefing (attached for your information) urging support for these amendments to a target list of peers, and Jimmy will be giving an in person briefing at Parliament on Monday.
>
> We are envisaging further advocacy activities before and during the Report Stage in the House of Lords, which is when amendments that have made it to that point will be voted on. If you are interested in supporting these advocacy efforts, please let me know.
>
> All best
>
> Lucy
> _______________________________________________
> Publicpolicy mailing list -- publicpolicy(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> To unsubscribe send an email to publicpolicy-leave(a)lists.wikimedia.org
In 2 months from now Queering Wikipedia 2023 Conference
will be held (in hybrid mode online with offline 'nodes')
as trans-local events on 3 days of May:
Friday 12th, Sunday 14th and Wednesday 17th
- known for International Day Against Homophobia.
Abbreviated as QW2023 the event is following efforts
and events in 2020, 2021, 2022 in hope
that future will bring more diverse incarnations
for queering not only Wikipedia, but also Wikimedia
and conference making itself...
...in one week we are closing the #2 round
of Calls for Content Proposals for QW2023 and
start publishing first fixed program details.
After the #2 round QW2023 will only exceptionally
consider proposals in the areas recognized
as gaps that need urgent addressing.
For more details check out
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/QW2023https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/QW2023/Call_for_proposals
...and consider to join us for live chats online on Mondays
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/QW_Office_Hours
For QW2023 organizing team Z. Blace
Dear all,
Today, the Wikimedia Foundation published the Form 990 [1], an
informational tax form required annually of all nonprofit organisations
based in the US. The Form 990 provides a financial overview of the
Foundation, including the balance sheet, revenue and expenses, as well as
grantmaking, governance, and other financial policies. It also includes
compensation information required for senior executives. This document is
reviewed by the Board each year before it is published on the Foundation
website.
Because of reporting periods, the Form 990 provides a look back at the
activities and budget for the Foundation in prior years. This year’s Form
990 covers last fiscal year (July 2021-June 2022), and for compensation
related reporting, it covers the 2021 calendar year. Because the Form 990
is a tax document with a complicated format, this year the Foundation has
also published a Diff post [2] that provides an overview of the different
sections of the form; an executive summary [3] of the Form, and an FAQ on
Meta [4].
This year’s Form 990 contains several key takeaways:
-
Growth in support of Wikimedia projects: In the 2021-2022 fiscal year,
the Foundation invested 77% in Program Services, an increase of 4
percentage points as compared to fiscal year 2020–2021 of 73%. This measure
reflects how much of the organisation’s expenses are allocated towards the
programs and services that it exists to deliver. This surpasses third-party
standards for how much nonprofit organisations should spend on programs,
which should be the majority of their budget (more than 65% according to
the Better Business Bureau).
-
Increase in community grants: During fiscal year 2021-2022, the
Foundation’s revenue received through donations and grants, totaled $164.2
million, a roughly $9 million increase from the prior fiscal year. The
Foundation increased its grants programme by 50%, from $10.1M in the prior
fiscal year to $15.2M in fiscal year 2021-2022.
-
Comprehensive governance policies: The Foundation follows a number of
best practices for governance as an established nonprofit organisation. The
Form 990 includes a section confirming written policies regarding our
approach to conflicts of interest
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Conflict_of_interest_policy>,
protecting whistleblowers
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Policy:Whistleblower_policy>,
guidelines
for data retention
<https://foundation.wikimedia.org/wiki/Legal:Data_retention_guidelines>
and governance practices, including those related to the Foundation's Board
structure, voting rights, and independence. These governance policies and
practices have helped the Foundation to receive the highest rating from
sites like Charity Navigator
<https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/200049703>.
-
Leadership Transition: This year’s Form 990 also reports on a period of
significant leadership transition at the Wikimedia Foundation, including
the CEO stepping down. The Form includes compensation information as well
as severance disclosures for Foundation executives who departed in 2021.
This January, the Wikimedia Foundation introduced a new standardised
severance policy, which was shared in a Diff post [5]. Separation
payments to two additional executives that precede the implementation of
this standardised policy will be disclosed in future Form 990s.
Finally, the Form 990 is one of several documents that the Foundation
publishes each year, to provide more visibility into the budget and how the
Foundation allocates resources towards its work. In addition to the Form
990, you can find additional information in this year’s Annual Plan
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024>,
in the Foundation’s Annual Report
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/annualreport/2022-annual-report/>,
and in a series of Diff posts about the Foundation’s compensation practices
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/02/17/wikimedia-foundation-remote-first-and…>,
global guidelines
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/04/06/wikimedia-foundation-global-guideline…>,
and our approach to hiring
<https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/03/building-a-global-staff-community-at-…>
.
The Community Affairs Committee of the Board will host its regular Open
Conversation with Trustees
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Community_Affairs_Comm…>
next Thursday May 18 at 1800 UTC where this topic will be on the agenda
along with a final opportunity for feedback on the Foundation’s Annual
Plan. Questions about the Form 990 are invited on the talk page on Meta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:IRS_tax_related_informati…>.
[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/about/financial-reports/#a2-2021-2022
[2]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/05/09/highlights-of-form-990-for-the-wikime…
[3]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_…
[4]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/IRS_tax_related_information/2021_Wikimedia_…
[5]
https://diff.wikimedia.org/2023/04/06/wikimedia-foundation-global-guideline…
Best regards,
antanana / Nataliia Tymkiv
Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees
*NOTICE: You may have received this message outside of your normal working
hours/days, as I usually can work more as a volunteer during weekend. You
should not feel obligated to answer it during your days off. Thank you in
advance!*