(This press release is also available online here:
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Airtel_Offers_Nigerians…
)
*Airtel Offers Nigerians Free Access to Wikipedia*
- *Customers to Access Multilingual Content Free of Data Charges*
- *Restates Commitment to Educational Development, Youth Empowerment*
*Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, May 29th, 2014*: Leading telecommunications
services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has announced a strategic partnership
with the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit that operates Wikipedia, to
offer their consumers across the country access to Wikipedia through their
mobile phones free of data charges.
The initiative, which is first of its kind in Nigeria, is dubbed Wikipedia
Zero, and it is aimed at reaching and empowering billions of people around
the world whose access to the Internet is primarily through a mobile
device. Airtel Nigeria subscribers can access Wikipedia free of data
charges at m.wikipedia.org.
With the new partnership, Airtel will help deliver knowledge and
information of Wikipedia to 21 million of new users in the West African
region. Speaking on the new partnership, Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel
Nigeria, Maurice Newa, said the initiative is in line with the company’s
corporate vision of becoming Nigeria’s number one Internet Company, saying
the new service will help connect Nigerians with relevant knowledge and
information that will empower them to succeed in their personal and
professional endeavors.
“We are excited with our partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation and we
will continue to provide innovative solutions that will uplift Nigerians in
line with our brand promise of becoming the most loved brand in the daily
lives of Nigerians,” he said. “At Airtel, we are passionate and committed
to creating solid educational and youth empowerment platforms that will
enrich and transform the lives of telecoms consumers across the country.”
“We commend Airtel Nigeria for taking a leadership role in empowering their
society through information access, and we’re thrilled to partner with
them,” said Carolynne Schloeder, Head of Mobile Partnerships at the
Wikimedia Foundation. “Expanding Wikipedia Zero to the people of Nigeria is
a big step forward for free knowledge in Africa.”
About Bharti Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with
operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New
Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 4 mobile service providers
globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings
include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line
services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services
including national & international long distance services to carriers. In
the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G wireless services and mobile
commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 297 million customers across its
operations at the end of April 2014. To know more please visit,
www.airtel.com
About the Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.orghttp://wikipediazero.orghttp://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization that operates
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix,
Wikipedia and the other projects operated by the Wikimedia Foundation
receive 500 million unique visitors per month, making them the fifth-most
popular web property world-wide (comScore, August 2013). Available in 287
languages, Wikipedia contains more than 29 million articles contributed by
a global volunteer community of roughly 80,000 people. Based in San
Francisco, California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3)
charity that is funded primarily through donations and grants.
Wikimedia Foundation Press Contact:
Communications, Wikimedia Foundation
+1 415-839-6885 ext 6633 jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org
(To be unsubscribed from this press release distribution list, please reply with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the subject line)
Hi folks,
It’s my great pleasure to tell you that Rachel diCerbo is joining us
as Director of Community Engagement (Product), starting today. In this
role, Rachel will manage the community liaison team (Keegan Peterzell,
Sherry Snyder, Nick Wilson, and Erica Litrenta) and ensure that our
technical projects receive community engagement support throughout
their development.
Rachel discovered her love for collaborative communities with
Couchsurfing. When she joined the community in 2005, Couchsurfing was
a small non-profit, with essential functions being filled by
volunteers. This included responding to safety issues: staying at
someone else’s home or hosting a stranger carries risks, some obvious,
some less so. Rachel founded and led the community’s all-volunteer
safety team. She was also a member of the non-profit’s Board of
Directors from 2007-2011.
After volunteering for two years, she joined the organization
full-time as Head of Trust & Safety in 2008. She was responsible for
enacting policies related to incident reporting, profile removal, and
other safety issues, and handled any high level legal issues and
communications related to Couchsurfing member safety. She implemented
training, documentation, and case review processes for her team.
As part of her role, she also directly interfaced with Couchsurfing’s
engineering team and helped scope functionality related to safety &
moderation. The work on the safety team also equipped her well for
working across culture and languages, as issues would often arise
around differing cultural sensitivities. She’s travelled to 38
countries and lived on 5 continents.
Prior to Couchsurfing, Rachel pursued a passion for theater while
temping in various roles for various companies. Her additional
interests include digital rights, women’s rights and safety worldwide,
and scuba diving. In her spare time, she seeks to perfect her pulled
pork recipe, sews, and reads all the things.
Rachel is new to the community, and due to the nature of her role,
she’ll be spending some time just learning how to edit and how things
work in our weird & wonderful world. She’s planning a face-to-face
meeting with her team the week of June 9th and will be attending
WikiConference USA later this week.
Please join me in welcoming Rachel to the Wikimedia Foundation and to
the community.
Warmly,
Erik
PS: Big thanks to everyone who’s been part of the search process, to
the liaison team for doing awesome work in an emerging structure, and
to Philippe, Maggie and Howie for all their work in bootstrapping the
team, and for supporting Rachel as she steps into the role. :-)
--
Erik Möller
VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation
Hi all,
please find below the WMF report for April 2014, in plain text.
As always, the editable and formatted version has been published on Meta:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_April_2014
and the reports are being posted on the Wikimedia blog, too:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/c/corporate/wmf-monthly-reports/
As usual, we are also publishing a separate "Highlights" summary.
Please consider helping non-English-language communities to stay
updated, by providing a translation:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Highlights,_April_2014
Many thanks to those who have translated the March "Highlights" into
Bosnian, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian, Dutch,
Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Sardinian, Ukrainian and Chinese (and
partially into some other languages like Norwegian Bokmål and Polish)!
While still focusing on WMF activities, the "Highlights" include a
small selection of the most noteworthy events from the whole movement.
Suggestions for the upcoming May issue are welcome until June 4 at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Highlights#Movement_news_ite…
.
Regards, Tilman
--
Wikimedia Foundation Report, April 2014
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_May_1,_…>
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting
covering the month of April
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2014-05-01>
(May 1, 2014)
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center
o 3.2 New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites
o 3.3 New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 VisualEditor
o 4.2 Editor engagement
o 4.3 Mobile
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Online Fundraising
* 6 Grantmaking
o 6.1 Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee)
o 6.2 Project and Event Grants
+ 6.2.1 Grants funded in April 2014
+ 6.2.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.3 Travel and Participation Support
+ 6.3.1 Request awarded in April 2014
+ 6.3.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.4 Individual Engagement Grants
+ 6.4.1 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.5 Wikimania
o 6.6 Learning and Evaluation
+ 6.6.1 Program Evaluation
o 6.7 Wikipedia Education Program
+ 6.7.1 Global programs
+ 6.7.2 Arab world programs
+ 6.7.3 Communications
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 April Staff Changes
o 7.2 April Statistics
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal and Community Advocacy
o 9.1 LCA Report, April 2014
+ 9.1.1 Contract Metrics
+ 9.1.2 Trademark Metrics
+ 9.1.3 Domains Obtained
+ 9.1.4 Coming & Going
+ 9.1.5 Other Activities
* 10 Communications Report, April 2014
o 10.1 Major Announcements
o 10.2 Major Storylines through April
o 10.3 Other worthwhile reads
o 10.4 WMF Blog posts
o 10.5 Media Contact
o 10.6 Wikipedia Signpost
o 10.7 Communications Design
* 11 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
Global unique visitors for March:
*495 million* (+4.44% compared with February; -4.33% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release April data
later in May)
Page requests for April:
*20.697 billion* (-1.6% compared with March; -0.6% compared with the
previous year)
(Server log data
<http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>,
all Wikimedia Foundation content projects including mobile access,
but excluding Wikidata <https://www.wikidata.org> and the Wikipedia
main portal page <https://www.wikipedia.org/>.)
Active Registered Editors for March 2014 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*79,352* (+4.59% compared with February / -2.84% compared with the
previous year)
(Database data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia
Foundation projects.)
*Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF
projects):
http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/
(Definitions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Metric_definitions>)
== Financials ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_March_2014…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of March 31, 2014
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_March_201…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of March 31, 2014
(Financial information is only available through March 2014 at the time
of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date March 31, 2014.
Revenue 40,957,259
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group 12,358,813
Fundraising Group 2,989,855
Grantmaking Group 1,198,163
Programs Group 1,358,725
Grants 3,961,161
Governance Group 582,854
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group 2,831,941
Finance/HR/Admin Group 5,034,754
Total Expenses 30,316,266
Total surplus (10,640,993)
/in US dollars/
* Revenue for the month of March is $1.71MM versus plan of $0.01MM,
approximately $1.70MM or 29,215% over plan.
* Year-to-date revenue is $40.96MM versus plan of $45.05MM,
approximately $4.09MM or 9% under plan.
* Expenses for the month of March is $3.22MM versus plan of $4.57MM,
approximately $1.35MM or 30% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants, payment processing
fees, and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal fees and
outside contract services.
* Year-to-date expenses is $30.32MM versus plan of $36.37MM,
approximately $6.05MM or 17% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees,
payment processing fees, staff development expenses, grants and
travel expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services.
* Cash and Investments - $50.69MM as of March 31, 2014.
== Highlights ==
=== Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center ===
The Wikimedia Labs <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs> platform
enables volunteers to host software tools to support the community's
work, and to get involved in the technical operations of Wikimedia
servers. As part of the Foundation's ongoing work to reduce reliance on
the old data center in Tampa, Florida (USA), Labs was moved to the new
data center
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
in Ashburn, Virginia in April, completing several months of work by WMF
staff and by volunteers who operate Labs projects. Among the advantages
is the switch to a new file system (NFS) which is much more reliable
that the one used used for Labs in the old data center (GlusterFS, which
had caused most of the Labs failures and downtime in the preceding
months). Also, in the new data center, many Labs projects are now using
the internal Labs web proxy, which provides several benefits including
HTTPS access and increased user data privacy. The Toolserver, the
predecessor of the "Tool Labs" part of Wikimedia Labs, is planned to
shut down on June 30.
=== New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites ===
The Foundation's multimedia team released Media Viewer v0.2
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/About_Media_Viewer> on 14 pilot
sites in April, in preparation for a wider deployment
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Release_Plan> in May.
The overall response was favorable, and a growing majority of survey
respondents <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Survey>
was finding this new multimedia browser useful. The team also developed
a set of metrics dashboards
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv> to track how
often MediaViewer and its various features are used, and how fast it
performs over the Internet, as well as local metrics dashboards
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Metrics> for selected sites: first
results showed a decline in image load time
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#overall_network_perfor…>,
and suggest that Media Viewer loads faster
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#media_viewer_vs_file_p…>
than the old file description pages.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lila_Tretikov_16_April_2014_(1).jpg>
Lila Tretikov
=== New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maher,_Katherine_April_2014.jpg>
Katherine Maher
In April, preparations took place to welcome the Foundation's incoming
executive director Lila Tretikov
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:LilaTretikov>, who was announced on
May 1
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/05/01/wmf_announces_new_ed_lila_tretikov/>.
She will succeed Sue Gardner on June 1, who will move into a new role as
special adviser. Lila Tretikov was born in the Soviet Union and moved to
the United States as a teenager. She has been working for technology
companies, primarily in open source, in the San Francisco Bay Area for
the past 15 years, most recently at SugarCRM
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SugarCRM>.
Also in April, Katherine Maher was announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/katherine-maher-joins-foundation-chie…>
as the Foundation's new Chief Communications Officer.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for April 2014 can
be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2014/April
Department Highlights
Major news in April include:
* the change of format
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/mediawiki-localization-file-format-ch…>
of MediaWiki localization files from PHP to JSON, and the associated
modernization of the LocalisationUpdate extension
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/03/modernising-mediawikis-localisation-u…>;
* the move of Wikimedia Labs
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
to a new data center (see also general "Highlights" section
);
* the “Heartbleed” security vulnerability
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/wikimedias-response-to-the-heartbleed…>
and how the Wikimedia Foundation's team responded to it;
* an explanation of how the Mobile team uses Trello
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/agile-and-trello-the-planning-cycle/>
to plan their development sprints.
=== VisualEditor
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Portal>
===
In April, the VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> team
worked to improve the *stability* of the editor, adding some *new
features* and improving *usability* so that users can create and edit
pages more swiftly and intuitively with VisualEditor than before. When
users edit *templates*, only a few parameters are now shown at first
rather than all possible ones (some often-used templates like those for
citations or infoboxes can have dozens of parameters). It now also feels
more natural to set the *size of images*, and the *page settings* tool
includes the complete set of page options. The next version of the
*citation dialog* was tested and simplified; "suggested" parameters are
now always added, like "required" ones. Finally, a careful audit of all
Wikimedia wikis led to fixing broken *local community-written code*, to
ensure that VisualEditor runs on all of them.
The Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> team continued to fix
bugs and tweak code; Parsoid is the parsing program that works behind
the scenes of VisualEditor to convert wikitext to annotated HTML, and
vice versa. Two areas in particular received a lot of attention:
*templates encapsulation* and *link handling*. Template encapsulation
refers to how content generated by wiki templates is tagged as such, in
order for the post-editing wikitext to be consistent; this is
particularly important for templates that interact with tables. We fixed
many issues with how links are handled, notably image links and their
edge cases. In addition to bug fixes, we also improved Parsoid's
*performance*: some pages like /Barack Obama
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>/ should now parse 30% faster than
before. Last, April saw additional progress providing support for visual
editing of transclusion parameters.
=== Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> ===
This month, the Flow <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow> team focused on
behind-the-scenes changes to improve *moderation* and *history viewing*,
as well as implementing new JavaScript interface templates to make Flow
*more responsive* and *easier to add new features* onto. We released the
ability to *close and summarize topics*, which will allow users to
manage active discussions and end ones that have come to a resolution.
Flow is now the *default discussion tool* for many Beta Features
discussions on mediawiki.org, and the team is accepting requests to
enable Flow on more pages on that wiki to test complex multi-user
discussions.
The Growth <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth> team started to focus on a
new experimental area: *anonymous editor acquisition
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/anonymous_editor_acquisition>*. The team
prepared its first two experimental interface changes, aimed at asking
anonymous editors to register accounts
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Anonymous_editor_acquisition/Signup_invites>
(expected to be launched in early May). The team also will be conducting
basic research into the role anonymous editors play in Wikipedia − more
at Research:Anonymous phenomena
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_phenomena> and
Research:Anonymous editor acquisition
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_editor_acquisition>.
=== Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014-05-01_Mobile_Metrics.pdf?page=…>
Presentation slides on mobile usage (by the Analytics team, from the
monthly metrics meeting)
The Mobile Apps <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps> team continued
to work on the *rebooted Wikipedia App for Android and iOS*. The team
focused on bug fixes, editing refinements, and interface improvements.
Several issues related to keyboard, navigation bar, edit summary, and
abuse filter were fixed. The app now uses the newly-created Wikifont,
which reduced the size of the app and the number of images used Articles
should now look even closer to their mobile web counterparts.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_new_user_profile_page_gives_you…>
The new user profile page gives a quick summary of the user's edit history
The Mobile web <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_web_projects> team added
*history and contributions pages*, as well as an updated *watchlist*
view, for all users. We also released two new features geared toward
"humanizing" Wikipedia for readers and new editors: a prominent "last
modified" banner that indicates when articles haven't been edited in a
while and may need some attention, and a user profile feature to provide
a mobile-friendly snapshot of users' contributions and activity. For
*tablets*, we updated typography and layout and worked on adding the
ability to add and modify links via VisualEditor in beta, in preparation
for redirecting tablets to the mobile site later this quarter.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Zero_Update_Metrics_May_2…>
Presentation slides on Wikipedia Zero from the monthly metrics meeting
The Wikipedia Zero <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> team
continued to set up the *Partners portal* and work on graceful reduction
of *image quality*. We continued analytics work on data from the
*SMS/USSD pilot* program, and generated custom *pageview analyses* for
an operator to distinguish traffic by high level device access
characteristics.
Additionally, the team worked on the alpha version of the Android
Wikipedia app, as well as on the URL format for the forthcoming iOS
Wikipedia app to ensure pageview logging.
Mobile carrier IPKO joined the Wikipedia Zero program in *Kosovo*,
bringing us to a total of *28 partners in 26 countries*. We delivered
*68 million free page views* in April. We *visited South Africa* to meet
with MTN (current Wikipedia Zero partner), prospective partners, members
of Wikimedia South Africa and the Singenjongo High School. This trip was
part of a broader strategy to promote Wikipedia in our partners'
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and education initiatives,
increasing awareness and impact locally. We are identifying new
collaboration opportunities with MTN and local organizations, including
the Wikimedia chapter in South Africa and other mission-aligned
nonprofits. Additionally, we will continue to support the local
initiative created by Sinenjongo High School teachers and students.
== Fundraising ==
Department Highlights
* Members of the fundraising team responded to questions regarding the
WMF's FDC proposal on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…>.
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* The Foundations and Major Gifts Team raised *over $1 million* in April.
* Begun planning for a London *event for Wikimania sponsors*,
scheduled for June 25th.
=== Online Fundraising ===
* The online fundraising team ran *banner tests in the Netherlands and
Austria*. Approximately $700,000 USD was raised in April
(preliminary numbers as donations are still settling).
* The team prepared *translations* of fundraising messages into
multiple languages for upcoming international banner campaigns. If
you would like to help with the translation process, please get
involved <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fundraising/Translation>.
* The Wikimedia Merchandise team launched a redesign of the *Wikimedia
Shop* <https://shop.wikimedia.org/>.
== Grantmaking ==
Department highlights
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grantmaking_Quarterly_Review,_Apr_2…>
Slides from the Grantmaking Quarterly Review, Apr 2014.
* Held quarterly review. See the *quarterly review minutes and slides
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>*.
* *4 proposals for annual plan grants were submitted* by the 1 April
2014 deadline and reviewed by the community until 30 April.
=== Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee) ===
* *4 proposals
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2>*
for
annual plan grants are submitted by the 1 April 2014 deadline for
2013-2014 Round 2; reviewed by the community until 30 April:
o The Centre for Internet and Society, ~US$297,831 requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/GWikimedia Foundation Report,
April 2014
<Video: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Monthly_Metrics_Meeting_May_1,_…>
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting
covering the month of April
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/2014-05-01>
(May 1, 2014)
Contents
* 1 Data and Trends
* 2 Financials
* 3 Highlights
o 3.1 Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center
o 3.2 New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites
o 3.3 New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer
* 4 Engineering
o 4.1 VisualEditor
o 4.2 Editor engagement
o 4.3 Mobile
* 5 Fundraising
o 5.1 Major Gifts and Foundations
o 5.2 Online Fundraising
* 6 Grantmaking
o 6.1 Annual Plan Grants (Funds Dissemination Committee)
o 6.2 Project and Event Grants
+ 6.2.1 Grants funded in April 2014
+ 6.2.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.3 Travel and Participation Support
+ 6.3.1 Request awarded in April 2014
+ 6.3.2 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.4 Individual Engagement Grants
+ 6.4.1 Reports accepted in April 2014
o 6.5 Wikimania
o 6.6 Learning and Evaluation
+ 6.6.1 Program Evaluation
o 6.7 Wikipedia Education Program
+ 6.7.1 Global programs
+ 6.7.2 Arab world programs
+ 6.7.3 Communications
* 7 Human Resources
o 7.1 April Staff Changes
o 7.2 April Statistics
* 8 Finance and Administration
* 9 Legal and Community Advocacy
o 9.1 LCA Report, April 2014
+ 9.1.1 Contract Metrics
+ 9.1.2 Trademark Metrics
+ 9.1.3 Domains Obtained
+ 9.1.4 Coming & Going
+ 9.1.5 Other Activities
* 10 Communications Report, April 2014
o 10.1 Major Announcements
o 10.2 Major Storylines through April
o 10.3 Other worthwhile reads
o 10.4 WMF Blog posts
o 10.5 Media Contact
o 10.6 Wikipedia Signpost
o 10.7 Communications Design
* 11 Visitors and Guests
== Data and Trends ==
Global unique visitors for March:
*495 million* (+4.44% compared with February; -4.33% compared with
the previous year)
(comScore data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/unique_visitors> for all
Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release April data
later in May)
Page requests for April:
*20.697 billion* (-1.6% compared with March; -0.6% compared with the
previous year)
(Server log data
<http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN/TablesPageViewsMonthlyAllProjects.htm>,
all Wikimedia Foundation content projects including mobile access,
but excluding Wikidata <https://www.wikidata.org> and the Wikipedia
main portal page <https://www.wikipedia.org/>.)
Active Registered Editors for March 2014 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month,
excluding bots):
*79,352* (+4.59% compared with February / -2.84% compared with the
previous year)
(Database data
<http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/graphs/active_editors>, all Wikimedia
Foundation projects.)
*Report Card* (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF
projects):
http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/
(Definitions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Metric_definitions>)
== Financials ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Revenue_%26_Expenses_March_2014…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of March 31, 2014
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WMF_Expenses_by_Functions_March_201…>
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of March 31, 2014
(Financial information is only available through March 2014 at the time
of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and
Year-To-Date March 31, 2014.
Revenue 40,957,259
*Expenses:*
Engineering Group 12,358,813
Fundraising Group 2,989,855
Grantmaking Group 1,198,163
Programs Group 1,358,725
Grants 3,961,161
Governance Group 582,854
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group 2,831,941
Finance/HR/Admin Group 5,034,754
Total Expenses 30,316,266
Total surplus (10,640,993)
/in US dollars/
* Revenue for the month of March is $1.71MM versus plan of $0.01MM,
approximately $1.70MM or 29,215% over plan.
* Year-to-date revenue is $40.96MM versus plan of $45.05MM,
approximately $4.09MM or 9% under plan.
* Expenses for the month of March is $3.22MM versus plan of $4.57MM,
approximately $1.35MM or 30% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, internet hosting, FDC grants, payment processing
fees, and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal fees and
outside contract services.
* Year-to-date expenses is $30.32MM versus plan of $36.37MM,
approximately $6.05MM or 17% under plan, primarily due to lower
personnel expenses, capital expenses, internet hosting, legal fees,
payment processing fees, staff development expenses, grants and
travel expenses partially offset by higher outside contract services.
* Cash and Investments - $50.69MM as of March 31, 2014.
== Highlights ==
=== Wikimedia Labs migrated to the new data center ===
The Wikimedia Labs <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Labs> platform
enables volunteers to host software tools to support the community's
work, and to get involved in the technical operations of Wikimedia
servers. As part of the Foundation's ongoing work to reduce reliance on
the old data center in Tampa, Florida (USA), Labs was moved to the new
data center
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
in Ashburn, Virginia in April, completing several months of work by WMF
staff and by volunteers who operate Labs projects. Among the advantages
is the switch to a new file system (NFS) which is much more reliable
that the one used used for Labs in the old data center (GlusterFS, which
had caused most of the Labs failures and downtime in the preceding
months). Also, in the new data center, many Labs projects are now using
the internal Labs web proxy, which provides several benefits including
HTTPS access and increased user data privacy. The Toolserver, the
predecessor of the "Tool Labs" part of Wikimedia Labs, is planned to
shut down on June 30.
=== New MediaViewer starts getting released on Wikimedia sites ===
The Foundation's multimedia team released Media Viewer v0.2
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/About_Media_Viewer> on 14 pilot
sites in April, in preparation for a wider deployment
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Release_Plan> in May.
The overall response was favorable, and a growing majority of survey
respondents <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Media_Viewer/Survey>
was finding this new multimedia browser useful. The team also developed
a set of metrics dashboards
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv> to track how
often MediaViewer and its various features are used, and how fast it
performs over the Internet, as well as local metrics dashboards
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Multimedia/Metrics> for selected sites: first
results showed a decline in image load time
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#overall_network_perfor…>,
and suggest that Media Viewer loads faster
<http://multimedia-metrics.wmflabs.org/dashboards/mmv#media_viewer_vs_file_p…>
than the old file description pages.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lila_Tretikov_16_April_2014_(1).jpg>
Lila Tretikov
=== New Executive Director and Chief Communications Officer ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maher,_Katherine_April_2014.jpg>
Katherine Maher
In April, preparations took place to welcome the Foundation's incoming
executive director Lila Tretikov
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/User:LilaTretikov>, who was announced on
May 1
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/05/01/wmf_announces_new_ed_lila_tretikov/>.
She will succeed Sue Gardner on June 1, who will move into a new role as
special adviser. Lila Tretikov was born in the Soviet Union and moved to
the United States as a teenager. She has been working for technology
companies, primarily in open source, in the San Francisco Bay Area for
the past 15 years, most recently at SugarCRM
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SugarCRM>.
Also in April, Katherine Maher was announced
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/katherine-maher-joins-foundation-chie…>
as the Foundation's new Chief Communications Officer.
== Engineering ==
A detailed report of the Tech Department's activities for April 2014 can
be found at:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_engineering_report/2014/April
Department Highlights
Major news in April include:
* the change of format
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/mediawiki-localization-file-format-ch…>
of MediaWiki localization files from PHP to JSON, and the associated
modernization of the LocalisationUpdate extension
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/03/modernising-mediawikis-localisation-u…>;
* the move of Wikimedia Labs
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/04/migrating-wikimedia-labs-to-a-new-dat…>
to a new data center (see also general "Highlights" section
);
* the “Heartbleed” security vulnerability
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/wikimedias-response-to-the-heartbleed…>
and how the Wikimedia Foundation's team responded to it;
* an explanation of how the Mobile team uses Trello
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/agile-and-trello-the-planning-cycle/>
to plan their development sprints.
=== VisualEditor
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Portal>
===
In April, the VisualEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/VisualEditor> team
worked to improve the *stability* of the editor, adding some *new
features* and improving *usability* so that users can create and edit
pages more swiftly and intuitively with VisualEditor than before. When
users edit *templates*, only a few parameters are now shown at first
rather than all possible ones (some often-used templates like those for
citations or infoboxes can have dozens of parameters). It now also feels
more natural to set the *size of images*, and the *page settings* tool
includes the complete set of page options. The next version of the
*citation dialog* was tested and simplified; "suggested" parameters are
now always added, like "required" ones. Finally, a careful audit of all
Wikimedia wikis led to fixing broken *local community-written code*, to
ensure that VisualEditor runs on all of them.
The Parsoid <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid> team continued to fix
bugs and tweak code; Parsoid is the parsing program that works behind
the scenes of VisualEditor to convert wikitext to annotated HTML, and
vice versa. Two areas in particular received a lot of attention:
*templates encapsulation* and *link handling*. Template encapsulation
refers to how content generated by wiki templates is tagged as such, in
order for the post-editing wikitext to be consistent; this is
particularly important for templates that interact with tables. We fixed
many issues with how links are handled, notably image links and their
edge cases. In addition to bug fixes, we also improved Parsoid's
*performance*: some pages like /Barack Obama
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>/ should now parse 30% faster than
before. Last, April saw additional progress providing support for visual
editing of transclusion parameters.
=== Editor engagement <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/New_editor_engagement> ===
This month, the Flow <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Flow> team focused on
behind-the-scenes changes to improve *moderation* and *history viewing*,
as well as implementing new JavaScript interface templates to make Flow
*more responsive* and *easier to add new features* onto. We released the
ability to *close and summarize topics*, which will allow users to
manage active discussions and end ones that have come to a resolution.
Flow is now the *default discussion tool* for many Beta Features
discussions on mediawiki.org, and the team is accepting requests to
enable Flow on more pages on that wiki to test complex multi-user
discussions.
The Growth <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Growth> team started to focus on a
new experimental area: *anonymous editor acquisition
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/anonymous_editor_acquisition>*. The team
prepared its first two experimental interface changes, aimed at asking
anonymous editors to register accounts
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Anonymous_editor_acquisition/Signup_invites>
(expected to be launched in early May). The team also will be conducting
basic research into the role anonymous editors play in Wikipedia − more
at Research:Anonymous phenomena
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_phenomena> and
Research:Anonymous editor acquisition
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Anonymous_editor_acquisition>.
=== Mobile <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Mobile_engineering> ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014-05-01_Mobile_Metrics.pdf?page=…>
Presentation slides on mobile usage (by the Analytics team, from the
monthly metrics meeting)
The Mobile Apps <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps> team continued
to work on the *rebooted Wikipedia App for Android and iOS*. The team
focused on bug fixes, editing refinements, and interface improvements.
Several issues related to keyboard, navigation bar, edit summary, and
abuse filter were fixed. The app now uses the newly-created Wikifont,
which reduced the size of the app and the number of images used Articles
should now look even closer to their mobile web counterparts.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_new_user_profile_page_gives_you…>
The new user profile page gives a quick summary of the user's edit history
The Mobile web <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_web_projects> team added
*history and contributions pages*, as well as an updated *watchlist*
view, for all users. We also released two new features geared toward
"humanizing" Wikipedia for readers and new editors: a prominent "last
modified" banner that indicates when articles haven't been edited in a
while and may need some attention, and a user profile feature to provide
a mobile-friendly snapshot of users' contributions and activity. For
*tablets*, we updated typography and layout and worked on adding the
ability to add and modify links via VisualEditor in beta, in preparation
for redirecting tablets to the mobile site later this quarter.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_Zero_Update_Metrics_May_2…>
Presentation slides on Wikipedia Zero from the monthly metrics meeting
The Wikipedia Zero <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Zero> team
continued to set up the *Partners portal* and work on graceful reduction
of *image quality*. We continued analytics work on data from the
*SMS/USSD pilot* program, and generated custom *pageview analyses* for
an operator to distinguish traffic by high level device access
characteristics.
Additionally, the team worked on the alpha version of the Android
Wikipedia app, as well as on the URL format for the forthcoming iOS
Wikipedia app to ensure pageview logging.
Mobile carrier IPKO joined the Wikipedia Zero program in *Kosovo*,
bringing us to a total of *28 partners in 26 countries*. We delivered
*68 million free page views* in April. We *visited South Africa* to meet
with MTN (current Wikipedia Zero partner), prospective partners, members
of Wikimedia South Africa and the Singenjongo High School. This trip was
part of a broader strategy to promote Wikipedia in our partners'
corporate social responsibility (CSR) and education initiatives,
increasing awareness and impact locally. We are identifying new
collaboration opportunities with MTN and local organizations, including
the Wikimedia chapter in South Africa and other mission-aligned
nonprofits. Additionally, we will continue to support the local
initiative created by Sinenjongo High School teachers and students.
== Fundraising ==
Department Highlights
* Members of the fundraising team responded to questions regarding the
WMF's FDC proposal on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants_talk:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/…>.
=== Major Gifts and Foundations ===
* The Foundations and Major Gifts Team raised *over $1 million* in April.
* Begun planning for a London *event for Wikimania sponsors*,
scheduled for June 25th.
=== Online Fundraising ===
* The online fundraising team ran *banner tests in the Netherlands and
Austria*. Approximately $700,000 USD was raised in April
(preliminary numbers as donations are still settling).
* The team prepared *translations* of fundraising messages into
multiple languages for upcoming international banner campaigns. If
you would like to help with the translation process, please get
involved <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wrants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/The_Centre…>
o Wikimedia Foundation, No dollar amount requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimédia France, ~US$826,062 requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
o Wikimedia Norge, ~US$432,060 requested
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2013-2014_round2/Wikim…>
* *Progress reports* for 2013-2014 Round 1 Quarter 1
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Annual_plan_grant_progress_report_…>
were submitted by 30 April.
* WMDE and WMUK submitted *impact reports* for 2012-2013 Round 1:
o WMUK
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/WMUK/…>
o Wikimedia Deutschland
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/Proposals/2012-2013_round1/Wikim…>
* Results from *survey* on 2013-2014 Round 1 of the FDC process are
published (see [[#Learning and Evaluation|]] for more information).
* FDC members attend the *Wikimedia Conference* in Berlin, Germany and
offer an information session and a session to share feedback.
* WMDE, chapters, and other community members were invited to assess
*WMF's annual plan* as part of the proposal process.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_Indaba_2014.jpeg>
Logo of the "Wiki Indaba" conference ("Under the Baobab")
=== Project and Event Grants ===
* *5 new members* joined the Grant Advisory Committee.
* *4 new requests* were funded and *4 reports* were accepted in April
2014.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_Catholic_church_of_municipali…>
A Roman Catholic church in the municipality of Loon which was destroyed
in the Bohol earthquake <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Bohol_earthquake>
less than three weeks after this photo was uploaded as part of Wiki
Loves Monuments Philippines
==== Grants funded in April 2014 ====
* Wiki-Indaba-2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WM_ZA/Wiki-Indaba-2014>:
To
support the first conference of Wikimedians across Africa to discuss
strategy, best practices, and promote community building.
* Wikipedia:Rintis
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Wiki-ID/Wikipedia:Rintis>: To
support
Wiki-ID to conduct a series of outreach workshops and edit-a-thons
in Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia.
* Wiki Loves Earth 2014 in Macedonia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Shared_Knowledge/Wiki_Loves_Earth_20…>:
To support the implementation of Wiki Loves Earth 2014 in Macedonia.
* Wiki Camp <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_AM/Wiki_Camp>:
To support a summer Wiki
Camp for active high school editors in Armenia.
==== Reports accepted in April 2014 ====
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Volontaires_-_Wikimedia_Stall_-_38t…>
Volunteers at the 38th International Kolkata Book Fair (said to be
Asia's largest book fair)
* Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 - Philippines
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:WM_PH/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2013>
* Turkic speaking wikimedians conference
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/WikiBilim/Turkic_speaking_wikime…>
* Kolkata Book Fair 2014
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Jayanta_Nath_-_Kolkata_Wiki_Comm…>
* Wiki Loves Monuments international team
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:PEG/Wiki_Loves_Monuments_internation…>
=== Travel and Participation Support ===
* *1 new request* was funded and *2 reports* were accepted in April 2014.
* A worksprint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Build/Spring_2014_sprint>
has begun
to improve the program's pages and workflows. The aim of the sprint
is to *improve the applicant experience* based on learning
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Analysis> from the
program's first 2 years, making
it easier for more people to get involved. Dustin York joined the
sprint team in April as a temporary design contractor who hopes to
bring more joy to the program's interactions. The redesign sprint is
expected to run April - July.
==== Request awarded in April 2014 ====
* OpenStack Summit Atlanta
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Ryan_lane/OpenStack_Summit_Atlan…>:
a request to
fund Ryan Lane’s representation of Wikimedia at the design summit in
order for OpenStack to continue giving Wikimedia’s software use and
interests continued consideration, especially with regard to the
future direction of the software. OpenStack is the base
infrastructure for Wikimedia Labs.
==== Reports accepted in April 2014 ====
* OSGEO Cluj <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Strainu/OSGEO_Cluj/Report>
* Free Minds free People and IDEC 2013
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:TPS/Futureimperfect/_Free_Minds_free…>
=== Individual Engagement Grants ===
* We completed *eligibility checks* on round 1 2014 proposals, and 18
proposals <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG#ieg-join>
moved forward into a 2 weeks
comment period in which input was solicited from the community and
other stakeholders. The IEG committee is now scoring proposals,
according to a newly updated rubric
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Committee/Workroom#review-rubric>.
Committee
scores and qualitative feedback will be shared back on proposals in
early May, while WMF due diligence on recommended proposals begins.
* A worksprint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Build/March-June_2014_sprint…>
is underway
on *IdeaLab*, to make it easier to engage in this space. As of April
1, Jeph Paul <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jeph_paul> joined the
sprint team as a short-term contractor, to build gadgets and other
tools for use in IdeaLab, other grantmaking spaces, and beyond. The
worksprint is expected to continue through July.
* In other individual grants news, 2 Arabic Wikipedians joined the
*Arabic pilot* team to serve as volunteer coordinators in the Arabic
Wikipedia Library
<https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/wp:%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF…>.
The Library build was completed in April from a kit on Meta-wiki
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library/Kit>, and
we're nearly ready to begin
processing Arabic Wikipedians' requests for books and journals.
Although we'd expected to launch the pilot program in April,
payments methods for the countries we aim to serve with this pilot
have been an ongoing challenge. We hope to have this resolved soon
and launch in early May instead.
* IEG program head Siko Bouterse is laying plans to *travel to Jordan*
in May as part of an Education Program Hackathon, in order to attend
a meet-up with Arabic Wikipedians to discuss the pilot and other
opportunities for supporting individual contributors through grants
and other resources.
==== Reports accepted in April 2014 ====
* Visual editor-gadgets compatibility - Midpoint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Visual_editor-_gadgets_compatibi…>
(blog post
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/22/visualeditor-gadgets/>)
* Women Scientists Workshop Development - Midpoint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/Women_Scientists_Workshop_Develo…>
* What is about - C'est quoi. A series of communication tools about
Wikipedia. Cameroon pilot project - Midpoint
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/What_is_about_-_C%27est_quoi._A_…>
=== Wikimania ===
* Wikimedia Mexico's proposal
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2015_bids/Mexico_City>
to host *Wikimania in 2015* has been accepted. The conference is
expected to be held in Mexico City in summer 2013.
* The Wikimania scholarships committee finished scoring the hundreds
of *scholarship* applications from Wikimedians hoping to attend
Wikimania in London in August 2014. The list of over 100 selected
scholars has been finalized and recipients will soon be notified.
=== Learning and Evaluation ===
* *Grantmaking Evaluation*:
o Overall Grantmaking: Held Quarterly Review on January - March
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings/Quarterly_r…>.
Key *focus areas*:
+ Increase support to individuals
+ Publish program evaluation reports
+ Optimize grantmaking requirements
+ Integrate new team
o Annual Plan Grants: Round 1 2013-14 *Process review* published
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:APG/FDC_portal/Feedback_and_continuo…>.
o Pilot Experiment: Arabic Wikipedia Library
<https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/wp:%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%AF…>
(see IEG section)
* Grantmaking Operations:
o Fluxx <https://wmf.fluxx.io/>, the *grant management platform*,
was launched and new grant requests are being processed using it.
o Created a prototype to visualize the number of users from top 10
countries that contribute to target Wikipedias in the *Global
South*.
o IdeaLab sprint ongoing
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Build/March-June_2014_sprint…>
(see
IEG section)
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Visualizing_Wikipedia_Communities_u…>
Slides of the "Visualizing Wikipedia Communities using Gephi" presentation
* *Capacity building*: Led several presentation at the *Wikimedia
Conference* in Berlin, including those listed below in Program
Evaluation, as well as:
o Presented at the WMF *Research&Data showcase* for April 2014
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Analytics/Research_and_Data/Showcase#April_2…>
o "Ideas to Experiments
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/22>":
Session on
process of *ideas to solve problems*, and how to experiment with
them.
o "Your organization and hiring staff
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/10>":
talking
through current research on the *hiring of first employees*
within Wikimedia, as well as why a group should or should not
consider it
* External Grantmaking Outreach:
o Participated in *Network Evaluation Convening* at Packard
Foundation. Part of brainstorming group discussing preliminary
methods of evaluating networks of contributors funded through
grants.
o Participated in the *"Embrace Complexity" meeting*
<http://www.geofunders.org/events/upcoming-events/event/24>
hosted by GEO (Grantmakers for Effective Organizations)
* *Governance*
o With Legal, organized a workshop on *COI guidelines*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/12>
o With Legal, compiled research around *purchasing power* parity
and regulations around *transfering funds* into certain countries
* *Organizational effectiveness and development*
o Gave presentation at the Berlin *Wikimedia Conference* (see above)
o Launch of organizational *effectiveness survey* work alongside
members of WMF Board, some Wikimedia Chapters, and AffCom.
Survey on governance to be distributed in early May
o Final report delivered from consultancy TCC, working on
benchmarking the way *other organizations think about
organizational effectiveness* and design. Public report forthcoming.
==== Program Evaluation ====
In addition to participating with the full Learning and Evaluation team
in a *strategy session* related to our integration under Grantmaking,
the program evaluation and design team members:
* Completed, and posted, the *Wikipedia Education Program report
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library/WEP>*
on Meta as the final
one in the Program Evaluation Reports beta series.
* Attended the *Wikimedia Conference* 2014 in Berlin and presented
pre-conference and conference sessions on program evaluation:
o A full-day
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News/Wikimedia_C…>
workshop facilitating dialogue about *evaluation fears and
hopes, roles and responsibilities*, and program leader
strategies as well as presenting content on the Stages and Types
of Program Evaluation (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stages_and_Types_of_Evaluation.pdf>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1CJE9lm3wkOUsWch_I06…>);
Theory of Change and Logic Models (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theory_of_Change_and_Logic_Models_-…>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1mOZvUjX6AACDX1x9gig…>),
and Data Sources (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_Sources_-_Gathering_Evidence_o…>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/presentation/d/1yJiCFVCRtY0BZuI1jJD…>),
including a brief overview of Wikimetrics (slides: PDF
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimetrics_Overview.pdf>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1xfDMMvZjTkUVf4VS8t2zJaHqrf6T5NvU7Wj…>);
o A half-day
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/News/Wikimedia_C…>
of pre-conference workshop sessions on program evaluation: first
a workshop on *designing effective questions* (workshop slides:
PDF <Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Designing_Effective_Questions.pdf>/GDoc
<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1__RUpU0IHnqWnyyC6O8lDmwZ7xoRME8Co3e…>)
followed by a brainstorming session on the current metrics and gaps.
o Two Wikimedia Conference sessions: a presentation and
conversation session, titled *"How to measure blood, sweat, and
tears?"* (session documentation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/18>)
and a
demonstration session on evaluation data and tracking tools,
titled *"An Overview of tracking and reporting points and
Wikimetrics"*. (session documentation
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014/Documentation/19>)
* Participated in reviewing the round II *annual plan grant proposals*
related to program evaluation strategy as well as the measures and
targets presented.
* Developed and added a *learning module* on Designing Effective
Questions
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Learning_modules…>
to the
learning modules library (this is an expanded version of the
workshop presentation)
* Hired Edward Galvez as staff in the position of *Program Evaluation
Associate*.
* Program Evaluation session slides from the Wikimedia Conference
*
Stages and Types of Evaluation.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stages_and_Types_of_Evaluation.pdf>
*
Theory of Change and Logic Models - The Logic Model as an Evaluation
Planning Tool.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Theory_of_Change_and_Logic_Models_-…>
*
Data Sources - Gathering Evidence of your Program Story.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data_Sources_-_Gathering_Evidence_o…>
*
Wikimetrics Overview.pdf <Image:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimetrics_Overview.pdf>
*
Designing Effective Questions.pdf
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Designing_Effective_Questions.pdf>
=== Wikipedia Education Program ===
* Floor Koudijs, *Global Education Program Manager*, transitioned from
contractor to employee of the Wikimedia Foundation.
==== Global programs ====
* The Wikipedia Education Program continues its support for the
*Education Cooperative
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_Portal/Newsletter/March_2014/…>*,
a group of program leaders with experience in using Wikipedia in
education. Coop members, together with the Wikipedia Education
Program team, are currently working on four initial areas for the
Coop: Communications, Resources, Recognition and Mentoring.
* The Program team is establishing a *baseline of Wikipedia in
education initiatives* worldwide. The team is conducting a large
outreach effort to more than 60 programs worldwide that are using
Wikipedia in education. Currently, the outreach consists of
one-on-one talks with all program leaders to understand their
educational initiatives, activities, goals, and potential support needs.
* Rod Dunican, Director of the Wikipedia Education Program, traveled
to the *Wikimedia Conference* in Berlin to meet with several
educational program leaders who are interested and active in education.
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cairo_4th_56.jpg>
Students celebrate their contributions to the Arabic Wikipedia on April
27, 2014 at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt
==== Arab world programs ====
* Tighe Flanagan, Wikipedia Education Program Manger for the Arab
world, conducted a working visit to *King Saud University* in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, emphasizing a need to move student translation
work online.
* Dr. Mohammed Alghbban, Regional Ambassador for the Wikipedia
Education Program in Saudi Arabia, organized a meeting with Dr.
Mansour M. Alghamdi, head of digital content and publishing
<http://publications.kacst.edu.sa/> at the *King Abdulaziz City for
Science and Technology*, to see how they can support local efforts
for Arabic content on Wikipedia.
* Led by Samir Sharbaty, students and professors put on a *celebration
conference* for the Wikipedia Education Program in Egypt hosted by
Ain Shams University on April 27, celebrating 7.3 million bytes of
new Arabic content from 98 students. See photos on Commons
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Fourth_Celebration_Conference,_…>.
* WEP Ambassadors are actively working to get a version of the
*Wikipedia Training
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Training>* up on Arabic
Wikipedia,
as well as continuing to improve the usage of the *education
extension <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ar:Special:Courses:>* to track
courses and student activity.
* A new *mailing list* was created to discuss ideas and coordinate
efforts around Wikipedia and education in Saudi Arabia
<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education-sa>.
==== Communications ====
* Sage Ross posted an update on recent improvements to the *course
page system*
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Education_Program/technical_updat…>.
* The Education Coop sent out the April 2014 edition
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/April_2014> of
the This Month in Education *newsletter*.
== Human Resources ==
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:May_2014_WMF_HR_Metrics_Slides.pdf>
HR presentation slides from the May 1 metrics meeting
April continued to be about supporting the *ED and VPE searches*, as
well as the *annual plan* and staff planning. We also *on-boarded* nine
FT staff, and are working now on over six for May. We launched the next
round of the WikiLead program for *leadership development*, including a
three-day training offsite. We continued to work on *staff handbook*
edits, to reduce the legal speak and increase the core, cultural
aspects. The team began the prep work for the annual staff *performance
reviews*, which will take place in June. The team is also excitedly
wrapping up recruiting for our *Benefits and Wellness Coordinator* and
the *Recruiting Coordinator*, with ongoing recruiting for the
*Recruiting Manager*. And of course, ongoing work around benefits and
immigration.
=== April Staff Changes ===
New Requisitions Filled
* Katherine Maher (Communications)
* Dmitry Brant (Engineering)
* Danny Horn (Engineering)
* Giuseppe Lavagetto (Engineering)
* Sarah Rodlund (F&A)
Conversions (Contractor to Requisition)
* Edward Galvez (Grants)
* Floor Koudjis (Grants)
* Patrick Earley (LCA)
Requisition Department Changes
* (none)
Requisition Departures
* Kenan Wang (Engineering)
* Sara Lasner (Fundraising)
* Ingrid Flores (Grants)
New Interns
* (none)
New Contractors
* Jeph Alapat (Grants)
* Dustin York (Grants)
Contracts Ended
* Ryan Lane
* Donna Peterson
=== April Statistics ===
Total Requisitions Filled
April Actual: 168 (was 163)
April Total Plan: 187
April Filled: 8, Month Attrition: 3,
FYTD Filled: 49, FYTD Attrition: 26
Remaining Open positions to fiscal year end
28 → reflects 4 total out of plan req#s 193-196 (for finance)
== Finance and Administration ==
* Funds being held in the *short term reserve fund* total $21.4
million. Estimated annual income on the short term reserve fund is
$756,045 or 3.5% per year gross of fees.
* An RFP for *investment advisory services* will be released in May.
* WMF has signed a contract with the HUB (a *coworking space*) to
provide staff, based in New York, London and other locations, as an
option for a space outside of their home to work, meet and collaborate.
== Legal and Community Advocacy ==
=== LCA Report, April 2014 ===
Throughout April LCA continued its support of the Wikimedia projects
through ongoing *litigation and community support*.
* Michelle, Yana, Stephen, and Luis attended the *Wikimedia
Conference* in Berlin
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2014> to discuss
topics surrounding COIs, trademarks, movement roles, advocacy and
privacy.
* Michelle published a blog
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/25/what-when-someone-asks-your-informatio…>
announcing the release of our *Requests for User Information
Guidelines and Procedures
<https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Requests_for_user_information_procedur…>*.
These guidelines inform third parties who seek our users' nonpublic
information of the stringent requirements they must meet before the
Wikimedia Foundation will consider releasing any user's nonpublic
information. It's worth noting that most organizations refer to
these kinds of guidelines as "law enforcement guidelines". However,
our guidelines are broader -- they are directed not just at law
enforcement, but any third party who attempts to compel user
information from the Foundation, so our process and requirements are
transparent and consistent for all.
* Our deputy legal counsel, *Luis Villa*, was also featured in a
Wikimedia blog post ("Luis Villa: I wanted to be an internet lawyer
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/16/luis-villa-i-wanted-to-be-an-internet…>")
that highlighted his substantial internet experience.
==== Contract Metrics ====
* Submitted : 34
* Completed : 36
==== Trademark Metrics ====
* Submitted : 14
* Approved: 1
* Pending : 6
* Denied: 2
* Approval not needed : 5
==== Domains Obtained ====
wikipedia.expert, wiki-pedia.net, wikimedia.community,
wikipedia.community, wiktionary.community, wikiversity.community,
wikipedia.community, wikimediacommons.community, wikinews.community,
wikisource.community, wiki.community, wiki-pedia.org, wekipedia.com,
wikkipedia.org, wikimediacommons.uk, wikimediauk.uk
==== Coming & Going ====
* *Anna Koval* left the LCA team to join the Wikipedia Education
Program team.
* *Patrick Earley* transitioned from the Community Liaison team to
Community Advocacy.
==== Other Activities ====
* Manprit Brar, a fellow in the legal team, published a blog post
entitled *Supporting innovation beyond the traditional IP regime:
Using Wikipedia as a model
<http://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/11/supporting-innovation-beyond-the-tradi…>*.
This blog post highlighted the ideas discussed during Yale's
Innovation Law Beyond IP conference, which Manprit attended, and how
Wikimedia projects already incorporate some of those ideas successfully.
== Communications Report, April 2014 ==
April started with the *Belfer Center* still in the news, as Sue issued
a statement on April 1st addressing concerns about this 2012 program. On
April 10th, WMF responded to the OpenSSL *Heartbleed* vulnerability with
a statement on the blog that was translated into 19 different languages
by volunteers with the support of the Communications team. The sudden
death of Wikipedian *Adrianne Wadewitz* on April on 8th after a climbing
accident was covered extensively by the media, with obituaries appearing
in the New York Times and the Sydney Morning Herald, among others.
Katherine Maher, the *new Chief Communications Officer*, started on
April 14th. The Foundation *hosted a camera crew* from CBS National News
to film b-roll for a future segment on Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia, and the
movement. We supported the *community review of the 2013/14 round 2 FDC
proposals* with banner messages on all projects that were translated by
volunteers into over 50 languages, and assisted the Fundraising
department in organizing responses to questions about the *Foundation's
own FDC proposal*. The team spent significant time preparing
communications documents for the May 1st announcement of the new
*incoming executive director*, Lila Tretikov.
=== Major Announcements ===
No major announcements in April.
=== Major Storylines through April ===
Adrianne Wadewitz
Adrianne Wadewitz, 37, prolific Wikipedia editor, dies after rock
climbing accident.
The New York Times (19 April, 2014). [1]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/business/media/adrianne-wadewitz-37-wikip…>
BuzzFeed (21 April, 2014). [2]
<http://www.buzzfeed.com/mbvd/prolific-wikipedia-editor-adrianne-wadewitz-di…>
Washington Post (25 April, 2014). [3]
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/adrianne-wadewitz-wikipedia-contribu…>
Hillsborough vandalism
Wikipedia edits (vandalism) performed from U.K. government computers.
Daily Mail (24 April, 2014). [4]
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2612727/Hillsborough-slur…>
The Huffington Post - United Kingdom (25 April, 2014). [5]
<http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/24/hillsborough-disaster-wikipedia-…>
BBC (25 April, 2014) [6] <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27165732>
The Telegraph (26 April, 2014). [7]
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/10790012/Wikipedia-edits-pe…>
Bitcoin
Jimmy Wales reveals he is “cautious” about accepting Bitcoin donations.
CoinDesk (14 April, 2014). [8]
<http://www.coindesk.com/jimmy-wales-reveals-wikimedia-cautious-accepting-bi…>
PFhub (14 April, 2014). [9]
<http://www.pfhub.com/wikimedias-jimmy-wales-reveals-he-is-cautious-about-bi…>
CoinReport (14 April, 2014) [10]
<https://coinreport.net/jimmy-wales-bitcoin-drive-back-cautious/>
Heartbleed security bug
The Heartbleed bug made headlines when it affected many top websites
including Wikipedia.
International Business Times (28 April, 2014). [11]
<http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/549813/20140428/heartbleed-bug-vulnerability…>
RedOrbit (30 April, 2014). [12]
<http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1113134201/security-patches-not-eno…>
=== Other worthwhile reads ===
Wikipedia seems more useful at tracking flu trends than Google.
BusinessWeek (17 April, 2014) [13]
<http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-17/the-flu-tricked-google-dot-…>
Yahoo (17 April, 2014) [14]
<https://news.yahoo.com/big-data-flu-wikipedia-track-influenza-215029183.html>
Popular Mechanics (17 April, 2014) [15]
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/med-tech/wikipedia-searches-…>
=== WMF Blog posts ===
Blog.wikimedia.org published 27 posts in April 2014
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/4/>. Four posts were multilingual
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/tag/multilingual-post/>, with translations
in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Ukranian, Dutch, Asturian,
German, Indonesian, Russian, Hungarian, Malay, Tamil, Japanese, Korean,
Czech, Chinese, Catalan and Odia.
Some highlights from the blog include:
*Wikimedia’s response to the Heartbleed security vulnerability
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/10/wikimedias-response-to-the-heartbleed…>*
(April 10, 2014).
*Katherine Maher joins the Wikimedia Foundation as Chief
Communications Officer
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/15/katherine-maher-joins-foundation-chie…>*
(April 15, 2014)
*Luis Villa: I wanted to be an internet lawyer
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/16/luis-villa-i-wanted-to-be-an-internet…>*
(April 16, 2014).
*What happens when someone asks us for your information?
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/25/what-when-someone-asks-your-informati…>*
(WMF releases the Requests for User Information Procedures
Guidelines) (April 25, 2014).
*Are you the next Wikipedia visiting scholar?
<https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/04/25/are-you-the-next-wikipedia-visiting-s…>*
(April 25, 2014).
=== Media Contact ===
Media contact through April 2014: wmf:Press room/Media Contact#April
2014 <https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_room/Media_Contact#April_2014>
=== Wikipedia Signpost ===
For lots of detailed coverage and news summaries, see the
community-edited newsletter “Wikipedia Signpost” for April 2014:
* Volume 10, Issue 13
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
02 April 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 14
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
09 April 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 15
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
23 April 2014
* Volume 10, Issue 16
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Archives/2014-04…>,
30 April 2014
=== Communications Design ===
We began work with a contractor to redesign the *Travel and
Participation Support application* experience with Grantmaking. We also
created a new gadget for Meta-wiki to make it easier for people to
endorse *learning patterns, ideas and grant projects*.
We are redesigning the *Wikipedia Zero* landing page for more focus and
a clear message - to coincide with an upcoming petition.
Communications, Design and Legal are preparing for a community
discussion around new *visual links* for all of the projects.
== Visitors and Guests ==
Visitors and guests to the WMF office in April 2014:
1. Elizabeth Crampton (ReachOut)
2. Christine Cavanaugh (CCSC Inc.)
3. Marieke Spence (TCC Group)
4. Julie Simpson (TCC Group)
5. Tom Hehir (CCSC Inc.)
6. Toni Maraviglia (Eneza)
7. Camille Preston (Aim Leadership)
8. Roger Gu (Coinbase)
9. Adam White (Coinbase)
10. Wilson Fang (Sari.PH)
11. Ibrahim Bernardo (Sari.PH)
12. Owen Davis (Wikia Inc.)
13. Mike Schwartz (Wikia Inc.)
14. Elie Chidiak (Brazilian State Government)
15. Jean Paul Brzezinski (Brazilian State Government)
16. Bryan Van Dyk (Getty Images)
17. David Browning (CBS News)
18. Jonathan Schienberg (CBS News)
19. Simon Phipps (TIS Bolzano)
20. Patrick Ohivewein (TIS Bolzano)
21. Sandy Kirchlechner (TIS Bolzano)
22. Cecilia Doliana (TIS Bolzano)
23. Daniela Di Iulio (TIS Bolzano)
24. Lucia Granziol (TIS Bolzano)
25. Giorgia Pallaro (TIS Bolzano)
26. Eaven Horter (JP Morgan)
27. Dan Ohgi (JP Morgan)
28. Rich Slinn (JP Morgan)
29. Alexis Rossi (Internet Archive)
30. Aalok Patel (Lever)
31. Sarah Nahm (Lever)
32. Wayne Mackintosh (OER Foundation)
33. Katherine Kuhns (SVIC)
34. Lisa Jacobs (SF Law)
35. Didem Ersoz (Mozilla)
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Operations Analyst (Movement Communications)
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
Hi all!
I forgot that since last week new bulletin from Wikimedia Italia (#76) was
available. Summary:
- 1.1 Wikiconcessions<http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Wikimedia_news/numero_76/en#Wikiconcessions>
- 1.2 OpenStreetMap<http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Wikimedia_news/numero_76/en#OpenStreetMap>
- 1.3 WikiOscar
2014<http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Wikimedia_news/numero_76/en#WikiOscar_2014>
- 1.4 Dates for your
diary<http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Wikimedia_news/numero_76/en#Dates_for_your_di…>
- 1.5 News from the
wikiworld<http://wiki.wikimedia.it/wiki/Wikimedia_news/numero_76/en#News_from_the_wik…>
As usual, a link has been added to meta, at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Italia…;
more-or-less raw text of the bulletin follows below.
ciao, .mau.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
= Wikimedia News n. 76, May 15th, 2014 =
[[File:Opening_the_past_2014.jpg|thumb|200px|center| ''Logo of the event
Opening the past 2014'', from the website
http://mappaproject.arch.unipi.it/released under the CC-BY-SA 3.0
license]]
<BR>
<center>
<font size="5">Opening the past so to tell it</font>
</center>
<BR>
How can archaeologists and cultural heritage operators tell the community
about their work? Answering to this question is the aim of the meeting [
http://mappaproject.arch.unipi.it/?page_id=2667 Opening the past 2014 -
Immersive Archaeology] which will be held '''Friday, May 23rd, in Pisa'''.
The promoters hope to focus the attention on contemporary tools, such as
new media, virtual reality and open data, and to their ability to let us
build an effective and involving story. For this reason, our Emma
Tracanella has been invited to talk about
[http://www.wikilovesmonuments.it/Wiki Loves Monuments], a project
co-ordinated and directed by her, and [
http://www.archeowiki.it/ Archeowiki]. Registration is free and may be made
on the website, until May 18th.
[[File:mapgive.jpg|thumb|300px|center| ''Screenshot of the homepage of
MapGive'', a project belonging to the U.S. Department of State’s
Humanitarian Information Unit]]
<BR>
<center>
<font size="5">MapGive: mapping the world for emergencies</font>
</center>
<BR>
The Italian OpenStreetMap community never sleeps: thanks to their effort,
the website [http://mapgive.openstreetmap.it/ MapGive] is now speaking our
language too. Simone Cortesi (''Vice president of Wikimedia Italia'')
explains the project: he, together with Cristian Consonni (''treasurer of
Wikimedia Italia and researcher at Fondazione Bruno Kessler''), worked on
the translation: "In practice, it is like a Wikipedia for geography. The
idea is to promote the formation of volunteers able to map areas prone to
natural calamities, intervening in the earliest hours following the
disaster, when standard maps are no longer useful, and what used to be a
motorway is now a hard-to-transit-on bridleway". If you're interested in
knowing the activities of the Italian OpenStreetMap community, and signing
up as volunteers, please visit their [http://openstreetmap.it/ official
website].
== Wikiconcessions ==
[[File:Tessera Socio WMI 2014 FRONTE-page-001(1).jpg|thumb|150px|left|<p
align=center>WMI2014 membership card]]
<BR>
<BR>
Wikimedia Italia is working so that members can benefit from concessions by
showing their membership card.
The interest is particularly directed to those museums which already offer
discounted (or free) entry to members of no profit or social promotion
associations, such as Wikimedia Italia is.
We are currently working on a deal with the museum network of the City of
Milan, which comprises the Museum of Science and Technology.
Do you know or want to suggest other museums? Email us at segreteria[at]
wikimedia.it and we'll try to contact them!
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
== OpenStreetMap ==
[[File:Transit_Visualization_Client.png|thumb|150px|left|Public transport
on OpenStreetMap]]
When companies decide to change drastically the solutions on which they're
based, we always wonder what has motivated them and what their experience
has been like; Doublemap, a company supplying real-time positioning systems
to public transport companies in Indiana - USA, has told [
http://doublemap.github.io/blog/2014/04/29/porting-600k-map-views-to-openst…
story] on its blog. With hundreds of thousands or visits every months,
and with the necessity of accessing maps even off-line (e.g. at bus stops)
the only available choice was getting away from commercial suppliers of
cartography and adopting OpenStreetMap.
Speaking of public transport, [
http://tracker.geops.ch/?z=12&s=1&lat=45.08236949749697&lon=7.728195190…]
is a system to visualize feeds supplied by cities like Turin or
Trento (not real-time). In Italy, there have been attempts to build these
systems [
http://cortesi.com/2013/10/gfts-primi-passi-con-le-linee-lineservizi/ from
the bottom in Pavia] (with [
http://www.apposta.biz/prove/pavia/mappapavia.php an app similar to
Travic]).
Further news is available on the website [
http://openstreetmap.it/2014/05/osm-riassunto-settimanale-94/
openstreetmap.it].
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
== WikiOscar 2014 ==
[[File:Special Gold Barnstar.png|thumb|150px|left| Special Prize - Author:
Antonu - Derivative work: RanZag - [CC-BY-SA 2.5] via Wikimedia Commons]]
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>Wikipedia has its own Oscar Awards too! Every year, after a week-long
poll, the most active Wikipedians are awarded prizes for merits gained on
the field. The Wikioscars, created for the first time in 2004 inspired by
the barnstars used in the English language Wikipedia, are a virtual event
particularly loved by users, also since they do not follow precise rules:
everyone can be nominated, and everyone can win the most diverse awards.
<br> The 2014 edition has just concluded: a number of categories and prizes
are awarded, from the most serious such as the election of the [
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Scherzi_e_STUBidaggini/Sondaggi/Wiki…
of the year] to the funniest ones, without forgetting the "classics":
Miss Wikipedia and Mister Wikipedia.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
== Dates for your diary ==
* Wednesday, May 7th, [[Utente:Frieda|Frieda Brioschi]], former President
of Wikimedia Italia, participated to the [
http://www.radio3.rai.it/dl/radio3/programmi/puntata/ContentItem-fd921ca1-9…]
of Radio3 Scienza to talk about women and technology.
* Friday, May 16th, Rome: Emma Tracanella (''Coordinator of Wiki Loves
Monuments'') and [[Utente:Sannita|Luca Martinelli]] (''Secretary of
Wikimedia Italia'') will participate in the event [
http://www.eagle-network.eu/about/events/eagle-wiki-loves-monuments/'''Buone
pratiche e progetti innovativi per la promozione dei beni
culturali: EAGLE & Wiki Loves Monuments'''] promoted by EAGLE (Europeana
network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy) and Wikimedia Italia, with
the support of Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma. In
that occasion the winners of the special prize EAGLE for Wiki Loves
Monuments Italia 2013 will be announced.
*Saturday, May 17th, Padua: [[Utente: Marcok|Marcok]] and other community
members will participate in [
http://www.padovando.com/incontri-convegni/maddalene-restart-open-content/#…],
organized together with Tam Teatromusica, presenting
the projects by Wikimedia and Open Street Map; if you want to take part,
please indicate it in the [
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Raduni/Padova_17_maggio_2014 meetup
page] in Wikipedia.
* May 16th-18th, 2014, Rome: [[Utente:Sannita|Luca Martinelli]],
[[Utente:CristianCantoro|Cristian Consonni]] e [[Utente:cortesi|Simone
Cortesi]], Secretary, Treasurer and Vicepresident of Wikimedia Italia,
respectively, will participate in the event [
http://dati.camera.it/it/hackathon/ Hackathon
Code4Italy@Montecitorio2014]. The marathon, with a duration of 30
hours, and destined to IT
experts, will take place in the new Aula del Palazzo dei Gruppi
parlamentari of the Camera dei deputati (Via di Campo Marzio, 78). The goal
of the project is raising awareness about the open data produced by the
works of the Camera, so that software and applications can be developed.
Hashtag: #code4italy.
* May 19th, Asti: the courses about Wikipedia begin for the teachers who
have signed up to the project [
http://www.we-land.com/progetti/progetti-in-corso/wiki-va-a-scuola-asti/Wik…
va a scuola @ Asti] promoted by the associations We-Land and
Cre[AT]ive, with the collaboration of Wikimedia Italia. The goal of the
initiative is introducing the free online encyclopedia as a teaching tool
in the secondary schools of Asti and the nearby territory.
== News from the wikiworld ==
[[File:Lila_Tretikov.jpg|thumb|150px|left| Lila Tretikov, by Lane Hartwell
[CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons]]
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
* The website [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Pagina_principaleWikimedia
Commons], the multimedia database of Wikimedia, has passed the
milestone of 21 millions images and videos . The media are all available on
the platform and available under a free license.
* Wikimedia Foundation has appointed its [
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/05/01/wmf_announces_new_ed_lila_tretikov/new
Executive Director]. After searching for one year, the name of the
person that will take over the duties of Sue Gardner, who has been in
charge for the last 6 years, has been announced. The chosen person is
another woman, called Lila Tretikov. Lila is a 36 years old engineer,
originally from Soviet Union, who moved to the US for studies during her
teenage years.
* [http://it.wiktionary.org/wiki/Pagina_principale Wikizionario] doubled up
its entries, reaching the 250.000 milestone. The result has been obtained
thanks also to semi-automatic editing.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
----
'''Notice: this newsletter is exclusively intended for information about
Wikimedia Italia, both to its members and to the general public; as per
Art. 1, Comma 2, Legge 7 marzo 2001 no. 62, it is not an editorial
product'''
[[Categoria:Wikimedia news soci]]
Wikimedia Nederland published it April report :
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters/Reports/Wikimedia_Nederl…
It is included in this message as plain text.
==== COMMUNITY: supporting and mobilising volunteers and editors====
* Small grants programme
WMNL gave a grant of € 200 for the organisation of a writing event on women
and art.
* Wiki-Saturdays
Two Wiki-Saturdays, with 4 resp. 6 participants, were held in April.
==== WORK: content, collaboration and activity development====
* Wiki Loves Earth.
A group of volunteers, supported by office staff, worked hard to prepare
for the launch of Wiki Loves Earth on May 1. They have a developed a full
programme of events in cooperation with the Netherlands' National Parks,
focussing on uploading images and sounds.
* Museum Naturalis cooperation
WMNL will continue to work on the theme of nature, biodiversity and
landscape after the international Wiki Loves Earth competition has
finished. We met with representatives of Naturalis, the Museum of Natural
History, to discuss cooperation. Already we have planned a editing event
for October 4/5, but we are also discussing content donations. We want to
link these activities to a concerted action to recruit new editors from
(volunteer) organisations working on natural history.
* Education Programme
The consultants engaged to carry out a feasibility study for cooperation
between WMNL and the education sector have started work. In April and May
they will carry out interviews with representatives of institutes of higher
education and with members of the international Wikimedia community. Their
interim results will be presented to and discussed with the community on
May 24.
* GLAMwiki Toolset (mass-upload tool)
The Amsterdam Museum hosted a GLAMwiki Toolset workshop on the 4th of
April. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Museum, University Museum Utrecht, National
Archives of the Netherlands, National Library of the
Netherlands,Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Wikipedians in
Residence and volunteers participated in this workshop. Every step from
choosing suitable content to uploading it was covered during the workshop.
The lessons learned are being collected in the |GLAMwiki Toolset Manual.
* Wiki Loves Bieb
First preparations were made for the monthly Wikipedia courses that will be
hosted by the library in Amersfoort, starting on June the 13th.
* Wikipedians in Residence
The Wikipedians in Residence had a meeting at the WMNL office on the 28th
of April. Two workshops were organized for employees of Sound and Vision in
which they were encouraged to consider the platforms of Wikimedia when
setting up new projects.
* Wikidata Workshop
The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision hosted a Wikidata workshop
given bij Gerard Meijssen on April 11th. The workshop was focussed on
explaining what Wikidata is, to show how single and batch edits can be done
and to discuss the different possibilities for GLAMs to use Wikidata. Apart
from a variety of participants from the institute itself also the
Rijksmuseum and Wikipedians in Residence were present. More workshops will
be organised in 2014.
* World War II - warmonuments
April was war monuments month for WMNL. In cooperation with the Nationaal
Comité 4 en 5 may, we asked members of the public to make and upload
photos of warmonuments. More than 2,000 images were uploaded via the
campaign template. WMNL will continue to focus on improving and adding to
content concerning World War II. We are exploring cooperation with NIOD,
the National institute for war, genocide and holocaust studies. More news
in the next report.
====WMNL====
* Newsletter
: An |issue of the newsletter was sent out.
====FUNDING====
* WMNL received a generous donation of €12,500 from a private donor.
====GLOBAL====
* Wikimedia Conference Berlin
Chair Frans Grijzenhout, Board Member International Affairs Ad Huikeskoven
en Executive Director Sandra Rientjes attended the Wikimedia Conference in
Berlin. .
* Program evaluation and design workshop, Berlin
Sebastiaan ter Burg attended the Program Evaluation and Design workshop in
Berlin to learn how to improve the "program manual" that WMNL already has
developed.
* Wiki Loves Monuments International.
The final report on Wiki Loves Monuments International was submitted to the
WMF. WMNL acted as fiscal sponsor to the project team, taking care of
payments and accounting.
====GOVERNANCE====
* Board retreat
The newly elected Board met for two days to discuss division of tasks and
get acquainted.
* New staff member
Jolanda Adelaar joined the WMNL office team to work on finances and office
management. She replaces Tom Kisters who left on May 1st to finalise his
studies with an internship at an international accountancy firm.
* Q1 report submitted
We submitted our |report on activities in the first quarter to WMF.
====Upcoming====
* May 24: Education Programme -presentation and discussion at the Wikimedia
office in Utrecht
* May 24 Maps and Wikipedia meeting, Amsterdam
* May 25: Wiki Loves Earth eventsin three National Parks
Sandra Rientjes
Directeur/Executive Director Wikimedia Nederland
tel. (+31) (0)30 3200238
mob. (+31) (0)6 31786379
www.wikimedia.nl
*Postadres*: * Bezoekadres:*
Postbus 167 Mariaplaats 3
3500 AD Utrecht Utrecht
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