Wikimedia-l February 2019

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99 participants
59 discussions

[Foundation-l] Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery
by Brian J Mingus 09 Sep '22

09 Sep '22

This paper (first reference) is the result of a class project I was part of almost two years ago for CSCI 5417 Information Retrieval Systems. It builds on a class project I did in CSCI 5832 Natural Language Processing and which I presented at Wikimania '07. The project was very late as we didn't send the final paper in until the day before new years. This technical report was never really announced that I recall so I thought it would be interesting to look briefly at the results. The goal of this paper was to break articles down into surface features and latent features and then use those to study the rating system being used, predict article quality and rank results in a search engine. We used the [[random forests]] classifier which allowed us to analyze the contribution of each feature to performance by looking directly at the weights that were assigned. While the surface analysis was performed on the whole english wikipedia, the latent analysis was performed on the simple english wikipedia (it is more expensive to compute). = Surface features = * Readability measures are the single best predictor of quality that I have found, as defined by the Wikipedia Editorial Team (WET). The [[Automated Readability Index]], [[Gunning Fog Index]] and [[Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level]] were the strongest predictors, followed by length of article html, number of paragraphs, [[Flesh Reading Ease]], [[Smog Grading]], number of internal links, [[Laesbarhedsindex Readability Formula]], number of words and number of references. Weakly predictive were number of to be's, number of sentences, [[Coleman-Liau Index]], number of templates, PageRank, number of external links, number of relative links. Not predictive (overall - see the end of section 2 for the per-rating score breakdown): Number of h2 or h3's, number of conjunctions, number of images*, average word length, number of h4's, number of prepositions, number of pronouns, number of interlanguage links, average syllables per word, number of nominalizations, article age (based on page id), proportion of questions, average sentence length. :* Number of images was actually by far the single strongest predictor of any class, but only for Featured articles. Because it was so good at picking out featured articles and somewhat good at picking out A and G articles the classifier was confused in so many cases that the overall contribution of this feature to classification performance is zero. :* Number of external links is strongly predictive of Featured articles. :* The B class is highly distinctive. It has a strong "signature," with high predictive value assigned to many features. The Featured class is also very distinctive. F, B and S (Stop/Stub) contain the most information. :* A is the least distinct class, not being very different from F or G. = Latent features = The algorithm used for latent analysis, which is an analysis of the occurence of words in every document with respect to the link structure of the encyclopedia ("concepts"), is [[Latent Dirichlet Allocation]]. This part of the analysis was done by CS PhD student Praful Mangalath. An example of what can be done with the result of this analysis is that you provide a word (a search query) such as "hippie". You can then look at the weight of every article for the word hippie. You can pick the article with the largest weight, and then look at its link network. You can pick out the articles that this article links to and/or which link to this article that are also weighted strongly for the word hippie, while also contributing maximally to this articles "hippieness". We tried this query in our system (LDA), Google (site:en.wikipedia.org hippie), and the Simple English Wikipedia's Lucene search engine. The breakdown of articles occuring in the top ten search results for this word for those engines is: * LDA only: [[Acid rock]], [[Aldeburgh Festival]], [[Anne Murray]], [[Carl Radle]], [[Harry Nilsson]], [[Jack Kerouac]], [[Phil Spector]], [[Plastic Ono Band]], [[Rock and Roll]], [[Salvador Allende]], [[Smothers brothers]], [[Stanley Kubrick]]. * Google only: [[Glam Rock]], [[South Park]]. * Simple only: [[African Americans]], [[Charles Manson]], [[Counterculture]], [[Drug use]], [[Flower Power]], [[Nuclear weapons]], [[Phish]], [[Sexual liberation]], [[Summer of Love]] * LDA & Google & Simple: [[Hippie]], [[Human Be-in]], [[Students for a democratic society]], [[Woodstock festival]] * LDA & Google: [[Psychedelic Pop]] * Google & Simple: [[Lysergic acid diethylamide]], [[Summer of Love]] ( See the paper for the articles produced for the keywords philosophy and economics ) = Discussion / Conclusion = * The results of the latent analysis are totally up to your perception. But what is interesting is that the LDA features predict the WET ratings of quality just as well as the surface level features. Both feature sets (surface and latent) both pull out all almost of the information that the rating system bears. * The rating system devised by the WET is not distinctive. You can best tell the difference between, grouped together, Featured, A and Good articles vs B articles. Featured, A and Good articles are also quite distinctive (Figure 1). Note that in this study we didn't look at Start's and Stubs, but in earlier paper we did. :* This is interesting when compared to this recent entry on the YouTube blog. "Five Stars Dominate Ratings" http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-ratings.html… I think a sane, well researched (with actual subjects) rating system is well within the purview of the Usability Initiative. Helping people find and create good content is what Wikipedia is all about. Having a solid rating system allows you to reorganized the user interface, the Wikipedia namespace, and the main namespace around good content and bad content as needed. If you don't have a solid, information bearing rating system you don't know what good content really is (really bad content is easy to spot). :* My Wikimania talk was all about gathering data from people about articles and using that to train machines to automatically pick out good content. You ask people questions along dimensions that make sense to people, and give the machine access to other surface features (such as a statistical measure of readability, or length) and latent features (such as can be derived from document word occurence and encyclopedia link structure). I referenced page 262 of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance to give an example of the kind of qualitative features I would ask people. It really depends on what features end up bearing information, to be tested in "the lab". Each word is an example dimension of quality: We have "*unity, vividness, authority, economy, sensitivity, clarity, emphasis, flow, suspense, brilliance, precision, proportion, depth and so on.*" You then use surface and latent features to predict these values for all articles. You can also say, when a person rates this article as high on the x scale, they also mean that it has has this much of these surface and these latent features. = References = - DeHoust, C., Mangalath, P., Mingus., B. (2008). *Improving search in Wikipedia through quality and concept discovery*. Technical Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/6/68/DeHoustMangalat…> - Rassbach, L., Mingus., B, Blackford, T. (2007). *Exploring the feasibility of automatically rating online article quality*. Technical Report. PDF<http://grey.colorado.edu/mediawiki/sites/mingus/images/d/d3/RassbachPincock…>

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[Foundation-l] Fwd: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers
by GerardM 09 Aug '22

09 Aug '22

Hoi, I have asked and received permission to forward to you all this most excellent bit of news. The linguist list, is a most excellent resource for people interested in the field of linguistics. As I mentioned some time ago they have had a funding drive and in that funding drive they asked for a certain amount of money in a given amount of days and they would then have a project on Wikipedia to learn what needs doing to get better coverage for the field of linguistics. What you will read in this mail that the total community of linguists are asked to cooperate. I am really thrilled as it will also get us more linguists interested in what we do. My hope is that a fraction will be interested in the languages that they care for and help it become more relevant. As a member of the "language prevention committee", I love to get more knowledgeable people involved in our smaller projects. If it means that we get more requests for more projects we will really feel embarrassed with all the new projects we will have to approve because of the quality of the Incubator content and the quality of the linguistic arguments why we should approve yet another language :) NB Is this not a really clever way of raising money; give us this much in this time frame and we will then do this as a bonus... Thanks, GerardM ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: LINGUIST Network <linguist(a)linguistlist.org> Date: Jun 18, 2007 6:53 PM Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers To: LINGUIST(a)listserv.linguistlist.org LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831. Mon Jun 18 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875. Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar(a)linguistlist.org> Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry(a)linguistlist.org> Reviews: Laura Welcher, Rosetta Project <reviews(a)linguistlist.org> Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/ The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, and donations from subscribers and publishers. Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer <sawyer(a)linguistlist.org> ================================================================ To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html ===========================Directory============================== 1) Date: 18-Jun-2007 From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org > Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers -------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:49:35 From: Hannah Morales < hannah(a)linguistlist.org > Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers Dear subscribers, As you may recall, one of our Fund Drive 2007 campaigns was called the "Wikipedia Update Vote." We asked our viewers to consider earmarking their donations to organize an update project on linguistics entries in the English-language Wikipedia. You can find more background information on this at: http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/wikipedia/index.cfm. The speed with which we met our goal, thanks to the interest and generosity of our readers, was a sure sign that the linguistics community was enthusiastic about the idea. Now that summer is upon us, and some of you may have a bit more leisure time, we are hoping that you will be able to help us get started on the Wikipedia project. The LINGUIST List's role in this project is a purely organizational one. We will: *Help, with your input, to identify major gaps in the Wikipedia materials or pages that need improvement; *Compile a list of linguistics pages that Wikipedia editors have identified as "in need of attention from an expert on the subject" or " does not cite any references or sources," etc; *Send out periodical calls for volunteer contributors on specific topics or articles; *Provide simple instructions on how to upload your entries into Wikipedia; *Keep track of our project Wikipedians; *Keep track of revisions and new entries; *Work with Wikimedia Foundation to publicize the linguistics community's efforts. We hope you are as enthusiastic about this effort as we are. Just to help us all get started looking at Wikipedia more critically, and to easily identify an area needing improvement, we suggest that you take a look at the List of Linguists page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguists. M Many people are not listed there; others need to have more facts and information added. If you would like to participate in this exciting update effort, please respond by sending an email to LINGUIST Editor Hannah Morales at hannah(a)linguistlist.org, suggesting what your role might be or which linguistics entries you feel should be updated or added. Some linguists who saw our campaign on the Internet have already written us with specific suggestions, which we will share with you soon. This update project will take major time and effort on all our parts. The end result will be a much richer internet resource of information on the breadth and depth of the field of linguistics. Our efforts should also stimulate prospective students to consider studying linguistics and to educate a wider public on what we do. Please consider participating. Sincerely, Hannah Morales Editor, Wikipedia Update Project Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable ----------------------------------------------------------- LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Politics
by Bill Takatoshi 25 Apr '20

25 Apr '20

>>> The people who are loudest in their demands for consensus >>> do not represent the Wikimedia movement. >> >> The voices loudest for the WMF doing something against the >> Trump administration are not representative of the Wikimedia >> movement either.... > > Is the Community Process Steering Committee currently > prepared to "engage more 'quiet' members of our community" > with a statistically robust snap survey to resolve this question? Anyone can go to Recent Changes and send a SurveyMonkey link to the most recent few hundred editors with contributions at least a year old, to get an accurate answer. Will a respected member of the community please do this? I would like to know what the actual editing community thinks of the travel ban and their idea of an appropriate response. I don't want to see community governance by opt-in participation in obscure RFCs. I would offer to do this myself, but I value keeping my real name unassociated with my enwiki userid. -Will

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fallout from 2018 Wikimedian of the Year announcement
by Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin 07 Apr '20

07 Apr '20

Dear colleagues, This is a request for your input and possible ideas (if any) regarding my management of the fallout from Jimmy's announcing myself as a 2018 Wikimedian of the Year. Emails below are a copy of my ongoing consultations with Wikimedia Foundation staff and other Wikimedians I personally know, as well as a report on what's already brewing in my region of Russia after this unexpected outcome. I would be grateful, if you can advise me on how to properly steer the enthusiasm of behalf of regional government, mass-media, NGOs, etc. which have just discovered about the possibility of participation in Wikimedia movement (think anything from U.S. is not getting much in-depth coverage in Russian by sources that regional public figures, NGOs, teachers or general regional journalists read) & are now placing great hopes on teaching whole of Tatarstan about how to Wiki & also engaging all Tatars globally (3/4 outside of Tatarstan, 1/5 outside of Russia). regards, farhad Updates: * Selet WikiSchool got presented to wider public @ the press-conference for Tatar-speaking journalists (July 31), at the poster session in the framework of the World Congress of Tatars Youth Forum (Aug.3), and later at a Tatar projects fair in the Downtown park of Kazan (Aug.5) * Contribution of those writing into Wikipedia in Tatar was recognized by choosing myself as one of the current year's "For the great service to Tatar nation" medal recipients. (Aug.3) * We recorded a 40 min interview in Turkish (Aug.4, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK3tFBWMWcs ) * We didn't yet meet the President of the Republic (his schedule changed once again), but I got another firm request to meet with the Minister for Youth Affairs (another good acquaintance of mine, ex-member of local Comedy Club type activity), as well as with the Head of World Congress of Tatars' Executive Bureau, and more TV & written press interviews are lining up. * I am trying to manage these guys' optimism & desire to move quickly, keeping in mind they are not really familiar with the Wiki-way or our communities' policies & practices * Bashkir (ba) & Sakha (sah) communities have shared advice about how to assure that local Wikimedia community stays clearly independent in a cultural environment where neither Education, nor GLAM programs will attract local partners unless those have a strong support of the regional or federal government entities. * Looking forward to meet with my Wikimania-2017 roommate from the Philippines in Singapore on Aug.16 to collect some more input from Asia -------- Пересылаемое сообщение-------- 03.08.2018, 19:35, "Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin" <frhd(a)yandex.com>: Thursday, 2 August 2018 Republic of Tatarstan Ministry for Informatization & Communication @ IT-park, Kazan 18:00-20:50 Meeting with Tatarstan Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Informatization & Communications Roman Shaykhutdinov http://mic.tatarstan.ru/eng/minister.htm on opportunities Wikimedia projects & popularization thereof among the population of the Republic can bring for Tatarstan In attendance: * Almaz A. Valiullin, Director General of Tatarstan Center for Information Technologies http://mic.tatarstan.ru/eng/valiullin.htm * Tatyana S. Kamaletdinova, CEO of Tatarstan Center for Information Technologies http://mic.tatarstan.ru/eng/kamaletdinova.htm * Anna V. Yakovleva, Head of Ministry's Press-Service http://mic.tatarstan.ru/rus/about/structure_new?department_id=80576 * Farkhad N. Fatkullin, 2018 Wikimedian of the Year, Wikimedia Russia member https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Frhdkazan Agenda: 1. Content creation contests 2. Education projects 3. How can these be organized in a systemic way, engaging students throughout all municipal districts of Tatarstan & Tatar diaspora globally, and assessing effectiveness of measures 4. Larger Tatar language internet development, promoting content creation in the language 5. .tatar domain 6. ContentTranslation 7. Generating lists for content creation 8. Free licenses 9. Wikidata 10. Regional educational Wiki-seminar for beginners, introduction & orientation 11. Smartphone oriented educational projects around Tatar & Tatar Wikipedia (beginning with Tatar version of www.kakprav.com & on to WOK Master type ) 12. OSM in Tatar 13. The way forward: visiting WMF to discover other opportunities, MoU with WMF? Decided: 1. Almaz Valiullin to head the Working Group on behalf of the Ministry 2. Next meeting set for / around 20th of August 3. Minister requested his staff to draft documents regarding moving all Regional & Municipal budget funded websites to CC-BY type free licenses 4. Minister proposed every organization website place a link to a Wikipedia article about it (in Tatar, Russian or English, depending on the language used) 5. Help is requested about developing simple samples or article creation guidelines for various institutions of Tatarstan & diaspora organizations to learn what is considered appropriate by Wiki-community & how should representatives of respective entities 6. Annual Tatar Internet Awards Ceremony to include awards to leading editors of Wikimedia projects in Tatar 7. Help is requested to develop a framework of Wikipedia Article Contests for Secondary School Children of Tatastan, with article quality assessment schemes (prizes & organization to be funded by Tatarstan goverment, promotion in local mass-media, schools & etc.) 8. Help is requested to develop a framework for a sustainable functioning of a Tatarstan & Tatar language oriented Wikimedia thematic organization to be responsible for systemic work around developing & promoting Wikimedia projects in Tatar, as well as Tatarstan-oriented content creation for various Wikis 9. Readiness to consider awarding *.tatar domain names to those, who develop attractive projects in Tatar that can't be hosted on Wikimedia platform or otherwise need a Tatar digital identity 10. Help is requested regarding drafting a program proposal, necessary budget & expected results for a Tatarstan oriented introductory Wiki-seminar, open for a wide public 11. Help is requested to provide links to Wikidata educational materials, Practical Use Cases & expert responses to the Deputy Minister (in English) 12. Help is requested in organizing a learning visit to WMF Headquarters during Tatarstan Delegation annual fall visit to Silicon Valley & other places in U.S. to discover other opportunities -- Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan 03.08.2018, 11:42, "Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin" <frhd(a)yandex.com>: > Hi Nochole & Kui, > > Thank you for your responses & readiness to help. > > Events on the ground are developing following predictable course - we had a very constructive 3 hour long discussion last night with Tatarstan's Deputy Prime Minister (IT minister) & his team, whilst earlier Thursday I got an invite to meet with another Deputy Prime Minister (President of the National Council of Trustees for the World Congress of Tatars Association). > > More TV & magazine interviews are expected, some in detail articles in Russian promoting Wikimedia projects are in the pipelines (expecting to see the texts for necessary corrections & adding links to respective WMRU, Meta, WMF & related independent media articles (thanks to ComCom). > > I hope to find time to prepare & email both you (in English) & IT ministry's Working Group (in Russian) my summary of yesterday late evening meeting, with attendees, topics discussed, request & proposals, etc. They want to move as fast as possible, because this will help them to meet promoting Tatar language use online task they are charged with by the region's President. > > Just a few to begin with: > * Ready to move all regional and municipal government websites into CC-BY, add links to respective WP articles from all these > * Willing to have Tatarstan & Tatar language oriented thematic organization in place to work with secondary schools & Universities, GLAMS, diaspora > * Ready to sponsor prizes for article writing contests (either through WMRU or this new entity) > * Requesting guidance from myself & Wikimedia community on what's the best way to make this all successful > * Interested in supporting WMRU organized general public educational Wiki-Seminar in Tatarstan Academy of Sciences or other respected facility with a large conference hall open to all public (September-October?) > * Willing to visit WMF headquarters in November to meet, learn more about what's there (I admit I don't read all mailing lists or Meta discussions, don't have time to see all wonderful YouTube videos available, haven't yet have time to visit a single Wikimedia Conference) & possibly sign MoUs or whatever that would help speed up Wikimedia acceptance & popularity growth among the population of the region. > > I am in touch with Wikimedia RU & Wikimedia Languages of Russia Community's regarding ongoing developments, benefiting from collective wisdom of Wikimedians I know. > > Should you be ready to bring any ideas to the table, please shoot them my way. > > regards, > farhad > > -- > Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan > > 02.08.2018, 16:35, "Nichole Saad" <nsaad(a)wikimedia.org>: >> Hi Farhad, >> >> First, congratulations on being named "Wikimedian of the Year!" We have received your letter, and are looking forward to engage with your ideas. Realistically, I'll be able to provide a more in depth response early next week. >> >> best regards, >> >> Nichole >> >> On Wed, Aug 1, 2018 at 2:45 PM Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin <frhd(a)yandex.com> wrote: >>> Dear Sirs, >>> >>> This is from Farhad, User:frhdkazan (ComCom member, now a.k.a. 2018 Wikimedian of the Year) with some proposals about how to leverage a fleeting opportunity I got. Please read the text below this letter ASAP & think how you can help seize the moment. I'm looking forward to first ideas within 24 hours from now. >>> >>> Any support of yours would be greatly appreciated. >>> Thanks a million. >>> regards, >>> farhad >>> >>> P.S. More on where I'm coming from can later be discovered @ http://frhd.narod.ru/resume-en.htm (dated, stopped my retainer contract with the Office of Tatarstan President in September 2013) & more up-to-date but in Russian @ http://sikzn.narod.ru/index/0-4 . I have previously translated & provided digital media with the link to Russian text of Wikimedia Blog post about Jess Wade https://ru.wikinews.org/wiki/?curid=176108 , & now contacted Asian colleagues to get similar content about Nahid Sultan & Wikimedia Bangladesh. Also on my agenda is to record a video-interview in Turkish for Wikimedia Turkey's communication campaign - I speak the language & we are in touch with Turkish community. I also need to get back to interpreting into Russian videos of Wikimania-2018 available on YouTube - maybe later this week, before I join my family for a few days off & then a week-long interpretation assignment in Singapore. >>> >>> -- >>> Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan >>> >>> TRIGGER >>> Following Jimmy's unexpected pass during Wikimania-2018 Closing Ceremony, I became an instant celebrity of sort - myself alone I've seen over 40 articles with positive PR about Wikipedia & wider body of Wikimedia projects, >>> * one by RT in Russian collecting over 1.1 million Facebook likes in under 8 hours from publication >>> * short positive ones from Russian Federation government's Official gazette & Russkiy Mir Foundation >>> * first ever mention that people can donate to Wikimedia Russia volunteers organization for us to be able to fund local Wiki-seminars, conferences & contests (WMF is not funding Wikimedia Russia & can't allow us to use donate link from Russian Wikipedia or place a link to "Thank you, but we don't accept donations from Russia" page where users from Russia are being routed >>> * about to get one with links published to various WMF & Wikimedia Russia projects, including promoting free licenses, Education & GLAM programs, etc. >>> I'm periodically collecting these @ https://tt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Википедия:Безнең_турында_матбугатта#Ел_викиме… when time permits, but there's more in my Facebook Messenger. >>> >>> CONTEXT >>> This is also generating very positive attention on behalf of the Republic of Tatarstan government, as well as our regional NGO partner, Selet Youth Education Foundation, with whom yet unrecognized Tatar Wikimedians are jointly running Selet WikiSchool project. https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News/May_2018/Selet_WikiSchool The latter want to introduce this joint initiative, as well as Wikimedia Russia executive director Stanislav Kozlovsky (Ph.D. in Psychology, Researcher & a Senior lecturer at Moscow State University) and myself to the President of Tatarstan during his visit to their Annual International Forum of Tatar-speaking High-School Age Youth on August 6th. Unrelated to that I was yesterday called up by a good acquaintance of mine (Tatarstan Vice Prime-Minister, Minister for IT https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Shaykhutdinov ), who invited me to have a talk with him tomorrow about how promoting Wikimedia projects in wider Tatar-speaking world (only about 25% of Tatars live in Tatarstan) can help him get whatever current President wants him to do to develop Tatar language use online. There are some other Tatarstan Prime-Minister Office level things in the pipeline, & I am also waiting for a call from Russian Federation ex-IT Minister https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Nikiforov , whom I know from his years in Tatarstan government as well (until 2012). FYI: Wikimedia movement is still unknown in Russia, with local mass media outlets are predominantly speaking about Wikipedia in Russian when there is some lapse that can be exploited to show one's Russian patriotism & thus score some points (basically same political circus, as what we are seeing in U.S. with Russia-collusion story in the overdrive, just opposite direction), and here we get something to reverse the situation big time, explaining to the wide public that it's not only Ok, but even desirable they engage with Wikimedia projects. >>> >>> IDEA >>> Keeping in mind that Tatarstan President is the head of both Russia-Islamic World Strategic Vision Group & Association of Innovative Regions of Russia, Jimmy gave me a-hell-of-an-opportunity for an elevator pitch for Wikimedia movement in Russia and some adjacent counties (think Turkey & Central Asia), and I would really hate seeing it go unused. I will do my part here (about CC-BY for regional government controlled websites, Wikipedia Education Program as an extracurricular activity in all secondary school & universities, GLAM, as well as some locally funded carrots for participants), but I also want your help in driving this to a home-run. Every fall Tatarstan President & the delegation is visiting Silicon Valley & other places of interest in U.S. & it would be great if we could set-up a physical visit to Wikimedia Foundation, with a first hand presentation of best international practices the movement if proud of & have some MoU on cooperation signed (as a bureaucratic basis for continuing the conversation) with either some department in Tatarstan government, just like the one you signed with the Mexican Ministry of Culture www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/secretaria-de-cultura-y-wikimedia-firman-con…. To set the context, Tatarstan has such formal documents with a number of American companies & institutions, with our private English-speaking IT Univesity @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innopolis having been developed jointly with Carnegie Mellon University (with consultancy fees paid by Tatastan), we have Russia's first publicly funded hospital certified to be meeting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Commission requirements & plenty of U.S. investors @ our https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabuga_Special_Economic_Zone . On top of this, we could benefit from having Selet Youth Educational movement http://selet.biz/en/ to embrace Wiki even further, so maybe a similar MoU on collaboration between them and Wikiedu.org signed simultaneously would be great (I met LiAnna and Jami in Montreal last year & was really impressed with what these guys are doing). >>> >>> REQUEST >>> Please shoot something my way before the same time tomorrow, for me to handle the meeting with Tatarstan Deputy Prime Minister more effectively to progressively open other opportunities I've touched on. On top of what I described above & my last year's ideas @ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Frhdkazan/Wiki4RegionalDevt (in Russian), I'll be bringing to the table topics of: >>> * Wikidata >>> * OSM, as well as a >>> * WOK-like project for all things in Tatar (I was contacted by a local 9th grader who, on his own initiative with a help of a teacher, did something similar for students who want to train for Russian-language SAT/ACT type exam www.kakprav.com & now offered to develop such or bigger thing for Tatar). For more on WOK, see https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/01/wikipedia-wok-seek-nigerian-content-onl… >>> * whatever else you or anybody else can help me think of until then & or later opportunities >> >> -- >> Nichole Saad >> Wikimedia Foundation | Senior Program Manager, Education >> nsaad(a)wikimedia.org >> user: NSaad (WMF) -------- Конец пересылаемого сообщения -------- -- Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan

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Fresh data on the gender gap in content
by Asaf Bartov 10 Feb '20

10 Feb '20

Hullo everyone. I was asked by a volunteer for help getting stats on the gender gap in content on a certain Wikipedia, and came up with simple Wikidata Query Service[1] queries that pulled the total number of articles on a given Wikipedia about men and about women, to calculate *the proportion of articles about women out of all articles about humans*. Then I was curious about how that wiki compared to other wikis, so I ran the queries on a bunch of languages, and gathered the results into a table, here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ijon/Content_gap (please see the *caveat* there.) I don't have time to fully write-up everything I find interesting in those results, but I will quickly point out the following: 1. The Nepali statistic is simply astonishing! There must be a story there. I'm keen on learning more about this, if anyone can shed light. 2. Evidently, ~13%-17% seems like a robust average of the proportion of articles about women among all biographies. 3. among the top 10 largest wikis, Japanese is the least imbalanced. Good job, Japanese Wikipedians! I wonder if you have a good sense of what drives this relatively better balance. (my instinctive guess is pop culture coverage.) 4. among the top 10 largest wikis, Russian is the most imbalanced. 5. I intend to re-generate these stats every two months or so, to eventually have some sense of trends and changes. 6. Your efforts, particularly on small-to-medium wikis, can really make a dent in these numbers! For example, it seems I am personally responsible[2] for almost 1% of the coverage of women on Hebrew Wikipedia! :) 7. I encourage you to share these numbers with your communities. Perhaps you'd like to overtake the wiki just above yours? :) 8. I'm happy to add additional languages to the table, by request. Or you can do it yourself, too. :) A. [1] https://query.wikidata.org/ [2] Yay #100wikidays :) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/100wikidays -- Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation <http://www.wikimediafoundation.org> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! https://donate.wikimedia.org

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Reviewing our brand system for our 2030 goals
by Zack McCune 18 Apr '19

18 Apr '19

:: Apologies for cross-posting to multiple mailing lists. We want to ensure we spread the word about this opportunity to as many people as possible. :: Hi all, We are writing today to invite you to be a part of a community review on Wikimedia brand research and strategy. Recently, the Wikimedia Foundation set out to better understand how the world sees Wikimedia and Wikimedia projects as brands.[1] We wanted to get a sense of the general visibility of our different projects, and evaluate public support of our mission to spread free knowledge. We launched a global brand study to research these questions, as part of our planning toward our 2030 strategic goals.[2] The study was commissioned by the Board, carried out by the brand consultancy Wolff Olins, and directed by the Foundation’s Communications team.[3][4] It collected perspectives from the internet users of seven countries (India, China, Nigeria, Egypt, Germany, Mexico and the US) on Wikimedia projects and values. The study revealed some interesting trends: - Awareness of Wikipedia is above 80% in Western Europe and North America. - Awareness of Wikipedia averages above 40% in emerging markets,[5] and is fast growing. - There is awareness of other projects, but was significantly lower. For example, awareness of Wikisource was at 30%, Wiktionary at 25%, Wikidata at 20%, and Wikivoyage at 8%. - There was significant confusion around the name Wikimedia. Respondents reported they had either not heard of it, or extrapolated its relationship to Wikipedia. - In spite of lack of awareness about Wikimedia, respondents showed a high level of support for our mission. Following from these research insights, the Wolff Olins team also made a strategic suggestion to refine the Wikimedia brand system.[6] The suggestions include: - Use Wikipedia as the central movement brand rather than Wikimedia. - Provide clearer connections to the Movement projects from Wikipedia to drive increased awareness, usage and contributions to smaller projects. - Retain Wikimedia project names, with the exception of Wikimedia Commons which is recommended to be shortened to Wikicommons to be consistent with other projects. - Explore new naming conventions for the Foundation and affiliate groups that use Wikipedia rather than Wikimedia. - Consider expository taglines and other naming conventions to reassert the connections between projects (e.g. “______ - A Wikipedia project”). This is not a new idea.[7][8] By definition, Wikimedia brands are shared among the communities who give them meaning. So in considering this change, the Wikimedia Foundation is collecting feedback from across our communities. Our goal is to speak with more than 80% of affiliates and as many individual contributors as possible before May 2019, when we will offer the Board of Trustees a summary of community response. We invite you to look at a project summary [9], the brand research [10], and the brand strategy suggestion [11] Wolff Olins prepared working with us. For feedback, please add comments on the Community Review talk page [12] or email brandproject(a)wikimedia.org with direct feedback. You can also use either of these channels to request to join a group meeting. We know this is big topic and we’re excited to hear from you! - Zack McCune and the Wikimedia Foundation Communications department [1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/2019/02/07/how-does-the-world-see-wikimedia… [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Strategy/Wikimedia_movement/2018-20 [3] https://www.wolffolins.com/ [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications [5] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Engagement/Defining_Emerging_Comm… [6] https://wikimediafoundation.org/2019/02/26/leading-with-wikipedia-a-brand-p… [7] https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-May/029991.html [8] https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AStrengthening_and_un… [9] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_resear… [10] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Global_Wikipedia_and_Wikimedia_Bran… [11] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Wikimedia_brand_strategy_proposal… [12] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Communications/Wikimedia_brands/2030_r… -- Zack McCune (he/him) Senior Global Brand Manager Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>

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[Affiliates] Recognition of Wikimedia Community User Group Albania
by Silva Arapi 07 Mar '19

07 Mar '19

Dears, I am reaching out as Wikipedia contributor heavily interested in the growth of our movement and as far as this thread is concerned as a member of Wikimedia Community User Group Albania. We were carefully reading the discussion on this thread and after consideration with the other members from our group, we would like to clarify some of the issues mentioned here. Our comments are not related to any AffCom actual policies or future policy proposals since in our opinion these should be part of another thread and not related to this one. We have applied to be recognized as a user group based on the rules that were active at the time of the application and also have answered questions from the AffCom team. Without further ado here are the main points from our side. *0. 'similar' previous cases * The majority of the comments in this thread are expressing concerns based on previous case studies in other countries where two UGs were operating. This seems quite judgemental about our work and about what will happen in the future. This is quite surprising for a community like ours (I'm referring to the Wikimedia community in general) where openness and inclusion are promoted intensively by all of us. The concept that everyone is welcome to work with the group of people that feels more productive should be the standard and not the exception also in the Wikimeda community in our opinion. Local or thematic user groups are tools to further grow our movement, and it is not fair to judge by the fact that somewhere members of different user groups had conflicts with each other and as a result not to have user groups that have smaller or bigger differences in their activities. It is just like banning all the knifes in the word because someone in a corner of the world decided to harm someone else using a knife... At our UG we don't know the details of the conflicts of other user groups, but we are sure that when members of one ore more UGs are dedicated to have a conflict with another UG they will find a way to do it. Speaking for our user group we are just a group of Wikimedians that want to contribute to the Wikimedia movement in Albania (where we live) by doing what we know and the way we beoperate. Having said this we would kindly ask not to jump into conclusions for the behavior of user groups based on incidents that have happened elsewhere. *1. differences between UGs * Once again here are two main points to be taken into consideration: *1.1 focus in Albania as a country (not in the language) * One of the important elements of having more than one user group approved is avoiding overlapping of focus. From the comments in this thread it is clear that our focus is Albania geographically and as a country (not linguistically) and at not more than two main areas: GLAM and Wiki in Education! We strongly believe that these areas and the focus at a geographical level are under-served to say at least and there are many many indications that prove this. Regarding the comments about the differences between the two UGs: a similar example would be a Spanish Language UG (if it existed) and Columbia Community UG (that we would assume would contribute to the ES Wikipedia). These two UGs would clearly have many reasons and would be legit to be recognized, just as in our case where Wikimedia Community User Group Albania is focused in activities in Albania (not defined by the language), which we think is more productive due to the dedication in one specific area. Of course since October 2017 when we sent the application to AffCom, but even before when we started working on creating the UG, we wanted to be clear about the main focus of our activities following our strong belief that being focused only in the areas we feel we have expertise would make our work and the final 'product' better. *2. overlapping of activities* There are at least 37 museums listed at the moment in SQ Wikipedia, and hundreds of schools in 36 cities in Albania counting thousands of students and hundreds of teachers. Even if Albania is a small country, there is so much work to be done and any help and engagement of any level is more than welcome. If we all have good intentions and if all active User Groups in the area are positive towards each other it is actually quite easy to avoid overlapping and develop SQ Wikipedia from (only) 75000 articles to hundreds of thousands of more articles. In a few words, there is space for activities from many user groups and even more projects to implement in two areas that we are working on GLAM and Wiki in Education. Up until today here is what we as a user group have done in order to avoid any conflict that would generate overlapping: *- planning activities ahead * All our activities are planned ahead in our monthly meetings and are published accordingly. Any Wikipedian in the area can check the notes and see where is our focus in the next months and avoid overlapping. *- transparency * documenting note meetings in meta pages where everyone can clearly see what we are planning ahead and what we have done so far. Again if any UG or concerned wikimedian is interested in not having overlapping activities a simple check would do the work. *3. potential conflict between two UGs* During our monthly UG meetings we have agreed that we will work on avoiding conflicts which will create an unpleasant situation for the Wikimdia Movement in Albania. An example that shows our efforts on avoiding conflicts is the fact that although members of our user group have worked previously for the organization of Wiki Loves Monuments competition, we asked members of the the other user group (WoALUG) if we can host it. In their answer they informed us that they wanted to organize it and after the response we stepped down. Another example is Open Source Conference Albania, the yearly conference where we wanted to be present with our User Group with an info booth, but since the other user group applied for the booth we again stepped down in order to avoid any unpleasant discussions and avoid confusion to the public. We could also add the fact that activities from our user group are actually less promoted by the SQ Wikipedia twitter account, but again we have not initiated any discussion that could be a potential conflict between user groups. *4. respecting policies from AffCom* Before applying we checked carefully the AffCom policy for naming of the user group, logo, CoC and of course other policies defined by AffCom. Our application was prepared with total respect to these policies which we followed and still do. Last but not least, we would like to stress out the fact that after almost a year of being active, in our knowledge there have NOT been any concerns officially addressed to us from any user group. Even if this happens we would be more than willing to either not get involved in the same projects and do our best to facilitate the process of finding a solution. Sincerely, we started our user group as a way of contributing to the growth of Wikimedia Movement in Albania, a place where we also live and contribute at social level, with people that we respect and work collectively in a productive way. We are willing to spend a lot of volunteer time to move the movement forward in collaboration with public institutions that are willing to empower the commons in the Republic of Albania. While doing so we are also open to any UG that want to collaborate in the thematic areas and country we operate based on our UG description. The open source and open knowledge movement has proved since day one that remixing, forking, sharing resources and improving upon each others work generates progress for all of us, which is basically true if you see that there is quite some growth in terms of activities (from both UGs mentioned here) in SQ Wikipedia since our group got recognition. Again there are so many projects that can be implemented and there is space for as many people as possible! Representing Wikimedia Community User Group Albania Silva Arapi. > From: Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin <frhd(a)yandex.com> > Date: Tue, Feb 26, 2019 at 7:43 PM > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Affiliates] Recognition of Wikimedia Community > User Group Albania > To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> > > > Dear colleagues, > > Cooperation with external entities is best organized through either > national chapters or thematic organizations, which should be predominantly > self-supporting, thus quasi-independent from WMF. I support Kiril's advice > that WoALUG should be evolving towards a Wikimedia thematic organization, > whilst our WCUGA colleagues in Albania should consider evolving towards a > national chapter (thus stepping out of WoALUG's way in anything that has to > do with ethnic language and culture matters). > > At the same time, emails below don't seem to provide good enough reasons > to force transformation of a recognized UG into a national chapter or > thematic organization before they are ready to make that leap, even if > having these structures is very important for the ongoing sustainability of > the movement. I am happy to see that our Thai colleagues seem to have > reached this stage > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_chapters#Chapters_in_discussion_p… > > UGs are a wonderful tool for greater engagement of volunteers, supporting > their desire to take greater steps, so the trend for approving new UGs is > probably there for good (every city, sub-region or sub-topic being > eligible). Keeping the door open is important, just like the chance to fail > and get de-recognized. May I remind you that harmony within the community > of Wikimedia volunteers is more important than the destiny of whatever > Wikimedia affiliate, whose main function is a shell that brings together > and gives some recognized identity to local volunteers' that run own > projects. > > regards, > farhad > > -- > Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ Тел.+79274158066 / > skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan > > > 25.02.2019, 17:09, "Kiril Simeonovski" <kiril.simeonovski(a)gmail.com>: > > Hi Greta, > > > > Thank you for the explanation. > > > > This reminds me a lot to what happened in Macedonia, albeit with > different > > names of the recognised user groups. The artificially created problem by > > the Aff Com has eventually ended up in two user groups being eligible for > > WMF grants (another contentious decision), then a raising concern that > the > > WMF can not extend funds to two user groups in a small country serving > > community with a small number of speakers and finally a substantial > > reduction of the annual grants approved for 2019 and threat that no > grants > > will be extended for 2020 if the conflict does not get resolved. My kind > > advice for you is to start thinking about external funding for the next > > budget year (though it is not an easy task in our region) because this is > > something that the WMF might do for Albania as well. > > > > I also strongly agree with Paulo that we need to start thinking about > > preventing this from happening in the future. The problem is not only > that > > people do not care about the consequences from their decisions in a > > volunteer community but that they just bagger off after complicating > things > > and simply leave the issue to be solved by the volunteers who did not > want > > it to happen. I was thinking about introducing a complaint process on > Meta > > where people from the communities can directly complain about similar > > instances of problems created by the WMF, the Aff Com, the grantmaking > > committees or any other decision-making party. Frankly speaking, my > > impression is that the movement migrates from decisions about big things > > made through community-based discussions to a centralised decision-making > > process made entirely within the WMF or the committees that do not seem > to > > serve all communities equally. > > > > Best, > > Kiril > > > > On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 2:17 PM Paulo Santos Perneta < > > paulosperneta(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> Hi Greta, > >> > >> Thank you very much for your clarifications and insight into this > question. > >> > >> This is very similar with what happened in Brazil, when the 2013 > >> chapter-like UG (Grupo de Usuários Wikimedia no Brasil) and its clone > UG > >> (Wiki Educação Brasil) approved by AffCom in 2015 ended up competing > for > >> the same activities and partnerships. > >> > >> Hopefully this time AffCom will not have the reckless approach they had > >> with Brazil, extinguishing both groups to try to solve a problem they > >> created themselves, and our wikimedian friends from Albania and > Albanian > >> Language will be spared the destruction of their community. > >> > >> I believe that we, as the broad community, really should do something > to > >> prevent this kind of thing which is mining and destroying parts of the > >> Wikimedia Movement. It is not possible that we have to stay here > quietly > >> seeing AffCom dealing with all those cases in such an incompetent and > >> reckless way. If it's obviously not working, why keep it that way? > >> > >> Best, > >> Paulo > >> > >> Greta Doçi <gretadoci(a)gmail.com> escreveu no dia segunda, 25/02/2019 > à(s) > >> 12:34: > >> > >> > Dear everyone, > >> > > >> > First, we want to thank everyone who contributed in this discussion. > >> > > >> > We want to start with the first conflict, which is the name. If you > read > >> > carefully Affcon's email above, and you check the info online as > claimed > >> by > >> > Affcon, you will see that actually Affcon itself has confused both UG > >> > names, crediting events to the other UG, that actually are done by > our > >> UG ( > >> > WoALUG > >> > < > >> > > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Albanian_Language_User_Group > >> > >) > >> > and vice versa. > >> > > >> > After the new UG was recognized and people started raising questions > in > >> > this thread, we received an email by Affcon to explain to them what > we > >> > thought was the overlapping. We did send our activities and > explained why > >> > we thought there was overlapping. Reading Camelias and Sami email > above, > >> > clearly that email was ignored. > >> > > >> > Exactly during the time that the new UG was applying, the old one > >> (WoALUG) > >> > was applying for the annual simple grant, which btw took us at least > 4 > >> > months to complete, all our activities in Albania were clearly > stated, > >> and > >> > GLAM and EDUCATION were our main goals. There are also institutions > >> > mentioned and details of what we wanted to do in Albania. So, > claiming > >> that > >> > theres no overlapping of activities is not valid. > >> > > >> > WoALUG goes beyond Albania or Kosovo, because some Albanian > contributors > >> > who don't live in Albania created it at the first place, so we wish > we > >> can > >> > help Albanian speakers in diaspora to continue to contribute, and if > they > >> > need information, sources or whatever, our team present in Albania, > >> Kosova, > >> > Macedonia, or Arberesh in Italy, will use our resources to make that > >> > happen. Our UG means to be inclusive of what is a small Wikimedia > >> language > >> > community anyways. > >> > > >> > GLAM and Education institutions are depended on public institutions. > To > >> > collaborate with an institution, let's say Historic Museum of > Albania, > >> you > >> > need to get permission from the Ministry of Culture. Think about the > >> > scenario (which is currently happening): one UG requests to > collaborate > >> > with Museum of Elbasan and the other UG want to collaborate with > Museum > >> of > >> > Tirana, both should sent the request to Ministry of Culture. > Wikipedia > >> is a > >> > new thing (still) in Albania, considering that is already hard to > >> establish > >> > collaborations with public institutions, confusing the UGs will > result in > >> > bad outcome for both UGs. > >> > > >> > And of course, for the other private institutions, it is a > competition > >> who > >> > is going to contact them first. > >> > > >> > Splitting institutions is also not an option because for sure we > will aim > >> > the same ones, since there's not that many of them. > >> > > >> > We were confused, we still are and none of our members have the time > to > >> > follow this even after a year. > >> > > >> > on behalf of Wikimedians of Albanian Language User Group > >> > < > >> > > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedians_of_Albanian_Language_User_Group > >> > > > >> > . > >> > > >> > On Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 7:30 PM Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin > < > >> > frhd(a)yandex.com> wrote: > >> > > >> > > Dear Kiril and Paulo, > >> > > Thank you for explanations. > >> > > > >> > > You have my deepest respect for showing your concern for our fellow > >> > > colleagues from Albania, so they avoid repeating the mistakes that > have > >> > > been made previously elsewhere. Just like you, I certainly hope > that > >> our > >> > > volunteer-colleagues serving in AffCom did their best to assess and > >> > > minimize possible risks that might come in case of competition. As > for > >> > > Albanian language & Albania centered multilingual UGs, let's hope > they > >> > are > >> > > getting along well and work hand in hand on the aspects in which > they > >> can > >> > > help advancing each other's missions. > >> > > > >> > > Our current situation is actually encouraging us to consider > developing > >> > > Russian-speaking UGs in all regions of Russia, and my home Republic > >> might > >> > > be one of the first ones where this will be useful. Our chapter > consist > >> > of > >> > > representatives of various Wikimedia projects, languages & ethnic > >> groups, > >> > > but our weakness is rather low regional representation and > empowerment, > >> > > which we hope to balance through UGs. The world is in constant > flux, so > >> > > eventually we might also witness similar competition for attention > that > >> > you > >> > > are talking about. We currently don't seem to have reasons for > conflict > >> > > between Wikimedia Russia chapter and Russian & other language or > >> > > territorial UGs because: > >> > > * UGs have representatives in the national chapter > >> > > * National chapter meetings are broadcast live on YouTube, > >> > > * Chapter leadership prioritizes country-wide tasks of importance > for > >> > > growing the movement, > >> > > * Wikimedia projects in Russian and other languages are not that > famous > >> > > yet, > >> > > * neither affiliates, nor individuals in Russia get their grant > >> requests > >> > > approved by WMF (there are reasons for that), and > >> > > * Russian language is teaching us to be anarchic inside (affiliate > >> > > structures are nothing more than just legal tools), whilst locals > have > >> > > centuries-old history of living together in Hunnic Empire, Cumania, > >> > > Mongolic Empire, Golden Horde, Russian Empire, Soviet Union & now > >> Russian > >> > > Federation (something we remember despite the fact that Golden > Horde > >> and > >> > > earlier ones don't get much coverage in high-school history > courses). > >> > > > >> > > regards, > >> > > farhad > >> > > > >> > > -- > >> > > Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ > >> Тел.+79274158066 / > >> > > skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan > >> > > > >> > > > >> > > 15.02.2019, 17:37, "Paulo Santos Perneta" <paulosperneta(a)gmail.com > >: > >> > > > Hi Farhad, > >> > > > > >> > > > It is very easily understood by the so called Brazilian scenario: > >> > > > > >> > > > Step 1 - AffCom recognizes a chapter style UG, with geographic > focus > >> > > > Step 2 - Dissidents from first group start warring first UG while > >> > > > attempting to form a second UG, clone of the first UG > >> > > > Step 3 - AffCom recognizes second UG > >> > > > Step 4 - Conflict between UGs dramatically increases with time, > >> > spreading > >> > > > into the Wikimedia projects > >> > > > Step 5 - AffCom dissolves both UGs > >> > > > > >> > > > Current status: No recognized Wikimedia community in the country > >> > > > > >> > > > My opinion: Terrible disservice by AffCom to the Wikimedia > Movement. > >> > > > > >> > > > Best, > >> > > > Paulo > >> > > > > >> > > > Фархад Фаткуллин / Farkhad Fatkullin <frhd(a)yandex.com> escreveu > no > >> dia > >> > > > sexta, 15/02/2019 à(s) 10:59: > >> > > > > >> > > >> Dear Kiril, Philip and colleagues, > >> > > >> > >> > > >> Please explain the nature of reasons that cause trouble in > having > >> > > multiple > >> > > >> Wikimedia affiliates in the area, as this seems to be context > >> > specific. > >> > > >> It's possible that our context in Russia is very different, > which > >> is > >> > > why > >> > > >> we are actually welcoming creation of new UGs throughout the > >> country, > >> > > both > >> > > >> territorially and thematically oriented ones (on top of the > >> Wikimedia > >> > > >> Russia national chapter). > >> > > >> Should you give more reasons why this seems causing conflict, I > >> > might. > >> > > >> > >> > > >> Over here we are quite happy with existing collaboration at all > >> > levels > >> > > and > >> > > >> are even looking forward to developing a mechanism to speed up > >> their > >> > > >> formation throughout the country - namely > >> > > >> > >> > > > >> > > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Languages_of_Russia_Community_Use… > >> > > >> Myself and other representatives of Wikimedia Russia discussed > this > >> > in > >> > > >> detail and welcomed by AffCom secretary during Wikimania 2017 > >> > > >> > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Frhdkazan/Wikimania2017#Aug.12 > >> > > And > >> > > >> in the framework of https://ru.wikimedia.org/wiki/Smart_region > >> > > >> initiative, I will eventually proceed to registering a > >> > > Tatarstan-oriented > >> > > >> thematic multilingual UG, on top of recently registered > >> > > >> > >> > > > >> > > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Community_of_Tatar_language_User_… > >> > > >> & Wikimedia Russia, in both of which I am currently a member. > >> > > >> > >> > > >> regards, > >> > > >> farhad > >> > > >> > >> > > >> -- > >> > > >> Farkhad Fatkullin - Фархад Фаткуллин http://sikzn.ru/ > >> > > Тел.+79274158066 / > >> > > >> skype:frhdkazan / Wikipedia:frhdkazan > >> > > >> > >> > > >> 14.02.2019, 03:25, "Kiril Simeonovski" < > >> kiril.simeonovski(a)gmail.com > >> > >: > >> > > >> > Hi Paulo, > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > Camelia's paragraph that you referred to tells a story that is > >> > > exactly > >> > > >> the > >> > > >> > opposite of what the Affiliations Committee is doing in > practice. > >> > The > >> > > >> > so-called 'Brazilian scenario' emerged in Macedonia when, in > >> 2016, > >> > > the > >> > > >> > committee decided to recognise a second user group on the same > >> > > territory > >> > > >> > without consulting the existing one. This has eventually > >> developed > >> > > into a > >> > > >> > problem regarding the overlap in the scope of the two user > groups > >> > > and the > >> > > >> > resolution was normally sought from the people (more > importantly > >> > > >> > volunteers) who were not willing this to happen. It should be > >> also > >> > > noted > >> > > >> > that Macedonia is a country with only 2 million inhabitants > >> unlike > >> > > >> Brazil's > >> > > >> > over 200 million and this has been mentioned numerous times by > >> > > different > >> > > >> > people in the movement to refer to the severity of the > problem. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > My opinion is that the Affiliations Committee has no vision on > >> the > >> > > future > >> > > >> > of the Wikimedia movement and their main efficiency indicator > is > >> > the > >> > > >> number > >> > > >> > of user groups they recognise with no care about the > >> consequencies > >> > > of the > >> > > >> > apparent wrongdoing. They managed to bring the tally to over > 100 > >> > user > >> > > >> > groups and the Wikimedia Foundation even got engaged to > celebrate > >> > > this > >> > > >> > achievement, while they did not give a damn about the problems > >> that > >> > > they > >> > > >> > have posed with their light-minded routine. Moreover, when you > >> > > approach > >> > > >> > them with some relevant questions, they simply brush off and > >> > respond > >> > > >> with a > >> > > >> > months-long delay. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > In conclusion, the Affiliations Committee is artificially > >> creating > >> > > >> problems > >> > > >> > as a result of their recognition policy and is seeking > resolution > >> > > from > >> > > >> > volunteers that were not consulted at all about the potential > >> > > >> > consequencies. This is a waste of volunteer time and efforts > for > >> > > >> something > >> > > >> > that could have easily been prevented. Unfortunately, the > >> Wikimedia > >> > > >> > Foundation and some other voices in the movement contribute to > >> this > >> > > >> misery > >> > > >> > and it is highly unprobable that any complaint to any one in > the > >> > > movement > >> > > >> > would pay off. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > Best regards, > >> > > >> > Kiril > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > On сре., 13 фев. 2019 г. at 16:13 Paulo Santos Perneta < > >> > > >> > paulosperneta(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> >> Hello, > >> > > >> >> > >> > > >> >> camelia boban <camelia.boban(a)gmail.com> escreveu no dia > terça, > >> > > >> 12/02/2019 > >> > > >> >> à(s) 11:18: > >> > > >> >> > >> > > >> >> > (...) > >> > > >> >> > In line with the philosophy of the inclusion of the > movement, > >> > > AffCom > >> > > >> has > >> > > >> >> > acted as it always does when it receives affiliation > requests: > >> > it > >> > > >> >> assesses > >> > > >> >> > the territorial overlap and the declared purpose of the > >> requests > >> > > with > >> > > >> >> > others affiliates present in the territory, contacting the > >> > already > >> > > >> >> > recognized affiliates to hear from them about any concerns, > >> > using > >> > > the > >> > > >> >> > experience and knowledge on the territory of each of its > >> > members. > >> > > >> >> > > >> > > >> >> > >> > > >> >> I suppose this was not in effect back in 2015, when Wiki > >> Education > >> > > >> Brazil > >> > > >> >> was approved, as neither the existing affiliate in Brazil - > UG > >> > > >> Wikimedia > >> > > >> >> in Brazil -, nor Wikimedia Portugal, have been consulted > about > >> it, > >> > > even > >> > > >> >> when it totally overlapped with the territory of the existing > >> > > >> affiliate in > >> > > >> >> Brazil, and was announced by AffCom as having a Lusophone > >> target, > >> > > >> therefore > >> > > >> >> interfering in Portugal as well. Furthermore, at the date it > was > >> > > >> approved, > >> > > >> >> Wiki Education Brazil was already in open conflict with the > >> > existing > >> > > >> >> affiliate in Brazil, which makes the approval decision by > AffCom > >> > > >> absolutely > >> > > >> >> incomprehensible. > >> > > >> >> > >> > > >> >> Actually, I really fail to understand why the candidatures to > >> > AffCom > >> > > >> >> continue allowed to be proposed in absolute secrecy, leaving > any > >> > > >> problems > >> > > >> >> caused by their approvals to be dealt with by the community > >> after > >> > > the > >> > > >> >> problem is already installed. Does not seem a very clever > way of > >> > > >> acting. > >> > > >> >> > >> > > >> >> Best, > >> > > >> >> > >> > > >> >> Paulo - DarwIn > >> > > >> >> Wikimedia Portugal > >> > > >> >> _______________________________________________ > >> > > >> >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > > >> >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> > > >> >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> > > >> >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > >> >> Unsubscribe: > >> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> > > >> >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > ?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > > >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> > > >> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > >> > Unsubscribe: > >> > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> > > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > >> ?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > > >> > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > >> > > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> > > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> > > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > >> Unsubscribe: > >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> > > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > >> ?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > > > > >> > > > _______________________________________________ > >> > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> > > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > > Unsubscribe: > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > > > >> > > _______________________________________________ > >> > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > >> New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > >> <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > New messages to: Wikimedia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> >

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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia-asia-chapters] [WM-Chairpersons] New board of Wikimedia Indonesia
by Biyanto Rebin 06 Mar '19

06 Mar '19

Thank you, Asaf, Delphine, Josie, Phillip, and Gnanggara for your best wishes. Looking forward to working with you all again for the next 3 years. Best, Pada tanggal Sel, 12 Feb 2019 pukul 19.08 Gnangarra <gnangarra(a)gmail.com> menulis: > Welcome to new Board, Wikimedia Australia looks forward to working with you > > On Tue, 12 Feb 2019 at 19:16, Josie Fraser <josie(a)josiefraser.com> wrote: > >> Congratulations Indonesia! A warm welcome to your new Board members from >> Wikimedia UK, and our best wishes to all those who have been re-elected. >> >> Best, Josie >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Chairpersons mailing list >> Chairpersons(a)lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/chairpersons >> >> >> On 11 Feb 2019, at 07:25, Biyanto Rebin <biyanto.rebin(a)wikimedia.or.id> >> wrote: >> >> Hello, our fellow Wikifriends, >> >> On 19 January 2019, Wikimedia Indonesia elected the new boards. The >> current structure consists of 5 females and 4 males with various ethnicity >> background (Javanese, Lampungnese, Bataknese, Mollucan, Achinese, etc) and >> native languages (Indonesian, Javanese, Achinese, etc.). We are proud to >> say that our background representing our country motto, Bhinneka Tunggal >> Ika <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhinneka_Tunggal_Ika>(Unity in >> Diversity). >> >> *Board of Executive* >> >> - Biyanto Rebin, Chair, re-elected >> - Ivonne Kristiani, Deputy Chair, re-elected >> - Rachmat Wahidi, Secretary-General, re-elected >> - Hillun Vilayl Napis, Deputy Secretary General, new >> - Djohan Satria Hasibuan, Treasurer, re-elected >> - Thirza Ria Vandari, Deputy Treasurer, new >> >> *Board of Trustees* >> >> - Rinto Jiang, re-elected >> - Fachria Y. Marasabessy, new >> - Fajarwati, new >> >> We hope we can bring our best for Wikimedia movements in Indonesia. >> >> Best regards, >> >> Biyanto >> >> =========================================================== >> *Profile* >> Board of Executives >> >> Biyanto Rebin is an active Wikimedian at the Indonesian Wikipedia since >> 2006 using “Beeyan” as his username. He graduated from Chinese Literature >> at the University of Indonesia. In 2014, he was appointed as the Member of >> Board of Executive in the position of Deputy General Secretary. In 2016, he >> was elected as Wikimedia Indonesia Chairperson and re-elected in 2019. In >> the spirit of open access, he supports the mission of free knowledge as it >> is one of the important keys to open the widest channel of knowledge to the >> wider community. >> >> >> Ivonne Kristiani obtained her Master in Sociology and Political >> Philosophy from Université Paris Diderot, France. She is now based in >> Jakarta and is the Project Manager for Cipta Media Ekspresi arts & culture >> grant for women, funded by Ford Foundation. She started editing in >> Indonesian Wikipedia as “06Ivonne” when joining the Free Your Knowledge >> writing competition in 2010. >> >> Djohan Satria Hasibuan is the Treasurer of Wikimedia Indonesia and >> graduated from Accounting Degree at the University of Persada Indonesia >> Y.A.I who is currently domiciled in Jakarta. He joined the Wikimedia >> Indonesia since 2012 as a financial supervisor on several projects, such as >> Cipta Media Bersama, Cipta Media Seluler, and Cipta Media Ekspresi. >> >> Thirza Ria Vandari has been a member of the Wikimedia Indonesia since >> 2017 and was graduated from Accounting Degree at the University of >> Indonesia. With her expertise in finance, she is involved in several >> projects run by Wikimedia Indonesia, such as the FAVANO Project, SAPG 2018, >> and APG 2018. She sometimes voluntarily edits in Wikipedia under her >> username “Thirzaria”. >> >> >> Rachmat Wahidi is an active Wikimedian at the Indonesian and the Acehnese >> Wikipedia using “Rachmat04” as his username. He graduated from English >> Language Education at Syiah Kuala University, and currently attending a >> master degree at the same major. He joined Wikimedia Indonesia since 2012, >> and was involved in the Content Digitization Project since 2014. In 2019, >> Rachmat was appointed to the position of Secretary General of the Wikimedia >> Indonesia. >> >> Hillun Vilayl Napis graduated from Communication at the University of >> Indonesia. She started editing on Wikipedia under “Hillun Vilayl Napis” as >> her username and joined the Free Your Knowledge writing competition in >> 2014. She joined Wikimedia Indonesia in 2015. Currently, she involves in >> APG 2018 project as Competition Coordinator (photography and writing >> contests). In 2019, she is appointed to serve as Deputy Secretary General >> of Wikimedia Indonesia. >> >> Board of Trustees >> >> Rinto Jiang is a Wikimedian since 2004 and also one of the founders of >> Wikimedia Indonesia who is currently domiciled in Taiwan. He graduated in >> engineering at National Cheng Kung University. He is re-elected as one of >> the Board of Trustees in 2019. His professional career is as an engineer in >> a company. His main goal is to place Wikimedia Indonesia as a forum to >> contribute to the advancement of free and equitable knowledge, especially >> in Indonesia, in supporting the advancement of formal education. >> >> Fachria Y. Marasabessy was a graduate of the Department of Education in >> Jakarta State University and a Wikimedian since 2017. She joined Wikimedia >> Indonesia in 2016 and interested in being actively involved in Wikimedia >> Indonesia's activities. In 2019, she was trusted to serve as the Member of >> Board of Trustees. >> >> Fajarwati is a member of the Wikimedia Indonesia since 2016 and graduated >> from Jakarta State Polytechnic in Accounting Degree and Bachelor of >> Accounting at the University of Persada Indonesia Y.A.I. Before joining the >> project Keterlibatan Masyarakat dalam Teknologi (KMT) and Peningkatan >> Kinerja Teknologi Cipta Media (PKT) as an accountant in 2016–2017, she >> worked in the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Indonesia in the same position. >> She is currently working as a Project Assistant at the >> Kemitraan-Partnership for Governance Reform. Having involved in many >> projects and considerably contributed to Wikimedia Indonesia in providing >> financial insight, she is elected as one of Member of Board of Trustees. >> >> -- >> Biyanto Rebin | Ketua Umum (*Chair*) 2016-2018 >> Wikimedia Indonesia >> Surel: biyanto.rebin(a)wikimedia.or.id >> ------------------------------------------------- >> Dukung upaya kami membebaskan pengetahuan: >> http://wikimedia.or.id/wiki/Wikimedia_Indonesia:Donasi >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimedia-asia-chapters mailing list >> Wikimedia-asia-chapters(a)lists.wikimedia.org >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters >> > > > -- > GN. > Noongarpedia: https://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/nys/Main_Page > WMAU: http://www.wikimedia.org.au/wiki/User:Gnangarra > Photo Gallery: http://gnangarra.redbubble.com > Out now: A.Gaynor, P. Newman and P. Jennings (eds.), *Never Again: > Reflections on Environmental Responsibility after Roe 8*, UWAP, 2017. Order > here > <https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/never-again-reflections-on-environmental-r…> > . > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-asia-chapters mailing list > Wikimedia-asia-chapters(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-asia-chapters > -- Biyanto Rebin | Ketua Umum (*Chair*) 2016-2018 Wikimedia Indonesia Surel: biyanto.rebin(a)wikimedia.or.id ------------------------------------------------- Dukung upaya kami membebaskan pengetahuan: http://wikimedia.or.id/wiki/Wikimedia_Indonesia:Donasi

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Use of Wikimedia projects for anti-LGBT+ "humour"
by Fæ 06 Mar '19

06 Mar '19

It is sad to see that two well established Wikipedians, Barbara (WVS) and SMcCandlish have misused Wikipedia Signpost to publish a "humour" article which derides the use of nonbinary pronouns. It will be clear for any reader that not only is this a joke in bad taste, but the article is a misuse of the Wikipedia project and brand, to deride and marginalise transgender, genderqueer and nonbinary people. A deletion discussion has been created, everyone is welcome to express their opinions, should they wish to read the Signpost op-ed.[1][4][5] As part of the Wikipedia Visiting Scholars program, Barbara Page has been granted special status at the University of Pittsburgh, and in this capacity is seen to represent Wikimedia and Wikipedia, even if not in a paid capacity. Given their coauthorship of the defamatory essay, I do not see how it would be ethical for Page to retain any recognition or relationship, and ask that a representative of Wiki Education provide an official response.[2][6] Stanton McCandlish is named as a WMF Tech Ambassador, and I have requested on Meta that this formal recognition is immediately removed by the WMF, as their views are directly antithetical to the WMF supported Technical Spaces Code of Conduct.[3] Links: 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Miscellany_for_deletion/Wikipedia:W… 2. https://wikiedu.org/blog/2015/09/25/upitt-visiting-scholars/ 3. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/Ambassadors#Stanton_McCandlish 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Barbara_(WVS) 5. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:SMcCandlish 6. https://wikiedu.org/contact-us/ Thanks, Fae -- faewik(a)gmail.com https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Fae Wikimedia LGBT+ https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_LGBT+

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Agreement Reached Between Wikimedia Israel and Israeli Archives
by Michal Lester 05 Mar '19

05 Mar '19

Hello all, I'm happy to share with you that last Monday, nearly four months after Wikimedia Israel’s extraction of nearly 28-thousand public-domain photographs <http://wikimedia.org.il/image-mining-project/> from archives affiliated with the State of Israel and the Zionist movement, an agreement was finally reached to reconcile the differences between the parties and to assure future cooperation. The archives from which the photographs had been extracted last November questioned the legitimacy of Wikimedia Israel’s move and demanded an apology for the misuse of their websites. They agreed, on the other hand, to enhance access to public-domain material stored in their archives and to further cooperation with Wikimedia Israel. Following the agreement, Wikimedia Israel released a statement saying it “regrets the situation that has resulted from lack of communication between the archives and Wikimedia Israel”. The statement further says that “different world-views and organizational cultures harmed the dialogue and distorted the understanding of the intentions of the archives and of Wikimedia Israel”. The statement ends by saying that “this is not how the affairs should have been conducted, and we wish to apologize to anyone who sees themselves offended by the move”. The agreement calls for better access to public material, while maintaining better sensitivity, and “respecting the rights of those who deposited the material and the Israeli law”. In addition, Wikimedia Israel offered its help in the effort to digitalize the material and make it more accessible. This should serve not only Israelis, but also people throughout the Middle East, who could find interest in historical photographs taken decades ago in neighboring countries and territories. I hope that in the near future this agreement will lead to a better collaboration and releasing of materials. Michal *Michal Lester,* *Executive DirectorWikimedia Israel*

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