Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-12-11/News and notes

News and notes

Fundraiser plans

The next Wikimedia Foundation fundraiser is expected to begin during the upcoming week, according to Board of Trustees chair Florence Devouard. This is slightly delayed from the anticipated start date of Friday, 8 December, as the final preparations are still being made. Among these, the Foundation has released the results of its recent audit (see related story).

Steward elections to conclude

The second steward elections of 2006 will end on Friday, 15 December, with both the voting for new stewards and the confirmation of current stewards concluding. As of press time, according to a bot-updated page developed by Gurch, all of the candidates had at least 30 votes in support, and 14 of the 15 current candidates had at least an 80 percent support ratio, including one candidate with exactly 80 percent support. The other candidate had 78 percent support. Any candidate who garners at least 30 support votes and a minimum of 80 percent support is eligible to be appointed by the Board of Trustees. Though the exact number of new stewards that will be appointed is uncertain, it is expected to be between 10 and 20; all nine of the candidates who met the criteria in the January 2006 steward elections were appointed.

Resolution passed

A resolution was passed by the Board on Thursday, 7 December with four votes in favor and none in opposition. The resolution approves an agreement that clarifies the role between local Wikimedia organizations and the Wikimedia Foundation; the agreement covers the use of the Wikimedia name, utilization of the Foundation logo, and conduct and activity by each local organization.

Team bulletin issued

The sixth team bulletin from the Wikimania 2007 Taiwan team was released this week. Bulletins are released about once every week and a half, although there is no exact schedule. The current bulletin announces the opening of a bank account for donations to Wikimania, the creation of pages to place web banners, as well as a volunteer training session, which is open to anyone interested, for Wikimania volunteers that will be held on Saturday, 9 December in Taipei; a meetup will occur after the session.

Milestones

The Quechua Wikipedia reached 1,000 articles this week, becoming the first Wikipedia of an indigenous language of the Americas to reach the milestone. Quechua, the language of the Inca Empire, is spoken predominantly in South America and is also the most widely spoken American Indian language with nearly 10 million speakers. The Nepali Wikipedia also became the second language edition of Wikipedia, after the Nepal Bhasa Wikipedia, to enable a JavaScript-based input method editor. The editor allows users to type directly in Devanāgarī and attempts to make typing in non-Latin based languages easier.