Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Author/Tony1
Articles by: Tony1[edit]
From the archives 2012 Russian Wikipedia shutdown as it happened
2022-08-01
Ten years ago, Russian Wikipedia went dark in protest of new Russian laws. Today...
News and notes Official WMF rebuke to Trump policy; WMF secures restricted funds
2017-02-06
Foundation's latest foray into political waters, and grants funding structured data and anti-harassment measures, met with enthusiasm and concern
In focus WMF strategy consultant brings background in crisis reputation management; Team behind popular WMF software put "on pause"
2017-02-06
Several developments in the $2.5 million strategic planning process explored, and a team within the software production department is sidelined
News and notes Surge in RFA promotions—a sign of lasting change?
2017-01-17
A close look at the history of approving administrators on English Wikipedia, and a roundup of news
Interview What is it like to edit Wikipedia when you're blind?
2017-01-17
The wiki environment can appear deceptively uniform, but it masks strikingly different editorial experiences
Special report German Wikipedia ArbCom implodes amid revelation of member's far-right political role
2016-12-22
German ArbCom implodes: The German Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee loses more than half its members amid political feud
In the media Coverage of gender gap initiatives, banner fundraising, and more
2016-12-22
In brief: Coverage of gender gap initiatives, banner fundraising, and more: Wikipedia women in the news, and media reacts to 2016 ad banner campaign
News and notes Arbitration Committee elections underway
2016-11-26
Arbitration Committee elections commence: An overview of the English Wikipedia ArbCom election; brief notes as Asian and African initiatives wind down
News and notes Finally, a new CTO; trustee joins Quora; copyright upgrade impending
2016-11-04
Victoria Coleman to fill long-vacant CTO role; Trustee Kelly Battles joins Quora executive team; last week for community input on Creative Commons 4.0 license
News and notes Challenges for WMF fundraising; Indian flora windfall for Commons
2016-10-14
Fundraising, flora and fauna: Wikimedia Foundation reports on fundraising challenges and new initiatives; Indian botanists rally to build Wikimedia Commons' photo collection
News and notes AffCom still grappling with WMF Board's criteria for new chapters
2016-09-06
The Board’s two-year moratorium on new chapters and thematic organisations has expired; presentation of new criteria is reigniting smoldering controversies and introducing new ones
News and notes Focus on India—WikiConference produces new apps; state government adopts free licenses
2016-08-18
Conference draws highly diverse and productive participation, and several years' advocacy pays off in a new government policy
News and notes Foundation presents results of harassment research, plans for automated identification; Wikiconference submissions open
2016-08-04
WMF and Alphabet are developing an algorithm designed to detect personal attacks
News and notes Board faces diversity and skill-base issues in new FDC appointments
2016-07-21
Four seats to be filled in top WMF grantmaking body; General Counsel and Secretary Geoff Brigham leaves Wikimedia
News and notes Board unanimously appoints Katherine Maher as new WMF executive director; Wikimedia lawsuits in France and Germany
2016-07-04
News from Wikimania and the courts
Op-ed Commons Picture of the Year; Wikidata licensing
2016-06-15
Two for the price of one—do the popular Commons image contest and Wikidata licensing serve the community as well as they should?
News and notes WMF cuts budget for 2016–17 as scope tightens
2016-06-05
WMF cuts budget for 2016-17 as scope tightens: The Signpost analyzes the WMF's revised annual plan
News and notes Upcoming Wikimedia conferences in the US and India; May Metrics and Activities Meeting
2016-05-28
Dates and venues for WikiCon USA 2016, WikiCon India 2016, 2016 Glam Boot Camp and 2016 Wikimedia Diversity Conference
News and notes Affiliates' nomination of WMF trustees announced; FDC's straight talking to WMF
2016-05-17
Christophe Henner and Nataliia Tymkiv respond to the Signpost{{'}}s questions
News and notes Wikimedia Switzerland's board and paid-editing firm; passing of Ed Dravecky
2016-05-02
Wikimedia Switzerland board members involved in paid-editing firm
News and notes Lunar project; steering group formed to search for next executive director
2016-04-24
Maybe the rover could find an ED on the moon...
Interview/Transcript Transcript of the Signpost's interview with Katherine Maher
2016-03-23
"I think what we need to do is to work to demonstrate that the organisation is stable and strong."
Interview Exclusive: interview with interim ED Katherine Maher
2016-03-23
The Signpost speaks with the incoming WMF interim executive director.
Special report Board chair and new trustee speak with the Signpost
2016-02-03
New member María Sefidari joins the Board of Trustees.
News and notes Vote of no confidence; WMF trustees speak out
2016-01-20
Vote of no confidence; WMF trustee speaks out: The continuing controversy over a new Board appointment.
News and notes WMF Board dismisses community-elected trustee
2015-12-30
In a monumental move, the Board ousted one of its own
News and notes ArbCom election results announced
2015-12-09
The three scrutineers announced the results, a little more than three days after the close of voting.
Featured content Killed by flying debris
2015-09-09
Tony1 interviews a prolific featured content participant, Ian Rose.
News and notes Three new community-elected trustees announced, incumbents out
2015-06-03
Election results for the three vacant seats on the Board of Trustees — Dariusz Jemielnak, James Heilman, and Denny Vrandečić are set to take up their two-year terms on the Board, replacing three incumbents, all of whom stood unsuccessfully: Phoebe Ayers, Samuel Klein, and María Sefidari.
Foundation elections WMF Board candidates share their views with the Signpost
2015-05-13
Board candidates share their views with the Signpost: Three community-elected seats on the Board of Trustees—the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation—will be decided by Wikimedians in the election to be held 17–31 May.
Special report FDC candidates respond to key issues
2015-05-06
Elections have begun for five community members of the Funds Dissemination Committee, the Foundation's volunteer body for judging and recommending millions of dollars worth of annual grants to affiliates in the movement. The election lasts just eight days, from Sunday 3 May until 23:59 UTC on Sunday 10 May, so at the time of publication, voters will need to act promptly.
Wikimania Choice of small village for Wikimania 2016 ruffles feathers
2015-04-29
Esino Lario is set to host Wikimania 2016, but volunteers and others have raised a host of concerns that raise serious questions about the town's suitability for hosting such a large conference.
News and notes Erik Möller leaving Foundation; annual plan grants under community review
2015-04-15
The Wikimedia Foundation's vice president for engineering, Erik Möller, will leave the WMF on April 30.
News and notes New edits-by-mail option will "revolutionize" Wikipedia and its editor base
2015-04-01
The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) will announce later today that it will begin accepting edits by mail for all of the projects under its scope, including Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons.
In focus WMF's latest strategy document shows successes, vagueness, and the need for better data
2015-04-01
The Wikimedia Foundation this week released a State of the WMF report, a 38-page "snapshot" of where it is and where it wants to go in the future.
News and notes Wikimedia Foundation adopts open-access research policy
2015-03-25
Last week the WMF announced the release of its long-awaited open-access policy.
Special report An advance look at the WMF's fundraising survey
2015-03-11
The Wikimedia Foundation gave the Signpost an advance copy of the results of a survey of English Wikipedia readers regarding Wikimedia fundraising, due for official release today.
News and notes The next big step for Wikidata—forming a hub for researchers
2014-12-31
Wikidata, Wikimedia's free linked database that supplies Wikipedia and its sister projects, is gearing up to submit a grant application to the EU that would expand Wikidata's scope by developing it as a science hub. The proposal, supported by more than 25 volunteers and half a dozen European institutions as project partners, aims to create a virtual research environment (VRE) that will enhance the project's capacity for freely sharing scientific data.
News and notes Wikipedia article published in peer-reviewed journal; Wikipedia in education
2014-10-01
The argument on Wikipedia over the benefits of crowdsourcing versus the primacy of "expert" contributors stretches back to co-founder Larry Sanger's break with the project to start the alternative Citizendium.
Dispatches Let's get serious about plagiarism
2014-10-01
This article was first published in the Signpost in 2009. Written by several long-standing editors, including the late Adrianne Wadewitz, the article was subjected to extensive commentary and ultimately influenced the English Wikipedia's plagiarism guideline. With recent debates about close paraphrasing vis-à-vis plagiarism, we feel that this dispatch retains its relevance and deserves a second airing.
Featured content Oil paintings galore
2014-09-24
Six articles, four lists, one topic, and 17 pictures were promoted to "featured" status this week on the English Wikipedia.
News and notes Wikipedia's traffic statistics are off by nearly one-third
2014-09-17
Wikipedia's traffic statistics are off by nearly one-third: A prominent Wikipedia researcher has discovered that the encyclopedia's widely used article traffic statistics are missing out on approximately one-third of total views.
News and notes Media Viewer—Wikimedia's emotional roller-coaster
2014-08-27
More discussions about Media Viewer, Superprotect, and software development
Exclusive "We need to be true to who we are"—Foundation's new executive director speaks to the Signpost
2014-06-25
In her first interview since taking office, Lila Tretikov, the Wikimedia Foundation's new executive director, speaks about grantmaking, the global south, and the gender gap.
Special report Questions raised over secret voting for WMF trustees
2014-06-11
Last week we reported the announcement of two new affiliate-selected WMF trustees. The board of trustees is the most powerful and influential body in the movement, and chapters have been permitted to select two of the 10 seats since 2008, for two-year terms that start in even-numbered years.
Special report IEG funding for women's stories—a new approach to the gender gap
2014-06-04
Individual engagement grants (IEGs) are announced twice yearly by a volunteer WMF committee, the most recent of which we covered last December. The scheme, launched at the start of last year, awards funds to individuals or teams of up to four to produce high-impact outcomes for the WMF's online projects. It favours innovative approaches to solving critical issues in the movement.
News and notes Two new affiliate-selected trustees
2014-06-04
New trustee Frieda Briosch from Italy: we face "a couple of headaches", she says: "how to boost editors, which includes the development of the next strategic plan, and how to keep our project always 'glamorous'."
News and notes The English Wikipedia's second featured-article centurion; wiki inventor interviewed on video
2014-05-28
With the promotion to featured article of Grus (constellation) on 17 May, Casliber became Wikipedia's second featured-article centurion, following Wehwalt's groundbreaking achievement last December. Cas's first FA, Banksia integrifolia, a group effort, was promoted on 16 November 2006. His first solo project, Diplodocus, followed in January 2007; he has rarely been off the FAC since. In a second story, Ward Cunningham, an American computer programmer who invented the wiki, was interviewed by the WMF.
News and notes "Crisis" over Wikimedia Germany's palace revolution
2014-05-21
Last Sunday the board of Wikimedia Germany passed 9–1 a vote of no confidence in the chapter's executive director, Pavel Richter, who has held the position since 2009. With more than 50 employees, an annual budget approaching $10 million, and the right to conduct its own fundraising through the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) site banners, Wikimedia Germany is the second-largest organisation in the movement after the WMF itself. The decision was announced on the Wikimedia mailing list by the chapter chair, Nikolas Becker.
Investigative report Hong Kong's Wikimania 2013—failure to produce financial statement raises questions of probity
2014-05-14
On 2 May 2012, the Wikimania jury announced that Hong Kong's bid to hold the 2013 event had beaten four other proposals. Moderator James Forrester wrote: "The Jury has confidence that the Hong Kong bidding team will pull off a magnificent Wikimania,"—and indeed there were positive comments about the event from most attendees.
News and notes New system of discretionary sanctions; Buchenwald; is Pirelli 'Cracking Wikipedia'?
2014-05-07
The English Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) introduced the first form of what are known as the "discretionary sanction" (DS) in 2009. A new DS regime, called Discretionary sanctions (2014), is the result of an elaborate review process involving both the community, since last September, and the committee, for more than a year.
News and notes WMF's draft annual plan turns indigestible as an FDC proposal
2014-04-30
Like hammering a square peg into a round hole, the Wikimedia Foundation has submitted a draft annual plan for 2014–15 to its own Funds Dissemination Committee. Unlike the WMF's submission to the FDC's inaugural round in October 2012, the "proposal" does not seek funding.
Breaking Wikimedia Foundation selects new executive director
2014-04-30
The Foundation's new executive director: The Wikimedia Foundation has announced that its new executive director will be Lila Tretikov, until now a chief product officer in Silicon Valley.
Wikimania Winning bid announced for 2015
2014-04-23
After just over a month of deliberation, the Wikimania jury has selected Wikimedia Mexico's bid to host Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City, with a proposed date of 15–19 July.
Special report 2014 Wikimedia Conference—what is the impact?
2014-04-23
The annual Wikimedia Conference wound up last Sunday, 13 April—a four-day meeting costing several hundred thousand dollars, hosted in Berlin by Wikimedia Germany and attended by more than 100 Wikimedians.
News and notes Round 2 of FDC funding open to public comments
2014-04-09
Community review is open for the four applications in the second and final round of applications to the WMF's Funds Dissemination Committee for 2013–14. Three eligible organisations have applied for funding under the newly named "annual program grants": Wikimedia France, Wikimedia Norway, and the India-based Centre for Internet and Society, which last November was recognised as eligible to apply for FDC funding purposes.
Special report On the cusp of the Wikimedia Conference
2014-04-02
The annual Wikimedia Conference is about to start in Berlin, hosted by Wikimedia Germany, which won the bid to hold the event over three others. This will be the fifth time the chapter has hosted the Wikimedia Conference—it did so from 2009 to 2012, with attendance ranging from 100 to 180 Wikimedians. This year 160 people are expected at the four-day event, which is mainly for representatives of affiliated Wikimedia organisations. The conference has been built around two themes: Organisation, structures, and grants and Success and impact.
News and notes Wikimedia conferences—soul-searching about costs, attendance, and future
2014-04-02
The run-up to the conference has seen the unfolding of two fractious threads on the Wikimedia public mailing list, both of which may serve as background for the last session at Berlin: "Future of the Wikimedia Conference".
News and notes Commons Picture of the Year—winners announced
2014-03-26
Results for the two-stage 2013 Commons Picture of the Year have been announced. This year's winning photograph (above) shows a lightbulb that has been cracked, allowing inert gas to escape—and oxygen to enter, so that the tungsten filament burns. From the flames rise elegant curls of blue smoke.
News and notes WMF bites the bullet on affiliation and FDC funding, elevates Wikimedia user groups
2014-02-12
In a bold move, the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees has announced a major change in policy concerning affiliated groups in the worldwide movement, and FDC funding levels to eligible chapters and thematic organizations over the next two years. Both decisions were published last Tuesday after considerable post-meeting consultation with the FDC and the Affiliations Committee (AffCom). The core of the first decision is
News and notes WMF employee forced out over "paid advocacy editing"
2014-01-08
On 8 January, the Wikimedia Foundation notified the Wikimedia-l mailing list that Sarah Stierch, a popular Wikimedian and the Foundation's Program Evaluation Community Coordinator, was no longer an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation, as a result of being paid to create articles on the English Wikipedia.
News and notes The year in review
2014-01-01
This was the year in which one journalist described the flagship site, Wikipedia, as "wickedly seductive". It was the year Wikipedia's replacement value was estimated at $6.6bn, its market value at "tens of billions of dollars", and its consumer benefit "hundreds of billions of dollars". But it was also the year in which one commentator forecast the decline of Wikipedia—that the project is in trouble from its shrinking volunteer workforce, skewed coverage, "crushing bureaucracy" and 90 percent male community.
News and notes IEG round 2 funding rewards diverse ambitions
2013-12-25
A significant move by the Wikimedia Foundation has been to broaden the types of activities it funds to develop several different programs for judging and allocating that funding, and to set up volunteer committees that initially assess applications for funding.
News and notes Nine new arbitrators announced
2013-12-18
A little more than six days after the close of voting, the results of the annual Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) elections have been announced. Of the 22 candidates, 13 managed to gain more supports than opposes, though only one gained the support of more than half of the voters. Eight were elected to two-year terms, and a ninth will serve for one year.
News and notes Wiki Loves Monuments—winners announced
2013-12-11
Amid great anticipation the international prize winners have just been announced for the fourth annual Wiki Loves Monuments, now the world's largest photographic competition and one of the biggest events on the Wikimedia movement's calendar. ... The first prize has gone to David Gubler's photograph of a Swiss train crossing a viaduct.
News and notes One decade of Wikisource; FDC recommendations raise serious questions
2013-12-04
The sister project Wikisource, the digital library that hosts free-content primary sources, is now a decade old. Wikisource, which now has versions in 63 languages, is the sixth type of project to reach ten-year milestone and will be the last until 2016. The Wikimedia Foundation's volunteer Funds Dissemination Committee has published its recommendations to the Board of Trustees on 11 new applications for annual grants by 11 WMF-affiliated organisations. The maximum total budget for the current and upcoming March rounds is US$6M.
News and notes Foundation to Wiki-PR: cease and desist; Arbitration Committee elections starting
2013-11-20
The Wikimedia Foundation has sent a formal cease and desist letter to Wiki-PR—the public relations agency accused of breaking Wikipedia policies and guidelines by creating, editing, and maintaining several thousand articles for paying clients through a sophisticated array of accounts. The Foundation's attorneys, Cooley LLP, have demanded that Wiki-PR's employees abide by the site's Terms of Use and the language of a community ban from the English Wikipedia.
Special report FDC staff raise the benchmarks for activities, impact, planning, and governance
2013-11-13
The supporting staff of the Wikimedia Foundation’s powerful volunteer Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) have released their assessments for the third half-yearly round of funding applications. The applications for the newly named annual plan grants were submitted by affiliated entities on 1 October, and comprise a total of more than US$5M in bids.
News and notes Sex and drug tourism—Wikivoyage's soft underbelly?
2013-10-30
In January we raised several potentially troublesome issues for the Wikimedia movement in taking on Wikivoyage, including the apparent inadequacy of the English Wikivoyage sex-tourism policy, hurriedly strengthened against mention of child sex after our inquiries. However, both sex-tourism and illegal-activities policies remain equivocal about how the site should treat entries about sex tourism more generally, and drugs that are classed as illicit in almost every country. Yet the Signpost has found it remarkably easy to locate material in Wikivoyage that violates both the spirit and the letter of the policies.
News and notes Grantmaking season—rumblings in the German-language community
2013-10-23
The next twice-yearly round of Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) grantmaking is soon to close for community questioning and commentary. Ten nation-based Wikimedia chapters and one thematic organisation are asking for a total of more than US$5M of donors’ money from the Foundation’s renamed annual plan grant process. Aside from Wikimedia UK ($708k), the three biggest asks are from the German-speaking chapters: Wikimedia Germany is asking for $2.4M and Wikimedia Austria $311k; and the German-language-related Swiss chapter is applying for $500k.
News and notes WMF signals new grantmaking priorities
2013-10-02
In what will be remembered as a game-changing week for Wikimedia grantmaking, the Foundation's executive director, Sue Gardner, published a forthright and in places highly critical statement, Reflections on the FDC process, and grantmaking staff revealed that the WMF will significantly strengthen its targeting of optimal impact in funding.
Featured content Afrobeat
2013-08-21
Seventeen articles, three lists, and three pictures were promoted to "featured" status on the English Wikipedia this week.
News and notes Chapters Association self-destructs
2013-08-07
The opening days of the annual Wikimania, referred to as the "pre-conference", are not typically newsworthy. This changed dramatically when the Chapters Association council met on Thursday.
News and notes Gearing up for Wikimania 2013
2013-07-31
The ninth annual Wikimania conference will open in just over a week at the Jockey Club Auditorium, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Wikimania is for people worldwide who have an interest in Wikimedia Foundation projects. It features presentations and discussions on those projects, on free knowledge and content, and on related social and technical issues.
News and notes Wikimedia Foundation's new plans announced
2013-07-17
Last week the Wikimedia Foundation released its annual plan for July 2013 to June 2014. It provides a surprisingly frank view—of past achievements and failures, and future goals and risks—that could be afforded only by a non-profit that is confident and beholden to no commercial or political interests.
News and notes Wikimedia Foundation Board appoints world expert in women's issues, global south
2013-07-10
In apparent acknowledgment of the urgency of two issues facing the Wikimedia movement—the need to engage both women and the global south—the WMF Board has appointed Ana Toni as one of its four expert members. Toni will bring rare expertise to the movement, and the Signpost understands that her skills in advocacy and her key roles in international NGOs are likely to be a natural match with the WMF as the hub of disseminating free knowledge around the world.
News and notes Wikipedia's medical collaborations gathering pace
2013-07-03
Wikimania 2013 is to start in five weeks, and includes a presentation by James Heilman of Wiki Project Med and Lori Thicke, president of Translators Without Borders (TWB).
News and notes Election results released
2013-06-26
Less than three days after the close of voting, the volunteer election committee posted the results on Meta. The worldwide Wikimedia movement has elected three WMF trustees for two-year terms on the 10-seat Board: Samuel Klein (supported by 43.5% of voters), Phoebe Ayers (38.3%), and María Sefidari (35.6%). The new trustees will take their seats at a critical time for the movement: one of the first tasks in their terms will be to help the Board to find and approve the new executive director to take up the top job when Sue Gardner departs.
News and notes Swedish Wikipedia's millionth article leads to protests; WMF elections—where are all the voters?
2013-06-19
With erysichton elaborata, the Swedish Wikipedia passed the one million article Rubicon this week. While this is a mostly symbolic achievement, serving as a convenient benchmark with which to gain publicity and attention in an increasingly statistical world, the particular method by which the Swedish site has passed the mark has garnered significant attention—and controversy.
News and notes How Wikimedia affiliates are spending $8.4 million; PRISM scandal
2013-06-12
Late last year, the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) awarded $8.4 million in donors' money to 11 Wikimedia entities, including the Wikimedia Foundation and 10 nationally defined chapters. Under this arrangement, these organisations are required to issue quarterly reports on how far they have progressed towards their declared programmatic and financial goals. The FDC has now announced that all 11 completed and submitted their reports by the 1 April deadline, and have responded to each.
Foundation elections Candidates talk about the Meta problem, the nation-based chapter model, world languages, and value for money
2013-05-27
The elections for the three community seats on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees start on 8 June. This second and final part of the interview explores two broad themes: Meta, the site that hosts movement-wide coordination; and offline entities—the chapters and the new thematic organisations and user groups.
Foundation elections Trustee candidates speak about Board structure, China, gender, global south, endowment
2013-05-20
Nominations closed last Friday for the three community-elected seats on the Wikimedia Foundation's (WMF) ten-member Board of Trustees—the ultimate corporate authority of the worldwide WMF. The Board has influential roles and responsibilities over one of the most powerful global information sources on the Internet.
News and notes WMF–community ruckus on Wikimedia mailing list
2013-05-13
The removal of administrator rights from all volunteers on the Wikimedia Foundation's official website sparked a highly emotional reaction on the Wikimedia-l mailing list—one of the largest off-wiki methods of communication for the Wikimedia movement.
News and notes Candidates nominating for Foundation elections; Looking ahead to Wikimania 2014
2013-05-06
Although not yet in great numbers, candidates are coming forward for Wikimedia Foundation elections, which will be held from 1 to 15 June.
News and notes Chapter furore over FDC knockbacks; First DC GLAM boot-camp
2013-04-29
The Funds Dissemination Committee released its recommendations to the WMF board last Sunday. The news that the Hong Kong chapter's application for US$212K had failed was followed by a strongly worded resignation announcement by Deryck Chan on the public Wikimedia-l mailing-list.
News and notes Milan conference a mixed bag
2013-04-22
The Wikimedia Conference, for the first time, included groups that wish to be considered for WMF affiliation as thematic organisations.
News and notes Another admin reform attempt flops
2013-04-15
The most recent move to reform the requests for adminship process on the English Wikipedia has failed, after a complex and drawn-out three-step procedure for community input was subject to decreasing participation as time wore on and came up with no clear consensus.
News and notes French intelligence agents threaten Wikimedia volunteer
2013-04-08
Last Friday, the Wikimedia movement awoke to news that one of their number—Rémi Mathis, a French volunteer editor—had been summoned to the offices of the interior intelligence service DCRI and threatened with criminal charges and fines if he did not delete an article on the French Wikipedia about a radio station used by the French military.
Special report Who reads which Wikipedia? The WMF's surprising stats
2013-04-01
Who reads which Wikipedia?: Dutch-born Erik Zachte is the driver of the WMF's statistical output, and he writes that the "report card" and accompanying traffic statistics comprise "enough tables, bar charts and plots to keep you busy for a while".
News and notes Sue Gardner to leave WMF; German-language Wikipedians spearhead another effort to close Wikinews
2013-03-25
Sue Gardner to leave WMF; German Wikipedians spearhead another effort to close Wikinews: Ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world by Forbes, Gardner is widely associated with the rise of the Wikimedia movement as a major custodian of human knowledge and cultural products.
News and notes Resigning arbitrator slams Committee
2013-03-18
Just two months into his second term as an arbitrator on the English Wikipedia, Coren resigned from the Committee with a blistering attack on his fellow arbitrators, saying "it can no longer do the job it was ostensibly elected for".
Investigative report Ship ahoy! New travel site finally afloat
2013-01-14
After six years without creating a new class of content projects, the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) has finally expanded into a new area — travel.
News and notes 2012—the big year
2013-01-07
The movement, now in its second decade, is growing apace in its international reach, cultural and linguistic diversity, technical development, and financial complexity.
News and notes Debates on Meta sparking along—grants, new entities, and conflicts of interest
2012-12-24
The WMF is reforming its grant schemes and the community is invited to look at proposals for a new scheme — for now called "Individual Engagement Grants" — due to kick off on January 15.
News and notes Arbitrator election: stewards release the results
2012-12-17
Of the 21 candidates, 13 managed to gain positive support-to-oppose ratios, and the top eight will be appointed to two-year terms on the committee by Jimbo.
News and notes Wobbly start to ArbCom election, but turnout beats last year's
2012-12-10
At the time of writing, this year's election has just closed after a two-week voting period. The eight seats were contested by 21 candidates. Of these, 15 have not been arbitrators (Beeblebrox, Count Iblis, Guerillero, Jc37, Keilana, Ks0stm, Kww, NuclearWarfare, Pgallert, RegentsPark, Richwales, Salvio giuliano, Timotheus Canens, Worm That Turned, and YOLO Swag); four candidates are sitting arbitrators (David Fuchs, Elen of the Roads, Jclemens, and Newyorkbrad); and two have previously served on the committee (Carcharoth and Coren). Four Wikimedia stewards from outside the English Wikipedia stepped forward as election scrutineers: Pundit, from the Polish Wikipedia; Teles, from the Portuguese Wikipedia; Quentinv57, from the French Wikipedia; and Mardetanha, from the Persian Wikipedia. The scrutineers' task is to ensure that the election is free of multiple votes from the same person, to tally the results, and to announce them. The full results are expected to be released within the next few days and will be reported in next week's edition of the Signpost.
News and notes Wiki Loves Monuments announces 2012 winner
2012-12-03
The global jury of Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM), the world’s largest photo contest, announced its results on 3 December.
News and notes FDC's financial muscle kicks in
2012-11-19
The WMF's Funds Dissemination Committee has published its recommendations for the inaugural round 1 of funding. Requests totalled US$10.4M, nearly all of the FDC's budget for both first and second rounds. The seven-member committee of community volunteers appointed in September advises the WMF board on the distribution of grant funds among applying Wikimedia organizations. The committee, which has a separate operating budget of $276k for salaries and expenses, considered 12 applications for funds, from 11 chapters and from the WMF itself for its non-core activities. The decision-making process included community and FDC staff input after October 1, the closing date for submissions. Taken together, the volunteers decided to endorse an average of 81% of the funding sought—a total of $8.43M, which went to 11 of the 12 applicants. This leaves $2.71M to be distributed in round 2, for which applications are due in little more than three months' time.
News and notes Court ruling complicates the paid-editing debate
2012-11-12
Last week, media outlets reported a ruling by a German court on the problem of businesses using Wikipedia for marketing purposes. The issue goes beyond the direct management of marketing-related edits by Wikipedians; it involves cross-monitoring and interacting among market competitors themselves on Wikipedia. A company that sells dietary supplements made from frankincense had taken a competitor to court. The recently published judgment by the Higher Regional Court of Munich, in dealing with the German Wikipedia article on frankincense products, was handed down in May and is based on European competition law.
News and notes First chickens come home to roost for FDC funding applicants; WMF board discusses governance issues and scope of programs
2012-10-29
The first round of the Wikimedia Foundation's new financial arrangements has proceeded as planned, with the publication of scores and feedback by Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) staff on applications for funding by 11 entities—10 chapters, independent membership organisations supporting the WMF's mission in different countries, and the foundation itself. The results are preliminary assessments that will soon be put to the FDC's seven voting members and two non-voting board representatives. The FDC in turn will send its recommendations to the board of trustees on 15 November, which will announce its decision by 15 December. Funding applications have been on-wiki since 1 October, and the talk pages of applications were open for community comment and discussion from 2 to 22 October, though apart from queries by FDC staff, there was little activity.
News and notes Wikimedians get serious about women in science
2012-10-22
It is well known that women are underrepresented in the sciences, and that high-achieving female scientists have often been excluded from authorship lists and passed over for awards and honours solely on the basis of gender. Also significant has been the underplaying in the academic literature, news reporting, and online, of women's current and historical contributions to science.
News and notes Chapters ask for big bucks
2012-10-15
The volunteer-led Wikimedia Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and interested community members are looking at Wikimedia organization applications worth about US$10.4 million out of the committee's first full year's operation, in just the inaugural round one of two that have been planned for the year with a planned budget of US$11.4M.
Technology report WMF and the German chapter face up to Toolserver uncertainty
2012-10-01
The Toolserver is an external service hosting the hundreds of webpages and scripts (collectively known as "tools") that assist Wikimedia communities in dozens of mostly menial tasks. Few people think that it has been operating well recently; the problems, which include high database replication lag and periods of total downtime, have caused considerable disruption to the Toolserver's usual functions. Those functions are highly valued by many Wikimedia communities ... In 2011, the Foundation announced the creation of Wikimedia Labs, a much better funded project that among other things aimed to mimic the Toolserver's functionality by mid-2013. At the same time, Erik Möller, the WMF's director of engineering, announced that the Foundation would no longer be supporting the Toolserver financially, but would continue to provide the same in-kind support as it had done previously.
News and notes Independent review of UK chapter governance; editor files motion against Wikitravel owners
2012-10-01
Following considerable online and media reportage on the Gibraltar controversy and a Signpost report last week, the Wikimedia UK chapter and the foundation published a joint statement on September 28: "To better understand the facts and details of these allegations and to ensure that governance arrangements commensurate with the standing of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia UK and the worldwide Wikimedia movement, Wikimedia UK's trustees and the Wikimedia Foundation will jointly appoint an independent expert advisor to objectively review both Wikimedia UK's governance arrangements and its handling of the conflict of interest."
News and notes UK chapter rocked by Gibraltar scandal
2012-09-24
In the second controversy to engulf Wikimedia UK in two months, its immediate past chair Roger Bamkin has resigned from the board of the chapter following a growing furore over a conflict of interest.
News and notes Tens of thousands of monuments loved; members of new funding body announced
2012-09-17
The world's largest photo competition, Wiki Loves Monuments, is entering its final two weeks. The month-long event, of Dutch origin, is being held globally for the first time after the success of its European-level predecessor last year. During September 2011 more than 5000 volunteers from 18 countries took part and uploaded 168,208 free images. This year, volunteers and chapters from 35 countries around the world have organised the event. The best photographs will be determined by juries at the national and finally the global level.
Special report Lawsuit filed against two Wikipedians
2012-09-10
Two Wikipedians set to face jury trial : In dramatic events that came to light last week, two English Wikipedia volunteers—Doc James (James Heilman) and Wrh2 (Ryan Holliday)—are being sued in the Los Angeles County Superior Court by Internet Brands, the owner of Wikitravel.com. Both Wikipedians have also been volunteer Wikitravel editors (and in Holliday's case, a volunteer administrator). IB's complaints focus on both editors' encouragement of their fellow Wikitravel volunteers to migrate to a proposed non-commercial travel guidance site that would be under the umbrella of the WMF.
News and notes World's largest photo competition kicks off; WMF legal fees proposal
2012-09-03
Last year's Wiki Loves Monuments event resulted in the submission of an extraordinary 168,208 images from 18 countries, the world's largest photographic competition. The 2012 event — just opened and running for the full month of September — has required input from chapters and volunteers in 35 countries.
News and notes Tough journey for new travel guide
2012-08-27
Wikimedia editors have been debating a community proposal for the adoption of a new project to host free travel-guide content. The debate reached a new stage when a three-month request for comment on Meta came to an end, with a decision to set up the first new type of Wikimedia project in half a decade. The original proposal for the travel guide unfolded during April on Meta and the Wikimedia-l mailing lists, centring around the wish of volunteer contributors to the WikiTravel project to work in a non-commercial environment.
News and notes Core content competition in full swing; Wikinews fork taken offline
2012-08-20
The Core Contest is a month-long competition among editors to improve Wikipedia's most important "core" articles—especially those that are in a relatively poor state. Core articles, such as Music, Computer, and Philosophy, tend to lie in the trunk of the tree of knowledge; by analogy, featured-and good-article processes generally attract more specialist topics out on the branches.
News and notes Bangla-language survey suggests the challenges for small Wikipedias
2012-08-13
The Bangla language, also known as Bengali, is spoken by some 200 million people in Bangladesh and India. The Bangla Wikipedia has a very small active community of about ten to fifteen very active editors, with another 35–40 as less active editors. The project faces particular challenges in being a small Wikipedia, and Dhaka-based WMF community fellow User:Tanvir Rahman is working to understand these challenges and to develop strategies that can improve small wikis that have strong potential to expand their editing communities.
News and notes Wikimedians and London 2012; WMF budget – staffing, engineering, editor retention effort, and the global South
2012-07-30
Wikimedians and London 2012; WMF budget – staffing, engineering, editor retention effort, and the global South; Telegraph{{'}}s cheap shot at WP: Wikimedia Foundation published its Annual Plan, focusing on technical improvements, editor retention, and structural reforms over the coming year. The movement's total revenue, including almost all chapter funding, is slated to rise by 35%, from $34.2 million to $46.1 million, and global spending to more than $42.1 million. The foundation's own core spending will grow by 15% to $30.2 million in 2012–13.
News and notes Chapter head speaks about the aftermath of Russian Wikipedia shutdown
2012-07-23
Two weeks ago the Signpost reported that the Russian Wikipedia had just begun a 24-hour blackout in protest at a bill that was before the Russian parliament that proposed mechanisms to block IP addresses and DNS records. The protest, implemented after on-wiki consensus was reached during the preceding days, concerned the potential of the amendment to the information law to allow extra-judicial censorship of the internet in Russia, including the closure of access to the Russian Wikipedia. Among the questions now are how effective the blackout was and where we go from here in terms of internet freedom in one of the world's biggest and most influential countries.
Special report Chapters Association mired in controversy over new chair
2012-07-16
User:Fæ was elected as the inaugural chair of the new Wikimedia Chapters Association, despite the controversies that have surrounded Fæ on the English Wikipedia and Commons, most recently aired in a live case before the Arbitration Committee. This is in marked contrast with unexciting movement, during the Wikimania meeting, on the most important issues facing the establishment of the association.
Special report Reforming the education programs: lessons from Cairo
2012-07-09
The Schools and universities program started in 2003 and evolved case by case with little system. But in 2009, as Wikimedia embarked on its formal strategic process, outreach in higher education came to be seen in terms of achieving explicit goals — especially that of increasing editor participation.
News and notes Russian Wikipedia shuts down to fight censorship threat; E3 team and new tools; Wikitravel proposal bogged down
2012-07-09
Russian Wikipedia blackout; WMF tools; Wikitravel proposal revisited: A protest against Russian State Duma Bill 89417-6, a draconian internet censorship bill. "Today, the Wikipedia community protests against censorship as a threat to free knowledge that is open to all mankind. We ask that you oppose this bill."
News and notes Wikimedia Foundation endorses open-access petition to the White House; pending changes RfC ends
2012-05-28
News and notes Showdown as featured article writer openly solicits commercial opportunities
2012-04-30
News and notes WMF on the looming SOPA blackout, Wikipedia turns 11, and Commons passes 12 million files
2012-01-16
News and notes Arb's resignation sparks lightning RfC, Fundraiser 2011 off to a strong start, GLAM in Qatar
2011-11-28
News and notes Last-minute candidates for ArbCom, the Sue Gardner European Tour hits London
2011-11-21
Featured content Brazil's boom-time dreams of naval power: The ed17 explains the background to a new featured topic
2011-10-17
Featured content Historic last launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour; Teddy Roosevelt's threat to behead official; 18th-century London sex manual
2011-07-18
News and notes WMF Board election results; Indian campus ambassadors gear up; Wikimedia UK plans; Malayalam Wikisource CD; brief news
2011-06-20
News and notes Board resolution on controversial content; WMF Summer of Research; indigenous workshop; brief news
2011-06-06
News and notes ArbCom referendum goes live; US National Archives residency; financial planning; brief news
2011-05-30
Featured content Whipping fantasies, American–British naval rivalry, and a medieval mix of purity and eroticism
2011-05-30
Arbitration report 23 editors submit evidence in 'Shakespeare' case, Longevity case awaits proposed decision, and more
2011-01-24
Features and admins First featured picture from the legally disputed NPG images; two Chicago icons
2011-01-17
News and notes ArbCom tally pending; Pediapress renderer; fundraiser update; unreferenced BLP drive
2010-12-06
News and notes French million, controversial content, Citizendium charter, Pending changes, and more
2010-09-27
In the news WikiLeaks and Wikipedia; Google–WP collaboration to translate health information
2010-09-06