WikiEN-l July 2012

wikien-l@lists.wikimedia.org

26 participants
16 discussions

"Wikipedia: Meet the men and women who write the articles"
by Katie Chan 31 Jul '12

31 Jul '12

Wikipedia: Meet the men and women who write the articles <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18833763> KTC -- Experience is a good school but the fees are high. - Heinrich Heine

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Re: [WikiEN-l] [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] 2012-13 Annual Plan of the Wikimedia Foundation
by John Vandenberg 30 Jul '12

30 Jul '12

On Jul 30, 2012 7:18 AM, "Tilman Bayer" <tbayer(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > > On Sun, Jul 29, 2012 at 4:37 AM, Florence Devouard <anthere9(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > On 7/28/12 5:58 AM, Tilman Bayer wrote: > >> > >> Hi all, > >> > >> the Wikimedia Foundation's 2012-13 Annual Plan has just been published at > >> > >> > >> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/File:2012-13_Wikimedia_Foundation_Plan… > >> > >> accompanied by a Q&A: > >> > >> > >> https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/2012-2013_Annual_Plan_Questions_and_An… > >> > >> The plan was approved by the Board of Trustees at its meeting in > >> Washington, DC, at Wikimania, and previously outlined to the > >> Foundation staff and interested community members at the monthly staff > >> meeting on July 5, 2012. We were planning to publish the video > >> recording of that meeting at this point, but encountered technical > >> difficulties; the video will hopefully become available soon. > >> > > > > Slide 8 : "How are we doing against the 2012 targets" > > > > I was stopped by > > > > "The Global Education Program is now the largest-ever systematic effort of > > the Wikimedia mouvement to boost high quality content creation, with a > > projected addition of 19 million characters to Wikipedia through student > > assignements 2011-2012" > > > > OF COURSE, we all know that WMF needs to glorify what it is actually > > initiating/in charge of. And that's fair enough. > > > > But seriously... I would feel fine with us trying to claim that the GEP is > > the largest system effort to INCREASE the number of articles. It is probably > > true. > > > > But we all know that the result is... so and so. Possibly good content, but > > also lot's of crap being reverted and deleted afterwards. Claiming it is the > > largest effort to boost high quality content is not only disingenous... but > > I actually find it counter productive and a tiny bit offensive toward the > > actual community. > > > > High quality content simply does NOT come from newbie students. > > Over the last years, the Foundation has been trying to base decisions > and evaluations more often on objective data and research rather than > on personal opinions and impressions. > > Of course, here the term "high quality" does not necessarily mean, > say, featured content (e.g. on the English Wikipedia, featured > articles currently make up less than 0.1% of the total articles), but > instead refers to comparisons with average contributions. > > Someone from the Education Program will be able to give a more > thorough overview of the efforts to evaluate its results, but for > example I'm aware of > https://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/04/19/wikipedia-education-program-stats-fal… Ive asked for more info at http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research_talk:Wikipedia_Education_Program_ev… > . The quantitative method used there has its limitations, but similar > methods are employed in independent (i.e non-WMF) research about > Wikipedia in the academic literature. Do you have links to any relevant studies of the GEP? -- John Vandenberg

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Other mailing lists
by Carcharoth 30 Jul '12

30 Jul '12

On 7/30/12, David Gerard <dgerard(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On 30 July 2012 14:49, Carcharoth <carcharothwp(a)googlemail.com> wrote: > >> PPS. It strikes me that what I said here is better said on the >> wikimediauk-l mailing list. Is it possible to subscribe to that >> without having joined WM-UK? > > > Yeah, it's just an ordinary Wikimedia mailing list. For "Wikimedians > in the UK or interested in the UK", not necessarily WMUK members > exclusively. Though for obvious reasons much of it is about WMUK > stuff. > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l (changed the subject line) Thanks. I have noticed (from browsing archives) that some other mailing lists (the wikimedia-l one for example) are a lot more active. That is part of the reason I've stayed out of such discussions, to be honest, and just lurked and read archives of such lists. I suspect the wikimediauk-l list is similar. I might be tempted to say too much too often. But it's good to have the details. Carcharoth

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Fwd: [Wikimediauk-l] Mozilla teams up with Wikimedia UK for an Editathon - 18 August, London
by David Gerard 30 Jul '12

30 Jul '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Daria Cybulska <daria.cybulska(a)wikimedia.org.uk> Date: 30 July 2012 09:45 Subject: [Wikimediauk-l] Mozilla teams up with Wikimedia UK for an Editathon - 18 August, London To: UK Wikimedia mailing list <wikimediauk-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org> Dear All, Mozilla UK has been supportive to Wikimedia UK and since they opened their Mozilla Spaces venue, they were keen that we use it needed for events. What we realised is that some of the articles relating to Mozilla, Firefox etc. in Wikipedia are not quite of the high standard they could be. And so we thought it would be a neighbourly thing to do to have a "Mozilla-related Editahton" - the aim would be to turn a list of about 15 Mozilla-related articles into content perhaps worthy of being a Good Article. The sprint will be on Saturday 18 August, starting at 12PM at the Mozilla offices (London WC2N 4AZ). Lunch and snacks will be provided, as will Mozilla people who can be consulted regarding good sources for information. Do come along and help our our free culture colleagues :-) For more info and to sign up please visit http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Editathon You can also email me with any questions. Many thanks, Daria -- Daria Cybulska - Events Organiser, Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 207 065 0994 +44 7803 505 170 -- Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents. Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited, a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). _______________________________________________ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediauk-l(a)wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org

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Categorisation by gender
by Andrew Gray 29 Jul '12

29 Jul '12

Hi all, The English Wikipedia categorises biographies by gender in some circumstances (eg athletes), but not systematically in the way that German does - there are no supercategories of "Men", "Women", etc, designed to list all members of those groups, and plenty of biography articles have no "gendered" categories. There are, of course, good reasons to avoid this, and conversely good reasons to do it... but I'm wondering why we do it this way. I remember it being referred to many years ago as long-standing practice, but I've dug around a bit in the discussion archives and can't seem to pin it down. It's probably pre-2004, maybe even pre-2003 - anyone remember? -- - Andrew Gray andrew.gray(a)dunelm.org.uk

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Re: [WikiEN-l] Subject: IRC office hours on English Wikipedia Dispute Resolution
by Steven Zhang 28 Jul '12

28 Jul '12

Hi all, Just a reminder - the below session starts in 20 minutes. Steven Zhang Community Fellow, Wikimedia Foundation szhang(a)wikimedia.org On 24/07/2012, at 9:31 AM, Steven Zhang <szhang(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I'd like to invite you all to an IRC Office Hours this coming Saturday, 28th July 2012 at 19:00 UTC in #wikimedia-office (time zone information: http://tinyurl.com/bq74jux). > > In this meeting, I will be there to answer any questions about my fellowship - what I've been doing, what I've learned and what my plans are. I'll also appreciate any feedback, comments or suggestions on things that I could work on, or on dispute resolution in general. > > Please mark this date in your calendar if you wish to participate in the > discussion. I will send a reminder about this on Friday. > > Regards, > > Steven Zhang > Community Fellow, Wikimedia Foundation > szhang(a)wikimedia.org > >

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Subject: IRC office hours on English Wikipedia Dispute Resolution
by Steven Zhang 28 Jul '12

28 Jul '12

Hi all, Just a follow up - the below IRC office hours will take place in about 12 hours from now in #wikimedia-office. Hope to see lots of you there. Steven Zhang Community Fellow, Wikimedia Foundation szhang(a)wikimedia.org On 24/07/2012, at 9:31 AM, Steven Zhang <szhang(a)wikimedia.org> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I'd like to invite you all to an IRC Office Hours this coming Saturday, 28th July 2012 at 19:00 UTC in #wikimedia-office (time zone information: http://tinyurl.com/bq74jux). > > In this meeting, I will be there to answer any questions about my fellowship - what I've been doing, what I've learned and what my plans are. I'll also appreciate any feedback, comments or suggestions on things that I could work on, or on dispute resolution in general. > > Please mark this date in your calendar if you wish to participate in the > discussion. I will send a reminder about this on Friday. > > Regards, > > Steven Zhang > Community Fellow, Wikimedia Foundation > szhang(a)wikimedia.org > >

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Coming soon to a wiki near you: Meet a Wikipedian or staff!
by Rob Schnautz 28 Jul '12

28 Jul '12

Ladies and Gentlemen: Beginning Wednesday (August 1st), two-way communication between English Wikipedia editors and Wikipedia Education Program staff in the San Francisco office will no longer need to be directed through a middle-man anymore for translation. I encourage anyone of either party needing to communicate to the other party to check out the new Google Translate option that translates between WMFese English and Wikipedian English. I’d like to thank everyone I’ve worked with and around who has helped make this one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve ever worked. I’ve had a wonderful time working with the amazing folks at the Foundation on the United States, Canada, and India Education Programs, as well as with the other community liaisons. I’ve never had the opportunity to work in such a cheerful and supportive environment as this. I wish all of you the best as you fill in any gaps I leave behind—I know you’ve got some big challenges ahead of you the next several months. English Wikipedians, you haven’t seen the last of me yet! [[:en:User:Bob the Wikipedian]] is about to come out of hibernation. As for the IRC clan, it was great getting to know you, and I sure hope this won’t be the last opportunity I get to interact with most of you. You may now resume normal chat (if there’s such a thing) knowing that the only staff watching you during my former office hours is Ironholds. (Please be gentle with him on occasion, though!) It’s been very exciting to see the Wikipedia Education Program from a staff perspective and to relay messages to the community. Likewise, it was interesting to see how the editing community felt about the Wikipedia Education Program, and to share those feelings with my manager and coworkers—that’s an experience they don’t teach you in computer science courses! From questions and comments to even the biggest complaints—I’ve enjoyed providing my services to you all. This job has opened my eyes to a whole new career path for me to explore in online community liaising. I think any of you Wikipedia editors and staff will agree with me that having a roof over one’s head and a working Internet connection are two of the most valuable privileges life has to offer, so here’s a link to my résumé in the event someone out there has (or knows of) an opening for which they’d like to consider me: http://www.massmirror.com/50136cb944818 If you do plan on responding to this email, please make sure you include my permanent email address bobthewikipedian(a)gmail.com —thanks! Adios, y’all! Rob Schnautz Online Communications Contractor Global Development Wikimedia Foundation Evansville, Indiana, U.S. P.S. I don’t have any plans at the moment to quit my volunteer work as regional ambassador for the Wikipedia Education Program to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Kentucky. So Jami, and all my fellow volunteers, see you on the other side!

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BBC: "Meet the 'bots' that edit Wikipedia"
by Katie Chan 25 Jul '12

25 Jul '12

Meet the 'bots' that edit Wikipedia - <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18892510> KTC -- Experience is a good school but the fees are high. - Heinrich Heine

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Why Wikipedia needs flagged revisions – an example
by Andreas Kolbe 15 Jul '12

15 Jul '12

Wikipedia needs flagged revisions, so that anonymous edits are approved by someone who is actually committed to the idea of building an encyclopedia, rather than to malice or lulz. Here is an example: half the internet (and at least one book on haircare) thinks that Erica Feldman or Ian Gutgold invented the hair straightener, based on schoolkid vandalism in Wikipedia 6 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hair_iron&diff=prev&oldid=69632841 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hair_iron&diff=next&oldid=69632841 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hair_iron&diff=114547823&oldid=11… That vandalism is listed on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_hoaxes_on_Wikipedia and is also one of the top 5 trolls listed here http://houseofgeekery.com/2012/02/13/toptroll/ ---o0o--- *4) Erica Feldman* I imagine writer Li Mei Rong wasn’t taught in school that Wikipedia isn’t legitimate reference material, but she’d likely be well in the know now. In 2006, Erica Feldman and a classmate decided to place Erica’s name over Madam C. J.Walker’s as the inventor of the hair straightener. Originating on Wikipedia, it soon spread all over the internet, and into Li Mei Rong’s book, that Erica Feldman was in fact the inventor of the straightening iron. The hoax still lives on today, even after Wikipedia finally fixed it two and a half years later. Just Google Erica Feldman, or “Who invented the Hair Straightener?” and you’ll surely see the reach of this. ---o0o--- It is back in Wikipedia right now: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hair_iron&oldid=502211997 "It is generally acknowledged that Ian Gutgold was the first to experiment with hard chemicals to straighten hair, but this often resulted in burnt scalps." Of course, it cites a source: a website that copied it from Wikipedia. (The actual inventor of the hair straightener, before the Wikipedia vandalism, was Madam C J Walker.) Wikipedia is spreading lies as well as knowledge. With 4 million articles, editors are stretched much too thinly to ensure quality control under the present set-up.

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WikiEN-l July 2012