Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF's New Global South Strategy

[Abbas Mahmood]

+1 to the questions Heather asked. Especially the South Africa issue.

Abbas.

> Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 06:36:17 +0200
> From: heather.f...@oii.ox.ac.uk
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] WMF's New Global South Strategy
> 
> I'm sorry I'm coming so late to this but I've been thinking about this a
> lot and there are two questions that I still have that have been bugging me
> that perhaps you might clarify, Asaf.
> 
> The first is why South Africa isn't included in the strategy. The more I
> think about it, the more I think that it seems like a glaring omission and
> so I keep thinking that there is something I'm not considering. If the
> Foundation used 'active editing community' as a benchmark, South Africa has
> a really strong editing community in Afrikaans Wikipedia as well as a
> strong chapter that is interested in extending this success to other local
> languages and to broader editing of Wikipedia within the region - a region
> that is very poorly represented on WP and would benefit from more
> assistance and advice from the Foundation.
> 
> The second is your point about research not being at your disposal at the
> Foundation. I'm curious about why research isn't part of your strategy. It
> seems to me that this would be the perfect opportunity to engage in more
> research to understand what kinds of challenges people are facing, what
> conditions make a local project successful, and also, about what kinds of
> projects are useful in their symbolic effects rather than focusing only on
> scale. I know that research capacity at the Foundation might be strained by
> there are always opportunities for collaboration with the research
> community, as well as incentives for researchers to engage in research that
> the Foundation really needs.
> 
> Hoping you can shed some light on this!
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Best,
> Heather.
> 
> 
> On 30 August 2013 17:24, Asaf Bartov  wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 12:51 AM, Anders Wennersten <
> > m...@anderswennersten.se> wrote:
> >
> > > Thanks for sharing this, giving me an insight into an area where I myself
> > > have little first-hand experience
> > >
> > > [..]
> >
> > > But what about the key issue: What are the parameters that makes a active
> > > community to be created and also be sustainable? We have a lot of
> > anecdotal
> > > stories and a lot of subjective opinions, but have there ever been done a
> > > professional study taking an analytical approach, using many different of
> > > our communities as input to find the critical parameters that creates
> > > success or hampers/disintegrate active communities?
> > >
> >
> > Not to my knowledge.  I explicitly state that this is a tough nut to crack,
> > i.e. that we don't yet know how to create that sustained core of
> > self-motivated active editors.  It's very much worth studying, but I don't
> > have a research department at my disposal.  If and when research brings us
> > some proposed solutions (we must not assume in advance that there is
> > precisely one way in which such cores come into existence), I'll be first
> > in line to listen and learn.  For now, with so much work to be done where
> > we _do_ have a core of active editors, we'll focus on working with those.
> >
> > As stressed in the presentation, while we won't _actively_ try to make
> > something happen where there is no active editing community (e.g. Namibia,
> > Suriname, Botswana, Afghanistan), we remain open to experimentation with
> > _community initiatives_ anywhere in the world, via our grantmaking programs
> > as well as any advice, networking, etc. we can extend to support such
> > initiatives.
> >
> >Asaf
> > --
> > Asaf Bartov
> > Wikimedia Foundation 
> >
> > 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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> >
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] WikiReaders4Kids

[Abbas Mahmood]

All the best, Victor!
Abbas.

> Date: Sun, 5 May 2013 12:46:22 -0300
> From: t...@wikimedia.org
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> CC: wikimediab...@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] WikiReaders4Kids
> 
> That is a cool project. Congrats, Victor.
> 
> I've a wikireader with me someone gave a few years ago. Have someone tried
> to install a Wikipedia of another language? I will try <
> http://dev.thewikireader.com/language-packs/> sometime soon (alguém da WMBR
> com mais tempo, se quiser, fale comigo).
> 
> What about using their software  on Linux? If
> you were successfull with that, please, let me know. Their apps are just
> for Windows and Mac stuff.
> 
> I'll check if'd possible to have these machines sold somehow in South
> America. Ideas? At least we still don't have at our recent Amazon <
> http://www.amazon.com.br/> site.
> 
> Maybe it would be good to suggest wikireader producers to have the hardware
> source open as well, if that don't make they go bankrupt. Who knows we
> could produce locally.
> 
> Tom
> 
> 
> On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 1:27 AM, Victor Grigas  wrote:
> 
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > My partner and I just started a campaign on Indiegogo.com to raise funds to
> > buy all remaining WikiReaders and distribute them to schools and kids in
> > places that don't have internet at no charge to the schools and kids.
> >
> > The campaign is here:
> > http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-us-distribute-wikireaders-to-kids
> >
> > The video is here:
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j07ROeiaFg0
> >
> > Please consider funding the campaign and if you can't fund the campaign,
> > please share the link with others!
> >
> > While I am an employee of the Wikimedia Foundation, I am doing this
> > entirely as a volunteer.
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > --
> >
> > *Victor Grigas*
> > Storyteller 
> > Wikimedia Foundation
> > vgri...@wikimedia.org
> > +1 (415) 839-6885 x 6773
> > 149 New Montgomery Street 6th floor
> > San Francisco, CA 94105
> > https://donate.wikimedia.org/
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Everton Zanella Alvarenga (also Tom)
> "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful
> than a life spent doing nothing."
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Resignation announcement, and a parting remark to everyone

[Abbas Mahmood]

Hi Christophe,

> From: christophe.hen...@gmail.com
> Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:07:45 +0200
> To: dger...@gmail.com
> CC: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Resignation announcement,  and a parting remark to 
> everyone
> As I said in my previous email:
> * Most of the chapters should go through the GAC first, to get used
> with a formal process 
Uhm, isn't this what is already happening? All those who are eligible for FDC 
funding have already gone through the normal Grants Program a multiple times.
> * We need the first employee/office space budget being a specific GAC
> or FDC process (there's pros and cons in having one or the other
> handling it). Because let's be honest, the actual FDC process is way
> to heavy for those needs and the GAC is not meant to handle such
> requests

I'm sorry I don't understand that "you need a specific GAC process..." Do you 
mind rephrasing?
Thanks,Abbas. 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2013 scholarship now accepting application

[Abbas Mahmood]

> From: liamwy...@gmail.com
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:47:06 +
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimania 2013 scholarship now accepting   
> application
> 
> 
> " Hong Kong is an international gourmet paradise. Please use less than 200
> words to describe your favourite dish of food."
> 
> Is this an English-language test? Or, is this to help determine the best
> catering options? Or something else?

+1 to what Liam asked. I honestly don't understand the premise of that question 
in the scholarship application form.
Abbas.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Using the Wikipedia logo for Wikimedia South Africa projects

[Abbas Mahmood]

David,
You should probably contact Jay Walsh or any one from WMF Legal and ask for 
permission.
Abbas.

> From: davidrichfi...@gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:22:31 +0200
> To: foundatio...@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Using the Wikipedia logo for Wikimedia South Africa
> projects
> 
> Hi,
> 
> We are working with the City of Johannesburg to tag heritage sites, in
> a project called JoburgpediA.  The proposed logo has the Wikipedia
> Globe as one of the elements: is this acceptable?  Also, if we will be
> putting up plaques which include the Wikipedia logo on buildings, what
> approval do we need?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> --
> David Richfield
> [[:en:User:Slashme]]
> +27718539985
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] [Wikimedia Announcements] Fwd: Announcement: Wikimedia Foundation restructure (Global Dev & Engineering)

[Abbas Mahmood]

Hi Sue,

What will happen to Oona once she identifies a suitable org willing to take 
over the Brazil programs?

Abbas.
  
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Wikimedia Serbia office

[Abbas Mahmood]

Congratulations to Mile and Wikimedia Serbia :-)
Abbas.
> On 20 November 2012 23:09, Filip Maljkovic  wrote:
> 
> > Hello everyone,
> >
> > I'm writing to inform you that Wikimedia Serbia has opened an office in
> > Belgrade starting November 1, thanks to the grant by WMF [1]. That means
> > that we have our first employee, which is very exciting for us, but also
> > brings a lot of responsibilities.
> >
> > So, the office is located in Bulevar Kralja Aleksandra (King Alexander
> > Boulevard) 20, which is in the city center, on the fifth floor, with a view
> > on the National Assembly building, the main post office building, church of
> > Saint Mark and Trg Nikole Pašića, one of the two central squares. Anyone
> > who's been to Belgrade can attest that this is one of the most central and
> > most beautiful parts of the city. :)
> >
> > The office space is about 95 square meters and we're still in the process
> > of buying furniture and equipment, but our conference room is pretty much
> > set. We'll use the antechamber (which is quite large by itself) to display
> > the 15 finalist photos from the WLM contest 2012 (we've just had a ceremony
> > of announcing winners and exhibiting them in a local gallery).
> >
> > Our employee is Mile Kiš, our General Secretary. He's been a tremendous
> > help for us in the past years and he's been doing more than full time work
> > for us as a volunteer, so I'm especially glad that he's going to be able to
> > help us as an employee, as well as be able to work on his personal
> > professionalization.
> >
> > [1] 
> > http://meta.wikimedia.org/**wiki/Grants:WM_RS/Annual_plan_**2012-2013
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Filip Maljković
> > Vice-president
> > Wikimedia Serbia
> >
> > __**_
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> > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.**org 
> > Unsubscribe: 
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/**mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Nicole Ebber
> Projektmanagerin
> 
> Wikimedia Deutschland e.V. | Obentrautstr. 72 | 10963 Berlin
> Tel. +49 30 219158 26-0
> 
> http://wikimedia.de
> 
> Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.
> Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts Berlin-Charlottenburg unter
> der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für
> Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/681/51985.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: FDC recommendations on funds allocation, Round 1, 2012-13

[Abbas Mahmood]

> From: rupert.thur...@gmail.com
> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2012 08:01:49 +
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fwd: FDC recommendations on funds allocation, 
> Round 1, 2012-13
> 
> i (personally :) ) would like to have more details as well. especially
> how FDC calculated the amount they found acceptable.

+1
Abbas.
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Minutes of 11 July Board meeting, Agenda of 26-27 Oct Board meeting

[Abbas Mahmood]

Dear Bishakha,

Thanks for sharing the minutes. Is Sue's presentation (slides?), which has been 
referred to in the minutes, publicly available?

Thanks,
Abbas.

> Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2012 08:14:34 -0700
> From: bishakhada...@gmail.com
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Minutes of 11 July Board meeting,  Agenda of 26-27 
> Oct Board meeting
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> The minutes of our board meeting of 11 July 2012 were ratified yesterday,
> and have been published at:
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Minutes/2012-07-11
> 
> The agenda of our board meeting of 26-27 October 2012 (ongoing) has now
> been published at:
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Board_meetings#October_26-27.2C_2012
> 
> Questions and comments, as always, are welcome.
> 
> Best
> Bishakha
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Upcoming: WMF metrics/activities meeting - November 1

[Abbas Mahmood]

Erik,

This is wonderful news! Will you be rotating the time of the meetings to 
accommodate different timezones?

Thanks,
Abbas.

> Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:16:24 -0400
> From: meta...@gmail.com
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Upcoming: WMF metrics/activities meeting - 
> November 1
> 
> +100
> 
> On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 7:37 PM, Richard Symonds
>  wrote:
> > Fantastic! Live youtube streams are an incredible idea. Great to see the
> > movement taking advantage of the rest of the tools the internet has to
> > offer. Thanks to all involved!
> >
> > Richard Symonds, Wikimedia UK
> > On Oct 19, 2012 12:29 AM, "Erik Moeller"  wrote:
> >
> >> Hi folks,
> >>
> >> I'm pleased to announced that the next WMF metrics and activities
> >> meeting is going to be the first one that'll be live-streamed on
> >> YouTube with an open IRC backchannel.
> >>
> >> The meeting will take place November 1, 2012 at 5:30 PM UTC. The IRC
> >> channel is #wikimedia-metrics-meetings [1] on irc.freenode.net.
> >>
> >> The current structure of the meeting is:
> >> * Review of key metrics including the monthly report card, but also
> >> specialized reports and analytics
> >> * Review of financials
> >> * Welcoming recent hires
> >> * Brief presentations on recent projects, with a focus on highest
> >> priority initiatives
> >> * Update and Q&A with the Executive Director, if available
> >>
> >> Please review
> >> https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Metrics_and_activities_meetings
> >> for further information about how to participate.
> >>
> >> We'll post IRC logs and the video recording publicly after the meeting.
> >>
> >> All best,
> >> Erik
> >>
> >> [1] I'm open to just using #wikimedia or another channel if folks
> >> would prefer that, but didn't want to assume that it's OK to hog the
> >> channel :)
> >>
> >> --
> >> Erik Möller
> >> VP of Engineering and Product Development, Wikimedia Foundation
> >>
> >> Support Free Knowledge: https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
> >>
> >> ___
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Samuel Klein  @metasj   w:user:sj  +1 617 529 4266
> 
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Al-Jazeera English "Fault Lines" report on SOPA

[Abbas Mahmood]

Thanks for sharing! Interesting piece.
Abbas.

> From: mr...@wikimedia.org
> Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2012 14:10:01 -0700
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Al-Jazeera English "Fault Lines" report on SOPA
> 
> This is a segment in the Fault Lines series on AJE about SOPA, the Blackout
> and other issues around "Controlling the Web."
> 
> Features some footage of the WMF offices and clips from Jimmy, among many
> others.
> http://youtu.be/6FD9urcUWXw
> 
> thanks
> Matthew
> 
> -- 
> 
> Matthew Roth
> Global Communications
> Wikimedia Foundation
> +1.415.839.6885 ext 6635
> www.wikimediafoundation.org
> *https://donate.wikimedia.org*
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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Grant Advisory Committee Expanded

[Abbas Mahmood]

Welcome!
Looking forward to working with the new members.
SincerelyAbbas.

> From: abar...@wikimedia.org
> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 18:20:20 -0700
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Grant Advisory Committee Expanded
> 
> Hello, everyone.
> 
> I'm pleased to announce that we have significantly expanded the Grant
> Advisory Committee (GAC)[1] as of today, and it now numbers 30 volunteers,
> following an open process and public calls for volunteers.  The updated
> list of members is here[2].  With this expansion, we hope to achieve a
> higher degree of community participation in the Foundation's evaluation of
> grant proposals for its Wikimedia Grants program[3], as well as more
> diverse feedback and advice for grant applicants on how to refine their
> proposals for best impact.
> 
> The GAC was set up almost exactly one year ago, and has been quietly doing
> what is frankly a thankless job.  I applaud and thank the volunteers who
> have done this work so far, and look forward to easing their load a little
> now that the GAC is larger, considering an expected rise in the number of
> grant proposals they would be called upon to review.
> 
> Welcome to the new volunteers, and may we all have much success in
> fostering innovation and impactful mission-aligned activities through the
> grants program.
> 
>Asaf
> 
> [1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grant_Advisory_Committee
> [2] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grant_Advisory_Committee#Membership
> [3] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Index
> -- 
> Asaf Bartov
> Wikimedia Foundation 
> 
> 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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Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fundraising Banner?

[Abbas Mahmood]

Oh, thanks for the clarification Theo.
Richard: I was viewing enWP from Kenya.
--Abbas.

> Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:47:38 +0530
> From: de10...@gmail.com
> To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Fundraising Banner?
> 
> Hey Abbas
> 
> It is apparently a fundraising test, by the staff -
> 
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:CentralNotice&method=listNoticeDetail¬ice=C12_0411_AfricaTest
> 
> 
> It is scheduled to end on 2012/04/21 00:00, if it helps.
> 
> Regards
> Theo
> 
> On Fri, Apr 20, 2012 at 12:42 AM, Abbas Mahmood wrote:
> 
> >
> > Hi,I just saw a fundraising banner as I opened an article on Wikipedia.
> > Could the WMF rectify this?--Abbas
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[Wikimedia-l] Fundraising Banner?

[Abbas Mahmood]

Hi,I just saw a fundraising banner as I opened an article on Wikipedia. Could 
the WMF rectify this?--Abbas
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