Wikimedie Heichlichts, Juin 2013

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This page is a translated version of the page Wikimedia Highlights, June 2013 and the translation is 25% complete.

Highlichts frae the Wikimedie Foondation Report an the Wikimedie engineerin report for Juin 2013, wit a selection o ither important events frae the Wikimedie movement

Wikimedie Foondation heichlichts

First wirkshop on hou tae evaluate the success o organized Wikimedie activities

On Juin 22–23, the first wirkshop on the design an evaluation o programs (organized activities) in the Wikimedie movement teuk place. The event wis held Budapest, Hungary bi the Wikimedie Foondation, in pairtnership wi Wikimedie Magyarország, the local chapter. The wirkshop broucht thegither 21 program leaders frae 15 kintras tae learn the basic concepts o program evaluation. The success o the wirkshop itself wis evaluatit, too: Surveys afore an efter the wirkshop shawed that a majority o the pairticipants left wi a better unnerstandin o these terms an concepts.

Ane o the tasks made easier bi VisualEditor: References can nou be editit an addit in a format that is mair convenient than the <ref> tags in the middle o the page’s soorce wikitext.

Preparations for the launch o VisualEditor an Universal Leid Selector

In Juin, wirk wis completit on major new featurs for VisualEditor (the visual interface tae edit wiki pages wioot markup), in preparation for its launch for aw logged-in editors on the Inglis Wikipedie on Julie 1. It is acomin available tae maist ither Wikipedians durin the rest o Julie.

An aa in Juin, the Universal Leid Selector began tae be deployed tae aw Wikimedie projects. It allaes uisers tae configure leid settins lik interface leid, fonts, an input methods (keyboard mappins) in a flexible way. Bi Julie 1, it wis available on mair than 150 wikis.

Universal Leid Selector: A logged-in uiser is choosin the leid which thay prefer for the interface menus on the Inglis Wikipedie

Community input invitit for privacy policy update

In preparation for an update o the Wikimedie Foondation's privacy policy (the first syne 2008), the Legal an Community Advocacy (LCA) team haes invitit participation in a community discussion period, lastin till Julie 18. The goal wis tae get initial input aboot what privacy concerns community members hae, what thay find important, an what they would lik tae see in the next version o the privacy policy. The community wis an aa asked tae provide input on practices regardin the Wikimedie trademarks.

Data an Trends

Global unique veesitors for Mey:

522 million (+0.97% compared wi Aprile; +5.97% compared wi the previous year)
(comScore data for aw Wikimedie Foondation projects; comScore will release Juin data later in Julie)

Page requests for Juin:

21.1 billion (+0.7% compared wi Mey; +17.1% compared wi the previous year)
(Server log data, aw Wikimedia Foondation projects includin mobile access)

Active Registered Editors for Mey 2013 (>= 5 mainspace edits/month, excludin bots):

80,611 (-0.19% compared wi Aprile / -1.92% compared wi the previous year)
(Database data, aw Wikimedie Foondation projects.)

Report Card (integratin various statistical data an trends aboot WMF projects):

http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/

(Defineetions)

Financials

Wikimedia Foundation YTD Revenue and Expenses vs Plan as of May 31, 2013
Wikimedia Foundation YTD Expenses by Functions as of May 31, 2013

(Financial information is only available through May 2013 at the time of this report.)

All financial information presented is for the Month-To-Date and Year-To-Date May 31, 2013.

Revenue $50,559,430
Expenses:
Engineering Group $13,523,471
Fundraiser Group $3,265,731
Grantmaking & Programs Group $8,284,686
Governance Group $692,321
Legal/Community Advocacy/Communications Group $2,777,192
Finance/HR/Admin Group $5,272,075
Total Expenses $33,815,476
Total surplus $16,743,954
  • Revenue for the month of May is $0.12MM versus plan of $0.28MM, approximately $159K or 57% under plan.
  • Year-to-date revenue is $50.56MM versus plan of $45.79MM, approximately $4.77MM or 10% over plan.
  • Expenses for the month of May is $2.97MM versus plan of $4.01MM, approximately $1.04MM or 26% under plan, primarily due to lower personnel expenses, internet hosting, and grant expenses (FDC grants) partially offset by higher capital expenses, outside contract services, and travel expenses.
  • Year-to-date expenses is $33.82MM versus plan of $38.08MM, approximately $4.26MM or 11% under plan, primarily due to lower personnel expenses, internet hosting, grant expenses (FDC grants), and travel expenses partially offset by higher legal expenses, bank fees, outside contract services, and personal property tax expenses.
  • Cash position is $42.7MM as of May 31, 2013.
Video of the monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting covering the month of June (July 11, 2013)

Other movement highlights

María Sefidari
Phoebe Ayers

Election results for Board and FDC

The results of the 2013 Wikimedia movement elections were announced on June 24. Two new members will join the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees in August: María Sefidari (User:Raystorm) and Phoebe Ayers (User:phoebe, who had already served as chapter-selected Trustee from 2010 to 2012). Samuel Klein (User:Sj) was re-elected.

For the first time, elections were held for two seats on the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC), which was formed last year to guide the distribution of donation money to organizations in the Wikimedia movement. Delphine Ménard (User:notafish) and Cristian Consonni (User:CristianCantoro) are joining the seven volunteer committee members that were appointed previously. The elections also confirmed Susana Morais (User:Lusitana) in her role as FDC ombudsperson.

1809 valid votes were recorded, compared to ca. 3368 in the 2011 elections.

"Flow Funding" supports aerial photographs of Hamburg from a hot air balloon

The "Dammtorwall" street in Hamburg
Entrance building to the Old Elbe tunnnel
Wikipedians preparing for the balloon ride

On June 8, five Wikipedians took a photo flight over Hamburg, Germany on board a hot air balloon that had been rented specifically for this project. Over 2000 photos were uploaded to Commons as result of the project. Compared to airplanes, the slower speed and lower flight altitude of balloons offer advantages for the aerial photography of cities.

In her (English-language) project report, the project organizer shared 20 (positive and negative) lessons learned. Successor projects for balloon flights over other German cities are already being planned.

The project was one of the first financed as part of the "Flow Funding" experiment. Flow Funding is a decentralized process where experienced community members are entrusted with making decisions about the funding of activities that support the Wikimedia mission. In the pilot phase, each Flow Funding member could allocate between USD500 and USD2,000. The Wikimedia Foundation then transfers these amounts directly to the grant recipient selected by the Flow Funding member.

Scientific drawing of the extinct giant fossa (Cryptoprocta spelea), uploaded as part of the wikiArS project

Art and design students illustrate Wikipedia

Logo of the wikiArS initiative
Logo of the wikiArS initiative

In June, several students participating in the ongoing wikiArS initiative uploaded their works to Commons. The idea behind wikiArS is that students from art and design schools create illustrations for Wikipedia articles, such as drawings of notable people or extinct animals, or animations explaining physical phenomena. wikiArS was started in 2011 by Catalan Wikimedians, and has been supported by an Individual Engagement Grant (IEG) from the Wikimedia Foundation since earlier this year.

Offline Wikipedia for prisoners

Since March 2013, inmates of the Bellevue prison in Gorgier, Switzerland can request access to an uncensored offline copy of the French Wikipedia, based on the Kiwix software. Internet access is severely restricted for the prisoners, most of whom serve long-term sentences. But 18 of them own or rent a computer, and they all made use of the Wikipedia offer. The project was organized by the Swiss Wikimedia chapter together with a volunteer Wikimedian, in collaboration with the prison staff. The chapter reports very positive feedback from the project participants, and high interest from Swiss media.