Reports/2014/May

Below is the Wikimedia UK monthly report for the period 1st to 31st May 2014. If you want to keep up with the chapter's activities as they happen, please subscribe to our blog, join a UK mailing list, and/or follow us on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line on this report's talk page.

Program activities

GLAM activities

Editathons

Jonathan Cardy assisting at the Royal Society event on the 26th March

Other activities

Project grants

The proposal for funding to support an editathon on 29 May on the topics related to genetics has been approved.

Information about project grants that are currently running, and how to submit an application of your own, are at Project grants/Applications.

UK press coverage (and coverage of UK projects & activities)

• Iran blocks Google, Wikipedia: report - Times of India
• Wikipedia, a new perspective on an old problem - Huffington Post
• Wikipedia founder calls European Google ruling "wide sweeping censorship" - CBS
• Chemistry references in the digital age - page 15 of the widely circulated Royal Society of Chemistry newsletter (May edition)
• Hilsborough Wikipedia scandal: 'Strong leads' in hunt for trolls who used Government computer - Mirror
• How a raccoon became an aardvark - The New Yorker
• 'Strong leads' in hunt for trolls behind Government computer Hillsborough Wiki scandal - Liverpool Echo
• English Wikipedia edited by UK government IPs (in Spanish) - FayerWayer.com
• Civil servants behind 'sickening' Hillsborough slurs identified - Daily Telegraph
• Wikipedia is a masterclass in digital democracy - Wired
• Do NOT try to diagnose yourself on Wikipedia! 90% of its medical entries are inaccurate, say experts - Daily Mail
• Don't diagnose yourself on Wikipedia, doctors warn - Daily Telegraph
• Trust your doctor, not Wikipedia, say scientists - BBC News
• In brief - WMUK protests WMF decision (re: fundraiser) Wikipedia Signpost
• 'Don't use Wikipedia for medical advice', scientists warn after errors found - The Independent
• University students shunning books in favour of Wikipedia - Daily Telegraph
• What Is the Longest Disambiguation Page on Wikipedia? - Slate

Activities in May

May

For events in June 2014 and onwards, please see Events.

Administrative activities

Communications

A very busy month. Lots of follow-on from last month's coverage of vandalism to the Wikipedia article about Hillsborough. I have booked media training from some staff and volunteers ahead of Wikimania and this will take place in July. The first draft of the annual review is complete and, following a round of amends will be going to our designer. Bekka Kahn officially began work as the Open Coalition Project Co-ordinator. More of the communications for Wikimania are being brought in-house to the chapter and Stevie will be leading on much of this. An interesting project is developing with Demos, WMUK and the Open Coalition, which will see attempts to crowdsource evidence to the Speaker of the House of Commons on ways to encourage participation in digital democracy. A speaking slot has been secured for Toni Sant at a high profile conference on community education and learning. Late in the month a story appeared relating to the quality of health-related articles on Wikipedia in several of the larger nationals. Comment and quotes from the chapter appeared and the story shifted in tone slightly as a result.

One more significant "win" to report. A couple of phonecalls to the International Olympic Committee in Geneva secured full media accreditation for a Wikinews reporter to cover the Youth Olympic Games in China. This is a significant breakthrough and shows a growing credibility of both Wikinews and Wikimedia UK.

Please see the above links to relevant press coverage received in May and blog posts published during the same period.

If you're interested in getting more involved with our communications or have any questions or comments, please email Stevie Benton – stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk

Fundraising and Membership

Fundraising

This month, we received £xx in one-off donations, with x individual donations. The average donation amount was £xx - of the donations that were eligible for gift aid, xx% had Gift Aid Declarations made and matched with their records. If anyone would like a full (but anonymised) csv file with more information, please get in touch with katherine.bavageatwikimedia.org.uk and let her know your requirements.

There were xx successful direct debits this month, bringing in a total of £xx

Membership

You can view more detailed membership data here