{{divbox|blue|Welcome to the water cooler| This is a place to find out what is happening and to discuss our external projects and activities. Feel free to suggest ideas that could help our charitable mission or ask questions about how you can help. To discuss the inner workings of the charity, head over to the [[engine room]].}}
{{divbox|green|WMUK Grants programme - a piece of cake?[[file:Tile wmuk.jpeg|75px|left]]|<center>Applying for a grant is easy.<p>If Wikimedia UK can help you improve Wikimedia projects, check out our [[grants|grants page]].</center>}}
== Why did you volunteer or become a member? Why should anyone else? ==
== Kanban for editathons ==
Hi all!
[[File:WCCWiki4.jpg|thumb|A {{wp|kanban board}} at the Women in Classical Studies editathon at Senate House, London]]
I just saw the newsletter with a picture of the {{wp|kanban board}} used at the Women in Classical Studies editathon. What a great idea! It helps people share what they are working on. Helps to avoid edit conflicts. Enables organisers to list all the articles that have been improved. It could possibly work well for a recap session at the end too, where people talk about the changes they made.
I've started a drafting page today (see [[Volunteer/Join us handout|here]]) to put together the content and ideas for a dual purpose handout the chapter can use to get expressions of interest from volunteers or potential members.
Who was involved with that editathon? Who has used it elsewhere? I would love to hear how it has been used in practice.
You can all help massively by dropping by and adding a sentence or two about how either volunteering and membership has led to interesting experiences, projects, or other outcomes. Also, I'm happy for use to draft section content - what would YOU say to get people to get involved?
[[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 15:09, 3 February 2017 (GMT)
There is no hard deadline on completing this, though I will probably be running around at the AGM session on writing the new members pack asking similar sorts of questions, so I would hope to see the first draft of that and this ready by the end of June!
: Hi [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]], I was the lead trainer at the [[ wikipedia:Meetups/UK/Institute_of_Classical_Studies_Jan_2017 |Women in Classical Studies editathon]]. I saw the kanban in an [https://www.instagram.com/p/BClfaSjhVdG/ Instagram post] for an [[wikipedia:Meetup/ArtAndFeminism|Art+Feminism]] editathon. It worked much better than expected - a fantastic indicator of the [https://youtu.be/bAWxTPZZNrg?t=2m27s achievements of the day].[[User:Eartha78|Eartha78]] ([[User talk:Eartha78|talk]]) 19:02, 3 February 2017 (GMT)
Ping me on talk page or email me if you have questions - happy to answer and listen to advice :-)
::Cool. So how did you use it? Did you get people to brainstorm a load of post-its of articles to look at, at the beginning of the day? Did you just say 'if you have an idea, stick it on the board'? Did you come with the post-its filled out already? [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 10:25, 11 February 2017 (GMT)
::: The group were quite well prepared prior to the editathon. They had identified a number of articles to create - some had already done the research and started to writing in their sandbox. When we began the second part of the editathon they each committed to an article, wrote it on a sticky note and stuck it to the wall! Moving the notes from left to right was surprisingly motivating and a good excuse to stretch ones legs. Also used the sticky notes for an evaluation exercise at the end of the session. [[User:Eartha78|Eartha78]] ([[User talk:Eartha78|talk]]) 18:27, 16 February 2017 (GMT)
Update! I've now added this into the mix - http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Membership/Promoting - do have a look and add your thoughts :) [[User:Katherine Bavage (WMUK)|Katherine Bavage (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Katherine Bavage (WMUK)|talk]]) 13:03, 27 June 2013 (UTC)
::::Thank you Eartha78. That is really interesting. I will use this next time I do an editathon. [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 09:39, 19 February 2017 (GMT)
==Ada Lovelace 2013==
== Wikimedia UK's plans for 2018 - community consultation ==
Hi All, I am working on setting up an Ada Lovelace event for 2013 - for now together with FindingAda we are feeling the ground to see if there is interest for running small events WMUK could support (via a blog post [http://findingada.com/blog/2013/05/23/are-you-ready-for-ada-lovelace-day-2013/]. A while before there is progress, but if you are interested in helping get in touch. [[User:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|Daria Cybulska (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|talk]]) 10:36, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
[[File:Programmes Consultation Video - Wikimedia UK.webm|centre|thumb|800x800px|Watch our video about our plans for 2018]]
:Does my Y chromosome disqualify me? If not, I'm happy to help setting something up. [[User:HJ Mitchell|<font color="Teal" face="Tahoma">'''Harry Mitchell'''</font>]] | [[User talk:HJ Mitchell|<font color="Navy" face= "Times New Roman">Penny for your thoughts? </font>]] 15:14, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
::Not at all. Let me know what stage of organising you are interested in. [[User:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|Daria Cybulska (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|talk]]) 14:04, 31 May 2013 (UTC)
:::Do you think it would be a good idea to get in touch with the Girl Geeks? This seems like something they'd be interested in. [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 16:07, 1 June 2013 (UTC)
::::The Manchester cohort is already working on an event for October - I will be letting you know! If you have contacts for other groups, it would be good to get in touch. [[User:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|Daria Cybulska (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|talk]]) 17:02, 6 June 2013 (UTC)
Wikimedia UK is in the process of writing our proposal to the Wikimedia Foundation for funding during 2018/19. The deadline for the bid is 1st October after which it is assessed by staff at the Foundation, there is an opportunity for community feedback and questions, and the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) meet to consider proposals and make recommendations about grants.
As 2018/19 is the final year of our 2016 - 2019 strategy, our programme for next year is in many ways a continuation of our activities in 2017 and falls under three key strands:
== Welsh main page ==
# Diverse content and contributors
# Promoting open knowledge
# Education and Learning
In case people miss it above, [[Main Page/cy]] now exists. It would help if someone with the appropriate authority could check it out. If everything is OK, please can someone add {{tl|language bar}} to the English-language [[Main Page]] and [[Membership]], otherwise no one will know about the non-English pages and site navigation will be difficult. Cheers, [[User:AdamBMorgan|AdamBMorgan]] ([[User talk:AdamBMorgan|talk]]) 12:41, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
These strands are directly related to our three strategic goals, which are to:
: Hi Adam, this looks great! I'm really pleased that someone has taken the time to put together something in Welsh. I do have a quick question which you may be able to help with. Firstly, is there any intention to populate the Welsh language version of the homepage with the content from the blog or the events section? If so, how will this be maintained? Also, the page links to the Wikimedia UK Twitter and Facebook, which is great. But I don't think we're able to Tweet in Welsh at the moment. Is there an alternative Twitter that could be used? I don't know if @WikimediaCY (or similar) exists. If not, could be worth registering one for all things Wici - we can encourage followers for the account, too. Of course, if we have a follower or two that are fluent in Welsh and are willing and happy to translate tweets into Welsh then we can, of course, share those. Thank you! [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 14:35, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
::I actually have very poor language skills, so I can help with structure but not content. Communicating in Welsh looks like a job for [[User:Llywelyn2000|Llywelyn2000]] or [[User:Rhyswynne|Rhyswynne]]. Further up this page Llywelyn2000 did write, "I certainly would be willing to answer any phonecalls, emails or other correspondance passed on to me and I know that other would also do this." I expect there is an intent to populate the page but that might partly depend on WMUK's communication policy. For example, how do you want it to work? They should also know if there are any preexisting Wici social media. - [[User:AdamBMorgan|AdamBMorgan]] ([[User talk:AdamBMorgan|talk]]) 16:20, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
:::Hi both. Let's keep things simple for now. I suggest the page goes on as it is. Yes we Tweet in Welsh - it's called Trydar, yes we could translate the WMUK Blog and WM Foundation link, but let's keep it simple. The Office have my phone numbers, email etc and could in theory ask me to discuss any Welsh language queries on their behalf, should they wish to do so in the future. All that's needed now is a link from WMUK's home page to this. Let's then discuss whether we can take it further in any way. Any internal dialogue can be done in English; this Welsh home page is a statement of intent, a warm welcome for potential members and enquiries and a recognition that our community is inclusive and that these islands of ours (which are today called UK) has a rich, diverse, colourful rainbow of different cultures and people. [[User:Llywelyn2000|Llywelyn2000]] ([[User talk:Llywelyn2000|talk]]) 17:15, 5 June 2013 (UTC)
::::'''Blog:''' Ideally, it would be nice to have blog posts in Welsh, but for the time being, having English language blog posts appear on the Welsh version is OK IMHO. I couldn't personally promise to be able to translate them into Welsh (even with a flexible timescale), although having posts in Welsh could provide WMUK with a good avenue for publicity, as the aggregator [http://www.blogiadur.com/hafan/ Blogiadur] gathers RSS for a wide range of Welsh language blogs/news sites and has decent readership - something to consider. Posts don't have to appear simutaneously, so timing isn't all that important.
::::'''Twitter:''' I've set up [http://twitter.com/wicipedia @wicipedia] which automatially pumps out RSS for new articles created on the Welsh Wicipedia. Its not pretty, but its better than nothing. Again, having a Welsh account for WMUK would be nice. As WMUK's tweets don't appear on the wiki (as far as I've seen) this isn't such an issue for this discussion, but we have two opptions:
:::::'''1.''' WMUK press officer e-mails content of Tweets to Llywelyn2000 or/and myself, and then sends out the tweet (on a Welsh WMUK account) when one of us finally get round to translating it. As tweets are so short and only 2-3 a day are sent out, it should not be a burden. The first one to translate should 'Cc' the other translator in the reply in case we duplicate work for ourselves.
:::::'''2.''' Llywelyn2000 and I could get access to the WMUK_cy Twitter account and just translate and then tweet ourselves when we see something appearing on the English account (problem here is trusting us with access, and we have to be sure we don't miss anything - I sometimes only check [http://twitter.com/wicipedia my Twitter account] every few days and I don't think Llywelyn2000 currently uses the service at all.
::::Both these are issues that can be incorportated in the proposed Welsh language police/guide discussed above, something I'm hoping to work on in a few weeks. Thanks again Andy for your work thus far.--[[User:Rhyswynne|Rhyswynne]] ([[User talk:Rhyswynne|talk]]) 09:59, 6 June 2013 (UTC)
::::: It's just occurred to me that the Welsh language homepage could use a Welsh language banner. If someone could post the text here - "Supporting free and open knowledge" - in Welsh then I can create the image. [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 12:00, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
::::: Cool. "Yn cefnogi gwybodaeth agored a rhydd" --[[User:Rhyswynne|Rhyswynne]] ([[User talk:Rhyswynne|talk]]) 13:04, 7 June 2013 (UTC)
::::::Done. I used Linux Libertine (OC) as font and used the same images as on en. Very unusual to have a <nowiki>"{{CopyrightUnclear}}"</nowiki> licence! I also added a video on Friday and finished the translation. The new blog needs translating, and a weekly upkeep with dates etc. Let me know if you have comments or suggestions. Thanks to all for your encouragement! Brilliant. [[User:Llywelyn2000|Llywelyn2000]] ([[User talk:Llywelyn2000|talk]]) 15:17, 12 June 2013 (UTC)
::::::: Hello again. Just wanted to drop a note here to congratulate everyone involved in putting the Cymraeg main page together. It looks wonderful and it's marvellous we can now offer the homepage in Welsh. Great job. If there is anyone reading this page who would like to have a go at other languages, that would be excellent! [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 13:18, 17 June 2013 (UTC)
==WLM competition in Welsh==
* Increase the quality and quantity of coverage of subjects that are currently underrepresented on Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects
* Contribute to the development of open knowledge in the UK, by increasing understanding and recognition of the value of open knowledge and advocating for change at an organisational, sectoral and public policy level
I just noticed the above topic, and it would be great if we could run the WLM competition in Welsh as well as English, especially for the Cadw list. That shouldn't be too difficult to do, if someone would kindly volunteer to do some translations later in the summer :) Would either or both of you be willing to add your names to the Welsh translations team, at [[Commons:Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2013 in the United Kingdom/People]] ? --[[User:MichaelMaggs|MichaelMaggs]] ([[User talk:MichaelMaggs|talk]]) 10:39, 6 June 2013 (UTC)
* Support the use of the Wikimedia projects as important tools for education and learning in the UK
== Volunteer strategy ==
Hi all. A draft volunteer strategy for Wikimedia UK have been posted at [[Volunteers strategy]]. Please have a look, comment or even on the talk page rewrite or expand it as you see fit. -- [[User:Katie Chan (WMUK)|Katie Chan (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Katie Chan (WMUK)|talk]]) 11:08, 6 June 2013 (UTC)
== Wikimedia Foundation elections ==
Hi all,
Now that the Wikimedia UK AGM is over, there’s a couple of other important elections going on within the Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia Foundation is electing three (3) community members to its Board of Trustees, the ultimate governing authority of the Wikimedia Foundation. In addition, the community is also electing two (2) members to the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) and also the FDC Ombudsperson.
You can find more information on all of this, including the candidate statements, ask the candidate questions, list of eligibility requirements for voters and information on how to vote on [[m:Wikimedia Foundation elections 2013]].
As the work of the Foundation Board of Trustees impacts the ways the movement pursuit its goals, and the FDC are involved in the grants making process which the chapter was involved in last year and expects to be again this year, I would encourage as many of you as possible to take an interest and vote in these elections.
We are reviewing the Train the Trainers programme. The documentation can be found [[Training/Consultation|here]]. Feel free to join in and leave any comments on the [[Talk:Training/Consultation|talk page]]. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 16:08, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
== Rheolwr Cymru/Wales Manager ==
'''Rheolwr Cymru'''
Mae Wici Cymru a Wikimedia UK yn chwilio am Reolwr i Gymru i ddatblygu'r Wicipedia Cymraeg a Saesneg yng Nghymru drwy ysbrydoli a hyfforddi golygyddion newydd drwy gynllun y prosiect Llwybrau Byw!
Dylai'r Rheolwr fod yn brofiadol mewn: golygu prosiectau Wicimedia (Cymraeg a Saesneg), cefnogi ein gwirfoddolwyr, rheoli personél, gweithio o fewn cyllideb a chyflawni targedau mewn pryd. Bydd y gwaith yn cynnwys penodi a chefnogi hyfforddwyr a threfnu a chynnal sesiynau hyfforddi ledled Cymru.
Mae medru siarad Gymraeg a Saesneg yn rhugl yn hanfodol.
Mae'r swydd am 12 mis a bydd yr ymgeisydd llwyddiannus yn cael ei secondio i Wici Cymru a fydd yn goruchwylio'r gwaith (ar y cyd gyda WMUK, y cyflogwr) a Llywodraeth Cymru fel cyd-noddwr.
Mae'r swydd hefyd yn amodol ar ganllawiau a chytundebau WMUK ac am 4.5 diwrnod yr wythnos. Ffurflen Gais a chwaneg o wybodaeth oddi wrth:
Jon Davies: jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk
ac ar wefan www.wikimedia.org.uk
Cyflog: oddeutu £25,500 - £29,000 yn ddibynol ar brofiad.
'''Dyddiad cau: 21ain o Fehefin, 2013 am 10 y bore. Cyfweliadau yn Wrecsam ar fore ddydd Mercher y 26ain o Orffennaf'''.
'''Wales Manager'''
Wici Cymru and Wikimedia UK are looking for a Wales Manager to develop the Wicipedia Cymraeg and English Wikipedia
in Wales through encouraging and training new editors via our Llwybrau Byw - Living Paths Project.
The Manager must have experience of:
Editing Wikimedia projects (both English and Welsh), supporting volunteers, managing personnel, working within a budget, and delivering outcomes in time.
The work will involve appointing and supporting trainers, and organising and delivering training sessions
throughout Wales.
Fluency in both the Welsh and English language is essential.
The post is for 12 months and the successful applicant will be seconded to Wici Cymru who will oversee the work, jointly with WMUK, the employer, and the Welsh Government as financial partner.
The post is subject to Wikimedia UK's guidelines and contracts and is for 4.5 days per week. Further information / application forms are available from:
Jon Davies at jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk
and on www.wikimedia.org.uk
Salary: In the range of £25,500 to £29,000 depending on experience.
We would welcome input from the UK community into our plans for next year - which we are still shaping - and have created a short video to highlight our programme strands which you can watch [https://youtu.be/56s3Ch7sHbQ here]. You can give us feedback on our programme anytime, but if you’d like your views to be taken into account in our submission to the Wikimedia Foundation for funding, please do comment below by Friday 29th September. If you’d prefer to get in touch by email, feel free to contact me on lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia.org.uk.
Closing date: 21st of June, 2013 at 10 a.m.
Interviews to be held in Wrexham on the morning of Wednesday June 26th.
Applications are welcome. '''The closing date is 10 am on the 21st of June 2013'''. Applications cannot be accepted after that date. Interviews are planned for the morning of 26th of June 2013 in Wrexham. Candidates need to be available for this.
For an application form, please email jon.davies@wikimedia.org.uk
All - please have a look at [[Training/Consultation]] (We have re-named this page as it may have been a little lost amongst all the other pages). I am looking at how the Train the Trainers project has worked so far and would welcome comments.
Those who have been through it will be asked to fill in an additional survey that will form part of the report. I will then be reporting to the July Board meeting. Thanks, Jon
== Martin Poulter stands down as an Associate ==
In August 2012 the WMUK Board voted to appoint Martin Poulter as an [[Board/Fellows and Associates|Associate]] of Wikimedia UK so that the charity would continue to benefit from his experience after he stepped down as a Trustee. Since then he has supported our education work as an active volunteer and attended several board meetings to report on his work. Owing to a job offer that could conflict with this role Martin has now stood down as an Associate. The charity wishes him good luck. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 14:52, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
== Editing on fashion topics to become fashionable? ==
The Netherlands Chapter had a really good session on editing their pages on fashion subjects. According to those who attended it attracted a lot of new people the vast majority of whom were women. A key target for us of course. We have some world class colleges in the UK where we could deliver a similar editathon. Does anyone think this is a runner and would you be interested in taking a lead on this? (via Jon Davies) [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 16:28, 19 June 2013 (UTC)
== [[Commons:Commons:Project scope/Update 2013/Main|Review of Commons' Scope]] is now OPEN ==
I am pleased to announce the launch of a comprehensive review of our existing policy & guidelines on [[Commons: Project scope]], and [[Commons:Photographs of identifiable people]]. This is an important review and will cover a number of contentious issues that have recently been extensively discussed both on and off Wiki. As background, you might like to look at these recent English Wikipedia Signpost articles:
* [[:Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-06-12/Op-ed|The tragedy of Wikipedia's commons]], a Signpost Op-ed by [[:en:User:Gigs|Gigs]]
* [[:Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2013-06-19/Op-ed|A response to ''The Tragedy of Wikipedia’s commons'']], two Signpost Op-eds by me and [[Commons:User:Mattbuck|Mattbuck]] in response.
Please visit the [[Commons:Commons:Project scope/Update 2013/Main|'''main review page''']] to take part. --[[User:MichaelMaggs|MichaelMaggs]] ([[User talk:MichaelMaggs|talk]]) 22:32, 20 June 2013 (UTC)
== Where should Board meetings be? ==
Just wanted to ask if you have suggestions on locations for Board meetings over the coming year!
Since we're a national charity we should avoid having meetings in London all the time. The AGM was in Lincoln, but prior to that the last non-London Board meeting was last September in Coventry. We should aim to meet at least twice outside of London in the coming year. If you have any suggestions, drop me a line. The criteria are:
* we'd like to go somewhere where there is a Wikimedia-related project going on that we can learn about / help with in some way (e.g. the Coventry meeting coincided with Wiki Takes Coventry and also with a project at the Herbert Museum)
* it needs to be readily accessible by public transport,
* we need a good meeting room available for 2 full days and a hotel for people to stay in (though this is the easy bit to sort out in many ways)
If you have any ideas let me know! Thanks, [[User:The Land|The Land]] ([[User talk:The Land|talk]]) 09:56, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
== Queries about 2011 annual report ==
Wer900, who is an editor in good standing on the English Wikipedia, has started a [http://wikipediocracy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2489 thread] about the [https://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_UK_accounts_31_January_2011.pdf WMUK 2011 annual report] on the Wikipediocracy forum. He is pointing out that according to the report, the "cost of generating voluntary income" (£21,459) was greater than the voluntary income generated (£20,603). Is that correct, or is Wer900 misreading something? Would it be possible to give an indication of what the £21,459 were spent on?
I hadn't ever looked at the 2011 report before, but on following Wer900's link noticed that there was an apparent expenditure item of £3,000 for a Jimmy Wales lecture (listed on page 11). Does this relate to the University of Bristol lecture, which as far as I can tell was an event that charged an entrance fee? If so, was there a particular reason that donors' money rather than income from the sold-out event was used to cover costs? And who specifically did the money go to?
There are several questions in particular that I’d like to ask:
I am sure there will be an explanation for these expenditure items, and would be happy to forward that to the forum. Of course, WMUK board members and ordinary members are also cordially invited to register an account over at Wikipediocracy, if you would like to join the discussion and post a reply in person. Regards, --[[User:Jayen466|Andreas]] [[User talk:Jayen466|JN]] 07:08, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
* Is there anything that Wikimedia UK should be doing more of, or new activities that we should consider, in 2018/19?
* What work would you like to see us continue?
* Is there anything you think we should do less of or stop doing?
* How would you like to be involved in Wikimedia UK’s programme next year?
:Hello Andreas, thank you for getting in touch. I'll look into this for you and get back to you with a response soon. Thank you. [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 07:38, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
::Before my time but we will try and find out and report back here. Budget lines can appear quite complicated and sometimes misleading to the non-expert so Wer900 is right to ask the questions rather than jump to conclusions.
== ACTRIAL and new users creating new pages at events ==
:: Re the 2012-13 accounts (another question raised in 'an other place') there was a draft statement reported by our treasurer at the AGM and the finalised SORP accounts are now completed, we await a signed copy in the snail mail this week for reporting to the next Board meeting in July. There is no exceptional delay. Just because a financial year ends it doesn't mean the accounts are ready the next day. It is a slow and meticulous process that involves a lot of professional due diligence at the best of times and something as simple as an unpaid invoice or a refund owed us by a supplier can cause weeks and weeks of delays. This time a couple of missing bank statements needed to be re-issued and that took a long time. Our accountants gave us an unqualified statement for the accounts so all is well and Wer9000 can anticipate many happy hours poring over our accounts. If S/he emails me I will priortise a hard copy in the post. [[User:Jon Davies (WMUK)|Jon Davies (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Jon Davies (WMUK)|talk]]) 08:18, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
Hi All,
: Hi Andreas. The "cost of generating voluntary income" also covers the income listed under "fundraising events", which was the annual fundraiser - I think we kept that separate to distinguish what funds were covered by the [[2010 Fundraiser/Agreement|fundraiser agreement with the WMF]]. It was primarily paypal fees if I recall correctly.
Some thoughts on {{wp|WP:ACTRIAL}} and our events:
*It makes sense to encourage new users to work in {{wp|Wikipedia:Drafts|Draft: name space}}.
*This doesn't change the fact that it is worth asking people to create an account in advance (and to remember their password!)
*We have to expect that some people won't create an account and most of those who have won't be auto-confirmed - this is OK.
*If there are admins present at the event, they can make new users confirmed.... although I wouldn't stress over it - there is no harm in the Draft: name space.
*All the above is less of an issue if we take the approach of [[#Training from the back of the room]] described above. If the group is split into teams that are deliberately set to have the full spread of ability, we can encourage people to help other team members, including the following:
**Middle-ability people to show the people with no account how to create an account.
**Experienced editors to help newer editors to find a page that might need editing.
**Experienced editors to create pages that other team members are interested in editing.
You could even get admins to confirm accounts of non-confirmed people in their team, but it might actually be better to not do that. If the experienced people in the team have actually created the article then at least we know it is in their contributions and so they can steward the article towards improvement. e.g. 1. the day after the event, they might go back to the article and tidy it up, 2. if the article gets tagged for deletion, they are better able to discuss it and improve it, whereas a new user may feel bitten.
: The 'Jimmy Wales lecture' was indeed the Bristol one, but the £3k listed is an estimate of the donation made in kind - it's there both in the income and expenditure columns, but no money changed hands, and I don't think we covered any costs using money from other donors. If I recall correctly, there wasn't an entrance fee for the event, and it was also freely webstreamed. Thanks. [[User:Mike Peel|Mike Peel]] ([[User talk:Mike Peel|talk]]) 08:59, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
[[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 14:44, 25 September 2017 (BST)
::Thanks for the replies. I've reproduced Jon's and Mike's answers over there, and suggested that if people have further questions, they might as well ask them here. Regards, [[User:Jayen466|Andreas]] [[User talk:Jayen466|JN]] 09:30, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
:::Andreas, it's interesting that "as far as [you] can tell" the Bristol lecture charged an entrance fee, when a quick Google search for "Jimmy Wales talk Bristol" find publicity materials promoting it as [http://www.connectingbristol.org/2010/11/18/wikimedia-is-10-years-old-jimmy-wales-founder-of-wikimedia-talks-in-bristol/ a free event]. Could you spell out for us what sources or what reasoning led you to the false conclusion? It would be good for the charity to know where this urban legend started, whether in someone telling lies to smear Jimmy Wales or the charity, people on online discussion boards with over-vivid imaginations, or an honest misunderstanding (of what information?). You might have to set one of your correspondents straight, assuming they're in the latter category, or otherwise ignore them. What light can you shed? [[User:MartinPoulter|MartinPoulter]] ([[User talk:MartinPoulter|talk]]) 12:11, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
::::I saw [http://connect.bristol.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_compact.php?a=50664&t=&m=flas], which said the event was "sold out". Thanks for the info, Martin. [[User:Jayen466|Andreas]] [[User talk:Jayen466|JN]] 20:49, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
== Simplifying language and avoiding acronyms ==
:Obvious question, where do we find data on how many non-autoconfirmed users and IPs actually make pages that satisfy Wiki Criteria? [[Special:Contributions/82.132.237.141|82.132.237.141]] 15:31, 26 September 2017 (BST)
::[[:meta:Wikipedia:New pages patrol/Analysis and proposal|According to WMF research]], of the 1,180 articles created every day on the English Wikipedia, about 7% are by non-autoconfirmed editors. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 16:55, 2 October 2017 (BST)
:Thanks for your input Yaris678. Working in Draft: or User: space is probably going to be integral to dealing with this. I've not used Draft: much myself, but I'm keen on getting people to use their sandbox to prepare material and then copy it over. It does mean a chunk of the pages people work on aren't copied over the to the mainspace but that's a reasonable trade-off. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 16:59, 2 October 2017 (BST)
Just wanted to [[Water_cooler/2013#Expanding_the_descriptions_of_events|re-draw attention to this old discussion]]. I still think we should say "virtual office hour" rather than "IRC office hour" etc. [[User:MartinPoulter|MartinPoulter]] ([[User talk:MartinPoulter|talk]]) 19:41, 5 July 2013 (UTC)
:The [[#Training from the back of the room]] sounds like a really interesting idea, I'm interested in this kind of collaborative/peer learning process. Sadly for the bulk of editathons I manage, this wouldn't be applicable, as I'm generally working with a whole bundle new users, trying to advocated for further use in their organisations. [[User:Lirazelf|Lirazelf]] ([[User talk:Lirazelf|talk]]) 14:07, 3 October 2017 (BST)
::Thanks Lirazelf. I guess you'll have to rely on the first four bullets - especially the draft namespace. I think it would be useful to have a non-new user move the drafts across. Preferably during the training session, so people can see their work "live" on Wikipedia, which will create excitement. Ideally, well before the end of the training so that people can continue to edit their articles in main space - seeing that this is a normal thing to do is important.
::I fringe benefit of this approach is that each article edited will be in the contributions list of at least one non-new user. That way, they can "steward" the article to a certain extent. This will be particularly important if the article is nominated for deletion - having someone who knows the ropes will help to get the article in a position to keep - and help to argue that it should be kept. But more generally it will be useful, to keep the article quality up.
::[[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 12:59, 19 October 2017 (BST)
:Good point. I've changed 'IRC' to 'virtual' on our front page, events page, and have moved [[IRC office hours]] to [[Virtual office hours]]. That should make it less likely that will slip bback into the habit of using the acronym again. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 09:47, 9 July 2013 (UTC)
==Wiki Loves Monuments UK 2017 awards announced==
::To me, the confusing bit was always the "officer hours" not the "IRC". What ''does'' "office hours" mean? [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 21:36, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
[[File:The Derelict West Pier of Brighton.jpg|thumb|1st prize: The derelict West Pier in Brighton, by Matthew Hoser]]
I am very pleased to be able to announce the 2017 award winners for Wiki Loves Monuments in the UK.
== London based volunteer - time to help the charity with data? ==
First place goes to '''Matthew Hoser''' for his image of the derelict West Pier in Brighton.
Hey all, I posted this on the community mailing list a few days ago and no response :( Asking again here in case it catches anyone's eye.
In second place was '''Paul Stümke''', who captured the Glenfinnan Viaduct at Loch Shiel.
You may have picked up the odd mention in staff reports to the board or passing conversation, but one of the pieces of work I'm responsible for is the Charity's gift aid records and claims.
Third was '''Oliver Tookey''' for the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea.
After delay getting our first claim through, then needing to update our records with HMRC so the right people and bank details were on our record, I'm ready to work on the outstanding data files for the claims for last financial year.
The special prize for the best image taken in Scotland was awarded to '''Keith Proven''' for Smailholm Tower.
However, it's a big job that can't really be automated - it involves reformatting and then checking through spreadsheets with mixture of search and replace and common sense to make sure the claim records we're submitting are those of individuals (not companies) and include real name data.
The special prize for the best image taken in Wales went to '''Sterim64''' for Craig-y-mor.
Is there someone who would be interested and able to help? It would require at least a couple of days in the office next month - its not really appropriate to do remotely and you would have to sigh an undertaking to treat the data confidentially.
You can see all of these images, and the other stunning pictures that were awarded Highly Commended status [[Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2017_in_the_United_Kingdom/Winners|at Wikimedia Commons]].
We can support some expenses here (travel, lunch/per diem) but I'm not sure we could pay for accommodation - its therefore most probably an appeal to those who are in/near london based to help.
Many congratulations to all of our prizewinners, and thanks to all who volunteered to help make the contest a success: contestants, judges, reviewers and Wikimedians in many roles. Thanks also for the kind support we received from the International team, from our friendly staff at Wikimedia UK, and from our 2017 prize sponsors, Wikimedia UK and Archaeology Scotland. [[User:MichaelMaggs|MichaelMaggs]] ([[User talk:MichaelMaggs|talk]]) 07:43, 31 October 2017 (GMT)
Do let me know if you think this could be something you could do!
== Effects of broadband ==
Thanks all :-) [[User:Katherine Bavage (WMUK)|Katherine Bavage (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Katherine Bavage (WMUK)|talk]]) 10:41, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
Looks like BT wants to push more people to faster internet where it has fiber: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-bt-group-broadband/bt-incentivises-operators-to-move-customers-to-faster-broadband-idUKKBN1KE0LR
== Mozilla Festival ==
Is someone monitoring the trend of average internet speed and the impact it has on user activity in the Wikimedia projects? [[User:Nemo bis|Nemo bis]] ([[User talk:Nemo bis|talk]]) 08:43, 24 July 2018 (BST)
Hello everyone. I write regarding the Mozilla Festival. It's taking place this October and has as its focus the future of the web and all things webmaking. There's currently [http://sessions.mozillafestival.org/about/ a call for session proposals which can be seen here] If anyone is interested in putting something together that's Wikimedia-related please do get in touch and let me know if there's anything Wikimedia UK may be able to do to support you. [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 16:02, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
::Hi [[User:Nemo bis|Nemo bis]], I'm not sure that our small charity has the capacity to do something like this, or how it might benefit us. You are welcome to expand on why you think this would be a good idea if you like. [[User:John Lubbock (WMUK)|John Lubbock (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:John Lubbock (WMUK)|talk]]) 12:29, 2 April 2019 (BST)
Latest revision as of 19:35, 13 August 2022
Welcome to the water cooler
This is a place to find out what is happening and to discuss our external projects and activities. Feel free to suggest ideas that could help our charitable mission or ask questions about how you can help. To discuss the inner workings of the charity, head over to the engine room.
WMUK Grants programme - a piece of cake?
Applying for a grant is easy.
If Wikimedia UK can help you improve Wikimedia projects, check out our grants page.
A kanban board at the Women in Classical Studies editathon at Senate House, London
I just saw the newsletter with a picture of the kanban board used at the Women in Classical Studies editathon. What a great idea! It helps people share what they are working on. Helps to avoid edit conflicts. Enables organisers to list all the articles that have been improved. It could possibly work well for a recap session at the end too, where people talk about the changes they made.
Who was involved with that editathon? Who has used it elsewhere? I would love to hear how it has been used in practice.
Cool. So how did you use it? Did you get people to brainstorm a load of post-its of articles to look at, at the beginning of the day? Did you just say 'if you have an idea, stick it on the board'? Did you come with the post-its filled out already? Yaris678 (talk) 10:25, 11 February 2017 (GMT)
The group were quite well prepared prior to the editathon. They had identified a number of articles to create - some had already done the research and started to writing in their sandbox. When we began the second part of the editathon they each committed to an article, wrote it on a sticky note and stuck it to the wall! Moving the notes from left to right was surprisingly motivating and a good excuse to stretch ones legs. Also used the sticky notes for an evaluation exercise at the end of the session. Eartha78 (talk) 18:27, 16 February 2017 (GMT)
Thank you Eartha78. That is really interesting. I will use this next time I do an editathon. Yaris678 (talk) 09:39, 19 February 2017 (GMT)
Wikimedia UK's plans for 2018 - community consultation
Watch our video about our plans for 2018
Wikimedia UK is in the process of writing our proposal to the Wikimedia Foundation for funding during 2018/19. The deadline for the bid is 1st October after which it is assessed by staff at the Foundation, there is an opportunity for community feedback and questions, and the Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) meet to consider proposals and make recommendations about grants.
As 2018/19 is the final year of our 2016 - 2019 strategy, our programme for next year is in many ways a continuation of our activities in 2017 and falls under three key strands:
Diverse content and contributors
Promoting open knowledge
Education and Learning
These strands are directly related to our three strategic goals, which are to:
Increase the quality and quantity of coverage of subjects that are currently underrepresented on Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects
Contribute to the development of open knowledge in the UK, by increasing understanding and recognition of the value of open knowledge and advocating for change at an organisational, sectoral and public policy level
Support the use of the Wikimedia projects as important tools for education and learning in the UK
We would welcome input from the UK community into our plans for next year - which we are still shaping - and have created a short video to highlight our programme strands which you can watch here. You can give us feedback on our programme anytime, but if you’d like your views to be taken into account in our submission to the Wikimedia Foundation for funding, please do comment below by Friday 29th September. If you’d prefer to get in touch by email, feel free to contact me on lucy.crompton-reid@wikimedia.org.uk.
There are several questions in particular that I’d like to ask:
Is there anything that Wikimedia UK should be doing more of, or new activities that we should consider, in 2018/19?
What work would you like to see us continue?
Is there anything you think we should do less of or stop doing?
How would you like to be involved in Wikimedia UK’s programme next year?
This doesn't change the fact that it is worth asking people to create an account in advance (and to remember their password!)
We have to expect that some people won't create an account and most of those who have won't be auto-confirmed - this is OK.
If there are admins present at the event, they can make new users confirmed.... although I wouldn't stress over it - there is no harm in the Draft: name space.
All the above is less of an issue if we take the approach of #Training from the back of the room described above. If the group is split into teams that are deliberately set to have the full spread of ability, we can encourage people to help other team members, including the following:
Middle-ability people to show the people with no account how to create an account.
Experienced editors to help newer editors to find a page that might need editing.
Experienced editors to create pages that other team members are interested in editing.
You could even get admins to confirm accounts of non-confirmed people in their team, but it might actually be better to not do that. If the experienced people in the team have actually created the article then at least we know it is in their contributions and so they can steward the article towards improvement. e.g. 1. the day after the event, they might go back to the article and tidy it up, 2. if the article gets tagged for deletion, they are better able to discuss it and improve it, whereas a new user may feel bitten.
Obvious question, where do we find data on how many non-autoconfirmed users and IPs actually make pages that satisfy Wiki Criteria? 82.132.237.141 15:31, 26 September 2017 (BST)
Thanks for your input Yaris678. Working in Draft: or User: space is probably going to be integral to dealing with this. I've not used Draft: much myself, but I'm keen on getting people to use their sandbox to prepare material and then copy it over. It does mean a chunk of the pages people work on aren't copied over the to the mainspace but that's a reasonable trade-off. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 16:59, 2 October 2017 (BST)
The #Training from the back of the room sounds like a really interesting idea, I'm interested in this kind of collaborative/peer learning process. Sadly for the bulk of editathons I manage, this wouldn't be applicable, as I'm generally working with a whole bundle new users, trying to advocated for further use in their organisations. Lirazelf (talk) 14:07, 3 October 2017 (BST)
Thanks Lirazelf. I guess you'll have to rely on the first four bullets - especially the draft namespace. I think it would be useful to have a non-new user move the drafts across. Preferably during the training session, so people can see their work "live" on Wikipedia, which will create excitement. Ideally, well before the end of the training so that people can continue to edit their articles in main space - seeing that this is a normal thing to do is important.
I fringe benefit of this approach is that each article edited will be in the contributions list of at least one non-new user. That way, they can "steward" the article to a certain extent. This will be particularly important if the article is nominated for deletion - having someone who knows the ropes will help to get the article in a position to keep - and help to argue that it should be kept. But more generally it will be useful, to keep the article quality up.
1st prize: The derelict West Pier in Brighton, by Matthew Hoser
I am very pleased to be able to announce the 2017 award winners for Wiki Loves Monuments in the UK.
First place goes to Matthew Hoser for his image of the derelict West Pier in Brighton.
In second place was Paul Stümke, who captured the Glenfinnan Viaduct at Loch Shiel.
Third was Oliver Tookey for the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea.
The special prize for the best image taken in Scotland was awarded to Keith Proven for Smailholm Tower.
The special prize for the best image taken in Wales went to Sterim64 for Craig-y-mor.
You can see all of these images, and the other stunning pictures that were awarded Highly Commended status at Wikimedia Commons.
Many congratulations to all of our prizewinners, and thanks to all who volunteered to help make the contest a success: contestants, judges, reviewers and Wikimedians in many roles. Thanks also for the kind support we received from the International team, from our friendly staff at Wikimedia UK, and from our 2017 prize sponsors, Wikimedia UK and Archaeology Scotland. MichaelMaggs (talk) 07:43, 31 October 2017 (GMT)
Is someone monitoring the trend of average internet speed and the impact it has on user activity in the Wikimedia projects? Nemo bis (talk) 08:43, 24 July 2018 (BST)
Hi Nemo bis, I'm not sure that our small charity has the capacity to do something like this, or how it might benefit us. You are welcome to expand on why you think this would be a good idea if you like. John Lubbock (WMUK) (talk) 12:29, 2 April 2019 (BST)
