{{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)
== Simplifying language and avoiding acronyms ==
== Wikimedia UK's plans for 2018 - community consultation ==
[[File:Programmes Consultation Video - Wikimedia UK.webm|centre|thumb|800x800px|Watch our video about our plans for 2018]]
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)
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.
: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)
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:
::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)
== London based volunteer - time to help the charity with data? ==
# Diverse content and contributors
# Promoting open knowledge
# Education and Learning
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.
These strands are directly related to our three strategic goals, which are to:
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.
* 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 [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.
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.
There are several questions in particular that I’d like to ask:
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.
* 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?
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.
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.
== ACTRIAL and new users creating new pages at events ==
Do let me know if you think this could be something you could do!
Hi All,
Thanks all :-) [[User:Katherine Bavage (WMUK)|Katherine Bavage (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Katherine Bavage (WMUK)|talk]]) 10:41, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
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.
== Mozilla Festival ==
[[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 14:44, 25 September 2017 (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)
: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)
:This looks very cool. I like the fact that it focuses on practical sessions, rather than talks. No ideas for a session myself but if someone wants someone to bounce ideas off or give feedback then I'm happy to do that. [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 21:53, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
::[[: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)
==Opinions on merchandise==
: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)
Wikimedia UK is currently conducting a review of its merchandise. As part of this we have sent out a questionnaire to some people. If you would like to fill in the survey email me and I'll send you a link. It's a short survey so shouldn't take too long to complete. Alternatively, feel free to leave your opinions here. For reference, I've listed the merchandise we regularly use below:
==Wiki Loves Monuments UK 2017 awards announced==
[[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.
*Wikipedia globe stickers
First place goes to '''Matthew Hoser''' for his image of the derelict West Pier in Brighton.
*WMUK stickers
*Wikipedia pens
*Wikipedia button badges
*Commons button badges
*A6 notebooks
*Lanyards
*Wikipedia car stickers
*Wikipedia beer mats
*WMUK mugs
*WMUK annual report
*About Wikimedia UK fliers
*Cheat sheets
*Creative Commons flyers
*Education case study booklets
*Welcome to Wikipedia booklets
*Wikipedia t-shirts
*Wikipedia polo shirts
We want to know what in your experience works and what doesn't, and if you have ideas for items not on the list which might prove useful please let us know (especially if you have design ideas...). [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 14:47, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
In second place was '''Paul Stümke''', who captured the Glenfinnan Viaduct at Loch Shiel.
*Key rings should be added to the list. I collect them, and almost all the tourist places stock them so they must sell. [[user:Thryduulf|Thryduulf]] ([[user talk:Thryduulf|local talk]]) ([[:w:en:user talk:Thryduulf|en.wp talk]]) 15:26, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
: Good idea although these are not for sale - rather, give outs at outreach events etc.
*Cheat sheets are useful to hand out at events for newbies, but I'd add space for them to write their user name. Beer mats are good as a promotional item, I gave a few out at the GLAM Wiki conference and they were amazingly popular amongst curators. But generally we need a cash value on the promotional items idea - if we are giving stuff away for free then it needs to be either very cheap, very promotional or very instructional. So an office mug "someone in this office supports Wikipedia with a gift aid donation to Wikimedia UK" would cost a few quid, but would probably be a worthwhile investment as a gift to anyone taking out a direct debit or an existing direct debit person who complete the gift aid form. For Merchandise it is more a matter of what can we profitably do and have fit our brand values. At Christmas I usually give a few people calenders. If Wikimedia sold a calender in the Autumn I might well buy a couple. So I think we could get into the charity calender business and that if we had a calender stocked by the big retailers we could get a serious amount of cash, we would also be promoting Wikimedia as a source of very good images. We could potentially do xmas cards, but in that case we would get into the vexed issue of whether we use seasons greetings or Xmas greetings - I'm not sure that a global culturally neutral organisation should get into such a culture specific product. And then of course we should do flip flops. I would love to walk across a sandy beach leaving [citation needed] on the sand behind me.... That's the sort of merchandise I would buy for myself. [[User:Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)|Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)|talk]]) 09:34, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
:*A couple of people in the survey noted that while the cheat sheets are useful, we should perhaps revisit their design. They're intended to be taken home to use when trainers or someone who knows wikicode isn't around to help. Is the idea of including somewhere to write their user name in case they forget what it is? Is this a common problem? Last year there was a calendar for the overall winners of Wiki Loves Monuments. I don't know what the print run was or how many were sold, but I'll email around for more details. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 11:23, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
*Memory sticks. --[[User:MichaelMaggs|MichaelMaggs]] ([[User talk:MichaelMaggs|talk]]) 15:50, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
Third was '''Oliver Tookey''' for the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill on Sea.
:*You read my mind Michael. I've got a memory stick from my old university with their logo on which I use all the time. I'm going to start looking at options for stuff like key rings, memory sticks, and the other items suggested in the survey. If anyone has any ideas, please do get in touch. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 11:14, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
::*I as going to suggest memory sticks. But I forgot... [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 11:20, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
The special prize for the best image taken in Scotland was awarded to '''Keith Proven''' for Smailholm Tower.
:::* Plus 1 to Memory sticks. Especially if we can preload them with some pdfs such as a "how to edit wikipedia". [[User:Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)|Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)|talk]]) 13:08, 17 July 2013 (UTC)
The special prize for the best image taken in Wales went to '''Sterim64''' for Craig-y-mor.
::::*I rather like that idea. We wouldn't want to completely fill up the memory stick, but we could even include a short video about Wikimedia UK. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 09:32, 18 July 2013 (UTC)
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]].
I'd love a memory stick and a keyring. These are awesome ideas! --[[User:Deskana|Deskana]] [[User talk:Deskana|(talk)]] [[Special:Emailuser/Deskana|(email)]] 10:49, 18 July 2013 (UTC)
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)
==Flossie conference 8-9 November 2013==
== Effects of broadband ==
Hi All, [http://www.flossie.org/ Flossie] is running a two-day event for women who use or are otherwise interested in any aspect of open technology, open knowledge, digital arts, and social innovation. They have a [http://www.flossie.org/content/flossie-2013-call-proposals call for proposals] that closes on 19 July. It sounds like a perfect opportunity for us to get involved - we are even mentioned in their proposed section 'Open Collaborative Communities'. Would anyone be interested in contributing? If so let me know so I can help. Thanks! [[User:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|Daria Cybulska (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Daria Cybulska (WMUK)|talk]]) 13:07, 12 July 2013 (UTC)
:Probably worth noting the deadline is 19 July. -- [[User:Katie Chan (WMUK)|Katie Chan (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Katie Chan (WMUK)|talk]]) 13:50, 12 July 2013 (UTC)
== Ashley Van Haeften (Fae) steps down from Wikimedia UK board ==
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
Hello everyone, just a quick note to let you know that Ashley Van Haeften ([http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User_talk:F%C3%A6 User:Fae]) has resigned form the Board of Wikimedia UK. You can see more details on our [http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/07/ashley-van-haeften-steps-down-from-wikimedia-uk-board/ blog post here]. Thank you. [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 15:31, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
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)
==Thanks to Fae - "thanks and appreciation to Fae for all of the time, effort and expertise he has contributed to the charity over the past two years".... Why don't we appreciate our volunteers more?==
::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)
If any volunteers are contemplating standing for the board then please have a look at Fae's brief post, which briefly summarises Fae's resignation and Fae's donation of literally thousands of hours of selfless work. It should include that this is the man who put together our first GLAM outreach outside England ( Scotland). He negotiated deals with the British Library, National Archives and the Wellcome Trust. Fae also put together the Chapters group in Berlin together with four other leading chapters. Fae also took a leading role in getting WMUK established as a registered charity and helped us resist pressure from WMF board members and staff to not take part in the fundraiser. Fae took a supporting role with many large projects enabling WMUK to rightfully claim that it was a leader in the GLAM field. The first WMUK committee with delegated powers was led by Fae. Fae also led for WMUK at international GLAM events including New York, London and Amsterdam. Fae recently helped in setting up the WIR roles at the National Science Museum, and ... and ... and
Oh and I should also mention that Fae has categorised more pictures on Wikimedia commons for the UK than Wiki Loves Monuments has for the rest of the world. This is an achievement that when it was first discussed was thought to be beyond value (but it also was thought to be somewhere between "major boring project of unknown duration for a dozen volunteers" and "impossible".)
Doug Taylor also stood down from the board at the last AGM and he too achieved amazing things. I'm not sure why these people's achievements are not being mentioned and I apologise for nor doing a more thorough job here. These people both worked practically full time for WMUK and their contribution should be more than my comment on a talk page, a generic thanks or just a record of when and where they stood down. If we don't appreciate them then we don't deserve these volunteers. Thank you Fae and Doug on behalf of myself at least. [[User:Victuallers|Victuallers]] ([[User talk:Victuallers|talk]]) 21:21, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
:Agreed. Fae, despite tumultuous drama and events, has been a dedicated and hard-working volunteer for the chapter. For this, he deserves praise for his enthusiasm and diligence. And the same for Doug. —[[User:Tom Morris|Tom Morris]] ([[User talk:Tom Morris|talk]]) 08:52, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
::Roger and Tom, thanks for your comments. It's certainly important that we focus on the positive achievements of all of our volunteers. This is something that has been discussed many times but I think it's important that we speak about it again. How can the chapter do a better job at acknowledging the positive contributions of volunteers? [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 09:06, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
:::There's a lot to be said for barnstars. Recently I gave barnstars to Johnbod and EdwardX for the time they spent manning a stall at the Open collections trust exhibition. [[User:Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)|Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Jonathan Cardy (WMUK)|talk]]) 09:38, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
::::I'd like to add one more comment here if I may. When Doug retired from the Board the chapter offered him very heartfelt thanks, both publicly and privately, and with good reason. He offered endless support to the chapter and his dedication to open knowledge, and Wikimedia projects, is remarkable. This is a good opportunity to reiterate those thanks to Doug. (Sorry, forgot to sign so signing now) [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 13:33, 16 July 2013 (UTC)
::Thanks for your thoughts Roger and Tom, I look forward to working with you on future projects. --[[User:Fæ|Fæ]] ([[User talk:Fæ|talk]]) 19:21, 24 July 2013 (UTC)
== Upcoming Wikimedian in Residence projects in the UK ==
Dear All,
Following from some successful projects earlier this year, Wikimedia UK has been working on setting up further Wikimedian in Residence projects. I am pleased to say that three exciting ones have been approved by the board at the recent meeting:
* York Museum Trust
* The Royal Society, London
* The University of Manchester Library
We are now discussing the details with them. It will be a couple of months before the projects start, but we wanted to share these exciting news with you now. What would you like to see happen within these projects? You can start letting us know now!
Do you live in the area and would like to be on the recruitment panel? Do get in touch as well. (daria.cybulska{{@}}wikimedia.org.uk; jonathan.cardy{{@}}wikimedia.org.uk
At the board meeting on July 14th the Board agreed, in line with the Hudson Review to hire a consultant to conduct a short independent audit of governance, and in particular the progress the charity has made in governance issues this year. Detail of the tender specification are [[Tender specification for review consultant|on this wiki]]. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 10:50, 18 July 2013 (UTC)
==Looking for potential trustees in Scotland==
Wikimedia UK is a maturing charity with passionate volunteers, dedicated staff and devoted Trustees. We’re part of the global Wikimedia movement which supports projects such as Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons and Wikiversity (to name but three).
A review of our governance practices and procedures found was that we’d become even more effective with a larger and more diverse Board of Trustees. This is where you come in.
If you have an interest in Wikimedia projects, a commitment to open knowledge and the desire to help, we would love you to join us in helping to lead the charity through a period of growth and diversification.
To make sure that we genuinely represent the whole of the UK we are particularly keen to recruit someone based in Scotland.
We especially welcome applicants with an experience and understanding of Wikimedia projects but this isn’t essential. Energy, positivity and motivation are equally important.
We hope that this appeals to you and, if so, please contact Richard Nevell, our Office Support Assistant, for more information on 020 7065 0990 or richard.nevell@wikimedia.org.uk
:This reads more like an advert than an update at the water cooler. Am I right in thinking that the above text has been placed in a number of places that potential trustees from Scotland might come across it? [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 18:00, 21 July 2013 (UTC)
::Bore da Yaris! I've placed [http://gd.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deasbaireachd_a%27_chleachdaiche:Akerbeltz&curid=17505&diff=436401&oldid=434256 a link on Uicipeid na Gàidhlig] to the ad. [[User:Robin Owain (WMUK)|Robin Owain (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Robin Owain (WMUK)|talk]]) 06:32, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
::It has indeed, and thank you Robin for adding it somewhere else. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 15:51, 22 July 2013 (UTC)
== Template needed ==
{{Discussion top}}
I was doing a bit of curation on the wiki, and noticed that we don't have the templates <nowiki> {{Discussion top}} and
{{Discussion bottom}}</nowiki> here. It would be great if they could be added. --[[User:MichaelMaggs|MichaelMaggs]] ([[User talk:MichaelMaggs|talk]]) 09:06, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
It works. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 10:08, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
:Thank you Katie. --[[User:MichaelMaggs|MichaelMaggs]] ([[User talk:MichaelMaggs|talk]]) 22:56, 23 July 2013 (UTC)
== Instant bot to reverse editor decline ==
The best ideas sometimes come in strange ways and I thought I'd share this one just in case someone thought it was possible. At our staff training day yesterday a few of us pointed out that we started editing when we saw terrible spelling mistakes but that this is not a big feature of Wikipedia nowadays. So how about a bot that inserts annoying and prominent spelling mistakes to help encourage new editors? ;) [[User:Jon Davies (WMUK)|Jon Davies (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Jon Davies (WMUK)|talk]]) 07:33, 27 July 2013 (UTC)
:What? <i><b>[[User:Snowolf|<font color = "darkmagenta">Snowolf</font>]] <sup><small>[[m:User:Snowolf|<font color = "darkmagenta">How can I help?</font>]]</small></sup></b></i> 10:47, 28 July 2013 (UTC)
:Probably a suggestion to hold on to until the morning of April 1, 2014. :-) [[Special:Contributions/86.181.47.13|86.181.47.13]] 10:51, 28 July 2013 (UTC)
== Typos ==
I've found two typos in [[Membership/Newsletter/2013/July#Review: Sphingonet Wikipedia workshop]]. There's an "of" that should be an "or" in the second-to-last paragraph and a "not" that should be a "now" in the last paragraph. [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 11:30, 28 July 2013 (UTC)
::Thanks Katie. [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 15:50, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
Actually Katie. I've just read your piece [[Membership/Newsletter/2013/July#Opinion: Where are the women in Wikipedia?]]. Great piece. But there are a few typos in there too:
*Paragraph 3 - "Wikiboks", should be "Wikibooks".
*Paragraph 5 - "compare", should be "compared" or "in comparison"
*Paragraph 5 - "reason" should be "reasons"
*Paragraph 10 - "bias that exist" should be "biases that exist" or "bias that exists"
*Paragraph 10 - With "an underrepresented topics", drop the "an" or make "topic" singular.
[[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 16:32, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Thanks for doing the fixes Katie. I have to say, it feels kind of rude to point them out. Any chance that I could be made an admin on this wiki? (Or some other way to give me the edit-protected right.) That way I can just quietly make such changes myself. [[User:Yaris678|Yaris678]] ([[User talk:Yaris678|talk]]) 15:44, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
::::Making you an admin sounds sensible to me (I'll vouch for you, for whatever it's worth). Somebody (Katie?) could also give you access to the internal wiki where the newsletter is drafted. [[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>]] 18:09, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
== Wikimedia UK office experiencing email problems ==
Hello everyone, just a quick note to let you know that Wikimedia UK's office is experiencing some email problems at the moment. No new emails are being received. We'll keep you updated but for any urgent matters please call 020 7065 0990. Many thanks. [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 10:19, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
:Hello again. The situation hasn't changed from this morning. The office still isn't receiving incoming email and we don't have a timetable for when the situation might be resolved. For the time being, if you need to communicate with the office please do ring on 020 7065 0990. Thank you. [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 14:57, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
::It seems like this is now back to normal. Can someone else at the office confirm this, please? --[[User:Toni Sant (WMUK)|Toni Sant (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Toni Sant (WMUK)|talk]]) 08:52, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
:::Toni's right, the emails are working now. [[User:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|Richard Nevell (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Richard Nevell (WMUK)|talk]]) 09:20, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
== Wikimania 2014 & Wikivoyage ==
I know that Wikimania 2014 isn't technically a WMUK project but this seemed a good place to bring it up: With the event happening in London, it would make sense for the London Wikivoyage pages to be improved for the benefit of all the visiting Wikimedians. We have a Wikimedia travel guide; it would be good to use it. While adding a listing to [[voy:en:London/City of London]], home of the Barbican, I noticed that the page status of many London districts can be quite low. The City is at guide status but most are just at usable status and only [[voy:en:London/Hampstead]] is star status (the scale goes stub-->outline-->usable-->guide-->star). This is within the chapter's sphere of responsibility but I don't know if this is something the chapter could/would be involved with, or just UK Wikimedians doing bits (I'm going to continue editing but I don't really know enough about the city to cover everything). - [[User:AdamBMorgan|AdamBMorgan]] ([[User talk:AdamBMorgan|talk]]) 14:37, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
:Hi Adam, thanks for your suggestion, which I think is a good one. You're correct that Wikimania itself isn't a Wikimedia UK project but it would make sense for us to try and encourage improvement of WikiVoyage content related to London - and in as many languages as we can, too. Do you have any suggestions on how to do this? If you;d like to deliver / promote a project around this then I'd be more than happy to lend my support and get involved in helping out on this - both as a staff member and as a volunteer :-) [[User:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|Stevie Benton (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Stevie Benton (WMUK)|talk]]) 14:56, 29 July 2013 (UTC)
::I'm wondering whether this would be a good way to introduce (secondary/high) school children to wiki editing. We have been discussing possible ways to involve school children over the coming year and this may indeed be a relatively useful and certainly interesting way of doing it. --[[User:Toni Sant (WMUK)|Toni Sant (WMUK)]] ([[User talk:Toni Sant (WMUK)|talk]]) 08:51, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
:::RE: "Do you have any suggestions" -- to be honest, no, not at the moment. At least, I'm not sure how best to do it. I should probably have waited to bring it up at the meet up in August, so I could discuss it a bit first. On the bright side, Wikivoyage is probably the easiest Wikimedia project on which to make micro-contributions. The majority of a standard guide article is made up of template-formatted bullet points, under standard verb-based headings (ie. "See", "Buy", "Eat", etc) which use templates of the same name (ie. <nowiki>{{buy}}, {{eat}}, etc</nowiki>). On top of which, a contribution could be just adding a good local restaurant. - [[User:AdamBMorgan|AdamBMorgan]] ([[User talk:AdamBMorgan|talk]]) 16:41, 30 July 2013 (UTC)
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.
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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)
