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;Wikimedia UK and Wikimedia Foundation announce the release of the Compass Partnership report
;Victorian-era Dictionary of National Biography digitised on Wikisource


Today the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK  are announcing the release of the final report and recommendations regarding the governance of the Wikimedia UK chapter. The report was completed by Compass Partnership, consultants in non-profit management based in the UK. The report was commissioned jointly by the Foundation and Wikimedia UK in October 2012 following important Wikimedia community discussions about potential conflicts of interest arising from a series of wiki outreach projects.
[[File:George_Smith_by_John_Collier.jpg|thumb|200px|right| George Murray Smith painted by John Collier]]


The Foundation and Wikimedia UK saw the potentially damaging effect of these matters and we ordered this review and report. We both expect the highest standards of governance, and this report is an effort to chart a strong course for Wikimedia UK and also thoughtful and valuable counsel for any organization in our movement to consider.
''This post was written by Charles Matthews, Wikimedian and Wikimedia UK volunteer.''


The report discusses important conclusions based on discussions with and materials provided by all of the major stakeholders. The aim of the report is not to lay blame, rather it seeks to determine if pre-existing policies and practices around conflicts of interest and governance were sufficient. Through this report we also aim to lay the groundwork for better and stronger governance for Wikimedia UK in the future and for its development as a chapter in our movement. We also believe the report may benefit the wider community of Wikimedia affiliated organizations by providing an example of best practices around governance and decision-making as applied to a chapter.
The digitisation project for the Victorian-era [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900 Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) on Wikisource] has reached the milestone of a complete posting for the biographies for the first edition, which was published in 63 volumes from 1885 to 1900. Wikisource is the text repository of Wikimedia, less well known than Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons (media files), but which adds value to texts with author pages, portals and categories, and light  annotation and hyperlinks.


With a clear list of recommendations and timeline for their implementation, Wikimedia UK is now in a position to improve and expand its policies and procedures, related not just to the management of conflict of interest but also its management structure. The chapter will be discussing the findings with the community and begin their implementation at their forthcoming Trustee meeting in February.
The efforts of over 30 people since 2008 have put close to 30,000 DNB articles onto Wikisource. While in the UK the text of the old DNB is available freely through library cards on [http://www.oxforddnb.com/ http://www.oxforddnb.com], the subscription site of the modern revised Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), the old DNB is still of interest, and this digitisation makes it much easier to use for the whole world… For example the DNB contains more genealogical and bibliographical research information. This major resource has in fact not previously been available straightforwardly on search engines.


You can [[:File:Wikimedia UK gov review rpt v5.pdf|read the review findings here]] and [[:File:Descriptive chronology v6.pdf|the chronology of the events here]].
The DNB was a remarkable legacy project of the publisher George Murray Smith. Typical of the unstoppable Victorian attitude, it was authored by over 700 writers, with the first editor being Leslie Stephen, father of Virginia Woolf. It is particularly strong in areas such as naval biography and Scottish history. With a deep coverage of figures relevant to the British Empire as it then was, it was called by historian Christopher Hill “that much maligned and indispensable work”. Texts on Wikisource cannot be guaranteed perfect, but the small numbers in the left margin of the DNB biographies give access to scans of original pages allowing for checking and correction by anyone. <span class="plainlinks">[http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/victorian-era-dictionary-of-national-biography-digitised-on-wikisource/ <nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>
 
[http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/questions-and-answers-related-to-the-governance-review/ Questions and answers regarding the report are posted here], and we’ve commenced a [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_UK/Governance_Review_discussion community discussion page on Meta wiki here]. <span class="plainlinks">[http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/02/wikimedia-uk-and-wikimedia-foundation-publish-compass-partnership-report/ <nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>


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Revision as of 17:30, 11 February 2013

Cymraeg | English

Wikimedia UK

Open knowledge for all

Our website

If you'd like to see what Wikimedia UK is working on, our website is the best place for our community of volunteers, donors and members to stay up to date.

About Wikimedia UK

The Wikimedia projects are special: they are written and curated by thousands of volunteers. They are also supported by voluntary donations, through Wikimedia UK, the Wikimedia Foundation and other international chapters.

Wikimedia UK is a charity registered in England and Wales that supports and promotes Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons. Our mission is to help people and organisations create and preserve open knowledge, and to help provide easy access for all. We do this by supporting volunteer editors and contributors ('Wikimedians'), by working in partnership with cultural and educational institutions, by hosting training sessions and editing events, and by acting to advocate the benefits of open knowledge generally.

There are several ways to get involved in the charity's work. You can become a member for just £5 per year. You can volunteer to work with us in a variety of ways, both online and offline. You can also make a donation (and if you're a UK taxpayer, we can claim Gift Aid). Subscribe to our Friends' Newsletter to stay in touch. Click the buttons below to learn more.

Volunteer

Contact us

General inquiries: infoatwikimedia.org.uk
Media: pressatwikimedia.org.uk

You can follow us on Twitter (@wikimediauk) or Like us on Facebook (WikimediaUK).

You can also sign up to the email discussion list for the Wikimedia community in the UK.

More contact details

Get Involved

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Join Wikimedia UK

Members play a key role in shaping the future of the Chapter. Membership is open to all and costs just £5 a year.

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Events

We organise dozens of events each year, including meetups, editing events, "Backstage Pass" events at museums, workshops and conferences.

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Volunteer

Participate in one of our ongoing outreach projects, working with the cultural and education institutions of the UK.

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Project grants

Request a project grant to help you with your editing or outreach activities on any Wikimedia project.

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Donate to Wikimedia UK to keep Wikipedia running free from advertising and support our work getting more people and institutions working with Wikipedia and its sister projects.

We are always interested to hear from new volunteers. If you have an idea you'd like to help make happen, or time and skills you would like to offer Wikimedia UK, please get in touch on volunteeringatwikimedia.org.uk

Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org
For the Ukrainian language Wikipedia please visit http://uk.wikipedia.org; for Wikimedia Ukraine please visit http://ua.wikimedia.org

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