Water cooler

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.

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Spare beds for Wikimania

Something modest like this?

We are thinking about how we can spread our resources for Wikimania 2014 and one way is finding supporters who will offer a bed or even a sofa, to people attending Wikimania this year. The cost of accommodation in London can be a deterrent to people. If you could put up someone in London during the period August 5th to 10th could you let Katie Chan know by emailing katie.chanwikimedia.org.uk. She will start a database with preference e.g. non smokers etc. Thanks Jon Davies (WMUK) (talk) 10:11, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

Has nobody got a sofa or spare bed? Jon Davies (WMUK) (talk) 08:31, 2 April 2014 (BST)

Gnome home

I feel the absence of a central cleanup and gnoming place on this site, so I have created gnome home, and a category to go with. Charles Matthews (talk) 09:16, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Royal Society editathon

My photos from the evening session of yesterday's editathon at the Royal Society are now on Commons at Commons:Category:Wikimedia UK Royal Society Women's editathon 2014. Thryduulf (talk: local | en.wp | en.wikt) 23:06, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Thank you seem to be the hardest words

A few months ago I wrote a critical review about a hotel I stayed in for Trip Advisor. I wanted to share my experience and warn off others. I posted and thought no more of it. I was surprised a few weeks later to receive a 'Thank you' email explaining how important by little piece of bile had been, and how many people had read it. I was chuffed. A month after that, and a couple more reviews, I was thanked again, given an update on the surprisingly large number of people who had read the reviews, and was awarded the equivalent of a 'gold star'.

OK, so it was a bot but it occurred to me how sad it was that we don't do something similar for our contributors. Barnstars are great but from what I observe many people never look at their user pages. Wouldn't it be great if every time one of my uploaded photos made it onto a page I got some sort of alert or just a 'thank you' for every twentieth edit?

When I started working for Wikimedia UK I was warnedthat I was entering a culture that didn't 'do thank yous'. I think that we are missing out here and if we want to encourage and retain editors a few words of thanks from time to time would be a powerful tool. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 18:27, 6 March 2014 (UTC) - on behalf of User:Jon Davies (WMUK)

I received a very nice thank you after doing the work on the membership survey and the UCL editathon. It touched me more than I think I let on at the time, and certainly more than I expected something as simple as that to. So thank you again to Jon, Katherine and Daria.

I'm also reminded of a few years ago when I moved house, I looked up the days for rubbish collection on the council website and was very impressed with how easy it was to find what I was looking for, as my previous council's website made it unnecessarily difficult. So I wrote a quick thank you email. About two days later I got a reply from the manager of the person responsible for that, saying that my note had made their day. So I fully agree with the aim to encourage more thank yous. Thryduulf (talk: local | en.wp | en.wikt) 21:01, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

All good points. I see that WMCH have started a page on Meta to discuss how to encourage new users to stick around by thanking them after the fundraiser. This seems of interest to WMUK as well. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:03, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Free Wiki Loves Monuments calendars 2014 (with 2013 pictures)

Thanks to the WLM International Group we have received some rather nice Wiki Loves Monuments wall calendars for 2014, with photos from the 2013 international contest. I have deposited them at the WMUK offices from where they are available free to anyone who was involved in the 2013 competition, either as an organizer or as an competitor. Although they are a little late, they still have 10 months of useful life in them! If you would like one, please contact the staff. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 17:00, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

[INFO] Scripts in Lua

Hi, I have setup a few days ago the Scribunto extension on our wiki. You are now consequently able to create scripts in Lua on this wiki. Kelson (talk) 10:55, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

Wikimedians in the UK

I've been working on the categorisation of photos into commons:Category:Wikimedians in the United Kingdom (moving files over from commons:Category:Wikipedians in the United Kingdom). I'm curious to know - how many of these users do you recognise? Who's missing? (these are both open questions to anyone that reads this!) Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 22:30, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

You removed me from both "Wikipedians in the United Kingdom" and "[Commons] User in the United Kingdom". I assure you, I am both. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 23:00, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

Yes, as am I. However, people seemed to be split between "Wikipedians in" and "Wikimedians in" for no apparent reason or order, and you were one of only two people that had all of their photos in the User category rather than just their user page... Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 07:52, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

Open Access Reader

I have come up with an initiative called "Open Access Reader", a project to systematically have every piece of notable open access research cited in Wikipedia. I'd like to develop this into a grant proposal, and I welcome comments and suggestions, both on the project itself and where best to get grant funding: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IdeaLab/Open_Access_Reader EdSaperia (talk) 00:37, 12 March 2014 (UTC)

Just linking to the prelim discussion on your userpage https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/User_talk:EdSaperia/Wikimedia_UK%27s_2014_Strategy#Open%20access%20reader Sjgknight (talk) 11:55, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

West Midlands Police Museum editathon

Just a reminder that the West Midlands Police Museum editathon is this Saturday, in Birmingham; some places remain! Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:53, 10 March 2014 (UTC)

I couldn't make this, Andy - much though I wanted to! I was stuck in London doing training. How did it go? Richard Symonds (WMUK) (talk) 16:51, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

Very well, thank you, though over 470 very fine images are stuck on Flickr while the tool to import them to Commons appears borked. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:59, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Letter to UK MEPs

Hello everyone. You may be interested to note that Wikimedia UK is writing to all 73 UK MEPs regarding copyright. In line with the work we've done with the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU (group of European Wikimedia chapters) we are looking for support for change in three areas: freedom of panorama; public domain of publicly-funded works; and use of orphan works. If you'd like to see the letter, it's here. It will be going out next week (with a couple of minor modifications) in the post and also by email. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 17:07, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

Following this up, after some discussion with UK and international community members some minor changes were made. The final version of the letter was sent out yesterday and can be seen in pdf format by clicking here. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 16:10, 21 March 2014 (UTC)

A quick update - we've received four letters and emails of support for our view on copyright reform so far, from the three main political parties. I view this as being a good start and will share more information as we receive more replies. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 14:15, 2 April 2014 (BST)

Talking Wikipedia In Ghana

This event is listed to be in 4 days time (28th March) but there are no details of what this is about, and the registration page (BritishBlackMusic.com in assn with BTWSC/Wikimedia UK) is not yet created. This is such short notice would it be better to move it to a later date? --Fæ (talk) 08:05, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

A search on Google reveals that registration is possible at http://www.eventbrite.com/e/talking-wikipedia-in-ghana-tickets-10971368659?aff=es2, which also provides further details. (I have nothing to do with the event, was just interested in if (and what) details were available. TheOverflow (talk) 22:58, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

The advert on the eventbrite page claims to be a Wikimedia UK event, but it is scheduled for a different day. It is reasonable to assume that the lack of any engagement from employees on the Water cooler over several working days, seems to indicate that Wikimedia UK is lending out the name of the charity for events it has no hand in organizing, nor has agreed basic logistics for, such as the date. The are now only 3 days left before the event as per the Wikimedia UK calendar of events. I doubt this is sufficient notice for this to be considered a charity supported event that members and volunteers have been invited to attend.

I hope that no money or staff time from the UK charity is supporting this talk, considering how poorly organized it appears to be.

Could an employee or a Trustee please confirm that is the case, or if not, then how much money is being spent on this? --Fæ (talk) 13:40, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

What's the problem? The eventbrite page only says "with support from Wikimedia UK" and it looks like a basic introduction to Wikipedia event. The calendar on the main page isn't limited to Wikimedia UK run events; it currently includes two independent meet ups and Wikimedia Conference 2014 for example. Perhaps there could have been a link but I don't see that as a critical failure. - AdamBMorgan (talk) 14:50, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

We (WMUK members) have confidence that we understand who is arranging Wikimedia Conference events and the nature of the relationship with Wikimedia UK is a public affair. The eventbrite page linked above was only found by TheOverflow searching on Google, not because Wikimedia UK knew about it or recommends that as a source of agreed information. Members and volunteers neither knowing where or when this event will be is a critical problem for any Wikimedian that would like to actually attend or may want to help. Three days notice is insufficient and (bizarrely) the Wikimedia UK advertized date is different to the eventbrite published date.

When a UK national charity provides support to other organizations, volunteers and members should be free to ask where and when the events are, expect transparency and accountability for support (money, paid employee time?) and a published definition of joint arrangements, even if just a brief statement.

I hope my basic questions above are welcome and fit the Watercooler which is supposed to be a place for questions about events. However I am aware that under the new working practices on the Watercooler my assumption may be wrong.

Every support commitment or partnership Wikimedia UK enters, needs basic understanding of what the support/partnership is, who the relationship is with, and why it fits the mission of the charity. Without a documented understanding between all parties, there is a risk that misunderstanding and confusion may waste our donor's money or lead to damaging the reputation of the charity. --Fæ (talk) 15:06, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Surely there is a proportionality issue here. It's just an introduction/editathon level event. I would expect WMUK to be generally in favour of, and provide at least some support for, any and all such events (and, by extension, would have no reputational risk because of that ubiquity). Unless it is something more significant thatn this, I'd say any "published definition of joint arrangements" would be excessive. - AdamBMorgan (talk) 15:33, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

By that I mean any credible explanation in public. I agree that in this case, something like two clear sentences would be sufficient and proportional.

At the moment members of the charity have no idea if WMUK is footing the bill for any expenses or funding anything else. Employees, trustees have been strangely reticent to clarify anything.

It is the charity's name against an event that is advertized as in 2 days time, but puzzlingly, we are unsure of the date.

Update I note that the Eventbrite page has been updated in the last 24 hours. It appears that Kwaku is delivering this event for Wikimedia UK. It is not clear if this is an edit-a-thon or not. Without a registration page on-wiki we do not know if any trained trainers are going to be available to help. You may recall that to date, Kwaku BBM has made 10 edits to Wikipedia over 10 months, some of which had COI issues. It is an odd situation for Wikimedia UK to be officially supporting. --Fæ (talk) 17:41, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

This event is either tomorrow or on Saturday, depending on which source you check. As a week has passed since I first asked about the basic logistics of this event on the Watercooler, it would be great to have an employee or trustee of the charity confirm the nature of the partnership/association with BBM (British Black Music) and/or BTWSC (Brent Black Music History Project) and whether any of the charity's money is supporting these organizations or this event in expenses or otherwise. If there are reasons for apparent silence in response to questions from the board or employees at this time, it would be good to have this stated. From the Eventbrite information discovered by TheOverflow, it appears this event is in Ghana rather than in the UK (this was not apparent to me, until Kwaku updated the Eventbrite page with more information on Tues/Weds).

It appears that the experienced Wikimedians who are part of the proposed Wikimedia Chapter in Ghana have not been informed about this event, nor asked to help. Their blog is at http://planningwikimediaghana.blogspot.co.uk (the most recent post being on 8 March 2014) and their events page is at meta:Planning Wikimedia Ghana/ Events & Projects. I have approached Sandister Tei as the official community liaison in their organization. --Fæ (talk) 11:05, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

It really doesn't look good, nor inspire confidence, that the office is saying absolutely nothing about this project here. Has this project gone completely off the rails? Or is the office just being secretive for no good reason? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 12:14, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi Mike! A volunteer is travelling to Ghana and offered to do a quick 'Introduction to Wikipedia' session while he is there - that's all. I don't want to go into too much detail, because the cost is minimal, it's a tiny event on another continent, and the risk is low - so our time is better spent on things like Wikimania or larger events, where potential mistakes are much more costly. For Ghana, when I checked, we're just paying for refreshments etc for those that arrive there - no flight costs or anything similar. Just sundries (sandwiches etc). It'll be an interesting event from a financial point of view: I'd like to see if we can run events at such a long distance, especially in a country where the financial systems are less stringent than in the UK. If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me with them, and I'll see if I can get some answers. Richard Symonds (WMUK) (talk) 13:08, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi Richard. Thanks for the response. Can I ask why this didn't go through the grants process then, please? Also, can I ask why the proto-chapter in Ghana that Fæ mentioned above haven't been informed about it? Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 13:21, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

I see that the charity ignores legitimate questions on governance from me for 7 days but will provide answers on the same thing for Mike within 45 minutes. The statement given in this thread that this is just a volunteer is confusing, as it does not appear to match the statement given by Jon Davies a week ago "[BritishBlackMusic] are an independent organisation with whom we have worked and hope to continue to work" nor does it match the way the event in Ghana is promoted on Eventbrite.[1][2]

Surely all Wikimedians can see how remarkably strange it is to fund someone with only 10 edits on Wikipedia to run a 3 hour long 'Introduction to Wikipedia' workshop and can be seen promoting their website and consultancy services at the same time? I am amazed that the board of trustees and charity employees appear to believe that either blanket silence or the equivalent of "there is no problem to see here, move along" are acceptable responses to a governance and communications failure. --Fæ (talk) 21:55, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Fæ, your comments about the TtT benefits here are blatantly untrue - the aim of that course is to teach volunteers about how to teach others about contributing to the Wikimedia projects, which (where the trainers are engaged in leading subsequent training events) is well worth that money. I'm sad to see you say that here, where your other points are spot on. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 22:10, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Fair enough, I have removed "main". As one of the original architects of the training concept, I believe a benefit is that the charity has confidence when recommending a certified trained trainer and a key part of all training events I have been involved with has been addressing potentially contentious areas of policy such as COI—even NPOV and CIV can be difficult for newer contributors. These may not be why the course was designed, but it is an expected outcome. I am slightly puzzled, you may be reading my words here differently to my intention, I have not said that TtT was not good value for what it delivers, I was only contrasting the Ghana workshop to events that are supported by trained trainers. --Fæ (talk) 22:38, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

The emphasis in your comment on 'the UK charity invests £800 a head to send active volunteers on a train the trainers course', along with your comment about your expected aims for the project, seemed to imply the lack of value. My memory was that Martin was the key architect behind this concept.... Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 22:47, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Suppressed the tangent. How quickly we are forgotten. :-) The concept of tiered training was started from my management experience of techniques for cooperatively sharing knowledge of factory floor staff, Martin and I drew it up during a board meeting. --Fæ (talk) 22:54, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Feedback from Ghana

After making a note on-wiki, a representative of the Ghana 'proto-chapter' has promptly made contact with me by email, which I hope will make for a useful independent view of Wikimedia UK's approach to their association with BBM and the grant provided. This email (25 March) was pointed out, which confirms that none of the Wikimedians there was approached ("we were not directly informed or contacted") and there is mention of them partnering with the organizers. This seems a natural response, but considering that Wikimedia UK is supporting BritishBlackMusic.com, they may have unfortunately interpreted that as an official Wikimedia endorsement. --Fæ (talk) 16:48, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

I have updated the local wikimedia-gh email list where an earlier public email of mine had been reposted. The thread and some initial feedback from the local community can be found at [Wikimedia-GH] Wikimedia in Ghana. --Fæ (talk) 21:13, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for your work on this, Fæ. As anyone interested can see, I tried a while ago to involve Nyarko Rexford Nkansah in the 2012 Black History Month editathon. His response is here. Following up your links, I noticed that Rexford has proposed a submission for Wikimania. I do hope he receives a scholarship to attend. It is also worth checking this For Rexford Nkansah, Wikipedia represents the future of education for his country. Leutha (talk) 12:06, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks back Leutha, I appreciate the thought, along with the personal emails of thanks to me from the Ghana community.

Most disappointing in this story is that the UK Chapter was alerted to the issue more than a week ago and much positive work could have been done in that time with the local Ghana community to build bridges or for one of the ten full time employees to check the background of BlackBritishMusic.com rather than relying on unpaid volunteers to do it. --Fæ (talk) 14:00, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

British cartoons 1780—1830 available in very high resolution

Example parody of George IV and his desire for divorce, 1820.
7,068 × 4,638px, 93MB

There may be some UK Wikipedians interested in helping with 18th/19th century articles on British society, so I thought it worth highlighting my upload of over 700 new high resolution scans to Wikimedia Commons of the Library of Congress British Cartoon Prints Collection (for usability, both large tiff and more modest jpeg files are available). Many of these are notable political parodies that are either worth including on Wikipedia articles of the artists, their unfortunate subjects, or some may be notable enough for their own article. Alternatively, you may find some of the recently uploaded (complete) books, manuscripts and maps at World Digital Library an untapped resource for an article or a new Wikisource project.

The Library of Congress has other collections with a connection to UK history or there may be different on-line public domain collections that you would like to see uploaded. Drop me a note on Commons if you have an idea for future batch upload projects. --Fæ (talk) 08:40, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Day of the week of events

There's been no reply to my message at Talk:Women in Science Wikipedia edit-a-thon 13 May 2014 - University of Liverpool. Does anyone know why it is happening on that day? I'd hate to think that we'd do an event on a day that is convenient for someone in a partner institution but results in us reaching very few people. Yaris678 (talk) 19:42, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Hi Yaris, I have passed this on to my colleagues so hopefully someone who is able to answer your question will be in touch soon. Thank you. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 12:19, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

Replied on the event page - hope it helps. If you are interested in being a trainer for this event, do note your interest on the event page. Thanks! Daria Cybulska (WMUK) (talk) 09:45, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

Wikidata workshop

Do you want to learn more about Wikidata? On Saturday 26 April, Wikimedia UK is organising a one day workshop focusing on Wikidata, its tools ecosystem, and what you can do with it. More details and registration can be found here. -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 14:50, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

I do, but I can't make that date. Will the event be re-run? Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 13:57, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

I imagine it will be. This is the second one we have ran, but Wikidata is still developing and maturing rapidly, so there will be lots of new things to cover in a few months no doubt. -- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 12:29, 1 April 2014 (BST)

Wikimania delegate packs

Hello everyone. It's time to start preparing delegate packs for Wikimania. What materials would be useful to include in a perfect world? What information would be useful to visitors to the conference, and to London? Things like Tube maps and guides to using Oyster cards of course, emergency contact details, directions to the Barbican and Wikimedia UK office... but what else do you think would be helpful? Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Note: While it seems like Wikimania is a long way away still, if we want new materials they need to be written, designed and printed so the sooner we start, the better. Thanks very much. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 11:12, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

• Wikivoyage:Wikimania 2014 London Guidebook is intended to cover a lot of things like this. Some of it doesn't work well offline (the URLs mainly) but that project's page are designed to be printed off and used manually. (At one point I was thinking of useing QRpedia to create a quick QR link from a printed page to the website but that doesn't seem to work any more for non-pedias.) - AdamBMorgan (talk) 11:39, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
• A Wikimedia branded memory stick. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 12:50, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
• An A4 local map showing the venue, the locations of the evening events, the accommodation and the public transport links Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 13:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
• the Wikimania schedule Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 13:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
• A list of friendly dos and don't such as "on tube escalators stand on the right, walk on the left". Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 13:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
  • +1 Jarry1250 (talk) 16:05, 31 March 2014 (BST)
• A wikimedia UK sticker and coaster Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 13:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
• Re the emergency contact details, there is a draft already started on the Wikimania wiki. Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 13:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
• a Weather forecast for the 8-11 August. We would need to print this on the 7th and add it to the delegate bags. Jonathan Cardy (WMUK) (talk) 13:23, 25 March 2014 (UTC)
  • Surely people can check the weather for themselves? I mean, paper is going to be out of date quickly. Jarry1250 (talk) 16:05, 31 March 2014 (BST)
    • And given how quickly we'd need to get the info printed, it would either be expensive or look like it was home made so probably best to put this one on the back burner. Unless we want something tongue-in-cheek and just put 'drizzle' for all Wikimania. Richard Nevell (WMUK) (talk) 17:15, 31 March 2014 (BST)
      • Possibly just the URL of a good online weather forecast or two (e.g. BBC, Met Office). Thryduulf (talk: local | en.wp | en.wikt) 00:41, 1 April 2014 (BST)
• I've always wanted to hand out physical copies of the Signpost at a Wikimania, and I may finally get the chance this year :) A special "Wikimania" edition could provide some curated editorial insight into what was going on in different interest areas. Of course, it needn't be in the delegate packs, that's just an extra thought of mine. Jarry1250 (talk) 16:05, 31 March 2014 (BST)

Hi Jarry1250, the office can help with that if you'd like some support arranging this. I do like the idea of The Signpost as a one-off printed product. I think it could be very good. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 10:22, 1 April 2014 (BST)

• Nothing at all. Rather than packing bags, put things out on a table near to the registration desk, and let people help themselves to what they're interested in. Thanks. Mike Peel (talk) 16:26, 31 March 2014 (BST)

Scholarships available to OKFestival & OpenSym

Group photo of participants of WikiSym+OpenSym 2013 in Hong Kong

Wikimedia UK is offering up to two scholarships each to both the Open Knowledge Festival 2014 (15-17 July) & OpenSym 2014 (27-29 August), both of which are being held in Berlin, Germany.

OKFestival, run by the Open Knowledge Foundation is an open data and open knowledge conference that will bring together over 1,000 people from more than 60 countries in a bid to encourage innovation in the open sector through sharing experiences and skills. Furthermore, the event is a celebration of the open movement itself and what it has already achieved.

OpenSym, previously known as WikiSym, is the International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration where researchers from all over the world gather to present their latest research and practice on "open access, open data, open education resources, IT-driven open innovation, open source, wikis and related social media, and Wikipedia".

To qualify for either scholarship, you must be based in the UK, be able to travel to Berlin and attend all days of the event, and agree to produce a public report (which may be published on the Wikimedia UK blog and in our newsletters) summarising the key things that you have taken from the event. Applicants for OpenSym must also be engaging in research about Wikimedia or other free content projects. The scholarship will cover conference registration fee, travel, accommodation, along with a per diem allowance to cover local expenses.

To apply for the scholarship to OKFestival, complete this online form by Sunday 20th April. The deadline for OpenSym scholarship is Sunday 30th April, and you can apply here.

-- Katie Chan (WMUK) (talk) 12:31, 1 April 2014 (BST)

VLE released for beta testing

Hello everyone, I'm very happy to report that the Wikimedia UK virtual learning environment has been released to a small group, including those who have been through the Train the Trainers programme, for beta testing. I'm pretty excited by the potential the VLE has for supporting trainers and those who wish to learn about Wikipedia independently. Following this round of testing, a wider test period will begin in which the system will be shared with anyone within the movement who would like access before a final rollout of the system later in the year. Many thanks to Charles Matthews who has put an enormous amount of work into writing the course content and quizzes, as well as putting the thing together. Big thanks also to Doug Taylor and Tom Morton for their technical support, without which we would not have made it to this point. If you have any comments or questions please do let me know. Thank you. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 14:54, 2 April 2014 (BST)