Under the pressure of getting our funding application to the Wikimedia Foundation’s FDC in yesterday morning I suddenly realised it was my third anniversary of being CEO at Wikimedia UK. As my colleague Fabian sitting next to me said, we’ve done quite a lot really haven’t we!

I still reminisce about that first day in 2011 when I discovered our volunteer community and its vast range and the fun we had at the Herbert Museum Backstage pass in Coventry.

Rather more measurable, and going back to the day’s main task, this is the third FDC application we have made. In the first year it was an ever so slightly panicked event with Doug Taylor, a trustee at the time, and I putting it together over a long weekend. Last year was a little better organised, though it needed Daria Cybulska breaking into her holidays and working from her parent’s house to make sure we met our deadlines.

This year has been a smoother process, despite tight deadlines, but demonstrates the amazing journey we have made over the last 1096 days even if there were a few bumps in the road!

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This post was written by Jon Davies, Wikimedia UK’s Chief Executive

I thought I’d share this with you:

‘Dear Jon

Thank you for the opportunity to attend the xxxxxx. It was a privilege to meet such an interesting group of people and hear about the laudable ambitions and achievements of the Wikimedia organisation.

You inspired me to try editing a Wikipedia page; so today I have joined the rank of wiki-editors and updated the page about my village. And yes it was just as easy as you described.

I’ll certainly be spreading the word and encouraging other people to do likewise.

Kind regards

xxxxxx’

All I did was explain to this well educated middle aged woman a) how everyone had something to contribute; b) how women were not properly represented and;  c) how to press the ‘edit’ button. I have asked her which page she edited and hope her edit has been welcomed.

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This post was written by Jon Davies, Chief Executive

Last week, while on a short holiday in Paris, I made an afternoon visit to the offices of Wikimedia France.

As ever I got a great welcome and excellent coffee. Their current offices are near the Seine and the Gare de Lyons in an apartment which though not ideal and quite expensive  is rather nice all the same.

Apart from meeting the staff and delivering our latest publications it was a chance to meet their new Executive Director Nathalie Martin, my equivalent in the French chapter. Nathalie was still smiling after over a full month in post despite having to come up to speed with all the comings and goings of the wiki world and, deep breath, having to become fluent in English.  She seems to be doing well on the latter front and we were able to rabbit away in a mixture of my ‘imaginative’ French and her rapidly improving English.

Wikimedia France is hoping to move to more appropriate premises soon but if you are in Paris drop in and say ‘bonjour’ – the coffee alone makes it worth the trip.

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This post was written by Jon Davies, Chief Executive

Thanks to everyone, volunteers, trustees and staff who have contributed.

The post Reflections on two years in post appeared first on Wikimedia UK.

This post was written by Jon Davies, Wikimedia UK Chief Executive

1-7 June is Volunteers’ Week in the UK  What better time to remind everyone that Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, are written and edited entirely by volunteers?

For over 12 years a vast group of people of all backgrounds, ages, opinions and personal interests have come together to create these enormous repositories of freely available knowledge, sharing it for no other reason than that they feel it is a worthwhile thing to do. And they continue to do so.

Wikimedia UK takes this opportunity to offer a huge thank you to everyone who volunteers their time, energy and knowledge to furthering free knowledge for all. Whether you fix typos, edit content, write articles, share images, teach people to edit, work with GLAM and education institutions or make the occasional cup of tea – thank you for making Wikimedia projects possible. In this vein I asked some of my colleagues how they felt about working with Wikimedia volunteers.

Daria Cybulska, Programme Manager, is impressed by the way volunteers are so keen to share the skills needed to edit Wikipedia. “I have supported many Wikipedia training events over the past year,” she said. “During the training I usually find myself focusing on organisation, and being anxious to give people exactly the right information and understanding of the encyclopaedia. But the true heart of these events are Wikimedia volunteers, trainers who give people the joy of seeing their first edit going live, and the empowerment to share what they know with others.

“The volunteers are wonderfully motivated to teach others the art of editing Wikipedia, and we would not be able to run the events without them.”

Stevie Benton, Communications Organiser, pointed out the stories that Wikimedia projects generate. “My job is all about storytelling,” he said. “The biggest story of all is how an encyclopaedia that is available in around 300 languages, with over 26 million articles, can be the result of volunteer collaboration. And it’s still growing. There isn’t praise enough for the gift these volunteers have given to the world. To be able to help share what they do is a great privilege.”

Jonathan Cardy, GLAM organiser admires the diligence of Wikimedians. “I’ve been astonished at the attention to detail that you see when you crowdsource the creation of an encyclopaedia,” he said. “When I talk to Wikipedia editors, these are people who are incredibly committed to getting things right, whether it is photoshopping tilted photographs or eradicating particular ungrammatical phrases from Wikipedia.”

If YOU want to become a member of this wonderful community get in touch with us and we will help get you started. You will be very welcome.

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As I am sure you know, the English version of Wikipedia will be taken down for 24 hours from 0500 UTC tomorrow in protest at the US SOPA and PIPA bills.

Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of the Wikimedia movement. We regard the SOPA and PIPA legislation in the United States as a threat to the current operation of Wikipedia. This could also affect Wikimedia’s other projects, which operate under U.S. law.

The members of the Wikipedia community have been balloted to determine whether they wish to blackout Wikipedia on Wednesday and agreed that this should happen. Wikimedia UK is an independent British charity that defends the decision of our community.

For more information contact our office on 0207 065 0990, or read the press release from the Wikimedia Foundation in San Francisco.

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