Reports/2013/August
Below is the Wikimedia UK monthly report for the period 1st to 31st August 2013. If you want to keep up with the chapter's activities as they happen, please subscribe to our blog, join a UK mailing list, and/or follow us on Twitter. If you have any questions or comments, please drop us a line on this report's talk page.
Programme activities
Community
Discussions / training of the following: the Welsh Society at Monmouth, presentation at Cardiff University (discussed wiki with Ken Skates), the Coleg Cymraeg (met Ioan Matthews Chief Exec, Dr Dafydd Trystan and Dr Dylan Phillips), Swansea University (met Proff. Iwan Davies, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Dr Rhys Jones etc), HWB (met Catrin Hughes), Bridgend County Council (Mike Evans), SAW (met Katie Fisher). Welsh Book Council places 3,249 professionally written book reviews on CC-BY-SA.
Microgrant outcome
Andy Mabbett successfully applied for a microgrant for sound recording equipment to support his project to record the voices of notable people to include in the appropriate Wikipedia articles. More detail can be seen here. Updates on Andy's project will be made available at a later date.
GLAM activities
On the 8th August we ran our first evening GLAM editathon in London. It was our first event at Conway hall, and it established that we could get people to an evening event, even in August, though few of the participants were actually commuters.
Technology
Work continued in preparation for the September migration of this wiki to Wikimedia UK hosting.
Other activities
Wiki Loves Monuments
August was the busiest month for the WLM volunteers and helpers, getting everything ready for the start of the contest on 1st September. During the month significant staff assistance was made available to take up some of the strains without which the volunteers would not have coped. Tasks for the month (volunteers with staff assistance) included finalising the lists on the English Wikipedia, dealing with template issues, setting up and working on the WLM website, writing blog entries, answering user queries, liaising with the press, notifying the competition to 250+ local history, civic, and photographic societies around the country, setting up the UK jury, liaising with the international competition organisers, proving technical feedback and testing of the proposed jury tool, and providing Welsh language support.
Grants
Information about grants that are currently running, and how to submit a grant application of your own, are at Microgrants/Applications.
UK press coverage (and coverage of UK projects & activities)
Storming Wikipedia - Project tackles the site's 'women problem' - Huffington Post
Blog posts this month
5 August - EduWiki Conference 2013 - call for proposals
7 August - Revitalising Wikipedia coverage of women scientists
9 August - Wikimedia Chapters to deliver Wikimedia Diversity Conference
12 August - Wiki Loves Monuments recruits distinguished judge
13 August - Congratulations and thank you to the Wikimania 2013 team!
16 August - A month as Wikimedian in Residence at the National Library of Scotland
21 August - Notes from the editathon at Conway Hall, London
Events in August
Take a look here for a full list of events which took place in August.
For upcoming events please see Events.
Administrative activities
Board activities
Three Board members (Chris, Saad and Alastair) attended Wikimania in Hong Kong. We had a number of very productive meetings and sessions with the Foundation, FDC and other Chapters. Chris was interviewed as part of Wikimedia Deutschland's Chapters Dialogue project.
News from the Chief Exec
- For information on Jon's activities this month, see News from the Office.
For the 'holiday month' a lot happened. See our reports on Wikimania Hong Kong for instance. The office did more than chug along. A huge amount of preparation want on towards the autumn and winter programme, Wiki loves monuments in particular. In parallel the trustees were working towards the expansion of the board. The number of volunteers has been growing steadily as well and we hit the 100 mark eventually. Jon Davies (WMUK) (talk) 11:17, 2 October 2013 (UTC)
Communications
Please see the above links to relevant press coverage received in August and blog posts published during the same period. Key communications projects worked on during August included writing proposals to present at the Open Government Partnership and MozFest, reviewing our suite of printed publications, supporting Wiki Loves Monuments (including working on its website). A Wikimedia UK supporter was kind enough to host a workshop for staff, volunteers and a trustee helping us to structure and analyse our key messages.
If you're interested in getting more involved with our communications or have any questions or comments, please email Stevie Benton – stevie.benton@wikimedia.org.uk
Fundraising and Membership
- Fundraising
This month, we received £115 in one-off donations, with 5 individual donations. The average donation amount was £23.00 - 20% of these donors have had Gift Aid Declarations made and matched with their records. If anyone would like a full (but anonymised) csv file with more information, please get in touch with katherine.bavage
wikimedia.org.uk and let her know your requirements.
There were 4,786 successful direct debits this month, bringing in a total of £18,834.77
- Membership
Up to 31st August 2013:
- 185 new (membership commenced in preceding three months) and current members - with 11 new join-ups in August.
- 35 'grace' members (membership within six months after date membership should be renewed)
- This adds up to 220 members who were eligible to vote
- Brochure translated into Welsh.