Reports/2013/October

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Below is the Wikimedia UK monthly report for the period 1st to 31st October 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.

Program activities

Community

The first Leeds meetup started the month off with 6 signups. Meetups also took place in London, Oxford, Manchester, and Edinburgh.

Microgrant outcome

GLAM activities

October was a busy month for GLAM with multiple events for Ada Lovelace day, and a variety of other subjects from Breast cancer and Railways to paleontologists and the Bloomsbury group.

Geographically our program included our first editathon in York and a virtual event where most participants were not in UK.

  • Photograph take at the National railway Museum in York

    Photograph take at the National railway Museum in York

  • a headdress from w:Starr Carr - a site which Pat Hadley our new WIR had dug as an archaeologist

    a headdress from w:Starr Carr - a site which Pat Hadley our new WIR had dug as an archaeologist

  • The Middleham Jewel is a treasure of the Yorkshire Museum

    The Middleham Jewel is a treasure of the Yorkshire Museum

  • The Coppergate Helmet another treasure of the Yorkshire Museum

    The Coppergate Helmet another treasure of the Yorkshire Museum

  • The NRM is not just about steam

    The NRM is not just about steam

Education & expert outreach

Certificate issued by Oxford University IT Services for participation in a Wikimedia workshop

On Ada Lovelace Day, Oxford University hosted the first of a series of workshops on using Wikimedia to link Research Impact and Open Education, delivered by Martin Poulter as part of the Jisc/Wikimedia UK partnership. The three-hour event attracted fourteen attendees, including lecturers/tutors, support staff, and one museum staff. Nine people signed up to the Wikimedia UK list of academic contacts, who are being followed up with. Requests have come from more universities for these workshops, and though the project plan is for six, the total will likely exceed that.

The afternoon in the same venue saw a Women in Science editathon, introduced by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, FRS and by Oxford's CIO, Anne Trefethen. It was supported by Martin in his Jisc capacity, but with vital assistance from Doug Taylor and Dan Garry. An almost entirely female group of 22 attendees, with a broad age range, created seven articles and improved fourteen more, and there was genuine enthusiasm for further involvement with Wikipedia. Bodelian Libraries' Liz McCarthy (whose books were incredibly useful on the day) and IT Services' Kate Lindsay wrote articles for Guardian Higher Education Network and for the university's online magazine Oxford Today about the value of writing about women in STEM on Wikipedia.

The Bodleian Libraries also hosted a guest blog post by Martin as part of its "23 things" online course.

Martin had a brief slot in a Jisc Digital Media webinar about finding audio and video resources for education which is archived on the JDM site. He discussed some of the strengths and weaknesses of Wikimedia Commons, and took part in a discussion about the value of freely reusable content. Other participants were highly complimentary about Wikipedia and the Wikimedia movement.

Training wiki-skills

Software Alliance Wales (SAW; based at Swansea University), have agreed to train their own trainers in wiki-skills. They will then train others in all parts of Wales. Each course member will be given a general outlook of Wikipedia and will then create a village stub-article on Wikipedia, in English or in Welsh; part two then looks at Infoboxes. It's possible that this may be the first time for an independent body in Britain to teach wiki-skills.

Technology

The Technology Committee met on 22nd October; it was the committee's fourth full meeting and the minutes are available online.

Other activities

Wiki Loves Monuments

The UK's logo for Wiki Loves Monuments

Submissions to Wiki Loves Monuments closed at 23:59 on Monday 30th September. With 12,000 photos from the UK, October was spent judging them. A team of volunteers systematically looked through all the photos to compile a long-list for the final jury. After several passes they produced a long list of nearly 500 images for consideration by the jury.

The jury consisted of three people with diverse backgrounds. Steve Cole has more than 40 years of experience of heritage photography and has worked with the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) and English Heritage; David Iliff is a semi-professional photographer and regularly contributes to the Featured Picture process; and Alex Linghorn is a professional travel photographer and has travelled to more than 40 countries capturing images of culture and heritage.

The three-man jury met at the end of the month and settled on the winners. The top three were selected, with seven Highly Commended images, and one selection for Best Documentary image. The winners can be seen here.

Microgrants

Information about microgrants that are currently running, and how to submit a microgrant application of your own, are at Microgrants/Applications.

UK press coverage (and coverage of UK projects & activities)

Ada Lovelace and Wikipedia's Women - http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/oct/15/ada-lovelace-day-wikipedia-editathon

Ada Lovelace Day 2013 - from nerd cabaret to womenifying Wikipedia - http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/15/nerd-cabaret-wikipedia-ada-lovelace-day-2013?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

BBC Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 (featuring Daria Cybulska) discussing Ada Lovelace Day and Wikipedia - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03cmt4n

BBC - Wikipedia probe into paid-for 'Sockpuppet' entries - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24613608

Vice.com - is the PR industry buying influence over Wikipedia? - http://www.vice.com/read/is-the-pr-industry-buying-influence-over-wikipedia

Wall Street Journal - Wikipedia probes suspicious promotional articles - http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/10/21/wikipedia-probes-suspicious-promotional-articles/

Independent - Wikipedia: We have blocked 250 'sock puppets' for biased editing of our pages - http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/wikipedia-we-have-blocked-250-sock-puppets-for-biased-editing-of-our-pages-8895112.html

Guardian - Wikipedia cracks down on 'paid advocacy editing and sockpuppetry' - http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/22/wikipedia-ban-sock-puppet-pr

PR Week - New Wikipedia editing furore provokes CIPR ire - http://www.prweek.com/article/1217351/new-wikipedia-editing-furore-provokes-cipr-ire

Daily Dot - The battle to destroy Wikipedia's biggest sockpuppet army - http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/wikipedia-sockpuppet-investigation-largest-network-history-wiki-pr/

The Register - Wikipedia sockpuppetry probe puts a sock in hundreds of accounts - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/10/21/wikimedia_foundation_blocks_hundreds_of_accounts_due_to_sockpuppetry/

Ars Technica - Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/10/wikipedia-editors-locked-in-battle-with-pr-firm-delete-250-accounts/

Washington Times - Click capitalism: PR firms cash in cleaning up clients’ Wikipedia pages - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/21/money-to-pr-firm-can-buy-good-image-on-wikipedia/

Social Times - Wikipedia Continues To Clash With Wiki-PR In Losing Battle - http://socialtimes.com/wikipedia-continues-to-clash-with-wiki-pr-in-losing-battle_b137036

Time Magazine - Wikipedia Bans 250 Users for Posting Paid, Promotional Entries - http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/10/21/wikipedia-bans-250-users-for-posting-paid-promotional-entries/

Venture Beat - Wikipedia shuts down 250 accounts as part of investigation against paid ‘sockpuppets’ - http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/21/wikipedia-shuts-down-250-accounts-as-part-of-investigation-against-paid-sockpuppets/#IajM4aiTXx7idJyh.99

Zeit Online - Wikipedia geht gegen bezahlte Manipulation vor (in German) - http://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2013-10/wikipedia-lobbyismus-sperrung-nutzer

Digital Journal - Wikipedia editors report high numbers of paid-for articles - http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/360726

Kenyan Standard - Wikipedia probe into paid-for 'sockpuppet' entries - http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000095994&story_title=wikipedia-probe-into-paid-for-sockpuppet-entries&pageNo=2

New Statesman - Keeping Wikipedia working is wearing some editors down - http://www.newstatesman.com/2013/10/keeping-wikipedia-working-wearing-some-editors-down

Slate (in French) - WIKI-PR, L'ENTREPRISE QUI FAUSSE WIKIPEDIA POUR PROMOUVOIR SES CLIENTS - http://www.slate.fr/life/79142/wikipedia-entreprise-relations-publiques

MSN Now - Wikipedia tries to fix the problem of allowing anyone to edit articles - http://now.msn.com/wikipedia-cracks-down-on-sock-puppet-network-non-neutral-editing

Philip Sandifer - Wikipedia Goes All-In on Transphobia - http://www.philipsandifer.com/2013/10/wikipedia-goes-all-in-on-transphobia.html

Blog posts this month

Upcoming activities in October and November

October

For events in December 2013 and onwards, please see Events.

Administrative activities

Board activities

In October the WMUK board co-opted two new trustees, Carol Campbell and Kate West, bring the number of members up to seven. Carol is a former charity CEO who has worked in the hospice sector, the arts, a special school and a cathedral and Kate is an operations and resource management professional and has worked for a variety of high-profile, non-profit organisations. Their terms run until the end of September 2015.

News from the Chief Exec

For information on Jon's activities this month, see News from the Office.


Communications

Please see the above links to relevant press coverage received in October and blog posts published during the same period.

Aside from the regular comms work, the main driver of our external relations work this month was developing relations with other local and international groups of shared interest. This included the chapter being represented (by staff and volunteers) at the Open Government Partnership Summit, and presenting a session at MozFest. This work is ongoing and will continue into the new year.

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

New Staff

Stuart Prior joined the team on the 24th, his role will be to assist with the fundraising and organisation of the upcoming Wikimania 2014 in August.

Fundraising and Membership

Fundraising

This month, we received £125 in one-off donations, with 5 individual donations. The average donation amount was £25 - 80% 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.bavageatwikimedia.org.uk and let her know your requirements.

There were 4634 successful direct debits this month, bringing in a total of £18,282.77

Membership

Please see Membership/numbers by status

Visitors to the office this month

  • Michelle Brook, Open Knowledge Foundation
  • Brian McNeil
  • User:Thryduulf
  • Nik Speller, Rare Corporates
  • The Wikimania volunteer team
  • Hannah Jones
  • Jasbir Saund
  • Simon Knight
  • Kate Walsh and Carol Campbell
  • Peter Williams
  • Emmanuel Engelhart
  • Rupert Thurner
  • Anisha Tailor from the Physiological Society to discuss outreach
  • Sarah Burnett from BCS Women before joint event
  • Dhaval Vyas
  • Leutha
  • Dan Garry (Deskana)
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