Here are the highlights from the Wikimedia blog in September 2015.
Contents
- Drone photography of Versailles
- Wikimedia project milestones: Swedish Wikipedia hits 2 million
- What I Learned: Wikipedia Education Program in Argentina
- In September, we love monuments
- Reimagining the Wikimedia Foundationâs grants
- Wikipediaâs very active editor numbers have stabilizedâdelve into the data with us
- Should I pay for a Wikipedia article?
Drone photography of Versailles
âWhen you see the gardens from above⊠it truly reveals all the intricacy, all the details of that work.â Video by Victor Grigas and Reetta Kemppi, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Lionel Allorge, a photographer and programmer from France, was frustrated by the difficult process of getting permission to use photos he had found online. Thatâs why he began to release his own photography under free licenses to Wikimedia Commons. One of his favorite projects involved taking photographs of the Palace of Versailles from the air. Aerial photographs of the palace exist, but those photos were not free to use.
Wikimedia project milestones: Swedish Wikipedia hits 2 million
The featured image when the Swedish Wikipedia hit two million articlesâa springbok. Image by Yathin S Krishnappa, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
The Wikimedia projects hitting major milestones in September include:
- The Swedish Wikipedia reached 2,000,000 articles on September 5. The two millionth article of the Swedish Wikipedia was one of many bot-created articles. Jan Ainali, of Wikimedia Sverige, says that the community is aware of the role of bots in getting to this milestone, but that it is still to be celebrated.
- The Urdu Wikipedia reached 80,000 articles on September 9.
- The Armenian Wiktionary has reached 90,000 entries on September 19.
- The Swahili Wikipedia reached 30,000 articles on September 22.
What I Learned: Wikipedia Education Program in Argentina
Building bridges between digital, scholar and open culture: Educational editathon at the Museo del Bicentenario. Image by Giselle Bordoy, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Delia Vazquez, a teacher trainer and a high school teacher, always considered that she was lacking a theoretical foundation that allowed her to defend and argue for Wikipediaâs use in the classroomâsomething that would allow her to âmove away from the prejudices that are common among my colleaguesâ. With this feedback in mind, and an idea of the audience we wanted to address, an education program was designed for Wikimedia Argentina. It aimed to change the perceptions of Wikipedia in educational contexts, and emphasize the key role open culture has in education.
Every month, we will share a new story for shared learning from a different community. If you want to feature a lesson you learned, reach out!.
In September, we love monuments
Jubilee Church in Tor Tre Teste , Rome, the winning picture of the 2014 Wiki Loves Monuments contest in Italy. Photo by Federico Di Iorio, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
In September 2015, the sixth edition of Wiki Loves Monuments, the largest photography competition in the world, was held. Thousands of Wikipedia readers and contributors from more than 30 countries around the globe took part in the contest, hoping to document their local heritage, contribute to Wikipedia, and perhaps win a little prize.
Check out the winners for 2015 from all across the world!
Reimagining the Wikimedia Foundationâs grants
Participation from over 200 community members in the Reimagining WMF grants consultation led to planned changes to WMF’s grants programs illustrated by the above graphic. Image by Chris Schilling, freely licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0.
The Wikimedia Community Resources team recently completed a successful consultation to change the structure of WMF grants. Many important findings surfaced through the last month, such as a desire for small, accessible grants, a need to simplify grant types, and requests for additional support during grant application and reporting. The feedback provided by participants has produced many substantive improvements in the reimagined structure for WMF grant programs.
Wikipediaâs very active editor numbers have stabilizedâdelve into the data with us
Very active editor numbers (>100 edits per month) since the English Wikipediaâs launch in 2001. The thick red line symbolises a five-month moving average. Graph by Joe Sutherland, in the public domain.
The English Wikipediaâs population of very active editorsâregistered contributors with more than 100 edits per monthâappears to have stabilized after a period of decline. Weâre seeing some of the same trends globally on other language Wikipedias.
We have released a new dataset (documentation) to invite community members and researchers to join us in analyzing this trend. Some potential directions of investigation include:
- Existing editors could be editing more
- Fewer editors could be leaving
- More editors could be coming back
- The community could be reaching its new carrying capacity
- Faster editing as a result of December 2014âs performance improvements (âHow we made editing Wikipedia twice as fastâ) could be enabling more edits
- A temporary resurgence
Should I pay for a Wikipedia article?
There are specific rules for when you can edit the English Wikipedia for money. Image by Erik Zachte, freely licensed under CC-by-3.0.
This question and answer-style piece details what individuals can and should know about paid editing on Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation’s Terms of Use, covering Wikipedia and all other projects supported by the Foundation, require that all paid editing be disclosed, and you should never hire an undisclosed paid editor. It may be tempting to want a Wikipedia article about you or your company, but Wikipedia is first and foremost an encyclopedia. Not every person or business in the world will or should appear in an encyclopedia.
These guidelines apply only to the English Wikipedia and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.
Andrew ShermanDigital Communications InternWikimedia Foundation
Photo Montage: “Drone_Photography_of_Versailles_-_Lionel_Allorge.webm” by Victor Grigas and Reetta Kemppi, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.; “Chiesa dio padre misericordioso 02.jpg” by Federico Di Iorio, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0; “Highly active editor graph.png” by Joe Sutherland, in the public domain.; “Antidorcas marsupialis, female (Etosha, 2012).jpg” by Yathin S Krishnappa, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0; “EditatĂłn en el Museo del Bicentenario 3.jpg” by Giselle Bordoy WMAR, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.; Collage by Andrew Sherman.
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