Wikimedia Highlights, July 2015
"Darshan Kandolkar talks about Konkani Wikipedia.webm" by Wikimedia India, freely licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.; "File:Leigh Thelmadatter-7697.jpg" by Karen Sayre for the Wikimedia Foundation, released under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; "London-Eye-2009.JPG" by Kham Tran, feely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.; "IFTTT Logo.svg" by IFTTT, public domain; "File:Albert_V_Bryan_Federal_District_Courthouse_-_Alexandria_Va.jpg" by Tim Evanson, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.; Collage by Andrew Sherman.
Here are the highlights from the Wikimedia blog in July 2015.
Wikimedian Darshan Kandolkar shares his experience of contributing to Konkani Wikipedia. Video in Konkani.Video by Wikimedia India, freely licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Goan Konkani Wikipedia went live on June 18 after being in the Incubator for around nine years. The project went through many challenges, but the hard work of the editor community, mostly from the Indian state of Goa, paid off in bringing the project out of incubation.
I have a dream to start a project for the freedom fighters of Goa and involve a diverse set of people, from students to journalists and columnists. I also want to build partnership with educational institutions so we could engage with the students for a longer run and the existing Konkani community could mentor them.
Leigh Thelmadatter, photographed for the 2012 Wikimedia Foundation fundraising campaign. Photo by Karen Sayre for the Wikimedia Foundation, released under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license.
A university teacher and Wikipedia volunteer, Leigh Thelmadatter has helped write articles on topics ranging from Mexican food and drinks to biographies and churches. Today, she works with students to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Mexico and its culture, and travels across the country in search of information worth sharing.
I think that Wikimedia and similar movements offer at least the idea that we can make more information available more easily to more people.
The logotype for the Wikidata Menu Challenge. Logo by Offnfopt, freely licensed under CC0 1.0
At Wikimedia Sverige (Sweden), we like food, traveling, and open data. So we started thinking: What can we could do to make life a bit easier for the frequent flyer? With help from Wikidata, members decided to host a menu challenge for restaurants, around the world, to expand their menus with key information. Participants used Wikidata to provide labels, translations, and images.
Wikidata is a collection of structured data that can be edited by computers and people alike. A main focus is of course Wikipedia, but the possibilities are unlimited, which was what we wanted to show with this project.
Images of the London Eye can be shared online under freedom of panorama rights. Photo by Kham Tran, feely licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Recently, the European Parliament amended recommendations that places restrictions across all European Union member states. The Wikimedia community has mobilized in response.
Update (July 13): On July 9, the European Parliament voted on the Reda Report. The paragraph addressing the Freedom of Panorama was ultimately deleted from the report. This means that for now, nothing has changed: countries that had Freedom of Panorama rights under their domestic laws still have them. Countries that lacked Freedom of Panorama rights under their domestic laws still do not have them.
Blind Justice stands with scales aloft over the Albert V. Bryan United States Courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia. Photo by Tim Evanson, freely licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
On March 10th, the Wikimedia Foundation joined a lawsuit against the NSA over its upstream surveillance program. A hearing is scheduled for late September on the government's recently filed motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
If This Then That, or IFTTT, introduces new tools to make connecting with Wikipedia’s public data simpler than ever. Logo by IFTTT, public domain.
Wikipedia’s new Channel on IFTTT makes it easier than ever to share free knowledge. Recipes include:
- Picture of the day: An alert with the Wikimedia Commons picture of the day
- Article of the day: An interesting article from Wikipedia, chosen daily from among Wikipedia’s best articles
- Word of the day: The definition of the Wiktionary word of the day
- New edits to a Wikipedia article: New edits on any Wikipedia page (similar to your watchlist on Wikipedia)
- New edits from a specific user: New contributions from a specific Wikipedia user
- New edit with a hashtag in the edit summary: Watch for a hashtag in the edit summary (try a hashtag for your next #editathon!)
- Article updated in a category: New edits to any Wikipedia page in a category
- Articles added to a category: Each time an article is added to a category
Andrew Sherman,Digital Communications Intern, Wikimedia Foundation