WikiReader, Meetup in Pakistan, Audit committee elections, and more

Openmoko launched a small, handheld reader with an offline version of the entire English Wikipedia, the WikiReader. The reader is retailing for $99, and runs on batteries, with a monochrome touch screen. The content has no pictures, and can be filtered for use by kids. Openmoko plans to offer twice-yearly content updates for download. The WikiReader software is open source.

The WikiReader official site lists details of the device. The launch was picked up by several media outlets and blogs, with the Wikimedia Foundation blog also posting details of the reader.

The first meetup in Karachi, Pakistan was held on October 18, 2009, hosted by Saqib Qayyum. Six editors of the English and Urdu Wikipedias attended, including Jamal Abdullah Usman, a Pakistani journalist/columnist. Attendees discussed topics including publicity and development of the Urdu language Wikipedia, WikiProject Pakistan, the possibility of a Pakistan chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, and even a quiz for attendees (see agenda). The meetup lasted three hours.

The process to appoint three non-arbitrator members of the Audit Subcommittee is underway. If you are interested, please see the election page for the qualifications and application process. Applications will be accepted until October 22, and voting will begin on October 30.

Two of recently deceased Wikipedian Fg2's pictures have been promoted to Featured Picture status. Hall of Dreams and Morning glory were nominated by User:Kaldari to celebrate the massive contribution the Japanese educator made both to the encyclopedia and to Commons. A third image, Tazawako, was nominated by User:Shoemaker's Holiday but was not promoted.

• The Creative Commons search engine is now featuring the ability to search Wikimedia Commons.
• Three jobs at the Wikimedia Foundation are currently open, for a Chief Development Officer, the Chief Technical Officer, and a Code Maintenance Engineer.
• User:Tinucherian has been compiling a list of Wikipedians who tweet. If you use Twitter and would like to be added to the list, please contact Tinucherian. Many Wikipedians are also active on identi.ca, which has a Wikipedia group.
• The log for the second IRC office hours with Mike Godwin, WMF general counsel, has been posted.

• The English Wikipedia now has more than 7500 good articles.

• 17 October 2005: Nielsen report shows that the number of visitors to Wikipedia had nearly quadrupled during the past year.
• 16 October 2006: Wikipedia partially unblocked in mainland China
• 15 October 2007: Two million files on Commons

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• Ooops, identi.ca have blocked in China :( --Shizhao (talk) 02:19, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• So that explains all the activity in the Pakistani topics. Gear up for vandalism and editors who speak poor English, 'cause there's welcoming to do. ChyranandChloe (talk) 03:38, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • I don't think a meetup of six very active Wikipedians who work on various language sites, including one admin on Urdu, is responsible for whatever uptick in editing you're seeing, and certainly jumping to conclusions about vandalism seems misplaced. -- phoebe / (talk to me) 05:15, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • User:ChyranandChloe, leave your cultural stereotypes at home and remove your comments from this posting. --Jmundo (talk) 13:59, 20 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]
• Congraulations to the Pakistan Wikipedia community, I hope it is not too long before we welcome a Pakistani chapter into the family of other Wikimedia chapters around the world! Lankiveil ^{(speak to me)} 12:09, 20 October 2009 (UTC).[reply]