Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/Traffic report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/In the media
This is a summary of recent technology and site configuration changes that affect the English Wikipedia. Some bug fixes or new features described below have not yet gone live as of press time; the English Wikipedia is currently running version 1.44.0-wmf.12 (8b8c762), and changes to the software with a version number higher than that will not yet be active. Configuration changes and changes to interface messages, however, become active immediately.
Wikimania 2009 included a technical track of presentations, along with a Codeathon event that took place the day before the conference and continued during the conference. The first day of the conference included an overview of Wikimedia servers and infrastructure by Rob Halsell. During his talk, he discussed plans for adding Wikimedia servers at a facility in northern Virginia, which is an area less prone to hurricanes and has other advantages. Daniel Kinzler gave an overview of how the toolserver works.
Naoko Komura gave an update on the Wikimedia Usability Initiative. From the usability tests done in the Spring, the usability team identified various improvements that could be made to the interface, and classified them as simple to difficult to achieve, and small to large impact. So far, the team has focused on implementing the simple improvements that can make a big impact. More difficult improvements like wysiwyg editing might be addressed in the future. She also briefly discussed the Multimedia Usability Project, funded by a Ford Foundation grant, that is aimed at improving the experience for users uploading images and other media to Wikimedia Commons and other usability improvements for Commons.
Komura discussed the release schedule for features, including the Acai release that is currently available for beta testing (with the Vector skin and new editing toolbar). The Babacao release will be next, and will include an updated color scheme that retains key things like the red and blue links but in more subtle shades of color. Babacao will also include changes to the editing interface, placing the table of contents on the edit page, to the right of the edit box in a tabbed panel; the other tab would have an editing cheatsheet and help information. An insert table wizard and Michael Dale's add media wizard will also be available for beta testing. Further down the road is the Citron release, which will include content folding features to collapse things like infobox markup, and will include side-by-side preview capabilities. The Usability Initiative includes provisions for additional usability testing of the new features.
Angela Beesley gave a brief overview of usability improvements being made on Wikia, including a prototype wysiwyg editor. She then led discussion on usability, which included questions for both Beesley and Komura. During the session, Andrew Garrett gave a demo of Liquid Threads, which is aimed at improving usability of talk pages.
Erik Möller, Shay David, and Michael Dale presented in a session on collaborative and open video. They discussed efforts underway to standardize video with HTML5, including new <video> and <audio> tags. Wikimedia is working, with support from Kaltura and Mozilla, to implement an HTML5 video player and other technology that is completely open source. Michael Dale has also been working on the Firefogg extension for Firefox, which allows uploading videos in chunks, which is helpful when one's internet connection breaks. Firefogg also allows uploading videos in proprietary formats such as MPEG and have them converted to the open source ogg format. Dale also talked about the new upload API, which provide support on the Wikimedia and MediaWiki back-end to support features available in Firefogg, such as chunk uploading. Dale also demoed the add media wizard, which would be available in the editing toolbar and simplifies the process of finding media files on Wikimedia Commons or uploading new files. Dale is also working on collaborative video editing features, including sequence editing, which may be implemented further in the future.
Other technical topics that were presented at Wikimania include DBpedia, the Book tool, MediaWiki bot API, MediaWiki testing, OpenStreetMap integration, translatewiki.net, Semantic MediaWiki, WikiWord, and MediaWiki search. Video of Wikimania presentations are available on Wikimedia Commons.
During the Codeathon, developers worked on code review and preparing to update code on Wikimedia sites, which is imminent in the next week. Work was also done on Michael Dale's new upload branch, and improved JavaScript handling with jQuery. When the next code update occurs, this will include the new upload API, which supports chunk uploading with Firefogg and there will be the ability to upload files by url (e.g. from the Internet Archive).
Developers also worked on plans for a configuration database, which could replace LocalSettings.php and other configuration files currently used. Production servers (in Amsterdam) for the OpenStreetMap-Wikipedia integration project were also setup, and funds are budgeted for additional mapping servers to be located in Florida. On the last day of Wikimania, Brion Vibber provided a summary of the codeathon.
Two bot tasks were approved this week. DrilBot 4 was approved to implement the previously agreed deprecation of "future" templates (e.g. {{Future film}}) and SmackBot XVI to tidy up redirect syntax for enhanced interoperability with other tools and bots.
list=search is now marked as an expensive query, with lower limits. (r55615)Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/Opinion
The Wikimedia Foundation announced a new addition to the Board of Trustees on 25 August: Matt Halprin, a partner of the philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network and former eBay executive. Also that day came news that Omidyar Network is making an unrestricted $2 million grant to the Wikimedia Foundation (see Wikimedia press release). Omidyar Network, a hybrid non-profit and limited liability company (LLC) created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, describes itself as "dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. We invest in and help scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic, social, and political change." Through its LLC component, Omidyar Network has invested in a number of social media companies, including a $4 million investment in Wikia, the for-profit wiki company co-founded by Jimmy Wales. Through its non-profit component, it has awarded grants to Sunlight Foundation, DonorsChoose.org, and Creative Commons, among other non-profit organizations.
Following the news of the grant and Halprin's appointment to the Wikimedia board, a number of Wikimedians expressed concern over the appearance that a seat on the board had been purchased. In a podcast interview with Halprin at Wikimania, Andrew Lih (User:Fuzheado) inquired about the connection between the grant and the board seat (see partial transcript). According to Halprin, the grant is not directly tied to the board seat, and while the Omidyar Network prefers to place its partners on the boards of organizations it provides financial support to, the decision to put Halprin on the board was based on his relevant expertise.
A Q & A released by the Wikimedia Foundation notes that while the grant is unrestricted in how it can be used, full funding is dependent on meeting several objectives:
The support is conditional on Wikimedia making progress towards its core objectives. Wikimedia has pledged to Omidyar Network to report progress in four key areas: financial sustainability, global reach, global participation rates, and the completion of Wikimedia's strategic planning process. Wikimedia and Omidyar have developed targets related to financial sustainability (the percentage of operating expenses supported by individual donations), global reach (global unique visitors monthly, as reported by comScore Media Metrix), global participation rates (defined as the number of editors with 5+ edits in the previous month) and the completion of the Wikimedia Foundation's strategy project.
The Wikimedia Foundation has not yet revealed the specific targets for percentage of funding from individual donors, global reach, or global participation rate.
Two new members have joined the Wikimedia Board of Trustees, while one was formally welcomed. The new members are Samuel Klein, who was recently elected by the community; and Matt Halprin, who was announced at the Wikimania press conference. Arne Klempert, who was chosen for one of the two chapter-appointed seats this year, was also formally welcomed. Domas Mituzas, who had been on the board since 2008, stepped down.
New board officers were also chosen at the recent Wikimedia Foundation board of trustees meeting during Wikimania. Michael Snow will continue to serve as chair and Jan-Bart de Vreede will continue as board Vice Chair. Kat Walsh is becoming board executive secretary, while Stuart West continues as board treasurer.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/Serendipity Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/Op-ed Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/In focus
The Arbitration Committee did not open or close any cases this week, leaving four cases open.
An arbitration request concerning the deletion of the "Ra (channeled entity)" article was filed by Logos5557 and quickly rejected by the Committee as both premature and essentially a content dispute.
The Noloop case entered its second week of deliberations. The case involves mutual allegations of disruptive conduct by several parties, and is expected to address the conduct of all the editors involved. Evidence has been presented by several editors, and one of the parties, Noloop, has posted a statement that he does not intend to participate in the proceeding. A draft decision, to be written by arbitrator Carcharoth, is expected by 6 September.
The Lapsed Pacifist 2 case also entered its second week of deliberations. The filing editor, Steve Crossin, alleges that Lapsed Pacifist has engaged in advocacy, original research, and edit warring, as well as various other improprieties, over a wide range of articles. Lapsed Pacifist has so far refused to enter a statement or respond to the allegations, and a temporary injunction prohibits him from editing articles related to the Corrib gas project for the duration of the case. No arbitrators have commented on the evidence or workshop proposals at this time; a draft decision, to be written by arbitrator Wizardman, is expected by 1 September.
The 194x144x90x118 case entered its third week of deliberations and its first week of formal voting. The filing editor, Erik9, alleges that 194x144x90x118 has engaged in a variety of disruptive conduct, despite an RFC on the matter; 194x144x90x118 has refused to respond to the allegations, calling the proceedings a "sham".
The proposed decision, prepared by arbitrator Wizardman, would condemn 194x144x90x118 for "soapboxing on talk pages, personal attacks, edit warring, and a lack of a desire to abide by policy" and ban him for one year; the proposals have, at this point, unanimous support from all voting arbitrators.
The Abd-William M. Connolley case entered its seventh week of deliberations and its second week of formal voting. The case was filed by Abd, who alleged that William M. Connolley had improperly banned him from the cold fusion article; William M. Connolley denied these allegations, and stated that Abd's conduct had been inappropriate.
The proposed decision, prepared by arbitrator Stephen Bain, would place the cold fusion article under discretionary sanctions, remove William M. Connolley's administrator status, place Abd under mentorship, and issue several admonishments and reminders. Alternative proposals have been presented by arbitrator FloNight, who would only remove William M. Connolley's administrator status for three months, but also impose several restrictions on his use of administrative tools following their restoration; by arbitrator Coren, who would place William M. Connolley under administrative probation; and by arbitrator Casliber, who would replace Abd's mentorship with a series of editing restrictions and ban him for a period of four weeks. Voting on most remedy proposals remains deeply split.
Arbitrator Risker has proposed a motion to rescind the six-month ban levied against Locke Cole as part of the Date delinking decision; the motion provides for a reinstatement of the ban should Locke Cole be blocked for edit-warring. The motion currently stands at six arbitrators supporting, one opposing, and two recused; the majority necessary for adoption has not been announced.
The Committee has enacted a motion in response to Wikidemon's request to amend the Obama articles decision. The motion extends ChildofMidnight's topic ban to include related discussions in all namespaces. Considerable heated discussion has followed the motion's announcement. Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-08-31/Humour
