The Eye of the Storm: WikiProject Tropical Cyclones

WikiProject news

News in brief

• WikiProject Cooperation is a new project providing guidance, oversight, and resources for editors paid by companies or organizations to edit Wikipedia.
• WikiProject Wikify's February Drive has begun. Get busy and earn a barnstar for your efforts.
• The Teyler's Museum in the Netherlands is sponsoring a contest from now until May with real-world prizes. The competition is open to contributors of any language of Wikipedia and is part of the Teylers GLAM project.

Submit your project's news and announcements for next week's WikiProject Report at the Signpost's WikiProject Desk.

This week, we spun full circle with WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. After six years in existence, the project has grown to include 116 Featured Articles, 50 Featured Lists, 10 pieces of Featured Media, 42 A-class Articles, and 522 Good Articles. For a look at how the project has developed, check out the Signpost's previous interviews with the project from 2008 and 2009. Project members Titoxd, Yellow Evan, Thegreatdr, Hurricanehink, and TropicalAnalystwx13 brought us up to date.

What motivated you to join WikiProject Tropical Cyclones? Have you ever experienced a tropical cyclone firsthand?

Titoxd: I am one of the original members of the WikiProject, which was founded in October 2005. I believe my first encounter with a hurricane article was when I was looking for information on Hurricane Emily way back in July 2005, and I saw a very informative article on the subject. There already was a small community of editors working on hurricane articles, even before there was an "official" WikiProject. While I have not been affected directly by a tropical cyclone, my hometown saw flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ismael back in 1995, so I have been interested in hurricanes ever since.

Yellow Evan: I joined in 2008, when I was looking for information about TC's. I live in Nevada, so I have next to no experience of a tropical cyclone firsthand.

Thegreatdr: I joined in January 2006, after seeing a news story about the problems with wikipedia and noticing that its meteorology articles were quite underdeveloped. Since I'm a meteorologist/weather forecaster, I felt I could help.

Hurricanehink: I've been editing hurricane articles since December 2004, so when the project started up, naturally I joined it. I had to evacuate for Hurricane Irene last summer, which was a very surreal experience for me. It gave me a new perspective on people being affected by storms.

TropicalAnalystwx13: I am one of the newer members on WikiProject Tropical Cyclones, joining in September 2010. My sole purpose of joining the project was to keep expand and improve existing tropical cyclones articles, and to create new ones when needed. I first became interested in Meteorology, specifically tropical weather, in 2004. I remember being out of school because of Hurricane Alex (2004) and watching the strong winds outside.

WikiProject Tropical Cyclones has been interviewed twice by the Signpost. Juliancolton commented that the project "lost a few key members" between the 2008 interview and 2009 interview. How does the project's member retention look today? What are the main reasons editors leave active projects like WikiProject Tropical Cyclones? What can be done to prevent these losses?

Hurricanehink: The project is typically busiest during the Atlantic hurricane season (mostly between July and October), and each year some of the annual members stick around and become key editors. Fortunately, this Atlantic off-season is much more active than usual, and we still have many of our key members that we had as of 2009. We have a young editing base (most are under 25 years old), and as a result the biggest loss to the project is when users experience that horrifying world outside of our computers known as the real world. The best way to prevent these losses is to abandon one's doctoral degree, music album, or social life. Or, more realistically, work with new users and get them integrated.

Titoxd: Retention in WPTC is stable. Activity in the WikiProject is cyclical, with a large spike in editing activity when a hurricane or other tropical cyclone affects the United States directly. Usually we get one or two new editors to stick around every year, which renews the editor base. As to what to do to prevent losses... well, I don't think that there is much that we can do, since "life" tends to be the most common reason for activity drops for us.

Thegreatdr: I agree with Titoxd. Activity and memberships varies over the years and throughout the year. Activity is naturally increased during the Northern Hemisphere tropical cyclone seasons. Luckily, during the past few years, we have more editors willing and able to expand upon information south of the equator. Also, it is gratifying to see more members tacking the seasonal articles, which have the greatest need of improvement.

Yellow Evan: Activity has increased quite a bit since that point, in 2009, we had 2–3 active editors, now we have 6–9 main editors. Our IRC chat is twice as active as it was in 2009; in those days, the chat would only become active once or twice a day, now the chat is active several times a day. The most common reason why editors leave or become inactive is because of Real Life (RL) issues.

The project has progress bars for three goals: reaching 200 total pieces of Featured material, 150 Featured Articles, and 1,000 Good Articles. Why were these goals chosen and how close is the project to achieving the goals? What new goals will be set when the current goals have been reached?

Hurricanehink: The original goal of those three was getting 500 good articles, but that happened last year. Rather than resting on our laurels, we set another goal to go for the big 1k. At the current rate, the 200 pieces of featured material will likely happen first, but the project won't stop there. The tropical cyclone WikiProject has long been committed to both quality and quantity, which I personally believe is a good model for Wikipedia as a whole. At this point, the project's editors have become so committed to quality that the numbers are more for reference.

Titoxd: To add to what Hurricanehink said, the eventual goal is the original goal.

Yellow Evan: These goals were made during the summer, and we will likely reach some of these goals in 2–5 years.

Thegreatdr: Goals are nice to strive for. People like to reach for numerical goals which are round in number, which is probably why they were chosen.

A frequent topic of discussion on the project's talk page in the past few months has been the use of timelines to illustrate tropical cyclone seasons. What were the main concerns expressed about existing timelines and how did the project resolve the dispute? Are there ways other projects can emulate the decision-making process utilized by WikiProject Tropical Cyclones?

Titoxd: I am not sure I can call that discussion "resolved." It is still a topic of discussion, as evidenced by the very recent AFD on the topic, and I won't rehash the arguments we made there. The main thing I would like the WikiProject to improve is getting the general community more involved with guideline decision-making. We've had discussions on broad topics like timelines, general nomenclature, notability, and the like, yet it seems we can't generate enough external interest in the wider community to comment on them when we request their input.

Hurricanehink: As for the decision-making process, the project has an active IRC channel where we often discuss the state of the project (among other things, such as Pokémon, Lolcats, Politics, RL). We never come to any real decisions on there, but by talking in real time, we're able to find common ground much quicker than on Wiki. Any such compromise always ends up on Wiki, so the non-IRC members can see and add their input. I feel that by talking in real time to some of the other editors is one of the project's strong suits.

Thegreatdr: Despite the existence of the IRC channel, it is good to log any agreements within the talk pages of the project, so the members know what resolution has been made, and also to inform the project of what was discussed. As within any project, agreed-upon standards change every so often.

Yellow Evan: The main concern about timelines is whether or not there are content forks, and if so, are they acceptable content forks? Most of our interaction comes on IRC, so by creating an IRC channel other projects can emulate the process used by WPTC.

What has been the impact of splitting the project's assessments into storms, seasons, meteorology, and geographic areas? Have you contributed to any of the project's new featured articles, lists, or media?

Hurricanehink: I was a proponent toward adding task forces, and to an extent still am. It has led to an additional area of assessment statistics, which I am very fond of. Inspired by the Periodic Table by Quality within the Elements WikiProject, I created a table that indicates the Wikiwork by Atlantic hurricane season. The Wikiwork term is itself lovingly stolen from the Roads WikiProject. I use such a table to find the seasons that need the most work.

Titoxd: It really gives us a quantitative assessment of the WikiProject's status in multiple areas. For example, we know that season articles are not necessarily as good as individual storm articles, and storm subarticles. The assessment tables also allow us to identify "bottleneck articles" — that is, articles that are blocking a Good Topic or Featured Topic nomination. Once we know where the bottleneck articles are, we can focus on them and get them to at least GA status. As for the other question, as my availability to edit is spotty, I am not as prolific in the FA arena as Hurricanehink, but I got List of Arizona hurricanes featured recently.

Thegreatdr: I initially created the tropical cyclone rainfall lists, such as List of wettest tropical cyclones in the United States and List of wettest tropical cyclones by country. I like the fact the others have helped updating both lists since their creation. This is what makes Wikipedia a great place to contribute...it's not all about you. I also have helped make the wind, numerical weather prediction, tropical cyclone, and extratropical cyclone articles featured, with brought numerous other articles within the tropical cyclone and broader meteorology projects up to Good Article status. I tend to stick to the meteorology articles, and since last spring, have been mainly proofing the various articles within the project. Numerous reviewers, including some critics of how Wikipedia operates, have led to positive changes within the wind and numerical weather prediction articles. I appreciate it most when critics of the Wikipedia process provide feedback; it proves they still care about its improvement.

Yellow Evan: The task forces help organize our data and figure out our strengths and weaknesses. I do not have any FAs, but I do have limited involvement in an FL, as well as 30+ GAs.

The Tropical Cyclones Portal is a Featured Portal. What are the greatest challenges to creating and maintaining a Featured Portal? How can projects increase traffic for portals under their scope? Is there a future for the portal concept?

Titoxd: The largest hurdle was to get it initially populated, and then modify it so it basically runs itself. The most editor-intensive part of the portal is keeping the list of current storms up to date, but I have noticed that there is a group of friendly anonymous editors who keep that section updated for us.

What are the project's most pressing needs? How can a new member contribute today?

Titoxd: While we do have a lot of GAs and FAs, we still have a large number of sub-par articles, especially for older seasons. There is plenty to do there for a new editors, and we can teach editors how to find reliable sources if they haven't had any prior experience in the black arts of research. Additionally, we really need editors who are able to read foreign language sources, as that limits our ability to improve our coverage on typhoons and cyclones. Even if article-writing is not your thing, we still need editors to help us verify that style guidelines pass MOS muster, as well as other meta-discussions about the way the WikiProject should approach things.

Thegreatdr: Efforts such as Wikipedia's recent digitization efforts at NARA at College Park, Maryland are a good path forward for this project. I think we are reaching the end of picking the low hanging fruit from the internet/World Wide Web: information that is currently available online. I think the last of these sources which have not been significantly used is the information within IBTrACS, the international tropical cyclone database being compiled at the National Climatic Data Center. The most significant improvements I've made to articles the past couple years involve using information from real, hard-bound books and publications which have not yet been digitized. There are troves of unscanned information at places such as the National Archives, National Climatic Data Center, and the NOAA Central Library which can be scanned and/or utilized for this project. This is the broad horizon the project is about the enter.

Yellow Evan: Editors that work on important articles.

TropicalAnalystwx13: As Hurricanehink said, one of our more pressing matters is that we have a lot of stub/start-class articles, namely the older seasons. The main way a new editor can contribute to our WikiProject today is to try fixing up a lot of our poorer articles.

Next week, we'll sort through Wikipedia's smallest articles. Until then, watch the encyclopedia grow from the archive.

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2012-02-06

Talking architecture with MrPanyGoff

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By Crisco 1492 and Mathew Townsend

This report covers content promoted from 29 January to 4 February 2012.

This week, the Signpost continues its coverage of editors combating systemic bias by contributing featured content on underrepresented geographical areas. We interview MrPanyGoff, who has contributed eight of twelve featured pictures listed at WikiProject Bulgaria. His main focus is on pictures of buildings (MrPanyGoff's featured picture of the nave of the Hagia Sophia Church in Sofia is displayed above). MrPanyGoff is also an occasional contributor to the Did you know? section of the main page.

"Every village also has structures that should be photographed to complete the collection of knowledge and ideas about the world. So people, give us good photos not only of Manhattan or Paris but also of the Bronx and the small town of Kamnik, Slovenia."

On taking pictures and nominating them as featured picture candidates.

"First of all, you should have an intuition of encyclopedic value. Not every building has it, but at the same time not only cathedrals or palaces are symbols of some particular place. Every village also has structures that should be photographed to complete the collection of knowledge and ideas about the world. One advantage of Wikipedia is the lack of technical and economic constraints. So people, give us good photos not only of Manhattan or Paris but also of the Bronx and the small town of Kamnik, Slovenia.

Of course, there are some technical matters which you should take into consideration. Choosing the time of the day, considering the course of the sun and the crowd, are probably the most important things."

On his interest in photography and architecture:

"I think that if someone knows the language of some of the arts, he understands all the arts. It is one and the same language. A few years ago, I was mostly into the area of art photography. Some of my works were chosen for three or four public exhibitions and then I went back to one of my first passion—encyclopedias. I started writing my first own encyclopedia when I was about 10 years old. So, I would like to take photos of every place in the world as well as to write about these places. At the same time, I've never left the field of the architecture."

On writing about Bulgaria.

"There are almost no sources. It is very difficult. It took me so much time and effort just to find out who is the architect of such a great symbol of Sofia as the building of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Actually, I prefer ten "C"-level articles covering the main aspects of the topic than one featured article. Of course, once we cover all the topics with C-level articles then we should going to develop them into a featured ones."

Featured articles

Six featured articles were promoted this week:

• Baldwin of Forde (nom) by Ealdgyth. Baldwin of Forde became the Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry II of England in 1185. Baldwin quarrelled with his cathedral clergy over the founding of a church, which led to the imprisonment of the clergy in their cloister for more than a year. After the coronation of King Richard I of England, the new king sent Baldwin to the Holy Land in 1190, where he became embroiled in the politics of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He died while participating in the Third Crusade.
• Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi (nom) by Sturmvogel 66. First laid down in 1920, and rebuilt from 1935 to 1938, Akagi was an aircraft carrier of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), the second Japanese aircraft carrier and the first large or "fleet" carrier. Akagi figured prominently in IJN's revolutionary carrier striking force doctrine that allowed the concentration of air power, enabling Japan to attain its strategic goals during the first six months of the Pacific War in World War II. She participated in many battles, including the attack on Pearl Harbor and Battle of Rabaul (1942).
• South American dreadnought race (nom) by The ed17. A dreadnought arms race between Argentina, Brazil and Chile (Brazil's Minas Geraes pictured at right) began in 1907 when the Brazilian government announced its intention to purchase three warships of the new "dreadnought" type. This action caused a major stir in international politics and forced Argentina and Chile to reply with their own orders. The race essentially ended with the beginning of the First World War, though Chile reacquired a dreadnought in 1920.
• Nyon Conference (nom) by Grandiose. Held in Nyon, Switzerland, in September 1937, the Nyon Conference was convened to address the problem of submarine attacks on international shipping in the Mediterranean Sea during the Spanish Civil War. The "Mediterranean Agreement"—providing that any submarine that attacked neutral shipping was to be sunk if possible and setting up a system of marine patrols—was signed September 14. A second agreement, signed on September 17, applied similar provisions to surface vessels.
• Russell T Davies OBE (nom) by Sceptre. Stephen Russell Davies (born in 1963), known by his pen name Russell T Davies, is a Welsh television producer and screenwriter whose works include Queer as Folk, Bob & Rose, The Second Coming, Casanova, and the 2005 revival of the classic British science fiction series Doctor Who. Continuing this popular series is considered his most notable achievement.
• Super Meat Boy (nom) by PresN. Super Meat Boy is a 2010 indie video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. Beginning development in January 2009, the game was based on the flash game Meat Boy and featured 300 levels where the player must avoid obstacles such as saws and crumbling blocks. The game was critically acclaimed, receiving awards for Best Downloadable Game from GameSpot and GameTrailers and Most Challenging Game from IGN.

Featured lists

Seven featured lists were promoted this week:

• List of ICC Cricket World Cup finals (nom) by The Rambling Man and AroundTheGlobe. The International Cricket Council, an international association cricket competition established in 1975, holds a Cricket World Cup every four years. In the ten tournaments held to date — the most recent in 2011 — a total of nineteen nations have qualified for the finals. Australia is the most successful team in the competition's history, winning four tournaments and finishing as runner-up once, while England is the only nation to have reached a final but never won the competition.
• List of posthumous number ones on the UK Albums Chart (nom) by A Thousand Doors. Nineteen albums by deceased artists have topped the UK Albums Chart since its inception in 1956, starting with Otis Redding's The Dock of the Bay in 1968. Two artists, Elvis Presley and Eva Cassidy, had three posthumous albums reach number one on the charts. The most recent was Amy Winehouse's Lioness: Hidden Treasures in December 2011.
• List of James Bond novels and stories (nom) by Schrodinger's cat. Fictional British superspy James Bond has appeared in 14 novels by his creator, Ian Fleming, as well as another 40 by other authors. The first Bond novel, Casino Royale, was released in 1953; the most recent is 2011's Carte Blanche by Jeffery Deaver. A series depicting Bond's days at Eton, entitled Young Bond, has also been published.
• List of Philadelphia Phillies owners and executives (nom) by Killervogel5. In the history the Philadelphia Phillies, an American baseball team, there have been 11 general managers (GMs) and 15 team presidents. The team's first owners were Alfred J. Reach and John I. Rogers, who owned the team from 1893 to 1902; the current president is part-owner David P. Montgomery. The team's first GM, Herbert J. Pennock, held office from 1944 to 1948; the current GM is Rubén Amaro, Jr.
• List of Bermuda ODI cricketers (nom) by AssociateAffiliate. Bermuda's One Day Internationals cricket team had 37 players in its three year lifespan, featuring 38 matches. From their first match against Canada in 2006, the team recorded the largest margin of defeat in a World Cup match, losing by 257 runs in a 2007 match against India. Three players held the position of captain.
• Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (nom) by Novice7. The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, established in 1968, awards female artists with "newly recorded solo R&B vocal performances" (winner Natalie Cole pictured at right). The first winner was Aretha Franklin, who went on to win the award eleven times, including eight consecutive wins between 1968 and 1975; Anita Baker has the second most Grammy awards in this category, with five. The most recent winner is Fantasia Barrino with the single "Bittersweet".
• List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World champions (nom) by NapHit. The foremost championship of motorcycle road racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racing is held yearly. The rider with the most wins is Italian Giacomo Agostini (right), who won 15 times between 1966 and 1975; Ángel Nieto, with 13 championships, is second, while another three riders have nine championship wins. The country with the most victories is Italy, with 75 wins since the race was established in 1949.

Featured pictures

Ten featured pictures were promoted this week:

• St Jacques La Boucherie Tower (nom; related article), created by Charles Soulier and nominated by Elekhh. The Saint-Jacques Tower, located on the IVe arrondissement of Paris, is all that remains of the Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie. The 52-metre (171 ft) tall Flamboyant Gothic tower was kept as a stipulation in the demolition contract after the French Revolution. The new featured picture dates from 1867, after a major renovation.
• Female Black-faced Impala at water hole (nom; related article) by Alchemist-hp. In this close nomination, featured picture candidates participants were torn between the abundance of existing impala pictures and aspects new to this image, including a drinking position and three different views of the animals. Impalas are medium-sized African antelopes that live in the savannas and bushveld in southeast Africa.
• Line drawing of Sukhoi Su-25 (nom; related article), created by Altoing and nominated by Crisco 1492. The Sukhoi Su-25, also known by the NATO reporting name "Frogfoot", is a jet aircraft designed by the Soviet Union and designed to support ground troops. The first Su-25 flew on 22 February 1975. The new featured picture is a line diagram illustrating various parts of the aircraft.
• Pachira aquatica (fruit) (nom), created by Lycaon, nominated by Tomer T, and edited by Muhammad Mahdi Karim. Known in East Asia as the money tree, Pachira aquatica grows up to 18 m (59.1 ft) in height. Its fruit, with the pods shown in the new featured picture, include light brown nuts with white stripes that are said to taste like peanuts.
• IIT Machinery Hall (nom; related article), created by Jovianeye and nominated by TonyTheTiger. The Machinery Hall at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, USA, (the subject of the new featured picture) was designed by C. V. Kerr of Patten & Fisher and built in 1901. Currently housing the Illinois Institute of Technology Facilities offices and storage, in 2004 the building was recognized as a Chicago Landmark.
• Olds Motor Works (nom; related article), published by the Detroit Publishing Co., restored and nominated by Jbarta. The Olds Motor Works, a factory for the Oldsmobile, was the precursor to the Lansing Car Assembly in Lansing, Michigan. Built in 1901, the plant was transferred to General Motors when they bought the company in 1908. This picture dates from before 1920.
• USS Arizona (BB-39) burning after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (nom; related article), by unknown author and restored by Mmxx. Promoted to replace USSArizona PearlHarbor 2.jpg. Dating from the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, this featured picture shows the destruction of USS Arizona. The Arizona was unable to be raised and 1,177 servicemen died on the ship.
• Northern Carmine Bee-eater (nom; related article), created by Lviatour and nominated by Brandmeister. A near passerine bird in the bee-eater family, the Northern Carmine Bee-eater (right) is native to sub-Saharan Africa. The Bee-eater breeds in large colonies on cliffs and is known for two distinct calls: a deep, throaty "tunk" in flight and a series of "rik" notes when perched. It is classified as being Least Concern.
• Heart diagram (nom; related article) by ZooFari. The new featured diagram (below) provides a lateral section of the human heart. The heart, an organ that provides continuous blood circulation, in humans weighs between 250 and 350 grams and is roughly the size of a fist. It is divided into four chambers, two superior atria for receiving and two inferior ventricles for discharge.
• Treskilling Yellow (nom; related article), created by P.A. Sparre and nominated by Spongie555. The Treskilling Yellow, a Swedish three skilling stamp produced in 1855, is the most expensive postage stamp in existence. Known from a single stamp that is coloured yellow instead of the standard blue-green, the Treskilling Yellow was possibly produced when a cliché for the yellow eight skilling stamp was mistakenly replaced with a three skilling plate. In 1996, it sold for USD 2,060,000; a 2010 sale is thought to have fetched a similar price.

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2012-02-06

Four open cases, final decision in Muhammad images, Betacommand 3 near closure

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By Lord Roem

The Arbitration Committee opened no cases and closed one, leaving four open.

Closed cases

Muhammad images (Week 7)

After a week of voting, the Arbitration Committee closed this case, which stemmed from contentious editing at articles relating to Muhammad. The final decision includes a series of principles to guide editors in such content disputes. One principle points out to editors that "in controversial instances, reminding fellow editors that 'Wikipedia is not censored' will often be the beginning, not the end, of a well-informed analysis regarding inclusion or exclusion of content...a consensus for inclusion or exclusion should be sought based on the community's collective editorial judgment, well-informed by knowledge of the relevant subject matter and, where applicable, by Wikipedia's policies and guidelines."

After noting the relevant principles, the Committee made findings of fact regarding the locus of the dispute and the conduct of specific parties. By a divided vote of 6 to 4, arbitrators have asked the community to hold a discussion on the inclusion (or not) of Muhammad images, in order to establish a final and "definite consensus". Additionally, the Committee voted to ban one editor and admonish others who it found were "seriously disruptive". Lastly, standard discretionary sanctions will be applied to all pages relating to Muhammad, broadly interpreted.

Open cases

Betacommand 3 (Week 14)

Betacommand 3 was opened to address the multitude of sanctions in effect on this editor. A motion to close reached a net four votes today, which will bring this recently-deadlocked case to an end. This week, a remedy to ban Betacommand for "no less than one year" gained the support of a majority of arbitrators (with five arbitrators opposing). This follows on the Committee's agreement to "supersede" the community sanctions which came after weeks of debate over proposals to restrict Betacommand's editing abilities. No such proposal had received enough support to pass.

Article titles and capitalization (Week 2)

This case was opened to review alleged disruptive editing on WP:MOS and article naming pages. Since 29 January, 10 editors have given evidence. Several parties claimed that specific editors were to blame for the disruptive editing. The evidence phase closes 12 February, with a proposed decision due to be posted by the end of the month.

Civility enforcement (Week 6)

This case was initially opened due to the actions of several administrators in relation to a user who was blocked over perceived incivility. The evidence and workshop pages were closed after submission deadlines passed. A proposed decision was delayed for the second time, and is now scheduled for 13 February. The three drafting arbitrators have a long series of evidence submissions to analyze in coming to their proposed decision.

TimidGuy ban appeal (Week 8)

This case was brought to the Committee by an editor to appeal a site ban that was imposed by Jimbo Wales. The expected proposed decision, as mentioned in previous Signpost coverage, is yet to be posted. The tentative date for release had been in early January, but is now a future unspecified time.

Other requests and committee action

• A Request for Amendment in the Race and intelligence case is under discussion.
  
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2012-02-06

October's coding challenge: results now in; progress on 1.19 steady; and why for a while interwiki links were no more

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By Jarry1250

October 2011 coding challenge results announced

The final results of October's "coding challenge" were announced this week on the Wikimedia blog, with the top prizes going to "Upload to Wikimedia Commons" (a fully-functional Android app to facilitate uploads, pictured right), "mostEdited" (a user script that provides a list of articles undergoing periods of frenetic editing activity) and a user script that provides (via a tab) a slideshow of all the images in an article. Each winner received sponsored travel to a Wikimedia-themed event of their choice; in addition, two runners up in each category received certificates of excellence for their work.

When the project was announced, there were great hopes for the format breaking through and coding challenges becoming a regular event as a result. While the submissions to this trial contest were strong, WMF Deputy Director Erik Möller admitted that lessons would need to be learnt if the dream of regular challenges were to become a reality. Potential improvements for the future include a more streamlined judging process, the possibility of group projects, and a more useful "starter back" to get potential entrants into the swing of the competition. Overall, it seems likely that the contest format will be revived in some form later this year.

1.19 closing in on first deployment

With the amount of time until February 13 (the date selected for the deployment of MediaWiki version 1.19 to a more comprehensive test wiki) rapidly narrowing, a limited but still significant amount of work remains to be done. At this time, some 27 revisions still need to be reviewed, whilst a further 14 are in need of follow-up revisions to fix bugs or other errors (full report). Meanwhile, at least four bugs are still "blocking" widespread deployment and therefore must be resolved shortly (wikitech-l mailing list).

On the present timetable, 1.19, which includes a number of new features as well as dozens of bug fixes, is likely to be branched this week, allowing time for the branch to stabilise ahead of next week's test deployment. Should all go well, that deployment will be followed by a series of further deployments culminating in the release of the software to the English Wikipedia on 1 March (Signpost coverage).

Any slippage in that timetable would also result in MediaWiki's migration to Git being postponed, since migrating during the final stages of a release cycle is inherently undesirable. All indications are, however, that the WMF team leading the migration will be ready to begin their half of the process as soon as the deployments are out of the way: both the official timetable and a number of supporting documents – including a guide for developers – were updated this week in anticipation of the delicate switchover (wikitech-l mailing list).

In brief

Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for many weeks.

• 

  San Francisco videos available: WMF Deputy Director Erik Möller reported this week on the wikitech-l mailing list that videos from the San Francisco Hackathon January 2012 are now available on Wikimedia Commons, although their high quality makes prior downloading advisable. The seven videos, covering the six different presentations given at the event (held in the Californian city from January 20–22), join dozens of photographs that have already been uploaded. Away from the presentations, the three day hackathon also included time for various teams to work on a diverse range of showcase projects.
• Wikimedians attend FOSDEM: As noted by Gerard Meijssen on his personal blog, several Wikimedians will be in attendance at FOSDEM 2012, an annual conference targetted at developers of free and open source software, and focused mainly on the European market.
• Update breaks interwiki links: Updates made to the Wikimedia interwiki cache on February 1 temporarily broke the rendering of interwiki links on articles, it was soon reported on the English Wikipedia Technical Village Pump and at various other fora. Though the issue was soon resolved, some bad renderings of the links (often as plain red links) remain in various caching layers, prompting them still to be displayed for some or all visitors to the articles. Consequently, editors are encouraged to purge any pages they find to be affected by the problem.
• File backend changes in progress: System administrators are now in the process of updating the way that Wikimedia wikis store media files to drastically increase the amount of redundancy that the system provides. The move to a system based on Swift (a system developed as part of cloud computing project OpenStack) will thus decrease the likelihood of total system failure, whilst at the same time making file storage as a whole more scalable to meet Wikimedia's rapidly increasing demands. Minimal disruption is expected as the new system gradually replaces the existing setup. In unrelated news, system administrator Asher Feldman has published a topology showing the relationship between the various Wikimedia databases as replicated (either instantly or with a degree of the notorious "replication lag") across different servers.
  
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