Summary: When one edits this page for too long, one is tempted to appoint oneself as the psychoanalyst for the human race, or at least the English-speaking portion thereof. Since nearly everyone uses Wikipedia, the constant stream of TV updates, pointless celebrity scandals, and inquiries after who has died can seem like a dreary peek into humanity's surprisingly banal collective consciousness.
So when two notable deaths occur in the same week, one a treasure of the world widely regarded as a true Great Man in a time of comparative minnows who died peacefully in his sleep after a long life; the other a mid-tier actor who died in a car crash, the cynic can smugly note that the latter got nearly twice as many views as the former, and that humankind once again rushed to scandal, while ignoring the passing of history. Except for one thing: stats can lie. In fact, actor Paul Walker's tragic and grisly death was announced on 1 December, the day this list began counting, while Nelson Mandela's passing was announced late on 5 December, two days before the end. Per day, Mandela's death generated more than twice the views of Walker's. While the public sympathise with the tragedy of Walker's death, it appears they aren't being led by sensationalism alone.
See WP:TOP25 for the complete top 25 report.
For the week of 1 to 7 December, the 10 most popular articles on Wikipedia, as determined from the report of the 5,000 most viewed pages* were:
| Rank | Last | Wks | Article | Class | Views | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | - | - | Paul Walker | 
|
7,406,813 (includes Paul walker) |  |
The tragic death on the road of this Hollywood star became the week's major talking point. |
| 2 | - | 5 | Nelson Mandela | 
|
4,267,723 | .jpg) |
The 95-year-old father of the new South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and global inspiration finally succumbed to his long illness on December 5, triggering tributes from around the world. |
| 3 | - | - | Maria Callas | 
|
2,592,011 | The hugely popular and influential operatic soprano got a Google Doodle on what would have been her 90th birthday on December 2. | |
| 4 | - | - | Carlos Finlay |
|
2,591,877 |  |
The Cuban doctor who identified the Aedes mosquito as the vector for yellow fever got a Google Doodle on what would have been his 180th birthday on December 3. |
| 5 | - | - | Tinnitus |
|
1,250,021 |  |
A sudden spike near the end of the week for this medical condition (better known as "ringing in the ears") may have been due to the announcement of a purported treatment developed at the University of Texas. |
| 6 | - | - | Fast & Furious 7 | 
|
758,749 | Production has shut down on the next installment of what had been a money-printing franchise with the death of its returning star, Paul Walker. Director James Wan has insisted it will be finished. | |
| 7 | - | - | Apartheid in South Africa |
|
723,078 |  |
The death of Nelson Mandela led to renewed attention for the iniquitous system he suffered to end. |
| 8 | - | - | Kevin Carter |
|
531,666 |  |
The South African photojournalist, who committed suicide shortly after winning the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of a starving young girl in Sudan being eyed by a hungry vulture, became a topic of discussion on Reddit this week. |
| 9 | 6 | 4 | Bitcoin |
|
521,192 |  |
The digital currency is back in the news this week. Bankers have suggested it may prove a legitimate competitor to real money, even though others have argued they are best described as a store of value rather than a functional currency. An attempt to declare "Bitcoin Black Friday" to try and get people to actually spend them instead of hoarding them (Except that, from one point of view, hoarding them is exactly the right thing to do if their value continues to skyrocket as it has done) led to the purchase of a great deal of gold, swapping one store of value for another. |
| 10 | 12 | 48 |
|
484,711 | .JPG) |
A perennially popular article |
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales caught headlines last week when he referred to former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden as a "hero", who over past months has leaked thousands of documents describing efforts by the NSA to snoop on individuals, both US citizens and foreigners. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Wales noted that it is difficult for him as a US citizen to go to other countries and lecture and implore leaders not to censor the internet:
| “ | It makes it very difficult for someone like me to go out as I do speak to people in authoritarian countries and say: You shouldn't be spying on activists, you shouldn't be censoring the internet, when we [in the US] are complicit in these acts of extraordinary intrusion into people's personal lives. | ” |
Wales went on to say that the spying program would have had little popular appeal if put to a vote by the people. Consequently, he commended Snowden for bringing it to public attention, while scrupulously ensuring that in doing so he did not put any individual in harm's way. Snowden, Wales said, "has exposed what I believe to be ... an affront to the 4th amendment". Clearly outraged, Wales even mentioned that the Wikimedia Foundation had considered moving its servers outside the US, but presently has no plans to do so.
Loek Essers of the International Data Group (IDG) News Service has reported that a German court has held Wikipedia liable for its content, but it still does not have to fact-check the information in advance. Essers stated in his 27 November 2013 article that the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart ruled against the Wikimedia Foundation, reversing an earlier decision. The full text is here and was only published recently, although the appeals court had actually ruled in early October. The ruling originates from a libel suit brought by a TV station owner who had been the subject of an article on the German Wikipedia that stated: "he had made the Hitler salute on television, and that he had trivialized sex with children in a counseling session."
Michelle Paulson, Legal Counsel for the Foundation, released a statement in a blog post titled: "In legal victory, German court rules Wikimedia Foundation need not proactively check for illegal or inaccurate content". It stated: "One key distinction that was important to the court in its determination was whether Wikipedia was 'alleging' statements in the German-language Wikipedia article (as the plaintiff argued) or simply 'distributing' them through publication. The court accordingly ruled that, as a service provider, rather than a content provider, the Wikimedia Foundation is not liable for user-generated content, nor does it have a duty to proactively check articles for allegedly illegal or inaccurate content." She also wrote that the court found that the Foundation cannot be held liable for financial damage as a service provider. In the blog post, readers are directed to the ongoing discussion of the issue at Wikipedia Diskussion:Kurier. The German court did require the WMF to remove some statements.
Amid great anticipation, the international prize winners have just been announced for the fourth annual Wiki Loves Monuments, now the world's largest photographic competition and one of the biggest events on the Wikimedia movement's calendar. The competition is held throughout each September, for which there are three selection criteria: technical quality (sharpness, use of light, perspective etc.); originality; and usefulness of the image for Wikipedia. To be eligible for the international finals, each photograph must (i) be self-taken, (ii) be self-uploaded during September 2013, (iii) be freely licensed, (iv) contain an identified monument, and (v) be nominated through one of the national contests.
These rules and criteria are mostly adopted for the national contests as well, which each send up to 10 images to compete at the international level. This year, 52 countries took part, up from 35 last year; an unexpected bonus was the inclusion of Antarctica, supported by Wikimedia Argentina. Many of these national competitions were made possible by Wikimedia chapters, which offered them help in promotion, legal issues, finding sponsors and partners, and the funding of prizes.
The first prize has gone to David Gubler's photograph of a Swiss train crossing a viaduct. The Jury's report praised the harmony between the viaduct, the natural setting, and human life; the panoramic view with the blend of colours drawing attention to the centre; and the compositional symmetry of shadows and mountains.
The Wiesen Viaduct was built between 1906 and 1909—a single-track limestone structure 89 metres (292 ft) high, 204 metres (669 ft) long, with a main span of 55 metres (180 ft); part of the town of Wiesen is visible in the top-left corner, and the railway station is about 100 metres (330 ft) beyond the end of the viaduct. On Google Earth the structure is represented by a 3D schematic, and the vantage point appears to be on a very steep slope. We asked David whether this point was difficult to access: "Sorry to disappoint you," he said, "but there's a public hiking trail going to the viewpoint this picture was taken from. Unfortunately it's not visible on the satellite image, thus the position marker is only approximate. Some hiking equipment is nevertheless always a good idea." How planned was the timing, in terms of getting the shadows and the passage of the train right?
| “ | Well, passenger trains are easy to predict, at least in Switzerland :) ... Given the time(s), I use a sun calculator, and together with Google Maps I can figure out the optimal time to be there in terms of lighting. If I have doubts about mountains casting shadows, I sometimes check with the 3D model in Google Earth. Unfortunately its built-in sunlight simulator is worthless for this purpose, so this needs to be done manually which is a bit tedious, but quite precise if you don't mess up somewhere along the process. | ” |
The second prize went to Chen Yi Chieh for his depiction of the Shi family abode in the small town of Lukang in central Taiwan. The jury was pleased with how the imagery, history, tradition and narration were all captured in one image. "Excellent management of lights and shadows: they give a mysterious feeling to this abode while the perspective shows an attractive view of the site."
Chieh told the Signpost: "The Shi family were local gentry who lived on Dayou Street in Lukang during the mid-Qing Dynasty, and prospered in trading and shipping businesses. The residence has more wooden purlins [horizontal beams along the length of a roof] than any other traditional building in Taiwan, and is very well preserved even today. The panelled doors and windows in the façade maintain the original architectural style, and a floor well in the foyer provides light and fresh air. Above the storefront—the residence was also a place of business—there is space for storage. The residence was listed as a Changhua County historic site in 2009."
The high-resolution version reveals a buddha in the glass case in the middle, and possibly artefacts representing ancestors or pagan gods. The dangling pot is an incense holder.
The third prize went to Tamás Thaler for his photograph of the main reading room of the Eötvös Loránd University Library in Budapest (picture below). Taken from a corner of this magnificent room as though privately glimpsing, the image presents diagonal geometrical relationships on a number of levels, and a clever relationship between cool and warm hues. Dislodged chairs and a library official turning away from the camera present subtle variations from a pristine condition.
The top 15 images ranked by the international jury are eligible for a prize. The grand prize is a trip to Wikimania 2014 in London, including conference access, accommodation, and more (maximum value €2000), and a large-scale aluminum print of the winning photo (sponsored by Europeana). The second and third prizes are photography-related vouchers of €500 and €400, respectively. There are 12 other monetary prizes for the remainder of the most highly ranked 15: photography-related vouchers worth €300, €200, €100 (two prizes), and a further eight worth €50. The winners may choose their prize in order of their ranking. In addition, three special awards were made, for pictures from Arabic-speaking countries, and from Asian countries (both sponsored by Guiddoo); and for the best picture related to the first world war (sponsored by Europeana).
The sheer scale of the event is worth taking a moment to consider. Inspired by a 2010 pilot in the Netherlands alone, WLM has grown into an industry, as it were, with its own website, partners and sponsors, help desk, and Facebook profile. This year, more than 370,000 files were uploaded by nearly 12,000 photographers from 53 countries—totalling nearly 1,300 Gb (1.3 terabytes). While file sizes averaged about 3.5 Mb, the range was huge, reaching up to half a gigabyte in a potentially wall-sized image 16,072 × 20,954 pixels by Gangulybiswarup. More than 14,500 files were of at least 3264 × 2448 in resolution.
The efforts of the most prolific contributors were impressive: more than 1000 images were uploaded by each of the 56 most productive photographers; of them, nine uploaded more than 4000 images each. The largest number of entries was an extraordinary 8386, by Barbara Maliszewska from Poland. This competition-fuelled output by the top uploaders was a factor in boosting the national figures significantly. In the race among countries, Poland was first, with 48,000 entries (figure rounded), of which the top three Polish contributors uploaded 36%. Ukraine was second (36,000, of which the top three contributors uploaded 25%), Germany was third (36,000; top three 39%), Armenia fourth (24,000; 45%), Spain fifth (23,000; 54%), France sixth (21,000; 30%), Russia seventh (19,000; 11%), the UK eighth (12,000; 26%), India ninth (12,000; 37%), Austria tenth (11,000; 41%), the US eleventh (10,000; 22%), and Italy twelfth (8,000; 36%). WLM has provided full statistics here, with links to breakdowns country by country.
The international jury comprised five members, each bringing different expertise. The jury faced an enormous field of more than 500 images—up to ten from each national competition. Did this field present any surprises? Jurist Diego Delso told the Signpost:
| “ | Well, always, that's why this is fun. Some pictures were really original, while others played very well with shapes, colors or contrast. From the other side, some pictures had a very small number of megapixels; they looked nice as thumbs but were definitely too small to show in full size or to print out. | ” |
We asked jurist Heta Pandit—a writer, academic, and heritage expert—whether she has any advice for next year's aspiring prizewinners in relation to the criteria for technical quality and originality: "Yes, if there was one thing missing, it was originality. I would have also liked to see some more human element. The relationship between monuments, nature and people is so important." She stressed that the centrality of "the magic of the symbiosis between man, nature and man-made monuments was missing. A lot of the pictures were like tourist brochures for the originating country; that was a little disappointing." Diego Delso told us:
| “ | This year we focused more on technical quality and only deviated from it when the 'wow' effect was very significant. I think that a minimum threshold of quality is a must. I think this should be the direction for future WLMs. Regarding originality, well, you recognize it when you see it. Those are the pictures I've never thought of or seen before and they give me new ideas for my future work. | ” |
Was choosing the winners a relatively solitary process, or did it involve contact with the other jury members? Diego Delso said: "Yes, there was interaction among the jury members, especially in the phase to decide which pictures, shouldn't make it to the final phase, ... That was the most interesting part of the deliberations of the jury, with intensive exchanges. After we filtered the candidates for the final round the results were just the sum of each jury member's marks." Heta Pandit told us: "There were three jury members who were more active than others and I was happy to consult with them, but not about the merits and demerits of a particular entry. We just shared our opinions across the board without any fear of contest."
The international competition has been facilitated by an organising team comprising Lodewijk Gelauff, Cristian Consonni, Tomasz Kozłowski, Monica Mora, Karthik Nadar, Platonides, and Romaine. The Signpost asked Lodewijk Gelauff how the competition is evolving, in his opinion:
| “ | I'm especially excited by the diversity in the countries participating. Much more than last year, countries from South America, Asia and the Middle-East have joined us, increasing the diversity of the cultural heritage represented in the submissions.
We did note that in some countries enthusiasm is decreasing because the first time is most exciting—which is a reason to start thinking about the future of Wiki Loves in an open way. I encourage everyone who would like to help organise in the future to participate in this discussion on Commons. One of the things being considered is to change the exact scope of the contest every few years—for example, to natural heritage. |
” |
Lodewijk said he is particularly gratified by the dedication of the hundreds of volunteers involved around the world: "In many cases it was one of the first projects they had organised that aims for a more general population; I hope this can be a catalyst in more fruitful collaboration in and outside the movement."
Next week, we'll go global. Until then, explore other cultures in the archive.
Reader comments
First, congratulations on your century, a terrific achievement! Would you tell us what brought you to Wikipedia in the first place?
Your choice of username is unusual; would you explain it?
Yes, it's when Hunding, offstage, calls Siegmund out to fight. The word of course means "woeful", not a characteristic I've observed particularly in your editing.
Fortunately for us, mostly not; your rate of production is astonishing. Your first FA was promoted in May 2007, so you've reached your century within 80 months – that's an average rate of, well, more than one a month over all that time. And you do other things for the encyclopedia, too – you are an admin, you review articles, you fight for causes. My question is: do you ever get tired?
Can you give a brief outline of your methods; for example, do you tend to write in long or in short chunks? Do you compose straight on to the article page, or do you use sandboxes? Do you incorporate refs as you go along, or when you've finished drafting a section? Are you a fluent writer or, like me, an incorrigible redrafter and meddler with almost every sentence?
I've been looking at the range of your FAs, which cuts across quite a few of the featured article categories. You've done history, politics, musicals, opera, coins, and a quite a few oddball characters. Something for almost everyone, in fact. Which is the area you find most enjoyable and/or satisfying to work in?
Which article has been the hardest for you, and why?
Some editors are daunted by the FA process and steer clear. Briefly, what advice would you give to FAC tenderfeet?
I'd go along with all those, and maybe add: "Make certain you fully understand the FA criteria before you nominate."
It's been a pleasure. You must by now be planning your second FA century, so what can we expect, at least in the nearish future?
Some fascinating stuff there, and we'll look forward to reading these articles. Thanks for your time, and for all that you have done for the encyclopedia these past seven years.
| 100. History of Chincoteague, Virginia |
|
Three featured articles were promoted last week.
One featured list was promoted last week.
Eight featured pictures were promoted last week.
On 6 December, the latest version of the MediaWiki software was released. In development from March through October 2013, the release featured anti-spam and counter-vandalism improvements. The patrolling interface has been overhauled, and an extension designed to thwart basic spambots, SimpleAntiSpam, is now part of the core software. Other editing improvements include showing "(no difference)" when viewing a diff with no visible changes, and a confirmation message that lets editors know that their edit was saved. The ability to install some extensions using PHP's dependency manager, Composer, was also added.
The release was delayed by a week while it was debated whether to re-add to the signup page interface messages that had previously been removed. While the messages were eventually re-added, they will be blanked on all Wikimedia wikis and possibly protected (bugzilla:56455#c44).
More information about MediaWiki 1.22 can be found in the release announcement and on MediaWiki.org.
Not all fixes may have gone live to WMF sites at the time of writing; some may not be scheduled to go live for several weeks.
_2.JPG){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
srbackend=CirrusSearch" when searching or by enabling a Beta Feature.
