Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/From the editors Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/Traffic report
Johann Hari; bandishes and delicate flowers
Johann Hari offers apologies for malicious Wikipedia editing
The radio show Little Atoms, broadcast weekly on London's Resonance FM, featured a lengthy conversation with journalist and author Johann Hari on its January 20 episode about his new book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs. In 2011, it was revealed that Hari had engaged in a spree of pseudonymous edits maligning other British journalists, accusing them of being anti-Semitic, homophobic, alcoholic, and supporters of Sarah Palin (see previous Signpost coverage). This, coupled with revelations of plagiarism, prompted Hari to return his prestigious Orwell Prize and leave The Independent. Before the book discussion, Hari and host Neil Denny briefly discussed the issue. Hari said
| “ | I did two things that were really awful things to do; one was when I interviewed people sometimes I would use material they had spoken elsewhere or written down and acted as if it had been said directly to me. And also on Wikipedia sometimes I would edit other people's entries under a pseudonym and I was horrible and nasty about some of them. Those are both awful things to do. | ” |
Denny asked if he would offer an apology specifically to two of his targets, Nick Cohen and Francis Wheen. Hari, who has previously published a public apology, and privately contacted some of his specific targets, asked Denny to deliver private letters of apology to the two men.
In brief
- Studying Wikipedia: V3 reports (January 21) on Jimmy Wales' appearance at BETT 2015, an annual UK technology trade show. He said that students should be taught how to properly use Wikipedia. "A hundred percent of all students are using Wikipedia. This debate that we used to have five years ago about should students use Wikipedia or not is frankly irrelevant. They are using Wikipedia. It's just a fact of reality. What we need to do is teach students how to use Wikipedia. It has its strengths and it has its weaknesses. It's really crucial that we educate this next generation on those strengths and those weaknesses."
- Speaking Wikipedia: Fusion sings the praises (January 21) of Spoken Wikipedia, a series of audio recordings of Wikipedia articles read by editors, and singles out five of them for particular praise. One of them is the recording of the article death erection by Wikipedian and freelance voiceover artist Jules Ismail (Theroachyjay). Fusion compares Ismail's style to that of a "movie theater announcement" and in the recording Ismail performs a small section of Waiting for Godot that was quoted in the article. Another one, Bhutanese passport, has received significant social media attention because the reading, in what may be Bhutanese-accented English, is widely perceived as comic. The resulting attention has prompted article protection and a talk page debate about the appropriateness of the recording.
- Give me Liberty: The West Liberty Index reports (January 21) on efforts by town librarians and members of a non-profit local development organization to improve the article for West Liberty, Iowa as part of an effort to enhance the city's online presence.
- Preserving musical heritage: The Times of India reports (January 20) efforts to preserve and make accessible traditional Indian musical compositions using projects like Telugu Wikisource. These include the works of musicians of centuries past like Annamacharya and the bandishes of current musicians like Neela Bhagwat.
- Editathon:The Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) announces (January 20) a February 7 Black Life Matters Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture with METRO's Wikipedian in Residence Dorothy Howard (OR drohowa).
- Papal vandalism: The Lancashire Evening Post reports (January 18) on the vandalism to the article for Holy Cross Catholic High School, which included the claim that the school was visited by the Pope.
- In the greenhouse: A profile (January 18) of citizen journalist Eliot Higgins in The Independent mentions the frequent vandalism of his Wikipedia article. Higgins said "I've been using the internet since 1997 – it's not like I'm some delicate flower."
- Net neutrality: In the New York Daily News, Professor Tim Wu, who coined the phrase network neutrality in 2003, writes (January 17) that non-profit websites like Wikipedia would slow down in the absence of net neutrality.
- Genetic sexual attraction: In an article (January 17) about incest and rape, The Daily Beast notes the contentious discussions on Wikipedia regarding the article genetic sexual attraction due to the few scholarly references to the concept.
- On failure: On January 16 at Maastricht University, Jimmy Wales gave a speech called "Understanding failure as a route to success".
- College editing: On the blog of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), Alicia Pileggi offers her experiences (January 16) editing Wikipedia for a Feminist Theory course at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
- Penn State: Penn Live reports (January 16) that the wins of former Pennsylvania State University coach Joe Paterno were quickly restored in several Wikipedia articles following the news of a settlement in a lawsuit against the NCAA. The settlement restores Paterno's 111 wins that were vacated by the NCAA in the wake of the Sandusky scandal. Wikipedia editing in relationship to this lawsuit has been the subject of prior Signpost coverage.
- Slums and suburbs: The Watford Observer reports (January 16) that the Wikipedia article for South Oxhey, a suburb of Watford, described it as a "slum of Watford". The newspaper reports that the vandalism remained for two days, but according to the edit history, it remained for a week.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/Technology report Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/Essay Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/Opinion
Annual report released; Wikimania; steward elections
- Annual report released: On January 21, the Wikimedia Foundation released its annual report for 2014. It is the seventh annual report released by the Foundation. A Foundation blog post describes the creation of the report.
- Wikimania 2016: On January 20, the Wikimedia Foundation announced that the site for the 2016 Wikimania conference will be Esino Lario, a small comune in Lombardy, Italy. Six bids were submitted last year and of those, Atlantic City, Chennai, Dar es Salaam, and St. Louis were disqualified by the jury, leaving only Manila to compete with Esino Lario. Posters on the Wikimedia-l mailing list largely praised the decision, but one expressed surprise that the population of the Italian village (772) was smaller than the expected number of conference attendees.
- Wikimania 2015: Presentation submissions and scholarship applications are being accepted for this year's Wikimania, which will be held in Mexico City from July 15 to 19 at the Biblioteca Vasconcelos.
- Steward elections: This year's elections for the position of steward will be held from February 8 to 28. Candidates can stand for the election until January 28, and as of press time eight candidates are in the running. There are currently 34 stewards.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/Serendipity
Let's make WikiProjects better
I have edited Wikipedia off and on for the past ten years. For as long as I have been a Wikipedia editor, there have been WikiProjects: sub-groups of the larger Wikipedia community dedicated to a particular subject matter or a certain task. WikiProjects are all over the map: some of them are dedicated to highly specific subjects; others are dedicated to high-level concepts like "biographies." Some WikiProjects have a very specific focus on encyclopedic content; others, like the Department of Fun, provide support in more indirect ways. There is a WikiProject for pretty much everyone, and if there isn't one for you, you can easily start one. In fact, they are so easy to start that we currently have over 2,000 WikiProjects.
Unfortunately, a proliferation of WikiProjects does not mean a proliferation of activity. Many WikiProjects that get started end up becoming inactive. What's happening? Several factors are at play. WikiProjects require significant effort to maintain, so they decline after their maintainers move on to do other things. Some arguments have been made that WikiProjects become less relevant as some subject areas get more complete coverage on Wikipedia. Others have tied the decline of WikiProjects to an overall decline of participation on Wikipedia.
Whatever the cause, WikiProjects are failing to live up to their potential. The English-language Wikipedia is huge. As with any large community, it can be hard for any one person to feel like he or she belongs. By grouping people together by their interests, WikiProjects have the potential to make Wikipedians feel like they are a part of a close-knit community. They can help Wikipedians of all levels of experience navigate our policies and procedures, ensuring that they are confident in their editing and that there is less cleanup work for the administrators. They have the potential to provide the social support that encourages newcomers to stick around and build our encyclopedia.
The potential WikiProjects have encouraged me to start WikiProject X, a new project funded by a Wikimedia Foundation Individual Engagement Grant that focuses on figuring out what makes some WikiProjects work and not others. Our research will focus on current WikiProjects and the subject areas they cover, determining where WikiProjects provide adequate support to the editing community and where they do not. I plan on interviewing many Wikipedians, including people who don't normally get involved on WikiProjects. I want to know what resources you need to support your editing.
Isarra, a Wikipedian and experienced MediaWiki designer, will lead our design effort. We will be drawing from our research data and other sources of inspiration, including the Teahouse and other existing WikiProjects. We should begin to think beyond static pages and lists. WikiProjects should make you feel engaged. They should put relevant information front and center, and always feel up to date. They should be easy to maintain, and no one should have to re-invent the wheel. They should be a safe space for users. They should make editing Wikipedia an easier and more satisfying experience for everyone.
This benefits more than just online users. I run many in-person editing events with my local Wikimedia chapter, usually organized around a specific theme. The experience of having a knowledgeable Wikipedia editor walk you through the ropes is difficult to replicate online. At the same time, there is only so much you can accomplish at a single event. I would like to be able to refer the people we train at our events to a WikiProject, where they can pick up where they left off. This would help bridge the gap between offline and online, where offline event organizers work with online participants from around the world, complementing each other's efforts. Very few WikiProjects are currently equipped to pull this off, but with the right tools, more should be able to do this.
We want to hear your perspective on this endeavor. We are collecting stories at Wikipedia:WikiProject X/Stories and are recruiting people and WikiProjects for pilot testing at Wikipedia:WikiProject X/Pilots. You are also encouraged to sign up for our newsletter if you are interested in learning more.
- James Hare is the current president of Wikimedia DC. He has edited Wikipedia since 2004.
- The views expressed in these op-eds are those of the authors only; responses and critical commentary are invited in the comments section. Editors wishing to submit their own op-ed should email the Signpost's editor.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/In focus
As one door closes, a (Gamer)Gate opens
In the wake of the annual elections, 2015's arbitration committee consists of:
- AGK (talk · contribs)
- Courcelles (talk · contribs)
- DeltaQuad (talk · contribs)
- DGG (talk · contribs)
- Dougweller (talk · contribs)
- Euryalus (talk · contribs)
- GorillaWarfare (talk · contribs)
- Guerillero (talk · contribs)
- LFaraone (talk · contribs)
- NativeForeigner (talk · contribs)
- Roger Davies (talk · contribs)
- Salvio giuliano (talk · contribs)
- Seraphimblade (talk · contribs)
- Thryduulf (talk · contribs)
- Yunshui (talk · contribs)
Additionally, outgoing arbitrators Beeblebrox, David Fuchs, Newyorkbrad, and Timotheus Canens remain on the committee until the conclusion of the GamerGate case, which was opened during their terms. As has become customary over the years, the new committee has had plenty of work to do in its first few weeks, including several motions and clarification requests as well as three cases.
Open cases
There are no pending case requests at the time of writing. Three cases remain open and one was closed by motion.
GamerGate (week 8)
What started as an Internet row has developed into an extremely vitriolic dispute between a large number of Wikipedians and ultimately into one of the largest arbitration cases of recent times. Given the involvement of several prominent editors with lengthy track records (including involvement in multiple previous arbitration cases) and the sheer number of parties (27), the case is likely to be an important landmark with an impact reaching significantly beyond the GamerGate controversy article and its various daughter articles.
After repeated delays, the arbitrators' proposed decision was made public on 19 January (two days ahead of the revised target date), and the talk page was significantly re-structured to allow individual editors to make statements but to prevent threaded discussion. Among the proposed remedies, sitebans are proposed for five editors (two parties are currently indefinitely blocked), while other proposed remedies range from reminders and admonishments to topic bans, the breadth of which has been the subject of much discussion between arbitrators.
Wifione (week 3)
A much narrower case than GamerGate, but one which may also have important ramifications. The case concerns allegations that administrator Wifione (talk · contribs) has engaged in undisclosed paid advocacy to advance a public relations and reputation management campaign on Wikipedia, and that he has possibly abused his access or status as an administrator, particularly with regard to articles about and editors acting on behalf of competitors.
The evidence phase closed on 16 January and the case has now entered the workshop phase, which is open until 23 January. The target date for the proposed decision is 30 January.
Whereas in previous eras arbitration cases mainly revolved around geo-political conflicts such as Israel-Palestine, Eastern Europe, and the "Troubles", the hot topics of the current era appear to revolve around gender and sexuality, and this case is no exception. With ArbCom previously having adjudicated on disputes concerning abortion, the gender gap, sexology, and the Manning naming dispute, and the GamerGate case wrapping up, we now have a case about articles relating to the intersection of Christianity and sexuality (though the case scope was widened upon acceptance from Catholicism and homosexuality).
Although nothing on the scale of GamerGate, this is a relatively large case, with 13 named parties. The case is currently in the evidence phase, which remains open until 2 February, while the current target date for the proposed decision is 16 February. At the time of writing, only one editor has thus far presented evidence.
The Acupuncture case was accepted and closed by motion on 12 January. The motion authorises standard discretionary sanctions for the topic area of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, in addition to the existing discretionary sanctions on pseudoscience and fringe science authorised in the 2006 Pseudoscience case.
- The Fæ case was amended to allow Fæ to operate legitimate bots as necessary, subject to approval by the Bot Approvals Group .
- A clarification request regarding the definition of "outside eyes" as pertains to the Landmark Worldwide case is currently open.
- A clarification request regarding the scope of a topic ban imposed in the infoboxes case is currently open.
- A motion to create a central log for all discretionary sanctions was passed on 20 January; all discretionary sanctions are now logged at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Discretionary sanctions/Log rather than on individual case pages. Additionally, each year's log will be blanked after five years.
- Voting is underway on motions to rename two historic cases with active discretionary sanctions provisions.
Other business
- Sphilbrick (talk · contribs) has been promoted from a trainee to a substantive arbitration clerk.
- The clerks team is seeking new volunteers to assist in its work; interested editors are asked to email the clerks' mailing list (clerks-llists.wikimedia.org).
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2015-01-21/Humour