- The Wiki Science Competition 2023, an international photo contest for the sciences, launched on 1st November. Entries are welcome until 15th December 2023. Please participate
- The Wiki Loves Women 2023 SheSaid campaign has kicked off as of 1st October, and will run on Wikiquote until 31st December. Make sure you participate in documenting quotable quotes from women across the world.
- The applications to join the Ombuds commission and the Case Review Committee, which will not be posted on Meta-wiki, will close on December 31, 2023 in any timezone. The Ombuds commission (OC) works on all Wikimedia projects to investigate complaints about infringements of the Privacy Policy, the Access to nonpublic personal data policy, and the use of CheckUser and Oversight (also known as Suppression) tools on any Wikimedia project. The Case Review Committee (CRC) reviews appeals of eligible Wikimedia Foundation office actions. The CRC is a critical layer of oversight to ensure that office actions are fair and unbiased. They also make sure the Wikimedia Foundation doesn’t overstep established practices or boundaries.
- We congratulate Wikimédiens du Burkina Faso User Group, Wikimedia Community User Group Zambia, Wikimedians of Japan User Group and Wikimedistas de Ecuador, as they have been officially recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation’s Affiliations Committee as user groups.
- The Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees Audit Committee Chair search process has come to an end, as Kathy Collins, the top finalist has been accepted for the role. Kathy Collins will be joining officially at our next Board meeting on December 6, 2023. Find out more about Kathy Collins.
- The Wiki Loves Africa 2024 international media contest theme has been announced. The 10th edition will hold under the theme, Africa Create. All intending local organisers have until 1st November 2023 to apply for a rapid grant.
- The Wiki Science Competition 2023, an international photo contest for the sciences, launches on 1st November. Entries are welcome until 15th December 2023. Please participate.
- The Wiki Loves Women 2023 SheSaid campaign has kicked off as of 1st October and will run on Wikiquote until 31st December. Make sure you participate in documenting quotable quotes from women across the world.
- WikidataCon 2023, the conference dedicated to the #Wikidata community, is taking place on October 28-29, online all around the world and onsite in Taipei. You can now register for the conference!
- Registration for the GLAM Wiki 2023 conference happening in Montevideo, Uruguay on 16th, 17th and 18th November, is now open. Please register for the conference.
- You’re invited to review and comment on the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees selection rules package until 29 October 2023. The selection rules package was based on older versions by the Elections Committee and will be used in the 2024 Board of Trustees selection. The rules package includes campaign rules, voter eligibility criteria, and the voting method, platform and timeline.
- The CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation, Maryana Iskander has once again shared some very important updates with the Wikimedia community. Remember to read the update. She has also invited us to sign up for on- and off-wiki options between October and February, including individual conversations with herself, Trustees, and other Foundation leaders.
- The Afrika Baraza working group is inviting, for the second time, all members of the African Wikimedia community to review the Africa Agenda draft and provide feedback. The draft is available in English, Swahili and French. Please review and provide feedback if you haven’t done that.
- The winners of the Wiki Loves Africa 2023 international media contest-themed Climate + Weather have been announced. Please visit the Wiki Loves Africa 2023 contest page on Commons to see the winning entries.
- The Wiki Loves Monuments 2023 contest has launched for this year’s edition. Please endeavor to participate in documenting monuments and heritage across Africa and beyond. Entries are welcome until 31st October 2023.
- The WikiIndaba 2023 Core Organizing Team is inviting Wikimedia communities across Africa to apply for micro-grants of up to $300 for local community events happening in sync with the conference in Morocco. The application deadline is October 8, 2023.
- WikidataCon 2023, the conference dedicated to the #Wikidata community, is taking place on October 28-29, online all around the world and onsite in Taipei. You can now register for the conference!
- The WikiWomenCamp Core Organizing Team invites you to submit short (3-5 minute) videos highlighting your projects, initiatives, or efforts that have made a significant difference in addressing gender gaps. Please use WeTransfer or Google Drive while sharing your videos via admin@wikiwomencamp.org. Include a brief description of your project, affiliate name / your name or username, and contact information.
- The Wikimania Steering Committee has just announced that the 2025 and 2026 Wikimania conferences will be held in East Africa and Paris respectively!
- The Afrika Baraza, a town hall meeting for African Wikimedians, will hold the last 2023 meeting on 6th October from 5 pm to 7 pm UTC. Please be there.
- The Universal Code of Conduct Coordinating Committee (U4C) draft charter is now ready for your review. The U4C Building Committee is inviting feedback about the draft charter. The deadline is 22nd September 2023.
- Do you want to help spread knowledge about OpenRefine, and support Wikimedians and their partners by using OpenRefine to contribute to Wikimedia Commons and other Wikimedia projects? Then you should apply for the OpenRefine-Wikimedia train-the-trainer online course which will run from November 2023 until April 2024. You can apply until 15th September 2023 to join the course.
- The Wikimania 2023 Core organising team would like you to take a survey if you participated in person or online. Respond to the survey to share what worked well and what could be improved.
- The EduWiki Conference 2024 core team would like your input on this annual conference. Fill out the survey to shape the next EduWiki Conference.
- Wikimedia is participating in Outreachy Round 27 internship program. Outreachy's goal is to support people from groups underrepresented in the technology industry. Interns will work remotely with mentors from our community. Mentors are invited to propose projects that Outreachy interns can work on during their internship. If you have some ideas for coding or non-coding projects, share them by September. 29, 2023, at 16:00 UTC here as a subtask of this linked parent Phabricator task.
- The Campaign Programs Team at the Wikimedia Foundation is excited to announce Version 2 of the Organizer Lab. To apply to join the cohort, please read the instructions on Meta, where you will find an application form. The application deadline is 17th September 2023.
- The Movement Charter Drafting Committee has released drafts on the Global Council and Hubs. You are invited to share your thoughts and suggestions in particular on funds dissemination, Global Council structure and membership, and other key open questions until August 31st, 2023.
- The Wikimedia Foundation's Culture and Heritage team invites you to join the Wikisource Loves Manuscripts Learning Partners Network! The Wikisource Loves Manuscripts project aims to foster collaboration among communities interested in digitising and transcribing manuscripts on Wikimedia platforms (Wikimedia Commons and Wikisource) but also to support the creation of Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) models using the newly introduced Transkribus engine in Wikimedia OCR. The official launch of the network is scheduled for September 2023. To ensure the program meets your needs, we kindly request your participation in our Needs Assessment survey on or before 2 August 2023.
- The Mhz foundation invites you to fill out an anonymous survey in an effort to better understand primary opportunities and concerns in expanding global culture and perspective to audiences worldwide. Upon completing the survey, qualifying respondents can select a nonprofit to receive a donation through GlobalGiving. GlobalGiving makes donations to more than 5,000 charitable projects in 175+ countries.
- The 4th Wikimania 2023 Update to the Global Community will be held on Sunday, July 30th between 12:00 UTC - 13:00 UTC. the call!
- Wikisource Community User Group is planning to organise the Wikisource Conference in 2024. They are conducting an engagement survey to apply for a grant to the Wikimedia Foundation, and your responses will help to build the Wikisource conference and program. Please give them your feedback by filling the survey, whether you are a Wikisource community member or not.
- The 2024 Wikimedia Summit will take place again in Berlin on April 19-21, 2024. This event will be the opportunity for Affiliates from across the globe and the Wikimedia Foundation to come together, connect, and engage around how our Movement is governed. Visit the meta page to read more about the summit and how to participate.
- The Wiki Loves Women #SheSaid campaign is back for 4th edition! After three successful years of empowering women and amplifying their voices through the Wikiquote project, the Wiki Loves Women team is more inspired than ever to continue this remarkable journey together. The campaign will run from October 1st to December 31st, 2023. If you intend to organise a local event, you can apply for a grant to the Wikimedia Foundation before the 1st September 2023.
- Wikimedia Côte d'Ivoire, the organizer of the 2023 WikiConvention Francophone, a Wikimedia Movement conference that brings together the French-speaking communities, has announced the call for proposals and scholarship applications for the conference which will hold in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire between 22nd and 23rd September 2023. The deadline for both submissions is 14th July 2023.
- The Wikimedia Terms of Use have been updated effective June 7. This follows the end of the spring consultation held between February and April, and approvals recorded by the Executive Director and General Counsel per the delegation of policy-making authority from the Foundation Board of Trustees.
- New Code of Conduct Committee Members have been announced. The new committee candidates are Amir Sarabadani, Egbe Eugene Agbor, Jay Prakash, MusikAnimal, Nuria Ruiz. The auxiliary members will be Effie Mouzeli, Joris Darlington Quarshie, Martin Urbanec, SD0001, Tony Thomas.
- The Wiki In Africa team, organiser of Wiki Loves Africa International photo contest would like to get feedback from Wiki Loves Africa 2023 participants through a short survey. To fill out the short survey, visit here [1].
- Episode 11 of the WIKIMOVE Podcast has just dropped, and it’s on Decentralization, with Claudia Garad and Guillaume Paumier as guest speakers. You can find this podcast on their website and share ideas for future topics and guests on their Meta Page.
- The Leadership Development Working Group (LDWG) invites you to give feedback on the [Development Plan], a practical resource for emerging and existing leaders across the Wikimedia movement who want to develop themselves and others. You can give feedback through the survey, Movement Strategy Forum, LDWG talk page or email at leadershipworkinggroup@wikimedia.org. The review period closes on Sunday May 28, 2023.
- The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) has concluded its first community review of the methodology draft, which will be used to ratify the Movement Charter in 2024. This community review included feedback collection on Meta and on the Strategy forum as well as two conversation hours with communities and one conversation with the committees of the Wikimedia projects. The timeline of the next steps of the methodology is provided too. The Movement Charter Drafting Committee will incorporate the feedback and share an updated version of the ratification methodology in August 2023.
- The Wikimedia User Group Kenya has submitted a bid to host Wikimania 2025. You can endorse their bid [2].
- Save the date for this year’s LD4 Conference on Linked Data: July 10th through July 14th, 2023. The conference will be held virtually this year and is open to anyone passionate about adopting linked data in libraries. Please see the 2022 LD4 conference website for past conference programming. Keep an eye out for a call for proposals and other announcements about the 2023 LD4 Conference!
- Wiki Loves Earth 2023 international photo contest has started, and announced the special nomination “Human rights and environment”! In 2023, Wiki Loves Earth international photo contest again supports the initiative WikiForHumanRights, which partners with the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Its goal is to raise awareness of nature protection and human impacts on nature. When we protect the environment, we also protect the fundamental human rights we all have rights to water, life, food, housing, and other fundamental rights that rely on a clean, healthy environment. And this year, the contest accepts photos not only from the countries where the main contest is going but also from the whole world! Check out the landing page for more detailed information such as criteria for images, examples of images, important notes, how to upload, etc.
- The Wikimedia Foundation Form 990 for Financial Year 2021-2022 is now on-wiki. You’re welcome to read the report here.
- The international photographic contest Wiki Loves Africa 2023 themed Climate and Weather is ending on April 30th. Late entries are welcome until then!
- The Wiki Loves Earth 2023 photo contest will take place from 1st May to 31st July 2023. Wiki Loves Earth is an annual international photographic competition during which participants take pictures of local natural heritage and scenic landscapes in their countries and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. If you wish to organise an event or participate, see the link in the description for the guidelines for local teams. And to become regional ambassadors to help out the international organising team, contact the international team via wle-team@wikimedia.org.ua.
- The Wiki Loves Monuments international team has announced the winners of the 2022 contests. An overview of all winning images in 2022 is on the Wiki Loves Monuments 2022 winners page in Commons.
- Votingis now open in the 2022 annual Picture of the Year contest, an annual Wikimedia Commons image competition, which recognises exceptional contributions by users on Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia users are invited to vote for their favourite images featured on Commons. Any user with more than 75 edits before Jan. 1, 2023 is eligible to vote. Voting ends 1 May 2023.
- The Wikimedia Youth Conference 2023 scheduled to be held in Spain in September 2023 has now been rescheduled to happen in 2024. More about the new date will be communicated by Wikivibrance in due time.
- The Wikimedia Foundation is inviting you to engage in our Annual Plan process (APP) for the 2023-2024 financial year that runs from 01 July 2023 to 30 June 2024. The foundation has published the Draft Annual Plan on Meta and is inviting you to review and share your thoughts. There will be a call session on 30th April to discuss the Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan. Time is 6:00am UTC. Join via zoom.
- You are warmly invited to the quarterly Community Resilience and Sustainability Conversation hour led by Maggie Dennis, Vice President of Community Resilience and Sustainability, on [May 2, 2023 at 18:00 UTC. Discussion is on Trust and Safety, the Universal Code of Conduct, Committee Support, and Human Rights.
- The Wikimedia Foundation Community Affairs Committee invites you to work as a Volunteer Advisory Member of the Board’s newest task force–the Sister Projects Task Force. The Sister Projects Task Force will be a group of community members and Foundation trustees working together on a strategy to support the life cycle of non-Wikipedia projects across the movement. Apply until May 15th.
- The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) is collecting early input from the Wikimedia movement on the proposed methodology for the ratification of the Movement Charter from April 10 to 28, 2023. Ratification of the Movement Charter is planned to take place in early 2024, according to the timeline. There are six questions that the MCDC requests your input on. Please share your feedback by:Commenting on the Meta talk page or Commenting on the Movement Strategy forum.
- The Affiliations Committee has recognised Wikimedia Community User Group Togo as a Wikimedia user groups. Please welcome them to the movement.
- In support of the WikiGap/2023 gender gap initiative, the Wiki Loves Women Tell Us About her ISA tool campaign focused on adding metadata to images of Women on the Frontline Climate since 1st March. The deadline to participate is today, March 31st. There are prizes up for grabs.
- The international photographic contest Wiki Loves Africa 2023 themed Climate and Weather is on. It will run till April 30th. There are amazing prizes to be won!
- Africa Environment WikiFocus 2023 campaign is ongoing. The goal of this campaign is to document African climate change and environmental issues on Wikimedia projects. This is part of the larger Africa Knowledge Initiative project by Organisation of Africa Unity, Wikimedia Foundation and Africa No Filter geared towards closing the knowledge and content gap that exists on the digital space about Africa. Please join us to document climate change in Africa.
- The WikiForHumanRights 2023 Campaign, a campaign that ensures everyone has access to neutral, fact-based, and current information around our Right to a Healthy Environment, is collaborating with the Human Rights Team at the Wikimedia Foundation to deliver an event safety session for community organizers and participants. Date is 5th April 2023 at 16:00 UTC. Register here.
- Winners have been announced for the Africa Youth Day 2022 Campaign, a campaign that is part of the larger Africa Knowledge Initiative project by African Union, Wikimedia Foundation and Africa No Filter.Top three users with the most contribution across all Wikimedia Project are DaSupremo, Robertjamal12 and Shako-Dev. Please go to the Africa Youth Day 2022 meta page to know the other prize categories and their winners.
- We are thrilled to inform you that the Wiki Loves Earth 2023 photo contest will take place from 1st May to 31st July 2023. Wiki Loves Earth is an annual international photographic competition during which participants take pictures of local natural heritage and scenic landscapes in their countries and upload them to Wikimedia Commons. If you wish to organise an event or participate, see detailed guidelines for the local teams.
- A team of researchers working on a project that involves analysing the cultural diversity and gender representation of images on Wikimedia Commons, is seeking volunteers to annotate a large number of images based on gender and cultural representation (specifically food and dress). They are offering a gift card valued at $15 or a note of appreciation as a token for your time. If you’re interested, please fill this form here.
- We are also happy to inform you of the launch of a brand new project related to… Fabric ! The African Fabric Project by the Wikimedians of Twi Language User Group is aiming to create individual articles for each design of native fabrics on English Wikipedia, Wikidata items for each design, entries of images of the designs on Commons, as well as the pronunciation of the Ghanaian given name and a translation for each article on Twi Wikipedia. They need help with any credible references you may have on the individual fabric designs and uploads of the pictures of the designs unto Wikimedia Commons or uploads of usage of the designs by notable personalities or in notable scenarios either in Africa or anywhere else in the world.
- Just like your Netflix, we now have a sound logo for Wikimedia projects. This means you will soon be able to identify sources from Wiki projects when Alexa or Siri supplies you that answer! Click here to listen to the Wikimedia Sound logo as created by Thaddeus Osborne!
- The Wiki Indaba/Steering Committee (WISCom) is pleased to announce that the 2023 Wiki Indaba conference, an annual conference for representatives of Wikimedia communities and projects across Africa, will take place in Agadir, Morocco on 3rd and 4th of November 2023.
- After 76% voted in favour of the recommendations, the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees have ratified the Universal Code of Conduct/Enforcement guidelines. This means that the recommendations have been approved by the board after the voting. This is the very last step of a very long process… More details on the practical implementation will be communicated accordingly.
- The episode 9 of the WIKIMOVE podcast, a forum for open and frank conversations activated by Wikimedia Deutschland to discuss topics related to movement strategy, is now available. It discussed Abstract Wikipedia. Please listen to it here.
- The dates for the Wiki Loves Africa 2023 contest have been finalised. The contest themed Climate and Weather will operate from March 1st till April 30th.
- The Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Resources team and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) Regional Funding Committee invite you to apply to become a committee member in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. The new deadline is March 6th, 2023.
- WikiLearn -- the online learning system created by the Community Development team at the Wikimedia Foundation -- has come out of beta testing and is now ready for general use. It also has a major new feature: course content translation. Read all about it here
- The Technical Engagement team is interested in talking with active contributors to Wikimedia Commons about finding more ways for the Commons community to use Toolhub. If you are interested in discussing our proposal, or if you have your own idea to propose improving Toolhub integration with Commons, please join the conversation at Commons tools discussion page.
- The Wikimedia Stewards/Elections 2023 voting is on. Eligible voters are invited to review the list of the candidates and vote. Deadline is 26 February 2023, 21:00 (UTC).
- The Afrosounds Project Edit Contest by Free Knowledge Africa is starting on 1st March. For more information on participation, visit our meta page.
- The episode 8 of the WIKIMOVE podcast is now available. It’s about Movement Strategy. Please listen to it.
- The Africa Knowledge Initiative call for local organisers interested in Africa Environment month 2023 campaign to submit proposals ends on 28th February. Apply here.
- The Wiki Loves stats tool now includes Wiki Loves Folklore. Updated stats for all the 2023 participants can now be found here.
- The Movement Strategy/Forum/Proposal needs your feedback. Kindly fill the feedback survey before 23:59 UTC on 26th February.
- The new members of the 2023 Ombuds Commission have been announced. Visit the Meta page to find out who they are.
- Intending Wikimedia Hackathon 2023 satellite event organisers who cannot attend the in-person Hackathon event in May in Athens, Greece, are welcome to apply for Rapid grants to host their events. Deadline is 20th March
- Results of the Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines Vote, with 76% of participants voting in support of the Enforcement Guidelines. Statistics for the vote are available here.
- The theme for the Wiki Loves Africa 2023 international photo contest is Climate and Weather. If you need a Rapid grant to organise Wiki Loves Africa 2023, application deadline is 31st January 2023 for late application.
- The dates for the Wiki Loves Africa contest have been finalised. The contest will operate from March 1st till April 30th.
- The Wiki In Africa team is delighted to announce that Wilson Oluoha has joined the team, as Wiki Loves Africa community facilitator. Please feel free to reach out to him for all Wiki Loves Africa related issues.
- We are excited to inform you that the global conference Wikimania 2023 will be happening in Singapore from 16th-19th August 2023. The Wikimania 2023 scholarship application is still open. Deadline is 5th February.
- EduWiki Conference 2023 scholarship application is still on. Try to apply by 29th January.
- Nominations for the Stewards/Elections 2023 are on. Interested candidates can check their eligibility and the procedure to submit nomination on the guidelines page. Submissions can be made until January 30, 2023, 23:59 (UTC).
- Wikimedia will soon be applying as a mentoring organisation to Google Summer of Code 2023 and Outreachy Round 26. If you have some ideas for coding or non-coding (design, documentation, translation, outreach, research) projects, share them here by February 7th.
- The voting period for the revised Universal Code of Conduct Enforcement Guidelines is now open. Voting closes at 23.59 UTC on January 31, 2023. Please visit the voter information page on Meta-wiki for voter eligibility information and details on how to vote.
- The 9th edition and the first French edition of the monthly Wiki Mentor Africa event, a program designed to help new and inexperienced developers/programmers in the African communities will hold on 28th and 29th January. Time is 17:00 WAT(UTC+1). Please register here to participate.
- The Community Development team at the Wikimedia Foundation is hosting its first community call of the year on Tuesday, January 31st, 2023 from 18:00-19:30 UTC on [3].
- The Wikimedia Foundation’s Community Resources team and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) Regional Funding Committee invite you to apply to become a committee member in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. The deadline for applying is February 20th, 2023.
- Applications for the 2023 Curationist Fellows Program and of Colour Residency are ongoing! Deadline is 1st February.
- The Wiki Loves Africa 2022 ISA campaign ended on 15th January 2023, with 95, 413 contributions made on 15,912 images by 48 contributors.
- The Wiki Loves Women #SheSaid campaign ended on 31st December 2022, with Italian Wikiquote raking in the highest contribution. We say a heartfelt thank you to Camelia Boban, lead of WikiDonne initiative who led the local campaign.
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