Wikimedia Österreich/Support guidelines

Support guidelines of Wikimedia Österreich

Conditions

Regular collaboration: Wikimedia Österreich supports the activities of individuals who are participating or would like to participate in a project regularly online and/or offline that complies with the purpose of the Wikimedia Österreich association set out in the Mission Statement.

Notably, this includes, but is not limited to, active participation in one of the following website projects as a registered user: Wikibooks, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, Wikinews, Wikipedia, Wikiquote, Wikisource, Wikispecies, Wikiversity, Wikivoyage, Wiktionary and RegiowikiAT. In the case of multilingual website projects, this support extends to all language versions.

Volunteering: Generally speaking, the supported activity should be carried out on a voluntary basis. Wikimedia Österreich may grant payment of fees for specific externally provided services in the context of activities that continue to be, generally speaking, provided on a voluntary basis. The financial compensation of an activity by third parties shall be permitted in exceptional, justified cases. In such a case, the party providing remuneration must be disclosed to Wikimedia. Any material advantages resulting indirectly and not as remuneration for the activity itself shall not be considered financial remuneration of an activity by third parties under these provisions (examples: hospitality, giveaways).

Rule of residence: Generally speaking, directly supported individuals are required to have a residence in Austria or South Tyrol. Technical appliances and other materials can be made available from own holdings regardless of the place of residence. For tenders related to time-limited support, such as travel grants, different provisions in respect of residence may apply.

Economy and efficiency: The principles of economy and efficiency must be complied with in the context of all support. In particular for travel expense reimbursements, it is important to assess applications in the light of whether the activity could be performed equally well by local individuals.

Goals

The supported activity of the individual must provide a specific and active contribution to at least one of the following goals, each with a direct reference to the project in which the individual is active:

1. creation, collection and dissemination of free content
2. acquisition or teaching of skills
3. recruitment and retention of volunteers
4. exercise and advancement of special functions in the projects (example: Wikipedia Arbitration Committee)
5. technical development
6. influencing of external political and institutional framework conditions in favour of free knowledge and Wikimedia projects

Activities that primarily serve the purpose of conviviality or a (shared) experience cannot be supported.

Types of support

The types of support offered notably include, but are not limited to the following:

Items on loan

Items on loan from own holdings: Specific technical equipment (such as photography equipment), publications and reusable advertising materials (example: trade fair booth) from Wikimedia Österreich holdings are available. The loan period shall be agreed based on the actual period of utilisation and other requests. Any outward and return shipping costs and the insurance shall be paid by Wikimedia Österreich. In exceptional cases, the cost of items on loan provided by external rental services may also be covered.

Purchase of new publications as long-term loan items: New publications such as books, magazines and maps shall be purchased on request and directly by Wikimedia Österreich. Such purchases are made only if they are intended for the editing of larger-scale topic areas. In consequence, the publication is handed over to the user as a long-term loan item. If evidence of adaptations using the publication fails to appear over an extended period of time (reference timeframe: 1 year), Wikimedia Österreich shall be authorised to demand its return. Queries by other project activists for information from the loaned publication shall be answered to the extent possible.

Contributions in kind and organisational services

Promotion and information: Access to advertising and information material from the holdings of Wikimedia Österreich can be provided depending on availability. Newly produced special advertising and information materials can be supplied on request.

Competitions: Wikimedia Österreich supports competitions promoting the generation of free contents, for instance by endowing prizes.

Meetings and events: Wikimedia Österreich supports the implementation of self-organised work meetings, information events and similar by providing premises, equipment and catering as well as organisational support. The Wikimedia Österreich Event Guidelines shall apply for such meetings and events in Austria.

E-mail addresses and business cards: Wikimedia Österreich assigns personalised e-mail addresses (examples: username@wikipedia.at, firstname.lastname@wikipedia.at) and/or business cards. E-mail addresses are available for the domains wikipedia.at, wikibooks.at, wikinews.at, wikiquote.at, wikisource.at, and wikispecies.at. E-mail addresses are allocated using aliases.

Provision of access permits: Wikimedia Österreich arranges accreditations for events, photo permits and other privileged access, notably to memory institutions.

Expense reimbursements

Expense reimbursements for access permits: Reimbursements can be made for pertinent costs of participation in paying events, library cards, software, electronic literature databases, information from authorities and similar.

Reimbursement of travel expenses: Reimbursable train trips are trips in second class (or equivalent) with the most favourably-priced provider, making use of any existing discount passes or special rates. For trips beyond a distance of 50 kilometres, the cost of a second-class seat reservation (or equivalent) shall likewise be reimbursed. The cost of flights in Economy Class to or from abroad with the most favourably-priced provider on the day of travel are reimbursable as well. Travel to/from the airport is also reimbursed. In justified cases, costs for travel using a private car can be reimbursed. As a general rule, a mileage allowance of EUR 0.42 per kilometre travelled is reimbursed in such cases, with statement of the exact point of departure and destination being mandatory. If possible and appropriate, car pools should be formed.

Reimbursement of accommodation expenses: Reimbursements can be made for accommodation including breakfast corresponding to up to the equivalent of a mid-range standard.

Reimbursement of incidental travel expenses: Reimbursable incidentals are the cost of shipping and storing luggage, of tickets for local public transport, toll, garage and parking fees, as well as justified taxi rides.

Reimbursement of subsistence expenses: During a trip, a per diem (food and beverages) can be reimbursed on request if the trip takes more than 5 hours and the destination is more than 25 kilometres away from the place of residence. Reimbursement shall ensue upon presentation of the relevant receipts up to a maximum amount of EUR 26.40 daily in Austria. For travel abroad, the daily rates stipulated in the official travel expense regulations for wage tax exemption shall apply. If breakfast, lunch and/or dinner are funded by a different source, the maximum amount shall be reduced to 20% for breakfast, 40% for lunch and 40% for dinner. Trips that are shorter than 12 hours are reimbursed at a reduced pro-rata rate.

Application

Form: Generally speaking, any support may be requested by informal e-mail indicating the aim and type of support and an approximate estimate of the expected costs. As a rule, activities involving expected costs of more than EUR 500 shall require a written detailed project and financing plan prior to their approval – developed in cooperation with Wikimedia Österreich, where necessary. For legal reasons, the assignment of e-mail addresses and/or business cards requires a completed and signed application form and agreement of use. As a rule, support should be applied for before the supported activity begins.

Personal data: Provision of the following data is required the first time support is availed of or if this information is no longer stored by Wikimedia Österreich due, for instance, to data protection reasons: real name, where applicable, user name, address, e-mail address and telephone number and – if necessary, for expense reimbursement – account details.

Decision: The Executive Director, or on the Director's behalf, an employee of Wikimedia Österreich reporting to the Executive Director, will decide on the allocation of all support grants. In the event of exceptional activities, notably related to the expected costs, decisions shall be within the remit of the Wikimedia Österreich Board. If necessary, decisions shall be made with the assistance of the Wikimedia expert groups.

Documentation requirement

Principles: The individual whose activity is supported by Wikimedia Österreich shall be responsible for the appropriate public securing of results or documentation. Wikimedia Österreich must be informed of any publication immediately.

Securing results related to open content: In the case of a supported activity, the primary aim of which is to generate, collect and distribute open content, reference to the free content shall be deemed to satisfy documentation requirements. Every supported media file on Wikimedia Commons must be marked with the template {{Supported by Wikimedia Österreich}} on the file description page or at least be sorted into the Category:Supported by Wikimedia Österreich or one of its sub-categories. It is also recommended to provide an adequate description and categorisation of media files as well as their appropriate integration into Wikimedia projects and candidacies for awards in Wikimedia projects. Other supported open content, such as Wikipedia articles, must be listed individually and continuously on a separate public page, such as a user subpage or a project page. This applies to both the production of new and the editing of existing content.

Public written report: For activities that do not primarily serve the generation, collection and distribution of open content, a mandatory written report shall be the standard form of documentation. As a rule, the reports must contain specifically the following information, unless otherwise agreed: aim and results of the activity and, if applicable, the number and type of other people involved and information on any special experience had during achievement of the goal. The written report can be published on a Wikimedia website or another public platform. The licensing terms must be adhered to under all circumstances (see below).

Alternative forms: In accordance with the specifications of Wikimedia Österreich provided at latest at the time support is pledged, other forms of documentation may be deemed sufficient, such as:

• if several people are supported in the context of a shared activity, a written report provided by one person on everyone's behalf,
• an oral, recorded report in the context of a Wikimedia Österreich event open to the interested public,
• a workshop in the context of a Wikimedia Österreich event open to the interested public during which the skills acquired are passed on,
• detailed minutes taken by a third party if the supported party's contribution to the results can be deduced,
• media coverage of the activity, if the supported party's contribution to the results directly emerges therefrom,
• a documentation formally aligned with the activity, such as in the case of software development projects and jury activities,
• participation in a survey on the activity (even anonymised)

Deadlines: In the case of travel expense reimbursements, public documentation must be implemented within four weeks of completion of the trip at the latest, unless otherwise agreed. If documentation fails to appear within the applicable deadline, no additional travel expense reimbursements shall be provided to the individual in question until such documentation has been provided. In the event of other expense reimbursements, the expiry period for the handling of expense reimbursements (see below) must be observed. For all other types of support, the documentation requirement must be complied with within a reasonable time of completion of the activity, unless otherwise agreed.

Exceptions: In the case of specific types of support (e-mail addresses and business cards) and very minor support, it may be sufficient to provide information on the benefit and use of the support only upon request by Wikimedia Österreich. If the results of the activity fall significantly short of the expected results, Wikimedia Österreich must be informed thereof in writing and the form of public documentation adjusted, if so requested.

Handling of expense reimbursements

Procedure: As a rule, expense reimbursements are not disbursed until after the documents appropriate for accounting have been provided and documentation requirements have been complied with.

Submission and retention of documents: Either the original receipts in paper form or electronic copies of the original receipts must be submitted, and the individual receiving the support must keep the original receipts for at least seven years starting from January 1 of the year following submission and present them on demand.

Travel expense reimbursement form: In the event of a travel expense reimbursement, the completed travel expense reimbursement form must be provided in addition to the receipts.

Expiry period: If the receipts are not submitted to Wikimedia Österreich and if documentation requirements are not complied with, the promised support will generally expire on 15 December of the calendar year in which the supported activity is completed. If the activity is completed during the time from 15 November to 31 December of a given year, any related expense reimbursements not submitted to Wikimedia Österreich shall expire on 31 January of the following year.

Licensing terms

Free license: The securing of results and documentation must ensue under a free license that is compatible with the Wikimedia Foundation Licensing Policy and, if applicable, with the respectively (primarily) supported website project.

Procedure if there is reason to suspect improper subsequent use: If there is reason to suspect that a media file supported by Wikimedia Österreich is subject to improper subsequent use, the author shall have the right, but not the obligation to contact the subsequent user. Communication with the subsequent user must aim to enable and encourage the latter to use the free content correctly. The templates provided by Wikimedia Österreich shall serve as a guideline for communication with the subsequent user.

In general, three types of possible improper subsequent use can occur:

1. If it is easy for the subsequent user to correct the improper subsequent use, the author shall grant the subsequent user a period of four weeks from notification within which to ensure license-conforming citation. This case applies mainly to the use of online media. If the correction is made within this time period, the author shall waive any other claims against the subsequent user regarding the time of suspected improper subsequent use. If the subsequent user does not make the correction within this time period, the choice of any further course of action is left completely up to the author.
2. If the subsequent user is unable to perform the correction or if such correction involves substantial effort, which is deemed to be the case for printed products and audiovisual media, the author shall not demand correction, but only provide information on correct use.
3. If subsequent use of the file is associated with a presumably not license-conforming transfer of rights, this subsequent use can be completely prohibited by the author within four weeks of notification.

In case of repeated infringements, the author shall be free to decide whether and in what way it shall contact the subsequent user. In the event of repeated infringements, it must be possible to provide Wikimedia Österreich with evidence of the first such case. In the interest of free knowledge transfer, even in the case of repeated infringements, the focus should be on a solution that is acceptable to all parties, promoting correct subsequent use of free content instead of restricting it.

Media files supported by Wikimedia Österreich are media files that are labelled with {{Supported by Wikimedia Österreich}}, in accordance with these guidelines. The subsequent user shall be the media owner or the responsible representative, as specified, for instance, in the legal notice. The notification addressed to the subsequent user must be sent to the e-mail address, if known, of the media owner or the responsible agent specified, for instance, in the publication's imprint. For documentation purposes, a copy (CC) or blind copy (BCC) of the first e-mail communication must go to nachnutzung@wikimedia.at. The e-mails are kept confidential.

These provisions apply exclusively to the relationship between the author and Wikimedia Österreich. The subsequent user shall not accrue any legal claims therefrom.

Final provisions

Wikimedia Österreich assumes no responsibility for any necessary taxation of benefits received.

There is no entitlement to support. The support guidelines allow for justified exceptions. If it is not Wikimedia Österreich that is supporting the activity of an individual, but if it is the individual that is, in point of fact, supporting a Wikimedia Österreich activity, and Wikimedia Österreich grants such individual expense reimbursements or other related funds, the support guidelines shall not apply, without prejudice to separate agreements. Individuals that Wikimedia Foundation has subjected to a global ban or an event ban shall be excluded from support.

Wikimedia Österreich reserves the right to publish any support in connection with the user name respectively linked. If Wikimedia Österreich is not provided with a user name, the publication may also be released using the real name. Wikimedia Österreich will maintain the confidential nature of all other personal information. The Wikimedia Österreich Privacy Policy shall apply.