Water cooler

Welcome to the water cooler This is a place to find out what is happening and to discuss our external projects and activities. Feel free to suggest ideas that could help our charitable mission or ask questions about how you can help. To discuss the inner workings of the charity, head over to the engine room.

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2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Proposal: Science/STEM Conference

This is an idea I have had on the back burner for a long time. Note the following:

• We have existing relationships with many scientific bodies such as the Institute of Physics, Geological Society, Medical Research Council, and many more. However, individual societies are usually unwilling to take the risk of running a big event centred on Wikimedia because, although they have some interest from their members, they can't be sure that enough [physicists, geologists, psychologists, whatever] will turn up.
• Many scientists are pure researchers working in small research centres: they aren't associated with universities, or at least university teaching. These small research centres or groups can easily be missed in our outreach but they can be very receptive: e.g. Sphingonet
• Scientists are under professional pressure 1) to engage with the public, 2) to make all the outputs of their research open-access and freely reusable. This is the case much more so now than just a few years ago. This makes them receptive to explanations of how they can achieve this. This has also led to a great expansion of science communicators/ public engagement professionals.
• Scientists are likely to do coding/markup in their daily work. This makes them "low-hanging fruit". It's not that they are more valuable to Wikipedia than arts/humanities experts: in fact I think WP is clearly more in need of content and expertise in arts/humanities areas. I mean that in the current atmosphere, outreach to scientists is more likely to result in enthusiasm and concrete outcomes.
• We have documentation and workshops aimed at scientists and their bosses, explaining how Wikimedia relates to their goals of research impact and public engagement. These materials need continual improvement and wide publicity.
• There are articulate scientist-Wikipedians such as Peter Murray Rust, Daniel Mietchen, Darren Logan, and Alex Bateman who are great at demonstrating Wikimedia's relevance to scientific practice.
• Wikimania 2014 and other events have shown that Wikimedia has useful friends in the scientific sphere, including the Public Library of Science and the many Open Access/Open Science advocates.
• We have raised a lot of awareness of Wikipedia as a platform for dissemination or for education, but not so much yet about WP as a platform for research itself.
• Wikimedia UK volunteers have run sessions at science conferences but there is just too much overlap between Wikimedia and science to cover in a single session.

I think all these facts suggest that a large conference (aiming at 100 attendees) on Science and Wikipedia would have a lot of impact. The themes of the conference would be:

• Wikipedia and Wikimedia as platforms for promoting informed public discussion of scientific topics and theories (acknowledging that the public have a curiosity about all sorts of scientific topics, and overwhelmingly use Wikipedia as a starting point to self-educate).
• Wikipedia and Wikimedia as a platform for research (e.g. the Research portal).
• Wikipedia and Wikimedia as a model for scientific publishing and citizen science (including Wiki-to-Journal publication, Journal-to-Wiki publication, altmetrics, machine-extraction of data from published research, open bibliographic data, data citation, crowdsourced enhancement of scholarly databases, integration of Wikipedia with open/free services such as Figshare, ORCID, Flickr...)
• Wikipedia and Wikimedia as a platform for scientific education. (The answer to "I haven't time to edit Wikipedia." is "Allocate your students to do it and assess them.")
• Women in Science and Technology: is Wikipedia reinforcing stereotypes or providing role models? What is being done?
• Since a lot of the attendees will be personally interested in editing Wikipedia, the event should include training.

I see this as potentially a day or day-and-a-half event, on the model of EduWiki. Much as I advocate for geographic diversity, the scholarly societies and science communicators are so concentrated in London that this event would realistically have to be in London. This means that for it to be financially feasible we'd need a host organisation to provide a cheap venue. It would need about a year's lead time to organise and publicise.

I realise that WMUK's funding makes it hard to plan costly activities in advance, that staff have a lot on their plate and that at this point the suggestion of organising another conference may come like fatty food after a powerful hangover. On the other hand, I think an event like this could be a great success, would continue the partnerships we've already worked to build up, could spawn more editors and more partnerships, and could involve shared effort with other Open Coalition organisations, such as Open Knowledge. Feedback welcome on this suggestion. MartinPoulter (talk) 14:20, 29 August 2014 (BST)

Sounds like a good idea in principle. Wearing my "Wikipedian-in-Residence at ORCID" hat, I'm in. We should consider whether there are other events to which this could be attached (to save/ share costs), and whether we need a traditional or "unconference" format (or a blend). Does the medical project do anything like this? What about the open access/ open publishing folk? Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 21:36, 29 August 2014 (BST)

Would be great to have you involved, Andy. Yay for a blend of keynotes/ scheduled sessions/ unconference blocks! That way we have appealing stuff to publicise, but lots of attendees get a chance to speak and people can talk about very new activities. I think medicine on Wikipedia could be a conference itself, but throwing the net wider means a wider potential audience, and STEM is a wide net. A conference like this is probably a necessary step on the way to more specialised conferences, and that's a big reason I'd like us to do it.

There are relevant conferences where we've previously been represented, like Science Online London and the national public engagement conference, and we've run workshops adjacent to major subject conferences (you may well have done this yourself), but I think the interesting work going on under the above themes has outgrown one subject or one session in a conference. MartinPoulter (talk) 23:55, 29 August 2014 (BST)

Worth noting that the Science Online London (now branded as SPOTON) has gone silent - no word whether there will be a 2014 event so I guess that means there won't. There is certainly a gap waiting to be filled. I would be happy to help out. Frank Norman

Love the idea of the conference. I have organised and facilitated an unconference as part of a wider conference before, so could do similar for this. Yaris678 (talk) 19:15, 30 August 2014 (BST)

I think this is a great idea, thank you for sharing. Wikimedia UK's proposal to the FDC needs to be complete and handed in on 1st October. If we wanted to include something like this in our proposal we would need to get a handle on how much it would cost and where it would fit into our strategic goals - which of course it does. If anyone is keen to start a wiki page for the proposed event where we can thrash out some details, I would be happy to help. We'd need to be fairly quick about it. If there is anything the office can do to help please do let me know. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 11:24, 1 September 2014 (BST)

I think this is a great idea and would happily help out17:30, 2 September 2014 (BST)143.65.196.4 <-- this is HenryScow, unfortunately I'm having login probs on WMUK!

Sounds a great idea. There's only so much you can do in a day (or 1.5) though, especially if training is included. Some narrower focus might be a good idea, leaving space for the next year .... Johnbod (talk) 22:27, 4 September 2014 (BST)

@Johnbod: I agree that pursuing each of these themes at length would make the conference too big. The idea is that we invite contributions on these themes and the conference participants decide which to prioritise. Also, the unconference format would mean that there could be sessions that cover a lot of ideas in a short time, eg. lightning talks or round-table discussions. I share the hope that follow-up events would have a different emphasis.

@Stevie Benton (WMUK): I want to take up your offer. I'm kind of worn out writing stuff, but I'm clear in my head how this relates to the strategic goals. If we talk over Skype and you ask me some questions, can you write down the details you need?

@all: So we need to decide quickly if this is actually happening, and it's not happening unless we have a venue we can use freely or very cheaply. That means that we must get a suitable host organisation. The Wellcome Trust/Wellcome Library would be an ideal location, as would the Royal Society, as would the British Library, as would the Science Museum (where we've previously had an AGM). My recollection of the Institute of Physics building is that its rooms are not quite big enough for the conference I envisage, but there are other scholarly societies that have suitable venues and would like to do a jointly badged event with Wikimedia UK. I'm assuming that once we have a venue, WMUK could pay for refreshments, handle bookings and we volunteers can organise programme and publicity. So let's all pump our respective contacts and try to get at least an in-principle agreement. This could be a headline-making event, especially with the right controversial speakers. MartinPoulter (talk) 15:02, 6 September 2014 (BST)

An additional thought: the one-and-a-half-day format assumes people are staying overnight. This will be more difficult in London than in other places. Perhaps it would be better to run the conference for two days, with a late start both days so that people can commute in (e.g. from Cambridge or Oxford) on off-peak trains. MartinPoulter (talk) 17:27, 6 September 2014 (BST)

Okay, good news everyone: contacts have been pumped and we have a willing host organisation which is absolutely ideal: the Wellcome Trust (who hosted the Medical Humanities editathon earlier this year)! Next important task is to decide *dates* for the conference. This would appeal to scientists, academics, science communicators, librarians and of course Wikimedia volunteers- very much the same bunch who would have attended SpotOn. For those based in universities, it's hard to find a convenient slot. May-to-mid-June will be difficult because of exams/marking. Mid-September onwards is the start of term. July is when people are usually away on holiday. The first week of August is out because Wikimedians will be in Mexico for Wikimania. We need to suggest some dates to Wellcome. MartinPoulter (talk) 14:13, 8 September 2014 (BST)

Awesome. Great work and great location. I am flexible on date. Yaris678 (talk) 14:24, 8 September 2014 (BST)

@User:Yaris678: Thanks. I'll be taking you and everybody else up on their offers of help. :) MartinPoulter (talk) 17:10, 8 September 2014 (BST)

@all: We now have a planning page for the conference, at Wikipedia Science Conference, so please join in there. As the page develops, I hope we can move some planning stuff to sub-pages. MartinPoulter (talk) 17:10, 8 September 2014 (BST)

Automated membership welcomes and renewal process - feedback sought

Dear all,

We are now working with a contractor to improve the way our database supports membership applications, approvals and renewals and reminders!

I have created a flowchart to describe what we are currently planning as a process - you can see it here. The shapes that are not green represent different email templates that are customised by linking to member details held on each person's database record.

I would love feedback about:

• What stages are missed
• What else might we include in these emails in terms of content
• What problems can you see with this

I will review comments on Friday 12th September so please get back to me by then - the talk page for the flow chart would be best or you can email me directly. Unfortunately I am on holiday Saturday 6th - Thursday 11th so won't reply on those days but other members of staff will keep an eye out for any requests for info and if I can check in from a French campsite I will :-) Katherine Bavage (WMUK) (talk) 15:33, 3 September 2014 (BST)

Tweaks to the front page Wordpress template

I just did some testing of the WMUK home page. Well done for embedding the Youtube video in a way that doesn't track the users!

A few quite minor things that could be changed in the template:

The "Welcome" top-level heading on the front page is a common error: it suggests to search engines that the word "welcome" is relevant to the content of the site. The heading does nothing at best, or dilutes the relevance of content search terms to the content of the site. Better to have "Wikimedia UK" as the h1 on that page: we want people searching for "Wikimedia UK" to find that page, don't we?

The source code contains <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="wikimedia.org.uk » Welcome Comments Feed" href="https://wikimedia.org.uk/wellcome/feed/" /> but this is a broken link, as is /welcome/feed/ and /feed/ . I don't think there's any need for this tag at all.

This og:description meta tag includes a sentence fragment: "We can teach you how to ...". The description would be fine without this.

These are minor quibbles but fixing them would help the appearance of the site in search engines. MartinPoulter (talk) 18:34, 5 September 2014 (BST)

Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development

Hello everyone. Wikimedia UK is considering signing the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development. This is a very common sense document that calls on members of the EU to work to make access to information a priority as it is key to sustainable development and democracy. There is nothing controversial in there and I strongly recommend that we sign. Please do take a look and let me know if you have any serious objections. Thank you. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 15:45, 8 September 2014 (BST)

Having had a look at the declaration and other signatories, this looks very much in line with our mission. The list of signatories, with many national libraries and professional bodies, seems to be substantially the sort of organisation we want to work with and show ourselves to be aligned with. No objections from me. MartinPoulter (talk) 17:38, 8 September 2014 (BST)

I would also be happy to recommend supporting the declaration (this is a personal view, and I am here not speaking as chair).--MichaelMaggs (talk) 20:10, 8 September 2014 (BST)

I'd support this too Mccapra (talk) 17:42, 25 September 2014 (BST)

Padmini Ray Murray steps down as trustee

As many in the community may already know, Padmini announced some time ago that she would be stepping down from her role as trustee in order to take up a new position teaching digital humanities at Srishti in Bangalore. Her final day as trustee will be Thursday 18th September. On behalf of us all, I'd like to thank her for the work she has done and wish her all the best for the future.

The board hopes to appoint a replacement trustee shortly. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 05:46, 15 September 2014 (BST)

Volunteer job list

We are creating a list of volunteer jobs, some online, some at specific locations. Please check if there is anything you are up for, or make some suggestions.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 15:46, 18 September 2014 (BST)

This is a really good idea. How to coordinate volunteers has always been an issue that we're not sure about. This is a good step in the right direction... and one that no on can disagree with and that should fit naturally with how Wikimedians work. Yaris678 (talk) 11:56, 19 September 2014 (BST)

Preparations for EduWiki 2014

Edinburgh First's St Leonard's Hall - venue for EduWiki Conference 2014

Preparations for EduWiki Conference 2014 are now in full swing. The event will take place on Friday 31 October 2014 in Edinburgh. Registration is open until Monday 6 October; the reduced rate for Wikimedians and other concessions is £25. Details about accommodation options at and around the conference venue have also been released. A limited budget to support scholarships for the conference has been allocated and applications; please contact educationwikimedia.org.uk by Monday 29 September to apply for a scholarship.

Kindly direct any personal questions or concerns to me. We hope to see many members of the WMUK community at the conference, especially those who live within easy traveling distance from Edinburgh. --Toni Sant (WMUK) (talk) 10:53, 19 September 2014 (BST)

An opportunity at the Science Museum Late

Wikimedia UK has been in discussion with our friends at the Science Museum regarding taking part in a Science Museum Lates event on Wednesday 26 November. The theme of the event will be The Information Age to celebrate the opening of their new gallery on this theme in October. This gallery is a significant development, the biggest of its kind in the museum for more than a decade. Entry is free and the Late audience is going to be around 5,000 people, most between 18 and 35 and with a roughly equal gender balance.

The discussions are going well and we are now looking for suggestions of the kind of activities we could offer in the Museum during the evening event. If you have any ideas for events or displays - make them ambitious and exciting! - please comment here, or email Stevie Benton or me, and we will bring you on board to help make the plans and arrangements. It's also possible we will need some volunteers on the night. If you're keen to be involved, again, please do let us know.

Lates take place in the museum on the last Wednesday of every month. September's is about the science of magic and illusion, while October's is about food and drink, so drop in for a flavour (sorry) of how these events work.

So that we have enough time to prepare for November's Information Age Late, please give us your suggestions by the end of September. Roberta Wedge (WMUK) (talk) 17:32, 19 September 2014 (BST)

ORCID user template

{{User ORCID}} is now available, for those of you who have an ORCID identifier (and I encourage you to register for one). You can see an example on my user page. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 23:31, 19 September 2014 (BST)

Volunteer Strategy

I have just put up the notes from our recent Volunteer Strategy Meeting. Please have a look here. Any comments welcome.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 09:40, 21 September 2014 (BST)

Fabian, in the first list it says: First one in late November 2014, second in March 2014; should this be March 2015? -- Marek.69 ^talk 18:42, 30 September 2014 (BST)

Thanks Marek, I have made the correction. Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 10:21, 1 October 2014 (BST)

Technology Scoping report

At the Board meeting on October 4th the trustees will be considering a report from an IT consultant on how the Chapter could develop its support of technical innovation. There are several options in the document. The board would be very keen to hear community opinions on the discussion page. Jon Davies (WMUK) (talk) 14:18, 23 September 2014 (BST)

Wikidata training

Wikimedia UK is providing our second Wikidata training day on Saturday 11th October. This will be in the basement of Development House, London, the building where Wikimedia UK offices are located. If you are interested in coming please register here. We are very lucky to have Magnus Manske lead the session and we are particularly keen to encourage our accredited trainers to attend as we plan to build the capacity to run more sessions up and down the country. Wikidata is an amazing innovation which promises to have an increasingly significant impact both on the way Wikipedia works as well as on the wider Open Data movement. This is a good opportunity to get a clearer understanding of how Wikidata works.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 10:48, 26 September 2014 (BST)

Volunteers needed to help pre-screen Wiki Loves Monuments UK entries

As you may know, the Wiki Loves Monuments competition closes tonight, and over the next couple of weeks we need to decide on the winning entries. In the UK, we have over 7000 entries, from which we need to select the 500 best for formal judging by the jury.

I'm seeking volunteers to help out with the pre-screening process, which we have to complete within the next two to three weeks.

Can you help us, please?

To help, you’ll need the following:

1. A minimum of few hours free between now and 14th October

2. A good level of ability to distinguish high-quality photography from lower quality (guidelines will be provided)

3. A fast broadband connection for downloading to your local computer several hundred high-resolution images (we’ll tell you how to do it)

4. Suitable software (eg Adobe Lightroom or some other photo-review software) for reviewing the images at full screen size.

You don’t need to be based in the UK to help.

If you can help, please get in touch now! Either reply directly to this posting, or contact me directly by email.

Many thanks, --MichaelMaggs (talk) 18:46, 30 September 2014 (BST)

I have listed this at Volunteer jobs#Help pre-screen Wiki Loves Monuments UK entries. Feel free to tweak the listing. Yaris678 (talk) 08:49, 1 October 2014 (BST)

Good thought. Thank you. --MichaelMaggs (talk) 10:28, 1 October 2014 (BST)

Wiki hard to reach on mobile

On my mobile (HTC Desire HD, Android 2.3.5) there seems to be no way to reach this wiki, from the main page at https://wikimedia.org.uk/ Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 21:02, 1 October 2014 (BST)

Hello Andy. I've just taken a look at this. In the top right hand corner there's a menu. Select that and select the "Wiki" button. On the desktop version (and I believe tablet version) there's a green button labelled "Wiki" that is immediately available. Hope this helps. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 09:41, 2 October 2014 (BST)

There's no such menu link when viewing on my device (I've just double-checked). Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 12:19, 3 October 2014 (BST)

OK, that's interesting. Are you able to send me a screenshot or photo please? I will look into this a bit more deeply. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 13:52, 3 October 2014 (BST)

On its way. Andy Mabbett (User:Pigsonthewing); Andy's talk; Andy's edits 20:06, 3 October 2014 (BST)

Thank you for the screenshot Andy. I will pass this on and see what I can find out. I'm not around today or tomorrow but will keep you posted. In the meantime, a work around is to go to the URL wikimedia.org.uk/wiki and I'll let you know when I've found a resolution. Speak soon. Stevie Benton (WMUK) (talk) 09:21, 6 October 2014 (BST)

Volunteer Equipment

Following the Board Meeting on Saturday 4th October, anyone wishing to use volunteer equipment will have to be a member of the charity.Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 10:17, 7 October 2014 (BST)

Wow. This hard on the heels of the Chapter refusing to allow me to borrow a projector for this month's LGBT editathon and without tracking all attendees of the event on chapter databases. I would like to see a public explanation than this of why it is in the interests of open knowledge to only loan equipment purchased to fulfil the shared open knowledge mission of the charity to members, and exclude non-members with active Wikimedia projects on the go who happen to not have membership along with the privilege of voting in chapter elections. --Fæ (talk) 14:12, 7 October 2014 (BST)

Friends Newsletter 06

The latest Friends Newsletter 06 has been posted. Any comments, feedback etc would be welcome on the talk page. Fabian Tompsett (WMUK) (talk) 10:21, 7 October 2014 (BST)