Gates Foundation Presentation

Wikimedia Foundation
Who We Are & What We Do

We are grateful and honored to have the opportunity to engage in conversations with esteemed institutions like yourselves.

The Wikimedia projects couldn't exist without Galaries, Libraries, Archives and Museums.

My presentation will introduce the Wikimedia Foundation, its projects, the community culture and the mission that drives it.

Imagine a world in which every single human being on the planet is given free access to the sum of all knowledge.

That's what we're doing.

Jimmy Wales

How does this vision correspond with the vision of your institutions?The Sum of all knowledge is only possible with the unique stories that you as custodians of our cultural artefacts have collected. What is the sum of all knowledge? It can't be just my story or the stories of all those I have known - or evan of all of those I've heard of. The sum must include the stories of those that I have never known.

You serve the world by collecting this knowledge and experience. You care for it, keep it safe and faithful to its original state and guard against its degradation over time. You protect it from vandals, from periods of disinterest. You protect the knowledge that otherwise would be distorted or completely forgotten.And you tell these stories back to us. That is what we want to help you do. Freedoms and Pillars

Wikimedia is in the top 5 most-popular web properties in the world.

Source: comScore Media Metrix, global unique visitors monthly in 000s, March 2009

WP is hugeOver 300 million hits a month(note comscore as of March 08)

Wikipedia Audience Compared With Other Information Sites

Measured using unique visitors. Data from comScore Media Metrix.

The public gets its information from us

This is not the WM Foundation office

Need image of the office interior

This is our office

Free, Open, Collaborative Educational Content

The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit that supports several projects such asWikipediaWikimedia CommonsWikinewsWikiSourceWikiVersityWikiIncubator -for new language versionsMediaWiki software to run wikis open and free for any website to useWikiSpeciesWikiQuoteMetaWiki where people and projects organizeWikiBooksWikimania

The Wikimedia Foundation is the
non-profit that operates Wikipedia.

100,000

Given that the sites are huge and the Foundation is not- Who is behind all this anyway?

Goal: Broaden Participation

Volunteers have also collaboratively developed the governance structure, policies and guidelines for participating. Like: NPOV, Free Content

So it may seem to Wikipedia novices as if they have come into a room in the middle of a conversation.

Sometimes it can be hard to carve a place for yourself if the discussion is already going strong and there is history and context behind it that you're not completely aware of.

So we've created some safe places for people new to Wikipedia to connect with help, ask for advice, make mistakes, find advocates etc..

Who We Are

100,000 + active volunteers

28 Foundation employees

Local chapter organizations

Other Contributors

The answer to who is in charge here anyway isn't nobodyIts everybody

100,000 + active volunteers contribute text and media to our projects, develop content policies and conducting governance, and support the work of WMF and the chapters.

The Wikimedia Foundation hosts the projects, maintains and improves the software, implements outreach and partnership programs, and secures funding for special initiatives and ongoing operations.

Local chapter organizations implement outreach, partnership and technology activities on the ground.

Other Contributors educators, scientists, students, affiliate organizations whose interests vary.

22 Chapters

It is a global movementChapters are independent entities that share the same mission.

The Free Encyclopedia

La enciclopedia libre

Die freie Enzyklopdie

Wolna encyklopedia

De vrije encyclopedie

L'encyclopdie libre

Lenciclopedia libera

Wikipedia is the largest encyclopedia in human history: 266 languages

2 billion+ words

13 million+ articles

*Each language version has its own culture, policies and content (not all English articles are on other lang sites and vice versa.*More than 20 times larger than Britannica (why that matters)* There isn't a single small group of people deciding what is important enough to be documented in an encyclopaedia. Notability is a factor for Wikipedia as it is for other Encyclopedia, but it is transparently discussed.* What is Free and why does it matter? Wikipedia is free in that it does not charge for access and it is also free in that all the material included may be reused without charge.

Helpful to see Wikipedia as a Wiki & a PediaIt is an encyclopedia so Wikipedia aims to be organized, neutral, credibly sourced, notable, information written to be understandable to a wide audience. But its also a Wiki, which means that the way in which this information is developed is important as well. It means that there are a variety of perspectives represented but that Points of Views are not present in the content. *That contributors are working together to continually discuss and improve content. *That experts in a topic can contribute their expertise without content that is promotional or presents Conflict of Interest.

Wikimedia Commons is a repository of 4,845,093 freely usable media files:Content under public domain and free licenses

Versioning ensures access to the original

File can be easily embedded

Wikimedia Commons

Licenses ranging from:CC-by; CC-by-SA, Gnu; GFDL, Public domain, Copyleft. Some restrictions may include:

All rights released can be re-released under any license

Attribution only

Releasing under same license

Non-commercial

WM Commons GovernanceCopyright patrols of recent uploads / technical tools / common sense flags (picture from space and description says I took it myself; watermarks; screen shots; complaints)

Versioning ensures access to the originalAllows for Restoration partnerships like Troppenmuseum

What We Do

Our GoalsIncrease reach

Increase participation

Increase quality

Achieve organizational maturity

Achieve financial sustainability

Reach: quote by the founder- Jimmy Wales where every single human being has access... = a lofty mandate.

The Foundation's current programmatic focus in the area of reach is:expand global awareness,

expand into other wireless applications like mobile phones and

exploring wiki-to-print options.

Participation:The vision is not only aspire to reach every human being , but now we have to track down the Sum of ALL knowledge.unattainable notion of this mandate is important. Because in education, if we ever think that we are done, then we are done for.

It is fundamental to our principles that educational resources not just be generated by a particular population of the world and just read by another part of the world.

Sum of knowledge requires the participation of many perspectives.

Everyone brings their crumb to the table

Quality:Mature system of governance

Tools for quickly identifying content in question

Role of participation in quality

Org maturity : services developed 1st and projects are huge.

WMF is still small and young. We are growing.

1st ever public & strategy planning process open to the participation of all.

Financial sustainability: Re- stress non-profit aspect which is important to WP success no profiteering

Key Program Activities

Quality assurance tools

Usability projects

Online collaboration tools

Wiki-to-print technology

Workshops & Academies

Useability: text and media Bots etc.Wiki- to- printOutreach like this

Mission

The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally.

Shared missionsCustodians of cultural heritage &Community curated knowledge

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Column D

Google830663

Microsoft692479

Yahoo!594149

Wikimedia327148

Facebook294675

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Wikipedia166658365.95109126907196.30366125677928.4949137748140.24693153782497.67472162786462.32925170793490.98543163231276.41531187674544.66408191149990.98093210744427.52737207681676.60457216561446.25797206951572.77291197686048.35292209284565.10106227753508.66279243312004.66973240168757.10283224762346.34282241164633.69013239468164.26712254645453.2423259884586.55086261525864.92896250003236.05688242302048.17576246587403.35562269696941.44091275116616.66338279010816.89928270296570.87102287561774.46816298530097.1888324701744.15417

New York Times74499730.7386561835065.8407462525874.4880364034701.7012265541512.1856970121048.347870568871.7314268009690.4032372179980.396037361869575057410.1904468484882.0770568225271.9096966230272.8818366534266.8208167750890.4698569958626.5836877236761.7052675074286.7634469435382.9223776331041.020475371489.7464978164747.8157876225358.8769877172189.8607869736248.7564870615911.8792969428981.0769373219506.5069774104072.1813874082356.2376873466822.0506985819587.3669483900516.4172287705348.84283

CNN32920845.5835430412624.5051835104355.800734377489.8913637294946.0998833229196.7983331806066.1266731191715.6450934324786.100773476389135202994.8623838755710.2760332444128.6453433847751.8398433280672.4011835198155.3570735598406.2058534963005.0072935049510.8179632158500.4336540100147.4986839501481.5479639156990.3944438989842.8781242279362.8464139219305.4310338498628.6888544331722.9655844281162.621846239246.2417751665416.8473945198304.9922859783432.7628950892933.0893950553428.06931

BBC News25337305.6743219990563.2340419688603.7846920371972.1146822378535.0910219088813.9084319261697.9790319447785.2338422207392.4478520982098.1986820685110.0470720398845.6280421424940.2514720454863.9371720099980.4700119562872.1962620826214.5318820688162.7189520497101.2563518070033.3364220938119.468720066314.9196819431018.5671519360414.3339219651663.4282717545586.6246717109820.1843918484284.8022919585924.3695219178288.8993120402215.5198118942159.9368722244835.6270322538125.2934823917426.86336

Merriam Webster6010763.343794403239.737274160169.46495157692.727525971971.969975635349.019525782299.731715501885.232516332088.690856053354.768826295853.82586402223.367066281489.218475660171.957564547509.119485515669.003996256574.819327659728.184787804958.581156269274.13557771186.529448262729.096258738461.18828844517.801828633458.285118399274.476467499754.644237562050.6409610367819.471059926999.636548966263.993929338158.6833510863132.5061510880649.909311471566.05802

Fox News6314683.778385796321.880355946246.03796055858.375586281079.367646053430.600996389271.590496476664.018956916216.876477927258.454786968804.035818071399.218347354671.166687710151.854357599769.425327880320.688277586504.54467807892.824047754754.817336833901.771119224766.818358376963.620588824733.69278713871.088128793471.232457543570.319788432296.3581110260674.408411016638.3103711649593.4105611607319.68479216528.3955111005060.698889950717.74439702573.98372

Microsoft Encarta12356891.6278410060136.071458974144.637539748273.4217311015153.7989111427902.5588310245554.466348256914.931459788126.887471055848311328837.908049988724.567259967660.3747910274362.075458879614.34159025940.7008311472026.5793211959736.788139924441.342148091417.907729256678.294649697149.9487810869941.5559910912858.832410962158.937699053143.25797738648.854517712862.75528651714.616369607213.325859349835.651388123533.269599080882.155210101340.731689260807.78268

National Geographic1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN1.#NAN6832747.199636164158.564057864888.725457754885.664267520410.387937778846.888257566012.352635544159.450385209320.276574901743.134486152818.341366182299.466115879424.845235484377.073796178501.699566938929.181127038640.57278

Encyclopaedia Britannica3760407.755822660990.502162376101.010942268371.40062972198.503113858641.571424093379.394583451697.789974176636.95624292702.913795010208.376885461324.910396093867.677194933841.670634918988.113745404138.318927021352.797148287071.945948085116.233946272591.263776688278.773247313726.133477439006.925647454361.199318144138.820546041322.054534371608.650444229927.686655684148.504875787195.380095069871.125884119696.344814547102.817124724155.593086336728.23964

Wall Street Journal3727301.425172543126.938082731075.171282752254.861232634360.795642413205.889772473534.954812103530.565272601716.302522416691.215322576734.614272593480.687762547890.069272575770.290942864656.439763111030.468443828813.863154401007.157234316229.572374137484.886674429935.358064613926.518364594371.765024036839.974444101970.098334994834.99945636825.076885674201.965656996399.011626669900.269246364812.072995444718.30656143479.059435436994.931235901626.28929

PBS2886994.135494683151.90044451495.215775520360.770886272152.715296014774.214966114888.380174928377.723316359807.4922662986896237572.417255723171.931555412552.340434287694.263623910699.370274031630.414154975117.723286113191.110135188100.015964426024.071585294107.158615693906.629664999689.429315404391.618695302259.886743483483.501232862703.142273052544.394344243777.57694601569.444934617052.733783569205.237224599529.624464714005.597954849512.64391

NPR3230127.837753012413.029792620599.496462994981.585992832549.741952681507.064822712229.517032366239.445752752457.248042377844.231172434826.290372381701.67682644940.15172179382.194232215628.985961934472.865112217825.013742434530.112522563693.098092011835.433077629.299122754768.593342879443.636593200303.679642648630.566762485904.586862961013.452562988188.318752617185.346753482412.432143355992.519822622598.173433312204.248842725933.07893361949.53685