Learning patterns/Wikiblabla (confusing Wikimedia lexicon)

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Wikimedia lexicon: wiki, wikipedia, wikimedia, wikimania and the confusing wikiblabla

problemThe Wikimedia movement has a large variety of assonant terms which mean different things but they are confusing and mysterious for the majority of humankind.

solutionA short summary of the Wikimedia lexicon.

creator• Iopensa

created on11:02, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

status:DRAFT

What problem does this solve?

We want the people to use our lexicon correctly, but our lexicon is a large variety of assonant and compound words which consistently play with the 4 letters wiki.

What is the solution?

Term	Meaning
Wiki	It is the web application used by Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. Please note Not only Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects are wiki. There are lots of other websites that are a wiki. WikiXXX or XXXwiki are ubiquitous compound words used within the Wikimedia ecosystem and outside it. In communication tools avoid using Wiki as a shortener of Wikipedia. Even if it sounds completely appropriate, it really means something different.
Wikipedia	The online well-known encyclopedia. Please note Wikipedia is not an organization, it is a website. There are many linguistic editions of wikipedia and each of them have their own communities. The word "Wikipedia" is a registered trademark and it can only be used according to a precise policy. No one can truly represent or talk on behalf of Wikipedia, but indeed we can all be part of it. This tension characterizes the freedom and openness of Wikipedia, and it also explains the complexity and frictions among its community in the largest sense. The different linguist editions of Wikipedia focus on languages, not territories. This means for example that Wikipedia in English is edited by all people who write in English around the world (with specific conflicts related to the different ways people write in different places); Wikipedia in Italian is not the Wikipedia of Italy neither (even if of course a majority of Italian contribute to it).
Wikimedia	It is the most inclusive word. It includes Wikipedia but also other projects created by the same people or with the same vision. The term Wikimedia includes also the Wikimedia Foundation and the formal and informal organizations and groups based in different nations and territories of the world.
Wikimedia Foundation	It is a registered institution. It is the institution which manages the servers, trademarks, fundraising of Wikipedia and the other websites. It is important to notice that Wikimedia Foundation does not control the content of Wikipedia or the other projects but it can take decisions which can have an impact on them (i.e. where to store the servers, recommendations, decisions related to legal issues). Wikimedia Foundation can recognize or not affiliated national/territorial associations (Wikimedia chapters), affiliated groups (Wikimedia groups) and affiliated organizations (Affiliated). There can be tensions between the online Wikimedia communities and the Wikimedia Foundation (issues related to representativeness, how funds are managed and spent, legal issues and pertinence of legal issues related to different national situations...). On Wikipedia in English, Wikimedia Foundation is a redirect of Wikimedia.
Wikimedia Chapter	It is a registered institution based in a country or in the specific area of a country. It is an independent association which is recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation. It supports Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects (by organizing meetings, events, and presentations in schools, by triggering or facilitating the involvement of institutions in contributing to the Wikimedia projects...). Wikimedia Chapters do not have control over the content of the Wikimedia websites. This is a confusing issue which has created problems to Wikimedia chapters (Wikimedia Italia has been suited for content on Wikipedia even if the association can not be considered responsible for it). Wikimedia Chapters have names like Wikimedia Italia, Wikimédia France, Wikimedia CH... If in a country someone (the press or the reference person of an institution) wants to contact someone who knows Wikipedia or is involved in Wikipedia, often he/she contacts the local Wikimedia chapter. You are not requested to be an active Wikipedia contributor – or active contributor anywhere – to become a member or a board member of a Wikimedia chapter. Not all active editors of a country are members of their national or territorial chapter or group. There can be tensions between the online Wikimedia communities and chapters (mainly issues related to representativeness).
Wikimedia projects	Wikipedia is the most well-known and used Wikimedia projects (an encyclopedia), but there are other projects (each of them focusing on a specific typology of content - the name is pretty self-explanatory): Wiktionary (dictionary), Wikimedia Commons (images and videos - pretty weak on videos), Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikidata, Wikiversity, Wikiquote, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikivoyage (travel information). Each project has its own community. Each project has its own linguistic editions with its own community.
Wikimania	It is the annual international conference of the Wikimedia movement.
Commissions and juries	In general commissions and juries in the Wikimedia movement are made of international volunteers invited with an open call to join them. The call clarifies what people are expected to do, how long will it take them, and the requirement to join the commission or jury; members are asked to sign a policy (including confidentiality related to personal information) and often juries and commissions are managed by the Wikimedia Foundation or another related institution. I am not aware of commissions and juries of the Wikimedia Foundation. The Wikimedia Foundation can manage them and it can validate or not their decisions/recommendations. This is important because you can not call them "commission of the Wikimedia Foundation" or "jury of the Wikimedia Foundation". You can call them "Wikimania jury" or "Individual Engagement Grants committee" (with the name of the related initiative).
Editor	Among the Wikimedia movement an editor is a person who writes on Wikipedia and/or other Wikipedia projects; also uploading images on Wikimedia Commons and contributing to discussion pages makes you an editor. In general an active editor is a person who contributes as a volunteer with at least 5 edits a month.
Wikipedian	A contributor of Wikipedia in any language. In general you need to write on wikipedia or contributing with edits (you can also add categories, discuss on talk pages, participating by managing a wikiproject...).
Bot	Bot stands for "robot" and it is a software application that runs automated tasks on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. The online Wikimedia ecosystem coexists with a lot of bots (managed by users); in particular Wikipedia linguistic editions and other projects with small communities have bots with a major role in contributing to content and management (monitoring vandalism, uploading datasets...).

Things to consider

• In general if you want people to understand what you are talking about use the word Wikipedia: it is not correct, a lot of people in the Wikimedia movement might be irritated, but rhetorically we can consider it a synecdoche and it is advisable to produce a more efficient communication.
• People working in the communication of Wikimedia initiatives should at least be familiar with the different components, communities and organizational patterns of the Wikimedia movement. You can decide to use a term strategically, but you should not do it by mistake.
• It is important to attribute correctly content and work (by referring to Wikimedia Foundation instead of a specific online community and viceversa)

When to use

• To provide an overview of the Wikimedia movement and its lexicon to people working in the communication of Wikimedia initiatives.
• To check and review press communicates.

Endorsements

• Ehrhhgj 196.46.246.166 16:46, 12 August 2015 (UTC)
• Higuuftr 196.46.246.166 16:54, 12 August 2015 (UTC)
• Ugdahkn 196.46.246.166 16:55, 12 August 2015 (UTC)
• Uilliam 105.168.20.94 09:59, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
• ナカネコ (talk) 09:24, 30 October 2015 (UTC)
• This is really useful! Perhaps you should consider adding "Wikimedian" to the list:) Saintfevrier (talk) 22:55, 21 February 2016 (UTC)
• 學習與教育 Discovery119 (talk) 18:36, 7 August 2017 (UTC)
• العاب 129.45.119.34 16:46, 25 November 2017 (UTC)
• قناة شليلة

      منصة الرياض للتواصل الاجتماعي 
                            ترحبكم 95.218.220.134 09:42, 2 May 2019 (UTC)

• Good job Divingthenanoboat (talk) 00:21, 25 May 2019 (UTC)
• Tyler 2601:404:C000:C020:952A:444D:46FC:EC98 15:12, 8 June 2020 (UTC)
• quero recuperar meu dinheiro 2A01:E34:EC55:42D0:88AD:4B00:DB16:FDAB 16:44, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
• Lots to learn 173.246.210.206 02:30, 12 September 2023 (UTC)
• CD/DVD 2001:8F8:1577:1183:2549:B1B5:3A6B:76C 14:13, 22 January 2024 (UTC)

See also

• mw:Differences between Wikipedia, Wikimedia, MediaWiki, and wiki