Wikimedia CH/Newsletter/052015

Please find the fifth edition of the Wikimedia newsletter 2015.
If you wish to communicate your event or activity through this newsletter, please feel free to send us a message to info@wikimedia.ch. Happy reading.

Association

Membership fee reminders

For your information, WMCH will be sending out gentle reminders in the coming days for all the unsettled membership fees. We thank you in advance for your understanding and your support.

Microgrants

Do you need a financial contribution for a project or an upcoming activity? The Micro-grants committee finances requests for up to CHF 500.-

Find more information with the help of the following link or contact your community liaison for details.

Wikimania Esino Lario 2016

Ellie and Garfield during the meeting in Esino Lario (CC BY SA 4.0 Manuela Magni)

Iolanda Pensa, member of Wikimedia CH and organizer of Wikimania 2016 (CC BY SA 3.0 Adam Novak)

This is already Wikimania – these are the words of Garfield Byrd, Chief Financial Officer of the Wikimedia Foundation, visiting Esino Lario with Ellie Young, Conference Coordinator of Wikimedia Foundation, on the 18th and the 19th April 2015. Ellie and Garfield visited the village, they had meetings with the local community, the team and with the people in charge of several technical aspects of the conference. We are delighted to announce that Wikimania 2016 has received the official confirmation of the support of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Switzerland and Wikimedia Italia, as well as several external sponsors (i.e. Fondazione Cariplo).

Wikimedia Switzerland was represented by one of our board members, Gabriel Thullen, who tested the general accessibility for attendees with special needs, and by our Community liaison Ilario Valdelli. They both accompanied Iolanda Pensa, the organizer and the leader of this initiative. Iolanda is a Swiss citizen, living in Milan as well as in Esino Lario and working in Lugano. A member of WMCH since 2009, she is a very active in projects related to Education and GLAMs.

The park of Villa Monastero in Varenna, candidate to host some sessions of Wikimania 2016( CC BY SA 3.0 Nemo bis)

The idea of such a big conference organized in a small village of the Alps encircled by a natural park seemed at first to be a huge challenge – even a bit of a crazy one – but little by little this idea turned into a real project. May it remain in the history of Wikimania as a new milestone, opening the way for Wikimania 2.0?

Wiki Loves Earth Switzerland 2015

Wiki Loves Earth is now over, the contest received a huge support and a wide participation, thank you everybody for your precious contributions.With a total amount of 1736 photos and 195 participants, the initiative has shown incredible results - thank you all so much. The majority of participants have uploaded one single photo, but for us this is a success in itself because the increase of participation is our main objective. The lakes and the beautiful nature of Switzerland are the real winners of our contest. The jury is now starting the selection. The results will be available by mid-July.

Wikipedian in Residence @ University Library in Basel

As you might already know, the University Library in Basel currently employs Micha L. Rieser as a Wikipedian in Residence.
The Vice-Director of the University Library, Felix Winter, describes the collaboration as fruitful for both parties. And it's Michas target to set up an environment in which the University Library can contribute to Wikimedia projects on their own and in the long term.
To read the article by Samuel Hufschmid in the BZ Basel in german language, please click on the following link:
http://www.bzbasel.ch/basel/basel-stadt/basler-uni-bibliothek-beschaeftigt-wikipedianer-129205247
You'll also find more information on the Website of the University in Basel:
https://www.unibas.ch/de/Aktuell/News/Uni-Campus/Universitaetsbibliothek-Basel-holt-sich-Wikipedia-ins-Haus.html

Wikivillage 2014/2015

The winners of the writing contest Wikivillage were announced and received their prizes on the 27th May at Lausanne's University and Cantonal Library (BCUL). The first place was provided to the team of students who wrote on the article of Cossonay. To access the list of the official results, please click here. WMCH would like to warmly thank all the volunteers, members of the internal and external jurys and partners who provided their utmost support to shape this first edition into a successful experience.

Events

Date	Event	Location
05.06.2015	Schreibwerkstatt in Basel	Basel University Library (as part of the Wikipedian in Residence Engagement)
20.06.2015	Wikipedia Atelier	Cantonal Library Thurgau, Frauenfeld
25.06.2015, 12:00-14:00	Wikipermanence	HEG library, Infothèque, Geneva
01.07.2015	Opendata.ch/2015 Conference	University of Bern
02.07.2015, 12:00-14:00	Wikipermanence	Library of the Institute of Ethnology and the Museum of Ethnography in Neuchâtel
04.07.2015	Wikipedia Atelier	Swiss National Library
15. - 19.07.2015	Wikimania	Mexico City

Wikimedia worldwide

Children in Mali can now read Wikipedia offline, thanks to MALebooks e-readers (CC0 1.0 Rgaudin)

* Children in Mali can now read Wikipedia offline, thanks to e-readers & KIWIX
We would like to draw your attention to the following post on the Wikimedia Blog which tells the story about "children having access to wikipedia offline with e-readers". The blogpost has been written by Renaud Gaudin, Emmanuel Engelhart and Julia Lipps, founders and supporters of KIWIX - Wikipedia Offline:
https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/05/14/e-readers-in-mali/

Press

Wikimania Esino is ready (Italian)
Wikimania 2016 and Wiki Loves Earth Switzerland (Italian)
The Photo contest managed by Wikimedia Switzerland (Italian)
Meet the winners of the writing contest Wikivillage ( French)