Wikimedia Highlights, February 2015

Here are the highlights from the Wikimedia blog in February 2015, covering selected activities of the Wikimedia Foundation and other important events from the Wikimedia movement.

Love on the Wikis

 
3D Love: This mathematically-defined heart shape is one of the many ways that love is represented on Wikimedia sites.
Photo By Chiph588, CC0
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For Valentine’s Day, we asked Wikimedians to share their favorite articles or images about love, from Wikipedia and sister projects. Together, we collected a wide range of insightful articles, images, videos, sounds, quotes and websites on the many different ways this topic is represented in our wikis: from platonic to fraternal, divine or romantic love.

A WikiLove story

 
Avner and Darya fell in love while touring Israel with other Wikipedians. Here they are at Mount Eitan.
Photo by Deror Avi, CC-BY-SA 4.0

Wikipedians Avner and Darya fell in love while volunteering with Wikimedia Israel. They were engaged soon after, thanks to a shared passion for knowledge. Their moving love story was published on Valentine's Day.

Who links to Wikipedia?

 

Here are the top external sites that link to Wikipedia, based on overall link volume for all Wikipedia languages and all top-level domains.
Graph by Gianluca Demartini, CC-BY-SA 4.0

To learn more about who links to Wikipedia, the research team at the University of Sheffield analyzed the structure of links that point to Wikipedia pages from external websites, looking specifically at which top-level domains dominate the link volume for each Wikipedia language.

What is Wikipedia Zero? (VIDEO)

What is Wikipedia Zero? This short video explains the Wikipedia Zero program, in under two minutes. You can also view it on Vimeo.com here and YouTube.com here.
Video by Victor Grigas (WMF), CC-BY-SA 3.0

Learn how mobile carriers waive data charges for accessing Wikipedia, around the world. Here is a short video, which explains the Wikipedia Zero program, in under two minutes.

Join the Wikimedia strategy consultation

 
The Wikimedia movement works because it brings together many different perspectives to solve complex problems. The Wikimedia Foundation hosted a community consultation to discuss the movement's strategy.
Group photo of Wikimania 2014 participants by Ralf Roletschek, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0

The Wikimedia Foundation invited community participation in a two-week consultation to discuss the future of Wikimedia. This online discussion was very productive and will help shape the future of Wikimedia.

Black History Month edit-a-thons tackle Wikipedia’s multicultural gaps

 
For Black History Month, many new Wikipedia articles about black culture were created in edit-a-thons across the United States, such as this at the "BlackLivesMatter" event at the Schomburg Center in New York City.
Photo by Terrence Jennings, CC BY-SA 4.0

Edit-a-thons took place throughout the United States in February 2015, to honor black history and help fill the multicultural gaps in Wikipedia. Many new articles about black culture were created as a result.

Wiki Loves Africa photo contest announces winning pictures

 
A plate of koshary, the most popular food in Egypt. This picture was taken for "Wiki Loves Africa Cuisine", a photo contest about african food.
Photo by Dina Said, CC BY-SA 4.0

The "Wiki Loves Africa" photo contest about "Cuisine" resulted in over 6,000 image uploads to Commons. See the jury-selected prize winners.

Andrew Sherman, Digital Communications Intern, Wikimedia Foundation