Wikimedia Highlights, June 2012
Highlights from the Wikimedia Foundation Report and the Wikimedia engineering report for June 2012, with a selection of other important events from the Wikimedia movement
Wikimedia Foundation highlights
Advisory group discusses future funds dissemination structure
On June 9-10, the advisory group for the formation of the future Funds Dissemination Committee (FDC) met at the Foundation's offices in San Francisco. Community volunteers, Wikimedia Trustees, chapter representatives, Foundation staff and members of the Bridgespan Group discussed how the FDC will guide the decisions about the distribution of money (over 10 million US dollars in 2012-13) among the Foundation, chapters and other groups. Based on the resulting recommendations, the Board of Trustees has since approved the charter and initial operation of the FDC. Wikimedians who wish to serve on the FDC are invited to nominate themselves.
Second Visual Editor prototype launched
A new prototype of the "visual editor" for Wikimedia projects was launched, the first release that can create and edit pages. It will enable users to contribute without having to learn complicated wikitext syntax.
"Teahouse" pilot concludes with encouraging results
The Teahouse, where new Wikipedia editors can receive support from experienced community members, concluded its three month pilot phase on the English Wikipedia, publishing a report and metrics. 568 volunteers participated in the pilot. In a survey, 70% said that they were satisfied with their Teahouse experience, while only 5% were not satisfied. New editors who are invited to the Teahouse made many more edits afterwards than those who do not receive an invitation. 28 percent of Teahouse participants are women, compared to 9 percent of editors on Wikipedia in general.
Hackers convene in Berlin
Over 100 participants from 30 countries came to Berlin for the Berlin Hackathon, co-organized by Wikimedia Deutschland and the Foundation. They included MediaWiki developers, Toolserver users, systems administrators, bot writers and maintainers, Gadget creators, and other Wikimedia technologists. The community also learned more about the Wikidata and RENDER projects.
Data and Trends
Global unique visitors for May:
- 492.39 million (+4.02% compared with April; +19.79% compared with the previous year)
- (comScore data for all Wikimedia Foundation projects; comScore will release June data later in July)
Page requests for June:
- 18.1 billion (+0.2% compared with May; +22.7% compared with the previous year)
- (Server log data, all Wikimedia Foundation projects including mobile access)
Active Registered Editors for May 2012 (>= 5 edits/month):
- 85,200 (+0.38% compared with April / +3.25% compared with the previous year)
- (Database data, all Wikimedia Foundation projects except for Wikimedia Commons. Note: In the near future, we will be moving to a metric that takes into account SUL and Wikimedia Commons.)
Report Card (integrating various statistical data and trends about WMF projects) for May 2012:
Financials
 |
 |
(Financial information is only available through May 2012 at the time of this report.)
All financial information presented is for the period of July 1, 2011 - May 31, 2012.
| Revenue | $ 35,563,497 |
|---|---|
| Expenses: | |
| Technology Group | $ 10,979,122 |
| Community/Fundraiser Group | $ 3,612,603 |
| Global Development Group | $ 3,882,629 |
| Governance Group | $ 863,259 |
| Finance/Legal/HR/Admin Group | $ 6,127,792 |
| Total Expenses | $ 25,465,405 |
| Total surplus/(loss) | $ 10,098,092 |
- Revenue for the month is $ 659K vs plan of $ 162K, approximately $ 497K or 306% over plan.
- Year-to-date is $ 35.6MM vs plan of $ 29MM, approximately $ 6.6MM or 23% over plan.
- Expenses for the month is $ 3.4MM vs plan of $ 2.2MM, approximately $ 1.2MM or 50% higher than plan, largely due to catching up on planned capital expenditures.
- Year-to-date is $ 25.5MM vs plan of $ 25.7MM, approximately $ 252K or 1% lower than plan.
- Cash position is $ 29.1MM as of May 31, 2012 which is approximately 12.5 months of expenses.
Other movement highlights
"Afripedia" brings offline Wikipedia into remote African areas
A new initiative called "Afripedia" will make Wikipedia available in areas of West Africa where no good Internet connection is available. The project will install offline (Kiwix) versions of Wikipedia on flash drives. These are plugged into small, energy-efficient computers without screens or keyboards (plug computers) that are connected to a local, offline WiFi network. Anybody who receives the WiFi signal will be able to access the content. The project is a partnership of Wikimédia France with the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (Association of Universities of the Francophonie – AUF) and the Institut français (IF). It will start in about 20 universities in 15 countries in West Africa.
Second "Iberoconf" summit in Santiago de Chile
On the first weekend of June, the Second Ibero-American Wikimedia Summit (also known as "Iberoconf") took place in Santiago de Chile. It was attended by representatives of the Wikimedia chapters of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela, and also by guests from Panama, Peru, the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Germany.
"Wikipedia Academy" on research about Wikipedia
At the end of June, the "Wikipedia Academy 2012" brought together academic researchers and Wikimedians in Berlin, organized by Wikimedia Germany. Both research about Wikipedia in particular and about free knowledge in general was presented at the conference. Various papers and videos are available online.
The monthly Wikimedia Foundation metrics and activities meeting on July 5, 2012 covered the 2012–13 Annual Plan instead of focusing on the month of June as usual. The video recording will be uploaded to Commons around the time of the publication of the Annual Plan.