Wikimedia chapters/Reports/Wikimedia Italia/Annual Report 2011

Annual Report on Wikimedia Italia activities — 2011

Wikimedia Italia

Wikimedia Italia (complete name: Wikimedia Italia - Associazione per la diffusione della conoscenza libera) has been founded on 17 June 2005 in Canino (VT); it is an no-profit association aimed spreading, improving and advancement of culture and knowledge in the world. It is the Italian chapter of Wikimedia Foundation.^[1]

Wikimedia Italia members

Anyone can became a member of Wikimedia Italia; membership fee is fixed at 25 euros. The association was founded by 18 people; at the end of 2011 we have 325 members (285 males and 40 females).^[2]

Board

The old board (and one intruder)...

At the beginning of 2011 the Board was formed by:

Frieda Brioschi, president;
Roberto Corda, vice president;
Andrea Zanni, secretary;
Alessio Guidetti, treasurer;
Cristian Consonni, projects director.

...and the new one.

The Board was renewed during the general assembly in 3 December 2011, and is now formed by^[3]:

Frieda Brioschi, president;
Cristian Consonni, vice president;
Lorenzo Losa, secretary;
Alessio Guidetti, treasurer;
Andrea Zanni, projects director.

Staff

First meeting of the fundraising working group and Fundraiser per passione.

In 2011 Wikimedia Italia has hired its first employee, Catrin Vimercati (Civvì). Civvì has been a Wikipedia editor since 2004, and is one of the founders of the association, albeit as of 2011 she was not a member anymore. She is working on some different task, including processing donations and membership requests. She has been hired in September 2011.

During the summer, Wikimedia Italia contacted a fundraising consulting firm, Fundraiser per passione, and in late 2011 we decided to hire them in view of 2012 fundraising. On 4 dicembre 2012, the day after the general assembly, there has been the first meeting between the firm and Wikimedia Italia members, and during 2012 there will be a series of meeting with the fundraising working group (established in mid 2011).

2011 activities

General Assemblies

December general assembly

During 2011, Wikimedia Italia had two General Assemblies; the first one was on 19 March^[4] and the second one on 3 December^[5].

During March assembly, held in Bologna, we approved the 2010 financial statement and 2011 budged, ratified board's resolutions, and talked about some activities and proposals.

During December assembly, held in Roma, we elected the Board, ratified board's resolutions, and talked about some activities and proposals.

Public events

During 2011, Wikimedia Italia members took part to many public events, with the purpose of promoting Wikipedia, the other Wikimedia projects and Wikimedia movement's aims. This is a list of some of them.

An half-eaten Wikipedia cake, at the ten years party in Milano

Saturday 15 January, Wikipedia ten years birthday parties: we organized three parties, in Milano, Roma and Vicenza (Wikipedia 10 website).
Saturday 26 February 2011, Vicenza: public meeting on Wikipedia and teaching ("Wikipedia nella didattica"), during the wiki meetup in the same day.
23 March, Zanè (Vicenza): lecture by Marco Chemello and Giulia C.M. Clonfero on Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects during "Tempi moderni" ("modern times"), a series of talks organized by the cultural association Gigizet.
24 March, Sesto San Giovanni (Milano): Marco Arcolin gives two talk on Wikipedia to about 10 middle school classes, during the series "Scuola Extra" ("School Extra") organized by the library "Biblioteca dei Ragazzi", at Civica Scuola di Musica Donizetti's auditorium.
5 and 12 April, Milano: talks on Wikipedia and teaching^[6], in collaboration with Milano Lingue ("Milano Languages"), given by Cristian Consonni and Roberto Didoni.

Marco Chemello speaking in "Wikipedia nella didattica".

9 April, Torino: presentation of the short film Merde ("Shit")^[7] during Torino Comics.
15 April, Fiuggi (Frosinone): we are guests at Deepcon 12 (fantasy and science fiction convention) with a talk entitled "[http://www.ds1.it/2011/04/03/dont-panic-day-alla-deepcon/

Don't panic: Verso la Guida Galattica - Wikipedia]" (Don't panic: towards the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Wikipedia) given by Marco Chemello and Giovanni Fasano.

30 April, Schio (VI): Marco Chemello gives a talk entitled Wikipedia e il crowdsourcing ("Wikipedia and crowdsourcing") at the Ubuntu Party.
13-15 May, Berlin: Hackathon 2011, Andrea Zanni takes part in the Wiki Loves Monument meeting.
23 May, Imola (Bologna): Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in Open Generation: l'identità della nuova generazione ("Open Generation: the identity of the new generation") organized by CNA Emilia-Romagna.
7 June, Padova: Marco Chemello gives a talk at Festival della Comunicazione (Communication Festival) entitled "Condividiamo la conoscenza? Il caso Wikipedia" ("Do we share knowledge? Wikipedia case")
8 June, Catania: Giovanni Augulino gives a talk about Wikimedia Italia, Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects at University of Catania, Department of mathematics and informatics^[8].

"Ten Years of Wikipedia" meeting in Vicenza.

14 June, Milano: meeting at Fabbrica del vapore with some institution involved in "Share your knowledge" project; Marco Chemello gives a lecture on using Wikipedia for cultural organizations.
23 June, Roma: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) attends to the conference «I nuovissimi media: i giovani e la professione che cambia» ("Newest media: young people and the changing job"), organized in Campidoglio.
8 July, Siena: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in a meeting at the Summer School of Fondazione Fortes.
22 July, Viterbo: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) and Marco Calvo take part in the meeting Copyright e copyleft. Nuovi modelli di conoscenza ("Copyright and copyleft. New models of knowledge") at Medioera.
19-20-21 August, Bivona (Agrigento): during the "XXVI Sagra della Pesca", Markos90 organize a presentation of Wikimedia projects and Wikimedia Italia.^[9]
9 September, Forlì: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in Immagine e Corporate Identity nella comunicazione d'Impresa ("Image and Corporate Identity in corporate communication"), during L'innovazione responsabile.
10 September, Treviso: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part at the Ignite during Blob 2.0.
16 September, Bologna: Frieda Brioschi and Andrea Zanni take part in the presentation of the project "Adotta una parola a scuola" ("Adopt a word goes to school"), in collaboration with APT Emilia-Romagna.
1 October, Riva del Garda (Trento): Wikimedia Italia organizes the first WikiCamp.
4 October, Vicenza: the Festival delle libertà digitali 2011 ("Digital Freedom Festival") organized by Wikimedia Italia begins with the round table Internet contro Gutenberg: 1 a zero? Il destino dei libri nell'epoca del web 2.0 ("Internet versus Gutenberg: 1-0? the destiny of books in web 2.0 era"), at Centro Culturale S. Paolo.
5 October, Napoli: Libertà digitali: opportunità per lo sviluppo della società moderna ("Digital freedoms: opportunity for the development of modern society"), conference organized during Festival delle libertà digitali 2011, at Auditorium Istituto Tecnico Industriale "F. Giordani".
5 October, Vicenza: Adotta un libro ("Adopt a book"), meeting in collaboration between Wikimedia Italia and Biblioteca Internazionale La Vigna ("La Vigna international library"), at Palazzo Brusarosco Zaccaria; during the meeting the agreement between Wikimedia Italia and the library is presented.
7-8 October, Legnaro (Padova): OSMit 2011, the 3rd conference of Italian OpenStreetMap users, during Festival delle libertà digitali 2011, organized in collaboration with Italian OpenStreetMap community and CIRGEO research center of University of Padova, at Campus di Agripolis, Pentagono building, Aula Magna.
7 October, Pisa: Libertà digitali a Pisa ("Digital freedoms in Pisa"), conference organized by Idee per Pisa during Festival delle libertà digitali 2011, at Saint Zeno church.
8 October, Bologna: Opendata, seminar organized by OpenBologna during Festival delle libertà digitali 2011, at Urban Center, Sala Borsa, 10:00-13:00 hours; and Barcamp su OpenData, 14:00-17:00 hours.
9 October, Pisa: Giochi liberi ("Free games"), at Piazza delle Vettovaglie (vettovaglie place), during Festival delle libertà digitali 2011.
14 October, Roma: Cultura online: micro-pagamenti, grandi innovazioni ("Online culture: micro-payments, big innovations"), during Festival delle libertà digitali 2011, in collaboration with Liber Liber, at Vaccheria Nardi library.
5 November, Como: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in TEDx Lake Como with a talk entitled "Io e Wikipedia" ("Me and Wikipedia").
12 November, Cesena: Roberto Corda takes part in Cesena Comic Festival.
14 November, Roma: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in Happy Birthday Web, with a talk entitled "Wiki is the way".
22 November, Bologna: Frieda Brioschi and Andrea Zanni takes part in the press conference of "Adotta una Parola... va a scuola" ("Adopt a word... goes to school"), project organized in partnership with APT Servizi Emilia-Romagna and Ufficio Scolastico Regionale.
26 November, Capodarco di Fermo: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in BULIMIE. Dalle abbuffate virtuali alla sobrietà dell'informazione.
29 November, Torino: Maurizio Codogno (spokesman of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in the workshop Molecole, organized by Legambiente, with a talk entitled Condividere i saperi nel web collaborativo ("Sharing knowledge in the collaborative web").
30 November, Torino: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in ApeRETIvo: Quando la rete fa tendenza. Imprese, democrazia e rappresentanza nell’era di internet ("ApeRETIvo: when the net is a trend. Corporation, democracy and representation in Internet era").
2 December, Milano: Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in the conference L'informazione, l'universo e la vita ("Information, universe and life") at IULM, in the round table "La crisi sistemica del paradigma della modernità e la necessità del cambiamento" ("Systemic crisis of modernity paradigm and the need for change").
11 December, Gattatico (Reggio Emilia): Frieda Brioschi (president of Wikimedia Italia) takes part in the Winter School "Cervi" with a talk entitled Wikifobia. Strumenti per leggere e correggere la storia sul web ("Wikiphobia. Tools for read and correct the history on the web").
15 December, Pisa: Lorenzo Losa (secretary of Wikimedia Italia) gives a talk during Libero web in libero stato ("Free web in free state"), at Engineering Faculty of University of Pisa.

Festival delle libertà digitali

The Festival delle libertà digitali^[10] ("Digital freedoms festival") is a group of events organized by Wikimedia Italia in collaboration with other organizations in some Italian cities, around the subject of "digital freedom". Some of the topics dealt with are: Wikipedia and Wikimedia, ebooks, OpenStreetMaps, Open Data, free games, and many more themes regarding the net, new technologies and free knowledge and their interactions.

The events have been held in Vicenza, Napoli, Padova, Milano, Roma, Pisa and Bologna, during October 2011.

Wikiafrica

WikiAfrica is a project developed in partnership between Wikimedia Italia and lettera27, an Italian non-profit foundation whose mission is to support the right to literacy, education, and the access to knowledge and information. The aim of the project, is to improve Africa-related contents on Wikipedia, with the involvement of writers, anthropologists, historians, students, and leaders of local communities.

Starting in 2011, WikiAfrica shifted its focus on the collaboration between Wikipedia and cultural institutions. This resulted in a subproject, again in collaboration between lettera27 and Wikimedia Italia: Share Your Knowledge: Creative Commons e Wikipedia per le istituzioni culturali ("Share Your Knowledge: Creative Commons and Wikipedia for cultural institutions").

Share Your Knowledge and GLAM

Pages created during Share Your Knowledge.

Share Your Knowledge, organized in collaboration between lettera27 and Wikimedia Italia, is aimed at enhancing the content and work of cultural organizations through Creative Commons and Wikipedia.

In 2011, about 15 institution have been involved in Share Your Knowledge, producing also guidelines, FAQ and tools aimed at easing the collaboration between cultural institutions and Wikimedia Projects.

Share Your Knowledge guidelines (in Italian)
GLAM project on it.wikipedia (in Italian)
List of institutions involved
Starting from November 2011, some information about GLAMs in Italy are published on the GLAM newsletter: outreach:GLAM/Newsletter/November_2011

Wiki@Scuola

The name Wiki@Scuola ("Wiki@School") refers to the projects and efforts undertaken by Wikimedia Italia with the aim of increasing the use of Wikipedia as a teaching tool in primary and secondary schools. In particular, starting from the late 2011, we are carrying out these projects:

The contest "Autori in Wikipedia", organized by Wikimedia Italia in collaboration with ANSAS Nucleo Territoriale Lombardia (regional school offices). In this project, we explain to high school's students in Lombardia that Wikipedia is not only a "well" where one can extract pieces of information, but that they can also contribute to it and participate in it. Moreover, encouraging an active participation in Wikipedia enables the teachers to carry out their work in a new context, with a greater interest from the students, and make possible to combine classical educational topics (the study of history, art, literature, etc.) with the development of "digital citizenship". Wikimedia Italia's members have introduces the contest to any school that asked for it (Voghera (PV), Cernusco sul Naviglio (MI), Gavirate (VA), etc.). 10 schools, 18 classes, and more than 200 students took part in the contest, and 55 Wikipedia articles have been written (either new, translated or improved ones).
The project "Adotta una parola" ("Adopt a word"), organized by Wikimedia Italia in collaboration with APT Servizi and "assessorato al turismo della regione Emilia Romagna (TER)" (touristic offices of Emilia Romagna). In this project, each class "adopts" a Wikipedia article they find significant and they improve it. Besides creating new contents for Wikipedia, this is used to teach the students how to correctly use sources and search for information. The prizes for the best works are three school trips, organized by APT Servizi.
"Crescere è un'avventura" ("Growing up is an adventure") is a project lead by Istituto degli Innocenti of Firenze, and funded by Fondazione Telecom Italia, that consist in some series of lessons in schools. Wikimedia Italia take care of some of them, talking about Wikipedia, online archives and free licenses. 33 schools (students from 8 to 17 year) in Toscana are involved. The organizational work started in 2010 and continued in 2011, but the lessons will take place in 2012.

None of these project has ended in 2011; a large part of the activities will take place in 2012.

Wiki@Home

Ranieri Razzante and the interviewer, Agatino Grillo

Wiki@Home is a project started in 2007 with the aim of interviewing notable people or expert in a field; the interviews, if possible, are carried out in person (i.e., physically sending our "reporters").

The project has two aims: one is to get an interview of the person, which will be published on Wikinews with photos and, if available under a free license, example of his work; the other is to investigate what he feels about Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects (including Wikinews).

In 2011 it has been published an interview of Ranieri Razzante, president of AIRA (Associazione Italiana Responsabili Antiriciclaggio)^[11].

WikiGuide

WikiGuides are short videos (about 7 minutes), produced by Wikimedia Italia, that explain how Wikimedia projects work. They are made by Christian Biasco, and, after Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons in 2010, in March 2011 another one has been published, about Wikisource. In 2012 the project will continue with the publishing of a guide on Wikiquote.

Financial status

Unlike in 2010 (and, partially, in 2009), in 2011 Wikimedia Italia didn't take part in the global fundraising campaign managed by Wikimedia Foundation, and that resulted in a considerable decrease in the donation received. As a consequence, this year the expenditures exceed the incomes, but, thank to past years' results, the association has enough founds not to worry for this. In the next years, we are willing to plan a fundraising campaign with the help of a fundraising consultancy firm.