Wikimedia news no. 69
Wikimedia News no. 69 - February 6, 2014
Official bulletin from Wikimedia Italia Association.
New record on Wikimedia Commons
On January 25th, after almost ten years after its birth, Wikimedia Commons has exceeded 20 million files. The site Wikimedia Commons is designed to accommodate multimedia files (images, audio, video) that are used to illustrate Wikipedia articles in all languages. Unlike text, which must always be translated to be transferred from one edition to another, media files are immediately reusable everyhere.
Given the wide participation of the community Wikimedia Commons (a million files per quarter are uploaded), every year a contest is held: Picture of the Year. Users of Wikimedia projects are being asked to vote for the best photo. The first round of voting to decide the best picture of 2013 closes at midnight on Friday, February 7th. You still have time!
A voice as a gift
Now you may also listen to Wikipedia! The initiative WikiVIP (acronym of “Voice Intro project”) was recently launched: it aims to add to the information on a prominent personality also a media file for hearing his of her voice. The first one who joined the project was the British actor Stephen Fry: go and hear his presentation.
The goal of the project is to collect a short audio file of 10 seconds by members of the scientific, political, artistic and literary world, so that users can make their voices heard and at the same time find out how they pronunce their name. Wikimedia Italia joins the initiative with enthusiasm; in addition, we tie it to the fundraising campaign Sostieni la Cultura (Support the Culture), asking the characters involved to make an appeal that witnesses their support to the project.
Do you know a person whose biography is on Wikipedia? Invite her or him to contact our office at segreteria@wikimedia.it to participate in the project and get all the information you need!
Wikimedia Italia begins the process to become the official Italian chapter of OpenStreetMap Foundation
Wikimania 2014: scolarships
Side projects and campaigns
Future appointments
- February 27-28, Rome: LLuca Martinelli, member of Wikimedia Italia, will speak about Wikidata on the occasion of the international conference Faster, smarter and richer. Reshaping the library catalogue, promoted by the Italian Libraries' Association.
- March 14, Milan: Pierfranco Minsenti, digital librarian, will participate in the Convegno delle Stelline with a speech entitled Wikipedia as a collaborative work environment for a cross-community of libraries. The aim is to define the impact on librarians of the collaboration of to Wikipedia.
Notice: this newsletter is exclusively intended for information about Wikimedia Italia, both to its members and to the general public; as per Art. 1, Comma 2, Legge 7 marzo 2001 no. 62, it is not an editorial product