Wikimedian photographic talent on display in national submissions to Wiki Loves Monuments: The results of most of the national heats for Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) have been published on Commons. A maximum of 10 images have been submitted by all but eight of the 34 participating countries, and the international jury for what is the largest competition of its type in the world is set to announce the global winner in four weeks' time.
The photo of ruins of the 13th-century medieval Catholic church of Arač (Aracs) nearNovi Bečej is among the finalists submitted by Serbia.
WLM update
The gate of the public gardens inHalifax, Canada's submission to the 2nd international jury round.TheLarabanga Mosque in the west African country ofGhana was among its top ten.The Scorpions Pass, a steep, twisted section ofRoute 227 came third in Israel's competition.Mount Rainier, a natural monument finalist from the US.The interior of a mill in Huaco, among the Argentine finalists.
The results of most of the national heats forWiki Loves Monuments (WLM) have been published on Commons. WLM is the movement's international photographic competition, which was conducted throughout the month ofSeptember. A maximum of 10 images have been submitted by all but eight of the 34 participating countries, and the international jury for what is the largest competition of its type in the world is set to announce the global winner in four weeks' time.
In numerical terms, Poland submitted the highest number, with more than 51,000 files, over Spain, which could not hold its early lead, ending with 39,500. Germany came third with 34,000, and Ukraine fourth, with 33,000. France made the fifth place with 27,000. The US, with 22,000, fell short of the 50,000Smallbones had hoped for in September, gaining sixth place.
Qualitatively, WLM 2012 has generated more than 1000quality images on Commons so far.Eighteen photos have already been recognised as featured pictures and15 as valued pictures. Nearly2400 submissions are competing for theGLAM prize hosted byEuropeana, the meta-aggregator and display space for European digitised works, funded by the European Commission.
The event appears to have succeeded resoundingly in the aim of attracting new editors. The WMF's new editor report statsshow Commons jumping from about 1,100 to 4,800 new editors over the competition month, outflanking last year's European-wide competition (2,400 new editors). However, whether the flood of new editors translates into permanent contributors and how the new apps fit into the picture remain to be seen. Last year roughly 70% of the 5,000 participants made their first edit during the competition month and more than 90% of respondents in a subsequent survey said they would be likely to take part in another round.
The global jury is expected to announce its verdict at the end of November or in early December. All national finalists are displayed onCommons.
Brief notes
Wikivoyage launch: The beta-launch of Wikivoyage, Wikimedia's new travel guide project, is expected for the second week of November. The vote to select a new logo for the projecton Meta is set to close on 15 November at 23:59 GMT. Meanwhile, thelegal disputedrags on with the Wikimedia Foundation filing itsopposition to the demurrer filed by Internet Brands .
WMF metrics meeting: The monthly metrics meeting of the Wikimedia Foundation, informing staff and community about the organisation's activities across the departments, has been held live on YouTube for the first time; the recorded session can be found onCommons. It includes an update from the Wikimedia Germany team that has been working onWikidata. The WMF's written monthly report also has beenpublished.
Chapters Association votes: On 30 October, thevote among chapter representatives whether to adopt a resolution accepting financial and organizational aid by Wikimedia Germany in finding a secretary-general, a role the German organisation's departing chairman applied for inJuly, ended with 5 ayes to 9 nays. The ongoing vote onoffice location, currently 6 ayes to 7 nays, will close on 5 November.
WMF board resolutions published: Resolutions approved by the WMF trustees during theirmeeting last month have been published and can be found on the foundation'swiki.
Editor survey launched: On 31 October, the annual WMF survey of Wikimedia editors has beenlaunched. The design, largely resembling last year's survey to ensure comparability, can be discussed on themeta:feedback page on Meta.
German court rules on Wikipedia product placement: TheOberlandesgericht in Munich hasruled that companies using Wikipedia for product placement, which harms their competitors unfairly and by being non-transparent on their editorial conflict of interest, are violating German competition laws (§ 4 Nr. 3UWG).
WMF tech department restructuring: The WMF's engineering and product department's structure is underreview, with the aim of strengthening its focus on core activities.Erik Möller, the WMF's vice president in charge of the department, has started an open conversation on the issue by outlining a proposal to split the current department into two – one focusing on engineering and the other on products closer to the editing community.
I am a little bit unhappy with linking the WCA voting to the fact that once Sebastian Moleski (the WMDE chair) applied for a WCA position. Both had nothing to do with each other, to make that clear.Ziko (talk)23:29, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]
The German legal decision
There are some interesting aspects to their decision: First, they concluded that the fact there was discussion of the material on the article talk page did not ameliorate any problems with the page content, because very few people actually looked at the talk page--to most readers, WP means the article text itself at the time or reading. Second, they considered that a major factor in the culpability of the anti-competitive advertising was that the edits were made anonymously using a pseudonym, and considered this a particular unfair competitive practice, and the key point preventing them from considering the material protected by fundamental considerations of free speech. As I understand it, European practices with respect to negative and anti-competitive advertising are much more restrictive than in the US, so the decision may have limited applicability in the US. Nonetheless, if I were engaged in commercial editing without disclosing my true identity, whether for an employer or as an external paid writer, I would take this as a warning. I also think their reasoning on this point can be useful in informing our own guidelines. I recognize my limited understanding of German--especially legal German--and my similarly limited understanding of German commercial law , so I would welcome corrections from those more fluent. (The clearest versions I have found of the judgment arethis one from the major German publishing industry journal andthis one from a German legal information service; I found the Google translations harder to decipher than the original. Perhaps someone more capable than I can prepare a proper translation.) DGG ( talk)03:21, 8 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]
