Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2012-01-09/In the news

Wikipedia ends annual fundraising drive
Wikipedia raised $20 million thanks to Wikipedia donators during a fundraising campaign that ended on January 1, 2012. According to Sue Gardner, Wikimedia's executive director, it is the most successful campaign ever. MSNBC reports that Wikimedia told them that the money will be used for "servers and other hardware, to develop new site functionality, expand mobile services, provide legal defense for the projects, and support the large global community of Wikimedia volunteers."

According to Business Review USA, Wikimedia plans to spend $28.3 million with the remaining amount coming from grants, institutions, and other year-round donations.

Monmouthpedia - the first local Wikipedia project launches
Wales Online reports that Monmouthpedia is the first Wikipedia project to cover a single town. Monmouthpedia documents the "notable places, people, artifacts, flora and fauna" of the Welsh town of Monmouth. Monmouthpedia aims to use QRpedia (QR Code barcodes linking to Wikipedia articles, that can be read by smart phones). It is planned to have articles in 25 languages and 1,150 QR codes placed around Monmouth by May. The project was started by John Cummings who was inspired by the Derby Museum - GLAM/Wiki collaboration during a Wikipedia talk.

According to Digital Spy, Cummings said that "the project is already working with a variety of local groups", but he also advised that anyone with an interest in Monmouth local history can contribute.

Monmouth was chosen because of its "rich industry", first appearing in the Domesday Book.

In brief

 * Editor interview: Wikipedia editor and owner of TheWikipedian.net, William Beutler, was interviewed in C-SPAN's Q&A session.
 * Jimmy Wales: The Suit Magazine wrote a story about Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia.
 * Sackville student assignments: Canada East did a story on a Sackville class of anthropology students who wrote articles for Wikipedia. The articles received many views, one of the articles was featured on DYK, and one of the students received a barnstar.
 * Rachel Crow's hometown: An article from Times-Call said that Rachel Crow's article's had her hometown wrong. The article said Boulder, Colorado until it was changed to Mead, Colorado by an IP editor on January 3.
 * Thief Justice: GMA News reported on vandalism which had Renato Corona's profession changed from Chief Justice to Thief Justice.