Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2016-01-27/In the media



The news media often does a poor job of covering or even understanding the internal workings of Wikipedia, the Wikimedia movement, and the Wikimedia Foundation. However, the recent appointment of Arnnon Geshuri to the WMF Board of Trustees and the growing community complaints regarding his involvement in the High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation cases resulted in some substantial and accurate news coverage.

The first publications to cover the matter were ZDNet in France and Ars Technica in the United States. On January 25, Joe Mullin, Tech Policy Editor at Ars Technica, published "Wikipedia editors revolt, vote 'no confidence' in newest board member", in which he noted:

A flurry of similar stories in other news outlets followed – among them the BBC and Le Monde – in languages including English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. Many of these linked to the no-confidence vote itself as well as to The Signpost's prior coverage; a number of them, including the BBC, Ars Technica, and Fortune, noted that Jimmy Wales, Arnnon Geshuri, and/or the Wikimedia Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.

Jan. 25

 * (fr) Un membre du CA de la fondation Wikimedia mis en cause pour son passé chez Google ZDNet France
 * (en) Wikipedia editors revolt, vote “no confidence” in newest board member Ars Technica

Jan. 26

 * (de) Die große Wikipedia-Revolte zum 15. Geburtstag t3n Magazin
 * (de) Wikipedia-Autoren protestieren gegen neues Mitglied der Geschäftsleitung ZDNet.de
 * (zh) 维基百科编辑发起抗议运动：给新加入的董事会成员投不信任票 cnBeta
 * (es) Los editores de la Wikipedia votan por primera vez contra un miembro de su junta directiva Omicrono
 * (fr) Une « motion de défiance » contre un administrateur de Wikimédia Le Monde
 * (en) Wikipedia editors sign vote of no confidence BBC
 * (en) Wikipedia Members Vote Against New Board Member Fortune

Jan. 27
G, AK 
 * (en) Wikimedia board official responds to editors: Geshuri is an “excellent candidate” Ars Technica
 * (de) Wikipedianer lehnen sich gegen Wikimedia-Vorstand auf Heise
 * (zh) 维基媒体基金会回应社区的不信任投票 cnbeta
 * (ja) Wikipediaで内紛、編集者が集団でGoogle出身者の財団理事の就任に反対声明 businessnewsline
 * (fr) Wikipedia secoué par une nomination contestée Numerama
 * (en) Wikipedia editors revolt against new trustee MyBroadband
 * (bg) Редакторите на Wikipedia се разбунтуваха срещу най-новия член на борда на директорите kaldata
 * (de) Redaktionsradar #870 Neue Zürcher Zeitung
 * (en) Wikipedia board stands by new ex-Googler appointee The Register
 * (de) Wikipedianer rebellieren gegen neues Vorstandsmitglied Golem
 * (en) Wikimedia’s newest board appointment steps down amid editor hostility Ars Technica

In brief

 * Another board change: The Guardian announces that Jimmy Wales has joined the board of the Guardian Media Group, along with Baroness Rebuck. (Jan. 27) AK
 * Bangalore Blue: The Times of India reports on content generation in the area of Indian regional arts and crafts: "India has 213 goods and crafts with geographical indication (GIs) tags. The GI mark is a kind of trademark, which indicates that a product's reputation is linked to its origins in a particular area. Of 213 GI tags, only 70 have English entries. So while intricacies of Muga silk-making in Assam and cultivating Bangalore Blue grapes are explained in detail in English, Alleppey coir has only a sketchy Malayalam entry." (Jan. 27) AK


 * Corbin Bleu: BuzzFeed wonders "why the hell is Corbin Bleu such a huge deal on Wikipedia?" He has Wikipedia articles in 193 languages, more than anyone else except Jesus Christ (214) and Barack Obama (200). Speculation on the Wikipedia Weekly Facebook group is that the source of Corbin Bleu's world-beating coverage is in Saudi Arabia, based on contributing IP ranges and the fact that the Arabic biography is the only one to have achieved featured status. (Jan. 27) AK
 * Konkani: Goa News reports on Goa University's efforts to establish the Konkani language on the Internet, which includes work on the Konkani Wikipedia. (Jan. 24) AK
 * #1Lib1Ref: The Hub at Johns Hopkins and The Daily Athenaeum were among publications covering the #1Lib1Ref movement, an initiative by the Wikipedia Library aimed at creating "a world in which every librarian added a reference to Wikipedia". (Jan. 12, Jan. 15) AK

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