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25 February 2015
News and notes
Questions raised over WMF partnership with research firm
A report from the external research firm Lafayette Practice has declared that the Wikimedia Foundation is the "largest known participatory grantmaking fund." Several concerns have been raised with the report, the phrase being used (participatory grantmaking), the now-former Wikipedia article on that phrase, and an alleged conflict of interest by WMF staff members.
Op-ed
Text from Wikipedia good enough for Oxford University Press to claim as own
Doc James tells us that "The one good thing that has come out of all of this is that Wikipedia’s content passing a major textbook publisher review processes is some external validation of Wikipedia’s quality."
In the media
WikiGnomes and Bigfoot
Andrew McMillen's February 3 profile of and his quest to rid Wikipedia of the phrase "comprised of" has been one of the most widely circulated and commented upon media stories about the encyclopedia recently.
Featured content
The Moon, Mars, Venus, and Saturn, in no particular order. Also, Kaiser Kong.
Eleven articles and twenty pictures were promoted in the week covered by this report.
Gallery
Far from home
The Gallery is an occasional
Signpost
feature highlighting quality images and articles from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons based on a particular theme, as well as an article you could help improve. This week, we feature subjects that are "far from home".
Traffic report
Fifty Shades of... self-denial?
An odd juxtaposition this week, as interest in
Fifty Shades of Grey
coincided with the observance of the Chinese New Year and the annual festival of penance, Ash Wednesday.
Recent research
Gender bias, SOPA blackout, and a student assignment that backfired
A monthly roundup of Wikimedia-related research
WikiProject report
Be prepared... Scouts in the spotlight
This week's project is on a youth activity, one of the largest in the world; its project is commensurately large, containing around 136 active editors. It's
WikiProject Scouting
, a group of editors whose remit is everything relating to the Scouting movement, which has around 42 million members worldwide and celebrated the centenary of its founding only eight years ago.
Blog
Join the Wikimedia strategy consultation
Editor's note: the Blog will be a recurring
Signpost
section that will highlight a recent post from the Wikimedia blog, run by the Wikimedia Foundation. This week's installment is written by Philippe Beaudette, the Foundation's Director of Community Advocacy, and focuses on planning for the future of the Wikimedia movement.
Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Archives/2015-02-25
