How we made editing Wikipedia twice as fast
The creator of the wiki, Ward Cunningham, wanted to make it fast and easy to edit web pages. Cunningham named his software after a Hawaiian word for “quick.” That’s why the Wikimedia Foundation is happy to report that editing Wikipedia is now twice as quick. Over the last six months we deployed a new technology that speeds up MediaWiki, Wikipedia’s underlying PHP-based code. HipHop Virtual Machine, or HHVM, reduces [...]
Using Licenses in an easy (and legal) way
[...] “Open Content – A Practical Guide to Using Creative Commons Licences” is a publication by the German Commission for UNESCO, the North Rhine-Westphalian Library Service Centre and Wikimedia Deutschland. [...]
Welcome to Phabricator, Wikimedia’s new collaboration platform
Wikimedia launches a space for collaboration open to all contributors: phabricator.wikimedia.org. Primarily devoted to software development, this platform also welcomes non-technical projects. Wikimedia Phabricator has been available since September for early adopters. Its prime time starts this week, after having incorporated 73,681 reports migrated from Bugzilla, the bug management tool that has served our projects….
Wikimedia supports the Lyon Declaration and Access to Knowledge
The Wikimedia Foundation is proud to join the Lyon Declaration on Access to Information and Development which calls for United Nations member states to provide all people the ability to access and share knowledge. After all, this speaks to the ambition of the Wikimedia movement: sharing the sum of all human knowledge to all people around the world. [...]
A behind the scenes look at the Wikimedia Foundation’s emergency response system
When my work phone rings in the middle of the night, I don’t ever have to wonder what it is. As one of the team of five who are charged with addressing emails sent to the Wikimedia Foundation’s emergency address, I sleep lightly on nights when I’m on call. [...]
European court decision punches holes in free knowledge
A recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision is undermining the world’s ability to freely access accurate and verifiable records about individuals and events. The impact on Wikipedia is direct and critical.
Making a change to our Terms of Use: Requirements for disclosure
This change will clarify and strengthen the prohibition against concealing paid editing on all Wikimedia projects.
Donating His Estate to the Wikimedia Foundation: The Story of Jim Pacha
As he reflected on his life in a video interview with the Wikimedia Foundation on April 29, Jim Pacha beamed and smiled a lot. During the talk, Pacha was reminded of all the remarkable things that happened to him, including highlights in learning and career advancement. Pacha became a senior software engineer at a prestigious aerospace company, even though he never graduated from college. He entered his profession at one of its lowest ranks and through the years mastered the necessary skills through study and hard work.
Opposing Mass Surveillance on the Internet
We are pleased to announce that the Wikimedia Foundation is signing the Necessary and Proportionate Principles on the application of human rights to surveillance. Privacy on the Internet is closely connected to our mission to disseminate free knowledge.[1] We strive to provide a platform for users from all over the world to exercise their free….
Launching a Privacy Policy Built the Wiki Way
We are happy to announce that on April 25, 2014, the Wikimedia Foundation’s Board of Trustees approved a new privacy policy. The new privacy policy explains how we collect, use and manage the information of over twenty million registered users and 490 million monthly unique visitors to the Wikimedia projects. But the policy wouldn’t have been….
