As an organisation deeply committed to the principles of open knowledge and free information, Wikimedia UK has always sought innovative ways to engage with our community and promote our cause. Today, we’re thrilled to announce a new chapter in our outreach efforts: the launch of our new animations, designed to illuminate our work and bring about a greater understanding of our mission.

Since November 2023, we have been collaborating with a fantastic animation studio called Ritzy Animation who have helped us to bring our ideas to life, using images from Wiki Commons, which they’ve beautifully animated. 

There are four animations in total, providing an overview of us as an organisation and our three strategic themes. We have also created Welsh language versions, to support our projects and programmes across Wales.

Why animation?

In a world inundated with information, we recognise the importance of finding creative ways to communicate our message effectively. As a result, we have identified a need for a more dynamic and accessible approach to engage with diverse audiences. Animation offers a unique medium to communicate new, and at times complex, concepts into digestible and visually appealing narratives, making our work more relatable and engaging to everyone.

What do our animations cover?

Our animations cover both Wikimedia UK’s mission and objectives, offering insights into the wide-ranging impact of our work. From highlighting the significance and impact of open knowledge, to showcasing our three strategic themes of knowledge equity, information literacy and climate & environment, each episode offers a glimpse into our work and our mission.

Through captivating storytelling, and vibrant visuals, our aim is to demystify the concept of open knowledge and inspire viewers to become active participants in the creation and dissemination of knowledge through Wikimedia- these animations serve as an invitation to join us on our mission to empower individuals and communities through knowledge sharing.

What we hope to achieve

At Wikimedia UK, our ultimate goal is to help build a world where every person has access to the sum of all human knowledge. With these animations, we hope to reach new audiences, ignite curiosity, and spark meaningful conversations about the importance of open knowledge in today’s society. 

By showcasing the breadth and depth of our work, we aim to raise awareness about the Wikimedia movement and the vital role it plays in promoting access to knowledge for all. We also hope to inspire individuals to actively contribute to Wikimedia projects, whether through editing articles, participating in community discussions, or supporting our initiatives in other ways.

Join us on our animated journey!

We hope that these animations help to convey to you what working with Wikimedia can do for you, your organisation or your community. Whether you’re a seasoned editor or someone new to our movement, there’s a place for you in the world of Wikimedia. Together, let’s harness the power of open knowledge to build a brighter, more informed future for generations to come.

The post Bringing our mission to life through animation appeared first on WMUK.

Latest tech news from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations are available.

Recent changes

• On Wikisource there is a special page listing pages of works without corresponding scan images. Now you can use the new magic word __EXPECTWITHOUTSCANS__ to exclude certain pages (list of editions or translations of works) from that list. [1]
• If you use the user-preference “Show preview without reloading the page”, then the template-page feature “Preview page with this template” will now also work without reloading the page. [2]
• Kartographer maps can now specify an alternative text via the alt= attribute. This is identical in usage to the alt= attribute in the image and gallery syntax. An exception for this feature is wikis like Wikivoyage where the miniature maps are interactive. [3]
• The old Guided Tour for the “New Filters for Edit Review” feature has been removed. It was created in 2017 to show people with older accounts how the interface had changed, and has now been seen by most of the intended people. [4]

Changes later this week

• The new version of MediaWiki will be on test wikis and MediaWiki.org from 14 May. It will be on non-Wikipedia wikis and some Wikipedias from 15 May. It will be on all wikis from 16 May (calendar). [5][6]
• The Special:Search results page will now use CSS flex attributes, for better accessibility, instead of a table. If you have a gadget or script that adjusts search results, you should update your script to the new HTML structure. [7]

Future changes

• In the Vector 2022 skin, main pages will be displayed at full width (like special pages). The goal is to keep the number of characters per line large enough. This is related to the coming changes to typography in Vector 2022. Learn more. [8]
• Two columns of the pagelinks database table (pl_namespace and pl_title) are being dropped soon. Users must use two columns of the new linktarget table instead (lt_namespace and lt_title). In your existing SQL queries:
  1. Replace JOIN pagelinks with JOIN linktarget and pl_ with lt_ in the ON statement
  2. Below that add JOIN pagelinks ON lt_id = pl_target_id
  • See phab:T222224 for technical reasoning. [9][10]

Tech news prepared by Tech News writers and posted by bot • Contribute • Translate • Get help • Give feedback • Subscribe or unsubscribe.

On April 26, 2024, Africa Wiki Women hosted the 3rd Inspire Inclusion 2024 Campaign, The online session continued with “Introduction to Wikidata minor and Edits .” The training session was led by Rhoda James, a community team member, and moderated by Ridzaina and Pellagia Njau.

Salma Mwako was our spotlight partner. She is an economist, business strategist and Investment consultant who focuses on business dynamics and numerical analysis. She is also a founder of Maestro Africa Solution aiming to empower Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises(MSMEs) through technology. The session attracted over 25 participants, including project leads and community members from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Rwanda. 

Key highlights

The session began with Barokah Adegboye providing a recap of the previous session, the major edits on wikipedia, setting the stage for the day’s topic. Peggy did a brief citation of our spotlighted partner and Salma was introduced to speak and when she then did a brief overview of what the Maestro Africa Solutions do and Rhoda James then continued and led the presentation and training on “Major and Minor edits on Wikidata.” The presentation delved into the essence of what wikidata is and its basics, and explained the preferences there are on wikidata and gadgets therein. She highlighted Users preferences for editing Wikidata seamlessly:

• User Profile: Allows you modify information displayed on your user page, such as your user name and contact information and allows you to change your Wikipedia account’s password.

• Appearance: Allows you to change the visual theme (skin) of Wikipedia. Options typically include Vector, Monobook, and other user-created skins, Adjust time zone and date format preferences and Fine-tune settings related to how content is displayed, such as thumbnail sizes and how hidden categories are shown.

• Gadgets: Enable or disable user interface enhancements and tools (gadgets) that enhance your Wikipedia, Wikidata and Meta-Wiki experience. Some gadgets provide features like citation tools, HotCat, enhanced search, and more.

• Banner: Allows you to customize whether you want to see the display announcements of interest to Wikimedia communities and users.

• Notifications: Allows you customize how you receive notifications for various events on Wikipedia, such as mentions, page edits, and discussions.

Following this, Rhoda transitioned to the practical session, demonstrating how to edit a wikidata item and creating an item from scratch, she also demonstrated how to make a Quick statement on wikidata.

To conclude the session, Bukola encouraged participants to commence their editing activities and emphasised the importance of completing the attendance form. She also provided a brief overview of the criteria and scoring system, as outlined on the event metapage, to ensure participants’ understanding.

For those who may have missed the session, the link to access it is available on the community meta page. Additionally, we encourage you to register for our upcoming sessions to ensure you receive timely email notifications one hour before each online session begins. We encourage you to visit our YouTube channel as well for previous sessions recordings. If you wish to become an active member of our community, please take a moment to complete the registration form. Let’s work together to bridge the gap on information about women on Wikipedia and sister projects.

In April, the full draft of the Movement Charter was published on Meta in different languages. The Movement Charter Drafting Committee (MCDC) invited all stakeholders in the Wikimedia world to share their feedback in any language. The Committee communicated in various ways to reach as many people in the vast landscape of the Wikimedia movement as possible: Meta, community spaces (Village pumps, forums), Central Notice Banner and via the support of the Movement Charter Ambassadors.  

On April 4, the Committee held a community engagement meeting where they dived into the content of the draft Charter and heard feedback from attendees. 

In the second part of the call, participants were invited to express what they support in the draft Charter, identify any concerns that would prevent them from supporting the Charter and suggest specific ways to improve clarity of the Charter text for the final release in June. 

Some questions asked during the April 4th call included inquiries about the legal status of the proposed Global Council, distinctions between the Global Council Board and Global Council Assembly, and highlights of the Charter relevant to emerging communities. Responses shared during the April 4th call to these questions have been documented on Meta.   

April was packed for the MCDC. While involved in online community engagement and conversations, they also attended the Wikimedia Summit 2024 in Berlin. Below you will find details of MCDC’s work in this month:

• The MCDC met for their regular meeting on April 11 to hear updates on the candidate pool for the Charter Election Commission, discuss and prepare for Wikimedia Summit 2024. 
• Between April 17 and 21 the MCDC attended the Wikimedia Summit: MCDC members served as a resource for Summit attendees. They provided answers to questions, clarified aspects of the charter, and collected feedback. Summit participants engaged in working groups focused on specific charter related topics. These groups discussed areas for improvement, brainstormed ideas, identified potential dealbreakers, and celebrated the areas they appreciated. The summit resulted in a set of outputs generated by participants.
• On April 25 during their regular meeting, the Committee discussed learnings from the WM Summit, community engagement period, and they were updated on the communication plans for post draft Charter engagement by the Communications SubCommittee.   
• “Ask Me Anything” about the Movement Charter session was held via Zoom on April 26. This session was organized as a response to the feedback heard from different communities on the need to onboard them on the Charter text in detail. The walkthrough of the charter is available to watch on Wikimedia Commons in Spanish and Portuguese (Brazilian).

End of the April 2024 feedback period. What’s next? 

The MCDC is grateful for all the comments, suggestions and questions. The MCDC considers all the feedback, and works to update the final version of the Movement Charter accordingly between April 30 and mid-May. After which the text goes through several preparatory phases before it can be published, including copy-editing review, legal review, and translations. 

The final Movement Charter text is expected to be shared in the third week of June. The Movement-wide ratification vote on the Movement Charter will take place between June 25 to July 9, 2024. The Charter will be voted on by among others: Individual contributors, affiliates, and the Board of Trustees of the WMF.

Imagine a city that was abandoned almost 50 years ago: streets, stores, and structures untouched by the passage of time for 50 long years. It might be hard to believe, but there is such a place: Varosha in Northern Cyprus. It was captured by the Turkish government in 1974 with the “Cyprus Operation” and declared a military forbidden zone. It was impossible to visit the city until some streets were opened to visit in 2017.

In September 2023, we established a student club on our campus: Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus Wikipedia Society. It is a part of Wikipedia Student Clubs Türkiye community, where there are other 3 student clubs in Turkey as of May 2024. Our focus is on engaging university students while also extending a welcome to Cypriot Wikimedians beyond the university.

From the beginning, we wanted to organize a photowalk to Varosha. Since it is a far place to go for students without a car, and there are not many photographs in Wikimedia Commons, we thought it would be a great destination for our very first photowalk. It was both our society’s and my relatively big event. Since we did not have much experience in organizing events, it was a little tough to prepare for the photowalk. However, it went very well; we visited Varosha first and then the walled city of Famagusta.

We explored every accessible spot in Varosha and then walked around the walled city of Famagusta, taking lots of pictures. Everything went smoothly, and we didn’t have any issues. It was a definitely great day, and I want to thank everyone who came along and helped make it such a fantastic photowalk.

This year marks a milestone: the fourth edition of the Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC). It’s a celebration of another step forward in our journey to spotlight Africa in the vast online information space. As we embrace the digital age, we invite participants from across the continent to join us in this initiative. Together, we aim to expand and enrich the knowledge about Africa across the web, with a special focus on Wikimedia and its sister projects.

Africa, a continent abundant in diverse cultures, histories, and resources, frequently fails to garner the attention it merits in the digital domain, despite its wealth. Compared to other continents, Africa’s online presence, especially on platforms like Wikipedia, is not as robust. In April 2024, African content comprised merely 2.69% of the total 4,815,057 articles on Wikipedia. Presently, African contributors constitute only 1.91% of the 185,723 active contributors across the platform. Many of Africa’s stories either go untold or are inaccurately portrayed. This begs the question: Who will share our story if we don’t?

To confront this challenge head-on, Open Foundation West Africa initiated the Africa Wiki Challenge (AWC) in 2021. Aligned with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 flagship Encyclopedia Africana, AWC has engaged over 30 nations, including Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and more. Additionally, Africans in the diaspora have contributed to this collaborative endeavor. This has resulted in the engagement of 891 editors, the development of 158,117 new articles, and 9,952 edits on already-existing articles. The Africa Wiki Challenge presents a unique opportunity to bridge the content gap about Africa on the web, with Wikipedia as our primary target, given its status as one of the most visited online encyclopedias.

With continued support from the African Union, this year’s Africa Wiki Challenge is themed “Educate Africa: Nurturing Minds for the 21st Century.” This theme aligns with the African Union Day theme for this year, “The Year of Education – Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century,”.

The chosen theme not only highlights Africa’s educational system but also serves as an inspiration to document our own story. Submissions for the challenge will encompass individuals, structures, activities, stories, and other elements that contribute to Africa’s rich cultural tapestry. The contest will run from May 25th to June 30th, 2024.

How can you participate? It’s simple:

1. Writing and Improving Articles: Participants can contribute by writing new articles or improving existing ones related to Africa on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects. Every edit counts towards amplifying Africa’s presence online.
2. Photo Uploads: Alongside written content, participants can also contribute by uploading photos that accurately depict African culture, landmarks, and people.

Visit the campaign’s landing page to register your participation and find more details about the challenge. Additionally, join the AWC Participant Telegram page for interactions and important updates and link to join the virtual office hours.

By participating in the Africa Wiki Challenge, you not only contribute to the collective effort of telling Africa’s story but also stand a chance to win amazing prizes. The winner will receive a cash prize of GHC10,000! There are other exciting awards for the runners up. In order to encourage female participation there’s a special award for the top female contributor so let’s go ladies!

Let’s come together to tell the African story and bridge the content gap about Africa on the web. Join us in the Africa Wiki Challenge 2024 and be a part of this transformative journey. Together, we can make a difference.

Wikimedia Europe has signed an open letter, penned by the Wikimedia Foundaiton, that calls on UN Member States to protect Wikipedia and other public interest projects in the forthcoming Global Digital Compact.

The Global Digital Compact initiative is a unique and pivotal opportunity to shape our digital world in a manner that advances the public interest and supports sustainable development for everyone, everywhere. 

UN Member States have the chance to embrace a positive vision for the internet’s future that supports and empowers diverse communities everywhere to build and operate free and open knowledge projects. The Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, provide the world with the largest free and open, multilingual, intercultural, universally accessible repository of educational materials ever created. The volunteer-run Wikimedia projects have formed a community-led ecosystem that champions information integrity. They serve as digital public infrastructure for openly licensed, neutral, encyclopedic content in over 300 languages.

Wikipedia’s experience of over two decades has taught us that the internet needs to be open, global, interoperable, and inclusive in order to serve all of humanity. To that end, three essential commitments should be included in the text of the Global Digital Compact:

1. Protect and empower communities to govern online public interest projects.  Free knowledge projects such as Wikipedia should not be rare. UN Member States should—through regulation, public policy, funding, and other resources—support a world where diverse online communities can build and govern their own public interest projects, designing them to be equitable and contributing to a healthier online information ecosystem. 
2. Promote and protect digital public goods by supporting a robust digital commons from which everyone, everywhere can benefit. Digital public goods such as Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects aim to make multilingual and intercultural information freely accessible to everyone. A thriving public domain that enables the sharing of free and openly licensed content for everyone to use and reuse is key to advancing many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
3. Build and deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to support and empower, not replace, people who create content and make decisions in the public interest. AI and machine learning tools should support, and not replace, the work of humans. They should be designed and deployed in a manner consistent with international human rights standards, ensuring clear and consistent attribution. Such tools should also ensure participation and control by affected communities through transparent, accountable, and open processes.

02/05/2024-08/05/2024

Mapping campaigns

• contrapunctus has suggested hosting a mapping party to coincide with DebConf24, which will be held from 28 July to 4 August at Pukyong National University, Busan, South Korea. Hwang Dongha said that attracting the local OSM community, Debian user groups, and Ubuntu user groups to the mapping party would be an easy way to get people together, and would also create an opportunity to promote OSM in South Korea.

Community

• In response to the recent OSM vandalism controversy, caused by some players of Niantic’s Pokemon GO, Ilya Zverev has written a short essay ► titled ‘Не вина Niantic‘ (It’s not Niantic’s fault), justifying Niantic’s move to join Overture Maps rather than the OpenStreetMap Foundation.
• Jiří Eischmann, a Red Hat desktop engineering manager among other things, made the following recommendation on Mastodon: ‘If you’re exploring OpenStreetMap like me and [you find] openstreetmap.org is too heavy for you, try OSMapp…’, a statement that triggered a few comments.
• … elsewhere, Jiří Eischmann also commented on OsmAnd and mapycz. David Heidelberg, a Czech Linux developer, suspects that Jiří has fallen in love with OSM.
• Julien Coupey shared his favorite OSM note of the moment (or possibly the year) : ‘Note 4097195 : The former sex shop has become a “evangelical protestant church”. I’m announcing I’m not touching that’.
• Maurizio Napolitano presented a webinar entitled ‘OpenStreetMap: A collaborative Ecosystem Serving Society and Business’. The webinar discussed the role of OSM in enhancing innovation in the public and private sectors.
• Kamil Monicz has published his OpenStreetMap NextGen Development Diary #5.5. At the end of May, OpenStreetMap-NG will include the necessary functionality to run on a testing server, as well as to invite new contributors into the project.
• The UN Mapper of the month for May is Modo Levo Engelbert Steve, a geomatics student from Cameroon.
• Brian Sperlongano has conducted a statistical analysis of the distribution of the populations of places in OpenStreetMap.

Events

• Pieter Vander Vennet announced that he will be holding an OpenStreetMap workshop for beginners in Ghent, Belgium on Thursday 16 May.

Education

• As a special guest, Dr Raquel Dezidério Souto gave a workshop on the creation of web maps with uMap and OSM data for a class at the Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental, at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. This was part of the PACES course coordinated by Professor Michael McCall. She described ► her expeience in her diary and shared the link to the recorded video for those who want to create a map like this.
• The Trufi Association drew attention to its free ‘Public Transport‘ online courses.

OSM research

• A study published in Geo-spatial Information Science analysed how the provision of OpenAerialMap images is associated with changes in the underlying editing patterns of OSM features.

Maps

• [1] MapAmore reviewed ‘Sustainable Map‘, an OpenStreetMap-based web map that focuses on environmental sustainability themes.

OSM in action

• Tykayn used MarineTraffic, a website displaying global marine traffic using OpenStreetMap data, to ponder how many people are currently at sea.

Open Data

• As part of their migration process to Overture Maps, Meta has decided to discontinue the Daylight Map Distribution, a dataset derived from OpenStreetMap data, first released in March 2020. The last release is scheduled for November 2024.
• Shizuoka Prefecture is known as an innovative region of Japan. In an article on the prefecture’s website they explained ► the ‘VIRTUAL SHIZUOKA concept’ (an open point cloud database available under CC BY 4.0). This enables Shizuoka Prefecture to be captured and experienced virtually.

Software

• Ilya Zverev has released Every Door version 5.0. Now, you can try the freehand line drawing mode to sketch streams, culverts, walls, fences, cycleways, power lines, footways, paths, roads, and tracks by using the fourth mode for notes.
• TrickyFoxy has developed ► a Tampermonkey script to add some functionality to the OpenStreetMap website.
• Jeyseni recommended ► using OsmAnd as it is reliable enough to be used as an offline map application in Japan.

OSM in the media

• Jomo noted that Germany’s most prominent TV news show, the Tagesschau (Review of the Day), is using OpenStreetMap and Maptiler to render maps in their brand design.
• Tama Plaza News, a local news site covering the suburbs of Tokyo, Japan, recommended ► OpenStreetMap as a site for looking up street names.

Other “geo” things

• Grant Slater is annoyed with Wikipedia, which rejected his attempt at creating a new article for a large dam, as it was not deemed notable enough.
• OpenCage explained the annotation feature in its geocoding API. This feature serves to provide various additional information about a location.
• OpenCage shared a news story about the local residents protesting as a result of the policy of the North Yorkshire council that is forcibly removing apostrophes from the local addressing system, allegedly due to the computer security risk they may pose.
• Rakushouke, a keen Pokémon GO trainer, embarked on a short trip to Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest freshwater lake, located near Kyoto. With the help of OpenStreetMap, they successfully tracked down Wiglett (ウミディグダ/Umidigda in Japanese) and documented their findings in a photo blog ►.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Localidad Chapinero	GeoBeer Mayo 2024		2024-05-11
	SotM Asia 2024 monthly meeting		2024-05-11
	Webinaire sur la campagne d’adhésion à OSMF		2024-05-11
Mainz	OpenStreetMap-Stammtisch Mainz		2024-05-11
Bengaluru	OSM Bengaluru Mapping Party		2024-05-12
København	OSMmapperCPH		2024-05-12
Zürich	163. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich		2024-05-13
Grenoble	Réunion groupe local Grenoble : Panoramax – L’alternative libre pour photo-cartographier les territoires		2024-05-13
Grenoble	Atelier du groupe local OpenStreetMap		2024-05-13
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-05-15
	UN Mappers training – Validating OSM data – session #9		2024-05-15
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2024-05-15
Zagreb	State of the Map Croatia 2024		2024-05-16 – 2024-05-17
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2024-05-16
Salt Lake City	OSM Utah Monthly Map Night		2024-05-17
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2024-05-16
Gent	OpenStreetMap workshop for beginners		2024-05-16
Durham	Mapping around University of New Hampshire		2024-05-19
England	OSM UK Online Chat		2024-05-20
Lyon	Réunion du groupe local de Lyon		2024-05-21
Bonn	175. OSM-Stammtisch Bonn		2024-05-21
	UN Mappers training – Validating OSM data – session #10		2024-05-22
	iD Community Chat		2024-05-22
Zürich	Missing Maps Zürich Mai Mapathon		2024-05-22
Rio de Janeiro	Oficina de mapeamento de feições importantes na redução de riscos de desastres (RRD) – YouthMappers UFRJ		2024-05-24
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2024-05-24

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, TrickyFoxy, YoViajo, adiatmad, barefootstache, derFred, euroPathfinder, miurahr, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

• Albania report: International Roma Day Editathon in Albania and Kosovo, 2024
• Australia report: New images from Central Australia on Wikimedia Commons, Library Science WikiProject students edit Wikipedia & 1Lib1Ref in Australia and New Zealand
• Brazil report: Wiki Library Month
• Czech Republic report: 2023 became a promissing year for wiki-residents and partnerships in CR
• Kosovo report: International Roma Day Editathon in Albania and Kosovo, 2024
• Netherlands report: Informal GLAM hack session
• New Zealand report: Te Papa research expeditions and the Wikipedian at Large
• North Macedonia report: Climate Changes and GLAM
• Poland report: What’s up in GLAM-Wiki in Poland in April
• Spain report: SMALL GLAM SLAM
• Sweden report: 100 000 bildminnen; Metabase
• Switzerland report:
• UK report: Swiss GLAM Programme
• USA report: Heaven on Earth at last?
• Biodiversity Heritage Library report: BHL-Wiki Working Group April monthly highlights
• AvoinGLAM report: AI Sauna quick reflection
• Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons report: OpenRefine online courses in more languages, and certified trainers
• WMF GLAM report: OpenRefine course in three more languages and International Museum Day challenges
• Calendar: May’s GLAM events

Take a guess – what content gap in the Wikipedia articles on Lysol, the Great Depression in the United States, and the Black Panther Party is now filled, thanks to the work of Utah State University student editors? The answer might surprise you! You can now learn about the role of contraception in each subject’s histories.

These student editors may have channeled their research on birth control into unexpected areas of Wikipedia, but they weren’t the only students in Chris Babits’ History of Sexuality class who focused on adding information related to contraception to the online encyclopedia. Classmates also enhanced related pages including the Cornstock laws and Family planning in the United States. And until one Utah student jumped in, the Views on birth control in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints page was missing arguably the most relevant view: the church’s current stance on contraception. 

Just as real-world events can lead to spikes in readership of related Wikipedia articles, student editors can be motivated to work on topics that experience a peaked level of public interest, wanting to add information to the in-demand area of knowledge.

Babits’ students’ decision to explore the topic of contraception may have been influenced by the real-world interest in the information following a milestone decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 24, 2022 the Supreme Court officially ruled to reverse Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion no longer exists. The decision undoubtedly drew attention to Wikipedia’s abortion article, which noted a significant jump in page views the following day, as well as to Wikipedia’s article on birth control, which nearly quadrupled in daily readership by June 25. 

So it should come as no surprise that Babits’ class, who’s collective edits on Wikipedia articles have been viewed nearly one million times, isn’t the only recent class in our Wikipedia Student Program to address knowledge gaps related to contraception. 

In fall 2023, three of Caroline Smith’s students at The George Washington University collaborated to create a new article on emergency contraceptives on college campuses, exploring the history, accessibility, and legislation of access at colleges and universities across the country. Their article explores the first time morning-after pills were sold in vending machines on a college campus at The Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania, the spread of the concept to other institutions, and the related legislation.

This spring term, four of Smith’s students also worked together to create another new Wikipedia article to share the history of Julie, a healthcare company that markets a non-prescription emergency contraceptive pill. Julie launched their product in September 2022 in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade with a mission of removing stigmas around emergency contraception and increasing access for marginalized communities.

By filling in missing information for topics of public interest and need, student editors like Babits’ and Smiths’ can make tremendous impact through the Wikipedia assignment. Interested in learning more and getting started in your own class? Visit teach.wikiedu.org or reach out with questions at contact@wikiedu.org.

Imagine a room buzzing with ideas, keyboards clicking in unison, and a palpable energy that fuels creativity. This wasn’t your typical office scene; this was the heart of the Wikimedia Hackathon 2024 in Tallinn, Estonia, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it for a day.

For those unfamiliar, the Wikimedia Hackathon is an annual event that gathers tech wizards from around the globe to brainstorm and develop projects that improve various Wikimedia initiatives, including the one and only Wikipedia. This year, I arrived on the third and final day, eager to soak up the atmosphere and learn from the brilliant minds gathered there.

Hacking with a Purpose: Unveiling the Teams

The venue itself was impressive. A spacious hall with a massive set of TVs displaying the Wikimedia Hackathon logo instantly set the stage for an epic event. A few hours before my help desk shift, I decided to explore and get a feel for the ongoing projects.

My first stop was Team “Commons Impact Metrics.” These data whizzes were on a mission to develop a data pipeline to collect and document user data. Their project’s goal? To empower users with success and scalability. They’d all encountered similar projects in their day jobs, so they hit the ground running. Their biggest hurdle? The sheer volume of data – so much that it even crashed a team member’s PC! But these tech gladiators persevered, adapting their approach and focusing on a specific data category. Their motivations were clear: a chance to work on challenging projects, meet new people and contribute to something meaningful. They discovered the Hackathon through the Wikimedia Foundations, and with some members boasting a whopping seven hackathons under their belt, their experience and enthusiasm were infectious.

Innovation on the Agenda: Unveiling MediaWiki’s Track Stars

Next up was Team “MediaWiki Track.” Here, I met Cole White and P. Miazga, two members tackling a project focused on transitioning metrics to a more modern technological landscape. Their mission? To modernize the observability stack, a critical element for monitoring system performance. While they’d tackled similar projects before, this was their first foray into the world of MediaWiki. The challenge? Taking the initiative to develop a solution for a long-standing issue – the very reason they joined the Hackathon. Their discovery of the event? Through MediaWiki itself, unsurprising considering most of the team worked for the Wikimedia Foundation. This team exemplified the collaborative spirit of the event, highlighting their desire to connect with more MediaWiki contributors. Just like Team “Commons Impact Metrics,” these developers were veterans of similar events, and their key takeaways were meeting new collaborators and gaining valuable new knowledge.

From the Outside Looking In: A Volunteer’s Perspective

My quest for stories then led me to Olga Kortsagin, a volunteer who had dedicated her time to help desk duties throughout the event. This was her first foray into the world of Wikimedia, and her curiosity about Wikipedia’s inner workings piqued her interest in volunteering. Unlike the developers, Olga’s preparation involved minimal organization – a testament to the event’s seamless execution. Her takeaways? New knowledge and a newfound appreciation for the positive impact of the Wikimedia Hackathon. For anyone interested in similar experiences, Olga offered a glowing recommendation – volunteer and gain valuable knowledge and forge new connections within the Wikimedia community. Her overall experience echoed mine – positive, well-organized, and with a special shoutout to the Hilton chefs for her favourite shrimp salad!

The Takeaway: A Day Steeped in Inspiration

My brief time at the Wikimedia Hackathon 2024 was an energizing whirlwind. Witnessing the passion, expertise, and collaborative spirit of the developers and volunteers was truly inspiring. Whether it was the developers tackling intricate challenges or Olga’s dedication to supporting the event, everyone played a crucial role. The event left me with a newfound appreciation for the tireless efforts that go into maintaining and improving the vast knowledge base of Wikipedia and its sister projects.

For those attending next year, here are some golden nuggets:

• Be prepared to be challenged. The projects undertaken at the Hackathon are no walk in the park. But with the collaborative spirit and the support network, you’ll be well-equipped to overcome any hurdles.
• Come with an open mind. You’ll be surrounded by brilliant minds from diverse backgrounds. Embrace the opportunity to learn from each other and be receptive to new ideas.
• Network! This event is a goldmine for forging connections with fellow developers and volunteers who share your passion for knowledge and innovation.

The Wikimedia Hackathon 2024 was more than just a coding marathon; it was a testament to the power of collaboration. It was a melting pot of ideas, fueled by a shared purpose: to contribute to the betterment of a global knowledge base. If you’re a tech whiz with a passion for innovation and a desire to give back, the Wikimedia Hackathon is an event you won’t want to miss.

Beyond the Code: Unexpected Delights and Lasting Impressions

While the core of the Hackathon revolved around project development, there were also unexpected moments that added to the overall experience. One such moment was Olga’s enthusiastic endorsement of the Hilton chefs’ shrimp salad. It’s these little details that create a sense of community and camaraderie, reminding us that even amidst intense brainstorming sessions, there’s space for shared laughter and appreciation for creature comforts.

A Call to Action: Be Part of the Change

The Wikimedia Hackathon is a powerful example of what can be achieved when passionate individuals come together. It’s a celebration of open knowledge, collaboration, and innovation. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or simply someone with a desire to contribute, there’s a place for you at this remarkable event.

So, are you ready to be part of the change? Mark your calendars for the Wikimedia Hackathon 2025! Together, we can continue to build a world where knowledge is freely accessible to everyone.

Hello readers and writers of Diff. It’s been a while since we updated you all on improvements to Diff. Without further ado, here’s a few things we’ve been working on behind the scenes to make Diff easier use, more reliable, and more secure.

General

• Embedded videos from Wikimedia Commons works again
  • Note: in researching the issue that caused them to stop working we realized that users with the contributor role can’t embed HTML or iframes due to security concerns. Only editors and admins can. If you need to embed video from sites not listed here, please let us know and we can help.
    • Thanks to Theklan for pointing this out. T309101
    • For images, see our documentation.
• We hid some editorial notification settings for folks with the contributor role. Just so we don’t accidentally send notifications to folks that didn’t contribute to an article.
• We updated the Creative Commons license language in the publication workflow to reflect change to CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
• Posts in languages other than English were showing a 404 error in what seemed to be a random pattern. Nope, it wasn’t random. It was WordPress forgetting to update the URL. This is now fixed.
• We also fixed attachment pages returning a 404 and they now show proper attribution. How Creative Commons of us. 
• We disabled the AI Assistant on Diff. We like human, imperfect writing and the AI tool was making blog posts sound the same – and a little too grandiose!
• DiffBlog is now an interwiki prefix for links to Diff from Wikimedia wikis.
  • Thanks to Greg for helping make this happen.

Translations

• The translation workflow is now available for all posts regardless of the language. So you can translate from Spanish to Esperanto and Wayuuunaiki to Kiswahili!
• When using the translation interface the post content would sometimes be blank. This was due to the need for every user to have to click a tiny icon to make sure the content of a post was duplicated. This is now set as a default and translating Diff articles should be less confusing.
  • Translation strings need to be updated for this workflow, but that’s also possible now. We’ll work on updating these over time.

Calendar

• You can label events by region and search by region if the event organizer has added a region.
  • Thanks to Toni Ristovski for the suggestion.
• You can define a secondary language for events. So if the event is available in more than one language folks can be aware.
• Fixed the issue with not being able to filter or navigate the calendar due to security settings.

Upkeep

• Subscription emails should now list the actual author and not whoever published the post. Note: this may not work 100% as you’d expect when posts are published with guest authors.
• We’ve tightened security with some new settings for cross domain loading and embedding.
• We fixed an issue where if you were looking at a post in one language, navigated to the Diff homepage, and tried to view the English version of the site you would be stuck on the language of the last post you visited. The site now listens to you and will switch to English as expected.
  • Thanks to Eugene and others for making us aware of this issue!
• Various small bug fixes and software updates.

If you have any issues with the site, or have ideas for improving Diff, please do get in touch.

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The Wikimedia Endowment is delighted to welcome Mayree Clark as a new member of its Endowment Board. Mayree, a finance expert, will bring her extensive governance expertise to the Wikimedia Endowment, a nonprofit charitable organization providing a permanent safekeeping fund to support the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity.

Mayree Clark is a former director of the Stanford University Endowment. She brings a diverse background in investment banking, equity research, and investment management to the Wikimedia Endowment Board. Mayree spent over 20 years at Morgan Stanley, where she held various leadership roles, including deputy to the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of finance company MSCI. After leaving Morgan Stanley, Mayree joined the investment management industry and later founded Eachwin Capital, an investment management firm. She has served on the boards of Ally Financial, Taubman, and Deutsche Bank AG, contributing her expertise in risk management, governance, and corporate turnaround. Mayree is also involved in multiple philanthropic organizations and holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She has been a dedicated donor to the Wikimedia Foundation since 2007.

“Mayree’s dedication to the Wikimedia Endowment is palpable. She enriches our Board, as her financial expertise guides us forward, enhancing our collective mission of knowledge building, equity, and dissemination,” said President of the Wikimedia Endowment, Lisa Seitz-Gruwell.

With Mayree’s addition, the Endowment Board now has eleven members who all serve as volunteers; Board members are appointed for three years and may serve up to three terms.

Mayree’s appointment follows the recent release of the Wikimedia Foundation’s digital-first, interactive Annual Report and Endowment Report, spotlighting Wikimedia’s achievements and the vital role of donors. Emphasizing the theme “Knowledge is Human,” the reports honor the diverse individuals, including volunteers, staff, and donors, who contribute to the mission of making free, reliable knowledge accessible to everyone, everywhere.

“I am thrilled with the opportunity to play an active part in supporting this precious community and all that it brings to the world,” said Mayree Clark.

About the Wikimedia Endowment

Launched in 2016, the Wikimedia Endowment is a nonprofit charitable organization providing a permanent safekeeping fund to support the operations and activities of the Wikimedia projects in perpetuity. It aims to create a solid financial foundation for the future of the Wikimedia projects. As of December 31st, 2023, the Wikimedia Endowment was valued at $130 million USD. Endowment Board members are selected based on active involvement in philanthropic endeavors, prior nonprofit board experience, fundraising and investment expertise, and a strong commitment to the Wikimedia Foundation’s mission. They serve as volunteers. The Wikimedia Endowment is a U.S.-based 501(c)3 charity (Tax ID: 87-3024488).

The post The Wikimedia Endowment welcomes Mayree Clark as its newest Board member  appeared first on Wikimedia Foundation.

Open Foundation West recently hosted a workshop aimed at introducing community members to the world of Wikidata, and the event proved to be both engaging and impactful. Over the course of two days, participants delved into the intricacies of Wikidata & Wikidata Games, with a particular focus on practical editing skills. The second meet-up was led by Jesse Asiedu-Akrofi and supported by the Accra Hub led Paul Asare, the workshop provided attendees with hands-on experience using Wikidata games to edit and update information on wikidata

The second session during the new week happening online and in-person and it saw participants immersed in a series of Wikidata games, with a key focus on categories such as Person, Gender, and Occupation. Amidst the interactive sessions, questions arose regarding the necessity of utilizing Wikidata games. In response, organizers explained how these games streamline the editing process by offering a structured approach and facilitating access to items with edit issues.

In summary, the workshop not only introduced participants to the fundamentals of Wikidata but also equipped them with practical skills to navigate the platform effectively. By the end of the workshop, participants emerged equipped with the knowledge and skills to navigate Wikidata effectively, ensuring verifiability and contributing to the broader Wikimedia ecosystem. As Open Foundation West looks to future initiatives, the success of this workshop underscores the importance of continued engagement with Wikidata and active participation in community-driven events.

On March 13, 2024, the Code for Africa’s Wikipedia Alliance (AWA) hosted its 4th edition of the WiR bi-weekly webinar series titled “Adding Images to Wikipedia.” facilitated by Bukola James, the Community Coordinator for CFA-AWA. Eleven project leads and volunteers from Ghana, Nigeria, and Rwanda participated in the webinar. The goal of the workshop was to enhance the skills of Wikimedians in improving the visual appeal of Wikipedia articles by including relevant images.

                                                                              Webinar trainer and title slide

Key highlights

The session opened with a recap of the previous webinar on adding Wikilinks and Categories to Wikipedia articles and then explored the importance of adding images to Wikipedia articles to enhance user engagement, provide visual context, and enrich content.

Participants were first guided through the process of sourcing images from Wikimedia Commons, including how to effectively search for and select appropriate images while adhering to the Creative Commons licensing requirements. This foundational knowledge was crucial for participants to grasp the legal and ethical implications of image use on Wikipedia.

The webinar then provided a walk-through on the following features:

• Adding images on Wikipedia using a visual editor
• Adding meaningful captions
• Positioning images for optimal impact. 

Participants were also instructed on how to incorporate images, adjust captions and align images to enhance the article’s layout using the source editor. 

Additionally, attendees were instructed on how to use Wikimedia Commons Upload Wizard to upload images. This section of the training aimed to equip participants with the tools they needed to improve the Wikimedia Commons repository with a variety of eye-catching content, increasing the number of media files that can be used on Wikipedia articles.

The session also focused on introducing participants to the streamlined process of adding images to Wikipedia and Wikidata using the following tools:

• WikiShootMe: The utility of this tool was highlighted, demonstrating how it assists contributors in identifying Wikipedia articles and Wikidata items that require images based on geographical location, facilitating targeted and meaningful contributions.
• Exploring the functionalities of File Candidates, CC Search, and WDWP Tool to empower participants to discover and integrate relevant images to enhance the content quality of Wikipedia articles.

Benefits to participants:

By participating in the training session on adding images to Wikipedia, participants gained practical skills to contribute meaningfully to Wikipedia’s visual content landscape, which empowered them to continue in their roles as active contributors to Wikipedia’s visual content through initiatives like Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP). Participants were also armed with the expertise to simplify the process of adding images by learning how to select and integrate relevant images to Wikipedia articles using on-wiki and off-wiki tools such as WikiShootMe,WDWP, File Candidates, and CC search, making the content more accessible and comprehensible. Additionally, having mastered how to select and add images to Wikimedia Commons for a global audience, webinar attendees can contribute to a shared open repository of multimedia resources accessible worldwide. 

Conclusion

The session concluded with a Q&A session emphasising the importance of continuous practice and participation in campaigns like Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos (WPWP). This encouragement aimed to motivate participants who are new to adding images to Wikipedia articles to practise what they have learnt, thereby contributing to the richness and diversity of Wikipedia’s visual content.

For those interested in revisiting the session or those who might have missed it, the recorded version is available on the community programmes page.  Test your knowledge on our academy Africa site and register for the upcoming AWA Bi-weekly webinar and immerse in our vibrant community. To stay abreast of our initiatives, complete this form, and let’s shape the future together!

Welcome to the first installment of our series, “Introduction to Wikidata and Wikidata Games Competition,” presented by the Accra Hub lead, Paul Asare aka YawTuba from Open Foundation West Africa. In this session, we embarked on a journey into the realm of Wikidata, guided by the expertise of Stephen Dakyi aka NanaYawBotar. From unraveling the basics to diving into practical editing, our exploration promises an exciting venture into the world of structured data.

Understanding the Basics: The session kicked off with an engaging presentation led by NanaYawBotar, with the assistance of YawTuba. Together, they educated us on the fundamental concepts and terminology of Wikidata, laying a solid foundation for newcomers and seasoned editors alike. As we delved into the slides, the audience was captivated by the wealth of knowledge unveiled before them. However, amidst the excitement, a common question lingered: how do we translate this newfound knowledge into actionable insights? 🤔

Following the comprehensive overview, NanaYawBotar seamlessly transitioned into the practical aspect of Wikidata editing. For many attendees, this marked their first encounter with the interface of Wikidata, offering a glimpse into the intricate web of structured knowledge. From explaining what Q IDs is, to understanding labels, statements, properties, and values, every facet was diligently explained, ensuring a holistic understanding of the editing process.

Armed with newfound knowledge, it was time to put theory into practice. YawTuba facilitated a real-time item structuring session, providing a curated list for the OFWA editing community to tackle on Wikidata. As participants immersed themselves in the task at hand, a palpable sense of engagement permeated the virtual space. From novices to seasoned editors, everyone contributed to the collective endeavour, enriching the Wikidata ecosystem one edit at a time.

Reflecting on the event, each attendee walked away with valuable insights and experiences. For some, it was the thrill of learning something new from the presentation slides, while others found solace in the simplicity of NanaYawBotar’s techniques during the hands-on session. Regardless of individual perspectives, one thing remained clear: Wikidata is a vast repository of knowledge waiting to be explored, and with the right guidance, anyone can become a proficient editor.

As we conclude our inaugural session, we extend our gratitude to YawTuba Open Foundation West Africa for spearheading this initiative and to NanaYawBotar for his invaluable expertise. With each passing session, may we continue to unravel the mysteries of Wikidata, fostering a community-driven approach to knowledge dissemination. Until next time, let the journey into the depths of structured data continue.

 Back in January, I discovered a stored XSS vulnerability in core MediaWiki (T355538; CVE-2024-34507). Essentially by setting a specific edit summary when editing a page, you could run javascript (And take over the account of anyone viewing the edit summary, for example on the history page or recentchanges)

MediaWiki core is generally pretty good when it comes to security. There are many sketchy extensions, and sometimes there are issues where an admin might be able to run javascript, but by and large unauthenticated XSS vulns are fairly rare. I think the last one was CVE-2021-44858 from back in 2021. The next one before that was CVE-2017-8815 in 2017, which only applied to wikis configured to have a site language of certain languages (e.g. Serbian and Chinese). At least, those were the ones I found when looking through the list. Hopefully I didn't miss any. In any case, finding XSS triggerable by an unprivleged attacker in MediaWiki core is pretty hard.

So what is the bug? The proof of concept looks like this - Create an edit with the following edit summary:

[[Special:RecentChanges#%1b0000000|link1]] [[PageThatExists#/autofocus/onfocus=alert("xss\n"+document.domain)//|link2]]

This feels a bit random at first glance. How does it work?

The edit summary parser

Whenever you edit a page on MediaWiki, there is a box for your edit summary. This is essentially MediaWiki's version of a commit message.

Very little formatting is allowed in this summary. A major exception is links. You can link to other pages by enclosing the link in [[ and ]].

So this explains a little bit about the proof-of-concept - it involves 2 links. But why 2? It doesn't work with just 1. What is with the weird link targets? They are clearly abnormal, but they also don't look like typical XSS. There are no < or >, there aren't even any unclosed quotes.

Lets take a deeper look at how MediaWiki applies formatting to these edit summaries. The code where all this happens is includes/CommentFormatter/CommentParser.php.

The first thing we might notice is the following line in CommentParser::preprocessInternal: "// \x1b needs to be stripped because it is used for link markers"

In the proof of concept, the first part is [[Special:RecentChanges#%1b0000000|link1]], where %1b appears. This is a good hint that it has something to do with link markers, whatever those are.

Link markers

But what are link markers?

When MediaWiki makes a link, it needs to know whether the page being linked to exists or not, since missing pages use a red colour. The most natural way of doing this is, when encountering a link, to check in the DB whether or not the page exists.

However, there is a problem. When rendering a long page with a lot of links, we have to do a lot of DB lookups. The lookups are simple, but still on a separate (albeit nearby server). Each page to lookup involves a local network request to fetch the page status. While that is happening, MW just sits and waits. This is all very fast, but even still it adds up a little bit if you have say 500 links on a page.

The solution to this problem was to batch the queries. Instead of immediately looking up the page, MW would put a small link marker in the page at that point and carry on. Once it is finished, it would look up all the links all at once, and then do another pass to replace all the link markers.

So this is what a link marker is, just a little marker to tell MW to come back to this spot later after it figured out if all the links exist. The format of this marker is \x1B<number> (So \x1B0000000 for the first one, \x1B0000001 for the second, and so on). \x1B is the ASCII escape character.

Back to the PoC

This explains the first part of the proof of concept: [[Special:RecentChanges#%1b0000000|link1]] - the link target is a link marker. The code has a line:

                                // Fix up urlencoded title texts (copied from Parser::replaceInternalLinks)
                                if ( strpos( $match[1], '%' ) !== false ) {
                                        $match[1] = strtr(
                                                rawurldecode( $match[1] ),
                                                [ '<' => '&lt;', '>' => '&gt;' ]
                                        );
                                }

Which normalizes titles using percent encoding to use the real characters. Thus the %1B gets replaced with an actual 0x1B byte sequence. The code did try and strip 0x1B characters earlier, but at that point, it was still just %1b and did not match the check.

We now have a link with a link marker inside of it. An important note here is that Special:RecentChanges is not a normal page. It is a special page. MediaWiki knows it exists without having to consult the database, so it does not get the link marker treatment. This is important because we cannot use it as a fake link marker if it gets replaced by a real link marker.

At this stage after inserting link markers, the proof of concept becomes the following string:

<a href="/w/index.php/Special:RecentChanges#\x1B000000" title="Special:RecentChanges">link1</a> \x1B0000000

The second link

The \x1B0000000 is a stand in for [[PageThatExists#/autofocus/onfocus=alert("xss\n"+document.domain)//|link2]].

The replacement at the end is a normal replacement, and everything is fine. However there are now two replacements - there is also the replacement inside the link: href="/w/index.php/Special:RecentChanges#\x1B000000"

This is the fake link marker that we contrived to get inserted. Unlike the normal link markers, this is inside an attribute. The replacement text assumes it is being inserted as normal HTML, not as an attribute. Since it is a full link that also has quotes inside it, the two layers of quotes will interfere with each other.

Once the replacements happen we get the following mangled HTML for our proof of concept:

<a href="/w/index.php/Special:RecentChanges#<a href="/w/index.php/Test#/autofocus/onfocus=alert(&quot;xss\n&quot;+document.domain)//" title="Test">link2</a>" title="Special:RecentChanges">link1</a> <a href="/w/index.php/Test#/autofocus/onfocus=alert(&quot;xss\n&quot;+document.domain)//" title="Test">link2</a>

This obviously looks wrong, but its a bit unclear how browsers interpret it. A little known fact about HTML - /'s can separate attributes so long as no equal signs have been encountered yet. After the browser hits the second " mark, it thinks the href attribute is closed and that the remaing is some additional attributes. The browser essentially parses the above html as if it was:

<a href="/w/index.php/Special:RecentChanges#<a href=" w="" index.php="" Test#="" autofocus onfocus="alert(&quot;xss\n&quot;+document.domain)//&quot;" title="Test">link2</a>" title="Special:RecentChanges"&gt;link1</a> <a href="/w/index.php/Test#/autofocus/onfocus=alert(&quot;xss\n&quot;+document.domain)//" title="Test">link2</a>

In other words, an <a> tag, that has an attribute named autofocus and an onfocus event handler. On page load, the link is automatically focused, which triggers the javascript in the onfocus attribute to run, allowing the attacker to do what they want.

Take aways

I think the major take aways is that running Regexes over partially parsed HTML is always scary. We've had similar issues in the past, for example T110143.

The general pattern we've used to fix this and similar issues, is make sure the replacement token has special characters that would be mangled if it appeared in an unexpected context. Concretely, we added " and ' to the token, which would get escaped if placed in an attribute, and thus no longer matching and no longer being replaced.

More generally though, I think this is a good example of why even a minimal CSP policy would be helpful.

CSP is a complex standard, that can do a lot of things and has a lot of pieces. One of the things it can do, is disable "unsafe-inline" javascript. This means javascript from attributes (like onfocus) and javascript URLs. Usually this also includes inline <script> tags without a nonce, but that part is optional. A key point here, is this also generally means you cannot execute javascript via .innerHTML anymore, which is a fairly common vector for XSS via javascript.

Normally disabling unsafe-inline would be part of a broader effort to secure javascript, however its possible to take things a step at a time. This vulnerability would have been stopped just by disabling event attributes. A surprising portion of MediaWiki & extension XSS vulns [Excluding boring - an admin can change something in an unsafe way issues] involve just html attributes (or javascript: urls), which is a web feature that nobody really needs for legit reasons and is generally considered bad practise in normal usage. Even the most minimal CSP policy might really help MediaWiki's overall security posture against XSS vulns.

For more info about the vulnerability, please see the original report at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T355538.

In the last few weeks I have stumbled on various little bits during Wikipedia edits that I thought were worthy of airing! One of them was a re-realization of the boon and the curse of iron and steel. It starts with something I heard a few years ago by economist Sashi Sivramkrishna and others who were following the trail of Buchanan Hamilton in Mysore (listen to the talk here) and they were apparently impressed by the impact of iron production particularly on the destruction of forests in southern India. And last week I found a Wikipedia entry that someone from Parangipettai had written as a draft and which had been left languishing. I went and ensured that it got moved from a draft version to a mainspace entry - it was on the Porto Novo Iron Works, one of the first large-scale iron smelting enterprises in India. The venture, started by a J.M. Heath, did not last long, one of the big factors being the lack of coal for smelting, and he had to make do with charcoal. In a few years, he ran out of charcoal, after depleting the forests of several districts nearby, and the factory had to move to the west coast near Calicut (Beypore). The first director general of forests Dietrich Brandis also noted the role of iron smelting in deforestation. 

Now to Josiah Heath, who is a real character and it is quite a surprise to see that the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography does not even have an entry for him, and there appears to be no available photograph of him (at least online). Heath sent out skins of various animals to the Zoological Society of London and there is a species of bat named after him. More interestingly it seem the fishing cat was described based on a specimen that he sent from India - which it would appear from all likelihood to have come from the Parangipettai region - more likely Pichavaram (wonder if the species still exists there). He also collected a specimen of a Eurasian Griffon Vulture from the same region. Heath apparently was impressed by traditional ukku (better known as Wootz steel) steel-making near Salem where he was initially posted and he seems to have discovered an important factor which he patented. It involved the use of carbon and manganese and he made money initially by distributing packets of his mixture - and later made the mistake of giving its composition. The steel makers of Sheffield, England quickly started using his technique and decided not to pay him any royalty - and he died in poverty. Of course today we could ask whether he actually stole the idea from traditional Indian blacksmiths and whether it could have been patented at all in the first place or of the numerous other injustices involved in all of this. 

Herr Meves

In another Wikipedia-related iron-connection, I found a little-known ornithologist who now has a Wikipedia entry (Wilhelm Meves). Meves was a German pharmacist turned ornithologist - and he decided to treat the brown feathers of lammergeiers with hydrochloric acid and tested them for iron and found that the colour was largely due to iron oxide. He found that this coating was on the outer surface and that the inside of the feathers was largely iron free. He suggested that the birds were bathing in iron-rich waters. Meves worked in Stockholm and mostly wrote in German but some of his findings made their way into the Ibis in English - thanks to John Wolley. And it seems both T.C. Jerdon and A.O. Hume were careful readers of Meves' works. Jerdon was aware of the bleating sound of snipes being produced by air-flow induced vibrations of the outermost tail feather. And Hume even repeated Meves' chemical analysis on his lammergeier specimens from Shimla and confirmed the presence of iron. Hume however noted that neither he nor any of his "intelligent native sportsmen" had ever seen a lammergeier bathe in water and suggested that the red staining may be derived from the blood of dead animals. Hume's original text (emphasis mine):

Anyway, it seems that India's large iron-deposits have a habit of lying in regions rich in biodiversity and ethnic diversity often on ancient tribal lands. It is little wonder that the steel industry barons are involved in disempowering tribal peoples or paying governments to water down environmental laws. I was truly surprised by the amount of work from around the world on related topics.

• Goucher, C.L. (1981). Iron is iron ’til it is rust: Trade and Ecology in the Decline of West African Iron-Smelting. The Journal of African History. 22(2):179-189. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0021853700019393 
• Siran Liu, Thilo Rehren, Dashu Qin, Jianli Chen, Wenli Zhou, Marcos Martinón-Torres, Xin Huang, Wei Qian (2019). Coal-fuelled crucible lead-silver smelting in 12th-13th century China: A technological innovation in the age of deforestation. Journal of Archaeological Science 104:75-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2019.01.004
• The impact of ancient iron mining and smelting on the landscape balance on Elba Island, Tuscan Archipelago, Italy - Fabian Becker, Raphael A. Eser, Philipp Hoelzmann, Brigitta Schütt (2019). The environmental impact of ancient iron mining and smelting on Elba Island, Italy – A geochemical soil survey of the Magazzini site. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 205 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gexplo.2019.04.009
  
• Iles, L. (2016). The Role of Metallurgy in Transforming Global Forests.. J Archaeol Method Theory 23:1219–1241 https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9266-7

Someday I ought to visit Parangipettai and Pichavaram! 

I recently learned about a new book titled “Tamil Computing” by Dr. R. Ponnusamy. It sparked my own long-held desire to write a book on Malayalam Computing, which friends have encouraged me to publish. I am still not convinced that a “printed book” is a good idea to present this topic yet. Not to mention the amount of time it require for such initiatives. So, I was intrigued by this book promptly purchased a copy from amazon.

🕑 1 hour 3 minutes

Viktor Schelling is the Senior Principal MediaWiki Developer at Pegasystems.

Links for some of the topics discussed:

• Pegasystems Wikipedia article
• Wikibase Solutions
• FlexForm MediaWiki extension
• Open CSP

Authenticate seamlessly with Google, Microsoft, GitHub, and more.

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Single Sign-On (SSO) streamlines your workflow by eliminating the need to manage multiple passwords, reducing both the hassle and the security risks associated with password management. By consolidating login credentials through trusted providers, SSO minimizes the likelihood of security breaches and simplifies access, enabling you to focus more on productivity and less on administrative tasks. This integration offers a more streamlined, secure login experience across various platforms.

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25/04/2024-01/05/2024

Mapping

• ivanbranco discussed the mapping of trees on OpenStreetMap, emphasising the importance of using detailed tags for leaf type, leaf cycle, and species to improve the utility and accuracy of the map, and presented resources and tools to assist in the accurate tagging of tree data.
• Lucas Longour presented a project to prioritise updates to OpenStreetMap by focusing on the ages of points of interest. The project uses a web tool to input locations, fetches data using the Nominatim API to derive bounding box coordinates, and generates queries to the Overpass API to identify points of interest such as restaurants and hotels.
• The following proposals are waiting for your comments:
  • a tagging scheme to further describe industrial works, factories, or plants which are tagged man_made=works
  • biosafety_level=* to tag a laboratory’s biosafety level.
• Voting is underway on the open=* proposal until Tuesday 7 May. This proposal originally suggested the use of opened=* but has been changed to make it more grammatically correct.

Community

• [1] Bryce Cogswell has updated his list of OpenStreetMap users who map every day, highlighting Aurimas Fišeras, who has been mapping continuously for over 10 years, with other users also maintaining long streaks of daily contributions.
• Pieter Vander Vennet has created a puzzle to help learn the names of neighbourhoods in Ghent, Belgium, by adding them to OpenStreetMap, then using MapComplete to create a custom theme and exporting the map as a PNG. The background uses a modified style sheet from Protomaps.
• The French Free Software and Digital Commons Mission interviewed ► Delphine Montagne, an OSM and Wikipedia contributor. She shared her passion for open-source software and the digital commons, and how they are used as part of her job as an engineer in geographic information sciences at the University of Pau, France. From May 2024, she will be in residence for a year at the URFIST ► (Regional Training Unit for Scientific and Technical Information) in Lyon, France, to train civil servants on Wikipedia projects.
• FargoColdYa discussed the potential of AI-generated changeset comments in OpenStreetMap, suggesting that AI could generate concise comments based on edit locations and feature types, saving users time and allowing them to focus on more complex tasks. Implementation challenges such as resolving disputed boundaries and managing technical resources remain significant.
• OpenStreetMap India has highlighted the Rosedale Garden Complex, in Kolkata, in their #NicelyMappedIndia series. Community members are encouraged to suggest or showcase well-mapped locations via the OpenStreetMap community forum under the ‘Showcase NicelyMappedIndia Places‘ topic.
• rtnf tooted that a very rewarding aspect of contributing to OpenStreetMap is the unexpected joy of seeing where your contributions will appear next.

OpenStreetMap Foundation

• OpenStreetMap US is looking for two full-time remote employees; a programme coordinator and a mid-senior level geospatial software engineer.

Events

• Médecins Sans Frontières is organising ► a mapathon in Potsdam, Germany, to support humanitarian efforts by mapping areas that are not yet covered by digital maps. No previous experience is required and the event is open to everyone.

Education

• Dr Raquel Dezidério Souto, president of the IVIDES Institute, delivered a keynote lecture at the 19th Latin American Free Software Install Fest Rio 2024 on creating a web map with uMap and OSM data. In her diary she mentioned ► the collaborative mapping pilot project, which she is developing with a group of mappers from YouthMappers UFRJ, on the theme of disaster risk reduction while using uMap.

Maps

• OpenStreetMap Belgium has updated its base maps, which are now available in three languages. These updates are part of an effort to improve usability for projects that require map tiles. The style includes minor adjustments to better highlight local features. The community is invited to contribute further customisation of the map style to represent local elements such as specific Belgian icons.

OSM in action

• Eurogamer reported that Pokémon Go has introduced Wigglet, a new creature, which is primarily spawning in the game’s beach biomes (specifically, any OSM objects tagged as natural=beach and natural=coastline) according to a fan-made tool. The tool uses OpenStreetMap data to help players locate potential Wigglet spawning sites, even in inland areas that are tagged as beaches in the map data.
• Rtnf explored the complexities of local toponyms in OpenStreetMap, discussing the challenge of mapping ‘forgotten’ or unofficial local names that are still in active use despite not being recognised by official maps and address systems.

Open Data

• OpenCage has released address-formatting, an open database of the various address formats used in territories around the world.

Licenses

• The city of Erlangen, Germany, is now offering ► open government data and geodata under the CC0 licence.

Software

• The EveryDoor 5.0-beta1 release includes new features such as Estonian opening hours and a drawing mode for field notes that are synchronised with JOSM, which users are encouraged to test. The production release is expected next week, and there are plans to create a tutorial video on how to use the new mode. Further details and instructions for other editors can be found on the OpenStreetMap Wiki on the GeoScribble page.
• The OSMChina community will be collaborating with Tsinghua University’s TUNA ► Association to participate in OSPP, a summer camp sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences , aimed at encouraging students to contribute to open-source projects during the summer break. They plan to develop an easy-to-use public transportation editor ► . This project is recruiting students up till Monday 3 June at 7 am (UTC). Currently the project’s documentation is only available in Chinese, but students from outside of China will also be considered.

Programming

• AlexSpritze showed ► how you can display your mapping history in overpass turbo.
• Kraina AI has released QuackOSM, an open source tool for reading OpenStreetMap PBF files using DuckDB.
• RicoElectrico presented ‘Road Watcher’, a Python bot that monitors changes to road classifications in OpenStreetMap to help manage contentious edits and notify users of changes to road classifications via Discord, demonstrating the bot’s utility in preventing edit wars.
• Andy Townsend is looking for volunteers to test and review the new guide to manually build a tile server on Ubuntu 24.04, to catch any bugs before it is officially released.

Releases

• MapTiler has released OpenMapTiles version 3.15.

Did you know …

• … Amanda McCann has developed the ‘osm-mapping-party-before-after’ tool? This enables users to visualise the changes made to a certain OpenStreetMap region over time, useful as a before-and-after comparison of the progress made during a mapping party campaign, providing valuable insights into the impact of collaborative mapping efforts.
• …that the JOSM ContourMerge plugin helps OpenStreetMap users to streamline map editing by merging multiple strings of lines, such as contours, into a single object? This tool is particularly valuable for simplifying complex shapes, reducing data redundancy and improving the clarity of the map’s visual elements.
• … Strubbl has written ► an easy-to-follow tutorial for the map-machine renderer? It describes how to generate maps using the map-machine renderer, written by Sergey Vartanov (aka Enzet).The tutorial gives instructions on how to install Docker, covers cloning the repository, building the Docker image, and explains in great detail the commands required to generate the map.
• … there is a list of TV series that are either about OpenStreetMap or use OpenStreetMap and have given credit?

OSM in the media

• The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management’s repair work on the Johnson’s Pond Dam is still ongoing, with further inspections required despite some progress. The Warwick Post article on the subject includes an OpenStreetMap visualisation to show the effect of water level changes in the area.
• Matt Forrest noted that both OpenStreetMap and OSRM are explicitly referenced in the American TV series Super Pumped, which chronicles the rise and fall of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, who was ultimately ousted in a boardroom coup.

Other “geo” things

• This study has used OpenStreetMap data to conduct a spatial analysis of damage to critical civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip during the Israeli military campaign from 7 October to 22 November 2023. The analysis reveals the significant effect on essential services and the wider humanitarian situation, highlighting the usefulness of OpenStreetMap in crisis mapping and damage assessment.

Upcoming Events

Where	What	Online	When	Country
Essen	FOSSGIS-OSM-Communitytreffen 2024 Nummer 20		2024-05-03 – 2024-05-05
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Mejorando el mapa de tu casa		2024-05-04
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Aprovechando las fotos de tu ActionCam (GoPro)		2024-05-04
Bogotá	FLISoL Colombia 2024 – Bogotá – Vuelo de drones con propósito.		2024-05-04
Bochum	OSM-Workshop		2024-05-05
臺北市	OpenStreetMap x Wikidata Taipei #64		2024-05-06
Rio Paranaíba	Capacitação em Mapeando Colaborativo – Editor JOSM (Youthmappers UFV)		2024-05-08
	Missing Maps London Mapathon		2024-05-07
	Encontro OSM Brasil (online)		2024-05-08
Berlin	OSM-Verkehrswende #58	✓	2024-05-07
Bruxelles – Brussel	Notes meetup		2024-05-08
Lorain County	OpenStreetMap Midwest Meetup	✓	2024-05-09
München	Münchner OSM-Treffen		2024-05-08
Stuttgart	Stuttgarter OpenStreetMap-Treffen		2024-05-08
Potsdam	191. Berlin-Brandenburg OpenStreetMap Stammtisch		2024-05-09
	Forum governance team meeting		2024-05-09
Rio de Janeiro	Oficina de mapeamento de waterways no OpenStreetMap – YouthMappers UFRJ		2024-05-10
	OSMF Engineering Working Group meeting		2024-05-10
Mainz	OpenStreetMap-Stammtisch Mainz		2024-05-11
	SotM Asia 2024 monthly meeting		2024-05-11
Zürich	163. OSM-Stammtisch Zürich		2024-05-13
Grenoble	Réunion groupe local Grenoble : Panoramax – L’alternative libre pour photo-cartographier les territoires		2024-05-13
San Jose	South Bay Map Night	✓	2024-05-15
Karlsruhe	Stammtisch Karlsruhe		2024-05-15
Zagreb	State of the Map Croatia 2024		2024-05-16 – 2024-05-17
	[Online] Map-py Wednesday		2024-05-16
Salt Lake City	OSM Utah Monthly Map Night		2024-05-17
Hannover	OSM-Stammtisch Hannover		2024-05-16

Note:
If you like to see your event here, please put it into the OSM calendar. Only data which is there, will appear in weeklyOSM.

This weeklyOSM was produced by MatthiasMatthias, SeverinGeo, Strubbl, TheSwavu, barefootstache, derFred, euroPathfinder, mcliquid, rtnf.
We welcome link suggestions for the next issue via this form and look forward to your contributions.

Art history professor Kate Dimitrova has taught three classes with Wikipedia, but it wasn’t until she enrolled in a Wiki Scholars course that she became a more dedicated Wikipedia editor – and found exhilaration, fulfillment, and empowerment in the process.

“I find immense satisfaction in knowing that I am improving an article with accurate and current scholarship,” said Dimitrova, an expert in late medieval and early Renaissance tapestries at the University of San Diego. “In many ways, serving as a Wikipedia editor is like being a super publisher – I can make significant changes instantaneously to a range of subjects and topics for which I have subject expertise – making measurable and meaningful content.”

For Dimitrova, the professional development course designed for pre-modern European art experts was a chance to connect with a new network of scholars, professors, museum curators, and librarians, and to engage with scholarship in a new, incredibly impactful way.

“I truly think that editing on Wikipedia (either editing a current article or creating a new article) is a form of public scholarship that has far-reaching influence, particularly to readers who are outside the walls of academia,” said Dimitrova. “Although I have published a co-edited volume in the field of medieval art history, my contributions to Wikipedia have the potential to make an even greater educational and scholarly impact, in part because the audience is larger and I can also create content on a relatively short timeline.”

Dimitrova’s assessment of Wikipedia’s scholarly impact is supported by research, including studies shared by recent Wiki Education Speaker Series panelist Neil Thompson which highlight how the site can influence the content in academic publications.  

To get started on Wikipedia, Dimitrova explored Stub-class to C-class articles from geographic regions that intersected with her research and teaching interests: Flanders, France, Spain, and Italy. As she began to edit the article on the Pastrana Tapestries, she quickly found herself “tumbling down a rabbit hole”, exploring other linked pages including one featuring 15th century leading tapestry dealer Pasquier Grenier, a name Dimitrova has repeatedly encountered throughout her three decades of research.

“I was dismayed by the sheer lack of sources and inaccurate information about him,” said Dimitrova, who changed course to enhance Grenier’s Wikipedia article. “I learned a lot of intriguing facts about him during my deep dive: he was a dealer not just in tapestries, but also in wine! Who knew!?”

Just as a hyperlinked page brought her to working on Grenier’s article, linked pages within the tapestry dealer’s article led her to editing other related articles, where she took pleasure in providing valuable and precise descriptions of works of art within her areas of expertise.

Although she has now completed her Wiki Scholars course, Dimitrova continues to work in her sandbox and edit on Wikipedia today, emphasizing its crucial role as a source of free, open access knowledge and underscoring the importance of Wiki Education trainings like Wiki Scholars courses and the Wikipedia Student Program for changing misperceptions of Wikipedia in academia.

“Academia’s long-propagated mistrust of Wikipedia as a viable academic source continues and students are still often advised not to use it,” Dimitrova explained. “However, I think that as more and more scholars and students alike become trained editors, they typically realize that Wikipedia’s system of ‘checks and balances’ is quite rigorous.”

Dimitrova expressed deep gratitude for Wiki Education’s Will Kent for his impactful instruction of the course, as well as for the course sponsor, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, highlighting its vital support of pre-modern European art scholars as they work to contribute to the field.

Remote companies have to work harder at everything.

The effort goes beyond “remote-friendly”—you need remote culture.

But once you have a remote culture, it’s hard to imagine going back. After nine years of working remotely, the only thing I miss about working in person is seeing people’s messy desks.

Why desks matter

Loneliness is a problem for remote workers—video chats are a terrible substitute for happy hour.

Plus, in person, you get to see people’s desks—it’s fun—it’s how you get to know people.

And I know other people think it’s fun, too: we remoties share our pictures of our workspaces all the time. Everyone should share their workspaces (here’s mine circa 2016).

My desk

This is my messy office as of today. (No cleaning and no judgments 🥹 allowed when sharing your workspace.)

Some things of note in this picture in no particular order:

• The desk and stuff on it
  • Ikea Markus chair and Trotten standing desk
  • My laptop—Framework 13 AMD
  • Vortex Race 3 Keyboard with Cherry MX clear switches
  • Logitech ERGO rollerball mouse
  • Ugmonk analog – the most straightforward productivity system I’ve found.
  • Field notes expedition edition – “I’m not writing it down to remember it later, I’m writing it down to remember it now.”
  • Endless recorder notebook – this notebook is slowly supplanting my Leuchtturm1917.
  • Micron 08 pens
  • Elgato wave mic arm with a cheapo Amazon Basics microphone. When you spend all day in meetings, it’s important to sound good.
  • Nikon D610 with 24–70mm f/2.8 lens for video calls
    • The camera sits atop a Manfrotto 244 Variable Friction Magic Arm attached to the desk via Manfrotto super clamp – see how many magic arms you spot on the International Space Station (answer: bunches)
  • The small red things in the foreground are USB data blockers—USB adapters with the data lines removed. I usually keep these in my travel bag.
  • The white cube is an ODISTAR Desktop Vacuum Cleaner.
  • dretec timer, for when I have the will to pomodoro.
  • Post-Its®. So many Post-Its.
• On the shelf
  • Perplexus maze ball held in place by a third-hand kit for soldering
  • My trusty ThinkPad X230
  • Lots of old notebooks and thank you cards
  • On the top shelf are some posters and essential reminders: “DON’T BECOME BITTER AND JADED” and “DON’T LET ADULTHOOD CORRUPT YOU.”
• My overflowing homelab rack
  • Startech 6U wall mount
  • Mikrotik hEX RB750Gr3 5-port Ethernet Gigabit Router
  • Ubiquiti edgeswitch 16
  • Synology DS212—yes, from 2012(!), it’s still kicking thanks to 2×6TB Western Digital Red NAS HDDs.
  • Gigabyte mini PC – 16GB RAM, 1TB NVMe, balancing precariously atop the Synology. The PC runs a handful of VMs: PiHole, HomeAssistant, Grafana, and Prometheus.
  • 2×Raspberry Pi 3B+s doing not much of anything
  • CyberPower CPS1215RMS Rackmount Surge Protector
  • $6 clamp work light with a $60 hue bulb bouncing light off a Neewer 43 in. reflector to light my video calls
• On the floor
  • Home Depot homer bucket, storing my Weaver arborist throw weight and line which is crucial for my job as an engineering manager.
  • A trash can with a lot of dryer sheets
  • An old dog bed

None of these are affiliate links since no one would want to be affiliated with this mess.

On my Wikipedia user page, I keep a list of the Online Communities courses I’ve taught. The capstone project for the course is to make a significant contribution to Wikipedia—the students then reflect on the experience relative to what they’ve learned about online community.

I first taught this in 2014! That’s about a decade of working with the great people at Wiki Edu on 15 courses and ~200 articles. (Thank you Helaine, Brianda, Ian, Sage, Shalor, Adam, and Ryan.) Here are a handful of the excellent contributions from this semester:

• 2023 Paris bedbug infestation
• Bengals’ & Chiefs’ rivalry
• The Mamba Mentality: How I Play
• Chinese New Year customs in Singapore
• Body doubling
• Snapchat dysmorphia
• Undecuple meter