Wow! This is a great news. Thanks for sharing Katherine.
With best wishes Isaac. On Thu, 2 Jul 2020, 17:39 Denny Vrandečić, <[email protected]> wrote: > Katherine, thank you for the warm welcome and your kind words! > > I am very happy to be given the opportunity to start this new project, and > deeply honored by the trust and confidence of the Board and the Foundation. > > Thanks to the many who have listened to me talking about this project in > the last few years, read my papers and plans, commented on them, > scrutinized them, and offered encouragement, criticism, and advice. Thanks > to everyone who expressed their support and raised their concerns on the > proposal page on Meta [1]. It is thanks to you that the Board was confident > enough to make this decision. > > There is a lot of work in front of us, and I will continue to rely on your > guidance and collective wisdom. We will need to foster a new community. > Just as with Wikidata, I hope that some of you will become active in the > new community, and I also want to make sure that we will be welcoming to > new contributors. We want to extend and grow the Wikimedia movement not > only with new functionalities, but also with new people. > > Settling in this new position will take quite a bit of my attention in the > next few weeks, so please forgive me if I may be slow with answering your > questions between now and then. One of the first things we’ll do is to set > up new communication channels. We will continue discussing the project and > planning on Meta [2] for now and also welcome you to the new, dedicated > mailing list [3]. > > One of our first tasks together will be to find a name for the project. A > first set of proposals have already been made [4], and I invite you all to > come up with more ideas. We will start that off in July or August. Did I > mention that you can join us on Meta [2] to discuss proposals for names, > the project itself, and much more? > > Again, thank you all! I am super excited about figuring this thing out with > you, and am looking forward to coming back to Wikimedia full-time. > > Stay safe, > Denny > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Abstract_Wikipedia > [2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract_Wikipedia > [3] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/abstract-wikipedia > [4] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Name > > > > On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 9:24 AM Brion Vibber <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I'm extremely excited about this project! > > > > Not only will this be directly useful on its own (and a fascinating > project > > in its own right!), but it will help our volunteer editors to ramp up > good > > base material to work with on the "prose" Wikipedias we already know and > > love. > > > > The idea is really to make the structured data we've all been putting > into > > Wikidata available in a human-readable form at a big scale, that's still > > able to be shaped and made into something real and readable by human > > editors. By moving around where in the chain the data gets expressed as > > human language, we hope to make something that's just as editable but > much > > more maintainable in the future and across multiple languages. > > > > -- brion > > > > > > On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 9:04 AM Katherine Maher <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > (A translatable version of this announcement can be found on Meta [1]) > > > > > > Hi all, > > > > > > It is my honor to introduce Abstract Wikipedia [1], a new project that > > has > > > been unanimously approved by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of > Trustees. > > > Abstract Wikipedia proposes a new way to generate baseline encyclopedic > > > content in a multilingual fashion, allowing more contributors and more > > > readers to share more knowledge in more languages. It is an approach > that > > > aims to make cross-lingual cooperation easier on our projects, increase > > the > > > sustainability of our movement through expanding access to > participation, > > > improve the user experience for readers of all languages, and innovate > in > > > free knowledge by connecting some of the strengths of our movement to > > > create something new. > > > > > > This is our first new project in over seven years. Abstract Wikipedia > was > > > submitted as a project proposal by Denny Vrandečić in May of 2020 [2] > > after > > > years of preparation and research, leading to a detailed plan and > lively > > > discussions in the Wikimedia communities. We know that the energy and > the > > > creativity of the community often runs up against language barriers, > and > > > information that is available in one language may not make it to other > > > language Wikipedias. Abstract Wikipedia intends to look and feel like a > > > Wikipedia, but build on the powerful, language-independent conceptual > > > models of Wikidata, with the goal of letting volunteers create and > > maintain > > > Wikipedia articles across our polyglot Wikimedia world. > > > > > > The project will allow volunteers to assemble the fundamentals of an > > > article using words and entities from Wikidata. Because Wikidata uses > > > conceptual models that are meant to be universal across languages, it > > > should be possible to use and extend these building blocks of knowledge > > to > > > create models for articles that also have universal value. Using code, > > > volunteers will be able to translate these abstract “articles” into > their > > > own languages. If successful, this could eventually allow everyone to > > read > > > about any topic in Wikidata in their own language. > > > > > > As you can imagine, this work will require a lot of software > development, > > > and a lot of cooperation among Wikimedians. In order to make this > effort > > > possible, Denny will join the Foundation as a staff member in July and > > lead > > > this initiative. You may know Denny as the creator of Wikidata, a > > long-time > > > community member, a former staff member at Wikimedia Deutschland, and a > > > former Trustee at the Wikimedia Foundation[3]. We are very excited that > > > Denny will bring his skills and expertise to work on this project > > alongside > > > the Foundation’s product, technology, and community liaison teams. > > > > > > It is important to acknowledge that this is an experimental project and > > > that every Wikipedia community has different needs. This project may > > offer > > > some communities great advantages. Other communities may engage less. > > Every > > > language Wikipedia community will be free to choose and moderate > whether > > or > > > how they would use content from this project. > > > > > > We are excited that this new wiki-project has the possibility to > advance > > > knowledge equity through increased access to knowledge. It also invites > > us > > > to consider and engage with critical questions about how and by whom > > > knowledge is constructed. We look forward to working in cooperation > with > > > the communities to think through these important questions. > > > > > > There is much to do as we begin designing a plan for Abstract Wikipedia > > in > > > close collaboration with our communities. I encourage you to get > involved > > > by going to the project page and joining the new mailing list[4]. We > > > recognize that Abstract Wikipedia is ambitious, but we also recognize > its > > > potential. We invite you all to join us on a new, unexplored path. > > > > > > Yours, > > > Katherine Maher > > > > > > Executive Director, > > > Wikimedia Foundation > > > > > > [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract > > > Wikipedia/June 2020 announcement > > > [2] > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Abstract_Wikipedia > > > [3] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Denny > > > [4] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/abstract-wikipedia > > > -- > > > > > > Katherine Maher (she/her) > > > > > > Executive Director > > > > > > Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/> > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Please note: all replies sent to this mailing list will be immediately > > > directed to Wikimedia-l, the public mailing list of the Wikimedia > > > community. 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