I note that there are discussions going on in the Technology stream that very definitely touch on this topic.
The first I noticed is a discussion on Wikitech-L entitled "Word embeddings / vector search". The second one is a discussion point on this week's Tech News: There is a recently formed team at the Wikimedia Foundation which will be focusing on experimenting with new tools. Currently they are building a prototype ChatGPT plugin that allows information generated by ChatGPT to be properly attributed <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2023-2024/Draft/Future_Audiences#FA2.2_Conversational_AI> to the Wikimedia projects. These may be good starting points to discover what is already happening within the technical space, and what the thinking is on the likelihood of it filling the need of the proposed project. Regardless, since the project being proposed will require a lot of technical/developer/engineer work, it would be very useful to talk to the people who already have been working and researching in this topic area to determine if the proposed project is viable. Risker/Anne On Mon, 15 May 2023 at 20:41, Adam Sobieski <[email protected]> wrote: > I would share that I don't fully understand the current WMF procedure for > project proposals. I noticed an April 14 email in this mailing list about > forming a new taskforce on these topics ( > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/thread/ZRV7MGHF4IH6LCN3DF6FF6IFMHXJTXZO/). > So, when it comes to expectations for a project proposal, the current WMF > process, procedure, and related definitions of success for a proposal, I > have more questions than answers. > > James, thank you. I see your points and, as envisioned, teambuilding for > the Wikianswers project would welcome participants from both within and > outside of the WMF movement. I anticipate a considerable excitement with > respect to combinations of AI and Wiki platforms, infrastructure, and > search. Hopefully the Wikianswers proposal indicates some of the > possibilities and opportunities in these regards to interested researchers > and developers (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikianswers). > > > Best regards, > Adam > > P.S.: Thank you for the discussion thus far. I'm still considering the > epistemology of which AI-generated multimodal answers would be cacheable, > editable, and thus correctable by a community of editors. > > ------------------------------ > *From:* James Heilman <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Monday, May 15, 2023 6:28 PM > *To:* Wikimedia Mailing List <[email protected]> > *Subject:* [Wikimedia-l] Re: Wikianswers Proposal > > Setting up a project outside the WMF would be much easier to start with. > One can then trial the idea and if successful the movement may then be > willing to have the WMF take it on. > > WikiVoyage started outside the WMF by a small group in Germany (after they > split from WikiTravel). They had an active community and simply migrated to > WMF servers. > > Similarly we at Wiki Project Med have started NC Commons > https://nccommons.org/wiki/Main_Page Will the movement be interested in > this project at some point? I guess we will see. > > James > > On Tue, May 16, 2023 at 3:16 AM Risker <[email protected]> wrote: > > My plate is full at the moment, and project creation is not a specific > interest of mine. I hope that Adam does not see things as demotivating; > creating a new project type *should* be a big challenge. I do think that > those standards need to be significantly revised. They were all written at > a time when the WMF had no problems at all just raising the target for > fundraising, and being successful with the new goal. This year we are > dealing with the reality that the fundraising pool is not unlimited. We > have been told flat out that there are significant limitations to the > available human resources required to create a new project. This isn't > 2012 anymore, it's 11 years later, and the world in which the Wikimedia > community operates has changed significantly. We can't just be doing the > same things that we did back in the olden days. It would be setting > ourselves up - as a community and as a potential new project - for failure. > > Risker/Anne > > On Mon, 15 May 2023 at 13:53, Ilario valdelli <[email protected]> wrote: > > I think that here the proposal is to have a new sister project ( > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_projects). > > There is a long list: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposals_for_new_projects > > The concept behind a new sister project is the capacity to build a > community and an enthusastic group of people. > > The policy is here: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_project_process > > There is nothing about capacity and risk management. > > I wanted to encourage Adam after some very demotivating comments and to > look to the positive aspects that, in my opinion, are present in this idea. > > To start his project, he needs 10 interested participants / supporters. > Are you interested? > > Kind regards > On 15/05/2023 19:16, Risker wrote: > > So....how much does it cost to develop and run an entirely new and > different type of project? Who develops it? How much would the hosting > cost on an ongoing basis? Is this project more important and more needed > than an existing project type? > > These aren't small questions; they are in fact the questions that need to > be asked every time we come up with an idea (no matter how great the idea) > for a new project type. Contrary to popular belief, there isn't an > unlimited budget, and there aren't unlimited staffing resources for these > things. Everything costs real money and the time of real people, and we as > a broad community need to be far more cognizant of the limitations of these > resources, and the likelihood that the financial situation is not going to > change significantly in the coming five years. > > Personally, I think this is an idea with possibilities, but it is a very > expensive one because it will need an entirely different way of operating. > So...where would be cut costs to make this possible? Should we close some > little-used projects so they no longer draw on our limited pool of > resources? Should we cut back on volunteer/community safety and resources? > > There are always trade-offs. In the WMF annual plan, they talk about some > of those trade-offs. This is another one. New, different projects need to > be able to justify their cost and existence. In fact, in the > not-too-distant future, I can foresee that some minimal-use projects may > also have to justify their existence. I am all in favour of being > visionary - but I'm also in favour of planting these visions in solid > ground. > > Risker/Anne > > On Mon, 15 May 2023 at 12:19, Ilario Valdelli <[email protected]> wrote: > > I like the idea. > > Sometimes people need a simple answer. > > At the moment to receive an answer from Wikipedia for some articles people > need a Phd. > > A solution like that can give a smart and quick and understable answer. > > Kind regards > > On Mon, 15 May 2023, 11:48 Adam Sobieski, <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Wikimedia, > > Per the recent interest in and discussions about artificial intelligence in > this > mailing list, I am pleased to indicate the *Wikianswers* project > proposal. The proposal describes some approaches for integrating these > technologies (e.g., multimodal dialogue systems, chatbots, and > question-answering systems) with existing Wiki platforms. > > "Wikianswers would be a large-scale, user-editable cache of multimodal > answers from artificial intelligence systems, e.g., one or more large > language models, which tightly integrates with Wikipedia, Wikidata, and > Commons." > > This project proposal is described in more detail here: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikianswers . > > Thank you. Please feel free to review the project proposal and to comment > either here or there with any opinions, questions, feedback, or suggestions. > > > Best regards, > Adam Sobieski > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/JXYO3QW6QYCBHLS4JOHKPPAIJRPMYO4C/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/5BFKXPFA6NWGBEY26YSBRP3PUNFWW73Y/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/35ALTTWNCCV56EMW7KYCP7NRKVDXBRIY/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > -- > Ilario Valdelli > Wikimedia CH > Verein zur Förderung Freien Wissens > Association pour l’avancement des connaissances libre > Associazione per il sostegno alla conoscenza libera > Switzerland - 8008 Zürich > Wikipedia: Ilario > Skype: valdelli > Tel: +41764821371http://www.wikimedia.ch > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/TMO5RH5OGGY6EO4Q6KJPC7F2WZE2I5GT/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > > > > -- > James Heilman > MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list -- [email protected], guidelines > at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l > Public archives at > https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/message/7YBDH6IB74QLRCHJE4ZJ5YRWXXA4C7I7/ > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >
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