Wikimedia Foundation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
"Wikimedia" redirects here. It is not to be confused with MediaWiki or Wikimedia Commons.

Coordinates: 37°47′13″N 122°23′59″W / 37.78697°N 122.399677°W / 37.78697; -122.399677

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Wikimedia Foundation RGB logo with text.svg
Logo of the Wikimedia Foundation
Founded St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.
June 20, 2003; 12 years ago (2003-06-20)
Founder Jimmy Wales
Type 501(c)(3) charitable organization
Focus Free, open-content, wiki-based Internet projects
Location
Area served
 Worldwide
Method Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikiversity, Wikidata, Wikivoyage, Wikimedia Incubator and Meta-Wiki
Key people
 Patricio Lorente, chair of the board[1]
Lila Tretikov, Executive Director
Revenue
 Increase US$75.8 million[2]
Expenses negative increase US$52.6 million[2]
Employees
 ~280 staff/contractors (as of October 2015)[3]
Volunteers
 27,118,398 registered editors
Website wikimediafoundation.org

The Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) is an American non-profit and charitable organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, that operates many wikis. The foundation is mostly known for hosting Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia, as well as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks, Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons, Wikispecies, Wikinews, Wikiversity, Wikidata, Wikivoyage, Wikimedia Incubator, and Meta-Wiki. It also owned the now-defunct Nupedia.

The Wikimedia organization was founded in 2003 by Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, as a way to fund Wikipedia and its sister projects through non-profit means.[4][5]

As of 2015, the foundation employs over 280 people, with annual revenues in excess of US$75 million.[2] Lila Tretikov leads the foundation as its executive director, and Patricio Lorente is chairman of the board.

Goal[edit]

The Wikimedia Foundation falls under section 501(c)(3) of the US Internal Revenue Code as a public charity. Its National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) code is B60 (Adult, Continuing education).[6][7] The foundation's by-laws declare a statement of purpose of collecting and developing educational content and to disseminate it effectively and globally.[8]

The Wikimedia Foundation's stated goal is to develop and maintain open content, wiki-based projects and to provide the full contents of those projects to the public free of charge.[9]

History[edit]

In 2001, Jimmy Wales, an Internet entrepreneur, and Larry Sanger, a software developer, founded Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopedia. The project was originally funded by Bomis, Wales' for-profit business. As Wikipedia's popularity skyrocketed, revenues to fund the project stalled.[4] Since Wikipedia was depleting Bomis' resources, Wales and Sanger thought of a charity model to fund the project.[4] The Wikimedia Foundation was then created from Wikipedia and Nupedia on June 20, 2003.[5] It applied to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark Wikipedia on September 17, 2004. The mark was granted registration status on January 10, 2006. Trademark protection was accorded by Japan on December 16, 2004, and, in the European Union, on January 20, 2005. There were plans to license the use of the Wikipedia trademark for some products, such as books or DVDs.[10]

In April 2005, the US Internal Revenue Service approved the foundation as an educational foundation in the category "Adult, Continuing education", meaning all contributions to the foundation are tax-deductible for US federal income tax purposes.

On December 11, 2006, the Foundation's board noted that the corporation could not become the membership organization initially planned but never implemented due to an inability to meet the registration requirements of Florida statutory law. Accordingly, the by-laws were amended to remove all reference to membership rights and activities. The decision to change the bylaws was passed by the board unanimously.[11]

On September 25, 2007, the foundation's board gave notice that the operations would be moving to the San Francisco Bay Area. Major considerations cited for choosing San Francisco were proximity to like-minded organizations and potential partners, a better talent pool, as well as cheaper and more convenient international travel than is available from St. Petersburg, Florida.[12][13][14]

Projects and initiatives[edit]

Wikimedia projects[edit]

Main article: Wikimedia projects

In addition to Wikipedia, the foundation operates other wikis that follow the free content model with their main goal being the dissemination of knowledge. These include:

Wikibooks logo Name: Wikibooks
Description: collection of textbooks
Website: www.wikibooks.org		 Wikinews logo Name: Wikinews
Description: online newspaper
Website: www.wikinews.org		 Wikispecies logo Name: Wikispecies
Description: taxonomic catalogue of species
Website: species.wikimedia.org
Wikidata logo Name: Wikidata
Description: knowledge base
Website: www.wikidata.org		 Wikipedia logo Name: Wikipedia
Description: online encyclopedia
Website: www.wikipedia.org		 Wikiversity logo Name: Wikiversity
Description: collection of tutorials and courses, while also serving as a hosting point to coordinate research.
Website: www.wikiversity.org
Wikimedia Commons logo Name: Wikimedia Commons
Description: repository of images, sounds, videos, and general media.
Website: commons.wikimedia.org		 Wikiquote logo Name: Wikiquote
Description: collection of quotations
Website: www.wikiquote.org		 Wikivoyage logo Name: Wikivoyage
Description: travel guide
Website: www.wikivoyage.org
Wikimedia Meta logo Name: Meta-Wiki
Description: central site to coordinate all Wikimedia projects.
Website: meta.wikimedia.org		 Wikisource logo Name: Wikisource
Description: digital library
Website: www.wikisource.org		 Wiktionary logo Name: Wiktionary
Description: online dictionary and thesaurus
Website: www.wiktionary.org

Movement affiliates[edit]

  Wikimedia chapters (blue)
  Wikimedia user groups with a geographic focus (green)
See also: List of Wikimedia chapters

Wikimedia movement affiliates are independent, but formally recognized, groups of people intended to work together to support and contribute to the Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees has approved three active models for movement affiliates: chapters, thematic organizations, and user groups. Movement affiliates are intended to organize and engage in activities to support and contribute to the Wikimedia movement, such as regional conferences, outreach, edit-a-thons, hackathons, public relations, public policy advocacy, GLAM engagement, and Wikimania.[15][16][17]

Recognition of a chapter and thematic organization is approved by the foundation's board. Recommendations on recognition of chapters and thematic organizations are made to the foundation's board by an Affiliations Committee, composed of Wikimedia community volunteers. The Affiliations Committee approves the recognition of individual user groups. While movement affiliates are formally recognized by the Wikimedia Foundation, they are independent of the Wikimedia Foundation, with no legal control of nor responsibility for the Wikimedia projects.[16][17][18]

The foundation began recognizing chapters in 2004.[19] In 2010, development on additional models began. In 2012, the foundation approved, finalized, and adopted the thematic organization and user group recognition models. An additional model, movement partners, was also approved but as of 27 October 2015 has not yet been finalized or adopted.[15][17][20]

Wikimedia chapters are national (or in some cases sub-national) not-for-profit organisations created to support and promote the Wikimedia projects locally.[16][17][19][21][22][23] Following recognition by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, they enter into a "Chapters Agreement" with the foundation.[16] As of 27 October 2015, there are 41 recognized Wikimedia chapters.[15][19]

Wikimedia thematic organizations are not-for-profit organisations created to support and promote the Wikimedia projects and focused on a specific theme, topic, subject or issue within or across countries and regions.[17][24] Following recognition by the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, they enter into a "Thematic Organizations Agreement" with the foundation.[16] As of 27 October 2015, there is one recognized Wikimedia thematic organization.[15][24]

Wikimedia user groups are less formal groups created to support and promote the Wikimedia projects locally or on a specific theme, topic, subject, or issue. The user group model was created as a more simple and flexible alternative to chapters and thematic organizations - which have more formal requirements.[17][25] Once they are recognized by the Affiliations Committee, they enter into a "User Groups Agreement and Code of Conduct" with the foundation.[16] As of 27 October 2015, there are 47 recognized Wikimedia user groups.[15][25]

Wikimania[edit]

Main article: Wikimania

Each year, an international conference called Wikimania brings the people together who are involved in the Wikimedia organizations and projects. The first Wikimania was held in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2005. Nowadays, Wikimania is organized by a committee supported usually by the national chapter, in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikimania has been held in cities such as Buenos Aires,[26] Cambridge,[27] Haifa,[28] Hong Kong,[29] and London.[30] In 2015, Wikimania took place in Mexico City.[31] In 2016, Wikimania will be held in Esino Lario, Italy.[32]

Strategic plan[edit]

Video explaining the Wikimedia Strategic Plan
Executive director Lila Tretikov, 2014

In response to the growing size and popularity of Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation announced a Strategic Plan to improve and sustain the Wikimedia movement. The plan was announced in July 2009, followed by a process of interviews and surveys with people from across the Wikimedia movement, including board of trustees, members of staff and volunteer editors.[33] The ongoing plan was intended to be the basis of a five-year plan to further outreach, improve content quality and quality control, and optimising operational areas such as finance and infrastructure.[34]

Wikipedia Usability Initiative[edit]

In December 2008, the Wikimedia Foundation announced a restricted donation grant of US$890,000 from the Stanton Foundation, to improve Wikipedia's accessibility.[35] Later named the Wikipedia Usability Initiative, the grant was used by the Wikimedia Foundation to appoint project-specific staff to the technology department.[36]

A series of surveys were conducted throughout 2009. This began with a qualitative environment survey on MediaWiki extensions, followed by a Qualitative Statistical Survey focusing on volume of edits, number of new users, and related statistics. In March 2009, a usability and experience study was carried out on new and non-editors of the English Wikipedia. The aim was to discover what obstacles participants encountered while editing Wikipedia, ranging from small changes to more complicated syntax such as templates. The study recruited 2500 people for in-person laboratory testing via the Wikipedia website, which was filtered down to ten participants. The results were collated and used by the technology team to improve Wikipedia's usability.[37] The Usability and Experience Study was followed up by the Usability, Experience and Progress Study in September 2009. This study recruited different new and non-editors for in-person trials on a new Wikipedia skin.[38]

The initiative ultimately culminated in a new Wikipedia skin named Vector, constructed based on the results of the usability studies. This was introduced by default in stages, beginning in May 2010.[39]

Public Policy Initiative[edit]

In May 2010, the Wikimedia Foundation announced the Public Policy Initiative, following a US$1.2 million donation by the Stanton Foundation. The Initiative was set up to improve articles relating to public policy–related issues.[40] As part of the initiative, Wikipedia collaborated with ten universities to help students and professors create and maintain articles relating to public policy.[41] Volunteer editors of Wikipedia, known as "ambassadors", provided assistance to students and professors. This was either done on campus sites or online.[42]

Technology[edit]

The foundation employs technology including hardware and software to run its projects.

Hardware[edit]

Overview of system architecture, October 2015. See server layout diagrams on Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia Foundation servers

Wikipedia employed a single server until 2004, when the server setup was expanded into a distributed multitier architecture.[43]

In January 2005, the project ran on 39 dedicated servers in Florida.[citation needed] This configuration included a single master database server running MySQL, multiple slave database servers, 21 web servers running the Apache HTTP Server, and seven Squid cache servers.

Wikimedia currently runs on dedicated clusters of Linux servers (mainly Ubuntu).[44][45] As of December 2009, there were 300 in Florida and 44 in Amsterdam.[46] The number of servers needed to run the infrastructure has been mostly stable since then: 520 servers are used in the main cluster (eqiad) as of November 2015.[47]

As of 2015, the system still runs on central master database and application servers, but there are several cache layers with various ever-changing technologies, as well as a multitude of subsystems for DNS resolution, load balancing, metrics, monitoring, other system administration etc.[48]

Softwаrе[edit]

See also: MediaWiki and VisualEditor

The operation of Wikimedia depends on MediaWiki, a custom-made, free and open-source wiki software platform written in PHP and built upon the MySQL database.[49] The software incorporates programming features such as a macro language, variables, a transclusion system for templates, and URL redirection. MediaWiki is licensed under the GNU General Public License and it is used by all Wikimedia projects, as well as many other wiki projects. Originally, Wikipedia ran on UseModWiki written in Perl by Clifford Adams (Phase I), which initially required CamelCase for article hyperlinks; the present double bracket style was incorporated later. Starting in January 2002 (Phase II), Wikipedia began running on a PHP wiki engine with a MySQL database; this software was custom-made for Wikipedia by Magnus Manske. The Phase II software was repeatedly modified to accommodate the exponentially increasing demand. In July 2002 (Phase III), Wikipedia shifted to the third-generation software, MediaWiki, originally written by Lee Daniel Crocker. Several MediaWiki extensions are installed to extend the functionality of MediaWiki software. In April 2005, a Lucene extension[50][51] was added to MediaWiki's built-in search and Wikipedia switched from MySQL to Lucene for searching. Currently Lucene Search 2.1,[52] which is written in Java and based on Lucene library 2.3,[53] is used. Wikimedia Foundation also uses CiviCRM[54] and WordPress.[55]

The Foundation published official Wikipedia mobile apps for Android and iOS devices and in March 2015, the apps were updated to include mobile user friendly features.[56]

Finances[edit]

In general[edit]

See also: wmf:Financial reports
Financial development of the Wikimedia Foundation (in US$), 2003–2015
  Support and revenue
  Expenses
  Net assets at year-end
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements

The Wikimedia Foundation relies on public contributions and grants to fund its mission.[57] It is exempt from federal income tax[57][58] and from state income tax.[57][59] It is not a private foundation, and contributions to it qualify as tax-deductible charitable contributions.[57]

The continued technical and economic growth of each of the Wikimedia projects is dependent mostly on donations but the Wikimedia Foundation also increases its revenue by alternative means of funding such as grants, sponsorship, services and brand merchandising. The Wikimedia OAI-PMH update feed service, targeted primarily at search engines and similar bulk analysis and republishing, has been a source of revenue for several years,[57] but is no longer open to new customers.[60] DBpedia was given access to this feed free of charge.[61] In July 2014, the Foundation announced it would be accepting Bitcoin donations.[62]

Since the end of fiscal year ended 2004, the Foundation's net assets have grown from US$57,000[63] to US$53.5 million at the end of fiscal year ended June 30, 2014.[64] Under the leadership of Sue Gardner, who joined the Wikimedia Foundation in 2007, the Foundation's staff levels, number of donors and revenue have seen very significant growth.[65]

Interview with Garfield Byrd, Chief of Finance and Administration at the Wikimedia Foundation. Recorded October 7, 2011

In 2007, Charity Navigator gave Wikimedia an overall rating of three out of four possible stars[66] (one out of four in efficiency, which has been criticised).[67] Charity Navigator gave three out of four possible stars in overall rating for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 which improved to four-stars in 2010.[68] The current overall rating is four stars – three stars for Financial, four stars for Accountability and Transparency.[69]

Grants[edit]

Wikimedia Foundation and chapters finance meeting 2012, Paris

In March 2008, the Foundation announced a large donation, at the time its largest donation yet: a three-year, US$3 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.[70]

In 2009, the Foundation received four grants – the first grant was a US$890,000 Stanton Foundation grant which was aimed to help study and simplify user interface for first-time authors of Wikipedia.[71] The second was a US$300,000 Ford Foundation Grant, given in July 2009, for Wikimedia Commons that aimed to improve the interfaces and workflows for multimedia uploading on Wikimedia websites.[72] In August 2009, the Foundation received a US$500,000 grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.[73] Lastly, in August 2009, the Omidyar Network issued a potential[clarification needed] US$2 million in "grant" funding to Wikimedia.[74]

In 2010, the Google corporation donated US$2 million to the Foundation.[75] Also in 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation pledged a US$800,000 grant and all was funded during 2011.[citation needed]

In March 2011, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation authorized another US$3 million grant to continue to develop and maintain the Foundation's mission. The grant was to be funded over three years with the first US$1 million funded in July 2011 and the remaining US$2 million was scheduled to be funded in August 2012 and 2013. In August 2011, the Stanton Foundation pledged to fund a US$3.6 million grant of which US$1.8 million was funded and the remaining was due to be funded in September 2012. As of 2011, this was the largest grant received by the Wikimedia Foundation to-date.[76] In November 2011, the Foundation received a US$500,000 donation from Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife.[77][78]

In 2012, the Foundation was awarded a grant of US$1.25 million from the historians Lisbet Rausing[77] and Peter Baldwin through Charities Aid Foundation, scheduled to be funded in five equal installments. The first installment of US$250,000 was received in April 2012 and the remaining were to be funded in December 2012 through 2015. In 2014, the Foundation received the largest single gift in its history, a $5 million unrestricted donation from an anonymous donor supporting $1 million worth of expenses annually for the next five years.[79]

Financial summary[edit]

Wikimedia financial data through June 2014 (financial years run from July 1 to June 30)
Fiscal year Revenue Year-over-year ratio
(revenue)		 Expenses Year-over-year ratio
(expenses)		 Net assets Year-over-year ratio
(net assets)
2003–2004[80]
Steady US$80,129
Steady N/A
Steady US$23,463
Steady N/A
Steady US$56,666
Steady N/A
2004–2005[80]
Increase US$379,088
Increase 373.1%
negative increase US$177,670
negative increase 657.2%
Increase US$268,084
Increase 373.1%
2005–2006[80]
Increase US$1,508,039
Increase 297.8%
negative increase US$791,907
negative increase 345.7%
Increase US$1,004,216
Increase 274.6%
2006–2007[81]
Increase US$2,734,909
Increase 81.4%
negative increase US$2,077,843
negative increase 162.4%
Increase US$1,658,282
Increase 65.1%
2007–2008[82]
Increase US$5,032,981
Increase 84.0%
negative increase US$3,540,724
negative increase 70.4%
Increase US$5,178,168
Increase 212.3%
2008–2009[83]
Increase US$8,658,006
Increase 72.0%
negative increase US$5,617,236
negative increase 58.6%
Increase US$8,231,767
Increase 59.0%
2009–2010[84]
Increase US$17,979,312
Increase 107.7%
negative increase US$10,266,793
negative increase 82.8%
Increase US$14,542,731
Increase 76.7%
2010–2011[85]
Increase US$24,785,092
Increase 37.8%
negative increase US$17,889,794
negative increase 74.2%
Increase US$24,192,144
Increase 66.3%
2011–2012[86]
Increase US$38,479,665
Increase 55.2%
negative increase US$29,260,652
negative increase 63.6%
Increase US$34,929,058
Increase 44.4%
2012–2013[87]
Increase US$48,635,408
Increase 26.4%
negative increase US$35,704,796
negative increase 22.0%
Increase US$45,189,124
Increase 29.4%
2013–2014[2]
Increase US$52,465,287
Increase 8.6%
negative increase US$45,900,745
negative increase 28.6%
Increase US$53,475,021
Increase 18.3%
2014–2015[2]
Increase US$75,797,223
Increase 44.5%
negative increase US$52,596,782
negative increase 14.6%
Increase US$77,820,298
Increase 45.5%

Governance[edit]

Board of Trustees[edit]

Patricio Lorente, the current Chairman of the Board

The Board of Trustees has ultimate authority of all the businesses and affairs of the Foundation. It is composed of ten members:

  • four who are appointed by the Board itself;
  • three who are selected by the community encompassed by all the different Wikimedia projects;
  • two who are selected by the local chapters and thematic organizations;
  • and one emeritus for the foundation's founder, Jimmy Wales.[88]

Three permanent entities support the board on its mission and responsibilities: an executive director, namely Lila Tretikov, which leads and oversees the operational arm of the foundation; an advisory board composed of individuals selected by the board itself that advise the board on different matters; and standing committees to which the board delegates certain matters while retaining ultimate authority. The board has also at times created other orthodox entities[clarification needed] to support itself, such as executive secretaries and ad-hoc committees established for specific tasks.

The current board comprises Patricio Lorente as Chairman and Alice Wiegand as Vice-Chairman, together with Frieda Brioschi, Dariusz Jemielniak, Guy Kawasaki, Denny Vrandečić, Jan-Bart de Vreede, Jimmy Wales and Stu West as members at-large. James Heilman, one of the three community-elected members, has been ousted from the board during a board meeting on December 28, 2015 without giving reasons to the public yet.[89]

Advisory board[edit]

The Advisory Board, according to the Wikimedia Foundation, is an international network of experts who have agreed to give the foundation meaningful help on a regular basis in many different areas, including law, organizational development, technology, policy, and outreach.[90]

Staff[edit]

First appointments[edit]

Staff and workplace at Wikimedia Foundation's San Francisco office

In 2004, the foundation appointed Tim Starling as developer liaison to help improve the MediaWiki software, Daniel Mayer as chief financial officer (finance, budgeting, and coordination of fund drives), and Erik Möller as content partnership coordinator. In May 2005, the foundation announced seven more official appointments.[91][better source needed]

In January 2006, the foundation created several committees, including the Communication Committee, in an attempt to further organize activities essentially handled by volunteers at that time.[92] Starling resigned that month to spend more time on his PhD program.

Employees[edit]

A workers area at the Wikimedia Foundation's San Francisco headquarters

The foundation's functions were, for the first few years, executed almost entirely by volunteers. In 2005, it had only two employees, Danny Wool, a coordinator, and Brion Vibber, a software manager.

As of October 4, 2006, the foundation had five paid employees:[93] two programmers, an administrative assistant, a coordinator handling fundraising and grants, and an interim executive director,[94] Brad Patrick, previously the foundation's general counsel. Patrick ceased his activity as interim director in January 2007, and then resigned from his position as legal counsel, effective April 1, 2007. He was replaced by Mike Godwin, who served as general counsel and legal coordinator from July 2007[95] until 2010.

In January 2007, Carolyn Doran was named chief operating officer and Sandy Ordonez joined as head of communications.[96] Doran began working as a part-time bookkeeper in 2006 after being sent by a temporary agency. Doran later left the foundation in July 2007, and Sue Gardner was hired as consultant and special advisor (later CEO). Her departure from the organization was cited by Florence Devouard as one of the reasons the foundation took about seven months to release its fiscal 2007 financial audit.[97]

The location of the Wikimedia Foundation's San Francisco headquarters

Danny Wool, officially the grant coordinator but also largely involved in fundraising and business development, resigned in March 2007. Wales was accused by former Wikimedia Foundation employee Danny Wool of misusing the foundation's funds for recreational purposes. Wool also stated that Wales had his Wikimedia credit card taken away in part because of his spending habits, a claim Wales denied.[98] In February 2007, the foundation added a new position, chapters coordinator, and hired Delphine Ménard,[99] who had been occupying the position as a volunteer since August 2005. Cary Bass was hired in March 2007 in the position of volunteer coordinator. Oleta McHenry was brought in as accountant in May 2007, through a temporary placement agency and made the official full-time accountant in August 2007. In January 2008, the foundation appointed Veronique Kessler as the new chief financial and operating officer, Kul Wadhwa as head of business development, and Jay Walsh as head of communications.

By early 2015, the foundation had well over 200 employees.

According to Business Insider, "In September of 2012, there was a quite a bit of media attention surrounding two Wikipedia employees who were running a PR business on the side and editing Wikipedia on behalf of their clients."[100][better source needed]

Disputes and lawsuits[edit]

Wikimedia Foundation post-SOPA party, 2012
Main article: List of litigation involving the Wikimedia Foundation

Many disputes have resulted in litigation[101][102][103][104] while others have not.[105] Attorney Matt Zimmerman stated, "Without strong liability protection, it would be difficult for Wikipedia to continue to provide a platform for user-created encyclopedia content."[106]

In December 2011, the Foundation hired Washington, DC lobbyist Dow Lohnes Government Strategies LLC to lobby the United States Congress with regard to "Civil Rights/Civil Liberties" and "Copyright/Patent/Trademark."[107] At the time of the hire the Foundation was concerned specifically about a bill known as the Stop Online Piracy Act.[108]

In October 2013, a German Court ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation can be held liable for content added to Wikipedia.[109]

In June 2014, a copyright infringement lawsuit was filed by Bildkonst Upphovsrätt i Sverige against Wikimedia Sweden.[110]

On June 20, 2014, a defamation lawsuit (Law Division civil case No. L-1400-14) involving Wikipedia editors was filed with the Mercer County Superior Court in New Jersey seeking, inter alia, compensatory and punitive damages.[111][112]

In a March 10, 2015, op-ed for The New York Times, Wales and Tretikov announced the Foundation was filing a lawsuit against the National Security Agency, calling into question its practice of mass surveillance, which they argued infringed the constitutional rights of the Foundation's readers, editors and staff.[113][114][115]

See also[edit]

Portal icon Biography portal
Portal icon Books portal
Portal icon California portal
Portal icon Florida portal
Portal icon Internet portal
Portal icon Journalism portal
Portal icon San Francisco Bay Area portal
Portal icon Software portal
Portal icon United States portal

References[edit]

  1. ^ Cbrown1023. "Board of Trustees". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved July 22, 2015. 
  2. ^ a b c d e "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June, 2015 and 2014" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 6, 2015. 
  3. ^ "Staff and contractors page (Wikimedia Foundation website)". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved August 7, 2015. 
  4. ^ a b c Neate, Rupert (October 7, 2008). "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales goes bananas". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved October 25, 2009. The encyclopedia's huge fan base became such a drain on Bomis's resources that Mr Wales, and co-founder Larry Sanger, thought of a radical new funding model – charity. 
  5. ^ a b Jimmy Wales (June 20, 2003). "Announcing Wikimedia Foundation". mail:wikipedia-l. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  6. ^ "NTEE Classification System". Retrieved January 28, 2008. 
  7. ^ "NCCS definition for Adult Education". Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved January 28, 2008. 
  8. ^ Jd. "Wikimedia Foundation bylaws". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved January 28, 2008. 
  9. ^ Devouard, Florence. "Mission statement". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on September 1, 2007. Retrieved January 28, 2008. 
  10. ^ Nair, Vipin (December 5, 2005). "Growing on volunteer power". Business Line. Retrieved December 26, 2008. 
  11. ^ Bylaws revision.
  12. ^ Carlos Moncada (September 25, 2007). "Wikimedia Foundation Moving To Another Bay Area". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. 
  13. ^ Richard Mullins (September 26, 2007). "Online Encyclopedia To Leave St. Petersburg For San Francisco". The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on December 28, 2007. 
  14. ^ Kim, Ryan (October 10, 2007). "Wikipedia team plans move to San Francisco". San Francisco Chronicle. 
  15. ^ a b c d e Various. "Wikimedia movement affiliates". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  16. ^ a b c d e f Various. "Wikimedia movement affiliates/Frequently asked questions". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  17. ^ a b c d e f Various. "Wikimedia movement affiliates/Models - Meta". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  18. ^ Various. "Affiliations Committee". meta.wikimedia.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  19. ^ a b c Various. "Wikimedia chapters". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  20. ^ Various (March 31, 2012). "Resolution:Recognizing Models of Affiliations - Wikimedia Foundation". wikimediafoundation.org. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  21. ^ Mayo Fuster Morell (2011). "The Wikimedia Foundation and the Governance of Wikipedia's Infrastructure". In Geert Lovink, Nathaniel Tkacz. Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader. Institute of Network Cultures. ISBN 978-90-78146-13-1. 
  22. ^ Konieczny, P (November 2009). "Wikipedia: Community or Social Movement". Interface (2 ed.) 1: 212–232. 
  23. ^ Fontanills, David Gómez (May 2012). "Academic research into Wikipedia". Digithum (14): 77–87. ISSN 1575-2275. 
  24. ^ a b Various. "Wikimedia thematic organizations". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  25. ^ a b Various. "Wikimedia user groups". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-27. 
  26. ^ "Wikimania". wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2015-10-25. 
  27. ^ "The Many Voices of Wikipedia, Heard in One Place". New York Times. August 7, 2006. 
  28. ^ Levin, Verony (August 5, 2011). "Wikimania Conference at Its Peak; Founder Jimmy Wales to Speak Tomorrow". TheMarker (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 12, 2011. 
  29. ^ Lu Huang, Keira (July 29, 2013). "Wikimania challenge for Hong Kong as conference comes to town". South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. 
  30. ^ "Wikimania! Head to Wikipedia’s first ever London festival". Time Out London. August 6, 2014. 
  31. ^ "Main Page – Wikimania 2015 in Mexico City". wikimania2015.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2015-06-19. 
  32. ^ Wikimania 2016 bids/Esino Lario, retrieved 2015-05-17
  33. ^ "Strategic Plan/Background and Context". Wikimedia Strategy. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  34. ^ "Emerging strategic priorities". Wikimedia Strategy. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  35. ^ Az1568. "Press releases/Wikipedia to become more user-friendly for new volunteer writers". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  36. ^ Mailing list post by Brion Vibber, chief technology officer to the Wikimedia Foundation (January 9, 2009)
  37. ^ "Usability and Experience Study". Wikimedia Usability. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
  38. ^ "Usability, Experience, and Progress Study". Wikimedia Usability. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 14, 2011. 
  39. ^ Mailing list post by Jay Walsh, Head of Communications to the Wikimedia Foundation (May 2010)
  40. ^ Pantages, Moka. "Press releases/May 2010 Wikimedia Foundation will engage academic experts and students to improve public policy information". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  41. ^ Hicklin, Andrea. "UC Berkeley students help improve Wikipedia's credibility". UC Berkeley News Center. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  42. ^ Nelson, Anne. "Wikipedia Taps College 'Ambassadors' to Broaden Editor Base". Mediashift. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved November 13, 2011. 
  43. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20040710213535/http://www.aulinx.de/oss/code/wikipedia/
  44. ^ Weiss, Todd R. (October 9, 2008). "Wikipedia simplifies IT infrastructure by moving to one Linux vendor". Computerworld. Retrieved November 1, 2008. 
  45. ^ Paul, Ryan (October 9, 2008). "Wikipedia adopts Ubuntu for its server infrastructure". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 1, 2008. 
  46. ^ "Wikimedia servers". Retrieved August 16, 2013. 
  47. ^ https://ganglia.wikimedia.org/latest/
  48. ^ https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Upstream_projects
  49. ^ Mark Bergman. "Wikimedia Architecture" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Retrieved June 27, 2008. 
  50. ^ Michael Snow. "Lucene search: Internal search function returns to service". Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Retrieved February 26, 2009. 
  51. ^ Brion Vibber. "[Wikitech-l] Lucene search". Retrieved February 26, 2009. 
  52. ^ "Extension:Lucene-search". Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Retrieved August 31, 2009. 
  53. ^ "mediawiki – Revision 55688: /branches/lucene-search-2.1/lib". Wikimedia Foundation Inc. Retrieved August 31, 2009. 
  54. ^ Wikimedia & FourKitchens support CiviCRM development Wikimedia blog, June 10, 2009
  55. ^ "Wikimedia Blog". Blog.wikimedia.org. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  56. ^ Wikipedia – Android Apps on Google Play. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  57. ^ a b c d e "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. – Financial Statements – June 30, 2011 and 2010" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-25. 
  58. ^ See also Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
  59. ^ See also Chapter 220.13 of the Florida Statutes
  60. ^ Wikimedia update feed service
  61. ^ C Bizer (September 2009). "Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web" 7 (3): 154–165 
  62. ^ Ember, Sydney (July 31, 2014). "Wikipedia Begins Taking Donations in Bitcoin". New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2014. 
  63. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. – Financial Statements – June 30, 2006–2004" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. 
  64. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June, 2014 and 2013" (PDF). Upload.wikimedia.org. Retrieved December 11, 2014. 
  65. ^ "Sue Gardner". Forbes. April 18, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  66. ^ "Charity Navigator Rating – Wikimedia Foundation". charitynavigator.org. October 8, 2010. Retrieved October 8, 2010. 
  67. ^ "Wikipedia doesn't need your money – so why does it keep pestering you?". theregister.co.uk. December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 24, 2012. 
  68. ^ "Charity Navigator Rating – Wikimedia Foundation – Historical Data (Note: Requires free login)". charitynavigator.org. Retrieved December 24, 2012. 
  69. ^ "Charity Navigator Rating – Wikimedia Foundation". Charitynavigator.org. Retrieved December 7, 2012. 
  70. ^ "Sloan Foundation to Give Wikipedia $3M". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 29, 2008. 
  71. ^ "Stanton Grant Q&A". Wikimedia Foundation. December 3, 2008. 
  72. ^ "Blog.wikimedia.org". Blog.wikimedia.org. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  73. ^ "Wikimediafoundation.org". Wikimediafoundation.org. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  74. ^ Press release, Omidyar Network Commits , Million Grant to Wikimedia Foundation, August 25, 2009.
  75. ^ Ben Parr 356 (February 16, 2010). "Mashable.com". Mashable.com. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  76. ^ Jay Walsh (October 5, 2011). "Wikimedia receives US$3.5 million grant from Stanton Foundation". Wikimedia Community blog. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved October 10, 2011. 
  77. ^ a b "Foundation Grants". Meta.wikimedia.org. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  78. ^ Shaw, Lucas. "More Anti-Piracy Bill Co-Sponsors Bail (Updated)". Reuters. Retrieved 2015-10-25. 
  79. ^ "2014-2015 Fundraising Report". Wikimedia Foundation. October 1, 2015. 
  80. ^ a b c "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June 30, 2006, 2005 and 2004" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  81. ^ "Microsoft Word – {F0900CC7-D37E-4CDF-95E3-B1F38D7DCD03}.doc" (PDF). Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  82. ^ "Microsoft Word – 31935 SFO Wikimedia fs.doc" (PDF). Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  83. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June 30, 2009 and 2008" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  84. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June 30, 2010 and 2009" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved November 26, 2012. 
  85. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June, 2011 and 2010" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 2015-10-25. 
  86. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June, 2012 and 2011" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved December 26, 2012. 
  87. ^ "Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Financial Statements June, 2013 and 2012" (PDF). Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved December 14, 2013. 
  88. ^ Walsh, Jay. "Board of Trustees Restructure Announcement". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on April 27, 2008. Retrieved April 26, 2008. 
  89. ^ http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Wikimedia-Foundation-feuert-Vorstandsmitglied-3056680.html
  90. ^ "Advisory Board". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved September 29, 2013. 
  91. ^ Snow, Michael (May 30, 2005). "Wikimedia names seven to official positions". The Wikipedia Signpost. Retrieved March 10, 2008. 
  92. ^ Devouard, Florence. "Resolutions". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on January 21, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2008. 
  93. ^ Jimmy Wales (October 4, 2006). Charlie Rose (46:22) (TV-Series). Google Video: Charlie Rose. Archived from the original (internet video) on October 14, 2006. Retrieved December 8, 2006. 
  94. ^ Korg. "Wikimedia Foundation Announces Interim Executive Director". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on June 12, 2006. Retrieved June 12, 2006. 
  95. ^ Mailing list post by the Chair of the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Trustees announcing the appointment.
  96. ^ Danny. "Current staff". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on February 1, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2007. 
  97. ^ Ral315 (November 19, 2007). "Signpost interview: Florence Devouard". The Wikipedia Signpost. Retrieved February 19, 2008. 
  98. ^ Moses, Asher (March 5, 2008). "Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales accused of expenses rort". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 25, 2013. 
  99. ^ "Resolution: Chapters coordinator". , wikimediafoundation.org
  100. ^ Mike Wood (January 9, 2013). "Wikipedia Marketing". Business Insider. Retrieved November 22, 2013. 
  101. ^ "Mondaq.com". Mondaq.com. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  102. ^ Neuburger, Jeffrey D. (November 13, 2008). "PBS.org". PBS.org. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  103. ^ "PS-Inside.com". Pr-inside.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  104. ^ Timmer, John (August 13, 2008). "Judge puts defamation lawsuit against Wikipedia to the sword". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 10, 2015. 
  105. ^ Foresman, Chris (April 23, 2009). "ArsTechnica.com". ArsTechnica.com. Retrieved December 5, 2011. 
  106. ^ "EFF and Sheppard Mullin Defend Wikipedia in Defamation Case" (Press release). Electronic Frontier Foundation. May 2, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2014. 
  107. ^ New Client Registration[dead link] House of Representatives Lobbying Disclosure December 12, 2011
  108. ^ Masnick, Mike (December 14, 2011). "Wikipedia Explains, In Great Detail, How Even An Updated SOPA Hurts The Web & Wikipedia". Techdirt. Retrieved January 15, 2012. 
  109. ^ "Wikimedia is liable for contents of Wikipedia articles, German court rules". PCWorld. November 27, 2013. Retrieved December 5, 2013. 
  110. ^ "Angående stämningsansökan från BUS mot offentligkonst.se". Wikimedia Sverige. Retrieved 2015-10-25. 
  111. ^ Bob.Reaman. "ACMS Public Access". state.nj.us. Retrieved 2015-10-25. 
  112. ^ http://www.williamslopatto.com/uploads/2/5/8/4/25843913/blacklight_power_inc._complaint.pdf
  113. ^ Wales, Jimmy; Tretikov, Lila (March 10, 2015). "Stop Spying on Wikipedia Users". The New York Times (San Francisco). Retrieved March 10, 2015. 
  114. ^ Paulson, Michelle; Brigham, Geoff (March 10, 2015). "Wikimedia v. NSA: Wikimedia Foundation files suit against NSA to challenge upstream mass surveillance". Wikimedia blog. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2015. 
  115. ^ Rayman, Noah (April 14, 2015). "Saving Wikipedia: Meet Lila Tretikov". Time. 

External links[edit]

Find more about
Wikimedia
at Wikipedia's sister projects
Search Wiktionary Definitions from Wiktionary
Search Commons Media from Commons
Search Wikinews News stories from Wikinews
Search Wikiquote Quotations from Wikiquote
Search Wikisource Source texts from Wikisource
Search Wikibooks Textbooks from Wikibooks
Search Wikiversity Learning resources from Wikiversity

Other[edit]

Wikimedia Foundation
Board of Trustees
Content projects
Other
1 Forked from Wikitravel in 2006; joined the Wikimedia Foundation in 2012. Wikitravel founded in 2003.
Overview
Community
People
History
Recognition
and honors
References
and analysis
Mobile access
Content use
Similar projects
List of Wikipedias by article count
5,000,000+
2,000,000+
1,000,000+
500,000+
200,000+
100,000+
50,000+
20,000+
10,000+
1,000+
100+
General
Software packages
History
Community
Licenses
License types
and standards
Challenges
Related topics
Authority control
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Foundation&oldid=697623584"