Wikibilim's history with Jimbo and the WMF

[Moonage Daydream]

I'm coming late to this story and I'm not sure I've got a firm grasp of the history. There are a bunch of threads here about Jimbo's involvement in Kazakhastan (prompted by a report that Jimbo was planning a visit). Is the history of this discussed anywhere?

Here's what I have figured out (please correct me if any of this is wrong and/or covered elsewhere):

3 March 2011 - Nartay Ashim (User:Ashina (T-C-L)) registers wikibilim.kz

?? April 2011 - "In April 2011, the first meeting of Kazakh Wikipidians was held in Almaty (Kazakhstan) where Local Chapter creation issue had been discussed." - Nartay Ashim

28 April 2011 - Nartay Ashim puts up a page on Meta calling for the formation of a Wikimedia Chapter in Kazakhstan. (Quote above is from that page.)

17 June 2011 - A press conference is held to announce Wikibilim's expansion of Kazakh WP. WMF Chair Ting Chen attends the press conference.

Ting Chen of the Wikimedia Foundation attending the press conference said that “the Foundation is considering launching a regional office in Kazakhstan. Altogether, there are a total of 30 representation offices. I believe Kazakhstan stands all chances to be home to one”, he said.

23 June 2011 - Another press conference?

”Kazaksha Wikipedia” is a project launched in Kazakhstan to develop the Kazakh section of the free public universal multilingual internet encyclopedia Wikipedia. It was initiated and is sponsored by JSC “National Welfare Fund “Samruk-Kazyna” and Nokia, administrated by the public fund Wikibilim with the assistance from Wikimedia Foundation (USA), its partners are “Kazakh encyclopedia” and JSC “KazContent”.

4-7 August 2011 - At Wikimania in Haifa, a new award "Wikipedian of the year" is created and awarded to the head of Wikibilim by Jimmy Wales.

Jimmy also announced the creation of an annual award—Global Wikipedian of the Year. This was given to Rauan Kenzhekhanuly of Kazakh Wikipedia and consisted of a $5,000 award to Wikibilim, the chapter in Kazakhstan, to pay travel expenses to Wikimania next year. This would be presented to Kezhekhanuly at a ceremony in Kazakhstan with the country's prime minister Karim Massimov.

20 October 2011 - Nartay Ashim puts up a request for a grant to the Wikimedia Kazakhstan to host a conference (already scheduled and in preparation at that time). Despite the fact that the event is scheduled for less than a month away and the fact that Wikimedia Kazakhstan does not appear to be a recognized chapter, the request is granted.

Apparently, Kazakh Government supports Wikipedia. Do you expect any contributions from it and any other sponsors?--Victoria 08:55, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Yes, our Government supports us and Wikimedia movement. Particularly, they provide wide media coverage of the event and for whole project. Also they agreed to provide us with transportation to commute within the city. Besides thanks to their support we are running wiki-contest for 100 article (each participant have to write 100 articles) and for Featured article. First 100 editors who write 100 articles will get laptop from Samruk-Kazyna National Foundation ([1]. Another 50 active editors will get phones from NOKIA Kazakhstan. Also representative of the Ministry of communication and information and one MP willing to join us during the conference to give a talk.--Rauank 06:42, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

More to come....

[HRIP7]

There isn't a timeline of this anywhere else yet, and you're doing great work. Pray continue ...

[EricBarbour]

I say again:

No one noticed the COI associated with an article called WikiBilim (T-H-L)?

Written almost entirely by three WikiBilim members: Sanzhar Kenzhekhan (T-C-L), Nurbek Matzhani (T-C-L),
and of course, predictably, someone called Rauank (T-C-L). (The same Rauank who posted that rant on Jimbo's talkpage, of course.)

Plus, bear in mind that I was the first person here to notice the "special treatment" Rauan was receiving from the WMF and Wales.

This is what I wrote about it for the book, back in July:

During an interview on the PBS News Hour on 10 July 2012, Wales commented that "The Kazakh Wikipedia is doing really well". In fact, there was a massive increase in the number of "active" editors on kk-WP, in June 2011 -- which turned out to be the work of one Kazakh starting an editing club in Almaty. Since then, the editing activity on kk-WP has declined to a tiny fraction of late 2011's editing.

I was wrong about that "one Kazakh", in fact it was a whole government-sponsored organization.....

[Moonage Daydream]

I have already mentioned the page on Meta for Wikimedia Kazakhstan. Here is a timeline that was posted on the talk page on 27 August 2011:

4 May 2011 – registration of WikiBilim Public Foundation
15-30 May 2011 – starting communication with Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
20 May 2011 – signed agreement with Kazakh National Encyclopedia to provide us their own content under CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.
1 June 2011 – Signed agreement with Nokia Kazakhstan company to provide sponsorship in Wiki Contest (featured articles and active editors).
8 June 2011 – Signed Trademark License Agreement with Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
16 June 2011 – received the letter of support from the CEO of Samruk-Kazyna Foundation to provide sponsorship.
16 June 2011 – Conduct press-conference (participated Mr. Ting Chen, MP Mr. Murat Abenov, Chief Editor of Kazakh encyclopedia Mr.Bauyrzhan Zhakyp, Deputy Head of Kazcontent JSC. Mr. A.Tutykin)
20 June 2011 – Start summer practice with International IT University. WB provided tutorial on how to contribute on Wikipedia.
4-7 August, 2011- WikiBilim team participated in Wikimania-2011 conference

So Wikibilim is "registered" in May. It is not clear with whom it is registered but let's call that the date of official creation despite the fact that Nartay Ashim registered wikibilim.kz two months before. Just over a month later, they have a signed trademark agreement with the WMF. And WMF Chair Ting Chen shows up in Kazakhstan for their press conference later that month. This sounds awfully fishy.

Here is something else from that same diff that may prove enlightening:

any prominent Wiki[pm]edians?

PM of the RoK Karim Massimov have conversation with Jimmy Wales concerning the development of KKWP during the last Davos summit. Also the Parliament member Mr.Murat Abenov is among our strong supporters and he is one of our active community members. Chief of Kazakh National Encyclopedia Mr.Bauyrzhan Zhakyp is also among our supporters. So we guess they should be considered as a prominent Wikipedians.

[HRIP7]

I have already mentioned the page on Meta for Wikimedia Kazakhstan. Here is a timeline that was posted on the talk page on 27 August 2011:

4 May 2011 – registration of WikiBilim Public Foundation
15-30 May 2011 – starting communication with Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
20 May 2011 – signed agreement with Kazakh National Encyclopedia to provide us their own content under CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.
1 June 2011 – Signed agreement with Nokia Kazakhstan company to provide sponsorship in Wiki Contest (featured articles and active editors).
8 June 2011 – Signed Trademark License Agreement with Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
16 June 2011 – received the letter of support from the CEO of Samruk-Kazyna Foundation to provide sponsorship.
16 June 2011 – Conduct press-conference (participated Mr. Ting Chen, MP Mr. Murat Abenov, Chief Editor of Kazakh encyclopedia Mr.Bauyrzhan Zhakyp, Deputy Head of Kazcontent JSC. Mr. A.Tutykin)
20 June 2011 – Start summer practice with International IT University. WB provided tutorial on how to contribute on Wikipedia.
4-7 August, 2011- WikiBilim team participated in Wikimania-2011 conference

So Wikibilim is "registered" in May. It is not clear with whom it is registered but let's call that the date of official creation despite the fact that Nartay Ashim registered wikibilim.kz two months before. Just over a month later, they have a signed trademark agreement with the WMF. And WMF Chair Ting Chen shows up in Kazakhstan for their press conference later that month. This sounds awfully fishy.

Here is something else from that same diff that may prove enlightening:

any prominent Wiki[pm]edians?

PM of the RoK Karim Massimov have conversation with Jimmy Wales concerning the development of KKWP during the last Davos summit. Also the Parliament member Mr.Murat Abenov is among our strong supporters and he is one of our active community members. Chief of Kazakh National Encyclopedia Mr.Bauyrzhan Zhakyp is also among our supporters. So we guess they should be considered as a prominent Wikipedians.

If Wales wasn't at the January Davos summit, they may have met at the Summer Davos (T-H-L) (held in China).

[HRIP7]

Kenzhekhanuly's LinkedIn profile says he was at Harvard from August 2010 to August 2011, and he says he came across Wikipedia there, when it came up in a class assignment. WikiBilim started in Kazakhstan while Kenzhekhanuly was still doing the Harvard course. Nartay Ashim, the Kazakh Wikipedia bureaucrat and administrator who wrote the Mangystau riots article, seems to have done the early organising in Kazakhstan. Indeed, on the Creative Commons page for Kazakhstan, he is described as the "National Coordinator of Wikibilim Foundation" – and WikiBilim is described as "the regional branch of Wikimedia foundation inc. in Kazakhstan [...] engaged in the development of the Kazakh language section of the Wikipedia", with a similar description also used in the Creative Commons weblog. Note that Wales is on the board of Creative Commons as well.

Kazpravda said on 23 June 2011

- The Kazakh part of it is at a very low level, - said Kazakhstani MP Murat Abenov. - Only 25 000 articles are in Kazakh, 15 000 of them – in the last month. This is the project we really need and expect a lot from. After we raised this issue in the parliament, we are getting support from the government, and it is very important that involved is the public fund Wikibilim, purpose-organized by Kazakhstani activists of Wikipedia at the initiative and for the money of Samruk-Kazyna.

The Kazakh Wikipedia has two bureaucrats (Nartay Ashim is one; the other one has been around since 2005), and it does not seem to have any local checkusers or oversighters.

[HRIP7]

Nartay Ashim (User:Ashina (T-C-L))

Note that the English Wikipedia user Ashina is not the same person as the user named Ashina on Meta and the Kazakh Wikipedia. Ashina's contributions on Wikimedia Meta.

This Almaty IP first added Wikimedia Kazakhstan to the list of planned chapters in Meta, on 26 April 2011.

[DanMurphy]

The creative commons release from Dec. 23 2011 is quite specific:

Led by Rauan Kenzhekhanuly and including Almas Nurbakytov, Nartay Ashim and Balashov Talgat, the Kazakhstan team is supported by Wikibilim, a non-profit organisation which also operates as the local representative of Wikimedia. Wikibilim in turn is supported by the Government of Kazakhstan and personally by the Prime-Minister Mr. Karim Masimov.

[Moonage Daydream]

The creative commons release from Dec. 23 2011 is quite specific:

Led by Rauan Kenzhekhanuly and including Almas Nurbakytov, Nartay Ashim and Balashov Talgat, the Kazakhstan team is supported by Wikibilim, a non-profit organisation which also operates as the local representative of Wikimedia. Wikibilim in turn is supported by the Government of Kazakhstan and personally by the Prime-Minister Mr. Karim Masimov.

The main entry at CC provides some more detail:

Team information

Team leader – Mr. Rauan Kenzhekhanuly. President of Wikibilim Foundation.

Government official, diplomat, journalist, has recently completed a one-year Fellows Program at The Weatherhead Center for International Relations at Harvard University. Previously served as an adviser to the Governor of the Mangystau region (Kazakhstan), counseling on domestic and foreign policy issues. Previously, was an executive director of the regional broadcasting company “Kazakhstan – Aktau.” Prior to this, had worked in Moscow, as first secretary (press secretary) at the embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. From 2002 until 2005, served as a chief of the Moscow bureau of the National TV Agency of Kazakhstan; Global Wikipedian-2011 (Awarded at Wikimania-2011 by Mr. Jimmy Wales)

Team members: Mr. Almas Nurbakytov – Lawyer of the Wikibilim Foundation.

Graduate of Kazakh National Law Academy (with distinction). Has rich experience in teaching as well as in practicing law. Has completed one-year English Language training courses at Harvard Extension School in Boston, USA. The responsible for CC 4.0 process.

Mr. Nartay Ashim – National Coordinator of Wikibilim Foundation.

Graduate of Robert Gordon University – Aberdeen. Engineer. Teaches at Kazakh National Technical University. Active Wikipedian. He was given the status of bureaucrat of the Kazakh section of Wikipedia.

Mr. Balashov Talgat – Dean of Law Faculty at Kazakh National Pedagogical University. Has a PhD in law.

[Peter Damian]

The creative commons release from Dec. 23 2011 is quite specific:

Led by Rauan Kenzhekhanuly and including Almas Nurbakytov, Nartay Ashim and Balashov Talgat, the Kazakhstan team is supported by Wikibilim, a non-profit organisation which also operates as the local representative of Wikimedia. Wikibilim in turn is supported by the Government of Kazakhstan and personally by the Prime-Minister Mr. Karim Masimov.

Do you have a link to that please?

[DanMurphy]

The creative commons release from Dec. 23 2011 is quite specific:

Led by Rauan Kenzhekhanuly and including Almas Nurbakytov, Nartay Ashim and Balashov Talgat, the Kazakhstan team is supported by Wikibilim, a non-profit organisation which also operates as the local representative of Wikimedia. Wikibilim in turn is supported by the Government of Kazakhstan and personally by the Prime-Minister Mr. Karim Masimov.

Do you have a link to that please?

Sorry, it was in Andreas' post. Kazakhstan and Rwanda: Two more CC Affiliates for 2011

[HRIP7]

The creative commons release from Dec. 23 2011 is quite specific:

Led by Rauan Kenzhekhanuly and including Almas Nurbakytov, Nartay Ashim and Balashov Talgat, the Kazakhstan team is supported by Wikibilim, a non-profit organisation which also operates as the local representative of Wikimedia. Wikibilim in turn is supported by the Government of Kazakhstan and personally by the Prime-Minister Mr. Karim Masimov.

This, dated 19 July 2012, is the type of gushing press article that has resulted from the association:

Kazakh Wikipedia receives award at Wikimania conference

Kazakhstan has taken a leading position in the development of national divisions at Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that is run by enthusiasts around the world.

Just like last year, the merits of Kazakhstan, were awarded at the Wikimania conference, which took place in Washington DC. The "Kazakh Wikipedia" project is supported by the government of Kazakhstan. [...]

However, the WikiBilim foundation did not stop there, and made sure that the Kazakh branch of Wikipedia was among the world leaders. Today, the number of articles in the Kazakh language has reached 140,000, whereas the main task set for developers is to increase this figure to 200,000 by the end of this year. Being impressed by the achievements of Kazakhstan in the development of Wikipedia its founder Jimmy Wales announced his intention to visit our country. The Kazakhstan Ambassador to the US Yerlan Idrissov has already handed over an official invitation to Mr. Wales. Having accepted the invitation, Jimmy Wales thanked the Kazakh government for creating conditions for significant achievements in the development of the Kazakh language Wikipedia.

Articles like that are the bread and butter of a dictatorship. They tell dissidents: "You see? You are all alone."

[HRIP7]

This forgotten thread contains some important timeline info about the early days of the KZ Wikipedia project. Could a mod copy (not merge) the posts to the main Kazakhstan thread, so the info is in there as well?

[Zoloft]

This forgotten thread contains some important timeline info about the early days of the KZ Wikipedia project. Could a mod copy (not merge) the posts to the main Kazakhstan thread, so the info is in there as well?

Done.