Abstract Wikipedia/Wiki of functions naming contest

Please help pick a name for the new Wikimedia wiki project which is currently known as Wikilambda. This project will be a wiki where the community can work together on a library of functions; create new functions, read about them, discuss them, and share them. Some of these functions will be used to help create language-independent Wikipedia articles that can be displayed in any language. As such, it is a component of Abstract Wikipedia (explained below). But functions will also be usable well beyond the goal of Abstract Wikipedia.

The goal of this naming contest is to create a memorable new name that helps people understand the purpose of the new Wikimedia wiki as easily as possible. The process detailed below is intended to help encourage many possible submissions, and then narrow them down to the top choices that clearly communicate that meaning.

Proposals should be submitted by 29 September. There will be two rounds of voting, each followed by legal review of candidates, with early voting beginning 22 September, and broad voting beginning on 29 September and 2 November. Our goal is to have a final project name selected on 14 December.

[Update] We are very happy to announce on 22 December that the communities' selection of the name "Wikifunctions" will be the new name for the upcoming wiki.

What is a function?

A “function” is a sequence of computer program instructions, that makes a calculation based on data you provide. Functions are a form of knowledge that can answer questions, such as how many days have passed between two dates or the distance between two cities. More complicated functions can calculate more complicated questions, such as the area of a three dimensional shape, the distance between Mars and Venus on a certain date, or whether two species were alive at the same time. We already use functions in many types of knowledge inquiries, such as asking a question to a search engine. The {{convert}} and {{age}} templates are also examples of functionalities that are already used in many Wikipedias, written in Lua and manually copied to each wiki where it's wanted.

More examples of functions are at Early function examples, and very rough sketches of how the interface might look are at Early mockups.

In short, functions make a calculation on the data you provide, and answer a question you have about it.

This new Wikimedia project will build a library of functions, written by volunteers, to help answer questions like these across languages. By building out our library of functions, we can enable more people to access and explore free knowledge in new ways. To make this happen, the project needs a name. Please join in to propose and choose the best one.

What is Abstract Wikipedia?

A visual explanation of the Abstract Wikipedia project and the wiki of functions.

The term "Abstract Wikipedia" itself refers to the long-term goal - that this library of functions will someday enable the creation of language-independent articles. Once more pieces of this project are in place, this will mean that any wiki - especially small to medium wikis - will be able to dramatically increase the number of articles available in their language. It also means that editors can share knowledge from their culture and contexts with a larger and more global audience.

The new wiki of functions will develop the coding infrastructure to make this vision possible. The Abstract Wikipedia part of the project will start in roughly one year's time.

In other words: we will be able to combine the functions from the new wiki, with the data and linguistic-information in Wikidata, in order to generate natural language sentences in any supported languages. These sentences can then be used by any Wikipedia (or elsewhere).

More details about the overall project are at Abstract Wikipedia. Right now we are not looking for a name for the long-term "Abstract Wikipedia" project goal, but only for the new wiki of functions.

Timeline

• 15 September: Publish this page and ask for feedback; ask for translations; ask for multilingual-volunteers to check the proposals during the submission step.
• 22 September: Reminder announcements to submit proposals, and participate in early voting.
• 29 September: First round of broad community voting begins.
• 13 October: Close of first round voting; first legal review begins for the 6 top name(s).
• 2 November: Second round of community voting begins.
• 16 November: Close of second round voting; votes checking and tallying.
• 17 November: Announcement of detailed voting results; second legal review begins for the top name(s).
• 22 December: Formal announcement of new project name; start drafting request for logo concepts.

Name proposal criteria

• The name should somehow reference or be connected to the goal of the wiki, which is to be a collection of functions. A good name is likely to:
  • Make use of established movement terms that are well-known and recognizable such as "Wiki"
  • Highlight a key detail of the project (think of the "data" in "Wikidata") so first time readers or listeners have a clue to the project's focus
  • Be simple to say aloud and easy to spell (remember, people are going to be using this name frequently)
  • The name should not only be a reference towards the goal of the Abstract Wikipedia or only be about natural language and content abstraction. The name should reflect that the functions may be used in a large diversity of ways and places.
• The name must translate well.
  • A group of volunteers will check the proposals in their own language(s), and add discussion notes if there are any concerns.
• Be able to stand-alone as a domain or subdomain name.
  • The wiki will be created at either "foo.org" or "foo.wikimedia.org". This is currently undecided and will be based on technical and legal decisions.
• The name must not violate the intellectual property rights of any third party and is subject to final review by legal counsel to ensure that it does not.

Name submission rules

• Number of submissions. During the submission period you may submit as many names as you wish. (Duplicates will be consolidated prior to voting.)
• Agreement implicit upon submission.
  • (a) By submitting, you implicitly acknowledge that you have read and agree to these rules.
  • (b) By submitting names, you agree to enter into a contract to assign all of your rights in your submission to the Wikimedia Foundation, including any and all copyright, trademark, publicity, and any other intellectual property or other proprietary rights.
  • (c) You warrant that you (or the Wikimedia Foundation) are the owner of all copyright, trademark, moral, publicity, and other intellectual and proprietary rights to the proposed name and that to the best of your knowledge it does not violate any rights of any third party.
• Disputes. While we hope that there is no dispute between you and the Wikimedia Foundation, we need to set some rules about how any disputes that may arise will be handled. By participating in the name selection process, you agree that your submission, your assignment of rights in it, and any dispute shall be governed by the laws of the United States of America and will be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction in the City and County of San Francisco, California.

Naming process details

1. Submission period. There is early voting during the submission period, and discussion is encouraged. Names may be modified during this period, and derivatives may be submitted. All names must accord to the criteria rules (see below). Please be particularly friendly and constructive during this brainstorming period.
2. After this, we introduce two tiers of visibility for the voting: The top ~20 proposals, roughly, by number of supports at this point will be visible on the default (current) voting page. There will then also be a second page with all proposals to vote on that is linked from the main voting page, the second tier.
   • During the vote, once every working day or so, we will check if there are any proposals that should be moved to the main voting page or dropped from it. We use some discretion here, but basically if anything has more support than the least supported proposals on the main voting page, it should be on the main voting page.
   • Adding completely new proposals will be possible even after September 29, but only to the full list of proposals, i.e. the second tier.
3. Elimination round. After the submission period, entries are presented in randomized display for at least one week of voting.
   • Each voter may vote for as many as they want.
4. Finalist review. After the top six submissions by vote are determined, legal counsel will make an initial cursory review of the top six names for any legal issues, the ability to be registered as a global trademark, and make a determination as to suitability.
5. Final vote. As many as six names may be entered into the one-week final vote and presented in randomized display for voting. Votes will be counted using the Instant-runoff method. Voters provide a ranking of the proposals.
6. Final legal review. Legal counsel will make an in-depth review of the top name. If, in the discretion of legal counsel, the top choice name is not appropriate, because of legal concerns (trademark, copyright, etc), the name will be withdrawn from consideration (with a public explanation for why) and the second choice name will be reviewed using the same criteria. If the second choice name is unacceptable, legal counsel will continue down the list to the first available and clear name.

Voting eligibility and rules

Each person may vote from only one account. In the first round of voting you may vote for as many names as you like. In the second round of voting you rank the choices. You can use the gadget (if on a desktop browser), or you can manually vote by ranking all six candidates (listed them by number in descending order of preference) followed by your signature in a single line. If you vote multiple times and change your mind, only your last vote line will be taken into account.

You may vote from any one registered account you own on a Wikimedia wiki (you may only vote from a single account, regardless of how many accounts you own, although you may vote for as many names as you'd like). To qualify, this one account must:

• not be blocked on more than one project; and
• not be a bot; and
• have made at least 25 edits as of 1 September, 2020 on any public Wikimedia production wiki (like Wikipedia, Commons, Wikisource, etc).

Current and former members of the Board of Trustees and the Advisory Board of the Wikimedia Foundation are qualified to vote.

Second round vote tallying: Up to six candidates will enter the second voting round. At the end of the voting period, using a modification of the instant-runoff system, the first (or only) choice of each voter will be counted and used to order the submissions by preference. Each first (or only) choice counts as one vote for the chosen submission. If, at this point, there is a simple majority, this submission will enter the final legal review. If there is no simple majority, the submission with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and all votes who expressed a first choice for this submission will be recounted for their second choice. This will be repeated until a submission has a simple majority of all remaining votes. The resulting submission will then undergo final legal review. In case the submission fails the legal review, we simply eliminate that submission first and start the counting process anew, until a submission passes final legal review. No third round of voting is planned.

Round 1 results

176 proposals were submitted, and more than 500 votes tallied over these.

The 6 finalist names from Round 1 were:

• Wikilambda
• Wikifunctions
• Wikimedia Functions
• Wikicode
• Wikifusion
• Wikicodex

Read more in the weekly update.

Round 2 vote

Voting has now closed. The names will now be sent for a final legal review. The new name will be announced in mid-December.

You can read notes about the names that were provided by the Wikimedia Foundation's Legal and Communications departments, and see the voting record.

The top results were:

1. Wikifunctions
2. Wikimedia Functions

More details about the calculation of the results are in the 8th edition of the newsletter.

Thank you!