Most New York Times archives opened

This week, The New York Times opened their archives, allowing free access to all articles written from 1987 to the present, and those written from 1851 to 1922 (those in the public domain). Some articles from 1923 to 1986 will be available for free, while others may be available for a charge. This may help sourcing on some articles, providing a large repository of articles available to all for free sourcing.

Paris conference

The first French language Wikipedia conference is to be held in Paris on October 19 and 20, organised by the French WMF chapter. Some users from the English Wikipedia are attending. The goal is, roughly translated, "to explore concrete problems : How can we attract specialists who can guarantee the quality of a large number of articles ? How can make users more aware of the importance of reliable sources? ... The conference wishes to bring together scientists, teachers, experts and all contributors who care about the project."

Wikimania bidding closed, meeting held

Wikimania 2008 bids closed this week. A public meeting was held on Sunday; a log of the meeting has been made available. Representatives from Atlanta, Alexandria and Cape Town commented on their bids; no Toronto representatives were present at the meeting.

The final jury decision is scheduled for October 6.

Briefly

• The Wikipedia in Cantonese has reached 5,000 articles and 100,000 edits.
• The Portuguese Wikisource has reached 15,000 text-units.
• The Italian Wikipedia has reached 350,000 articles.
• The Vietnamese Wikipedia has reached 50,000 registered users.
• The Kurdish Wikipedia has reached 10,000 articles.
• The Indonesian Wikipedia has reached 1,000,000 edits.