Hi Gerard
Thanks for your mail.
There are inspiringly passionate people writing in both Indic and English Wikipedias.
I'd urge you to look at both postings, i.e., the one for Participation and the one for
Indic Initiatives in conjunction with each other - because that's how I'm looking
at them. You'll notice that in the Indic Initiatives posting, online ambassadors for
Indic languages are specifically called out. It is specifically because the nuances and
context and challenges of Indic Wikipedias are different from English - and I wanted to
make sure we don't lose out out on the attention and capability that they require.
(Indeed, even within the various Indic Wikipedias, they are in different stages of
evolution - so there isn't a broad brush for them.)
p.s. please don't be amazed that you can apply. Apply! Would love to have
Wikimedians in the team - and am using this reply as a shameless plug to call for (even)
more interest from the community!
Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol(a)wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol
On May 8, 2011, at 6:43 PM, Gerard Meijssen wrote:
Hoi,
I read the opening for Consultant, Participation - India Programs. To my amazement I find
that I can apply for this job. I think I qualify because I have ample qualification when
it comes to Wikimedia, projects and what not. I am a well known Wikimedian in India
because of my frequent writing about issues with supporting India for the WMF projects.
Given that the job states that the online ambassadors are to write in English only ... eh
... I can even do their training. But wait a moment, Hisham WHY English only ?? If you ask
me the most passionate people about Wikipedia are the ones writing in the languages of
India. Why may the languages of India not benefit from the ambassadors program ???
Hisham, when you hire me as the Consultant Participation, I will certainly train people
in English but I promise you that I will tell people that the same techniques, the same
abilities the students are learning apply equally to their mother tongue. You know Hisham,
the people championing the languages of India would even welcome me because they know they
can expect this of me. So even though I am European and have never been to India, I can
apply for this job. What do you say?
Thanks,
GerardM
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