<p>This is great news.</p>
<p>A warm welcome and best wishes to Shiju and Nitika in their new roles.</p>
<p>Regards<br>
Arun</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jul 29, 2011 1:42 PM, "CherianTinu Abraham" <<a href="mailto:tinucherian@gmail.com">tinucherian@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution">> Congratulations to Shiju and Nitika.<br>
> <br>> It has been great working along with Shiju, closely for years now and I<br>> don't have to tell that how much he deserves this. I wondered how he gets<br>> time to "really" work with ABB with all his wiki activities ;) and I am sure<br>
> that this position would help him concentrate on one thing he is really<br>> passionate about.<br>> <br>> Welcome on-board, Nitika ! Looking forward to work with you too.<br>> <br>> Best wishes again to both Shiju and Nitika !<br>
> <br>> Regards<br>> Tinu Cherian<br>> <br>> <br>> On Fri, Jul 29, 2011 at 12:41 PM, Hisham Mundol <<a href="mailto:hmundol@wikimedia.org">hmundol@wikimedia.org</a>>wrote:<br>> <br>>> Hi Folks,<br>
>><br>>> I'm really pleased to send out this email welcoming the first 2 new members<br>>> of the India Programs team. Just before I introduce them, I thought I'd<br>>> share with you the background of their selection.<br>
>><br>>> *Context*<br>>><br>>> As you might be aware, the Foundation had decided to undertake a catalyst<br>>> operation in India to promote the growth of the community and projects here.<br>
>> The team is expected to be a small, nimble 5 person group. We had put out<br>>> 2 job postings - for Indic Initiatives and for Participation. (Please<br>>> refer:<br>>> <a href="http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-May/003007.html">http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-May/003007.html</a>)<br>
>> We posted them on linkedin and on the Indian FOSS community list as well<br>>> as announcing them on various Facebook pages and Twitter feeds.<br>>><br>>> The response was wonderful. >110 applications for Indic Initiatives and<br>
>> nearly 175 applications for Participation. These were short-listed to 10 (3<br>>> for Indic Language and 7 for Participation.) These were a mix of existing &<br>>> previous Wikipedians, Wikipedia newbies and open source advocates.<br>
>><br>>> In June, the shortlisted 10 were interviewed and further down-selected to<br>>> 4. These 4 were then further interviewed by a group of other staff members<br>>> from the Foundation. I am pleased to inform the community of the final<br>
>> selected 2.<br>>><br>>> *Shiju Alex - Indic Initiatives*<br>>><br>>> Most of you already know Shiju. For those who don't, Shiju is a long-time<br>>> Wikipedian [User: shijualex] and is active on Malayalam Wikipedia, English<br>
>> wikiprojects and Wikimedia Commons, as well as Wikisource and offline. He<br>>> has been passionately involved with the establishing and building of Indic<br>>> language Wikipedias. He's participated in a series of outreach activities<br>
>> and is also (jointly) undertaking a grant from the Foundation for outreach<br>>> across India. He's a regular member of the Bangalore community.<br>>><br>>> Shiju is from Palakkad, Kerala and is married with a 2 year old baby. He<br>
>> currently works as a Senior Technical Writer with ABB in Bangalore.<br>>><br>>> Even those of you who know him might not know the following 2 things that I<br>>> was lucky to discover during the selection process. Shiju is an MSc in<br>
>> Physics with a specialisation in Astronomy and Astrophysics - and he retains<br>>> a deep interest in anything astronomical. Feel free to quiz him vigorously<br>>> on this! He also enjoys trekking and misses his time in Pune where he could<br>
>> be up & close the gorgeous Sahyadri Hills.<br>>><br>>> Shiju is going to lead our work on promoting Indic language projects across<br>>> India. The challenges are enormous - from technical constraints to low<br>
>> levels of awareness of these projects to vibrant but nascent communities.<br>>> However, these only point to the massive size of the opportunity for Indic<br>>> language projects - which is the joint top-2 strategic priority of the<br>
>> movement in India. After he joins, he'll collaboratively put together a<br>>> plan for Indic language projects and work towards quality execution of<br>>> high-impact initiatives.<br>>><br>
>> Shiju is currently serving out his notice period so will be able to join us<br>>> only around September - October.<br>>><br>>> *Nitika Tandon - Participation*<br>>><br>>> Nitika [User:nitika.t] is relatively newer to the community - and has been<br>
>> brushing up her editing. She's been immersing herself in the Wikimedia<br>>> world and attended community meet-ups as well as reviews of the Wikipedia<br>>> India Education Program. She is from Delhi - and is currently based in<br>
>> Mumbai - where she works as a Strategic Partnerships Manager with Directi.<br>>> (If you're not aware, they are one of the most prominent internet domain &<br>>> solutions providers in India.)<br>
>><br>>> Nitika has an MBA and has also worked on research analytics. A fascinating<br>>> detail I discovered about a previous assignment of hers - and you must ask<br>>> her about it - is how African drums can be used for management coaching!<br>
>> She also reliably informs me that there are 7 Spanish dance forms and she<br>>> instructs in all of them!<br>>><br>>> Nitika is going to be working on Participation - which is primarily<br>>> focussed on increasing the contributor base of non-Indic language projects,<br>
>> primarily Wikipedia. One of her first tasks will be to expand the<br>>> Wikipedia India Education Program from the Pune pilot to a more national<br>>> footprint. She'll also work on other initiatives to promote participation -<br>
>> and I can foresee Wikimedia Commons being a potential initiative.<br>>><br>>> Nitika will join us on August 1st.<br>>><br>>> *Introductions*<br>>><br>>> I'm going to be scheduling the August Monthly India Programs IRC on<br>
>> Thursday August 18th to introduce them both to you. Please do join us.<br>>> I'll send a reminder closer to the date. Also, needless to say, they'll<br>>> be attending a series of community meet-ups over the next months.<br>
>><br>>> In the meantime, please do join me in welcoming them onboard. I'm really<br>>> excited because this means that we will now have the capacity and capability<br>>> to dramatically accelerate our activities in India.<br>
>><br>>> Warmest Regards,<br>>><br>>> *Hisham Mundol*<br>>> *<br>>> *<br>>> ***<br>>><br>>> Wikimedia <<a href="http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home">http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home</a>><br>
>><br>>> India Programs<<a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs">http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs</a>><br>>> *<br>>> *<br>
>><br>>> skype : hisham.wikimedia<br>>> gtalk : <a href="mailto:hmundol@wikimedia.org">hmundol@wikimedia.org</a><br>>> **<br>>> twitter : @mundol<br>>> *<br>>><br>>> *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the<br>
>> sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!*<br>>><br>>><br>>> _______________________________________________<br>>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br>>> <a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
>> <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>>><br>>><br></div>