The on-line version of this newsletter can be found here:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2023-07-26
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Wikifunctions is up (read-only)
Wikifunctions is up on
www.wikifunctions.org 🥳
For now, there’s really not much to see or do. The built-in objects have
been loaded to the wiki. In the next few days, we will create some initial
pages (the main page, legal stuff, documentation, etc.), and also the first
function, as discussed last week. The first function will be *“join
strings”*, also known as concatenate.
We encountered a number of issues while deploying, and it was fascinating
to fix these live while the community was watching. There are still a
number of high-priority bugs, and we need to fix those before we get to the
next step. The current plan is to open the wiki for editing on Tuesday,
August 1st 2023, and we’ll update you if that changes. Read more about
our deployment
plan <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2022-08-05>
and planned dates
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia/Updates/2023-07-20>.
Welcome Megan!
As we are making our initial deployment, we also welcome Megan Neisler
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MNeisler_(WMF)> to our team. Megan is
joining us from Analytics to help us with instrumenting Wikifunctions,
counting the important numbers, and counting the numbers correctly, in
order to help us understand how WIkifunctions grows and where contributors
stumble. I'll let Megan introduce herself with her own words.
*Hi everyone! I've been with the Wikimedia Foundation for eight years,
working in various roles including project and event coordinator but have
always had a strong interest in data analysis. I started working with the
Product Analytics team in 2017 and since then I've had the opportunity to
provide data insights for several projects including discussion tools on
talk pages, content and section translation tools, and the desktop
improvements project. While working on these projects, I've discovered new
insights about the community and learned new approaches to address the
challenges of making data and insights more accessible.*
*Aside from work, I enjoy being outside whenever possible and have spent
lots of my free time hiking, camping, or just walking around my town of
Leesburg, Virginia where I currently live. Lately, I spend a good amount of
time exploring playgrounds with my 3-year-old daughter.*
*I'm very excited to have the opportunity to support Abstract Wikipedia and
look forward to working with the team!*
Welcome Megan! It’s great to have you on the team.
We are hiring
If you want to work with Megan and the rest of the team, here’s an
opportunity: the Wikimedia Foundation is hiring for a Senior Software
Engineer <https://boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jobs/5191315> for
Wikifunctions and Abstract Wikipedia! As you can see from our Beta, there
are so many more things we need to work on. Our team members have been
spread over countries in Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The positions
can be remote and can be outside the United States.
If you are interested in Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia, please apply.
If you know someone with the relevant experience and interest, please let
them know!