Dear all,
I am delighted to announce the expansion of the Wikimedia Foundation's Community Advocacy team to include our newest hire, Jan Eissfeldt, whose work will be focused on the German and Spanish language sites. Jan, who made his first contributions to the German language Wikipedia in early 2004 and works on modern philosophers on the Spanish language project, will help us with his specialized academic background. Jan holds a German BA in social science and philosophy with an intercultural profile. His main theme - carried over into MA studies - is argumentation theory. This combination of being rooted in the editing community and providing analytical skills will help us to better understand the German and Spanish projects, and to serve our non-English language communities in general. English language folks might have come across his name during 2012 as he edited the Signpost's feature News & Notes.
The community advocacy team, you may recall, is an attempt to shore up the Foundation's knowledge of non-English speaking projects, and facilitates strategic change by providing knowledge and skills about communities that the Foundation increasingly interacts with through the Engineering team's frequent technical improvements, through grant-making, our legal work, and the other activities of the Foundation. In our attempts to learn more about these communities, get their input during the formation of initiatives, and figure out how best to deliver initiatives to them, Jan will be joined by one more hire (soon to be announced, I hope).
Jan will work from his home in Germany, will report to me, and will also work closely with Maggie, who will serve as his mentor and will help to organize and lead our community advocates as they are hired.
Please welcome Jan to the Foundation, though he's been a part of the movement for years!
pb ___________________ Philippe Beaudette Director, Community Advocacy Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
415-839-6885, x 6643
philippe@wikimedia.org