Sorry for double post; Erik's post below is useful to illustrate my
point which I failed to communicate
(<http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimedia-l/2013-September/128053.html>).
Erik Moeller, 28/07/2013 09:31:
On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 8:41 PM, Craig Franklin
<cfranklin(a)halonetwork.net> wrote:
For the benefit of chapters that are interested
in this space, can you
offer any examples of projects that are of an appropriate size and type for
a chapter to take on?
It's a great question, Craig. One idea that I think is worth kicking
around is how we can partner together in increasing diversity in our
developer, design & product community while working on important
problems. [...]
So, how could this work for a Wikimedia chapter? Perhaps as a new
diversity outreach program run by the chapter, inspired by OPW? Or
perhaps integrated with OPW, if GNOME Foundation is open to it? Or a
completely different approach, e.g. learning from Etsy's efforts to
increase diversity by partnering with Hacker School? [1] I don't know
- but I think it's worth experimenting with.
I don't know if this is *the* way forward, but I think this proposal is
an example of something that makes sense. Why? It defines a scope which
works towards the goals and plans of all involved entities together
(overlap) but is also under the control of each of them separately
(accountability etc.).
So, if e.g. WMF decides not to enable the new extension produced by an
intern, at least the chapter can say it has successfully increased
diversity in the developer community. Don't put all your eggs in one
basket; especially if you're not holding it.
Nemo
I do think it's something a small org could pull off, because a lot of
it is about communication/coordination more than about managing a
complex cross-disciplinary engineering effort. And it's perhaps a good
way for a chapter, too, to get familiar with some of the intricacies
and complexity of doing engineering work in our context without
committing yet to building out a full-on tech department.
The important part is that we connect people new to our ecosystem with
capable mentors/reviewers -- whether those are experienced volunteers,
employed by WMF, or employed by a chapter that's already doing
engineering work like WMDE. Without that mentorship support, it
doesn't work.
Erik
[1]
http://firstround.com/article/How-Etsy-Grew-their-Number-of-Female-Engineer…