Hi all,
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief Technology Officer! Grant will be starting September 23. He’ll be based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Grant comes from a long history of working on open source projects. Most recently, he served as the Chief Technical Officer of Lucidworks, an AI-powered open-source search services company which he co-founded. He is a Lucene and Solr committer, co-founder of the Apache Mahout machine learning project, and a long-standing member of the Apache Software Foundation. He’s an author, having written a book for Java developers on how to wrangle unstructured text for search, text-mining, and the like. He’s also a long-time, committed remotee, having worked with the distributed Lucidworks team from his home in North Carolina for nearly a decade.
In Grant’s own words, “The power of learning and knowledge have always stood as key pillars in my career. I'm a big believer that access to free, trusted knowledge is of vital importance as society looks to tackle large scale challenges. My wife, Robin, and I recently moved from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, our home for 10 years, to Charlotte, North Carolina, where our daughter lives. We also just dropped our son off at college for his freshman year. We're adjusting to the empty nest life with our dog Allie (a black lab mix). When not traveling or exploring Charlotte, I can usually be found on a bike, out kayaking, or writing code.”
Grant will be working with myself, Erika Bjune (who is transitioning to VP, Technology), and others in the leadership of the technology department to determine a set of priorities for his first year. I expect these will likely focus around evaluating our current capacities and co-creating a vision for the continued evolution of our technical platforms, supporting the staff of the department, working with the finance and operations folks on planning and budgeting for the future, and of course, getting to know our technical community and the broader movement. Under Grant’s leadership, we will continue the work of improving and modernizing our technical ecosystem to respond to our future needs, as laid out in the movement strategy.
I’m thrilled to have the CTO role filled, and to bring Grant in at a time when the movement is digging into the question of what it means to “become the essential infrastructure of free knowledge.” From our first meeting, I was struck by his curiosity. He was genuinely interested in how Wikimedia works, and was willing to get into what I often think of “Wiki PhD” level conversations about the nuances of our community and values. I have generally found that the folks who bring that sort of openness and humility to their work are the folks who thrive in the challenges of our mission and movement. As our movement expands, I’m glad to have Grant’s experience, curiosity, and passion for building things on board here at the Foundation.
I want to also thank Erika Bjune for her work as interim CTO. She passionately advocated for the importance of our platforms, embodied partnership and cooperation, and her expertise on the interview panel was invaluable. I’m thrilled she’ll be working so closely with Grant as we move forward.
Please join me in welcoming Grant to the Wikimedia Foundation!
Katherine
On Wed, 18 Sep 2019 at 17:55, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org wrote:
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief Technology Officer! Grant
It is UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS of Katherine to post this...
In Grant’s own words
We're adjusting to the empty nest life with our dog Allie (a black lab mix).
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
Well, Wikipedia is not a social networking service like Facebook or Twitter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_not_a_blog,_web_hosting_service,_social_networking_service,_or_memorial_site Although fun and uplifting comments are always welcome, please notice that your mail can be understood in many different ways, neither of which is beneficial. Thank you.
Aron
Of all the useless pontificating that happens both on this list and on Wikipedia, *this* is the comment that you call out? smh
On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 3:57 PM Aron Manning aronmanning5@gmail.com wrote:
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
Well, Wikipedia is not a social networking service like Facebook or Twitter. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:What_Wikipedia_is_not#Wikipedia_is_n...
Although fun and uplifting comments are always welcome, please notice that your mail can be understood in many different ways, neither of which is beneficial. Thank you.
Aron _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
Well, I'm thrilled about this, especially after having had a look through https://www.slideshare.net/lucidworks/searching-for-better-code-presented-by...
Honestly, though, it's only the third best thing that happened this week after Valerie Plame entering politics and the UC system divesting from fossil fuels.
Grant, welcome! My advice is to set make a long list of concrete KPIs for contributor (e.g. editor) support, reach, and cloud support, in a way that can be used for fundraising. The fundraising messaging has been stuck for years on this thing about, "if everyone reading this contributed the cost of a cup of coffee, then _some goal here_," which is okay, but could be so much better flipped with the KPIs as the ask, e.g., "Each $CURRENCY you donate will pay to support N additional $CONTENTS," where the wikipedias can use ops measurements of the resources typical to, e.g., take an article from Start to B class, for example, or how much time, server electricity including idle time, and other resource it takes to get a new word added to Wiktionary to some level of proficiency. If these units relate to the potential donor's language or geography, all the better. People geolocated in the developed world using languages with highly developed wikipedias and wiktionaries can be told how much it would cost to, for example, eliminate units of the various WP:BACKLOG items you find suitable in multivariate e.g. Latin squares donation message testing. (Or add new technology projects like an intelligibility- and natural spoken feedback version of https://www.speechace.co/api_sample/ hint https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T166929#5473028 hint.)
Also please take Curecoin instead of Bitcoin, even if that means paying the extra transaction fee before converting the Curecoin to cash. It is the height of folly to be as close to endorsing wasted electricity-based cryptocurrency as we already do, when alternatives with a benefit are less commonly known. The only other blockchain thing I like is that long-term state-sponsored censorship mitigation program can be based on copying the dumps to IPFS, but please also support the CDN efforts like Encrypted-SNI:
https://twitter.com/jsalsman/status/1142172682751864832
https://twitter.com/jsalsman/status/1142940652851695616
https://twitter.com/jsalsman/status/1053786384463355905
Please let me know your thoughts.
Best regards, Jim
On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 12:31 PM Andy Mabbett andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote:
On Wed, 18 Sep 2019 at 17:55, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org wrote:
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief Technology Officer! Grant
It is UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS of Katherine to post this...
In Grant’s own words
We're adjusting to the empty nest life with our dog Allie (a black lab mix).
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
-- Andy Mabbett @pigsonthewing http://pigsonthewing.org.uk
Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l New messages to: Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, mailto:wikimedia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe
On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 12:32 PM Andy Mabbett andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote:
On Wed, 18 Sep 2019 at 17:55, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org wrote:
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief Technology Officer! Grant
It is UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS of Katherine to post this...
In Grant’s own words
We're adjusting to the empty nest life with our dog Allie (a black lab mix).
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
Frankly I am shocked ... shocked! that a woman of Katherine’s obvious talents must be reminded of this basic pillar of the movement: If you invoke a cute puppy, you better be prepared to prove it.
Geez, K, have we taught you nothing in the, what, half a decade, that you’ve been part of this movement?
-philippe
--
Philippe Beaudette philippe@beaudette.me
Congratulations to Grant on his new position, and to the Foundation on the new CTO! I look forward seeing your work.
On 19.09.19 07:35, Philippe Beaudette wrote:
On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 12:32 PM Andy Mabbett andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk wrote:
On Wed, 18 Sep 2019 at 17:55, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org wrote:
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief Technology Officer! Grant
It is UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS of Katherine to post this...
In Grant’s own words
We're adjusting to the empty nest life with our dog Allie (a black lab mix).
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
Frankly I am shocked ... shocked! that a woman of Katherine’s obvious talents must be reminded of this basic pillar of the movement: If you invoke a cute puppy, you better be prepared to prove it.
Geez, K, have we taught you nothing in the, what, half a decade, that you’ve been part of this movement?
-philippe
Can someone explain to me why it’s so funny to repeat the exact same toxic tone that this mailing list is notorious for, but this time jokingly? It’s not like this is a fun, harmless reminder of a dreadful past we’ve long left behind us…
Cheers, Lucas
Welcome to your new role Grant, looking forward to working with you and perhaps meet you in person one day.
Kind regards, Bobby Shabangu
On Thu, 19 Sep 2019 at 11:47, Lucas Werkmeister mail@lucaswerkmeister.de wrote:
Congratulations to Grant on his new position, and to the Foundation on the new CTO! I look forward seeing your work.
On 19.09.19 07:35, Philippe Beaudette wrote:
On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 12:32 PM Andy Mabbett <andy@pigsonthewing.org.uk
wrote:
On Wed, 18 Sep 2019 at 17:55, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org wrote:
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief
Technology
Officer! Grant
It is UTTERLY OUTRAGEOUS of Katherine to post this...
In Grant’s own words
We're adjusting to the empty nest life with our dog Allie (a black lab mix).
...without linking to at least one cute pic of Allie ;-)
Frankly I am shocked ... shocked! that a woman of Katherine’s obvious talents must be reminded of this basic pillar of the movement: If you invoke a cute puppy, you better be prepared to prove it.
Geez, K, have we taught you nothing in the, what, half a decade, that you’ve been part of this movement?
-philippe
Can someone explain to me why it’s so funny to repeat the exact same toxic tone that this mailing list is notorious for, but this time jokingly? It’s not like this is a fun, harmless reminder of a dreadful past we’ve long left behind us…
Cheers, Lucas
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Le mer. 18 sept. 2019 à 19:44, Katherine Maher kmaher@wikimedia.org a écrit :
Hi all,
I’m excited to officially welcome Grant Ingersoll as our Chief Technology Officer! Grant will be starting September 23. He’ll be based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
[...]
Please join me in welcoming Grant to the Wikimedia Foundation!
Welcome and good luck with your future wiki (data) challenges!
---
Amirouche ~ amz3 ~ https://hyper.dev
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org