Hello folks,
This morning (PST) the Foundation sent out the following news about the appointment of
Craig Newmark, founder of
, to the Wikimedia Advisory Board. Craig is
incredibly excited to be working with the Foundation and volunteers. He's also
blogging about this:
ran a great post by Craig about Wikipedia as an indispensable
aspect of life today:
Wikimedia Foundation Appoints Craig Newmark to its Advisory Board
SAN FRANCISCO November 13, 2009 -- The Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization
behind Wikipedia, today announced the appointment of Craig Newmark to the Foundation's
Advisory Board. Newmark is the founder of
craigslist.org, a site where users connect to
find and exchange goods and services, including housing and jobs. He currently works as a
customer service representative for the site. Over the past 30 years, Newmark has worked
in the technology industry with companies such as IBM, GM, Charles Schwab & Co, and
Bank of America.
“Craig’s experience as an innovator and evangelist, coupled with his knowledge of online
communities and cultures of trust, will make him an invaluable adviser to the
organization,” said Michael Snow, chair of the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees.
“His deep understanding of customer service and his dedication to fostering an enormous
and engaged community of users will be a tremendous asset as we strive to be responsive to
our readers and volunteers.”
The Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the volunteer-written encyclopedia with a staff
of just over 30 people, created its Advisory Board in January 2007 as a mechanism for
input from leaders and thinkers in fields such as education, technology, and free culture.
Advisory Board members convene with Wikimedia's leadership once a year at the annual
Wikimania conference, and also support the organization in their specific areas of
expertise.
"We’ve known Craig as a longtime friend and supporter of our projects and we’re
deeply grateful for that,” said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. “Craigslist is a
like-minded organization with values similar to ours and we’re excited to incorporate his
energy and understanding of online communities into our work.”
“Wikipedia is the first draft of history, and is becoming a preeminent tool for
grassroots democracy. It's a great example of people working together, professionals
and citizens, for the common good,” said Newmark. “The Wikimedia Foundation strives to
ensure Wikipedia has high-quality content, but it does share the accuracy and reliability
issues common to all media. In my day job, I've learned a little about that, and about
general customer service. I figure one of the best things I can do with my life would be
to help apply the few things I've learned for the greater good via Wikipedia. I’m
excited to dive in."
The Wikimedia Foundation is in the midst of the sixth annual annual fundraising campaign,
aiming to bring in over $7.5 million in community contributions to finance operations for
the upcoming year. For more information,
visithttp://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/Wikimedia_launches_…
The current Advisory Board membership includes:
• Angela Beesley Starling (Chair, Wikimedia Advisory Board; co-founder, Wikia)
• Ward Cunningham (Developer of the first wiki)
• Melissa Hagemann (Open access and open education advocate, Open Society
Institute/Soros foundations)
• Mitch Kapor (Founder/Co-founder Lotus Development, EFF, Mozilla Foundation)
• Neeru Khosla (Co-founder, CK-12)
• Teemu Leinonen (Professor, Media Lab, Aalto University)
• Rebecca MacKinnon (Journalist; founder, Global Voices Online)
• Wayne Mackintosh (Education specialist, Commonwealth of Learning)
• Benjamin Mako Hill (Author, free software advocate)
• Roger McNamee (Venture capital, musician)
• Trevor Neilson (Partner, Global Philanthropy Group)
• Craig Newmark (Founder,
Craigslist.org)
• Florence Nibart-Devouard (Former Chair, Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees;
Consultant in Collaborative Media)
• Achal Prabhala (Researcher and writer)
• Clay Shirky (Associate Teacher, Interactive Telecommunications Program, NYU)
• Ethan Zuckerman (Research Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard
Law School)
###
About the Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikimediafoundation.org
http://blog.wikimedia.org
The Wikimedia Foundation is the non-profit organization which operates Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia. According to comScore Media Metrix, Wikipedia and the other projects
operated by the Wikimedia Foundation receive more than 300 million unique visitors per
month, making them the 5th most popular web property world-wide (June, 2009). Available in
more than 265 languages, Wikipedia contains more than 12 million articles contributed by a
global volunteer community of more than 100,000 people. Based in San Francisco,
California, the Wikimedia Foundation is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity that is funded
primarily through donations and grants.
Press inquiries
Jay Walsh
WikimediaFoundation.org
blog.wikimedia.org
+1 (415) 839 6885 x 609
jwalsh(a)wikimedia.org