Hi --
I just noticed a wikimedia.org e-mail address that I didn't recognize; I assume it belongs to a new contractor. It reminded me that the announcement process for contractors (and other non-permanent staff) is still non-existent.
The last time I asked about this, I was told that I should be picking up clues from the way people sign blog posts and gathering other pieces of information (like e-mail address changes) in order to figure out who's working on what. I don't think this is acceptable.
Is it possible to have some sort of standardized announcement process and tracking system of Wikimedia's contractors? They're not tracked at the Wikimedia Foundation's Staff page[1] and I don't know of any public place where they're announced. Specifically, it would be nice to know who's been hired, what they're working on, etc.
It's possible that there are announcements being made and I've simply been missing them, but that would be surprising to me and would indicate a problem of a different nature.
Thanks.
MZMcBride
Thanks MZMcBride for your note -- I absolutely sympathize with anyone who's trying to keep up to speed on everything going on at Wikimedia. We're all trying to strike a good balance in terms of what's useful, relevant, interesting, and I hope we are generally getting it fairly close to correct.
As a general rule we only announce new staff and those contractors who are expected to interact significantly with the community. We don't announce all PT and short-term people, because we don't think it makes sense to do that.
Whenever anyone has a question that is not answered by a general announcement there are many options available for interaction with folks like Philippe and Cary and Guillaume etc. on IRC and by e-mail, and you should feel free to ask questions whenever you like. If someone doesn't have direct access to other staff I can always be contacted directly if there is a question about personnel.
Best, -Daniel Phelps Human Resources
On Jun 1, 2010, at 5:26 PM, MZMcBride wrote:
Hi --
I just noticed a wikimedia.org e-mail address that I didn't recognize; I assume it belongs to a new contractor. It reminded me that the announcement process for contractors (and other non-permanent staff) is still non-existent.
The last time I asked about this, I was told that I should be picking up clues from the way people sign blog posts and gathering other pieces of information (like e-mail address changes) in order to figure out who's working on what. I don't think this is acceptable.
Is it possible to have some sort of standardized announcement process and tracking system of Wikimedia's contractors? They're not tracked at the Wikimedia Foundation's Staff page[1] and I don't know of any public place where they're announced. Specifically, it would be nice to know who's been hired, what they're working on, etc.
It's possible that there are announcements being made and I've simply been missing them, but that would be surprising to me and would indicate a problem of a different nature.
Thanks.
MZMcBride
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org