Hello Everyone,
Recently we've been having some internal conversations regarding transparency for our hiring, recruiting and contracting. In efforts to be more proactive about sharing this information we're moving to a system of tweeting short bursts of announcements. This will be done in a "bot" style voice not unlike the WMF tech feeds. The idea is that we'll get the information out on new hires and new contractors and consultants working with us along with new job openings etc. Basically the streams will recap the comings and goings in a short and sweet format.
I invite you all to see these data streams - http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork. Eventually we also hope to find more ways to use this feed for recruiting and reaching out to a larger candidate pool and audience. There will also be times where we link the streams or feeds to longer and more detailed blog postings.
-Daniel
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Daniel Phelps dphelps@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello Everyone,
Recently we've been having some internal conversations regarding transparency for our hiring, recruiting and contracting. In efforts to be more proactive about sharing this information we're moving to a system of tweeting short bursts of announcements. This will be done in a "bot" style voice not unlike the WMF tech feeds. The idea is that we'll get the information out on new hires and new contractors and consultants working with us along with new job openings etc. Basically the streams will recap the comings and goings in a short and sweet format.
I invite you all to see these data streams - http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork. Eventually we also hope to find more ways to use this feed for recruiting and reaching out to a larger candidate pool and audience. There will also be times where we link the streams or feeds to longer and more detailed blog postings.
-Daniel
So you know, all the times people asked to have better systems to inform of new hirings such as on wiki pages but get told it would take too long to update them, you decide to implement a even more stupid and time consuming system in which limited information can be sent out. -Peachey
I don't think that was constructive criticism. Personally I think that Foundation staff should be applauded for trying to be more transparent about hiring, even if you disagree with what they might be experimenting with.
Steven Walling
On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 5:42 PM, K. Peachey p858snake@yahoo.com.au wrote:
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Daniel Phelps dphelps@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello Everyone,
Recently we've been having some internal conversations regarding
transparency for our hiring, recruiting and contracting. In efforts to be more proactive about sharing this information we're moving to a system of tweeting short bursts of announcements. This will be done in a "bot" style voice not unlike the WMF tech feeds. The idea is that we'll get the information out on new hires and new contractors and consultants working with us along with new job openings etc. Basically the streams will recap the comings and goings in a short and sweet format.
I invite you all to see these data streams -
http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork. Eventually we also hope to find more ways to use this feed for recruiting and reaching out to a larger candidate pool and audience. There will also be times where we link the streams or feeds to longer and more detailed blog postings.
-Daniel
So you know, all the times people asked to have better systems to inform of new hirings such as on wiki pages but get told it would take too long to update them, you decide to implement a even more stupid and time consuming system in which limited information can be sent out. -Peachey
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On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Steven Walling steven.walling@gmail.com wrote:
I don't think that was constructive criticism. Personally I think that Foundation staff should be applauded for trying to be more transparent about hiring, even if you disagree with what they might be experimenting with.
Steven Walling
You mean the transparency that they have been repeatably asked for in the past by people and was denied by staff because updating even a simple on wiki list would "take too long"? Although i guess a microblog feed will make it easier for people such as those staff and contractors who had to ask other staff (who apparently had to ask even more people) about who people in the building even were and if they were meant to be there. -Peachey
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 1:40 PM, Steven Walling steven.walling@gmail.com wrote:
I don't think that was constructive criticism. Personally I think that Foundation staff should be applauded for trying to be more transparent about hiring, even if you disagree with what they might be experimenting with.
Steven Walling
You mean the transparency that they have been repeatably asked for in the past by people and was denied by staff because updating even a simple on wiki list would "take too long"? Although i guess a microblog feed will make it easier for people such as those staff and contractors who had to ask other staff (who apparently had to ask even more people) about who people in the building even were and if they were meant to be there.
That seems like a further example of unconstructive criticism. If you'd like to take some particular person to task for failing to meet your personal standards, perhaps you could do it directly, rather than in front of an audience of thousands? That's likely to be more effective, and is certain to have fewer unwelcome side effects.
William
K. Peachey wrote:
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Daniel Phelps dphelps@wikimedia.org [...]
I invite you all to see these data streams - http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork. Eventually we also hope to find more ways to use this feed for recruiting and reaching out to a larger candidate pool and audience. There will also be times where we link the streams or feeds to longer and more detailed blog postings.
-Daniel
So you know, all the times people asked to have better systems to inform of new hirings such as on wiki pages but get told it would take too long to update them, you decide to implement a even more stupid and time consuming system in which limited information can be sent out. -Peachey
The microblog seems like a pretty reasonable approach to me, really. At my company we're doing a lot of internal documentation via blog and microblog entries. Those platforms are very easy to update, keeping costs low. Unlike wiki pages, they don't create an ongoing maintenance burden, or set false expectations about the freshness of the content.
Don't get me wrong, I love wikis. But if the goal is to keep people updated on the status of something, the tools built around status updates are pretty swell.
Anyhow, I appreciate any and all steps the WMF takes toward greater transparency.
William
Twitter and Identi.ca (microblogging systems) are faster alternatives to the usual blog post, and they spread the word in an effective way (followers can retweet if it is interesting). Today, with the information flooding that we suffer, micromessages system and alerts are the only way we can filter what we like.
And, of course, you have the Job openings wikipage.[1]
I think that it is a good idea.
Regards, emijrp
[1] http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings
2010/9/3 K. Peachey p858snake@yahoo.com.au
On Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Daniel Phelps dphelps@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello Everyone,
Recently we've been having some internal conversations regarding
transparency for our hiring, recruiting and contracting. In efforts to be more proactive about sharing this information we're moving to a system of tweeting short bursts of announcements. This will be done in a "bot" style voice not unlike the WMF tech feeds. The idea is that we'll get the information out on new hires and new contractors and consultants working with us along with new job openings etc. Basically the streams will recap the comings and goings in a short and sweet format.
I invite you all to see these data streams -
http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork. Eventually we also hope to find more ways to use this feed for recruiting and reaching out to a larger candidate pool and audience. There will also be times where we link the streams or feeds to longer and more detailed blog postings.
-Daniel
So you know, all the times people asked to have better systems to inform of new hirings such as on wiki pages but get told it would take too long to update them, you decide to implement a even more stupid and time consuming system in which limited information can be sent out. -Peachey
foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
Daniel Phelps wrote:
I invite you all to see these data streams - http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all or http://twitter.com/wikimediaatwork.
Thank you very much for giving this issue some focus. It was definitely needed and I think this is a step in the right direction. This particular approach seems pretty unconventional, even for Wikimedia. There is a page at Meta-Wiki that takes a more conventional approach to this type of thing: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_contractors
Eventually we also hope to find more ways to use this feed for recruiting and reaching out to a larger candidate pool and audience.
One might suggest that the people spending their day on Twitter reading Wikimedia's "wikimediaatwork" feed aren't going to be the best prospective employees.
Again, thanks for creating a feed. :-)
MZMcBride
On 3 September 2010 04:49, MZMcBride z@mzmcbride.com wrote:
One might suggest that the people spending their day on Twitter reading Wikimedia's "wikimediaatwork" feed aren't going to be the best prospective employees.
http://identi.ca/wikimediaatwork/all/rss
The back-end for such a feed is not really critical. The main thing is that it exists.
If there's an RSS-embedding widget that's up to our standards, it might be a good thing to put on the relevant WMF wiki page.
- d.
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 8:18 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
If there's an RSS-embedding widget that's up to our standards, it might be a good thing to put on the relevant WMF wiki page.
It may be better to have a bot copy the content into the wiki page instead of only displaying the RSS. That way the history remains on the wiki and you're not relying on a third party to provide a copy of the content. I've found that embedding Twitter feeds in a wiki too often results in timeouts.
Angela
On 3 September 2010 13:38, Angela beesley@gmail.com wrote:
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 8:18 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
If there's an RSS-embedding widget that's up to our standards, it might be a good thing to put on the relevant WMF wiki page.
It may be better to have a bot copy the content into the wiki page instead of only displaying the RSS. That way the history remains on the wiki and you're not relying on a third party to provide a copy of the content. I've found that embedding Twitter feeds in a wiki too often results in timeouts.
+1
- d.
Angela,
This was exactly our hope when creating the feed or "stream" system with Identi.ca and Twitter.
The feeds require minimal time commitment yet get the information out in an easily digestible format that can be used in ways like you mentioned. In cases where more information is necessary we still plan to use and link to our blog, Job Openings page, email welcome announcements to the various lists, etc. In addition the Staff page is constantly updated when new employees are added.
Thanks for the constructive and encouraging feedback. :)
-Daniel
On Sep 3, 2010, at 5:38 AM, Angela wrote:
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 8:18 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
If there's an RSS-embedding widget that's up to our standards, it might be a good thing to put on the relevant WMF wiki page.
It may be better to have a bot copy the content into the wiki page instead of only displaying the RSS. That way the history remains on the wiki and you're not relying on a third party to provide a copy of the content. I've found that embedding Twitter feeds in a wiki too often results in timeouts.
Angela
I thought this was very smart Idea by the HR department. It would be much easier to follow up on for new wikimedians and prospective hires, rather than going through posting pages on the foundation wiki and the Meta. Its the quickest way of informing the community of new staff hires and introducing them to the community. I thought this was the easiest and the quickest way to provide updates rather than pages on Meta or the foundation Wiki (which I think would still be updated).
If the bone of contention is the choice of media here of Micro-blogging then I think thats another discussion altogether, the foundation and many prominent projects are already very active in the Micro-blogging world. Last I checked Wikimedia tech staff, Wikimedia Mobile, Wikipedia Signpost and others provide regular updates through the same medium.
Regards
Theo
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 11:48 PM, Daniel Phelps dphelps@wikimedia.orgwrote:
Angela,
This was exactly our hope when creating the feed or "stream" system with Identi.ca and Twitter.
The feeds require minimal time commitment yet get the information out in an easily digestible format that can be used in ways like you mentioned. In cases where more information is necessary we still plan to use and link to our blog, Job Openings page, email welcome announcements to the various lists, etc. In addition the Staff page is constantly updated when new employees are added.
Thanks for the constructive and encouraging feedback. :)
-Daniel
On Sep 3, 2010, at 5:38 AM, Angela wrote:
On Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 8:18 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
If there's an RSS-embedding widget that's up to our standards, it might be a good thing to put on the relevant WMF wiki page.
It may be better to have a bot copy the content into the wiki page instead of only displaying the RSS. That way the history remains on the wiki and you're not relying on a third party to provide a copy of the content. I've found that embedding Twitter feeds in a wiki too often results in timeouts.
Angela
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