Dear friends and colleagues,
I am delighted to announce that Jake Orlowitz (User:Ocaasi, User:Ocaasi (WMF))
is joining the Grantmaking department at WMF to lead The Wikipedia Library
(TWL)[1], an online resource for Wikipedians to get free access to
journal subscriptions.
In the last year, TWL has helped nearly 2000 unique users access 3000
accounts of sources like JSTOR, Elsevier, De Gruyter, and Oxford University
Press,[2] and is now experimenting with community-run branches in Arabic,
German and other languages.
Jake will be a full-time contractor with part-time support from Alex Stinson
(User:Sadads, User:Astinson (WMF)) for an initial period of six months.
They are both working with an amazing volunteer team of Wikipedians guided
by Head of Volunteer Coordination (User:Nikkimaria). We're particularly
looking forward to seeing how TWL can expand its global (non-English) work,
and what it can teach us about the best ways to support some of our top
contributors, and improve content on our projects.
Many of you know Jake well, but for those who don't: Jake (Ocaasi) is a
long time Wikipedian, with two Individual Engagement Grants from us, and he
has been on the IEG grants committee for the past two years. Jake works
remotely from Philadelphia but is frequently in the Bay Area, especially
during long and dark East Coast winters. Alex has been involved for many
years with both Education and GLAM outreach. He resides in Kansas where he
works on Digital Humanities at Kansas State.
You can catch up on all of TWL's new happenings in the latest edition of
the Books and Bytes newsletter.[7] We're excited to bring The Wikipedia
Library on board and look forward to its growth and evolution!
Warmly,
Anasuya
Jake Orlowitz (User:Ocaasi) started editing in 2007 as an ip. Early on he
worked on articles about religious groups, political movements,
and alternative health. Around 2010 he shifted focus from editing
to helping new users, working in the irc-help channel and developing the Plain
and Simple guide for New Editors [3] and its COI counterpart [4]. In 2012
Jake began developing projects through the Individual Engagement Grants
department at WMF. He built The Wikipedia Adventure,[5] a playful
interactive game to onboard new editors. He also began establishing and
expanding donation partnerships in The Wikipedia Library to provide free
research access to top article contributors. He helps out as a board member
of Wiki Project Med Foundation [6] and gives talks about Wikipedia's role
in education. Jake grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs and studied
political theory at Wesleyan, before starting a tutoring company in
Colorado. He currently splits his time between coasts, working
full-time on Wikipedia
projects. His contract with WMF will focus on expanding the number and
global reach of Wikipedia Library partnerships.
Alex Stinson (User:Sadads) is a 9-year editor with over 80,000 contributions,
actively involved in different forms of outreach. He
is currently a project manager with the The Wikipedia Library, a long time
volunteer with The Wikipedia Education Program, and supporter of GLAM-Wiki
outreach. Alex has a Masters degree in English Literature from Kansas State
University with research focused on cultural studies and the digital
humanities. He works as a digital humanist at K-State, where he helps
develop projects and create partnerships with educators and cultural
institutions.
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/The_Wikipedia_Library
[2]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:IEG/The_Wikipedia_Library/Renewal/Fi…
[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:PANDS
[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:PSCOI
[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Adventure
[6]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WPMED
[7]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library/Newsletter/Au…
--
*Anasuya SenguptaSenior Director of GrantmakingWikimedia Foundation*
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
Support Wikimedia <https://donate.wikimedia.org/>