Dear All,
Wikimedia UK will have an intern in the office working with us for 6 weeks over the Summer (as per http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Summer_intern). Some of you had a chance to meet Isabelle at the London meetup on Sunday. She is just getting her email and account set up, but in the meantime here is a hello message from her:
*Hello! It's Isabelle here, the new intern at Wikimedia UK. I'm a 22 year-old originally from Shropshire, just graduated from King's College London where I studied French. I'm thrilled to be spending the next six weeks in the office, getting an insight into all the exciting projects that are happening and assisting the team with all manner of things, and I look forward to meeting as many volunteers as possible while I'm here. As a newcomer to the Wikimedia movement I feel I've got a lot to learn as well as to contribute, but surrounded by such knowledgeable people I'm sure it's going to be a very fun process, and one that will speed by... So I'd better get to work! *
We will have another intern starting early September, so I am sure you will hear from both of them more soon.
Best, Daria
On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 11:55 AM, Daria Cybulska daria.cybulska@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
Dear All,
Wikimedia UK will have an intern in the office working with us for 6 weeks over the Summer (as per http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Summer_intern)....
I'm pleased to see a list of tasks at the link.
I've not been an intern but I did two bouts of work experience at school age and my times at both were appallingly rotten experiences. So please try to avoid:
1. Giving them too many trips to the coffee making facilities (making refreshments is an OK thing to get an intern to do, but please make them one every now and again and please don't make them feel that refreshments is their key role).
2. Please find interesting things for them to do. If the office is busy there may be a temptation to think "well, in the time it takes me to train the intern to do this, I could have done it myself." But the intern is there to develop skills. So please teach them some cool stuff,
It would also be great if people would make an effort to drop by the office and chat to the intern on a friendly basis.
Is there a plan for the intern to fill in feedback about her time there? It would be good for WMUK to know what she thinks and to feed that back for when the next intern is present.
Don't know whether Isabelle is going to see this (is she on the mailing list now?) but if so: hello! I hope you have a fulfilling time.
Bod Notbod
Thanks for the comments and useful notes about the internship. I can assure you that we all share coffee making duties in the office, and hopefully have created an encouraging atmosphere where Isabelle can get involved in new and exciting projects. She has also attended the London Wikimeet to get to know some of our volunteers.
We will be doing end of the Internship feedback session, together with a blog post so you can all find out how the internship went.
We are also having another intern starting on 10 September which we are all looking forward to.
Regards, Daria
On 24 August 2012 19:50, Bod Notbod bodnotbod@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 11:55 AM, Daria Cybulska daria.cybulska@wikimedia.org.uk wrote:
Dear All,
Wikimedia UK will have an intern in the office working with us for 6 weeks over the Summer (as per http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Summer_intern)....
I'm pleased to see a list of tasks at the link.
I've not been an intern but I did two bouts of work experience at school age and my times at both were appallingly rotten experiences. So please try to avoid:
- Giving them too many trips to the coffee making facilities (making
refreshments is an OK thing to get an intern to do, but please make them one every now and again and please don't make them feel that refreshments is their key role).
- Please find interesting things for them to do. If the office is
busy there may be a temptation to think "well, in the time it takes me to train the intern to do this, I could have done it myself." But the intern is there to develop skills. So please teach them some cool stuff,
It would also be great if people would make an effort to drop by the office and chat to the intern on a friendly basis.
Is there a plan for the intern to fill in feedback about her time there? It would be good for WMUK to know what she thinks and to feed that back for when the next intern is present.
Don't know whether Isabelle is going to see this (is she on the mailing list now?) but if so: hello! I hope you have a fulfilling time.
Bod Notbod
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