New subject: Announcing Noopur Raval as Consultant, Wikimedia Foundation (India Program, Communications)

5 Mar 2012


      cross-posting to reach pan-community; apologies if you have already read this from another list.
Dear All,
I am pleased to announce that Noopur Raval ([User:Noopur28] has been selected as Consultant to the Wikimedia Foundation, and will support Communications for India Program.
This position will perform 4 key functions.  Firstly, it will support communications with our community.  This involves a regular set of updates (such as newsletters) as well as specific communication projects such as story-telling of local community initiatives (to document experiences, celebrate successes and cross-pollinate ideas.)  This is not for day-to-day program communications - which is a core part of each of our responsibilities in the India Program team.  Second will be to support media & PR for local community initiatives.  The single biggest challenge here will to be get more Indic language media coverage to support community building efforts. This will be done directly with community members and also in co-ordination with the India Chapter's Communications Media & PR team.  The third aspect is to build and expand existing community social networks (such as WikimediaIndia on facebook) and to help with the use of social networks to support community building.  Lastly, there is untapped potential of using digital outreach - to augment existing physical outreach efforts.  We need to (very, very carefully) explore if we can reach out to our large and growing reader base and inform, encourage and enable them to become editors using online channels and resources.
Noopur is a community member and has supported outreach activities (in Ahmedabad & Delhi), is a member of Delhi SIG of the Chapter, has participated in community collaborations like Collaboration of the Month and has been actively trying to start GLAM in India.
Noopur is from Gandhinagar and is graduating from JNU with a Master's in Arts & Aesthetics.  She has a triple honors Bachelor's in Media Studies, Literature and Psychology from Christ College, Bangalore.  She has interned with Radio Mirchi, Times of India and the Centre for Internet & Society (amongst others) - as well as done some teaching assignments.  She is an active blogger (including for the India Art Summit, 2011.) She has published a novella and co-authored an anthology of poems, plays & short stories and has co-presented a paper on "Wikiwars" with [User:Srikeit.]  She is also an amateur photographer and has contributed to Commons as well as other platforms.
The Communications position has taken a long time to fill.  The initial call for selection was in September.  I reported back to the community in December that I had failed to find the right candidate and hence the delay.  There were a number of deserving candidates and this selection has taken time because of the need to find the most suitable profile for a complex role.  This role requires the right mix of an academic foundation in communications, domain expertise as well as adequate familiarity with our community.  It also requires adaptability and strong learning skills - because so much of what we are trying to do is pioneering.  I am confident that she brings the right level of experience and competencies  - and I'm very excited by the opportunity of making a step jump in the impact of communications for our community.
Do join me in welcoming Noopur.  She will start on March 12 and will be based in New Delhi.
Best
hisham