Quick update:
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that we've got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will be reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
First -- huge thanks to Monte and Dan and Kristen and Dmitry and Bernd and of course Tomasz!! and everybody else who's been awesome in Mobile Apps -- and also to the rest of the mobile team, who have become too many to list in a concise email. :)
For the moment I'm going to get back up to speed with the Architecture Committee and push at general MediaWiki issues. As we determine the fate of committees and narrow down what are our priority projects, my focus may narrow a to getting some particular things done over the next months.
A few general notes:
* Working in mobile apps reminded me how important our APIs are -- our ability to make flexible interfaces that work in different form factors and different technology stacks is dependent on maintaining a good API. This needs work. :)
This doesn't just mean interacting with "api.php" -- we need clean configuration, data, etc interfaces as well, especially if we want people to contribute in ways other than raw text editing. There's a lot to clean up...
* Mobile mobile mobile! I've heard some folks complain that while there's a lot of talk about "mobile-first" and similar there aren't always concrete explanations yet of what that means. I hope to bring some of the excitement we've seen in Mobile about Wikidata, better queries, better visual/user interaction design, and generally making things *work for users*.
* Breaking or working around the "PHP barrier" for third-party MediaWiki users: I hope to get the question of services resolved one way or another -- either by us officially dropping "shared PHP hosting" support or by making sure we have "pure PHP" implementations of things that are required to operate -- which is mostly dependent on having good interfaces and APIs so that multiple implementations can be written and maintained compatibly...
* Future stuff -- new media types, narrow-field editing, natural language queries? WHO KNOWS! I'll be researching more crazy stuff in my additional time.
I'll see many of you at the Dev Summit soon enough -- don't be shy about pestering me with concerns and ideas about priorities. :)
-- brion
This is fantastic news, although I fear Mobile may miss you at times. Enjoy the (re)new(ed) area of work, Brion!
Siebrand
On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 5:34 PM, Brion Vibber bvibber@wikimedia.org wrote:
Quick update:
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that we've got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will be reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
First -- huge thanks to Monte and Dan and Kristen and Dmitry and Bernd and of course Tomasz!! and everybody else who's been awesome in Mobile Apps -- and also to the rest of the mobile team, who have become too many to list in a concise email. :)
For the moment I'm going to get back up to speed with the Architecture Committee and push at general MediaWiki issues. As we determine the fate of committees and narrow down what are our priority projects, my focus may narrow a to getting some particular things done over the next months.
A few general notes:
- Working in mobile apps reminded me how important our APIs are -- our
ability to make flexible interfaces that work in different form factors and different technology stacks is dependent on maintaining a good API. This needs work. :)
This doesn't just mean interacting with "api.php" -- we need clean configuration, data, etc interfaces as well, especially if we want people to contribute in ways other than raw text editing. There's a lot to clean up...
- Mobile mobile mobile! I've heard some folks complain that while there's a
lot of talk about "mobile-first" and similar there aren't always concrete explanations yet of what that means. I hope to bring some of the excitement we've seen in Mobile about Wikidata, better queries, better visual/user interaction design, and generally making things *work for users*.
- Breaking or working around the "PHP barrier" for third-party MediaWiki
users: I hope to get the question of services resolved one way or another -- either by us officially dropping "shared PHP hosting" support or by making sure we have "pure PHP" implementations of things that are required to operate -- which is mostly dependent on having good interfaces and APIs so that multiple implementations can be written and maintained compatibly...
- Future stuff -- new media types, narrow-field editing, natural language
queries? WHO KNOWS! I'll be researching more crazy stuff in my additional time.
I'll see many of you at the Dev Summit soon enough -- don't be shy about pestering me with concerns and ideas about priorities. :)
On 20 January 2015 at 08:43, Siebrand Mazeland siebrand@kitano.nl wrote:
This is fantastic news, although I fear Mobile may miss you at times.
We absolutely will.
However, we are excited that Brion is placing himself somewhere where he can continue to be our ally and push forward the infrastructure that Mobile, like many of us, are dependent on to succeed.
Enjoy yourself, Brion!
Dan
Am 20.01.2015 um 17:34 schrieb Brion Vibber:
Quick update:
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that we've got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will be reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
Hey Brion!
To me, as a member of the Architecture Committee and someone often frustrated with the encrusted innards of MediaWiki, this is great news!
Or as you might say: Awesome!
Cheers, Daniel
Haha.. great.
Wellcome back Brion.
I am just a lurker on this mail list, but your post are always so full of energy. I love if that energy is the energy of mediawiki.
I hope that energy inspire others to not just the day to day process but the crazy things you mention. I remember when the idea of a wiki (a website any visitor can edit?!) was totally freak, alien to everyone, I hope projects like MediaWiki still mantain a open door to things that can freak us again.
On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 9:22 AM, Tei oscar.vives@gmail.com wrote:
a open door to things that can freak us again.
^ world's greatest job title for Brion's business card
Robla wrote
Brion,let me know how I can help!
Ditto.
Great news indeed.
Brion,
I'm glad to have you back on the dark server side!
This is great news for our APIs and the technical evolution of our stack in general.
Cheers!
Gabriel
On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 9:12 AM, Daniel Kinzler daniel@brightbyte.de wrote:
Am 20.01.2015 um 17:34 schrieb Brion Vibber:
Quick update:
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that
we've
got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will
be
reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
Hey Brion!
To me, as a member of the Architecture Committee and someone often frustrated with the encrusted innards of MediaWiki, this is great news!
Or as you might say: Awesome!
Cheers, Daniel
Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Hooray! :-) You'll do great things, as always. Look forward to your focused leadership in this area.
Erik
<quote name="Brion Vibber" date="2015-01-20" time="08:34:11 -0800">
Quick update:
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that we've got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will be reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
Great news Brion!
I'm excited about what your energy will bring (back) to this part of the software stack.
And I'll remain reserved and not make fanboy comments; professionalism and all.
Greg
PS: I remember seeing Brion at a Wikimania and only have the courage to go up to him and say "You don't know me but I know you. Thanks for everything you've done." Hadn't talked in-person again until I was hired. </fanboy>
On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Greg Grossmeier greg@wikimedia.org wrote:
Great news Brion!
I'm excited about what your energy will bring (back) to this part of the software stack.
And I'll remain reserved and not make fanboy comments; professionalism and all.
What he said ^
My getting involved in MediaWiki development was heavily influenced by watching Brion's friendly and clear direction of the project. Brion, let me know how I can help!
Rob
Le 20/01/2015 08:34, Brion Vibber a écrit :
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that we've got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will be reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
Welcome "back" Brion, you were very missed :-]
On Jan 20, 2015 12:34 PM, "Brion Vibber" bvibber@wikimedia.org wrote:
Quick update:
I've had a great experience working on our mobile apps, but it's time to get back to core MediaWiki and help "clean my own house"... now that we've got Mobile Apps fully staffed I'm leaving the mobile department and will
be
reporting directly to Damon within WMF Engineering.
First -- huge thanks to Monte and Dan and Kristen and Dmitry and Bernd and of course Tomasz!! and everybody else who's been awesome in Mobile Apps -- and also to the rest of the mobile team, who have become too many to list in a concise email. :)
For the moment I'm going to get back up to speed with the Architecture Committee and push at general MediaWiki issues. As we determine the fate
of
committees and narrow down what are our priority projects, my focus may narrow a to getting some particular things done over the next months.
A few general notes:
- Working in mobile apps reminded me how important our APIs are -- our
ability to make flexible interfaces that work in different form factors
and
different technology stacks is dependent on maintaining a good API. This needs work. :)
This doesn't just mean interacting with "api.php" -- we need clean configuration, data, etc interfaces as well, especially if we want people to contribute in ways other than raw text editing. There's a lot to clean up...
- Mobile mobile mobile! I've heard some folks complain that while there's
a
lot of talk about "mobile-first" and similar there aren't always concrete explanations yet of what that means. I hope to bring some of the
excitement
we've seen in Mobile about Wikidata, better queries, better visual/user interaction design, and generally making things *work for users*.
- Breaking or working around the "PHP barrier" for third-party MediaWiki
users: I hope to get the question of services resolved one way or another -- either by us officially dropping "shared PHP hosting" support or by making sure we have "pure PHP" implementations of things that are required to operate -- which is mostly dependent on having good interfaces and APIs so that multiple implementations can be written and maintained
compatibly...
- Future stuff -- new media types, narrow-field editing, natural language
queries? WHO KNOWS! I'll be researching more crazy stuff in my additional time.
I'll see many of you at the Dev Summit soon enough -- don't be shy about pestering me with concerns and ideas about priorities. :)
-- brion _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list Wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
Exciting times! Im sure this will result in many new great things for MediaWiki.
--bawolff
wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org