[Foundation-l] Omidyar Network Commits $2 Million Grant to Wikimedia Foundation

[Michael Peel]

On 27 Aug 2009, at 03:46, Michael Snow wrote:

> Kropotkine_113 wrote:
>> Does he fulfill the Nomitanig Commitee selection criterion :  
>> "Membership
>> in the Wikimedia community" ?
>> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Nominating_Committee/ 
>> Selection_criteria#General_needed_traits
>>
> Ting already answered the rest of these questions, but I will  
> elaborate
> on this one. The page is perhaps not completely clear, but the
> Nominating Committee used it as a workspace to brainstorm and  
> prioritize
> possible criteria. Thus, it was not decided that we should make
> membership in the Wikimedia community a criterion for the appointed
> seats, as most of us did not think this was a priority. I think  
> this is
> quite understandable, since these seats are designed to allow us to  
> find
> outside expertise for areas not already covered by the board members
> selected by the community. Neither Matt nor anyone else pretends  
> that he
> was a member of the Wikimedia community before he was appointed to the
> board. I know that he was looking forward to getting to know people  
> from
> the community at Wikimania, though.
>
> --Michael Snow

Can I ask: what experience _does_ he have of the Wikimedia movement?  
Has he ever edited a Wikimedia project? How has he supported free  
content aside from via money and being on Boards of Trustees?

There doesn't seem to be an "About Matt Halprin" section available in  
any of the press releases, as there is for the other new appointments...

Thanks,
Mike Peel