I do help out other projects, and I do have small numbers of edits there, but typically my help isn't actually edits.
Do you have any rights (i.e. admin, bureaucrat) or positions (i.e. dispute resolution, CheckUser, etc.) on any of those projects? If so, which ones? When did you get elected or promoted for each one?
I have a habit of delegating and/or handing in rights and positions as soon as I'm done with them. I've been an admin on en.wikipedia, and I've set up the mediation cabal on en.wikipedia. I also trained the chanops for #wikinews (not a very tricky thing to do, but that was fun). I've advised several wikis at times.
Do you hold any universal rights (i.e. steward, etc.) for Wikimedia Projects? If so, since when?
I prefer talking with people. With enough patience, you often have a similar effect. I've almost never had to bug someone else who has universal rights to come up with a PowerAnswer.
When did you first start contributing to Wikimedia projects? Why and how did you initially join?
My first contribution was 7 Nov 2001. Regular contributions since 7 Nov 2003. This one developer kept telling me how he'd written this cool LaTeX engine for wikipedia... in Ocaml! LaTeX I know, but what the heck was wikipedia? I ended up not ever contributing a single line of code to wikipedia, though I've occasionally gotten people to write things, or release their code under GPL.
Briefly describe your career ("real-life"). How do you think this will help you be a successful Board member?
I have a very messed up career in the real world. I am a biologist and a professional software developer. My knowlege of ethology helps me understand the strange and fascinating behaviour of the strange animals known as Homo Sapiens. In general, biology is a very broad field of study, and a decent biologist can study up and become sufficiently skilled in any particular field to be effectivewithin weeks. So I'm able to deal with all kinds of different people, which is a very important requirement, and I'm very flexible in dealing with novel and unexpected situations, which with wikimedia seems to be something that occurs at least once a week. ;-)
Of all the candidates right now, why do you stand out from the field? What makes you the best candidate?
Remember that this term is going to be very short! Just 'till july 2007. My ambitious but still realistic plan is to try to use my position on the board to achieve 3 objectives before that deadline:
Increased transparency of the foundation.
The establishment of an endowment fund to maintain continuity.
Improved internal communications.
A knowledge of several languages has been cited as a key requirement for a Board member. Do you speak any other languages other than English? Why do you think language is or isn't critical to the Board?
I speak English, Dutch and German. I also studied French and Latin in high school.
What do you expect to do while serving on the Board? What are your expectations?
I expect to be doing a lot more reading up on all the different details on what's happening in all the different parts of the wikimedia foundation, more than I'm doing now. What are we doing, how can it be improved, who needs to really be talking to who else, and why haven't they ever met yet? I'll also probably end up mediating all kinds of disputes when different projects clash.
What can you bring to the Board? What can you contribute to the Wikimedia Foundation?
Plenty of time, my skills in mediation, commitment, a strong motivation to work in the open content field, an inquisitive mind for finding interesting issues to work on, and a notorious helping of practical creativity when solving problematic problems or making new things work. My language skills allow me to connect to many different people and cultures within wikimedia.
Describe the one issue that you think is most pressing and pertinent to the Foundation right now, and how you would approach the situation.
I think we need to ensure future continuity by starting on an endowment fund , even if it's only very small right now. Starting an endowment fund is a bit like planting a tree, in that it takes foresight. You need to start very early, because it's going to take many years before the endowment fund has built up to a point that it's actually going to be useful.
What is your vision of the Board in the Foundation heirarchy? How do you feel about the current leadership?
I think the current people running the foundation are all very intelligent and idealistic, and it's great fun working with them, most of the time.
The only time when it's not so fun is when trying to deal with the actual organisation structure to get the right information from the right person. It's not always obvious where you need to go, and sometimes there's quite formidable and arbitrary roadblocks. This gordian knot is going to take some untangeling, to allow for better communication within the foundation.
As a Board member, you will be serving as a representative of the communities. Do you think you can represent the community and understand its concerns? Why?
I have contacts and friends in the many different wikimedia communities, who can help me understand what's happening and what kinds of things need to be said or done.
What do you think of the Wikimedia Foundation and its mission in general? If you could change one thing about the running of the Foundation, what would you change?
I have been committed to creating free (as in speech) content for quite some time. I joined because the foundation is committed to the same mission.
Not so much a change, but I thing I'd like to stress is longetivity. A project like this really needs to continue operating for something like 100 years to be really effective. If there's one thing I'd like to achieve, is that people will start looking at the long term.
If elected, can and will you devote the appropriate time and other resources needed to serve on the Board?
I would be happy to do so.
Have you ever attended Wikimania or any other meetup? What role do you think these meetups play?
Yes, I've attended both wikimanias, and several other meetups in the Netherlands and the USA. It's much easier to assume good faith of people once you've actually met them in person. It's also much easier to mediate a dispute on whether to cross the 't' first or dot the 'i' first, if you're sitting relaxed at a bar drinking a pint of beer (or cup of tea, as preferred).
Please list (and link) any other pages where you have gotten questions and comments pertaining to the Board elections; we are compiling all of the questions and would appreciate this.
What would you say to a potential voter who is undecided right now?
Remember that this is an election for the foundation, not your local wikipedia. You don't have to vote for me per se, but do vote for someone who is able to think about how to deal with all the projects, not just your own.
Is there anything else you would like to mention?
People would look at me oddly if I didn't find someplace to say something about how to use the voting system to best effect. We're using (Approval voting) today, so that makes descisions a little easier. You can vote for everyone you think will be able to do a good job. You can find this list either by selecting every candidate who would work, or alternately, just start out selecting everyone, and then eliminate anyone who would definately not be suitable. You don't need to vote for me specifically. There's many great candidates out there, including Oscar, Mindspillage and Iprov, to name a few.
