James Alexander

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Revision as of 11:53, 1 June 2012 by Mdennis (WMF) (talk | contribs) (quietly fixing some redlinks. :))
James Alexander
James Alexander, Manager, Merchandise
James Alexander
Manager, Merchandise, Wikimedia Foundation
"Working here isn't for the faint of heart. That said, you realize the genuine thankfulness of the 500 million people from our community around the world who use the projects every day... and it's all worth it."

About me

I've had an account starting on the English Wikipedia since late 2007 as Jamesofur where I made small edits correcting or updating information as I read through articles (both logged in and anonymous). In 2009 I picked up my interest again mostly because of a fascination with the community model and a desire to see the projects succeed. I worked first on enWiki again and then quickly started getting involved in global governance and anti vandalism and abuse issues. I helped to set up the Global sysops proposal and referendum and still serve as on on my volunteer account, became a Sysop, Bureaucrat and Checkuser on SimpleWikipedia as well as a sysop here on Meta and on EnWikipedia. I've also been a long time agent on OTRS especially with BLP concerns and Intellectual property (Copyright, trademarks and trade secrets mostly).

Personally I have a degree in Economics and a huge love of the law both in the United States and internationally (especially Contract and Copyright law and the international and economic side effects). After school I was looking for work in the legal field planning to go to law school in a year or two. I'm a self professed geek and anglophile who loves most of science fiction and British television, computers and technology (I've taught myself a fair bit of coding but have no formal teaching) and surfing. I enjoy taking on a challenge especially something where much of it hasn't been done before.

My work

I began at the Foundation for the 2010 Fundraiser for outreach but ended up spending most of my time making all of the lovely banners and landing pages that everyone has come to love ;). In 2011 I got a Community Fellowship to work on new editor retention work focusing on data gathering and research (in prep for the Summer of Research) as well as WikiGuides a project trying to proactively reach out to new users which I presented on at Wikimania in Haifa (The Teahouse is taking up from where we left off!). In July 2011 I was swallowed up by the Fundraiser again to be its 'Business Analyst' working to help manage the priorities of the technical and production teams for the Fundraiser.

I'm now working as the Wikimedia Merchandise Manager to build up a store of good quality merchandise that can be sold cheaply to the public and the community. All of our (slim) margins are intended to go straight back into the merchandise to keep global shipping and prices cheap and to give out free merchandise to community members who have worked so hard to make the WM projects amazing. If you have any thoughts for the store and what we should offer or do please let me know!

I also spend some time working in a couple side areas:

  • I work with Maggie and Philippe on community support or emergency issues as needed. In that role you may see me doing some 'office' actions and I'd request that you shoot me an email or drop me a line on my talk page if you have any questions about what I did.
  • On Meta-wiki I update the Identification Noticeboard for people who need to identify to the foundation.
  • I am responsible for monitoring the usage of the Central Notice system for the Foundation.
Disclaimer: I work for the Wikimedia Foundation, and this is the account I intend to use for edits or statements I make in that role. However, the Foundation does not vet all my activity, so edits, statements, or other contributions made by this account may not reflect the views of the Foundation.

Contact me

  • Email: Jalexander@wikimedia.org
  • On my Meta-Wiki or English Wikipedia talk page as Jalexander in a staff role.
  • On my Meta-Wiki or English Wikipedia talk page as Jamesofur in my volunteer role.
  • Gtalk: Jalexander@wikimedia.org
  • Twitter: @Jamesofur
  • LinkedIn profile