James Alexander

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Revision as of 02:47, 17 July 2013 by Jalexander (talk | contribs) (hmm shorter)
James Alexander
James Alexander, Manager, Legal and Community Advocacy
James Alexander
Manager, Legal and Community Advocacy, 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 2006 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 one 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. In the late spring 2012 I started work 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 and to try and set up a giveaway program for community members.

I currently work in the legal and community advocacy department on a wide variety of projects and tasks, some of which can take more or less time depending on the circumstances. One of the easiest ways I've found to describe my job is an awful lot of "Other tasks as assigned" and firefighting. I tend to try and lend support as different fires (problems) pop up that could use my experience or skill. Some of the projects I'm working on now include:

  • I continually work on community support or emergency issues as they come up. Like others in the Community Advocacy team I try to help others within the staff understand the community view point and vice versa.
  • I support the legal department in the execution of legal process, including DMCA takedowns, warrants, subpoenas and threats of harm on wiki. In that role you may see me doing some 'office' actions and I'd request that you send me an email or drop a message on my talk page if you have any questions about what I did.
  • I am working with a team to coordinate a review of privileged software tools (Checkuser/Oversight etc) with particular focus on improvement of privacy and system security.
  • I process, carry out and track requests for privileged access by staff members within the foundation (gathering approvals from elsewhere as needed).
  • Within our,relatively non technical group department, I serve as a "designated tech type person" helping to build out and manage tools to let us better follow the multitude of cases and different issues good and bad.
  • Other tasks as assigned
Disclaimer: I work for or provide services to the Wikimedia Foundation, and this is the account I try 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. Although I am a member of the Legal and Community Advocacy team, I am not a lawyer. The legal team can only represent the Wikimedia Foundation on legal matters, so we are unable to give legal advice to others, including community members, editors, or contributors. Communications with members of the legal team are not consultations and do not create any confidential relationship.

Contact me

  • Email: Jalexander at 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 at wikimedia.org
  • Twitter:  at Jamesofur
  • LinkedIn profile
Babel user information
en-N This user has a native understanding of English.
fr-1 Cet utilisateur dispose de connaissances de base en français.
la-1 Hic usor simplici lingua Latina conferre potest.