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Elezioni Wikimedia Foundation/2024/Candidati/Deon Steyn

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Deon Steyn (Oesjaar)

Oesjaar (talk meta edits global user summary CA  AE)

Dettagli sui candidati
  • Informazioni personali:
    • Nome: Deon Steyn
    • Ubicazione: Johannesburg, Sudafrica
    • Lingue: Afrikaans, Inglese
  • Contributi sui progetti:
    • Wikimediano/a da: 2009
    • Wiki in cui è attivo/a: Afrikaans, Inglese
Il numero totale di parole per l'intera candidatura (domande obbligatorie + facoltative) è di 1000 (mille) parole.
Domande obbligatorie
Perché ti candidi al Board of Trustees di Wikimedia Foundation? Quale sarà il tuo contributo? Quali sono i temi su cui vorresti sapere di più? Come outsider completo, negli ultimi quattro anni la Wikipedia in Afrikaans ha avuto un solo membro del personale permanente, aggiungerò una nuova prospettiva. Avendo una buona formazione nel mondo degli affari, farò la differenza. Voglio lottare per i diritti di progetti Wikipedia più piccoli. Ad esempio, a Wikimania di Città del Messico (2015) ho chiesto assistenza su due questioni, senza mai ottenere risposte o soluzioni.
Descrivi la tua esperienza nel mondo Wikimedia (ad esempio contributi ai progetti Wikimedia, appartenenza a organizzazioni o affiliati Wikimedia, attività come organizzatore del movimento Wikimedia o partecipazione a un'organizzazione affine al movimento Wikimedia). Sono un utente da 15 anni e ho già creato 15.700 articoli sulla Wikipedia in afrikaans e ho già effettuato 234.000 modifiche. Faccio parte di WikimediaZA, responsabile della Wikipedia in afrikaans dal 2014 e sotto la mia guida è cresciuta a passi da gigante. Attualmente siamo la 69esima Wikipedia più grande. Parte della mia strategia di marketing include interviste radiofoniche e sono orgoglioso di dire che due stazioni radio hanno interviste settimanali con noi!

Sono anche riuscito a ottenere 60.000 immagini di flora dal Prof. Braam van Wyk, il più importante botanico del Sudafrica. Attualmente sta caricando tutte le immagini su Commons perché possano essere utilizzate da tutte le comunità, il che richiederà altri due anni per essere completato.

L'anno scorso, sotto la mia guida, abbiamo avviato il concorso di scrittura per le scuole superiori e per il concorso del 2024 abbiamo stipulato una partnership con Rapport, il quotidiano nazionale afrikaans. Anche con PretoriaFM, una stazione radio, abbiamo una partnership. Questo dà alla Wikipedia afrikaans un'impronta nazionale.

Dal tuo punto di vista, quali dovrebbero essere le priorità della Wikimedia Foundation nei prossimi 5-10 anni e perché le consideri importanti? Concentrarsi sulle Wikipedia più piccole, perché anche loro hanno buone idee. Concentrarsi su una maggiore collaborazione con le università e le scuole, dato che, tra l'altro, i costi dei libri di testo sono alle stelle, per non parlare dell'impatto ambientale della stampa dei libri. Praticamente tutti hanno un telefono cellulare.
Optional questions - Professional Experience, Skills and Education
Please describe your experience with governing bodies of organizations (nonprofit or for-profit), mentioning the scope of your responsibilities, as well as the complexity of the organization (in terms of scale of operations, budget, number of people involved, or other meaningful measures) and the size of the board or body. I am running my own business. My business has to advise clients re safety, compile safety plans for events and present the files to the authorities to obtain the necessary permits.

I have served as a member of the Engineering Council of South Africa where I was part of a team to decide on the Professional Status applications of Technologists. In my last job in the Corporate world I was a project manager for Siemens South Africa, running a R200 million signaling project between Kimberley and De Aar. The client was Transtel, South Africa. The duration of the project was two years, I have finished the project on time, within budget and with zero penalties! The permanent staff on site were 50 persons. Monthly meetings were held with the client, Siemens Financial Department, Logistics and the sub contractors.

Please describe your professional career experience. I am a Technologist (Telecommunicatios) and have worked for Telkom SA for 20 years. I also hold a B.Com. Hons (Fin. Management) and is a qualified Safety Officer. I have also worked for Aberdare Cables (where I became a SME on Optic Fibre), Ericsson South Africa and Siemens South Africa as Project Manager.
Please briefly describe 3 situations that show how you tackled, or advised others on, a complex problem in an organization. How did you work with others to address the situations? I have run training courses for new users. Due to my vision the Afrikaans Wikipedia has signed a MOU with the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns which gave us a base to operate from and much needed visibility.

I have created the Campaigners for the Afrikaans Wikipedia campaign which 13 Afrikaans organisations have signed following 5 years of work. This will give us access to more resources including funding.

I have just been given permission to do a presentation at the South African Teachers Union Organisation re Wikipedia following three years of persistence.

Please describe your educational background, including degrees, certificates, and courses of study finished, and their relevance to board work. T6 (6 years) Technologist in Telecommunications. BCom Hons (Fin Management). SHEMTRAC - Safety Certificate.
Please add any relevant links describing your professional background, experience, profile (such as LinkedIn, staff page, etc.). https://www.linkedin.com/in/deon-steyn-0a9a952a0/
Optional questions - Leadership Experience
Please describe ways in which you have helped to form a bridge between multiple communities (such as by working on projects outside your home wiki, or working on a collaboration between multiple affiliates). Unfortunately the Afrikaans Wikipedia is cut off from the rest of the World language wize. I have managed to communicate with the Dutch and Belgium Wikipedia's. Communication within Africa is non-existent.
Can you describe a policy, on wiki or off, that you helped to create or change? What did you learn from this experience? Enforce that articles have the necessary sources. South African schools are still skeptical re Wikipedia and have articles with the proper sources are critical to get them to see the light.
How have you been able to empower people to make their voices heard? I started by inviting people for coffee sessions, talk to them re the Afrikaans Wikipedia and listen to their side of the story. Then I have started a FB group where we put up a link to the weekly front page and invited them to become members. Then we fed them more and more info on our FB until they started to take part on Geselshoekie, our version of Village Pump. Most important, we treated their views with respect.
Sometimes in professional situations, there are personality conflicts. Explain how you remain productive even with personality conflicts. I remind them to remember where they want to be, the end objective.
Optional questions - Strategic Thinking
Where do you see the need for greater diversity in the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees or within the movement? What steps would you take to improve diversity on the Board or within the movement? What steps would you recommend the Board take to improve diversity? The small Wikipedia's are ignored. A decision that works in Europe and America will not necessary work in Africa.
Verifica Verifiche eseguite dalla commissione elettorale o dallo staff di Wikimedia Foundation.
Ammissibilità: Verificato
Verificato da: KTC (talk) 20:00, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Identificazione: Verificato
Verificato da: – NahidSultan (WMF) (talk) 07:06, 3 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]