This is a big day for WikiProject Oregon.
While we are a truly collaborative effort among a diverse group, it’s no doubt that this project owes a great deal to the hard work of Pete Forsyth. Pete has been instrumental in the organization of WikiProject Oregon, especially in public outreach work. This very blog was his idea to begin with.
So it’s with great joy that we get to wish him luck as he heads on to a new opportunity in San Francisco as the Public Outreach Officer for the Wikimedia Foundation. For those not familiar with it, the Foundation is the non-profit that helps run Wikipedia and countless other free culture projects.
As his work with WikiProject Oregon clearly shows, Pete has a gift for reaching out to the public on behalf of Wikipedia. While all of us devote our free time to editing the free encyclopedia, Pete is one of the slightly rarer individuals who work outside the wiki to educate the public about the Wikimedia movement.
Now he gets to do that not just for Oregon and Wikipedia, but for the whole of the Wikimedia Foundation. Congratulations Pete!
October 23, 2009 at 3:09 pm
[...] A Bright Future Ahead for One of Our Own « WikiProject Oregon a few seconds ago from web [...]
October 23, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Congrats! Not a surprise, Pete is one of the best community-builders there is.
(“there is”? “there are”? too bad this isn’t a wiki where someone can correct my grammar)
October 23, 2009 at 3:25 pm
[...] A Bright Future Ahead for One of Our Own « WikiProject Oregon a few seconds ago from web [...]
October 23, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This is a good thing for both Wikipedia and Pete!!
p.s. am I remembering wrong, didn’t this weblog come out of a discussion we all had when traveling to RecentChangesCamp in Palo Alto?
October 23, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Best to Pete. Pete helped me over and above as I tipped my toes into the world of Wikipedia.
October 23, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Pete is amazing. He designed my blog and was instrumental in its philosophical development and the direction it took to reach out to a wider audience. Just today Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic cited it for the second time. Wikimedia really scored a talent.
October 24, 2009 at 8:44 am
Wow– thanks everybody for the kind words. I’m incredibly excited for this job. This week I was in SF for an all-staff meeting, and am astonished by the depth of passion and commitment among the people I’ll be working with…and humbled by all of your kind words. Y’all are setting a pretty high bar for me!
October 27, 2009 at 2:48 pm
There’s a nice mention in the current Wikipedia Signpost, too — also highlighting some other excellent recent hires.
October 27, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Pete has so much enthusiasm and excitement about creating more richness in people’s lives and teaching them new ways to connect and share information. I know he’ll be a rip-roaring success in this new gig!
Yay, Pete!…but wait…do you move to SF or work from PDX?