2022 Annual General Meeting/Candidate Statements: Difference between revisions
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This page | This page contains the statements of the candidates for the 2022 elections to the board of Wikimedia UK. Please submit questions for the candidates at 2022 Annual General Meeting/Candidate Questions. | ||
== Adrian Beidas == | |||
Two decades on, the Wikimedia projects remain at the heart of the knowledge revolution that the internet was supposed to bring. Straightforward information, mostly without spin, built and maintained through the ongoing collaboration of thousands of us. Twenty years ago, I had imagined that this democratisation of knowledge would bring a more enlightened world. Of course, I was wrong. The world today feels less enlightened than ever, and too much of the internet has commercialised or been flooded with poor quality information. | |||
The open knowledge movement still has a long way to go. Although the Wikimedia projects remain in a class of their own, having created a major public utility by harnessing the power of mass collaboration, the brilliance of their systems remain poorly understood in the mainstream, and in many of our educational and cultural institutions. Similarly, too much publicly funded knowledge (created or owned by our universities and museums) gets locked up in copyright, so cannot be easily seen by the taxpayers who funded it. And there remains a huge communication gap between the academic world and the rest of the population. | |||
Individual contributors have built these projects, but individuals rarely have the voice or the time to change the way our great institutions behave. That needs organisation, with Wikimedia UK leading the charge. Not just leading at home, but leading globally - we are lucky to live in one of the culturally-richest countries in the world. | |||
I work in finance, with many of the UK's largest companies. I am also a trustee of a small educational charity. Since last year I have supported Wikimedia UK’s audit and risk committee. If selected as a trustee of the full board, I would like to help support the team in their work with the large UK cultural and education institutions. | |||
== Sangeet Bhullar == | |||
I joined the Wikimedia UK Board in Jan 2019, and it has been a privilege to be a trustee since then. I am especially interested in Wikimedia’s role and reach with young people and educators in primary, secondary and further education settings. | |||
My own work focusses on digital literacy and wellbeing. Over the last 20 years, I have worked with thousands of young people, educators (schools, FE and HE), youth workers, librarians, families, children’s services and other professionals - promoting the ‘digital literacy’, ‘digital wellbeing’ and ‘digital citizenship’ knowledge and skills needed for effective online participation. I have done this through WISE KIDS, a company I founded nearly 20 years ago. | |||
From my work with schools, colleges and even at undergraduate level, I have found a lack of awareness and understanding of open educational resources. In particular I have found educators who mistrust Wikipedia and who do not realise how it could be used as a vital resource and instrument for developing digital and information literacy. These skills are vital in a digital age, particularly to challenge misinformation and disinformation. As a trustee, I would like to promote the work of Wikimedia to young people and educators. Whilst the disruption from Covid has created a backlog of work for schools, I do believe a pro-active approach to engage schools and colleges to learn about the work of Wikimedia will bring great benefit. I believe that helping young people and educators to understand how content on Wikipedia or Wicipedia (Welsh Wikipedia) is generated and checked, as well as encouraging them to become content creators themselves on these platforms will go a long way to address information literacy skills. | |||
I am also passionate about open educational resources and computing more generally, having had to learn to code in the late 80s. I am currently a member of the Welsh Government’s Digital Inclusion Programme Board, and the Wales Internet Safety Partnership. I would be very grateful to be considered for re-election, and will use my role to further the work of Wikimedia UK. | |||
[[Category:2022 AGM]] | [[Category:2022 AGM]] | ||
Revision as of 10:33, 30 June 2022
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AGM: Elections — Candidate Statements · Candidate Questions · Resolutions |
This page contains the statements of the candidates for the 2022 elections to the board of Wikimedia UK. Please submit questions for the candidates at 2022 Annual General Meeting/Candidate Questions.
Adrian Beidas
Two decades on, the Wikimedia projects remain at the heart of the knowledge revolution that the internet was supposed to bring. Straightforward information, mostly without spin, built and maintained through the ongoing collaboration of thousands of us. Twenty years ago, I had imagined that this democratisation of knowledge would bring a more enlightened world. Of course, I was wrong. The world today feels less enlightened than ever, and too much of the internet has commercialised or been flooded with poor quality information.
The open knowledge movement still has a long way to go. Although the Wikimedia projects remain in a class of their own, having created a major public utility by harnessing the power of mass collaboration, the brilliance of their systems remain poorly understood in the mainstream, and in many of our educational and cultural institutions. Similarly, too much publicly funded knowledge (created or owned by our universities and museums) gets locked up in copyright, so cannot be easily seen by the taxpayers who funded it. And there remains a huge communication gap between the academic world and the rest of the population.
Individual contributors have built these projects, but individuals rarely have the voice or the time to change the way our great institutions behave. That needs organisation, with Wikimedia UK leading the charge. Not just leading at home, but leading globally - we are lucky to live in one of the culturally-richest countries in the world.
I work in finance, with many of the UK's largest companies. I am also a trustee of a small educational charity. Since last year I have supported Wikimedia UK’s audit and risk committee. If selected as a trustee of the full board, I would like to help support the team in their work with the large UK cultural and education institutions.
Sangeet Bhullar
I joined the Wikimedia UK Board in Jan 2019, and it has been a privilege to be a trustee since then. I am especially interested in Wikimedia’s role and reach with young people and educators in primary, secondary and further education settings.
My own work focusses on digital literacy and wellbeing. Over the last 20 years, I have worked with thousands of young people, educators (schools, FE and HE), youth workers, librarians, families, children’s services and other professionals - promoting the ‘digital literacy’, ‘digital wellbeing’ and ‘digital citizenship’ knowledge and skills needed for effective online participation. I have done this through WISE KIDS, a company I founded nearly 20 years ago.
From my work with schools, colleges and even at undergraduate level, I have found a lack of awareness and understanding of open educational resources. In particular I have found educators who mistrust Wikipedia and who do not realise how it could be used as a vital resource and instrument for developing digital and information literacy. These skills are vital in a digital age, particularly to challenge misinformation and disinformation. As a trustee, I would like to promote the work of Wikimedia to young people and educators. Whilst the disruption from Covid has created a backlog of work for schools, I do believe a pro-active approach to engage schools and colleges to learn about the work of Wikimedia will bring great benefit. I believe that helping young people and educators to understand how content on Wikipedia or Wicipedia (Welsh Wikipedia) is generated and checked, as well as encouraging them to become content creators themselves on these platforms will go a long way to address information literacy skills.
I am also passionate about open educational resources and computing more generally, having had to learn to code in the late 80s. I am currently a member of the Welsh Government’s Digital Inclusion Programme Board, and the Wales Internet Safety Partnership. I would be very grateful to be considered for re-election, and will use my role to further the work of Wikimedia UK.