User:Mike Peel/2011 Statement

This is an early draft of my statement; it will be rewritten and expanded shortly.

I have been involved with WMUK since it was rebooted in 2008, serving first as Membership Secretary and then as Chair, and most recently as Secretary. My involvement has included organising events (most recently the Cancer Research UK Workshop; others include the Editathon, British Library and Britain Loves Wikipedia), talking to the media, responding to email queries (until our office manager, Charles, took over this role), talking with partner organisations, and much more. I have represented the chapter at the Chapters Meeting three times (in 2009, 2010 and 2011), as well as attending other Wikimedia meetings (e.g. the Multimedia Usability meeting in November 2009, and Wikimania in 2010), plus non-Wikimedia-organised meetings representing the chapter.

This last year has seen fantastic progress for the chapter. We've organised a series of in-person events, and have also put together the GLAM-WIKI conference at the British Museum (organised by Liam Wyatt, supervised by myself). It participated in a very successful fundraiser, which brought in over half a million pounds to the Wikimedia movement. And much more...

Over the next year, we need to urgently professionalise the chapter - primarily by hiring full-time employees - in order to scale up its activities and become an effective organisation. The last fundraiser has left us with ample funds to do this, and the current board has been planning 4-5 positions over the coming year. I would like to provide continuity during this process, as well as continuing to provide input and oversight to make sure that the chapter continues along the same approaches of transparency and responsibility as it has thus far, and also involves as many volunteers as possible in all of its activities.

I have been active on Wikipedia for over 6 years (my first edit was in March 2005), during which time I've made around 16,000 edits (although my edit rate has dropped off considerably since being involved with Wikimedia UK). I'm also active on the Commons, where I have made over 5,000 edits and uploaded over 1,600 images of my own creation. I have also made over 3,000 edits on Wikisource. In real life, I'm employed as a postdoctoral researcher at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (part of the University of Manchester).

Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions you might have (on my talk page, or anywhere else you see me around).