A Few Changes and Updates on WMF-led Relations

by Chris Koerner on 14 September 2015 10:22 (EDT)

Tags:	Community, Developers, Wikimedia Foundation
People:	Quim Gil

Quim Gil, Engineering Community Manager at the Wikimedia Foundation, recently announced that the Engineering Community team was changing their focus and name to Developer Relations. This initial transition is now complete and you can learn more about the team and their goals on MediaWiki.org.

Per Quim, "Your involvement in our tasks, sprints, and goals is as welcome as always".

Bug management, documentaiton, events (like they Lyon Hackathon), and outreach programs all fall under the preview of this group. If you're a third-party MediaWiki developer it is strongly recommended (at least by this author) to be familiar with this team. They are incredibly helpful and have a good understanding of the relationship between WMF-lead initiatives and the larger MediaWiki community.

Related to this announcement, there is a relatively new group within WMF called the Community Tech Team.

"The Community Tech team is focused on meeting the needs of active Wikimedia editors for improved, expert-focused curation and moderation tools. The creation of the Community Tech team is a direct outcome of requests from core contributors for improved support for moderation tools, bots, and the other features that help the Wikimedia projects succeed. The team will work closely with the community, and the Community Engagement department, to define their roadmap and deliverables."

While many third-party wikis have sometimes divergent needs compared to the traditional Wikimedia movement, there is much overlap here. Your feedback, and input can help shape the focus of the team and better reflect the needs of all projects. Check out the team's roadmap and mailing list.