User:AlisonW

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alison Wheeler is Chair of Wiki Educational Resources Ltd, the legal name of the Wikimedia UK chapter.

In addition to british english and american english she can also get by in French and German most of the time, having worked across the whole of Europe for major US and UK companies as a business consultant and program manager. She usually edits on en and elsewhere under a nom de plume which, hopefully, doesn't get linked too often to her real name as it could complicate matters in the "real world" (which she isn't that sure actually exists) but does some article-writing and all OTRS- and project-related work under this handle. She has been involved with Wikipedia since February 2004.

English wikipedia happens to have an article about her - make of that what you will ...

User pages

on en:Wikipedia ... AlisonW / talk
on fr:Wikipédia ... AlisonW / talk
on meta: ... AlisonW / talk
on commons: ... AlisonW / talk
on foundation: ... Alison Wheeler / talk
also on internal and WikimediaUK wikis and OTRS

Background

By training I've been in the computer field (trainer, programmer, analyst, systems & business consultant) since 1976, including major FTSE250 and Fortune 500 multi-national companies up to Head of Department and IT Director levels as well as self-employment and a board member of start-up companies. This included reviewing and designing systems for banks, insurance companies, and government departments. During the time as the worldwide Internet Program Manager for CHSE I travelled a great deal to every country in Scandinavia, Eastern and Western Europe, using my language skills, and have also consulted to various companies educating then about internationalisation and localisation issues in web interfaces - which isn't just about the text of a language!

For those interested, my résumé is available online. I am presently seeking *paid* work (which would make a nice change!)

Education

MBA (Masters in Business Administration) with Financial Strategy, Strategy, Marketing, and Creativity & Innovation electives

Other NPO experience

includes Treasurer for the British Softball Federation (10,000+ members; the national governing body for the sport in the UK); Chair of a UK political party group and of other smallscale bodies; an organiser for many years of the London Pride Day and of the London Lesbian & Gay Centre; and the elected member of the Open University's Student Association representing the London region, as which I also served on the OU's Central Consultative Committee. I was also the Chief Engineer and one of the four board members for Brazen Radio - London's first women-only fm radio station - and am very used to public speaking and to giving interviews (press, radio, tv), including on behalf of the Wikimedia projects.

Press

Wikimedia-related press coverage includes:

The Observer, 18-06-2006 A follow-up to the New York Times article; one factual error noted (Country chapters are not divisions of or operating bodies of the Wikimedia Foundation but are legally separate entities)
Times of India 19-06-2006 - picks up from The Observer above, but introduces a different error!
de Volksrant, 21-06-2006 (In Nederlands) Very many errors (see here)