Eleições da Wikimedia Foundation/2024/Candidatura/Deon Steyn

See also: Candidates' answers to questions from the community members

Deon Steyn (Oesjaar)

Oesjaar (talk • meta edits • global user summary • CA • AE)

Detalhes da pessoa candidata	Pessoal: Nome: Deon Steyn Localização: Joanesburgo, África do Sul Idiomas: Africâner, inglês Editorial: Wikimedista desde: 2009 Atividade nas Wikis: Africâner, inglês
A contagem total de palavras para a candidatura inteira (perguntas obrigatórias + opcionais) é de 1000 (mil) palavras
Perguntas obrigatórias
Por que você está se candidatando ao Conselho Administrativo da Fundação Wikimedia? Com o que você contribuiria? Sobre o que você gostaria de aprender mais?	Como uma pessoa totalmente externa, a Wikipédia em africâner conheceu apenas um membro permanente da equipe nos últimos quatro anos, acrescentarei uma nova perspectiva. Por ter uma boa formação em negócios, farei a diferença. Quero lutar pelos direitos das Wikipédias menores. Por exemplo, na Wikimania da Cidade do México (2015), pedi ajuda em duas questões e nunca obtive respostas nem soluções.
Descreva sua experiência com a Wikimedia (como contribuições para os projetos Wikimedia, adesão a organizações ou afiliados Wikimedia, atividades como organizador ou organizadora do movimento Wikimedia ou participação em uma organização aliada do movimento Wikimedia).	Sou usuário há 15 anos e já criei 15.700 artigos na Wikipédia em africâner e já fiz 234.000 edições. Estou atuando no Capítulo WikimediaZA, responsável pela Wikipédia em africâner desde 2014 e, sob minha liderança, ela tem crescido a passos largos. Atualmente, somos a 69ª maior Wikipédia. Parte da minha estratégia de marketing inclui entrevistas na rádio e tenho orgulho de dizer que duas estações de rádio fazem entrevistas semanais conosco! Também consegui obter 60.000 fotos de flora do principal botanista da África do Sul, o Prof. Braam van Wyk. Ele está atualmente carregando todas as imagens no Commons para serem usadas por todas as comunidades, o que levará mais dois anos para ser concluído. No ano passado, sob minha liderança, iniciamos o Concurso de Redação do Ensino Médio e, para o concurso de 2024, assinamos com o Rapport, o jornal nacional africâner, como parceiro. A PretoriaFM, uma estação de rádio, também se inscreveu como parceira. Isso dá à Wikipédia em africâner um alcance nacional.
Do seu ponto de vista, o que a Fundação Wikimedia deve priorizar nos próximos 5 a 10 anos e por que você as considera como as prioridades mais importantes?	Concentrar-se nas Wikipédias menores, pois elas também têm boas ideias. Concentrar-se em uma maior colaboração com universidades e escolas, pois, entre outras coisas, os custos dos livros didáticos estão subindo muito, sem mencionar o impacto ambiental da impressão de livros. Praticamente todo mundo tem um telefone celular.
Optional questions - Professional Experience, Skills and Education
Please describe your experience with governing bodies of organizations (nonprofit or for-profit), mentioning the scope of your responsibilities, as well as the complexity of the organization (in terms of scale of operations, budget, number of people involved, or other meaningful measures) and the size of the board or body.	I am running my own business. My business has to advise clients re safety, compile safety plans for events and present the files to the authorities to obtain the necessary permits. I have served as a member of the Engineering Council of South Africa where I was part of a team to decide on the Professional Status applications of Technologists. In my last job in the Corporate world I was a project manager for Siemens South Africa, running a R200 million signaling project between Kimberley and De Aar. The client was Transtel, South Africa. The duration of the project was two years, I have finished the project on time, within budget and with zero penalties! The permanent staff on site were 50 persons. Monthly meetings were held with the client, Siemens Financial Department, Logistics and the sub contractors.
Please describe your professional career experience.	I am a Technologist (Telecommunicatios) and have worked for Telkom SA for 20 years. I also hold a B.Com. Hons (Fin. Management) and is a qualified Safety Officer. I have also worked for Aberdare Cables (where I became a SME on Optic Fibre), Ericsson South Africa and Siemens South Africa as Project Manager.
Please briefly describe 3 situations that show how you tackled, or advised others on, a complex problem in an organization. How did you work with others to address the situations?	I have run training courses for new users. Due to my vision the Afrikaans Wikipedia has signed a MOU with the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns which gave us a base to operate from and much needed visibility. I have created the Campaigners for the Afrikaans Wikipedia campaign which 13 Afrikaans organisations have signed following 5 years of work. This will give us access to more resources including funding. I have just been given permission to do a presentation at the South African Teachers Union Organisation re Wikipedia following three years of persistence.
Please describe your educational background, including degrees, certificates, and courses of study finished, and their relevance to board work.	T6 (6 years) Technologist in Telecommunications. BCom Hons (Fin Management). SHEMTRAC - Safety Certificate.
Please add any relevant links describing your professional background, experience, profile (such as LinkedIn, staff page, etc.).	https://www.linkedin.com/in/deon-steyn-0a9a952a0/
Optional questions - Leadership Experience
Please describe ways in which you have helped to form a bridge between multiple communities (such as by working on projects outside your home wiki, or working on a collaboration between multiple affiliates).	Unfortunately the Afrikaans Wikipedia is cut off from the rest of the World language wize. I have managed to communicate with the Dutch and Belgium Wikipedia's. Communication within Africa is non-existent.
Can you describe a policy, on wiki or off, that you helped to create or change? What did you learn from this experience?	Enforce that articles have the necessary sources. South African schools are still skeptical re Wikipedia and have articles with the proper sources are critical to get them to see the light.
How have you been able to empower people to make their voices heard?	I started by inviting people for coffee sessions, talk to them re the Afrikaans Wikipedia and listen to their side of the story. Then I have started a FB group where we put up a link to the weekly front page and invited them to become members. Then we fed them more and more info on our FB until they started to take part on Geselshoekie, our version of Village Pump. Most important, we treated their views with respect.
Sometimes in professional situations, there are personality conflicts. Explain how you remain productive even with personality conflicts.	I remind them to remember where they want to be, the end objective.
Optional questions - Strategic Thinking
Where do you see the need for greater diversity in the Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees or within the movement? What steps would you take to improve diversity on the Board or within the movement? What steps would you recommend the Board take to improve diversity?	The small Wikipedia's are ignored. A decision that works in Europe and America will not necessary work in Africa.
Verificação	Verificação realizada pelo comitê eleitoral ou pelos funcionários da Fundação Wikimedia.
	Elegibilidade: Verificado Verificado por: KTC (talk) 20:00, 3 June 2024 (UTC)	Identificação: Verificado Verificado por: – NahidSultan (WMF) (talk) 07:06, 3 June 2024 (UTC)