User:Davydog
Application: Screen Sprint
Please be sure to answer all these questions in your email.
Q: Name
A: David J. Myers
Q: Wikimedia user name, and primary site
A: Davydog, PortlandWiki.org
Q: State your preferences about having your real identity published
A: Real identity is fine.
Q: email address, phone number
A: opencommons ("at" type thingie) gmail ("dot" type thingie) com, (503) 294-1234
Q: Are you 18 years or older?
A: Yes.
Q: Have you worked with a newbie on a Wikimedia project, helping them get up to speed? Please describe such an experience in a couple of paragraphs.
A: Yes. For instance, last night I helped my daughter, Sofia, contribute her first news blurb to PortlandWiki.org. The (slightly edited) results are here: http://portlandwiki.org/Template:News (the Monday, August 30 story).
Q: Briefly characterize your activity on Wikimedia projects. Do you primarily write articles? Fight vandalism? Take and upload photos?
A: For PortlandWiki.org I primarily write news blurbs, upload photos and edit pages. On Wikipedia I mostly edit pages.
Q: Have you worked with other Wikimedians to develop resources or processes that help new contributors?
A: Only in the context of helping write instructional pages for the PortlandWikiWednesday or PortlandWiki sites.
Q: Briefly describe your interactions with other Wikimedians: Do you like to collaborate, or primarily work alone? Have worked on more than one language version, or more than one project (Wikisource, Wikibooks…)? Have you been involved in disputes or controversies, and if so, how were they resolved?
A: I like to collaborate, and am usually the PortlandWiki volunteer who sends out our weekly Monday Meets invites. As far as Wikimedia "properties" go, I've probably only contributed to Wikipedia in any significant way. As for disputes or controversies, I'm not aware of being involved in any within the Wikimedia framework.
Q: Have you prepared materials (written, video, etc.) to support new contributors? If so, please include a link.
A: In the context we're talking about here, perhaps this is slightly relevant: http://portlandwiki.org/Help:Editing
Q: Are you available to come to San Francisco September 24 to 27, to develop a series of instructional screencasts?
A: Yes.
Q: What sort of portable computer equipment could you bring that relates to this project? (laptop (specs, operating system); screencasting software; computer microphone; video camera)
A: I gave away my "desktop replacement" laptop, but can probably borrow it back for this endeavor. Otherwise I have an HP Mini 1033CL running Ubuntu 10.04. I'd probably like guidance on what kinds of equipment and (preferably open source) screencast software to use.
Q: Should we be considering you as a trainer/facilitator for this group? If you have substantial background producing screencasts or similar resources, please describe.
A: No, I am eager to learn how to make instructional screencasts. My ulterior motive is to learn how to help newbies who wish to contribute to PortlandWiki figure out how to use mediawiki markup.
P.S. From a civic wiki perspective, this is interesting template / instructional material: CityWiki.WikiSpot - Quick Start For City Wikis