Jan Ainali

16 Kalkmarkt · Amsterdam, Netherlands · jan@aina.li

I love everything open. Innovation & inspiration. I want to work in an environment where creativity is encouraged and where my analytical capability can be of use. I usually say that my specialty is that I am all-round.

Experience in Open source, Open data, Open knowledge, Policy making, Engineering with Innovation and Design focus, Conceptual design, Game design, Ideation, Future studies, Human factors and Usability.

I am seeking opportunities to make the world a better place. It will likely, somehow, be in the open movement, as I have been working with open source, open data and open knowledge for the last decade. For me, the purpose is more important than the tools, but if it also would be using the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, I would be absolutely excited.

Please contact me for suggestions for work, collaboration, speaking opportunities, or other ideas on the email or the channels above (and be aware of my pledges for volunteer work).


Professional

Codebase Steward

Foundation for Public Code

As a Codebase Steward at the Foundation for Public Code I helped codebase communities make their codebases easier to collaborate on. Our primary tool was the Standard for Public Code that I also was one of the maintainers for.

To help people think about governance in their codebase, I created the Governance Game. It is a card game that can be used as is to learn about governance or as a tool to understand the governance in a specific community.

I was also one of the drivers behind the podcast Let's talk about public code.

Talks

Interviews

September 2019 - April 2024

Political advisor

European Parliament

I was an accredited assistant for Max Andersson, a Swedish MEP in the Greens/EFA group. I was advising on all technical and digital issues, and was also working a lot on the copyright directive. I followed the work in the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI).

Secondary tasks included graphic design and video editing.

February 2018 - June 2019

Chief Executive Officer and owner

Open By Default

The largest project during my running of Open by default was a walk from Ystad to Stockholm (1,217 km), where I was giving seminars about open data and the Sustainable Development Goals to the 26 municipalities I passed on the way. The video below (with subtitles in English) explains the project.

Another prominent assignment, from the Swedish Internet Foundation, was, together with Anders Frick, the creation of a guide for decision makers about open data (in Swedish): Öppna data - En guide för beslutsfattare.

January 2016 - January 2018

Business Developer

Swedish National Heritage Board

Part time work at the unit for Digital Dissemination to develop and enrich their open data and linked open data, in particular through connections to Wikidata, Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Talks

  • Introduktion till Wikidata, Riksantikvariämbetet, 2016 [video] (in Swedish)

November 2016 - January 2018

Chief Executive Officer

Wikimedia Sverige

As the CEO I oversaw the daily operations of the organisation. I managed a staff of 5 to 8 persons at the same time. I started with a budget of 4.7 MSEK in 2013 and when I left in 2016 I had brought the budget up to 8.6 MSEK.

March 2013 - January 2016

Consultant

Kentor

At Kentor I was working with requirements analytics and testing in the beginning. Later I also was a team coordinator and was having contact with our customers. The product we worked on was a membership management system for unions, handling more than 200,000 members.

February 2011 - March 2013

Systems engineer

BAE Systems Bofors

  • Systems Engineering
  • Human Factors
  • Development of Graphical User Interfaces and guidelines
  • Development of Innovation process

June 2009 - December 2010

Product Designer

BAE Systems Bofors

  • Studies of the future and trend analysis
  • Human Factors
  • 3D visualizations
  • Development of Graphical User Interfaces and guidelines
  • Development of Innovation process

May 2004 - June 2009

Product Designer

Bofors Defence

  • Studies of the future and trend analysis
  • Human Factors
  • 3D visualizations
  • Development of visual identity guidelines

February 2000 - May 2004

Education

Karlstad University

Bachelor of Science, Innovation and Design Engineering

The programme in innovation and design engineering is characterized by a holistic perspective on the product development process. This perspective is based on industrial designers' ways of solving problems with the help of design thinking.

August 1996 - June 1999

Forsmark Gymnasium

Computer Science

In the third year of the technical program I chose to specialize in computer science at the prestiguous Forsmark Gymnasium.

August 1994 - June 1995

Extracurricular academic courses

Rhetoric and Climate Transition

Södertörn University, 7.5 ECTS. Op-ed written during the course (in Swedish) published in Sweden's third largest newspaper.

2023
English: Writing Texts about Facts and Opinions

University of Skövde, 7.5 ECTS.

2023
Climate Leadership: Strategies for Transition

Uppsala University, 5 ECTS.

2021
Wikipedia – Authoring, reliability and technology

Mid Sweden University, 7.5 ECTS.

2010
Culinary Arts and Hospitality Science, II Beverages

Örebro University, 7.5 ECTS.

2009
Graphic Form and Photo

Karlstad University, 15 ECTS.

2007
Culinary Arts and Hospitality Science, I Beverages

Örebro University, 7.5 ECTS.

2001
Digital Imagery

University of Skövde, 7.5 ECTS.

1999
Neurolinguistics

University of Skövde, 3 ECTS.

1999
Astronomy

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1999
Sports Psychology: Mental Training Models

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1999
Materials Science, Wood

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1999
Anatomy and Physiology

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1998
Philosophy

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1998
CAD-Technics

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1998
Introductory English for Special Purposes

Karlstad University, 7.5 ECTS.

1997

Other courses

Wikibase and Semantic MediaWiki for data-driven semantics

Interoperable Europe Academy.

2022
Digital-ready policymaking

Interoperable Europe Academy.

2022
Communication in crisis

Westanders.

2019
Writing op-eds

Berghs School of Communication.

2018
Effective Communications & Human Relations/Skills For Success

Dale Carnegie.

2012
Social Media Strategist

Social Media Academy.

2011
Business English

The English Learning Centre, Brighton.

2010
The Rethorics of the board room

PTK.

2010
Systems Engineering Fundamentals

Syntell.

2008
Colour Theory in Art and Design

WEA Sydney.

2007
Streetdance

Åsa Folkhögskola.

August 2004 - June 2005
Construction and Design of Plastics

STF Ingenjörsutbildning.

2003
Level 2 Rhinoceros NURBS Modeling training

LA Marinesoft.

2003
Level 1 Rhinoceros NURBS Modeling training

Robert McNeel & Associates.

2002
Strategical scenario and future analysis

Kairos Future.

2002
Introduction to C++ for non-C developers

Learning Tree International.

2002
Conscription service

Swedish Defence Forces, 297 days.

June 1994 - April 1995

Volunteering

Wikimedia

Wikidata Live Editing

Live streamed show of editing and querying Wikidata. So far, over 100 shows. Playlist, overview.

In 2021, the initative got the WikidataCon Community Award for Community Building.

2020 -
Wikipediapodden

Podcast about Wikipedia. Weekly episodes in Swedish, special episodes in English. The recording of the show is also live streamed to several platform. As of 2024, we are well over 200 episodes. Besides hosting, I also edit and publish the podcast.

2019 -
Wikimedians for Sustainable Development

Co-founded and one of the leaders of the user group that helps bring together Wikimedians engaged in matters of sustainable development, be they individuals or involved with any of the Wikimedia movement affiliates. The group's focus includes work on all topics related to sustainable development, including in particular the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Website.

2019 -
Wikimania

Besides having participated in this conference every year since 2008, I have also made contributions to it by organizing sessions and volunteering in other ways.

2023

Summarizing blog post.

2022

2021

Summarizing blog post.

2019

During the Wikimania in Stockholm I was the coordinator for the volunteer team handling video recording and live streaming the sessions. We were seven volunteers trying to record up to 15 parallel tracks. Thanks to good preparations, where I had pre-created YouTube streams and written detailed instructions for managing OBS Studio, we managed to stream 56 and record another 100 of the about 220 sessions.

Leading up to the conference, I also ran the Wikidata Menu Challenge to be able to have multilingual information about the food being served. The Challenge later got a WikidataCon award in the category Languages.

2018

In 2018, I was awarded a scholarship (report) and as one of the results I created a learning pattern on Documenting your event experience. I consider this very useful for myself, but also a transparent way to let other participants what one is doing at the event and a way for anyone to start a conversation about common interests.

2017

Summarizing blog post (in Swedish).

2016

In 2016, I was awarded a scholarship (report).

2011

In 2011, I was awarded a partial scholarship.

2008 -
Wikimedia Sverige

I was part of the interim board before starting the chapter. We prepared the founding in 2007. I was a board member 2008-2013, first secretary, then treasurer and finally chairman. Under my chairmanship, we went from an all volunteer association to have a staffed secretariat.

2007 - 2013

OpenRefine

Advisory Committe

Member of the Advisory Committee of the codebase that cleans messy data.

Website.

2022 -

Govdirectory

Founder and maintainer

The Govdirectory is an effort to collect all public organizations of all levels in the entire world and their contact details in one place through crowdsourcing on Wikidata.

The project won the WikidataCon community award in 2021, was recognized as a Digital Public Goods by the Digital Public Goods Alliance in September 2022 and made the finalists in the category Peace – Building peaceful and inclusive societies in the SDG Game Changes Award in September 2023.

Website.

Talks

2021 -

Academic Contributions

Publications

Advertising impact

Ainali, J., Andersson, A., & Berger, A. (1999). (Bachelor thesis)

1999

Supervisor

The Swedish Wikipedia gender gap

Helgeson, B. (2015). The Swedish Wikipedia gender gap.

2015
BOSSE: Bofors Soldatsystem

Öberg, E., Sondell, B., & Nordin, A. (2006). BOSSE: Bofors Soldatsystem Ex-jobb.

2006

Citations

Wikidata: The Making Of

Vrandečić, D., Pintscher, L., & Krötzsch, M. (2023, April). Wikidata: The Making Of. In Companion Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2023 (pp. 615-624).

2023
Wikis und die Wikipedia verstehen: eine Einführung

Van Dijk, Z. (2021). Wikis und die Wikipedia verstehen: eine Einführung (p. 340). transcript Verlag.

2021
Coupling Wikipedia Categories with Wikidata Statements for Better Semantics

Aouicha, M. B. (2021). Coupling Wikipedia Categories with Wikidata Statements for Better Semantics.

2021

Project crew

Representing COVID-19 information in collaborative knowledge graphs: the case of Wikidata

Turki, H., Hadj Taieb, M. A., Shafee, T., Lubiana, T., Jemielniak, D., Aouicha, M. B., ... & Mietchen, D. (2022). Representing COVID-19 information in collaborative knowledge graphs: the case of Wikidata. Semantic Web, 13(2), 233-264.

2022
Using logical constraints to validate information in collaborative knowledge graphs: a study of COVID-19 on Wikidata

Turki, H., Jemielniak, D., Taieb, M. H., Gayo, J. L., Aouicha, M. B., Banat, M. A., ... & Mietchen, D. (2020). Using logical constraints to validate information in collaborative knowledge graphs: a study of COVID-19 on Wikidata. en. In.

2020
Excavation at Skällviks castle ruins

Rundkvist, M. Lifestyles at the Medieval Strongholds of Östergötland, AD 1200–1530.

2017

Acknowledgements

Using Wikidata Lexemes and Items to Generate Text from Abstract Representations

Morshed, M. (2023). Using Wikidata Lexemes and Items to Generate Text from Abstract Representations. Semantic Web Journal (2023),(submitted).

2023

Media

Lifestyles at the Medieval Strongholds of Östergötland, AD 1200–1530

Rundkvist, M. Lifestyles at the Medieval Strongholds of Östergötland, AD 1200–1530.

Aerial photography of the excavation of Skällvik's fort   Aerial photography of the excavation of Skällvik's fort   Aerial photography of the excavation of Skällvik's fort

2019
Magnus Erikssons mynt från Skällviks borg i Östergötland

Rundkvist, M., & Heijne, C. V. (2017). Magnus Erikssons mynt från Skällviks borg i Östergötland. Nordisk Numismatisk Unions Medlemsblad, 4.

Aerial photography of the excavation of Skällvik's fort

2017
Vibration of natural rock arches and towers excited by helicopter-sourced infrasound

Finnegan, R., Moore, J. R., & Geimer, P. R. (2021). Vibration of natural rock arches and towers excited by helicopter-sourced infrasound. Earth Surface Dynamics, 9(6), 1459-1479.

A Bell helicopter parked on a helipad

2021
Mitigation measures in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector

Leip, A., Carmona-Garcia, G., & Rossi, S. (2017). Mitigation measures in the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector. Quantifying mitigation effects at the farm level and in national greenhouse gas inventories. Publication Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. Doi, 10, 51052.

A sugar beet field

2017
Learning strategies for computational MRI

Gossard, A. (2022). Learning strategies for computational MRI (Doctoral dissertation, Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse III).

An MRI machine seen from the side

2022
The application of unsupervised learning to a dataset of AC susceptibility measurements of HTS

Kowalik, M., Zalecki, R., Giebułtowski, M., Tokarz, W., Niewolski, J., & Wolski, S. The application of unsupervised learning to a dataset of AC susceptibility measurements of HTS. Tc, 5, 0E-06.

An MRI machine seen from the side

2021
The application of 3D anthropometry for the development of headgear

Lacko, D., The application of 3D anthropometry for the development of headgear, A case study on the design of ergonomic brain-computer interface devices (2017). (Doctoral dissertation, KU Leuven).

An MRI machine seen from the side

2017
Diffusion MRI processing for multi-comportment characterization of brain pathology

Hédouin, R. (2017). Diffusion MRI processing for multi-comportment characterization of brain pathology (Doctoral dissertation, Université Rennes 1).

An MRI machine seen from the side

2017
Quantification of track-weighted functional connectivity longitudinally during Constraint Induced Movement Therapy for poststroke hemiparesis

Guzman Roca, J. A. (2017). Quantification of track-weighted functional connectivity longitudinally during Constraint Induced Movement Therapy for poststroke hemiparesis: An application of Graph Theory (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).

An MRI machine seen from the side

2017
La revanche des électrons dans un monde organique

Desrosiers, S. La revanche des électrons dans un monde organique. (2017) Université de Sherbrooke.

An MRI machine seen from the side

2017
Techniques for studying brain structure and function

Hecht, E., & Stout, D. (2015). Techniques for studying brain structure and function. Human paleoneurology, 209-224.

An MRI machine seen from the side

2015
CT image processing: What you see is what you get?

Lamecker, H., Hege, H. C., Tabelow, K., & Polzehl, J. CT image processing: What you see is what you get?. MATHEON – Mathematics for Key Technologies, European Mathematical Society, 2014, chapter F2, pp. 359-376.

An MRI machine seen from the side

2014
Elements in danger!

Furze, J., & Harrison, T. (2014). Elements in danger!.

An MRI machine seen from the side

2014
Reuse, Author Choice, and the Open Access Spectrum

Karlsberg, J. P., & Melton, S. (2014). Reuse, Author Choice, and the Open Access Spectrum: New Creative Commons Licenses for Southern Spaces Authors.

A Creative Commons logo, a heart and an unlocked padlock

2014
Kriege verhindern oder stoppen-der Beitrag von Friedensbewegungen

Schweitzer, C., & Johansen, J. (2014). Kriege verhindern oder stoppen-der Beitrag von Friedensbewegungen.

A statue of a woman holding a broken sword and the foot on head with a helmet

2014
Sitting on the dock of the bay

Karimzadeh, N. (2018). Sitting on the dock of the bay - a design proposal for the dock area at Kvarnholmen, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Aerial phot of the Slussen area in Stockholm

2018
Lärarhandledning för SFI-undervisning i kulturmiljöer

Bolin, H., Irskog, S., & McWilliams, A. (2018). Lärarhandledning för SFI-undervisning i kulturmiljöer. Södertörns högskola.

A big house seen from the front

2018
Market survey on cricket use in restaurants and food businesses in the Kuopio and Kajaani regions

Lindi, J., & Klemetti, S. (2019). Markkinakartoitus sirkkojen käytöstä Kuopion ja Kajaanin alueen ravintoloissa ja elintarvikeyrityksissä - Case Savonia Grasshopper OY (Market survey on cricket use in restaurants and food businesses in the Kuopio and Kajaani regions - Case Savonia Grasshopper OY)

A counter in a pastry shop

2019

Informant / Test Subject

Sleep study

In this study by the Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University, I was one of the test subjects. News reporting.

2017
Frihetens rike: wikipedianer om sin praktik, sitt produktionssätt och kapitalismen

Lund, A. (2015). Frihetens rike: wikipedianer om sin praktik, sitt produktionssätt och kapitalismen. Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2015. Hägersten.

In this dissertation, I was one of the informants.

2015

Awards & Certifications

  • Swedish Wikimedian of the Year, 2021
  • NBIF Innovative Data Award, 2021
  • Swedish Wiki Loves Monuments: Most unique objects, 2016
  • Swedish Driver's License: B, 2007

Credits

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