Sakai's new QA director works at UC Davis

Pete Peterson, a longtime employee of Information and Educational Technology, has been named the new quality assurance director for the international Sakai Foundation. It oversees the open source software used in SmartSite, UC Davis' course-management system.

Peterson was the SmartSite quality assurance manager until his Sakai appointment began Nov. 10. His new job is similar, but larger; he will oversee volunteers all over the world who test Sakai's software in their local installations.

"Pete's primary duty is to ensure that Sakai software exceeds industry norms for defects, reliability and scalability, as well as [to] coordinate the QA efforts of the Sakai community and staff," said Michael Korcuska, executive director of the foundation, in a post announcing the appointment Oct. 31.

Peterson said his top goals are to streamline the process that gets information to and from the community's QA testers, and to ensure the quality of Sakai software releases. His job relies on motivating, coordinating, and recruiting testers and volunteers from around the world. He will use blogs, emails, and other methods of contact to bridge the differences in locations and time zones.

"I'll have to be a very eclectic communicator," he said.

He will stay at UC Davis but work mostly for Sakai, which is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich. He will retain limited oversight of the SmartSite QA testers as part of his new job of overseeing testers worldwide. This will help him share the tactics and strategies he learns at Sakai with the quality assurance staff in IET.

< p>Peterson attended the Sakai Regional Conference at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) from Nov. 11-12 to meet co-workers and Sakai community members.