On 19-Dec-2011, at 6:10 PM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan wrote: Thanks for your inputs Srikanth. :) Outreach is very tough, I agree with. Globally, we have about 1 lakh editors from a reader base of about 500m. That's works out to roughly 0.02%! It takes a lot of hard work to try and identify editors. In an outreach session, if we get 1 regular editor from a group of 25, that's 4%. The work that I'm proposing is to see what we can do to try and improve this because volunteer time is limited. For instance, are there any types of audiences that will make volunteer outreach efforts more productive? Are there ways that we can conduct sessions that will improve the chances of getting new editors? Are there things we can do after workshops to encourage and support newbies to become regular editors. Also, there are several examples of outreach efforts resulting in building communities. Odia is a prime example. They're still small but they've reached where they are now through a series of outreach efforts. They're also continuing their outreach efforts. Outreach does take time and effort and skill and persistence and patience! Don't lose faith! Nitika

Thanks Nikita for your brief report. All your points are valid. And all activities are going on If I am right. I am suggesting something new, don't know whether possible or not. It would be great if we can produce a common standard * Presentation/Brochure/Leaflet* (name it whatever suits)* *which includes all the important point,* "Why One should contribute to Wikipedia"* from the repository. And we can spread the leaflet everywhere. Which would be a common leaflet with *same text * to public or everyone. We can produce it without Wikipedia or Chapter Logo, would be appropriate according to policy. It should be cheap, so we can produce as many as we want and distribute everywhere like a slogan or say Tagline. We can also upload to our websites, I am sure many have their own websites and blogs. And we can also distribute those leaflets through News Paper. I don't know If Wikipedia policy allow us to do that ?? I am sure there are peoples sitting at home searching constructive works to do. We need to reach to them. Just a thought It might sounds stupid to you guys. :) or many might have already tried this before. And Srikanth I am agree with you. I too observed the same. But We have to keep trying right. :) On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:11 PM, Subhashish Panigrahi &lt;psubhashish(a)gmail.com > Quite a descriptive note Nitika, and I would also request everyone to put > their suggestions for improvements.modifications at > http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_-_Ind… > > So, it would be more comprehensive and useful. > > Best > Subha > > On 19 December 2011 17:45, Nitika &lt;ntandon(a)wikimedia.org> >> Hi Folks, >> >> - *There were no laptops for the participants or the internet >> connection was weak - so I could only give a lecture on wikipedia but could >> not give hands-on training* >> - *I conducted sessions but I really don't know if anything >> productive came out of it since I'm not confident that anyone of the >> participants will actually start editing. My time is limited and I really >> want to figure out how to make the best use of it.* >> - *I keep reading that outreach sessions should be done in a fun >> manner - but I just don't know how to handle such a serious topic like >> Wikipedia in a fun manner.* >> - *I could not get more than 7 people to create user accounts because >> of the 7 per day limit for creating user logins from an single IP address - >> so the rest of the participants were not able to be more actively involved >> in the session.* >> - *I want to help out on outreach because I love doing it - but I'm >> relatively new to Wikipedia and not sure if I can convey the right messages. >> * >> - *I prepared standard presentations introducing Wikipedia and the >> basics of editing - but I wish I had structured material available on the >> difference between paraphrasing, close paraphrasing and plagiarism/copyvio. >> * >> - *I asked the participants to write down their names and email IDs >> so that I could stay in touch with them after the session - but could not >> read the handwriting of a couple of them.* >> - *I really want to do outreach - but I am not confident of my public >> speaking skills. I really wish I could help out but not sure how.* >> - *I got irritated preparing the presentations because I am sure many >> others would have already prepared these and it seem like a waste of time. >> * >> - *It would have been really good if I have left handouts for each >> participants so they could read and refer to them at leisure.* >> >> >> For all those who have conducted (or thought about) outreach sessions, do >> these sound familiar? I've been talking to a whole host of community >> members and participating in outreach session and I wanted to share some >> thoughts with you and to ask your help and advice. I'm a new mail thread >> on this because I am trying to combine some fantastic points from a series >> of recent, related (and somewhat related) threads >> >> >> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005815.… R's thread on "What's in it for me") >> >> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005657.… thread on improving infrastructure) >> >> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005453.… S' thread on help for outreach in Gujarat) >> >> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005632.… post on GLAM - and specfically the point that GLAM and outreach >> should inter-linked.) >> >> *Most of us believe that we need to attract more newbies to our projects >> to help our Indic projects grow and to improve Indian content on English >> Wikipedia. I also think that many would agree that not enough outreach is >> happening and that results from the outreach that is happening can be >> improved. I suspect that a lot more people might be interested in doing >> outreach but are often not sure how to do it. I think that we need to >> figure out what are all the various things we can do to make sure that >> every minute spent by volunteers on outreach is as productive as >> possible. * >> >> I would like to propose that I start working on these aspects. My >> current (very initial) thinking is as follows: >> >> 1. Speak to as many more community members as possible who have >> conducted outreach sessions, plan to conduct them or even attended session >> and learn from them their experiences on outreach. Document and share tips >> and best practices to the entire community. >> 2. Create a repository for all presentations as well as handouts, >> FAQs pages, etc. (prepared in English to begin with, but later translated >> to Indic languages). These presentations must be in distinct module so >> that there could be a standard basic introduction section, editing basics >> and then separate sections for specific sub-topics such as NPOV, >> referencing, WP:MOS, etc. These could be accessed at will by any community >> member and used / edited / adapted at will by them. I realise there might >> be some duplication because a lot of this exists in various places - but it >> will be useful to have them all together in one place. >> 3. Identify what kind of audience is most receptive to outreach by >> volunteers - and try and help organise more outreach sessions for these. >> To illustrate, are there interest groups that might hold particular >> potential like college festival or an ornithology society or a language >> club. Also, do a lot of hands-on outreach in areas where the current >> volunteer community is particularly small, such as in Delhi. >> 4. Work closely with community groups (like we did for Pune's >> recently concluded CDMA expo or I am working with the West Bengal community >> on the upcoming Kolkata Book Fair) to help in the planning and organising >> and conducting of various outreach programs. I can help in many things from >> background support or (wo)manning a stall! >> 5. Provide ad hoc support for any kind of outreach activity that >> anyone needs help with. (I am not sure about what this might involve but >> I'm putting it down because I'm sure there will be things that need need to >> be done!) >> >> >> * I need some help from you.* >> >> Would you let me know if the above 5 points would be useful? Please feel >> free to share ideas, comments, suggestions, modifications, warnings, etc. >> Please do go through the following page ( >> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Outrea…) >> even though it is still in early-stages but will house my work. Please >> feel free to edit the page or to add comments on the talk page or offline >> to me. (My email ID is nitika(a)wikimedia.org) >> Would you let me know (offlist, please) if I can connect with if you are >> interested in sharing your experiences, can help me out on this work or >> just need some help on outreach? I really would like to talk to as many of >> you as I can to learn from you and to offer whatever help I can, however >> little it might be. (...To the folks who I have reached out but are still >> ignoring me - you know who you are... :-( Do talk to me. I'm really very >> nice! :-) >> >> Thank you so very much. >> >> Nitika >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list >> Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org >> To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l >> >> > > > -- > * > > ସୁ ଭ > > * > > * S u b h a * > > *ଓଡ଼ିଆଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ* > > *O d i a W i k i M a i l i n g l i s t*<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or> > <http://facebook.com/subhashishp> <http://twitter.com/subhashishp><http://or.wikipedia.org> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > > *Regards* Ansuman * ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ * http://twitter.com/smileyansu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:ansumang

On 19-Dec-2011, at 9:50 PM, ansuman wrote: That's one of the things I'd love to work on. In order to do successful outreach we need to have supportive documents that can be used and/or given away during the sessions. These documents need to be well thought and structured and should be inclusive of various aspects one needs to know about Wikipedia. In my opinion, a deck of documents that should be readily available to anyone who wants to do an outreach are: 1. Presentations. These presentation should be in different modules and the presenter should be able to choose a presentation from the deck depending upon the nature of the audience, topic of discussion during the session etc. Basic introduction to Wikipedia Editing basics Why contribute to Wikipedia? Neutral point of view Notability Manual of Style Referencing Avoiding copyright violations / plagiarism Introduction to Wikimedia Commons 2. Leaflet/brochure that can be given away to the participants. These leaflets can also be used in other outreach programs: like exhibitions, trade fairs etc. 3. FAQs that can either be handed over to the participants in the session or can be mailed to them as a follow up. We should make sure that each of these documents have just the right amount of information - too much of information can be confusing and too little information might not be sufficient for a newbie. I'm sure we have made some of these documents in the past. We need to update them and collate them in a common place. I can track down some of the old documents pertaining to these topics and share it with you all. We can then collaboratively start working on this deck step-by-step. Please let me know if this sounds good or if you'd prefer to work on this in any other way? Nitika

This sounds very promising to me, the fiasco which I faced during a recent academy will be ever in my mind :) Thanks Philippe Subha On 21 December 2011 03:53, Philippe Beaudette &lt;philippe(a)wikimedia.org&gt;wrote;wrote: -- * ସୁ ଭ * * S u b h a * *ଓଡ଼ିଆଉଇକିପିଡ଼ିଆ* *O d i a W i k i M a i l i n g l i s t*<https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-or> <http://facebook.com/subhashishp> <http://twitter.com/subhashishp><http://or.wikipedia.org>

hi Phillipe, How much lead time would you need to enable this? Given that India and US are in opposite sides of the world - you guys maybe sleeping while we request an unblock. What venues can we request an unblock - en email to you? On wiki-tech IRC? Pradeep Handheld On 21/12/2011, Nitika &lt;ntandon(a)wikimedia.org&gt; wrote: -- Pradeep Mohandas How Pradeep uses email - http://goo.gl/6v1I9

On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 11:26 AM, Sudhanwa Jogalekar &lt;sudhanwa.com(a)gmail.com This will be the best approach. Pradeep and Pranav (Kundan and I were present, among others) had faced exactly this problem at the first attempt to run the WikiAcademy in Mumbai. For a newbie academy, it is at least an hour or so before one gets around to talking about setting up new accounts. > Regards > -Sudhanwa > > > On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Pradeep Mohandas > &lt;pradeep.mohandas(a)gmail.com> > hi Phillipe, > > > > How much lead time would you need to enable this? Given that India and > > US are in opposite sides of the world - you guys maybe sleeping while > > we request an unblock. > > What venues can we request an unblock - en email to you? On wiki-tech > IRC? > > > > Pradeep > > Handheld > > > > On 21/12/2011, Nitika &lt;ntandon(a)wikimedia.org> >> > >>> > >>> but I wanted to be sure you know that I can lift the cap of 7 account > >>> creations per day, if you let me know what day you're doing something. > :) > >>> > >>> That's an open offer to anyone doing outreach... > >>> > >> > >> Hey Phillipe, > >> > >> I am now aware that there is a possibility of releasing an IP from this > >> rule. But I learnt this the hard way! I sat through an outreach session > >> where we encountered blocking of IP and the participants were very > >> disappointed because they could not create their usernames. There is > another > >> mail from Subhashish which echoes similar experience. > >> > >> By way of working on this document and putting together small tips like > >> these will make sure that others don't go through this pain. I'd > encourage > >> everyone to put their thoughts/learnings here so that all of us can > benefit > >> out of it and make our outreach sessions more effective. > >> > >> Thanks > >> Nitika > > > > > > -- > > Pradeep Mohandas > > How Pradeep uses email - http://goo.gl/6v1I9 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > > > > -- > > ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~! > web: www.sudhanwa.com blog: www.sudhanwa.in > Twitter: sudhanwa Check on FB, Linkedin for more. > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > -- Vickram Fool On The Hill <http://communicall.wordpress.com>

Alternatively, you could inform an Account Creator that you are going to have a program between this and that time, and all go request accounts. Simple. -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore

On 12/21/11, Subhashish Panigrahi &lt;psubhashish(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: -- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore