Hi all Apologies for the delayed report. Odia Wikimedia Community had a very eventful, exciting and constructive weekend last week! i want to share with you a report of 3 (yes THREE!) outreach sessions and the community meet up held between March 30 and April 1. Odia Wikipedia Editing Workshop - Anugul - March 30 *Summary* An "Editing Odia Wikipedia" workshop was conducted on 30th March at the National Institute of Computer Education, Nalconagar, Anugul. It was attended by 14 newbies. Odia WikipedianMrutyunjay Kar<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:MKar> conducted the workshop by introducing Odia Wikipedia to the newbies. (In fact, Mrutyunjay single-handedly organized the session and most of the audience were his work colleagues who he had told about Odia Wikipedia.) He talked briefly about Wikipedia, five pillars and policies. Then there was a demonstration session on how to edit Odia Wikipedia. One of the attendees was called up to create his own account and then Mrutyunjaya demonstrated basics of editing by interacting with the audience. Once we had shown everyone this, we invited those who were interested to stay for a more detailed and hands-on editing to stay, and told everyone else they were free to leave. A few of the audience left the lab, and the remaining 9 created their user accounts. 4 of the new wikipedians have made small but significant edits. *Challenges & Solutions* - An issue that was faced was that newbies initially had problems typing in Odia. We requested the newbies to check the *Typing Help*<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:Help:Typing> page to understand the key combination. Mrutyunjaya explained how they can improve by gradual exercise, using the "Show Preview" option and that making corrections is allowed on Wikipedia. *Next Steps* - Mrutyunjaya will personally interact with the new editors, either 1-on-1 or in groups to give them more support on editing and to address doubts - Mrutyunjaya could conduct more physical meetups in Anugul where help more newbies with editing *Lessons* - Mrutyunjaya's initiative to reach out to his colleagues and friends to introduce them to Odia Wikipedia and to encourage them to learn about editing by attending the session is really interesting because it increases the chances of like-minded folks attending outreach sessions. - When we do outreach sessions, it will be nice to share a small note about the session (with some useful links) beforehand - so that interested participants can read up and be more aware even before the session starts. - The idea of splitting the outreach session is very good because it allowed only the most committed to stay and allowed us to give them much better training. *Odia Wikipedia (Medical) Editing Workshop - Cuttack - March 31* *Summary* A outreach session was organized in SCB Medical College, Cuttack - to try and get newbies to join Odia Wikipedia community, and specifically to support the *WikiProject Medicine <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:WP:MED>* (where we are trying get the top 70-80 health related articles created in Odia Wikipedia. 21 Medical students attended the session which was attended by Odia Wikipedians Jnanaranjan<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:Jnanaranjan_sahu>hu>, Srikant Kedia, Kamalakanta & Subha. Jnananranjan explained briefly about basics of Wikipedia. One of the student newbies was invited to create a username. Students were called for demonstration editing. 4[1] of them created usernames. Subha talked briefly about the *WikiProject Medicine*<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:WP:MED> and aim of the project. Student participants had queries about authenticity of articles, automatic translations, etc. *Challenges & Solutions* - Some of the medical students asked questions like "How will editing Odia Wikipedia help for our career?" or "What I will gain from editing Wikipedia?" These are standard questions that we all get and we answered them by telling them about how it will help their understanding of their subjects, will improve their writing skills, give them a larger audience for their work, improve their research skills and because it is so much fun! We also spoke about the social benefits of a project like medical articles on Odia Wikipedia and the social. - Lack of computers resulted in a more theoretical discussion rather than a practical editing. *Next Steps* - A proper editing workshop will be organized after the exams are over (in a month) where the students who have attended this session could learn more and do live editing. Local Odia Wikipedians will support them. This time, we will figure out how to make sure that everyone who attends has access to a computer. - Emails with quick instructions will be send on 4th April to the students with specific links to encourage working on various articles from the project page. - Welcome messages have been left on the talk pages of all new editors, and community members will stay in touch with them. *Lessons* - The idea of doing outreach in medical colleges to support the Medicine project is very interesting and should be pursued. Many times, we conduct outreach sessions but we leave it completely open to newbies to figure out what that they want to edit. Some times this works, but many times, they are just lost about what to edit. An idea of doing an outreach session to encourage them to edit a particular set of projects has a lot of potential. - Also, since they are joining a WikiProject straight away, there will hopefully be greater changes of interactions with existing community members so that the newbies can build relationships and get support. - This session was not adequately planned and even though 21 students attended - which is great (!) - it was all last minute. Going forward, we should try and plan these sessions with more time and get interested participants more aware by sending brief write-ups about Odia Wikipedia and the purpose & benefits of attending the outreach session. - Lastly, getting everyone to have computers or laptops is a must. Even if everyone does not have a laptop, we must encourage newbies to come up and create accounts and do live edits. Otherwise, it is just theory, theory, theory. *Odia Wikipedia Editing Workshop - Bhubaneswar - April 1* *Summary* This workshop was conducted on April 1 - which happens to be the Odisha day (or the foundation day of Odisha). It was attended by 20 newbies. The workshop started with a formal inauguration and opening talk about Odisha day by Manoranjan <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:ManXii> . Then Odia Wikipedian Mrutyunjay Kar <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:MKar> presented and explained the "Basics of Wikipedia"<http://prezi.com/ljk3w0m44w6x/copy-of-introduction-to-wi…ipedia/>. One of the participants were asked to come and create an user account and basic editing was demonstrated. After this, there was a press interaction with Kanak TV, MBC TV and STV - 3 local TV channels. There was a 10 minute tea break - after which newbies were encouraged to ask questions. Each experienced wikipedians were assigned to 2/3 new wikipedians - and they all then worked in groups to create their usernames and helped with basic editing. 13 participants created their user accounts[1] and of the new wikipedians actively edited several articles.[2][3][4]. This also includes a very young editor (around 15 years old) who was until then just a reader of Odia Wikipedia. With little guidance he has started contributing to several articles. [5] (His father later got in touch with the organisers and thanked them for helping his son get excited by typing in Odia!) *Challenges & Solutions* - Most of the newbies had an initial struggle because fo lack of experience in typing in Odia. We requested the newbies to check the *Typing Help* <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:Help:Typing> page to understand the key combination. Mrutyunjaya explained how they can improve by gradual exercise, using the "Show Preview" option and that making corrections is allowed on Wikipedia. They were also pointed to the page in the physical FAQ Booklet page for guidance. - Many newbies were still on Windows XP - so community members had to fix the font related issues.* * *Next Steps* - Emails will be sent to all those who attended with instructions for further editing by local Odia Wikipedians who conducted the sesssions. Odia Wikipedians will try to stay in touch through regular talk page messages with all those who created user accounts. - We will also connect with the participants by creating a facebook group so that it is easier for them to ask questions and feel part of a community, in a more casual setting like facebook. *Lessons* - More focus on editing during outreach sessions instead of just talking randomly about Wikipedia - and giving individual attention to newbies during the session. - It is really important to focus on how handholding of newbies will happen after the outreach session, instead of just leaving them all alone. *Notes* 1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 New Username creations<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0%AD… 2. ↑ User:Errajkishor<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B… 3. ↑ User:Arup Samal<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0%AD%87%… 4. ↑ User:Ucsahoo<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0… 5. ↑ User:Saileshpat<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6… *Odia Wikipedia Community Meet-Up - Bhubaneswar - April 1**Summary* The community meetup was held up to brainstorm about how to build the Odia wiki community and to identify issues & solutions that community members were facing. We also wanted to celebrate sucesses and have some fun! Despite several physical outreach events, Odia Wikipedia Community is still lagging behind in getting newbies to join and stay in the community. However, there are many examples of better results from successful turn up from online outreach programs. As the community is very small, the biggest idea we discussed is how to do more effective online outreach. (There are several examples of newbies joining due to online outreach - such as Suratha [1], Chinmaya Dash[2], Manoranjan [3], Prasanta Bhunya [4] - who are all active editors now. Subha had shared his experiences of reaching out to folks on facebook who were writing in Odia and introducing them to Odia Wikipedia and then giving them online editing advice as well as sharing tips and useful links.) *Next Steps* - The Facebook group <http://facebook.com/groups/odiawiki> will be used more effectively to bring more new editors. It was emphasised that facebook would be used only as an online gateway for Wikipedia related discussions and only to invite newbies to Wikipedia. Wikipedia discussions must always happen on village pumps and talk pages only. Newbies will be encouraged to have all wiki discussions on wiki itself, as soon as possible - Noopur will be asked to provide support on facebook by providing advice and tips on how to use facebook most effectively, and working closely with interested community members. - On-line chatting - where experienced Odia Wikipeidans could help out newbies to learn editing - will be made more frequent. - Standard presentations/tools in Odia will be prepared that can be used for online outreach (presentations, pdf cheatsheets, transliteration Roman-Odia Key combinations, revised FAQ booklet, etc.) - Chatasabha <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/or:WP::CS>, a platform for inviting newbies by answering their questions through an easy-to-find tab Odia Wikipedia homepage was shared - and it was agreed to use this for newbie interaction and support. - It is really important to improve collaboration and Wikiprojects are a really great way of doing this. User:Shisir_1945<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B… started WikiProject Science<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%B…A8>. On Wikiprojects, it is important to divide tasks based on time availability and personal interests so that there is better coordination and motivation. *Challenges & Solutions* - The available documents which community members share with newbies have too much text and they need to be simplified and illustrated with screenshots and How-To's. - Mrutyunjay asked what was the best way to answer questions like what will people gain from contributing to Odia Wikipedia, as well as the reducing level of interest in local languages. It was suggested that a limited, interested bunch of people should be targeted for outreach - and if we invest time in the most committed and motivated, we will get enough people who have the right mindset and abilites. - The fact that Odia Wikipedia is not too well known was discussed and it was agreed to try and build contacts so that the message can be spread (via web, print and other media) about the project and the community. Also, the message should include the fact that People still are unaware of its existence and the fact "They can also edit Wikipedia". - The current typing tool has some issues which need rectification. *Lessons* - This was a really useful meetup - and there were 3 reasons for it. Firstly, everyone was encouraged talk. Secondly, there was a specific agenda that everyone stuck to. Thirldy - we had FUN! - After meetups, it is important that there are clear plans of action - and each individual community member knows exactly what he or she is going to be doing. Experienced editors should focus community building and not only on individual editing. This includes outreach sessions, hand-holding newbies and starting / managing Wikiprojects. *Notes* 1. ↑ User:ସୁରଥ_କୁମାର_ପାଢ଼ୀ<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0… 2. ↑ User:ଚିନ୍ମୟ ଦାଶ<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0%AD%87%E0… 3. ↑ User:ManXiii<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0… 4. ↑ User:Prasantabhunya<http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BF%E0%A… Thanks and regards Mrutyunjay Kar Jnanaranjan Sahu Manoranjan Behera -- ଧନ୍ୟବାଦ ସହ ମୃତ୍ୟୁଞ୍ଜୟ କର Odia Wikipedian _______________________________________________ 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