[Wikimediaindia-l] Supporting Outreach

Tue Dec 20 22:23:21 UTC 2011

Nitika,

You folks are doing a great job with this on your own, 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...

pb
___________________
Philippe Beaudette
Head of Reader Relations
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.

415-839-6885, x 6643

philippe at wikimedia.org

On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 4:15 AM, Nitika <ntandon at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> 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.html(Srikanth R's thread on "What's in it for me")
>
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005657.html(Pradeep's thread on improving infrastructure)
>
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005453.html(Arnav S' thread on help for outreach in Gujarat)
>
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/2011-December/005632.html(Noopur's 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/Outreach_Program_Handbook)
> 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 at 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
>
>
>
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