<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 8:58 PM, Rob Schnautz <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:schnautzr@gmail.com">schnautzr@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi,<br>
<br>
All this talk about hugely successful events in places like India and<br>
Italy has got me wondering, since I haven't seen many successful events<br>
in the U.S. mentioned-- only in a few very large metro cities (San<br>
Francisco, MIT, and NYC). </blockquote><div><br>We're doing our event in DC this weekend, expecting ~100 attendees.<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
It seems to me that the other wikis must have<br>
had some advantage here; not sure what it was.<br>
<br>[snip]<br></blockquote><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
A quick check on the National Public Radio (NPR) website returns zero<br>
stories about Wikipedia festivities, other than brief mentions that<br>
Wikipedia was turning 10-- no parties or conferences were mentioned at<br>
all. This radio station is devoted to providing full up-to-date coverage<br>
of news on national and global issues, and I find it surprising<br>
reporters didn't even mention the kite-flying parties in India.<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br>We did invite them to our event, though we're doing it a week later so it's old news by now. :/ For OpenStreetMap, we did get coverage for our ad-hoc local group in the Washington Post and expect as our local group ramps up and is doing stuff, we'll get media coverage for Wikimedia stuff here.<br>
<br>Do interesting local stuff, the media will notice (and it doesn't hurt to invite them).<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
Considering Wikipedia is one of the most heavily-used sites in America,<br>
I'd say that we've got some problems here with publicity, event<br>
organization, and possibly even spirit.<br>
<br>
Anyone have suggestions on how to improve future events in America,<br>
particularly in small metros? (Obviously having events planned more than<br>
two weeks before the event would be one improvement!)<br></blockquote><div><br>Can we please resurrect the #wikimedia-us IRC channel? Right now, it's invite only!<br><br>Also, let's get a mailing list going for Wikimedians in the US:<br>
<br><a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-us">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-us</a> (doesn't exist!)<br><br>As for events, I see things being organized in Indianapolis and Minneapolis, and certainly there is potential for more elsewhere.<br>
<br>Cheers,<br>Katie (@aude)<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<br>
Thanks!<br>
Rob "Bob the Wikipedian" Schnautz<br>
<br>
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