Hi there,
since I'm, subscribed via digest I have no mail to reply, so here some random ideas (rough brainstorming) about the issues mentioned in the thread 'Making Wikimedia Commons less frightening':
* We need to have at least one (leading) person per language to translate the messages. They should be contactable via email as well. Maybe coordinated by a mailing-list. Wasn't there one?
* We could "use" the translation power of the folks at betawiki (http://translatewiki.net/ )
* I tried to launch a mentoring programme some months ago, but with no success: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Mentoring
* Maybe we could include SOME contact people directly in the templates.
* What about something like ambassadors?
These are just some spontaneous ideas, I wanted to share. Maybe you have some to say about some of them ...
Best regards,
Flo
Florian Straub wrote:
Hi there,
since I'm, subscribed via digest I have no mail to reply, so here some random ideas (rough brainstorming) about the issues mentioned in the thread 'Making Wikimedia Commons less frightening':
- We need to have at least one (leading) person per language to
translate the messages. They should be contactable via email as well. Maybe coordinated by a mailing-list. Wasn't there one?
Yep. mediawiki-i18n mailing list.
This thread illustrates both what is good and what is bad about Commons.
There is general agreement that Commons could be made more user-friendly and that we need to reach out and communicate more.
Good: There are at least 15 decent ideas that have been mentioned, all of which merit further discussion. So there are plently of ideas around.
Bad: Everyone has ideas, but nobody has the inclination to take the lead and to do anything with them. So, nothing happens (again).
Proposal:
(1) That the ideas in this thread be captured, and copied to Commons under a new project page called (eg) Commons: Outreach. (2) That we try to build support for taking some of the ideas forward. The first stage would be to find users who are committed to improving Commons/the Wikis and who would be prepared to act as sub-project leaders.
What about it?
Michael
Florian Straub wrote:
Hi there,
since I'm, subscribed via digest I have no mail to reply, so here some random ideas (rough brainstorming) about the issues mentioned in the thread 'Making Wikimedia Commons less frightening':
- We need to have at least one (leading) person per language to
translate the messages. They should be contactable via email as well. Maybe coordinated by a mailing-list. Wasn't there one?
- We could "use" the translation power of the folks at betawiki
- I tried to launch a mentoring programme some months ago, but with no
success: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Mentoring
Maybe we could include SOME contact people directly in the templates.
What about something like ambassadors?
These are just some spontaneous ideas, I wanted to share. Maybe you have some to say about some of them ...
Best regards,
Flo
Commons-l mailing list Commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/commons-l
Michael Maggs wrote:
(1) That the ideas in this thread be captured, and copied to Commons under a new project page called (eg) Commons: Outreach.
In my country (Sweden) there was a heated discussion in the 1960s that universities had become too specialized. Literature professors didn't speak to professors in chemical engineering. There was a rough concensus that more interdisciplinary studies were needed. So, in 1970 when a new university was founded, what did they do? They founded a department of interdisciplinary studies. The new department attracted some professors of interdisciplinary science, which are now about to retire. But the literature professors and the professors of chemical engineering still don't talk to each other.
What can we learn from this? We must change the people and the way they work, not create new institutions.
Wikimedia Commons already has a village pump, and it's not overly full with discussions. Today I (user:LA2) brought up some strange upload patterns that I observed in five new users. At first I thought they were sock puppets for a single, large scale copyvio. But it is more likely they are students in a science project. The problem is that we have no way to communicate with them or their teacher. They have all received the standard welcome template on their user talk page, but nobody seems to bother. Try to find the people behind these user names and ask them what's going on. That would be practical outreach. No new page is needed.
I don't think trying to gather and follow up the ideas in this thread at e new project page is "creating a new institution". I'm with Michael here, trying to sort this out on-wiki could indeed help "change the people and the way they work".
Posting at Commons:Village Pump could help bring up more ideas, brainstorm and attreact interrest - but VP is not a very suitable place to actually develop sustainable solutions. Neither is no:Tinget or sv:bybrunnen.
Finn Rindahl
2008/12/12 Lars Aronsson lars@aronsson.se
Michael Maggs wrote:
(1) That the ideas in this thread be captured, and copied to Commons under a new project page called (eg) Commons: Outreach.
In my country (Sweden) there was a heated discussion in the 1960s that universities had become too specialized. Literature professors didn't speak to professors in chemical engineering. There was a rough concensus that more interdisciplinary studies were needed. So, in 1970 when a new university was founded, what did they do? They founded a department of interdisciplinary studies. The new department attracted some professors of interdisciplinary science, which are now about to retire. But the literature professors and the professors of chemical engineering still don't talk to each other.
What can we learn from this? We must change the people and the way they work, not create new institutions.
Wikimedia Commons already has a village pump, and it's not overly full with discussions. Today I (user:LA2) brought up some strange upload patterns that I observed in five new users. At first I thought they were sock puppets for a single, large scale copyvio. But it is more likely they are students in a science project. The problem is that we have no way to communicate with them or their teacher. They have all received the standard welcome template on their user talk page, but nobody seems to bother. Try to find the people behind these user names and ask them what's going on. That would be practical outreach. No new page is needed.
-- Lars Aronsson (lars@aronsson.se) Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se
Commons-l mailing list Commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/commons-l
Lars Aronsson wrote:
Michael Maggs wrote:
(1) That the ideas in this thread be captured, and copied to Commons under a new project page called (eg) Commons: Outreach.
What can we learn from this? We must change the people and the way they work, not create new institutions.
I think you're confusing listing it on the Commons: namespace (NS_PROJECT) with creating a new project.
I agree with Michael that the brainstormed ideas should be gathered on a wiki page instead of leaving them fall into the archives oblivion.