[please pardon this crossposting]
Hello everyone!
I am pleased to announce the first Program Evaluation and Design Workshop!
- *When*: 22–23 June 2012 - *Where*: Budapest, Hungary
The application process is now open. We have only 20 slots available for this workshop and the application deadline ends on May 17th. This two-day event will be followed by a pre-conference workshop at Wikimania 2013. Ideally, applicants would commit to attending both events.
*Why are we offering this workshop?* Over the next couple of years, the Wikimedia Foundation will be building capacity among program leaders around evaluation and program design. A better understanding of how to increase impact through better planning, execution and evaluation of programs & activities will help us to move a step closer to achieving our mission of offering a free, high quality encyclopedia to our readers around the world.
*What will take place at this and the following workshops?* Our long-term goals are:
1. Participants gain a basic shared understanding of program evaluation 2. Participants will work collaboratively to map and prioritize measurable outcomes, beginning with a focus on the most commopn program & activities 3. Participants will gain increased fluency in common language of evaluation (i.e. goals versus objectives, inputs & outputs versus outcomes & impact) 4. Participants will learn and practice how to extract and report data using the UserMetrics API 5. Participants will commit to working as a community of evaluation leaders who will implement evaluation strategies in their programmatic activities and report back at the pre-conference workshop at Wikimania 2013 6. …and participants will have a lot of fun and enjoy networking with other program leaders!
We will publish a detailed agenda for the event in Budapest soon on meta.
*Which programs & activities are we going to focus on?* During the workshop in Budapest, we will only have a limited amount of time. Therefore, we will be focusing on the some of the more common programs & activities:
- *Wikipedia editing workshops* where participants learn how to or actively edit (i.e. edit-a-thon, wikiparty, hands-on Wikipedia workshop) - *Content donations* through partnerships with GLAMs & related organizations - *Wiki Takes/Expeditions* where volunteers participate in day/weekend events to photograph site specific content - *Wiki Loves Monuments* which takes place in September - *Education program/classroom editing* where volunteers support educators who have students editing Wikipedia in the classroom - *Writing competitions* which generally take place online in the form of contests, WikiCup, and challenges – often engaging experienced editors to improve content.
*Who should apply?* Community members who play an *active role* in planning and executing programs & activities as described above in the Wikimedia community. Your experience and knowledge will make this workshop a success!
*What about the costs for travel and accomodation?* Hotels, flights and other transportation costs will be on your chapter; the Wikimedia Foundation will provide the venue, handouts, breakfasts and light lunches, and a dinner for all participants on Saturday. If you're not affiliated with a chapter and cannot afford to attend the event, please send me a private email – we have a small amount of money set aside for those cases.
Applications are open until May 17. You can apply via this Google Formhttps://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/forms/d/11yCoOls5ae8FqAXIdp9Tua76ilVQGUNKWMVSktCQBRU/viewform .
Thanks for your interest, and I look forward to a great group of participants!
-Sarah