We wrote a short report on the Czech Ambassador Program, just in case anyone is interested... :-)
Czech Ambassador Program
(key notes (as of 20 February 2012))
* We are a small group of approximately 5 ambassadors and a few sympathisers. We have consulted our goals with each other (on a meeting in Prague) and with other similar initiatives (mainly people from the US ambassador program)
* We currently operate mainly in Prague (Institute for Environmental Studies, Faculty of Science, Pedagogical Faculty), to a lesser extent in Olomouc (Philosophical Faculty). New project is currently being prepared in Brno (Philosophical Faculty). Some more projects are in the state of development (two secondary schools in Prague).
* The ambassadors are free to decide their project‘s rules. We have developed two different strategies:
** The first brings high-quality articles, but is very time-consuming, as it involves regular meetings with students and helping them, as well as a lot of editing work. Example: Institute for Environmental Studies
** The second brings average-quality articles (at best), but needs little maintenance (for example, just a help page for the students + explaining how to ask for help on Wikipedia + some editing work). Example: Immunology at Faculty of Science
* We found out that the best way to start new projects is to advertise the ambassador program as much as possible. It has proven of almost no use to „tell the teachers“ into establishing their projects. The motivation of the teacher is highest when he/she personally contacts us.
* We have published a long interview with Petr Broz (user:Chmee2) in a national newspaper „Právo“ about Wikipedia, putting stress on his ambassador project at the Institute for Environmental Studies.
* New teachers are contacting us, willing to start their own ambassador project.
---
Statistics for the winter term 2012:
* Art History at Philosophical Faculty, University of Palacky – in progress, currently about 40 articles that need some editing work (data incomplete)
************************
VojtÄ›ch Dostál
Mail vojtech.dostal@centrum.cz
twitter.com/medi_cago