Hi Damodar,
Like Shiju has earlier replied to you ,
There is already a Wikipedia project (in the incubator stage ) for Goanese
Konkani.
It is available here http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/gom
You can start contributing to it, Inspire others too and gradually make it
a standalone language Wikipedia.
If you are interested, I can probably connect you to Gurudath Baliga, Asst
Director of Konkani Vishwa Kendra, who is passionate about the same.
Regards
Tinu Cherian
P.S. For other Wikipedia Projects in Incubation, You can find them here
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/List_of_Indian_language_wiki_projects#Projects_und…
On Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 8:58 PM, damodar vinayak bale <dvbale(a)rediffmail.com
> wrote:
> Thanks for this informative Mail. "INDIA i.e. BHARAT" has more than
> 1600 local languages.
>
> GOA is a State with all its communities speaking in one language
> "KONKANI" without even
>
> having a Primary School in its own Mother-tongue,as it was ruled by
> foreign rulers for
>
> more than four centuries.
>
> Can 'WIKIMEDIA' organization be of any help?
>
> With best regards,
>
> Damodar V. Bale,
>
> Margao-GOA.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:18:45 +0530 wrote
>
> > Cross posting across India related lists. Kindly ignore if you have
>
>
>
> read this on another mailing list.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
>
>
>
> Subject: [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter :Jan 2012 Report
>
>
Cross posting across India related lists. Kindly ignore if you have
read this on another mailing list.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [WMIN-Members] Wikimedia India Chapter : Jan 2012 Report
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:08:57 +0530
From: Naveen Francis <naveenpf(a)wikimedia.in>
Reply-To: wmin-members(a)googlegroups.com
To: Wikimedia India Community list
<wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, wmin-members
<wmin-members(a)googlegroups.com>
Dear all,
Greetings from Wikimedia India !!!
The Wikimedia Chapter (India) celebrated its first anniversary on 3rd
January 2012.
Organisational Updates
Formation of Task Forces:
The formation of the different task forces are still in progress. The
various task forces are a) Fundraising, b) Special Projects, c)
Administration, d) City and Language Special Interest Groups, and e)
Communications, PR & Media Relations.
We are seeking more volunteers for the task forces. If you are
interested, please feel free to contact the respective task force
stewards or find more information here [1]
Membership:
The Chapter membership stands at 196 members as of 31 January 2012. Six
new members were added to the chapter membership in this month. We
extend a very warm welcome to the family.
Donations:
Total donations received in Jan 2012 - INR 10700
Average donations in Jan 2012 - INR 3566
FCRA:
Our application for prior permission under the Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act FCRA 2010, with the Government of India is under
process. As the stated time for response is over recently, chapter will
be following up with the authorities. [ As we write this report, our
application was approved by the Government of India]
Internet Relay Chat(IRCs):
>From time to time, Wikimedia India conduct planned online IRC chat
sessions. The IRC on Jan 05, 2011 was anchored by Sudhanwa Jogalekar
with the focus on Chapter Specia Interest Groups (SIG) co-ordination
[2]. The IRC on Jan 07, 2010, anchored by Arun Ramarathnam discussed on
the Jan 15th Celebration plans, SIGs and GLAM projects. [3]
Board Meetings:
The Wikimedia Chapter Executive Committee had two tele-conference EC
meetings (dated 04 Jan and 18 Jan, 2012) in the month of January.The
Wikimedia India chapter and Wikimedia Foundation had one joint
co-ordination call on 25 Jan 2012, which was attended by Arjuna Rao
Chavala, Naveen Francis, Tinu Cherian and Hisham Mundol. The main
agenda of the call was on Chapter - Foundation India programs
Collaboration Framework .
WikiConference 2011
The Chapter and Mumbai Conference organisers are working closely for the
closure and audit of accounts related to WikiConference Mumbai 2011.
Community & Special Interest Groups.
SOPA and Wikipedia Blackout:
The global community of volunteers who edit the English Wikipedia
had decided to support the protest against the introduction of the
“Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) in the US House of Representatives
and the “Protect IP Act” in the US Senate. To that end, the
English Wikipedia was blacked out globally for a period of 24
hours on 18 January 2012. The black out in India commenced at
10.30am IST on 18 January 2012.
The Press release and Communication to the members related to Wikipedia
Blackout can found here [4],[5].
Wikipedia eleventh anniversary :
Wikipedia turned eleven on the 15th of January 2012. The eleventh
anniversary of Wikipedia was celebrated in different parts of the
country [6]. More than 8 Indian cities and towns and over 200
Wikimedians & Wiki enthusiasts celebrated this occasion of Wikipedia
anniversary, around the nation.
Some of the meetups had a Wikipedia anniversary cake to celebrate the
occasion. Google Hangout was also conducted between different cities
celebrating at the same time.
The New Wikimedia India portal ( wikimedia.in <http://wikimedia.in> )
was launched on this day. It is designed to provide quick and rapid
access to Indic wikimedia projects - Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikisource,
Wikibooks, Wikinews, Wikiquote and Commons.
A full collection of images related to the celebrations, around the
nation, can be found here [7].
Events:
A round-up of Wikimedia events, academies and initiatives around the
nation is as follows.
Wikipedia Takes Ahmedabad (3 Jan 2012): Wikipedia Takes Ahmedabad [8] is
a scavenger hunt for free content photography in Ahmedabad, Gujarat,
organised by Noopur Raval , Anirudh Bhati and Srikeit Tadepalli. The
aim of this exercise is to encourage participants to compete to take
photographs of as many local sights and city specific objects of
cultural heritage as possible for Wikipedia articles. Over 75
participants attended and around 815 images were uploaded to the
Wikimedia Commons as a part of this initiative [9].
Wikipedia Takes Mumbai II ( 28 Jan 2012) : This is the second
photography drive in Mumbai. [10] The event was led by Nikita Belavate,
Anshuman Fotedar and Karthik Nadar and other members of the Mumbai
Community. Over 625 images were uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons as a
part of this initiative [11]
Wiki Academies/Workshops : Several Wiki Academies were held in different
parts of the nation , organised and conducted by the Chapter, its
members ,WMF India Programs and the Wikimedia community in India. .
a) Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi , Kerala (05-Jan) [12]
b) Workshop at Text100, Mumbai (webcast to Text100 Delhi and Bangalore)
(06-Jan) [13]
c) SSN College of Engineering, Chennai (11-Jan ) [14]
d) P S R Rengasamy college of engineering for women, Sivakasi, Tamil
Nadu. (20-Jan) [15]
e) Netaji Subhash Engineering College, Kolkata, West Bengal (25-Jan) [16]
f) Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal (25-Jan) [17]
g) Amrita School of Communication, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (28-Jan) (18)
h) Jamia Millia Islamia, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Delhi
(30-Jan) [19]
i) Kerala Sahitya Academy, Trissur, Kerala (8-Jan) [20]
j) Jnana Prabodhini - Wikiacademy, Pune (15-Jan) [21]
A session on Commons was conducted for photography group called
‘Tassavurrati’. [22] They have successfully started uploading pictures
of their trips (most recent: Surajkund Mela) to the Wkimedia Commons.
Other News:
* Telugu SIG celebrated the Wikipedia day on 29 Jan 2012 at Hyderabad.
Top 10 contributors in the articles category and non article
category were recognised at the function. [23]
* Sanskrit Wikipedia saw an excellent editor growth (50%) compared to
last month, and a 234% increase in the number of edits.
* The 1st Delhi Odia Wikimeetup and Academy was conducted on 29 Jan
2012 by Odia SIG Chair and WMF India Programs Consultant ,
Subhashish Panigraphi. [24]
* One of the first Assamese Wikipedia community meetup and Wikipedia
Workshop was held on Jan 29 at Guwahati University, Guwahati, Assam [25]
Milestones & Anniversaries
January 2012
24
* TheSanskrit Wiktionary <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sa:>has
reached 200 entries with the addition of over a dozen entries all
apparently meaning "sun".
20
* TheDivehi Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Dv:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 100,000 page edits.
* TheAssamese Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=As:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 500 uploaded files.
17
* TheBengali Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Bn:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 1,000 uploaded files.
* TheOriya Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Or:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 2,000 articles.
15
* TheBengali Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Bn:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 1,000 uploaded files.
* TheUrdu Wiktionary <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ur:>has reached
10,000 entries.
13
* Wikimedia Commons <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/>has reached
12,000,000 files.
* TheTamil Wikibooks
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=B:ta:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 10,000 page edits.
10
* TheEnglish Wikibooks
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=B:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 40,000 book modules.
7
* TheMarathi Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=Mr:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 100,000 total pages.
* TheAssamese Wikipedia
<http://wiki.wikimedia.in/index.php?title=As:&action=edit&redlink=1>has
reached 1,000 articles.
Media Coverage
There was a huge coverage for Wikipedia on Indian media in this month,
mainly related to Wikipedia Blackout. A comprehensive list of the
coverage can be found here [24]
We look forward to your continued support and active participation.
Report compiled by Executive members,SIG chairs and The Communications team.
Best,
On behalf of Wikimedia Chapter (India)
Naveen Francis
Secretary
Notes:
1) http://members.wikimedia.in/Main_Page#Task_forces
2) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Internet_Relay_Chats/Jan_05,2012
3) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Internet_Relay_Chats/Jan_07,2012
4)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Press_Releases/2012/_English_Wikipedia_to_go_dark_…
5)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Announcements/Communication_regarding_SOPA_and_Wik…
6) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Eleven
7) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_11_in_India
8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Takes_Ahmedabad
9) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ahmedabad_1
10) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Takes_Mumbai_II
11) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_Takes_Mumbai_2
12)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Cochin_University_of_Science_and_Tech…
13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Workshop/Mumbai_Workshop_2
14)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/SSN_College_of_Engineering,_Chennai
15)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/P_S_R_Rengasamy_college_of_engineering_for_women,_…
16) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Netaji_Subhash_Engineering_College
17) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Jadavpur_University
18)
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Wiki_Academy/Amrita_School_of_Communication,_Coimb…
19) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:MDHJMI1
20) http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:WATSR2
21)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup/Pune/W11_celebration_Pune_wit…
22) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tassavurrati_1.jpg
23)
http://te.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B0%B5%E0%B0%BF%E0%B0%95%E0%B1%80%E0%B0%AA%…
24) http://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:MDEL1
25)
http://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A7%B1%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AA%…
24) http://wiki.wikimedia.in/In_the_news#Jan_2012
Dear All,
I am writing to share with you a very inspiring initiative regarding health
and medicine articles on Wikipedia. Crores of Wikipedia readers read up
about health related issues either when they or their loved ones fall ill
or before or after they have consulted doctors or when they are curious
about a particular disease or drug. In fact, quite a few doctors and
nurses also read up these articles to improve their knowledge.
Wikipedia's medical articles have 15-20 crore page views every month. The
top 300 articles are viewed more than 1 lakh times every month. The
challenge is that the majority of these articles are only available in
English.
This initiative (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_tas…)
has been conceptualised by WikiProject Medicine, Wikimedia Canada and very
interesting organisation called Translators Without Borders. It seeks to
translate a set of 80 of the most important health care articles into as
many languages as possible.
Given the state of our health care system as well as the increasing
readership of Indic language projects, there is huge positive impact that
we can have if we participate in this initiative and have these articles in
all Indic languages. The project page (referenced above) includes an
outline of the project, FAQs, useful links and a sign up for interested
volunteers.
The ways that we can participate are as follows
- English Editors to improve articles on en-wp
- English Editors to convert articles into simple English Wikipedia (so
that non-English editors who don't have a medical background can also help
out)
- Indic editors to help translating either by themselves or by helping
the translators at Translators Without Borders
Remember, you don't have to be a health care professional to help out. All
you have to do is simply care.
I am really happy to note that 5 editors from 5 Indic languages have
already signed up<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_tas…>for
this wonderful project. Of these 2 languages - Assamese and Malayalam
- have already started wiki project and started working on articles (really
big comprehensive articles) related to Medicine.
Assamese wikipedia medicine project page: ৱিকিপিডিয়া:ৱিকিপ্ৰকল্প
চিকিৎসাবিজ্ঞান<http://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A7%B1%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%BF%E0%A6%AA%…>
Some of the articles created:
- কৰ্কট ৰোগ<http://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A6%9F_…>
(Cancer)
- সৰ্পদংশন<http://as.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%A6%…>
(Snakebite)
Malayalam wikipedia biology project page:
വിക്കിപീഡിയ:വിക്കിപദ്ധതി/ജീവശാസ്ത്രം<http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%8D%E0%B4%95%…>
Some of the articles created:
- ആസ്മ (Asthma) <http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthma>
- ന്യുമോണിയ (Pneumonia) <http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonia>
- മസ്തിഷ്കാഘാതം (Stroke) <http://ml.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke>
Please note that this project do not involve machine translation or bots.
It is really happy to note that both in Assamese and Malayalam wiki these
projects are run by doctor (or medicine students) wikipedians :) Yes, Indic
wikipedias has editors from all wakes of life.
There is so much potential on the articles related to medicine both in
Indic and English. I encourage interested wikipedians to join this project
by adding your name
here<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Medicine/Translation_tas…>
.
I welcome and invite everyone to join in.
Healthy Editing
Shiju Alex
Cross-posting to other mailing lists. Kindly ignore if you have read
this on another mailing list.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Thanks
Tinu Cherian
Wikimedia India.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [WMIN-Members] New Wikimedia India Portals
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2012 08:18:34 +0530
From: Naveen Francis <naveenpf(a)wikimedia.in>
Reply-To: wmin-members(a)googlegroups.com
To: Wikimedia India Community list
<wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>, wmin-members
<wmin-members(a)googlegroups.com>
Hi all,
We are pleased to formally announce the launch of the following new
Wikimedia India Portals:
http://wikimedia.in/- The new landing page will be the gateway to the
various Project pages and Wikis.
http://wiki.wikimedia.in <http://wiki.wikimedia.in/>The public wiki is
now revamped with an all-new look and lots of information. Feel free to
add more information to the wikis.
http://members.wikimedia.in <http://members.wikimedia.in/>Wiki for India
Chapter Members
http://blog.wikimedia.in/Wikimedia India Blog - to post a blog, contact
Arjuna Rao Chavala or Tinu Cherian
We are pleased to introduce the following new Wikimedia Project gateways
for the various Indic languages:
http://wikisource.in<http://wikisource.in/>
http://wikiquote.in<http://wikiquote.in/>
http://wikibooks.in<http://wikibooks.in/>
http://wikinews.in<http://wikinews.in/>
http://wikibooks.org.in<http://wikibooks.org.in/>
http://wikisource.org.in<http://wikisource.org.in/>
http://wiktionary.org.in<http://wiktionary.org.in/>
The planned landing page for http://wikipedia.in is available here
<http://wikimedia.in/wikipedia.html>.
Efforts are currently underway to obtain control of a few more important
domains and announcements will be made as and when we get them. We
sincerely believe this initiative will help drive more traffic to Indic
language Wikimedia Projects.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Wikimedia CH /
Switzerland Chapter and Manuel Schneider (Wikimedia CH / Switzerland)
for hosting our websites and portals at no cost.
A number of people need to be thanked, who helped in the this initiative.
Rajesh K Oayanchal who designed the portals and Jyothis E who gave his
webspace for the testing purposes. Anirudh, Noopur Raval, ,Surya,
Radhakrishna, Omshivaprakash, Debanjan, Saroj, Swaroop, Abhishek
Suryawanshi and others have helped in translations .
Tanvir Rahman , Tinu Cherian and Arun Ram helped in revamping the public
wiki.
We hope that you will find these portals useful and informative.
Please do get back to us with your feedback and suggestions.
Regards,
Naveen Francis
Wikimedia India Chapter
This is just to bring to your notice that,GOA is one of the states in
"India i.e.Bharat" toady. The language of this tiny state is KONKANI,since
ever. All the communities irrespective of cast,creed and religion speak
KONKANI.
Hello Damodar,
There is already a wikipedia project (in incubator) for Goanese Konkani.
It is available here http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/gom
Can Wikipedians take active part in helping the Goan Citizen in their task
> ahead?
In fact I suggest since you are a Konkani speaker (and know about
the importance of Wikipedia in Konkani) please be part of this and guide
more Konkani speakers towards this.
I will connect you with few people who can help you to get start with
contributing to Goanese Konkani
wikipedia<http://incubator.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wp/gom>
.
Thanks
Shiju
On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 3:37 PM, damodar vinayak bale <dvbale(a)rediffmail.com
> wrote:
> Respected Shiju Alex,
>
> This is just to bring to your notice that,GOA is one of the states in
> "India i.e.Bharat" toady. The language of this tiny state is KONKANI,since
> ever. All the communities irrespective of cast,creed and religion speak
> KONKANI. GOA was under foreign rule for more than four centuries. So the
> natives could not develop Konkani for school system. Now that GOA has a
> status of STATE and claims KONKANI as a State language,(Konkani being the
> Mother-tongue of the citizen of Goa)it opts for setting up of Govt.aided
> Primary Schools in Konkani to start with,ultimately going for Secondary and
> Higher Secondary Schools. Can Wikipedians take active part in helping the
> Goan Citizen in their task ahead?
>
> With best regards,
>
> Damodar Vinayak Bale,
>
> B-304,Marigold,
>
> C.D.Flower Valley,
>
> Borda Road,
>
> Margao-GOA, 403602,
>
> INDIA.
>
>
>
> On Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:39:59 +0530 wrote
>
> >Dear All,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I have compiled the, statistical update of the Indic language Wikipedias
>
>
>
> for the year 2011. In this report, my aim is to provide an *analysis* as
>
>
>
> well as *my perspectives* on the health of various Indic language
>
>
>
> communities as well as the state of various Indic language wikipedias for
>
>
>
> the year 2011. (The period of analysis is editor contributions between 2011
>
>
>
> January 1 and 2011 December 31). As always, a lot of the data for this
>
>
>
> report and analysis are based on the statistical data published at
>
>
>
> http://stats.wikimedia.org. Thanks to Erik Zachte for compiling all this
>
>
>
> information.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I must also point out that this annual update contains a number of insights
>
>
>
> *that are derived not only from this data but directly from community
>
>
>
> members* who have shared a very real-world picture.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Read the annual update here:
>
>
>
>
> http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Indic_Languages/Statistics/201…
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I welcome your comments on this annual update. Please discuss it on the
>
>
>
> talk page. You can also reach me at shiju(a)wikimedia.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
> Shiju Alex
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> Wikihi-l mailing list
>
>
>
> Wikihi-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>
>
>
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikihi-l
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wikihi-l mailing list
> Wikihi-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikihi-l
>
Dear All,
I have compiled the, statistical update of the Indic language Wikipedias
for the year 2011. In this report, my aim is to provide an *analysis* as
well as *my perspectives* on the health of various Indic language
communities as well as the state of various Indic language wikipedias for
the year 2011. (The period of analysis is editor contributions between 2011
January 1 and 2011 December 31). As always, a lot of the data for this
report and analysis are based on the statistical data published at
http://stats.wikimedia.org. Thanks to Erik Zachte for compiling all this
information.
I must also point out that this annual update contains a number of insights
*that are derived not only from this data but directly from community
members* who have shared a very real-world picture.
Read the annual update here:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Indic_Languages/Statistics/201…
I welcome your comments on this annual update. Please discuss it on the
talk page. You can also reach me at shiju(a)wikimedia.org
Thanks
Shiju Alex
Cross posting.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Nitika <ntandon(a)wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Improving outreach efforts in India
> Date: 13 February 2012 5:12:49 PM GMT+05:30
> To: Wikimedia India Community list <wikimediaindia-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
>
> Dear All,
>
> The following is a post I've put up on the India Program page on meta regarding outreach (Please see:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Program/Outreach_Programs). Please do comment on the page itself; I'm posting it on this mailing list only to make sure it doesn't slip your attention.
>
> We have conducted over 13 outreach sessions in the past one month and have many more events scheduled to participate in over the coming weeks. (Please see: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Outreach_Ses…). It's amazing that we're doing so many outreach events all over the country to create awareness about Wikipedia, motivate attendees to learn about editing and training newbies to contribute to Wikipedia in their own special way.
>
> The single biggest challenge is that we don't know the actual outcome of these efforts in most cases, and the results are weak when we have the data. I think most of us agree that outreach can be made to work better. (For example, 2 outreach sessions conducted recently by the Assamese community had about 80 participants, and 8 active editors emerged - which is a hit rate of 10% - which is FANTASTIC!) For most other sessions, the results have been closer to 1-2% or even lower - which is depressing. What makes outreach work? How can outreach work better? Is there anything you need from me?
>
> Over the past 3 months, I have been working on building a handbook for Outreach (Please see: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Handbook) where you can get presentation material and tips. Please do go through it and help me build it.
>
> My post consists of 5 (deliberately) provocative statements on the day of and the days after an outreach session. These are framed with the objective of generating debate and suggestions.
>
> THE DAY OF
>
> Hypthesis 1: Don't Shoot the Puppy: Outreach is not being done effectively and we aren't adequately introspecting on what we can do better; instead choosing to lose faith in attendees
>
> Should we discontinue general introduction sessions completely and just convert everything into Wiki workshops? Every second of volunteer time is precious and we need to make sure that every second is made to count. The good sessions appear to be those where people are actually shown how to edit - rather than just doing a song-and-dance about Wikipedia.
> The best sessions are those where people have actual hands-on editing opportunity. Shall we limit the intro session on Wikipedia to just 15 minutes and then spend 45 minute on basic editing, 30 minutes on hand-on editing and leave 30 minutes for Q&A?
> Not everyone is a natural presenter and might need help on basic outreach skills. Is there value and interest in a capacity building roadshow where we help existing editors who want to improve their outreach and presentation skills? Is it useful to pair up a good presenter with a not-so-confident presenter when we are doing outreach?
> THE DAY AFTER
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> Hypothesis #2: Staying in Touch: We assume the job is complete after the outreach session when in fact the journey has only just begun
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> Can we gather (basic) information about attendees (e.g., names, usernames & email IDs?) so that we can stay in touch with them after sessions?
> Can we get feedback on sessions (duration, level of detail, quality of presenters, etc.?) so that we can all improve? Do we need some sort of CRM solution for this or will something like Google Docs suffice?
> How do we get more folks to actually provide their contact details and feedback? Which of the following will get higher response rates: asking for these just before the end, immediately after the end or the day after a session?
> Hypothesis #3: Nudge-Nudge: Newbies struggle with the most basic things - including which article to select
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> Should we send links to useful wiki pages and tutorial videos where they can read up more about how Wikipedia works and how to edit Wikipedia? Can we leave handouts on basic editing after all sessions? Can we send them links to the actual presentations made at the session.
> Can we suggest / elicit potential articles that individual newbies will work on after the workshop? Can we give them individual pointers on what they can do with each article by reviewing them there-and-then during the session?
> Can we schedule a follow-up session (even if virtually using google+ hangout) to clarify any doubts about Wikipedia editing or otherwise - maybe 2 weeks after a session?
> Hypothesis #4: Loneliness - Newbies feel alone and the only time they sense the community is when their edits get reverted
>
> Should we not encourage them to join project pages (such as the WP:INDIA) and/or the India mailing list and/or their city/language mailing list to get involved with the community?
> Can we involve them in COTM or conduct specific editathons for them?
> Can we celebrate their successes and get newbies to talk to other newbies about how they learnt stuff?
> Hyptothesis #5: Black Hole: No one has a clue about the actual results of outreach
>
> Can we regularly monitor number & % of active editors after 1 and 3 months of conducting all events? Can we figure out % of mainspace edits from these newbies after 1 and 3 months? Can this be analysed to provide recommendations on how we can do things better?
> Can we actively reach out to those who look like they are struggling? Do we need a CRM tool for something like this?
> Is it useful to track and attempt to co-relate age / profession / subject (if student) / sex of participants to figure out what is likely to give greatest results?
> I have been working to see how can we overcome these challenges and make our outreach efforts far more effective. I'd love to hear from on the above. Some of you have been actively involved in outreach sessions (attending or conducting or planning) an I'd like to know your thoughts and suggestions which might serve as solutions for this set of very real challenges.
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> Thanks
>
> Nitika
>
>
