Dear all,
Greetings! Here's an update on the Social Media pilot
program<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media>.
Just a small recap before I go on to the numbers.
*Why Facebook?*
Why we decided to go with Facebook at all is because potential new editors
are more comfortable and familiar with the channel. To illustrate, after
outreach sessions, we tried staying in touch with around 100 participants
using a combination of email and talk page messages and got just 3
responses. When we sent an invite to a Facebook page where they could get
help and inputs on how to edit, we got 300 signed up in less than 3 days.
Also, social media requires relatively lower investments of time and
resources from our community and many Internet savvy people are comfortable
using it. The Social Media program was started in order to effectively
utilize platforms like Facebook and community groups there (like the Odia
Wikipedia group, Kannada Wikipedia group) in order to engage more new
editors and give them basic lessons on editing.
However, running a Facebook group is very different from using Facebook for
personal updates. That's why after observing how these groups work and
interacting with a few editors who started these groups, we developed a
systematic 19 point guide that looks at various aspects of how to do use
Facebook effectively including aspects like discipline in messaging,
structuring the interactions, tone of messaging, selecting articles, being
cautious with Wikispeak etc. (Of course, it keeps in mind WP:NOTFACEBOOK.)
Here's a sneak peek into what we've been doing on two different groups:
1) You can also write on
Wikipedia<https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/>
This group was primarily started to give lessons in English editing.
Although all of us use social network sites, it is important to understand
that the way we interact on Wikipedia is very different from Facebook. This
is the gap we are trying to bridge through more deliberate messaging. As
mentioned in the detailed program
guide<http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media#Pro…>,
we try and do regular editing sessions with fun, interesting articles that
have adequate space for improvement (therefore making it easier for new
editors to make their first edits.)
Through a series of 5 basic tasks like creating a username, correcting a
spelling mistake, adding a line of information, adding a reference and
adding an interwiki link, we try and get the user to make their first 5
edits in less than 10 minutes. Our initial experiments show promise and of
the 400+ members right now, over 30 users have participated in these
mini-editing sessions and have now edited for the very first time. (You
can see their usernames in the
doc<https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/doc/353268748054711/>on
the group; do note that are the names of 7 existing editors also on
that
list, who are the mentors.)
To cite examples, User:
Zamsam<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Zamsam>(a
young new editor) came to the group and wanted to create the article
on
cricketer Ajit Chandila <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajit_Chandila>. Once
we helped him create the article, he started contributing to Chandila's
article and moved on to another cricketer, Manvinder
Bisla's<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manvinder_Bisla>article.
Similarly,
User:10gible <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/10gible>joined
us to edit the article on Lalu
Prasad Yadav <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalu_Prasad_Yadav> while
User:Neeasmaverick<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Neeasmaverick>edited
the article on his college, Jawaharlal
Nehru University <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru_University>,
Vicky Donor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_Donor> and Amul
girl<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul_girl>and
User:Saranshkataria<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Saranshkataria>edited
Aloo
Chaat <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloo_Chaat> and
Rasgulla<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasgulla>.
This could not have been possible without a group of wonderful mentors like
Debanjan, Karthik, Deepon, Sheel, Pratik and Harsh who volunteered and
constantly keep helping new editors. We had Skype calls and regular chats
just to ensure that we connect with new users in a way they find most
comfortable.
The first hurdle of getting new editors to do a set of basic tasks has been
crossed for some. The challenge going forward will always be is to sustain
the interest of these new editors and make them long term editors hopefully
by multiple editing sessions. That still needs to be figured out. Any
inputs, comments and help are welcome.
2) Odia Wikipedia group <https://www.facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki/>
This group caters to Odia Wikipedians as well as people who speak the
language and might be interested in knowing about Wikipedia. We used
similar techniques as above to expand the group conversations beyond
existing Wikipedians and encourage new editors to participate.
Once when an article on Handia <https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handia> (a
local beverage) was posted, a new
User:Swetapadma<https://or.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%A…>came
forward to contribute images. Since then, she has been contributing to
articles on Odia cuisine and adding images to articles on Tribes of Odisha.
User:Hellohappy<https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%8D%E0%AD%9F%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B9…>edited
the article on Capital
High School, Bhubaneswar<https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_High_School,_Bhubaneswar>
.
So far almost 10 new users have joined in and made their first few edits in
the past month. Given the small size of Indic communities, this could be a
very effective way of encouraging newbies. This also helps because it
means that it filters in those who have Internet connectivity, are
passionate about the language and (in most cases) are familiar with typing
in Indic languages).
Again, this was done with the help of existing Odia Wikipedians like
Gorvachove, Mrutyunjay Kar, Gyanranjan Sahu, Suratha Parhi, Diptiman and
others.
*Challenges*:
Now that we've figured out a way of engaging so many new editors and
getting them to make their first 5 edits, the challenge is to integrate
them into our community and make sure they continue editing. Also, it would
be ideal to expand this initiative to other Indic and Wikipedia user
groups. (I am already working with the Kannada community and I know that
Wikipedia Club Pune has already been trying something similar). I would
like to invite all community members interested to write to me (
noopur(a)wikimedia.org) and then we can have a brief skype call and figure
how to implement it for your group.
[1] http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media
[2] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/
[3]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Pilot_Designs/Social_Media#Pro…
[4] https://www.facebook.com/groups/wikipediasupport/doc/353268748054711/
[5] https://www.facebook.com/groups/OdiaWiki/
Regards,
Noopur
--
Noopur Raval
--
Noopur Raval
Dear all,
I am very happy to tell you all that the third issue of Wikipatrika - the
community newsletter is finally out! You can check it here:
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2012-05
First things first, a humble acknowledgement to all the editors who helped
out with this issue of the newsletter. A special thanks to Gitartha (as),
Debanjan (bn), Karthik (en and mr), Pratik (en), DS Vyas and Sushant (gu),
Siddhartha (hi), Omshivaprakash (kn), Anoop, Kannan, Sreejith, Viswaprabha
and Shiju (ml), Abhishek (mr), Rajesh and Saroj (ne), Mkar and Srikant
Kedia (or), Abhiram (sa), Logicwiki and Shanmugam (ta), Arjuna and
Rahimanuddin (te). In other contributions, thanks to Srikanth R for
Commons, Logic, Santhosh, Achal for Free culture news and Tinu for Press
news.
This entire venture could not have been possible without Tanvir's constant
support with templates and tweaks. Forgive me if I have missed someone.
So, what has changed from last time? Since all the Wikimeetups are listed
on Wikipedia here and on the respective community pages, we've omitted the
section on events and meetups. Instead, we've added a section on* Featured
Interviews* which has a GLAM interview this time and the *EPOV* column
(Editor's point of view: INCOTM report).
The idea is to make Wikipatrika a supplement to the mailing lists and
village pumps and not replicate the same information in all places.
Hopefully, by the next issue, with more featured interviews, insightful
pieces from editors and free culture persons we will be able to achieve
that.
*The way forward: *
It's a proud moment to see the amount of activity that all our language
communities are involved in. We should definitely strive to make
Wikipatrika regular and hopefully get more editors to contribute. This is
one space where editors can express the dreams, visions and challenges that
their Wikipedia community faces. If you have projects you want to publicize
or successful projects that could be started in other communities, this is
the space to express your opinion! From next time onward, we will
coordinate Patrika on
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-newsletter *mailing
list*. I welcome you all to join right away and we can discuss ideas for
features, changing the format and more!
--
Noopur Raval
Dear all,
A quick update on Wikipatrika. Here's the current draft of the next issue
http://wiki.wikimedia.in/WikiPatrika/2012-05/Community_News
As you can see, most of the sections have been updated with information on
events, meetups and Wikipedia news of our various language communities.
This time, we've also added an interview of a community member (Bpositive's
report on INCOTM) and an external interview (interview with a GLAM
Director) to make Patrika more informative and interesting.
Quite a few of you may already have contributed to this draft. The pages
for as, bn, gu, hi, en, kn, ne, or, sa, te and ta have already been
translated from the respective languages. There is also a Commons tab where
we can add information on various photo walks. The reason why I'm sharing
this update is for everyone else to add material that may have been left
out or any other details. Do remember that we are planning to release this
on May 10th so please do add your edits / sections by May 9th.
Also, going forward, we hope to coordinate the issue on the Wikipatrika
mailing list. So, I invite all those interested to join the Wikipatrika
mailing list here:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-in-newsletter
Regards
Noopur
--
Noopur Raval