Happy Monday mailing list subscribers!
As a follow up to my earlier email and Arend's email on Thursday, I wanted to give everyone a bit more information about the Cambridge event.
The event will be taking place on November 17th at the Main Branch of the Cambridge Public Library. The street address is:
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA
02138
Hours have not been entirely finalized. We've been working off of the assumption that they would be 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. If that is the case, I personally will be arriving at 10:30 AM to help set up. I will also be leaving (irregardless of the finalized hours) at 3:00 PM, as I have a plane to catch later on in the afternoon.
There are three components to the Cambridge event as it stands right now: a Wikipedia Loves Libraries outreach seminar, a tutorial for new users, and an edit-a-thon with the theme of "Cambridge". It's an ambitious program, but with five hours, an large number of Cambridge/Boston based Wikipedians, and eager partners, I think it will work.
- The Wikipedia Loves Libraries outreach seminar is... well... an outreach seminar. Alyssa Pacy, the Cambridge Public Library's archivist, has connections within the area's network of librarians, and mentioned that she would be inviting them. There are also two library schools nearby that we know of, one at Simmons and the other somewhere in Rhode Island. What all of that means is that we're going to have, hopefully, a large audience of librarians, archivists, and future librarians at the event. I've never done an outreach seminar, but I'm going to lean heavily on http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/FAQ_For_Librarians, steal ideas from the Boston WLL event on 11/10, and hope for the best.
- The tutorial for new users is... well... a tutorial for new users. I'm thinking of doing a slideshow or a speech of some sort and then bringing all the new users into the computer lab, where I and a couple of other users will be camping out to help new users get set up and acclimatized. This will segue cleanly into the edit-a-thon.
- The edit-a-thon is... well... an edit-a-thon (who didn't see that coming?). Both Alyssa and I will be working on preparing a list of Cambridge themed stubs that users can work on if they don't have anything else they want to do.
But wait, there's more! Remember up top where I described Alyssa as the Cambridge Public Library's archivist? That wasn't a typo. I meant archivist, as in archives, as in we get to go into the archives and use very old, in some cases one-of-a-kind documents as sources. Yes; awesome. We might be able to hold a scan-a-thon there at a later date (they're getting one of the cool top-down super scanners 'soon'), but until then we're dealing with a once-in-a-blue-moon access opportunity here.
And now for the begging:
Please show up. Please, if you can, commit to showing up sooner rather than later (and remember to tell me if you've signed up and can't make it). In order for this event to be a success, we're going to need a number of Wikipedians to be around. We're going to need at least three or four people that are willing to spend time with the new users during the tutorial. It would be nice to get a dozen Wikipedians in the room, both to reciprocate the enthusiasm that Alyssa and Arend have shown us, and to demonstrate to the librarians and the new users that this city has a thriving Wikipedian community. Yes, I'm fully aware that we have two WLL events on back to back Saturdays, and I would never suggest that people skip the one in Boston. I, for one, am going to both, and it would be great to see a couple of other people do that too. What I am saying though, is that this event can and should be the start of a very fruitful relationship between the Cambridge Public Library and the Society of Wikipedians in New England. So please show up.
Further information will be sent out as it becomes available.
Sven