Also inspired by the workshop was the idea of strongly encouraging newbie editors to go through the whole tutorial before the workshop and having at least two veteran editors/trainers helping newer editors with issues on their laptops.We had 11 new editors show, only two with accounts or some editing experience. While they appreciated the overview of Wikipedia policies and procedures, they also were hot to try to edit. Most wanted to and did create accounts and were very interested in creating a sandbox and/or personal cheat sheet page.
So I can see the need to integrate simple exercises earlier in the program. Going through one tutorial page at a time probably a good idea. Getting them to try do it at home before the workshop even a better idea! So I'll study those more and how to integrate them. I made a few changes to outline for now to make it more generic and will do more soon.
They are a group of people involved in a network of groups that work on civil liberties articles, especially about high profile individuals they feel were entrapped into crime. Katie and I stressed how important it is to put the interest of the encyclopedia first and to work on different types of articles, and that's one way to ensure you are a better editor on the articles of interest to you and to keep from getting frustrated with those. I gave them tips on how to work together on Wikiprojects like Wikipedia:WikiProject Human rights. I will continue helping them to do that. Hope to do another one in later February for a more general interest type of potential editor, hopefully computer-savvy retired individuals (especially professionals) looking for something to do in their spare time. Will start looking for recruits in various ways soon. (end report)