Dear all,
This is one of the highlights of the WMF's Feb 2012 report, which is at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Report,_February_2012
Posting here as more food for thought since there's so much talk and excitement about reaching out to new editors.
Cheers Bishakha
=== Teahouse project kicks off ===
<Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WP_teahouse_logo.png Logo of the "Teahouse">
On February 27th we launched the Teahouse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Teahouse, a peer support space designed specifically for new editors on the English Wikipedia. This pilot project is testing various social approaches to new editor support, to see if these methods improve our ability to retain more new editors and more female editors in particular. The project organizes a group of Wikipedians called “hosts” to reach out to new good-faith editors and invite them to a place where they can meet other new editors and experienced Wikipedians, build community relationships, find projects to participate in, and ask questions about Wikipedia. The pilot is scheduled to run with 25 trained hosts for 3 months. During this time we'll be working with the community and new editors to refine the experience and measure the project's impact.