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.