Why is the team chosen to target specifically the US? I am not sure I am comfortable with this choice.

Cheers Yaroslav

Hi Yaroslav,

James and Keegan's responses to your question are good (thanks!), and here's a bit more context.

Yes, we do have a funder that wants to help improve the quality of Wikipedia articles in a particular subject area--US public policy. However, we saw this as an opportunity to experiment with a focused pilot project that will help us develop technical resources, community roles and processes, and an overall model that could be used by the Wikimedia chapters and other organizations to enhance using Wikipedia as a teaching tool. Whether in the US or globally, the model would serve as a possible method to systematically improve articles by encouraging and enabling students and academics to contribute to Wikipedia.

Since we have never done anything like this, we will use this experimental project to test, document, and develop an infrastructure of base materials and tools (e.g., Bookshelf training materials, Campus and Online Ambassador training, tools for a mentoring system, tools for article assessment tools). The pilot project will also help to establish a set of best practices that will be available for use by community chapters for other topic areas, languages, and countries.

Our ongoing work is open for community input on the Outreach Wiki. At the moment, the best opportunity to collaborate is in the area of using Wikipedia in higher education. That's where we are collecting information on what has worked well in the past and distilling it into a set of best practices for use by professors we reach out to. We will also be looking to the volunteer community for collaboration and leadership in various capacities as we get ramped up; please watch the announcements list for future updates.

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Public Policy Initiative press release: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/May_2010_Wikimedia_Founda...

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Public Policy Initiative home on Outreach Wiki (includes links to more detailed project plan, and project FAQ): http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_Policy_Initiative

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Using Wikipedia in higher education page: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Using_Wikipedia_in_higher_education

On a related note, thanks for all of the warm welcomes, everyone! I know Annie, Sage, Amy, and I are all very excited to be here and be part of this initiative.

LiAnna Davis Communications Associate - Public Policy Wikimedia Foundation