On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 10:30 AM, phoebe ayers <
phoebe.ayers@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi folks!
>
> It would be great to write up a quick article about the Maker Faire
> experience for the en-Wikipedia Signpost. I started a quick subpage
> for writing up an article -- if any of you want to contribute some of
> your observations etc. below that would be super.
>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Phoebe/Faire
>
> Jay, do you have stats on how many people visited the Faire / how many
> people we had volunteering / etc. ?
>
> cheers,
> Phoebe
>
>
>
> On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 1:02 PM, Jay Walsh <
jwalsh@wikimedia.org> wrote:
> > Thanks for the comments guys - please keep 'em coming. I've got a lot of
> > post-event stuff to do today, but I want to combine your wisdom and observations
> > into a report.
> >
> > It was absolutely critical to have volunteers, and that we had so many (for such
> > long shifts!) was what made this successful.
> >
> > I'll look forward to digesting all the comments and reflecting. I'm not sure all
> > the volunteers are on the SF list... so I'll send out an email soon to all folks
> > who came.
> >
> > Thanks - here's to more public presence for Wikimedia, the volunteers, and the
> > projects!
> >
> > Jay Walsh
> > Head of Communications
> > WikimediaFoundation.org
> > +1 (415) 839 6885 x 609
> >
> >
> >
> > Jon wrote:
> > > On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:08 PM, William Pietri <
william@scissor.com> wrote:
> > >> Brion Vibber wrote:
> > >> Turnout was much greater than we expected, and everybody seemed to
> > >> have a great time!
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Personally, I had a great time, and will definitely do booth duty again
> > >> next year.
> > >>
> > >> A few thoughts:
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> It was great to hear the stories people had to tell about Wikipedia. I think
> > >> it would be wonderful to record some of them for various purposes. The
> > >> people gushing about Wikipedia were a great reminder to me that what we do
> > >> really matters in the daily lives of millions. The people with particular
> > >> issues put a human face on problems that are often reduced to abstract
> > >> acronyms in our world (ones that came up on my shift: WP:BAND, WP:NOT,
> > >> WP:BLP, WP:NPOV, WP:COI). And the responses I got to asking, "What did you
> > >> use Wikipedia for?" would be fabulous to show to potential donors, so they
> > >> know how big an effect it has.
> > >> The number one answer I got when I asked what people used Wikipedia for was
> > >> a brief pause followed by an exclamation: "Everything!" The best one was a
> > >> couple who looked at one another, laughed sheepishly, and said: "To settle
> > >> arguments!"
> > >> Most people don't believe they can edit. Over and over, I told people that
> > >> all it took was two mouse clicks and a little typing. No making an account,
> > >> no logging in, just seconds to fix a spelling error or a confusing sentence.
> > >> They were always surprised. It would be great to have a one-page handout
> > >> that says "You Too Can Edit Wikipedia!" and gives a simple introduction. If
> > >> that's been done already, let me know; otherwise I'll put it on my to-do
> > >> list.
> > >> There are a ton of subject matter experts out there who would like to
> > >> contribute, but will never become Wikipedia editors. Some are bemused by
> > >> Wikipedia, some frustrated. We should find a way to capture their
> > >> contributions as primary sources, raw material for our army of editors to
> > >> work from.
> > >> The common misconceptions and puzzlements about Wikipedia are indeed common.
> > >> I'd love to put together a common list of frequently asked questions from
> > >> events like this. At the very least, volunteers could prepare themselves
> > >> with ready answers. But a series of handouts might eventually evolve from
> > >> that.
> > >> I gave my card to several people. Some were people who would be valuable
> > >> contributors. Others were people who had article issues (BLP, deleted
> > >> articles, concern about corporate COI and POV-pushing). I wanted all of them
> > >> to have somebody to get them over the hump next they got stuck in our
> > >> sometimes-overwhelming operation. I'm not so scalable, but perhaps we could
> > >> have cards for some OTRS-like queue to get good people more help than can be
> > >> provided by a booth volunteer.
> > >> Overall, I had a lot of fun. Thanks to Jay, Cary, and the others who made
> > >> this happen.
> > >>
> > >> William
> > >>
> > >> _______________________________________________
> > >> Wikimedia-SF mailing list
> > >>
Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org
> > >>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > > I agree. Lots of fun! I'll definitely help next time around. I also
> > > have a few comments from my experience:
> > >
> > > * Most people know what Wikipedia is and how to use it. I think there
> > > may have been a total of 1 person an hour that stopped in (and I
> > > talked to) that didn't know what it was.
> > > * Agreeing with William on the fact that alot of people don't
> > > understand editing. Either they were scared, thought they weren't
> > > knowledgeable enough or simply thought they shouldn't.
> > > * It was great to have the book - I made sure everyone who thought
> > > they couldn't edit for one reason or another took a copy since it had
> > > a little section on how to get started. Since there probably wont
> > > been little books to give away - 1 page flyer's or pamphlets would be
> > > good. Along with "how to" they should include useful starting info
> > > like "Be Bold" and where to go for help.
> > > * Also maybe flyer's/pamphlets for some of the other big projects,
> > > like Commons. I think a decent number of people were really
> > > interested in what Commons was.
> > > * It would have also be nice to have some small table top posters w/ a
> > > list of all the projects and what they are about. Additionally a run
> > > down of facts & figures would be nice (# of registered users, # of
> > > articles, etc)
> > > * Tip jar was good ^_^
> > > * Again - with what William said - the biggest complaint I heard from
> > > people who had edited at least once: was being scared off. Mainly
> > > from having their changes immediately reverted - and generally it was
> > > from over zealous editors who were "protecting" their article
> > > (rightfully or not). This isn't anything new - but none these people
> > > knew where to go to get help or be heard. Honestly I didn't know so
> > > my suggestion was the Talk page.
> > > * I think this exists somewhere: but a quick flash video of how to
> > > edit w/ very basic formatting. Something that could be played on
> > > demand for people to give them an idea of how truly easy it is to
> > > edit. Run on little laptops on the front tables.
> > >
> > > Side note on stickers:
> > > * Whom ever dropped off the [citation needed] stickers is AWESOME and
> > > were, by far, the most popular sticker.
> > > * I still think we should have little commons stickers (like the
> > > wikipedia ones) to affix to Camera's. Ok - that might just be me...
> > > * The project stickers were very popular. I snuck off with a few at a
> > > time (so as to not waste them) and they disappeared very quickly.
> > >
> > > -Jon "ShakataGaNai"
> > >
>
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