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