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Re: [Wikimedia-SF] Tentative June...

Recent Changes Camp -- this...

Brion Vibber

5 May 2008 5 May '08

3:47 p.m.

I just want to toss out a quick thank you to everybody who came out to help man the Wikimedia booth at Maker Faire over the weekend. Turnout was much greater than we expected, and everybody seemed to have a great time! (But really, who wouldn't enjoy themselves someplace with that many robots?) Pix on Commons for those who missed the fun: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Maker_Faire -- brion vibber (brion @ wikimedia.org)

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Ben Kovitz

5 May 5 May

6:32 p.m.

I had a great time! Got three people to actually edit a page for the first time. One lady standing a few feet back from the tables kvetched to her husband that Wikipedia's coverage of CEREC (a new dental technology) was poor. So I immediately yanked her over to an iMac and got her to fix the page! After she tentatively added a few facts, she got on a roll and started making the page into CEREC advocacy. That provided a great chance to explain NPOV. Then she and her husband took out the sales-pitch prose and took pride in getting the facts just right. Hooray, another convert! Ben On May 5, 2008, at 8:47 AM, Brion Vibber wrote:

...

William Pietri

7:08 p.m.

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

Jon

7:36 p.m.

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:08 PM, William Pietri <william(a)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(a)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"

Jay Walsh

8:02 p.m.

...

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 12:08 PM, William Pietri <william(a)scissor.com> wrote:

George Herbert

8:40 p.m.

I had a lot of fun on Sunday, I think it worked out well. It was great to see more of the local crowd and staff in person again. To echo William's comment, the OTRS business card would be a good idea, for the people who walk up with a legitimate problem. I didn't have a lot of people stop by and talk who didn't know how to edit, but I did have several who knew technically how to edit who felt that getting involved enough in the culture online to contribute and have changes stick was a big deal. Too much barrier to entry, practically. I have heard this comment online before as well. Something to think about moving forwards. Don't forget about Recent Changes next weekend, if you're local and interested! -- -george william herbert george.herbert(a)gmail.com

phoebe ayers

6 May 6 May

5:30 p.m.

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(a)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(a)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(a)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" >

Jon

7 May 7 May

3:51 a.m.

Just as an FYI - the Maker Faire homepage ( http://makerfaire.com ) said that there were 65,000 people in attendance. -Jon "ShakataGaNai" On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 10:30 AM, phoebe ayers <phoebe.ayers(a)gmail.com> wrote:

...

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf

Kevin Wong

8 May 8 May

3:49 a.m.

Dang, wish I could have went and volunteered there. Maybe at the next SF event... On Tue, May 6, 2008 at 8:51 PM, Jon <wiki(a)konsoletek.com> wrote:

...

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(a)scissor.com> wrote:

> >> Brion Vibber wrote: > >> Turnout was much greater than we expected, and everybody seemed

> >> 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(a)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

> > 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

> > 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" >

_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf

-- Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reflect. - Mark Twain

Leon Bacud

14 May 14 May

1:59 a.m.

New subject: KGO I-team article about Govt. workers editing Wikipedia

Kevin Wong

2:16 a.m.

New subject: KGO I-team article about Govt. workers editing Wikipedia

Fascinating story it is. On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Leon Bacud <lbmixpro707(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

...

The iTeam on ABC7 recently did a report on government users using Wikipedia during work hours,. and released a blog entry about it at http://iteamblog.abc7news.com/2008/05/govt-workers-go.html . Your thoughts? _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf

-- Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reflect. - Mark Twain

Kul Takanao Wadhwa

6:30 a.m.

New subject: KGO I-team article about Govt. workers editing Wikipedia

I was just watching it on the 11pm news...it was quite a long news story...and it was pretty interesting (and I wasn't even looking out for it, just happened to see it) but they did focus on govt workers editing Wikipedia as wasting time on the internet when I am sure they waste much more time shopping online, watching sports, YouTube, etc. At least Jay was in good form... Kevin Wong wrote:

...

Fascinating story it is. On Tue, May 13, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Leon Bacud <lbmixpro707(a)yahoo.com <mailto:lbmixpro707@yahoo.com>> wrote: The iTeam on ABC7 recently did a report on government users using Wikipedia during work hours,. and released a blog entry about it at http://iteamblog.abc7news.com/2008/05/govt-workers-go.html . Your thoughts? _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF(a)lists.wikimedia.org <mailto:Wikimedia-SF@lists.wikimedia.org> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf -- Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to stop and reflect. - Mark Twain ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-SF mailing list Wikimedia-SF(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-sf

Jay Walsh

5:05 p.m.

New subject: KGO I-team article about Govt. workers editing Wikipedia

They came in to do a sit-down 'layman's' view on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects. Which is somewhat unusual - but not surprising for mainstream TV. It's unfortunate in that I don't think most of the public share in the utter panic of public servants using the internet, cuz they probably use the internet at work too. But it's always good to at least see some accurate WP info in the main stream media. Jay Walsh Head of Communications WikimediaFoundation.org +1 (415) 839 6885 x 609 Kevin Wong wrote:

...

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participants (10)

Ben Kovitz
Brion Vibber
George Herbert
Jay Walsh
Jon
Kevin Wong
Kul Takanao Wadhwa
Leon Bacud
phoebe ayers
William Pietri