Hi,
We are beginning a unique creative project in India, and we would like your
help.
As you may know, recent research has shown that Wikipedia awareness is low
across India. How low? Just 25% of 9,200+ Indians said they had heard of
Wikipedia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_Reach/India_survey#Awareness_of_Wikipedia>
in a phone survey last year. Now, the Wikimedia Foundation is piloting ways
to change this trend.
Our goal is to measurably raise awareness for Wikipedia in India, so more
people know what it is, and more people use it. This will help further
power growth in Wikipedia’s relevance, adoption, and familiarity- all of
which help our movement grow.
So what is the Foundation doing? We are piloting the development of
entertaining web videos that explain and promote Wikipedia. These short
clips will work as videos on social media or as ads on promotional blogs,
sites, and possibly TV.
Why make videos? A consultation with Indian Wikimedians in December &
January highlighted “social media posts” and “TV advertisements” as the top
suggestions for promoting Wikipedia
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers/Messaging_for_India#How_to_promote_Wikipedia>
in India, after in-school activities. Because the Foundation is already
working on education partnerships, we have decided to explore the combined
impact of a social media + TV approach, and that requires videos.
How can you help? Today, we are looking for volunteers to inform and review
these promotional web videos. What does that mean specifically:
-
Reading script ideas and providing topics that seem entertaining and
informative
-
Making sure creative choices (from characters to Wikipedia articles
shown) are on-brand for Wikipedia in India
-
Suggesting ways for making the web videos more applicable to community
needs and use
Volunteers would be on a small “promotion team” of 4-6 total people. They
will work closely with Foundation staff like me and Zack McCune who is
leading this project.
What’s the commitment? About 1-2 hours a week for six weeks.
How will we communicate? Mostly via email, with 1-2 video calls (Skype or
Google Hangouts).
What language will these promotional videos be in? Hindi! And that means
volunteers do not need to speak English to participate in this pilot
project.
While we will have to choose only a few folks for this first pilot, we hope
to expand the size of review teams as this becomes a more practiced
process. We are looking for community members who have experience working
in the media, are proficient in Hindi, and share a passion for registering
diverse voices speaking for the movement. We would prefer that interested
volunteers nominate themselves at the Hindi Wikipedia village pump
<https://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AA%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE:%E0%A4%9A%E0%A5%8C%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2#Community_review_team_for_Wikipedia_awareness_campaign_in_India>
and be endorsed by fellow community members to represent them.
Thanks,
Zack and Ravi
--
Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Asia
Wikimedia Foundation.
Mobile: +91-9986993336
Skype: ravidreams(a)gmail.com