@Srikanth, avoid the bullies and reach to people who believe in free and open culture. :-)
DuringBangalore meetups and inviting people for Odia wiki meetups I have amazing experiences, the best of them is: "After trying to reach over 20 people for a celebration of 1800 articles, 6 people showed up, out of which one is me, rest 3 are my school friends and rest 2 are good friends who came because they didn't want me feel bad, even people show up in meetups it's critical to evaluate how many of are curious about Wikipedia and how many attend just the sake of attending!
But, +1 with Barry, in an outreach perspective you spread a message about something really good, based on the approach 50-60 % people take interest, 30-40 % accept it, 20-25 % really understand it and 10-15 % people become active. Applies to most such approaches. So, keeping the negativity apart ideal approach would be reach to more people, educate. Accepting and not-accepting is their decision.
Best Subha
On 17 December 2011 08:50, Srikanth Ramakrishnan parakara.ghoda@gmail.comwrote:
Thanks for your suggestions Barry. I have, in the past come across several first time editors online, whose edit, while not a perfect one, shows a lot of potential. Thankfully, we've got Twinkle and the whole WikiLove set of tools to welcome these guys, but still there are some Bullies around.
On 12/16/11, Barry Newstead bnewstead@wikimedia.org wrote:
This is a great question Srikanth and links to some of the thinking that Shiju just shared about the challenges for Indic language projects. [1].
My
feeling is that editing Wikipedia isn't for everyone, but there are a lot of people who it is or could be for. Our challenge is to really connect with those who will find joy in the experience and not worry about those who think sharing knowledge freely is a strange form of insanity. ;)
I have limited experience, but in my travels in India, I think the
greatest
challenge is in basic awareness of how Wikipedia works. I'd say that
over
90% of non-Wikipedians in India that I've met have no idea that they can edit Wikipedia or that Wikipedia is not written by paid staff (many also have no idea we have Indic language projects, not to mention 20!). These are generally not stupid people and our challenge is to inform them. If
we
inform millions, we'll find thousands (that's all we really can expect
from
global experience) to try editing in all of our projects. So the
question
I've been pondering is how do we explain the basics of who we are to millions rather than to 25-50 people who might show up for a workshop.
From there our challenge is to welcome those who feel like trying it out, orient them to the norms of the environment, help them when they make mistakes and encourage them to stick with it, even if they aren't
perfect.
As the editor trends data shows, our greatest opportunity and challenge lies in helping those who show up and want to edit...succeed! [2] There
is
some neat work going on to look at ways we can improve our interaction
with
newcomers, particularly by making their interaction feel more human-to-human rather than human-to-template.[3]
My 2 paise.
Best, Barry
[1]
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Indic_L...
[2] Only 10% of new editors stick around for a year these days
http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enwp_retention_vs_active_editors.png
and about 85% don't even last 3 months http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enwp-jan-cohorts--10-1-.png [3] An example of work that Steven and Mariana are working on building
from
WMF's Summer of Research:
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/11/21/you-have-new-messages-improving-communi...
On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Srikanth Ramakrishnan < parakara.ghoda@gmail.com> wrote:
Oh, and by the way. Try Googling for Tamil Wedding in images. The first result should be a result of the Tamil Media Contest. Perhaps, this could be more ... Err ... Encouragement?
On 12/16/11, Srikanth Ramakrishnan parakara.ghoda@gmail.com wrote:
Swaroop, yes I know. I personally do enjoy editing the article on my native town and adding photos about it. Wish others would follow me. Arun, that's pretty much a Commons Venture. I've tried that a lot. Most of my pictures are first page results on Google. Try Googling Nice Road or Chittode Junction. But it hasn't helped me that well.
-- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
-- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
-- Barry Newstead Chief Global Development Officer Wikimedia Foundation
Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality!
-- Regards, Srikanth Ramakrishnan. Wikipedia Coimbatore Meetup on December 10th. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meetup/Coimbatore
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