Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] Asking for endorsement for “Wikipedia Treks Kalindi Khal”

On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 6:00 PM, Ashwin Baindur &lt;ashwin.baindur(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: I went through the proposal in small chunks primarily to think through this. I am not an editor and so the views may or, may not be relevant. In no particular order, here are a few comments. [+] The proposal states "The main purpose of Wikipedia Treks Kalindi Khal is to increase the material related to Himalayan Range with a free license in Wikimedia Commons and improve the quality and increase the amount of articles about diversifying Garhwal Himalayan mountain range and other respective variety in different languages in Wikipedia. Also to raise awareness among various community chapters, motivate them to contribute to the Wikimedia projects and organize this kind of trekking expedition in future." This is in fact 3 specific objectives - (a) collect material on the region covered by this trek; (b) generate awareness within the chapters; (c) establish the feasibility of a similar activity by accruing more value than consumed [+] The proposal states "Currently this project is focused on Global south region which will Improve editor diversity by recruiting new editors from this particular target group." But doesn't specifically mention the target group or, the methodology of recruiting new editors [+] "Trekking or hiking is extremely well liked adventure sports through the globe and it will be enormously easier to find like-minded open source and free knowledge organizations and initiatives with whom we can collaborator with" A few examples of such organizations would have been a good thing to have at this point. Primarily to estimate the willingness of the said organizations to contribute to knowledge under a free (or, liberal) license. Anecdotal experience indicates that organizations have their own rationale and quirks when engaging in collaborative ventures and prior handshakes are required to ensure specific outcomes [+] "This Wikipedia Treks Kalindi Khal will be the first major public activity of its kind and will be pivotal in the increased uptake of Wikimedia projects by the populace of the extreme lands in India." The simplest question for this line of reasoning is "How?". "Extreme lands" would indicate a set of constraints that are unique and perhaps primary among those being the awareness of the utility value of Wikipedia itself. The proposal does not go on to elaborate how it is planned to be addressed [+] "This team of WTM comprises total nine members; among them three wikipedians and a female wikipedian volunteer is involved. We expect another three non wikipedian experienced trek member to be converted into volunteers. After the completion of trek, there will be three edit-a-thons, for new editors, where they will be educated with proper guidance, follow-up and mentorship." It would be nice to have a draft idea of what can be documented. This can be in the form of stub pages which can be filled out later during the edit-a-thons or, an assessment of the gaps in the existing content around the region to be covered by the trek thus creating a handy guide to what needs to be added. This pre-expedition exercise could also serve as a metric of success of such ventures [+] "Wikimedia Commons has an insignificant representation of mountains and peaks along with the species, flora and fauna in the complete Himalayan range. The available images are of moderate to acceptable quality. Wikipedia Treks Kalindi Khal aims to improve the coverage of the Himalayan range by encouraging people (including professional photographers) to take and donate quality images under free licenses to the Wikimedia Commons database." The proposal does not mention whether the current team does comprise of individuals who are proficient in skills of photography and would contribute (not 'donate') images of higher resolution and greater variety to Commons [+] "Increasing Wikimedia's participation in the remotest places (Mana Village, the last village of India) is one of the salient points of Wikipedia Treks Kalindi Khal. Garhwal Himalaya is crucial to this objective, as a key hub for the whole range of Himalaya. Since the Internet penetrations in these areas are low, the end results will be less satisfactory. Henceforth, the initial impact will increase awareness." And again, "How?" The proposal misses an unique opportunity to provide creative solutions while attempting to increase awareness of Wikipedia (and related projects) in areas that are mostly off-the-internet. Also, if the awareness campaign is successful, what are the planned next steps which can be looked into? [+] "Encourage Innovation" This specific topic could do with a revisit. The current shape of the content does not indicate any innovating practices or, approaches. /s -- sankarshan mukhopadhyay <https://twitter.com/#!/sankarshan>