On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 3:12 AM, LiAnna Davis
<ldavis@wikimedia.org> wrote:
Thanks for sharing these results so far, Noopur!
That being said, I'm really glad to see this experimented with in
places other than the United States. I think the early results Noopur
shared from India and what we've seen with a similar Facebook group
for the Cairo Pilot of the Wikipedia Education Program (in that case
entirely volunteer-led) demonstrates that the results I saw are not
applicable globally. I'm glad to see us experimenting with different
ways of engaging local communities to edit Wikipedia, and I look
forward to hearing more about these efforts as they mature in the
future.
Having spent quite a bit time on the field doing user research on mobile technology use in India, I can vouch for its amazing reach here. I have been to desolate villages in
kutch where you will find people living in mud houses, intermittent power supply, smartphones with a 3g connection and sharing poetry with friends in their community on facebook. And these are people who have not even passed high school.
These are amazing things happening in this country and now is a golden opportunity to capitalize on that to benefit the wikimedia movement. These are worthwhile experiments and I look forward to seeing a lot more in terms of innovative ideas to engage people and bring them together for a worthwhile cause.
LiAnna
--
LiAnna Davis
Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager
Wikimedia Foundation
http://education.wikimedia.org
(415) 839-6885 x6649
ldavis@wikimedia.org