On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 13:06, steve virgin steve@mediafocusuk.com wrote:
In terms of this discussion about breaking down diversity barriers, we’ve had some limited success with the two events we have ran in Bristol recently:
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Wiki_Academy_1 (March 19)
http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiConference_UK_2011 (April 16)
A large number of women students etc attended the Academy (about half of the 20 present) and they came mainly from this group in the URL below:
http://bristolgirlgeekdinners.com/ (you’ll notice they kindly publicised our AGM on the front page of their website)
We also saw one or two from the same group at the AGM – I believe they are now members of Wikimedia UK (so welcome if you are reading this)
I think we have a ‘regional opportunity’ to reach out and diversify our membership base here. I urge other Wikipedians to look for similar groups across the country and to go and talk to them about our work and invite them to collaborate on events together, as we undoubtedly hold a lot in common in terms of mutual interest.
There are Girl Geek Dinner groups across Britain: London, Brighton, Nottingham, Manchester, Leeds, Hull, Reading, Bristol, Oxford, Winchester, South Yorkshire, Plymouth, Dorset and Birmingham.
I've added that list to the Institutional outreach page: http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Institutional_outreach
I've also posted on Twitter saying that WMUK may be interested in doing events/outreach with the London GGD community.
Any ideas where we can run Wikimedia Academy events in London? I was talking to someone on IRC who suggested collaborating with coworking spaces. Alternatively, it would be very useful if, especially in London, there were a few standard places we could use to run outreach-focussed Wikimedia Academy/editathon type events. Any ideas?