Hello everyone,
I had a couple of really interesting conversations last week that have led to some good ideas. I wonder if you might like to take a look and share any thoughts.
Firstly, I'm in touch with a fairly senior manager of a local authority library service. We've talked about how Wikipedia is widely used in public libraries and I wondered how we might engage with those people. I've put together a draft proposal at https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Draft_proposal:_Thurrock_Libraries and would love to get your views.
Secondly, I enjoyed a cup of coffee with Dhaval Vyas last week, an editor of both English and Gujarati Wikipedias. We explored how the chapter might successfully reach out to the community of Gujarati editors and potential editors in the UK. The proposal we ended up with is Wiki Takes Leicester. This will be a traditional Wiki Takes event with a twist. Take a look at https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Draft_proposal:_Wiki_Takes_Leicester and get involved.
Both of these projects, if they go ahead, would serve as very useful pilots for different reasons. Firstly, public libraries present the chapter with a great opportunity for large-scale outreach. Secondly, the UK has an extraordinary rich linguistic diversity. We can, and should, be reaching out to people who may be interested in learning to edit in non-English/Welsh languages. The success or otherwise of these initiatives could go a long way to helping shape future activities in these important areas.
Your constructive feedback is very much appreciated.
Thanks and regards,
Stevie
On Tue, 2013-10-29 at 12:08 +0000, Stevie Benton wrote:
Hello everyone,
I had a couple of really interesting conversations last week that have led to some good ideas. I wonder if you might like to take a look and share any thoughts.
Firstly, I'm in touch with a fairly senior manager of a local authority library service. We've talked about how Wikipedia is widely used in public libraries and I wondered how we might engage with those people. I've put together a draft proposal at https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Draft_proposal:_Thurrock_Libraries and would love to get your views.
I've been dropping off Wikipedia brochures and cheat-sheets in quite a few of Edinburgh's public libraries. There is an interest from staff, but a lack of time.
A bit more work on the city's politicians, and they'd probably okay staff attending training/workshops during their regular hours. The only library staff likely to attend otherwise are the small 'army' of volunteers that help keep Edinburgh's libraries running (a million times better than stacking supermarket shelves through Workfare).
As I suspect is the case in many of the UK's libraries nowadays, quite a few of the staff in Edinburgh are multilingual. I'd hope that UK-targeted literature, in languages other than English, might be one thing to come out of Wiki Takes Leicester.
Brian McNeil.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for the useful feedback.
The libraries proposal is one that I think will be a useful barometer of just how everyday folk use Wikipedia. Should the pilot go well we'll have a body of evidence that we can present to other local authorities / regional authorities when making the case for engagement. If it is useful, I can work on a similar proposal for Edinburgh with you, or you can take the notes that I've made and build on them for use there. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help out.
The non-English languages angle is going to become more prominent over the next few months I hope. Again, Leicester could be a really useful experiment for us to find ways to do this kind of outreach. I'm keen for people that are interested in getting involved in the project there to let me know and to chip in to the planning. I know that Harry Mitchell (hi Harry!) has good experience with Wiki Takes events. I'd love to know what he thinks about it.
Thanks and regards,
Stevie
On 30 October 2013 07:16, Brian McNeil brian.mcneil@wikinewsie.org wrote:
On Tue, 2013-10-29 at 12:08 +0000, Stevie Benton wrote:
Hello everyone,
I had a couple of really interesting conversations last week that have
led
to some good ideas. I wonder if you might like to take a look and share
any
thoughts.
Firstly, I'm in touch with a fairly senior manager of a local authority library service. We've talked about how Wikipedia is widely used in
public
libraries and I wondered how we might engage with those people. I've put together a draft proposal at https://wiki.wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Draft_proposal:_Thurrock_Librariesand would love to get your views.
I've been dropping off Wikipedia brochures and cheat-sheets in quite a few of Edinburgh's public libraries. There is an interest from staff, but a lack of time.
A bit more work on the city's politicians, and they'd probably okay staff attending training/workshops during their regular hours. The only library staff likely to attend otherwise are the small 'army' of volunteers that help keep Edinburgh's libraries running (a million times better than stacking supermarket shelves through Workfare).
As I suspect is the case in many of the UK's libraries nowadays, quite a few of the staff in Edinburgh are multilingual. I'd hope that UK-targeted literature, in languages other than English, might be one thing to come out of Wiki Takes Leicester.
Brian McNeil.
Wikinewsie.org | https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Brian_McNeil "Facts don't cease to be facts, but news ceases to be news." GPG Key Fingerprint: 7C3D FFD5 5ED5 B80F 1D18 A52B E84C 8928 6ABC A7AD
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