I definitely have the ability to be a participant trainee, assist where necessary and pass on the news to interested parties....
On Sat, Feb 25, 2012 at 9:52 AM, David Richfield davidrichfield@gmail.comwrote:
I definitely have the ability to present the material. I'd have to find a day when I'm actually in the country, and schedule time to prepare. If it's feasible to do this over a weekend, that would be great, but I realize that it might be harder to find participants. Please, everyone, work the peer pressure! I'm eager to get involved, but I need a prod sometimes.
David
On Sat, Feb 25, 2012 at 12:04 AM, Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello, everyone.
I would like your input on an idea we at the Wikimedia Foundation have
been
exploring as one possible model of outreach activity in South Africa: a two-day "train the trainer" event in Pretoria for (mostly campus)
librarians
from South Africa, to enable them to go back to their respective institutions and communities and deliver two-hour and one-day talk and workshops on Wikipedia. The training event would be funded by a grant
from
the Wikimedia Foundation.
More details: the participants are to be carefully selected for good existing computer literacy and relevant skills (but a Wikipedia
background
won't be required), and the training event would include a balance of "theory" (free knowledge, free licenses, NPOV), background ("How does Wikipedia get written?"), user training (navigation, categories, Commons, talk pages, portals, WikiProjects, ...), and basic editor training (user accounts, basic markup, where to get help, how to interact on talk
pages).
Ideally, the trainee-trainers would be able to deliver a two-hour "introduction to Wikipedia" or "How to Make the Most of Wikipedia"
module,
and/or a one-day "Introduction to Editing on Wikipedia" workshop, in
their
respective communities, as opportunity and conditions permit.
This specifically seeks to address a "bootstrapping" difficulty, i.e. the short supply of Wikipedians available to deliver that sort of training.
No
attempt will be made to make these trainers pose as veteran Wikipedians;
the
focus is clearly to be along the lines of "Wikipedia is tremendously
useful,
and we can share some useful information about it that would let you use
it
more effectively and explore it further on your own".
We are looking into partnering with a Pretoria-based non-profit named
ITOCA
-- Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa -- which
specializes
in conducting training events for librarians, teachers, and IT personnel
in
sub-Saharan Africa. (Ms. Blessing Chataira of ITOCA is subscribed to
this
list.) ITOCA can handle the logistics of holding this event --
recruiting
and selecting participants, booking and providing accommodations and refreshments for the training event, preparing physical materials, collecting feedback and providing follow-up with participants in their respective communities after the event, etc. What ITOCA certainly
cannot do
is _prepare and deliver_ such training. That would certainly require a veteran Wikipedian!
I would therefore ask if any of you might be interested in working with
the
WMF on designing the curriculum for such an event, and/or in delivering
such
training, once a curriculum is available. The Wikimedia Foundation would gladly cover travel expenses (i.e. Wikipedians outside Gauteng can
certainly
help!) and provide a "per diem" budget for meals and incidentals.
I welcome feedback about the idea, whether or not you're able to help
out.
Cheers,
Asaf
Asaf Bartov Wikimedia Foundation
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