Hi,
All this talk about hugely successful events in places like India and
Italy has got me wondering, since I haven't seen many successful events
in the U.S. mentioned-- only in a few very large metro cities (San
Francisco, MIT, and NYC). It seems to me that the other wikis must have
had some advantage here; not sure what it was.
I, for one, got so used to clicking the X button in the pledge drive
banner hundreds of times per day that I stopped reading the banner. The
same happened when the post-pledge-drive banner was up. Following that,
there was a new banner, but it took me a few days to realize this was a
new banner. This new banner was my first clue any events were even going
on, and it was too late by that point to really organize anything.
There were no more than 40 states which attempted to hold events. These
amassed to around 50 events, but most of them (from what I could tell)
were merely callouts to see if anyone was interested in doing something,
usually with no more than five respondents if even that many. The only
ones that appeared successful at all were very large metro cities.
Taking these facts into consideration, most American Wikipedians would
have needed to travel several hours to get to an event that was most
likely no more than a small group get-together, and much further to get
to an actual large celebration.
A quick check on the National Public Radio (NPR) website returns zero
stories about Wikipedia festivities, other than brief mentions that
Wikipedia was turning 10-- no parties or conferences were mentioned at
all. This radio station is devoted to providing full up-to-date coverage
of news on national and global issues, and I find it surprising
reporters didn't even mention the kite-flying parties in India.
Considering Wikipedia is one of the most heavily-used sites in America,
I'd say that we've got some problems here with publicity, event
organization, and possibly even spirit.
Anyone have suggestions on how to improve future events in America,
particularly in small metros? (Obviously having events planned more than
two weeks before the event would be one improvement!)
Thanks!
Rob "Bob the Wikipedian" Schnautz
