As discussed
in the last email, we understand that most people don’t fully realize
we’re a
mission-driven, non-profit movement run by real, everyday people who
care about providing a free public service to the world. Often,
Wikipedia is thought to be a static product or service, not a living,
breathing community of people who care. While some of us in the Wikimedia community are dedicated to
communications work, all of us can use this 10-year anniversary as an
opportunity to educate the world about who we are, the work that we do
and the mission that drives us. The first—and most
important—thing we can do RIGHT NOW is tell our own stories in our own
words and encourage others who care about our work to do the
same. Over the past 10 years, what has Wikipedia come to mean to the
world? What was it like before there was a Wikipedia in your language?
How will it impact the next ten years? We're encouraging all volunteers
and anyone who cares about our projects to publicly tell their personal
Wikipedia stories via letters to the editor, op-eds and personal or
chapter blog posts. If volunteers don't have a blog
or aren't comfortable sharing thoughts publicly, we've created a page to
post on wiki as well: http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Stories
Additionally, we need help curating all of the interesting information about Wikipedia including: