[Foundation-l] Public Outreach: Report and Newsletter (05/08)

Fri May 30 14:43:00 UTC 2008

Public Outreach: Report and Newsletter (05/08)

Status: 30 May 2008
Prepared by: Frank Schulenburg

Content:

1. ENCOURAGING UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS
   * Survey Generation 50plus
   * Workshops for senior citizen internet tutors
   * Lecture at the course "Manager for virtual learning projects
     in seniors' education in Europe"
   * Online course "Wikipedia in internet cafés for older people"
   * Workshops in Africa supported by Namibian ambassador
   * UCT and UWC declared interest to stage Wikipedia workshops at
     Capetown, South Africa

2. WIKIPEDIA ACADEMY SERIES
   * Third German Wikipedia Academy in Berlin

3. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
   * Outlook: Production of Wikipedia video tutorials

4. PARTNERSHIPS
   * Partnership with ZAWiW (Centre for General Scientific Education)

5. GRANTS AND FUNDING
   * Wikimedia Deutschland: New budget for international outreach
     activities

6. UPCOMING
   * Lecture at the University of Hildesheim (06/2008)
   * Workshop at the 13th Annual Conference of the Society for
     Media in Science, Danube University of Krems (09/2008)

Contact

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1. UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS

SURVEY GENERATION 50PLUS

A survey conducted among older German Wikipedians in March 2008 treats
the question of how to encourage
senior citizens of the 50-plus age group to contribute. The
participants answered to the following questions:

* How much time do you spend on reading Wikipedia articles / editing
Wikipedia / contributing to discussions per day?
* What ist your motivation to contribute to Wikipedia?
* What are the specific problems older people have to deal with when
contributing to Wikipedia?
* What keeps older people from contributing to Wikipedia?
* How do you rate the findability and comprehensibility of Wikipedia's
help pages?
* Which measures fit best to help older people to start contributing
to Wikipedia?
* Have you ever motivated other older people to contribute to Wikipedia?
* Would you be willing to give Wikipedia introductions to other older
people (e.g. workshops, lectures)
* How do you rate the Wikimedia Foundation's efforts to encourage
contributions from older people?

The survey is part of the Wikimedia Foundation's strategy to encourage
contributions from targeted
underrepresented groups.

Summary of the results:

It is not so much technical barriers what keeps older people from
contributing, but a lack of self-confidence, lack of personal contact
persons and an atmoshere of conflict and stress. Even if some
usability problems exist (e.g. templates, infoboxes and tables are too
difficult to handle), these problems are not age-specific.

What distinguishes senior citizens from younger people is the size of
their "biographical backpack". Many of them are used to hierarchical
structures they experienced during their working life. As Wikipedia's
internal structures and work flows are subject to frequent changes,
outreach material for senior citizens should list a number of good
arguments why openness is important for a lively web project like
Wikipedia.

Outreach material should also give reasonable answers to the question
"Why should I sacrifice my time by contributing to Wikipedia?"
Generativity as well as the possibility to learn by teaching others
are important motivational factors for senior citizens.

Many participants of the survey are willing to help. This is a big
opportunity: older Wikipedians are much more convincing for people of
their age and may give them more self-confidence ("If he/she succeeded
to contribute at his/her age - why shouldn't I be able to do the
same?").

Senior citizens are an auspicious target group - not only because of
their bigger time budget but also due to their knowledge and
experiences. Outreach activities should refer to existing structures
("Wiki-adoption"), concentrate on measures that are most likely to
satisfy the needs of older people (printed material) and try to
achieve sustainability by encouraging volunteerism.

WORKSHOPS FOR SENIOR CITIZEN INTERNET TUTORS

On March 17 and 18 I held a lecture and two Wikipedia workshops for
senior citizen internet tutors in Bad Urach, Germany. Senior citizen
internet tutors are older people with an above-average understanding
of computer issues who teach internet skills to people of their age.
Around 60 participants from various organisations active in the field
of adult education attended the workshops.

LECTURE AT THE COURSE "MANAGER FOR VIRTUAL LEARNING PROJECTS IN
SENIORS' EDUCATION IN EUROPE"

On April 24 I held a lecture at the course "Manager for virtual
learning projects in seniors' education in Europe", an introductory
course of the european Grundtvig lifelong learning programme. The
Grundtvig programme seeks to respond to the challenges raised by the
necessity to update knowledge and to provide adults with pathways to
improve their know-how and competences, as they progress through life
so that they can adapt to changes in the labour market and society.

The workshop was intended for those who wish to apply the new
information and communication media in seniors' education. The
participants belonged to an important target group as they act as
multipliers for information about new media in their respective
countries.

ONLINE COURSE "WIKIPEDIA IN INTERNET CAFÉS FOR OLDER PEOPLE"

An online course entitled "Wikipedia in internet cafés for older
people" has been developed by de:User:Lyzzy, Christian Carls of the
"Forum Seniorenarbeit NRW" and me [1]. The course is intended for
volunteers in internet cafés for older people who are willing to stage
Wikipedia workshops on their own.

The course will start on 9 June 2008 and will be funded in parts by
the German Wikimedia Chapter. During the first weeks we will teach the
participants the basics of how to edit Wikipedia articles. In a second
phase we will develop a concept for Wikipedia courses for senior
citizens. After six weeks the participants should be able to act as
Wikipedia evangelists and motivate other people of their age to
contribute to Wikipedia.

A map [2] drawn by commons:User:Lencer illustrates the internet use of
people between 55 and 74 years of age in Europe. If the course
succeeds, its concept can be transferred to other European countries
with an above-average internet usage rate among people of the 50-plus
age group.

WORKSHOPS IN AFRICA SUPPORTED BY NAMIBIAN AMBASSADOR

On 14 March I met the Namibian ambassador at Berlin. We talked about
the Foundation's plans to stage more Wikipedia startup workshops in
Africa and he showed great interest in the opportunity to document
African history and culture in the African-language Wikipedias. The
ambassador will write letters of recommendation to both the Namibian
government and the University of Namibia in Windhoek to support our
goals and activities. Furthermore he invited me to attend the next
regular meeting of the African ambassadors at Berlin to present our
plans to a bigger number of representatives of African countries.

UCT AND UWC DECLARED INTEREST TO STAGE WIKIPEDIA WORKSHOPS AT CAPETOWN

The University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Western
Cape (UWC) declared their interest to stage Wikipedia workshops in
2008. I'm in contact with a representative of the Multilingual
Education Programme (MEP) at UCT and with the Dean of the Faculty of
Education at UWC and will develop a programme for the events within
the next month.

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2. WIKIPEDIA ACADEMY SERIES

THIRD GERMAN WIKIPEDIA ACADEMY IN BERLIN

Next month the third German Wikipedia Academy [3] will take place at
Berlin. The event is organised by Wikimedia Deutschland in partnership
with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (the
formerly Prussian Academy of Sciences, founded in 1700 by the German
polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz).

Under the motto "Mathematics. Knowledge. Wikipedia" the event will be
official part of the German "Year of Mathematics", an annual event
organized by the German Ministry for Education and Research that
started in 2000 and focussing on a different discipline each year.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research will support the
event with funds.

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3. NEW EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL

OUTLOOK: PRODUCTION OF WIKIPEDIA VIDEO TUTORIALS

Video tutorials make learning much easier than printed material or
online help pages. We will try to use this effect by producing two
initial videos demonstrating the basics of Wikipedia editing.

On 28 April I met some professionals of a film production company
which has a track record of developing short films and online videos
(amongst their customers is Greenpeace). They submitted a quote for
the production of two videos, 3-4 minutes each. As the board of
Wikimedia Deutschland agreed to take over the costs, we will begin
with the pre-production within the next weeks.

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4. PARTNERSHIPS

PARTNERSHIP WITH ZAWIW

The Wikimedia Foundation and the ZAWiW will collaborate in the
development of learning material suitable to encourage contributions
to Wikipedia from senior citizens.

The Zentrum für Allgemeine Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung (ZAWiW,
Centre for General Scientific Education) [4] is a centre of learning
specialised in the development of innovative education programs for
seniors. Located in Ulm, Germany, the ZAWiW was founded by the
University of Ulm in 1994. It was a reaction on the increasing request
for general multidisciplinary education for adults of any age,
especially in the "third age".

Among the objectives ZAWiW has been
* qualifying seniors for new tasks and activities in society, economy
and science
* encouraging self-directed learning supported by new information and
communication technologies
* showing the usefulness and improving the use of new communication
technologies for seniors and organisations of senior education

At the European level ZAWiW coordinates education programs like
"eLearning in Later Life" (eLiLL), SeniorLearning and ICT4T.

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5. GRANTS AND FUNDING

WIKIMEDIA DEUTSCHLAND: NEW BUDGET FOR INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

On 15 March a board meeting of Wikimedia Deutschland took place at
Berlin. The German board decided to increase its budget for
international outreach activities in 2008 as part of its commitment
for the global promotion of free knowledge. Amongst other things the
money will allow the Wikimedia Foundation to support its chapters with
printed versions of the brochure "Das kleine Wikipedia-Einmaleins"
("Wikipedia basics", an introduction for beginners) [5]. A Swedish
version of the brochure is in preparation.

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6. UPCOMING

LECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HILDESHEIM (06/2008)

A Wikipedia lecture for senior citizens will take place on 10 June
2008 at the University of Hildesheim, Germany. Around 80 participants
of the 50-plus age group will attend.

WORKSHOP AT THE 13TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR MEDIA IN
SCIENCE (09/2008)

Under the motto "Open Trends in Higher Education: Imperatives and
Challenges" the 13th Annual Conference of the Society for Media in
Science will take place at the Danube University Krems, Austria from
September, 16-18 2008. The conference is directed towards researchers,
lecturers, and persons in decision making positions who are involved
in technologically supported learning and are interested in recent
developments in theory and practice.

Dr. Klaus Wannemacher, consultant at the Higher Education Information
System (the Higher Education Information System (HIS) supports German
institutions of higher education and their administrations as well as
higher education policy-makers in their efforts to fulfil their tasks
effectively) and me will participate at the pre-conference with a
workshop entitled "Wikipedia in University Teaching - sharing
knowledge being (too) easy?". Topics will be the increasing plagiarism
practiced by students copying and pasting Wikipedia articles into
their own works and the opportunities to integrate Wikipedia in
academic teaching (ie. encouraging students to write Wikipedia
articles as part of University courses). The outcome of the workshop
shall be published as a brochure for University staff members.

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CONTACT

Frank Schulenburg
Public Outreach Coordinator
Wikimedia Foundation Inc.

Phone: +49 551 2726447
Cell: +49 172 5635243
Skype: fschulenburg
E-mail: fschulenburg[at]wikimedia.org

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Weblinks and notes:

[1] http://www.forum-seniorenarbeit.de/index.phtml?sNavID=373.120&mNavID=373.117&&ffsm=1&ffmod=tx&object=tx%7C373.2201.1&La=1&FID=373.2201.1
[2] http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Use_of_Internet_in_European_Union_2007_-_age_between_55_and_74_years_.png
[3] Programme (in German): http://www.wikipedia-academy.de/2008/programm.php
[4] http://www.uni-ulm.de/uni/fak/zawiw/startseite/en
[5] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Einmaleins.pdf (5.4 MB)

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