[Foundation-l] Looking for stories of readers affected by Wikipedia

[Sue Gardner]

Hi folks,

Megan Hernandez on the staff is looking out for me, for stories of
readers whose lives have been impacted by Wikipedia or the other
projects. (Donors often send us stories like that, and I am often
looking for stories to tell people about the projects. So I've asked
her to send good ones to me.)

I was writing her a set of criteria for the kinds of stories I want,
and it occurred to me that you might yourselves have some good stories
of exactly this kind. So I am sending along the criteria here too :-)
If you have stories that fit many/all of these criteria, please send
them to me, onlist or off. And please forgive my cross-posting to
several lists at once.

Thanks,
Sue

* Ideally, they'd be along the theme of "how Wikipedia made my life
better." This might be an anecdote, or bigger-picture (ie, 'how
Wikipedia makes my life better every day').

* Ideally, they would be stories of people who
pre-exposure-to-Wikipedia would have had circumscribed access to
information. Because they grew up in a small town with no library,
because their school didn't stock certain kinds of books, because
materials in their language are of limited availability, because their
government limits access to certain types of information -- in
general, because their economic/political/socio-cultural circumstances
somehow impede(d) easy access to information.

* Ideally, the information that Wikipedia gives them is important, and
directly, immediately useful. Like, it helped them better understand a
health issue they were having, or it equipped them to do some
important task better; it helped them understand a new situation or
some aspect of themselves, or enabled them to solve an important
problem. Maybe it helped them get a job they otherwise couldn't have
gotten, or enabled them to avoid some specific danger or risk.

* And/or, the information fed a general curiosity and desire to
understand the world better. It got them interested in going to
college which nobody in their family had done before, it helped them
develop a more thoughtful position on a public policy issue, it
stimulated them to travel or read more widely, or to question
assumptions they had been making.

* Ideally, their lives are better today because of the information
they are exposed to via Wikipedia. Maybe this would be better in some
really specific way -- like, "Three months later I persuaded my doctor
to let me try the new treatment, and it worked." Or, it might be much
more general.

* It is fine if the information they found on Wikipedia might
otherwise have been kept from them, either deliberately or through
lack of easy opportunity. It is fine if the information is considered
risky or controversial in some way.

--
Sue Gardner
Executive Director
Wikimedia Foundation

415 839 6885 office
415 816 9967 cell

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