[Wikimediaindia-l] Wikipedia presence at the 77th All-India Kannada Sahitya Sammelan.

[Arun Ramarathnam]

Ralph,

This is indeed a great opportunity to create greater awareness about the
Kannada wikipedia. We need a lot more contributors to Kannada wikipedia.
Exhibitions are hectic but p;pose the best outreach opportunity.

I though of sharing some learnings from the recent exhibit stall we had at
the World Sanskrit Book fair for you and the other volunteers to consider:


   - These exhibitions tend to draw lot of crowds and can be very
   exhausting.
   - There needs to be 4 volunteers at a given time in the stall.
   - Volunteers need to be in shifts of 2 hours to be effective and retain
   energy reserves.
   - Most of the questions in event like these are general awareness, what
   they can do as readers, how they need to do if they need to contribute (whom
   to contact). Discussions will not be very technical. (except in the cases of
   very few visitors)
   - Having pamphlets is a a great help with the links to wikimedia.in,
   kannada wikipedia and other projects, India meetup page. We struggled
   writing the links through the 2 days as we did not have any pamphlets.
   - We now have the banners from the W10 event in Bangalore. These will be
   of great use.
   - Take the wikireader, it generates a lot of interest. It is now with
   HPN.
   - Suggest 3-4 laptops with a data card each.  This is better than using a
   single projector. We did not use a projector. One to one discussions are
   most effective.
   - Take a a few notebooks to write down contacts of people who want help
   to become contributors.
   - You will also run into people who would want to give away content they
   have created to wikipedia. This is as always  a great opportunity.
   - From our past experience, the volunteers knowing wikipedia (even using
   is good). Key messages to communicate can be shared with the team. The
   general public is not very well informed on specifics of wikipedia except
   being aware. Many may not know about it in Indian languages.
   - The volunteers need the ability to communicate and relate to the varied
   audience and backgrounds. This is the most important skill than even being
   insightful.
   - Have at least one senior wikipedian in the stall to answer the
   difficult or detailed questions.
   - Overlap some volunteers across days to carry the learning and
   experience of earlier days across subsequent days.
   - Expect people to ask questions about Kanaja and other similar projects.
   They may also have stalls.

Best wishes for the event.

regards
Arun

Bangalore, India
www.twitter.com/arunram


On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 9:52 AM, Ralph <work.well.done.in at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article1096315.ece
>
> In order to move forward, may I suggest the following:
>
> Job description of volunteer: other prerequisites - please list
> 1. Speak Kannada                 Yes (mandatory)/No (not required)
> 2. Programming knowledge     Yes (mandatory)/No (not required)
> 3.
> 4.
>
> 1. List of names/email of volunteers who will be present at the Kannada
> Wikipedia booth on
> a. 4 Fri
> b. 5 Sat
> c. 6 Sun
>
> 2. Location map of venue/hall/room - exact details to prevent frantic
> searching for the right place.
>
> 3. Bus from Shivajinagar/Majestic/...
>
> 4. Coordinator name & mobile 9.........
>
> 5. Please bring (your own) snack/lunch, booth will be working without a
> break! Cannot afford to lose a single visitor.
>
> 6. Script: What should/should not be said. It may be impossible to meet
> before the event for the orientation but a virtual classroom will address
> that need.
>
> http://www.wiziq.com/online-class/453323-let-s-learn-to-use-wiziq-virtual-classroom
>
> Await your comments. Thanks. Ralph
>
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