[Wikimediaindia-l] Advice & Help Sought: Potential Additions to the Community

[Hisham Mundol]

HI Vickram

Many thanks for your comments.  My responses below

Hisham Mundol
Wikimedia Foundation India Programs
skype: hisham.wikimedia
gtalk: hmundol at wikimedia.org
twitter: @mundol

On May 1, 2011, at 3:11 PM, Vickram Crishna wrote:

> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 5:32 PM, Hisham Mundol <hmundol at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Hi All (cross-posting to make sure I reach as much of India as possible),
> 
> As you're aware, we had invited applications for Campus Ambassadors for the upcoming Pune Pilot of the India Campus Program.
> 
> The response has been fantastic: we've received ~500 applications/enquiries from across India, ~70 of which were from Pune.  This has been really heartening - indicating the desire of many to support the Wikimedia movement. It's also been overwhelming because we need to process all the applications, respond to applicants, etc.! 
> 
> I think, most critically, it also presents an amazing opportunity for us to introduce new people to Wikimedia projects (especially Wikipedia) - and invite them to join the community.    I've interviewed quite a few and there is a recurring theme I hear from many of them.  It goes something like, "I've been using Wikipedia for years and years, and I love it.  I want to contribute back to it - but I wasn't sure how.  Then I saw the banner and decided this was a great way to help."  The overwhelming common trait I have noticed in the applicants is that they are bright, well-intentioned and eager to contribute.
> 
> 
> I personally would like to see the nomenclature change: from 'campus ambassadors' etc to 'Knowledge Facilitators', befitting by far two goals. One is the democratisation of knowledge, core to this initiative, and the other is the recognition of anyone of any age as a contributor (implicit in Hisham's characterisation of 'no-one left behind'). 

I think both could work.  Personally, I think "campus ambassador" is a slightly less formal term than "Knowledge Facilitator"  but that's just my opinion.  ...As we've already announced the term Campus Ambassador for the campus program, I'd suggest we remain with it.  THere are multiple other roles that people can play (student clubs, etc.) and I'm sure we will have appropriate titles for these.
>  
> 
> 	i) they could form student clubs in their respective educational establishments
> 	ii) they could form Wikipedia clubs in their workplaces/social groups (as a number of applicants are working professionals, and no longer on campus)
> 	iii) they could become individual editors
> 
> Each community, be it one based on educational establishments or any other, could organise informal camps, which we could call wikiups, implying a quickly put together 'camp', where a tiny group, 3 or 4 persons, could collaborate on original contributions or editing. If such meetings could be held on a weekly basis, then perhaps they could alternate between writing and editing, to give each skill a good workout. I am emphasising the importance of working in groups as a way forward from a concern expressed some months back in our meeting in Mumbai, that many youngsters need a helping hand to overcome the fear of failure - that translates into a reluctance to take part - that is unfortunately instilled in much of our school system.     
> 
Agree with you and that's what I tried to bring out  for those towns where wiki academies aren't planned.  However, you've articulated it far better than me.

> Frequent regular meetings would also help build an impetus to attend some of the additional work-focused suggestions, attending an 'Academy' session or running 'incubation' programs. It would also lessen the disadvantage of not being able to make it to some infrequently held local Wiki-meetups. It also lends itself to the ease of adding a visiting 'trainer' who can create lively sessions of tips and tricks. 
> 
> 
Could not agree more with you.  Needless to say, this is dependent on available community time but it's certainly a powerful idea.

Apologies for the delay; I thought I had replied earlier but just noticed this in my drafts folder.

> -- 
> Vickram
> Fool On The Hill
> _______________________________________________
> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list
> Wikimediaindia-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110504/92a7d55a/attachment-0001.htm