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 Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge. Help us make it a reality! http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
