Thank you very much for this email. Most of these thoughts are useful not only for India, but for other countries, too.
2012/2/13 Nitika <ntan...@wikimedia.org>: > Dear All, > > The following is a post I've put up on the India Program page on meta > regarding outreach (Please > see:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:India_Program/Outreach_Programs). > Please do comment on the page itself; I'm posting it on this mailing list > only to make sure it doesn't slip your attention. > > We have conducted over 13 outreach sessions in the past one month and have > many more events scheduled to participate in over the coming weeks. (Please > see: > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Outreach_Sessions). > It's amazing that we're doing so many outreach events all over the country > to create awareness about Wikipedia, motivate attendees to learn about > editing and training newbies to contribute to Wikipedia in their own special > way. > > The single biggest challenge is that we don't know the actual outcome of > these efforts in most cases, and the results are weak when we have the data. > I think most of us agree that outreach can be made to work better. (For > example, 2 outreach sessions conducted recently by the Assamese community > had about 80 participants, and 8 active editors emerged - which is a hit > rate of 10% - which is FANTASTIC!) For most other sessions, the results have > been closer to 1-2% or even lower - which is depressing. What makes outreach > work? How can outreach work better? Is there anything you need from me? > > Over the past 3 months, I have been working on building a handbook for > Outreach (Please see: > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Program/Outreach_Programs/Handbook) > where you can get presentation material and tips. Please do go through it > and help me build it. > > My post consists of 5 (deliberately) provocative statements on the day of > and the days after an outreach session. These are framed with the objective > of generating debate and suggestions. > > THE DAY OF > > Hypthesis 1: Don't Shoot the Puppy: Outreach is not being done effectively > and we aren't adequately introspecting on what we can do better; instead > choosing to lose faith in attendees > > Should we discontinue general introduction sessions completely and just > convert everything into Wiki workshops? Every second of volunteer time is > precious and we need to make sure that every second is made to count. The > good sessions appear to be those where people are actually shown how to edit > - rather than just doing a song-and-dance about Wikipedia. > The best sessions are those where people have actual hands-on editing > opportunity. Shall we limit the intro session on Wikipedia to just 15 > minutes and then spend 45 minute on basic editing, 30 minutes on hand-on > editing and leave 30 minutes for Q&A? > Not everyone is a natural presenter and might need help on basic outreach > skills. Is there value and interest in a capacity building roadshow where we > help existing editors who want to improve their outreach and presentation > skills? Is it useful to pair up a good presenter with a not-so-confident > presenter when we are doing outreach? > > THE DAY AFTER > > Hypothesis #2: Staying in Touch: We assume the job is complete after the > outreach session when in fact the journey has only just begun > > Can we gather (basic) information about attendees (e.g., names, usernames & > email IDs?) so that we can stay in touch with them after sessions? > Can we get feedback on sessions (duration, level of detail, quality of > presenters, etc.?) so that we can all improve? Do we need some sort of CRM > solution for this or will something like Google Docs suffice? > How do we get more folks to actually provide their contact details and > feedback? Which of the following will get higher response rates: asking for > these just before the end, immediately after the end or the day after a > session? > > Hypothesis #3: Nudge-Nudge: Newbies struggle with the most basic things - > including which article to select > > Should we send links to useful wiki pages and tutorial videos where they can > read up more about how Wikipedia works and how to edit Wikipedia? Can we > leave handouts on basic editing after all sessions? Can we send them links > to the actual presentations made at the session. > Can we suggest / elicit potential articles that individual newbies will work > on after the workshop? Can we give them individual pointers on what they can > do with each article by reviewing them there-and-then during the session? > Can we schedule a follow-up session (even if virtually using google+ > hangout) to clarify any doubts about Wikipedia editing or otherwise - maybe > 2 weeks after a session? > > Hypothesis #4: Loneliness - Newbies feel alone and the only time they sense > the community is when their edits get reverted > > Should we not encourage them to join project pages (such as the WP:INDIA) > and/or the India mailing list and/or their city/language mailing list to get > involved with the community? > Can we involve them in COTM or conduct specific editathons for them? > Can we celebrate their successes and get newbies to talk to other newbies > about how they learnt stuff? > > Hyptothesis #5: Black Hole: No one has a clue about the actual results of > outreach > > Can we regularly monitor number & % of active editors after 1 and 3 months > of conducting all events? Can we figure out % of mainspace edits from these > newbies after 1 and 3 months? Can this be analysed to provide > recommendations on how we can do things better? > Can we actively reach out to those who look like they are struggling? Do we > need a CRM tool for something like this? > Is it useful to track and attempt to co-relate age / profession / subject > (if student) / sex of participants to figure out what is likely to give > greatest results? > > I have been working to see how can we overcome these challenges and make our > outreach efforts far more effective. I'd love to hear from on the above. > Some of you have been actively involved in outreach sessions (attending or > conducting or planning) an I'd like to know your thoughts and suggestions > which might serve as solutions for this set of very real challenges. > > Thanks > > Nitika > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimediaindia-l mailing list > Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l > _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing list Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from the list / change mailing preferences visit https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l
