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Submissions/Zero-cost strategies for Wikimedia outreach

From Wikimania 2014 • London, United Kingdom

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2014.

Submission no. 7009
Title of the submission
Zero-cost strategies for Wikimedia outreach
Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)
presentation
Author of the submission
Netha Hussain
Jeph Paul Alapat
E-mail address
nethahussain@gmail.com
Username
User: Netha Hussain
Country of origin
India
Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)
Wikimedia India Chapter
Personal homepage or blog
Blossoming Soul
Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)
A recent study[1] by the Program Evaluation and Designs team states that, in edit-a-thons, budget size doesn't appear to have an effect on the amount of content produced. A similar study[2] by the same team concluded that the more money spent to implement a Wiki Loves Monuments event doesn't equal higher participant counts or more photo uploads. In this context, zero-cost outreach events are important because they are likely to give as good results as those organized on a budget. In our presentation, we will touch upon the various strategies we adopted for outreach for Wikimedia on zero dollar budgets. Zero-cost could be achieved because planning and execution were done by volunteers, rewards were in terms of recognition of contributions and incidental costs were covered by the volunteers themselves, the host institutions or the sponsors. The objectives of these outreach programs were: to increase the number of contributors to Wikipedia, to increase the quality of articles on Wikipedia, to increase the diversity among editors of Wikipedia, to retain existing editors on Wikipedia, to increase awareness about open knowledge and to create a positive perception about Wikipedia. We will touch upon the following aspects:
  • Workshops and edit-a-thons for targeted audience, mostly minority groups to increase the participation and improve diversity of contributors
  • Featured Wikimedian of the Month[3] to recognize the work of outstanding contributors
  • Public talks and demonstrations at FLOSS fairs, tech-fests and meetings to create a positive perception about Wikimedia
  • Blog posts featuring inspiring stories from existing contributors and successes of various Wikimedia events
  • Self-help articles for getting started with editing Wikipedia
  • GLAM partnership with educational institutes

Our presentation will focus on each activity in detail and outline the execution process analyzing how it was made possible on a zero dollar budget. We will also discuss the scope for replication of these projects and their impact on the community.

References:

  1. ↑ Meta wiki; Programs:Evaluation portal/Library/Edit-a-thons; 27 Nov 2013 ; https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library/Edit-a-thons
  2. ↑ Meta wiki; Programs:Evaluation portal/Library/WLM; 24 Jan 2014; https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Programs:Evaluation_portal/Library/WLM
  3. ↑ Wikimedia India Chapter wiki; Featured Wikimedian of the Month; 1 Jan 2013; http://wiki.wikimedia.in/Featured_Wikimedian/Archive/2013
Track
WikiCulture & Community
Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long)
30 minutes
Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?
Yes, depending upon scholarship.
Slides or further information (optional)
Special requests
Prefer a session on Day 1 of the conference


Interested attendees

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  1. B25es (talk) 10:39, 2 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  2. (Interested to attend, yet not promising to be actually able to do it.) Spiritia (talk) 18:00, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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  4. Blue Rasberry (talk) 15:36, 28 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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  6. --Ziko (talk) 19:04, 31 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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  8. the wub "?!" 00:09, 14 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
  9. --Psubhashish (talk) 11:16, 14 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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  15. CSchloeder (WMF) (talk) 17:48, 19 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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  18. --Kavya Manohar (talk) 16:40, 5 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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  20. --アンタナナ 08:44, 9 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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