Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
> >From: Pete Forsyth >To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects > >Sent: Tue, February 22, 2011 10:47:23 PM >Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation > > >On Feb 22, 2011, at 7:38 PM, Birgitte SB wrote: > >People need to be sent to work on their passions with their personal >strengths, >not just told in a blanket fashion to write some articles. >> >>Birgitte SB >This all sounds like a pretty sound approach to me. I like it. > > >Another worthwhile thing, if somebody is really entertaining the idea of >taking >on this work, would be to contact the Wikipedia Ambassadors group, which has >formed in support of the Public Policy Initiative. This includes both >experienced Wikipedians, and college students and librarians were initially >new >to Wikipedia, but put some effort into getting to know it in order to support >students working on articles. The best place to contact them is probably >through >the talk page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Ambassadors > > >Oh, and one other thing -- from what little evidence I have, Birgitte, I'd say >you're a pretty good writer :) > > >-Pete >Only with conversational writing. I don't know why there is a difference but >there really is. It is a hard thing about Wikipedia that to really succeed at >creating articles, you have to master both kinds of writing. One kind for the >articles, and the other for the talk pages. > Birgitte SB Birgitte SB ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
On Feb 22, 2011, at 7:38 PM, Birgitte SB wrote: > People need to be sent to work on their passions with their personal > strengths, not just told in a blanket fashion to write some articles. > > Birgitte SB This all sounds like a pretty sound approach to me. I like it. Another worthwhile thing, if somebody is really entertaining the idea of taking on this work, would be to contact the Wikipedia Ambassadors group, which has formed in support of the Public Policy Initiative. This includes both experienced Wikipedians, and college students and librarians were initially new to Wikipedia, but put some effort into getting to know it in order to support students working on articles. The best place to contact them is probably through the talk page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Ambassadors Oh, and one other thing -- from what little evidence I have, Birgitte, I'd say you're a pretty good writer :) -Pete ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
> >From: Pete Forsyth >To: Increasing female participation in Wikimedia projects > >Sent: Tue, February 22, 2011 5:49:29 PM >Subject: Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation > >Whoops. I just re-read Carol's message -- I had misunderstood at first. If >this >is an effort to recruit *brand new* contributors (as opposed to retaining >those >who have dabbled), the research I cited above doesn't really apply :) > >But, I do think the findings of the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative would >be >informative;[1] Carol, I'm not sure if you've had contact with this program or >not. > >But in general, it ties in with what Sue brought up: people brand new to >Wikipedia often need a *lot* of support and advice before they start to get >their legs. So directing them to educational resources, and establishing a >"cafe" type space to ask questions and build a sense of community, would >certainly be helpful in keeping with what we've learned from our outreach >efforts. > >And personalizing the message a little bit, tailoring it to the specific >woman's >interests by suggesting articles she may want to edit, couldn't hurt either! >If you really want to ease new recruits into Wikipedia, you wouldn't send them >straight to Wikipedia. Create the cafe space on Meta and use it as welcoming >committee and a place to ask for general guidance without bringing in the >turf-battle baggage. Plus since there are not a large number of women who >understand the wikis, we would be better off consolidating ourselves there >instead splitting up by language where perhaps our voices might be drowned out >in a local forum. Also try and start them off outside of the Wikipedia's where they can get a handle on the interface and mark-up without having a creative investment in the content they are working on. I would recommend proof-reading on Wikisource [1] for the most timid, as you only very occasionally have a completely ambiguous decision to make and if you do the first proofread it is guaranteed that another person will check all you work during validation. You could watchlist the pages see the validation happen and check the diff to see if any of your work was corrected or not. It is really a good introduction to wikis for those who want confirmation they are doing things right at first. I am sure Commons and other wikis have many gnomish tasks that will get new recruits used to how to work on wikis. Also send people to do peer reviews at the Wikipedias. They can give feedback on articles that interest them and begin getting used to the to interaction with people who are invested in the articles they worked on while nearly being guaranteed a positive interaction. Then they will feel more comfortable changing things in Wikipedia articles and better able to understand what is going on when their edits are challenged. There is more to even Wikipedia the writing articles. I am personally a terrible writer and only make a great deal of work for people when significantly edit articles. I am rather good at peer reviews. I have an excellent understanding of text-based copyright issues. I am a decent mediator. People need to be sent to work on their passions with their personal strengths, not just told in a blanket fashion to write some articles. Birgitte SB [1] https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikisource/en/wiki/Wikisource:Proofread_of_the_Month Click on the work listed for the month (Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, volume 1) and then pick one of the numbers highlighted in yellow on the target page. ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
Done! :-) Including adding the idea of suggesting articles... http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap/outreach_letters On 2/22/2011 4:46 PM, Sue Gardner wrote: > Carol, I think this is a great idea :-) > > I think we (anyone here) should create a page on meta (linked to from > here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap) where we put your > draft text, and point to good basic resources to support people > getting started in editing. (There are some very good resources here: > http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bookshelf/Wikipedia and elsewhere > on the outreach wiki.) > > That would equip people to use your base text, plus any links that > seem useful to them, to do outreach to any group they like. I really > believe that individual outreach: people reaching out to their own > networks, is a good tactic for us. Because the people who are one > degree of separation from the people here are by definition good > candidates to become editors. > > Thanks, > Sue > > > > -- > 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 > ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:49 AM, Pete Forsyth wrote: > > But in general, it ties in with what Sue brought up: people brand new to > Wikipedia often need a *lot* of support and advice before they start to get > their legs. So directing them to educational resources, and establishing a > "cafe" type space to ask questions and build a sense of community, would > certainly be helpful in keeping with what we've learned from our outreach > efforts. > Related to this, I'm helping organize and conduct a series of "wiki academies" aimed at the Australian, possibly New Zealand, sport community. The details can be found at http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/UCNISS/Sport_Wiki_Academy . The content for the academy will really depend on who is there. How we approach university professors will be different than how we approach athletes. Wikimedia Australia and UCNISS are working on helping fund these academies. (Details are being sorted out and only the first academy date and location are set.) We're hoping to really address the women's sport community as the articles in that area can be a little underwhelming when compared to the men's side. There are also some major women's sporting events going on this year, which Australia and New Zealand are both participating in. They include the netball world championships and the women's soccer World Cup. This can help create additional interest, give fans and organizations a reason to participate. While the focus is on how sport organizations and athletes can use wikis in general, there will be a fair bit of discussion about how to use Wikipedia correctly to help work towards meeting institutional objectives, like increasing visibility as Wikipedia ranks so highly on Google searches. If there is interest, we'll see if we can't work it out between UCNISS and Wikimedia Australia to set up some form of Wikipedian in Residence program so that sport studies students can get academic credit, but that is a bit further down the road. We'd love some help with this if you're local. If you might want to try something similar or have any advice on running these academies, please let me know either on list or off. -- twitter: purplepopple blog: ozziesport.com ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
Whoops. I just re-read Carol's message -- I had misunderstood at first. If this is an effort to recruit *brand new* contributors (as opposed to retaining those who have dabbled), the research I cited above doesn't really apply :) But, I do think the findings of the Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative would be informative;[1] Carol, I'm not sure if you've had contact with this program or not. But in general, it ties in with what Sue brought up: people brand new to Wikipedia often need a *lot* of support and advice before they start to get their legs. So directing them to educational resources, and establishing a "cafe" type space to ask questions and build a sense of community, would certainly be helpful in keeping with what we've learned from our outreach efforts. And personalizing the message a little bit, tailoring it to the specific woman's interests by suggesting articles she may want to edit, couldn't hurt either! -Pete (formerly Public Outreach Officer at WMF) [1] http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Public_Policy_Initiative ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 9:32 PM, wrote: > One thing we can all do is send letters of encouragement to women to > join wikipedia. I don't know if there is a form letter already used > that we can merge ideas like the below into. This is includes and > expands on points I sent out to a couple of political women friends and > womens lists - about 150 women total - as a personal encouragement. > Underwhelming two responses so far: "good idea" and "I'm too busy." So I > know that the letter needs work! Maybe we could have a couple versions > linked from http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap > I like this idea; and I want to point to some possibly relevant research. The paper "Socialization tactics in Wikipedia and their effects" by Robert Kraut et. al.[1] [2] studies various efforts at welcoming newcomers. In that research, the finding is that the most effective techniques are those that reflect an engagement with the content that the user has added; in other words, if your "welcome" message is a genuine response to what they did (for example, "Thank you for adding information about so-and-so's history with such-and-such; are you aware of these other similar articles that need expansion?") More generic welcome messages were generally ineffective at getting people to stick around. It may be that a "call to action" message like you suggest is effective; I guess that's not something this group specifically studied. But for anybody taking this on, I'd suggest that you personalize each one a little, based on the contributor's recent edits, or the info they've put on their user page! -Pete [1] PDF file: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/connect/cscw_10/docs/p107.pdf [2] Abstract on web: http://acawiki.org/Socialization_tactics_in_Wikipedia_and_their_effects ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
Re: [Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
Carol, I think this is a great idea :-) I think we (anyone here) should create a page on meta (linked to from here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap) where we put your draft text, and point to good basic resources to support people getting started in editing. (There are some very good resources here: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bookshelf/Wikipedia and elsewhere on the outreach wiki.) That would equip people to use your base text, plus any links that seem useful to them, to do outreach to any group they like. I really believe that individual outreach: people reaching out to their own networks, is a good tactic for us. Because the people who are one degree of separation from the people here are by definition good candidates to become editors. Thanks, Sue -- 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 On 21 February 2011 21:32, wrote: > One thing we can all do is send letters of encouragement to women to > join wikipedia. I don't know if there is a form letter already used > that we can merge ideas like the below into. This is includes and > expands on points I sent out to a couple of political women friends and > womens lists - about 150 women total - as a personal encouragement. > Underwhelming two responses so far: "good idea" and "I'm too busy." So I > know that the letter needs work! Maybe we could have a couple versions > linked from http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap > > Revised draft version: > > Wikipedia has set as it's goal increasing the number of editors from > under 15% to 25% over the next few years. See the New York Times and > other articles and other relevant Women and Wikipedia links here. > http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap > > I've been editing a lot the last few years. It is fun for amateur policy > wonks and has taught me a lot about good referencing and how easily > ones own biases can twist the material one is dealing with. And it's a > great motivator to learn more about a topic you are interest in - you go > in and improve an article on a topic of interest with better information > from better sources. > > And it's fun to get challenged, whether you are proven wrong, proven > right, or work with others to come up together with a collaborative > solution. Talk page discussions and debates are a great way to learn > about Wikipedia editing policies. > > It can take a few months to get up to speed on all the policies to > enable you to edit effectively, i.e., making edits that will stick > while deleting unsourced and biased material. > > Also, since Wikipedia is still mostly a 20 something man's world, it may > be best to use a gender neutral name and not advertise on your user page > you are a female, at least until you get the hang of editing it. At > least avoid using use your whole real name to avoid possible harassment > on and off Wikipedia.* > > But if you have favorite topics that you'd like to see better covered, > have time on your hands (as some of us semi- and retired women do), and > want to have some great fun, do try Wikipedia. > > > > (*CM Note: this point is actually said explicitly in User name policy, > but few people get to it before they choose a user name) > > > > > > ___ > Gendergap mailing list > Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap > ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
[Gendergap] Emails to friends, lists to encourage participation
One thing we can all do is send letters of encouragement to women to join wikipedia. I don't know if there is a form letter already used that we can merge ideas like the below into. This is includes and expands on points I sent out to a couple of political women friends and womens lists - about 150 women total - as a personal encouragement. Underwhelming two responses so far: "good idea" and "I'm too busy." So I know that the letter needs work! Maybe we could have a couple versions linked from http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap Revised draft version: Wikipedia has set as it's goal increasing the number of editors from under 15% to 25% over the next few years. See the New York Times and other articles and other relevant Women and Wikipedia links here. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_Gap I've been editing a lot the last few years. It is fun for amateur policy wonks and has taught me a lot about good referencing and how easily ones own biases can twist the material one is dealing with. And it's a great motivator to learn more about a topic you are interest in - you go in and improve an article on a topic of interest with better information from better sources. And it's fun to get challenged, whether you are proven wrong, proven right, or work with others to come up together with a collaborative solution. Talk page discussions and debates are a great way to learn about Wikipedia editing policies. It can take a few months to get up to speed on all the policies to enable you to edit effectively, i.e., making edits that will stick while deleting unsourced and biased material. Also, since Wikipedia is still mostly a 20 something man's world, it may be best to use a gender neutral name and not advertise on your user page you are a female, at least until you get the hang of editing it. At least avoid using use your whole real name to avoid possible harassment on and off Wikipedia.* But if you have favorite topics that you'd like to see better covered, have time on your hands (as some of us semi- and retired women do), and want to have some great fun, do try Wikipedia. (*CM Note: this point is actually said explicitly in User name policy, but few people get to it before they choose a user name) ___ Gendergap mailing list Gendergap@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/gendergap
