I agree that any community service type editing would have to be planned and done carefully as the type of work being done is everything. Obviously adding content about businesses and television shows would have no community impact, but documenting cultural topics, marginalized peoples, and the like very well could. Not to mention academic topics to the same communities as Wikipedia Zero serves. No sense students having free access if they information they need does not exist. Servicio social for Mexican universities also has an academic component, relating the service to their majors. María José has written a blog post, which is in the draft queue, about her experience which I hope gets published eventually. Leigh
> Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2015 21:03:50 -0400 > From: aleksey.bilo...@gmail.com > To: wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > CC: wikimedia-casca...@lists.wikimedia.org; wikimediau...@lists.wikimedia.org > Subject: Re: [Wikimedia-l] Editing Wikipedia for school community service > hours > > If editing Wikipedia counted as community service my school ought to start > handing me plaques. > > Alas, it does not, for a host of legitimate reasons as I see it, ranging > from academic uncertainty about the usefulness of doing so when it comes to > community impact, to the sheer difficulty of actually measuring. More > meaningful (and, in the spirit of things, selfless) to volunteer at a local > Wikipedia editing event then to sit back in an armchair and do the whole > first-world-netizen-at-a-computer thing. > > On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 8:57 PM, Pine W <wiki.p...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > Many schools in the United States encourage or require students to perform > > community service hours, such as by cleaning up parks, caring for the > > disabled, or tutoring younger students. Sometimes more specialized > > requirements apply, such as university schools of education or health which > > may require experience that is applicable to a student's desired > > coursework. Contributing to Wikimedia is one form of accepted community > > service in a multi-campus Mexican university, and the practice seems to be > > gaining momentum (see > > https://blog.wikimedia.org/2015/04/13/wiki-learning-edit-a-thon-mexico/). > > > > These community service programs are different from in-class assignments > > that require Wikipedia editing. Wikipedia can benefit from both kinds of > > activities. > > > > I am wondering, have other Wikimedia affiliates had success with > > encouraging students to complete community service requirements by > > contributing to Wikimedia? I am thinking that here in Cascadia, we might > > encourage schools to allow this option, and other affiliates also might > > want to explore this possibility. > > > > Thanks, > > Pine > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
