+1 Deba :) On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 3:16 AM, Debanjan Bandyopadhyay <debast...@gmail.com > wrote:
> Hello all, > > I am sending this mail, as I am soon going to be leaving for Kolkata and > as such a particular incident reminded me how we can do a free of cost > basic outreach, to spread the word about Wikipedia. The incident occurred > when I was traveling from Mumbai to Kolkata, just after the conference, and > not having time to change, I boarded the Duronto with my conference t-shirt > on. > > The passengers in the compartment I was in, though initially kept to > themselves, started speaking to each other as often happens on long (28hr) > train journeys. Very soon the focus shifted to my t-shirt and the resultant > was that I ended up explaining the world of Wikipedia to them for hours. > > I should mention, it was a very varied crowd and maybe that is why it > happened. There was a lawyer, a psychiatrist, a scientist, an engineer, and > a couple others whose occupations were unknown to me. > > I won't say it was very fruitful, or that I showed them any live demo or > ppt. Rather I focused on a few crucial question which were on their minds: > > - What is Wikipedia? > - Who runs Wikipedia? > - Is Wikimedia a sub-project of Wikipedia? > - Who edits Wikipedia? > - How many employees are there and how many volunteers? > - Is it really free? If so, how does it earn money? > - Reliability of Wikipedia - If anyone can edit, is it reliable? > - Who monitors info? > - Copyvio and reliable sources > - What do I get out of it, if not money? > - Role of a Campus Ambassador > - How to edit? > - Why edit? > - Edit what? > - Presence of Indic language wikis > - How to edit Indic language wikis > - Sister projects like Commons, Wikibooks > - Entry of Foundation in India and creation of India Chapter > > However, as it was my first journey, I did not note down their emails to > follow them up. The number was also limited, only 6. But hey, it was free > and killed a lot of time, while at least telling people that Wikipedia can > be edited and it has indic languages as well as sister projects. Hence, a > sincere request to all Wikimedians. If you are traveling in a long distance > train journey, try wearing a Wiki t-shirt if you have one. If you don't but > the audience seems interested go over, say hello and ask where they work. > When they ask you back, say, "WIKIPEDIA" and see the reaction. That should > get you started. > > You can always try it. If it fails, then the only thing is you have to > wash your Wiki tee at most. But at least you spread the awareness. I am not > saying that this will retain people and inspire them to start editing, but > at least they might go back and try and look at Wikipedia in a different > way, or seek out new info. > > Am again going to wear a Wiki tee on my journey, will tell you if i have a > similar experience. > > -- > Regards, > Debanjan* > > - Lets make this world a better and more informative place* > >
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