I consider a 5% editor retention rate from editathons as a consistent huge success. Deryck
On 13 October 2015 at 15:12, leu...@fabiant.eu <leu...@fabiant.eu> wrote: > Hi all, > > I think there is what we do and what we imagine we do. Although the > propaganda is that editathons are there to develop new editors, in fact > they are very poor at this with somewhere around a 5% success level. This > is something Wikimedia UK has known for several years, yet we have > continued to run these even though they fail at their stated aim. > > However, I do believe that a few hours involved with volunteer trainers > does help people understand better what goes on when people edit, what kind > of people are Wikimedians and what Wikimedians see as key issues. This I > feel this *does* encourage the sort of critical thinking Tom is talking > about. And yes, a handful of people do actually end up as editors. > > It is quite clear that if we want to train up editors then what is needed > is regular (probably weekly) training events at which people can build > their skills, carry out "homework" between sessions and perhaps be given an > assessment if they are up for it. > > We have evolved as a community of enthusiasts (OK, nerds) who are used to > acquiring skills on the fly, and through interacting with other we have > been able to convince ourselves that this is easy for everyone. As a > consequence we have undervalued the skillsets we have developed and > undersold them. WP editing is a form of coding with a strong socially > interactive element. > > I tend to agree with Jonathan, having been involved with delivering > training to entry level computing/web literacy both with youngsters and > silver surfers. There are various ways that wikimedians can get involved > with "introducing people to the internet" through volunteering with local > community organisations including the local library. I do not see the > advantages of a national organisation like Wikimedia UK getting involved in > this. We havesuccessfully attracted a readership without this sort of > intervention. > > I feel that teaching people how to use Wikipedia is a bit like teaching > people how to use a hammer at a handyperson training session: people want > to learn how to fix things and can more easily develop skills using > particular tools in that context, than learning about individual tools as > descrete items. > > I would dearly love to see the sort of critical thinking Tom discusses > being delivered at pre-university school level. Having seen how Wikipedia > is used in universities to teach internet research skills, I feel we only > really started to explore this potentially very interesting area before we > went through the restructuring, and I am interested to see how this might > be further developed inn the context of the new structure. > > No doubt the minutes from the Board Meeting of 12 September > <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Agenda_2015-09-12> will be published soon, > and we shall learn about the "Election of officers and appointments to > board committees" > <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Agenda_2015-09-12#Board_matters_.2811.15.29>, > and also whether the staff recommendation for "a single > <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports_2015-09-12#Volunteers_strategy_day_follow_up> > 'partnership' > advisory board" > <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports_2015-09-12#Volunteers_strategy_day_follow_up> > has > been accepted and consequently the GLAM and Education committees scrapped. > <https://wikimedia.org.uk/wiki/Reports_2015-09-12#Volunteers_strategy_day_follow_up> > > Personally as a long term volunteer on the Education Committee this would > strike me as a somewhat odd way of making the organisation more responsive > to volunteer in put, and would remove the opportunity to have the sort of > detailed discussion in a more suitable environment than on this list. > > all the best > > Fabian > aka Leutha > > > > On 13 October 2015 at 14:01 Thomas Morton <morton.tho...@googlemail.com> > wrote: > > Getting people to understand how to interact with Wikipedia *properly* as > a reader has always struck me as the most important thing. Because people > sometimes don't apply the sort of critical thinking needed. An > encyclopaedia is nothing if it's content is not *useful*. > > For this reason (and I feel it is often overlooked in favour of > encouraging interest groups to engage and edit, a worthy goal) I've always > thought that we should spend a lot more time engaging with readers. Because > that's an easier step. And from a large pool of great, critical thinking, > readers will come the casual and committed editors needed to grow the > corpus. > > Tom > > On Tue, 13 Oct 2015 at 13:55 Nick Poole < nick.po...@cilip.org.uk> wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I am following this thread with interest. A lot of libraries are doing > interesting things around *Get Online *week, and I think it’s worth > thinking less in terms of people editing Wikipedia and more in terms of > using it. > > > > Obviously, edits is a metric, but I note in Martha Lane Fox’s dot.everyone > initiative that they talk as much about giving people reasons to go online > as they do giving them the skills to create web content. > > > > I think that it would be worth thinking about partnering up with the > library network on ‘Introduction to Wikipedia’ sessions telling people > about the scope, how to search etc. Ideally this would serve as an on-ramp > for people wanting to become editors further down the line! > > > > All best, and happy to discuss further. > > > > Nick Poole > > Chief Executive > > Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) > > > > *From:* Wikimediauk-l [mailto:wikimediauk-l-boun...@lists.wikimedia.org] *On > Behalf Of *WereSpielChequers > *Sent:* 13 October 2015 13:49 > *To:* UK Wikimedia mailing list > *Subject:* Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Get Online Week > > > > Dear Mike, > > I think the target group is significant here. My suspicion is that editing > Wikipedia is not an entry level computer task. I have twice trained non > computer users at editathons I was helping at, on one occasion I spent an > inordinate amount of time teaching someone how to use a mouse. My > preference is that we leave "introducing people to the internet" to people > who are experienced at that sort of training, and we focus more on cross > training existing wikimedians and on those who are willing to help > Wikipedia or at least want to fill one of our gaps. > > Jonathan > > > > On 12 October 2015 at 18:39, Michael Peel <em...@mikepeel.net> wrote: > > Hi all, > > I've just discovered that this week is 'Get Online Week', see: > http://getonlineweek.com/ > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Online_Week > > It's too late for this week, but for next year perhaps we should think > about offering some sort of 'intro to Wikipedia' courses? Probably more > 'how to read' rather than 'how to edit', given the target group here. > > Thanks, > Mike > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message protected by MailGuard: e-mail anti-virus, anti-spam and content > filtering. > http://www.mailguard.com.au > > Report this message as spam > <https://console.mailguard.com.au/ras/1N0QkmxHeJ/4zkBXAkxe6YjQasqywAeRm/1.726> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > -- > THOMAS MORTON > > Development Operations Engineer > > 01777861607 | thomas.mor...@thesalegroup.co.uk > > THESALEGROUP.CO.UK <http://www.thesalegroup.co.uk/> > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: https://wikimedia.org.uk >
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