User:Hindustanilanguage/Jamie Goodland

Questionnaire regarding Wikipedia for Schools Project

1. In which year and at which place was the project launched? Wikipedia for Schools started life in 2005, when SOS Children’s Villages UK’s then-chief executive Andrew Cates had the brilliant idea of making one of the world’s most famous online learning resources available to children in countries where internet access is limited. The first version – titled “A World of Learning – was launched in 2006, after a year’s hard work by staff and volunteers at SOS Children’s Villages. Shortly afterwards, the Wikimedia Foundation endorsed the project, and the website was relaunched in 2007 as “Wikipedia for Schools”. Since then, the project has gone through various expansions and new editions were released in 2009 and 2013. The project was run from the UK office of SOS Children’s Villages, which is based in Cambridge, England.

2. Who were the team members of the project at the time of its launch? 2005: Andrew Cates (SOS UK chief executive until autumn 2013), Anthony Gerard, Duncan Harris. Subsequent team members include Jamie Collinson, Will Osborne, Kevin Philemon and Jamie Goodland.

3. Can you elaborate on the subject expertise used for review from time to time?

4. Is there a fixed schedule for information review? The original version was put together with the help of Wikipedians recruited by Andrew (himself a keen Wikipedian). These were experts in their individual areas, many of them teachers or educators, and their support was invaluable in putting together an authoritative collection of articles. Because Wikipedia for Schools has been updated periodically, and takes a considerable amount of technical support to relaunch, we have not previously conducted a review. Instead, we have replaced out-of-date articles with each new edition. We also replace obsolete or erroneous articles as and when reported by users.

5. What is the WMF support for the project? SOS Children’s Villages UK has a license agreement with WMF which allows us to use the name “Wikipedia” on the website. In the past, we have received support from WMF in promoting Wikipedia for Schools, and Wikipedians have been instrumental in spreading the word about the project.

6. Are bots employed to update the information on the articles from Wikipedia? No. The nature of our editing software, which we created in-house, means that the site must be updated manually.

7. Does the Project use additional information from non-Wikipedia sources? If yes, please specify. No. All articles are taken from Wikipedia. Our editing software allows us to remove content but not to add or change it. When preparing articles for a new edition, we very occasionally use this facility to remove unsuitable or vandalised content.

8. Do you also utilise other Wikipedia resources such as Wikisource and Wikibooks? No.

9. Tell us about your collaboration with other projects such as E-pustakalaya (mentioned http://www.sos-schools.org/ ikipedia-for-schools) We encourage websites – particularly educational sites – to host versions of Wikipedia for Schools to help expand its reach. The more sites which host Wikipedia for Schools, the more young learners can benefit from the project.

10. Tell us about any current or likely future institutional tieups which this project is pursuing or trying do? Currently, there is nothing in the pipeline, but we are always open to new ideas and proposals.

11. What is the current estimate about the project? Wikipedia for Schools has benefited thousands of children As well as being available offline, it is also hosted on the internet, offering teachers and parents a child-friendly alternative to Wikipedia. It is used in the UK, the US and Australia. The website has attracted nearly 600,000 unique visitors over the last twelve months. For us, the most powerful proof of the project’s value is the praise we have received from users: • “Wikipedia for Schools has been really useful in public schools of Nepal. The students of remote corners of Nepal, where there is no internet access, now know about the diverse culture, religion, art, science and lifestyle of the countries around the world. All credit goes to the team that built this wonderful repository of information for schools. One of the teachers of the remote far-western Nepal said that the information in this Schools Wikipedia is a never-ending progression. The more you dig in, the deeper it gets.” (Subir, E-Pustakalaya, Nepal) • “Thank you for all the effort you have put into the Wikipedia for Schools 2013. Another fantastic resource for schools with little or no bandwidth, of which there are many here in South Africa.” (Patrick, Treverton Schools, South Africa)

12. Can you share one or two articles / news items about the project (scanned copies or text, if feasible)? You can find out more about the project’s background here: http://www.sos-schools.org/wikipedia-for-schools You can read a press release here: http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/about-our-charity/Press/press-releases A news article on the website Baby World here: http://babyworld.co.uk/2014/01/finally-wikipedia-for-children An article by former WMF comms person Jay Walsh about the 2008 release: http://blog.wikimedia.org/2008/10/22/sos-childrens-villages-presents-wikipedia-for-schools/

13. Please share a few interesting statics about the success of your project? • Annual reach: 593,376 (June 2013-June 2014) • Number of articles of 2013 version: 6,000 • No of words: 26 million • No of images: 50,000

14. Please share some of the noteworthy anecdotes in dealing with the school children during the project?

15. Is there is a possibility of Wikipedians to contribute to your project in some capacity? We’re not planning to update Wikipedia for Schools in the foreseeable future. However, if project takes off again, there may well be a role for Wikipedians in helping us update the selections. Should there be any developments of any kind, we will let you know.

Errata: Hi Muzammil

My tech-savvy line manager has just informed me I misread the stats, and in fact, the annual reach of the online Wikipedia for Schools is closer to 1.5m (not 600,000 as reported in the questionnaire).

Thanks Jamie