Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2015/Programme/Education/How to talk to teenagers about Wikipedia – and why should you

How to talk to teenagers about Wikipedia – and why should you

Name and username: Krzysztof Machocki / User:Halibutt

Type of submission (Please choose one)

Lecture (one-to-many)

Summary

Many veteran Wikimedians consider teaching Wiki to teenagers a waste of time and effort. Yet, several projects we have undertaken in Poland recently prove otherwise. Learning to edit Wikipedia at a young age gives teenagers a unique advantage when entering universities, a set of rare, highly sought-after skills. And, even if retention rate among users who registered their accounts during workshops for teenagers is rather low, the impact of such workshops is high, both in terms of outreach value and in terms of projects' promotion.

I would like to share a few insights into several educational projects we have organised in Poland. Some of the more interesting are:

A WikiWorkshop for young adults with autism spectrum disorders,
A two-part WikiWorkshop for kids treated at Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Zagórze near Warsaw (13–18 years of age),
WikiWarszawa, a set of workshops for high school students (16-19 years of age), co-financed by the City of Warsaw.

Preliminary preparation (if necessary): None required

Expected outcomes

First of all I would like to encourage the audience to try to reach out to younger people with their outreach activities. I would also like to discuss best practices for dealing with teenagers willing to learn Wikimedia – and offer a few hints as to utilising the workshops and courses to promote Wikipedia and her sister projects.

Duration (without Q&A): 25 minutes

Specific requirements: None (except for a projector of course); Halibutt is listed as one of the speakers at Throw them something fresher: how to survive a media crisis open discussion proposal.

Slides or further information

Interested attendees (Please add yourself, and you may indicate your questions to the presenter).