Wikimedia Conference 2017/Program/16

16: Increasing awareness of Wikipedia: How to forge strategic partnerships to achieve this goal?

How to move forward

group work

What was this session about?

In this session, groups explored the way they have tried to increase awareness for Wikipedia in their countries/communities.

What are the next steps to be taken?

n/a

Photos

see the Commons category

Slides

Slides

Audience: Community members and affiliates
Session Format: Presentation + Workshop/Discussion
Length: 60 min
Description

Why is awareness of Wikipedia important to our mission? This presentation will show the importance of working to increase awareness of Wikipedia (new readers and editors).

The presentation will show different examples, and will be followed by a workshop. We will present problem scenarios and encourage groups of attendees to come up with awareness solutions.

Main workshop - Best practices and learning patterns workshop: Present problem scenarios and encourage audience to come up with awareness solutions.

People don’t know what Wikipedia is.
People think of Wikipedia as a read only source.

Desired Outcome: The desired outcome for this presentation is for participants to walk away with concrete ideas how they can raise awareness in their country/region through partnership and how they can find such partners.
Next Steps and Milestones: Continue evangelizing on the importance of awareness, having the affiliates share within their communities the importance and means of working to increase editorship and readership for Wikipedia. Continue discussing the topic in other venues, on-wiki, online (i.e. Office Hours) and offline.
Speakers

Zack McCune + Jack Rabah (both WMF)

Documentation

Jack Rabah and Zack McCune started the session by giving a short presentation about the importance of raising awareness for Wikipedia. They highlighted that awareness of Wikipedia is not as strong as some might think, and gave the example of 11% awareness of Wikipedia in Iraq. To promote Wikipedia (for readers) there are many different methods and ways, not all working in all places.

After the presentation, the audience split up into three groups to discuss what methods participants have used to raise awareness, ideally by using strategic partnerships.

Group 1

Theme 1: “People have not heard about Wikipedia”

How have you worked on this in the past year?

Competitions & contests (Wiki Loves Africa, Wiki Loves Women)
Presentations/Speeches at events and seminars (Nigeria, Netherland)
Radio programs (Nigeria)
Social media campaigns (Ghana)
Press releases on donations (Netherlands)

(NOTE: Most focused on existing editors and contributors)

What help (tools, resources) do you need to be more successful?

More collaboration between WMF’s Global Reach team and Wikimedia affiliates

What ideas do you have to share for solving this?

Be more visual
Showing the relevance to the national context
Being accredited by major universities – establishing mini fan clubs
Celebrate your country on Wikipedia

Theme 2: “People think Wikipedia is read-only”

How have you worked on this in the past year?

“Motivation” – that looks wrong! Spelling mistake.
Edit on any subject you want!
Activate people’s passions
Playing your role to document our history and future for the unborn
“I edit Wikipedia” – from the president to a teacher to a 6 year old: Get many people to say “they edit Wikipedia”
How do people feel about articles on Wikipedia?

What help (tools, resources) do you need to be more successful?

“We need people”
“There’s no call to action on the website. The edit button is not enough. Have people sign in a newsletter.“
It’s very hard for someone in Wikipedia to get in touch with the local WP group. Central notice is not enough. It’s not about fighting for space on a central notice banner, but more.

What ideas do you have to share for solving this? What type of things would make it easier to raise awareness?

Using radio to get the message out. Use of mass media. Online radio, podcasts.

More collaboration between WMF’s Global Reach and local groups, less online. Make it relevant in a local context.

Group 2

Theme 1: “People have not heard about Wikipedia”

What have you worked on this in the past year?

WP Zero Partnerships

Wiki Education Program
Social media
Contest - Photo/Commons/Content articles
Traditional media
Merchandising
Edit-a-thon/Boot camps
QRpedia

What ideas do you have to share for solving this?

UN - Access to knowledge
Integrate with educational system - make it part of curriculum
Celebrating and publicizing - awards
Memes - pop culture,
Urge Google and other search Engines to give more visibility
Bookmarks

Theme 2: “People think Wikipedia is read-only”

What ideas do you have to share for solving this?

Display of articles don't show work in progress
Hard to find edit button
Show an activity meter
Show assessment to users
Social media response to complaints about missing content
Track social media
Edit by default
Partnerships with GLAM
Partnerships with Embassies - cultural events
Very few prompts to edit
Work with professional interest groups
Contribution besides articles
Gamification of small edits
30 sec videos to send as Whatsapp forwards
Click edit, Click save campaigns
Let them know if you don't like Wikipedia, you can edit this.
Partnerships with online news media
Newsletter
Contact Service

Group 3

Theme 1: “People have not heard about Wikipedia”

What ideas do you have to share for solving this?

Educate the media - correct misinformation. Target media in local language
Get in touch with local groups/university
Target schools / universities
run collaborative projects
Challenge: poor, disenfranchised community
etting the first 2 professors to buy-in
people use smartphone for everything, no desktop.
establishing trust
Make branding stronger for readers
Share Wikipedia articles on Facebook

Theme 2: “People think Wikipedia is read-only”

What ideas do you have to share for solving this?

partnering with educational institutions (Editathons)

Make Existing users aware of event - so they do not delete new articles right away
Start with small changes for newbies
Introducing new users to talk pages early
Include information for new editors on main landing page
When talking to media, keep it simple, don't explain anything.