From late February until early March, the Contribution Team will be holding recruitment and advocacy drives at universities across the UK. This will take the form of:
- A short presentation covering how to edit, how Wikipedia works and how to use Wikipedia in academic life;
- A surgery/Q&A session, dealing with queries about specific articles from students and staff alike;
- A question-and-answer session to deal with other issues;
- Handing out leaflets and pamphlets encouraging people to contribute.
The goal of these events is to encourage good-will towards the community, to torpedo common myths about the projects, to decrease vandalism and to increase community participation. Should things go well, they will be followed up by additional visits to these institutions and to other institutions around the country. Wikipedians who are interested in attending or helping out are encouraged to sign up and post any offers of help or suggestions on the talk page. What we are most in need of at the moment is people to hand out flyers and leaflets (provided in advance) to students in the weeks before the event, and to book rooms for us to host the events in.
Events
editFebruary 2011
editFebruary 9 - Imperial College, London
editAn event was held at the Imperial college London on Wednesday February 9 2011. 6 Wikimedians attended in all, and an interest was shown in a Wikipedia Student Club from both students and several staff. More events of a more relaxed nature are tentatively planned for next week.
February 16-17 - Imperial College, London
editTwo events were held on the 16th-17th of February covering recruitment and support of the newly created Wikipedia Society at Imperial College. This includes supporting experienced editors in their bid to be officially recognised as well as new editors who need help starting their Wikipedia journey.
March 2011
editMarch 1 - University of Nottingham
edit- Time:
- Location:
- Attendees
- Volunteers
- Panyd - I'll be there! All Hail The Muffin Nor does it taste nice... 14:07, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
- -mattbuck (Talk) 17:55, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:48, 13 February 2011 (UTC)- The Cavalry (Message me) 00:19, 17 February 2011 (UTC)
- Modest Genius talk 02:25, 21 February 2011 (UTC) - tentatively, I need to be in Newcastle that evening. Got a location yet? Or some indication of what we're expected to do?
- So this is supposedly tomorrow, but we still don't have a time, location or any other info. What's going on? Modest Genius talk 23:10, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
- (tentative) AndrewRT(Talk) I've got the day off to visit the accountants but depending on how that goes I'll hope to pop down afterwards to help
March 2 - University of Sheffield
edit- Time:
- Location:
- Attendees
- Volunteers
- Would love to come but...
- Staff member in School of Health & Related Research but not in Sheffield that day, sadly! Kim Dent-Brown (Talk) 13:57, 21 February 2011 (UTC)
March 3 - University of Leeds
editA talk will be given at the University of Leeds, discussing why students should edit and how. This will be followed by recruitment in the late afternoon of the general student body.
March 4 - University of Manchester
editThe morning will be spent leafleting on campus and trying to gain signatures for a possible society. We should then be giving our presentation in the same way as in Nottingham and Leeds, and we should be meeting with Steven McIndoe regarding possible outreach opportunities through the library. This includes leaflets encouraging students to use Wikipedia responsibly as part of their studies as well as the possibility of hosting editing days at the library.