2013 Activity Plan/Ideas

Please give us your ideas to add to the 2013 Activity Plan. These should be ideas which are create impact, rather than being internal matters like governance or fundraising. Please think about the resource implication. E.g. "Hold Editathons at 50 museums" is a great idea, what would we need to make it happen in terms of money, volunteer time, or staff time? And don't be afraid to think big.

Sample idea

What? - what would we do, and why is it a good idea?

What would we need? - how much money, volunteer time, or staff time would it take to make this happen?

Please sign your ideas so we can follow up and give credit! (Don't worry, you're not committing yourself to anything).

Sound recordings of musical instruments

What? - currently there is a real shortage of sound clips in our articles on musical instruments. If you want to know what a {{w:violin}} sounds like, there is one openly-licensed file of some basic sounds, but nothing about its advanced technique, and nothing about a {{w:Historically_informed_performance}} of older music. For older instruments (e.g. the {{w:viol}} ) there is nothing at all.

What would we need? For modern instruments, we'd need musicians (professional or semi-professional) and recording equipment or studio time. To get audio reflecting the history of music, we would need a relationship with people like these. It is probably unlikely that a good archive of these sounds already exists, or that all the various specialist skills (not just performance, but studio time) would be donated free.

Submitted by The Land (talk)

Wikipedia in Schools

What? - Slightly amazed this isn't in the budget already. In this author's humble opinion, there should be wikipedia editing lessons as part of every school's curriculum for every subject.

What would we need? - A good start would be free educational materials; suggestions for lesson plans etc. Then a dedicated group evangelising to institutions and government. See also http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education_strategy#Staffing_and_management

Submitted by EdSaperia

Re-releasing the 2008/9 'Wikipedia for Schools' DVD with more content

What? - Several years ago, the WMF, WMUK and "SOS Children" released a DVD called Wikipedia for Schools, which is available here. We should re-release this in a larger, more up-to-date version.

What would we need? - An awful lot of volunteers, and a core staff (possibly at SOS Children) who have experience in managing/overseeing this sort of project. We already have links with education charities who work in some of the poorest areas worldwide.

Submitted by Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry

This may be a project where we could experiment with building a basic crowdsourcing system through toolserver - "is this version of this article suitable for release in a school's encyclopedia? yes / no, it needs work / no, it's inappropriate". That might be able to scale up the selection quite fast without needing a lot of on-wiki involvement. Andrew Gray (talk) 11:14, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Mapping the canal network

What? - Britain's canal network is currently undergoing a renaissance, with new canals being opened at a faster rate than ever before. UK canals are quite unlike any others anywhere else in the world - they are small, narrow, shallow and packed with history. They also have an abnormally large amount of listed buildings linked with them, whether they be directly linked with the canal, or simply nearby (eg an old warehouse, or river weir). The Kennet and Avon canal is peppered with untouched fortifications from World War Two, and the entire length of the Wey Navigation is a National Trust property.

Get to the point... - We could put a volunteer or two on a specially fitted-out (and Wikipedia-liveried?) live-aboard boat for the summer, and have them map the canal network - taking photos of every building, every lock, and even taking video footage of sections of the trip from a roof-mounted camera. A GPS system would trace the entire route for Open Street Map. British Waterways may also be interested, as we'd essentially be doing a mini-survey of the network, including all the structures, for them. We could fit the inside of the barge with a small supply of educational materials and a marquis for stopping the 'wiki-barge' in towns along the way.

What would we need? - A narrowboat, to hire, for the summer - needs to be quite small. Two volunteers, technically minded, at least one of whom knows about narrowboats. GPS equipment (possibly able to loan from OSM or British Waterways?). A 3G internet connection (wouldn't work everywhere, but would work when near a village/town). A camera (and possibly a video-camera). Lots of hard drive space. Expenses for the volunteers aboard. Brochures/booklets.

Submitted by Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry

Training events for volunteers

What? - WMUK currently puts on a lot of training events for newcomers, but fewer for established Wikipedians. These would be events marketed at established Wikipedians who want to expand their skill set. We should, in the author's humble(ish) opinion, have a combination of large events like the OTRS workshop, at which Wikipedians spend a weekend or several days sharing experiences and those with less experience of the subject matter can come along to learn, and smaller, skill-swap type events. This would hopefully result in personal development for the attendees, both on Wikipedia and as WMUK volunteers. Also helpful might be training in public speaking, alongside a continuation of the trainer training programme.

What would we need? - A few hundred quid per event for travel costs, possibly venue hire if other Development House tenants get sick of us occupying their basement, and hotels for multi-day events. Possibly consider flying in attendees from abroad where a good case can be made, which would add significantly to the cost. We would need a member of staff on hand for events at the office, and Daria's assistance in booking venues etc may be useful.

Submitted by Harry Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?

Mozilla might be a great venue for this, especially if we throw some of the skill sessions open to the wider open-content/open-source community. Andrew Gray (talk) 11:15, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Community meetups

What? - Establishing meetups in parts of the country that currently lack them. In the author's personal experience, coming to a meetup can leave an editor feeling much more positive about their participation in Wikimedia projects, can act as a mechanism for recruitment of new editors or retention of inexperienced ones, and the meetup can form the bedrock for a volunteer community actively doing exciting things in its area. This is already proving to be the case in Liverpool and Coventry, both relatively newly established communities. Somebody will no doubt point out that meetups are not strictly chapter activities, but that doesn't mean the chapter can't support them.

What would we need? - Travel costs for volunteers not based in the area of the meetup (importing somebody to kickstart things and then hand over when a community is established is probably our best way of starting something in areas where we are not currently active, such as the north east, and has worked thus far in Liverpool); possibly venue hire; maybe some sandwhiches or something if we end up in a non-pub venue. Staff time required is next to nil unless they want to come to the meetups (and I strongly advocate that they should get out and meet the community at every opportunity); some help might be needed in liaising with venues if necessary.

Submitted by Harry Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?

Sex-ed improvement project

What? - Wikipedia articles on human sexuality topics are numerous and have high viewing figures, yet are often poorly sourced and written. Improvements in this area (to GA or FA level) would benefit a large number of readers, especially younger readers.

What would we need? - Need to research / establish contact with sex-ed experts in government (Dept. of Education) and academia, pitch the idea to them, and help bring them up to speed with the internal workings of Wikipedia. May require travel costs, possibly venue costs, and on-wiki support. --Andreas JN 00:18, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

This is an area where we could get involved. Sadly we are a source of sex-ed and there are many people who would like to see sex-ed improved. A few letters to the correct NGOs may just get this moving and its as important as CancerUK and a similar "taboo" subject where we end up being the resource of last resort. I'm not sure you need "permnission" to do this. Why not just write to these people and see if they are interested. This should nt need to cost anything initially IMO Victuallers (talk) 10:25, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

This is an area I used to be a bit of an expert in - leading a Home Office/Department for Education and Department of Health pilot project that is still going...

Sex (and drugs) education was a minefield but one for which there is a very good single body The Sex Education Forum Just like with Cancer Research UK this would be a great starting point. BUT beware. We had to create policies and teaching material that would work from 4 to 16, in Catholic and non-denominational schools etc etc. The end result could be very bland. Jon Davies WMUK (talk) 11:47, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Fortunately, Wikipedia isn't censored so we don't need to worry too much about that. Wikipedia plays an important role in getting information to people that they aren't allowed to have. We normally talk about that in the context of countries with oppressive regimes, but the same holds for children of religious, or otherwise conservative, parents. Sex-ed info is the kind of thing children are going to be looking up on Wikipedia without their parents' knowledge, so we don't really need to worry about whether parents approve or not. --Tango (talk) 12:27, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Bridging the needs of adults and children in Wikipedia will not be easy. But our articles in the entire field of human sexuality – anything from porn actors to paraphilias to plastic surgery – are in my experience either written from a popular-culture perspective, or from the perspective of practitioners. Given that we are a major source of sex-ed, especially for the most vulnerable readers, a major shift in perspective is required. A good initial step actually would be to get our articles in the whole field of sexology assessed by professional educators, so that we have some sort of baseline.

As far as Wikipedia's own quality assessment system is concerned, note that the only Featured Articles within WikiProject Sexuality are: Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, American Beauty (film), Elizabeth Needham, and Gropecunt Lane; to wit: an article on a Victorian directory of prostitutes, an article on a street where prostitutes plied their trade, an article on an 18th-century Victorian brothel keeper, and an American film about a man who becomes sexually infatuated with a girlfriend of his teenage daughter. Going down the scale, there then is an A-Class article on Wank Week. These are the project's top-rated articles, after 12 years of undirected crowdsourcing. :( Wikipedia can do better. --Andreas JN 16:27, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Spoken Wikipedia (all languages)

What? - Planned support to add to Commons:Category:Spoken_Wikipedia. It would be excellent to have examples of new audio support for articles created in English and non-English languages such as Welsh, Gaelic, Cornish or Urdu (at the moment these languages have none).

What would we need? - Decent audio kit and a sound-proof space to use it in. Potentially a small audio kit to loan out for people to use at home or on outreach activities would make sense, along with online support to help re-process the files to OGG format if the readers find this difficult. In addition a number of our partners (in locations across the UK) have recording facilities or sound-proofed rooms that we could book on a monthly or other basis. Some partners have facilities that we need only promote in a directory of places to use and volunteers could self-book. We would need to advertise the initiative as an on-going programme for our regular volunteers but also our donors and the general public who may not be so interested in editing Wikipedia, but might enjoy helping with high quality readings to assist mobile and disabled access. A small amount of training in how to get best use from the equipment and how to plan for good quality readings (and feedback on test readings) might be needed. With expenses, kit and promotion (including some external advertising) I would expect £1,500 over 12 months might be a good investment for, say, 200 or more articles in spoken format.

Proposed by --Fæ (talk) 02:58, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Turn donors to editors

(following on from WSC's first event, & as discussed a bit with Fae)

What? Using the donor database, organise a series of events lasting say 3 hrs, starting with quick "thanks very much", and "where your money goes" presentations, before moving on to sessions on editing, uploading, real life help, & generally contributing to the projects. Targeted at donors who are not existing contributors, but would like to be, with ideally 100+ at a time - first sessions plenary, then 3-4 tracks such as basic WP editing (prob x2), Commons including uploading, categories?, other stuff. One could offer the initial presentations, plus a coffee mingle, to an even larger number, and including existing editors, then non-aspirant editors leave. That might be a good way of igniting meet-ups in hard to penetrate regions.

What would we need? Could be done at various scales, but I'd like to see a tour of biggish events, so locations begged/borrowed/hired. Work on session material. Lots of volunteers. Some catering. Arrange targeted invitations to donor list. Arrangements for online follow-up and tracking.

Proposed by Johnbod (talk) 11:09, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Editing roadshow

What? A package we can take to larger events such as shows (county, garden, antiques, music & other themes) offering a series of short editing workshops - just 40 mins for 15-20 people say. Designed to capture those desperate to sit down. A session each hour all day.

What would we need? Marquee, lots of net books, banners etc. Some transport. Have to pay for the stand normally. Lots of volunteers - travelling trained trainers would need paying, supplemented by local volunteers, prob also paid. Standard lesson plans. Arrangements for online follow-up and tracking.

Proposed by Johnbod (talk) 11:09, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

A lower pressure version of this is the Wikipedia free internet cafe - the same marquee, net books, banners with a box for donations and roving volunteers with "I edit wikipedia. Ask me how!" badges available to do some one to one tutoring. Or a combination of the two - seats and screens in the marquee for those in the workshop, free wifi and charging points outside the marquee for everyone else. Filceolaire (talk) 17:44, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Could the transport be a canal boat? Seriously, though, I like this idea. Roadshows are something we're really missing out on. Richard Symonds (talk) 21:18, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Leutha's favourite pub proposal is the wiki-bus. I still like the idea of doing up a bus and going on tour. Anywhere we can find a power connection and pitch up a marquee tent, we could run an editathon, photo-uploading, scanning and audio recordings mega event. Seriously, anyone up for it? I can help drive a bus and quite fancy going around either Cornwall or Scotland. If we could share the programme between, say, 8 volunteers with a lot of free time, it could be a lot of fun. Imagine the public enthusiasm if we could get several councils to give us a space on the big market day in any major town's market space. --Fæ (talk) 21:36, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Count me in! I can't drive anything more sophisticated than a bicycle, but I make a reasonable navigator. It would be great to try and cover as much of the country as possible, perhaps starting in one corner and progressing towards the opposite one, stopping at towns and cities en route. It would be novel enough that it could make national news. How much would a stick-on livery (that could hopefully be removed easily once we're done with it) cost? Harry Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:55, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Pilot Adult Education Project

I teach at a respected Adult Education Establishment in Waterloo. It has good computer facilities and is accessible. The college is strapped for cash, like the whole sector, but are interested in running classes in editing. They have good IT staff and facilities. We could put financial support into a series of Sunday or Saturday schools that would be run by the college but using our people to teach a range of courses around Wiki editing. Ideas could be "Newbies", 'Up to 100 edits', etc etc. The target students would be ordinary people who know the college and are generally from local communities but do come from all over London. Our funds wold be there to help subsidise the costs. Jon Davies WMUK (talk) 14:06, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Good - I think we could justify/spend money if the outcome was that we could write an email to every adult education centre in the UK that said ::"Dear Adult Educ Centre - please find attached a url to everything you need to teach, advertise and reward editors on a course called "Creating your first Wikipedia Page" - this page lists all the articles created by the first people who were trained in Waterloo and includes links to some videos saying what they got out of it. (The course and its material were created by Wikimedia UK staff and are all available via our wiki site). We are running a competition for the best wikipedia page created on these course with a prize for the trainee and another for the best adult education establishment and best tutor. The first 50 applications will receive ..." Victuallers (talk) 14:59, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Training in Community Centres

We could aim to deliver Wikipedia training in community centres - church halls, parish halls, meeting rooms, etc. that are not traditional venues for IT-related training because of lack of infrastructure. Aim would be to meet the needs of a broad audience - not all of whom would own portable pcs, but might have access to a shared pc at home, or in an internet cafe, etc. Target might be perhaps a dozen venues in a year?

Resources

We'd need to create a "mobile classroom" that does not depend on the local infrastructure. Buy a dozen(?) computers - perhaps a mixture of laptops (£400 each); netbooks (£275 each); tablets (£175 each). Buy a projector and screen (£500-£700); an OHP, pens and screen (£250); a scanner/printer and replacement inks (£60); a card reader (320), spare usb, vgs, dvi, hdmi, audio leads; extension leads and sockets, storage boxes to carry equipment around (£100). Buy a phone subscription that includes a good data plan so that the phone becomes the wireless access point.

Targeting

Use the membership and donors to find out-of-the-way places that they would be a point of contact for. Coordinate with other charities to reach their centres that are off the beaten track and do some advertising through their newsletters. If necessary, use an agency to buy in some local expertise in Cornwall, Scotland, Northumberland, etc. to make initial contacts who can identify locations.

Depending on measured success against PIs, the budget could be scaled up in the future to duplicate the mobile classroom in different parts of the country, thus avoiding having to get the MC from a central location each time. --RexxS (talk) 16:52, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Many language minorities have cultural centres. Training at these could be a way to work with other language wikiprojects.

• For people with minimal literacy skills finding an educational site in their own language can help.
• People learning English can translate articles (basic articles about the local area or advanced articles about science, history etc.) into their own language.

The hands-on nature of Wikis mean that a wiki-trainer, with a little help from a translator, can teach the basics. If editors in that language are available then even better. If they are no experienced editors in that language then maybe when we go back next year there will be. Filceolaire (talk) 12:01, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

Oral citations

WMF has doen some research on Oral Citations in India and South Africa - interviews with named persons describing things they have personal knowledge of to use as citations where published sources are unavailable.

We should pursue this; run a project to record peoples personal reminiscences, things they witnessed. Part mass observation, part field recordings. Visiting primary schools, recording pupils interviewing their grandparents; visiting festivals of comemoration to record memories; visiting cultural centres to record minority languages, stories, dances, colonial history from the other side; visiting local radio stations to play our most interesting recordings and invite people to volunteer to be interviewed; visiting the site of big news stories after the fact to record the survivors/victims/bystanders.

resources needed.

A recording studio in a box (laptop, microphones, camera + tripod, audio/video editing software) with a full time reporter/producer/facilitator

Next: work with existing archives of recordings (BBC, EFDSS etc. ) to get older recordings released under open licenses.

Later: Provide training and sponsorship for the same to happen in other countries.

Equipment pool

What? Over the last year Wikimedia UK has started to build up a pool of equipment which it lends out for use at events. While this is good (laptops, an HD video camera, and an audio recorder are all very useful) it would be helpful for the chapter to have more equipment available for loan to Wikimedians in the UK. Wikimedia DE have built up such a collection since 2011. While there is some stuff there that is probably best bought on a need-to-buy basis (read: it's unlikely many Wikimedians in the UK will need dissection equipment and if they do, it can be bought through a microgrant as and when required) other equipment such as camera lenses, ethernet cables + WiFi routers (for outreach events where lots of media will be uploaded - so as not to make the WiFi too slow) and (possibly) studio lighting would be useful.

I know it was proposed some time ago that the chapter actually buy a mid-range DSLR for lending out and this is still a good idea. It is possible, however, that anyone who wants a camera has one or knows someone who has one.

What would we need? A longer-than-kit-lens lens will cost somewhere in the region of £300-400. Presuming you want to get one that fits a Canon EOS and another for Nikon DSLRs you could double that figure. You can get a set of three softbox lights (including carry cases etc.) for $179 which Google tells me is about £114 (which does seem too cheap to be true...).

I wouldn't really expect much extra staff time to be needed to handle the whole project. If the equipment is purchased by WMUK it would need to be kept catalogued on the Fixed Asset Register and it could be kept at the WMUK office. Rock drum (talk • contribs) 14:06, 8 August 2012 (UTC)

We could consider a high-end DSLR rather than a mid-range one. But even for a mid-range DSLR the person behind the camera is as important as the kit. Would we also need to think about training for volunteers to make best use of it? 137.73.98.70 16:51, 8 August 2012 (UTC)