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;Who cares about Wikimania 2014?
;Volunteers’ Week - a letter from our Chief Executive


[[File:London_WM2014_Logo.jpg|200px|thumb|right|alt=A logo for Wikimania 2014|Wikimania 2014 logo]]
[[File:Thank_you_icon.jpg|200px|thumb|right|alt=An image labelled thank you|Thank you!]]


''This blog post was guest written by [http://mailto:edsaperia@gmail.com Ed Saperia] of the [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2014_bids/London Wikimania 2014] organising team.''
''This blog post was guest written by Jon Davies, Wikimedia UK Chief Executive''


Those of us who are a part of the Wikimedia movement already understand, as if by instinct, the value of the Wikimedia projects. It is not the millions of articles, nor the billions of pageviews, but the magical combination of ethos and platform that has allowed a deeper perspective on knowledge.
1-7 June is [http://www.volunteering.org.uk/policy-and-campaigns/volunteers-week Volunteers’ Week] in the UK. What better time to remind everyone that Wikimedia projects, including Wikipedia, are written and edited entirely by volunteers?


Now that our bid has been accepted and we’re going cap in hand to sponsors, we’ve been forced to think hard about how to communicate this value to the outside world. Our chosen theme for Wikimania 2014 is outreach, and it is fitting that it is exactly the same struggle that the movement is also facing in its outreach efforts - how can we make strangers see the value in what we are doing, and have them join us?
For over 12 years a vast group of people of all backgrounds, ages, opinions and personal interests have come together to create these enormous repositories of freely available knowledge, sharing it for no other reason than that they feel it is a worthwhile thing to do. And they continue to do so.


Every sponsor we approach asks “Who will come to Wikimania?”. It’s a question that we (as a community) have always struggled to answer in the past, offering the evasive “Wikimedians”, which is no answer at all. In a change from previous years, our Wikimania has a public promotional element, and so in a way we get to choose. What groups of people do we want to attract, who don’t already consider themselves Wikimedians? People already interested in what we do, people with something to offer us back, people who will be inspired to become full blooded members of our movement.
Wikimedia UK takes this opportunity to offer a huge thank you to everyone who volunteers their time, energy and knowledge to furthering free knowledge for all. Whether you fix typos, edit content, write articles, share images, teach people to edit, work with GLAM and education institutions or make the occasional cup of tea – thank you for making Wikimedia projects possible. In this vein I asked some of my colleagues how they felt about working with Wikimedia volunteers.


We believe that understanding and correctly articulating who these people are is the key to not only our public marketing effort, but also our fundraising strategy. Corporations don’t sponsor because they’re kind, they sponsor to access particular audiences. That “Wikimedians” is not a recognised audience goes some way to explaining the failure of previous years to meet their targets. In order to succeed, we need to truly understand who we are.
Daria Cybulska, Programme Manager, is impressed by the way volunteers are so keen to share the skills needed to edit Wikipedia. “I have supported many Wikipedia training events over the past year,” she said. “During the training I usually find myself focusing on organisation, and being anxious to give people exactly the right information and understanding of the encyclopaedia. But the true heart of these events are Wikimedia volunteers, trainers who give people the joy of seeing their first edit going live, and the empowerment to share what they know with others.  


We’ll put forward our thoughts in our keynote presentation at the [[WikiConference_UK_2013|WikiConference UK 2013]], being held in Lincoln next weekend, where we’ll be launching this discussion on the brand new Wikimania 2014 wiki.
“The volunteers are wonderfully motivated to teach others the art of editing Wikipedia, and we would not be able to run the events without them.”
<span class="plainlinks">[http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/06/who-cares-about-wikimania-2014/ <nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>
 
Stevie Benton, Communications Organiser, pointed out the stories that Wikimedia projects generate. “My job is all about storytelling,” he said. “The biggest story of all is how an encyclopaedia that is available in around 300 languages, with over 26 million articles, can be the result of volunteer collaboration. And it’s still growing. There isn’t praise enough for the gift these volunteers have given to the world. To be able to help share what they do is a great privilege.”
 
Jonathan Cardy, GLAM organiser admires the diligence of Wikimedians. “I’ve been astonished at the attention to detail that you see when you crowdsource the creation of an encyclopaedia,” he said. “When I talk to Wikipedia editors, these are people who are incredibly committed to getting things right, whether it is photoshopping tilted photographs or eradicating particular ungrammatical phrases from Wikipedia.”
 
If YOU want to become a member of this wonderful community get in touch with us and we will help get you started. You will be very welcome.
 
<span class="plainlinks">[http://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2013/06/volunteers-week-a-letter-from-our-chief-executive/ <nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>


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Revision as of 15:29, 4 June 2013

Cymraeg | English

Wikimedia UK

Open knowledge for all

Our website

If you'd like to see what Wikimedia UK is working on, our website is the best place for our community of volunteers, donors and members to stay up to date.

About Wikimedia UK

The Wikimedia projects are special: they are written and curated by thousands of volunteers. They are also supported by voluntary donations, through Wikimedia UK, the Wikimedia Foundation and other international chapters.

Wikimedia UK is a charity registered in England and Wales that supports and promotes Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons. Our mission is to help people and organisations create and preserve open knowledge, and to help provide easy access for all. We do this by supporting volunteer editors and contributors ('Wikimedians'), by working in partnership with cultural and educational institutions, by hosting training sessions and editing events, and by acting to advocate the benefits of open knowledge generally.

There are several ways to get involved in the charity's work. You can become a member for just £5 per year. You can volunteer to work with us in a variety of ways, both online and offline. You can also make a donation (and if you're a UK taxpayer, we can claim Gift Aid). Subscribe to our Friends' Newsletter to stay in touch. Click the buttons below to learn more.

Volunteer

Contact us

General inquiries: infoatwikimedia.org.uk
Media: pressatwikimedia.org.uk

You can follow us on Twitter (@wikimediauk) or Like us on Facebook (WikimediaUK).

You can also sign up to the email discussion list for the Wikimedia community in the UK.

More contact details

Get Involved

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Join Wikimedia UK

Members play a key role in shaping the future of the Chapter. Membership is open to all and costs just £5 a year.

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Events

We organise dozens of events each year, including meetups, editing events, "Backstage Pass" events at museums, workshops and conferences.

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Volunteer

Participate in one of our ongoing outreach projects, working with the cultural and education institutions of the UK.

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Project grants

Request a project grant to help you with your editing or outreach activities on any Wikimedia project.

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Donate to Wikimedia UK to keep Wikipedia running free from advertising and support our work getting more people and institutions working with Wikipedia and its sister projects.

We are always interested to hear from new volunteers. If you have an idea you'd like to help make happen, or time and skills you would like to offer Wikimedia UK, please get in touch on volunteeringatwikimedia.org.uk

Для української мови Вікіпедії ласка, відвідайте http://uk.wikipedia.org; для Вікімедіа Україна відвідайте http://ua.wikimedia.org
For the Ukrainian language Wikipedia please visit http://uk.wikipedia.org; for Wikimedia Ukraine please visit http://ua.wikimedia.org

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