Wikimedia Outreach

Standing on the edge of the precipice

I learned about the Wikimedia Outreach account creation improvement project from a good friend and fellow wikimedian on Jan. 11, 2011. He sent me a link to Frank Schulenburg, Sep. 18, 2010, presentation on Account creation on Wikipedia and Facebook. Having been dealing with account creation problems on Wikimedia projects for four years, the case for improvement was made very clearly in that presentation. When I read Lennart Guldbrandsson a.k.a Hannibal post to the Foundation-l mailing list, Feb. 11, 2011, on How should we greet newcomers? I was looking forward to see how much progress had been made.

Wikimedia Outreach was launched Oct. 2009 and its main page is very appealing. It welcomes you with "Outreach Wiki needs you." Then, there is a subtle change from Wikimedia "backstage" project, wiki, bookshelf to an unknown first person plural entity whose mission is defined as "to recruit and support new Wikimedians and to build strong relationships with cultural and educational institutions." Renewed emphasis is given to the fact that "they" "need your help in making this collaborative platform bigger, better and more useful." That "if you think you can help, great. There's plenty left to do." "Build the wiki," "Find an initiative," "Attend an event," and last but not least "Discuss the movement." Discuss is nice.

It (or "they") have several initiatives, among them the "Ambassador Program," "Account Creation Improvement Project," "Best practices," "Student clubs," and "Success stories." They all had a personal appeal and they were five out of a total of eight initiatives. That's what it (or "they") said: "Outreach needs you to reach out." by getting " involved in a project (i.e. initiative - confusing nomenclature and nomenklatura seems to come with the territory). While there are eight initiatives, there are nine projects: eight initiatives plus one draft. You are also welcome to "discuss operations with other users at "their" village pump!" Discuss operations is very interesting.

The "community" is also organized according to the users' skills. Language skills came first. Information was a bit chaotic, but there were no speakers of Portuguese of any kind. Other skills listed were "project management," "teaching," "media production," and "press experience level." Professional level in the first three skills, advanced in the forth one. Cool.

On to find out how much progress had been made, by Feb. 11, 2011, on How should we greet newcomers?. This was on the "Account Creation Improvement Project/Testing content" page, available at the time, while one could also "read more about the Account Creation Improvement Project." "Please edit those pages as though they were your own wiki. Make yourself at home on the Outreach wiki." Wrote Lennart. Wow! I was in awe. This project and/or these guys had the right stuff.