Learning patterns/Repeat events

Learning Pattern Library

Repeat events

problemNewbies attending edit-a-thons are not motivated by a single event. They do not sustain their interest levels if they are not motivated further.

solutionConduct a series of edit-a-thons, inviting the same participants again. Give them sustained motivation by acknowledging their work.

creator• Netha Hussain

created on14 November, 2013

What problem does this solve?

Newbies participating in one off edit-a-thon or workshop often start editing Wikipedia and continue doing so for a few days. Then, they drop off for many reasons, such as lack of personal motivation, not feeling like they are part of the community, or they are not sure what else they could be working on.

What is the solution?

• Conduct a series of edit-a-thons, inviting the same participants
• Offer participants suggestions on what they can edit
• Acknowledge their contributions by giving them badges and barnstars
• Help them to become mentors for other newbies

General considerations

• Repeating events should not be very frequent. An ideal interval between two events would be one month.
• Repeating events should deal with topics which were not dealt with during the previous events to keep it interesting and new.
• Repeating events may be themed, with a different theme for every event.
• One option is to schedule several events in advance (e.g., four events) and to let participants know of the dates ahead of time so that they can make time to attend the additional events. This gives them extra opportunities to edit Wikipedia amongst peers.

Endorsement

• Netha Hussain
• Frank Schulenburg
• SarahStierch
• Alex Wang
• James Hare
• Liang (WMTW)
• --アンタナナ 19:51, 6 April 2015 (UTC)
• अभय नातू (talk) 17:56, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

Endorsements

• Having just completed a series of events, I can say that the series did see many of the same people (both new and experienced editors) return. Librarygurl (talk) 19:49, 26 May 2015 (UTC)
• I think this makes sense; a quite short, and clearly written piece. XoXo (talk) 16:42, 7 October 2017 (UTC)
• For this project specifically: a number of events were held --7amleh (talk) 07:04, 19 November 2018 (UTC)