Grants:PEG/WM ID/Wikimedia Cipta Jakarta/Writing classes/Report

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English • Bahasa Indonesia

Project proposal & budget │ Narration report │ Activities report │ Expenses report

Indonesian language Wikipedia writing class for public was made to fulfill the enthusiasm of public who want to learn editing in Wikipedia. Wikimedia Indonesia had been received many emails from public which requested to get Wikipedia training class. The other purposes of this projects are providing opportunity for volunteer from project class to perform as trainer and improving communication material of Wikipedia writing class.

Project Goal

Planned goal:

To increase numbers of new wikipedians and active wikipedians in Wikipedia Indonesia.
To identify the volunteer from project classes that are capable to independently organize event and identify resources to run it.
Test communication materials to train potential editor from interested public participant
Measure the Indonesian language Wikipedia community interest for writing style improvement programs
Measure the participation of existing contributors in assisting new contributors at editing classes

The result when this writing class finished:

In June 2011, the number of new wikipedians in Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia (WBI) reached the highest peak since the first time it established in 2003. Most of this writing class meetings for public were held in June 2011 (5 out of 11 meetings).
During the writing class period (May-July 2011), the numbers of active wikipedians in Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia were relatively high, above the normal condition. Especially in June 2011, when the total number of participants was higher if compared with May and July 2011.

There are four capable volunteers from the project class who independently organize their own training class.
WMID established a standard communication materials which much better than the previous one to train potential public participants.
Some of the existing contributors in Wikipedia Bahasa Indonesia were surprise and not ready to face a great number of new wikipedians invading in a same time. The new wikipedians tend to make many mistakes in writing and in most cases, they found their contributions gone in the next days. One of the easiest way to protect Wikipedia are removing mistakes in editing, but it made confusing for new wikipedians. The needs of communication between existing contributors, the project committe, and new wikipedians are necessary to reach the best result and understanding.

Description of actual activities

The classes begin on May and ended on July 2011 once we have lesson learn and best practices. This training divided into three level of classes:

Level 1: Introduction, Making accounts, and start a new articles using provided source.
Level 2: Learning how to make a complete articles, editing a bad articles that already exist, and Wiki codes.
Level 3: Discussing the difficulties of writing in Wikipedia, getting to know Wikimedia Indonesia and its projects.

The total number of writing class held is 11 meetings (3 in May, 5 in June, and 3 in July 2011). There are 38 participant attended the training, numerous participants in level 1 but only some of them interested to attend the next level. The participants started with a specific given articles, then they were free to write any kinds of articles according their own interest. In every classes, the trainers/instructors not only roled as a teacher, but also supervised and monitored their participant's articles. In the middle of this training series, about 17 students from Bina Nusantara University beg to get into the writing class. They had a final assignment from their lecturer to make one article in Indonesia language Wikipedia.

Best practice and lesson learn

Went Well

Volunteers from the project class were encourage to be more confident, especially in socializing with public participants, and also more independent to organize an event from the planning to the evaluation.
Wikimedia Indonesia bought five USB modem as supporting tools for this writing class projects. These internet modem were really useful to produce an effective class and deal with some participant's laptop which unable to utilize available Wi-fi (we didn't provide the computers/laptop, only internet connection).
This project is able to attract potential contributors, from journalists, university students, professional workers, etc. About 15% from the total participants finished all three level of training. They share their problems and difficulties in editing Wikipedia and give suggestion related with the communication materials.

This writing class has been designed in accordance with the objectives to be achieved. The communication materials are okay, but much better if it's combined with the examples of well-written articles and common errors. -Nurielh

Not So Well

The presence of students who only intended to finish their assignment made chaos within the class. The committee separated them into a special class called "boiler class".
At first, the trainers design the third level of training as an introduction of how socialize in Wikipedia using discussion page, talk page, and community portal. However, we can not implement this subject since the new wikipedians need more time and practice to get sufficient knowledge of Wikipedia before participate into a real Wiki discussion.
The committees were trying hard to find a suitable place for training with low-budgets. The limitation of budget to rent a place made us change places for few times: expensive restaurant with a high-speed internet connection or affordable cafe with low-speed internet connection. Sometimes, we had inefficient training because the participants should move from one place to another in order to get some food or the rent time was over, though they still want to continue practice.
The interval time between every class held - at first we planned to have writing class once a week, but the participants were decreased from time to time. Sometimes, they confirmed to come but finally didn't show up. Then, the committee decide to collect the participants first and made them wait longer until held a new writing class. This longer period of waiting made some potential participants pulled out from the training series.
Three of the most active participant found the class very useful, however we find out they stop editting for various reasons. One of them describe the reason as follows:

We only have a little time between our daily activities and for some people, writing is a tough work after reading. The other reasons why I stop editing are the existing contributors only edit and delete newbie's articles without giving direct explanation. No feedback and dynamic discussion between Wikipedia admins/stewards. -Bayu

Next time, it would be a little different

It is more effective to make a free Wikipedia writing class for public once a month. While in the waiting period, the trainers must strictly monitor their participants progress.
Some of the former participants and also academic institutions are interested to invite WMID to organize free Wikipedia writing class in their place. Considering the lack of human resources in WMID, we can not reach out the offerings. However, this opportunity will be a very good step for WMID to engage more academic institutions in the future.

Detail of expenditures

Please see expenses report for detail

Amount underspent in US Dollars

None, all underspent amount will go to the main funding infrastructure in Wikimedia Cipta

Will you be requesting re-allocation of remaining grant funding?

See Wikimedia Cipta report.