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WikiConference India 2011/Submissions/Wiki on Campus

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Timestamp
18:08, 29 August 2011 (UTC)
Title of the submission

Wikipedia on Campus

Type of submission (workshop, tutorial, or presentation)

Presentation

Author of the submission

Rithvik Pamidi

E-mail address or username (if username, please confirm email address in Special:Preferences)

rithvik.pamidi@gmail.com

State of your origin (Country, if you are not based in India)

Karnataka, India

Affiliation, if any (organization, company etc.)

Debating Society, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur

Personal homepage or blog

http://sitdebsoc.wordpress.com/

Abstract (maximum 500 words)

Wiki India is taking a leaf out of the the Public Policy Initiative's book and implementing the Campus Ambassador Program as a pilot in Pune. Why not go a step further? Why not affiliate with a college society and support an event in just ONE campus in a region and increase visibility in all colleges in that region (or even the entire sub-continent)?

Our proposal is for Wikimedia to support an event (Parliamentary Debate in this case) in one college, and as a result reach out to numerous colleges, thanks to the wide scale participation in Debates. This is akin to Intel Labs and IBM Centres of Excellence. What this means is that if an event is held, which Wiki supports, by also allowing for the Wiki name to be used (e.g Wiki Parliamentary Debate Tournament), both the college hosting the tournament and Wikimedia benefit.

Benefits to Wiki :

  • Wider visibility – Typically a Parliamentary Debate Tournament receives teams from more than 40 colleges.
  • More aware audience – Generally students who participate in Parliamentary Debates are interested in and aware of a lot of stuff, ranging from general awareness to specific areas.
  • All college Debating Societies (DEBSOCs) are connected to each other, which means, that the transfer of knowledge and information from one college to other can also be handled by the college DEBSOC.
  • Since DEBSOC holds an aspirational value within the college, Wiki also becomes more popular in the college, thanks to the connection.

Benefits to the hosting college :

  • The Wiki name to the tournament automatically attaches value to the Tournament, hence better response and participation.
  • DEBSOC becomes even more aspirational within the college.
  • Wiki name - Akin to the Intel Labs and IBM Centres, the Wiki name gives a boost to the college's prestige.


Thus, the proposal of Wiki supporting a college Debating Society is as good as making a very popular college society the brand ambassador for Wiki on campus. This means that there is no need to go through college officials, thus cutting down on all the bureaucracy, since college DEBSOCs have some autonomity, which enables Wiki to deal with them directly and in return get a very popular (on campus) group of people and influential teachers (faculty in-charge of the society) to promote Wikimedia.

Also, since the event will be annual, it becomes a very recognizable event within a couple of years, drawing more and more people every year. Plus, since Debate tournaments are international events, participants from across the sub-continent come down, which helps Wiki be known in the entire sub-continent.

Track (Community/Knowledge/Outreach/Technology)

Outreach

Will you attend Wikiconference if your submission is not accepted?

Will try to. Depends on permissions from the college.

Slides or further information (optional)
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