Wikimedia Conference 2018/Program/41

41. Raising the next generation of Wikidata experts in your community

How to move forward

What was this session about?

The speakers talked about the tips on having a Wikidata trainings and presented their vision of the steps necessary to train the trainers who can be independent in running Wikidata workshops.

What are the next steps to be taken?

The training program should be published.

Photos

see the Commons category

Slides

Speaker(s)

Léa Lacroix (Wikimedia Deutschland), Jens Ohlig (Wikimedia Deutschland)

Length (min)

60

Audience / Target group

Local chapters organizers (no Wikidata knowledge necessary)

Wikidata community members

Session Format

Presentation and discussion

Description

We are currently preparing a training program for building a community of trainers able to organize, prepare and run Wikidata workshops. We need your input on the material we have so far.

First, we will present a few tips and recommendations about how to organize a Wikidata workshop. We will also include the resources that already exist on the topic. Then, we will have a discussion and feedback phase, where you can express your needs regarding the training program, and the skills you think are necessary to acquire in order to organize and run a Wikidata workshop.

This session is helpful for anyone who would like to start building a Wikidata community in their local group.

Desired Outcome

Feedback about the skills people would need to learn in a training plan for Wikidata trainers

Next Steps and Milestones

• Update and publish our training program, based on feedback
• First iteration of trainings

Documentation

Léa and Jens started from introductions and asking whether anyone has organized Editathon about Wikidata or tried massive edit on Wikidata.

According to them keys to organize a successful Wikidata workshop are:

• The context
  • Requirements for the location (Quiet, Accessible, With good internet, Tables and chairs, Screen or projector, Optional: computers)
  • You can approach these potential partners (University, Local library, Museum, Local free software group, Fablab, Other educational organization)
  • How long? (30min for a simple Wikidata intro, 1h for a detailed presentation, 1h to edit Wikidata, +1-2h for the Query Service, +1h for external tools, One day for a hackathon
  • Skills needed in your team (Ability to talk in front of an audience, Good knowledge of Wikidata, Good knowledge of the community rules, Good knowledge of the Query Service, Optional: experience with other tools, Optional: coding skills)
• Introducing Wikidata --> Describe what Wikidata is
  • For 30 mins Workshop (Give a few numbers, Show and describe an item, Show that items are connected to each other, Show cool examples of reuse, Show where to find help)
  • With more time (Talk about the history and goals, Talk about the community, Mention the WikiProjects, Show more cool tools, Edit a label or statement together, Help the attendees try on their own)
• The Query Service
  • Understanding of the data structure (item/property/value)
  • Goals: Give an overview of the tool, Reassure people, Make them curious, Empower them

Two methods among others: Minimal intro, then hands-on; Build your query step by step.

What skills would one need to learn?

• Introducing Wikidata in simple ways (How to introduce Wikidata)
• Read in Room
• Defining Objectives
• Make sure that people learned
• know your audience and their topics
• Understanding the documentation
• How to use Wikidata to improve Wikipedia
• Place Wikidata into free knowledge movement
• Presentation skills
• Judge feedback
• Aims and values, Objectives are measurable
• How to advertise Wikidata
• Listening to the audience

Speakers introduced their training plan to train the trainers on Wikidata (see slides).

Then there was a discussion & questions with suggestions from participants:

• Work very closely with an expert who is familiar with the structure
• You need to learn how to work with the partners, to see what they need, it is very rewarding to build up the relationship
• Some of the individual steps are connected, get yourself familiar with it
• the overall curriculum for Wikidata trainers as visioned by speakers might be too ambitious, people might get lost in the training

Notes from the feedback round

The question was: what skills are the priority to become a good Wikidata trainer / workhops organizer?