Dear Heather et al.,
I am glad that we have someone from Ushahidi subscribed to our list :)
Anyway, back to the issue of the Google competitions: yes, you are right that the
challenge didn't result in an editor retention. However, I personally think that the
challenge was a success. I define success here by the following:
-There is now an (upcoming) Kenyan chapter that has arisen as a result of the Google
competition.-The Kenyan chapter is, IMO, very active and rejuvenated. This has led us into
carrying out quite a number of Wikimedia-related events like offline Wikipedia projects,
Wikipedia takes Nairobi and talking at various events.
In short, the Kenyan chapter and all these aforementioned activities were as a direct
consequence of the Google competition. So it may have not served as a good tool for editor
retention, but it very much aided the Wikimedia movement in achieving its mission and
Strategic Plan (specifically with regard to offline and increasing reach) in Kenya (the
"Global South"). However, the editor retention problem has been one of my
personal concerns, and that was the primary reason I started WikiSaturdays -- where
chapter folks gather one Sat. every month to edit (although, arguably, they haven't
been as successful, thus far).
So, with the upcoming Google challenge in Botswana, I would not solely analyse its success
with the number of editors retained after the challenge, but how the challenge assisted
Wikimedia to achieve its overall mission and/or strategic plan in Botswana.
Sincerely,
Abbas Mahmood,
Learners' Voice 2011 Member: World Innovation Summit for Education
http://www.wise-qatar.org
From: hfordsa(a)gmail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:32:10 -0700
To: wikimediake(a)lists.wikimedia.org; wikimediaza(a)lists.wikimedia.org
Subject: [Wikimedia Kenya] Stats for WP Africa
http://stats.wikimedia.org/EN_Africa/ReportCardAfrica.htm
This was interesting. I'm wondering whether the spike in Swahili was because of the
Google competition? Also interesting to see how the competition didn't result in more
editors in the long term (something that I think has been mentioned before)
Heather Ford
Ethnographer: Ushahidi / SwiftRiver
http://ushahidi.com |
http://swiftly.org
@hfordsa on Twitter
http://hblog.org
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