[Foundation-l] Looking for stories of readers affected by Wikipedia

Thu Nov 11 07:05:42 UTC 2010



Check this out: 
 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/26/kenya-plane-homemade
 
Regards,
Abbas
 

> From: sgardner at wikimedia.org
> Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:32:46 -0800
> To: devnations-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> Subject: [Devnations-l] Looking for stories of readers affected by Wikipedia
> 
> Hi folks,
> 
> Megan Hernandez on the staff is looking out for me, for stories of
> readers whose lives have been impacted by Wikipedia or the other
> projects. (Donors often send us stories like that, and I am often
> looking for stories to tell people about the projects. So I've asked
> her to send good ones to me.)
> 
> I was writing her a set of criteria for the kinds of stories I want,
> and it occurred to me that you might yourselves have some good stories
> of exactly this kind. So I am sending along the criteria here too :-)
> If you have stories that fit many/all of these criteria, please send
> them to me, onlist or off. And please forgive my cross-posting to
> several lists at once.
> 
> Thanks,
> Sue
> 
> * Ideally, they'd be along the theme of "how Wikipedia made my life
> better." This might be an anecdote, or bigger-picture (ie, 'how
> Wikipedia makes my life better every day').
> 
> * Ideally, they would be stories of people who
> pre-exposure-to-Wikipedia would have had circumscribed access to
> information. Because they grew up in a small town with no library,
> because their school didn't stock certain kinds of books, because
> materials in their language are of limited availability, because their
> government limits access to certain types of information -- in
> general, because their economic/political/socio-cultural circumstances
> somehow impede(d) easy access to information.
> 
> * Ideally, the information that Wikipedia gives them is important, and
> directly, immediately useful. Like, it helped them better understand a
> health issue they were having, or it equipped them to do some
> important task better; it helped them understand a new situation or
> some aspect of themselves, or enabled them to solve an important
> problem. Maybe it helped them get a job they otherwise couldn't have
> gotten, or enabled them to avoid some specific danger or risk.
> 
> * And/or, the information fed a general curiosity and desire to
> understand the world better. It got them interested in going to
> college which nobody in their family had done before, it helped them
> develop a more thoughtful position on a public policy issue, it
> stimulated them to travel or read more widely, or to question
> assumptions they had been making.
> 
> * Ideally, their lives are better today because of the information
> they are exposed to via Wikipedia. Maybe this would be better in some
> really specific way -- like, "Three months later I persuaded my doctor
> to let me try the new treatment, and it worked." Or, it might be much
> more general.
> 
> * It is fine if the information they found on Wikipedia might
> otherwise have been kept from them, either deliberately or through
> lack of easy opportunity. It is fine if the information is considered
> risky or controversial in some way.
> 
> 
> 
> Sue Gardner
> Executive Director
> Wikimedia Foundation
> 
> 415 839 6885 office
> 415 816 9967 cell
> 
> Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in
> the sum of all knowledge.  Help us make it a reality!
> 
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
> 
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