Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Update/9 November 2010

WMF presents Public Policy Initiative in Barcelona

Wikipedia Lounge at the Drumbeat Festival

Last week, Education Programs Manager Rod Dunican and Head of Public Outreach Frank Schulenburg attended both the 7th Annual "Open Ed 2010" conference and the first-ever "Mozilla Drumbeat Festival 2010: Learning, Freedom and the Web" in Barcelona. During Open Ed 2010, Rod and Frank connected with members of the Open Educational Resources (OER) community, to listen to presentations, explain the Public Policy Initiative, and discuss the teaching materials that we are currently creating and collecting. Rod and Frank also presented the Public Policy Initiative in the Wikipedia Lounge at Mozilla Drumbeat. The event was attend by 400 people from around the world. Additionally, Jon Beasley-Murray joined them at the Drumbeat Festival to talk about his Wikipedia teaching experience at the University of British Columbia: "Murder, Madness and Mayhem."

Initiative covered in NPR, Chronicle of Higher Education

Rod Dunican speaks to NPR

Rod Dunican, Georgetown University Professor Rochelle Davis, and Public Policy Initiative students from Georgetown and George Washington University were all interviewed for a segment that aired during NPR's All Things Considered on Tuesday, November 2. The next day, an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education showcased the Initiative, quoting Professors Donna Infeld from George Washington and Brian Carver from the University of California at Berkeley. As always, you can see a full list of media coverage on the Outreach wiki.

More student articles featured on Did You Know?

The Did You Know? section of the main page of Wikipedia has been the home to a total of 12 Public Policy Initiative student articles so far. The section, which highlights the newest or newly expanded Wikipedia articles, drives traffic to the students' work with a short hook. Two more students' articles are scheduled to be on the main page in the Did You Know? section by Wednesday. For a complete list of articles that have been on the main page, check out the Trophy Case.

More expert assessors desperately needed

Unavoidable time conflicts have forced several of our volunteer public policy expert assessors to drop out. That means we still need two or three more experts. Would you be willing to help? You qualify as long as you have some training in political science, government, or public policy, and you're willing to volunteer to spend 2-3 hours every two weeks to evaluate the quality of Wikipedia articles. Would you be able to help us? Please email LiAnna Davis at ldavis at wikimedia dot org if you can!