Wikipedia talk:GLAM/State Library of New South Wales/November 2012

Feedback?

Participants are welcome to add any feedback about the training days here. Please sign your comments by finishing them with ~~~~. 99of9 (talk) 11:25, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

How did you feel the training day went overall?

So many people around the room commented on how interesting it was to learn about how Wikipedia works and also how much fun they had learning how to do basic editing and creating entries. From my point of view it has been a great start to on-going cooperation with Wikimedia Australia and I am excited to see what will happen in the rest of the state-wide project. The generosity of the trainers giving up so much of their own time was really appreciated by everyone. Aliaretiree (talk) 11:38, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Great presenters, very knowledgable. I learnt a great deal! Mcarneyaus (talk) 05:05, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

The training session was totally engaging and lots of fun thanks to our 3 Wikimedians who encouraged us to have a go. It was a great feeling to actually create an entry in Wikipedia even if only a stub. Subimoir (talk) 12:06, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

The session was very interesting and engaging - and fun! It was great that we were able to go live with several articles by the end of the session. Having the project page was very useful and made everything a lot easier. Rubicon49bce (talk) 21:40, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

The enthusiasm of the presenting Wikimedians was palpable and their zeal produced a lively, interesting and inspiring training session, packed full of relevant information. MoonSwan999 (talk) 03:08, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

I really enjoyed the training and appreciated having the benefit of our trainers' knowledge, enthusiasm and patience. Looking forward to making progress with edits and new articles.Jaharkin48 (talk) 04:27, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Very well, 99of9 especially helped me with adding images to the article being created GabeMcCann (talk) 04:57, 29 November 2012 (UTC)GabeMcCann

Great fun! The time flew, always a good sign! Jeanstshirt (talk) 11:40, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Enjoyed the lively training, certainly wasn't a dull moment.Have learnt the basics and keen to add to that. Kurquhart (talk) 22:32, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

I really enjoyed the day. the presenters were just great and we covered it all at a very comfortable pace. Thanks to all. Brucabruca (talk) 23:12, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

The training was a great introduction to both technical and functional aspects of wikipedia. The presenters were all very helpful and their enthusiasm for what they do made the day enjoyable. Beklee (talk) 02:22, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Did you achieve your goals?

My goals for the participants: (1) introduce Library staff to Wikipedia editing and the potential it has for GLAM sector applications; (2) Library staff to acquire beginner level skills in creating and editing Wikipedia entries; (3) get expert input from Wikimedia Aust reps to help guide our project further. ALL ACHIEVED! Aliaretiree (talk) 11:44, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes - I was just hoping to have enough confidence to edit entries so being able to start and publish one from scratch exceeded my expectations.Beklee (talk) 02:27, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

What should we change next time we present to a similar group?

Maybe a bit more structure Jeanstshirt (talk) 11:39, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Maybe have a quick step by step guide to creating an article similar to the mark up quick reference. Beklee (talk) 02:32, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

What should we keep the same?

The project page was a really useful tool in collaboratively planning / preparing for the training day ... we would like to continue to use it as a tool throughout the rest of the project. Starting with live editing early in the session and building through to entries going live was a good experience.Aliaretiree (talk) 11:46, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Really worked well having enough information at hand including images to begin creating an article. Good to focus on linking and include the uploading of files because this is an area where we are likely to be able to contribute Subimoir (talk) 12:23, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Are you likely to continue editing Wikipedia now that the event is over? Why/why not?

Yes, I will continue editing personally and also setting up a working group who will continue to edit and create entries relevant to items in the Library collection and NSW history. Aliaretiree (talk) 11:48, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I really like the collaborative approach to Wikipedia. It's an online community I'd like to contribute to. Mcarneyaus (talk) 05:06, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

I definitely want to continue editing and have already updated a broken link in another article Subimoir (talk) 12:12, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I plan to keep contributing - now that I've had some time to learn how it works, I feel more confident about editing entries. Rubicon49bce (talk) 21:36, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes I like the idea of being able to make a contribution with the knowledge I have, especially since I have used the contributions of others many times in the past for my own benefit/ studies /work etc.Jaharkin48 (talk) 04:30, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I've already updated a couple of other Wikipedia entries not related to this Library GabeMcCann (talk) 04:54, 29 November 2012 (UTC) GabeMcCann

Yes. I'm already thinking of ways to make it part of my work routine Jeanstshirt (talk) 11:38, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes I will definitely continue to edit now that I have enough confidence that I won't upset too many wikipedians- I really enjoy the collaborative aspect of working with wikipedia and am keen to see how others in the GLAM sector are using it. Beklee (talk) 02:38, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Would you consider coming to another session of more advanced training in a few months?

Definitely. Aliaretiree (talk) 11:48, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

For sure. Mcarneyaus (talk) 05:04, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes I would like to know more about redirects and disambiguation. There are so many parallels with the work we do in Library land and the world of Wikipedia is a much bigger playground Subimoir (talk) 12:18, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that would be great. Rubicon49bce (talk) 21:35, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

Yep, I'm in.Jaharkin48 (talk) 04:31, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Of course I would GabeMcCann (talk) 04:54, 29 November 2012 (UTC)GabeMcCann

Yes Jeanstshirt (talk) 11:39, 29 November 2012 (UTC)

Absolutley!Brucabruca (talk) 23:10, 2 December 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it would be great to learn more. MoonSwan999 (talk) 02:50, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Yes!Beklee (talk) 02:41, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

WM-Au Report

The following report is as a reference for the purposes of learning from our collaboration.

Participants

Since the participants were all professional librarians from a GLAM organisation that needs to have articles about the historic newspapers it holds in its collection, the strong commitment to the activity and an understanding of how it would help achieve one of their goals were important factors in its success. We were able to focus on HOW to edit rather than WHY to edit and we focused the training on skill building to enable trainees to continue after we left. The lessons were structured to start editing as soon as possible, so we did not start with explanations of WP policies and practices but rather left those to come out as work proceeded. This model - a combined training/editathon - seemed to produce good results both for the articles and the people working on them. Being professional librarians, participants already had a good understanding of the importance of references along with access to a world-class collection to support their editing. Hence, referencing was a particular focus of the training.

Outcomes

The two training days resulted in:

• creation and/or improvements to 17 targeted articles.
• enough competence in most of the group that they can continue to edit (many have already done additional edits);
• enough confidence in most of the group that are willing to continue to edit;
• an increase in female editors;
• a good relationship with the people at SLNSW who are working on innovation and digitisation;
• a range of proposals for further collaboration and Wikimedia content improvement.

Planning

The success of the days was due to the preparation done in advance, including:

Preparation by SLNSW

Thanks in particular, to (User:Aliaretiree), who ensured that there was/were:

• planned scheduling, trainee participation, venue and article selection in consultation with the trainers;
• a range of pre-determined target articles relevant to the organisation's/participants' needs;
• relevant text/ images collected by the contact person;
• trainees' user pages created in advance of the day;
• informed trainees who understood the purpose of the training and its relationship to their organisational goals;
• planning for a follow up group to continue work.

Preparation by WM-Au

• the project page that was used by everyone as a reference for the targeted articles, resources, involvement and feedback;
• consultation with the organisation about the target articles and images;
• relevant text and images uploaded in advance by our Library contact person - they were available to the trainees on an internal share drive ready for use during training;
• support from off-site Wikipedians.

Preparation for teaching and learning

Learning objectives
Given that the goal was to create or improve the articles from the target list, the training was designed so that by the end of the day, trainees could:

• choose what to disclose on their user page;
• create and edit an article in their sandbox;
• produce accurate references using the toolbar;
• discuss articles on talk pages;
• upload an image.

Teaching strategy
We aimed to have participants editing their selected article before the first break, so we tried to resist the temptation to explain WP policies and procedures or give a lot of background or work through a manual. Instead we involved the participants as much as possible in editing the article they had selected from the target list. The time was planned so that as many new or improved articles were ready for launch by the end of the day.

Preparation for follow up

• SLNSW to set up a work group to continue with the articles started;
• WM-Au to neaten up unfinished or "too hard" components, such as merge requests or failed image uploads.