Wikipedia talk:Academy/NIH 2009

I learned about this when I saw user:John Broughton deliver the Helping Hand barnstar to user:MZMcBride, who I work with on law articles. What a fabulous project! Congratulations! Agradman ^talk/_contribs 14:34, 20 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Possible suggestion

Hey I think the NIH academy was an absolutely fantastic idea and effort. One thing I couldn't tell from the Signpost coverage was whether the participants were prepared for the realities of Wikipedia such as vandalism and outright destructive users. I think many academics try Wikipedia but leave quickly either because of difficult users or because they simply aren't used to collaborating with amateurs. In any case, if you get a chance to do something like this in the future I'd suggest preparing them for some of the downsides might help more people participate long term. - Taxman ^Talk 15:08, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As I tried to hint in the Signpost article (which was apparently too hint-y), John's talk addressed some of this ("Finally, John Broughton discussed some of Wikipedia's quality-control measures, such as counter-vandalism and policies like verifiability."). We wanted to both make them aware of such problems, but not scare them away - it is a delicate balance. Awadewit (talk) 15:25, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ahh ok. But I've always been of the mind that it's better to prepare people for the realities of what they may see than pamper them and have them unprepared. In other words, farther along that balance. Of course, you can't fail to mention that a large percentage of the time nothing bad happens. It's just that sometimes it does. - Taxman ^Talk 15:54, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The first aim is always to convince them to contribute, in my opinion. Everything else is second. Awadewit (talk) 15:58, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

True, I'm just trying to say that second part shouldn't be minimized too much. Maybe it would help to mention I have a lot of experience in this area. I used to recruit college students to work 80 hrs a week during their summer break doing demanding work. While their interest certainly had to be built, they also wouldn't last a day if they didn't know what they were getting themselves into. - Taxman ^Talk 19:02, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps you can add some suggestions here? We've started compiling a page for organizers of large Wikipedia-related events. Suggestions for how to inspire new users while at the same time making them aware of the pitfalls would be most welcome! Awadewit (talk) 19:15, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost article

The signpost article has much more content than this article. Are you going to merge the info here? -- Ssilvers (talk) 18:59, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've at least added a link. :) Awadewit (talk) 19:17, 29 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

effectiveness

Unless I have missed something, only one of the NIH participants has gone on afterwards to contribute to Wikipedia in a substantial way. I do not think his has actually been reported anywhere, and I wonder if there is a discussion about this result? DGG ( talk ) 22:13, 10 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was looking for some info about that, too. --Nemo 09:26, 25 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]