TAO/Silver Knowledge/Information for cooperation partners

Information und check list to plan a series of "Silver Knowledge" events for Wikipedia


A Silver Knowledge course addresses interested persons 50plus. The idea behind is to make them known participation possibilities in the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org) as well as to explain the goal and meaning of "free content". At the same time this offers serves to increase the attractivity of your institution.

A course consists of three parts (modules):
 * 1) Workshop, part 1 (What is the Wikipedia and how does it work?)
 * 2) Workshop, part 2 (e.g. basic knowledge about editing in Wikipedia)
 * 3) Workshop, part 3 (e.g. adding own photos)

The participants should come from the institution's target group. But PR work it is recommended as well to address a wide public for the participation in the course. The modules of the course are based on each other and require the participation in all three events. Interested persons who would like to work collaboratively and who are ready to contribute are addressed.

Speaker for the three modules is an experienced Wikipedia author. The contact will be arranged by the national chapter of Wikimedia. It is expected that the event will be well prepared. The speaker is a freelancer of the national chapter of Wikimedia. As soon as a speaker is found for your event you may contact him for arrangements about dates and details.

At first general basics about active use of the Wikipedia and if necessary sister projects will be communicated, e.g. editing in the Wikipedia, uploading of own photos and linking with articles. Furthermore it is possible to offer events about specific subjects respectively for advanced learners after an appropriate agreement.

The following checklist serves to plan and prepare the event:

Basic conditions
Premises:
 * good transport links and well perceptible accessibility inside the building (if necessary signpost the way), if necessary access suitable for disabled,
 * a room equipped with computers and sufficient workplaces for all participants
 * usual good conditions, ideally an area for breaks

Technical equipment:
 * a computer with mouse per participant (touchpads are possibly difficult for older persons), a computer with mouse, digital projector, projection surface, moderation material/flipchart/pinboard for the speaker according to the agreement with him, access to the Internet for speaker and participants
 * please contact in advance the speaker to arrange and to coordinate the technical equipment, used standards, software, access data etc. in details
 * stable Internet connection/Wi-Fi

Times:
 * between 2.5 and 5 hours, enough time for explanations and exercises, duration per workshop to be arranged individually, also according to the expected staying power of the participants
 * the exact temporal scale should be arranged with the speaker
 * the three dates should be arranged with the speaker and should be in close temporal connection, separate days are possible or e.g. a whole weekend
 * if there is the need for further exercises and for questions we check the possibility for further workshops with pleasure

Contents

 * the speaker is responsible for the contents, learning materials will be provided by him or by the national chapter of Wikimedia
 * basic information about Wikipedia, free content and collaborative possibilities are in the foreground
 * specific wishes about subjects need to be arranged in advance and in time with the speaker, if necessary further dates need to be arranged or experts from the pool of speakers need to be found

Target group

 * the events should be accessible to all interested persons of the target group 50plus - they shall be gained as authors of Wikipedia and its sister projects [e.g. Commons for media data (http://commons.wikimedia.org) for example for photos; WikiSource as a collection of source texts (e.g. http://en.wikisource.org)]
 * maximum ten persons should be gained as participants per workshop to safeguard the individual support of the participants. The minimum number of participants is five. Please arrange this with the speaker, too.
 * the focus should be set on the target group of seniors who just retired and are looking for new challenges

Public relations

 * in time dissemination of the invitation with dates and places by the usual media of the institution (printed, website, mailinglist, entry of the date in an online community, ...)
 * press information
 * flyers, posters
 * reporting about the project before its start or after the event
 * if nationally available you may receive a flyer about Silver Knowledge from the national chapter of Wikimedia

Evaluation
If an institution evaluates Silver Knowledge events please support it. Also the speakers and the national chapters of Wikimedia are interested in feedback. Please support them, e.g. distribution of questionnaires if you receive them.

Prospect
The national chapter of Wikimedia aims at considering the series of events at your place as starting point for a long-term Wikipedia project there. If for example the participants see the need for further meetings/exchange of experiences or if they are looking for advice of an experienced speaker it would be nice if you could provide adequate rooms for this purpose.

For the German chapter of Wikimedia the contact persons for questions are:

Dr. Elvira Schmidt or Cornelia Trefflich

E-Mail: [mailto:silberwissen@wikimedia.de silberwissen@wikimedia.de]

Tel: +49 30 21 91 58 26-0

Silver Knowledge is called in German Silberwissen. It is a project of "Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens e.V.": http://wikimedia.de/wiki/Silberwissen.

Information about the German chapter of Wikimedia: „Wikimedium“ (in German, http://wikimedia.de/wiki/Vereinszeitung).