Submissions/Building external partnerships to advance your mission on Wikipedia

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

Submission no. 6024 Subject - EO

Title of the submission: Building external partnerships to advance your mission on Wikipedia

Type of submission (lecture, panel, tutorial/workshop, roundtable discussion, lightning talk, poster, birds of a feather discussion): Lecture

Author of the submission: Jami Mathewson, Samantha Weald

Language of presentation: English

E-mail address: jami@wikiedu.org, samantha@wikiedu.org

Username: Jami (Wiki Ed), Samantha (Wiki Ed)

Country of origin: United States

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.): Wiki Education Foundation

Abstract (up to 300 words to describe your proposal): We all want Wikipedia to be as high-quality, comprehensive, accurate, and far-reaching as possible. After attending dozens of academic conferences over the last few years, it's clear that while the resounding attitude has changed toward Wikipedia's credibility, some instructors remain skeptical and strongly suggest their students ignore it as a reference. Wiki Ed has partnered with academic associations that endorse Wikipedia as the best platform for sharing information with the public, and we've recognized a shift among their members toward embracing Wikipedia rather than denouncing it. At the same time, there's only so much Wikimedians can do to compile our limited volunteer resources to reach the sum of all human knowledge. We need expert buy-in, support, and resources for Wikipedia's long-term success, and partnering with external organizations is a great way to get these.

Over the last three years, Wiki Ed has formally partnered with more than ten institutions to advance our mission of bringing high-quality academic content to Wikipedia. These partners, ranging from the American Chemical Society to the National Women's Studies Association, have helped us scale our programmatic work and reach our goals. They have distributed publications to their members encouraging them to teach with Wikipedia, invited us to give talks at their annual meetings, developed or reviewed subject-specific editing guidelines for students, and have supported the goal of improving the public's understanding of their studies. In short, their support has been invaluable to our organization and Wikipedia. In this presentation, we'll share practical guidelines for building partnerships to help you meet your goals.

What will attendees take away from this session?: We'll share tips for channeling enthusiasm of mission-aligned organizations into productive activities. One of the best things we do in the Wikimedia community is exude enthusiasm about the value of Wikipedia. Institutions and organizations have taken notice, and we've all seen them express interest in participating. But how do you capitalize on the resources and expertise they have to offer to Wikipedia? How do you activate their inspiration to get real results, whether you're looking for access to pay-walled publications, better content on Wikipedia, more Wikipedia editors, expert review, media coverage, donated event spaces, or sponsored events? We'll share our years of experience about the daily tasks, time commitment, and willingness to ask for help that it takes to build true partnerships. Importantly, we'll talk about the challenges of bridging the Wikimedia community's decentralized structure with formal hierarchies and how to integrate the two conflicting cultures.

Theme of presentation: Education

Length of session (if other than 25 minutes, specify how long): 25 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?: Yes

Special requests: None

Is this Submission a Draft or Final?

This is a Completed submission for Wikimania 2017 ready to be reviewed by a member of the Programme Committee.

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