Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Club Pune

Suggestions

Please give suggestions regarding Wikipedia Club! AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 17:38, 1 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Umm, in a conversation with Abhishek we came up with the following points:

1. To promote the idea of the club have competitions in various colleges. Define a certain time limit and then whoever edits the most,get a prize and a chance to be an exclusive member of the club. Once you have a prize attached, and only a few can join, the whole idea becomes more appealing and exclusive.

2. Putting up posters informing people that such a club exists. College students are more interested in posters (in canteens, preferably) than emails.

3. Thirdly, if we're looking to divide the club on the basis of languages, make sub-groups within these groups based on Interests, like sports or politics. This makes it easier for people to help each other.

4. Fourthly, and most importantly, if its a student club, make the members feel that its entirely run by students (Even if its not). Once you know that there is a chance of rising higher in the hierarchy the more you contribute, there is a certain goal you're moving towards (Instead of the commonly used 'making knowledge freely available), which college students do not really care about.

(Tb0412 (talk) 18:08, 1 December 2011 (UTC))[reply]

Thank you so much Tahera , for adding summary of conversation AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 18:19, 1 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, so I have a few issues with this hierarchical structure. Please read, WP:OWNER. I understand its a club but Wikipedia is the free encyclopaedia which anyone can edit and no matter how much experience you have, you are the same as everyone else. Its a flat hierarchy. Please see WP:HEC for reference. Having mentors is ok but there should be no concept of leaders. The whole point of the club is to find people who care about editing Wikipedia, so trying to gain students by merchandise or exclusivity would be a direct violation of the five pillars on which Wikipedia stands. If the student is not interested, don't take him. But creating a parallel hierarchy of editors who state "I'm better than you" would violate the very fundamentals of Wikipedia. --Debastein (talk) 13:52, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

On Leadership

Hi Debastein,

I saw your views above and respect them. But I do wish to point out to you that in Wikipedia, as in all organisations, to achieve coordinated activities we require leaders and leadership. Anything worthwhile which needs to be done and involves the activity of more than one editor involves a leader or leadership.

The leader in Wikipedia is not a guy who holds a post and orders people around but a do-er who gets out there and does the things that need doing. While doing that, people realise that there is someone doing something they would like to do and join him/her. They may look to him for guidance, encouragement, knowledge and help. Providing these, and motivating such people who look for support is all leadership. So if you ever did these things, then you were a leader. By this definition you will realise that all Campus Ambassadors who participated heart and soul in IEP (God bless that program and especially forthcoming version 2), is already a leader. So de facto, you are already a leader. :)

What you are possibly confusing with leadership is hierarchy and position-based status.

My two cents, AshLin (talk) 14:06, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks AshLin for clarifying on Leadership, and I totally agree with you on that. What Debastein is trying to say here is that we should not focus on hierarchy and other lucrative offers proposed by Tahera, coz the whole point of doing any type of contribution to Wikipedia is all about supporting the free movement, if the person doesn't believes in it, he's not the fit here, and after taking the goody bag he'll never come back.

Yes we do need Leaders/Mentors who believe in doing things and lead by examples.

Cheers,

Ram (talk • contribs) 16:06, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for clarifying, Ram. There are indeed some aspects of the present plan that could do with a rethink but I do not wish to comment any further. Hey, this your club. You students make the decisions, the successes and mistakes are there for you to experience and learn. WikiPuneri are always there to support you if you need us! AshLin (talk) 16:59, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hey AshLin, I completely agree with you on the leadership thing as its exactly as Ram mentioned, I'm not in support of the hierarchical structure that is proposed. Yes mentors are very much required, even leaders. But I object to two points.

Point 1: " Once you know that there is a chance of rising higher in the hierarchy the more you contribute"

- How do you define this hierarchy and what do you mean there is change of you rising up? I mean, we all edit Wikipedia because we love doing it right? Not because I just want to be the person who edits the most and has the maximum edit count. I mean to say, if this is the motivation, that the more you edit, the further you go up the hierarchy, then am sure after one time it will fizzle out. I mean, what would your ultimate goal be, to make great contribs or just be the top honcho? Is that not a conflict of interest?

Point 2: "...there is a certain goal you're moving towards (Instead of the commonly used 'making knowledge freely available), which college students do not really care about."

- What is the point of a club? To have a group of people having the same interest right? If you have people there who are there only because the club is exclusive and because of the goodies, but care not about Wikipedia, then what is the point of the club? Don't get me wrong, I am assuming goo faith to what tb has written, but the point itself to me is redundant. If a person doesn't care about Wikipedia and there is a conflict of interest, I don't think, he belongs in an exclusive club. Rather, I'd have a person who loves to edit wiki because he actually wants to rather than because of goodies. Then we'd be sending a wrong message.

Two more small points:

AshLin: Your two cents are always valuable, and its best to have a discussion about this that restrict yourself. We generally want your opinion. Debate and discussion helps us build better, together, i.e. collaborative learning.
I think it would be better to move this page to Outreach than English Wikipedia, what say??

Regards, Your friendly neighbourhood Campus Ambassador, --Debastein (talk) 17:52, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the reply, Debastein, like I said I reserve my comments as my views are already stated above. It is good that you are discussing the core principles behind the effort. If we get that wrong right at the start of an endeavour, it is very difficult to change midway and, if not changed it does not matter what all efforts you do, your work gets tainted nevertheless.

Support for move of page(s) to Outreach wiki as this has more to do with outreach than English Wikipedia and it is not restricted to English Wikipedia, say. AshLin (talk) 18:30, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Register

Core Team

_{Core Team will design workshop model and will manage Club Activities.}

Club Member

_{Club Members will be *active participants of club* and will join workshops and respective sessions.}

Members
Username	Name
Minakshinajardhane (talk · contribs)	Minakshi Najardhane
Aniruddhagawade (talk · contribs)	Aniruddha Gawade
Shilpa More (talk · contribs)	Shilpa More
Meljin joseph (talk · contribs)	Meljin Joseph

Mentors

_{Mentors will guide and help Club Members regarding editing,technical as well as Wikipedia Policies aspect.}

<<Add your name here>>

For those wanting to work on online activities of WikiProject India (English Wikipedia,this Wikipedia). AshLin (talk) 13:53, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Gunit Kaur S. Kalada Gunit31 (talk) 11:36, 18 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Bengali Wikipedia

I am very happy to see in Pune a Bengali community group is gnawing up. If any kind of help needed from me, please contact me.--- Jayanta Nath ^{(Talk|Contrb)} 12:32, 18 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes Jayanta da,

Pune has a good number of Bengalis and I hope to tap that number, I will be needing your help and guidance, surely.

Regards,

--Debastein (talk) 17:54, 19 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]