Project Outreach

INTRODUCTION

Wikidata-Wikipedia's Game Changer,very well said. And the main idea of this project is to make this possible. Wikidata is not known and understood yet. Project Outreach focuses on a few aspects that can ease the path of achieving the desired goal. Wikipedia is the oldest, and largest, Wikimedia project, predating the Wikimedia Foundation itself. Since the inception of Wikipedia in year 2001, it has become the most popular reference website on the Internet. But a few difficulties stand out in the day-to-day running of Wikipedia, that can be compensated by making people aware of the use of Wikidata. For example, the day to day updates of elections in India is being released in stages. Then the article on Indian elections will need updating separately in each Wikipedia. But with Wikidata the figure will be stored in a database and instead linked to from every article. Thus, a single update will propagate through all Wikipedias. Project Outreach highlights on  overall structure of Wikidata and design  for the beginning with the documentation. Project Outreach also focuses on social media campaign that increase Wikidata's popularity and help it reach among every user.

PROBLEM

The hurdle in front of us is that Wikidata is one of the newest Wikimedia projects. It is not known and understood enough yet. Wikidata’s main objective is to provide a centralized access to the structured data and manage them. In order to do that Wikidata needs a large number of contributors and users. This has not been achieved yet. Project Outreach's main objective is to overcome the hurdle and make Wikidata popular among the users.

METHODOLOGY

1. WORKING WITH DATABASE AND DOCUMENTATION

In the beginning week of my project I will work over the documentation of Wikidata. I’ll try to get familiar with the database.

To increase the number of users it is very vital that people understand what Wikidata is. For this documentation should be improved. First of all, language barrier should be removed. I’ll work over the translations, I’ll make sure that documentation is available in all possible languages. This will make it possible to have users from all over the world.

To increase contribution from existing user, I’ll prepare a discussion page where users can post their queries related to the  problems they face while working with Wikidata.

Also, I’ll work on the existing documentation. The FAQ page needs improvement. Few more queries need to be posted and answered. For example the link Random Item which appears on the left hand side of Wikidata page has not been explained. Also, Ctrl+f links directly to the question they want to ask. This also has not been mentioned in the FAQ Page. Ctrl+F opens a search box that links users directly to a particular keyword. Such small but useful information needs to be added.

2. SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

In the second phase of the Project Outreach my goal will be to increase the number of users through social media campaigns.

Facebook

Prepare Facebook pages where online discussions, news updates and storytelling related to Wikidata will be done. This will not only increase the number of users visiting Wikidata but also increase voluntary contributors.

I’ll prepare few videos and presentations that will be released on YouTube. These videos will depict all sorts of information listed on https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page in an attractive manner. These videos will be linked to Facebook pages. This will help the user to not only understand Wikidata but also improvise him/her to become a contributor to Wikidata.

Google+

Prepare snippets and link them to Google+. This will increase SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of Wikidata. Google+ provides Authorship that verifies the person who shared the post as an author. Hence, Authorship makes it easy to connect with followers and build a network. Any content linked with the snippet will be indexed higher.The quicker we're indexed, the sooner users will find our content. With millions of pieces of content published on a daily basis, Google+ provides some way to stand out from the rest. You Tube videos will also be linked to these snippets.

Twitter

Regular tweets about Wikidata is another good option. As Retweeting (RT) allows other people who are not following a particular page on Twitter, to follow them.One good point about Twitter is when someone follows Mediawiki or allied projects like Wikipedia, it opens up saying

You might also want to follow

And below appears similar projects like Wiki data, Semantic Mediawiki and others. So, Twitter can be the best platform for social media campaigns. Regular tweets could enhance Wikidata's popularity.

DEVELOPING MOBILE APPS

Develop Mobile Apps for Wikidata like we have for Wkimedia Commons, so that this free knowledge base app follow the users everywhere they go, which I would continue to do even after my project gets over, For I know it would be challenging to achieve this in short duration.

PUTTING SITE NOTICES

Put a site notice in Wikipedia that would link to Wikidata.This will open a page explaining the tag line of my proposal Wikidata-Wikipedia's Game Changer. This will highlight on the few difficulties that stand out in day to day running of Wikipedia, and how things can be made easier with the help of Wikidata. Most common among them is limited to multilingualism of Wikipedia. Wikipedia articles are dominated by four major languages, The English, German, French and Dutch. This leaves many people around the world unable to read the content of Wikipedia. Wikidata rules over this drawback. Wikidata has sidebars, that contain summary data called an item. The information is structured in these items and linked to central databases that every language version of Wikipedia can use. Another common problem arises with the volume of Wikipedia. Suppose a user wants to know about the alma mater of some famous personalities. Using Wikipedia the user may sometimes have to go through the entire educational background. However, in Wikidata several statements follow a particular label (also known as name) through which user can get the desired information.

PREPARING THUMBNAILS

Prepare thumbnails that will appear on the screen before the user is directed to Wikipedia pages. One thumbnail will contain the link to Wikipedia while the other to Wikidata on the same topic. This will make the user realize how Wikidata can help them to save their time, using Wikidata if they want to know a small information related to a particular topic. Also, this will help increase the interest of user to Wikidata. Hence, increase the popularity of Wikidata. Not only this, thumbnails will provide a direct comparison between Wikipedia and Wikidata. This will make them realize when they need to use Wikidata and Wikipedia.

TIMELINE OF THE PROJECT

May 19 - May  29 - Get familiar with the database, overall structure and working with documentation. Also work with translations in native languages as far as possible.

May 30 - June 10 - Work over Social Media Campaign. Prepare Facebook pages, snippets to be shared on Google+ also tweet on Twitter.

June 11 - June 20 - Try to work with mobile apps. S o that this free knowledge base app follow the users everywhere they go, which I would continue to do even after my project gets over, For I know it would be challenging to achieve this in 10 days.

June 21 - June 25 - Put a site notice in Wikipedia that would link to Wikidata.

June 26 - June 29 - Mid term evaluation. Focus  completely on achieving whatever proposed.

June 30 - August 10 -  Prepare thumbnails that will appear on the screen before the user is directed to Wikipedia pages.

August 11 - August 15 - The videos and presentations released on You Tube depicting all sorts of information listed in https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page  will be linked to the Wikidata's thumbnail.

August 16 - August 18 - Maintain all the social media pages, videos, presentations and pdf's.

PARTICIPATION Wikidata is one of the newest Wikimedia projects. It is not known and understood enough yet. My main objective during the entire session is to focus on making Wikidata popular and most widely used website in the World. Project Outreach is my proposal for this session of OPW. In the beginning week of my project I plan to get familiar with the database, overall structure and work with documentation. I'll carry out necessary translations so that people from all over the world can understand and use Wikidata. I'll be active in IRC so that I can discuss my work in detail and at every step with the community members.

After this is accomplished I'll plan a social media campaign. This is the most important aspect of my proposal. I have planned, attractive Facebook pages, snippets to be shared on Google+ and also linking of videos and presentations depicting all sorts of information listed on https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page in an attractive manner to catch the attention of users. Also I have planned to develop Mobile Apps for Wikidata like we have for Wkimedia Commons, so that this free knowledge base app follow the users everywhere they go. I know this will a bit challenging to achieve in such a short notice but I'll continue with developing Mobile Apps even after thee project gets over. During this time I'll be completely active in the mailing lists, Project chat as well as in IRC, so that I can accomplish my task in a fruitful manner along with active discussions with the community members.

In the next phase, I'll prepare thumbnails that will appear on the screen before the user is directed to Wikipedia pages. One thumbnail will contain the link to Wikipedia while the other to Wikidata on the same topic. This will make the user realize how Wikidata can help them to save their time, also, provide a direct comparison between Wikipedia and Wikidata. Hence prove, Wikidata-Wikipedia's Game Changer.

At the same time I'll be active with my social media campaigns to increase the number of followers through social media.

I'll be an active member in IRC channels, Project chat as well as mailing lists during the entire session and even after that to contribute to Wikidata and Wikimedia Foundation even in the future and continue with these projects and any other projects I can do. ☁

Proposal by: Shikha Shree.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Shrees1234