MENA Wikipedia Education Program – WMF Interview Questions for Stakeholders

Research/Interview Questions for Professors

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  • Why would a Global Education Program be helpful for universities in the Middle East/North Africa?
  • What are some organizations or student groups that would be key alliances for this program?
  • Do you have any contacts who might be interested in this type of project (i.e. schools, professors, librarians, people involved with outreach events)? How can we connect with them?
  • (Sensitive) What might be some internal conflicts at the university that might prohibit the Global Education Program?
  • What percentage of the students at the school have access to computers (on and off campus)
  • How much time do students spend online?
  • In the university communities, who are the leaders and valued voices who might propel a Wikipedia/Global Education Program initiative?
  • What ideas for outreach might be workable in MENA?
  • Is there a community and/or mission-aligned partners interested in doing outreach?
  • What is the number of people who speak/read Arabic and who have access to Internet (this will give us a better idea of how high we would want the "rank" of Arabic Wikipedia to be). (research ITU)
  • Which classes are happening in Arabic? What percentage of students speak Arabic, write in Arabic, etc.?
  • What is the understanding of copyright in the Arab world?:
  • Does Arab culture encourage the copying/citation of texts written by authoritative sources in order to transfer that authority to your own text and/or acknowledge that authority?
  • What is the skill level of the students when it comes to experience in researching for a paper?
  • What does a student report look like? (soft copy example)
  • How many references are needed in a paper?
  • How many papers does a student write per term?
  • What's a syllabus look like for the class (soft copy example)
  • Do students ever do presentations on their work?
  • What are the student activities / what are their priorities academically?
  • How long is each academic term? How many academic terms are there per year?
  • How much leverage do course instructors have over students' assignments, in terms of autonomy?
  • Who controls the curriculum in higher education at the University?
  • Are there particular subject matters in which certain topics are especially more taboo?
  • What would be the incentive for teachers to let their students write Wikipedia articles in Arabic?
  • Will the students be able to write in higher level FusHa (Arabic) that's being used in the Arabic Wikipedia?
  • What year level would be ideal in order to work with students at the university? (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Graduate?)