Lenka Kucerova (WMCZ)

Hello, Lenka!

I have been reading an article you wrote in the September edition of Wikimedia Education/News, about Senior Citizens WikiTown 2021: Týn nad Vltavou. I would very much like to do something similar in my community (a small town in western Canada). I am a Wikipedian & a senior citizen myself & I think that getting involved in some sort of Wiki-club would be very attractive to many seniors, especially those who have retired from a teaching career.

If you have the time, can you tell me: how did you get started the first time you offered this? Did you put up posters to invite people to a Wikipedia course, in libraries etc.? Or use social media? Do you do any activities to stay in contact with participants throughout the year? How many 'repeat customers' came to your event in 2021?

Many thanks for any information you can provide,

Gina Bennett (WM profile page = my profile) Redwidgeon (talk) 19:05, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Hello Gina,

thank you for reaching out! I am glad you liked our event.

To answer your questions:

How did you get started the first time you offered this? Did you put up posters to invite people to a Wikipedia course, in libraries, etc.?

The Czech association of Wikimedia runs the educational program called Senior Citizens Write Wikipedia (SCWW), in which we have a few cycles of courses each spring and fall. We usually invited senior citizens from University of the Third Age programmes. Also coorporation with libraries sometimes brings some participants (via posters, website articles, newsletters).

About Seniors Citizens Wikitown - this requires a group of active senior citizens who write Wikipedia and who are engaged in our community long-term. Besides that, we have a community of lecturers - advanced Wikipedians who actively participate.

The first year of this event was voluntarily organized by someone from the Wikipedia community. Currently, we took the responsibility for the edu team of Wikimedia.

Tho most active participants of this course are invited via e-mail and usually, we don’t have to put much afford into the invitation process, because the event is offered as something special, maybe some kind of reward to meet offline with fellow Wikipedians, enjoy time together, share the Wikipedia enthusiasm. That’s why there is a huge interest in participation from both senior citizens and lecturers.

Have a look at this article (the article is not recent, but the main mechanism of senior citizens courses is explained) https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Learning_patterns/Training_senior_citizens

Or use social media?

Yes, but it is more for PR than for the invitation of our target group.

Do you do any activities to stay in contact with participants throughout the year?

Yes, have an Alumni club for former participants, we organize advanced courses and courses dedicated to Wikimedia Commons. Also, a Wiki club in the local library works.

How did you get started the first time you offered this? Did you put up posters to invite people to a Wikipedia course, in libraries, etc.?

How many 'repeat customers' came to your event in 2021? How did you get started the first time you offered this? Did you put up posters to invite people to a Wikipedia course, in libraries, etc.?

There were 3 newbies and the rest were ‘repeat customers’ (7 people). We wouldn’t recommend organizing this as a one-round event, it is necessary to base it on the senior citizen's community and their long-term activity. Otherwise, there might be people who will just show up without any results in dashboard metrics.

I hope I helped. Feel free to reach out for more information.

Best Regards.

Lenka Kučerová Lenka Kucerova (WMCZ) (talk) 08:20, 22 October 2021 (UTC)