2024:Program/How can we do content campaigns better?

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Session title: How can we do content campaigns better?

Session type: Roundtable

Track: Contributor/Community Engagement

Language: en

Content campaigns, such as article contests on Wikipedia or “Wiki Loves” photos contests, are a great way to close content gaps and drive new contributors. Yet, they also have pitfalls – doing too many contests can overwhelm the local community, and it’s hard to keep high quality standards at scale. In this session I’ll share Wikimedia Ukraine’s experience and reflect on where we come short, as well as invite participants to share theirs.

Description

Content campaigns on Wikipedia and sister projects offer an incredibly useful tool for attracting more content on important topics and getting new people to join the Wikimedia community. From Wiki Loves photo contests, which attract dozens of countries and hundreds of thousands of photos every year, to article campaigns like CEE Spring and WikiForHumanRights, they have achieved remarkable results.

At the same time, doing content campaigns is harder than it seems. The objectives of this session would be to get answers two questions that stand out in particular:

1) How can we be more strategic in choosing which content campaigns to organize?

There’s a lot of inertia – we organize a particular contest because we organized it in the previous years and know how to do it. While building on previous experience is useful, it’s also important to innovate. What tools can we use to identify content gaps and set priorities?

2) How can we raise the quality bar for the content produced within content campaigns?

The more popular contests get and the more contributions we receive, the harder it is to keep the quality of articles/photos high. Checking the contributions and working with newcomers to support them is important but requires a lot of time investment from organizers. What is a good balance to strike?

To get answers to these questions, I will:

• share the experience of Wikimedia Ukraine, which has been among regional and global leaders among affiliates in organizing article & photo contests (e.g. supporting Wiki Loves Earth on the international level, being among the leaders within CEE Spring, conducting dozens of campaigns every year on the local level) but also still has a lot to strive for in terms of making our content campaigns better;
• invite participants of the session to share their own experience and brainstorm responses to the questions outlined above.

Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/live/V_zKO-4P9J4?feature=shared&t=7055

How does your session relate to the event theme, Collaboration of the Open?

The session explores how to strategically choose and improve the quality of content campaigns, fostering collaboration among Wikimedia affiliates and community members.

What is the experience level needed for the audience for your session?

Average knowledge about Wikimedia projects or activities

Etherpad link

https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WM2024_Day4_Lviv-_Rooms_21%2B22%2B23

Resources

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iTE2AG-nq8Vg9W6ujp9wLQhcOurcQ4_VNYNkpzn-dME/edit?usp=sharing

Speakers

• Anton Protsiuk

I've been part of the Wikimedia movement since 2012. I'm Programs Coordinator of Wikimedia Ukraine where I lead the affiliate's programmatic work, such as content campaigns, editor recruitment efforts, and community support. In my volunteer capacity, I'm an administrator & bureaucrat on Ukrainian Wikipedia. I'm also a member of the Steering Committee of the Wikimedia CEE Hub.

• Valentyn Renvoy

Hi there! I'm Renvoy. You probably know me as a global sysop, although my home wiki is the Ukrainian Wikipedia, where I serve as an admin. Also, I have patroller rights on Polish Wikipedia and Commons. In 2023, I was appointed as a member of the Ombuds commission by the WMF.

In more real life I'm a member of Wikimedia Ukraine and Wikimedia Poland. Also, I participate in several initiatives around the CEE hub.