User talk:Ldavis (WMF)/Archive 1

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikipedia, Ldavis (Public Policy)! I am Acather96 and have been editing Wikipedia for quite some time. Thank you for your contributions. I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to Wikipedia! If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page or by typing helpme at the bottom of this page. I love to help new users, so don't be afraid to leave a message! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Also, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); that should automatically produce your username and the date after your post. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place helpme on your talk page and ask your question there. Again, welcome! Acather96 (talk) 20:09, 23 June 2010 (UTC)
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Assessment Drive Challenge: WikiProject U.S. Public Policy
The first tagging and assessment drive challenge is starting now for WikiProject United States Public Policy. If you'd like to participate, start using the new assessment system and the project banner to tag and rate articles that are related to U.S. public policy. There's even a small prize for whoever does the most assessment this week.--Sross (Public Policy) (talk) 17:49, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Assessment
Hi SilkTork -- Amy Roth is now out on maternity leave (she had a healthy baby girl this weekend!) so I'll be filling in for a couple of months. I'd like to get the second assessment done this week if possible -- I've made some edits to give you direct links to the versions we'd like you to assess. Please let me know if you can't finish it by this weekend! Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks again for all your help! --Ldavis (Public Policy) (talk) 21:50, 20 October 2010 (UTC)


 * Hi. I've just become aware of this. I am about to leave for 12 days in France with limited access to the internet, so I will not be able to do these assessments until I get back. Please leave a note if you wish me to continue.  SilkTork  *YES!

Assesment
Sorry about this, I am still behind from before, things are a little busy right now for me. I am leaving for a trip out of town on Friday, getting back sunday at about 0300 EDT, and I will be useless/busy the rest of the weekend. That gives me about 24 hours and I know I won't get them all done. Sorry about this. Will try to have done ASAP. -- DQ  (t)  (e)  02:17, 21 October 2010 (UTC)
 * As I am finding out, it's getting harder to keep the activity in the project, and I have had serveral things popup that are disrupting my ability to edit wikipedia normally, so I can only do my normal tasks when I do come on. I am sorry to say, but I have to step away from the project at this time and I wish you luck. -- DQ  (t)  (e)  19:38, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Assesment
Hi LiAnna, Nice to hear the good news about Amy. I shall surely try to do it by this week. But cannot give any assurance. Much other work to be finished this week. Rejoice  talk  09:19, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Assessment request
Hi LiAnna, one of the students I'm online mentoring for has emailed me asking if I could help him get an assessment for his public policy article, Cyber ShockWave. I wasn't sure how we were doing this, and if I could just fill in the fields for him, or what was up with the Article Feedback tool, and its roll in assessment. What can I tell him about this?-- Patrick, o Ѻ ∞ 17:22, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Re:How's your Online Ambassador experience going so far?
Feedback 1. How many mentees are you currently working with? 1

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to? I've reached out to another student (who has asked GorillaWarfare)...I'd like to have a few more.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group? The message seem fine/appropriate.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group? It doesn't seem to be flooded or abandoned yet...

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more? I do participate a bit

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far? Nope.

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?I'd suggest a bit more organization (with regards to the assignments, which articles are by whom, on-wiki layout)...but I don't want a bureaucracy.

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous? Username.

I'd like to point out that the proper term would be a mailing list hosted via a Google Group.Smallman12q (talk) 22:44, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Online ambassador questionnaire replies
Hi -- here are my answers. 1. How many mentees are you currently working with?
 * One.

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?
 * I would in principle; I've been pretty busy in real life so haven't been proactive, but have no objections.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?
 * It's been useful. I was particularly glad to see the post today on "What Online Ambassadors shouldn't be doing"; very helpful.  The discussions on proactive vs. reactive assistance were also interesting, and it's been generally informative.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?
 * It's fine.

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?
 * Not much, for two reasons; as an ambassador I feel my job is to react to the students, and so far I have only one mentee who is not yet really active, so I've little current experience to refer to. Second, I'm very busy in real life.  I will probably participate more as the courses progress.

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?
 * No.

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?
 * Not that I can think of.

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?
 * I've no objection.

-- Mike Christie (talk) 23:16, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Online Ambassador experience so far
Hello Ldavis, here is my response to the questions you posted to my talkpage. (1) I currently am working with 3 mentees. (2) I haven't reached out other than having added my name to the list of available mentors. I have no problem taking on more mentees. (3) I think the content of the messages in the google group are fine. I have garnered much useful information from this forum. (4) The volume of messages has steadily increased to a point where it is hard to keep up with everything. (5) I check and read the messages daily but refrain from replying in hopes to not flood the group with messages. I have replied to one message because I felt a reply was appropriate. (6) I haven't experienced any problems at all so far. There was a time when two students entered the IRC looking for ambassador assistance but they didn't ping !ambassadors and no one was watching the channel so their questions went unanswered. Neither student used their Wikipedia username so I couldn't leave them a message which I would liked to have done. So if there is a way to help these students know how to ping !ambassador or the !username they are looking for, perhaps that could be helpful. (7) I am fully satisfied with the level of support I have received to date. (8) I am fine with my username being attributed to my response.  My 76 Strat  23:21, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Regarding USPP experience
1. How many mentees are you currently working with?
 * Four, currently. I turned one down because I think four is a good number.

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?
 * I have, yes. I worked with User:Amfarr21 and User:Ace of Raves on their sandbox articles through the USPP IRC channel. I ended up taking Amfarr on as a mentor. I am willing to work with students without mentors still, although I'm stretched for time in the next few weeks.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?
 * Content seems good and productive.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?
 * I would say the volume of messages is rather high. When I'm really busy, I often don't have time to look at them and just have to delete them due to sheer volume.

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?
 * I have participated some, but not a huge amount. If I see something that I have a response to, I'll reply. So, to make me participate more, I guess just more things that evoke a response!

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?
 * Not really a problem I guess, but three of my mentees are from the Indiana University group. They've made few to none edits so far. Looking at their course page, however, I see this is about to change.

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?
 * So far, not really! Everything is going well on my end!

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?
 * Sure, go for it!

— GorillaWarfare talk 02:02, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Reply from / ƒETCH COMMS /
1. How many mentees are you currently working with?
 * Two; waiting for a third to respond.

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?
 * Yes, and perhaps one or two more if necessary.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?
 * In general, it seems like discussion is progressing fairly well. I think the material discussed is important and on-topic.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?
 * Not too bad; it's usually manageable.

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?
 * A fair amount, I think. If I had any significant comments to make, I'd say them; if I had no opinion, I wouldn't want to spam people's inboxes.

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?
 * Not really.

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?
 * I don't know yet; this is something to think about more later on, as I haven't started working with the students too much yet.

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?
 * Sure, I guess. I don't think anything bad will happen to me if I do :) / ƒETCH COMMS  /  02:37, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Reply from Cryptic C62
1. How many mentees are you currently working with?
 * Not really sure, I just help people when they need it.

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?
 * Yep, I provide feedback where necessary.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?
 * Solid stuff.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?
 * Manageable.

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?
 * When the discussion is on a topic that I care about, I participate. When not, I don't.

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?
 * Nope.

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?
 * Nope.

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?
 * The former.

--Cryptic C62 · Talk 03:52, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Reply from Geniac
--Geniac (talk) 06:15, 23 October 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) 0. 4 each sounds reasonable.
 * 2) A bit and yes.
 * 3) Interesting behind-the-scenes discussion.
 * 4) It's quite lively.
 * 5) Not at all. I wouldn't participate; I prefer discussing wiki on-wiki.
 * 6) Some students appear to be replacing articles wholesale with their sandbox versions instead of merging in their information.
 * 7) No.
 * 8) Sharing is good.

Reply from Piotrus
--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 01:33, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) 0 (no students have requested my help)
 * 2) Yes, to three or four. I could do it for more, if it was easier to see who needs help - see my reply to Q6.
 * 3) Ok.
 * 4) Ok.
 * 5) Yes
 * 6) None, other than the usual student inactivity.
 * 7) See my post "Is there a place listing students who have no mentor and articles which need reviews?"
 * 8) Yes, as well as my real name (which I use on wiki anyway).

Reply from Patrickneil

 * 1. I have four users I'm mentoring through the Online Ambassadors program, and three others in the Georgetown University class have contacted me on Wikipedia about help, since I've been in contact with the professor of that class.


 * 2. I haven't reached out to those without mentors, and I will if need be, but it seems like there are several mentors without mentees right now.


 * 3. Until I saw this question I was unaware of a Google Group. Perhaps someone could add me? Annie and Sage should have my Gmail address. I'm just going to skip questions 4 and 5 then.


 * 6. I had a question from one student, where he asked me to get his page an assessment, and I've asked you about that above.


 * 7. Nope.


 * 8. No problem.-- Patrick, o Ѻ ∞ 03:31, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Leaving US Public Policy WP
Hi Ldavis! I'm really sorry, but I think I'm gonna have to leave WPUSPP. Thanks and God bless!  Canon Law Junkie §§§ Talk 11:32, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Psst!
- Dwayne  was here! &#9835; 20:12, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Ambassador survey answers
Hi LiAnna, here are my answers to the questions:

1. How many mentees are you currently working with?

I have enlisted 2 but they haven't asked me for help yet, but I'm not sure what to do with them, whether to ask them for help or what.

'2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?'

That's the way that I have enlisted my current 2.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?

They seem pretty on-topic and useful.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?

I find them manageable but if I go away for a while I can have like, 100 unread messages just from one mailing list, which does seem a bit OTT.

'5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?'

I participate a bit, but only if I feel necessary. I don't want to fill up everybody's inboxes! :)

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?

None that I can recall.

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?

I'm not really sure how I'm meant to help my mentees so it would be good if I could get an explanation about that.

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?

Nah, I'm fine with you sharing it.

Regards, Rock drum Ba-dumCrash (Driving well?) 19:01, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Reply from Bejinhan
1. How many mentees are you currently working with?
 * 5

2. Have you reached out to students who don't have mentors yet? If not, would you be willing to?
 * Not yet, as I've reached the max. a mentor can have. Sure.

3. What do you think of the content of messages on the Google Group?
 * Somewhat alright. I think it'll help if the class instructors be added into the group. That way, we won't miss out CC-ing messages that are supposed to go to them.

4. What do you think of the volume of messages on the Google Group?
 * Sporadic

5. Do you participate on the Google Group much? If not, what would make you participate more?
 * A little. I find that most messages in the group are not what I am doing/I have no comment on.

6. Are there any problems you've experienced so far?
 * No

7. Is there anything else Sage or the rest of the Public Policy Initiative team could do to make your experience as an Online Ambassador better?
 * I think I'll be able to answer this question better when I've done more of this. Currently, most of my mentees are inactive and I've not had much experience in this whole project yet.

8. Are you okay sharing your username with your answers to our Public Policy Initiative team, or would you prefer to remain anonymous?
 * Sure, sharing is fine with me.
 * Bejinhan talks   03:47, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Re: Next WP:USPP assessment + email
Many thanks for all the informations and updates regarding the WP:USPP assessment. I will do the the next round of assessments as soon as possible. I have also sent you an email. All the best. –p joe f (talk • contribs) 15:23, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Ten assessments done
I've done ten assessments; do you need anyone to do more than ten if there are still articles with fewer than three assessments? Or would you rather wait till the two weeks are up and then see what else needs assessing? Mike Christie (talk) 13:34, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Public Policy Assessments
I signed up for the assessment team and was assigned articles when the project began, but I've been too busy these past couple months to participate. I have a little more free time now and could help if I'm still needed. Would you prefer I started with the first round of assessments or is the third round the primary focus at this point? If now is too late to jump into the assessment drive, I'll understand. -Mabeenot (talk) 01:44, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Comment on assessment scores
It occurred to me as I was assessing the most recent set of articles that when students add more information to an article there is a chance the scores will initially go down. I'm finding that I can often score a short article 2/2 on formatting, and 2/3 or 3/3 on readability, simply because there's not much there to format and what is there is perfectly readable. Similarly, the sourcing may be not too bad for what's there, so I can go with the rubric's "mostly well-sourced" and score it at 3/6 or 4/6. When a student adds a big chunk of good material, with perhaps initially weak sourced, it's quite likely that all three of these scores will drop by 1 or 2 points, whereas the comprehensiveness may only go up by 1 point, especially if the student just added good detail on one small aspect of the article. The net effect might be a drop of two or three points in the overall score.

You're probably way ahead of me on this, but I thought I'd mention it. It might indicate that the six categories of score are more useful when looked at independently, for example. Mike Christie (talk) 15:25, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

Re: Thanks!
Although it wasn't necessary, it was "desirable" (^___^) and means a lot to me. I'm more than happy to help WP:USPP and the Public Policy Initiative in any way I can. Thank you so very much for the so "precious" award!!! Well, I am monitoring the list of additional pages (2–3 times a week) for phase 2 of the Article Feedback Tool, and I found that there are many articles related to U.S. Public Policy and tagged by WikiProject United States Public Policy, but without the Article Feedback Tool. That's all for now. Please, do not hesitate to contact me for any help or advice at any time. Once again, thank you, and all the best. –p joe f (talk • contribs) 09:52, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

Hi LiAnna! Just to let you know the package of Wikipedia swag has just arrived!!! Great (^___^)!!! Many thanks and season greetings. –p joe f (talk • contribs) 14:58, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 28 January 2011
Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 00:33, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 13 February 2011
Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:23, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 21 March 2011
Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:24, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011
Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:34, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

A suggestion
See here. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; talk to me 18:03, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I replied on the page. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 22:02, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Outreach to China
It may not be possible, or even advisable, but this ANI thread has resulted in identifying a large group of student participants from China. Many users and myself have organized to assist the efforts of this group. If there is interest, they could be usurped into the program. Either way, we are going to help them with a project we formed overnight. What are your thoughts regarding this situation?--My76Strat (talk) 15:09, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Ambassadors
LiAnna,

I happened upon a situation where I referred a "a faculty member of WSU" to the ambassador program. I believe that any "faculty member" is a potential Wikipedia ambassador. But, I'm not sure that this newbie has enough experience to navigate the Wikipedia editing waters.

Was my action appropriate? As part of Wikipedia's outreach effort, how does the ambassador program provide a "warm fuzzy" reception for faculty members who are newbies in the "cold prickly" world of Wikipedia peer review? Is there a better way to direct newbies to the ambassador program?

As you can see, I have more questions than answers. If I understand correctly, the ambassadors program is designed to provide a guided path into the Wikipedia editing world. Similarly, I believe that Wikipedia needs to provide an easily found, "warm fuzzy" path for these "potential ambassadors".

Thanks for your attention, &mdash; John Harvey, Wizened Web Wizard Wannabe , Talk to me! 15:02, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi John, thanks for letting me know! In general, our Wikipedia Ambassadors support faculty members and students who are assigned by the faculty member to write Wikipedia articles for class. That being said, it's always good to welcome newbies who are editing in good faith, even if they don't know the details of Wikipedia policies. One of our Online Ambassadors has now posted on that user's talk page as well, so hopefully something good will come out of it. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 20:03, 22 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi LiAnna, thank you for your quick, and hopefully effective response. When I dircted my request to you, I knew I was stretching the boundaries of the Ambassador Program, but I didn't know where else to direct my request. Which brings me to one of my concerns...


 * I believe that Wikipedia needs a more structured mentoring program where caring greeters who don't know all the answers could refer newbies for more specialized help. For example: From Greeters to Specialists directly. Or perhaps: From Greeters, to Triage, to General Practitioner, to Specialists. There are many of us who try to provide warm welcomes to newbies but we don't know how to direct them to helpful advice. I'm not sure what the structure should be. I just know that I have observed instances where over enthusiastic newbies have invoked the wrath of the Wikipedia gods because they didn't understand the rules. And I didn't have the expertise necessary to help the newbie, appease the gods or where to ask for help.


 * Also, I noticed that Matt Senate and you will be leading a three-hour workshop at WikiSym on using Wikipedia as a teaching tool in higher education classrooms at WikiSym. And, that "Don't bite the Newbies" and "Mentoring in Wikipedia: A Clash of Cultures" are on the program. So, before you went to WikiSym, I wanted you to know that some of us "Ignorant Greeters" need help. Thanks again, &mdash; John Harvey, Wizened Web Wizard Wannabe , Talk to me! 16:23, 23 September 2011 (UTC)
 * I completely agree--and I'll pass your views along! -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 19:12, 23 September 2011 (UTC)

India Education Programme
Hi. I'm just  letting  you  know that  following  conversations I've had with  Phillipe and Hisham, I  have unblocked the Pune faculty  IP. I probably  won't  be joining  the IRC, because I  don't  favour  that method of discussion, but  I'm  convinced that  everything  possible is being  done to  iron  out any  issues with  the project. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 05:53, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Glad to hear that! Thanks for all your hard work on tracking the issues down, Kudpung. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 15:16, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Canadian class
Thank you for communicating with me. I would love to be an Online Ambassador for the Intellectual Property course? Maple Leaf (talk) 13:35, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

Talkback
This is a message to Mihir but  I  think  it  concerns everyone  involved on  the IEP. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 02:04, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

IEP
Hi Ldavis, I  hope everything  goes well  for the IRC on  the IEP. Some of us who are most  concerneed and involved will  not  be able to  take part, but  I  hope you  will  be able to  read the contents of these two  pages as a briefing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Wikimedia_Foundation_-_India_Programs/Education_Program

--Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 15:16, 20 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Kudpung! I've definitely been following the discussion closely. Our India team is just returning to India right now, but I hope they will be able to post something to those talk pages soon with more details on what they're doing; believe me, we are reading and digesting every word. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 15:29, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

de:Wikipedia:Kurier
I'm not sure what was the intention of this news. In case it was to give an idea about things de could do; we have these kinds of "cooperations" already succesfull started years ago!? ... Sicherlich Post 07:51, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi Sicherlich -- Frank Schulenburg indicated there was interest from the German Wikipedia community to hear the results of the Public Policy Initiative pilot after last week's Kurier article about the India Education Program pilot, so he put together that post with the link to the Public Policy Initiative learning points document. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 16:58, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Copyright again
FYI: Wikipedia talk:United States Education Program. I'm sorry if I seem to be harping on this, but the IEP shows what can happen when the message does not get across, and if these programs are to rely on completely inexperienced CAs (this one has less than 40 edits, nearly all to do with the program) it really is vital that they are properly briefed. JohnCD (talk) 13:18, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Absolutely. I'll send an email out to all of our U.S. and Canada Campus Ambassadors today reminding them that copying and pasting -- even into a sandbox -- is unacceptable. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 16:59, 18 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I particularly recommend that you point them to Copy-paste which is a clear and concise summary that no-one can misunderstand. The full works at WP:Copyrights is necessary for reference, but eye-glazing and not something to send a newbie to as a first explanation. JohnCD (talk) 18:02, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Your help is needed
Hi Anna,

I have reduced my  involvement  of late because I  am  no  longer  concerned with  the physical  aspect of cleaning up  the IEP articles. While I fully realise that  my  recent  comments may  sound critical,  it's necessary  to  stimulate some positive involvement in other key areas. While everyone appreciates the efforts that are being made on the ground, a major issue is apparently still  not  being  addressed. Your (or your colleagues') earlier inferences that consideration for  the resources among on-line editors to  process the new pages created by  your  projects lies not within your mandate have  been met with  deep concern by  the community. It is felt  that  rather than focusing uniquely on improving relations with the professors, students, and Campus Ambassadors, those responsible for education  programmes may wish to consider entering  into  dialogue with  other departments within  the WMF and examine together how tools and experienced online volunteers will  be available and willing  to  support new phases of the IEP and any  other EP plans. We are   ploughing  forward with reforms that were begun  a year  ago of our NPP system, and we  would very  much appreciate your support for current  current  software projects. There remain barely six months before the next  phase of IEP  begins, and essential developments of this kind take time if their urgency  is not  expressed.

Regards, --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 07:24, 2 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Replied here: Wikipedia_talk:India_Education_Program/Analysis -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 16:22, 2 December 2011 (UTC)


 * As you have not really  addressed the above message, I  have tried to  explain again in  more detail in  an email  to  you, rather than create more TLDR on  the talk  pages. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 07:20, 3 December 2011 (UTC) Not  sent. I realise that it won't  make any difference. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 08:06, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Articles for creation
I think  the answer lies in  the threads above. The fact is (without digging  for the diffs) that  it  has been clearly  stated that neither the volunteer resources nor the cultural  dichotomies need to  be taken into  consideration when planning  projects that  will  increase the influx of new pages. As one who has been deeply  concerned and involved with  researching  and suggesting solutions to  the problems, and being  instrumental (for some 200 hours)  in  the massive cleanup  of the IEP  disaster,  my  final opinion  is that there should be changes in  the management  infrastructure of GEP, USAEP, and IEP, but  the community  has no influence in the way  staff appointments are made. I await  Tory's report  with  great  interest. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 02:46, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Kudpung, I'm sorry you feel like the only solution to the problems we had last term is a change in staffing, as I think the program design and cultural implications led to the problems, and we have learned from those mistakes. But I respect that you and I have different opinions, and you are obviously entitled to you opinion, just as I am entitled to mine. That being said, please refrain from accusing me of declining to participate in discussions unless you'd like to point me to particular places you believe I've done so, so that I may engage in those discussions. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 22:54, 16 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I also tender my  apologies if my  comments have again  been misunderstood (without  face-to-face discourse, such  discussions often are). Outreach  and Global  Education  Programmes are essential  for Wikipedia to  maintain and further develop its position  as the world's greatest  knowledge base, and before I  continue, I  would like it to  be clear that  I  fully  support them. Apart from  the general  apathy perceived by  the community that  the organisers were somewhat lax to  engage with  the volunteers, I  have not  suggested that  you  have declined to  take part in  discussions;  I  have particualry followed all  your contributions wherever they  have been. I  have pointed out however, and correctly, (diffs available)  that  various members of the staff  have stated that  it is neither  within their remit  to  take into  consideration the availability and readiness of the volunteers to  clean up  a situation  that  has arisen through  ineffective management,  nor  to  consider the implications of the cultural dichotomy. The latter, which  I  brought  to  the table nearly  three months ago, and exposed to  the broader community  yet again here along  with other flaws, has now very  recently (within the last  few days) finally been recognised by  those involved with  the organisation and accepted as one of the major issues.  These events clearly  lead me to  believe that  some principle planners and players, in spite of their well  intentioned initiatives and good faith, may  have been productive beyond the scope of their expertise. I  said at  one stage that  if such  a disaster had happened in  a corporate situation, heads would roll. However, Wikipedia is  a very  forgiving place but like most  very  large collaborative undertakings that  are governed by  a very  small core of authority, time and funds are wasted through  empirical pilot schemes, and doubly  so  on  the necessary  remedy and analysis that  it causes - and the otherwise flat  hierarchy of Wikipedia fails as a business model.


 * I am eagerly  awaiting  Tory's report, but I'm  not  ignoring  the possible eventuality  that  her analysis  may not  be what I  expect or hope for. Although  I  contributed over 200 hours to  the IEP  issues in  time on  discussions -  including  video  conferences, physical  clean up  of articles, and steering  the community  to  action - according  to  some accounts, by  doing  so  I  have alienated myself from that  small core of deciders by  having  expressed  views that  may  not  be entirely palatable to  some. Nevertheless, I  have continued to offer help and am  even prepared to  spend some of my  experience and time in nearby  India - but  my  dog has been given a bad name for having  pinpointed the areas of inadequacy. Inevitably,  the volunteers, among  whom  are many who are equally  as competent  as those in  a position  of authority,  are dispensable and disposable, and the gap  between the community  and its 'managers' is widening, due not  of course only  to  the IEP, but  to  several  other issues making  2011 possibly the Foundation's annus horribilis.


 * It remains to  be seen if our corps of seven to  ten newpage patrollers will be ready to jump into  the breach  once again. The only  solution, in  my  honest  opinion, apart from  the suggested rethink  of responsibilities, is to  restart and pull out  all  stops on  the development  of the Article Creation  Flow and the Newpage Triage. Otherwise, any current proposals for the improvement  of   Articles for Creation (which is already  on  the brink of collapse) will  only be a stopgap and not  a prophylactic.  Retrospect is fine, we can all learn from  our mistakes, as do  I,  but  a heap  of introspect, good faith, and above all good collaboration is required to  put  them right. Sorry  of this was rather long. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 01:17, 17 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your thoughtful response, Kudpung. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 19:13, 17 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Kudpung, development of the ACF and NPT stuff has never stopped. I'm conducting follow-up interviews as we speak. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 19:19, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Wandering slightly from the point: OKeyes, I'm glad to hear that something is going on with the ACF. Two months ago, I made a suggestion at mw:Talk:Article creation workflow, and a few days later wrote "This doesn't seem to be a very high-traffic page - do others watch it? is it the right place to make this suggestion?" The absence of any response certainly made me think the project was dormant if not dead - is there a better place to engage and make suggestions? JohnCD (talk) 20:01, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * There will be :). Basically, there are two ways of developing software; one, the traditional route, is that we take into account initial community thoughts, roll something out, fix things when people shout and then leave it. Two, the one we're doing with WP:AFT5 (and hopefully something that will catch on), we start off by involving the community, fix things they suggest are broken, then go back to them with the fixes to see what they thing, rinse, wash, repeat. Which route we go down is going to have a big impact on how we throw this development at the community, and where; ideally it'd be enwiki, rather than mediawiki where it is now (because, as you note, people tend not to watch that). I've actually set mediawiki up to throw me an email whenever anyone tweaks it, but only did so a month ago, so if you want to point me towards your specific idea or comment I'm happy to take a look :). It appears that things might get revised a bit in a meeting we're having tomorrow, so I'm hoping people will reserve judgment until we have something more concrete to show around. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 21:58, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Good. My suggestion is at the link above. As an admin on :en I am increasingly concerned that one reason why many good-faith newbies find us unfriendly is that we welcome them in and let them go all the way to creating an article before explaining that Wikipedia is not what they thought - not Myspace, not LinkedIn, not a free advertising noticeboard, not a place to publish original work - so that their article has no chance. If there were a way to explain that during the account creation process it would save them, and us, a lot of trouble, but better than nothing would be an explanation during the article creation process. JohnCD (talk) 22:58, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Talkback
Guerillero &#124; My Talk  05:38, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Wikipedia:USEDU/ONLINE/ABOUT


A tag has been placed on Wikipedia:USEDU/ONLINE/ABOUT, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done for the following reason:

shortcut replaced by WP:USOA

Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not meet basic Wikipedia criteria may be deleted at any time.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information that is consistent with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. Best regards,  Cind.   amuse  (Cindy) 01:27, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Wikipedia:CANADAEDU/ONLINE/ABOUT


A tag has been placed on Wikipedia:CANADAEDU/ONLINE/ABOUT, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done for the following reason:

shortcut replaced by WP:CANOA

Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not meet basic Wikipedia criteria may be deleted at any time.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information that is consistent with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. Best regards,  Cind.   amuse  (Cindy) 01:28, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Shortcuts
Hey LiAnna, I went ahead and revised the shortcuts you created in accordance with the shortcut guidelines. You can find more information here. I've updated the corresponding pages. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me. Oh, and you can go ahead and remove the notices above. They are automatically generated by Twinkle. Best regards,  Cind.   amuse  (Cindy) 01:35, 22 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi Cindy, I'm a bit mystified as to what the problem was--I followed those instructions, used all caps, and we had used subpage shortcuts before (e.g., WP:USPP/Courses). I'd like to maintain a differentiation between the list of CAs/OAs and the information about the CA/OA role, which is why I'd differentiated them in the shortcuts I'd created; I'm open to an alternative to the naming structure I picked, but I'm concerned that the alternates you created will lead to some confusion between those two pages (I love them as the shortcuts for the lists of Ambassadors though... definitely better than my ideas). Any ideas for a better nomenclature around the information about the role? -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 02:59, 22 February 2012 (UTC)
 * In essence, shortcuts are intended to be short abbreviations or acronyms that make a quick entry from the built-in search engine possible. The guidelines don't actually support subpage shortcuts. Basically, they are ineffective and can be long and cumbersome, hindering readability and counteracting the purpose for which they were created. The WP:USPP/Courses "shortcut" didn't meet the guidelines either. I'd be happy to work with you to create appropriate shortcuts for whatever pages you are considering. An idea about the list of CAs/OAs and the information about the CA/OA role: Use WP:CAINFO and WP:OAINFO. Then use WP:USOA and WP:CANOA as you suggested above. What do you think? Best regards,  Cind.   amuse  (Cindy) 03:51, 22 February 2012 (UTC)
 * Sounds like a great plan, Cindy. I'll create those after we wrap up the metrics meeting! -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 15:00, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

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Case Studies
In the grading portion you write "...it’s hard to tell just what each student has contributed to the article." Given that the students edit from their own accounts, a person can easily see what each student contributed in page history. Perhaps you should rephrase?Smallman12q (talk) 21:55, 5 July 2012 (UTC)
 * See my reply on your talk page! -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 06:20, 6 July 2012 (UTC)
 * Thnx for the explanation.Smallman12q (talk) 00:02, 10 July 2012 (UTC)

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Wikimania Education Meet-Up
Wikimania Education Meet-Up: Do you have a report on the results of this? I would have attended but the information about the meeting and/or its venue was poorly organised. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 13:58, 20 July 2012 (UTC)
 * See my note on your talk page. -- LiAnna Davis (WMF) (talk) 16:52, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

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Wikipedia Education Program logo for Sweden
Hello! Nice meeting you in Washington! Could you help me create a WEP logo for Sweden (I don't know what font are used)? It should say "Sverige" (Sweden in Swedish) and if the background could be blue RGB 0,82,147 it would be the close to the blue in our flag. Best, Ainali (talk) 18:53, 23 July 2012 (UTC)


 * I can do this; what is the Swedish translation for "Wikipedia Education Program"? <span style="font-family:linux libertine o, times; font-variant:small-caps">Rob SchnautZ (WMF) (talk • contribs) 19:25, 23 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Got an answer from . How's this look? <span style="font-family:linux libertine o, times; font-variant:small-caps">Rob SchnautZ (WMF) (talk • contribs) 21:03, 23 July 2012 (UTC)


 * Big thanks! Sometimes Swedish makes things ugly :) With your help I made this Svengelska version. Now we'll just have to figure out which one to use. Ainali (talk) 18:01, 25 July 2012 (UTC)




 * Glad to be of assistance! <span style="font-family:linux libertine o, times; font-variant:small-caps">Rob SchnautZ (WMF) (talk • contribs) 15:34, 26 July 2012 (UTC)