Wikipedia:Ambassadors/Steering Committee/2010-10-14

Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative Steering Committee Meeting

2010-10-14 9:45 PM EST via TokBox and EtherPad

Members present

 * Alex Stinson
 * Sage Ross
 * Frank Schulenberg
 * Annie Lin
 * Cheryl Moy
 * PJ Tabit
 * Fletcher Commons

Guests present

 * Rod Dunican

Frank's presentation: Public Policy Initiative: the road ahead
Frank presented a survey of the current state of plans and goals for the Public Policy Initiative:

Ambassador training

 * Rod explains rough plans for training:
 * Decentralized approach for multiple training events in January
 * Alex: Dec 18 - Jan 9 is the window for JMU - it's a narrow window
 * Video and other online-based training materials for the future
 * Regional/decentralized training also gives us the opportunity to offer training to local interested volunteers, even if they aren't already accepted as ambassadors or matched up with professors. This lets us expand the infrastructure for supporting more classes much faster.


 * Reactions to Frank's and Rod's discussion:
 * PJ: Nervous about decentralized approach, because you have to be sure you have quality Campus Ambassadors to represent WP to the public and professors. But training for trainers may mitigate that.  We need rigorous vetting for area representatives.
 * Alex: We need a lot of authority behind the training: official training and/or WMF involvement, so that ambassadors have enough authority vis-a-vis professors.


 * Figuring out the ambassador selection process is a majority

Previous Business

 * Alex – SFC, Virginia Tech
 * No positive responses yet
 * Sage - SFC
 * Went out to full free culture discussion list; no responses yet
 * Annie – UC Berkeley and other UC schools
 * Passing along messages through SFC connection
 * Max Klein also forwarding messages about Campus Ambassador role
 * Two interested potential Berkeley ambassadors

Confirming Schools

 * The eight from last week
 * How do we get confirmations for professors? How quickly can we do this?
 * Annie: For first contacts, the closer connected the contacter is, the better. Local people, fellow professors, etc.  Follow-ups with WMF staff (by phone or in person) are what we've been doing to close the deal.  It usually takes more than one.


 * We should use collaborative documents on the Google Group to coordinate contacts with schools and professors. The details of contacts unfortunately shouldn't be public, even though we want to involve the community and ambassadors as much as possible.

Action items

 * Annie - Document on the Google Group's collaborative documents
 * Annie and Alex - Draft a proposal for criteria and selection method for Campus Ambassadors
 * Sage - Draft a proposal for selection method for Online Ambassadors

Selecting Regional Ambassadors

 * "Region" definition?
 * (Keeping the Campus Ambassador training in mind...)
 * Who to ask? Method of selection? Criteria for selection?
 * What responsibilities for this semester
 * Recruiting schools
 * Recruiting ambassadors
 * Responsibilities for the future

Spring Semester Ambassadors

 * (from 10/7) – if time allows


 * Recruiting for schools in item II


 * Selection
 * Written Application
 * Who read them
 * Committee Input
 * Interviews
 * Who interviews
 * Committee Input
 * Involving the Community


 * Training
 * Location
 * Date