User:Austwithlove/Melbourne Meetups 2012 reports

Below is a summary of Melbourne meetups that took place in 2012. I would like to thank Computerbank for allowing us to use their facilities over the course of the year.

Melbourne Meetups 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 (May, June, July, August, November)

Cold winter weather saw a reduction in the numbers of our regular Melbourne meet ups, but discussion between remained lively as always. Regular attendees included Cuddy Wifter, Brian Salter-Duke, Steven Zhang and Anne Frazer. Discussion focused on their activities of attendees on Wikimedia websites and in the Australian Wikimedia community in general. The 23rd meetup had a sizeable turnout with discussion about the Wikipedia training workshop that was to be held at the University of the Third Age (U3A). As a result of this meet up, a training workshop was held at U3A.

Melbourne Meetup 20 held on 22 April, 2012

April 2012 Meetup

The April Melbourne meetup was well attended, with Wikimedia Australia president John Vandenberg in town and present, and refreshments provided by Anne Frazer. Attendees participated in a lively discussion about their activities on Wikimedia sites in the last month, their experiences with Wikipedia and their ideas for improving the projects for the future.

19th Melbourne Meetup, held on 25 March, 2012

The March Melbourne Meetup was attended by an enthusiastic but small number of participants. In particular conversation covered the difficulties sometimes experienced when editing and creating articles on Wikipedia and experienced as barriers to successful articles being placed on Wikipedia, however, a resolve by attendees to work it out was encouraging.

Some discussion covered WikiProjects across Australia, in Victoria and in Melbourne. Participants were interested in the link to the article 'The Undue Weight of Truth' which was provided [1].

Participants dicussed a possible alternative venue for Melbourne Meetups, namely 'Computerbank' at 483 Victoria Street, West Melbourne [2]. This building has been previously provided as a venue for WMAU general meetings and has facilities for warming food and providing ample supply of hot water for beverages. Importantly lap tops can be accommodated and easily hooked up to the internet which may be useful to participants.

Links were also provided for interest, to Wikinews.org [3], and also some encouragement to participants to familiarise themselves with WMAU's website information, including membership.

Non-members are also able to Request an Account on the Wiki of Wikimedia Australia, and it is hoped that attendees at future meetups avail themselves of this service and thereby interact with the Melbourne Meetup page by way of making suggestions for improvements to future Meetups.

For those beginning to edit on a wiki and for future reference make a copy of the location of this page which you can type into the left hand pane and press 'Go' which will take you directly to this page and can be helpful for future ease of access. For applicants who are participants at the Melbourne Meetups and not yet members of Wikimedia Australia it may be a good idea to include in the Request Account form, under the field "Please tell us a little about yourself...' that you have been attending the Melbourne Meetups and now request an account on the wiki. These can be verified via the Melbourne Meetup attendee list. This will assist our account approvers when approving accounts.

Please do use the 'discussion' tab (heading this page) for lively conversation and ideas.

Attendees at the 19th Melbourne Meetup


March Meetup in Melbourne

18th Melbourne Meetup, held on 26 February, 2012

Attendees to the 18th Melbourne Meetup

The following report on the February meetup is to encourage attendees at that meeting to begin discussing and honing their thoughts, here on the wiki. To this end we encourage discussionon the wiki by all comers who can offer help and advice; and also encourage participants at the February workshop to edit this wiki in order to elaborate on any discussion points, appearing hereunder, raised at the meeting.

The February meetup had a good turn up at Errol's Cafe in North Melbourne, outnumbering January's attendance. The theme for the day was 'Wikis and Workshops' which generated a good deal of discussion from attendees including talk about how the meetups might become a catalyst for developing workshops and events in order to help the Wikimedia Australia community share their knowledge with attendees who are interested in increasing their knowledge and skill in various areas including editing Wikipedia.

Handouts were provided with links to WikiProjects Australia, Victoria and Melbourne for contributing to Australian content.

Here are some of the discussion points just as they were raised by participants, which indicate areas of interest and perceptions:

  • need for briefings on Wikimedia projects;
  • not much activity on some projects; but that the Military History seems to be the most active;
  • wanting to know how to engage with projects;
  • interest in 'wiki loves towns';
  • a perception that a lot of Wikipedia articles need images, which are a great contribution;
  • a better understanding on 'notability';
  • what is a related source;
  • an interest from one participant who spoke about recruiting people in the family to Wikipedia and therefore the need for forums to teach people how to edit;
  • an interest in the 'tabs' used on Wikipedia which are links to other pages and a perception that it is not always easy to understand what they lead to, whereas a 'button' might be better suited to do that; link to discussion page; and editors self-nominating to help others;
  • how to forums;
  • resources better announced in a prominent area - i.e. WikiProjects - Australia, Victoria, Melbourne;
  • introduction to Wikipedia editing - run workshops in the Library opposite Errol's
  • what projects - perhaps one on Errol's Cafe;
  • ascertain the level of 'learning to edit' that is required; and target workshops accordingly;
  • how to edit - on Youtube; and workshops into videos;
  • access the university community for workshops - contributed by one of WMAU's newest members;
  • talk on how to put ideas into meaningful projects via WMAU's Proposal Policy;

You are invited to edit in helpful comments, or extrapolate on the discussion points, or add new points of discussion.

17th Melbourne Meetup, held on 15 January, 2012

Attendees to the 17th Melbourne Meetup

Wikimedia Australia member Steve Zhang has taken on the lead role of coordinating the Melbourne's Meetups. The first meeting was held today, the 11th Anniversary of Wikipedia, and a good turn up of twelve community celebrated the occasion. Several attendees wanted to know how they could participate in Wikimedia projects. Attendees included 'part-time editors', long time editors, and a skilled photographer. Meeting:Committee (2012-01-15)


Happy Birthday Wikipedia

Our Melbourne meetup coordinator Steven Zhang was pleased with the turn out of Melburnians on Sunday to celebrate Melbourne Wikipedia's 2012 birthday on 15 January. Melbourne's beautiful weather brought together Wikimedians to make one of the best supported meetups held in Melbourne for some time, with 12 in attendance. Participants engaged in lively discussion over tasty pizza and hot coffee. As the meeting progressed we spoke about the 11th anniversary of Wikipedia, and led by our now retired intrepid WMAU public officer and committee member Brian, we charged our cups and glasses in a toast to Wikipedia. In our midst were editors who have been editing for several years; others who are newly acquainted with Wikipedia and who were interested in getting started; others were enthusiastic about getting involved and knowledgeable about the GLAM projects; and others wanting to get involved with Wikimedia Australia with students from one of Melbourne's universities. Several other discussions took place about ongoing Wikimedia Australia GLAM projects and turned to potential future projects as well as offers of help and getting involved. Wanting to sustain the momentum of the meetup, Wikimedia Australia members have already begun following up with participants including those who have some experience with GLAM related projects to ascertain what can be done in the future to support local efforts in Victoria. Steve believes it is important to maintain contact and therefore participants were happy to provide contact details, and agreed to being contacted prior to each monthly meetup. We were fortunate to have on the day among the participants, one person who is a skilled photographer, and who like all passionate photographers goes nowhere without his cameras. He produced terrific individual and grouped photos of participants engaging in conversation around the table, as well as a group photo of all participants, and he countered protestation about him needing to be in the photo by an instructive reply that 'the photographer is always behind the lens'. He is pleased to give his permission to place his photos on Wikimedia Commons. So lots to organise post-meetup. We all look forward to the February meetup and hope that more of our Wikimedian members and community come along and enjoy a great day with all of us; a day that was made possible because of the enthusiastic turn out on Sunday. We take this opportunity to thank everyone for their lively contribution to a successful meetup. GLAM Newsletter January 2012

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