User:Taketa/Wiki Loves Belgium
Please feel free to edit this page, or give suggestions on the discussion page. I have also set up a general page at meta. -- Taketa (talk) 17:40, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
Proposal
[edit]Summary
[edit]It is my intention to create an interwiki writing week in 2016 (Wiki Loves Nations). I propose that several Wikipedias write about a single country during a week (en, nl, fr, de, da, es, it, sv, no, pl, etc.). To stimulate Wikimedians to join and help organise I believe we need something extra. A writing week will create tens of thousands of articles about a country and millions of readers a year. I suggest we ask heads of state or similar functionaries to meet a few of the participants. The country or countries that choose to cooperate will become the topic of the writing week. As such, I propose we send a letter to the Belgian queen to ask if she wants to help bring this to Belgium (Wiki Loves Belgium). A similar letter will be send to other heads of state across Europe, and hopefully with the support of the local Wikimedia organisation.
My request to WMBE
[edit]I ask that Wikimedia Belgium supports sending a letter to her majesty the queen
Specifics
[edit]What is a writing week
[edit]Every couple of months the Dutch Wikipedia has a week in which editors cooperate to write about topics of a single country. Example: Writing week Sweden, which created 1024 articles. By writing about a common topic, you get more cooperation between editors, making this a fun week for the writers and productive for Wikipedia.
Advantages of an interwiki writing week
[edit]An interwiki writing week will be exactly the same as a local writing week, and have the same advantages of cooperation between editors, making it fun for writers and creating new articles for Wikipedia. However by cooperatng the impact of the writing week becomes significant and we can ask a head of state of a small nation to participate. If they participate this will give several advantages, namely editors will be more motivated, writing more articles; there will be media attention which will get new editors to Wikipedia, in all language versions. As such, an interwiki writing week has advantages over a local writing week.
Would a government really be interested?
[edit]A writing week in for example a dozen large languages, most of which are larger then nl.wikipedia, will probably create 10-20.000 articles. This may be alot more with the support of a head of state. Each articles is read once a day or more, creating about 5 million to 10 million readers a year across the globe. The Dutch local writing week about Sweden was noticed by the Swedish embassy in the Netherlands and mentioned on their website [1]. An international writing week may be noticed by the government of the nation, and be interesting for them. What we ask is a small investment for them. Specially for a smaller country this may be attractive. Since Wikipedia is non-profit the head of state would in fact be doing charity work. As such all international media attention would be positive for them, making it attractive on a personal scale to the head of state.
What part does the Queen play
[edit]I suggest the queen meets with 1 contestant per language version of Wikipedia in a single meeting in Belgium. Every article can count as a ticket, and we draw a lucky winner. Draw is better then contest because a contest will lead to maybe 20 articles where a draw can lead to thousands. If you want better quality you can give better odds to better articles.
Why the queen
[edit]I have no particular reason. I think the king, queen, crown princes, former king, former queen or national prime minister would be capable of making the project a succes. Since the crown princes is too young, the former king and queen are less active, and the king and prime minister will have less time then the queen, I think asking the queen has the best chance of success. But feel free to make suggestions.
What happens next
[edit]After the letter is send, we wait. If there is no reply or a negative reply, nothing happens. The writing week(s) will be about a different country. If the queen says yes, then I am certain that other Wikimedians will want to join and we can organise a writing week in several languages easily. I currently coordinate projects in 15 Wikipedias and am certain I can set up a project for this in multiple languages.
Costs
[edit]I can send a letter, costs WMBE nothing. Sending this letter does not mean WMBE is held responsible for anything. Any project will be planned when we start planning it. A meeting with the queen does not have to cost much. All you need is a room, which most libraries have. Even a personal home will do. Maybe we can find organisations that want to help, but as I say, this is not the problem right now. First issue is sending a letter. Second costs would be travel expenses for the lucky winners. This is up to them. They can talk to local Wikimedia organisations for a refund, or the foundation. Again, not an issue right now.
What if multiple countries want to participate
[edit]If multiple countries want to participate we can organise several writing weeks spaced apart by half a year. This is however not an issue right now in this request.
What if no country wants to participate
[edit]If no country wants to participate we organise it on a smaller scale without them and the topic is simply decided by majority vote. If we prove this works well, we can ask them again and point out what they missed last time.
Letter (in Dutch)
[edit]Naam
adres
postcode, plaats
telefoonnummer, email
Naam vertegenwoordiger WMBE
adres
postcode, plaats
telefoonnummer, email
Aan Hare Majesteit de Koningin
t.a.v. mevrouw Chantal Cooreman
Koninklijk Paleis
Brederodestraat 16
1000, Brussel, België
Betreft: Wiki Loves Belgium
plaats, datum
Majesteit, Geachte mevrouw Cooreman,
wij willen vragen om uw deelname om de internationale schrijfweek van Wikipedia in 2016 naar België te halen.
De non-profitorganisatie Wikipedia is de op vijf na meest bezochte website ter wereld en ontvangt maandelijks 500 miljoen individuele bezoekers. De encyclopedie is vrij toegankelijk en bruikbaar, en is geschreven in meerdere talen. Elke taalversie organiseert enkele malen per jaar een schrijfweek over een land of streek. Zo hield de Nederlandstalige Wikipedia recent een schrijfweek over Zweden, waarbij samen werd gewerkt met de Zweedse Wikipedia. Tijdens deze week schreven 65 deelnemers 1024 artikels, en de schrijfweek werd onder andere genoemd op de website van de Zweedse ambassade in Nederland.
Wikipedia gaat in het komende jaar internationale schrijfweken organiseren. We zullen gedurende een week ons richten op een specifiek land, waarbij geschreven wordt in 10-20 talen. Dit zal leiden tot enkele tienduizenden artikels over dat land, die jaarlijks gelezen worden door miljoenen mensen over de hele wereld. Specifieke data zijn nog niet vastgesteld en zijn afhankelijk van het gekozen land en de planning van de lokale organisatie.
Het is de intentie van Wikimedia België dat een van de schrijfweken België als onderwerp neemt. Dit zal zeker ons land ten goede komen. Om dit te bewerkstelligen willen wij vragen om deelname van Hare Majesteit de Koningin. Wij stellen voor dat Hare Majesteit enkele gelukkige deelnemers uit de deelnemende landen ontmoet, tijdens een algemene bijeenkomst, als zijnde een bedankje. Dit zal extra aanleiding geven om deze schrijfweek naar België te halen.
In afwachting van uw antwoord verblijven wij.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Naam