Gender gap/outreach letters

Purpose

Per Sue Gardner's suggestion, response to my draft outreach email below. February 22, 2011 via Gender Gap email list:

I think we (anyone here) should create a page on meta (linked to from here) where we put your draft text, and point to good basic resources to support people getting started in editing. (There are some very good resources here: http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bookshelf/Wikipedia and elsewhere on the outreach wiki.)

That would equip people to use your base text, plus any links that seem useful to them, to do outreach to any group they like. I really believe that individual outreach: people reaching out to their own networks, is a good tactic for us. Because the people who are one degree of separation from the people here are by definition good candidates to become editors.

Here is a draft of an email you can adapt to fit your own desires and audience (i.e., age/family status/educational level/etc.). Feel free to tweak this draft. If others have other drafts to offer, create a new dated section and include your signature.

February 19, 2012

Dear women friends:

I'm sure your are familiar with Wikipedia! You've probably come across it in internet searches and even read some of its articles. It's a great concept - “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.” Though and imperfect one, since many of the articles - including on your favorite topics - need improvement.

Have you thought about becoming a Wikipedia editor and working on improving the encyclopedia? It's a great hobby for those who enjoy researching and writing and have the spare time to do it.

Wikipedia, like many outlets, suffers a "Gender Gap" with far too few women editors. However, Wikipedia has started an End the Gender Gap project over the last year which has gotten a lot of media attention and had several successes, listed at its project page: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Gender_gap

[Include your own personal story to make it more interesting and mention articles you've enjoyed editing. Or steer them towards articles you think they'd enjoy and/or want to clean up.]

If you have favorite topics that you'd like to see better covered, have time on your hands (as some of us semi- and retired women do), and want to have some great fun, do try Wikipedia. Just for the heck of it check out these articles that you might be interested in helping to improve: [Name and/or link to two or three articles the individual or list might be interested in.]

If you want to teach yourself editing, start by investigating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tutorial and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents/Getting_started

Some Wikipedia chapters do conduct workshops. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Workshop for more resources for connecting with other Wikipedians.

Do think about checking out Wikipedia as a great new hobby you can pursue for the rest of your life! Someplace where you can help contribute to the sum of human knowledge for years to come. [Or some such motivating language.]

Draft created by: Carolmooredc (talk) 19:00, 19 February 2012 (UTC)