Wikimedia Fellowships/Project Ideas/Using your languages across the Wikipedias

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Wikimedia Fellowship Project Idea

To encourage present and future Wikipedians to edit in more than one language; especially, to encourage Wikipedians in overseas communities to edit in their home language as well as in a world language

Rationale

Some wikipedians already edit in more than one language. The aim would be to test the intuition that many wikipedians often edit only in a world language (English, Spanish, French etc.) although they could also edit in a home or family language. By doing this they could help the smaller Wikipedias to grow. If this is correct, and if more wikipedians can be persuaded to cross the language barrier, they will improve their own writing skills and they will help to spread the best encyclopedia in the world to more communities and to new generations

This would give current wikipedians new challenges in less-crowded areas and exercise their writing skills in a language they already know. Improving the smaller wikipedias helps these wikipedias to reach more users. That in turn brings more editors to the site

The project has to identify (1) current wikipedians who will agree to try their skills in another language (2) future wikipedians (some perhaps put off by the difficulty of getting started in the English wikipedia). Wikipedians themselves could help to spread this idea and to ensure that those trying to get started in another language are welcomed and guided. It's important to have local help because all wikipedias are different. But this also means looking outside the current user community: it's necessary to identify and test the best ways of doing that

The idea would potentially impact current and future users of many of the smaller wikipedias. Also, if seen as a new challenge, this could help retain fading enthusiasm in some current wikipedians. The important point is to build a momentum to ensure that the idea survives and grows. It will need to be implanted, with the help of wikipedians, on as many of the language wikipedias as possible

If it works, editor numbers on the smaller wikipedias will grow, the wikipedias themselves will grow, and the number of hits they get will grow too

Idea submitted by

• Andrew Dalby 20:13, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

Prospective fellows

Would you like to be considered for a fellowship to work on this project?

If you'd like to take an active role in this project, either alone or in a team of fellows with complementary skills, please add your name below. Note that in order to be considered for a fellowship, you must also submit an application to the program.

1. Andrew Dalby 20:13, 15 January 2012 (UTC) I have applied for a fellowship and would like to work on this. I would be happy to collaborate on it.
2. Your name here!

Endorsements

This section is for endorsements by Wikimedia community volunteers. Please note that this is not a debate, vote, or poll, but is rather a space for volunteers to describe in detail why they think a project idea is of value. If you have concerns or questions rather than an endorsement to make, please use the idea Talk page. Endorsements by volunteers willing to work in collaboration with a fellowship recipient on a project are highly encouraged.

• See talk page. Blue Rasberry (talk) 15:02, 20 January 2012 (UTC)