Education/News/November 2023/Evening Wikischool offers Czech seniors further education on Wikipedia
Evening Wikischool offers Czech seniors further education on Wikipedia
Summary: Seniors Writing Wikipedia in Czech Republic have a brand new oportunity to extend their knowledge in Wikipedia writing: Evening Wikischool.
The Seniors Write Wikipedia programme, which has been successfully implemented by Wikimedia Czech Republic for many years, reaches dozens of seniors every year. We also successfully run a regular excursion to a selected city (Senior Wikimedia City), which is a reward for already experienced Wikipedia editors. Czech seniors publish new articles and upload photos on a larger scale every year.
However, despite the good experience of engaging seniors, there is a problem with their persistence in editing Wikipedia. As soon as graduates of the course do not devote themselves to editing articles, adding categories, infoboxes, or uploading photos for several weeks or months, fears, confusion, and difficulties grow. Previously active course participants get blocked and don't know how to proceed. They are afraid of making an irreversible mistake and prefer to give up their work on Wikipedia. Some of the more active seniors attend regular Wikiclubs in Prague, Brno, or Olomouc to discuss their problems and uncertainties with more experienced Wikipedians. However, not all seniors can travel to regular face-to-face meetings.
In order to engage seniors who are not able to visit the Wikiclub in their city, we have established a regular Evening Wikischool in December 2022. Wikischool takes place online every month and gradually offers an attractive combination of lectures and workshops on a range of topics that are problematic for seniors. Uploading images to Wikimedia Commons, categories, infoboxes, and templates, are just some of the topics we have covered with seniors this year.
Attendance at the online school has been steady at around 15 participants and has been very effective in motivating those present to solve technical problems and continue working on Wikipedia. All information (in the Czech language) is here.