Wikipedia Asian Month/Archive/Documentation/Event page

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Welcome to the meta portal for Wikipedia Asian Month! Wikipedia Asian Month (WAM) is an annual online event that aims to promote Asian content in Wikipedia. Since 2015, each participating local community runs an online Edit-a-thon every November, which promotes the creation or improvement of the Wikipedia content about Asia except their own country.

The participating community is not limited to Asia. The project is run across various language-specific Wikipedias and other project websites of the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikimedia movement), however, some specific actions are held in some countries and Wikimedia communities with local organisers.

Wikipedia Asian Month has achieved much over 5 years: over 37,500 high-quality articles have been added in more than 63 language-specific Wikipedias by more than 2,900 Wikipedia editors.

During the Wikipedia Asian Month contest, participants are invited to participate through a banner and other messages. These messages are typically community specific, and will point towards a "event page" that explains the purpose and conditions of the contest, why people should participate, and how to participate. In this page we will shortly describe what elements should probably be present on such a page, and hopefully give some helpful suggestions on what this page could look like.

Requirements for event pages[edit]

As event page you can create a project page on Wikipedia. Requirements for an event page:

  1. It contains the contest rules, see: "Wikipedia Asian Month 2020/Rules#Contest Rules".
  2. It contains a link to the Fountain tool website: https://fountain.toolforge.org/.
  3. To be eligible to win a prize, participants in the contest must submit their contributions through the Fountain tool.
  4. The event page must also contain information about the prizes (postcards).

Event page template which you can adapt for the local contest: Template:WAM. You can use this well-designed sample page, localized this template is required. Other good examples:

Main elements[edit]

If people arrive to this event page, they likely have some interest in participating. The most important thing is now to provide a very clear pathway for them to turn that intention into action: give them clear directions with steps they can follow. If they get lost at any point, they can always come back to this page.

The most important elements to cover in your page are:

  • Give a clear pathway how to participate. What steps need to be taken?
  • Explain in 2-3 paragraphs what the contest is, and what we're trying to achieve. We're not just some random contest, but we're trying to do something good: promote Asian content in Wikipedia.
  • Explain (or, if very long: summarize) the specifics of the contest:
    • Specific rules
    • What are the prizes
    • What does the jury process look like?

Some specific thoughts[edit]

Some specific things you may want to think about:

  • Keep it simple: In our experience, 40-80% of the participants are new to Wikimedia, and have never edited before. Keep your explanations super simple and specific. Don't try to explain how to add images to articles on this page, or how to navigate the category system. Stick to the basics.
  • Focus on the positive: Make sure to explain why it's fun and good to participate. Don't focus too much on what is hard and what problems may arise.

Example page[edit]

We have put together an example of a event page here: Wikipedia Asian Month 2020/Sample event page , localized this template is required.

To use this example, read carefully through the page, and see what needs to be changed for it to be relevant to your community. We used [your XX] to indicate many things that definitely need to be changed. Once you think you're finished, please do a quick search (control+F) for "your".