Wikipedia:Education Program/Structure proposals/Erik Olin Wright Proposal

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Erik Olin Wright

What idea(s) do you have for what the new structure for the U.S. and Canada Wikipedia Education Programs could look like?

I am not sure how elaborate a ‘structure’ is needed for the education project to thrive. (But I should add that I do not really have experience in thinking about organizing projects like this, so I may be completely misunderstanding the task at hand). I think there are really three key ingredients for the steady expansion of Wikipedia-writing assignments in university courses: (1) The Wikipedia Ambassador program, without which few professors are going to be able or willing to take on the training tasks of students; (2) really simple and accessible guides for faculty members about how to do this; (3) getting professional disciplinary associations (like the American Sociological Association) to support the endeavor and disseminate information to their members. There is clearly a need for some staff and resources to facilitate both of these, but I don’t think there needs to a complex organizational structure. I suppose the only thing I would add is the desirability of some sort of advisory board that would include academics and wikipedians, but I have no specific ideas about how that should be formed and selected.

How would you ensure this new structure involves all key stakeholders, including academics and the Wikipedia community?

The advisory board would be the venue in which representation of relevant stakeholders would take place.

What are potential pitfalls of this approach?

The main problem is probably going to be getting academics to devote time to the organizational tasks.

Any other comments about your proposal?

As you can see from what I wrote, I don’t have strong feelings (or insights) about possible organizational structures. I have a better sense of what needs to be done than how the organization should be structured.