Wikipedia Connection: Year in Review

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Spring 2016 marked the one-year anniversary of Wikipedia Connection, a student organization I founded alongside several friends at The Ohio State University. The group's aim is to educate students and faculty about Wikipedia, host events, and otherwise be a resource for anyone looking to edit or learn more about Wikipedia. If you'd like to know more about its inception, check out my post: The Start of Wikipedia Connection

As a way to tie-up the year and showcase our achievements, I created an Annual Report for Wikipedia Connections' 2015-16 academic year. It's been a fantastic year of both growth and learning for our students. Our Autumn 2015 workshops drew in an average of ~5 attendees, while our Spring 2016 workshops drew in ~9. What was once just a few students in a study room has turned into events that draw 10+ people; nothing staggering, but promising!

Some Stats for the 2015-16 Year:

  • 30+ unique attendees, which includes students and faculty.
  • 14 new articles.
  • 18 weekly workshops.
  • 4 major events.

As I've said before and I'll say it again: I have much thanks to give to everyone who has helped Wikipedia Connection along so far. The utmost of thanks goes towards my close friends who helped get Wikipedia Connection off the ground; without them, we wouldn’t be around. Another thanks goes to all current officers, advisors, faculty assistants, and the greater Wikimedia community who help make everything we do possible - all of which are mentioned in the annual report.

Going into the next year is pretty exciting. Some of the things our group hopes to tackle:

  • More collaboration with other student organizations. This is already happening as we have become an official backer of HackOHI/O 2016, Ohio State's largest hackathon.
  • Bring Wikipedia to the classroom as part of the Wikipedia Education Program.
  • Better engage the off-campus Columbus community.
  • Initiate GLAM projects with various Ohio State and Columbus institutions, to bring materials and knowledge to the web.

Here's to another great year!

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