Wikipedia and virtual volunteering
10:08, 6 October 2009
.. Posted in Volunteerism and Volunteer Management.. Link
Wikimedia, with its centerpiece program, Wikipedia, is, probably, the world's largest online volunteering endeavor, as the vast majority of its content is produced and edited by volunteers. In addition, when you do an online search on a topic, the first page that comes up in a search tool such as Google is often Wikipedia. And many people go straight to Wikipedia to get a briefing about a particular topic before they look for more detailed information.
So those are three reasons that I created the Wikipedia entry for Virtual Volunteering. But more needs to be done, and other online volunteers are needed to help! Here are three ways you can help improve the profile of online volunteering on Wikipedia:
- The Wikipedia entry for itself never mentions online volunteering and doesn't link to the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering, even though, as I already said, Wikipedia is the world's largest online volunteering endeavor anywhere. The page is protected so that, unlike most other pages, anyone can't edit the page. So if you have a Wikipedia account, please go to the talk page for the Wikipedia entry and note that you think there should be a link from the page to the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering.
- There needs to be more links on the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering to examples of online volunteering. After the last example on the page, "managing other online volunteers", you will see three footnotes. There needs to be more footnotes, linking to even more examples. You can add links yourself (preferred, as Wikipedia doesn't like that I'm the primary contributor to the page), or, email me with the URL of the web page with examples of online volunteering, and I will add it.
- More links to the Wikipedia entry for virtual volunteering on Wikipedia are also needed. You can see on the page what entries already link to it, but what others should? You can add links yourself (preferred, as Wikipedia doesn't like that I'm the primary contributor to the page), or, email me with the name of the Wikipedia entry you think should link to the virtual volunteering page, and I'll add it.
This is also a great opportunity for you to become more comfortable using a wiki and with collaborating online with others -- two skills that are very important in today's work place!
