Page values for "Submissions:2024/Universities and Wikimedia: Increasing Participation through Student-Run Efforts"

Universities, as institutions whose goals are to further knowledge, are a natural place to look when seeking new institutional partnerships for the Wikimedia movement. They have access to vast resources, in terms of both libraries and people, which can help the Wikimedia movement’s goal of opening access to knowledge. Current efforts to collaborate with universities include efforts aimed at professors, such as the current Wiki Education initiatives. However, more can be done to leverage this potential to its full extent, especially by expanding the scope of student-run efforts. Successful student clubs already exist at some universities, but there are comparatively few examples in North America compared to elsewhere in the world. My experiences at the University of Rochester, both in being on leadership of clubs and in attending Wikimedia events hosted by the university library, illustrate how successful student-run efforts can be, as well as how different approaches are needed to engage university students. This session will go into what developing student Wikimedia communities can provide, some of the challenges faced in trying to build them, and strategies for long-term success.