Wikipedia has recently turned 10 years old and has planned to host over 5o million articles by 2015. Let me confess here, before I turned blogger I did not really follow blogs as much I would end up following Wikipedia entries on various topics ranging from current events to history.
In my opinion, after Google search engine, Wikipedia is one of the best innovation on the internet. Thanks to a tip by Vivek Jain, I came across news that Wikipedia is taking in applications for Campus Ambassador in India. The pilot program will start in Pune.
What is a Wikipedia Campus Ambassador?
- A Wikipedia Campus Ambassador basically co-ordinates with local universities.
- Campus Ambassadors help find and recruit instructors from local universities who might be interesting is putting up Wikipedia Editing as a course students can take.
- They also organize om-campus events to encourage editing of Wikipedia.
- Also help setup Wikipedia help desk on the campus.
How this helps Wikipedia?
The idea is to encourage not just use Wikipedia but also edit and update Wikipedia. Only with more users actively contributing to Wikipedia will truly help Wikipedia.
What do Ambassadors get?
- Free knowledge and collaborative writing.
- Obviously it won’t do any harm to your reputation to be known as a Wikipedia Ambassador.
- Ambassadors also receive a sponsorship to other Wikimedia events along with stipends for running events.
I guess the pilot program starts in Pune, because of the big number of college campuses in the city.
In case you want to be a Campus Ambassador complete this application form. Also before you apply go through the Campus Ambassador page on Wikimedia.