10th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon

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The City Government of Borongan and the Hablon User Group of Wikimedians in the Philippines (Hablon User Group) conducted the 10th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, an event in which people come together in a place to collaboratively contribute to online projects such as but not limited to Waray Wikipedia. This was held on Saturday, September 2, 2023, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. at the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Eastern Samar District Engineering Office Conference Room, Borongan, Eastern Samar, Philippines.

The objectives of this edit-a-thon were to disseminate information on Wikimedia projects, especially Waray Wikipedia and other sister projects written in the Waray language, and to encourage individuals to become editors and share their knowledge through these projects. It also aimed to include people who spoke the Borongan variant of the Waray language, which is a part of the estehanon variant of Waray, in the Waray Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

For ten editions of Waray Wikipedia edit-a-thon, it tried to be inclusive by recruiting editors who speak Waray variants such as nortehanon (in Catarman, Northern Samar during the 4th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon), westehanon (in Calbayog, Samar during the 1st Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and in Catbalogan, Samar during the 3rd Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon), estehanon (in Guiuan, Eastern Samar during the 5th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and this edit-a-thon in Borongan, Eastern Samar), and Tacloban Waray or sometimes called standard Waray (in Tacloban during the 2nd, 6th, 8th and 9th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thons, and in Palo, Leyte during the 7th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon). The goal is to incorporate the vocabulary of these variants in the Waray Wikipedia.

Activities

Pre-event

From the beginning, the Hablon User Group (HUG) had been targeting to include in Waray Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects written in Waray all the variants of the Waray language through the conduct of Waray Wikipedia edit-a-thons. One of the dialects in mind was the Borongan Waray dialect, a part of the estehanon variant. An edit-a-thon was already held in the estehanon region during the 5th Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at Guiuan, Eastern Samar. However, nuisances exist between Guiuan Waray and Borongan Waray dialects, and this edit-a-thon's organizers wanted to capture them and include them in the Waray Wikipedia and other Waray language Wikimedia projects.

With this, discussions among the Hablon User Group members on conducting an edit-a-thon at Borongan City started. One of its members, Max Daquilanea, coordinated with Borongan's City Government and asked them if they could partner with the user group in organizing an edit-a-thon in the city. After submitting a formal letter to Borongan Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan C. Agda, the request to conduct an edit-a-thon was approved, and the Department of Public Works and Highways conference room became the edit-a-thon's venue. The event was set for September 2, 2023.

The following are the final details of the edit-a-thon as agreed:

Organizing Partners: City Government of Borongan; Department of Public Works and Highways Eastern Samar District Engineering Office
Date and time: September 2, 2023; 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Venue: Department of Public Works and Highways Eastern Samar District Engineering Office Conference Room, Borongan, Eastern Samar, Philippines

Actual event

As planned, the event happened on September 2, 2023, at the DPWH Eastern Samar District Engineering Office. Most of the attendees were employees from the DPWH. An attendee of the 2nd Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, Broadcaster Ruth R. Abunda, was also present. Waray Wikipedia administrator and Hablon User Group (HUG) member Michael Glen Ong started the event with welcome remarks. After this, fellow HUG member Bel Ballesteros talked about Wikipedia and its principles.

After Bel's presentation, another HUG member, Jojit Ballesteros, gave a demonstration on Wikipedia's editing. He also talked about some of the editing rules. A short discussion on the manual of style and other editing topics ensued after Jojit's demonstration and talk.

The actual edit-a-thon started after the lunch break and was guided by HUG members. Around 2:00 p.m., the edit-a-thon was paused to hear an inspirational message from the Borongan City Government delivered by Borongan City Information Office officer-in-charge and Rappler author Rupert Ambil on behalf of the Borongan City government. A plaque of appreciation for the city government was given to him after delivering the message.

The edit-a-thon resumed at 2:15 p.m. and ended two hours later. The awarding of certificates of participation, offline Wikipedias, and swags to the participants followed after the editing session finished. A certificate of appreciation to the Department of Public Works and Highways was given to its representative. The event ended around 5:00 p.m. Later, the HUG team went to Rupert Ambil's office to present him with a certificate of appreciation for the City Information Office of Borongan.

Schedule

Time	Activity	Speaker/Facilitator
9:00am	Registration
10:30am	Welcome remarks	Michael Glen Ong, Wikimedian and Hablon User Group member
10:45am	Introduction to Wikipedia	Bel Ballesteros, Wikimedian and Hablon User Group member
11:30am	Demonstration on how to edit Wikipedia	Jojit Ballesteros, Wikimedian and Hablon User Group member
12:15nn	Lunch Break
1:30pm	Start of Edit-a-thon	Participants and facilitators
2:00pm	Message from the Borongan Local Goverment through the Borongan City Information Office (BCIO)	Rupert Ambil, BCIO officer-in-charge
2:15pm	Resume Edit-a-thon	Participants and facilitators
4:15pm	End of edit-a-thon, and awarding of certificates, offline Wikipedias, and swags	Michael Glen Ong
5:00pm	Event ends

Participants and their output

Eight individuals attended the edit-a-thon. Only six of them created an account. Only five edited content on the Wikimedia projects, such as Waray Wikipedia, Wikivoyage, and Waray Wiktionary in Wikimedia Incubator, and uploaded photos in Wikimedia Commons. The two persons who did not participate in the edit-a-thon were part of the organizing team. One of them already had an account.

All attendees were awarded certificates of participation and stickers containing the Wikimedia Vision translated into the Waray language, and the newly registered editors were given copies of offline Waray Wikipedia on thumb drives.

Name	Username	Gender	Agency ^[1]	Created articles	Edited articles	Number of characters contributed ^[2]	Projects improved ^[3]	Notes
Jackelyn A. Arre	Jackelyn20	Female	DPWH		Borongan, Borongan	3,382	war, wikivoyage
Ruth R. Abunda	RuthRAbunda	Female	DYES - Radyo Pilipinas	Borongan Fiesta Trade 2023, LGU-Borongan City, Kinarawat Hin 3 Bulgarian Murrah Buffalo Bulls Tikang Ha DA-Philippine Carabao Center		3,125	war, Waray Wiktionary, commons	She participated in the 2nd Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in 2015.
Philip G. Aquino	FelipeAkino	Male	DPWH					He visited Waray Wikipedia during the event, Wiktionary, and Wikivoyage two days after the event, but did not edit.
May Antoinette Nable	Wanderwomay	Female	DPWH		Borongan, Borongan	3,399	war, wikivoyage, commons
Mario T. Evardone, Jr.	Marioevardone	Male	DPWH		Borongan	1,615	wikivoyage
Lindon Bench P. Dulfo	Bents1999	Male	DPWH		Borongan	3,149	wikivoyage
Aimhyrgel Rona L. Daquilanea		Female						She is also part of the organizing team in charge of registration and food.
Maximilian A. Daquilanea	Maxdaquilanea	Male						He is also part of the organizing team and the main coordinator of this edit-a-thon. He participated in and created his username during the 2nd Waray Wikipedia Edit-a-thon in 2015.

Notes

^{^} DPWH = Department of Public Works and Highways (Philippines)
^{^} Total characters contributed = 14,670
^{^} Legend: war = Waray Wikipedia; wikivoyage = WikiVoyage; commons = Wikimedia Commons

Lessons learned

What worked well

Generally speaking, everything worked well in this edit-a-thon. The venue provided by the DPWH was conducive to the event. Internet connection was stable throughout the edit-a-thon proper. The organizing team provided an internet connection, and some attendees connected to self-provided tethered internet. As a result, this event did not experience the six-account limit issue. The Borongan City government was very supportive of the event and provided meals for the attendees.

What didn't work

One of the targets of this edit-a-thon is to have at least fifteen (15) participants. Only eight (8) individuals attended, and the majority of those invited to the event did not make it because they were participating in the town fiesta activities. The organizing team thought that targeting a date during the fiesta week would entice participants. In actuality, it was the opposite. As a lesson learned, the organizing team will, in the future, target a date that will not coincide with other events, especially the town fiesta.

Although there was no problem with the six-account limit, some of the participants experienced the global blocks issue that was resolved by Wikipedia administrators present during the edit-a-thon creating accounts on the participants' behalf.

Outcomes and impact

Outcomes

Progress towards targets and goals

The main objective of this edit-a-thon is to increase participation from a place where the Waray variant is not well-represented. It also aims to increase contributions of Waray-related content in the Wikimedia projects.

Eight (8) persons participated in the event. Only five (5) of them contributed content. The project team targeted 15 people to attend the event. This was not achieved because most invited people were busy with the town fiesta activities.

The total of characters added to the Wikimedia projects is 14,670. The target is 30,000 characters, and only 49% was achieved. Nevertheless, the project team considers this edit-a-thon a success because the content came from individuals who spoke a Waray variant not well-represented in the Wikimedia projects.

To determine the number of contributed characters or bytes: (a) the facilitators of the event took note of the participants' usernames; and (b) contributions were counted after the actual edit-a-thon with the use of "global edit summary" and the "recent changes" features of MediaWiki for each project that the participants have been editing. MediaWiki is the software behind Wikimedia online projects.

Project metrics

Target outcome	Achieved outcome	Explanation
There should be 30,000 characters or equivalent to approximately 20 pages of printed text added in the Waray Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.	There were 14,670 characters added in various Wikimedia projects.	Only 49% of the target was achieved. Nevertheless, the participants were able to contribute a significant number of valuable content to Wikipedia, especially from a place where the Waray variant is not well-represented.
There should be at least 15 participants attended the event.	Eight (8) participants attended the event excluding other members of the project team.	Only 53% of the target was achieved. This was because the other invited participants were busy with the town fiesta activities.

Global metrics

For more information, see Global Metrics.

PARTICIPATION (COMMUNITY)
Metric	Achieved outcome	Explanation
1. Number of active editors involved	3	Three (3) active editors were with the project team; two (2) out of the eight (8) participants have participated in a previous edit-a-thon. The rest were new or have never edited or contributed to Wikipedia before this edit-a-thon.
2. Number of newly registered users	6	Six (6) participants have created their user accounts. One participant already had an active account since 2015. One participant already had account but forgotten her password, thus, she created a new account.
3. Number of individuals involved	12	Five (5) individuals as the project team; one (1) individual belong to the city government of Borongan; six (6) individuals attended
CONTENT
4. Number of new images/media added to Wikimedia articles/pages	4 new pictures	Four (4) new pictures are uploaded in Wikimedia Commons.
5. Number of articles added or improved on Wikimedia projects	2 articles added and 2 articles improved	Two (2) new articles are created and one (1) old article is improved in the Waray Wikipedia and 1 in Wikivoyage.
6. Absolute value of bytes added to or deleted from Wikimedia projects	approximately 14,670 bytes added	Only the bytes added were considered
LEARNING QUESTION
7. Did your work increase the motivation of contributors, and how do you know? Yes, since participants actively contributed in this edit-a-thon. A participant visited Wikimedia projects after the event. There is a possibility in the future that another edit-a-thon or similar activity will be conducted in Borongan.

Impact

This event focused on inclusivity. In this regard, the organizers think that the goal was achieved because of the participation of the five speakers of the Borongan Waray dialect.

In terms of quantity, this edit-a-thon created two (2) new articles, improved two (2) existing articles, and uploaded four (4) new pictures. This edit-a-thon had a significant impact on the Wikimedia Movement's vision that everyone could "share in the sum of all knowledge" because new editors contributed 14,670 bytes of information in about two hours.

In terms of bridging the gender gap in the Wikimedia movement, five (5) out of the twelve (12) attendees, including the organizing team, or 42%, are female. The top two (2) contributors in terms of characters contributed are females. This edit-a-thon has somehow narrowed the gender gap in event organizing and productivity.

With this edit-a-thon, future collaboration in Borongan is most likely as BCIO officer-in-charge Rupert Ambil mentioned to the organizing team.