CIS-A2K/Work plan July 2017 - June 2018/Global Engagement

Introduction

Over the past couple of years, CIS-A2K has made fledgling attempts to try and engage Indic Wikimedia communities with the global Wikimedia movement. We have encouraged communities to apply for the IEG and PEG- grants that are sure to throw greater light on some of the industrious efforts made by the Indic Wikimedia communities. These connections ensure that the volunteers are motivated to be a part of the global Wikimedia movement. This year, we attempt to take this further and facilitate the knowledge transfer and collaboration between the Indic Wikimedia communities and the global movement. In directing our communities towards these ideas and concepts, they may then choose to localise them to suit the needs of their respective communities. Engaging with a wide variety of communities, cultures, and sensibilities helps develop a more holistic perspective which may then be reflected in the quality of content. Such localisation of content helps inform Wikimedia policies and guidelines at the community level as well. CIS-A2K plans to take up the global engagement component with more vigour in the upcoming plan year by incorporating it across languages and activities. We believe that openly available global lessons from Wikimedia chapters and affiliates must be studied, understood and used to help communities in India. CIS-A2K will aim to leverage its access to these lessons, organisations and peoples to bring the best of technical and content related components to Indian Wikipedia communities. CIS-A2K hopes that the global engagement initiative changes from passive learning to that of active collaboration. CIS-A2K's plan to create an engagement between Indic Wikimedia communities and global entities and global Wikimedians is in line with our strategic plan June 2016 - July 2018:

Building Leadership: While the Indic language Wikimedia communities successfully continue their efforts in contributing to Wikipedia, there is a need for more community leaders to emerge. Identifying community leaders and grooming them is essential for the long term stability of the communities. CIS-A2K will endeavour to close the gap between these community leaders and global best practices.
Optimization of Opportunities: In engaging with global Wikimedia chapters and affiliates, CIS-A2K will attempt to leverage its access to these networks to catalyze the growth of Indian Wikimedia communities. By making these connections possible, CIS-A2K hopes to enable communities to also optimize the inter-regional opportunities available to them in India as well as the world at large.
Idea Exchange platform for Indian Wikimedia Communities: CIS-A2K will attempt to bring Indic Wikimedians closer to the global movement. However, not every idea is of a completely transferable nature. In order to localise it to more than one Indic language community, discussions will take place around the different aspects of a project.

Rationale

In our endeavour to engage the Indic Wikimedians globally, we hope to achieve four aims:

Learning: CIS-A2K believes there is a lot to be learnt from the global Wikimedia movement for the organisation as well as the communities. While global interactions have happened in isolation among Wikimedians in the Indian context, we believe that by formulating a process of global interactions made available to Indic Wikimedians will enable CIS-A2K to learn important lessons on how best to serve the Indic Wikimedia communities and their specific needs.
Global best practices: While the work of Indic Wikimedias have grown rapidly over the years, we believe that helping communities adapt global best practices and enabling the communities to localise them will give the work universally recognisable structure and context.
Performance auditing: CIS-A2K has always maintained open channels of communications at various levels. Having engaged with several Wikimedia communities and organisations, we believe in upping the level of scrutiny of our work, performance, plans, ideas and suggestions through discussions, deliberations and feedback. Engaging globally will further enable the team to scaled up the level of accountability and openness to our evaluation.
Exploring new avenues: The global engagement plan is also an effort to reorient the work of CIS-A2K to the changing landscape of Wikipedia around the world. By charting unfamiliar courses and exploring new territories, CIS-A2K hopes to find new avenues for collaboration, both with Wikimedia chapters and affiliates as well as external organisations that express an interest to work with the free knowledge movement.

Work Plan

In introducing our work plan, we would like to state our thanks to the global Wikimedia chapters and affiliates whose work we have drawn inspiration from. While we believe that sharing of resources is important, the meticulous documentation of their success stories has helped us frame our Global Engagement work plan. The work plan table below details the Global Engagement initiatives proposed by CIS-A2K for the upcoming grant period. The table lists:

the theme based activities that will be undertaken,
the Wikimedia projects that the activity will take place on,
the nature of the activity,
the challenges that these activities are likely to face,
the expected takeaways from these activities and
the rationale behind conducting them.

These activities have been inspired by the works of global Wikimedia chapters and affiliates. These engagements will ideally take place in collaboration with the Wikimedia chapters and affiliates that have become globally renowned for these projects and best practices. We have received positive responses from the chapters we have approached. We are looking forward to receiving more replies over the coming days and weeks and formulate a structured proposal for these collaborations. While active collaboration is the ideal scenario, the priority would be to conduct these events in a manner that the communities envision.

Thematic Activity	Inspired By	Wikimedia Project Involved	Nature of Activity	Rationale	Takeaway	Challenges
Indi Spring 2017	CEE Spring 2016	Wikipedia	Online and offline edit-a-thons	To adopt a pan-Indian approach to our activities	Inter-community understanding/ collaboration Quantity and quality of articles	Cultivating community interest
Hyperlocal QRpedia	Wikimedia UK	Wikipedia, Wikidata	Reach	Building of local communities and creating Wiki-friendly neighbourhoods	Awareness of local knowledge	Since the event is hyperlocal, there may notability issues
Wikimedian in Residence	Wikimedia UK	Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons	In-house community strengthening	To strengthen community participation in institutional initiatives and introduce external institutions to the Wikimedia movement	Communities learning the essentials of institutional collaboration Institution would get exposure to and can partake in the free knowledge movement	Aligning the missions of the Wikimedian and the organisation
Wikipedia Asian Month	Wikipedia Asian Month	Wikipedia	Article creation, online and offline edit-a-thons	Increasing diversity of content related to Asia	Awareness of Asia-related topics and content	Since the activity involves countries that are not the volunteers’ own, it could prove challenging to find references and citations for the same. We intend to overcome this by conducting the event at libraries or other well-stocked resource centres
Wikispeech	Wikimedia Sverige	Wikispeech	Creating text to speech resources	Taking Wikipedia’s information resources in Indic languages to people who have not received formal education or are unable to read for different reasons	Text to speech accessibility could be useful for several schools and colleges that work with differently abled students.	Lack of availability of dedicated resource persons across languages as this is a time consuming activity
Wiki Loves Libraries	Wiki Loves Initiatives	Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia	Online photo contest	Exploring and understanding the role of libraries in helping Wikipedia	Using physical libraries to help the work of Wikimedians, especially with regard to resources for references and citations	Availability and accessibility of background information on the libraries approached
WikiMOOC	French WikiMOOC	Wikipedia, MediaWiki platform	Article and policy creation	Introducing the concept of MOOC to Indic Wikipedias and especially to students who would be able to make use of these resources to contribute to Wikipedia	Students introduced and integrated to Wikipedia activities	Integrating the program with WEP
Technical Wishes	Wikimedia Deutschland	MediaWiki et al	Workshops	Resolving the technical challenges faced by Indic Wikimedians	Enabling Indic Wikimedians to conduct technical troubleshoot within their communities	The ratio of requests received and resolved may be skewed due to the absence of a dedicated technical team
Women in Red	Wiki Project Women in Red	Wikipedia	Article creation, online and offline edit-a-thons	To channel the global efforts made during Women's History Month onto Indic Wikimedia communities	Enabling women's voices and "herstories" to be told on Wikipedia	Availability and accessibility of resources for offline edit-a-thons
Dalit History Month	Whose Knowledge	Wikipedia	Article creation, edit-a-thons	To create global and national awareness on the celebration of subaltern cultures and populations	Learning how best to increase and represent the voices of minorities and vulnerable populations	Given the delicate nature of the topic, we expect extensive community review in attempting to conduct the event
Facts Matter	Wikimedia Foundation	Wikipedia	Offline edit-a-thons	Exploring the relationship between the fact-based Indic Wikimedia communities and the media	Throwing light on fact-based Wikipedia policies that are being glossed over today	Editor retention post event
Heritage Month	Wikimedia Sverige and Wikimedia Argentina	Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons	Photo walks, article creation	Building of local communities and creating Wiki-friendly neighbourhoods	Understanding local heritage and creating global awareness	Receiving necessary permissions from local authorities and municipal corporations

Implementation

Indi Spring 2017

Goal (Plan)

To create articles at the national level, across Indic language communities, about various regions in the country.

Objective (Execution)

As India is linguistically and regionally diverse, we will attempt to simplify this cross Wikipedic experience by pairing two language communities together and ask each one to come up with a list of articles they would like to see created on the other's Wikipedia and vice versa. These articles may be related to the community's language, culture, history, women achievers, etc. This pairing process makes it easier for the communities to streamline their contributions. Wikimedians are, of course, more than welcome to take on more than one language or region as the list produced by the community will be available to all.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we would attempt to highlight the cross-community experiences of the Indic Wikimedians by:

highlighting the experience of participants on social media - Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
highlighting the efforts of communities through blog posts - 1 per language

Hyperlocal QRpedia

What is a QRpedia code

Goal (Plan)

To install QR codes on places of interest at the hyper-local level.

Objective (Execution)

Wikimedians are encouraged to think about places visited most frequently by the public where QR codes would be useful for their visit. For example, a railway station with information on its history, heritage, trains operating to and fro, etc. will be easier to use as a potential site for putting up a QR code. Communities will be encouraged to pick sites as hyper-local as possible so that the impact is more visible to them.

Target (Projection)

We would attempt to install a minimum of 5 QRcodes per locality undertaken.

Wikimedian in Residence

Goal (Plan)

To set up one or more Wikimedian(s) as in-house staff member of an organisation in order to help the organisation interact with the free knowledge movement on Wikipedia by releasing material under open licences and to create a long lasting bond between the institution and the Wikimedia community

Objective (Execution)

We aim to adopt this global project to Indic Wikipedias where community members will be requested to send in their applications for a residency program with one of our partner organisations. We would try to situate the residency within a geographic location where the community is already present. This is to ensure that the community directly benefits from the work done by the Wikimedian in Residence

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we would attempt to engage one Wikimedian as a Resident in one of our partner institutions. In the event that this becomes unachievable, we would endeavour to appoint a Wikimedian in Residence at CIS in order to work with other departments to bring their work onto the domain of free knowledge .

Wiki Loves Libraries

Goal (Plan)

To hold a photo contest that captures the essence of libraries in an increasingly digital world in order to reintroduce their access as centres of knowledge.

Objective (Execution)

Wikimedians will be asked to send in their Commons uploads of library and library- related photos. These will be judged for their usability on articles related to the libraries or other general articles.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we aim to promote this event through edit-a-thons and workshops organised in partnership with libraries.

Wikipedia Asian Month

Goal (Plan)

To continue to anchor the Wikipedia Asian Month in order to build a community of Asian Wikipedians whose voices are heard and reflected in the quality of content that is produced

Objective (Execution)

CIS-A2K proposes to conduct offline edit-a-thons across our focus and non- focus language areas to improve the quantity and quality of Asia related articles on Wikipedia

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we aim to promote this event on a global scale, encouraging Wikimedians from all over the world to document Asia-related content on their language Wikipedias.

Wikispeech

Goal (Plan)

To develop text to speech tools for Indic Wikimedias using Wikispeech.

Objective (Execution)

To work with global Wikimedia chapters and affiliates in order to take the knowledge resources surrounding Wikispeech to Focus Language Areas at a small-scale level.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we aim to partner with at least one school or educational institution that works with differently abled students, in order to introduce Wikipedia and Wikispeech to them.

WikiMOOC

Goal (Plan)

To develop a MOOC platform for introducing students in our Wikipedia Education Program to open resources on editing and contributing to Wikipedia.

Objective (Execution)

A dedicated MediaWiki platform hosted for Wikipedia Education Program will be made available to students under the program.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we would aim to document the journey of new editors who have used the CIS-A2K WikiMOOC platform in order to understand the effectiveness of the program.

Technical Wishes

Goal (Plan)

To resolve the technical bugs and challenges facing Indic Wikimedias

Objective (Execution)

In the run up to our annual flagship MWT event, we would request Indian Wikimedia communities to send in their technical wishes that they would like to see fulfilled at the event. We would help resolve these issues while training them in MediaWiki and related tools.

Target (Projection)

The targets we hope to achieve here are:

Number of requests received
Number of requests resolved

We would aim to conduct at least one community hosted session at our flagship MWT wherein community members hold a panel discussion on the localised technical solutions that they find most useful for their respective communities.

Women in Red

Goal (Plan)

To take up the Wiki Project Women in Red across Indic language Wikipedias in order to ensure gender balanced content.

Objective (Execution)

To conduct a pan-Indian article creation contest for improving women-related articles on Wikipedia

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we would attempt to document the stories of Indian women editors throughout the month through blog posts in an effort to highlight their Wikipedia journey.

Dalit History Month

Goal (Plan)

To create articles on prominent persons from and contributions of minority groups in India in order to give voice to their telling of history.

Objective (Execution)

CIS-A2K will conduct offline edit-a-thons as well encourage Indic Wikimedians to take up or conclude their 100WikiDays challenge during this month.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we hope to partner with organisations that work with minority groups in order to bring their content into free licenses.

Apart from Global Metrics,

Facts Matter

Wikipedia - FactsMatter2016

Goal (Plan)

To hold edit-a-thons in conjunction with Indic communities and journalists in order to facilitate conversations around the fact-based Wikipedia community.

Objective (Execution)

CIS-A2K has partnered with media organisations in the past to conduct edit-a-thons. It is hoped that these offline events would introduce journalists and Wikimedians to each others’ worlds as they fight for a common cause. These would involve the participation of Indic language community members.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we would aim to hold a panel discussion on the relationship between Wikipedia and the Facts Matter initiative.

Heritage Month

Goal (Plan)

To document local heritage and culture in order to create Wiki-friendly neighbourhoods

Objective (Execution)

To conduct heritage photo walks and edit-a-thons in order to increase awareness regarding these locally important cultural and heritage sites.

Target (Projection)

Apart from Global Metrics, we would aim to bring live feeds from our photo-walks so as to enable those editors who were unable to make it to the event to partake virtually.

Global Metrics

Summary

Metric	Expected outcome
Participants	53
Newly Registered	0
Content Pages	824
Footprint tracker	6
Value Of bytes deleted	3,072

Activity-wise Targets

Metric	Desi Spring	Hyperlocal QRpedia	Wikimedian in Residence	Wiki Loves Libraries	Wikipedia Asian Month	Wikispeech	WikiMOOC	Technical Wishes	Women in Red	Dalit History Month	Facts Matter	Heritage Month
Participants	53
Newly registered	0
Content pages	824
Footprint tracker	6
Value of bytes deleted	3,072

Budget

Serial number	Expenditure Item	FDC Support (INR)	FDC Support (US$)
Conversion rate: 1 → US$ 0.015
1	Salary	594,000	8,910
2	Travel and stay	100,000	1,500
3	Events and meetup	100,000	1,500
4	Digitization	35,000	525
5	Miscellaneous	15,000	225
	Total	844,000	12,660
6	In-kind support	20,000*	300
	Grand total	864,000	12,960

Activity-wise Budget

Serial number	Expenditure Item	FDC Support (INR)	FDC Support (US$)
Conversion rate: 1 → US$ 0.015
1	Salary	594,000	8,910
2	Skill building	65,000	975
3	Content Enrichment Activities	105,000	1,575
4	WEP	20,000	300
5	GLAM	45,000	675
6	Miscellaneous	15,000	225
	Sub Total	844,000	12,660
7	In-kind support	20,000	300
	Grand total	864,000	12,960