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Grants:Project/Rapid/Rachel Wexelbaum/Wikipedia As Social Activism

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St. Cloud State University/Wikipedia as Social Activism Editathon
St. Cloud State University will host an edit-a-thon, as part of a monthly series of Wikipedia meetups in Minnesota (mainly the Twin Cities). The organizers strive to encourage more St. Cloud State University students and faculty to participate in Wikipedia activities, as well as encourage "out-state" participation.
targetAs the theme of this edit-a-thon is social justice and social activism, the edit-a-thon has the potential to impact Art + Feminism, Wiki Loves Pride, and WikiProjects dealing with all diversity/social justice related subject areas. One goal that we have is to begin creating lists of African-American, American Indian, Asian American, and Latino/Latina activists, which currently do not exist on Wikipedia but are in demand. Saturday April 15th is the date of the event. We would need to provide payment for foodservice approximately one week in advance.
end dateApril 15 2017 will be the day of the edit-a-thon, although work on entries has the potential to be ongoing
budget (local currency)$215.16
budget (USD)$215.16
grant typeInstitution
non-profit statusAs an educational institution we are eligible to claim 501 c(3) status even though we are not considered a non-profit institution. The SCSU Foundation is a true non-profit organization.
grantee• RachelWex
contact(s)• rswexelbaum(_AT_)stcloudstate.edu• ResearchNow@stcloudstate.edu
organization (if applicable)• St. Cloud State University
website (if applicable)• http://www.stcloudstate.edu


Create your report

Please see the sample Editathon/Training application before drafting your application.

Project Goal

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Choose one or more of the following goals. You can add or delete goals as needed.

  1. Recruit new editors
  2. Increase skills for existing editors
  3. Add or improve content
  4. Increase awareness of how Wikipedia can be used as a tool for social activism
  5. Increase community engagement at St. Cloud State University
  6. Build network of Minnesota Wikipedia editors
  7. Build a student Wikipedia community at St. Cloud State University

Project Plan

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Activities

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Tell us how you'll carry out your project. Be sure to answer the following questions:
1. Are you doing one editathon or training or a series of editathons or trainings? St. Cloud State University Library will host one edit-a-thon this academic year. In the future, we would like to host at least one edit-a-thon per academic year.

2. How will you let your community know about the event? Please paste links below to where relevant communities have been notified of your proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. My co-organizer John Wild (Twin Cities Wikipedia Meetup organizer) and I will work together on promotion. John will promote the event through Meetup and to known Wikipedans within the Twin Cities. I will be promoting the event to the central Minnesota community through Facebook as well as the Wikipedia event page, as well as sending out announcements through our faculty listserv, and personal invitations to faculty, students, and local community members engaged in social activism or social justice-related research to participate. I will put an announcement about this event on the community's "Around the Cloud" website to bring in other potentially interested community members. I will also reach out to librarians in central Minnesota and the Twin Cities who would have interest in Wikipedia work on this topic.

3. Do you have experienced Wikimedia editors to lead the event?' John and I are both experienced Wikimedia editors. We have each organized and facilitated at least three edit-a-thons, and have assisted participants at edit-a-thons that others have organized. We anticipate having at least one other experienced Wikimedia editor present at the event who would like to help. For those new to Wikipedia, we will offer an orientation/training at the beginning of the edit-a-thon.

RachelWex has organized and facilitated the following edit-a-thons:

2/1/2014: St. Cloud State University's first Wikipedia edit-a-thon (focused on women and marginalized groups). I created a Subject Guide for this editathon, which I have used as a resource for other editathons and has been a model for other libraries: http://stcloud.lib.mnscu.edu/subjects/guide.php?subject=Wikipedia
4/19/2014: "Spring Fling" Wikipedia edit-a-thon at St. Cloud State University (general edit-a-thon).
3/26/2015: Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon for the Minnesota Digital Library staff (to train how to upload and provide data for photographs in Wikimedia commons).
6/18/2016: Wiki Loves Pride Minnesota: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Loves_Pride_2016/Minnesota

RachelWex has volunteered at the following edit-a-thons:

1/28/2017: African American Artists, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
3/11/2017: ArtAndFeminism, Minneapolis Central Library


4. Do participants have the equipment or skills needed to participate and contribute high quality content? If not, how will you support them? Participants will have the option of bringing their own laptops or using the laptops available in our library classroom. Our participants will come with a wide range of local and scholarly knowledge to edit or create new entries. I am a librarian who does research on social justice issues and will provide subject-specific academic resources to support their work, as well as a subject guide on how to create and edit Wikipedia entries. Our Wikipedia event page includes a list of helpful research resources as well.

5. How will you engage participants after the event(s)? We will encourage people to sign up for Twin Cities Wikipedia Meetup, as we promote all Minnesota Wikipedia events that we know of on this site. I will be in touch with all students who participate in the event to seek their feedback and determine if they would like to start a student organization to generate further student interest in Wikipedia work. There will be at least one edit-a-thon scheduled in July (Wiki Loves Pride Minnesota).

6. Is there anything else you want to tell us about this project?

Impact

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How will you know if the project is successful and you've met your goals? Please include the following targets:

  1. Number of events: If this event leads to the creation of another event on campus or in the St Cloud area, that is success.
  2. Number of participants: 10 or more participants--that is success for our part of Minnesota. Ideally, we will have SCSU student participation, as well as participants from the region.
  3. Number of new editors: 5 or more new editors.
  4. Number of of articles created or improved: 10 or more articles improved or started as stub-class/start-class articles (depends on how many people participate in the event, and their experience level)
  5. Number of repeat participants (for projects that include a series of events): If our "regular" Wikipedans from campus and the Cities sign up, show up, and edit or create new entries, that is success.

Resources

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What resources do you have? Include information on who is organizing the project, what they will do, and if you will receive support from anywhere else (in-kind donations or additional funding). Rachel Wexelbaum, the head organizer of this event, is a librarian and experienced Wikipedia editor/edit-a-thon facilitator who does research on social justice issues and is familiar with social activist work done in Minnesota. The St. Cloud State University Library is providing space, free wi-fi access, laptops to those who need them, and access to a wide array of books, EBooks, research databases, and government documents. Aside from the Wikipedia Rapid Grant, we will receive no other source of funding.

What resources do you need? For your funding request, list bullet points for each expense and include a total amount.

ITEM/SERVICE COST BREAKDOWN COST
Refreshments Campus Chartwells Dining Estimate: Food: 1 doz cookies: $9.99; 1 doz bars & squares: $9.99; 1 doz GF mini-muffins: $9.99; 12 reg granola bars x $1.49 ea = $17.88; 1 lb house blend trail mix: $10.99; 12 pieces of fruit x $1.29 ea = $15.48; 12 bags of plain Lays potato chips x .99 ea = $11.88; Beverages: Fruit infused water: $12.99 per gallon x 2 = $25.98; Coffee: $13.99 per gallon x 2 = $27.98 $140.16
Printing Posters $25 x 3 large posters from Campus Printing $75.00
TOTAL COST $215.16

Endorsements

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Community members are encouraged to endorse your project request here!

  • I will be attending this event and helping any editors during the Wikipedia as Social Activism event with Rachel. This event will be important for extending Wikimedia interest to folks outside the twin cities area in Minnesota, and will be an excellent event to build interest and improve existing articles in Wikipedia on social activism topics identified on the event page. Shaded0 (talk) 19:02, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
  • I am a frequent user and occasional donor to Wikipedia, but I've only made one or two tiny edits. I'd like to do more, but will feel much more comfortable doing so with the guidance of experienced editors. Abwortham (talk) 19:53, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
  • This seems like a fantastic project/event! 199.17.23.37 01:08, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
  • [this endorsement was posted on the Discussion page by a former student of mine] I, Ben Bourgoin, fully support this initiative. It can be very difficult to organize people who are seperated by physical distance, and thus event is just the thing to help with that problem. I have worked with Wex in a class setting before and have faith that she will do her best to make it an awesome event!
  • Rachel has led previous projects before and is passionate about involving our students in content creation. 199.17.23.114 22:29, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
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