Grants talk:IEG/Wikipedia Education Program in Hong Kong

Question about grants category

Hi, I'm curious, why is this being proposed as an IEG instead of a PEG? --Pine^✉ 20:58, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

@Pine: As I know, PEG should be raised by the chapter. Isn't it? That's why I submitted the proposal as the IEG. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Venuslui (talk) 05:09, 8 October 2015

• @Venuslui: it would probably help if the chapter would be involved, yes. Ordinarily IEGs go to individuals while PEGs go to groups like chapters. Since this grant appears to be for the chapter to hire someone, it seems to me that it should be a PEG, so I'm not sure why it's in the IEG category. (This is not a comment on whether the grant proposal is good or bad, just a comment that I have the impression that it belongs in a different grants program type). Pinging Mjohnson (WMF). --Pine^✉ 16:04, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

So, this is a grant for the chapter to hire a coordinator? Then how many meetups per moth would be help? Geraldshields11 (talk) 19:35, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Eligibility confirmed, round 2 2015

This Individual Engagement Grant proposal is under review!

We've confirmed your proposal is eligible for round 2 2015 review. Please feel free to ask questions and make changes to this proposal as discussions continue during this community comments period.

The committee's formal review for round 2 2015 begins on 20 October 2015, and grants will be announced in December. See the schedule for more details.

Questions? Contact us.

Marti (WMF) (talk) 01:38, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

comments from Thepwnco

@Venuslui: hello and congrats on your grant proposal being confirmed as eligible for review! I have a few questions for you - and generally would like to see more details about the activities proposed here before the formal review period begins (I am part of the IEG committee).

1. How will you ensure the sustainability of this initiative after your IEG grant (i.e. when there is no longer funds to pay the salary of a project coordinator)?
2. Do you have any candidates in mind for the position of project coordinator? If not, how do you plan to recruit someone with the right set of skills?
3. What timelines are you looking at for this project?
4. You mentioned "the potential university in Hong Kong." I assume this means the university is not yet confirmed. I see that the pilot program was with the Hang Seng Management College. Would you like to continue to work with them or are you searching for another institution?

thanks in advance! -Thepwnco (talk) 22:52, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

@Thepwnco: Hello, thanks for your questions.

1. I would try to gather the volunteers to work on the project if there is no longer funds to pay the salary of a project coordinator. However, it would be very difficult for us to do so because as I mentioned before, it is not easy to get volunteers in Hong Kong.
2. At this moment, I do not have any candidates for the position of project coordinator, but I do have some criteria in mind, such as the education background and language skills. There will be an open recruitment for the position once the funding is confirmed. The final decision will be taken by Wikimedia Hong Kong
3. The project will be from January 2016 to March 2016 (for all the seminars and workshops) . We are planning to have the recruitment in November and December 2015.
4. The English Department of Hang Seng Management College is on our list. At the same time, I am planning to contact The City University of Hong Kong, as the School of Creative Media had some editathons before and I think it is possible for us to cooperate with them. Venuslui (talk) 05:25, 08 October 2015 (UTC)

Community notifications

Hi there, Venuslui. Thanks for your proposal building off of the Education Project pilot for Wikimedia Hong Kong! I'd like to bring your attention to the community notifications section; have you taken some time to alert the English Wikipedia community or the Wikipedia Education Program about your proposal? A few places you might consider notifying are en:Wikipedia:WikiProject Hong Kong and the Wikimedia Education mailing list. Before you make any notifications though, I agree with Thepwnco and encourage you to develop this proposal a bit more. A link to the pilot you've mentioned and some conclusions that inform this current proposal would be great to see here. I agree that providing a little more detail in the activities section is needed as well (e.g. What university is being looked at, what process will you use to select a project coordinator, some basic details about the activities during workshops) Let me know if there is anything I can clarify to help you out. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 20:14, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

@I JethroBT (WMF): I've already talked to Anna Koval about the Education Program in Hong Kong. I'm sorry that I haven't uploaded it on the WMHK page, just because I want to do it after the pilot program is done, but I've written an article about the program, please see the link here. https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/June_2015/The_First_Wikipedia_Education_Program_in_Hong_Kong

Thank you. Venuslui (talk) 05:31, 08 October 2015 (UTC)

Aggregated feedback from the committee for Wikipedia Education Program in Hong Kong

Scoring criteria (see the rubric for background)	Score 1=weak alignment 10=strong alignment
(A) Impact potential Does it fit with Wikimedia's strategic priorities? Does it have potential for online impact? Can it be sustained, scaled, or adapted elsewhere after the grant ends?	5.0
(B) Innovation and learning Does it take an Innovative approach to solving a key problem? Is the potential impact greater than the risks? Can we measure success?	3.8
(C) Ability to execute Can the scope be accomplished in 6 months? How realistic/efficient is the budget? Do the participants have the necessary skills/experience?	4.2
(D) Community engagement Does it have a specific target community and plan to engage it often? Does it have community support? Does it support diversity?	4.3
Comments from the committee: Would be nice to have linguistics knowledge from HK university Aligned with WMF strategic priority to improve quality (specifically on the topics of literature and linguistics). It targets English Wikipedia which is typically not considered a focus of increasing WMF reach; it seeks to involve students in Hong Kong but a strong case for why this needs support is not made. The lack of a sustainable plan for the program after funds have run out is of concern. Impact is uncertain because project plan is unclear. Strategy needs further development Education program is tried and proven, but not innovative Role of project coordinator needs clarification. Hiring professional coordinators is not an innovative or sustainable solution. Measures of success are vague. Not enough details are provided about the approach (I'm assuming it will depend on who is hired in the position of project coordinator). It's nice that the applicant is interested in bringing the Wikipedia Education Program to Hong Kong, however in my opinion the proposal does not seek to really leverage any of the infrastructure of the WEP. Though the applicant has some experience (one pilot program a few months ago), it is limited enough to make this a risky request to fund. If there is not a volunteer willing to get involved, what is the rationale that such a project is needed? The grant funds an individual to hire someone else to complete the scope of work. Though IEGrantees do sometimes contract a portion of the work to someone with required skills (as with programming skills or something similar), in this case the plan appears to be for one individual, the grantee, to contract all of the work out to another individual who has not yet been identified. This makes it hard to assess how likely the project will be to succeed. If this is a chapter's project, the chapter should apply via the appropriate grant program, not IEG. Perhaps the proposal can be redirected? Vague description of skills, budget or scope The budget looks reasonable for a salary for 3 months but the lack of details make it difficult to determine the feasibility of the project. Though it could be successful with the right person as project coordinator, it’s risky to fund before that person has been identified. We have also heard from other grantees that beginning partnerships with universities can be time-consuming. It seems the target community is English Wikipedia, but Hong Kong has more people who speak Chinese and Cantonese. Why aren’t these communities involved? We need to do more with universities No specific target community or plan to engage; additionally, it sounds like no online communities have been notified. Is this grant for Wikimedia Hong Kong or an individual grant? Who will be hired? Will s/he have Wikimedia experience? If this project involves multiple WEP activities, the budget should include more materials cost. Would like more information about the success of the pilot. I trust Venus to get this done Proposal needs further development and should be addressed to another funding scheme. WMF staff should provide guidance as to how the chapter could apply for such funds (FDC? PEG?) As discussed on the talk page, this is likely more of a PEG than an IEG. Regardless, I would like to see this proposal developed a lot more, ideally after another 1 or 2 initiatives in Hong Kong and with some assistance/support from the Wikipedia Education Program.

Round 2 2015 decision

This project has not been selected for an Individual Engagement Grant at this time.

We love that you took the chance to creatively improve the Wikimedia movement. The committee has reviewed this proposal and not recommended it for funding, but we hope you'll continue to engage in the program. Please drop by the IdeaLab to share and refine future ideas!

Comments regarding this decision:
We appreciate seeing a proposal that addresses Wikimedia’s strategic priorities, especially by involving outreach WEP. However, it is unclear whether this project’s success could be managed by a contracted third-party individual. It is also difficult to determine whether IEG would be the appropriate avenue to fund this project, and we encourage you to consider the Project and Event Grants program (PEG) as an alternative process. We would love to see a developed plan for this project’s sustainability, as well as more engagement with your target user community in any future ideas you have.

Next steps:

1. Review the feedback provided on your proposal and to ask for any clarifications you need using this talk page.
2. Visit the IdeaLab to continue developing this idea and share any new ideas you may have.
3. To reapply with this project in the future, please make updates based on the feedback provided in this round before resubmitting it for review in a new round.
4. Check the schedule for the next open call to submit proposals - we look forward to helping you apply for a grant in a future round.

Questions? Contact us.