Grants talk:IdeaLab/Engaging Native American Communities

April 12 Proposal Deadline: Is your project ready for funding?

The deadline for Individual Engagement Grant (IEG) submissions this round is April 12th, 2016. If you’ve developed your idea into a project that would benefit from funding, consider applying!

To apply, you must (1) create a draft request using the “Expand into an Individual Engagement Grant” button on your idea page, (2) complete the proposal entirely, filling in all empty fields, and (3) change the status from "draft" to "proposed." As soon as you’re ready, you should begin to invite any communities affected by your project to provide feedback on your proposal talk page.

If you have any questions about IEG or would like support in developing your proposal, we're hosting a few proposal help sessions this month in Google Hangouts:

• April 5th, 16:00 - 17:00 UTC
• April 8th 1:00 - 2:00 UTC
• April 12th 16:00 - 17:00 UTC

I'm also happy to set up an individual session. With thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) 00:38, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Comments and Discussion:

Please feel free to add comments to the proposal here.--Maunus (talk) 16:41, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Who are you are trying to reach? If anyone here is going to the ATALM conference in October in Phoenix, they might be open to an informal, evening Wikipedia session. I'm doing NAISA but that's too huge/too insane. Does this group (WPIPNA) have a welcome message they place on native editors' talk pages? I spot native friends and acquaintances editing from time to time, but they are usually only editing their own pages or those of their tribes. Yuchitown (talk) 18:10, 7 April 2016 (UTC)Yuchitown

I am trying to connect with any tribal museums, libraries and with language and culture promoters. I have chosen to begin my own efforts with the Montana Crow tribe and the Fort Bethold tribe because I have been invited to participate in the language institutes. My next efforts might include the Standing Rock tribe, the CRIT reservation in Arizona and the Kumiai-Ipai of Southern California because that is where I have contacts. I think you are right that a Native welcome template might be a very good idea - shouldnt be too difficult to create through the wiki project Nartive North America space.--Maunus (talk) 18:30, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Ah, so ATALM's conference does sounds the perfect place to reach the most people in your demographic: Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums. Teachers at tribal colleges seem like a good connection; not sure what the best way to reach the most of them would be. Maybe at an AIHEC gathering or if you could get something into the Tribal College Journal? Yuchitown (talk) 17:22, 8 April 2016 (UTC)Yuchitown

The link definitely looks like it would be a great place to reach those groups. Are you attending that conference? Also getting a piece into the Tribal College Journal sounds like an excellent idea.--Maunus (talk) 02:48, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

I'm going to help with registration at a small indigenous language summit tomorrow. Is there a PDF with information about how to get started editing Wikipedia (especially for tribal languages) that I could print-out and give to people? I'll be there Thursday, too. Yuchitown (talk) 06:04, 13 April 2016 (UTC)Yuchitown

There isnt one, but it is a great idea. I will make one, though I cant have it ready for tomorrow (it will be a couple of weeks at least).--Maunus (talk) 12:33, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

I have a crapload of English-language "how to edit wikipedia" at my training account en:User:MontOther. Feel free to swipe anything that looks helpful. Ultimately, in presentations, I find that I usually wind up doing paper handouts of a cheat sheet and then demonstrating live. Montanabw (talk) 15:49, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm doing NAISA next month, so perhaps we can tool a pdf for teachers who might want to do student projects. So, you are proposing funds visit tribal communities to teach Wikipedia skills? You might plan to visit the many, many Lakota language immersion programs, since the students could actually write and use the Lakota Wikipedia. Yuchitown (talk) 17:18, 15 April 2016 (UTC)Yuchitown

Well at this stage I am specifically proposing funds to visit the two language institutes - but the immersion schools are definitely on my radar for the next step of the project. I actually have an acquaintance whose daughter is in such a program and I have had the same thoughts that Wikipedia could both be a useful education tool for them and they could be a huge asset for wikipedia.--Maunus (talk) 20:13, 15 April 2016 (UTC)

Fantastic idea. FWIW, Maunus, I'd be glad to support your efforts with the Crow tribe, I do wikipedia workshops for a couple other Montana-based entities and certainly support this work. Montanabw (talk) 05:35, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Last year I organised a wiki editathon at the Native American Literatures Symposium [1], which was very well attended and resulted in several new contributions, plus I believe some academics were at least exploring the idea of Wiki editing as a class assignment. ([User:SSenier] has in fact done that already, and very successfully - it would be worth reaching out to her). I would have thought NAISA would be very open to a wikithon proposal. In fact, every academic conference I have ever approached with a wikithon idea has been open to it... and if you can get undergraduates in Native Studies to edit as a class assignment, that has the potential to create 100s of new editors. Vizjim (talk) 11:50, 18 April 2016 (UTC)

Hi Maunus. I've led some edit-a-thons in libraries and museums here in Chicago directed at newer editors, mixed audiences of new and experienced editors, and library/museum staff. I haven't yet had time to get in touch with the American Indian Center (AIC) here in the city, and am currently just starting vacation, but sometime after I return on May 4, I'd like to begin outreach here by making some calls and setting up an appointment to talk things over. The institution seems to represent a broad range of tribes, mostly Oneida, Ojibwa, Menominee, Sac and Fox, and Potawatomi, amongst others. It seems they also have an education department, and I'd like to check out what resources they have on hand. To the extent that there are Wikimedia projects other than English that are available and that they want to edit, I'd also be curious to see if that might be of interest to them as well. I JethroBT (talk) 13:52, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

HiVizijm (talk · contribs) and I JethroBT (talk · contribs), it sounds like you have important experience with this time of thing. Anything you have to share from your prior experiences would be a great help, and if you like we could create a space where we could coordinate future efforts towards the goal of getting more Native people to edit - so we know what we are each going to work on, and sharing experiences and results. Unfortunately for my own involvement I am moving back to Europe soon, and my own ability to work physically on those kinds of events will be limited to what I can get outside funding to do. But I can work virtually, and intend to do so.--Maunus (talk) 19:34, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

@Maunus: thanks for this idea - it's exciting! I like that this proposal focuses primarily on initial outreach and consultation because I think it's important to build relationships with communities first and not assume that any particular model of engagement or participation (be it caravan or other idea) is necessarily what's best or most of interest.

As a member of the IEG committee I think it would be helpful during our review to have a more formal outline in the project plan of deliverables/resources that could be developed and shared through the initial stage of this work - for example, your presentation slides or notes, a record or analysis of outreach discussions with community members, any new editing handouts created or wiki templates, etc. Personally I think it'd also be great to see the next stage of this work (assuming there is interest from communities) and any follow up grant proposals be collaboratively developed between you and community leaders and/or reps from tribal museums and libraries.

Someone has already mentioned ATALM...it may also be worth joining the American Indian Library Association (AILA) listserv where you may be able to connect with tribal libraries and get feedback on this work as it develops. There are some great resources on the AILA website too (some of which you may already be familiar with). -Thepwnco (talk) 11:20, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

@Maunus: Last minute question, I'm not sure if anyone methioned this before, but I notice two conference you plan to attened is only three days between, would you mind staying in U.S. for this extra three days to save $1500 ticket, but keep $500 for three days' rental car, diem and motel expense. --AddisWang (talk) 02:23, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

I guess I'm not very clear about your travel plan, could you provide more details?--AddisWang (talk) 02:32, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

AddisWang (talk · contribs)I actually hadnt thought about that myself, and I also hadnt realize that the grant deadline is after the first conference, so maybe it is not feasible to do this this year, and it would have to be next year. If it were to materialize, I wouldnt mind staying those extra three days of course. I also wouldnt mind only going to one of the meetings, if that turns out to be the best option due to the timing of the granting process.--Maunus (talk) 03:07, 15 May 2016 (UTC)

creating a framework for generalisation

Hi! I really like your idea and think that it will be useful for not just the target community but several others with similar status. It would be great if you can see if there are some properties in your approach that can be generalised into a framework that will aid the methods to be used elsewhere too. Thanks Vincentvikram (talk) 05:40, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

I think that there are generalizable properties. But the thing with Native American communities is that they are largely rural and best reached in person, requiring to actually go there (i.e. the caravan idea). I dont think there are many other minority communities of this type in the US. Most other minority communities are largely urban and much easier to reach with simple infrastructure. Outside of the US however, there are many many contexts where a caravan model might work to contact local communities that are not easy to reach from major population centers.--Maunus (talk) 23:51, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

Eligibility confirmed

This Individual Engagement Grant proposal is under review!

We've confirmed your proposal is eligible for review and scoring. Please feel free to ask questions and make changes to this proposal as discussions continue during this community comments period (through 2 May 2016).

The committee's formal review begins on 3 May 2016, and grants will be announced 17 June 2016. See the round 1 2016 schedule for more details.

Questions? Contact us at iegrantswikimedia · org .

--Marti (WMF) (talk) 04:17, 28 April 2016 (UTC)

Aggregated feedback from the committee for Engaging Native American Communities

Scoring rubric	Score
(A) Impact potential Does it have the potential to increase gender diversity in Wikimedia projects, either in terms of content, contributors, or both? Does it have the potential for online impact? Can it be sustained, scaled, or adapted elsewhere after the grant ends?	7.0
(B) Community engagement Does it have a specific target community and plan to engage it often? Does it have community support?	5.6
(C) Ability to execute Can the scope be accomplished in the proposed timeframe? Is the budget realistic/efficient ? Do the participants have the necessary skills/experience?	6.4
(D) Measures of success Are there both quantitative and qualitative measures of success? Are they realistic? Can they be measured?	6.9
Additional comments from the Committee: I have often said there should be a chapter in Tijuana because it would be the closest foreign language office to the WMF office in San Francisco. But this is great option I hadn't thought of. Even though the indigenous communities are not very unified, this could really help to revive interest in their languages and shared history. Native American communities have traditionally been severely under-represented in the Wikimedia movement; targeted outreach and engagement with them have the potential to result in significant impact, both in terms of quality of content on high-participation Wikimedia projects and in terms of increased participation on smaller Native American language projects. This proposal aligns with Wikimedia's strategic priorities to increase the diversity of knowledge on WMF projects, and to improve outreach to new potential volunteers, especially those from communities who are underrepresented on WMF projects. While it focuses on initial outreach for a more long-term project (to be realized the following year), I think it has the potential for online impact. I also think the importance of building respectful relationships with Indigenous communities cannot be underestimated--or hurried. In the past we have had similar projects in IEG, but in my opinion there may be several external obstacles. I do not see the impact of this proposal’s plan, but the topic of Engaging with Native American Communities definitely needs more attention. I think this project sounds like a fantastic way to engage a community that is underrepresented in Wikipedia. It has the major potential for impact and, like some of the reviewers on the Talk page mentioned, I would love to see this expanded as a model for engaging other underrepresented communities. I also second the comment that reaching out to librarians would be an excellent way of building the project's success. Yes, other countries have made trips to reach remote communities, but I believe this would be the first in the US. The proposal does not have defined quantitative measures of success, so its evaluation would be difficult. Given that one of the principal objectives is to solicit participation in a future editing campaign, an accurate evaluation would not be possible in the long-term after the conclusion of the project. The risk here is quite low: the applicant is an experienced editor who is knowledgeable of the issue, is active on the WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, and has been invited to participate in the language institutes. It is a good idea to work with tribal libraries and museums and the long-term outcomes of this project could be the development of guides for partnering with these institutions as well as other resources. In the short-term, it would be good to record discussions with community members and why they may or may not be interested in the Wikicaravan project. Measures of success are not well-developed, and consists of an activity of outreach and of participation in events without a clear impact. This proposal only aims to identify whether there is a willing community to solve a known problem. It is unclear how it intends to achieve this in just ten days. I think this is a wonderful proposal. I would like, however, to see more information on the measures of success. I certainly think that qualitative measures of success (e.g. interviews or oral histories) are valuable. However, I would like to see a more developed plan for measuring the project's success. Perhaps surveys? Or data? Yes this sounds reasonable as a start. Who knows what they will come back with. The applicant has a strong background with the target audience as well as support from local participants. The budget is reasonable for an effort of this size, although some cost reduction could be achieved by combining the two five-day trips into a single ten-day one. The overall timeline is for more than 6 months. As previously stated above, I think it is important to recognize that outreach takes time and I support investing funds at that stage of the project. Proposal suggests only ten days, which is too short of a time given the size of the budget, and does not seem cost-effective. The participants are clearly qualified to undertake this project and I think it's a really exciting endeavor that seems very well thought out. There is a reasonable degree of community engagement and support, and the proposed project strongly supports cultural and linguistic diversity. It looks like there is good community support, and willingness to help. The project supports diversity. I don't really see any community engagement in terms of the Wikimedia community.The people mentioned here are new to the community and it is certain whether or not they will still remain after the project. It is unclear how the user would communicate with the intended audience. I imagine Native Americans can speak English but it would most certainly require translators if this is not the case. This project largely aims at targeting outside of the Wikimedia community and has an excellent plan for engagement. However, I would recommend looking at other projects, like gender gap projects and AfroCROWD, within the Wikimedia movement in order to strengthen the project. Only three days between two conferences, and two out of three days used on travel between the U.S. and Denmark? I would expect the applicant to offer legitimate reasons for this itinerary. Also, expenses for travel and printing seem high. Great idea! I'd like to see some form of this project move forward; I think it's an important area of work to support and Maunus is a great person to have on the project. I think it would be good to have a more formal outline in the project plan of deliverables/resources that could be developed and shared through the initial stage of this work. For example: presentation slides, a record and analysis of outreach discussions with community members, any new editing handouts created. It also makes sense to have relevant resources in one place (it's not clear to me that they should go on WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America). It'd be really great to see the next stage of this work (assuming there is interest from communities to participate) and any follow-up grant proposals be a collaboration between Maunus, community leaders, and/or representatives from tribal museums and libraries. And if the WikiCaravan model is not of interest, maybe there are other ways of connecting with those individuals or bringing them into the project grants program at a later time. The project has small deliverables in proportion with the resources requested. I am unsure about prevailing economic conditions but the cost for flyers and posters is on the high side, with a significant amount of the budget for transportation and accommodation. About half of the budget is for airfare and remaining amount is mostly for accommodation and transport. Only $1,000 out of $6,500 is to be used towards the proposal’s intended program and that is only for ten days. A local user would be better suited for this task.The volunteers mentioned in this grant should be able help achieve the same goals and circumvent nearly all of the costs mentioned.

--MJue (WMF) (talk) 23:43, 2 June 2016 (UTC) on behalf of the IEG Committee

Withdrawn pending better planning

I have withdrawn the project for now. I was living in the US when I proposed it but since then I have moved to Europe making the project logistically complex and much more expensive. Also the feedback from other users have pointed to other venues where it will be easier to contact a broad group of tribal officials, librarians and activists. I will create a new plan for the next funding round in which I focus on seeing if I can use some of the volunteers to engage in activities closer to their homes, and to participate in conferences with broad participation from many tribal communities.--Maunus (talk) 06:16, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

@Maunus: The next Inspire campaign -- focused on outreach to outside knowledge networks (e.g. communities or institutions that represent Native Americans) -- is starting tomorrow. If you're interested, I'd like to be a mentor on a project like this one, and I can support you in redesigning the proposal if you'd like. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 17:58, 30 January 2017 (UTC)