Grants talk:PEG/Staticshakedown/Rutgers University Library GLAM

Evaluation by the GAC

GAC members who support this request

1. I do support this. I think it's a worthwhile investment for a "one time" thing - I would intensify focus on faculty, if I had to choose. Relying on "the public" is too random IMHO. Alleycat80 (talk) 21:17, 30 September 2014 (UTC)
2. Good relation costs/benefits. --Ilario (talk) 08:38, 9 October 2014 (UTC)
3. Given demonstrated interest from Rutgers (I know additional people I can introduce Static to there who have been wanting something like this to happen,) I believe this would be worthwhile. Kevin (talk) 21:51, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

GAC comments

Well.. 1000 USD just for two workshops for 30 people is not a good value for money proportion IMHO... There is no local wikipedians ready to organize it to avoid expensive flight and nighs at Hyatt Hotel? Polimerek (talk) 19:51, 27 September 2014 (UTC)

So, 30 people is what I placed as the minimal goal, but I do think that we can get more people. Realistically, I think at least 30 people would show up for the professional workshop plus more in the other workshop if the advertising is done. As for the flight/accommodations, I am one of the two wikimedians-in-residence for Rutgers and have been helping them remotely get involved with contributing to wikipedia. That is why we had this goal of being able to meet in person and set up workshops this way, with the intention that they would learn to be more independent and set long-term goals that they can accomplish by themselves in the future. I do understand your concerns though, so if you have any suggestions to make that I can discuss with the Rutgers team, feel free to let me know. Staticshakedown (talk) 13:50, 29 September 2014 (UTC)

I actually disagree with Polimerek. I think that this is relatively OK for a "set-up" fee, and think that if you could get faculty on board, and maybe continue your relationship with some of them, then it is a money well spent. Could I just ask you to collect e-mails and just follow up with people a few days after the workshops, to encourage them to finalize their articles and get back to you if they require further assistance? This had some positive improvement at no extra cost for us in workshops around Israel... Alleycat80 (talk) 21:16, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. I can definitely request faculty/staff contact information and would be willing to help them continue their editing and finish their articles after that weekend is over. Staticshakedown (talk) 23:48, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Well, I don't understand why we should pay for expensive flight and hotel, as looking at the map of USA, the University is located quite close to NY, when we have existing chapter and quite a number of other volunteers, who can probably do it much cheaper. The proposed cost is pretty high for just two not-so big, half-a-day workshops. Polimerek (talk) 07:23, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Train the trainers workshop

You mentioned that the second workshop will be a 'train the trainers' one. So you have any plan to followup those trained participants?--Nasir Khan Saikat (talk) 05:12, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

Yes, at least a few of these people expected to attend are participants in the GLAM/Rutgers project, and I already keep in contact with them regularly. As for other faculty/staff, I have already been advised to request contact information from these participants (at least wikipedia usernames, etc.) to follow up with attendees afterwards and provide any assistance if they need help.Staticshakedown (talk) 22:16, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Participation of other existing Wikimedians

Polimerek mentioned earlier that the venue is near the NY and there is an existing chapter there. Did you talked with them? did anyone agreed to assist you in these workshops? Will there be any existing Wikimedians at all to assist you in the event?--Nasir Khan Saikat (talk) 05:12, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

I like the idea of having assistance running these workshops, if we can find someone in the NJ-NYC area who would be willing to attend. I went to the Wikimedia NYC page and left a post on their facebook page about this grant request, to see if we can get comments that way. If anyone knows someone in that local area whom I should contact directly, feel free to let me know. Staticshakedown (talk) 22:44, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Tony1 comments

Looks pretty good to me ($1000 for 30 people), if the events are tightly run, and let's hope you get good re-attendance rates. $200 a night for a hotel is rather expensive; you could get a much better rate online for somewhere close. Staticshakedown, I presume you have some experience in conducting such workshops. Tony (talk) 14:33, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

I checked online and it does seem like there are nearby hotels that I could used instead whose rates are about $100/night instead of $200. These workshops would be the first that I've run. I trained some people from Rutgers through skype and conference calling and I attended the DC Workshop Facilitator Training for this purpose. Staticshakedown (talk) 23:51, 12 October 2014 (UTC)

Kevin Gorman comments

Static - are you already in contact with Ruth? If not, I have some additional Rutgers contacts I can put you in touch with that I'm confident that will make this an even more fruiful endeavor, though I agree with Tony about the hotel rate. Best, Kevin (talk) 21:50, 11 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. No, I don't think I know Ruth. The main person I am in contact with at Rutgers is Grace Agnew, and she heads a team of about 6-8 people working on the GLAM project. Staticshakedown (talk) 00:04, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

I'll drop you a line at some point. There's definitely more interested faculty than you think, potentially quite a few more. Kevin (talk) 17:43, 14 October 2014 (UTC)

WMF comments

Hi Staticshakedown. Thank you for this grant request and your engagement with the GAC and community members in the discussion. We really appreciate your enthusiasm for building on your experience at the DC training workshop and the work that you've been doing. We understand you would like to develop the Rutgers GLAM project and engage more potential editors in the area. However, our experience shows that one-off introduction-to-editing workshops are not effective in recruiting new editors. We would much rather support a series of workshops focused around a theme, such as the ones identified in the project (Women in Jazz, etc.). Additionally, while we understand you are the remote Wikipedian-in-Residence for the project, it does not make sense to fly an individual in from Pittsburgh when there are a number of experienced editors in the area, specifically in the NYC chapter (which includes NJ as part of its geographic scope). Our hope for the DC training was to train trainers who could then hold edit-a-thons and workshops in their local communities.

It would be helpful to better understand the GLAM Rutgers project plan and what activities have been done so far. What are the "positive results" mentioned in the proposal? It looks like all the articles created have been written almost exclusively by you -- how are others contributing to the project with content creation? How are the "Rutgers members" (it would be helpful to have their usernames) and "Participants" listed on the project page involved? What is the plan for relationship development and training of Rutgers staff? Have these groups already received some editing training? If not, it would make sense to have a local experienced editor and trainer from NYC/NJ provide a workshop for them, with follow-up done by the Wikipedian-in-Residence(s).

While we would not fund the proposal as it stands, we are happy to work with you to develop a project (requiring funds or not) that would have a greater impact on training GLAM professionals and Rutgers faculty, recruiting new editors, and creating quality content. Please let us know if we can connect you with local editors/trainers or if you would like to discuss a project focused around a series of editing workshops facilitated by a local editor. Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 23:07, 16 October 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for getting back to me. I have e-mailed my Rutgers contacts to see if they would still be interested in holding workshops with the help of local NYC/NJ editors. If they give me an affirmative reply, then I would greatly appreciate help getting in contact with anyone willing to work with them locally. Staticshakedown (talk) 13:41, 18 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi Staticshakedown. We look forward to hearing back from you. Please also let us know if you'd like to discuss ideas for holding events in your community. Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 17:35, 20 October 2014 (UTC)

Update: I spoke with the Rutgers GLAM team and they have made a surprising offer of covering my travel expenses themselves. We are planning on running these two workshops some time in Spring instead of November, so in the future I would still love to get in contact with any regional people interested in attending such events in New Jersey. Alex Wang (WMF), would it still be reasonable to request a grant to cover the cost of catering for such events? If so, I would have to modify this grant at a later date, when I have confirmed with everyone the date(s) in Spring.

As for local events in my area, I recently moved to Pittsburgh, so while I am still interested in running such events, I think I would be more comfortable if I had some assistance. (The Rutgers GLAM team was going to help me a lot with venue and attendance issues for this particular grant.) Again, if there are any local Pittsburgh editors who want to have an event, I would definitely love to get involved in that. Thank you for all the help and feedback. Staticshakedown (talk) 18:57, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Hi Staticshakedown. That is great news! I will update this proposal to "withdrawn" so that you can update it and work on it for a later submission. Why don't we find a time to chat to talk about how to make the event in the Spring as successful as possible. Please send an email to awang "at" wikimedia.org so we can connect. I will also connect you with the NYC chapter. On another note, back in April there was a call for applications for a Wikipedian Visiting Scholar for the Rutgers University Libraries. Do you know if this person was ever hired? Alex Wang (WMF) (talk) 19:24, 21 October 2014 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply. Rutgers is going to contact me in January to start the plans for the Spring workshop, so I will be getting in touch with you again around that time for this help, thanks. And yes, I am one of the Wikipedian Visiting Scholars along with another user named WeijiBeijiBianji. Staticshakedown (talk) 02:05, 3 November 2014 (UTC)