Grants talk:PEG/Wikimedia Nigeria User Group/Wikipedia at 15 Celebration in Nigeria

A decision has been made on this grant. Comments are still welcome on this page.

this is a very good initiative. Thanks wikimedia for your anticipated support

GAC members who support this request

1. Strong support. The only thing to be set is merchandising costs, but that's depending on another WMF department, we just have to wait, I guess. A few comments on the updated budget below. --Dry Martini (talk) 13:41, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
2. --DerekvG (talk) 17:14, 2 December 2015 (UTC)
3. strong support. Apologies for late support, but I have been following the discussion, just not contributing. The Wikimedia Usergroup Nigeria has achieved a lot with very little community support and I think this would boost their sense of achievement and have tangible results. Islahaddow (talk) 15:37, 14 December 2015 (UTC)
4. --Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 08:42, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

GAC members who support this request with adjustments

1. MADe (talk) 16:27, 27 November 2015 (UTC) Please check with the WMF if they can provide your organisation with "merchandise" instead of buying it yourself. It might be cheaper/more convenient to order and ship it to Nigeria MADe (talk) 16:27, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice, I contacted the merchandise unit to that effect.Wikicology (talk) 07:38, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

GAC members who oppose this request

1. ...

GAC members who abstain from voting/comment

1. ...

GAC comments

Dry Martini

First of all thanks to Olaniyan Olushola and Wikicology for submitting this request. The budget seems pretty standard, I don't see any problem with that. Since I had to create the discussion page myself, I imagine the proposal is still being perfected, so I will take the chance to suggest a major change. Where do the "people interested to contribute to Wikipedia" (see #Fit with strategy) come from? From what you describe it looks like you count a lot on "partnering with media organizations" and on your social media campaign, and that's a good starting point. But maybe you can dare more: celebrate Wikipedia's 15th birthday in a place where culture is at home, a school. I am quite sure you will find a lot of professors willing to host an editathon or a workshop during their class: the students will get the chance to put what they learned into practice, and you will gain a huge group of potential users (a whole class at same time with much less effort than what you would need to convince 50 individuals). It is crucial, in this phase of the Wikimedia movement, to open to new generations of editors. Of course the educated (or those being educated, as is the case with students) layers of developing countries are the perfect starting point, because they are most likely to have the resources to become steady, passionate and reliable users. I will eagerly support the necessary budget raise to account for a school event (maybe moving all or some of the major events to a school, while keeping them open to the public) and possibly for a longer-run partnership with a school (for example, the 15th birthday celebration could be the final event in a month of workshops in schools, with a prize for the best article written by students). I think this approach will yield better value-for-money and result-for-effort ratios, thus serving the Foundation's strategic goals in a more efficient (and forward-looking) way. I will read your considerations on the matter with great interest. Thank you for your time. --Dry Martini (talk) 10:25, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Edit: I came across an old Grant request which is quite aligned with what I was proposing. Maybe you could use taking a look at the proposal, its discussion, and the report made after the project was over. PS: just for tranparency's sake, the grant request must be completed in full (correct the starting and ending dates and fill in all sections still empty, notably the "community notification" section) before a decision can be made (also, it is crucial to know the starting and ending dates during the discussion to know do you have time to change and/or reorganize and/or rewrite from scratch). --Dry Martini (talk) 10:44, 25 November 2015 (UTC)

Thank you Dry Martini. Goethe Institute is an academic institute with students.The centre is meant to accommodate invited participants. Meanwhile,students in higher institution are one of our main target for this event. In achieving this objective we have sent Invitations to some of the tertiary institutions in Lagos, Including those that par took in the just concluded Wiki Loves Africa 2015 organised by (Wikimedia User Group Nigeria) in Nigeria to join us in the celebration.Olaniyan Olushola (talk) 08:53, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

To connote to Olaniyan's comment; Goeth institute is an academic institution in Lagos State, where the celebration will take place. Their students will be readily available and some of them had already shown interest in contributing to Wikipedia, following the last event (Wiki Loves Africa 2015 with the theme: fashion and adornment) that was held at the institutions on November 19, 2015. In addition, The institute is a stone's throw to Lagos State Polytechnic and Yaba College of Education. Both institutions had also shown interest in participating because they were present in the last event held at the same institution and a consensus had been reached to that effect. Department of Yoruba Language of the Lagos State University had also shown interest following a meeting with the Head of the Department. Wikicology (talk) 09:40, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Excellent, thank you for your answers! This is totally in the direction I was pointing at and I'm happy you already had taken the student aspect into consideration. Can I then suggest you "use" better these participants? There are tons of initiatives worldwide where students get tutoring about Wikipedia, write their own articles (a process which, as we all know, doesn't take just an afternoon) and then get evaluated and rewarded. I think a more daring proposal could yield much higher rates of contribution, thus improving the (already high, I'm sure) quality and the abundance of User Group Nigeria: when students (or any participant, really) write their first article (and if there's a contest and a prize involved you're quite sure they will, otherwise only a fraction of the participants will engage in Wiki after the one-shot workshop) they get in contact with Wikipedia's community, possibly establishing ties with other contributors who, sooner or later, might ask for the students' help with some other wiki-task. This way they have an incentive to collaborating on a longer run than if they attended a simple one-day workshop (which in itself is not a bad idea, I really want to tress the fact that my ideas are only improvements on a proposal which is all in all well thought, but that IMO could be made much, much more effective). Also, if time and tutor availability is a problem, I want to reassure you that the only real-life time you will need will be concentrated in 2 days: the initial workshop and the final celebration with the prize-giving, and the two can be as far apart as a few months. The rest is really just on-line assistance (so that the students are nudged towards integrating in the community) which is already provided by the community as part of its standard functioning. Thank you again for your patience. --Dry Martini (talk) 18:04, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

Thank you Dry Martini , we (WUNG) wish to appreciate your suggestion and we believe we wouldn't have got it better without you. Following a group discussion with the community members last night via our mailing list, we have all agreed with you on the need to organize a two-days workshop schedule between January 10th - 12th before the award and celebration day which will take place on 15th of January 2016 to commemorate the 15th anniversary, Birthday of WMF. The celebration day will feature content creation by the trainee and a session for the award ceremony and cake-cutting. We will award students with certificate of achievement or completion, some students may want to reference that certificate on their CV and a prize. We will also invite educators who are interested in joining the program in the next term. Thanks!Olaniyan Olushola (talk) 08:40, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Thanks to you guys for showing such great commitment. As soon as the proposal gets updated I will formalize my strongest support for it! Please do keep me updated on how the project evolves, I will read your report with great interest! I wish you all the luck with your idea. --Dry Martini (talk) 09:53, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Dry Martini, thanks for all your contributions to the Wikimedia movement and particularly for your interest in our project. We appreciate your support. You are such an asset to both GAC and the WMF. However, I want to let you know that our proposal had been updated. With kind regards. Wikicology (talk) 13:11, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Such nice words, thank you. I was expecting a budget review as well to account for the added activities (trasportation costs maybe? what about the prize?) but if you think you can get all of it done without changing your budget that's okay for me. I have added myself in the support sections, but I expect, as a GAC member, to see further clarifications (the schedule is still the first one, not accounting for the changes, for example) elaborating on the prolonged timespan, possible added costs, and of course an update on how will merchandise be funded. --Dry Martini (talk) 13:29, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Sorry, I just noticed the proposal has been updated much more deeply than what I had noticed. This brings up a few issues on the budget:

1. I'm not sure WMF best practices encourage handing out money as prizes. Have you thought about gift cards (eg: bookshops, student bookshops), memberships (eg: online library such as Credo Reference, culture/science/economics magazine subscriptions, etc), even internet subscriptions? Try checking with your partner schools/universities to see if they already have access to magazine subscriptions or bookshop deals (and then avoid cloning benefits or consider offering the winner an upgrade - if possible - on the existing benefits, such as premium access to magazines instead of an existing "student offer" which may limit to n daily articles).

I'd like to say that we are not giving them a cash prize but we will get a gift worth of 150 USD for the Winner, 100 USD worth of gift for the first runner up and 50 USD worth of gift for the second runner up.

1. Although the aggregate accommodation expenses are all-in-all very reasonable when converted in USD, I have to ask: do you plan special activities for the visiting Wikimedians? Of course I can imagine they will be presenting the workshops and the final celebration, but what for the days in the middle?

Dry Martini, thanks for these brilliant questions. First off, Our activities will start on Monday 11th not Sunday 10th. I've corrected that in the proposal. We actually didn't plan any special activities for the visiting Wikimedians aside taking part in presenting the workshop and the final celebration. We see events like this as a platform for community members (experienced and inexperienced Wikimedians) to share ideas on how to promote Wikimedia projects in our country, hence the need for their presence. In the same vein, this is a community project and not an individual engagement project and ideally interested community member who is willing to participate should not be prevented. There is no doubt that the visiting wikimedians will be idle for 2days (13th and 14th) but considering the distant from their various state to Lagos State and the risk involve in traveling that long distance, I don't think it will be appropriate for them to return to their state on 13th, then come back again on 14th for the celebration that will take place on 15th. Lodging them on 13th and 14th will not only minimize the traveling cost but also minimize the risk of traveling to-and-fro. I don't think lodging them for 13th and 14th will cause any harm but if you feel they should only be present on the celebration day (15th), it's fine.

Once again, thank you for your patience and collaboration. --Dry Martini (talk) 14:12, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

I so much appreciate you efforts and time. I responded in BOLD. Please, let me know if you have more suggestion. Cheers. Wikicology (talk) 16:18, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

(I took the liberty of switching your answers so to match the questions)

1. Good for the prizes, I must have missed that part in the proposal. Gifts are also much more "personal" and can mean a lot to people who win them.
2. I'm terribly sorry, I was not clear: I certainly did not mean you should send people back and forth, that would be impractical, unsafe and would not save money. I was simply inquiring whether you had thought of what they could do on these two days. On top of that, I do believe their presence at the workshops is vital, that's the whole point of workshops: to offer live contact with experienced wikimedians and soften the shock in approaching Wikipedia for the first time. Also, I had overestimated the "idle period". It is certainly appropriate and practical to have them stay these 2 middle days. Given all the very sensible considerations you made, though, may I suggest (you had probably already thought of that) that you organize something within the Nigeria User Group during these days? even simple brainstorming sessions, it doesn't have to be anything formalized or requiring additional funding, just a way of capitalizing on these two days you have to meet in person: since you said it's not practical nor particularly safe to travel and meet in person, I would say that once you are there together it's an excellent chance to discuss matters or simply get to know each other better. This is simply some personal advice, it doesn't have much to do with the grant (WMF doesn't usually fund projects that only feature these in-person gatherings, but it's certainly worth doing them on the side of other - more articulated - projects, as they help building a stronger community), just something I wanted to suggest, Wikimedian-to-Wikimedian. I am not saying that you should pack these two days with events, either. Maybe take some time to do some online follow-up for the students you tutored, but then my point is: save a few hours a day to meet in person with your fellow Nigeria User Group members, just because it would be so difficult to do it otherwise.

I hope my suggestions and thoughts are helpful, but feel free to disagree with me. Again, thank you for you answers and your commitment. --Dry Martini (talk) 16:51, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Dry Martini, your suggestions and thoughts are extremely helpful. I will be glad to meet you in-person in the future. Will you attend the Wikimania 2016? Wikicology (talk) 17:51, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Thank you very much. Alas no, I won't be able to attend, as I will be in a totally different part of the globe, but let's keep in touch in case we ever have matching travel plans, and maybe for Wikimania 2017 :) --Dry Martini (talk) 17:58, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

Kiril Simeonovski

Thanks for the submission. I appreciate the idea on having such activities to celebrate the 15th birthday of Wikipedia and support this request in principle. But after reviewing the request, I think there are some things that need to be clarified and would like to give you recommendations in order to make improvements. My questions and comments are the following:

1. The goals do not seem to be fully SMART. For example, the creation of awareness of Wikipedia and the Wikimedia projects is not specific enough and hardly measurable. Also, the goal/measure of success of adding at least 40 articles to Wikipedia appears twice. Since it is a measure of success rather than a goal, my suggestion is to remove it as a goal.

   Thank you so much, Kiril Simeonovski. I fixed this per your recommendation.

2. Some measures of success are very well defined but some seem like conclusions without numerical thresholds. For example, the measure of success indicating that there is no doubt that this event will lead to an increase in numbers of active members of the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria is a concludes a probable result from the event but does not say how many active members the user group will get.

   I fixed this per your recommendation.

3. Can you explain how the expenses for Wi-Fi were calculated? These expenses exceed 500 USD for the three days, making up approximately 20% of the total amount requested. Why the amount is so high?

   Thanks for pointing this out. I fixed the error. The expenses for the Wifi is actually less than 100 USD (78.93 USD). I corrected it on the proposal

4. The budget items do not sum up to the totals, indicating that there are miscalculations. Please make sure that all the amounts have been added correctly.

   Done

5. Who are the three persons you are going to pay for the hotel accommodation? Do you plan to invite members of the community from other cities? How are they going to enrich the event programme?

   Yes, we plan to invite members of the community from other cities. We are bringing User:Jamie Tubers, User:OluwaCurtis and User:Colouriyo. Although User:Colouriyo is a new member but very active in community work. User:Jamie Tubers and User:OluwaCurtis are active Wikimedians and we believe their presence at the workshops is vital.

Best regards.--Kiril Simeonovski (talk) 13:21, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Thank you so much for all your contributions to PEG and WMF at large. I responded in BOLD With kind regards. Wikicology (talk) 22:50, 9 December 2015 (UTC)

Community comments

Clarification ?

The short description says that The workshop will be preceded by an article written competition and the winners of the contest will be awarded with certificate and prize on the celebration day, January 15, 2015..
Is that correct ? From the full description, I rather understand that there will first be two days workshops, then free time then contest results. I suppose the workshop come before the contest rather than after ?

Which also calls a question... why would the workshops occur on Monday and Tuesday with 2 empty days before the actual celebration ? Dont you think that the articles proposed for the contest will be written DURING the workshop rather than after ? I do not understand this gap. Anthere (talk)

Anthere, please accept my sincere apology for this obvious mistake. I corrected the error in the proposal. The article written competition will follow the workshop not precede. To your question on why would the workshops occur on Monday and Tuesday with 2 empty days before the actual celebration? Like I already stated in the proposal, student will use these two days to revise and practice what they have learnt during the workshop. This will improve their knowledge of what they have been taught, typically to prepare them for the contest. Some students are slow learner while others are fast learner. Giving them 48 hours to revise what they've learnt will not only be a plus to their understanding of the subject but will significantly enhance their performance during the contest. Let me know, if you need additional clarification. With kind regards. Wikicology (talk) 12:24, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for the clarification.

Well... I am still a bit perplex because I try to figure myself in the position of the student and that seems odd. I see that 2 hours are set aside on the 15th for article creation. I suppose it means that the contest will concern only articles created during that timeframe ? So does that mean that editors are expected to prepare the future article in the previous two days, but will only create it during that timeframe on the 15th ? Or do they have regular school on the two previous days ? Is there a free time during the day when they can do their research on the article they will create on the 15th ? On another note, do these students have good access to internet generally ? Anthere (talk)

In my opinion it would be best to have the workshop explaining how Wikipedia works, the importance of referencing all information, and so on, then for the remaining days before the ceremony the students can put what they have learned into practice and actually write their articles (they can of course start before or during the workshop, maybe it could be good to allot some time during the workshop for them to start drafting their articles and maybe ask the tutors for advice; the two following days anyway give a good chance of winning even to students who don't have previous experiences with Wikipedia). --Dry Martini (talk) 16:31, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

Dry Martini, said it all. Many thanks to Dry Martini for the swift response and Anthere for the questions. Wikicology (talk) 17:53, 1 December 2015 (UTC)

I was actually silently suggesting you changed the proposal and clarified this aspect :) --Dry Martini (talk) 08:39, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Anthere and Dry Martini, are you simply suggesting that we shouldn't have these free days? Or the contest should begin on 12th, then award ceremony and celebration on 15th?. Please let me know which of these will work best. Regards. Wikicology (talk) 09:20, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

The only problem I see right now is that the proposal has been deeply modified multiple times, and it is a bit of a patchwork: there are no explicit contradictions, as far as I can see, but it is not completely straightforward, because some paragraphs of the initial proposal are still in place and make references to the original format, which was very different from now. Try checking the whole proposal for discrepancies and fix them. In my opinion, the best would be that the students are encouraged to think of a topic they would like to develop and possibly collect some sources, then during the workshop they get introduced to Wikipedia and get tutored in their first steps in writing their article; during the following days they continue their work on their own (just be sure everyone has internet access, either at home or in the form of free access to the hosting institution's Internet network and PCs), asking for help, if necessary, to the online Wikipedia community; finally, on the celebration day the three best articles get rewarded. Sounds good to you? --Dry Martini (talk) 09:30, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Sounds very good. Now, I'm cleared. I fixed the proposal. Wikicology (talk) 10:48, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Yes. Clearer. Thank you :) Anthere (talk)

WMF comments

Thank you Olaniyan Olushola and Wikicology for the effort you have put into creating this request and responding to comments. It is wonderful that the Nigerian user group would like to use Wikipedia 15 to keep editors engaged in projects and begin collaborating with educational institutions.

1. Our biggest concern about the plan in the request is that having 2 workshops, a contest and a party in a one week period may not be an effective way to get new editors to become active contributors, especially because this request does not include a plan for how you will engage new editors after the celebration week is over. We do want to support you to host editing workshops for students to be followed by a writing contest as we discussed on a chat last week. Perhaps you could use the WP15 celebration as a kick off for student workshops, and community members living outside of Lagos can help support that program by providing online mentorship to students. You could host the first workshop the same weekend as WP15, and the second one at a later date, then hold a writing contest over a one month long period so that students and community members actually have time to write articles for the contests, since it is reasonable to assume everyone will be busy with school, work and preparing for the WP15 event during the week that you have the contest currently scheduled.
2. The total budget for your Wikipedia 15 event should not exceed US$10 per person. This includes food, badges, wifi and decorations.
3. We will fund up to US$300 in merchandise for Wikipedia 15 events with 40 to 50 people. We recommend only distributing high-value items like t-shirts or usb sticks to volunteers who are organizing these events and or perhaps contest winners. You might consider using part of the merchandise budget on pins, badges or stickers or other low cost items that can be given to everyone. Due to the cost of shipping and the short period of time before this event, we suggest that you have these items made locally.
4. We will fund reasonable travel expenses for volunteers who are contributing to sustainable, impactful projects. The current travel budget is high. We will fund travel and accommodation for the weekend of the workshop and WP15 celebration, with the expectation that these active volunteers will act as online mentors to workshop participants.
5. The budget for certificates seems rather high, is there a less expensive option? Other program leaders have reported that awarding certificates to workshop participants is a good motivational tool, however, it is a good idea to set a basic requirement that participants must meet to earn the certificates, such as students must attend both workshops and complete an article to earn a certificate.
6. Inviting new editors to participate in a workshop is a great way to encourage them to keep editing. Will other community members be invited to participate in the contest, or is it only for students? If you are going to offer US$300 in prizes, the measure of success should be increased. If you do make the contest open to all community members, it's a good idea to make sure that there are prizes reserved for the new editors.

Planning resources

• There are two tools that were created for a recent workshop series in Greece that you might find useful. One is a collapsable cheatsheet template that can be added to student sandboxes, and the other is a template for creating sandboxes that simplify moving articles to the mainspace. Please see the report on Wikipedia School in Athens for more details, and feel free to contact ManosHacker with questions.
• Use the learning pattern to plan ahead for how you will deal with the six account limit at workshops.

Please let us know if you have any questions or need clarity about what to include in your budget. Thank you to Anthere, Kiril Simeonovski and Dry Martini for all of the helpful questions, comments and suggestions you have made. Best,--KHarold (WMF) (talk) 00:30, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Hi Kacie, please accept our apology for this extremely slow response. We decided to communicate with the community members who described your recommendations as "excellent". Your recommendations are extremely useful and will had fixed our proposal accordingly. The community also expresses their thanks to the GAC members who participated in discussions that help to re-shape our proposal. Cheers. Wikicology (talk) 17:58, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Funding decision

We are pleased to support the Nigerian user group in their efforts to increase the number of active volunteers in their community through partial funding of this request in the amount of 1,851.51 USD. Please see details below about budget items that have been modified, or are not included in the approved budget, and recommendations for program implementation :

• The 200 USD for banners falls outside of the recommended budget of USD 10 per person for food, refreshments, venue rental and decorations for Wikipedia 15 events.
• Using airtime vouchers is a fantastic idea for a prize, and we look forward to hearing how this prize affects student motivation. We have approved a total of USD 150 for writing contest prizes because the budget already includes several meals, certificates and merchandise to motivate students.
• We recommend that high value merchandise such as t-shirts or USB drives be given only to project organizers, and as prizes for writing contest winners or finalists.
• We have approved 400 USD for food, refreshments, wifi, venue rental and decorations for the WIkipedia 15 celebration, based on the original request for 40 celebration participants. You may choose to invite 50 participants, but the budget should not exceed 400 USD.
• We have approved travel and accommodation for three active volunteers living outside of Lagos with the understanding they will continue to support students as online mentors.
• Please consider contacting a mentor from the Education Collaborative to review your lessons plans and discuss how to prepare for student workshops and outreach to teachers.

It has been a pleasure to work with Olaniyan Olushola and Wikicology to develop this project plan, and we look forward to learning from your experiences using the strategies for engaging new editors through several activities spread over three months. Please let us know if you have any questions or need other kinds of support to meet your program goals. Cheers, --KHarold (WMF) (talk) 01:18, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Progress report

Dear all, We are happy to inform you that we had a successful celebration of Wikipedia @ 15 in Nigeria as planned.

See: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_15_in_Nigeria

It was celebrated at Fountain University and in attendance was the Vice Chancellor of the University and the event was attended by over 50 people. The VC in his speech said " It is a great honor to join the Wikimedia User Group Nigeria to celebrate Wikipedia @ 15 in Nigeria. I've always wanted to know how contents get to this amazing encyclopedia founded by Jimmy Wales in 2001 and considering the role of this incredible resource in academics, my institution is more than ready to collaborate with the affiliate in Nigeria to build the world largest encyclopedia in human history, to the best of my knowledge." The first workshop was held on 16 January 2015 as planned and students were trained on how to contribute to the encyclopedia. 30 students were nominated to participate in the workshop by the University but only 24 student attended the workshop. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Workshop_for_Students_of_Fountain_University

After the first workshop, an adoption school was setup to mentor them. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Wikicology/Adopt and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Olaniyan_Olushola/Adopt. This program will continues for at least 60 days. When they were asked to share their experience before the second workshop, the students said "editing Wikipedia is fun! Though our exams is fast approaching but we will continue to make significant contributions prior to and after our exams". We understand that students preparation for exams is likely to reduce the rate at which they will edit Wikipedia but some of them are really doing fine.

See for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Jaybakky and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Amunique

Our major challenge is that the students edit using the university internet service and the proxy is an open proxy and almost all the students are affected by a range block as a result of using an open proxy. Today, we requested for the proxy address which will be sent to a checkuser for unblock request. The second workshop was held today, 28 January 2016 and also marked the commencement our article writing contest titled "Wiki Loves Nigeria Writing Contest"

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Wiki_Loves_Nigeria/Writing_Contest

This contest starts today and will close by 28 February 2016. Warm regards, Wikicology (talk) 22:22, 28 January 2016 (UTC)