Grants talk:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/2022-2024 GLAM Macedonia's Three-year General Support Grant

Questions from CEE/CA Regional Committee

Questions from Красный

Hi! Thank you for submitting your proposal. I think it's great to promote free knowledges in North Makedonia, but some statements seems unclear:

1. Are you planning to contribute only in Makedonian language, or you have some plans to create content also in languages of national minorities of Northern Makedonia (Albanic, Roma, Serbian...)? It's clear about language background of students, but not about created content.
2. If so, how do you plan to outreach creators in other languages, considering that they can have weak understanding of Makedonian or English?
3. Are you only planning to cover some external topics during edit-a-thons and wikischools (like "Meet..." events) or you also will create content about North Makedonia on Makedonian (or other) language(s)?
4. Will the contributors have a free choice of topic to cover or they'll need to work on specific topics marked before the event?

Thank you in advance, Красный^{wanna talk?} 10:00, 11 November 2021 (UTC)

Hi Красный, and thank you for your questions. I hope this will answer your questions:

1. Some of the participants we trained to edit Wikipedia, who are part of national minorities in North Macedonia, sometimes edited or created articles in other language Wikipedia, but we can't check their contributions on other Wikipedias. So, it's up to the person if they want to contribute in other Wikipedia than the Macedonian language Wikipedia.
2. We had organized challenges (such as DARM Challenge 3) and we collaborate with other affiliation (such as Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska) to outreach creators in other languages. For DARM Challenge, the announcement was on meta, shared on Village pump on several language Wikipedias. For collaboration with Wikimedians of Republic of Srpska, the announcement was created by members of that affliation.
3. We had many different topics for our edit-a-thons, many times Macedonian topics were used. But for "Meet..." events, we use topics about the country we want our students to learn more, while creating articles about that country.
4. For example, on the ongoing Meet Sweden, the main topic is about all Swedish themes: history, geography and culture of Sweden and much more. The contributors are free to choose from the plenty of articles about Sweden, which are missing on mk.wiki.

Regards, Violetova (talk) 16:03, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

Hello Violetova. Thanks for your proposal! We would like to have more information about some of your programs. Below are our questions:

• About WiR: can you tell us more details about this program? How many institutions you plan to include, how many workers will be hired and for what period of time? How much they will be paid? Do you cover all costs or does the institution participate in it?
• In the previous period you had a joint grant with Shared Knowledge. What are your experiences working together? Did you worked together on your projects or only the budget was joint and everyone realized their activities on their own. How do you assess your mutual cooperation so far? Based on previous recommendations, how do you see your mutual cooperation in the future?
• You had a Wiki Team Building activities this year. Did the participants was only from GLAM Macedonia or there was member of Shared Knowledge, too?
• In question: In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations, you selected Innovate in Free Knowledge. What are the programs and projects related to this?

We look forward to your answers, --MikyM (talk) 22:23, 20 November 2021 (UTC)

Hi MikyM, and thank you for your questions. I hope this will answer your questions:

• About WiR: The WiR activities are under GLAM program. We send WiR in GLAM institution to spread a word about Wikipedia among the GLAM employees; to get materials (photos, texts, books, etc.) from GLAM institution which are in public domain, in order to enrich Wikipedia by uploading them on commons, and creating or improving articles on mk.wiki; to organize edit-a-thons, workshops, Wiki tours, for community as well as training of GLAM employees to edit Wikipedia. Usually, in one year we send 4 Wikimedians as WiR in 4 GLAM institutions, for a time of 2 months. Compensation for WiR is 375 euros per month, including taxes. As GLAM institutions are hard to get in, we are the ones who cover all costs for the WiR. GLAM institutions are giving: employees who cooperate with the WiR, space and internet for work, materials, and other in-kind support. We collaborate with GLAM institutions also without sending WiR by organizing workshops and Wiki Tours for students.
• In the previous period we had a joint grant with Shared Knowledge as Macedonian User Groups. GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge are the two recognized wiki representatives in Macedonia, who are working on promoting Wikipedia and other related projects in the Republic. In 2020 and 2021, both Wiki affiliations shared a common grant and budget, as it was discussed on Wikimedia Summit 2019 in Berlin, between participants from both groups, along with Committee Members and Wikimedia Foundation. We have different annual plans and programs, but there are some mutual activities so far. Mutual cooperation so far was: Editing competition for High School students; #WPWPMK challenge; Wikipedia birthday off line meeting and on line editing; budget for conferences (which was not used for any conference so far because of pandemic) and the last one: organizing event to give an award statuettes that will be handed to editors with lasting contributions to the Macedonian Wikipedia to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia (the event is postpone for the next year because of pandemic). I can't say anything at the moment about mutual cooperation in the future, as the two organizations are working on different programs at the time being.
• We had a Wiki Team Building activities this year. It was a three day meeting for GLAM and Education coordinators of GLAM Macedonia, all GLAM Macedonia members, and other active members of GLAM Macedonia who are involved in organizing events and projects. The main topic of the Wiki Team Building was how to proceed in the pandemic times with Wiki Clubs, Wiki Camp, edit-a-thons and GLAM workshops for students, how to organize training for newcomers, etc. We didn't invite any Shared Knowledge member as they don't work on these programs and activities.
• We selected Innovate in Free Knowledge among other two. We think that almost all programs and projects we work on are related to this, according to the goal: to allow the inclusion and preservation of all forms of human knowledge in all socio-cultural contexts (our GLAM program) and to include more diverse domains of knowledge and to deliver knowledge as a service for all (our education program).

Regards, Violetova (talk) 17:40, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

General Support Fund proposal approved in the amount of 21,664 EUR 23,104 EUR

Congratulations! Your grant is approved in the amount of 21,664 EUR (~24,516 USD) 23,104 EUR (~26,127.60 USD) with a grant term starting 1 January 2022 and ending 31 December 2022.

The committee supports funding GLAM Macedonia at the same level it was funded in its previous Simple APG to continue supporting its productive work with movement partners and cultural institutions in Skopje and other areas of North Macedonia. In the next year, GLAM Macedonia will continue its work supporting the development and engagement of students across many schools in the country and generally build greater trust in relevant Wikimedia projects and the open knowledge movement. These activities have strong alignment with broader Movement Strategy.

Last year, GLAM Macedonia submitted a joint application for Simple APG with Shared Knowledge as they shared and coordinated on some operational expenses. The committee notes that this coordination is complex and beneficial and marks an important improvement in collaboration between your organizations. Unfortunately, we were not able to support a joint application and budget due to changes in the Wikimedia Foundation’s funding systems and software. However, we expect that this arrangement can be supported next year, and the committee recommends that GLAM Macedonia continue this practice if the organizations are operating separately.

The committee did not support a multiyear funding arrangement or increasing GLAM Macedonia’s funding for the following reasons:

• The committee believes there are substantial risks to the movement and the community to growing budgets for your organization and Shared Knowledge where there is a lack of clarity over how your organizations plan to work together in the future. This is because both organizations are based in Skopje and maintain a variety of activities related to GLAM and Education thematic areas.
• Relatedly, while there are some differences in programs between your organization and Shared Knowledge, it is not clear to the committee how your organizations are coordinating together generally. Furthermore, the committee notes there are risks in growing this arrangement of organizations. When two organizations in the same locality are focused on similar thematic areas, it can effectively split an existing community into supporting one organization or another. This arrangement can also make it unclear which organization an external partner should work or consult with about Wikimedia projects or the movement generally.

• Specific to your proposal, there are some concerns that the projected degree of growth in overall participation may be too high, and was not supported by a clear explanation for how this might be achieved.
• Finally, the committee felt that this proposal was very similar to the previous Simple APG proposal from the organization in terms of programmatic activity and goals, and so the justification for an increase in budget was not clear.

In order to support a funding increase and growth for you organizational work in North Macedonia, the committee requests that GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge move in one of two directions in the next year:

• As recommended by the Simple APG Committee in last year’s recommendations, that GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge work to merge their organizations given their thematic overlap, or
• if the organizations are unwilling or unable to integrate their programmatic work and organizations, the committee would like to see a concrete plan for how the organizations will change their scope of work to support clear differentiation between the respective purposes of their organizations.

During this funding period, the committee would also like a clear statement from GLAM Macedonia and Shared Knowledge on whether they intend their future programmatic and operational work to be joint or separate in North Macedonia. If support or guidance is needed on this work, please feel free to reach out to your program officer for guidance.

We look forward to supporting your future work with your communities and in the movement at large. On behalf of the committee, MikyM (talk) 17:54, 15 December 2021 (UTC)

@Violetova and MacedonianBoy: A brief update. Based on our discussion regarding office-related expenses over e-mail, the committee has approved an increase to your funded amount:

• Total funded amount will be adjusted from 21,664.00 EUR to 23,104 EUR (~26,127.60 USD).

Please let me know if you have any questions. I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 18:50, 17 December 2021 (UTC)