Grants talk:Simple/Applications/Wikimedia Czech Republic/2016
Add topicEligibility discussion
[edit]Eligibility
[edit]Hello, Wikimedia CZ colleagues:
Thank you for submitting your eligibility form on October 10. After reviewing your past grants we've determined that you are eligible to apply for a Simple Process Annual Plan Grant. We appreciate your work to narrow your focus down to a few key programs and launch your plan with a moderate staff increase, focusing on building your organization's capacity by bringing on part-time staff before expanding to support full time staff, and we've enjoyed our productive conversations together leading up to this grant application.
Here is some of the work we looked at while evaluating your eligibility for a Simple Annual Plan Grant.
Wikimedia CZ has been receiving grants from the Wikimedia Foundation since its series of small grants in 2009-2010.
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Acquiring_scientific_and_specialized_pictures
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Czech_Municipalities_Photographs
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Digitalization_equipment
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Exhibition_presentation
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Photo_Workshop
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Camera
Starting in 2011, Wikimedia CZ consolidated its smaller grants into grants focusing on the areas of media acquisition and outreach / community work, including:
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Mediagrant and Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Mediagrant_II
- Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Presentation_&_Outreach and Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Presentation_&_Outreach_II and Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Czech_Outreach and Grants:PEG/WM_CZ/Communities
We note that Wikimedia CZ has been doing strong work with its Mediagrant program over the past several years, and has shown growing engagement in the grants process during this time, including submitting regular interim reports for its longer term grants at WMF's request. We appreciate your innovative work in establishing your grants tracker, and your sharing that work with others in the Wikimedia community.
Wikimedia CZ has been a stable organization for a number of years. As Wikimedia CZ is considering expanding beyond being an all-volunteer organization, we will want to see Wikimedia CZ following more good practices as it grows, and in particular, following good practices in preparation for bringing on staff. We'll look at this together more closely as part of this application.
Best regards, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 01:26, 15 October 2015 (UTC)
Thank you for starting this proposal form.
[edit]Hello, Aktron and Vojtěch. Thanks for starting this proposal form. We saw you didn't complete the staff section of this form. Did you have any trouble with the form? Thanks!Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 03:48, 2 November 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks for completing this! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 02:27, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
Please send your global metrics targets.
[edit]Hello, Wikimedia CZ colleagues: Please send us your global metrics targets for each program so we can begin reviewing your application. You can use the buttons in your proposal to access the google form we set up for this, or go to this link: https://docs.google.com/a/wikimedia.org/forms/d/1cUYAdidOrEZV5ODIiUAu5f57aB8Sr-85xR8JzkeMATs/viewform. If you prefer you can also make a wikitable here on the discussion page or as part of your proposal form, or send your metrics to me by Email so I can compile them. Thank you! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 02:26, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
- Dear Winifred and the grant committee, we have completed the grant proposal page, linked a new budget spreadsheet and sent the global metrics. Please consider the application complete. I apologize for the extra time we took to complete the proposal, which was very new for us - we had to start thinking in a bit different way than in our former grant proposals, and the writing process was very slow in the beginning. Thank you for all your e-mail assistance you provided to us during the last days. Please tell me if we missed something important in the application or did something wrong. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 19:18, 8 November 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks, Vojtěch! We know it's challenging experimenting with the new process, and we've gotten your application in plenty of time for the committee to review it. We received your global metrics too. If we see anything that looks off in your application, we'll let you know right away. Thanks for all your work on the application so far. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 22:45, 10 November 2015 (UTC)
Application discussion
[edit]During the month of November, committee members, other community members, and Wikimedia Foundation, may ask questions or offer suggestions.
From the committee
[edit]I wonder if you could share som information with us related to your volunteer community and editor community on the Wikimedia projects? How many volunteers are engaged in the activities of WMCZ, besides the members of the Board, and are all of these editors? How does your editor comminity function, are they a constructive communtity and do they see WMCZ as a valuable supporter to their work? Anders Wennersten (talk) 13:00, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
- Hello Anders Wennersten: WM CZ has 43 members, about half of them is fairly active inside the Czech Wikimedia activities. We also collaborate with other partners with similar goals, and with many Wikipedians who are not members of WM CZ. Most members of WM CZ are, or were, editors of Wikipedia, but some come from other backgrounds including one member of the board. We have never organized a survey among Czech Wikipedia editors asking for their opinion on WM CZ; I guess there are some who oppose (and as everywhere, there has been a certain opposition against the activities of WM CZ) but most editors are either unconcerned or supportive - and in fact, new members are most often recruited from within Wikipedia community. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
Hi Wikimedia Czech Republic! My name is Kirill, and I'm part of the volunteer committee that will be reviewing your application. I don't believe I've had the chance to meet any of you in person yet, but I look forward to working with you as part of this grant process.
To begin, I wanted to thank you for all of your hard work on this application. You have an impressive portfolio of programs, and there is clearly a lot of thought and effort that has gone into putting together your plan for the coming year. I particularly appreciate the "examples of good practice" that you've included in each section; this is a great way to give us more context into your programs and their impact in your community.
I have a few questions about some of your programs and budget items:
- Do you have any metrics that you can share about how successful your photography programs have been at documenting Czech points of interest? For example, are there any estimates of how many points of interest have already been documented versus the total number of points of interest?
- Hello Kirill Lokshin! More than 4000 points of interest were already documented, mostly villages and protected areas but many more. The program started in 2011 when there was limited access to data analysis of uploading activities ("Campaigns" are a fairly recent thing). However, you can see how eg. villages have become very well documented over the course of 1 summer (red villages = not documented, white = documented). --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- Have you given any thought to using the photographs you're collecting to improve coverage of the Czech Republic on Wikivoyage? Given how thoroughly you're documenting points of interest, I think there might be a lot of potential there, but I'm not sure if it's something you've already considered.
- That's an interesting idea, although Wikivoyage mostly has articles on bigger Czech cities or well-known tourist spots which already have high-quality photographic coverage even without the support from WM CZ. According to this tool, only 8 pictures taken during the initiative are used in Wikivoyage. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- Do you have a particular city in mind for the next WikiTown? Are there any plans to collaborate with the local government or other groups/institutions in the city as part of the program?
- We already have two cities to choose from in mind; both are supportive on the council level. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- For the Students Write Wikipedia program, have you worked with any other Wikimedia chapters/organizations that organize education programs to share best practices or develop international programs? If not, is that something you might consider doing in the future?
- Yes of course, I am one of the founding members of the Wikimedia Education Collaborative. I regularly share our learnings on the WMF blog (see my posts here). --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- Can you share any more details about Wikiconference 2016 (budget item 2,1,1)?
- It is a regular annual event scheduled to take place in November 2016. We have not even decided the venue although there is some interest in Brno to repeat the successful 2014 Wikiconference which took place there. Brno is a great place for international collaboration (close to Vienna, Bratislava and Prague) and we are thinking of using this advantage in future years, if not already in 2016. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- Do you have specific events in mind for international participation (budget item 2,1,3)? Are the costs related to staff/board travel, or do you plan to offer scholarships to other attendees from the Czech Republic?
- This budget item is reserved for all Wikimedia events regardlss if the participant is a board member, regular member or a non-member (eg. a Wikipedian or an amateur volunteer developer). We do not expect dramatic changes from 2014 and 2015 so here is a list of participations we funded in these years: WM Austria Monumento GLAM meeting, EduWiki Conference 2014, Chapters Meeting in Berlin, Wikipedians in Seifhennersdorf event, CEE meeting in Kyiv, GLAMWiki Coordinators Meeting, SozialMarie Prize ceremony in Vienna, CEE meeting 2015. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
Thanks in advance for your responses! Kirill Lokshin (talk) 18:55, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
Hi WMCZ! I'm Ido / Alleycat80 from the Simple APG committee. I have a few comments and questions:
- I notice that your main programs are in Prague and Brno, the capital and 2nd largest cities. Are there activities elsewhere? Do you have plans to support these? (I'm not referring to Wikitown, I wonder if you have volunteers outside of Prague and Brno that you can support). For example, you note interest in your senior citizen program in 8 cities. Do you plan to provide such workshops in at least a few of those?
- Hello Alleycat80, the truth is that 95% of our activities is centered around these two cities, but it is still a big improvement from before 2014 when most activities happened in Prague only. Just recently there was a meeting in Ostrava, Northern Moravia, and we are hoping on gradually "waking up" these cities (or, rather, the Wikipedians and potential Wikimedians who live there). Senior citizen workshops are one of the ways in which we could export our ideas into other cities, but, in fact, finding skilled Wikipedia teachers in those cities is still a major challenge that we first need to overcome. The support of local Wikipedians will surely go hand-in-hand with that. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- Hello, I am one of those who have contributed most significantly to the spread of WMCZ activities from Prague only (pre-2014) to Brno where I am living. Now we have a thriving community here, fully comparable to that in Prague, which today attracts even attention of people from other cities (we have more-or-less regular individual participants coming from Prague, Ostrava and Bratislava regions to attend our monthly meetups). I believe that the extreme engagement of these people, who come and participate even at the cost of the nightly layover or several hours of driving after the meetup, will help us establish new local groups in their places of origin, soon or later. Currently, a community is trying to form in České Budějovice, consisting of occasional participants from both Prague and Brno, plus some local Wikipedians with no links to the organized activities so far. In my opinion, this is is a natural tendency that we are trying to foster, but it can only be stimulated in various ways and expected to eventually develop on its own, as people cannot be forced into meeting up. In my observation, this was the case during the formation of the Brno group – repeated individual contacts and occasional incentives from Prague eventually made us start working on our own when the time was ripe. --Blahma (talk) 14:07, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
- Hello Alleycat80, the truth is that 95% of our activities is centered around these two cities, but it is still a big improvement from before 2014 when most activities happened in Prague only. Just recently there was a meeting in Ostrava, Northern Moravia, and we are hoping on gradually "waking up" these cities (or, rather, the Wikipedians and potential Wikimedians who live there). Senior citizen workshops are one of the ways in which we could export our ideas into other cities, but, in fact, finding skilled Wikipedia teachers in those cities is still a major challenge that we first need to overcome. The support of local Wikipedians will surely go hand-in-hand with that. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- I love your idea of a map app, I would love to understand more about it, and how you plan to use the app to promote writing more articles or taking new photographs. I'm an app-developer by trade so I might be able to provide some advice in that matter.
- Thank you! I will be glad to answer any specific questions you'd have. Also, we are currently working on a software specification - in English - and there is no reason to keep it private so we will publish it on Meta or somewhere. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- This might be tactical - but I noticed that roughly 25% of your Wikipedian in Residence is spent on uploading and categorizing materials. I encourage you to make him recruit volunteers for that, to help him and reduce his paid time spent on contributing content. We're talking about 3 hours / week that can be devoted to recruiting more volunteers or helping academic staff contribute to wikipedia, which is much more sustainable in the long run.
- Hmm, thanks for that suggestion. I'll draw Blahma's attention to that and I will make sure that we consider making amendments to the working schedule, in case we find them realistic and worth the outcomes. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- In the recent weeks and months, I've been working hard with Masaryk University lawyers to prepare the legal grounds for transferring much of the press office's and external relationship office's works into Creative Commons mode. This is foreseen to be finished before the end of 2015, but then we'll still need to reflect these new rules in the present work flows at those workplaces. The latter work is included in the staffing plan, titled "Talks with Masaryk University" under the pie chart, which is a somewhat improper simplification, because, as detailed in the page text, it includes also free-licensing talks with the Moravian Library in Brno which have barely started (we have had only one contact with them so far). Eventually, this means that legal work remains to be done in one institution and work flows needs to be set up in two, before we can even proceed to the "searches and uploads" – which entails other kinds of challenges that we have not faced so far and which will need some time, work with people and experience before making this into a routine accessible for anyone out there. Most of the 500 pictures that are to be uploaded within the year should therefore be considered a testing batch which should help us try out and tune up the processes of finding some of the most essential imagery in the various resources that have been put at disposal, actually acquiring it from there (this may need cooperation of university staff), putting it into proper categories on Commons and marking it properly there. Part of the employee's work while uploading will be documenting these maturing processes for other volunteers to use at a later stage. Volunteers will be trained in applying these guidelines for acquiring media of their choice and on their own. Also, the promised usage of the uploaded images in articles relies mostly on the works of volunteers, who will be informed about the uploaded materials and asked to help with their distribution across Wikimedia projects. Uploading pictures from institutional archives is going to be an option for participants of the planned uploading workshops as well (the other options being to learn uploading materials from other free sources or own old works). --Blahma (talk) 14:07, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
- Hmm, thanks for that suggestion. I'll draw Blahma's attention to that and I will make sure that we consider making amendments to the working schedule, in case we find them realistic and worth the outcomes. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
In general I would just like to add that your proposal is well articulated and well thought. Thanks for submitting it! Alleycat80 (talk) 23:53, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks! --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:13, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
From other community members
[edit]From Wikimedia Foundation
[edit]Initial clarifications about your programs
[edit]Hello, Wikimedia CZ colleagues:
We notice that you have not included any program objectives, but rather a list of activities for each program, along with some helpful background about the history and context of each activity. Within that context, you mention a few goals associated with different activities, but these aren't aggregated into program objectives or measures of success. It's not yet clear why activities are grouped together into each program.
- Please add some context in this proposal about why you have grouped these activities into each program. A program is a group of activities that work together to achieve the same things, and have a similar way of achieving those things, so you will want to explain how these activities are related and will lead to some common results.
- Please add some overall objectives for each program that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. These will objectives will explain what results your activities will lead to once grouped together as a program.
This information will be important to add now, since the committee begins commenting on your application next week.
Thank you! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 23:13, 14 November 2015 (UTC)
- Thank you Wolliff for your helpful comments which can lead to improvements in the grant proposal. I just added a description of each program. I underlined the objectives for each "subprogram" and project and added a few more. Our view is that the "overall" measurable criteria for each of the two programs are already present in the google forms. Is it advisable to repeat these numbers in the description of each program? We will be happy to do it but we'd better see what we exactly submitted, in order not to make a mess. Or, maybe you would like us to add a different type of relevant SMART objectives [other than just numbers], in that case could you explain what you mean exactly? Thank you, --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 15:41, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
- @Vojtěch Dostál: Thank you for the clarifications here and in the proposal. I understand your plan a lot better now. I'll be adding the global metrics applicants submitted to each application today or tomorrow. I've been in conversation with each applicant to clarify the numbers. Once in your application, you'll be able to edit them. Thanks again for your work! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:17, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
- @Vojtěch Dostál: I added some references to your global metrics targets at the program level. I hope that's OK with you. Please feel free to improve or expand what I've added. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 23:42, 20 November 2015 (UTC)
- @Vojtěch Dostál: Thank you for the clarifications here and in the proposal. I understand your plan a lot better now. I'll be adding the global metrics applicants submitted to each application today or tomorrow. I've been in conversation with each applicant to clarify the numbers. Once in your application, you'll be able to edit them. Thanks again for your work! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:17, 17 November 2015 (UTC)
Access to comment on your budget spreadsheet
[edit]@Vojtěch Dostál: Hello, WMCZ colleagues! I was wondering if you could give me access to comment on your budget and the ability to give the other committee members access to comments. I know we had a few budget-specific questions, and I think it would be easier to address those using the comment feature on google spreadsheets rather than outline them all here on the discussion page. Many thanks! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 01:26, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
- @Wolliff: Sure, I set it so that anyone with a link can comment, and you can even edit it. Please tell me if anything went wrong with the user rights, sometimes Google spreadsheets don't behave the way I expect them to. Best regards, --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 09:25, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks for this access, Vojtěch. I've added a few questions to the spreadsheet using the comments feature. Asking for some more details about several line items, including WikiTown, Photoworkshop, Competition prizes, Board expenses, Participation in Wikimedia meetings, and Wikipedia events in the office. Finally, you don't need to include funding for WikiCon 2016, as that will be paid through the conference grant. Feel free to respond to my comments directly in the budget spreadsheet, and we'll add details or clarifications there as needed. Thanks for your work on this! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 21:40, 2 December 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks Winifred, I responded there. Regarding WikiCon 2016, that might be a small misunderstanding as the item is meant to represent the Czech WikiConference, not the (much duller :-) ) chapters meeting in Berlin. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 12:04, 4 December 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks for this access, Vojtěch. I've added a few questions to the spreadsheet using the comments feature. Asking for some more details about several line items, including WikiTown, Photoworkshop, Competition prizes, Board expenses, Participation in Wikimedia meetings, and Wikipedia events in the office. Finally, you don't need to include funding for WikiCon 2016, as that will be paid through the conference grant. Feel free to respond to my comments directly in the budget spreadsheet, and we'll add details or clarifications there as needed. Thanks for your work on this! Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 21:40, 2 December 2015 (UTC)
Updates from the applicant
[edit]I hope this is a good place to announce good news from our projects that have connection to next year's plan:
- The memorandum of collaboration with the Masaryk University in Brno has been signed and subsequently promoted at Wikiconference in nationwide media. Some pretty specific plans for the cooperation are mentioned in the text of the memorandum.
- We have started a preparatory phase of hiring our "education manager" for 2016. We don't know who that person is going to be yet but we have prepared an employee profile including our requirements - and we have a deal with a web-based advertising company to give us a very big discount.
- We are now in contact with a Czech IT company that is willing to help us with the development of the mobile app mentioned in the program (especially with data-mining of public sources and programming) and teach us to lead app development projects, something that is new to our chapter. Not only that they want to help for free but they also promised a financial gift.
- This is great! I want to encourage you to prefer open app-development platforms (or at least open-source your code) so you can avoid vendor lock-in and enable other wiki communities to duplicate your code and learn from your ideas. But great! Alleycat80 (talk) 23:36, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
- Of course, everything will be completely open source, no 'proprietary' software has ever been funded by us and never will be :-). --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 18:15, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
- This is great! I want to encourage you to prefer open app-development platforms (or at least open-source your code) so you can avoid vendor lock-in and enable other wiki communities to duplicate your code and learn from your ideas. But great! Alleycat80 (talk) 23:36, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
best regards --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 15:03, 21 November 2015 (UTC)
- Thanks for these helpful updates, Vojtěch. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 22:13, 22 November 2015 (UTC)
Committee assessment and decision
[edit]Committee recommendations | |
Funding recommendations:
The Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee recommends that Wikimedia Czech Republic receive a grant of 40,785 Euro (corresponding to 100% of the funding requested) for their 2016 annual plan. We appreciate Wikimedia Czech Republic’s thoughtful and logical plan, which includes clear objectives, a focus on diversity through innovative and effective work with seniors, and evidence that Wikimedia Czech Republic is learning from its past work to improve its programs over time. We recommend that Wikimedia Czech Republic refine its strategic thinking. In particular, we would like to see more attention devoted to thinking about community health and fostering innovation. Staff may increase the organization’s capacity to do good work, but expectations for performance will also increase as Wikimedia Czech Republic invests in staff. Wikimedia Czech Republic has a long history of success in the Project and Event Grants program and running projects efficiently, but bringing on staff will be a significant change for the organization and Wikimedia Czech Republic will need to pay close attention to maintaining organizational health as they grow. This will include paying close attention to volunteer engagement, board engagement, and following good practices in organizational management. | |
Strengths identified by the committee:
Organizational effectiveness
| |
Concerns identified by the committee:
Organizational effectiveness
Program effectiveness
|
On behalf of the Simple Annual Plan Grants Committee, Kirill Lokshin (talk) 19:28, 14 December 2015 (UTC)
- Thank you! --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 09:41, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
Decision from WMF | |
Funding decision:
Many thanks to Wikimedia Czech Republic for your work during the application process, and many thanks to the committee for this recommendation. WMF will fund this grant as recommended, in the amount of 40,785 Euro for twelve months. No budget adjustments are necessary. Congratulations! Janice and I will be in touch this week to move forward with your grant agreement, and we will set up a schedule for our regular check ins. We can talk more about how to implement some of the committee's recommendations as you move forward in your work. All the best in 2016. Best regards, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 04:53, 15 December 2015 (UTC) |
- Thank you! --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 09:41, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
Midpoint report received
[edit]Hello, WMCZ team! Thank you for completing your midpoint report by the deadline. We've received your report and your updates to the global metrics worksheet. We can discuss this report more at our meeting in August, and address any questions then. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 01:47, 19 July 2016 (UTC)
- Thanks for checking it out. Looking forward to talking to you. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 09:37, 20 July 2016 (UTC)
Budget change proposal
[edit]@Wolliff (WMF): Hello! We'd like to ask for a change in budget plan - just a single item adjustment without any overall budget increases. In our budget, we'd like to adjust item description of item 3,2,1 (map of points of interest) to include not only costs of the contract(s), but also costs for a community workshop aimed at Wikidata. This is because the work around the map of points of interest has taken a Wikidata direction and we increasingly need to involve Czech Wikidata community, while we do not need such a high amount of money for contracts. I suggest that 500 EUR will be used for the Wikidata workshops and related community work (instead of contracts). This will cover food and drink and travel costs of one workshop event, the rest of the 500 EUR budget may be used for smaller follow-up Tech events or pre-events for the Vienna 2017 hackathon. The workshop aims to attract and educate at least 10 Wikipedians or related Wikimedia enthusiasts, teaching them how to use basic Wikidata tools (QuickStatements, Query) and working on practical goals concerning geocoordinate data for Czech points of interest. Specifically, the participants will improve wikidata on Czech memorable trees, abandoned villages in the Czech Republic and update population numbers of Czech municipalities with numbers valid for 2016. This will enable us to create a richer map of points of interest (including unusual spots such as abandoned villages which are currently not included in our database of points of interest). A side benefit is enrichment and support of the local Wikidata community (1st Czech Wikidata workshop ever). The goals of the project in item 3,2,1 will not change (50 app downloads is still a valid goal). --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 17:07, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
- Thanks for this request, Vojtěch. The use of 500 Euro reallocated from contractor costs for the map of points of interest project to funding a workshop event related to this same project is approved. We're excited to learn about the new direction that project is going in, and the investment in the Czech Wikidata community. We appreciate your flexible approach in requesting to reallocate the funds in this way, in order to support your community and improve the results of the project. We encourage you to track the wikidata contributions of participating contributors during and after the workshop, and to conduct a short pre and post survey to determine whether participants felt they increased their knowledge of wikidata tools and geo data and that these skills would increase their ability, confidence, or enjoyment in participating in that project (depending on the precise goals of the workshop, once set). This information may help you if you plan future wikidata events for the Czech communities.
- Once plans are in place for the technical workshops leading up to the hackathon, you may ask for permission to reallocate the remaining 500 Euro for that purpose. Cheers, Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 19:18, 29 July 2016 (UTC)
- Thank you for a quick approval and for the words of advice. --Vojtěch Dostál (talk) 12:20, 30 July 2016 (UTC)
Final report accepted
[edit]Thanks to the WMCZ board and staff for this excellent report, which is rich in links to blog posts about your work and examples of photographs and articles enriched through your efforts in 2016.
- Thanks for sharing this amazing growth in your education program, with 148 articles in the main namespace. It's encouraging that you've exceeded your goal in this area of 100 articles, and that you see this as part of an ongoing growth trajectory. We know you have invested a lot in this work over the past year, when you brought on Gabi to scale up your work in this area. It seems like this investment is really paying off! Our compliments to Gabi for her fine work in this area.
- Your work with seniors has become even more innovative in 2016, and we appreciated the different ways you are looking at making this unique approach scalable. In particular, we love the idea of your partnering with libraries and especially building the capacity of the people within those institutions to work with Wikimedia directly, making this program more sustainable in the long term. We appreciate the progress you have made in reaching seniors and institutions in different areas of the Czech Republic, outside of the cities of Prague and Brno.
- Beyond your work with seniors, we see that you are continuing to support the growth of your communities in both Prague and Brno, and that volunteers in Prague and Brno are learning from one another. We know that Marek has been instrumental in helping volunteers in Brno to develop a thriving community, and in carrying forward the work with seniors and libraries in this region, as well as deepening your ongoing partnership with Masaryk University. We certainly are lucky to have Marek on board, and the university's ongoing support! Our thanks to Marek for his important work in Brno, and for his work on the Czech Wikiconference in 2016.
- We are impressed with the ongoing high use rate from your media acquisition work, and your ability to draw in volunteers and direct their work to different aspects of photography in your chapter. We appreciate your observations about the challenges of running a joint writing and photography contest in your context. We can see why you chose to alter your plans in this area and focus on other things.
- Your work on Wikidata has great potential for future impact. We were very interested to read about the facebook campaign that you did, and how you used data visualization and mapping to get your message out to a wide group of people and to draw in people who were entirely new to the movement. We see that this has good potential to be used as part of bigger campaigns in the future, and at the same time we appreciate how this work is engaging so many volunteers right now. It's encouraging to learn of the collaboration among WMCZ and others who are working on developing the app!
- Overall, this report showcases your thoughtful approaches to implementing your rich variety of programs. You are constantly working to improve established programs as well as new opportunities. We see that you are willing to alter or cease doing programs that are not working, in order to focus your efforts on the areas with the best potential for your organization and your communities. We see your organization's ability to build on the foundational work you have done in well-established programs, and to plan for the long term. We appreciate the way that volunteers continue to be involved in every aspect of your work, even as your chapter is moving toward a model that includes more paid staff, and we enjoy the way your volunteers and staff work together in partnership. We hope to see this continue as you bring on your ED and continue your work in 2017 :)
Finally, we see that you spent 31,783.87 EUR of 40,785 EUR planned, resulting in remaining funds in the amount of 9001.13 EUR. Morgan and Janice will be in touch to arrange the return of these funds.
Many thanks for this fine report, and your good work in 2016. Winifred Olliff (WMF Program Officer) talk 18:41, 21 February 2017 (UTC)