Grants talk:PEG/WM CZ/Mediagrant/Report/2011/11

Here are some questions and comments on this report. Please respond below and/or upgrade the report page, as appropriate.

1. How many people participated in the 2011 Photo workshop? How many of them are actively contributing content to Wikimedia projects?

   Photoworkshop was attended by 6 people + 1 tutor. Four of the participants are regular contributors, the other two and the tutor contributes from time to time. As an organizer I am highly concerned about increasing the number of both experienced participants and beginners.--Pavel Hrdlička 19:05, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

2. Is there a public list of equipment owned by the chapter somewhere, allowing WMCZ members to know what's available for use?

   Yes, it is available on cs.wiki. Unfortunately only in Czech.

3. Please link the "unique railway track" and "Beroun" items to the resultant media on Commons.

   Done it --Chmee2 16:40, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

4. Congratulations on the technical improvements to the tracking software, and on adopting the added measure of transparency regarding the "eye"'s deliberations!
5. Following your very last comment, I am indeed somewhat concerned about most of the reimbursement recipients being board or eye members. It is in the interest of the growth, maturity, and good governance of WMCZ to involve many more volunteers, from the general membership of WMCZ and from the general Czech Wikimedia editing communities, in the Mediagrant.

   Yes, I strongly agree with you, however it is little bit vicious circle. High percentage of active editors from Czech Wikipedia is also members of Czech Chapter and it is hard to engage and involve them to join our Mediagrant. --Chmee2 16:40, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

   I'm not sure I understand -- you're saying active editors are members of WMCZ (that's great!); why is it hard to engage them with the Mediagrant? Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 19:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I look forward to reading the next report.

Thanks! Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 01:51, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Additional questions

I have a few more questions about this report and the Mediagrant in general. Please respond when you find some time. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

• Is the second DSLR camera used to cover areas outside Prague? Is it effective in empowering more remote Czech Wikimedians to participate in the Mediagrant? Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

  Originally we intended to move one of our DSLR cameras to Brno (second largest town in the Czech Republic). This idea proved wrong, because we have not found enough users for utilizing the camera. We want to discuss it on our first big Brno's wiki-meeting, which take place this month. --Packa (talk) 07:21, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

  Excellent, thanks. Please provide an update on that after the Brno meeting. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 23:00, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

  We moved the first DSLR camera with a flash to Brno. We have arrange it with our user (and member of the Czech chapter) Podzemnik: he will administrate this loaning until July 2012. Then we evaluate the interest. --Packa (talk) 20:57, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

• Please send us receipts for these expenses, at grants AT wikimedia DOT org. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

  Which expenses do you mean, Asaf? Only the DSLR camera or another one, too? There is a problem with a Czech tax balance deadline (March 31). All our bills are now by our external accountant and we have not scanned all our receipts yet. So we will be able to send these receipts probably after this date. --Packa (talk) 07:21, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

  I mean all receipts paid with this grant money. After March 31st is fine. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 23:00, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

• I would be very interested to hear about progress in the "PR" effort to the broader CSWP (and Commons) community. This grant is meant to serve the entire community, and the chapter is not doing its job if it is not effective at getting the wider community to participate. Have you been able to determine what the obstacle is? Perhaps run a survey among the community? Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)
• I like the kkhx system and the transparency it provides about the spending! I'm a little concerned about its bare interface and no visible help/documentation, though; as a programmer myself, I have no difficulty understanding and navigating it, but I'm concerned that perhaps some less-technical community members may be discouraged from or actually unable to file tickets and participate in MG work. Are there concrete plans for improving this aspect? Is there perhaps some blog post or external page with explanations, screenshots, or a tutorial about how to use the system? (In Czech, of course). Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

  I guess that as the person developing the tracker I should answer these questions. I admit the interface is very bare as I spend most of my available time on features (for example, being able to answer your questions about money spent per grant without using dubious tools like Excel would be very nice). I try to make everything as obvious as possible, and I think that in places where I failed improving the interface is preferrable to writing explanations. On the other hand, if someone volunteered to write docs (or make nicer interface) I would not object at all :-) --che 21:29, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

  I only want to add that some our long-term topics ( Documentation of Czech Municipalities and Documentation of Jewish monuments in the Czech Republic) have included a “tracker-help” in their rules. --Packa (talk) 07:42, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

• Also, is kkhx open-source and available somewhere? Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

  Yes. The source is available on GitHub under GPL2. --che 21:29, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

  Excellent, thanks! :) Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 23:00, 5 March 2012 (UTC)

• Regarding delayed payments -- can you be clearer on the status there? How much money is delayed, and for how long? Since volunteers are spending their own money and getting reimbursed post-factum, it is the board's responsibility to ensure they are reimbursed as soon as practically possible. This should be a priority! Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Some of these answers may be in the form of the next report, I suppose, but please do make sure you cover all these points, either here or in the next report. Thanks. Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 02:38, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

I have added some answers above. We will answer the remaining questions in you our report, which will be prepared in one week. --Packa (talk) 07:21, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Asaf Bartov (WMF Grants) talk 23:00, 5 March 2012 (UTC)