Talk:Grants given to Wikimedia Foundation/IFAP

Please add ideas (including novel and alternative ideas) about how this proposal could work out here.

outreach projects considered harmful?

There are some people who think this type of project is a bad idea, and premature; perhaps requiring waiting for some kind of peer review system.

'Having to support something' that would be hard to do, can be hurtful. Getting a grant to pursue outreach to libraries, would mean having to support such a project.

The Question:

If there are people who think this is a good idea, and are willing to work on it; and support from local volunteers in various countries, would it be hurtful for the foundation to acquire an obligation to go through with such a proposal?

+sj+ 18:35, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it would be a bad idea. When looking for grants, we have to do as much as possible to ensure that the objectives of our grant match the objectives of the grant organization. In other words, a grant to UNESCO should match the objectives of UNESCO as much as possible. This particular grant is focused on Wikipedia outreach, which in itself is a good thing, but it is not an objective of UNESCO. It will be rejected immediately. As for sending it if people are interested, I think that can be harmful as well. When approaching organizations with grants, we do not want to send them applications that they would consider frivolous. It will have an impact at a later date, if and when we attempt to apply for a grant more in keeping with the goals of the organization. I say that this grant should not be sent to UNESCO under any circumstances. As for the header of this section--outreach projects are not harmful. Asking the wrong people to fund them is. Danny 03:43, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Okay, so how about a more general goal: I really like the idea of people giving courses about Wikipedia at libraries and universities. They shouldn't be only talking about Wikipeadia, but also about wikis in general. What other wikis are out there, how can people use them for research and how can they participate? How can people start their own wikis, on the internet or intranet, and what recommendations can we give them (technically and community-wise)?
I'm working on such a course concept myself at the moment, and would help organising such a project in Germany. --Kurt Jansson 09:19, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Developing such a project is certainly more important than applying for a particular grant. Courses on wikis, free licensing, and Wikipedia (and other large communities); also how these tools and communities can be used for collaborative research, and for preserving local cultural information, documents, minority languages. And meta-courses to help people start giving such courses. How about using Wiki training for more? +sj+ 14:52, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The idea of promoting our projects is great. However, that is not what this is about. This is about applying for a grant from UNESCO. They state that you have to fulfill all kinds of requirements. Among them are the goals that have to be achieved and there has to be a budget. This proposal does not satisfy these requirements that UNESCO states.

There are indeed goals to be reached! No proposal perfectly satisfies every goal; and the outreach proposal may not be appropriate for this grant. The two goals you mention, however, are satisfied by the proposal. +sj+

When you want to preach the Wikimedia gospel, you already can. There is nothing stopping you. But do consider how you make the most impact.. Would it be better to work top down by approaching a National Library Organisation or would it work better by approaching local libraries where you have to introduce both yourself and our projects each time ?? You can look for organisations that are a natural fit for partnering with wikimedia. Approach them and you will find if you made a good choise that they are willing to spend money on YOU. :) GerardM 19:05, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

potential grant proposals

Outreach to libraries

We could focus a subproject on reaching out and educating librarians (and IT professionals) at libraries, providing materials for them and their patrons to get the most out of our content. For instance:

• Contact academic/research libraries around the world [0]
• Initial survey [1]
• Send neatly-packaged information about how to use Wikipedia
  • How to get the most out of WP: how to search it, use its categories; areas and types of articles where WP's content is particularly strong; areas where its community is strong
  • Help them understand how to parse the WP community, use talk pages, get direct feedback from article authors on niche subjects
• Final survey [2]

[0] Feedback from US librarians suggests that these are the libraries most likely to be interested. Contact the thousand largest such libraries? Or a varied set of libraries until we find a thousand that are interested? [1] Ask them how they use Wikipedia currently for research/for their patrons, if at all; and how it could be a better resource to them. [2] Ask them how the project has helped them, how much they and their patrons use it now; and how it could still be a better resource to them.

We could ask specifically in the initial survey how to better help them access our material; whether providing CDs or finding groups to provide extra computer terminals (for offline or online access) would be helpful, and cover these catalysing costs with the grant funds. Extra computers could be provided through global or local partner programs that already redistribute machines.

As an international project, under their scales, the project should be limited to something under $45k. Communication with each library might run to ~$1 in postage and ~$20 in printing for flyers and handouts, plus $4k for a dedicated demonstration server ^ ^. All in all, under $25k.

Universal dictionary

The basic idea is to get people to record audio and a few definitions for a large set of words, to incorporate this into OpenOffice, and in so doing to enhance the awareness of the importance of preserving languages.

More detail to come, from GerardM? He has written a more complete proposal elsewhere. +sj+

More from the IRC chat

to come... (elsewhere on meta?) mentioned in chat last nite. Dedalus 07:59, 26 September 2009 (UTC)