Wikimedians of United Arab Emirates User Group/Annual Plan for 2021/2022
Presentation
[edit]
ANNUAL PLAN 2021/2022
What we will do
[edit]Since 2019, Wikimedia UAE has worked on three thematic lines: Community, Free Knowledge, and Local Content. Each one of them has translated into specific programs and projects, and into different actions and activities with which we have reached different audiences and users; created, donated, or edited more and better content for Wikimedia projects, and addressed and incorporated local perspectives into the building of that knowledge.
During 2021, we will continue working with our central axes, which point both to the expansion and engagement of Wikimedia communities throughout UAE and the Arab region; to the creation and free circulation of knowledge, especially the one that is held by academia, institutions or private collections; and to the incorporation of new content and local editors that represent the diversity of identities that cross the UAE territory.
To do so, we will introduce some changes to our current program, in order to incorporate online projects and activities that emerged during the 2020/2021 lockdown and to adapt our work to the new and changing contexts that UAE has been facing since 2019.
We will create a new Communities and New Users program to sum all the projects and activities that seek to train and engage new editors, especially those underrepresented in Wikipedia like women and gender diversities; we will also include the activities we perform in order to connect with some other historical Wikimedia communities in UAE -like our associates- and trough the Golf region.
We will also adjust our current Education program to include a digital literacy perspective, and our Mid the Gap program, which will be called from now Local Identities to focus more on regional users and contents, as well on local cultural heritage.
Finally, we will transform our Outreach program, to incorporate the projects and activities we develop in order to diffuse the philosophy of the Wikimedia movement and advocate for a better understanding and use of the free culture in our local context.
How we will do so
[edit]During 2021/2022, we want to clarify which will be the main focus within our three different working axes. To do so, we will introduce some changes.
In the Community axis, we will focus on people, users, and communities. We will seek a certain number of participants but we will focus especially on who are we reaching during our projects and activities and how to engage specific communities on the Wikimedia movement.
In the Free knowledge axis, we will focus on local institutions and how many collaborations and activities can we perform with them during the year, in order to assure the incorporation of more and new institutional content to the Wikimedia projects.
Finally, in the Local Content axis, we will focus on content creation. Our objective will be articles and images and the number of contributions we can do during the year.
Besides these changes and the adjustments we will do to our currents programs, we will move the Education Program from the Free Knowledge axis to the Community axis. This will have an impact on metrics (with less edited articles and less participants on the Free Knowledge area) but it will let us focus less on content creation and more on teachers and educative communities and their needs.
Regarding our everyday work, Wikimedia UAE is proposing an important growth in the number of projects and activities that will be developed during 2021. Understanding that our staff cannot grow at the same rate, we have decided to assume a new distribution of roles and responsibilities within our team, so we can perform this new annual plan in an effective but more equitable way. To do so, in addition, we will increase the working hours of two of our workers, who will go from 0.5FTE to 0.75FTE throughout the year.
How we will measure this
[edit]During 2021 we will continue to focus on evaluating how many activities, how many participants, and how much new content are we creating within each program. However, due to the context of uncertainty that we are facing as a chapter (and that threatens the proper functioning of programs such as Education and Digital literacy, for example), these three metrics will be evaluated globally by each main area (Community, Free Knowledge, and Local Content). Each program will, however, have its own objectives and ways of evaluating its success, which will include, for example, the diversity of participants, the number of assistants who are participating in a Wikimedia UAE activity for the second time, or the continuity of work with collaborating institutions, among other metrics.
On the other hand, we have decided to clarify the way in which we will measure the number of participants and the number of content created in our activities, separating editors from mere spectators (as happens in the Outreach activities); we have also decided to divide the editing and creation of articles, from the creation and donation of images, something that in 2020 we evaluated simultaneously. These variations may have an impact on how the goals for each program are numerically seen, but it should not affect our overall goals.
Program
[edit]COMMUNITY
[edit]Objective:
This area of work includes all the programs, actions, and activities that promote a prosperous relationship between Wikimedia UAE and the community of editors, enthusiasts, and representatives of the Wikimedia movement, in order to support new and experienced communities and free knowledge promoters.
How we will do it:
We will promote three programs within the Community area: Outreach, Communities and new users, and Education and Digital Literacy. These initiatives will bring together all the actions that allow us to: disseminate and connect Wikimedia projects with new actors at the national level; develop strategies to include and engage local editors; and promote the pedagogical use of Wikipedia and its sister projects.
Global metrics:
| AREA | OBJECTIVES BY AREA | GROW |
|---|---|---|
| Community | Involve at least 850 participants in the activities of the Community area. | 193% |
| Develop at least 45 activities, meetings or initiatives in this area. | 105% | |
| Create, edit, or improve at least 100 articles. | -50% | |
| Have at least 160 participants who have already participated in a Wikimedia activity (20% retention) | N/A |
Programs, projects and activities
[edit]Community area contains three programs:
Actions and activities that seek to connect the work of Wikimedia UAE and the Wikimedia projects with the public outside our organization, to promote the incorporation of new users and content managers, and to disseminate the Wikimedia philosophy on the national stage.
Projects
The specific projects within this program are:
- Diffusion and promotion
- Advocacy
Activities
- We will develop discussion activities such as seminars and roundtables to promote Wikimedia projects and our own work as a chapter within the national territory.
- We will develop a press strategic plan to create more and better relationships with local media.
- We will launch the third cycle of Utopias, a webcast on technology and society that we hold in collaboration with researchers of the Journalism School of the Universidad de UAE.
- We will perform activities to discuss and encourage a critical use of the information on the Internet and Wikipedia within journalists and Journalism students.
- We will develop small scale studies on how Internet users use Wikipedia to learn about the UAE contingency.
Metrics
| PROGRAM | GOALS |
|---|---|
| Outreach | |
| Perform or participate in at least 10 activities that promote or diffuse the work of Wikimedia UAE within the national territory. | |
| Have at least 200 viewers or participants during those activities. | |
| Develop at least 10 open content creation activities, like editathons, content contests, photographic tours, etc. | |
| Involve at least 200 participants in those content creation activities. |
Actions and activities focused on training and accompanying editors and creators of Wikimedia content in UAE, whether they are new or experienced, and on to connect and work with other Wikimedia structures in the region.
Projects
The specific projects within this program are:
- Training and engagement of editors
- Underrepresented users
- Regional communities
Activities
- We will perform online training and accompany encounters for new editors like webinars on how to use Wikipedia, training sessions, video tutorials, and other actions to help them during the content creation experience.
- We will develop a mentoring project for new Wikipedia editors by connecting them with more experienced local editors who would like to transfer their knowledge and experience to new users.
- We will launch a survey on new editors to learn about their experiences while editing and to evaluate their retention tax during the year.
- We will work with local organizations that promote the participation of girls and women in sciences, technology, and the Internet, to develop activities to engage more female editors in Wikipedia.
- We will launch an open call to LGBTQ+ organizations who want to learn more about Wikimedia projects and how to train as content creators with a human rights perspective.
- We will organize a series of online encounters with other Wikimedia structures within the Golf region, in order to share experiences and competencies on programing and organization management.
Metrics
| PROGRAM | GOALS |
|---|---|
| Communities and new users | |
| Perform at least 10 open activities on training or accompany new editors, like webinars, training sessions, workshops, Editing Club, etc. | |
| Have at least 100 participants during those activities. | |
| Support the development of at least 5 content creation activities or projects coming from UAE editors. | |
| Organize activities or projects with at least 5 institutions engaged in reducing gender and gender diversity gaps in UAE or Golf. | |
| Reach at least 50 participants in those activities or projects. | |
| Organize at least 5 encounters or activities with other Wikimedia structures |
Actions and activities that aim to promote the pedagogical use of the Wikimedia philosophy and to discuss free and collaborative culture on the Internet within teachers, professors, students, and educational institutions.
Projects
The specific projects within this program are:
- Wikimedia in the University
- Teacher training
- Digital cultures
Activities
- We will perform Wikipedia evaluation and editing activities with students in order to train them as content creators and knowledge managers.
- We will launch a new cycle of Education webinars on free culture and open knowledge and how to use them in the (virtual) classroom.
- We will launch the third version of our MOOC for school teachers.
- We will participate in diffusion activities that promote or discuss the pedagogical uses of Wikimedia projects.
- We will develop a repository that contains online pedagogical resources for teachers and professors who want to incorporate Wikimedia philosophy into their courses.
- We will start a diagnosis process gathering information on how educational communities use different digital tools and platforms, from Wikipedia to social media, to enhance their teaching and learning experiences.
Metrics
| PROGRAM | GOALS |
|---|---|
| Education and Digital literacy | |
| Develop at least 10 Wikimedia activities (like workshops, training sessions, talks, etc) that involve students. | |
| Reach at least 150 students during the activities performed within the Education and Digital literacy program. | |
| Create or improve at least 100 Wikipedia articles during those activities. | |
| Organize at least 3 teacher training activities or projects. | |
| Reach at least 150 participants coming from the education field during those training activities. |
FREE KNOWLEDGE
[edit]Objective:
This area of work includes all the actions and activities that promote digitalization, preservation, and diffusion of specialized content that is relevant for the UAE society, whenever this is held by institutions, organizations, or private collections. This also includes all the alliances that Wikimedia UAE creates with those institutions, in order to promote inner policies and institutional practices that embrace the free culture principles.
How we will do it:
This axis involves the development of the Institutional Alliances program, which seeks to establish sustainable collaborations with institutions that hold relevant content for the UAE society, both by organizing specialized content creation or donation and by the dissemination of the Wikimedia philosophy within those institutions.
Global metrics:
| AREA | OBJECTIVES BY AREA | GROW |
|---|---|---|
| Free knowledge | Work with at least 10 institutions that hold relevant cultural or scientific content for the UAE society. | 100% |
| Involve at least 100 participants within these activities and collaborations. | -60% | |
| Create, edit, or donate at least 300 content documental or photographic items. | N/A |
Programs, projects and activities
[edit]Free knowledge area contains one program:
Actions and activities that seek to establish sustainable alliances with institutions that hold relevant content, such as museums, archives, research centers or cultural institutions, to develop content donation projects and to encourage them to embrace the free culture and the Wikimedia principles and to translate them into the administration and disposition of the content the own.
Projects
The specific projects within this program are:
- Experts communities
- Archives and documents
Activities
- We will perform activities with institutions and their staff on how Wikimedia projects work and how to participate in them.
- We will perform content creation and content donation activities with institutional and specialized members and teams.
- We will develop at least one institutional bibliographic or photographic content donation project.
Metrics
| PROGRAM | GOALS |
|---|---|
| Institutional Alliances | |
| Work with at least 10 institutions within the program. | |
| Perform at least 8 diffusion or content donation projects or activities in collaboration with those institutions. | |
| Reach at least 100 participants during these activities. | |
| Involve at least 40 institutional participants in those activities. | |
| Develop at least 1 digitalization project involving institutional content or archives. | |
| Add or donate at least 300 new documental or photographic items within the program. |
LOCAL CONTENTS
[edit]Objective:
This area of work seeks to reduce the existing content gaps in Wikipedia and its sister projects, by promoting the creation of content related to UAE culture and society and its different territories and local identities.
How we will do it:
This axis involves the development of three initiatives: the Local Identities program (which considers the former Brechas program) to promote Wikimedia projects through UAE and its different communities and territories; and UAE in Images project, which aim to create local content for Wikimedia, both visual and encyclopedic.
Global metrics:
| AREA | OBJECTIVES BY AREA | GROW |
|---|---|---|
| Local content | Perform at least 12 diffusion or content creation activities. | 30% |
| Involve at least 150 participants during those activities. | -30% | |
| Donate at least 1000 new images to Wikimedia Commons. | 35% |
Programs, projects and activities
[edit]Local content area contains one program and two projects:
Actions and activities that seek to improve the quantity and quality of the content related to UAE and its identities and territories in Wikipedia by engaging local communities in the creation of that same content.
Projects
The specific projects within this program are:
- Regions of UAE
- Memory and cultural heritage
Activities
- We will collaborate with regional institutions (like the National libraries network or the National cultural heritage service network) to organize activities in at least 4 different regions.
- We will work with a network of culture and tourism agents to train municipal officials in at least 20 towns and cities in UAE on how to use Wikipedia.
- We will create a list of cultural institutions and organizations to propose new collaborations.
- We will develop at least one content creation project on memory and human rights.
- We will launch at least one photographic campaign to collect historical images.
Metrics
| PROGRAM | GOALS |
|---|---|
| Local identities | |
| Perform at least 4 open activities about regional content. | |
| Involve at least 4 regional institutions in those activities. | |
| Work with at least 5 institutions related to the UAE cultural heritage | |
| Develop at least 2 open activities on memory and human rights. | |
| Involve at least 60 participants within this program. |
This is an initiative that promotes the creation of visual content that represents UAE cultural and social life, as well as its natural and urbanistic values and characteristics.
Actions
The specific actions within this project are:
- Public events coverage
- Urban and cultural heritage photography
- Nature and landscape photography
Activities
- We will develop at least two photography contests or campaigns to promote significative visual content about UAE natural and cultural heritage on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
- We will organize photographic tours through UAE cities to create and update their urban images on Wikipedia.
- We will promote the participation of our associates in the photographic coverage of public events and the donation of that content to Wikimedia Commons.
- We will perform workshops and training sessions on how to donate and how to use Wikimedia Commons and its content.
Metrics
| PROJECT | GOALS |
|---|---|
| UAE in Images | |
| Photograph at least 4 massive public events, like matches, concerts, festivals, political manifestations, etc. | |
| Donate at least 1000 images. | |
| Perform at least 2 activities on how the Wikimedia Commons project. | |
| Reach at least 50 participants during these activities. |
Staff
[edit]PROFESSIONAL TEAM
[edit]During 2021/2022, Wikimedia UAE consolidated a professional team of four people: a Team leader(1 FTE to the present), an Education Program Coordinator (1 FTE to the present), a Community Manager (1 FTE to the present), and a Communications Manager (0.5 FTE at present). This latest incorporation, which was made during the second semester of 2021, was not a part of our original plan, but it was implemented as a way to cope with the new virtual context, where online communication is essential.
Throughout 2021, the professional team reported directly to the Wikimedia UAE board, through weekly reports and monthly meetings. Due to the good results of the current professional team, as well as their strategies to perform our annual program and projects despite the adverse context, during 2022 we want to maintain the current composition of our staff, proposing some modifications to their way of working and employment modalities.
Roles and responsibilities changes
[edit]Wikimedia UAE is steadily growing in the number and type of activities it carries out, even creating or adapting its programs. Knowing that our staff cannot grow at that same rate, we have decided to adjust the roles of our current employees, in order to adapt to our new challenges and to have a more equitable distribution of work and tasks.
Increasing working hours
[edit]To adapt to these new roles and responsibilities, we will increase the working hours of two of our workers -our current Comumity manager and our Communication manager- who will go from 0.5FTE to 0.75FTE throughout the year.
Work contracts
[edit]Since in 2021 our Community Manager will be working at Wikimedia UAE for more than a year, we have to modify her working status by offering her an indefinite employment contract, as we did with our Executive director and our Education Coordinator in 2020. This change means that Wikimedia UAE will have to take charge of the social security and health insurance of this worker and that this will reflect on our financial request.
Our staff
[edit]During 2021, roles and responsibilities within our staff will be:
Responsible for the programmatic and strategic planification of the chapter. She leads the execution of all programs and projects and coordinates the team. She is responsible for the execution of projects within the Alliances program and Local identities program. She reports directly to the board of Wikimedia UAE.
Since March 2020 this position is been held by Ahlam Balooki. This is a permanent position, 40 hours per week (1 FTE).
In charge of planning, execute, and evaluate the Education and Digital literacy program. She reports to the Executive Director of Wikimedia UAE.
Since January 2021, this position will be held by Serine Ben Brahime, our current Education Program manager. This is a permanent position, 40 hours per week (1 FTE).
In charge of planning, execute, and evaluate the Communities and new users program. he reports to the Executive Director of Wikimedia UAE.
Since January 2021, this position will be held by Reda Kerbouche, our current Community Manager. This is a permanent position, 40 hours per week (1 FTE).
Responsible for the execution of communication activities and strategies. During the second semester, this person will be also responsible for planning, execute, and evaluate the activities in the Outreach program. She reports to the Executive Director of Wikimedia UAE.
Since January 2021, this position will be held by Hani Yakkan, our current Communication Manager. This is a permanent position, 20 hours per week during the first six months of 2021, 30 hours per week during the second six months of 2021 (0,75 FTE).
Budget
[edit]FINANCIAL REQUEST
[edit]| ITEM | Requested Amount (usd) |
|---|---|
| Community axis | 4.254 |
| Free knowledge axis | 246 |
| Local contents axis | 3.604 |
| International travels[1] | 5.500 |
| Operational expenses | 8.652 |
| Staff | 108.750 |
| Reserves | 5.000 |
| Total expenses | 136.006 |
Notes and references
[edit]- ↑ Attendence to Wikimania 2022