Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Publishing CHwB Albania cultural heritage related archives to the commons 2023. (ID: 22159991)/Final Report
Report Status: Under review
Due date: 2023-10-30T00:00:00Z
Funding program: Rapid Fund
Report type: Final
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- Title of Proposal: Publishing CHwB Albania cultural heritage related archives to the commons 2023.
- Username of Applicant: irdiism
- Name of Organization: N/A
- Amount awarded: 5000
- Amount spent: 4987 USD, 455811.8 ALL
Part 1 Understanding your work edit
1. Briefly describe how your proposed activities and strategies were implemented
Our project successfully achieved its goal of adding content from a local NGO, Cultural Heritage Without Borders, focused on preserving Albania's cultural heritage, to digital commons. Specifically, we published their archives, mainly centered on cultural heritage buildings in Albania, on Wikimedia platforms. This initiative played a vital role in preserving local cultural heritage that would have otherwise remained buried in the NGO's archives. Additionally, it introduced the concept of digital commons to a new audience, particularly the CHwB team members, who were previously unfamiliar with it. This engagement with the organization was a significant milestone, given their focus on cultural heritage preservation. By partnering with local organizations passionate like CHWB Albania about cultural heritage, we not only exposed Wikimedia subprojects to a new audience but also enriched SQ Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata, broadening the reach of these archives. Building on these archives, we organized a series of impactful edit-a-thons contributing to SQ Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. These events attracted both new and long-time contributors, resulting in an engaged community. This collaborative effort demonstrated the project's effectiveness and its ability to strengthen ties between local organizations and the broader Wikimedia community.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you felt were effective in achieving your goals? Please describe these strategies and approaches.
One of the most crucial elements contributing to our project's success was the comprehensive groundwork conducted before the edit-a-thons. This preliminary work was centered around facilitating collaboration between Wikimedia Community User Group Albania and CHwB Albania. These preparatory meetings played a pivotal role in laying the foundation for our project's success.
During these meetings, our UG team members engaged in crucial discussions with their counterparts at CHwB Albania. The strategies employed during these discussions encompassed several key areas:
(a) Emphasizing the Significance of Publication: In these meetings, our UG team members underscored the importance of publishing materials related to Albania's cultural heritage in digital commons. This involved conveying the value of making these archives readily accessible to a wider audience.
(b) Educating on Editing and Citation: The second crucial aspect of our strategy was to educate the CHwB Albania team members about how editing works on platforms like Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. We emphasized the importance of citation, ensuring that the content added met the standards of credibility and reliability.
(c) Outlining a Clear Timeline: To ensure a smooth and coordinated execution of the project, our UG team members presented a well-defined timeline of activities. This provided a structured plan that all participants could follow, helping to maintain a consistent pace and focus throughout the project.
3. Please use this space to upload media and other files that help tell your story and impact.
Field to type in URLs.
1- https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation 2- https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Documenting_CHwB_Albania_archives_in_commons
4. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with the support of this Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals.
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Not applicable to your fund |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Not applicable to your fund |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Not applicable to your fund |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
5. Is there anything else you would like to share about how your efforts helped to bring in participants and/or build out content, particularly for underrepresented groups?
Our project has played a vital role in introducing underrepresented groups, specifically architects and cultural heritage specialists, to the Wikimedia Commons, Wikidata, and SQ Wikipedia platforms. These professionals were previously unfamiliar with these resources and the immense value they hold for the broader commons.
Architects and cultural heritage specialists, while deeply involved in preserving and understanding Albania's cultural heritage, had limited exposure to the Wikimedia movement projects and subprojects. By actively involving these groups in our initiative, we not only expanded the reach of the Wikimedia ecosystem but also enriched it with their specialized knowledge and expertise.
Our project has served as an essential bridge, connecting these underrepresented groups to the wealth of information and collaborative opportunities available through Wikimedia platforms. As a result, we've seen increased engagement and contributions from architects and cultural heritage specialists, further enhancing the quality and depth of content related to Albania's cultural heritage on the commons. This outreach to underrepresented groups has been a significant step towards fostering inclusivity and diversity within the Wikimedia community.
Part 2: Your main learning edit
6. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What did you learn about these areas during this period?
During this period, we learned invaluable lessons in several key areas. Firstly, we discovered how to effectively collaborate with GLAM institutions and organizations open to sharing their work on digital commons but previously unaware of its significance, available tools, and supportive networks in Albania. Education and awareness emerged as pivotal factors in expanding Wikimedia project reach.
Another significant insight was the substantial volume of material languishing in these institutions' archives, awaiting publication on digital commons. This underscores the untapped potential for enriching the commons with cultural heritage content, emphasizing the need for future efforts to digitize, catalog, and share this wealth of historical and cultural information.
Additionally, we realized the importance of preliminary meetings to convey the importance of projects like SQ Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata. These meetings ensured that all stakeholders comprehended project objectives, methods, and timelines, setting the stage for successful engagement.
In summary, our experience highlighted the importance of education and awareness, the vast reserves of untapped content in GLAM institutions, and the value of pre-project meetings. These insights have been instrumental in shaping our approach and will guide our future endeavors in expanding access to Albanian cultural heritage.
7. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities?This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences?
During the implementation of our activities, we encountered some unexpected situations. One such situation was the need for a significant number of meetings to gather materials from the internal archives of CHwB Albania. While we ultimately succeeded in organizing these gatherings, it was surprising to discover that, at times, this process faced delays. The primary reason for these delays was the intensive workload of the individuals working within the organization.
This unexpected challenge taught us the importance of flexibility and understanding when collaborating with partners. We learned that organizations like CHwB Albania often operate under tight schedules and limited resources, and this can impact the pace of collaborative projects. It reinforced the need for open communication and adaptability in project planning to accommodate the unexpected hurdles that may arise.
Ultimately, this experience highlighted the significance of resilience and patience in the pursuit of our common goals. It underscored the need for realistic timelines and proactive engagement to address any unforeseen circumstances that may impact project implementation.
8. How do you hope to use this learning? For instance, do you have any new priorities, ideas for activities, or goals for the future?
The learning from our project has provided valuable insights for our future endeavors. In light of this experience, we intend to prioritize early engagement and discussions with GLAM organizations. We recognize the importance of explaining to them the significance of allocating free slots in their agendas to meet with our UG team members. These proactive interactions and pre-planning sessions are essential for effective collaboration and project success, particularly before the edit-a-thons. As a result, our future goals will include a stronger emphasis on establishing a groundwork for smooth project implementation by fostering better communication and alignment with our partner organizations.
9. Documentation of resources: Use this space to upload any documents that would be useful to share with others (e.g. communications material, training material, presentations).
Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
N/A
Part 3: Metrics edit
10a. Open Metrics reporting
In your application, you defined some open metrics and targets (goals). You will see a table like the one below with your metric in the title and the target you set in your proposal automatically filled in. Use the tables to report the result. Use the comments column to describe any aspects of this result that you find relevant. If the results were different from the initial target (goals) then you can explain why and what you learned from this. You can also provide any qualitative analysis regarding these results. In the last column please describe the tools and methodology used to collect this data and any difficulties you might have had.
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia articles | We are planing to create or edit at least 100 articles. | 100 | 222 | For newcomers it is a lot easier to edit existing articles than creating new ones because it needs quiet some research and references to create a solid article. We will have activities in the future focused on Wikipedia and creating articles from scratch. | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Wikimedia Commons | We are planning to upload at least 250 files in the commons including videos, photos or audio or improve existing ones. | 250 | 311 | When you have a big archive, the selection process is the most intense one, which also slows down the uploading of materials.
More times need to be dedicated to the selection of the materials before starting with the uploading. |
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Wikidata | Wikidata items that will be created and/or edited | 150 | 543 | Wikidata resulted to be very fun and easy to enrich even though a small entry barrier for newcomers. | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Workshops | We will organise at least 5 workshops. | 5 | 7 | As mentioned above the selection process was quiet time consuming so we had to add a couple of activities to reach out goals. | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Mentors | We will have at least 4 mentors that will share their knowledge with the participants. | 4 | 2 | We had planned to have 4 mentors and had already spoken with them but because the project started more than 1 month later that it was planned we managed to engage only 2 of them. | None |
10b. Core Metrics reporting
In your application, you defined targets for some core metrics and targets (goals). You will see a table like the one below with each core metric in the title and the target you set in your proposal automatically filled in. Use the tables to report the result. Use the comments column to describe any aspects of this result that you find relevant. If the results were different from the initial target (goals) then you can explain why and what you learned from this. You can also provide any qualitative analysis regarding these results. In the last column please describe the tools and methodology used to collect this data and any difficulties you might have had. Note: a table will appear for each Wikimedia project content contribution you defined in your proposal.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | We expect to have at least 10 participants for each of the workshops we will conduct. | 50 | 40 | We almost reached the expected target but taking into consideration that the project was planned for 3 months and all the activities were done in less than 30 days it was quiet hard to attract people so frequently. Also the weather was amazing in September and there were not many people in Tirana during the month. | None |
| Number of editors | During the workshops we will train the participants how to edit and we expect at least half of them to be editors. | 25 | 20 | Same as above, the time for the project implementation was half of the one planned initially but we got really close to the target. | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Number of organizers | We will have at least 4 organisers that will work on: workshops, design, finance and outreach efforts. | 4 | 5 |
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | We are planing to create or edit at least 100 articles. | 100 | 222 | For newcomers it is a lot easier to edit existing articles than creating new ones because it needs quiet some research and references to create a solid article. We will have activities in the future focused on Wikipedia and creating articles from scratch. | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Wikimedia Commons | We are planning to upload at least 250 files in the commons including videos, photos or audio or improve existing ones. | 250 | 311 | When you have a big archive, the selection process is the most intense one, which also slows down the uploading of materials.
More times need to be dedicated to the selection of the materials before starting with the uploading. |
https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| Wikidata | Wikidata items that will be created and/or edited | 150 | 543 | Wikidata resulted to be very fun and easy to enrich even though a small entry barrier for newcomers. | https://outreachdashboard.wmflabs.org/courses/Wikimedia_Community_User_Group_Albania/ChWB_archive_digitalisation |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
12. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? This could include things like a lack of time or resources, or the expertise in your team to collect this data. It could also include difficulties with particular data collection tools.
No
12a. State what difficulties you had.
N/A
12b. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges?
N/A
13. Use this space to upload any documents and provide links to any tools you have used that would be useful to understand your data collection (e.g., surveys you have carried out, communications material, training material, program and event dashboard link, project page on Meta).
Here is an additional field to type in URLs.
14. Have you shared these results with other Wikimedian communities (either affiliates, user groups, volunteers, etc., different to yours)? This can include things such as data and direct outcomes, lessons you have learned, or information on how to run or recreate your programs.
Partially
14a. If yes or partially, please describe how you have already shared them and if you would like to do more sharing, and if so how.
During the process we have been in contact with Wikimedia CEE Hub which have provided guidance on how to do things. Also we have been active in CEE telegram group where we have been in touch with other contributors regarding tools to use. We have started a Meta page to keep track of the activities and we think that could be used as a template for similar rapid grants. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Documenting_CHwB_Albania_archives_in_commons
Part 4: Financial reporting and compliance edit
15. & 14a. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
455811.8 ALL
16. Please state the total amount spent in USD.
4987 USD
17. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
17a. Upload a financial report file.
17b. Please provide a link to your financial reporting document.
Rapid Grant Budget Report - https://cloud.openlabs.cc/s/jyRSf9mSSXPToTY Scanned receipts, staff agreements and bank statements - https://cloud.openlabs.cc/s/ZdYXcmy2AtNKMoA
As required in the fund agreement, please report any deviations from your fund proposal here. Note that, among other things, any changes must be consistent with our WMF mission, must be for charitable purposes as defined in the grant agreement, and must otherwise comply with the grant agreement.
17c. If you have not already done so in your budget report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal.
In the initial budget we had a particular expense regarding the tax payment of 15% which due to regulations we could not pay directly to the governemnt so we shared the 15% in all other voices of the budget.
18. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
18a. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
18b. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
18c. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
19. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
20. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
21. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
22. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here.
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