Grants talk:Project/MSIG/Wiki Step! Systemic development of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia

Долбоор тууралуу суроо-жооп!

Саламатсыздарбы, урматтуу Movement Strategy & Governance командасы!

Сиздерге суроом бар эле. Эгерде долбоор тууралуу суроо сурап же сунуш-пикир айта турган болсоңуздар, ушул талкуу баракчасына жазасыздарбы? Ушул баракчаны күзөткө алып, сиздердин суроолоруңуздарды күтүп жатканбыз. Биздин долбоор сиздерге түшүнүктүү эле болдубу? Анткени, текстти биз кыргыз тилинен англис тилине гоогл котормочу аркылуу которгон элек. Эгерде суроолоруңуздар пайда болсо, жооп берүүгө даярбыз. Элдин беги (talk) 16:43, 17 October 2022 (UTC)

Overall Positive Feedback

Commendations to the project team on this application as it includes a thoughtful documentation of the problem and impact of the initiative. It is promising to see that the work actually began in 2021 and a workshop has already been conducted. This demonstrates dedication, resourcefulness, and a good understanding of how to scope and implement based on learnings from the initial pilot.

The dedication of the team is evident and it is clear to see that the project team intends to make a meaningful dent in increasing the accessibility of Wikipedia for the Kyrgyz community by conducting a large-scale translation effort. YPam (WMF) (talk) 17:38, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

Feedback for Improvement

In general, the research plan looks good, however the project team might find that outreach is easier and more focused if the target respondents are defined from the outset. It will be good to clearly identify and define who the newcomers are, that the project team plans to target in the trainings and design the offline training session to maximize learning success. Additionally, it will be important to clarify the plan for continued volunteer engagement and retention as this is not clear from the proposal.

Project planning and implementation

• Timelines: The application puts the end date is June 2023, however given the scale of this translation effort as well as the trainings planned, the deadlines do not appear feasible. There are multiple phases outlined, which includes convening a team, and that activity alone can be time consuming. Please provide more clarity regarding the project timelines and milestones to deliver within a reasonable timeframe.  
• Planning and implementation: Has the team taken into consideration, the fact that translated pages will not directly result in new contributors? Please provide details regarding how you intend to help bring onboard new contributors and encourage them to stay.
  • There is also a mention of translation of an Into to Wikipedia course, but no mention of whether or not this will be offered as part of the training within the course. More clarity is needed regarding the ways the team intends to train community members.
• Project focus: The application proposes to deliver on skills development, yet the offline training is planned for a cohort of 25 people. It appears more focus and effort will be put into translations and less on skills development and volunteer retention. It will be important for the team to provide more details regarding the project focus.
• Budget and planning: The project team highlights both offline and online training formats in the application, yet the budget only accounts for one offline event. Please consider providing clarity regarding this. YPam (WMF) (talk) 17:40, 25 October 2022 (UTC)

The project team's response to feedback

@YPam (WMF) Hi. Thank you for evaluating our activities.

I'm sorry it took a long time for this answer. This was due to some circumstances. Therefore, instead of Элдин беги, I will answer your questions.

Regarding the newcomers.

Based on our experience, we have determined that newcomers are people who are not familiar with Wikipedia yet (have not edited and may not have used it), but in the future they can become permanent Wikipedians. That is, our target audience in the training will be potential Wikipedians.

We will identify potential Wikipedians through a number of criteria:

- availability of a personal computer (laptop);

- stable home internet;

- knowledge of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia prior to the start of recruitment for training (our experience has shown that if a person has not used Wikipedia before, then he is less motivated and does not know the state of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia, which can also complicate the task of learning);

- free time (our experience has shown that a person should not simultaneously participate in the active phase of other projects, as this inevitably distracts from Wikipedia and takes time and effort; it is desirable that a person should not plan long trips and other things that can demotivate, distract from Wikipedia in the near future before and after training);

- self-motivation (our experience has shown that it is impossible to motivate someone to constantly participate in Wikimedia projects; a person must have his own motivation, his own inner strength);

- stress tolerance (from our experience, we know that participation in Wikimedia projects can be stressful; a person should not stop participating after learning that his edits may be changed, that he may have to argue over the content of articles, etc.).

Our requirements assume that a Wikipedian is a self-motivated person who himself strives to participate in Wikipedia without external incentives. if trained people are like that, then there will be no question of retention. But, of course, we will not leave the new Wikipedians alone, they will be involved in the community by adding editors to groups on social networks, we will continue to work together, etc.

Project focus.

The main focus of our project, as you correctly indicated, is translation. This is a difficult stage in the formation of a developing project. The translation of significant amounts of information (policies, interface, courses) has been a matter of many years in the conditions of unorganized efforts and a small community. Since the foundation of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia, even the basic elements of the interface have not been translated, which is an indicator. We plan to make up for years and solve this problem. The translation of policies is the basis for a more consistent and systematic development of the community. We want to create rules based on this in the future. We believe that without a translated legal text, it is impractical to build an internal local system of rules. In addition, all of the above will be directly used in training courses.

The attraction of new Wikipedians upon completion of training is based on the idea that a localized interface, integrated training courses and other conditions described in the project will lower the threshold for participation in Wikipedia. We believe that by creating a more friendly environment, we not only increase the chance of increasing the community, but also reduce stressful situations within the community, which will positively affect the activity of the community. Skill enhancement is also shaped by a more accessible interface, open courses, and community interaction.

The project also mentions public relations. Subject to good progress, we plan to work in this area as well. Having studied the experience of neighboring countries, we came to the conclusion that only in our country there is no constant interaction with the media, there is no own page of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia in some social networks (the one available on Facebook is not maintained at the proper level), there is no interaction with the state. There is some experience in the areas described above, and it is planned to increase it.

As before, we plan to organize the announced online and offline events ourselves. The stated training is a more serious approach in this direction and also serves as a media reason for the recognition of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia.

Planning and implementation.

Stages of project implementation:

1) translation of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons interfaces, to the extent necessary for comfortable participation in projects and which will be included in the course (in the form of terms, screenshots);

2) all declared Wikimedia policies;

3) courses on Wikipedia ("Introduction to Wikipedia" on the Stepik platform in the first place, if the time before the planned training allows, then the second course)

4) training

5) all Wikimedia Commons policies, meta wiki pages, optional interface

• The start of the project was scheduled for October 24, since this date has passed, the deadline for implementation will be shifted.
• There is a team that will help us implement some of the steps. This will not require a separate time period.
• The translation of policies and courses will be entrusted to translators, which we believe will contribute to the rapid completion of this process.
• The courses will begin after the completion of the first 3 stages. Practically, the content of the course will be contained in the translated courses, in addition, other information necessary for training is already available. The main tasks in the period before the course will be the organization of student recruitment, organization of their travel, accommodation, etc. There is experience in this field.

Training.

At the moment we provide training as follows:

- information about Wikimedia movement and her projects;

- the history of the formation of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia and the status of Wikimedia projects in the Kyrgyz language;

- Wikimedia's impact on language and society

- methods of practical use of Wikimedia projects and free licenses;

- theory and practical work with Wikipedia projects;

- getting to know the community and other social part of the trainings. Bosogo (talk) 16:10, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

The project team's response to feedback 2

• Regarding the timing: You correctly indicated that June 2023 was indicated in the project as the end date and gave the correct feedback. After analyzing our project and taking into account the production schedule of the Kyrgyz Republic, we came to a common opinion that the project will last exactly one year. Before that, we planned 36 weeks, but now 52 weeks or from 1-December 2022 to 1-December 2023. Now we can say with confidence that we will effectively be able to implement this project.
• Regarding the gathering of the team: Our project team is almost there, we only lack translators. Our translations into Kyrgyz must be of high quality and on time, so we decided to hire translators. And also in the first stage, we also indicated the collection of interested persons for marketing. It can be the media or bloggers who can advertise and create a good atmosphere. By this we want to convey to the public the importance of participating in Wikimedia projects.
• Planning and implementation. Yes, you correctly noted that translated pages do not directly lead to new contributors, but it will help new contributors to Wikipedia get comfortable and stay on Wikipedia. We intend to attract new participants through organized marketing by disseminating information about Wikimedia projects, the Wikipedia course in the Kyrgyz language.

We will help new Wikipedia members to integrate into the Kyrgyz Wikipedia community by organizing various events. Thus, we encourage them to stay on Wikipedia.

• Regarding the translation of the course "Introduction to Wikipedia". In this project, we indicated that we will have two courses for translation. This is Stepik's course "Введение в Википедию" from Russian to Kyrgyz. We will translate the course and post it on the Stepik website. And also we can place this course in other available portals.

The second course for translation is the course from the English Wikipedia "Introduction to Wikipedia" which can be learned by scrolling through the pages. We are taking and translating this course as the basis for the course "Introduction to Wikipedia" in Kyrgyz for the Kyrgyz Wikipedia, which can be read by scrolling through the pages in the Kyrgyz Wikipedia. This course is not included in the offline training for 25 people. This course will be in the public domain, and we can train those who wish online in an online format and we will use these courses as a resource.

• About the direction of the project. You correctly noted that we are focusing on translating important pages and documents, but at the same time, in this project we are focusing on skills development and community development. In the proposal of this project, we have included only one offline training, which we really need ... Wikipedians from all regions of Kyrgyzstan will be invited to this offline training. And for the development of the community, we intend to train and integrate new Wikipedians on our own, and this does not require costs. If problems arise, all issues will be resolved by the public organization "Kadam". And the budget of this project will be used only for the specified purposes.
• Budget and planning. After your feedback, our team discussed and worked on the project again. And they extended the project term, made a change to the project budget, but the estimated amount remained approximately the same.

And planning and implementation will go through the following stages.

Stages of project implementation:

1) translation of the interfaces of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, to the extent necessary for comfortable participation in projects and which will be included in the course (in the form of terms, screenshots);

2) all of Wikimedia's stated policies;

3) courses on Wikipedia ("Introduction to Wikipedia" on the Stepik platform in the first place, if time permits before the planned training, then the second course)

4) training

5) all Wikimedia Commons policies, wiki meta pages, optional interface

6) Project evaluation

There will be marketing at all stages, and outside of this project we will try to support the growth of the community. This project will contribute to the development of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia, the motivation of Wikipedians and the emergence of new members. Therefore, this project is very important to us.

• Words of gratitude. Dear Movement Strategy and Management Team! I am deeply grateful to you.

Dear @YPam (WMF). It took us a long time to respond to your review for various objective reasons. We are sorry. We hope that this will not affect the further history of the project. Please contact us if you have any further questions or suggestions. We are always ready to answer. I would like to emphasize once again that this project will contribute to and give impetus to the development of the Kyrgyz Wikipedia. If this project achieves its goal, we will have the opportunity to become even more actively involved in the activities of the global Wikimedia movement in the future. Thanks a lot. Элдин беги (talk) 20:18, 15 November 2022 (UTC)

Request for extension of the project validity period

Hello, dear Movement Strategy & Governance team! Dear @YPam (WMF).

Let me first express my deep gratitude to you for giving us the opportunity to develop our Kyrgyz Wikipedia and our community. During this period, we learned a lot, took part in several international Wikimedia meetings such as Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2023, Turkic Wikimedia Conference 2023, CEE Hub/Youth Group/Prague Meeting 2023 and got to know the world Wikimedia movement better from the inside.

As part of the project, we had to do:

The plans specified in the project	Completed or in the process of completion
Translation and adaptation of educational pages «Introduction to Wikipedia» from English into Kyrgyz.	We have completely translated and adapted it in the Kyrgyz Wikipedia. You can watch it here. Due to the fact that our community is small, some rules have not yet been finalized, such as spelling, how to title an article correctly, how to classify an article correctly, etc. And also in some places the interface is still not translated into Kyrgyz, gradually, with the update, we will improve even more. In the near future, the community and I plan to develop all the rules and will complement and popularize this course.
Translation and adaptation of «Введение в Википедию» (Introduction to Wikipedia) on the Stepik platform from Russian into Kyrgyz and placement on Stepik platform.	At the moment, this task has been completed by 50%. Because we have been looking for a long time where to place this course, and thought about accessibility for us, Wikimedians and readers. We have agreed with the Choir platform, which works as a Stepik.Org. (Maybe in the future we can place it here too.) And then, at the Wikimedia CEE Hub conference in Tbilisi, we learned about the WikiLearn platform. After gaining access, we started uploading the adapted Kyrgyz Wikipedia to this platform.
Translation of important pages for Wikipedia from English into Kyrgyz	The translators and I have already fully translated the important pages that we indicated in the project. But so far, about 70% have been uploaded to Wikipedia. This is due to the fact that we check each translated text and edit it, as well as do it together with the translation of the interface using https://translatewiki.net /. We'll finish everything soon, there's not much left.
Organizing and conducting a three-day training.	On November 17-18-19, 2023, we held a 3-day seminar, where we invited active Wikipedia experts from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, from the Russian Wikipedia and the Wiki Loves the Earth project. CEE Hub Coordinator Barbara Klen, as well as CE Youth Group members from Greece and Turkey, also participated in this online workshop. Wikipedia experts from Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Greece also joined online. As well as members of Wikimedia's of Turkish Languages User Group. The event was held at a high and international level. But, we have slightly changed the format and the selection of participants. We took 30 people to this seminar who successfully passed the questionnaire. We have diversified the participants. We also took pupils, students, women, girls. They are from different regions of Kyrgyzstan, but living in Bishkek. Why did we do that? Because we wanted to save the budget and hold another such seminar in the south of the country in Osh. You can get acquainted with the expenses of the 3-day seminar that we held in Bishkek here. This way we will be able to attract and train more people. We were able to save enough money to hold a seminar in Osh. At the moment, we have already agreed with the University of OSHMU. They agreed to help us with such a seminar. Therefore, I ask you to extend our grant deadline until the end of April.

This grant project gave us an impetus to the development of wikiprojects in the Kyrgyz language and the integration of our community into the global Wikimedia community.

In connection with the above in the table, we ask you to extend the project implementation period until April 30, 2024. This deadline includes the reporting deadline too. If we can complete the remaining tasks listed in advance, then we will also be able to submit reports by April.

At the beginning of February 5-6-7, we plan to go to Оsh and hold a seminar. Therefore, it would be good if you would reply to us as soon as possible. If you have any additional questions, you can ask. We will be happy to respond. Thank you very much again.

Best regards, Elbek and @Bosogo. Элдин беги (talk) 17:00, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Hello @Элдин беги well done to you and the team for the commitment and dedication to this inaugural Movement Strategy project for the Kyrgyz community. Your request to extend the project end date to April 30, 2024 is approved. This also means that your project reporting date will now be May 30, 2024.

It is good to see how you have leveraged this opportunity to build connections and collaborations across the region, and this is in keeping with the principles of Strategy 2030. We look forward to seeing the the final outputs and learnings from this work. Wishing you all the best, YPam (WMF) (talk) 20:02, 23 January 2024 (UTC)

Thank you so much for the extension and trusting us. We will try to show the best result. Элдин беги (talk) 12:25, 25 January 2024 (UTC)