Purpose of the report

This form is for organizations receiving Annual Plan Grants to report on their progress after completing the first 6 months of their grants. The time period covered in this form will be the first 6 months of each grant (e.g. 1 January - 30 June of the current year). This form includes four sections, addressing global metrics, program stories, financial information, and compliance. Please contact APG/FDC staff if you have questions about this form, or concerns submitting it by the deadline. After submitting the form, organizations will also meet with APG staff to discuss their progress.

Global metrics overview - all programs

We are trying to understand the overall outcomes of the work being funded across our grantees' programs. Please use the table below to let us know how your programs contributed to the Global Metrics. We understand not all Global Metrics will be relevant for all programs, so feel free to put "0" where necessary. For each program include the following table and

Next to each required metric, list the outcome achieved for all of your programs included in your proposal.
Where necessary, explain the context behind your outcome.
In addition to the Global Metrics as measures of success for your programs, there is another table format in which you may report on any OTHER relevant measures of your programs success

For more information and a sample, see Global Metrics.

Metric	Achieved outcome	Explanation
1. # of active editors involved	176	Volunteers who took part in chapter activities.
2. # of new editors	238	The total represents the following period: For activities in schools, assessment period begins September 1 and ends July 1. For activities in higher education institutions, assessment period begins with the semester and ends after the conclusion of semester/annual exams.
3. # of individuals involved	1,184
4. # of new images/media added to Wikimedia articles/pages	1049 images uploaded to WikiCommons, of which 257 were embedded in articles	Projects for which images were embedded: Archivists’ course: 98 images uploaded, of which 62 were embedded in articles. Israel Antiquities Authority: 186 images uploaded, of which 29 were embedded in articles. The Thousand Words photography project: 501 images uploaded, of which 15 were embedded in articles. Wiki Air project: 32 images uploaded, of which 5 were embedded in articles. The Public Figures Photography project: 170 images uploaded, of which 112 were embedded in articles. Education programs: 31 images uploaded and embedded in articles.
5. # of articles added or improved on Wikimedia projects	468*: (305 articles, 163 expansions) + 141 drafts awaiting integration to mainspace	Wikipedia: 214 new articles, 125 expansions Wiktionary: 91 new articles, 38 expansions and significant rewrites
6. Absolute value of bytes added to or deleted from Wikimedia projects	8,742,218
7. Number of texts uploaded to WikiSource	6	791,038 bytes is the total estimate sum of ail the texts WikiSource volunteers uploaded since they began using the OCR software. The texts uploaded to WikiSource are organized in a complex arrangement (categorized into subpages, chapters and pages). The current bytes value represents only a portion of the texts for which we ran a query.

Note: for editors’ meetings, we counted only the number of participants in the meetings and the number of articles edited during and after each meeting. This, since the participants are veteran editors whose editing work during the meetings represents only a small portion of their editing work in Wikipedia.

Telling your program stories - all programs

Please tell the story of each of your programs included in your proposal. This is your chance to tell your story by using any additional metrics (beyond global metrics) that are relevant to your context, beyond the global metrics above. You should be reporting against the targets you set at the beginning of the year throughout the year. We have provided a template here below for you to report against your targets, but you are welcome to include this information in another way. Also, if you decided not to do a program that was included in your proposal or added a program not in the proposal, please explain this change. More resources for storytelling are at the end of this form. Here are some ways to tell your story.

We encourage you to share your successes and failures and what you are learning. Please also share why are these successes, failures, or learnings are important in your context. Reference learning patterns or other documentation.
Make clear connections between your offline activities and online results, as applicable. For example, explain how your education program activities is leading to quality content on Wikipedia.
We encourage you to tell your story in different ways by using videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, e.g.), compelling quotes, and by linking directly to work you produce. You may highlight outcomes, learning, or metrics this way.
We encourage you to continue using dashboards, progress bars, and scorecards that you have used to illustrate your progress in the past, and to report consistently over time.
You are welcome to use the table below to report on any metrics or measures relevant to your program. These may or may not include the global metrics you put in the overview section above. You can also share your progress in another way if you do not find a table like this useful.

WMIL in H1 2015: Key achievements and takeaways

What worked? It took us less than 6 months to surpass the number of articles written during all 2014! We supported the writing 468 articles this period, versus 351 throughout 2014. We significantly expanded the collaboration with the Ministry of Education, building a revolutionary course and are already thinking on future extensions to it. We revived the Wiktionary community and held the first ever course for training Wikitionary volunteers concluding to a great success. What didn’t work: We discontinued the attempt to enlist veteran editors, due to lack of interest. We didn’t find the resources to tackle the “free knowledge awareness” challenge. One exciting thing: We were selected to host the 2016 Wikimedia Hackathon, and we’re already seeing enthusiasm and excitement in our community to make this a great success.

Wikipedia-Community Support

Background: Hebrew Wikipedia editor community members are vital partners in Wikimedia Israel’s projects. We support and are supported by the community, and make every effort to be attentive to their input and needs.

Maintaining a variety of communication channels vis-à-vis Wikimedia communities and volunteers

We maintain a variety of communication channels with Wikimedia communities: bi-weekly emails, a Facebook page and talk pages in Wikimedia initiatives. There is ongoing communication in all channels between volunteers, members and staff.

Reaching out to inactive veteran editors:

We continue in our efforts to reinstate inactive veteran editors, but find it difficult and too time consuming. Several veteran editors were invited to attend an editors’ meeting organized by a veteran Wikipedian. None, however, attended the meeting.

Nine face-to-face meetings to strengthen Wikimedia communities in 2015:

Gathering are the best way to strengthen ties between community members. Beyond anniversary celebrations, we hold editors’ meetings for shared learning and editing.

During the first half of 2015, we held 8 meetings and gatherings:

Activities	Description
Social gatherings	The 14th anniversary celebration of Wikipedia: this event was held at the Center for Educational Technology (CET). 60 Wikimedians attended the event. The meeting with Jimmy Wales at CET was attended by 80 Wikimedians.
Editors’ meetings (Lecturing Wikipedians)	Wikimedia community - translation session: 10 participants. In the session, the Translate tool was introduced FreeMasons – Rulers of the World?: 11 participants. 3 new articles, 2 expansions and improvements, 1 draft Image processing – on Ethics, Illusion and Deception: 11 participants. 3 new articles, 1 expansion
Wiki Women meetings	Meeting #3: Women in Cinema: 12 participants, 8 articles Meeting #4: Women in Technology: 12 participants, 3 articles, 2 expansions Click here for the hidden category Articles edited in Wiki Women initiative for a summary of all activities of the Wiki Women initiative. Beyond the Wiki Women meetings, the leading volunteer also initiate editing workshops for the members of the Association for Research of Arts and Gender. The chapter has helped her with instructional material, recruited volunteers to help her, and offered the use of the chapter’s offices for the editing sessions.
Advanced editing workshops	25 participants, 5 new articles, 11 expansions

Editors’ meetings: In 2015, we continued to promote our editors’ meetings initiative established in 2014. This initiative allows the chapter and the community to co-organize meetings based on Wikipedians’ fields of interest. These are designed to strengthen the social ties between community members, enrich the participants with knowledge from different fields of interest and encourage editing on focused subjects. We held three such meetings since the beginning of 2015. Meetings which focused on translation and photography were in high demand, and an additional meeting will be scheduled. These meetings afford us with an opportunity to get to know and connect with Wikipedians who do not usually take part in the chapter’s activities, and to recruit new volunteers.

Expanding the volunteer base of Wikimedia Israel: in the 1st quarter of 2015, we recruited six new volunteers: one from the Wikipedia community, another from Wiktionary, and the rest from outside the Wikimedia community. We have therefore reached our annual recruitment target.

Dana Dekel (User:Danalif) joined Wikimedia through the Public Figures Photography initiative. An initiative that it’s aim to add images to articles in Hebrew Wikipedia of public Figures. In her own words: “I have a sense of satisfaction seeing a high-quality image in an article that was missing one. I’ve always known and liked Wikipedia from afar, but what finally convinced me to volunteer was attending the face-to-face meeting with this unique community. For the first time, I had the honor of meeting the people behind Wikipedia, who devote their time to achieve a noble goal: creating free, accessible and worthwhile content. The atmosphere was friendly and welcoming, and it drove me to become active”. During this meeting, Dana met the volunteer running the Wiki Women. She also attended an editing session, which she says has made editing “much easier and easy to implement”. With time, she gained valuable experience in editing in Wikipedia, and began to instruct in editing workshops. “As time goes by, I find myself, like other loyal Wikipedians, spreading the gospel in an attempt to ‘infect’ everyone with Wikipedia Fever. There’s nothing like instructing in a workshop, looking after new editors, and knowing that they’re on their way to join in on the magic that happens here”.

Encouraging and assisting volunteers and new members to create content

Micro-grants: during the first half of 2015, three applications were submitted for micro-grants. One did not materialize; the other two are works in progress:

The association for the Advancement of libraries in the Arab sector (in Israel) approached WMIL and asked for a grant for a one-day seminar on Wikipedia. According to their application: “The purpose of the seminar is to introduce to the librarians Arab Wikipedia and to encourage them to start editing”.
After a successful editors’ meeting on the topic of Image processing and lack of volunteers in the Graphics Lab an idea came up to run a graphics and image processing course for the chapter and Wikimedia initiatives’ volunteers. The volunteer’s application was approved, but is dependent on his ability to provide more information on the project plan.

Wikimedia initiatives- Community Support

Background: in 2015, one of our goals is to expand the activities of Wikimedia Israel among additional communities of Wikimedia initiatives. We are currently meeting that goal - WMIL is in contact with three communities: WikiSource, Wiktionary and Wiki-Women.

Expanding collaboration with the Wikisource community

Our Communities Coordinator keeps constant touch with the community members. The Hebrew WikiSource community is fairly small. There are two areas in which its members contribute the most: The Jewish bookshelf and Open Law Book. The Open Law Book makes the updated, combined and interlinked text of the Israeli laws available to everyone. This is the only openly available source for the Israeli Law, which includes the full sources and historic revisions (the revisions lend themselves quite naturally to a Wiki structure).

Following the community’s request, in 2014 WMIL purchased an OCR software, with the aim of converting scanned images to text. Since the beginning of 2015, six new texts were added (totaling 791,038 bytes).

The chapter makes an effort to obtain texts from libraries across the country for the benefit of the community. During the first half of the year, we dealt with one such request.

To rebuild an active community that will revive the Hebrew Wiktionary

During the 1st quarter of 2015, we held the first course for training Wiktionary volunteers. 16 participants began the course, 14 completed it. Every participant wrote at least 7 new articles, and expanded or significantly rewrote three articles.

Performance vs. work plan:

Recruiting at least 20 volunteers to attend the course – the course was held in the community room of the chapter’s offices, and could include only 16 participants.
80% of the participants will complete the course - 14 participants completed the course. Done!
90% of the participants to complete the course will edit 20 articles each - this objective was too ambitious. When we planned the course into details it became clear that it was unlikely that the participants would not succeed in writing 20 articles. This is mainly because the different skill sets they had to acquire: technological and linguistic skills. Therefore, a more realistic target was established - every participant wrote at least 7 new articles, and expanded or significantly rewrote three articles. Done!
50% of the participants will be active editors for the three months following the course - 10 of the participants continued to edit, six of them also became chapter volunteers. Done!

The Journey for Revitalizing the Hebrew Wiktionary Community In April 2015, we concluded the first ever Wiktionary course. The idea for such a course emerged in mid-2014, with the aim of reaching out to new editors. Our first act was to locate a partner who is an authoritative body for the Hebrew language; we contacted the Academy of the Hebrew Language – the world’s premiere institution for the Hebrew language. It was clear to us that the course will gain more prestige if the Academy will be run it with us. Fortunately the director of the Academy of the Hebrew Language found the idea of free dictionary appealing and a representative of the Academy became part of the planning team. At the same time, we began the process of locating and recruiting members of the Wiktionary community by applying to all active editors in the talk pages, and by posting a notice on Village pump. A group of four Wikionary volunteers was formed: two volunteers who were active in operating the course and two additional volunteers who support the course online. We used different channels of publicity such as the newsletter, social media and linguistics bloggers to spread the news. We received 120(!!) applications, so we were able to be picky about applicants, and accept only those who were computer literate, had writing abilities and an affinity... Writing ability and an affinity to the field of lexicography and linguistics and Ideological identification with the ideas of free content and shared writing. After the initial selection process, we conducted telephone interviews with dozens of worthy applicants. Following these interviews, we chose a group of 16, taking into account gender diversity (50% women) and different demographics (age and professional background). The two-month, weekly course included lectures on linguistics, editing workshops in Wiktionary. In addition, we held enrichment lectures on issues of copyrights and wisdom of the crowd. The participants were given assignments at the end of each meeting, and experienced peer critique. Success of the initiative: The course encouraged the establishment of a unified policy and basic guidelines for the community. For a long time, the Hebrew Wiktionary community has wanted to established such guidelines for writing dictionary entries (such as threshold requirements, recommended articles, professional standards and more). During the course, 91 new articles were written, 38 articles were rewritten or significantly expanded, and 10 of the 16 participants who completed the course continued to edit. Six of them also became active editors. Some of the participants have become active chapter volunteers and now see themselves as vital members of the Wikimedia and Wiktionary communities. Recruiting veteran Wiktionary editors as leaders and active chapter volunteers is a tremendous achievement. Until then, Wikimedia Israel did not have a direct, established contact with the Wiktionary community, and today there is full cooperation. What does the future hold? The veteran Wiktionary editors and new editors (together with the chapter’s staff) are already working diligently on the next cycle, as well as a new project: for the first time in Israel, there will be a prize-bearing contest for writing Wiktionary articles. The competition will kick off in July 2015, and we hope to recruit new editors and create new, high-quality articles for the initiative.

Recruiting and consolidating a MediaWiki developer community

As we reported in the impact report 2014, we have made repeated attempts to call up volunteers from Wikimedia communities and to seek for new volunteers with the aim of establishing a developers’ community. Since these attempts did not gain fruits, the WMIL board had approved the staff's recommendation to suspend our recruitment efforts.

Nowadays, as Wikimedia Israel has been chosen to host the 2016 Wikimedia Hackathon in Jerusalem, we will begin to recruit a team of volunteers to produce the event, with the hope that this will create the opportunity to establish a developers’ community.

Content

Background: creating new content is one of our primary values. This year we have looked for new and creative ways to achieve that.

Creating a network of librarians and archivists

One of the goals of WMIL strategic plan 2015-2017 is: “Developing human and technological infrastructures to promote the creation of openly license materials”. We put a lot of thought into ways to achieve this goal. One way to achieve it is by creating a network of professionals around the chapter. We contacted the The Association of Israeli Archivists (AIA), but the association didn’t show interest in building collaboration with WMIL. However, one archivist took the initiative and together with WMIL communities coordinator produced a course. In the 2nd quarter, we opened a course for archivists. 11 archivists participated in a 5-meeting course. In addition to the usual content taught in editing workshops, we also focused on an expanded session on uploading images, copyright issues, and an introduction to Wikidata. Following the course, 5 new articles were written, 9 articles were expanded, and 6 drafts were created. The participants contributed 98 images, 62 of which were embedded in articles.

The main goal of the course was to recruit archivists into the free content community in Israel, and establishing a fortuitous connection between the community of editors and additional archives, which will help to them to receive material in the future. We hope that a strong basis for such a connection was created. Initial conclusions from the course:

It is important that the participants have a medium-high level of technological literacy. The participants differed in that matter, which made both learning and teaching harder.
It is important to appoint a contact person who is a familiar to the participants and can attend all the meetings. Such a contact person is a great help to WMIL staff and volunteers to run the course.
The “day-after” must be planned in advance as part of the curriculum. A course is only the first step of becoming part of the Wikimedia community.

Annual photography competition

The local WLM photography contest will be held this year, again, in September. We are working on finding partners and sponsors, as well as creating activities related to the contest.

Creating a digitization program

The plan to purchase scanners and to enable volunteers to scan materials did not materialize. Wikipedians, Wikimedians and other volunteers did not express an interest in creating content by scanning materials. WMIL staff published the idea in the chapter newsletter, Wikipedia village pump and we had personal conversations with prominent volunteers. It did not seem there was enthusiasm over the program. When adding to the considerations also the economic factor, scanned cost is not worthwhile because the extent of use will be very low. Therefore, scanners have not been purchased.

Collaboration on free content

Background: in 2015, we’ve expanded our collaboration with the Ministry of Education and we created additional collaborations and strengthened existing ones. Strategic collaborative projects prove to be the most effective way to create new content.

Developing our collaboration with the Ministry of Education

We have concluded the first online teachers’ course on the use of Wikipedia. The course was developed by the Ministry of Education, WMIL, and CET (The Center for Educational Technology). 120 teachers finished the course. As part of the course, we held a half a day conference attended by senior officials from the Ministry of Education. In it, the teachers presented Wikipedia-based learning activities which were developed during the course. More about the conference - here

In September 2015, we plan to open a second cycle of the course.

What have we learned from the first cycle?

The course offered teachers with extensive information on the free encyclopedia. It changed their perspective about the free encyclopedia and open knowledge.
Teachers are lack the tools to cope with the changes that Wikipedia has brought in both learning and instruction methods.
Teachers are the most important agents of change. They educate future Wikipedians…

Which are the areas in need of improvement? (and will be improved in the next cycle)

Classroom implementation of the theoretical principles learnt in the course. Did the teachers use their knowledge on Wikipedia in their classes and schools and if so – how?
Adapting the course to other languages used by teachers in Israel and worldwide.

What next?

In the second half of 2015, we plan to develop a teachers’ course that will also include editing in Wikipedia and Wiktionary (as opposed to just using it wisely). We’re exploring the possibility of promoting “an article writing as a mandatory” task in the Bagrut (matriculation) exams in different subjects.

Activities in schools: in the first half of 2015, we conducted in 14 different editing workshops for gifted and excelling students. During the meetings, the students wrote 62 articles and expanded 32 articles.

Activities in higher education institutions: in the first half of 2015, we conducted editing workshops in ten different higher education institutions. During the sessions, students wrote 89 articles and expanded 19 articles.

We entered into new collaborations with two higher education institutions and one national school chain (ORT Israel Schools network).

Aviv Tzemah, an exceptional content creator in Wikipedia’s professional course for teachers Developing teachers’ course, began with a general outline, which was then developed with the aim of adopting the course to the different subjects taught in schools. This stage was carried out by veteran teachers and teacher trainers appointed by the Ministry of Education. One of these developers is Aviv Tzemah, a teacher in a high school and a content developer at CET. Aviv developed the course focusing on civics education and dubbed it “Wikipedia as a Social Lab”. He emphasized social aspects of Wikipedia such as giving back to your community, activism, and mechanisms of participation. In the course he brought examples from his own experience as a teacher using Wikipedia-based tasks as part of the learning process. In addition, Aviv created seven short video guides for the teachers. For example, he presents Wikipedia and Wikimedia initiatives. And, Aviv summarizes the content presented in the course and encourages teachers to implement the knowledge they’ve acquired in their own classrooms. At the end of the course, Aviv spoke about his experience: “The deeper I delve into the course, the more I appreciate the content, the quality of the product ... Since this is an innovative model… I’m positive that development was a complex task, and it is evident that much thought was given to it […] way to go! it’s so much fun being a part of such an initiative”. The teachers who participated in the civics-focused course were enthusiastic about it. One of the teachers wrote: “First, I must say that I didn’t know that so many bodies were involved in running Wikipedia. I thought it was simple - you just write an article and that’s it […] I have to admit that my perspective [on Wikipedia and its reliability] changed completely, and I relay that message in class and teach the tools that we’ve learned in the course”. Another teacher wrote: “as a civics teacher, the course showed me that I can use Wikipedia as a reliable source for teaching concepts and terms, which are the basis of the subject; I also encourage my students to use Wikipedia as a source for research”. Aviv has already created two video guides in preparation: A video guide to creating a user account in Wikipedia, and a video guide to using the VisualEditor. Following the successful collaboration on the course, Aviv has also participated in other education-based Wikipedia initiatives: the 7th Wikipedia Academy Annual Conference, which focused on education and facilitated and supported Wikipedia’s professional course for teachers in (ORT Israel Schools network.

Click here to watch an item on a students’ meeting with the Mayor of Herzliya, attended by Lila Tretikov (beginning at 09:16).

Maintaining and developing the collaboration with the National Library

WMIL collaboration with the National Library of Israel is based on our relationship with one librarian. The organization has not changed its policy regarding the release of images under free license. Therefore the partnership has received a lower priority from us.

During the first half of 2015, five one-time editing workshops were conducted and a 4-meeting course on editing in Wikipedia. In preparation for the course, the librarian who led the course and the WMIL Coordinator for Education and Instruction held a meeting to discuss ways to share knowledge and lesson plan.

A new collaboration

“Create Value” (a word play in hebrew about creating articles) is a new article-writing contest about women, designed to deal with the gender gap in Wikipedia. The contest was organized in collaboration with WIZO Israel. In preparation for the contest, we assembled a list of 150 distinguished Israeli/Jewish women in different fields who merit an article in Wikipedia. The goals of the contest were: to expand the number of Wikipedia articles on women and increase the number of women editors in Wikipedia. To involve the community of editors in the project, we published the list and the draft of the contest page on our Village Pump, prior to the formal announcement of the contest. We were happy to receive many suggestions for expanding the article list. The contest has also inspired active Wikipedians, who wrote articles on other women. We opened the subpage Articles on additional women, which aim was to enable Wikipedians to assemble all articles already written as well as planned articles, and offer articles for future contests.

Due the popularity of the contest, we postponed the deadline to enable the contestants to write freely. During the contest, we held editing workshops and invested a considerable amount of time in assisting the writers. Postponing the deadline enabled the contestants to attend an advanced editing workshop which was planned as part of the routine activities of the chapter. In the workshop, the new editors were introduced to the activities of the Wiki Women initiative. Some participants (in the writing contest) uploaded links to articles on the Wiki Women Facebook page, to get peer review and to improve their articles. During the contest, the staff and volunteers answered questions via Facebook, email and telephone. A total of 68 articles were written during the contest.

The contest got significant media coverage. Most of the references (four out of five) discussed with the subject of notability and why there are less articles about women

What have we learned from running writing contest?

It is preferable to involve the community in preparing the list of potential articles for the contest. In this way, more Wikipedians will participate in the contest afterwards - it’s a good marketing strategy.
Strengthening self-instruction tools ahead of the contest such as the educational software.
Article-writing contests demand considerable time and resources from staff and volunteers, a factor which must be taken into account ahead of the contest.
It is important to encourage contestants to add their email address while they are registering for the contest, so we can contact them afterwards.

Expansion of the collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority

During 2014, we established a partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority. In addition to their support of the WLM photography contest, The Authority has expressed readiness to continue to release materials under free license, and we are currently working on obtaining formal approval to release all archived images from their website. Inspired by the photography contest WLM, the Authority have also held a photography contest for their own employees, organized in partnership with the chapter, from which they later released all images under free license.

In addition, we have set a date for a guided tour in an archeological excavation, for the benefit of the chapter volunteers. The Thousand Words photography tours are routinely held in archeological sites.

The Israel Antiquities Authority is expected to support the WLM photography contest in 2015.

Click here for the category of images released by the Israel Antiquities Authority

The Public Knowledge Workshop and WMIL will organize a festival for civil actors, representatives of NGOs from several of fields and journalists. The festival will take place during the 4th quarter.

Training

Developing training and instruction tools

Background: in 2015, we put significant emphasis on the development of instruction and self-instruction tools for both volunteers and teachers. Excellent instruction tools are vital to the expansion of free content. Our dedicated volunteers cannot be everywhere, and the requests for guidance and instruction are steadily growing. Our challenge is to develop tools that will make it easier on our volunteers, and enable quality instruction on editing in Wikipedia and other set of tools for anyone who wish to learn to edit.

Tools for the general public:

An introductory lecture on Wikipedia introducing Wikipedia and Wikimedia is in the final stages of development (See beta version here). The presentation is intended for use by anyone, including non-Wikipedia community members, who wish to give an introductory lecture on Wikipedia. The presentation will be accompanied by a lesson plan.
An interactive Wikipedia edit educational software is in advanced stages of development. It suitable for use by various audiences, based on hands-on experimentation and follows the story of a framework starring cartoon character. Click here for a peek.

Tools for teachers: With the aim of significantly expanding Wikimedia’s sphere of influence, we made a strategic decision to reduce our direct activities with students, focusing on training teachers instead. They, in turn, will work with students and other teachers on Wikipedia-based activities. Therefore, the staff created instruction tools for teachers, so they can implement Wikipedia-based tasks and projects:

Teacher booklet – Wikipedia in the Classroom: containing 14 suggestions for Wikipedia-based activities in the classroom.
An introductory lecture on Wikipedia.
A workshop for exploring the Wikipedia community discussions
A workshop for research and development of educational tools in Wikipedia

Volunteers also took part in developing instruction tools, including:

A video guide to editing: developed by librarians in the University of Haifa, who participated in the chapter’s University of Haifa - Humanities initiativ
A presentation introducing the Wikipedia community: developed by a chapter volunteer for a course for senior citizens, scheduled for 4th quarter.

Beginning next quarter, we plan to disseminate all instruction and self-instruction tools among our instructors, teachers and contacts in higher education institutions.

Instruction teams’ meetings

We took the opportunity of Tighe Flanagan visiting to hold a meeting with the instruction team. Seven team members came to the meeting (together, they constitute over 50% of our instruction team). During the meeting, we examined success stories and challenges, both from an Israeli and an International perspective. The meeting was interesting and fruitful. Click here for images from the meeting.

From one to three

In 2013 and 2014 we conducted dozens of one-time editing workshops. The workshops required extensive time and resources from volunteers and the results are quite poor. This year we decided to try a new model.

Why have we dramatically reduced the number of one-time editing workshops?

Low outcomes.
Participants are having a hard time learning diversified information in a only a few hours.
In most cases the participants do not edit after the workshop.

The alternative is a short, three-meeting course which:

Creates commitment of the participants and filters out the non-committed.
Enables short homework tasks.
Enables internalization through a longer learning period.
Getting to know Wikipedians “offline” which help to edit online
Generates outcomes!

The effectiveness of such courses is evident in the field; for example, in the archivists’ course and in schools. We’re still collecting data on effectiveness.

Free Knowledge Awareness

Background: Raising awareness for our values – free knowledge and open data – is one of the most complex challenges we have to deal with in Israel. In this area, there is still much work to be done.

Renewing our public activity on issues of open data

There has been no progress in the first half of 2015. We’ve had no human resources available to focus on this.

The Wikipedia Academy Annual Conference

Performance vs. work plan:

The conference will host 100 participants, out of these 10 will be Wikipedians, and 30 new participants who have not previously attended - .100 participants, including 20 * Wikipedians and 70 guests. 40 new participants - Done!
2 Wikipedians will be on the convention content committee - The steering committee comprised five volunteers and two chapter staff members. Done!
Recruiting lecturers from diverse genders and fields - Six female speakers. Done!

The 7th Wikipedia Academy Annual Conference, which was held on June 1. The conference focused on the contribution and integration of Wikipedia in free content initiatives in schools and higher education institutions. The conference was kicked off with a lecture by Lila Tretikov, Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, who stressed the vital role of Wikipedia and other related initiatives in the education system. During the conference, various Wikipedia-based pedagogical tools were presented, such as the digital version of the WikiRace game, an educational software for editing in Wikipedia, technology and education initiatives, and more. Click here for a post on the conference in the WMF blog.

Following the conference, we’ve received several applications for potential collaborations, such as an application from a national English teacher trainer.

There were approximately 12 significant mentions in the media], including mentions of the conference. These included, among others:

Israel’s Wikipedians lead the way in education, technology

A Talk with Lila Tretikov on Wikimedia and the Power of the Internet

The Wikipedia Academy conference was a good opportunity to host Lila Tretikov; we prepared a busy schedule for her which included meeting with many of our partners and Israeli dignitaries. Ms. Tretikov started her visit in Israel with a dinner party hosted by Google Israel's Marketing VP, attended by leaders from high-tech industry, researchers and intellectuals. It is highly important to WMIL that everyone who comes to visit Israel will meet representatives from the Hebrew Wiki communities. We had the pleasure to join a Wikipedia community tour ("Elef Millim" tour) in The old city of Jerusalem. Later that day, we met with Member of Knesset Erel Margalit (founder of JVP, a world leading venture capital firm) to discuss open data in Israel.

The meeting with a class of gifted pupils from Herzliya at the Mayor's office was one of the pick of Tretikov's visit. The students presented a few of the 70 articles they wrote about the city of Herzliya, as well as about various other subjects. When asked by Lila what they had found the most challenging in writing the articles, one of the students replied that it was the fact that there was no Wikipedia article about his subject…

Other meaningful meeting was with president of the University of Haifa. In that discussed various options to further cooperate in writing Wikipedia articles as part of academic courses. We had lunch with the president and several university professors whose courses are part of this project. The highlight of the visit was of course, the Wiki Academy Conference, the annual conference of Wikimedia Israel. The last meeting in the visit was Israel's Prime Minister. We discussed with the Prime Minister the state of free content in Israel and requested his help on this important issue.
For WMIL, It was a very successful visit. We thank Lila Tretikov for taking the time and the effort to visit Israel and support WMIL.

Communication and Publicity

Sharing knowledge with the international community on 4 significant WMIL projects throughout 2015

Educator conference successfully concludes teachers' online courses

Wikimedia Israel’s annual conference focuses on Wikipedia in education

WMIL will facilitate the participation of 4 representatives of the Israeli Wikimedia community in Wikimania 2015 and 2 people participating in the European Hack-a-thon or other similar conference. - Following budget cuts, only two participants from Israeli community participate in Wikimania.

Revenues received during this six-month period

Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.

The amounts in the table are calculated according to the exchange rate set by the FDC (1$= 3.578). At the last few months, the dollar exchange rate increased versus the NIS, which creates differences. To date, the current dollar exchange rate is 1$= 3.774 NIS.

Table 2 Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.

Please also include any in-kind contributions or resources that you have received in this revenues table. This might include donated office space, services, prizes, food, etc. If you are to provide a monetary equivalent (e.g. $500 for food from Organization X for service Y), please include it in this table. Otherwise, please highlight the contribution, as well as the name of the partner, in the notes section.

Revenue source	Currency	Anticipated	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Cumulative	Anticipated ($US)*	Cumulative ($US)*	Explanation of variances from plan
Donations from individuals	ILS	2,000	5,352	1,850			7,202	559	2,013
Membership fees	ILS	800	790	480			1,270	224	355
Sponsors	ILS	50,000	0	0			0	13,974	0
Funds	ILS	0	0	0			0	0	0
Partnerships	ILS	45,000	10,000	8,400			18,400	12,577	5,143
FDC	ILS	770,000	449,167	0			449,167	215,204	125,536
TOTAL	ILS	867,800	465,309	10,730			476,039	242,538	133,046
In kind	ILS		38,545	22,576			944,876	0	264,079

* Provide estimates in US Dollars

Spending during this six-month period

Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.

Table 3 Please report all spending in the currency of your grant unless US$ is requested.

(The "budgeted" amount is the total planned for the year as submitted in your proposal form or your revised plan, and the "cumulative" column refers to the total spent to date this year. The "percentage spent to date" is the ratio of the cumulative amount spent over the budgeted amount.)

Expense	Currency	Budgeted	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Cumulative	Budgeted ($US)*	Cumulative ($US)*	Percentage spent to date	Explanation of variances from plan
Community Support (Wikipedia)	ILS	116,600	44,901	32,358			77,259	32,588	21,593	66%
Communities support (Wikimedia Initiatives)	ILS	55,000	13,146	12,608			25,754	15,372	7,198	47%
Content	ILS	48,500	342	3,668			4,010	13,555	1,121	8%
Collaboration for free content	ILS	120,000	34,201	41,417			75,618	33,538	21,134	63%
Training	ILS	55,800	30,182	21,927			52,109	15,595	14,564	93%
Free knowledge awareness	ILS	80,500	10,081	42,564			52,645	22,499	14,714	65%
Communication and publicity - Global engagement	ILS	99,784	20,512	26,785			47,297	27,888	13,219	47%
Management and Administration	ILS	458,433	81,625	79,337			160,962	128,125	44,987	35%
TOTAL	ILS	1,034,617	234,990	260,664			495,654	289,161	138,528	48%

* Provide estimates in US Dollars

Compliance

Is your organization compliant with the terms outlined in the grant agreement?

As required in the grant agreement, please report any deviations from your grant 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.

Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement? Please answer "Yes" or "No".

Yes

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 Grant funds as outlined in the grant agreement? Please answer "Yes" or "No".

Yes

Signature

Once complete, please sign below with the usual four tildes.

Michal Lester לסטר (talk) 12:23, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

Resources

Resources to plan for measurement

Global metrics are an important starting point for grantees when it comes to measuring programmatic impact (Learning Patterns and Tutorial) but don’t stop there.
Logic Models provide a framework for mapping your pathway to impact through the cause and effect chain from inputs to outputs to outcomes. Develop a logic model to map out your theory of change and determine the metrics and measures for your programs.
Importantly, both qualitative and quantitative measures are important so consider both as you determine measures for your evaluation and be sure to ask the right questions to be sure to capture your program stories.

Resources for storytelling

WMF storytelling series and toolkit (DRAFT)
Online workshop on Storytelling. By Frameworks institute
- The origin of storytelling
- Story frames, with a focus on news-worthiness.
Reading guide: Storytelling and Social change. By Working Narratives
- The uses of the story.
- Case studies.
Blog: 3 Tips on telling stories that move people to action. By Paul VanDeCarr (Working Narratives), on Philanthropy.com
Building bridges using narrative techniques. By Sparknow.net
- Differences between a report and a story
- Question guides and exercises.
Guide: Tools for Knowledge and Learning. By Overseas Development Institute (UK).
- Developing a strategy
- Collaboration mechanisms
- Knowledge sharing and learning
- Capturing and storing knowledge.

Grants:APG/Proposals/2014-2015 round1/Wikimedia Israel/Progress report form