Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016 round1/Wikimedia Serbia/Proposal form
If you need to review the edit instructions you will find them in the editintro.
- Use this form if you are eligible to submit a proposal in the current round, to request funding in the current round.
- This form must be published on Meta by the proposal submission date for each round to be considered, and no changes may be made after the submission date without staff approval.
- This form complements your organization's annual plan, detailed budget, and strategic plan. It won't be considered complete without a detailed budget and strategic plan.
- Organizations may apply for a funding period that does not exactly match their fiscal years. Follow the instructions carefully to understand what time period each question refers to.
- Refer to the framework, guidance from the Board, and the FDC's recommendations before using this form, so you have an understanding of the Annual Plan Grants process.
- Please Email FDCSupport@Wikimedia.org with questions about using the form.
A few terms used in the form:
FDC proposal form terms Wikimedia terms Learning & Evaluation terms
Overview
edit- 1. In order to support community review, please provide a brief description of your organization's work in the upcoming funding period.
Wikimedia Serbia has, in 2015, opened two new part-time positions. Activities have grown, therefore work time of Communications Manager and Office Manager will expand to full work time. A greater emphasis will be put on increasing the visibility of the organization. In 2016, 6 programs and 23 individual projects will be realized. Some of these projects are a continuation of previous year(s), some of these have stemmed from microgrants and some of them are new. The focus will be on Education program, releasing content within the GLAM project and strengthening the community. The projects will, as until now, have a goal on increasing quantity and quality of free content on all Wiki projects.
- 2. Name, fiscal year, and funding period.
- Legal name of organization: Wikimedia Serbia
- Organization's fiscal year: 01/01-12/31
- 12-month funding period requested: 01/01/2016-12/31/2016
- Currency requested: EUR
- Name of primary contact: Filip Maljković
- 3. Amount requested.
Table 1
| Currency requested | US$ | |
| Total expenses for the upcoming year | 113,940.00 | 127,816.75 |
| APG funding requested for the upcoming year | 112,500.00 | 126,201.37 |
| Amount of funding received from WMF for the current year | 98,760.00 | 113,697.45 |
- 4. How does your organization know what community members / contributors to online projects need or want? Does your organization conduct needs assessments or consult the contributors and volunteers most involved with its work?
Wikimedia Serbia is consulting the community about its projects via different communication channels (mailing lists, Village Pump, social networks, meetups). Discussions with community members are common, in which community members can present their views regarding news (e.g. Education extension) or current matters (e.g. topics for competitions on Wikipedia). Involving the community is one of the goals, which will be reached through their participation in proposing new projects or pointing to the possibilities for improving existing ones. In 2015 WikiLive conference ("local Wikimania") has been organized, which has shown a great opportunity for listening to Wikipedians, motivating them to stay active on Wikipedia and involving them in Wikimedia Serbia projects. Many participants in projects in 2015 have submitted projects for the annual plan 2015/2016. We strive to continue this practice.
- 5. Please provide a link to your organization's strategic plan and separate annual plans for the current and/or proposed funding period, if you have them. A strategic plan is required.
Financials: current funding period
editThe purpose of this section is to give the FDC an idea of how your organization is receiving funds and spending funds toward your current plan. Your current funding period is the funding period now in progress (e.g. 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015 for most organizations). For organizations new to the APG process, your current funding period is the 12 months before your upcoming funding period (e.g. 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015 for most organizations).
Table 2
Financials for the current funding period Revenues or expenses Planned (budgeted) Actual, until one month before the proposal due date Projected Currency requested US dollars Currency requested US dollars Currency requested US dollars Revenues (from all sources) 98,760.00 113,697.45 99,287.99 114,285.40 99,767.99 114,857.89 Expenses 98,760.00 113,697.45 58,172.46 66,971.04 89,000.00 102,461.25
Table 2 notes:
Programs: upcoming year's annual plan
editThis section is about your organization's programs. A program is a defined set of activities that share the same objectives and a similar theory of change. Please share the general goal of each program, and then list the specific objectives that the program will meet. Please do not include information about your organization's operating activities in this section. You may provide information about activities like administration, staff and board training, fundraising, governance, and internal IT in another section or in a supplementary document, but please do not include these activities here as programs.
- 1. For each program, please include your targets for each of the global metrics in this table. All global metrics are required, but you may list a target of zero if there are metrics you do not expect results for. You are welcome to provide your other metrics in the detailed program section below.
Table 3
Program (1) # of newly registered users (2) # of active editors involved (3) # of individuals involved (4a) # of new images/media added to Wikimedia articles/pages (4b) # of new images/media uploaded (optional) (5) # of articles added or improved on Wikimedia projects (6) Absolute value of bytes added to or deleted from Wikimedia projects Wikipedia in schools 1000 50 1000 500 500 1000 4,000,000 Professional development 120 10 120 N/A N/A N/A N/A Wiki Edu camp 5 10 17 100 500 35 N/A Wiki loves Earth 30 20 55 800 2000 N/A N/A Zapisi - Sacred Tree 0 1 5 100 8000 100 N/A Serbian Holy Mountain in 4 seasons 0 1 2 180 2000 180 N/A Valjevo mountains in the lens 1 1 2 750 1000 25 N/A Wiki loves dragonflies 25 25 26 200 450 200 N/A Kurgans of Serbia 0 1 2 300 300 300 N/A Competitions on Wikipedia 15 15 35 N/A N/A 600 1,000,000 Cooperation with theaters 5 3 10 30 150 20 N/A Wiki takes galleries N/A 15 16 300 1500 60 N/A Edit-a-thons 40 5 65 60 300 60 300,000 Wikipedian in Residence 20 4 25 200 400 media files plus 4 books 160 800,000 Wiki Librarian 135 30 150 200 100 135 675,000 Digitization of the techno culture 2 2 5 50 135 20 N/A Wiktionary - Cooperation with faculties 30 10 35 500 100 1000 1,000,000 Language laboratory N/A N/A 15 N/A N/A 1000 100,000 Involving community 50 10 55 140 N/A 140 700,000 Wiki South 20 5 50 200 500 200 N/A WikiLive 2016 N/A 30 55 N/A N/A N/A N/A Standard grants 35 5 40 50 250 75 N/A Photo grants 10 5 10 600 3000 N/A N/A
Table 3 notes:
- 2. Please list your goals and objectives for each program. Please be sure your objectives meet all three criteria for each program
- Be sure the objectives listed are each SMART: specific, measurable, attainable and relevant, and include time-bound targets.
- Include both qualitative targets and quantitative targets, and remember to highlight your baseline metrics.
- Provide any additional information that is important to our understanding of this program. For example, you may include needs assessments, logic models, timelines, tables, or charts. Share how this program will contribute more broadly to movement learning, or explain how your program aligns with important Wikimedia priorities such as increasing participation and improving content on the Wikimedia projects.
Education program
The education program is one of the priority programs of Wikimedia Serbia, since it has been developing from 2007. The goal of the program is that Wiki projects, foremost Wikipedia in Serbian, develop in an academic environment. The program means cooperation with highschool and higher educational institutions and involves professors/teachers and students. Based on the level of education and target group, within the education program the following projects have been developed:
Wikipedia in Schools
Project description and objectives:
Practice of training students for editing Wikipedia and other Wiki projects has been going on for 8 years. The goal of the program is using different Wikimedia projects as free educational platforms, through diverse project activities. One of the most common ways is writing seminal papers in the form of articles on Wikipedia, which provides both quantity and quality of contributions. Apart from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, as the most developed projects in the academic environment, the goal is to “revive” and develop the less active Wiki projects (e.g. Wikibooks, Wikitionary, Wikiquotes). Also, the plan is to introduce new tasks for students, so they will be given a chance to find a way to achieve the greatest contribution. One of the ideas is to additionally strengthen and support participants, in order to increase retention of a greater number of active editors through this project. Examples for new tasks are: improvement of help pages, work on improving the quality of articles which were created in previous years and a number of offline activities, like work on promotion of Wiki projects and Wikimedia activities.
During the previous years, this project has grown to significant proportions. This year, a special emphasis will be put on the quality of the participant contributions in the project and the work on sustainability (support from teachers and professors who are involved in the project, work with volunteers and ambassadors who can help in the realization).
As a part of the Wikipedia in schools project, informal training of teachers/professors on how to edit Wikipedia and/or other Wiki projects will be implemented. In this way teachers/professors will be able to edit alone, but also to train students, monitor and evaluate their work.
Time frame:
The nature of this project requires that activities have to be harmonized with the school year. The course of these activities within the semester is the following:
- January and February / September and October:
- contacting schools and faculties
- determining the activities of students, timeframe and the division of assignments.
- training teachers and professors and students for involvement in the project
- March and April / November and December:
- realization of activities
- monitoring the realization, support for students
- evaluation of the work
- evaluation of projects - by involved students, but also professors and teachers
Measures of success:
Aside of global metrics, success on the project will be measured by the following metrics:
- involving 10 participants on other projects of Wikimedia Serbia or online Wiki projects
- realization of an active Wiki club and/or Wiki sections in Gymnasium (with our support)
- preparation of (at least) 4 professors/high school teachers for independent (or with minimal support) realization of projects in their school in the next semester
Professional development
Project description and objectives:
From the previous school year, training pupils to work in Wiki environment has become a part of the second year high school Informatics course curriculum. In order to help adoption and application of these skills in classes, professional development seminar has been accredited. It is designed for teachers of primary and secondary school in order to use Wikipedia in learning and teaching. Professional development seminars are part of the mandatory activities for professors, and the impact of this project is far greater than the impact of seminars and trainings within Wikipedia in schools project.
Despite the plan, in the previous grant period, due to bureaucratic problems, seminars weren’t realized. After a lot of efforts to overcome the obstacles, first seminars were realized in September. The importance of the seminar is manifold: first of all, teachers are being trained to include Wikipedia in their classes and they’re getting recommendations and guidance on how to engage Wikipedia in the teaching process. Second, interested teachers are being reached, and can be involved in the Education program. Teachers who apply lessons learned in teaching can share their experiences with others, which can be good outreach and can create different models for applying Wikipedia and other Wiki projects in the classes.
Time frame:
The project will be implemented throughout the year, so particular time frame cannot be defined.
Measures of success:
- Implementation of at least 6 seminars for professional development during the next year (3 per semester) and the training of at least 150 professors/teachers to use Wikipedia in teaching and learning.
- Animating at least 10 new professors to engage into Education program.
Wiki Edu camp
Project description and objectives:
Education camps already exist as a developed practice in other chapters (e.g. Armenia), where they proved to be a very successful way of engaging students and pupils. The goal of the Edu Wiki camp is to adapt this concept to our environment and selected target group. As a part of the Education program of Wikimedia Serbia in the previous grant period, a team of ambassadors at universities has been formed. This group of student/volunteers were active, but the fact is that more members should be involved and they should work towards the empowerment and education, in order to achieve higher quality performance of the planned activities. Better prepared and trained ambassadors and/or volunteers can contribute significantly to the quality of Education program. Wiki Edu camp is designed with the idea that a group of students/high school pupils can be further educated and networked, in order to create the base of Edu program ambassadors and/or team of active volunteers. These five days in the nature, filled with online (editing Wikipedia and other Wiki projects) and offline activities (Wiki expedition, team building activities, developing presentation skills etc.), should increase motivation and encourage students interested in Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects to engage more actively in the work of Wikimedia Serbia.
Time frame:
- May and June
- organization of the camp (transport, accommodation, food)
- open call for participants and selection of participants
- July and August
- realization of the camp
- evaluation of the camp
- planning future activities for volunteers
Measures of success:
- drafting of at least 5 new ambassadors or volunteers for the Education program
Free content
Free content program aims to collect free materials in any kind of form (photo, audio, text material). The benefits of this group of projects are numerous:
- generating a large amount of multimedia content
- animating the community in order to increase their contribution to Wiki projects
- they are suitable for newcomers who are not familiar with Wiki projects yet
- projects are thematically designed and content is useful and important for enrichment of articles on Wikipedia and other Wiki projects
In 2016, 7 projects of this type will be implemented, as follows: Wiki Loves Earth, Zapis - Sacred Trees, Serbian Holy Mountain in four seasons, The Valjevo Mountain Range in the Eye of the Camera, Wiki Loves Dragonflies, Kurgans in Serbia and Competitions on Wikipedia. Within the photo projects, emphasis is placed on the usage of files on Wiki projects.
Wiki Loves Earth
Project description and objectives:
This is a well-known project with the idea of mass collection of the photos of protected areas in Serbia. Just like before, contest in gathering photos will be organized and for 20 winning pictures, exhibits will be arranged in Serbia. The contest will have multiple objectives:
- increasing photo content on Wikimedia Commons through submitting photos of natural heritage
- enriching articles on Wikipedia with aforementioned photos
- education of the public and involving the community through organizing edit-a-thons and photo-tours
- promotion of Wikimedia Serbia and its projects through the organization of exhibits throughout Serbia
- establishing cooperation with GLAM institutions
Time frame:
- March - June: Preparatory activities
- assembling the organizational team
- updating the lists of natural heritage
- designating and buying the awards
- finding jury members
- updating the website
- posting announcements on the blog, Village Pump, social networks
- June - July: realization of the competition
- consulting with participants and providing help
- organization of a edit-a-thon
- organization of a photo-tour
- July: preparation for the exhibits
- choosing the winning photos
- contacting institutions with whom we would like to organize the exhibits
- August - September: Exhibits
- promotion of projects and announcing of exhibits
- announcing the winners and organizing prize giving event
- opening the exhibits in other cities (logistics) and promotion of Wikimedia Serbia and its projects.
Measures of success:
Along with the global metrics it is important to indicate that other metrics will be projected as well:
- 1 edit-a-thon
- 1 photo-tour
- at least 3 exhibits with 20 winning photos
- at least 150 media announcements
Zapis - Sacred Tree
Project description and objectives:
This is the continuation of the last year’s project with the objective to photograph and assemble the information on the sacred trees, primarily in Bor and Zaječar district territory. By doing this, we would round up the territory of Šumadija and Pomoravlje and cover parts of Podunavlje and Braničevo. The idea of the project is a permanent documentation of all the sacred places of our people, customs, beliefs, and other events connected to the Zapisi as a basis for an expert analysis, but also raising awareness of the future generations about a proper preservation and nurture of the oldest national tradition. This project will gather:
- Locations of the sacred trees (descriptive or with coordinates)
- Photographs of the sacred trees, older and current, videos and other documentary material
- History of the creation of the sacred trees
- Information on the rituals connected to the sacred trees (time and manner of maintenance)
- Information on the holders of the ceremony
- Information on the guardian of the sacred trees
- Other information
Time frame:
The project will be realized from January to December 2016. The activities and field trips depend on the weather conditions.
Measures of success:
- Number of processed cadaster municipalities - 263 (Bor 90, Zaječar - 173)
- Failed project - fewer than 230 processed cadaster municipalities
- Partially successful project – 230 - 250 processed cadaster municipalities
- Successful project – 250 - 270 processed cadaster municipalities
- Very successful – 270 - 290 processed cadaster municipalities
- Above all expectations - over 290 processed cadaster municipalities
- Number of photographed sacred trees - 800
- Number of photographs uploaded on Wikimedia Commons - 8000
Serbian Holy Mountain in 4 seasons
Project description and objectives:
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This project has a goal of photographing the Ovčar-Kablar monasteries, which are of great importance for the culture but they’re placed in an area that is not accessible for everyday photography. Monasteries would be, with realization of this project, fully covered with photographs and articles would be enriched with high-quality files. In addition to increasing of free content on Wikimedia Commons, motivation of the project leader for participation in various competitions will be on higher level.
The project would be realized in four parts, photographing in the field in spring, summer, fall and winter. The contribution to Wikimedia projects is through contributing and expanding Wikimedia Commons through professional, quality photographs of a specific area. The final goal is complementing the photographs of the monasteries of the Ovčar-Kablar region, showing them in all of the four seasons, but also raising awareness about preserving these cultural monuments.
Time frame:
The main activities would be going out in the field, photographing and using good weather conditions for creating better photographs. If needed, post-production will remove all problems and bring the photos closer to their purpose (cropping, sharpening, contrast…)
- Time frame: during 2016 on four occasions, for 3-4 days
- First phase: January-March 500 photos
- Second phase: March-June 500 photos
- Third phase- June-September 500 photos
- Fourth phase: September-December 500 photos
Measures of success:
- Total number of photographed monasteries: 10 monasteries and two Sanctums with 2000 photos
- The number of originally photographed monasteries from inaccessible places: 10 monasteries and two Sanctums with 500 photos
- The greatest measure of success of this project will be in the quality of free photos.
Valjevo Mountains Through the Lens
Project description and objectives:
Valjevo mountains are special natural-geographic and cultural unity on the Dinara mountains area, i.e. Western Serbia, and are comprised of Medvednik, Jablanik, Povlen, Maljen, and Suvobor mountain ranges. The basic idea of the project is to create a quality media content: photos and video records from the given area which would showcase the environment, flora and fauna, the hills and mountains, country life, as well as cultural and historical features through a display of archaeological localities, monuments and religious objects, which would enable further use through other Wiki projects and content by uploading it on Commons. In its nature, the project encompasses forming of the material through several different themes, which make up for an important segment in acquiring new knowledge and education. In accordance with that, the ultimate goal of the idea is to complement and enrich Wikimedia projects with new materials that are not present there, which would enable the creation of new articles that would greatly contribute to the knowledge of the Valjevo mountains and their features.
Time frame:
The project would be realized from February to December 2016, and that would also be a great advantage because that way all four seasons would be showcased. The purpose of the project is to create quality media content, which includes photographs and video recordings. Over the course of these 11 months the material would be collected, and it would display basic qualities of the Valjevo mountains (Medvednik, Jablanik, Suvobor, Povlen, Maljen), such as:
- Waterways: Rebeljska river, Jablanica, Povlenska river, Taorska springs and the headwaters of the Gradac river;
- The characteristic flora and fauna;
- Architecture and life of the mountainous villages: Rebelj, Poćuta, Bebića Luka, Debelo Brdo, Mravinjci, Leskovice, Lelić, Krčmar, Divčibare, Slavkovica, and some villages located at the foot of the mountains;
- Archaeological monuments, cultural-historical features and religious objects at a given area;
- Tourist complex Divčibare on Maljen.
Мeasures of success:
The entire obtained material would be uploaded on Commons. At least 1000 files is expected (200 files per mountain). A parallel activity would take place, which is adding content on Wikipedia itself. The main priority would be completing the content of the articles about the Valjevo mountains (in general), as well as the individual mountains whose content is very poor, or non-existent, as in the case of Suvobor. It is certain that we will use material which is supposed to be the result of the proposed project. Generally speaking, about 75% of the overall result of the material of the proposed project would be used for the articles about the mountains themselves and their environment.
Wiki Loves Dragonflies
Project description and objectives:
Wiki Loves Dragonflies is a project that has a goal to create a database which would help bring closer the information about dragonflies of Serbia to the general public. This will be accomplished through the organization of BOOM (Balkan Odonatological Meeting). BOOM is a unique regional scientific and educational program developed and run by a group of young researchers and students from the Western Balkan countries with the main objective of establishing a regional research cooperation and protection of dragonflies and freshwater habitats (report 2011, report 2013, BOOM 2014, BOOM 2015).
An expected result would be a database, that would be comprised of photographs and articles about dragonflies. The idea is to write or improve articles for every dragonfly species that live in Serbia, to make them more informative and understandable to people of all ages; primarily to pupils and students that use Wikipedia as a “starting point” in their studies, making presentations, writing seminal papers, and the like. The photographs would also showcase the distinguishing details that are essential to the identification of the given species, unlike the existing ones which only show the entire animal. A simpler photo-guide would be created which would help identify dragonflies. The main part of this project would be conducted in August, but the photos would be uploaded on Commons and the Wikipedia articles would be written before and after the duration of the project.
The project Wiki Loves Dragonflies, in addition to studying the dragonflies, would also entail photographing other organisms, landscapes, cultural heritage… In that way the participants of the project could take part in the Wiki Loves Earth contest.
Time frame:
The preparations would take place from January until the beginning of BOOM (Balkan Odonatological Meeting) in August. The preparatory part consists of organization of the gathering itself, but also educating the participants about editing Wiki projects (above all Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, which we will focus on). Wikimedia Serbia representatives will perform the education, and the participants will be introduced to the participants from similar projects from last year (Wiki Biodiversity), who would offer them advice and help. This way we would get more quality material.
The main activity, BOOM, would take place in August, and would last 9 days. We would visit Moravica, Vlasina lake, and a few more localities in Southeast Serbia. The goal is to photograph as many species of dragonflies as possible (all stages), as well as other groups of organisms, with emphasis on the less researched and less available (for example: diurnal and nocturnal butterflies, insectivore plants and mosses). Before and after this activity, the participants will improve the Wiki projects with new texts and photographs. Improving the texts on Wikipedia entails creating new texts for all kinds of dragonflies and diurnal butterflies that live in our country. We would also visit the aforementioned localities even before BOOM, which would enable taking photos of multiple different groups of organisms that only appear in certain periods of the year.
There are over 60 kinds of dragonflies known in Serbia, and it is assumed that there are more. In addition to that, Southeast Serbia is generally sparsely explored. This project would change that, but it would also facilitate sharing and making all the information and data gathered during this research more available. Learning about and getting to know a new group of organisms can be very challenging due to the lack of information in one's mother tongue, but also because of very scarce databases, photos, and articles. Photos and articles that would be uploaded on Commons would greatly improve the quality of the available information.
BOOM no longer gathers only the Balkan countries, but also the rest of Europe. The diversity among the participants is vast: different countries, ages, interests, and professions… Because of that Wiki Loves Dragonflies project would resonate more in the public.
Measures of success:
BOOM has on average 25 participants. Every participant will have a task to upload photographs for the guide, 5 photos each for one specific species. In addition to that, every participant will upload 5 photos of their own choice. Total: 250 photographs.
Photographs and texts on other organisms would be separated, and it is estimated there will be around 200 photos. Around 200 texts will be created about dragonflies and diurnal butterflies species that live in our country, which could later be improved by Wikipedia editors. The idea is for the participants to be encouraged to actively participate in uploading different content on Wikipedia, before and after BOOM. It is possible to promote the results of the entire project through several lectures, which would present photo-guides for getting to know dragonflies and other organisms of Serbia.
Kurgans of Serbia
Project description and objectives:
In 2015 the project “Kurgans of Serbia” was initiated and realized within the Microgrants program. This project is expected to come to an end by October 2015, although the topic is much more elaborate and requires more work. Barrows (kurgans) represent cultural-historical heritage which are deteriorating at a high speed. This project is in fact a last-minute attempt to document some of them. So far, a burrows catalogue was successfully made, based on which locations are selected and photographed, and conditions are described. It also proved that Wikipedia articles require a lot of improvement in the kurgans-related fields, meaning that the articles in need for improvement are historical, from Neolithic to the Middle Ages. Field activities give valuable support and feedback to those articles, because they yield original photographic material from Serbia, otherwise completely unavailable.
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Time frame:
The expected timeframe is from January to December 2016. It is required to:
- make rounds of the locations and determine the state (the level of deterioration) and take photographs - planned field trips to certain parts of the country, with detailed records of the activities
- process the information about certain burrows in the available literature, which requires visits to the National Library, library of Matica Srpska, museums, and similar institutions (dates of visits are also documented)
- expand the activities from Vojvodina to central Serbia, where there is also an abundance of tumuli, kurgans, hill forts, etc. These activities were planned to happen in the second phase of the project, due to the remoteness from the base location.
- submit the final report.
Measures of success:
The planned minimum of photos will exceed the last year’s goal — 300. 100 new (improved) and about 200-300 smaller articles are expected to be written. When it comes to public events, field work and methodology presentation have been planned, if there’s enough time, possibility, and need for it, as well as a detailed display of accumulated knowledge about kurgans in Serbia, with a possibility of a projection of a large number of acquired multimedia material. Something like this can even be relevant to schools and students.
Competitions on Wikipedia
Project description and objectives:
The primary object of competitions is to increase free knowledge through creating and improving articles on Wikipedia. Through organizing these activities, motivation and participation of the community also increases. Community participation is not shown only by participating in the competitions, but also in organizing activities, contacting associations, and participating in jury.
Time frame:
In order for the competitions to attract as many participants as possible and to strengthen our connections with organizations of similar activity, we plan to organize them in cooperation with professional associations that attract enthusiasts interested in diverse topics. In addition to that, competitions could be associated with important dates. For these reasons a precise timeframe cannot be set. The idea is to organize 3 competitions during the course of the year in different time periods. Before, during, and after the competitions it is necessary to conduct different activities, such as:
- devise appropriate topics for the competitions
- contact professional associations and establish cooperation
- designate awards and purchase them
- select members of the jury from the community
- announce competitions and promote them
- it is possible to organize an edit-a-thon during a competition at the association that we have established cooperation with
- a competition is followed by jury deliberations and announcement of the winners
Measures of success: Expected measures of success are as follows:
- at least 400 articles would be created
- at least 200 articles would be improved
- at least 30 participants per contest
GLAM
This is a comprehensive project that gives enough space for different forms of cooperation with cultural institutions. In the upcoming year, diverse activities have been planed, among which: organizing edit-a-thons in cooperation with cultural institutions, establishing cooperation with theaters and galleries, Wiki Librarian, Wikipedian in Residence and Digitization of techno culture. Project descriptions and objectives, timeframes and measures of success for each of this projects are listed below.
Edit-a-thons
Project description and objectives:
Edit-a-thons are events that have multiple target groups. Firstly, it is a great first step towards achieving the long-term cooperation with representatives of GLAM institutions (which are our primary target group). Participants themselves are another target group. Depending on the theme of the edit-a-thon and the institution in which it is organized, participants are usually students, high school pupils or employees of GLAM institutions. In 2015, there were first attempts to combine GLAM events. For instance, photo tours were merged with edit-a-thons, so participants could use their photos in Wikipedia articles. The outcome of these, combined events were higher quality articles and more satisfied participants. In addition to editing Wikipedia, they had time to learn about repository of free files and how they can be used in their future engagement. The atmosphere has always been positive and productive. After each marathon, participants filled out given evaluation forms, through which we could conclude that they are interested in re-organizing workshops or joining similar activities. In addition to obtaining quality content on Wikipedia, edit-a-thons are good ways to attract new volunteers and obtain new partners. Thus, all of the activities will continue throughout the next year. The main objectives of this project are educating GLAM staff and edit-a-thon participants, as well as strengthening cooperation with the institution by overcoming major challenges:
- introduction to CC licenses, and explanation of the terms and conditions
- getting permissions for content release
- edit-a-thons are attended mostly by new editors, so it may be necessary to improve the articles to avoid deletion
Time frame:
As in other GLAM activities, we cannot make a clear time frame. The plan is to organize at least 4 edit-a-thons in the course of the year. If circumstances permit, edit-a-thons will be distributed evenly — one event per quarter.
Measures of success:
- 4 edit-a-thons
- 15 participants per edit-a-thon
- 4 GLAM institutions
- if possible, 2 edit-a-thons will be merged with photo-tours or similar events such as "behind the scenes"
Cooperation with theaters
Project description and objectives:
The cooperation with theaters aims to release content, mainly photos of actors, performances, events before and after performances, archived photos, posters and videos as well as photos of theater buildings (interior and exterior).
Organizing edit-a-thons is also planed within this project. These edit-a-thons would be used for creating new and improving existing articles on the most important plays, authors, artists. One of the competitions on Wikipedia is to be dedicated to the topic of theaters. "Behind the Scenes" project would also develop, which would allow our volunteers to peek behind the curtains and photograph numerous theatrical events.
Time frame:
The time frame depends on institution itself. Some of the theaters were contacted and they are willing to cooperate and release some contents, while with others negotiations are still ahead or in progress. Edit-a-thons will be organized in accordance with relevant dates for the theater itself (marking the first few decades of performances, etc.). The project is expected to last throughout the year, since theaters have great archives but also interest for the promotion.
Measures of success:
- 1 competition on Wikipedia
- at least 3 edit-a-thons
- at least 100 released photos/videos/audio records
- 5 media announcements
Wiki takes Galleries
Project description and objectives:
This project is implemented in Serbia for the first time now, and is based on a model of other Wiki takes ... projects. Galleries are institutions with great potential, which was not used enough in our projects until now. After the invitation to this event, several galleries in Belgrade gladly responded to our action. In 2016, within this project at least 3 two-day photo-tours would be implemented by Wikimedians/Wikipedians in the galleries. Firstly, a group of volunteers would be organized to visit exhibition spaces and photograph artworks and exhibitions. Afterwards, they would upload the gathered material on Commons with adequate descriptions. If the opportunity arises, edit-a-thons would be organized, aiming to add uploaded photos in Wikipedia articles, or to write articles about exhibition authors. Representatives of the galleries accepted this idea with great interest and are willing to cooperate. During the photo-tours they will provide guides who will help the volunteers through the exhibition and assist them in collecting information about the exhibits (author, work, technology, etc.). This project has several goals:
- greater participation of volunteers in projects
- creating more photo content
- establishing cooperation with galleries
Time frame:
- January-February: contacting the galleries that responded to our action
- March: organization of photo-tours, invitation of volunteers
- March-April: realization of the first photo-tour
- April-September: organization of the remaining photo-tours (nicer weather will increase the chances for a larger number of volunteers on photo-tours)
Measures of success:
- at least 3 photo-tours
- at least 15 volunteers
- at least 1500 images of works of art
- over 20% of materials used on the Wiki projects
Wiki Librarian
Project description and objectives:
Wiki Librarian was created last year aiming to educate and connect librarians. Through workshops and edit-a-thons, librarians had an opportunity to get acquainted with editing Wikipedia and other Wiki projects. As the workshops were very well attended, we decided to continue with this project in 2016, with the following objectives:
- Spark interest in the librarians to become successful Wikipedians
- Expanding network of libraries and other cultural institutions and their introduction to the activities of Wikimedia Serbia
- Creating a richer, more quality and more informative content on Wikipedia
- Digitization of written works and upload on Wiki projects
- Spark interest in students from the Library and Computer Studies Department to create free content on Wikipedia
In addition to organizing workshops for participants to upload quality content (text, images, videos, literature), focus will be on digitization and uploading library content (publications, photographs, postcards) on Wikisource or Wikibooks.
Time frame:
Activities would be realized over the course of the entire 2016. This entails preparations, communication with the institutions, hosting events (lectures, workshops, edit-a-thons), respectively:
- Organizing 4-6 lectures at the University Library “Svetozar Marković” and other cultural institutions in Serbia about Wikimedia Serbia and Wikipedia, as well as editing Wikipedia articles.
- Organizing 5-8 workshops at the University Library and other institutions outside Belgrade which possess the technical equipment and internet access.
- Organizing 2-3 edit-a-thons to help interested colleagues to upload content on Wikipedia.
- Digitization of 5 literary works from the library fund that are interested in conducting workshops on their premises, as well as the University Library “Svetozar Marković”.
- Organizing workshops for editing Wikipedia, for the second year students of Library and Computer Studies Department on the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade
- Disseminating the results of the project at Inforum conference, with a possibility for a further cooperation and expanding free knowledge.
- Organizing a presentation of the most successful libraries on Wikipedia and giving out honorary diplomas to the deserving Wikipedians.
Меasures of success:
- At least 5 lectures
- Eight workshops (workshops with new attendants and repeated workshops to raise participants’ confidence to edit Wikipedia on their own)
- Two edit-a-thons
- Establishing cooperation with at least ten institutions from five cities in Serbia. In addition to that, we are planning to document the number of participants and the number of written articles.
- Establishing cooperation with the Library and Computer Studies Department on the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade (students will edit Serbian Wikipedia). Workshops will be organized during the spring semester as a part of the Digital Text course. Students can earn up to 10 ESP points for this assignment. They will be graded by librarians conducting the training. Workshops will take place at the University Library “Svetozar Marković”. The course is to last 4 double classes for two groups of students, where at least 35 articles would be created (around 35 students per year). Written articles have to fill out given norms: to have at least 3 headings, references, literature, external links, at least one image, a box - template (if applicable), article length of a minimum 5000 bytes.
- Digitization of 5 literary works from library archives in libraries that are interested in training and uploading articles, as well as free content on Wikipedia and other Wiki-projects.
Wikipedian in Residence
Project description and objectives:
Engagement of Wikipedian in Residence is an ambitious project which was realized for the first time in 2014 within the GLAM project. The aim of this project is to establish a good, two-way cooperation between Wikimedia Serbia and cultural institutions (GLAMs). Wikipedian in Residence should:
- intermediate between Wikimedia Serbia and GLAM institutions
- promotes the idea of Wikimedia among employees GLAM institutions
- work with employees and assist them in better understanding of Wikimedia projects
- organize and hold Wikipedia editing workshops, debates, lectures
- maintain connection between organization and institutions and makes proposals for new models of cooperation and strengthening of old ones
- work on digitization
- upload the digitized material to Wikisource, Wikimedia Commons or on other Wikimedia projects
In this way we strengthen cooperation with the institution, enriching Wiki projects with digitized contents, educate employees in the institution, motivate community members (from whom will be chosen for WiR), enabling them to prosper.
Time frame: During 2016. we plan to engage two Wikipedians, who are eager to have internship in GLAM institutions. The time frame will depend on the institution and probably won’t be in summer months, when the most of volunteers are out of Belgrade. During 2016 activities will be:
- contact the institution and agree on programs of internship
- opening calls for internship
- selection and ranking
- realization
- program evaluation, reporting and proposals for new models of cooperation
Меasures of success:
- 2 internship programs
- 2 institutions
- 20 workshops/trainings/lectures (10 per institution)
- 4 digitized works (two per institution)
Digitization of techno culture
Project description and objectives:
The project represents the digitization of analog archives of techno culture in Serbia from the collection of the international art organization named Technokratia, other organizations, festivals, clubs, artists, collectors, fans, in the period from 1990 to 2015. The archive contains thousands of hours of video records, thousands of photos, invitations, posters, programs, texts, articles, newspapers and other materials of various events and projects of club and techno culture (festivals, concerts, parties, exhibitions, performances, installations, interviews, conferences, forums, design, fashion, extreme sports, research, media and other projects) in which hundreds of local and foreign artists had been involved, and who have been followed by millions of young people in Serbia.
Time frame:
- January-February: Collecting, inventorying and cataloguing of content.
- February-April: The digitization of content (from various analog formats)
- March-May: Grooming, correction, editing and archiving content, creating databases
- April-June: post-production, writing articles on Wikipedia, translation
Measures of success:
- Digitized material:
- 20 hours of unedited analog video material — 14 digital video files (images festivals, events, interviews, statements, exhibitions ...)
- 2 hours of audio material — 3 digital audio files (radio jingles)
- 270 analog photos — 54 photos on Wikimedia Commons
- 65 files of printed materials (posters, programs, flyers, tickets)
- Articles on Wikipedia: 20
Wiktionary
Within the Wiktionary project, cooperation with departments of the Faculty of Philology will be continued. In addition to the existing project, Language laboratory will also be a part of the program. Project description and objectives, time frame and measures of success for each of these activities are given below.
Cooperation with the faculties
Project description and objectives:
This project has been significantly expanded compared to last year. Students from different departments of the Faculty of Philology (University of Belgrade) have joined us (Arabic, Swedish, Norwegian, Chinese, Slovakian, Ukrainian). The objectives of this project are firstly expansion and development of Wiktionary, but also education and participation of the students and other enthusiasts on the projects. Last year it was evident that students need a lot of time to master the rules of editing articles, as well as help and supervision from the assistants. Cooperation with these departments will continue, but the extent of the activities will change depending on the number of interested students and availability of the assistants. Some of them will include translating articles into the program. As the projects are long-term, some of the assistants will incorporate this as a regular practice and will focus more on quality rather than quantity. In addition Wiktionary will be expanded for one more dictionary. Negotiations with this department is still in progress.
Time frame:
Activities on the project will be adjusted to the students’ obligations, considering that most of the projects will enter the programs on faculties. Increased activities will be in the first half of the year (February, March, April, May) and second semester (October, November, December). During these months training will be organized and conducted by Wikimedia Serbia representatives, i.e. experienced participants on the Wiktionary project. It is necessary to increase the number of workshops and consultations, experience tells us.
Меasures of success:
- 100 entries for every dictionary
- at least 5 workshops for every dictionary
- depending on motivation and involvement of the students, a promotion of dictionary is possible
Language Laboratory
Project description and objectives:
Language laboratory has the ultimate goal of creating or perfecting grammar dictionary of Serbian language in electronic format and publishing it under a free license, which can be further used as a base for creating other projects (spell and grammar checking, text analyzers, automatic translation, and similar advanced functions).
In accordance with Education projects’ objectives, the project will contribute to quality content and will be based on voluntary work by the "Citizen Science" principle, which is an innovation in the creation of dictionaries in general. The software will allow independently processing each word by more volunteers, and when their results coincide, that word will be considered correct. This will further lead to the expansion of Wiktionary. Certain content in Serbian language (eg. declension, change of verbs through various forms, and such) could be generated through code, instead of the previous manual entry and correction. With the help of the marketing team of the University Library "Svetozar Marković" and developed cooperation with the media, the project will be promoted to the general public, which will consequently lead to the spread of knowledge on the issues of free knowledge and free licenses.
Objectives:
- creation and development of free electronic Serbian language dictionary
- releasing the software code under a free license
- enriching Wiktionary through generating certain content in Serbian language (e.g. declension, change of verbs through various forms, and such) through code, instead of manual entry and correction used previously
- promotion of free knowledge and Wiktionary
- contribution to the creation of free quality content based on volunteer work with "Citizen Science" principle which involves voluntary work of students
- presenting the project and promoting Wikimedia Serbia on a gathering at the University Library and an international conference
- media promotion of the project for the academic and general public, and raising awareness of free knowledge and culture of sharing free content and attracting new users to the Wikimedia projects, and members of Wikimedia
- dissemination and application of new knowledge in the scientific community in Serbia through the network of academic libraries during and after the project.
- coordination of further activities in this field with the aim of keeping the sustainability of the initiative through the library network and media promotion.
Time frame:
Project implementation period is 11 months, from February until December 2016. During this period, software, that has been so far under development by the University library, would be improved and corpus contained in the vocabulary would be expanded.
February - December
- work on the developing, expanding and correcting software
- coding and creating tools to work with all kinds of words
- entering the initial words and analyzing the results
February
- forming the volunteer teams
- organizing workshops for volunteers: content input, testing and monitoring
- the first announcement for the media and the public (media, website, mailing lists, social networks)
March - December
- organizing the work of volunteers
- content input
- presentation of the project and Wikimedia Serbia at the Fourth International Interdisciplinary Conference for Youth in Social and Humanistic Sciences "Context" in Novi Sad in December 2016
- Second media announcement (media, website, mailing lists, social networks)
December
- evaluating project and preparing final report
- organizing the gathering at the University Library and presenting the project to students, researchers and wider community
- third media announcement (media, website, mailing lists, social networks)
Меasures of success:
- number of participants creating the corpus: at least 10
- number of workshops and participants: at least 3
- number of words added on Wiktionary: at least 10,000 words with at least 100,000 grammatical forms
- number of media promotion: at least 3
- evaluation of the participants and the public about the project's success
"Language laboratory" will be complemented with the leaderboard for monitoring and measuring the contributions of each participant, which will enable regular monitoring and evaluation (number of participants, number of added words). Through monitoring of media announcements and campaigns, access to the links and scans of the publication in media will be possible, as well as on other sites of similar institutions.
During the realization of the project quartal reports will be created (April, July, October), which will monitor implementation of the plan in the given time frames: the number and quality of workshops, number of participants and analyzing the feedback on the workshops, the number of entered items, forms of cooperation and further dissemination. Effects of the participation on the international conference will be visible via library network and database of the media.
At the end of the project, participants and the public will have the opportunity to fill in the evaluation forms in order to present their views regarding success of the project, whose results will be included in the final report, as well as the complete results of the project and analysis.
Community support
The goal of this project is to create and maintain a better and healthier atmosphere in the community, establish better communication with the community, and increase the members’ motivation. In order to fulfill these goals, the program was divided into several segments: animating the community, local conference of Wikipedians, and Wiki South. Each of these projects is imbued with the idea of decentralization and increasing the community involvement in the projects.
Animating the Community
Project description and objectives:
A number of activities within this project will be realized with a goal to increase motivation and community involvement in the Wikimedia Serbia projects. The idea is to animate the members of the community to stay active in Wiki projects, to get involved with local projects, and notify about the ongoing Wikimedia movement events. In order to secure a high level of participation, we will use different communication channels: blog, mailing list, social networks, website, Wikipedia Village Pump. Expanding the activities outside of Belgrade will entail volunteer participation from other cities in Belgrade events. These volunteers will have their travelling expenses reimbursed, for when they have to come to conferences, meetings, and similar events. It is quite common that community members become more motivated after the gatherings/conferences, and start sending ideas for new projects.
Applying the proactive approach while looking for partners in local organizations from various Serbian cities is one of the ways to focus on strengthening the capacity of the community. Priority targets will be associations that gather young people, interested in social activism and volunteer work. There are numerous activities in Serbia that can be synchronized with the activities of WMRS, and in that way motivate potential volunteers. Youth offices, Serbian travel society, non-government organizations that deal with informal education, are some of the target partners we can have a fortuitous cooperation with in educating the public. Enthusiasts from all over Serbia have the motive and desire to get involved with our projects and be useful. WMRS will try to provide everyone with a chance to live up to their potential. Through organization of photo-tours, workshops, gatherings, the young can write articles about the places they visited, upload photos, promote the work of the organization at local events, organize exhibitions, negotiate with GLAM institutions about the models of cooperation etc. All of this increases not only volunteer participation, but also expanding activities, action, and disseminating knowledge in other Serbian cities. In order to achieve greater satisfaction of the participants in these activities, it is possible to organize a final event. It can be a debate, promotion of activities, i.e. a manifestation with a display of the volunteers’ work results, which should entice the attendants to delve into this type of challenge and get involved with the Wiki world.
Time frame:
It is planned to conduct these activities throughout the entire year. Strengthening the capacity of Wikimedia Serbia will be realized through promotion of projects in workshops and lectures, by sending invitations to the members of the community in order to join the projects, re-establishing cooperation with the Volunteer service. Cooperation with the Volunteer service will contribute to the increase of the number of motivated volunteers that will be provided with training.
Measures of success:
- 60 blog posts
- 300 posts on social networks
- 10 new active volunteers
- after various events, the participants will fill in evaluation forms, which will provide us with qualitative measures — satisfaction and motivation of the participants.
Wiki South
Project description and objectives:
This project’s focus is on strengthening the community in Jablanica and Pčinja district. Wiki South is an extension and continuation of the project resulting from microgrants (For future to know who we are, walk the free knowledge to the past) and has been implemented in cooperation with the Youth Club Ančiki. The ultimate goal of the project is training and educating 20 Wikipedians from Jablanica and Pčinja, for active work not only on Wikipedia but also on Wikinews, Wikimedia Commons, Wikiquote and other projects by increasing the amount of free information on the Internet.
Time frame:
Implementation period for project activities will start from February and will be finished in December 2016.
Activity 1: Preparation, organization and creation of work plan
In order to better carry out activities, it is necessary to work on preparatory activities, to purchase scanner, printer, camera. Preparation, organization and work plan are planned for February.
Activity 2: The announcement of the call for participation
Youth club Ančiki will open application for 20 participants from Jablanica and Pčinja districts, who will be involved in the project Wiki South. Participants will be selected via CV and cover letter. The open call will be published at the beginning of March.
Activity 3: Workshop: Introducing participants to Wikipedia
The aim of the workshop is introducing participants to the work and actions of Wikimedia Serbia. Workshop will be organized at the end of March.
Activity 4: Spring camp "How to become a Wikipedian?"
The main goal of the Spring Camp is to introduce participants to Wikipedia and educate them on how to become Wikipedians through active participation in the projects. Themes of the camp will be:
- What is free knowledge and why is it important to be an active participant in the promotion of free information and informal education?
- How to add content on Wikipedia?
- What is Wikinews and how to contribute to it?
- How to make a good photograph and the importance of visual identity?
Spring camp will last for 3 days (2 nights). It’s designed for 20 participants and 2 trainers (total 22), and will be held on Vlasina lake (area will be equipped with Internet connection). Spring camp will be held in late April.
Activity 5: Monthly thematic workshops
Each month one thematic workshop will be held on historical figures, events, cultural events, traditions, as well as workshops with engaged creators and artists. A total of 7 workshops will be organized. Workshops will be conducted from May to November.
Activity 6: Collecting and uploading content
Unlike the project "For future to know who we are, walk the free knowledge to the past", which involved articles of monuments in Jablanica district, this year aside from monuments, group of participants will be working on articles from various spheres: historical figures and events, artists, music bands and actors... They will also do the research work in order to create content about culture, traditional food and places in Jablanica and Pčinja districts. The project will include creation of at least 200 new articles on Wikipedia and uploading of at least 500 new photos on Wikimedia Commons. Besides Wikipedia, participants will contribute to Wikinews and Wikiquote. These activities will be conducted from March to November.
Action 7: Photo Competition and Exhibition "South"
This year's photo competition will be announced in two districts with themes of cultural heritage of southern Serbia (which includes: people, culture, monuments, traditional food and places). One of the activities is the exhibition of photographs. First 3 winners (chosen by jury members) will be awarded. For other participants in the competition symbolic prizes will be provided. Early December is the time for announcing the photo contest, and an exhibition of photographs will be held at the end of the same month.
Measures of success:
- 200 new articles on Wikipedia
- minimum 500 new photos on Commons
- 20 trained participants in the project
- 1 exhibition
WikiLive 2016
Project description and objectives:
WikiLive is a local Wikipedian Conference, first organized by Wikimedia Serbia in 2015 (report can be seen here). After interactive sessions and meet-ups, participants filled out evaluation forms from which it was concluded that their satisfaction was on high level as well as the desire to participate in the conference next year. Taking into account the satisfaction of participants, speakers, fruitful discussions and ideas that participants got at the end of the conference, it was decided that WikiLive should become a regular practice. The project is designed to bring together Wikipedians and Wikimedians in one place in order to strengthen community and increase their motivation. In this way, through secondary activities the visibility of Wikimedia projects will increase among the community. The two-day program will include a variety of sessions that will be lead by experienced Wikipedians, covering topics from the world of Wikimedia Serbia, but also news and successful stories from other chapters, and will feature new tools that can be used.
Proposals of the last year’s participants will be taken into account and the program will include interactive workshops and debates. The workshops will be adjusted so that they can be attended by those with, and those without experience.
Like the last year, scholarships will be provided for the volunteers outside of Belgrade and from the region, allowing them to cover the costs of accommodation, transport and food. After the conference, we expect continuation of the work of active volunteers, but also the inclusion of new ones into Wikimedia Serbia projects.
Time frame:
Organization of the conference requires a lot of time and effort. To secure high level of success, it is necessary to gather organizational team and delegate tasks to volunteers. This is a good opportunity to engage people who may not be interested in editing but their organization skills are stronger. They can later be involved in organizing events in order to create a balance between those who organize and those who edit. Time frame looks like this:
- February-March: Preparatory activities
- open call for volunteers and gathering the organizational team
- setting the date, place, partners
- determining the program and contacting speakers
- creating and purchasing promo materials
- providing accommodation and ordering catering
- announcing conference and promoting it within the community and the general public
- open call for scholarships
- selecting the scholarship recipients
- April: Realization of the conference
- logistics
- maintaining the conference program
- maintaining the social events
- evaluating the conference
- May: Report writing and sharing with the community
- after the conference, contact with the participants will be maintained and team will be focused on their involvement in the projects and implementation of new ideas if there are any
Measures of success:
- two-day program with at least 10 sessions
- at least 40 participants in the conference
- 20 scholarships
- 5 to 10 volunteers in the organizing team
- 50 media releases
Micro grants
Through the program of giving microgrants, Wikimedia Serbia wants to encourage individuals and/or organizations to come up with new ideas and to implement them. Some projects do not require a lot of resources and with the good will of volunteers they can have great results. Quite often, they can grow to become annual projects with a greater amount of activities and participation of volunteers. Public education, decentralization, animating and increasing the participation of community and people who have not participated in activities of Wikimedia are just some of the goals of this program. Looking at the projects from previous years, it has been decided to divide microgrants to:
- standard grants, which will be given to applicants of projects with different goals (projects which include GLAM, Education activities etc. or they have WMRS promotion and public education as goal)
- photo grants which will be given to applicants of photo projects - collecting and uploading photos to Wikimedia Commons along with possibility of editing Wikivoyage.
Standard grants
Project description and objectives:
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Micro grants have shown to be successful in terms of increasing the interests of individuals and organizations to implement activities that later grow into larger scale projects. This project achieves several strategic priorities. The participation of volunteers is increasing the quantity and quality of free material on Wiki projects. We are actively working on decentralization and on expanding activities in other cities in Serbia, so increasing of visibility and education are some of the goals that are realized through this grants. It is interesting that three of the four projects, which this year received microgrants, were proposed for the annual plan. Of the three, two were accepted (Wiki South and Kurgans in Serbia). Considering these results and the fact that the micro grants are good incubators of ideas with little risk, the practice of assigning resources of this type will continue. They are also a good channel for promoting the call for submission of annual projects.
Time frame:
- February - organization of the Micro grants Committee
- March - open call for projects submitting and info days in Wikimedia Serbia
- April - closing date, selection and ranking of projects
- May - October - realization of projects
- signing contract
- fund disbursements
- consultation with project leaders and monitoring
- support
- November - writing the final reports
Measures of success:
Measures of success depend on the types of projects and at the moment they cannot be precisely defined. In addition to the global metrics five projects are expected with budget of up to 500 euros each. One of the criteria that will be taken into consideration is the decentralization or expansion activities and motivating community outside of Belgrade.
Photo grants
Project description and objectives:
After this year's call for submission of projects for the annual plan, we concluded that many projects were in act photo project (collecting photos with specific theme and uploading them to Wikimedia Commons). In order to create a balance between educational, GLAM and photo projects, it was decided that next year, in addition to standard microgrants, there would also be photo grants. These grants would be available throughout the whole year. They are suitable because they represent a good way to interest individuals who are not close to other Wiki projects and to expand activities not just on collecting photo materials but also to use them in articles on Wikipedia. Projects of this type will be suitable for the promotion of Wikimedia Serbia through exhibitions. Also, people who have photography as a hobby usually apply for these projects, so high quality of the resulting material is expected.
It is important to note that in the plan for 2016, Wiki Safaris are not included as a separate project but the realization of the same is possible through the allocation of photo grants which will cover the costs of transport, accommodation and food.
Photo grants applicants will also be referred to editing Wikivoyage. They will be able to communicate their observations of the places they have visited and photographed. Wikivoyage is not so rigorous in terms of the rules of editing and represents a good place for beginners to get to know more about the Wiki world.
If Wikicopter is assembled until then, volunteers will be able to use it and take photographs from the air.
Time frame:
Photo grants will be open throughout the whole year. In the beginning of January, the application form will be created and invitation would be open. Exhibitions, workshops and other events will be used for promoting photo grants. Interested parties will have an opportunity to immediately engage in activities of WMRS.
Measures of success: The measures of success are similar to standard microgrants. The budgets per project are not limited. It is expected that at least three projects will be completed. In addition to collecting photo material, its use in Wikipedia articles will be measured.
Additional information
Public education
Education TV (TV show, additional materials)
We are planning to develop cooperation with the educational television "EduTV" through announcements of WMRS activities, but also special Wiki shows, which would broadcast news, entertainment and other current events about Wikimedia projects. Tutorials on editing Wikipedia would also be broadcast, as well as live broadcasts from conferences and other events organized by Wikimedia Serbia.
Wiki magazine
This project was conceived as a long-term cooperation with some of the journals/magazines with topics related to Wiki. Through this project a regular column would be created, in which Wikimedians and Wikipedians would write about free licenses, Wikipedia, their experiences, GLAM and other projects, according to the magazine topics. The idea is to work on better public understanding and recognition of Wikimedia projects, making them accessible to all.
Open Wiki-corner
The idea of "Wiki-corner" is to demonstrate the simplicity of Wikipedia editing to a large number of people. In stands/tents, placed on busy streets in the cities of Serbia, experienced Wikipedia editors and volunteers would communicate with interested citizens, who have not had experience in editing Wikipedia. They would propose a short-term training in writing and improving articles on the spot. After making their first successful edit, in addition to promotional material, they would receive a small, rather symbolic prize, sponsored by some of the partners or award producers. This project would engage the community of Wikipedia editors and volunteers more, but also motivate new editors to actively involve contributing to Wikipedia.
Celebrations
This year, Wikimedia Serbia will celebrate birthdays of Wikipedia in English (in January) and Wikimedia Serbia (in December). These celebrations are useful for gathering community and partners, the media, as well as informing the general public about the work and goals of the Wikimedia Foundation.
Projects not to be realized next year
Program plan of Wikimedia Serbia has been changing and evolving over the years, along with the development of the organization, increase of the number of employees and volunteers. The aim is to make progress each year, to strive for better results and learn from mistakes made. According to this, some projects have been expanded since the results justify the continuation of their activities, some projects are held to the same extent and some are not included in the annual plan for the year 2016. One of the programs which won’t be implemented is FemWiki. Wikimedia Serbia understands the importance of the endeavor to increase the number of female editors on Wiki projects, but currently there is not enough volunteer capacity and thorough work on this issue is not possible. It is important to note that there are projects which, coincidentally, have a higher percentage of female than male editors. Examples of such projects are Wiki Llibrarian, Wiki student at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, Wiki student at the Teacher Training Faculty in Vranje and Wiktionary. There are certain projects that are not explicitly listed in the plan but are pervading through other programs. Wiki Safari and Wikicopter are examples of such projects. More information about them can be found in the section Photo grants.
Other
In the coming year, Wikimedia Serbia will work more on strengthening all existing communication channels. Realization of intense and long-term cooperation with the media have been planed, but also the introduction of an electronic monthly newsletter on activities of Wikimedia Serbia, as well as Wiki activities globally, targeting the media and the community. Changes related to corporate identity, such as redesigning the WMRS internet site and defining the visual identity of outgoing documents will be introduced.
Focus of the attention will also be put to organizing presentations and debates in cultural institutions, in order to present the work of Wikimedia to potential partners and the public in general.
Staff and contractors: upcoming year's annual plan
edit- 1. Please describe your organization's staffing plan or strategy here, or provide a link to your organization's staffing plan or organogram.
As explained above, Wikimedia Serbia plans to open new or expand existing positions in proportion to the number of activities or projects. Accordingly, we will expand the positions of Communications Manager and Office Manager from half-time to full-time job.
Explanation: For 2015, we planned three full time work positions. After the departure of the Executive Director, it has been concluded that it is best to divide this position in two positions with part-time work, which are now expanding organically.
- 2. List of staff by department or function.
- You can use this table (or substitute your own list) to show us the number of FTEs (fulltime equivalents) for each department or function, where one person working at 100% time would be counted as 1.0. We need this information about the total number of staff (FTEs) you will have hired by the end of the current funding period, and staff you will have hired by the end of the proposed funding period.
Table 4
FTEs Department or function End of current funding period End of upcoming funding period Explanation of changes Executive Director 1.0 (until 05/2015) 0.0 In May 2015, this position was split to two position and we no longer have any employees on this position. Program and Community Manager 1.0 1.0 Education Program Manager 1.0 1.0 Communications Manager 0.5 (since 05/2015) 1.0 Increased amount of activities showed that we require a full-time employee on this position. Office Manager 0.5 (since 07/2015) 1.0 Increased amount of activities showed that we require a full-time employee on this position. Total (should equal the sum of the rows): 3 4
Table 4 notes or explanation of significant changes:
- 3. How much does your organization project to spend on staff during the current funding period, or in the twelve month period before your proposed grant will start (e.g. 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016), in currency requested and US dollars?
Considering changes we had through the year, we project to spend 34,330.00 EUR or 38,449.60 USD on staff during the current funding period.
- 4. How much does your organization expect to spend on staff during the proposed funding period (e.g. 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016), in currency requested and US dollars?
During the proposed funding period we expect to spend 46,104.00 EUR or 51,719.00 USD on staff.
Follow the link to our Budget 2016
Financials: upcoming year's annual plan
editDetailed budget: upcoming year's annual plan
edit- Please link to your organization's detailed budget showing planned revenues and expenses for the upcoming funding period (e.g. 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016). This may be a document included on this Wiki (Meta) or a publicly available spreadsheet.
Revenues: upcoming year's annual plan
edit- 1. Does your organization plan to draw on its operating reserves during the upcoming funding period to support its expenses? If so, please provide the amount you intend to draw from your reserves here. This should not be included as revenue in the table below.
Our organization doesn’t have its own reserves to support its expenses in the upcoming funding period. We do not plan on keeping any funding in reserves because we plan to return all the amount of operating reserves left to WMF at the end of the year (along with any other grant surplus).
- 2. Please use this table to list your organization's anticipated revenues (income, or the amount your organization is bringing in) by revenue source (where the revenue is coming from) in the upcoming funding period (e.g. 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016). Use the status column to show if this funding is already guaranteed, if you are in the process of requesting funding, or if you are planning to request funding at a later time. Please feel free to include in-kind donations and resources in this table, as applicable, but use the status column to show that they are in-kind resources.
Table 5
Anticipated revenues for the upcoming funding period Revenue source Currency requested US dollars Status (e.g. guaranteed, application)
Revenues from WMF donation 112,500.00 126,201.37 In the process of requesting funding Interglider donation 1,440.00 1,615.38 Guaranteed Revenues from other donations 450.00 504.80 Expected Total revenues (should equal the sum of the rows): 114,390.00 128,321.55 -
Table 5 notes: Interglider donation will be used for hosting and server administration services.
Operating reserves: upcoming year's annual plan
editPlease note that there is a policy that places restrictions on how much FDC funding your organization can use to build its operating reserves. If you would like to use FDC funding to for your organization's reserves, you must note that here. You will not be able to decide to allocate FDC funding from this grant to your reserves at a later date.
- 1. How much does your organization plan to have in operating reserves by the end of the current funding period?
By the end of the current funding period we project it will be 1,650.00€ in operating reserves. The whole amount will be returned to WMF.
- 2. How much does your organization plan to have in operating reserves by the end of the upcoming funding period?
For the next year we have asked for 4,000.00€ from WMF for this budget line in case of unexpected expenses. All the amount left at the end of the year will be returned to WMF.
- 3. If your organization plans to use FDC funding to increase your reserves in the upcoming funding period, how much FDC funding will your organization use to build reserves?
Our organization does not have and does not plan to build its own reserves.
Expenses: upcoming year's annual plan
edit- 1. Expenses by program (excludes staff and operations).
- Program expenses are the costs associated specifically with your organization's programs. These costs do not include operating expenses or staff salaries, which will be described in separate tables. For example, program expenses may be the costs of an event, the costs of outreach materials specific to a program, budgets for microgrants and reimbursements, or technical costs associated with specific programs. The programs listed in this table should correspond to the programs you have listed in the programs section of this proposal form.
Table 6
Program Currency requested US dollars Educational Program 4,570.00 5,126.58 Wikipedia in Schools 1,050.00 1,177.88 Professional Development 400.00 448.72 Wiki Edu Camp 3,120.00 3,499.98 Free Photo Content 9,500.00 10,657.00 Wiki Loves Earth 2,500.00 2,804.47 Zapis - Sacred Tree 1,900.00 2,131.40 Serbian Holly Mountain in Four Seasons 900.00 1,009.61 The Valjevo Mountain Range in the Eye of the Camera 800.00 897.43 Wiki Loves Dragonflies 1,400.00 1,570.51 Kurgans in Serbia 1,000.00 1,121.79 Wikipedia Competitions 1,000.00 1,121.79 GLAM 7,020.00 7,874.97 Wiki Takes Theatres 585.00 656.25 Wiki Takes Galleries 450.00 504.80 Editorial Marathon 585.00 656.25 Wikipedian in Residence 1,400.00 1,570.51 Wiki Librarian 3,000.00 3,365.37 Digitalisation of Techno Culture in Serbia 1,000.00 1,121.79 Wiktionary 3,000.00 3,365.37 Cooperation with Universities 500.00 560.90 The Language Laboratory 2,500.00 2,804.47 Community Support 8,660.00 9,714.70 Community Support 1,500.00 1,682.68 Serbian Wiki Conference 3,500.00 3,926.27 Wiki South 3,660.00 4,105.75 Microgrants 5,000.00 5,608.95 Standard Grants 2,500.00 2,804.48 Photogrants 2,500.00 2,804.48 Total program expenses (should equal the sum of the rows) 37,750.00 42,347.57
Table 6 notes: If your organization has significant funding other than FDC funds for specific programs, please make a note of that here.
- 2. Total expenses. Please use this table to summarize your organization's total expenses overall.
- These are divided into three expenses categories: (1) staff expenses from Table 4 (including staff expenses for both staff working on programs and operations), (2) expenses for programs from Table 7 (does not include staff expenses or operations expenses), and (3) expenses for operations (does not include staff expenses or program expenses). Be sure to check the totals in this table to make sure they are consistent with the totals in the other tables you have submitted with this form. For example, your total program expenses excluding staff will be equal to the total in Table 7, while your total staff expenses will be equal to the total in Table 4 and your total expenses will be equal to the total in Table 1.
Table 7
Expense type Currency requested US dollars Program expenses (total from Table 7, excludes staff) 37,750.00 42,347.57 Operations (excludes staff and programs) 26,086.00 29,263.01 Upcoming staff total expenses (from Table 4) 46,104.00 51,719.00 Amount to be added to operating reserves (if applicable) 4,000.00 4,487.16 Total expenses (should equal the sum of the rows) 113,940.00 127,816.75
Table 7 notes:
Translated annual plan
editThis annual plan is also available in Serbian language on this link.
Verification
editPlease enter "yes" or "no" for the verification below.
- The term “political or legislative activities” includes any activities relating to political campaigns or candidates (including the contribution of funds and the publication of position statements relating to political campaigns or candidates); voter registration activities; meetings with or submissions and petitions to government executives, ministers, officers or agencies on political or policy issues; and any other activities seeking government intervention or policy implementation (like “lobbying”), whether directed toward the government or the community or public at large. Grants for such activities (when permitted under U.S. law and IRS regulations) should be sought from the Wikimedia Foundation Project and Event Grants Program.
I verify that this proposal requests no funds from the Wikimedia Foundation for political or legislative activities Yes
Once this proposal is complete, please sign below with the usual four tildes.
Please do not make any changes to this proposal form after the proposal submission deadline for this round. If a change that is essential to an understanding of your organization's proposal is needed, please request the change on the discussion page of this form so it may be reviewed by FDC staff. Once submitted, complete and valid proposal forms submitted on time by eligible organizations will be considered unless an organization withdraws its application in writing or fails to remain eligible for the duration of the FDC process.