Grants:APG/Proposals/2015-2016 round 2/Wikimédia France/Progress report form



Purpose of the report edit

This form is for organizations receiving Annual Plan Grants to report on their results to date. For progress reports, the time period for this report will the first 6 months of each grant (e.g. 1 January - 30 June of the current year). For impact reports, the time period for this report will be the full 12 months of this grant, including the period already reported on in the progress report (e.g. 1 January - 31 December 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 edit

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

  1. Next to each required metric, list the outcome achieved for all of your programs included in your proposal.
  2. Where necessary, explain the context behind your outcome.
  3. 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.

Overall edit

Metric Achieved outcome Explanation
Picto Half Year - Parties prenantes1. # of total participants 1,759 Most of total participants came from editathons, photos contests and workshops.
Picto Half Year - Nouveaux comptes créés 2. # of newly registered users 300 Our biggest action for recruiting new editors is the WikiMOOC (second half of the year, Scheduled in Q3 and Q4 like last year)
Picto Half Year - Articles ajoutés et ou modifiés 3. # of content pages created or improved,

across all Wikimedia projects (and # of images supported by the association reused on the Wikimedia projects).

45,633 Editathons, photo operations and photo contests allowed to increase the number of pages created and/or improved.

12.641 photos have been uploaded due to the support of the assocation and 699 (5,2%) have been reused on the Wikimedia projects (140).

Picto Half Year - Medias soutenus par Wikimédia France 4. # of press mentions 33 Wikiconvention and Ocathon editathon had a large converage in the national and local press.
Picto Half Year - Contributeurs actifs 5. # of trained people (skill improvement) 352 This number includes people trained during editathons, trainings and workshops.

Number of volunteers hours : 2,868 hours (28,000€ related to the minimal legal wage in France which is 9.76€ per hour).

Telling your program stories - all programs edit

THEME 1 - CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
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Edit-a-thons: enriching Wikimedia projects through edit-a-thons
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In progressUnderway
Picto - editathons
Picto - editathons
Origin and objectives of the activity (reason for the activity)

The edit-a-thons are organised at the initiative of contributors or partners who have noted insufficient content for Wikimedia projects and particularly in Wikipedia (this being the consensus from discussions in the village pump). Generally, one or several themes are identified in addition to articles to be created or improved. These editing days have two objectives: Raising awareness and training the public in contributing to Wikimedia projects Improving Wikimedia projects through the creation or improvement of Wikipedia articles, and the addition of images to Commons, etc. The description and programme for each edit-a-thon are featured on a Wikimedia project page in order to enable contributors who are not members to learn more about the activity and to get involved if they wish.

Description of the activity (resources deployed, implementation, partners, etc.)

Since July 2016, 21 different edit-a-thons have been held. The themes were as follows:

These edit-a-thons were held in libraries and media libraries, social centres and museums. These host locations were often partners of the edit-a-thons and were able to provide contributors with a room (usually a computer room), an Internet connection and a snack. A number of these editing days formed part of long-term partnerships spanning several months, of which the edit-a-thons constitute one type of activity among others.

Results expected or obtained (regarding content, communities, etc.)

As the edit-a-thons target the two above-mentioned objectives, the results are easily quantifiable:

  • Number of new contributors: 77 ;
  • Number of articles created and improved (or Wikimedia projects): 745.

The edit-a-thon is a type of activity which makes it possible both to train new contributors and to improve Wikimedia projects.

Possible next steps

The edit-a-thons are an integral part of the association's strategy. This is a type of activity designed to have an immediate quantitative impact upon the Wikimedia projects but also a qualitative impact through the training of new contributors and by building awareness of the Wikimedia environment among partners. We need to continue our efforts targeting online communities, sounding out contributors in advance concerning any significant gaps in our content and systematically training contributors in edit-a-thons in advance wherever possible.

Supporting multimedia production
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In progressUnderway
Pictogrammes pour Half Year de début 2017
Pictogrammes pour Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity (reason for the activity)

Supporting photographers is one of the main methods traditionally used by Wikimédia France to support the Wikimedia Commons community and in doing so to help boost the multimedia content of all Wikimedia projects.

Description of the activity (resources deployed, implementation, partners, etc.)

Since July, 56 contributors have supplied just over 10,000 files with the help of Wikimédia France. This help can take several forms, with the two most common ones being loaning professional quality equipment and helping in obtaining accreditation. This includes several music festivals: Buguélès, Cornouaille, Vieilles Charrues, Bout du monde and Yaouank, in addition to the Brest 2016 naval festival and the Mondial de l'Automobile in Paris. Additionally, we should mention the first digitised batches from the Brumter collection (please see below, in the Wikigrenier section) and a Wikicheese event which was held in Brest on November 19. As the specific Wikicheese budget is fully spent, this project is now dormant, although events can still be organised on a one-off basis by local groups, financed from their working budget.

On a different note, a contributor photographed numerous graves at Highgate Cemetery in London with the help of photographic equipment loaned by the association, and a photographic evening was held in the Côtes d'Armor on September 24 and 25. Finally, photos are not the only type of files of which Wikimédia France supports the creation, as 602 audio recordings in Breton were produced as part of WikiKomzoù.

To these 10,000 files we should also add the participations in the Été des Régions (Summer of the Regions), which resulted in the contribution of 15,156 photos, and in Wiki Loves Monuments with 7,762 photos. Please see the corresponding sections for these events.

Possible next steps

Quarterly training workshops were planned and although contacts were established with potential volunteer trainers for several themes (image processing, vector graphics, etc.), these have not yet taken place for reasons related to their availability. An initial workshop should however be held in February.

Improving the autonomy of partners
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In progressUnderway
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity

Since 2013, Wikimédia France and the National Archives have been involved in a partnership aimed at raising awareness of Wikimedia projects among the National Archives teams participating in project enhancement activities. This year's objectives include among others training our partner in contributing to Wikisource via the transcription of documents previously submitted to Commons.

Description of the activity

Since the start of the partnership, the key objective has been to work towards autonomy for the National Archives teams. To achieve this, several training sessions were held, run by contributors. Since then, the National Archives have now entered a phase enabling them to submit documents regularly and autonomously.

Results obtained

Since the start of the partnership, 834 files have been uploaded to Commons by the scientific teams from the National Archives. The objective of 2 documents transcribed on Wikisource has been more than met as 24 historical documents are now available to contributors and readers for this project. Finally, almost 1,500 Wikipedia articles have been improved, thanks among other things to the addition of explanatory notes and sources. All of the contributions and the user accounts for the National Archives are featured on this page.

Still to come

The partnership with the National Archives is today solidly established, but we now need to help them take their next steps. Indeed, only a small part of the teams are today able to effectively contribute to the project. Consequently, in order to continue training for the scientific teams and to ensure the continued contribution of content to Wikimedia Commons, Wikisource, and the addition of sources to Wikipedia, in March 2017 the National Archives will welcoming a Wikimedian in Residence for a six-month assignment.

WikiMooc #2
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In progressUnderway
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity (reason for the activity)

The WikiMOOC is a MOOC, a free online course, open to all, designed to help people discover the way Wikipedia operates and to learn how to contribute. It has three objectives:

  • Building awareness among the general public (and certain specific audiences, including in particular the educational sector) of the way Wikipedia operates;
  • Attracting new, regular contributors;
  • Diversifying the contributor profile for Wikipedia (gender gap, the extent to which French-speaking Africa is represented on Wikipedia, etc.).
Description of the activity

After an initial successful event held in February-March 2016, with more than 6,000 people signed up (and very high satisfaction ratings), a second event will be launched in March 2017 on the France Université Numérique (FUN) platform supported among others by the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research. The MOOC is intended for novices and beginners. It is also used by some teachers in the secondary and higher education sectors.

This online course was launched at the initiative of around a dozen volunteer contributors from Wikipedia, who contacted Wikimédia France to obtain its support. This support is both financial and human, with the project coordinator being a Wikimédia France employee. The first course made it possible among other things to reach several target audiences who are underrepresented among the contributors: women, who accounted for 40% of the participants in the WikiMOOC, and people living in French-speaking Africa, accounting for 19% of those registered. In all, 500 to 600 people took part in the MOOC course through to completion - a fairly high ratio when we consider the average for MOOCs, as these are often only partially completed by surfers - with more than 300 articles being created.

Results expected

For WikiMOOC #2 which is planned to last six weeks instead of the previous five weeks, we aim to achieve two new objectives:

  • Replacing certain demonstration videos by interactive tutorials directly on Wikipedia (guided tours), which are better adapted ;
  • Adding an optional module on wikicode and templates, two advanced and technical aspects of Wikipedia which some people felt was lacking during WikiMOOC #1.

WikiMOOC #2 will be held from March 6 to April 19 2017 on FUN, and registration is open from December 14, 2016 on www.fun-mooc.fr/courses/WMFr/86001S02/session02/about. The filming of the videos of the MOOC took place in early December on the association's premises. This was handled by the same video makers’ association as last year. The MOOC is presented by three Wikipedians, representing the French-speaking world in all its diversity: Natacha Rault, from Switzerland, Habib M'henni, from Tunisia, and Valentin Guillaume, a Parisian. The association will be publicising WikiMOOC from January onwards, focusing in particular on educational audiences, with teachers showing a high degree of interest in the course.

Possible next steps

The WikiMOOC educational team already has more ambitious projects for the 2018 event, including the addition of anecdotes on Wikipedia for educational purposes and organising interviews with experienced contributors. Finally, the team is working on a planned platform for MOOCs, adapted to the various Wikimedia projects (Wiktionary, Wikidata, etc.) and dedicated to the whole Wikimedia movement (i.e., for MOOCs in all languages). With this in mind, the educational team is forging contacts with other chapters and other Wikimedia communities, several of which have expressed an interest in the future creation of this platform.

Promoting the Wikidata project
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In progressUnderway
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity

Wikidata is a high-potential project, particularly for institutions holding data they could share, but is also a fairly complex project to implement. It boasts a large French-speaking community (6 of the 20 largest contributors are French and the only non-English IRC Wikidata channel is in French).

Wikimédia France is consequently supporting the French Wikidata user group by helping it organise training for the community and presentations for outside audiences.

Description of the activity

The group of Parisian contributors to Wikidata was organised at the start of 2016 and took part in several events concerning this subject. On July 2, two contributors held a workshop at the Pas Sages en Seine hackers festival / Hacker Space Festival 2016 in Choisy le Roi which included a general presentation of the Wikidata project followed by a mini contribution competition using the Mix'n'Match tool. These two contributors, along with another, also ran a further workshop during the Wikiconvention in August. In September, two contributors took part in the Open Asso hackathon organised by Etalab (the organisiation with responsibility for the policy of opening and sharing public data by the French government) and worked on aligning data on the various French districts between Wikidata and Geohisto. In December, during the hackathon run by the Open Government Partnership, also organised by Etalab, a similar information harmonisation process concerning the French districts was performed with the website Communecter. More widely, all of these events provide an opportunity to help make the various people attending the events aware that Wikidata exists and of how it functions.

At the same time, since September a series of monthly workshops have been organised by a contributor on the premises of Wikimédia France in Paris, with a different topic each month: presentation of the databases in September, interface customisation in October, external tools (duplicity, Mix'n'Match, Wikidata Games, etc.) in November and constraint tracking in December. Three "Introduction to Wikidata" workshops were also held in Rennes in July, August and October.

We also organised a conference on the theme of open data, to capitalise on the experience acquired with the organisation of the European Wikimedia Hackathon of 2015, on the previous Wikimedia Meetup events in 2007, 2010 and 2012 and on the activities related to Wikidata. An initial meeting was held in August, a discussion list was established for those people interested and contacts were made to find a venue for the event.

Finally, three leaflets aimed at specific audiences (researchers, companies and institutions) have been translated and are currently being proofread.

Possible next steps

The Parisian workshops will be continuing at their usual frequency. A leaflet for the general public will be produced, focusing on the organisation of the conference which is planned for November 2017.

Wiki Loves Monuments
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FinishedAchieved
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity (reason for the activity)

The Wiki Loves Monuments competition seeks to ensure greater visibility for Wikimedia Commons (particularly regarding local institutions), to attract new volunteer photographers, and to motivate the existing community on Commons.

Description of the activity (resources deployed, implementation, partners, etc.)

The Wiki Loves Monuments photographic competition was organised for the sixth year running. This involves photographing French historical monuments listed in the Ministry of Culture’s Mérimée database and contributing these images to Wikimedia Commons, under a royalty-free license in order that they may be reused in Wikipedia articles.

Results expected or obtained (regarding content, communities, etc.)

In France, 7,500 pictures were taken by 300 people of whom approximately 60% created an account on Wikimedia Commons for this purpose. Over the last six competitions, no fewer than 109,268 photographs of French historical monuments were collected. For the 2016 competition, five jury members, all amateur and professional photographers and contributors to Wikimedia projects, were involved in the three selection phases to pick from the 7,500 competing pictures. Ten of these were selected and ranked in order of preference, earning their photographers recognition for their volunteer work and their talent. Each of these was also awarded a prize, with the top three also receiving an art print of their picture during the prize-giving evening at the Cluny Museum in Paris, on December 6 2016.

Possible next steps

The volunteers involved in this year's competition are considering widening the competition perimeter for next year, to increase participation and inject fresh dynamism into the competition as the number of French historical monuments still missing from the Commons is gradually decreasing after six years of competitions.

THEME 2 - WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITIES
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The Wikipedia Eté des Régions
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Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017

With the goal of raising the profile of our regions on the world's largest encyclopaedia, the second Wikipedia Été des régions event (Summer of the Regions) ended on September 21. The purpose of this initiative is to invite French citizens (and tourists) to take photos of local towns, villages, landscapes, statues, arts and crafts, events and celebrities, and in short anything which contributes to the richness and charm of the French regions. The photos uploaded to the Commons can be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles concerning the subjects photographed.

Why focus on our regions? Because articles concerning these regions are currently insufficiently illustrated. This enables us both to expand the network of contributors but also to add a large number of new photos to Wikipedia articles.

We publicised this event to the town halls of rural areas and major French cities, proposing that they should upload five photos best representing their region, chosen from such subjects as a building, the entrance to the district, the church, a panoramic view and a photo of their choice. In order to be better able to reach our target groups, we worked with the Association des Maires Ruraux de France (Association of French rural mayors) which represents 10,000 French rural districts.

Origin of the activity

The idea came from an analysis of the data and images contained in articles about the regions on Wikipedia. We noticed that the articles were sparsely illustrated and that the photos were not always of a high quality. We therefore forged targeted partnerships aimed at generating new content: with the Agence du Numérique (digital agency) with a view to circulating, communicating and deploying the initiative in French on digital mediation sites, the Association des Maires Ruraux de France (Association of French rural mayors) to build awareness and to invite town halls to circulate their own photographic collections or Atout France, an organisation which works to raise the profile of the French regions in keeping with France’s tourist offices.

Description of the activity

This project enabled us to significantly build awareness of free licences and free content culture among districts who are completely unaware of such notions. In the early summer, an explanatory mailshot was sent to 35,000 districts. Throughout the summer, a further four mailshots were sent out, with an opening rate of around 35% each time (i.e. around 10,000 French districts). The first mailshot informed recipients of the upcoming launch of the "Summer of the Regions" event with a special focus on the benefits for the district in question of helping to enrich Wikipedia. In order to provide guidance for the participants, the following two mailshots provided the mayors with a list of items to be photographed. The last mailshot, a few days before the end of the initiative, reminded stragglers to upload their photos. We took advantage of this activity to continue forging closer links with institutional stakeholders involved in improving and raising the profile of the various regions including ministries, associations and tourist offices.

Results obtained

Almost 200 town halls replied and uploaded photos as part of the "Été des régions 2016" event to the Commons online media library. This event made it possible for more than 1,000 contributors to upload more than 15,000 photos. Currently, almost 4,000 photos have been reused in Wikipedia’s different language versions.

Possible next steps

Several European chapters contacted us to organise a similar event in their own countries next summer. Extending this initiative internationally can be a useful source of growth and development, boosting international exposure. Where Wikimédia France is concerned, we will continue to develop our relationships with key players in these territories including town halls, and social centres. We will also add information on the website to answer the most frequently asked questions (free use, how to illustrate the article, etc.). The project will be repeated next summer from June 21 to September 21.

My Wikipedia Town (Ma Commune Wikipédia)
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In progressUnderway
Pictogramme du Half Year de 2017
Pictogramme du Half Year de 2017

The purpose of this activity is to boost awareness of the sheer richness and diversity of our regions and villages in France via Wikipedia by inviting residents, stakeholders in the cultural and digital media fields, town halls and others to share their knowledge in order to improve articles about the towns in question. As the layout plan for these articles is standardised, this provides for a common approach to obtaining targeted content. The idea for this activity came as a result of our "L'été des régions Wikipedia" project focusing on the richness and diversity of the various towns’ heritage sites. Many contacts were established with regional stakeholders enabling us to learn more about the needs of the stakeholders in these areas: learning how to modify the article, illustrating it and adding information, etc.

Description of the activity

Over the last six months, our development resources have been significantly focused on developing the association's huge website (with the departure of a salaried employee handling the design and the graphical side of the website, and insufficient time for the employee handling website development). Consequently, we have not made as much progress as we wished with the dedicated site for this project. The activity is therefore not yet finalised.

We have nevertheless made progress with a number of points, including the development of a test version of the website (http://macommune.wikipedia.fr/), updating the database of French towns (which is frequently modified due to the reorganisation or combination of the towns currently underway), and participation in key events: Hackathon, meetings, etc., with open-content communities.

We have also focused on achieving progress with two peripheral aspects of this theme: involving and training key stakeholders from the regions in the challenges, opportunities and importance of Wikipedia including town halls and tourist offices, etc. This included contacting digital media access points: public IT areas and social centres with the support of the Agence du Numérique (Digital Agency) with a view to organising workshops.

Results obtained

The results obtained are as follows:

  • Website (to be finalised): user experience to be reviewed, improving the design to ensure greater modernity, video to be created and added to the website, updating of content, etc. ;
  • Open-content communities: for example https://www.communecter.org/ , a social network for contributing and networking in your community, are very interested in the project and in taking it forward with us. A pooling of ideas and resources is envisaged to this end (including the development of the website, joint resources, joint incentives to contribute, communication, participation in training activities, etc.) ;
  • Regional stakeholders made fully aware of the fact that the contributive approach can provide a real source of mobilisation and digital transformation.
Possible next steps

This first year of development of the project enabled us to confirm certain important points: the interest shown by the various towns, the community’s need for shared information but also and above all to confirm the novel aspect of the project thanks to the addition of the internal search engine on the website and the creation of competition between the towns. Additionally, establishing contact with the open-content communities improves our capacity to develop the project technically (including improving the user experience on the website, the updating of databases concerning the different towns, etc.). We believe that this activity will require several more months’ work before the website is finalised, to create targeted video tutorials for the towns, etc. A launch in spring 2017 is being envisaged. From this date onwards, public meetings may be organised in each of the regions to get generate interest from the towns, the residents and associations involved in the enhancement of local heritage.

Videoing traditional/craft trades and know-how on Wikipedia
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In progressUnderway
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origins of the activity

Skills, artistic trades and arts and crafts are underrepresented on Wikipedia although sketchy articles nevertheless exist. We have therefore decided to try and increase the quantity of video media material available on these articles. To do so, we have contacted the Institut National des Métiers d'Arts. This organisation represents a number of French artistic activities and craftsmen. Together, we are looking to go out and meet craftsmen in the regions, and to film their activities and techniques to illustrate Wikipedia with videos. During 2017, we will be organising a meeting between key figures from the artistic trades and Wikipedians in order to officially launch this initiative. Making a video and filming day-to-day life has become a very common activity among smartphone owners and 60% of the French population have one. We would therefore like to increase the online publication of videos to illustrate Wikimedia projects, beginning with Wikipedia on the theme of traditional and craft activities. We compared the statistics for visits to our partner website (the 21,390th most visited website in France), with those of Wikipedia (the 6th). This significant difference firmly convinced our partner to work with Wikimédia France.

Description of the activity

The first month in the development of the project enabled us to create a small team of contributors and members, a Wikipedia page, but also to meet key players in the traditional and artistic trades in France, to build awareness among them of free licenses and of the importance of high-quality Wikipedia articles to highlight valuable skills. Several meetings between contributors and partners have been organised at the Institut National des Métiers d'Arts (http://www.institut-metiersdart.org/). Skype meetings have also been organised between the volunteers to establish the key priorities for the project, including choosing those artistic trades to be documented for the launch of the project, filming techniques, etc. We have also been in touch with a school providing training in the filming of videos using a smartphone, with a view to providing training for the Wikipedians.

Results obtained
  • A highly-motivated community of contributors, ready to get involved ;
  • An agreement for the signature of a multi-year partnership agreement ;
  • A simplified video filming and re-encoding methodology currently being prepared (compatible with Commons).
Possible next steps

This initiative is still in the development phase but a number of subsequent activities are already being envisaged including deployment in the regions thanks to networking between local groups and craftsmen, the development of a video module specially dedicated to Wikimedia projects (automated re-encoding and uploading) but also and above all training in video making using a smartphone. An editathon, a launch day for the project, will be organised in spring 2017.

Lingua Libre
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In progressUnderway
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origins of the activity

During the launch of the Langues de France project, the ability of minority language speakers to participate fully in the written aspects of Wikimedia projects encouraged us to come up with a new way of contributing. Also, offering a response to the lack of audio files on Wikimedia Commons, Lingua Libre came about as a result of discussions between the Ministry of Culture, the partner associations working to protect linguistic heritage and members of Wikimediens France. After a contribution discovery day bringing together these various stakeholders, the development work began in April 2016.

Description of the activity

Related to the Shtooka project, Lingua Libre benefited greatly from the expertise of a volunteer, Zmoostik, but also from a number of contributors highly involved in Wiktionary. After several months’ work, an external website was developed: lingualibre.fr.

The features of this website are as follows:

  • Creation of a user account with validation of the CC-BY-SA license ;
  • Creation of a speaker profile associated with one or several spoken languages ;
  • In the recording studio, Lingua Libre requires access to the computer microphone then proposes two recording methods.
    1. An open recording ;
    2. Listing-based recordings (by extracting the themed lists from Wiktionary, Lingua Libre makes it possible to automatically interrupt the files, identifying when the recording begins and ends).

Thanks to the collaboration with other chapters, particularly Wikimedia Deutschland, the Amical Wikimedia and the Basque User Group but also the participation of Wikimédia France in the Digital Language Diversity Project, the results obtained in France will be quickly replicated on a Europe-wide level. As a result, Lingua Libre is gaining a foothold in the European university world and is emerging as a tool available to all, favouring the promotion of linguistic diversity. Since the launch of this initiative, new types of contributors have appeared in the projects, via our partners including associations (such as for example Lo Congrès or Gau un Griis) or public organisations such as the OLCA and the OPLB. We have also contacted the community of contributors to projects in minority languages to plan future activities with them.

Results obtained

For several weeks now, public recording sessions have been underway in several languages: Basque, Catalan, Occitan and Alsatian. Thanks to the listing-based recording system, 1,000 words can be recorded in a 45-minute session with Lingua Libre.

We today have 56 users of this resource, mainly from France but also from Canada, Spain and Germany. The Lingua Libre audio library currently contains 2,530 audio files produced during the test sessions and the first public recording sessions (Oc-a-thon, with the session of December 17 held in Strasbourg).

Possible next steps

As well as finalising the Lingua Libre website, two major steps need to be completed in early 2017:

  1. Firstly, transfer all of the code for this tool to Tool Labs. This process is already well advanced ;
  2. Obtain authorisation to use the OAuth authentication system to enable the Wikimedians to contribute to the projects via Lingua Libre ;
  3. Finally, connect Lingua Libre to the Wikimedia Commons media library in order to submit and correctly categorise the sounds produced. Thanks to the existing bots, the sounds there will be used to enrich Wikipedia and Wiktionary.

French language Wikiconvention 2016
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FinishedAchieved
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin of the activity

The WikiConvention is the French version of the WikiCon events organised just about everywhere worldwide. As a sort of French language Wikimania, the WikiConvention is an international conference bringing together French-speaking contributors to the Wikimedia foundation's projects (Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Wikidata, Wikisource, etc.). It discusses the manner in which these projects operate, the production of free content and participative aspects, etc. The event provides a platform for debate, training and the chance for the participants in a project to meet up. The idea of organising a WikiConvention has often been discussed within the French-speaking community. An initial attempt was proposed to the Wikimédia France executive board in May 2012. However, we had to wait until summer 2015 pour to see the project take shape, at the initiative of a Wikipedian. The Wikimédia France association then provided financial and logistical support at the request of this individual.

Description of the activity

Volunteer Wikimedians met via two committees (the organisational committee and the programme committee) to participate in the organisation of this event. An employee and two volunteers supported the contributors with this initiative. The rest of the Wikimédia France team contributed logistical help ahead of and during the convention. This was held from August 19-21 in Paris at La Halle Pajol. The event programme for these days is available on the event’s Meta page.

Results obtained

A complete results overview is available here.

Key data:

  • 140 participants ;
  • 16 countries represented ;
  • 47 sessions ;
  • 31% women ;
  • 29% people from broad ;
  • 52% new participants ;
  • 42 speakers ;
  • 24% grant holders.
Possible next steps

As with other similar events existing within the Wikimedia movement, we hope to see this initiative continuing in the long-term, by starting to organise the 2017 French language Wikiconvention right now, with the support of the contributors and members of Wikimédia France.

Contributing to the international movement
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In progressUnderway
Pictogramme du Half Year de 2017
Pictogramme du Half Year de 2017
Origin of the activity

The Partnerships & Resource Development group is an initiative by Wikimédia France, Wikimedia Sverige, and Wikimedia Deutschland to foster the international work on partnerships and external fundraising among Wikimedia organizations. It was created to follow-up the productive and inspiring conversations at the Wikimedia Conference 2015 and the WMCON Follow-Up Day at Wikimania 2015. Wikimedia France keep going with his participation in changes, improvements, and exchange of ideas with the people who make up the movement. A group of representatives from different Wikimedia organizations and WMF chapters met for two days to define the strategy of the Partnerships & Resources Development group.

Description of the activity

On Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 November 2016, during the Partnerships workshop, executives, directors and program managers from Austria, Germany, France, Sweden, Argentina, Poland, Estonia, the Netherlands UK and the Wikimedia Foundation shared experiences on partnerships in different fields. Everyone presented different projects and strategies that were successful and the ones that failed in their countries. These types of meetings helps us to know the problems in our local chapters so that and we can share with other countries around the globe, adapt the teachings and multiply the approaches on how to deal with differents topic.

This workshop was also used to work on a strategy for collective impact in order to know how we can make this work even better, share our learning with the movement and through that, build capacities in other chapters regarding partnerships. In concrete terms we’ve made a draft of a shared partnerships strategy, a resource documentation day that could precede the next Wikimedia Conference or Wikimania and laid the basis for the WMCON strategy track.

In summary, the group wants to stay open and inclusive using the Partnerships portal on Meta, as long the content is kept tight. The group intends to meet at least three times in the year (Wikimedia Conference, Wikimania and a 3rd meeting). The group also wants to actively promote, preach and live “Collective Impact”.

Possible next steps
  • Next concrete steps relate to the organization of an ED meeting the 30th March 2017 ;
  • European GLAMwiki Coordinators meeting February 17, 18, 19 ;
  • Followed by the Wikimedia Conference 2017 in Berlin from March 31 to April 2.

Contributors’ area
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Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity

Wikimédia France makes part of its premises available during the day to its members and contributors, with events regularly being organised in the evenings too.

Description of the activity

Since the return from holidays in September, the Parisian contributors’ group has started meeting again a regular basis, including a Wikigrenier evening on the first Friday of the month and Wikidata evening on the third Friday (please see the "Supporting Wikidata" section below above). Regarding the Wikigrenier evenings, this involves inviting contributors to use the equipment made available to scan and photograph day-to-day items, but with a new development: the descendants of Robert Brumter, a history/geography teacher and photographer, have bequeathed us a collection of approximately 30,000 slides which he painstakingly built up over more than 50 years of travels, and we have set about scanning these donations after having purchased the necessary hardware.

This scanning process takes time and requires an active and fairly large group of participants. All of the slides in a batch first have to be reviewed to remove those which cannot be scanned: some photos are excessively fuzzy or damaged, or their subject may include identifiable people in a private setting or a building covered by copyright. It may also be the case that it is impossible to identify who exactly is in the photo. Once the initial selection has been completed, the slides are scanned four-by-four in a slide and negative scanner then imported into Wikimedia Commons. All that then remains is to add the captions (which are written in pencil on the boxes) to the Commons.

Results obtained

After sorting all of the boxes of slides by country and by year, four of these have already been scanned, making a total approximately 40 photos of the Caribbean in 1979 and 160 of the USSR in 1984.

Possible next steps

In view of the high quantity of documents to be scanned, it will probably be necessary to divide the workload among several contributors’ groups.

Local groups
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Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017

Wikimédia France’s 14 local groups have organised activities which take several forms: contribution workshops, wikipermanences, training, photographic trips or talks during public conferences. Some groups are continuing to expand their local base. As an example, the Bordeaux group has set up monthly wikipermanences in a partner media library. The Strasbourg group has expanded thanks to the support of participants in the Lingua Libre project.

To take but one example we will describe in detail the Wiki Takes 22 weekend which is a good example of our involvement alongside our members to support them and help make their projects a success.

Wiki Takes 22
Origins

After having noted that the French département of the Côtes-d'Armor (22) was under-documented on Commons, some members of Wikimédia France decided to set about organising a weekend during which they could contribute to the various projects related to this theme.

Description of the activity

The programme for the contributors’ weekend:

  • Saturday, September 24
    • Running a Wikipedia workshop at the museum of art and history in Saint-Brieuc, photographic trip in the town and contribution thanks to the sources made available by the museum
    • Afternoon: photo rally in a neighbouring area heading towards fr:Trébry`
    • Evening: meal and accommodation in a gîte in Trébury
  • Sunday, September 25
    • Photo rally organised in teams, between Trébry and Rennes
Results

235 photographic files were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons

Wikimédia France’s involvement

In order to support this activity proposed by the contributors, Wikimédia France:

  • Paid for the accommodation for the 11 participating contributors ;
  • Paid for the transport and restaurant costs ;
  • Made documentation available ;
  • Made high-quality photographic equipment available.

THEME 3 - PROMOTING AND PROTECTING PROJECTS
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Research related activities
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Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Pictogrammes pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity

The research world is a complex one and each country and community of researchers interacts in a particular way with civil society. In France, we have seen few partnerships with higher education in comparison with a number of projects carried out with secondary education establishments. However, we are keen to motivate networks of researchers in France with a view to:

  • Building awareness among researchers of Wikimedia projects and the reuse of data ;
  • Supporting researchers in the performance of studies and scientific work.

These are ambitious objectives because as in the education sector, many communities of researchers display an attitude very much in opposition to Wikimedia projects (closed licences, reticence regarding the notion of expertise, a refusal to sign contributions, etc.). With this in mind, a huge amount of awareness building, lobbying and support work is required when dealing with the various stakeholders concerned.

Description of the activity

Four activities carried out since July 2016 clearly reflect our wish to motivate research networks:

  • In July 2016, the annual report from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (the government agency which finances research work in France) included a section on the possibility for researchers to contact Wikimédia France to carry out research work in relation to Wikimedia projects. Currently, one research laboratory has contacted us, in order that we may work with them over the next two years. The theme in question concerns the automatic updating of broken links in Wikipedia ;
  • In September 2016, the association participated in a research colloquium on the digital humanities in Paris. This research field is very popular in the Anglo-Saxon world but far less so in France. This colloquium was organised by a network of French-speaking researchers in the digital humanities field (Humanistica) which we contacted with a view to participating in various future activities. There is enormous potential here including participating in talks during colloquiums, the joint drafting of a manifesto and the training of teachers/researchers in the social sciences, etc. ;
  • In September 2016, a Plaidoyer pour enseigner Wikipedia en classe (Call for the teaching of Wikipedia in class - Higher level) was published on the association's blog by a researcher. This call was shared and published on numerous blogs and judging by the comments generated excellent feedback. More widely, it provides an opportunity to establish a theoretical basis for work together which meets with the approval of researchers ;
  • On the French language version of Wikipedia we find a Projet:Recherche (Research project) page which was active in 2013 but has since been abandoned. We have therefore carried out a great deal of redesign and updating work for this project page. This now contains a list of work and studies published or currently being drafted in relation to Wikimedia projects, providing a genuine knowledge base for contributors.

Following several contacts, particularly with Swiss researchers in the human science field, the study of Wikimedia projects appears to be becoming an established aspect of the digital humanities field. This field is an offshoot of the social sciences and classical research fields. It involves studying human behaviour in the digital environment and particularly on the Internet. The digital humanities field focuses particularly on behaviour concerning publication, writing, online expression and interaction with other people. The French-language work is currently at a very early stage and very few syllabuses include courses in this area. However, we have noted that this is changing, with the Paris colloquium being a good example.

Results expected or obtained

Participation in this international colloquium is something of a "victory" for us as it adds greater legitimacy to Wikimedia projects in the eyes of researchers and the minutes from the colloquium will be circulated via the appropriate networks. We need to meet the needs of contributors: the publication of open access work and scientific studies. This will require time and a great deal of training when available, if we are to hope that researchers will change their views of Wikimedia projects. This is the same approach used for teachers in the primary and secondary sectors, where for several years now we have seen a change of attitude.

It is vital for Wikimédia France to be able to enhance the work, studies and ideas concerning Wikimedia projects by drawing upon existing communities of researchers. In the opinion of these committees themselves, the researchers should be able to publish more scientific work linked to Wikipedia in four of five years’ time.

Possible next steps

In order to inform communities of researchers of the possibilities for activities and actions regarding Wikimedia and research, we aim to maximise speaking time and speaking opportunities during congresses and colloquiums. Initially, we have envisaged setting up a Twitter account similar to@WikiResearch (administered by the foundation’s Research Department), but we concluded that we had too little material to put forward. We are monitoring the Wikipedia-related thesis work underway with a view to contacting the doctoral students to inform them of possible opportunities for collaboration.

Additionally, in order to achieve greater visibility among the community of researchers and the research sector in the wider sense, we have already replied to 3 calls for submissions for colloquiums, reports and white papers, two of which have been accepted. In France, this is a vital precondition to getting ourselves known and recognised as stakeholders in the higher education research sector, with the association then being quoted in the minutes and reports.

Finally, research laboratories at universities are being contacted, including in particular the IT, languages, history and geography departments, but so far no replies have been received. We now plan to contact the LabEx (Laboratoires d'Excellence).

Wikimedia projects and digital education: an emerging trend
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Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity

The theme of digital education in conjunction with Wikimedia projects is enjoying significant popularity in comparison with last year. This has seen an increasing number of requests for training aimed at school audiences and concerning the use of Wikipedia in the classroom and the organisation of educational projects. Two education-related activities have become long-running features of the association, and are carried out in partnership with educational institutions.

To build awareness of the association's educational activities we have published a Plaidoyer pour enseigner Wikipedia en classe (Call for the teaching of Wikipedia in class) with a researcher in the educational sciences field. This two-part text covering the possible benefits of and obstacles to teaching of this kind, was initially published on a researcher's blog then on the association's blog before enjoying wider coverage thanks to the press.

Description of the activity

  • The Wikiconcours Lycéen (high school wikicompetition) is organised in partnership with the Ministry of National Education via a network of academic bodies (the CANOPÉ network). Over the space of six months, classes in the lycées (high schools), supervised by documentalists and teachers, work on improving Wikimedia projects. At the end of the sixth month, the contributions are assessed by a jury comprised of volunteers from the association and partners. Before the competition begins, the trainers are briefed in contributing to Wikipedia. This training is designed and run by the association. Throughout the competition, the teachers can count on the association's volunteers for help and additional assistance is available via a project page accessible online, set up in 2015, which includes questions and answers in addition to a help section. This initiative was launched on December 1, 2016.
  • Each year, the project with the University of Lille involves 60 doctoral students from several countries who study for their doctorates at university in Lille. As part of their university studies they undertake a teaching unit entitled "Valoriser ses connaissances avec Wikipedia" (Knowledge enhancement with Wikipedia). During two, three-hour sessions they receive training in contributing to Wikipedia and then have 12 weeks, i.e. three months, to contribute to Wikimedia projects. Their contributions are generally related to their theses or their interests. At the end of the 12 weeks of "free" contributions their output is assessed based on the number of publications and interaction with the community, etc. An overview is drawn up then converted into university credits by the University. The two training sessions are run by an employee and (according everyone's availability) by members of the local group from Lille. This activity got underway on October 19, 2016.

We should also mention our participation at the Éducatec show in November 2016, a professional show held annually in Paris. In all, 250 people came along to meet the association’s volunteers. This year, two conferences were dedicated to Wikipedia, one by a teacher having carried out an activity with primary school classes and the other by one of the volunteers from the association focusing on educational issues, the media and information. In the medium and long term, training sessions and educational projects will be set up by teachers and teacher-documentalists.

Results expected or obtained

It's still too early to assess the contributions from the high school classes as part of the Wikiconcours Lycéen, but this activity is bearing fruit with regards to the community, where several stakeholders (member and non-member contributors, working groups, wikipedian teachers, etc.) are involved. This initiative also makes it possible to bring together several participants in the Wikimedia movement to focus on a common objective. We should also note the interest shown by other chapters in introducing this activity in their own countries and the international aspect of the competition (with various French overseas lycées participating each year in the Wikiconcours for the last three years).

Regarding the project with the University of Lille, the 20 doctoral students trained during the first session in October have created and improved 45 articles.

Possible next steps

The education-related activities are well structured and formally established within the association with the provision of an online educational kit, paper resources and the organisation of two long-term actions. We are receiving an increasing number of requests to provide training for the use of Wikipedia in class, to speak at conferences and from students doing their Masters (this includes designing educational units in the Rennes and Paris educational authorities).

We also plan to move up a level with our education activities, particularly through participation in ministerial workshops, or brainstorming with other institutional stakeholders. In short, we plan to adopt a forward-looking approach in relation to the government's digital education plans for 2020-2025. This brainstorming and forward-looking work, which is already currently underway, is part of a growing trend and looks set to increase further still over the months to come.

Increased training for different target audiences
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Pictogramme pour le Half Year de début 2017
Origin and objectives of the activity

Wikimédia France is regularly approached to design and run training sessions for various audiences. We respond to requests for training in as far as possible as these meet several objectives:

  • Building awareness of Wikimedia projects among the participants ;
  • Encouraging the institutions to become partners and to make content available ;
  • Giving the contributors greater autonomy with greater prospects for Edit-a-thons.

Meeting training requirements is a long-term strategy as this makes it possible to provide greater autonomy for audiences wishing to go on to contribute and to participate in events organised by the association.

Description of the activity

Since July 2016, 23 training sessions have been issued to various audiences: the general public, the association's volunteers, teachers, teacher-documentalists, librarians or company employees on the following themes:

  • Contributing to Wikipedia ;
  • Using Wikipedia in class ;
  • Contributing to Wikidata ;
  • Using the book scanner ;
  • Discovering Wikimedia projects ;
  • Best practices for contributing to Wikipedia.

The vast majority of the training sessions are run by two people and last an average of a half day. It's great if we have a whole day as this allows for supervised contribution time but this is not always achievable due to practical constraints.

Results expected or obtained

Over a total of 23 training sessions, 235 people have been trained and have had their skills upgraded. These training sessions were designed and run by volunteers and employees all over France. This number should increase for the second part of the year with the WikiMOOC. Among these 235 people, the following is a breakdown of audience type:

  • 50 doctoral students ;
  • 50 teachers ;
  • 45 members of the general public ;
  • 36 employees of companies ;
  • 25 volunteers ;
  • 15 documentalists ;
  • 10 librarians ;
  • 4 pupils.
Possible next steps

The association's training catalogue aimed at companies and their staff was updated for the year 2017 based on feedback from volunteers and working groups. Over the last six months we have sought to reply to 3 calls for projects to have our training officially approved among ongoing training schemes but with no positive results. Other calls for projects will be launched in early 2017, to which we intend to reply.

Advocacy campaign
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Pictogramme du half Year de début 2017
Pictogramme du half Year de début 2017

The second half of 2016 saw a continuation of our activities aimed at producing a legal, social and cultural environment favourable to the free sharing of knowledge. Accordingly, we continued our efforts regarding commercial restrictions on the freedom of panorama, the law concerning freedom of creativity, architecture and heritage and the texts submitted to the European Commission regarding a directive aimed at reforming copyright.

International activities

In this particular field, Wikimédia France works to further the objectives of the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU concerning various major themes covered by propositions from the European Commission, out of step with current realities and digital practices which are still slanted in favour of the cultural industries (freedom of panorama, directives concerning databases, public domain digitisation, etc.). We need to obtain support from various strategic key players in the field of legal affairs. A meeting was held from November 17-24 between Dimitar Dimitrov and Wikimédia France in order to discuss the activities to be carried out, our role within the Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU and the various strategic challenges faced by the European chapters.

National activities

For its part, the Loi Numérique (digital law) was adopted on September 28, 2016, including the freedom of panorama but for non-commercial use. The law concerning creativity, architecture and heritage leaves us a window to act in early 2017 concerning the so-called Google Images tax amendment and the introduction of an economic right concerning the images of buildings and national monuments. Wikimédia France has envisaged taking action concerning the decrees by means of a priority question concerning constitutionality and vis-a-vis the European Commission.

Participation in public consultations, colloquiums or debates in addition to press articles have been organised over recent months to build awareness among decision-makers.

  • On November 16, at the Paris Open Source Summit, which provided a further opportunity to fly the Wikimedia flag, during which we were able to put forward the advantages and challenges of the "open culture" ;
  • On November 26, with the publication of an article in the daily newspaper Le Monde jointly written by Jimmy Wales concerning the "right to be forgotten" which poses a threat to the protection of the right to be remembered ;
  • On November 30, during our participation at the Ted Talk in Social Good Week, on the theme of the relationship between Wikipedia and education ;
  • On December 1, at the Association des Services Internet Communautaires, on the theme of "The search engine: Guardian or referee of web neutrality" where we presented the challenges posed by changes in the law ;
  • On December 5, with our participation in the launch of the Fondation Terre Solidaire via a speech concerning Wikimedia projects: "Wikimedia projects: a social innovation?" ;
  • On December 6, as part of Social Good Week at Microsoft where we focused on the importance of data for Wikimedia projects. The speech was filmed and rebroadcast live ;
  • Finally, on December 7, 2016, during the Open Government Partnership in Paris which provided an opportunity to promote "common digital assets".

Revenues received during this period (6 month for progress report, 12 months for impact report) edit

Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal. 1 € = 1.0907 $

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
Memberships fees 11,400 160 3,197 - - 3,357 12,434 3,661 Many members pay more than the amount of membership. Although we have a constant number of members, the overall amount of membership is difficult to assess.
APG 636,000 332,500 - - - 332,500 693,695 362,658
Donations 368,600 29,739 213,757 - - 243,496 402,037 265,581
Projects Grants 45,000 5,700 32,012 - - 37,712 49,082 41,132 Including Sponsorship, Call for project and Charity products.
Miscellaneous revenus 2,000 2,297 236 - - 2,533 2,181 2,763
Other incomes 3,000 - - - - - 3,272 - Included in Grants.
Assumption of liability 4,000 - - - - - 4,363 - -
Costs transfer 16,000 - 6,601 - - 6,601 17,451 7,200
TOTAL 1,086,000 370,396 255,803 - - 626,199 1,184,516 682,995

* Provide estimates in US Dollars


Spending during this period (6 month for progress report, 12 months for impact report) edit

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
THEME 1 - CONTENT DEVELOPMENT 257,691 39,636 64,407 - - 104,043 281,064 113,480 40 % -
THEME 2 - WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES 359,646 47,599 89,125 - - 136,724 392,266 149,125 38 % -
THEME 3 - PROMOTING AND PROTECTING PROJECTS 237,021 83,853 49,418 - - 133,271 258,519 145,359 56 % -
THEME 4 - FUNDRAISING 62,560 15,987 21,220 - - 37,207 68,234 40,582 59 % -
THEME 5 - OVERHEAD COST 169,082 60,579 50,899 - - 111,477 184,418 121,588 66 % -
TOTAL 1,086,000 247,653 275,069 - - 522,722 1,184,500 570,133 48 % N/A

* Provide estimates in US Dollars


Compliance edit

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

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.

  • Not really a deviation, but indeed There is a gap between our request and the APG.

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 edit

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

Resources edit

Resources to plan for measurement edit

Resources for storytelling edit