Grants:APG/Proposals/2020-2021 round 1/Wikimedia Serbia/Impact report form


Purpose of the report

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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

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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

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Participants Newly registered Content pages Usage of multimedia files Partnerships
Education Program
Wikipedia in schools
Accredited seminars
Edu Wiki camp
895 (out of 2,200 planned) 781 (out of 1,400 planned) 1,029 (out of 4,000 planned) 168 (out of 750 planned) 40 (out of 50 planned)
GLAM Program
Wiki-librarian
Wikipedian in residence
Wiki Loves GLAMers
176 (out of 250 planned) 53 (out of 100 planned) 11,607 (out of 6,500 planned) 2,873 (out of 2,000 planned) 24 (out of 40 planned)
Community Support Program
WikiLive
Competitions on Wikipedia
Microgrants
Animation of community
423 (out of 350 planned) 59 (out of 100 planned) 29,995 (out of 8,500 planned) 4,424 (out of 1,750 planned) 27 (out of 60 planned)
TOTAL FOR ALL PROGRAMS 1,494 (out of 2,800 planned) 893 (out of 1,600 planned) 42,631 (out of 19,000 planned) 7,465 (out of 4,500 planned) 91 (out of 150 planned)

Telling your program stories - all programs

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

  • We encourage you to share your successes and failures and what you are learning. Please also share why are these successes, failures, or learnings are important in your context. Reference learning patterns or other documentation.
  • Make clear connections between your offline activities and online results, as applicable. For example, explain how your education program activities is leading to quality content on Wikipedia.
  • We encourage you to tell your story in different ways by using videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, e.g.), compelling quotes, and by linking directly to work you produce. You may highlight outcomes, learning, or metrics this way.
  • We encourage you to continue using dashboards, progress bars, and scorecards that you have used to illustrate your progress in the past, and to report consistently over time.
  • You are welcome to use the table below to report on any metrics or measures relevant to your program. These may or may not include the global metrics you put in the overview section above. You can also share your progress in another way if you do not find a table like this useful.
Target Last year (if applicable) Progress (at end of Q2) End of year (projected or actual) Comments
Example Example Example Example Example

Overview

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During 2021, Wikimedia Serbia realized most of the projects unhindered and without major delays. Certain project activities were not feasible due to the pandemic, but this did not affect the overall work of the organization. Two online General Assemblies were held during the year. At the 25th regular session, the Assembly adopted the Report on the work of the Board, as well as the Financial Report for 2020, while at the 26th session, the focus was on changing the structure of the Board. On that occasion, Aleksandar Seferović and Marko Adam were appointed as new members of the Board, while Miroslav Loci was elected as President of the organization for a new two-year term. During the year, twelve online meetings of the Board were held, and 28 decisions were made. The decisions concerned the awarding of prizes in competitions and other projects, the awarding of the Branislav Jovanović Prize, the appointment of representatives at conferences and the adoption of the Employment Rulebook.

When we look at the planned goals for 2021 and what we have achieved, it can be noticed that we have had the most success with content pages created on Wikimedia projects, which include articles on Wikipedia, but also multimedia files on Wikimedia Commons, items on Wikidata, quotes on Wikiquote and such. This target was mostly exceeded within the Community Support and the GLAM programs. Within the Community Support, Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos campaign had a significant impact, while the growth of the Wikipedian in residence project and the establishment of new collaborations played a major role in the GLAM program. This has resulted in the target being doubled, as well as good content usage. The pandemic has certainly affected fewer new users and editors than planned. In 2021, it was not possible to organize group events, as well as larger workshops, which are usually an opportunity to attract new people and thus get them acquainted with the organization. Online Wikipedia editing workshops were initially an integral part of every event, but the response of the participants was weak, which is why it was not practiced later. Also, one of the conclusions is that the concentration of online events was too high which was overwhelming for volunteers. This is the reason why we decided to stop organizing them at the end of the year. This primarily refers to online gatherings, and does not include projects such as edit-a-thons, thematic weeks and competitions.

During the year, Wikimedia Serbia emphasized social responsibility in its work. Thus, donations were made in the form of winning photos from the competition Wiki Loves Earth to the Center for Protection of Infants, Children and Youth “Zvečanska”, University Children's Clinic “Tiršova” and Institute for Maternal and Child Health “Dr Vukan Čupić”. In addition, by the decision of the Board of Wikimedia Serbia, three laptops, eight mobile phones, a camera and a digital camera (that are not used in our work anymore) were donated to the “Liceulice” Association. In accordance with social responsibility and the desire to cooperate with similar organizations, the WMRS supported the establishment of the Open Science Community in Serbia.

The grant process has undergone significant changes in 2021. For the first time, Wikimedia Serbia submitted a two-year grant, which was accepted, with very small budget changes.

Under this grant, Wikimedia Serbia has opened a new position - Diversity Project Manager. The person in this position will implement existing and launch new diversity projects and work on implementing the strategic directions of Wikimedia Serbia, in terms of diversity and equality. These projects are aimed at reducing the gender gap and including marginalized and underrepresented communities (the Roma population, LGBTI+ persons and people with disabilities, etc.) on Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, Wiktionary…), both in terms of content about them and in terms of educating these groups to edit Wikimedia projects. In addition to the mentioned activities, the person would be in charge of international cooperation with other Wikimedia affiliates, in order to spread free knowledge.

Wikimedia Serbia’s employees continue to work from home, and a decision on returning to the office will be made when the epidemiological situation allows it.

    Education Program

Wikipedia in schools

Goal: Introducing Wiki-projects to academic circles

Description: Students write their papers on Wikipedia or other Wiki projects, and in return receive points within their subject exams in school or university.

Accredited seminars

Goal: educating teachers to work independently in order to implement Wiki-projects in their institution

Description: project involves organization of accredited seminars Application of online wiki tools as a didactic means in teaching throughout Serbia. The seminars are accredited by the Institute for Advancement of Education (State Institute for professional development of the teachers) and teachers gain 8 points for professional development by attending it. These seminars are all-day workshop on how to edit Wikipedia and implement it in class. The seminars are designed exclusively for teachers.

Edu Wiki camp

Goal: recruit new Wiki ambassadors and education volunteers and strengthen connections between them

Description: The purposes of this camp are attracting new Wiki ambassadors, additional training of current ones, as well as strengthening the network of education volunteers. Camp program has many different topics, which involves editing Wikipedia training, manners of cooperation with educational institutions, technical skills regarding realization of Education program etc…

  Wikipedia in schools

The Wikipedia in schools project, which includes the Wiki Gymnasium, the Wiki Student, the Wiki-Scholar and other activities in educational institutions, involves training elementary, high school and university students to edit Wiki projects and write seminar papers on Wikipedia. Activities that were realized in this period include:

  • Within the Wikipedia in schools project, the cooperation with schools and faculties continued. A total of 428 accounts were created, and 619 wiki pages were created.
  • We continued our activities within the EWOC Community Specialist team, which was formed by the EDU team of Wikimedia Foundation, in order to encourage EDU activities in the CEE region.
  • We participated in organizing the first regional CEE EDU meeting. The aim of the meeting is to connect the region more, to support EDU projects and to exchange experiences. The EDU team has also launched an initiative for regional EDU meetings, including the CEE region.
  • Wikimedia Serbia presented its model of response in education during the coronavirus pandemic. We presented the results and possibilities of using the Educational Program for the purpose of assessing and measuring learning outcomes in secondary and primary schools. The project was presented at the State Seminar of the Mathematical Society of Serbia, in which we wanted to point out to teachers the advantages of using Wiki tools in teaching during the coronavirus pandemic, and thus increase the number of educational institutions that will be involved in our activities. The event was attended by about 50 participants.
  • Wikimedia Serbia came up with an idea to organize the EDU Wiki webinar that would bring WikiData and other Wikipedia sister projects closer to the participants of Edu Wiki camps. The idea arose after the first Online Edu Wiki camp was held, during which the participants gave positive feedback about the event and made a proposal to organize a similar one-day event.
  • We published the paper Attitudes Towards the Use of Wikipedia: A Teaching Tool and a Way to Modernize Teaching whose authors are Djordje Stakić, Marija Tasić, Marko Stanković and Milena Bogdanović. The paper was published in the monograph Wikipedia: Twenty Years of Free Knowledge, published by the University of Complutense in Madrid. This article presents research on students' attitudes towards the use of Wikipedia in teaching. The sample consisted of students from the Faculty of Pedagogy in Vranje, University of Niš. Students were given the opportunity to write articles on Wikipedia as an alternative to writing their standard seminar papers.
  • Wikimedia Serbia has joined the mentoring project organized by the Wikipedia and Education User Group. The project lasted until the end of the year and is designed to connect different people who could benefit from each other in education projects. The role of Wikimedia Serbia is mentoring and on that occasion it will organize meetings with representatives of the Open Foundation West Africa and the User Group Art and Feminism.
  • The Wiki Advocates Philippines user group organized a workshop on using Wikipedia in teaching, with the support of Wikimedia Serbia. Wikimedia Serbia participates in the mentoring program organized by the user group Wikipedia & Education, which enables the transfer of knowledge about the organizing of educational activities to representatives of user groups and Wikimedia branches who do not have much experience in this.

External projects:

  • Volunteering for a strong society - The ultimate goals of the project are to encourage teachers to develop competencies for the implementation of Wikipedia education program in Serbia and to motivate students to develop them further. Within the project, two accredited seminars for teachers were held.
  • Literary treasury in the world of childhood - Its main goal is to enrich the content on Wikipedia related to the school course Introduction to Children's Literature, at the Academy of Educational and Medical Vocational Studies in Kruševac. The project also established two-way cooperation between Wikimedia Serbia and teachers and students of the Academy.
  • Application of online Wiki tools in physics teaching - The ultimate goals of the project are to encourage pupils to create new content and to use the existing one on Serbian Wikipedia during the learning process, all through the implementation and popularization of project teaching, active learning and Wikipedia. A special Google classroom has been opened for each class in which experiences, suggestions and comments are exchanged, and a category has been created on Wikimedia Commons.
  • Heritage Keepers - The idea of the project is to make secondary school students interested to participate in improving articles in the field of cultural heritage of Serbia. The ultimate goal of the project is a proper presentation of our cultural heritage on Wikipedia, with the motivation of future editors through the training of pupils for its practical use. Within this project, three meetings of participants were held, during which they got to know each other, discussed the project and goals, then chose topics to write about. Finally, training was held on editing articles on Wikipedia and posting photos on the Wikimedia Commons.

Table with metrics per school year:

School year # of institutuions # of participants # of wiki pages
Wikipedia Wikidata Total
2020/2021 15 895 886 143 1029
2019/2020 10 515 664 960 1624
2018/2019 20 1185 1026 393 1419
2017/2018 18 830 686 6 692
2016/2017 11 765 516 / 516
Word of mouth is the most effective way to motivate new volunteers
 
Miloš Todorović
"During 2021, the internship program for students of the Faculty of Philosophy continued, which proved to be the best way of cooperation with the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade. As every year so far, a significant number of students were interested. The reason why the internship still works is that in recent years a significant number of students say that they have heard about the internship from older students or that they have seen the invitation on the website of the Faculty several times, but have not had time before. Therefore, it is clear that the longevity of this practice helps us maintain it, because current interns, if they are satisfied, invite others and talk about Wikimedia Serbia and our work. In addition, as part of their internship, they not only train how to edit Wikipedia, but also have a lecture about Wikimedia Serbia, so thus become familiar with our work. There is a lot of hope that they will remember all of this and get involved in some project in the future."

Miloš Todorović, Wiki Ambassador at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

  Аccredited seminars

In 2021, 7 accredited seminars were held for teachers. Due to the current health situation, five were held online, and two offline when we estimated that the health situation allowed us to hold them respecting all epidemiological measures. Seminars were held at the Institute for Contemporary Education in Belgrade and the Elementary school "Momčilo Nastasijević" in Gornji Milanovac. Wikimedia Serbia has overcome all obstacles thanks to its reliable partnership with the Institute. Тhis cooperation was complemented by organizing online seminars on the occasion of training teachers to assess learning outcomes of students during the coronavirus pandemic. The aim of the seminar was to promote Wikipedia for educational purposes and use it to give assignments online and to evaluate them. The seminar was followed by 148 teachers via the Internet, throughout Serbia. The result of this seminar was cooperation with the Еlementary school "Vuk Karadžić" from Kruševac.

In addition, Wikimedia Serbia continued to support teachers/professors in order for them to continue using Wikipedia in teaching. This helped us establish clearer criteria for what kind of target group we want in future seminars, especially in terms of informatics literacy, choice of schools etc.

  Edu Wiki camp

Another Online Edu Wiki Camp was held, during which the participants had the opportunity to get acquainted with the programs and projects of Wikimedia Serbia, but also to improve their skills that will help them in further volunteer engagement with Wikimedia Serbia. The camp, which was held via the Zoom platform on October 23, 24 and November 1, 2021, was attended by 7 participants from different parts of Serbia. The program of Edu Wiki camp was diverse in terms of workshops and lectures. The focus was on getting to know the participants through various activities (energizers, team building activities, etc.) and on teaching participants about the Education Program and the possibility of their engagement in various projects within this program. Thus, the representatives of Wikimedia Serbia talked about Wiki-ambassadors, accredited seminars, grants for the projects and other important events and projects.

Successful stories

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Regional integration in the CEE region contributes to better understanding and cooperation

In accordance with the initiative of the EDU team of the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia Serbia has accepted the invitation to participate in the organization of the first regional CEE EDU Meeting. Due to our active role in the implementation of the Education Program and the implementation of various projects over the past 15 years, we were pleased to participate in this important regional initiative. The benefits of the meeting are evidenced by the large number of associates involved, not only from the region but also beyond. Active discussion during the meeting led to exchange of experience and knowledge between the representatives of EDU programmes. What we have all learned is that regional cooperation is possible, necessary and can be carried out on projects that we are all already implementing. In that sense, this helped us understand that it does not take much for this cooperation to be realized, and that it is necessary to connect the region more. That is why we are determined to continue organizing such meetings in the future.

Continuation of the Edu Wiki camp

Last year's Online Edu Wiki camp proved to be a good enough replacement for a regular camp, which will not be able to be held this year either, due to the health situation. We decided to hold it in a changed format this year also, because we realized that this is the project that brings the most active volunteers and Wiki ambassadors. The Edu Wiki Camp program will be diverse in terms of workshops and lectures. The focus will be on getting to know the participants through various activities (energizers, team building activities, etc.) and on referring participants to the Education Program of Wikimedia Serbia and the possibility of their engagement within various projects within this program. We realized that it is crucial to strengthen the set of lecturers with Wiki Ambassadors and Edu Wiki Volunteers in order to increase the dynamics of the camp that is held over the Internet. Another lesson learned is to make extensive use of available online tools that increase interactivity, which we will continue to use this year as well. The fact that the project fulfilled its goal is also evidenced by the fact that ideas for organizing similar events have emerged, and Wikimedia Serbia plans to make an example of good practice that can be applied in other countries and environments.

Challenges and lessons learned

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Edu Wiki webinar

The idea to organize the Edu Wiki webinar came from the participants of the first online Edu Wiki camp due to their desire to get acquainted with our programs and projects, and the focus should have been on CC Licenses and Wikidata. Encouraged by the large number of expressed interests in this event, we wanted to realize it at the beginning of 2021, taking care not to overlap with other obligations that students may potentially have, such as exam deadlines. This is something that we learned from our previous experiences. However, when we entered the process of organizing and interviewing potential participants, we did not find an adequate response. Therefore, the event was postponed for another occasion. Analyzing the reasons for that, we realized that the webinar was planned close to other online events that we organized, and that there was probably an overwhelming amount of events for our participants. Another potential reason was that we may have limited the target group too much by inviting only former camp participants, in our desire to reunite them and maintain contacts. We will definitely extend the invitation to all interested volunteers and students and apply the lessons learned the next time we try to organize it at the end of 2021.

   GLAM Program

Wiki Loves GLAMers

Goal: Achieving cooperation with cultural institutions in order to increase the corpus of free knowledge, to create and improve the access to the cultural and historical heritage on the Internet, i.e. on Wiki projects.

Description: Release of materials by the institutions and individuals, digitization of content, organization of edit-a-thons and other similar activities.


Edit-a-thons

Goal: Increasing the content on Wikipedia on certain topic, in collaboration with culture institutions, that provide quality literature, or sources for creating articles.

Description: Joint work of volunteers and GLAM employees who edit articles on Wikipedia on a particular topic within one or more days. Cultural institutions provide literature and release materials for the illustration of written and improved articles.


Wikipedian in residence

Goal: Establishing various forms of cooperation with cultural institutions, digitization and release of different types of files, education of employees on free knowledge and free culture.

Description: One month engagement of a Wikipedian in one of the GLAM institutions. That person is working on digitizing, promoting the Wikimedia mission among employees, training staff for working on Wiki platforms etc.


Wiki-librarians

Goal: The goal is to motivate librarians to become successful editors of Wikipedia, to enable the expansion of a network of libraries and other cultural institutions and their acquaintance with the activities of Wikimedia Serbia, as well as the upload of quality and more informative content on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

Description: Organizing Wikipedia editing workshops designed for librarians who, for a successful course, receive legally required points for advancement in the field of librarianship.

  Wiki loves GLAMers

 
Number of added references in January 1Lib1Ref 2021

The #1lib1ref campaign - Wikimedia Serbia, in cooperation with the University Library „Svetozar Marković”, the Belgrade City Library and the Wikimedia Community of Republika Srpska, started the GLAM year with great success. The global #1Lib1Ref campaign ranked Serbian Wikipedia at the very top of the wiki communities that added the largest number of references. A total of 31 participants added 17.112 references into the articles in which they were missing, while the five best editors of this campaign on Serbian Wikipedia were placed among the top 10 contributors of the campaign in the world. During the campaign, a Wikipedia editing workshop was held.

Thanks to the success of the campaign in previous years, Wikimedia Serbia, in cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia Poland, organized the #1Lib1Ref campaign in the region of Central and Eastern Europe #1Lib1RefCEE. The campaign strategy for the Central and Eastern Europe region was presented at the CEE Meeting in cooperation with the Wikimedia Foundation. The strategy was also presented at the Open Door of the campaign, organized by the Wikimedia Foundation, and a workshop was held for campaign organizers in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, which was attended by 8 participants.

Cultural heritage on Wikidata

During 2021, two thematic activities were organized to add data to Wikidata. From June 15 to 30, the activity Cultural Heritage on Wikidata 2 was held. For the needs of this event and to facilitate the editing of Wikidata, the presentations Introduction to Wikidata and Instructions on Editing Wikidata were updated. These activities were attended by 9 editors who made 986 changes to 267 items, while 9 new items were created, and 203 references have been added to Wikidata. From November 15 to 30, the thematic activity Cultural Heritage on Wikidata 3 was held. In total, 518 items were improved, 1067 properties were added, and 2 items were created by 4 editors. During this activity, two workshops were held with a total of 11 participants.

Competition of the Ministry of Culture and Information of Republic of Serbia

We applied for the competition of the Ministry of Culture and Information called the Competition for financing or co-financing projects in the field of digitization of cultural heritage and contemporary creativity in 2021. The Wikipedian in residence project did not fully meet the Competition standards due to changed requirements, so the project was rejected. Wikimedia Serbia still has the written support of the Ministry of Culture and Information for the realization of the Wikipedian in residence project.

Conferences

During 2021, the GLAM program and topics related to the program were presented at the following conferences: Wikimania, CC Summit, #Digital2021, CEEMeeting, OERcamp.


Cultural heritage of Serbia

Cultural heritage of Serbia is a continuation of a successful project called “Heritage of the Southeast”. Within the project, there was establishment of cooperation, mainly with cultural institutions and other institutions of importance located on the territory of Serbia, and digitization of cultural and historical heritage in their possession throughout the year. In 2021, the following activities were implemented:

  • Activities of visiting the museums were realized in order to collect photographs. Many museums were visited, such as the Museum in Smederevo, National Museum of Toplice, Historical Archive, Museum in Negotin, Museum of Krajina, Museum in Čačak, the Archaeological Site of Felix Romuliana…
  • Cooperation was realized with the Goblin Board Games Club in order to write articles on this topic, where 34 articles were created.
  • Articles have been written with the NGO Byzantium, and cooperation is still ongoing.
  • Total of 20 articles on photography are being prepared with the Photographers' Club, but the final part of the project has not been realized yet due to the absence of the president, and the cooperation will be transferred to the project for 2022.
  • The Association for the Protection of Animals Zoo Planet participated in the selection of articles that need to be created or improved on Serbian Wikipedia.
  • There were no major obstacles during the implementation of the project.

  Wiki librarian

Wiki librarian

The distinguished project of the University Library „Svetozar Marković” received the support of Wikimedia Serbia this year, for the seventh time in a row. The goal of the project is to inform and educate librarians to become successful Wikipedians, as well as to expand the network of libraries and other cultural institutions and introduce them to the activities of Wikimedia Serbia, but also to post high quality and informative content on Wikipedia. The following activities were held:

  • Wiki librarians participated in the #1Lib1Ref campaign.
  • The Wikipedia edit-a-thon Literature for Children was organized and it lasted for 13 days and exceptional results were achieved. With 11 Wikipedians participating, a total of 88 articles were posted, 76 new and 12 improved. On Wikimedia Commons 10 files have been uploaded.
  • Librarians of the University Library were trained to work on the ZOOM platform. In April, a workshop for students of the Department of Librarianship and Informatics of the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, was held. Total of 4 online workshops were held. The first two were a workshop about Wikimedia Serbia and Serbian Wikipedia, including writing articles in the sandbox. In the other two workshops, students posted articles. The workshops were successfully completed and the students posted very high quality articles.
  • Two edit-a-thons were held: Taverns then and now, where 24 Wikipedians participated. A total of 116 articles were written and 6 articles were improved. As far as 138 files were uploaded on Wikimedia Commons.
  • The edit-a-thon My Street, where 12 Wikipedians participated, was organized, 78 new articles were written and 300 files were uploaded on Wikimedia Commons.
  • 15 publications from the University Library's collection were digitized and uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
  • The Program of Mentoring to Wikipedian newcomers was conducted 12 times.
  • A paper “Wiki-librarian: A Project to Train Librarians and Students to Work with Wikipedia” was published in the magazine for digital humanities "Infoteka" in Serbian and English language.

  Edit-a-thons

Edit-a-thons

In 2021, three edit-a-thons were realized within the GLAM program. The first edit-a-thon as held in cooperation with the Jewish Digital Library, while the second edit-a-thon was held on the occasion of the International Museum Day, and the third edit-a-thon was organized on the topic of Egypt. A total of 147 new articles were written, while 5 articles were improved.

  Wikipedian in residence

Belgrade City Library

In cooperation with the Belgrade City Library, for the first time we organized a half-year long Wikipedian in residence that lasted from October 2020 to March 2021. Wikipedian in residence, Jovana Obradović, worked on the digitization of content from the Department of Periodicals and the Homeland Department of the Library. The overall results (during all six months) are reflected in the writing of 126 new articles, improvement of 26 existing ones and the illustration of 278 additional articles. A total of 881 photos, 120 issues of magazines (6 double issues) and 6 books were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. Observing the metrics of the second part of the project, ie. metrics from the first quarter of 2021, the WiR wrote 46 new articles, illustrated 79 articles, and improved 26. During 2021, she posted 270 photos, 6 books and 120 magazines to Wikimedia Commons. During the project, we overcame numerous challenges, such as the occasional shortening of the Library's working hours, the Library's non-working days due to a pandemic, and WiR getting infected with COVID-19. Thanks to the successful results, quick problem-solving, good communication and hard work of the Wikipedian in residence, the Library is interested in repeating the project.

Museum of African Art

A one-month Wikipedian-in-residence project was held at the Museum of African Art in Belgrade in February. During the project, 11 articles were written and improved, while numerous articles on English and Serbian Wikipedia were illustrated. Total of 303 files have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, including a rare video of an elephant hunt, photographs of Josip Broz Tito during a visit to Africa, as well as photographs of African peoples, political figures and cultural monuments. During this project, the first video was uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons. Thanks to the successful cooperation, hard work of the WiR and good results, the Museum of African Art is interested in extending the project for another month, with focus on writing articles with the help of their rich library.

Jewish Digital Library

By signing the Memorandum of Cooperation with the Jewish Digital Library, joint activities have begun. A one-month Wikipedian in residence was held in March. Due to the difficult epidemiological situation, the project was held with the full work of the Wikipedian in residence from home with increased communication with the Library authorities. During the project, 32 new articles were written, 8 articles were improved, and 5 articles were illustrated. There are 54 photos and 6 books on Wikimedia Commons. Due to the great work of the intern, Biljana Albahari, the head of the Jewish Digital Library, sent a recommendation to Tamara Janković, the WiR, and expressed her desire to continue the cooperation.

Museum of the Rudnik and Takovo region

The Wikipedian in residence project was organized in June and July at the Museum of the Rudnik and Takovo Region in Gornji Milanovac. Total of 31 new articles were written, 93 improved and 161 illustrated, and as many as 713 files were uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, including 30 books.

National Library of Pirot

In cooperation with the National Library of Pirot, the Wikipedian in residence was realized from September 13 to November 13. This project is specific because it was held as a one-month work, but stretched into a two-month part-time period, and it is distinguished by the fact that with this project, activities on Wikidata began to be a part of the regular activities of WiR. During the project, 27 new articles were written, 24 articles were improved, and 16 of them were illustrated. Total of 38 files and 13 corpuses have been uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons.

Dadov Youth Theater

A Wikipedian in residence was performed at the Dadov Youth Theater from October 11 to December 31. During the project, 287 new articles were written with corresponding items on Wikidata created, 23 improved, and 52 illustrated. Total of 394 files and one book were uploaded. This project is the Wikipedian in residence with the most articles written so far on Serbian Wikipedia.

Association of Fine Artists of Serbia

A Wikipedian in residence was held, for the second time, at the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia from November 15 to December 31. During this project, a total of 62 new articles were written and supported by Wikidata, 79 catalogs were digitized, and two Wikipedia editing workshops were held, attended by 11 participants.

Memoranda of Cooperation were signed with the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts for the realization of the Wikipedian in residence project in 2022.

We are extremely glad that from the beginning we have an exceptional cooperation with the professional team working on this project.
"It is extremely important for the Museum of the Rudnik and Takovo Region, as an institution of protection and presentation, to participate in all projects that will present the cultural heritage of the Rudnik and Takovo Region in the right way. Collaboration on the Wikipedian in residence project, presented historical, artistic, archeological, ethnological cultural heritage on Wiki projects. We are extremely glad that from the beginning we have an exceptional cooperation with the professional team working on this project, with which we came to create a significant database, which is primarily accurate and then done according to all methodological principles that present the cultural heritage of one region. In that sense, we will always be available for any future cooperation."

Aleksandar Marušić, director of the Museum of the Rudnik and Takovo Region

Successful stories

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First place in the #1Lib1Ref campaign

This year, we have proven that with dedicated preparation of activities and joint efforts, almost certain success is achieved. In cooperation with the University Library "Svetozar Marković", the Belgrade City Library, and the Wikimedia Community of Republika Srpska, we won first place in the #1Lib1Ref January Campaign.

Proven quality of choice of our Wikipedians in residence

The Wikipedian in residence, Jovana Obradović, was enlisted in the project at the Belgrade City Library for six months. After the expiration of six months, the Library was extremely satisfied with this project, ready to repeat the realization. An important indicator of the success of this project, and the selection of Wikipedians in residence, is the fact that Jovana got a job at the Belgrade City Library after the end of her project in the role of intern.

Challenges and lessons learned

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Customized access to Wikidata

The initial response to the action Cultural Heritage on Wikidata 2 was weaker than expected. We motivated the editors to participate by holding editing workshops, updating the editing guide and personalized access to the editors. Response has improved, but we still have a long way to go to implement Wikidata.

   Community Support Program

WikiLive

Goal: Enabling members of Serbian Wikipedia community to get to know each other, networking and strengthening the connections between them by team problem solving and new project creation.

Description: WikiLive is a local annual Wikipedian conference, which is conceived with the idea of ​​strengthening the spirit of the community, interconnecting participants and involving them in the WMRS programs. The conference consists of a two-day program covering various topics from Wikipedia.


Competitions on Wikipedia

Goal: Increasing the motivation and active participation of the community in Wiki projects.

Description: Competitions on Wikipedia are organized several times a year. They usually last for a month (except CEE Spring) during which participants write and improve articles on various topics. Members of the jury evaluate the articles, after which winners are proclaimed and rewarded. Contests are a good way to reduce the gap between Wikimedians and Wikipedians.


Community motivation

Goal: Establishing better communication with the community and reducing the gap between Wikipedians and Wikimedians.

Description: Within the project, activities such as community gatherings, microgrants, organization of Wiki stand at public events, birthday celebrations, support for individuals in relation to the realization of activities and informing the community about various events through various communication channels are being realized.

  WikiLive

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it wasn’t feasible to organize the conference, since it requires a mass gathering. In the third quarter, we had considered organizing the conference online. We had created a questionnaire for the community to assess the willingness to participate in such an event. After diligent reconsideration, we decided that it was better for us to organize the conference in the second quarter of 2022 in order to assure that more Wikipedia editors participate in the conference.

  Competitions on Wikipedia

Competitions on Wikipedia are aimed at increasing the free knowledge through writing and improving articles on Wikipedia in the form of contests. However, the equally important goal of those events is to increase motivation and active participation of the community on Wiki projects.

In the first half of the year, the CEE Spring was realized. Through this event once again we gained the opportunity to strengthen regional collaboration since Wikimedia Serbia worked on this project alongside Republika Srpska’s Wikimedian Community. We collaborated on organizing the event, and also, on choosing the jury. One member of the jury was from Republika Srpska’s Wikimedian Community. More volunteers were involved during the organization of this event, and they created a list of themes regarding Serbia, according to their interests and topics they write about on Wikipedia. During the competition, 10 participants wrote 387 articles and improved 12. The outcome of this competition was also that participants entered 11.881.187 bytes. As it can be seen from the charts below, the number of articles decreased, however, the number of bytes was significantly increased. This means that the trend of creating articles that cover the matter in more depth and detail continued. We believe that the upsurge of those kinds of articles started when the new criteria for scoring the articles were introduced, several years ago.

Wikimedia Serbia joined the Wikipedia Pages Want Photos campaign for the second time. This event lasted from July 1st until August 31st, 2021. During this campaign, 19 participants made 21.950 changes within 19.384 articles. Since participants were able to edit myriad language versions of Wikimedia’s projects, participants improved 37 language versions of Wikipedia. We can draw the conclusion that the Serbian Wikipedia was the most popular project within the campaign since 13.679 edits were made on 11.260 articles. The second and third places went to Serbo-Croatian and Kazakh Wikipedia.

The "Wings" Wikipedia competition lasted from September 1 to 30, and the participants could write about various living creatures with wings, but also about everything that has wings, such as airplanes or other aircrafts. During this period, five participants wrote 86 articles, while four editors supported the competition with 11 articles that were not rated. As part of this year's competition, participants uploaded 1,782,091 bytes.

The last competition in 2021, organized by Wikimedia Serbia, brought Serbian Wikipedia as many as 314 articles about books. The contestants wrote about books from various genres from November 1 to 30. Ten editors participated in the competition, while five of them supported the project by writing and improving 32 articles, which were not included in the evaluation framework. A total of 1,934,449 bytes were contributed.

  Community Motivation

Community motivation includes microgrants, organization of gatherings and celebrations, edit-a-thons, as well as projects by individuals who make significant contributions to Wiki projects.

Microgrants - During February and March, Wikimedia Serbia published a call for the implementation and financing of volunteer projects in the field of education, cooperation with cultural institutions and volunteering. The call for microgrants was dedicated to smaller projects for which there is a possibility of growing into long-term and sustainable projects. All interested individuals, representatives of organizations, cultural and educational institutions had the opportunity to submit ideas from January 20 to March 1, 2021. Six projects were accepted and implemented during last year.

Centuries of the Danube and Djerdap (Darko Gajić) - The project is designed to present the rich historical, natural and cultural heritage, as well as the economic and tourist potential of the communities that are near the Danube: the City of Požarevac and the municipalities of Veliko Gradište, Golubac, Majdanpek, Kladovo and Negotin, in cooperation with "Djerdap National Park". During the project, 154 articles were written and improved, and 2,081 photographs were uploaded, of which 410 were used to illustrate the articles.

Wiki Senior (Milica Buha) - This is a continuation of the Wiki Senior project from previous years. The project involves senior people of different interests, who contribute to Wikipedia in several different areas. This year's novelty is a focus on content about women. Given the majority of included participants are female, the idea is to focus on "women's topics", i.e. topics of interest to women. During the project, 335 articles were written and improved, and 460 photographs were uploaded, of which 371 were used to illustrate the articles.

Dragonflies in Serbia (Marko Nikolić) - Although the topic has already been covered in previous projects, the team of volunteers in this project pays attention to correcting errors in articles, names of species and families according to the current domestic nomenclature, improving articles with new information, new references and illustrations. The focus of the project is on increasing the quality of content about dragonflies. During the project, 40 articles were written and improved, and 502 photographs were uploaded, of which 480 were used to illustrate the articles.

Mountaineers on the mountains 2 (Stefan Mitić) - This is a continuation of last year's Mountaineers on the mountains project, which includes the collection of photo and textual content about the mountains and everything natural and anthropogenic that exists on them. Some of the participants in last year's project also worked on this project, with the engagement of interested new people. More than 700 photos have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.

Wiki Loves Ladybugs (HabiProt) - This project focused on publishing texts on species and genera of ladybugs that are not represented on Serbian Wikipedia. Upload of photographs and illustrations of articles contributed to the visual presentation of the mentioned contents. Within the project, 35 articles were written and improved, and 79 photographs were uploaded.

In addition to projects supported by microgrants, Wikimedia Serbia has supported the projects of individuals who significantly contribute to Wiki projects:

  • Realization of cultural, educational and spiritual ties between Serbia and Belarus through Wikipedia and Wikimedia
  • The Hidden World of Serbian Mountains
  • WiHIV
  • The living world of Srem is just a click away
  • Dragačevo Epitaphs
  • Stop marginalization! More content about women and marginalized groups!

Of the six projects that were supported, one was not successfully implemented (The living world of Srem is just a click away) and the funds were returned. Other projects have achieved good results. Within them, a total of 367 articles were written and improved, 4115 multimedia files were uploaded, and 1852 were used to illustrate the articles.

Thematic weeks and edit-a-thons are very important, especially when it comes to connecting Wikimedia Serbia volunteers and the Serbian Wikipedia community. During 2021, six edit-a-thons and four thematic weeks were organized, which can be seen below.

450 articles were written within the edit-a-thons, while the thematic weeks brought 362 articles. Edit-a-thons and thematic weeks also serve to establish new cooperations and the one with the Wikimedians of Mainland China has really stood out.

Wikimedia Serbia organized two online celebrations (Wikipedia Day and Serbian Wikipedia birthday), one offline (Wikimedia Serbia birthday) and three online thematic gatherings during last year.

Wikimedia Award "Branislav Jovanović" was awarded at the WMRS’s birthdayn
 
Marko Stojanović
"I opened an account on Wikipedia on July 19, 2010. From this distance, I can say that this event greatly influenced my professional development. There, I met a number of people who introduced me to the methodology of writing, which would mean a lot to me later when writing books and papers outside of Wikipedia, and all this will result in my history textbook for 8th grade published this year. So far, I have made nearly 40,000 edits, written about 900 new articles and improved many more, was a member of the Board, participated in a large number of workshops and Wiki camps, and I would especially like to emphasize that I was a Wikipedian in residence for two months at the Museum of Yugoslavia in 2018. This program resulted in digitizing the number of photographs, now available on Wikimedia Commons. Finally, I would like to point out that I have met wonderful people on Wikipedia who volunteer to spread free knowledge. I would like to thank the members of the Board for their great part in deciding that I am the one to receive the award in memory of the late Branislav Jovanović, one of the founders of Serbian Wikipedia."

Marko Stojanović, the winner of “Branislav Jovanović” award

There is a trend on Wikipedia to translate articles into other languages, so the works of the heroines of our society can reach readers from the most remote parts of the world.
 
Branka Vučićević Vučković
"We are very happy that the campaign WikiGap broke the record this year. It seems natural to all of us today that women run magazines, write scientific papers, play sports, that they are programmers and start their own start-ups. This has not always been the case, and the fact that women have survived in areas where this was not expected has made today's life much easier. This is our way to thank all those strong and persistent women, but also to encourage the women of the modern age to continue the fight for equality. Of course, Wikipedia helped us with that. Over 50,000 articles written in the campaign since 2018 have been visited over 100 million times. There is a trend on Wikipedia to translate articles into other languages, so the works of the heroines of our society can reach readers from the most remote parts of the world."

Ivana Madžarević, coordinator of WikiGap campaign in Serbia

Successful stories

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The WikiGap campaign broke the record in 2021

The WikiGap campaign, which was held on Serbian Wikipedia in 2021 from March 1 to 8, broke the record in terms of the number of created biographies of women - as many as 113 articles. The campaign included an edit-a-thon on the occasion of International Women's Day, which was an integral part of a global campaign aimed at reducing the gap in terms of content about women on Wikipedia. In Serbia, it was organized for the fourth time in a row by Wikimedia Serbia and the Embassy of Sweden. Having in mind the desire of Wikimedia Serbia to work on increasing diversity, the work Women's Participation in Wikipedia: Cross-Border Balkan Perspective was prepared, which deals with issues of gender equality, greater representation of women who edit Wikipedia and more content related to women

Wikimedia Serbia has increased the international collaboration

In 2021, Wikimedia Serbia has greatly intensified international collaboration, participating in and supporting global campaigns and initiatives. This is part of the organization's strategy and we will continue to do so in the future.

At the beginning of the year, cooperation was established with Wikimedians of Mainland China, within which an action of writing articles about China in Serbia and an action of writing articles about Serbia in China were organized. The joint project of Wikimedia Serbia and Wikimedians of Mainland China has aimed to strengthen the partnership between the two communities and write quality articles on history, geography, civilization, culture, personalities and other related topics.

In addition, WMRS participated in important global campaigns such as WikiGap, Wiki4HumanRights, CEE Spring, Wikipedia Pages Wanting Photos… Within all these initiatives, good results were achieved, both in terms of contributing to free knowledge, but also in terms of cooperation with other chapters.

Challenges and lessons learned

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Oversaturation with online activities

The pandemic has conditioned the transfer of all project activities from offline to online format. In the beginning, it was logical and even desirable in order for community members to become active and thus still have a sense of belonging. However, during 2021, we realized that the community was oversaturated with online events and that participation was low, even when they signed up to attend. Bearing in mind that we considered the organization of an online annual conference of Wikipedians (WikiLive), we listened to the community that had the opportunity to express their opinion by filling out a questionnaire. The conclusion was that live gathering is much more effective, that we should not organize something online at any cost if it will not be successful, and that it is better to wait a while and organize a live event, when the conditions are right.

Soft skills training was not tempting enough for the community

Wikimedia Serbia organized three soft skills training sessions for the community, one of which was realized at the end of 2021, and the other two at the beginning of 2022. The training focused on communication techniques, stress management techniques and burnout prevention, but also methods that trainers can use in workshops and lectures. We believe that training of this type is important and we wanted to strengthen the community with it. However, the response of the community was weak, which is why we noticed that it is better to wait some more time with these training sessions.

    Media report

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

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Please use the exchange rate in your APG proposal.

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
WMF Grant EUR 99,500.00 81,869.77 0.00 17,630.23 0.00 99,500.00 117,708.50 117,708.50 Annual Grant
Revenues from other donations EUR 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 8.50 8.50 0.00 10.06
TOTAL EUR 99,500.00 81,869.77 0.00 17,630.23 8.50 99,508.50 117,708.50 117,718.56

* Provide estimates in US Dollars


In-kind donations

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Donator In-kind donation Value (in EUR)
Heliant d.o.o. Hosting service 156.00
Infinite Media Group Recovery of the Wikimedia Serbia website 250.00
Elementary School “Momčilo Nastasijević”, Gornji Milanovac Space for two accredited seminars 500.00
Youth Initiative for Human Rights Volunteer training space within the "Wiki Loves Pride" project 250.00
Psihopolis Prizes for the "Mental health" edit-a-thon 105.00
Ubuntu Center Prizes for the "Mental health" edit-a-thon 150.00
HR Week, TechSoup Balkans, Catalyst Balkans Weekly ticket for participation in the "HR Week 2021" conference 220.00
TOTAL 1,631.00

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

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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
Office EUR 11,200.00 2,123.08 2,272.95 2,161.48 2,499.94 9,057.45 13,249.60 10,714.96 80.87%
Staff EUR 49,176.00 11,935.32 12,088.43 11,861.57 15,169.53 51,054.85 58,175.21 60,397.89 103.82% By decision of the Board, bonuses were given to employees at the end of the year.
Services EUR 2,804.00 737.35 623.00 590.07 685.15 2,635.57 3,317.13 3,117.88 93.99%
Contingency and Board budget EUR 2,500.00 132.87 86.93 86.51 170.06 476.37 2,957.50 563.55 19.05%
Participation in Events EUR 1,300.00 810.00 0.00 0.00 443.36 1,253.36 1,537.90 1,482.72 96.41% Due to the cancellation of Wikimedia international events, the Board made a decision to redirect 3,200 EUR for the "Wikipedian in Residence" project. The remaining funds were used for covering the registration fees for the online conferences and technical maintenance of the Wikimedia Serbia website.
Education Program EUR 7,300.00 45.50 388.11 286.40 4,137.57 4,857.58 8,635.90 5,746.52 66.54%
GLAM Program EUR 12,150.00 4,404.30 1,463.82 1,189.45 4,769.93 11,827.50 14,373.45 13,991.93 97.35% Funds previously intended for participation in events are also included.
Community Support EUR 13,070.00 369.72 2,374.82 2,180.86 4,963.11 9,888.51 15,461.81 11,698.11 75.66% Funds for the "WikiLive" conference were used to purchase equipment for a new employee and to organize trainings for community members.
TOTAL EUR 99,500.00 20,558.14 19,298.06 18,356.34 32,838.65 91,051.19 117,708.50 107,713.56 91.51%

* Provide estimates in US Dollars


Translated report

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Serbian version of the report is available here.

Compliance

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

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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.

  • There were no significant deviations from our original grant proposal.

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

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

Resources

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Resources to plan for measurement

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Resources for storytelling

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