Grants:Conference/Krishna Chaitanya Velaga/Wikigraphists Bootcamp (2018 India)

statusFunded

Conference & Event Grant

Krishna Chaitanya Velaga/Wikigraphists Bootcamp (2018 India)

The bootcamp is a three-day training workshop to equip the participants with the skills to create illustrations and digital drawings in SVG format, using software like Inkscape.

targeten Wikipedia, Indic language Wikipedias & Wikimedia Commons

strategic priorityImproving Quality (better quality and quantity of content on Wikimedia projects)

event dates28–30 September 2018

amount-local₹ 665,590 345,855 INR

amountUS$10,198.9
as of 03:48, 16 April 2018 (UTC) $5,180

typeindividual

creator• Krishna Chaitanya Velaga

contact• kcvelagawikipedia.de

Friendly space expectations

index

Review your report

Event overview

Purpose and vision

To start with, English Wikipedia has a dedicated team of editors to work on computer generated images, illustrations, and maps. The platform is referred as the Graphics Lab, and the contributors are called Wikigraphists. There, Wikigraphists work to improve the quality of the images that are proposed by the community. This involves work such as extracting key elements from photos, improving the color of images or emphasizing the main subject, stitching multiple images together and often vectorizing images — converting to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). They also create new drawings, diagrams and maps when requests are made to do so. The Graphics lab functions as Illustration workshop, Photography workshop, and Maps workshop, depending upon the type of request by a user.

However, the use of SVG format, and other above mentioned graphic techniques are not seen much seen in practice among the Indian community. The plan is to organize a bootcamp for three days to train the participants on some of the above said skills. The workshop will emphasize on creating illustrations in SVG format using softwares such as Inkspace.

Important details

Proposed date(s)	September/October 2018
Proposed location	PLACEHOLDER
Number of participants	28 (including organizers and trainers)
Event page	Wikigraphists Bootcamp (2018 India)
Primary contact person	Krishna Chaitanya Velaga

Background

Community input

Use the results from the community engagement survey to fill in the table below. Since you cannot cover all topics or meet all needs at one event, prioritisation is important. Please rank the priority of each topic, skill, project or problem as high, medium or low. Finally, please answer the questions below the table.

Report of Community Assessment Survey

	Description	Priority
Strategic discussions: What are the top issues affecting your community that need to be discussed in person?	Plan for more outreach activities on Wikigraphics	3
Capacity development: Are there important skills that many people in your community need to learn?	Skills to create illustrations Inkscape Training Use of SVG format images on Wikimedia projects	1
Working groups: Are there joint projects that need to be planned in person?	Plan ahead to form a graphics lab on Meta-Wiki for the Indian community	2
Community building: Are there other in-person activities are important for community building?	n/a	n/a

Survey analysis:

• How many people did you send the survey to? How many people responded to the survey?

• The survey has been sent to the Indian community mailing lists, to the mailing lists of local languages, and village pumps. 40 people responded.

• Did you see consensus around shared goals that this community wants to focus on in the next 12 months? What were the top 2 interests?

• Illustrations
• SVG format images

• Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the bootcamp to achieve those goals?

• Training on creation of illustrations in SVG format
• Training on use of SVG format, and processing of images.
• Plan ahead, to create a Graphics lab to serve needs of the Indian community.

Note: As per the initial plan made, the survey received responses for Maps, QIs and FPs of Wikimedia Commons. However, these skills were dropped off keeping in view that the mentioned skills are extremely time intensive and may easily spill out of the planned schedule. Discussions regarding these can seen on the talk page and here.

Context

It is helpful to get an understanding of why this event is important to your community, and what experiences you have had in the past. Please answer the applicable questions below.

1. What inspired your community to begin planning this event?

• An image plays a very important role in an article. It may be a photograph of the person, picture of an device, an animal etc. and also the quality & description of an image are very important in encyclopedic context. But all the above said images may not be ready available with the editor or on web in required format under an acceptable license. As a result, the article or the subject may end up having no visual representation. As said, "Picture is worth a thousand words but vector illustrations are even better". It is well and good if an image is available, if not, a vector illustration/drawing can satisfy the need. But editors need to be trained to create such illustration, and that is the purpose of this bootcamp.

2. How does this event relate to other activities that your community is working on?

• As this a bootcamp, future activities will be planned with the trained imparted during this.

3. Please list the priorities identified in the report from the last conference organized by this community. What progress have you made in those areas?

n/a

4. If your community has hosted a similar conference in the past, what key lessons were learned, and what would you like to improve on?

n/a

Plan

Venue and Logistics

1. If the venue is more than 1 hour away from a major airport or transportation hub, how will participants travel to the event venue?

• Most the hotels in Hyderabad are less than 1-2 hr(s) from the major transport hubs. Ola/Uber cabs are available 24/7 from the airport/bus stand/railway station.

2. Is the event venue within walking distance from the hotel? If not, how will people travel between the two locations?

• We'll try to arrange in such a way that venue and accommodation are close, else buses will be hired to transport the participants from hotel to the venue, and back again.

3. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?

• Yes

4. Do you anticipate any challenges with using the space for the event you are planning?

• On ground support may be required to handle local arrangements. So address this, we've included one local Wikimedian of Hyderabad in the team.

Friendly space policy

Please link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event.

• The event's Friendly space policy will based on the General friendly space policy for Wikimedia events, and the Friendly space policy for Wikimedia Foundation events.

Participation

It is crucial that most participants have a minimum level of Wikimedia experience so that they can engage actively in workshops and discussions. Please answer all applicable questions below.

1. Please describe the target audience for this conference or event.

• The bootcamp will focus on editors who are in need of "illustrations that can suffice the need of unavailable images" in their area of interest/work.

2. If your conference has an outreach component, how will you ensure engagement with these participants after the conference, and what impact do you see them having on the projects?

• As the primary objective of this event is an outreach component, the participants engagement will be ensured by creating graphics lab post-event to serve the needs of the Indian community. In detail; on en Wikipedia Graphics Lab, users request the Wikigraphists for maps, illustrations, vector graphics etc. So as the event cannot be attended by everyone, post-event, a similar graphics lab shall be established on Meta-Wiki, where users can put up their request according to their needs. Also further training on maps and other aspects will be planned for users who are consistently working in this area.

3. Are you thinking about inviting WMF staff to attend or participate in the event? If yes, please list individuals or teams who you may want to invite, or describe how you would like WMF staff to be involved in the event.

• No

Scholarships

1. How many scholarships would you like to offer?

S.No	Type	Description	Quantity
1	Local	Participants from Swecha Foundation	3
2	National	Wikimedians from India	12
3	International	One Wikimedian each from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka	3
Total			18

2. What expenses will the scholarship cover?

• Food, travel, accommodation, and any other expenses incurred in regard with the event.

3. How will scholarship recipients be selected?

• Applications for scholarships will be reviewed by the Scholarship Committee, comprising of experienced Wikimedians & community leaders, and with the help of trainers. The participants will be selected in the following ratio; Intermediate skill level and above: Beginner and equivalents=1:1 i.e. at least 9 participants will have already done some work in this area, and rest will be the ones who're in need of this training, and have identified themselves to work in a specific area of illustrations. In this way, we can ensure that this training is more interactive for the participants.

3. What are tasks that scholarship recipients are required to do on pre-event basis?

• As said above, the scholarship recipients will be a mix of semi-skilled editors and beginners. The latter will be asked to go through the basics of Inkscape, and practice a bit from the online resources, before they actually attend the event. All the participants will have a prerequisite to identify at least 2–3 illustrations or images they intend to create during the workshop. In this is way, it'll be easier to project the outcomes, and also for them to learn the skills for their area of need.

4. What are tasks that participants are required to do on post-event basis?

• After the event, each participant is expected to create at least five illustrations in the next six months and fifty-percent of these will be used in the articles. Also a graphics lab shall be created and Meta-Wiki, and the participants will take requests from the community and work on them.

Resources and risks

Describe the resource potential for successfully executing this project and the key risks/threats.

Resources

Organizing team

Team	Name(s)
WMF Liaison / Program lead	Krishna Chaitanya Velaga
Fiscal Sponsor (CIS) Liaison	Tanveer Hasan Ahmed Khan
Scholarships	Satdeep Gill, Col. Ashwin Baindur (retd.)
Logistics	Yohann Varun Thomas
Communications	Suyash Dwivedi
Event Program	Sailesh Patnaik
Support and Safety	Manavpreet Kaur

Risks

Risk	Activities to minimize or overcome risk
Selection the participants who'll be committed to continue to share the training received and share them with the community later on	Detailed application process. Members of scholarship team having diverse experience. Involving the trainers in the scholarship selection process.
Gender domination	At least 20% of the participants will be women.
Increase in travel costs (flight fares as an example)	Speeding up the selection procedure. Final list of the participants to be notified by the end of June. Bookings to be made by the end of July.

Budget

Please provide a detailed breakdown of project expenses according to the instructions here. See Budget Guidelines.

Event budget table

Serial	Description	No. of units	Cost per unit (INR)	Total cost (INR)	Total cost (USD)	Notes
Travel
1	Local scholarship recipients	3	₹1,200	₹3,600	US$55.16	from Swecha Foundation
2	National scholarship recipients	12	₹7,000	₹84,000	US$1,287.14
3	International scholarship recipients	3	₹25,000	₹75,000	US$1,149.23	Including possible Visa costs
3	Organizers	7	₹7,000	₹49,000	US$750.83
4	Trainers	3	₹7,000	₹21,000	US$321.78
5	Airport / bus stand / railway station transfers	28	₹1,800	₹50,400	US$772.28	Transfers both at Hyderabad, and residence city included
7	Transport from hotel to venue and vice versa	Variable	Variable	₹15,000	US$229.84
Total				₹298,000	US$4,566.28
Accomodation
1	On the days of event	14 rooms for 3 days	₹2,300	₹96,600	US$1,480.21	On double sharing basis
2	Post event	5 rooms	₹2,300	₹11,500	US$176.21	For one night, on double sharing basis For participants who might need to stay back in regard with the travel plans
Total				₹108,100	US$1,656.43
Food
1	On the days of event	30 pax	₹2,500	₹75,000	US$1,149.23	Includes lunch, breakfast, dinner, and snack for three days
2	Pre/post-event days	Variable	Variable	₹24,000	US$367.75
Total				₹99,000	US$1,516.99
Venue & logistics
1	Venue	1	₹0	₹0	US$0	Venue is being provided by the Swecha Foundation for free
2	Internet	Variable	Variable	₹12,000	US$183.87
3	Rent for audio and video aids	Variable	Variable	₹16,000	US$245.16	Includes projector, mikes, speakers etc, for three days
4	Conference kits	30	₹600	₹18,000	US$275.81	Includes a bag, pen, notebook, ID card, stickers etc.
5	Electric extension cords	Variable	Variable	₹3,000	US$45.97
6	T-shirts	12	₹400	₹4,800	US$73.55	For organizers and trainers
Total				₹53,800	US$
Miscellaneous
1	Site visits	3	₹12,000	₹36,000	US$551.63	Two-day visits by the Program lead and the Logistics organizer Includes possible meets with Fiscal Sponsor and Swecha Foundation
2	Unforeseen expenditure	Variable	Variable	₹50,000	US$766.15
Total				₹86,000	US$1,317.79
Total of all categories				₹644,900	US$9,881.86
Administrative overhead				₹64,490	US$988.18	Fund handling & financial documentation charges (10%) by the Fiscal sponsor
Grand total				₹709,390	US$10,870.0

Total cost of event

• ₹709,390
• US$10,870.0 [from Oanda as of 03:47, 16 April 2018 (UTC)]

Total amount requested from the Conference and Event Grants program

• ₹665,590
• US$10,198.9 [from Oanda as of 03:47, 16 April 2018 (UTC)]

Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this event, and amounts funded

• The costs for airfare for trainers, conference kits and T-shirts i.e. a total ₹43,800 (US$671.15), to borne by CIS-A2K.

Please confirm that you are aware that changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

YES, Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 14:18, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

Discussion

Endorsements

Do you think this project should be selected for a Conference Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. Other feedback, questions or concerns from community members are also highly valued, but please post them on the talk page of this proposal.

•  Support Good Proposal -Jayprakash >>> Talk 13:43, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Most awaited bootcamp for commons users my full support--Suyash Dwivedi (talk) 16:21, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Great opportunity for Wikimedia commons users--Biplab Anand (Talk) 17:04, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Good proposal and wiki commons user the best project --Lokesha kunchadka (talk) 17:17, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Definitely a sensible and relatively cost efficient proposal for a much needed effort in India. Soni (talk) 17:25, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Good proposal Sushma_Sharma (talk) 17:30, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Interesting -BHARATHESHA ALASANDEMAJALU (talk) 17:37, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support very interesting and SupportSidheeq (talk) 17:47, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Muzammil (talk) 18:03, 4 March 2018 (UTC).
•  Strong support Raju Jangid (talk) 18:14, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Strong support Great things for wikimedia --Aliva Sahoo (talk) 19:35, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support I welcome focused training events like this. There is a need for this skill across Indian language communities. --Ravi (talk) 19:55, 4 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support this is going to be an interesting conference for Indic Languages. -Afifa Afrin (talk) 01:23, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Good! - Satpal Dandiwal (talk) 05:26, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
• Wonderful event, great initiative, Very helpful for the Indic language communities. Strong Support from my side. — Tulsi Bhagat (talk) 05:31, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Quality images,better vectors and illustrations will have good impact on every languages of Wikipedia through commons. Sumita Roy Dutta (talk) 05:57, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Strong support A good opportunity for all Wikipedians --Rajeeb Dutta 11:41, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
• Much needed. naveenpf (talk) 06:42, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support --Kritzolina (talk) 07:46, 5 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Strong support. Great opportunity for Wikimedia commons contributors. --Nirajan pant (talk) 04:55, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
• Need of more graphics, images or photographs in any given article. Need of graphics that are purposeful, contextually appropriate, illustrative, good quality, clear, schematic, correct (scientifically or content-wise), descriptive and easy to understand with descriptions and captions in native languages. Need of editable images to allow modifications according to needs or to change captions and descriptions in local languages. Need of easy, freely usable soft-wares to create and edit images Need of training to use such soft-wares. It seems that all such needs will be fulfilled by this workshop. Rajendra prabhune (talk) 07:52, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Strong support Great initiative.Godric ki Kothri (talk) 11:53, 8 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Strong support For a long time, Increasing the degree of familiarity and enhancing the sense of purpose among Indian Wikipedians on creating critical graphic content for Wikimedia articles has been a pressing need for the popularization and receptiveness for Wikimedia readership. Though there are some Wikipedians who can generate wonderful images and infographics, they are quite few in numbers and are often stressed with more urgent work such as day-to-day patrolling and content management. Arranging an in-person training and workshop session and offering an opportunity to a multitude of users from various Indian Wikimedia communities will certainly scale up the prospects of building up quality graphic content in many topics, especially those related to India and the subcontinent. Particularly in the Indian scenario, such a bootcamp will result in content improvement, not just in one language community but more than at least a dozen Wikipedias and commons, as most images can be easily replicated with annotations and mark-ups in each such languages. It's indeed a great idea and I endorse this event wholeheartedly. Viswaprabha 18:21, 10 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Serves a noble cause and advances our purpose --—UY Scuti ^Talk 14:20, 11 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Support Sumitsurai (talk) 10:28, 13 March 2018 (UTC)
•  Strong support - Diptanshu 💬 07:43, 5 April 2018 (UTC)
• Comments - see talk page. Shyamal (talk) 11:41, 27 March 2018 (UTC)
• Comment Some changes have been proposed to the initial program, please see Talk:Wikigraphists_Bootcamp_(2018_India)#Proposed_changes_and_discussion. Regards, Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk — mail) 08:46, 5 April 2018 (UTC)