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Grants:Conference/WMTR/Wikidata Trainings For Turkic Wikimedians/Report

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Report accepted
This report for a Conference Grant approved in FY 2021-22 has been reviewed and accepted by the Wikimedia Foundation.



Overview

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Event

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Wikidata Trainings For Turkic Wikimedians (or Wikidata Istanbul Conference) was a 3-day international Wikimedia event held between 21-23 October 2022 in Istanbul for the Turkic Wikimedians.

 
Wikidata 10th birthday cake

Purpose

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The event was designed to bring the active volunteers of the Wikimedia projects from the Turkic world together for the following purposes:

  • Increasing their Wikidata skills;
  • Increasing their awareness about how to use Wikidata effectively for Wikimedia projects and beyond;
  • Provide a floor for getting to know each other and discussing any Wikimedia-related issues;
  • Celebrating the 10th birthday of Wikidata!

Audience

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The event was open to anyone who registered in advance. The target audience was the active contributors of a Wikimedia project and Wikimedia volunteers in any capacity from the Turkic world and regional communities. A number of scholarships were offered to cover the cost of selected individuals' travel and accommodation to attend training days using funding provided by the Wikimedia Foundation. The participants from the Turkic and regional communities and those from Turkey who live outside of Istanbul were eligible to apply for scholarships.

Language(s) of the event

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This was a three-language event. The presentations were made in one of those three languages, and live interpretation was offered in other Turkish, Russian, and English. Onboarding material was provided in three languages. The event pages and registration forms were also offered in all three languages.

Organization Team

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Organizing team meeting in August 2022

The event was organized by the Wikimedians of Turkic Languages User Group in cooperation with the Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey with the financial support of the Wikimedia Foundation. The program team was composed of ten people from those user groups and from Üsküdar University, where the event was held.

Logistics

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A truly first experience

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This event was the first big international Wikimedia event organized by the Wikimedians of Turkic Languages User Group. The venue of the event, Turkey, was a country that is unfamiliar with hosting Wikimedia events. Since its establishment, the Wikimedians of Turkic Languages User Group has been meeting online and additionally had some experience organizing hybrid events where members from only one country meet in-person and others join online. This was the first time members from different countries were together in the same room. Therefore for the first time, it was required to make arrangements for international travel, accommodation, food, and free-time activities. All of this was a big experience for the team.

 

What made the work even more exciting and challenging was knowing that this would not be an event made with the participation of those active Wikimedians who are regular attendees of Wikimedia events. We knew that for most local and international participants, this event was going to be the first Wikimedia event in their lives. For many international participants, this was their first trip abroad. These qualities of attendees put more responsibility on the organization team to create a welcoming atmosphere and provide good support in all arrangements related to the travel and event experience.

 

Additionally, the committee decided that the event had to be a three-language event; therefore, for the first time, simultaneous interpretation had to be provided in Turkish, English, and Russian.

 

Members of the group managed the logistics; the team members living in Turkey mostly played a role in finding a suitable venue and translators, making accommodation and food arrangements, and planning the social events.

Üsküdar University

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The venue was the key factor for the success of the event. We were lucky that Üsküdar University, a good partner that hosted two previous events of Wikimedia Community User Group Turkey, accepted to use its conference hall located in a central place for free. The hall had experienced technical staff, security, and cleaning personnel to ensure everything was handled professionally.

Whenever possible, we preferred buying services from the Üsküdar University personnel and their partner organizations and enjoyed their experiences and better prices (i.e., we hired simultaneous interpretation equipment and booths from a company who have worked in the same hall for many previous events; we bought the lunches and snacks from the school cafeteria and school bakery; assisted by a photographer from the school...)

Volunteer students

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One advantage of being in the university was being able to quickly form a team of conference assistants from the university students. The 15-member team consisted of Turkish and international students. All of them did speak English since the instruction language is English, and two international students also could speak Russian. Therefore it was possible to ensure there were no language barriers between the participants and conference assistants who worked at the registration desk and in the conference hall.

We had two meetings with the assistance team before the event to explain their tasks. We also talked about the Wikimedia movement, Wikimedians, the global and regional Wikimedia events, and the projects, including Wikipedia and Wikidata. We were expecting to create an interest in Wikimedia projects that would go beyond the event. We were delighted to see that during the event, the students in the conference hall were not limiting their role with the tasks given to them (running a microphone around the conference room, reminding remaining time for the speaker..) but listening to the presentations and asking questions. We are further excited that less than a month after the event, the first Wikipedia University Club in the country was established at that university.

Hotel

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Thanks to the central location of the university, accommodation options were plenty. We were able to accommodate the guests at one hotel within walking distance of the conference hall. Considering traffic problems in Istanbul, having the hotel within walking distance effectively ensured the conference sessions without delay.

Interpration

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During the conference, 3 interpreters worked in and from Turkish, English, and Russian languages. They were provided information about Wikidata and Wikimedia Movement before the event. Some materials were shared for their preparation (Wikidata-related speech videos and the presentation documents of the presenters of this event), three-language glossary about Wikidata was prepared by the organization team for the interpreters.

Travel arrangements

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The members of the organization team organized the travels for all participants. The main difficulty was that we had many participants from territories of the Russian Federation, and when Russia announced partial mobilization, some had to cancel their participation. The organization team had to make many changes related to travel arrangements, and they had to deal with many last-minute changes, which made the work very stressful.

Completion of the metro extension line to Sabiha Gökçen Airport (Turkey’s 2nd busiest airport) right before the event was a great development. This solved the transportation problem of those participants who arrived at that airport. For those who arrived at Istanbul Airport (Turkey's 1'st busiest airport), our group members provided all assistance needed, including meeting the guests at the airport late at night.

 

Social events

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The program included those activities for the night of the second and third day of the conference: Going to the European side of the city together to walk along Istiklal Avenue and have dinner at a restaurant at the end of the 2'nd day, having a 2-hour boat trip at Boshphorous at the end of the 3'rd day. The biggest challenge was the great difficulty of finding transportation to go back to the hotel after dinner night. This resulted in staying longer than the planned time in the restaurant.

Program

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Design Process

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The Wikidata Training for Turkic Wikimedians was a single-track event. The program was designed to help about those common shortcomings of Turkic language-speaking communities:

  • lack of awareness and skills on Wikidata;
  • lack of awareness of fellow Turkic-speaking Wikimedians' works and projects;
  • lack of engagement with Movement-wide discussions and 2030 Strategy.
 
Asaf Bartov during Istanbul WikidataCon

Between June-August, the organization team made a list of the suggested topics and speakers who could give training/presentations that would be helpful about the above topics. Contacted the prospective speakers and asked their opinions about what they would like to present for Turkic communities and their availability for online or in-person participation as speakers. It was decided to have 14 speakers (2 online, 12 in-person) giving 16 pieces of training/presentations. The schedule was prepared at the end of August when the members of the organization team from different countries and cities of Turkey met in-person in Istanbul for the first time.

 

After the draft schedule was made, the team asked for support from the program officer and received recommendations about arranging the beginning time, duration of the sessions and breaks, and time allocated for social events.

 

The opening and closing sessions were designed in October. The president of Üsküdar University was included to give the opening speech, and committee members to make the welcome speech was decided.

Outline

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Day 1 and Day 2
  • Wikidata-related presentations starting from beginner-level introduction to Wikidata.
  • Morning sessions allocated for training to understand how Wikidata items are created and how to query
  • Afternoon sessions allocated to presentations focusing on inspiring works based on Wikidata, and discussions about the future of Wikidata. Also, presentations of representatives of two other open-culture organizations in Turkey (Creative Commons Turkey and Yercizenler - Open Street Map Turkey).
 
Day 3
  • presentations of representatives of Wikimedia communities to give the floor for inspiring each other's work
  • a presentation about the 2030 Movement Strategy implementation from an MCDC representative.

Points to consider for interpretation

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The presentations were made in one of those three languages: Turkish, English, or Russian. One point that was taken into account in making the program was the language of the presentation. To give interpreters the opportunity to work in turn, we have put presentations in different languages one after another. We paid attention not to have presentations in the same language for more than one hour, and when one person had training sessions that took more than one hour, we put a coffee break after one hour.

Outcomes and Impact

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  • Did your event have any impact that you did not expect, positive or negative?
This event was organized to bring Turkic Wikimedians from different communities. Given the level of participation in outreach events is very low in the Turkish editor community in Turkey, the number of participants from different cities of Turkey, the host country, was not very high as expected. Still, organizing an international event in Istanbul encouraged some members of the Turkish editor community living in Istanbul to participate in a Wikimedia event for the first time physically, and we are glad to hear how the positive and inclusive atmosphere in the event encouraged some community members for being a part of future outreach events!
During the sessions, the organization committee was assisted by a group of young people who are the students of the university hosting the event. Those students engaged with the conference more than we had expected. For example, in the sessions, they not only carried a microphone to the participants for the questions; they took the microphone and asked their questions to the presenter. We are excited that less than a month after the event, the first Wikipedia University Club in the country was established at that university.
  • Please tell us about the top 2-3 innovative (new to you and your community) or things you tried this conference.
This conference was not only the first big international Wikimedia event organized by WM Turkic UG but also the first one hosted in Turkey, so everything we did was very new to our community. Turkic UG has always been meeting online or making a hybrid event where members from one country meet in person, and others join online. This time members from different countries were together in the same room. For the first time, we had to make arrangements for travel, accommodation, food, and free-time activities. So, in short, what was new for us and what we did in the first place is:
1. The first big conference for UG and organizers.
2. The first meeting was translated and available in three languages.
3. The first organization cooperated with one of the leading universities in Turkey.
4. The first conference for the Turkic-speaking community.
  • Were there any significant changes from the initial grant proposal?
We have planned this conference by 2020, and the initial version of the application was created in January 2020. But unfortunately, two months later, the coronavirus outbreak broke out, which is why we canceled the event and only managed to hold it two years later. The biggest change was in the budget of the conference due to price changes after the pandemic. In addition, we have strengthened the hygiene requirements. There were no more changes.
  • What do you think will be the long term impact of this conference?
First, this event brought members from many different Turkic communities together in an in-person meeting for the first time. The event's focus was Wikidata, but this opportunity of being together created a relevant atmosphere for discussing problems and difficulties of our Wikimedia communities and searching for ways of collaboration. The long-term impact of this could be creating a hub of Turkic Wikimedians.
Secondly, we consider this event concluded very successfully, and this experience encouraged the organizers to organize future international events. The team has already started to work on the expression of interest for Wikimania. Therefore the long-term impact of this event could be that Istanbul and some other places in the region where no international events had been organized previously become hosting Wikimedians.
Also, we hope that the people who took part in the conference, in the next, share their experience gained during this conference with their local community. We are in constant contact with the participants of our event and are ready to assist in this direction.
  • Do your best to estimate the number of attendees in your event that have never attended any Wikimedia event before. How were you able to support and engage this group?
Indeed, there were 19 people at our event who had never attended a Wikimedia event before and for whom our event was the first of its kind. We helped them as much as possible in adapting during the conference, as well as experienced conference participants gave them their advice and actively communicated with them, sharing their impressions. The Organizing Committee helped such participants as much as possible in all matters.
  • Do your best to estimate the number of participants who have been involved in Wikimedia activities for more than 5 years. How were you able to support and engage this group?
There were at least 18 people at this conference who have been involved in Wikimedia projects for more than 5 years. Despite the fact that all of these individuals are not new to projects or the Wikimedia movement, the topics of the conference were still new to them, and we assume that they learned a lot about the projects and the Wikimedia movement.

Learning and next steps

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Conferences and events do not always go according to plan! Please use this section considering the perspective of what future event organizers within our movement organizing a similar style conference can learn. Make sure to include lessons around work with external/ internal partners; your communication efforts; your work with the community and volunteers etc.

  • What would you do differently next time and why? Please share with us if there's anything you wouldn't do or something future organizers should avoid.
Since this was our first big conference, we did everything for the first time and learned everything along the way. Now we have sufficient experience for the following events and we would do the following aspects differently:
1. We could have focused on communicating the event better in the media before and during the event. It is important since being able to organize such an event could help support a positive image in the larger society and potential partners institutions about Wikimedia projects.
2. We see a better estimate of the risks. During this event, a war broke out in our region, due to which we had to change processes many times, including logistical issues (it was difficult to organize tickets for people who lived in one of the warring countries).
3. We will improve the work of translators and provide them with more materials in advance about the topics of our conference.
4. We will improve our social activities during the conference to avoid excesses during the social hour.
  • Was there any non-financial support that the Wikimedia Foundation could have provided that would have better supported you in achieving your goals?
No, we got all the help we needed for this event. Also, the program officer helped us in all matters, which made our work easier during this time.
  • What would you recommend on a local and/or regional level as the best next step to leverage your success and momentum? (Please consider potential new allies and partners; internal wiki collaborations; future projects etc. We don't expect you to necessarily do those, we are only looking for more ideas from your own perspective.)
We are taking some steps to improve regional unity and collaboration. One of our plans is to create a Turkic Hub that will bring together all communities and affiliations in the region. We will all work together to improve our processes for the development of projects and the Wikimedia movement in the region. Also, this event began a new cooperation between the local affiliation and educational institutions in Turkey. After the conference, at the university where we held our event for free, WikiClub was created for students for the first time in Turkey. This proves the success of our work.
  • Does your organizing team / affiliate / user group have any plans to follow up with your attendees in the future or support efforts related to the outcomes of this conference within your community?
 
Wikidata trainings in Tbilisi
We do have regular bimonthly online meetings. We would like to follow up with the outcomes of the conference by getting feedback from affiliate members attending those events. Direct communication with the attendees continues through the telegram channel, as the members use this channel, especially for their efforts related to entering the Turkish lexeme to Wikidata.
Also, through constant communication and our efforts, the representatives of Wikimedia UG Georgia, who attended the training in Istanbul, conducted a series of trainings in Tbilisi for the local Georgian wikicommunity. At the training, they shared the experience they received at this event.
  • Please add any 3 operational recommendations for future events organizers.
1. Calculate your total expenses more carefully when preparing your budget.
2. Consider all the details when preparing a social event so that you do not face a surprise.
3. Stay tuned for updates on what's happening in the region or globally that may affect your event.

Financial documentation

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This section describes the grant's use of funds

Budget table

Please list all project expenses in a table here, with descriptions. Review the instructions here. These expenses should be listed in the same format as the budget table in your approved submission so that anyone reading this report may be able to easily compare budgeted vs. actual expenses.

Nr. Item description Budget Final cost Currency Notes
1 Travel 18,050.00 18,205.00 USD Due to the war in the region, we had to cancel and rebook flights for participants many times.
2 Lodging 17,480.00 17,480.00 USD
3 Catering 6,000.00 6,000.00 USD
4 Staff 6,000.00 5,935.00 USD
5 Promo packet for participants 3,000.00 2,920.00 USD
6 Working material 2,200.00 2,256.00 USD
7 Translation service 3,920.00 3,450.00 USD
8 Technical support 1,050.00 1,190.00 USD
9 Unforeseen expenses 1,000.00 520.00 USD

If you have any tips or insights on creating a budget or allocating funds, please feel welcome to share!

Summary of funding

Total project budget (from your approved grant submission): 60,000.00 USD

Total amount requested from WMF (from your approved grant submission): 60,000.00 USD

Total amount received from WMF: 59,988.00 USD

Total amount spent on this project (this total should be the total calculated from the table above): 57,956.00 USD

Total amount of WMF grant funds spent on this project: 57,956.00 USD

Are there additional sources of revenue that funded any part of this project? List them here.

Remaining funds

Are there any grant funds remaining?

Answer YES.

Please list the total amount (specify currency) remaining here. (This is the amount you did not use, or the amount you still have after completing your grant.)

  • 2,032.00 USD
Remaining funds have been used or will be used for other approved mission-aligned activities. This use has been requested in writing and approved by WMF.

Evaluation

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Optional - Event Evaluation Toolkit - In this page you can find a list of basic questions that the Wikimedia Foundation uses to evaluate large movement events like Wikimania and other regional and thematic events. Feel free to use any part of these questionnaires to evaluate your own event. You will find: Registration Questions; Post-event questions for participants and Follow-up questions for participants.

Anything else

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