Grants:IEG/Increase Awareness of and participation in Indic language Wikipedias in Colorado
This project is funded by an Individual Engagement Grant
Project idea
editWhat is the problem you're trying to solve?
editThe Indian diaspora in the Global North is largely unaware of and unwilling to participate in content creation on Wikipedia. They are a very powerful group of people with access to excellent connectivity, language skills, Indic cultural background and time. They seem to be reluctant to participate on account of unfamiliarity and lack of opportunity to specifically edit Indic wikiprojects. Scripting/typing barriers, real and perceived, also contribute a lot to this hesitation.
What is your solution?
edit- Outreach
- Tutor in native language typing
- Phonetic
- Inscript
- Other
- Conduct Wikiacademies
- Hold edit-a-thons
- Hold edit competitions
- Focused editing
Project goals
editI will reach out to 50+ people with preliminary information about wikiprojects to inform them about the ease and accessibility of editing Wikimedia projects in their native language. I will encourage them to use their expertise, time and resources to enrich these projects and in turn, their own language, culture, ethos. In the process, I am hoping to find future volunteers/champions for similar activities to bring in diverse groups of editors to many Wikimedia projects.
Project plan
editActivities
edit- Reach 50 people
- Inspire/motivate 30 to participate in native language typing exercises
- Hold 10 wikiacademies/edit sessions
- Hold 5 edit-a-thons with increasing edit and article counts
- Hold 1 edit competition over a set (2 week?) period
- Recognize participation
- Identify future champions/volunteers
- Assess portability and expandability of this project/program
Budget
edit- Outreach - Flyers, Meeting Venue, supplies: 150 USD
- Food - Meetings, wikiacademies, edit-a-thons (10 instances * $25): 250 USD
- Wikimedia merchandise for volunteer giveaways (shirts, pins, coffee mugs, stickers and other age-appropriate merchandise): 250 USD
- Competition prizes: 150 USD
- Total Budget: (Amount) 800 USD
Community engagement
edit- Initial contact - Community get-togethers, semi-formal meetings, Diwali show announcements
- Continuing - Community newsletters, email splats
- Edit-a-thons - Community newsletters, email splats
- Editing competition - kickoff meeting, review and prize distribution
Sustainability
editParticipants will realize that editing an Indic language Wikipedia is neither difficult nor prohibited for a layperson and they will continue to contribute at a steady pace, enriching said projects. In addition, volunteers and champions will engage other communities and groups to multiple this effort.
Measures of success
editNeed target-setting tips? Note: in addition to your project-specific measures of success, you will also be asked to report on some Global Metrics at the end of your final report. Please keep this in mind as you plan, and we'll support you as you begin your project.
- 50+ people reached
- 30 participants in native language typing exercises
- 10 wikiacademies/edit sessions held
- 5 edit-a-thons held with increasing edit and article counts
- 1 edit competition over a set (2 week?) period held
- 3,000 edits over 100+ articles
Get involved
editParticipants
editUser:अभय नातू - w:mr admin, 'crat with 10 years of online editing. 100,000+ manual edits. Worked with countless new members online and offline to mentor them on wiki editing skills. Participated in various meetups, consultations and brainstorming sessions to plan and execute on/offline activities (edit-a-thons, academies, etc.)
Community Notification
editThe community will be notified at w:mr:विकिपीडिया:चावडी/प्रगती and similar pages on w:gu, w:hi, w:te, w:ta, etc. after this proposal reaches a steady state.
Online communities have been notified at --
- Marathi - w:mr:विकिपीडिया:चावडी/प्रगती#प्रस्ताव
- Gujarati - w:gu:વિકિપીડિયા:ચોતરો#પ્રોજેક્ટ્ અને ગ્રાન્ટ પ્રસ્તાવ
- Hindi - w:hi:विकिपीडिया:चौपाल#Individual grant/project proposal
- Telugu - w:te:వికీపీడియా:రచ్చబండ#Individual grant/project proposal
- Tamil - w:ta:விக்கிப்பீடியா:ஆலமரத்தடி#Individual Grant/project proposal
Endorsements
editDo you think this project should be selected for an Individual Engagement Grant? Please add your name and rationale for endorsing this project in the list below. (Other constructive feedback is welcome on the talk page of this proposal).
- Community member: add your name and rationale here.
- I fully support of such grassroot level efforts. Hargup (talk) 17:49, 23 September 2015 (UTC)
- This is the first time i have heard of such indic initiative in US. Appears to be good. I support. --Sushant savla (talk) 14:39, 30 September 2015 (UTC)
- Full support. Abhay Natu is great Wikipedian with exceptional skills. All the best AbhiSuryawanshi (talk) 00:12, 11 October 2015 (UTC)
- I support Abhay Natu in this initiative. Prabodh1987 (talk) 16:54, 12 October 2015 (UTC)