Grants:PEG/Olaf Kosinsky/Wikipedians in European Parliament

Funded with past due report

This submission to the Wikimedia Foundation Grants Program was funded in the fiscal year 2013-14. This is a grant to an individual.

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Basic information

Project details

Official project name

Wikipedians in European Parliament

Project start date (include month, day, and year)

February 2nd, 2014

Project completion date (include month, day, and year)

February 7th, 2014

Please describe the project in 1–2 sentences

Invite European Wikipedians and Commons photo- and videographer to come to the European Parliament in Strasbourg to take pictures and videos of European politicians to improve their articles. The date has been arranged by the European Parliament with the politicians in order to avoid interference with the upcoming elections and budget deliberations. As the next elections of the European Parliament are upcomin next may new articles and photos will receive additional attention.

Financial details

Currency requested

EUR

Amount requested in currency requested

10,000 EUR

Equivalent amount in US$ on the date of this submission

13,655 USD

List the exchange rate used to calculate the amount listed in US$

1,3655 USD per EUR (Google conversion rate as per December 20th)

Project lead details

See the eligibility requirements for more information.

Are you an organization, an individual, or an individual submitting on

behalf of a group? INDIVIDUAL

Project lead name

Olaf Kosinsky

Project lead username or email

User:Olaf Kosinsky - Special:EmailUser/Olaf_Kosinsky

Project lead title (position within group), if any

Project Manager

Goals and measures of success

Project goal

Please briefly describe what will be accomplished if the project is successful.

Project goal

for Wikimedia Commons: get a number of high quality, free licensed images of MEPs and the European Parliament
for Wikipedia: photos for the articles of MEPs and the European Parliament
for our movement:
1. attention and positive impression by MEPs and staff of the European Parliament, contacts which might be helpful in our future for other projects
2. exchange among Wikimedians from different countries while actually creating content

Measures of success

Please provide a list of measurable criteria that will be used determine how successful the project is.

You will need to report on the success of the project according to these measures after the project is completed.

Measures of success

at least 1,000 new photographs of MEPs and the European Parliament overall
at least 200 new photographs of MEPs which did not have pictures yet, incl. 200 Wikipedia articles with new images in several languages
100 new or better articles on MEPs in english plus 100 new articles in other languages in at least four other languages
at least five different chapters involved (sending and supporting volunteers)
similar projects start to happen in other countries due to transfer of ideas and experience how to do this kind of project

Project scope and activities

This section describes what will happen if this project is funded. Who will do what, and when?

List of activities

get in touch with European Parliament on an official basis, present the project idea and get approval - done
secure support from European parties to be interested in the project and to invite their MEPs to participate - done
agree on a timeframe with MEPs, parties and EP when such a project may happen - done - February 2nd - 7th, 2014
secure basic funding for the project itself - this grant request
coordinate with European chapters about support of local Wikipedians and loan of hardware - in progress, preliminary agreements received from WMAT, WMCH, WMFR, WMDE
arrange cheap accommodation for volunteers near Strasbourg - in progress, awaiting quotes
arrange daily transportation from accommodation to EP - projected, rented mini buses may be best option
receive approval for funding
confirm event towards EP and parties
call for volunteers, volunteers request and get their participation approved by local chapter as per local processes - in progress
mail to 764 MEP January 27th
arrival on site, briefing and setup - February 2nd
photo shooting, video creation - February 3rd - 6th (operation hours: Mon 15-21; Tue 8:30-21:30; Wed 8:30-21:30; Thu 8:30-14:00; total 37,5 hrs.)
dismantling, debriefing - February 7th
editing, upload - February 2nd ff.
finalising budget, project report, grant report - ~February 28th

Budget and resources

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

Grantees are subject to line-item scrutiny of expenses. Changes to the approved budget beyond 10% in any category must be approved in advance.

Project budget table

Number	Category	Item description	Unit	Number of units	Cost per unit	Total cost	Currency	Notes
List of all Expenses
1	Accommodation	cheap hotel incl. breakfast in Germany	night	5 n. x 45 pers.	60 45	13,500 10,125	EUR	not far from Strasbourg but available and considerably cheaper than in the city, shared double rooms updated figure according to quote from Kehl Tourist Office
2	Travel Costs	arrival / departure of volunteers	trip	2 t. x 45 pers.	100	9,000	EUR	return trip travel costs of volunteers coming to Strasbourg, estimated average cost
3	Catering	lunch / dinner	meal	8 m. x 45 pers.	20	7,200	EUR
4	Travel Costs	between hotel and EP	bus	4 b. x 7 days 1 b. x 4 days	150 360	4,200 1,440	EUR	9 seat van incl. insurance local bus company which picks the group up in the morning and bring us back in the night
5	Equipment	rent for additional equipment	lumpsum	1	2,500	2,500	EUR	contingency, in case additional equipment for photo or video will be needed (such as lights, flash units, lenses...), should we need an insurance to cover the private equipment of the photographers we will pay it from this budget - availability of private equipment will increase the need for insurance but decrease the need for rented equipment, hence the amount needed should balance
6	Make-Up	utilities and consumables	lumpsum	1	1,500	1,500	EUR	estimated amount based on experience from past projects, politicians need to be styled for professional pictures, WMDE provides a make-up box with lights and mirrors, cosmetician students will take care of the process, item covers supplies needed
7	Travel Costs	project management, preparation	lumpsum	1 trip	250	250	EUR	complete cost for one trip of the project manager before the actual event, includes hotel and train ticket
8	Communication Cost	project management, preparation	lumpsum	1	300	300	EUR	to cover roaming costs or purchase of a french prepaid SIM card
9	Marketing Material	t-shirts or shirts for volunteers	pc.	70	-	-	-	sponsors wanted: unified clothing for Wikipedians, 2 pc. per person (as they will be weared one week long)
10	Marketing Material	informational brochure for MEPs and visitors	lumpsum	1	200	200	EUR	brochure about Wikipedia / Wikimedia and this project to be given to any interested person such as the MEPs
Expenses Total:						38,650	EUR
List of projected Sponsoring
11	Grant	this WMF grant covering basic project costs	lumpsum	1	10,000	10,000	EUR	general cost which are not part of direct participation costs plus contingency in case of problems - any remaining funds will be returned to WMF
12	Chapter Support	travel support for volunteers from their local chapters	travel	45 pers.	700	31,500	EUR	return trip travel costs of volunteers coming to Strasbourg, estimated average cost
13	Chapter Support	borrowed equipment from hardware pools	-	-	-	-	-	DSLRs and flash units, background, video camera de:Wikipedia:Technikpool/Geräteliste [https://mitglieder.wikimedia.at/Projekte/Communitybudget_Fotoausr%C3%BCstung#Ausr.C3.BCstung WMAT] etc.
14	Sponsoring	shirts for volunteers	pc.	70	-	-	-	sponsors wanted: unified clothing for Wikipedians, 2 pc. per person (as they will be weared one week long)
Sponsoring Total:						41,500	EUR
Contingency:						2,850	EUR	7% contingency hotel prices and bus rent are not fixed yet not all chapters have confirmed support yet, keep some budget to support participant with no chapter / chapters that can't afford travel support all unused money will be returned to WMF

Total cost of project

38,650 EUR

Total amount requested from the WMF Grants Program

10,000 EUR

Additional sources of revenue that may fund part of this project, and

amounts funded Chapters and sponsors, as indicated in the full budget above.

Non-financial requirements

See a description of nonfinancial assistance available. Please inform Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) of any requirements for non-financial assistance now.

Requests for non-financial assistance

Maybe the WMF would be able to provide the t-shirts for the volunteers?
Small give-aways for the MEPs would be very nice to have (some pens,

stickers and pins).

Some informal help to get more chapters involved, maybe a blog post on

WMF blog also directed to the general public.

Resources

This section is optional. It may be used to highlight the potential grantee's potential for successfully executing this project.

Resources

Similar projects have been done in Germany's and Austria's State Parliaments in the last years with high success, which was the door-opener to the European Parliament being interested in this project. Hundreds of pictures have been shot, videos have been made and Wikipedia articles improved.

Impact

In the sections below, please describe how the project is related to the Wikimedia mission and Wikimedia's strategic priorities.

Fit to strategy

How will this project support the key organizational objectives of

increasing reach (more people will access or contribute to Wikipedia or our other projects), Increasing our reach is the second goal of this project. Obviously the contact to the EP and the parties is a big outreach success by itself, which needs to be backed by a successful project (showing that we can actually deliver). The personal contact to the MEPs is very helpful, they will be able to talk to us and learn more about Wikipedia. Apart from that this project will certainly be a door-opener for other projects and be it just as a reference of a successful project that Wikimedia has done.

participation (more people actually contributing), The potential to get new volunteers is low but not zero, by the personal contact to real Wikipedians some visitors might become more interested any might start editing. This is not the main goal of this project, though. There is definitely an impact on participation on people already being part of the community but not yet part of the network of people doing real-life projects together. There is a potential that online volunteers become offline volunteers when they receive the offer to participate in this project from their chapter.

quality (more content, more useful content, or higher-quality content) This is the first goal of this project. The direct outcome of this project will be a huge number of quality photographs of politicians, notable people having a Wikipedia article. We increase the content we have on Wikimedia Commons by getting images we did not have before and we improve the quality of Wikipedia articles by adding pictures and videos where there were none before and we might get comments on the Wikipedia articles by the described persons themselves which leads to corrections, we have experienced this in our State Parliament projects.

credibility (more trust in our projects) We are sure that showing a face to the public is always helpful for creating trust. Delivering good work helps building trust as well, showing reliability. This is the reason why we plan to spend additional money on rented equipment and make-up - just to make sure we really have everything we need for a professional setup.

organizational maturity and effectiveness (how it will move you or the Wikimedia community forward) Hopefully it acts as a precendence how chapter can do a project together.

or financial sustainability (how it will help you achieve more in the long run)? Better content helps maintaining a good userbase which is donating during our fundraisers.

Benefits

If the project will benefit a specific online community, please tell us.

This project will benefit Wikimedia Commons and at least all European language Wikipedias as they should have articles on the MEPs which will be improved. It also benefits the community by bringing volunteers together in this project, creating new contacts and bonds and transferring knowledge.

Please provide a brief statement about how the project is related to other work in the Wikimedia movement. For example, does the project fit into a work area such as GLAM, education, organizational development, editor retention, or outreach?

This project is a mix of improving our content and outreach. The cooperation with an organisation such as the EP may have an impact on future GLAM projects or may initiate such.

If successful, will the project have the potential to be replicated

successfully by other individuals, groups, or organizations? Please explain how in 1–2 sentences. This project has its roots in the German community, started to replicate in Austria and is now being taken to an international level. By the participation of new volunteers from other countries they get first hand experience of how to implement such a project so they can replicate it in their country. Every country has politicians and other notable people we are interested in getting good multimedia content about them.

Please list other benefits to the movement here.

transfer of experience
initiation of new interesting projects in other countries
positive feedback and impression to the public

For grantees

If you are the grantee or representative that wrote this grant submission, you may request changes by using these links:

Create a request for an extension of the approved project completion date.
Create a request for changes to the approved project budget.