Grants:PEG/UG BG/WLE 2016

statusFunded
Wiki Loves Earth 2016
Wiki Loves Earth 2016 in Bulgaria
targetWikimedia Commons, Wikipedia in multiple languages
strategic priorityImproving Quality, Increasing Participation
start date1 June
start year2016
end date15 October
end year2016
budget (local currency)1810 EUR
budget (USD)2061 USD
grant typeUser Group
non-profit statusNo


Project goals edit

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

Project goals
The implementation of Wiki Loves Earth 2016 in Bulgaria has the following goals:
  • To increase the number of freely licensed photographs from the preserved territories and natural heritage in Bulgaria;
  • To raise the awareness of the natural heritage of Bulgaria through the photographs uploaded during the competition;
  • To improve the quality of the content on Wikimedia projects by providing images to the articles;
  • To boost the creation of new articles about natural heritage sites in Bulgaria;
  • To illustrate already exiting articles about natural heritage sites in Bulgaria;
  • To encourage active participation of photographers in the competition and stimulate the launch of similar projects;
  • To raise awareness about free licenses in Bulgaria.
  • To promote the donated content through social media and other channels.

Project scope and activities edit

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

List of activities edit

The activities that will be carried out to execute the project are as follows:
  • updating all the pages with the necessary information about the project
  • constituting the jury for the competition;
  • promoting the competition through the use of social networks and blogs;
  • competition;
  • evaluating the photographs uploaded to make the decision;
  • submitting the best local photographs for participation in the global WLE competition;
  • organising an award ceremony for the winners of the competition;
  • evaluating the project and preparing the project report.

Timeplan edit

Task Pre-contest (preparation) Contest After contest Evaluation
  Creating and editing all the pages with the necessary information about the project 1 May 31 May A
  Constituting the jury for the competition 1 May 31 May U
  Promoting the competition through the use of social networks and photo-oriented web sites 1 May 31 Jul G 1 Sep 30 Sep
  Reviewing categories and descriptions of photographs on Wikimedia Commons (Contest) 1 Jun 30 Jun U
  Evaluating the photographs uploaded 1 Jul 25 Jul S
  Submitting the best photographs to participate in the global competition 31 Jul T
  Organising an event to award the winners of the competition 1 Sep 30 Sep
  Award ceremony 15 Sep 30 Sep
  Evaluating the project and compiling the report 1 Sep 15 Oct

Impact edit

In the sections below, please describe how the project is related to the Wikimedia mission and Wikimedia's strategic priorities. The project is directly related to the Wikimedia mission and Wikimedia's strategic priorities, as it intends to increase the number of free content (specifically photographs) and promote some outreach activities.

Target readership edit

The target audience benefiting from the project are mainly the readers and editing community of Bulgarian Wikipedia, and potentially the readers of other language versions. This said, we plan to use some awesome tools like Ijon's Glamify in order to identify the possible sister projects where content mainly used in BGWP can be utilized as well.

Like in 2015, throughout the whole June 2016, announcement about the contest will permanently stay in the Sitenotice of Wikipedia, and will attract readers and potential contributors. It is worth noting that from the list of WLE BG 2015 uploaders, about 87% have registered after the start of the contest, and only about 13% were the long-term, experienced wikipedians.

Also, like in 2015, we will again use the MassMessage tool to personally invite active Bulgarian contributors to Wikipedia and Commons to get involved in the contest. This proved to work well last year, when several generally passive users returned and took part in the contest.

Finally, since it is a nature photography contest, we will aim at outreach to nature- and photography-related online communities. We have maintained long-term good contacts with the Sofia Zoo and the "Balkani" Wildlife Society, newly established ones with "BBC Knowledge" magazine in Bulgaria, the website geograph.bg and the Institute of Biodiversity, Sofia, and we will research possible collaborations with: one of the largest photography forums in BG web, one FB group in mountaineering, and the Association of women photographers. These multiple contacts will ensure us wider and precisely targeted readership, fitting with our aims.

Fit with strategy edit

This project will support the key organisational objectives by
  • increasing media outreach and public awareness about the Wikimedia projects, their needs and specifics;
  • intensifying the participation of the current and newly attracted contributors, and converting passive consumers of our content into its active producers;
  • promoting the quality of the encyclopedia by accumulating visual content from geographic areas that are usually hardly accessible and yet uncovered;
  • raising our organisational maturity and skills in preparing, conducting and reporting PEGs.
This statement should address at least one of the strategic priorities listed here specifically. See WMF Grants Program criteria for decisionmaking.
Wiki Loves Earth can easily provide large amount of freely licensed photographs that can be used by the Wikimedians to improve the quality of articles on specific Wikimedia projects. It can also stimulate the community to generate content about the natural heritage sites that were photographed during the contest but were not represented with specific articles. The fact that the photographers will have to upload their works to Wikimedia Commons increases the number of users contributing to this project and potentially increases the overall number of active editors, and those aware of the specifics and benefits of free licenses. Since Wiki Loves Earth opens up opportunities to promote the Wikimedia community in the country and support active participation of its members, it can benefit to increase the effectiveness in the work done by the community members.

Benefits edit

If the project will benefit a specific online community, please tell us.
This project will particularly benefit Wikimedia Commons, as the project intends to collect photographs that will be uploaded there. It will be also beneficial for Wikipedia in Bulgarian, and in other languages, as well as possibly other Wikimedia projects, where the uploaded photographs can be used to improve the quality of content.
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?
Wiki Loves Earth is a project that is closely related to the GLAM programme and the call for participation in the competition can be considered a sort of outreach activity. Last year, when the first edition of WLE was organized, it attracted 119 participants uploading 1613 photographs.
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.
The project has already been carried out in many other countries in the world on annual basis. In 2015, Bulgaria joined the contest for the first time, and the participation was considered successful.
Please list other benefits to the movement here.
Some of the other benefits for the Wikimedia movement derived from this project are as follows:
  • The organisation of this contest has the potential to increase the media attention to "Wikimedians of Bulgaria" UG and its activities in the GLAM sector;
  • The project can also lead to some networking opportunities with other organizations and institutions.
  • The organisation of the project will benefit "Wikimedians of Bulgaria" User Group by giving an opportunity for collaboration in a project with strict scope, deadlines and financial reporting;
  • The way it will be carried out in Bulgaria can outline some good practices that can contribute to its overall improvement.

Measures of success edit

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
The success of the project will be measured through the following measures:
  • at least 150 participants uploading one photograph or more;
  • at least 2000 photographs uploaded and kept after review;
  • at least 50 natural heritage sites photographed;
  • at least 50 new articles about natural heritage sites in Bulgaria (in BGWP or elsewhere).
  • at least 200 already exiting articles to be illustrated (in BGWP or elsewhere).
2015 results for comparison

Resources and risks edit

Team members edit

Social media channels and website
Estimation of work (hours) and people required
  Phase   Task   Minimum volunteers   Working hours
Pre-contest (preperation) Creating and editing all the pages with the necessary information about the project 2 10
Pre-contest (preperation) Constituting the jury for the competition (coordination of the community) 2 5
Pre-contest (preperation), Contest, After contest Promoting the competition through the use of social networks and photo-oriented web sites 3 30
Contest, After contest Checking pictures, categories, copyrights, adding descriptions in other languages. 5 300
Contest, After contest Ordering, printing of the awards and merchandise 2 10
After contest Evaluating the photographs uploaded to make the decision 5 100
After contest Organizing the ceremony 5 100
Evaluation Evaluation of the project 2 50


Publicity/ Media strategy edit

We already agreed with BBC knowledge Bulgaria and they will write about the contest in the May edition of the magazine. They will have a representative in the jury as well. We will further use our good relations with organizations like the Sofia Zoo, and the "Balkani" Wildlife Society, whose organizational missions are completely in line with the environmental aspect of the WLE contest. We will try to reach out for better visibility to one of the leading online photographic forums, too, and can rely on publicity in one more, lifestyle-related website, www.kafene.bg, which last year covered us.

During this project we are planning to use following actions to promote the competition and to encourage praticipation:

  Date/Time   Event   Press release   Blog post     Social media publications
Week 20 Warming up, Wiki Loves Earth Bulgaria is starting soon X X
Week 21 Warming up, WLE is starting soon X
Week 22 WLE is starting X X X
Week 23 WLE 'see what we have until now' X
Week 24 WLE 'see what we have until now' X
Week 25 WLE 'see what we have until now' X
Week 26 Last week of WLE X X X
Week 28 or 29 TOP 10 pictures are selected, X X X
Week 27 – 34 Promote other good pictures not from top 10 X
Week 332 WLE awards ceremony is coming X
Week 35* Awards ceremony X X X

* The weeks/dates are not fixed, because we haven't agreed on dates with the venue yet. For venue, we consider and have initiated discussions with the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia. Another possibility is the Sofia Zoo, with whom we have a long-term cooperation, incl. a representative of the Zoo being in the international jury of WLE 2015 (interview in our blog).

Risks edit

  Risk   Preventive measure   Corrective measure
1. Uploaders do not describe their images sufficiently (preventing easy curation and use of the donated content) We provide comprehensible instructions to the uploaders, and warn them that adding adequate descriptions is a strict requirement for qualifying for a prize. We allocate extra time and efforts for uploads review and curation (renaming files, adding/translating descriptions, proper categorization, etc.). The filerenamer user right in Commons will be granted, it in order for the organizers to be more efficient in the process of curating the uploads. The CatScan tool will be used in the process of curation (using this relevant learning pattern).
2. Uploaders upload many copyright violations We provide comprehensible instructions to the uploaders, and warn them that contributing with their own content is a strict requirement for having that content preserved in Commons, hence qualifying for a prize. We will review the uploads for potential copyvios (using this help page). We have a Commons sysop among the organizers (Spiritia) and she will take care for reviewing and deleting the copyvio uploads.
3. Some of the key players in the organizing team or in the jury drop out due to other commitments, or burnout. Friendly planning of the workload among the organizers and jury members, ensuring maximal interchangeability of the roles (see the table "Estimation of work (hours) and people required", providing minimum 2 people for each activity). Maintaining a relaxed and rewarding atmosphere within the whole team. Find new community members to help in the busiest moments.
4. if we don't receive the grant, we are not able to organize the awards ceremony at the end. This will result in not being able to get together wikipedians, contest contributors, GLAM partners and like-minded people from around the country to celebrate Wiki Loves Earth and the local community achievements. We do our best in this project proposal. :) We try to negotiate prizes and organizational support with other potential sponsors and GLAM partners.

Budget edit

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

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
1 Calendars Calendars with the logo and the awarded 10 photographs unit 50 5 250 EUR The calendars will be delivered during the Awards ceremony.
  • Idea: Calendar with the top 12 pictures from the contest
2 Buttons Branded buttons with the logo of the competition unit 100 0.5 50 EUR The buttons will be delivered during the Awards ceremony.
3 Certificates certificates for the awarded photographers and jury members unit 20 0.5 10 EUR Certificates with the names of the awarded photographers and prizes will be delivered during the Awards ceremony. Similarly, certificates will be given to the jury members for their participation.
4 Catering catering served during the Awards ceremony n/a n/a n/a 200 EUR The catering includes beverages, snacks and finger-food that will be served during the Awards ceremony.
5 Panes Printed paper panes with the awarded best photos m2 20 7.50 150 EUR To be exhibited during the awards ceremony and during future related events
6 Prizes prizes for the best photographs and best contributors n/a n/a n/a 650 EUR Prizes will be awarded to the five best photographs and it will be vouchers for books or for printing photography.
7 Travelling/Postal expenses Travelling or postal expenses for people who are not living in the capital for the awards ceremony n/a n/a n/a 350 EUR Covering expenses for travelling and overnight accommodation for the awards ceremony (or for mail services) for awarded photographers, who may live outside of Sofia.
8 Fees, commissions, etc Banking fees n/a n/a n/a 50 EUR
9 Incidentals n/a n/a n/a n/a 100 EUR This item will be generally used to adjust the changes in prices if they occur or to cover some of the incidental expenses that are not anticipated but may later occur as necessary.
Total 1810 EUR
Total cost of project
€1810 = $2061
Total amount requested from the WMF Grants Program
€1810 = $2061

Non-financial requirements edit

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

Requests for non-financial assistance, if any
  • We would like to have some part of our communication, like Facebook posts, endorsed by reposting via the official Wikimedia Foundation channels in the social networks.

Discussion edit

Community notification edit

You are responsible for notifying relevant communities of your proposal, so that they can help you! Depending on your project, notification may be most appropriate on a village pump, talk page, mailing list. Please paste a link below to where the relevant communities have been notified of this proposal, and to any other relevant community discussions. Need notification tips?

Endorsements edit

Do you think this project should be selected for a Project and Event 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.

  • Dimi z (talk) 09:06, 1 May 2016 (UTC) The group has a solid track record of successfully managing projects and efficiently handling resources.
  • As a member of international WLE team I have full confidence in the capacity of UG Bulgaria to organise this contest and reach the declared goals. They organised a very successful edition of Wiki Loves Earth in 2015 and I am sure that they have experience and skills to organise an even better one this year — NickK (talk) 23:39, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
  • UG Bulgaria already has a good track of well-organised projects (CEE Spring, WLE) and fruitful partnerships, and I think that implementing this project will result in engaging more community members and partners --アンタナナ 21:27, 3 May 2016 (UTC)