Grants:PEG/UG BR/Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination

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Project & Event Grants

UG BR/Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination

The UG Wikimedia in Brazil will be the host organization for the First Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination, in 2017, in São Paulo, Brazil.

targetPortuguese Wikipedia

strategic priorityIncrease reach

start dateJuly

start year2016

end dateApril

end year2017

budget (local currency)214,832.20 BRL

budget (USD)60,002.29 USD

grant typeGroup

non-profit statusNo

creator• Vini 175

contact(s)• Vini 175• Joalpe• Sturm

organization• Wikimedia Community User Group Brasil

website• br.wikimedia.org

created on01:41, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

friendly space expectations

view all PEG requests

The First Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination will serve as a premier venue for building and strengthening the community of Wikipedia editors in Brazil, especially to collaborate and reduce a perceived academic gap on Wikipedia in Portuguese. This unprecedented initiative intends to bring together Brazil's user-group members, Wikimedia contributors, higher-education students and professors, and international guests who have made a distinctive contribution to improving scientific literacy through Wikimedia projects for two days of sustained interaction and training. The User Group Wikimedia in Brazil has established a partnership with the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics (RIDC NeuroMat), at the University of São Paulo, which has agreed to host the First Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination. Other institutions that are likely to get involved with the event are the Interdisciplinary Research Center of Cásper Líbero University and the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at USP. The NGO ARede Educa, one of the largest organizations to promote studies on and renewed practices associated to education and technology in Brazil, will probably have both a volunteer and paid-coordinating role in the conference.

Goal

Expected results of the First Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination are at least fourfold. Firstly, the Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination will be an opportunity for new and more experienced editors to discuss challenges and success cases of editing on topics pertaining to science on Wikipedia, especially hard science. To level this discussion up structured training sessions on editing science on Wikipedia are expected to be organized. Secondly, exchange and workshop sessions on editing science on Wikipedia will be set up. The intent is that experienced editors from Brazil and abroad will facilitate these sessions. Thirdly, an edit-a-thon on science will be organized during the event. Fourthly, the development of specific outputs is expected to be started at the Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination: a tutorial movie on editing at the frontier of science (in Portuguese, with subtitles in English), a report movie on the event itself (in Portuguese, with subtitles in English), a Wikimedia Commons page to display freely event presentations and eventually other recordings, and a brochure on editing science on Wikipedia (in Portuguese and English).

The First Brazilian Conference on Wiki Scientific Dissemination will be an occasion for increasing interaction in the Brazilian community and for having a direct impact and setting up continuing strategy to tackle scientific illiteracy in Brazil.

Therefore, the User Group Wikimedia in Brazil intends to host an international conference on scientific dissemination with Wikimedia projects for about 100 attendees in São Paulo, in February or March 2017.

• Schedule will include seminars, discussion and training sessions and an edit-a-thon.
• The likely location of the conference is the University of São Paulo.
• The University of São Paulo is ranked by US News and World Report as #1 in its list of Best Latin-American Universities in 2016.
• The Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics (RIDC NeuroMat), that is the specific institution at the University of São Paulo that has established a partnership with the User Group Wikimedia in Brazil, is a highly acknowledged scientific organization, working on theoretical neuroscience. This institution has offered to provide a venue for the conference, eventually with online streaming.
• The NGO ARede Educa has been a long-time partner of the User Group Wikimedia in Brazil, organizing our participation at the Brazilian edition of Campus Party and setting up a permanent op-ed section on its web portal for disseminating the use of Wikimedia projects in educational settings that the UG Wikimedia in Brazil feeds.
• Other potential partners include the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at USP and the Interdisciplinary Research Center of Cásper Líbero University. It is possible that the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics could offer a small grant (R$ 4,000) after the event is confirmed --this small is not indispensable for the organization and realization of the conference and, if indeed awarded, could be used to contribute to travel expenses and lodging of another Wikipedia editor from Brazil.
• The UG Wikimedia in Brazil has had continuing participation in disseminating science through Wikimedia projects. These activities have recently included the organization of a network of scientists and scholars in universities in Rio de Janeiro, an edit-a-thon at the University of São Paulo and involvement in activities in universities, that are listed on reports of activities. The UG is currently involved in a GLAM project to upload all photographical content of USP's Museum of Veterinary Anatomy to the Commons.
• International guests will be chosen among those who have had a distinctive role in scientific dissemination via Wikimedia projects and therefore might take part of working sessions to build conference outputs, such as videos and other materials. A prior questionnaire will be sent to these guests as early as possible, and answers will be used to inform the whole event beforehand.
• 10 members of the community who are not from the city of São Paulo will be selected to receive a scholarship to cover travel expenses (flight and lodging). The selection will be made by the UG Wikimedia in Brazil. History of contributions on Wikimedia projects, especially on topics pertaining to science editing, academic background and replies to a prior questionnaire of intentions and interests --similar to what is often used in this kind of conferences-- will be taken into consideration, among other elements, to award these scholarships. Of course, members of the community who do not live in the city of São Paulo and are able to come to the conference without the scholarship are welcome.

Plan

Activities

Volunteer activities

• UG Wikimedia in Brazil will do the following things:
  • Design the Conference, combining the expectations of our partners under the scope of the Wikimedia projects
  • Prepare the grant application
  • Do local in-person advertising
  • Provide on-the-ground volunteer staff support during the event
  • Set and facilitate workshops and any other activity to take place during the Conference

• NeuroMat will do the following things:
  • Select and reserve the venue (likely a building on the University of São Paulo)
  • Offer streaming of presentations made during the event (to be confirmed)
  • Do local in-person advertising

• ARede Educa will do the following things:
  • Organize the conference program.
  • Advertise the conference in its mailing list with local professors and media professionals.
  • Send preliminary surveys to potential international and local lecturers in order to have an initial ground to inform the conference and resulting products.

Paid activities

• The event coordinator selected (possibly the NGO ARede Educa) will provide paid staff to do things which volunteers ought not do.
• Negotiate rates
• Pay bills
• Do accounting
• Set up orientation, reception and follow-up with participants
• Hire and manage catering
• Centralize communication among volunteers (media report and dissemination, marketing)
• Publish the planning schedule
• Publish a brochure about the findings related to editing science on Wikipedia
• Produce two movies: a report movie, that can be used at the same time as a “how to do your own conference”, and a tutorial movie about “how to edit science articles on Wikipedia”
• Hire real-time translators

Impact

Target readership

• Portuguese Wikipedia
• Teachers and academics interested in wikis and education
• Open science and open knowledge communities in general
• Undergraduate and graduate students
• Science journalists and popularizers

Fit with strategy

• Globalizing Scientific Content: There has been an increasing investment of the community to improve scientific and health-related content in Wikimedia projects, especially Wikipedia in English. We are inspired by these activities, that are evidence of the importance of content we produce, and intend to provide an environment and material that can be used to better health and science content on all projects, especially those of the Global South. Materials we intend to produce will be made available freely in Portuguese and English.
• Increasing Participation: We consider our conference to be a venue to bring together teachers and scholars from Brazil. Frustratingly, interest in our projects on educational settings in Brazil is still at an early stage, and we think a conference like the one we are suggesting will attract attention to the role Wikimedia projects can play in education and scientific dissemination.

Measures of success

• We expect the release of the four outputs we have aforementioned --a tutorial movie on editing at the frontier of science (in Portuguese, with subtitles in English), a report movie on the event itself (in Portuguese, with subtitles in English), a Wikimedia Commons page to display freely event presentations and eventually other recordings, and a brochure on editing science on Wikipedia (in Portuguese and English)-- will become a set of resources that the global community of editors can use to spark their own projects related to scientific dissemination through Wikimedia projects. The expectation is that we will be able to gather enthusiastic editors from Brazil and other countries who will take part actively in working sessions to devise these outputs, that after the event we will effectively produce.
• We also expect this conference will be an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with the Brazilian scientific community. For example, the UG Wikimedia in Brazil has established a partnership with NeuroMat, an important institute of brain theory at the University of São Paulo, and this partnership has attracted media attention to our activities. We expect to spark interest in at least 15 other scientific institutions or science museums, including the institutions we have mentioned above: the Interdisciplinary Research Center of Cásper Líbero University and the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics at USP.
• We expect to provide good training for Brazilian experienced and new users to be able to edit continuously on scientific topics, especially hard science. In order to understand sharply what needs to be done with respect to this goal, we will send a survey to potential participants before and after the event. Anonymized results will be shared, and this data might help other organizations willing to host a conference on wiki-science. In order to spark interest in scientific topics, we expect to organize an edit-a-thon, especially as a means of discussing challenges of editing on hard topics.

Resources

• Founded in 2013, UG Wikimedia in Brazil has a trajectory of developing educational and scientific projects and has a sizable set of partner organizations. For more information, see the user group's presentation and the 2015 report and 2016 report.
• The Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center for Neuromathematics (RIDC NeuroMat, or simply NeuroMat) is a Brazilian research center established in 2013 at the University of São Paulo that is dedicated to integrating mathematical modeling and theoretical neuroscience. It is a major reference in the development of brain science.
• ARede Educa is a leading Brazilian NGO in Brazil that works on integrating education and technology. It has been a long-time partner of the UG Wikimedia Brazil, that has held a permanent op-ed section on wiki-education on the NGO web portal.

Risks

• Confirmation of the local organizing team
• Availability of relevant international guests
• Selection of most interesting national members
• Confirmation of the venue with streaming
• Mars Attack!

Budget

Project budget table

This following budget plan is tentative. It will be reviewed considering inputs from members of the community and the WMF conference committee. Event video reports and brochures could be the object of specific grant request.

Item	Description	Unit cost (R$)	No. of units	Total cost (R$)	Total cost (US$)	Notes
Venue with streaming	Room for 100 pax	0,00	1	0,00	0,00	The venue will be provided at no charge by NeuroMat (estimated cost R$ 40,000). Streaming will depend on availability at the University of São Paulo.
Management	Coordinator of the event	25,000	1	25,000	7,150	Payment of the coordinator for the 6 months of the project, likely the NGO ARede Educa
Promotional material	Marketing pieces	3,000		3,000	837.9	E-mail, social media, invitation, ads on websites
	Design	2,000		2,000	558.6	Logo and visual concept development
	Banners	4,130		4,130	1,153.5
	Other prints	2,800		2,800	782.04	Badges, programs, certificates
	Reusable bags	16.10	100	1,610	449.67
	Pens	4.30	100	430	120.1
	Brochure	6.11	1000	6,110	1,706.51	English and Portuguese
Reception	Simultaneous translation service	12,000	1	12,000	3,351.58
	Receptionist (per day)	500	2	2,000	558.6
Event report	Journalist	12,000	1	12,000	3,351.58	Daily covering of the event
	Report video	15,000	1	15,000	4,189.48
	Tutorial video	15,000	1	15,000	4,189.48
Invited people	International roundtrip itinerary	5,843.20	5	29,216	8,159.98
	Roundtrip itinerary – RJ	1,265	2	2,530	706.62	National travel are only estimates, since origins might change.
	Roundtrip itinerary – RS	1,311	2	2,622	732.32
	Roundtrip itinerary – MG	1,444	2	2,888	806.61
	Roundtrip itinerary – BA	1,458	2	2,916	814.43
	Accommodations	415	30	12,450	3,477.27	Shared hotel-room
	Ground transportation	1,000	2	2,000	558.6	Shuttle van between hotel and airport
Guest expenses	Confirmation follow-up / orientation	2,000	1	2,000	558.6
Press office	Press release writing (pre and post-event)	6,000	1	6,000	1,675.79
Catering	Welcome coffee	50	100	5,000	1,396.49
	Brunch	124	100	12,400	3,463.3
	Coffee break	50	100	5,000	1,396.49
	Snack	70	100	7,000	1,955.09
	Beverages	5.50	400	2,200	614.46
Total				195,302.00	54,547.54
Total (+ 10% taxes)				214,832.20	60,002.29

Total cost of project

Total cost: 214,832.20 (BRL) or 60,002.29 (USD).

Total amount requested

Total amount: 214,832.20 (BRL) or 60,002.29 (USD).

Discussion

Community notification

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, talkpage, 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?
Before the draft was submitted, a discussion on the Esplanada was open to gather comments and suggestions of the community, here.
In May and June, notifications were done personally to members of the community, via Facebook pages, and generally on the new Slack forum of the Wikipedia in Portuguese.

Endorsements

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.

• The group is composed by very active and respected editors of pt-wiki. The conference activities can be the starting points to a great expansion and integration of brazilian educational institutions with Wikimedia. The Universidade de São Paulo's participation can help on this expansion, since this is the most influential university of Brazil. Ixocactus (talk) 01:26, 28 May 2016 (UTC)
• This project can help reduce the academic gap in Wikimedia projects by promoting good practices on wiki scientific dissemination. As such, it is much needed by the Brazilian community, bringing closer together advanced scientific knowledge to the encyclopedia and its writers. Horadrim~usurped (talk) 20:57, 13 June 2016 (UTC)