Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Alliances Fund/Accessible knowledge digitizing Libyan culture/Midpoint Report
Report Status: Accepted
Due date: 31 October 2022
Funding program: Wikimedia Alliances Fund
Report type: Midterm
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General information
editThis form is for organizations receiving Wikimedia Community Funds (General Support) or Wikimedia Alliances Funds to report on their mid-term learning and results. See the Wikimedia Alliances Fund application if you want to review the initial proposal.
- Name of Organization: Media in Cooperation and Transition (MICT) Tunisie
- Title of Proposal: Accessible knowledge digitizing Libyan culture
- Amount awarded: 20000.96 USD, 19065.6 EUR
- Amount spent: 7955.64 EUR
Part 1 Understanding your work
edit1. Briefly describe how your strategies and activities proposed were implemented and if any changes to what was proposed are worth highlighting?
- When we set out to implement the proposed activities for the project, we started reaching out to groups of researchers and academics in Libya to form the first target group for training. During this phase of communication, we discovered a great interest in the idea from the academic and research community, and we were able to conclude a co-funding partnership to transform activities from the Internet to activities on the ground.
Thus, the proposed structure of the project was almost completely changed, and the strategy and budget were adjusted to fit the new format, ensuring the achievement of the desired goals of the project and providing a closer interaction through activities on the ground. So far, we have carried out two trainings, the first in Tunisia from August 22-25, in which 10 trainees from writers, researchers and academics participated, and they were trained to be trainers who carry out trainings in Libyan cities and undertake the task of transferring knowledge to a larger number of people in their social circles. The second training from 4-7 October in the city of Al-Bayda, Libya, was attended by ten other trainees from Al-Bayda and the surrounding cities, as well as a number of participants from the first workshop as teachers / assistant trainers, the main trainer participated online from Tunisia with the help of the group of teachers on the ground to ensure the implementation of practical exercises and supervising the technical aspects. The third and last training is planned in Tripoli from 1-3 November, and we will follow the same structure that has proven successful in the previous training. All the 20 participants became editors on Wikipedia Arabic, and they have provided at least 20 new articles plus tens of edits on the content published about Libya on Wikipedia.
2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you feel are being effective in achieving your goals?
- We discovered that raising the selection criteria for people to join such a project is the key to success, as we focused our selection on people who have good language abilities (Classical Arabic), have the minimum knowledge that qualifies them to add and edit reliable content on Wikipedia, also have the minimum technical skills so they can deal with the platform and not get lost in the technical details, and the most important thing is that they be productive people who have previously produced or published articles or books that prove their ability to be productive.
By adhering to these criteria, despite the length of time it took to select participants for each training, and with the support of our partner in Libya, we were able to form a distinguished group of editors whom we count on to establish the Libya User Group on Wikipedia, thus contributing to bridging the knowledge gap around it on the Internet. Therefore, the most important lessons we learned were: 1 - Do not rush to choose the participants in the project. 2 - Look for partners who carry the same values and goals that the project seeks, so as to ensure continuity in the same spirit. 3 - Try to include old Wikipedians from your country because they are very valuable in terms of knowledge because of their expertise and experiences that can be shared with new entrants, as well as for the support they can provide during the process of creating and editing articles and accepting modifications.
3. What challenges or obstacles have you encountered so far?
- The modifications that took place in the project structure, the attempt to adapt to changing of the activities nature, and alignment between the proposed budget for the project and the actual budget, posed administrative, organizational and logistical obstacles that we are still trying to deal with professionally and accurately, with the help of WMF we trust that we will be able to overcome this challenge.
We also faced the obstacle of the lack of Libyan Wikipedians and the unwillingness of some of them to reveal their identity, which greatly narrowed the horizons of cooperation internally, but we are trying to communicate with everyone and we succeeded in creating a bridge that is still being strengthened between the new entrants and the older group.
4. Please describe how different communities are participating and being informed about your work.
- When we started working on the project, we communicated with all groups working in Wikipedia inside Libya, to coordinate joint activities in the future.
We also communicated with the "Wikipedia user group" in Tunisia, who provided us with a trainer that contributed to all project activities in varying degrees, and after our group was established we were able to link them to "Wiki World Heritage User Group" who invited them to attend a workshop on Wikisource. On the other hand, our project is based mainly on partnerships between different groups, working in a network and in coordination with each other through communication groups on WhatsApp, divided into small groups that include participants from each workshop who work on joint projects, and a large group that includes all editors who benefited of the project, in order to coordinate the work and ensure no duplication of topics. Reaching the targets, especially in the upcoming workshop in Tripoli, was carried out by contacting various networks of journalists, graduates of the Faculty of media, history, arts at the University of Tripoli, through whom we published an invitation to join the workshop and received a large number of applications. This is in addition to the networks provided by our partner, "the Center for Law and Society Studies", which we will use as a sustainable means to disseminate information, communication and knowledge resulting from the various activities of the project.
5. Please share reflections on how your efforts are helping to engage participants and/or build content, particularly for underrepresented groups.
- Libya is very poorly represented on the Internet in general, our activities contributed to creating a group of editors, who are able to add a lot of objective and useful content about Libya to Arabic Wikipedia.
Being aware of the value of Wikimedia, and among the topics that are currently being worked on is adding biographies of the most important names that have passed in the country’s history and who have not been previously written fairly about in the past, as well as documenting the artistic movement by adding topics that tells the history of theater in Libya, the history of the fine art movement, and other non-existent topics. This is in addition to topics dealing with the history of ethnic and cultural minorities in Libya, by involving individuals from these communities in the trainings, and these editors have already begun preparing for topics that contribute to the representation of these groups. However, by engaging people who value access and sharing of knowledge, we ensure the quality and richness of the material produced, which we hope will gain greater support from Wikimedia by speeding up the review processes and allowing its dissemination. The topics the editors are working on are related and integrated and fill a deep knowledge gap about Libya, which we hope that Wikimedia will take into account.
6. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What have you learned so far about these areas during this period?
- The learning priorities we outlined in our proposal were:
1. Does the impact of the difficult phase of the dictatorship experienced by Libyans still control their desire to know and share facts? This question can be answered on the long term after we publish a large amount of knowledge content capable of creating different narratives of reality and history, and through people's interaction with publications, it is possible to measure how affected by years of restrictions on knowledge they are.
2. Will such initiatives motivate people from socially oppressed groups on cultural, ethnic or linguistic backgrounds to change the narrative around them, encouraging them to improve the social acceptance they need? We have already seen the demand from these groups to participate in activities with the aim of writing about themselves and introducing their history and culture, and some of them have pledged to pass on what they have learned to others close to them with the aim of increasing the number of activists on wikipedia who will be able to create a difference together.
3. How can we improve our mechanisms to promote and achieve this type of project? We are still in the process of improvement and development, and we are working hard to develop work mechanisms internally to be able to run large projects on a regional level, and this project helped us because of the flexibility and responsivity it required in dealing with the changes it went through in its various stages.
7. What are the next steps and opportunities you’ll be focusing on for the second half of your work?
- Completion of activities on the ground and achieving the target number of participants, then we will work to strengthen the links between the groups that participated in the project, and between them and other knowledge groups to enhance the quality of work.
We will also enhance communication with the various Wikimedia communities to facilitate our group's integration into the larger Wikimedia community and facilitate their access to richer and more meaningful Wikimedia experiences.
Part 2: Metrics
edit8a. Open and additional metrics data.
| Open Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | N/A | N/A | 21 | 21 new participants in the two trainings has been conducted so far | Logistic documents
evaluation forms |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | 21 | N/A | Users accounts of the group |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | 10 | 2 trainers were involved
6 teachers, mainly the participants from previous workshops 2 advisors, from our local partner (Law and Society Studies Center). |
Logistis documents
attendance records |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | 230 | since the begining of the project the participants created 28 new articles
and contriputrd to imbrove more than 200 articles at least |
a record of all the new articles are being added on Arabic Wikipedia by our group. |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Additional Metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of editors that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of organizers that continue to participate/retained after activities | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of strategic partnerships that contribute to longer term growth, diversity and sustainability | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Feedback from participants on effective strategies for attracting and retaining contributors | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Diversity of participants brought in by grantees | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of people reached through social media publications | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of activities developed | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Number of volunteer hours | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
8b. Additional core metrics data.
| Core metrics | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | New participant: 30 trainees.
Returning participant: non |
30 | 21 | 21 new participants in the two trainings has been conducted so far | Logistic documents
Attendance records evaluation forms |
| Number of editors | The participants are supposed to become editors on Wikipedia | 25 | 21 | Newly registered users (new editors): 20
Returning Editors: One editor with a Wikipedia account as a reviewer participated in the second workshop for technical assistance. |
Users accounts of the group on Wikipedia |
| Number of organizers | planners and coordinators: 2
trainers: 1 teachers: 2 advisors: 1 graphic designer: 1 facilitator: 1 |
8 | 10 | 2 trainers were involved
6 teachers, mainly the participants from previous workshops 2 advisors, from our local partner (Law and Society Studies Center). |
Logistis documents
attendance records |
- users accounts on Wikipedia platform.
| Wikimedia Project | Description | Target | Results | Comments | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | We aim to improve 30 articles at least, and create 15 articles at least. | 45 | 230 | since the begining of the project the participants created 28 new articles
and contriputrd to imbrove more than 200 articles at least | |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
9. Are you having any difficulties collecting data to measure your results?
- No
10. Are you collaborating and sharing learning with Wikimedia affiliates or community members?
- Yes
10a. Please describe how you have already shared them and if you would like to do more sharing, and if so how?
- We are in contact with the committee members who have evaluated our project proposal during the submission stage, communicate with them via phone calls and online meetings, and they follow up on all activities and provide support when needed.
We are sharing learning with Wikimedians from Libya, one of them participated in the second activity in person to provide technical support to the participants, as well as other Wikimedians who are following up with us via calls and text chats but have not actually participated yet. In the next phase of the project, we plan to implement a manual/user manual for how to create an account on Wikipedia, the technical conditions and standards required for the work, and make it available on the Academy's training website, so that it is available to all those interested in participating. We also intend to hold a series of meetings between the users benefiting from the project to establish the Libya User Group, which will undertake the task of developing and expanding the user base and quality control to ensure the sustainability of the project.
11. Documentation of your work process, story, and impact.
- Below there is a section to upload files, videos, sound files, images (photos and infographics, e.g. communications materials, blog posts, compelling quotes, social media posts, etc.). This can be anything that would be useful to understand and show your learning and results to date (e.g., training material, dashboards, presentations, communications material, training material, etc).
- Below is an additional field to type in link URLs.
Part 3: Financial reporting and compliance
edit12. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.
- 7955.64
13. Local currency type
- EUR
14. Please report the funds received and spending in the currency of your fund.
- Upload Documents, Templates, and Files.
- Provide links to your financial reporting documents.
15. Based on your implementation and learning to date, do you have any plans to make changes to the budget spending?
- Yes
15a. Please provide an explanation on how you hope to adjust this.
- As described above, and in the revised budget submitted with the report, we changed the structure of the activities to be from online to actual in-person trainings, therefore we had to reallocate the budget to suite the new activities, we are submitting in details in the financial documents.
16. We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on how the experience of being a grantee has been so far.
- We were very grateful that we received a grant from the Wikimedia Foundation, the communication and support from the team supervising our work was constructive and helpful, during all phases of the project we were very pleased with people's reactions to the idea of participating in the project, and we received requests for participation greater than planned, the reputation of the encyclopedia Its importance is something that people in Libya are well aware of, and it can be built upon in building successful partnerships and planning for the sustainability of the projects' impact.