Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Alliances Fund/Scaling Communities-Expansion of Wiki Networks through Partnerships, Infrastructure, and Outreach/Midpoint Report

Midterm Learning Report

Report Status: Accepted

Due date: 2022-07-15T00:00:00Z

Funding program: Wikimedia Alliances Fund

Report type: Midterm

Application Final Learning Report

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General information edit

This 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
  • Title of Proposal: Scaling Communities-Expansion of Wiki Networks through Partnerships, Infrastructure, and Outreach
  • Amount awarded: 96539 USD, 87825 EUR
  • Amount spent: 19551.54 EUR

Part 1 Understanding your work edit

1. Briefly describe how your strategies and activities proposed were implemented and if any changes to what was proposed are worth highlighting?

Iraq: Wiki Network Development/Wiki Network Survey - MiCT conducted two surveys with the existing editing community in Iraq. Take-aways: MICT discovered were that current editors felt they did not possess all the skills required to edit on Wikipedia.
1.2-Leadership/Organizational Development Meeting -In coordination with Ravan al-Taie, lead Wikipedia advocate in Iraq, she hosted a leadership/organizational development meeting for current editors in Baghdad, June 11th. MiCT invited 11 editors; only 2 editors attended. MiCT made the event on June 11th two-pronged to ensure its success: 1. existing editors to connect face-to-face; 2. an information session for new recruits; 14 attended. MiCT created a WhatsApp group for everyone, so that questions and comments could be asked between new & old editors.
1.3Partnership Meetings - We are now reaching out to partners & plan to host an event in Mosul at the end of July.
1.4Curriculum Development- almost complete.

1,5 Outline Campaign Capacity Building Outcomes - MiCT recruited a team for the online campaign strategy & management. 2 Budget and Implementation Submission/2.1 Partnership Activity Plan - MiCT is currently in the process of outreach to specific universities and networks. There is no need to change or request for a budget alteration. 2,2 Campaign Activity Plan-The campaign aims to promote the participation of Iraqi editors by encouraging & motivating them; aims to serve the currently underrepresented groups in the Iraqi wikipedia community. Ghana:1 Curriculum Development- Ghana Wiki expert & trainer developed an outline & training materials on how to become a Wikipedia editor. See here: https://courses.mict-international.org/course/wikipedia-intro

1.2 Module Creation Support – Graphic design was created to support & professionalize the training
1.3 Module Finalization - complete.
2.1 Laptop Distribution - Complete.
2.2 Training Completion – Training schedule for mid-July with the 10 newly procured laptops.

2. Were there any strategies or approaches that you feel are being effective in achieving your goals?

At this time, MiCT has worked hard with both partners in Ghana and Iraq to stick to our proposed timeline. Using a flexible approach to deal with any unforeseen challenges, MiCT has allowed partners in both countries lead in developing the curriculum and outreach to their respective communities, as preserving a grass-root sustainability is key to continued success of recruiting and supporting editors.

At the same time the voluntary nature of the Wikimedia networks means that while it is important to allow the partners to lead the activity, MiCT needs to continuously push for results and take over some of the activities to ensure they are completed on time and with the right results. The flexible approach described above helps us to find the right balance here.

For Iraq, overall, the info session on June 11th was very informative and MiCT was delighted to see that the participants were very active and engrossed with the material being presented. Many asked serious questions, particularly pertaining to cyber security. Many expressed their desire to have more Wikipedia pages in Arabic and improve the language, since the automatic translations are deemed poor quality. To conclude, the session showed great passion of the newcomers as well as the current editor’s passion to support the new-comers.

To close the Iraq session, MiCT created a WhatsApp group for everyone, so that questions and comments could be asked between new and old editors. Since then, one of the already existing editors has been supporting everyone in the chat with many questions. We find this very encouraging as we aim for the group to be sustainable and self-run.

3. What challenges or obstacles have you encountered so far?

The biggest challenge at this point was to understand the current editing community in Iraq. It is clear is very fractured but also that the lead editor is very busy. MiCT has found it hard to motivate this current editing group, other than the few that made an effort to attend the workshop. It was a challenge to get the current group to answer emails and take phone calls, and regular follow-up to extract information took weeks. Also, the general unavailability of the lead trainer and curriculum developer has also been challenging as it takes time to meet, discuss and continue to keep the motion of the project rolling forward. However, this is understood in a volunteer network where general demands of life can sometimes be priority and volunteering falls second. Finally, it has to achieve a gender balance in recruiting old and new editors. We hope in our outreach to recruit an equal gender balance.

4. Please describe how different communities are participating and being informed about your work.

MiCT advertised the first development workshop within the current editing community which consists of members from all over Iraq. When we realized turn-out would be low for current editors, MiCT turned to advertising the event on twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, tapping into its already well-established networks within Iraq. Holding the event at The Station, which also shared the event, tapped into a larger audience as well, which was helpful in signing up.

For the Ghana community, its participants are a unique group who are part of the LGBT+ community. Our partner organization ensures they are safe and well supported, specifically with the 10 laptops, as many of those within the community are displaced and therefore do not have laptops for editing. Ghana community has been very committed and no challenges in implementation have come-up thus far. The online course in English for the Ghanian community can be found here: https://courses.mict-international.org/courses

5. Please share reflections on how your efforts are helping to engage participants and/or build content, particularly for underrepresented groups.

MiCT will hold “Editathons” in September for both the Ghana and Iraq editing communities. This is expected to be an event that not only brings each community together but also provides a day of bonding and community relationship building.

In Iraq, the campaign to recruit new editors will specifically target underrepresented groups. This includes editors from different regions in Iraq and women. While interviewing the existing group of editors, MiCT understood that this is something that needs to be addressed and MiCT believes that there is a lot of untapped potential with regards to these groups. This would ultimately be reflected in the new content published on wikipedia by the new editors. The campaign aims to promote the participation of Iraqi editors in Arabic content creation by encouraging and motivating them and making them aware of the positive impact of their participation, as well as fostering a culture of voluntarism to enrich Iraqi content of all kinds. Specifically the campaign aims to serve the currently underrepresented groups in the Iraqi wikipedia community: Women and people from provinces other than Baghdad.

For the Ghana community, its participants are a unique group who are part of the LGBT+ community. Our partner organization ensures they are safe and well supported, specifically with the 10 laptops, as many of those within the community are displaced and therefore do not have laptops for editing.

6. In your application, you outlined your learning priorities. What have you learned so far about these areas during this period?

MiCT has learned that albeit the Iraqi editing community being fractured, there is indeed a strong interest from newcomers to become editors in Arabic and Kurdish. This means there is great potential to grow and support the community. Also, the Ghananian community is very organized this also shows promising output to continue expanding and supporting their community.

MiCT conducted two surveys with the previously existing editing community in Iraq. The research thus allowed MiCT to better understand the needs of the community, specifically how often they edit, what motivates them to edit and how to better support them in editing, specifically in growing and empowering them.

MiCT created an google form with a list of questions and shared it with the community to fill out. After receiving online responses, MiCT reached out to 8 editors who expressed willingness to be interviewed and retrieve follow-up information about the current editing community. These questions were designed to learn why they are involved in Wikipedia, but also what motivates and demotivates them from editing. Finally, it also explored their availability and interest (or not) to be more involved.

A couple take-aways that MICT discovered were that current editors felt they did not possess all the skills required to edit on Wikipedia. For example, one mentioned they do not know how to upload a photo. Another editor said they didn’t fully understand the rules and regulations for references sources.

7. What are the next steps and opportunities you’ll be focusing on for the second half of your work?

The outputs for the last three months of implementation will focus on training, outreach, and training in both Ghana and Iraq. This will consist of hosting an editathon that will create role models for a future generation of editors by highlighting the fantastic achievements and inspire both communities to share and spread the knowledge of their respective countries and communities. We hope that by the end, there will be a strong group of editors in both Ghana and Iraq.

Part 2: Metrics edit

8a. Open and additional metrics data.

Open Metrics
Open Metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
N/A N/A N/A 1 1.2 Leadership/Organizational Development Meeting (2 in total) --> MiCT held only one in Iraq as current editor turn out was low and with little interest. Attendance to first workshop supported by survey.
N/A N/A N/A 1 1.3 Partnership Meetings (Exploratory Discussions, in person or online) -- we had 1 in person and discussions over the phone N/A
N/A N/A N/A 2 1.4 Curriculum Development (Wiki Organizer and Curriculum Expert, online) ---> almost complete in both Iraq and Ghana. https://courses.mict-international.org/courses
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Additional Metrics
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 Summary
Core metrics Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Number of participants University Event Participants (either new or existing): 50

New Participants (beginning online courses): 100 User Group Members (Campaign Participation): 3

153 14
Attendance sheet
Number of editors This overlaps highly with the previous metrics. We also request that his be flexible to the format of partnership developed with the Universities. For instance the user group may want to focus on outreach to new editors or host events at universities with existing editors.

New Editors (from training): 50 Partnership Events (TBD)

50 N/A this will start in the 2nd phase of the program in Ghana and in Iraq (End of July - September)
Number of organizers Two organizers will be paid in Ghana--one Wiki member and one external organization manager. The Wiki Member will be paid to create online training programs with an curriculum expert for project use and beyond. This will be a key group infrastructure and can be used for the movement indefinitely. Due to security concerns, MiCT believed it best to pay the external partner lead to organize the events. Given the sensitivity of the subject matter, keeping local management within the organization was a stop gap against undue risk.

A member of the Iraq user group will similarly be paid to develop training in collaboration with MiCT and an external curriculum developer.

3 7 1 trainer in Iraq; 1 trainer in Ghana, 1 partner organizer to host & plan events in Ghana; 3 campaigners for Iraq (1. Overall Media Campaign Lead (Marian Vogel) 2. Arabic Media Campaigner Lead (Abdelsamee Abdallah) 3. Campaign Coordinator (Fatimah Oleiwi); Local Coordinator in Baghdad. Timesheets and invoices.
Number of new content contributions per Wikimedia project
Wikimedia Project Description Target Results Comments Methodology
Wikipedia Ghana: 30 (created)

Iraq 120 (created or improved)

We have still not been able to set targets with the groups, and would therefore like flexibility on the targets until the groups have had input.

150 N/A N/A N/A
Wikimedia Commons Participation in this project will depend on the training requests from the user groups. For instance if the Iraqi user group would like to create a module on commons uploads and support commons through one of the three budgeted events, we would set a target with them directly. We would therefore like to refrain from setting a target until we know that commons work will be included. 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?

MiCT conducted two surveys with the previously existing editing community in Iraq from mid-April until the end of May. Since MiCT had initially struggled to get hold of the community and retrieve concrete information to design this proposal, it was decided that research on the existing community would be beneficial. The research thus allows MiCT to better understand the needs of the community, specifically how often they edit, what motivates them to edit and how to better support them in editing, specifically in growing and empowering them.

MiCT created an google form with a list of questions and shared it with the community to fill out. Questions ranged from “Are you interested in taking a more active role in the Iraqi Wikipedia community” to “Are you interested to attend the kick-off event?” to “When was your last edit/upload you made?”.

After receiving 11 online responses, MiCT reached out to 8 editors who expressed willingness to speak over the phone, and interviewed them further to dig deeper and retrieve follow-up information about the current editing community. These questions were designed to learn why they are involved in Wikipedia, but also what motivates and demotivates them from editing. Finally, it also explored their availability and interest (or not) to be more involved.

A couple take-aways that MICT discovered were that current editors felt they did not possess all the skills required to edit on Wikipedia. For example, one mentioned they do not know how to upload a photo. Another editor said they didn’t fully understand the rules and regulations for references sources.

A demotivating factor that was expressed was that the edits they made were not reviewed frequently, sometimes taking months for an edit to be reviewed and approved. One editor noted that there was a lack of communication inside the Iraqi group and the lack of activities made them less motivated to participate in editing. An editor, who claims to be an “old member”, said that he noticed that new editors get demotivated because they don’t understand the policies and sometimes that leads to new pages being deleted. One Kurdish member said that they felt demotivated from so few other Kurdish members.

All of those interviewed expressed interest in further training, recruiting of members, and sharing knowledge with new members.

1.2 Leadership/Organizational Development Meeting (2 in total) - During the follow-up phone interviews, MiCT asked all current editors what the best day to host a development meeting with the intent to bring them all together. All participants responded that Friday or Saturday would be the best. In coordination with Ravan al-Taie, leading Wikipedia advocate in Iraq, she agreed to host a leadership and organizational development meeting for current editors in Baghdad on June 11th. MiCT Project Manager from Berlin and Project Coordinator, based in Baghdad, attended the event as well.

MiCT invited all 11 editors and informed them of the date, event, and details. Unfortunately, after numerous emails, invitations, and follow-up phone calls, only 2 editors attended. This low number of attendances is for many reasons, but it seems most said were travelling or had exams. An observation MiCT noted was that the community, despite giving valuable feedback, remains busy in their personal lives and therefore, despite wanting to commit more, are unable to at this time.

MiCT decided to make the event on June 11th two-pronged to ensure its success. The morning session (10am-12pm) would be a session for existing editors to congregate and connect face-to-face. This session would thus support them to discuss our findings from the interviews and address some of the points highlighted.

For more sharing, please refer to the campaign strategy and network outreach outlined above in Iraq. Those will central to reaching the communities in Iraq.

For Ghana, we are working closely with the LGBTQ+ community and will train them directly.

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.
We have recently completed the Ghana training course online (in English) and are working now to finish the Arabic version for Iraq. You can see both here: https://courses.mict-international.org/courses

Part 3: Financial reporting and compliance edit

12. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency.

19551.54

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?

No

15a. Please provide an explanation on how you hope to adjust this.

N/A

16. We’d love to hear any thoughts you have on how the experience of being a grantee has been so far.

As a grantee, this has been an exciting experience to support the Iraqi and Ghanian communities in each country. Working with a group of dedicated volunteers, committed to contribute to accessible and reliable free information is a unique experience. MiCT’s mission as an organization is support communities like this in creating free and transparent mechanism to obtain access to information, news, and media, and this project has allowed MiCT to learn more about the Wiki contributer communites while also allowing us to use our expertise to support them in becoming sustainable grass-root contributors in Iraq and Ghana.